Sorry about that. Anyway, without further ado, here's a character spotlight on Daryl. And yes, I know the name sounds like a guy's -_-u It's meant to be a homage to Darril from Final Fantasy 6, who was a woman and who, in the original release as Final Fantasy 3, which I played to death, I believe her name was spelled Daryl. Darl is how I always pronounced it. Might change that for the final release in book form if we get there.
Now, character spotlight
Character Spotlight 6:
Daryl
Daryl's
probably the character who has gone through the most change from my original
design. I'd be hard pressed to pick a
real inspiration for her, as she was originally meant to be far worse than she
turned out to be. I suppose you could
say all the good people who broke my heart went into Daryl, as she's a good
person, but tragically flawed. However,
that being said, she is rather fun to write for because she comes from a
different place than almost any other character in the main cast.
Daryl is a
young woman with long purple hair, because this is my world so shut up, and who
is training to join the clergy. In this
world, the clergy are actually a powerful organization who rule the theocratic
Lucaria. Being a clergy member means
that you will have access to greater educational tools, but also that you will
be able to have more choice in your life.
Being a teacher, a doctor, a warrior, politician or just someone who
spreads the word of Shanadia and the lord prophet, are all options. It's a common path for rich, talented
children because it allows them upward mobility with only scholastic effort and
magic training being the major determiners of their future. Daryl follows this path because it was easy
and she had a knack for it.
If that
last description didn't make it clear, Daryl is a rich child. She grew up the daughter of a merchant who
made his home in Gesthal and both she and her mother are supported by her
father while he is away, selling wares.
He is able to purchase books on apocra, magic, history, anything to help
Daryl improve her chances at being accepted into the clergy. As such, Daryl is a good mouthpiece for
certain types of information in the story.
She can give good practical information, but can also be useful for
spouting misinformation other characters need to either correct or add to. However, I'd say it's fair that all three
girls act as surrogates for the audience, so this isn't too shocking. Mina knows some things about the races and
Telnumbra, Celine knows of neeg, apocra, and living on the road, and Daryl
knows about history, magic, legends, and the like.
On the
surface, Daryl is a snob. She is
elitist, bigoted, prejudiced, and happens to think she knows everything. She lives for praise and will sometimes
overstep her boundaries because she believes she's above consequence. This is often why she antagonizes Celine,
though since they have known each other for so long it has become more akin to
their way of expressing affection than true snobbery. Hence the two nicknames they spit out at each
other. Daryl is a very intelligent young
woman, however her vast stores of knowledge are somewhat hindered by her lack
of practical experience. She has lived
her whole life in Gesthal and never seen the sights that Mina or Celine have,
so she tends to not know how to handle new situations.
In the
original draft, Daryl was going to be far more frightened, bigoted, and dubious
about Aeon than even in this one. More
important than all that in this version, however was her status as friends with
Mina and Celine. Not just friends, but
very close friends. So, she's actually
pretty dependable when it comes down to it.
More than that, they help temper her bigotry, prejudices, and
misconceptions, so Daryl's more honest nature shines through.
Underneath
all the arrogance and clergical dogma that she has absorbed through her
readings and her training with Angelo and the other priests, Daryl tends to be
a very honest girl. She won't hide her
emotions, be they disgust or concern, and can overlook a fierce exterior if she
knows there's more to that. There also
exists a great thirst for knowledge within her, so she will do what she needs to
in order to expand her information, both so she can advance in her chosen life
path, but also for her own sake. Daryl,
despite being a whiner, a wimp, and a coward, also stands by her friends till
the bitter end, which helps with Nerise as she proves to be quite loyal,
despite the fright the little girl gave to her.
Even though
Daryl has been pampered, there is also an undercurrent of stress and obligation
to her character. She fears failure and
thrives on praise. However this means
that she is like a college student at the finish line to graduation. It's do or die for her and failure is worse
than death. She's not afraid to work, as
she's trained hard with Angelo and the others to the detriment of her social
life, basically only having Mina and Celine stick with her up till the current
point, however she tries to hide her fear with bravado, and often ends up as
the socially awkward one of the group because of it.
In spite of
her status as the "smart one" in Gesthal, Daryl doesn't have many
friends, due to her toxic personality and her heavy work constraints. If her time in Acacia weren't informing her
almost as much as her readings, she probably wouldn't be able to continue her
visits. Daryl hasn't had time to think
about friends, but is slowly realizing their value not just through Mina and
Celine, but through Nerise and the others.
I want to
show change through Daryl, because she is kind of like the baseline for
Lucaria. Perhaps not as fanatically
against Telnumbran's as some, but still fearful and prejudiced. However, not above change, either. Daryl is a character who has slowly opened
up, gotten less haughty, save for when she's with Celine, and learned that
sometimes...the absolute truth you knew isn't as solid as you thought it was.
Daryl is
also a mage, for those not paying attention.
She hasn't been focusing her training on elemental magic, so Mina is
better at it than her, but she can do a great deal more with holy magic. Daryl can heal, create weak barriers out of
Leyline energy, and conjure up light.
She is very good at channeling Leyline energy and giving it form, making
her an interesting contrast to Mina, who struggles with her own training, but
is better at elemental magic, while Daryl is able to use holy magic with ease,
but cannot use elemental magic readily.
Daryl's
relationship with Mina is probably the deepest she's had. It's not as deep as Mina and Celine's but
Daryl has known Mina even longer than Celine.
She saved Daryl from getting hit by a patron of Kano's bar, while Daryl's former friends, who
she lost due to her workload, did nothing.
This taking place after Daryl had played the Holier than Thou card on
her. That deeply affected her and puts
Mina on a pedestal to Daryl. She hasn't
been able to get as close as Celine, due to her workload, but Mina has always
been there to talk when Daryl needs it or listen and has always put up with
Daryl's abrasive personality...so she values Mina deeply and tries to be as
understanding as her friend.
Despite
friction with Celine due to their nearly polar opposite social stations, Daryl
and Celine grew closer thanks to Mina, who didn't want her two friends to
fight. They still do, but after the
years they've known each other, it is less hurtful and more out of habit and a
strange form of affection. Daryl and
Celine each look down on the other to a degree, but understand when the time
for pettiness is over and they need to be there for the other. In many ways, Daryl envies Celine for her
closeness to Mina and for her cool head during crises. They do truly care for one another.
Daryl has a
healthy respect for the clergy, especially Angelo and his men, who have taken
time out of their usual duties to train her in holy magic. They are not necessarily friends, but more
like a strict teacher and a sycophantic student. Each knows the other has value, so they are
respectful on the surface, but that is as far as it goes. They are like a commodity to one another, in
a sense. This means that if that value
ever disappears, either would be in trouble, so there is some concern on both
sides for that, but it is largely self serving.
Daryl
doesn't have much of a baseline for a lot of the crew of Acacia. Dakon and Echidna are frightening to her and
she tends to keep them at arms length because of their status as Telnumbrans. In spite of this, she at least knows her
manners around those who have power, as evidenced by her submissive nature to
Angelo and the other clergy, so she treats them with respect, especially since
Echidna is kind to her. She relies on
Mina and Celine to get through many of these confrontations.
Aeon she
only knows to be a lich and is naturally very scared, but also knows him for
having saved her from many perils, so she is willing to look past that. I would say she has a kind of respect for
him, but doubts they can ever be friends.
Vincent and
Daryl have a strained relationship.
While he is polite to her and her to him, his status as a teythen scares
Daryl and she is wary of him. Likewise,
Vincent does not wish to antagonize her, as he recognizes her fear, so he does
not try as hard to engage her as with the other girls.
Daryl's
affinity for Gadius is purely superficial.
He is like a more charming version of Angelo. Very attractive, very in tune with nature and
magic, very Lucarian. She feels
comfortable around him because he is something she believes she understands,
both from her books and because he is Lucarian.
Aside from that, they don't have many interactions.
Yuka and
Daryl have a more cordial relationship, far more so than Celine and Yuka had at
the beginning. Daryl has no fear of
neeg, though she does consider them somewhat second class. However, she wants to know more about Yuka's
devices, as she has a thirst for knowledge, so is polite enough and Yuka is
always ready to engage a curiosity seeker.
Because neeg are part of Lucaria as well as Telnumbra, there is no
tension between them and she is able to speak with her on a level close to an
equal. I would say that Daryl likes
Yuka, but has no great interest in knowing her any further than she does. The two are comfortable around one another,
but not really friends.
At first,
Daryl and Deminos had a very antagonistic relationship, as she saw him as a
layabout, squandering the gift of Gadius and Aeon's tutelage, which was very
valuable. She, as an aspiring mage
herself, looked down on him for that.
However, after seeing Deminos's true nature, the stress he's been under,
the fears he's been dealing with, I'd say they are far friendlier. They are very parallel in their fears. Deminos fears failure because it means
expulsion from Acacia and from what friends he has, while Daryl fears it
because it means all her ambitions will come to naught. In a way, she sees her own future failure
through Deminos...a possible future she doesn't want to let happen. Because of that, however, and because she
sees how hard he does work and is willing to go to cure himself of his
affliction, she gains a respect for him that could almost be called
friendship. He is still Telnumbran and a
bit unusual for her, but she has learned not to look down on him.
Daryl is
closest to Nerise. She is very fond of
the girl's childlike nature and how, despite being Telnumbran, she acts with
such carefree, child like abandon that she doesn't seem either Lucarian or
Telnumbran. Nerise is merely
Nerise. Daryl was originally drawn to
her because of her knowledge of void magic, as learning how to use it and
counter it could be valuable to her, however over the course of their many
discussions, which Nerise is always happy to give, she has grown fond of the
little girl. Nerise, in turn, has helped
Daryl come out of her shell a little by introducing friends, teaching her not
to fear the undead so much, and doing activities not related to magic, like baking. The two are fast friends and Daryl sees both
her superior, scholastically, and a little sister figure in Nerise. She both looks up to Nerise, but also wants
to set a good example for her. She knows
little of Nerise's past, but doesn't want to see her cry, so she holds Nerise's
emotions in high regard and will work to help her find the good in life if she
is ever sad.
Along those
same lines, Daryl started off in a strained relationship with Weiss and Kinana,
as each was unusual and scary to her.
Goetians are typically called upon by Telnumbrans, so Daryl was
immediately wary of Kinana and Weiss, as one of the first children, is a source
of both awe and terror for her. However,
due to their connections to Nerise, she has grown closer to the two. Kinana is like a big sister/mother figure to
Nerise, so Daryl tries to respect her because of that and Weiss is her oldest
friend and faithful ally, so she puts aside her awe and fear to not interrupt
their friendship.
Daryl also,
as a more religious member of the group, has awe for anything she considers
sacred. The Dragons, as first children,
are sources of awe and terror for her and she looks to Seran, the All-father,
as an almost godlike figure, worthy of fear and respect. The same could be said for other nihilons,
like Granny.
Daryl was
originally meant to be a mouthpiece for the dogma of the clergy of Lucaria, to
help flesh out the two sides of Serano, the disparity between Lucaria and Telnumbra. She was going to be the disliked character,
the one who tagged along, but who you couldn't exactly count on. However, over the course of writing, she has
evolved into a more realized and fleshed out character. I'd have to say, I really like her because in
spite of her flaws, she IS a good person and IS trying to be better. She only has a few friends, is good
scholastically and a hard worker, but her personality flaws sometimes make it
hard for others to see the good in her.
Haha, in many ways, it's like me.
I suppose I see in Daryl the side of me that people don't look for. There is a side to me that is elitist, but
it's not my public face. No, I see in
Daryl the person who wants to be accepted for who she is, warts and all, but
who can't because of some toxic mannerisms.
That being said, she does find friends she can rely on, so Daryl does
mimic me in that regard as well.
Daryl's one
of my favorite characters to write for.
Mina's probably still my favorite character, period, but Daryl has
evolved and grown so much. I wanted Mina
to be the center of the story and she's grown and changed in many ways, from
being purely fearful, to being more outgoing, friendly, and even pro active, in
spite of being a bit nervous and jittery around Aeon, however, I have to hand
it to Daryl. She's become much more than
I originally intended for her.
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