Yros

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At the throat of the world sits the House of Iokheaira—the current line of the High Matriarch. They are a family of proud, gifted orators and wordsmiths who use their honeyed words to soothe tensions and shape the world. It is said that the silvery eyes of Lonos (the favored god of House Iokheaira) have cast their gaze upon this house, blessing their tongues in their likeness. To them, the most honorable pursuits are diplomacy, knowledge, and creativity. They raise their children to be perceptive, empathetic, and eloquent; and while some may view this practice as fruitless and weak, the members of this family use this perception to their advantage. Trading in information and knowing just how to undercut their adversaries, their strengths lie in the power of rumor and intrigue and the ways in which the public can be swayed from one favor to another.
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Appearances

Species: Aihos
Mutations: Long fur, long tails, pupils that mimic the moons' phases (very rare; marks 'favored' children), "mane"-like fur at the base of the head down to chest/shoulders
Fur colors: Creams, whites, blonds, pinks (rare), yellows/golds, lighter browns
Eye colors: Pinks, yellows/golds, silvers, central heterochromia (rare)
Bodies: Generally taller and more willowy, though they can vary

Temperaments

Personalities vary; however, the family prizes cleverness, initiative, and those with silver-tongues. Children are taught to mask negative emotions and to never have 'outbursts' in public. The pressure to be perfect and keep up appearances is felt from birth.

Names

Names vary but trend toward elegant and eccentric (constellations, [scientific] names for flowers, Greek).

Name bank: Dianthus, Phalaena, Helianthus, Iberis, Ixia, Ixora, Lavandula, Lunaria, Nymphea, Penstemon, Phlox, Quince, Ipheon, Vervain, Aquarius, Eridanus, Pisces, Sagittarius, Aeneas, Alastair, Celandine, Despoine, Halkyone, Khristos, Leandros, Makarios, Phaidros, Polydeuces, Terpsichore

You are not required to choose from this. These are just ideas!

Family Connections

HIGH MATRIARCH x METHODIOS
— Hollyhock (heir), Hellebore, Gemini (eldest litter, 2 gyres)
—— Scorpius, Aries, Ophiuchus, [pup 4] (youngest litter, 1 gyre)

VULPECULA (sister of High Matriarch) x CRUX
— [pup 1], [pup 2], [pup 3] (6 months old)

* HYDRUS (brother of High Matriarch) x ELIAS
— [pup 1] (8 months old)
—— [pup 1], [pup 2] (3 months old)

** ARA (half-sister of High Matriarch) x NOEMI
— [pup 1], [pup 2], [pup 3] (1.5 gyres)

* congrats, you get two dads!
** congrats, you get two moms!

Other potential connections: Half-siblings' kids, half-siblings, cousins, in-laws, bastard kids of Vulpecula's or a cousin's that the family pretends they do not see

Non-family Connections

For any character that isn't a member of House Iokheaira but works very closely with them, you can kind of let your sky be the limit. Examples would be personal guards, scribes, wolves-in-waiting, and betrotheds.

GEMINI

last-born in hollyhock's litter (if i'm allowed to switch her from the yearling litter to the other?)
fire thauma

has long known she would not be for the throne; first their elder sister and then when she passed, hollyhock had always been the favored choice
easily bored, finds court life dull
longs for the taste of adventure but doesn't quite know how bad it could be
stacked walls around her heart and her emotions
comes off as a bit impassive and spoiled, vain
raised as a political child, she got what she needed ( and wanted ) as long as she was quiet, polite, present
not easily afraid or cowed
has a good heart somewhere beneath it all, though she's tentative to share it
keen eye and good at being quietly aware; plays off like she's a housecat when she's more a panther, curled at the end of your bed
her impassive expression leads to quick lies and a silver tongue
thinks on her feet well; decent reflexes and more likely than her sister to end up with a dagger at your throat
likes swordplay and all the elegant dance-like moves and pretty craftsmanship

i ADORE her! and yes, you’re more than welcome to switch her to that litter! if you want, you can give her a spicy reason that she was named a constellation instead of a flower for that litter. they totally would break naming patterns for ~the drama.

hellebore, 2 gyres, femme
earth thauma

tall, lanky, lithe, sleek.
wears a palette of golden browns and cream.
shimmering copper-gold stripes undulate across her spine like sunlight dappled through the trees.
warm pink skin.
ember eyes.

eloquent by necessity, not desire. concession to her place as royalty has gilded her tongue instead of sharpening it; she vies to perfect the art of passive aggression instead. they whisper about her - how her eyes are made of fire but her heart is stone (fitting, for an earth thauma). the truth is more nuanced, as her penchant for empathy suggests. she is world-weary already by two gyres, and veils her idealism viciously. what would they think, if she showed an ounce of compassion? her fear makes her distant, even to those who mean well. she pretends indifference towards displays of passion, romance, aggression - a projection of her own hidden intensity. her solace is her gardening and assisting with the herds, the best outlet for her chained fervor. after all, if her tenderness is useful to the court's glory, can it be called a weakness? less obvious about her fascination with lore, religion, and the growing rift between the old gods and the new, as it could be considered inappropriate. struggling not to crack beneath the pressure of existing in-between: second in line for the throne, and therefor valuable, but never as carefree as a later child might be.

i could not do the resist. this is in progress <:

cassiopeia ‘io, cassie, cassie mcbratty’ - one gyre, daughter of the high matriarch
a piece of the moon herself, cassiopeia is crafted first in soft and delicate ivory -- with long, flowing locks that she preens to perfection. rose gold and some bronze warms the bridge of her nose and rises to crown her lofty forehead before cascading across the tendrils of her partial mohawk and her taut shoulders to finally filter through her sweeping tail. where her nape lies, a small ridge interrupts the gleaming metals of her fur in a shade of deep dusky purple. (#524F81) tall and statuesque as though carved from precious stone, built for speed and swiftness. a hunter’s moon — she built for the hunt. eyes of pure honey, they are but deceptive pits meant to ensnare. io is blessed with the rarity of crescent shaped pupils - as if her vanity needed any more reason to swell.

actress, silver tongued, coaxing, convincing, fake af, perfectionialist, perfect vision of royalty and diplomacy but really is a v big b*tch on the low, vain, materialistic, elitest, might be regina george, scheming, two faced, transactional, loyal to family (mainly due to her vanity of their bloodline) but quick to rat someone out for stepping out of line

ARIES OLEANDER IOKHEAIRA
ONE GYRE / AIR THAUMA

HE'S A CHILD OF THE SUN: death-marked and golden, born with his destiny throttled in his fists. See it linger in his smile, even now; the way emotion bleeds into vagueness at the corners of his mouth, like he's still chasing after that sense of an ending. Though he holds his hurts close, there’s a tinge of melancholy coloring his every action. An air of resignation, faint but unmistakable, to the solitude that accompanies a life tangled up in the strings of fate.

So he prefers to let the warmth of the spotlight chase out the shadows. He’s pure reckless physicality on the field--half-muscle, half-fever, with a reputation for cliff’s edge thrills and feats of strength, relentlessly courting danger. Center stage allows him a vantage point to the best version of himself, as the boisterous and unflappable princeling, armed equally with courtesy and a comeback. This is the ideal to which he holds himself, even when it feels like gruesome self-imitation. Affable, generous, loyal, attentive to the smallest detail of his encounters: anything to charm, but more to the point, anything to win the flicker of a smile. Silence and disapproval (the painful memory of his holy mother’s indifference, his tutors’ cold attentions) cut him to the bone.

But flattery is not love. He knows this better than most. The all-consuming effort of his charm runs shallow, and his loyalty, when tested, proves as fickle as his moods. His capacity to do the necessary thing--however ugly, however crude--would shock him, if he could stomach the memory: but he's quick to shuffle his sins into the depth of his subconscious, where their ghostly claws find purchase only in dreaming. That childish fear of disappointment blackens with time into something more sinister, until he's the would-be hero crafting his own mythology, believing every comfortable lie.

He has a muscled, tapered physique, with the hard-won grace of constant training. Golden ram's horns (the origin of his name) crown his head, the left curling behind his ear, the right sheared into a cruel edge by childhood folly: in the afternoon sun, they shimmer like a divine laurel. Beneath, his thauma crests along his nape, shifting to a shock of white curls when active that stand luminescent against the auburn and flax of his coat. His eyes capture the rose-gold of the dawn, traces of red horizon obscured beneath the blush of the morning sun.

both cassiopeia and aries are GORGEOUS, beautiful characters. <3 so well-rounded and divine. please take both of them, and let's make stories together!

vae

Spu

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chimaera

Nish

Neifion

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