Mara
Full Birth Name: Clarissa Marayena Ardor Whitethorn
Alias/Title: Her Grace, Lady Clarissa Marayena Ardor of House Whitethorn
Preferred Name: Marayena (pronounced Marr-uh-YEN-uh), Mara or Mari to close friends and family (note: she does refer to herself as Mara, but Marayena should be used by those she doesn't know well—or Clarissa for those who are especially unfamiliar with her)
Nickname(s): Mara, Mari, Mar-Mar (by Daria and Aurelian, occasionally—she's not sure how she feels about this one), Yenna (by potential LI)
Age: 18
Gender: Female
Skin Bound?: Not yet—will be bound at this Gathering (upon first attempt, like her sister) to her exiled cousin's skin.
Family Line: The Whitethorn Line - Deer
Line Placing : Youngest
Thoughts on The Gathering?: Nervous, some trepidation, but also excited. Worried about meeting other families due to instability between Houses. She is ready to receive her skin, feeling it to be an important rite of passage.
Thoughts on The Ball?: Similar to the Gathering; nervous but excited. She believes it's an important event to foster relations and, more importantly, peaceful agreement between Houses in the newer generation of leaders. She looks forward to meeting the other heirs.
Reputation:
The Princess
She has had little interaction with other Families over the past decade or more. This is her first Gathering, which she is attending to undergo her Binding. Other Families may be aware that she is nature-oriented and spends time managing the multitude of animals on her family's wooded property.
Among those Family members she has met over the past few years, she is widely regarded as a charming, kind young lady with a pleasant demeanour. She is thought of as quite polite and diplomatic, and one is hard-pressed to find someone who dislikes her.
Appearance Description:
Mara is fair-haired and light-skinned, with round green eyes and full bangs that are long enough to frame her cheeks on both sides. She has a heart-shaped face with somewhat thin eyebrows and dark eyelashes, giving her a pixie-like appearance. She's about average height (between 5'4 and 5'5) and delicately built. She often wears pale colours, favouring heeled boots and unbound hair.
Skin Description:
The deer itself is large, almost eight feet tall, and darkly coloured. It's powerfully built and strong, but able to move with agility through forests as well as it does in open plains. Its antlers are deep black and somewhat large, but not overbearing.
The skin is worn as a floor-length, hooded cloak, velvety and dark grey-brown on the outside with the fur lining the inside, meant to provide wamth during the cold winters characteristic of the Whitethorn family home. Its clasp is made up of interlocking antlers—similar to the shift itself, they are prominent enough to be noteworthy, but not so large they're unwieldy.
Personality:
Marayena's cheerful, kind exterior quickly endears her to most. Her patience and openness have her come across as trustworthy and make it quite easy for her to get along with other heirs. She is friendly and conversational, as well as highly empathetic, making her easy to speak with; she senses when people are uncomfortable and is often able to steer situations into more amiable territory, effectively defusing high degrees of tension.
Marayena, like her family, greatly values peace and harmony. She feels that strong inter-Family friendships are incredibly important—she becomes uneasy when people don't get along and is quick to repair relations. She values kindness more than anything, more so in others than herself, so she can be quick to write off those who are cruel. She believes balance means peace and amiability between all Families and those beyond.
She appreciates actions as much as words and is quick to trust both. Although deer tend to be skittish, she trusts strongly, and is loyal when her companionship is earned. She is incredibly protective of those she loves, including her family and the animals on the Whitethorn lands. Her loyalty can be detrimental, however, as she is not so quick to take it away, and may place her trust falsely.
Marayena is somewhat weak-willed and can be easy to convince. Although emotionally dependable, she can be jumpy, and is quick to remove herself from situations where she's at risk of physical harm. However, since this sort of situation is not common, she is widely regarded as an excellent friend and ally. A few words with her often brings others a sense of comfort and peace, although this changes when she receives her skin, as turmoil begins to brew under the surface.
Strengths & Weaknesses:
Strengths:
- Kind, able to form strong relations
- Open and vulnerable, making her trustworthy to most—and often instilling a sense of protectiveness in those around her
- Mediator, good at mending disagreements before they come to blows
- Adaptable (when absolutely necessary, she can be firm and even cruel) and willing to shift her perspective
- Loyal, and protective of those she loves
- Skilled in medicine and physical healing (which, although true to her family's values, is to a much greater degree than most Whitethorns)
Weaknesses:
- Perhaps too kind (may come across as deceitful to some more distrusting heirs)
- Loyalty occasionally manifests as self-sacrifice, more strongly than can be attributed merely to the influence of the Line
- Can be too trusting and fail to see the faults of those she cares about (may fail to notice warning signs before it's too late)
- Weak-willed—easily falls victim to strong convincing and can be manipulated without too much effort
- Shies away from outright conflict; will not defend herself to a significant degree
- Although she comes across as open-book, she may instinctually (but usually not strategically) hide information she finds delicate—this can prevent important conversations and cause misunderstandings and harsh conflicts
- Can be indecisive
Likes & Dislikes*:
Likes:
- Freedom and a lack of routine
- Small talk, just as much as deep conversations
- Unexpected visits (mostly from friends)
- Letter writing
- Physical touch
- Wandering the forests on her family's land and visiting the critters
Dislikes:
- Eating meat
- Aggression or cruelty (this includes veiled or hinted threats)
- Fighting and brutality
- Over-the-top ornamentation, such as excessive outfits or jewelry, for a given event (she'll excuse some degree of extravagance for balls and such)
- Darkness
- Cold floors
Relationship Status: Single
Significant Other*: None
Crush: None currently (ask me!)
Exes: None
Children: None
Familial Ties: Very strong with parents, Aurelian, and Daria. Feels very comforted by being around her family, especially Aurelian, who has always been protective of her and her sister.
Other Noteable Affiliations: PM me!
Theme Song*: Butterfly's Repose - Zabawa
Other: Marayena's favourite colour is soft white (but sometimes, if you ask in a particularly quiet moment, she'll say rose pink).
Marayena's skin (often called Actaeon's Mantle) has a turbulent history. In the early days, a Whitethorn viciously fought its confines, hating the influence it exerted on him and the instincts it wrought. He didn't want to be stuck in the role of self-sacrifice, head flooded with the fears of others, and he rebelled against it. The skin is rumoured to be permanently tainted with his hatred and rage, and so is imbued with turmoil. It wars between his fury and the instincts of the deer; aggression and submission, hatred and gentleness, anger and empathy.
Over time, many wearers of this skin have fallen victim to horrible fates such as early and gruesome deaths, insanity, and actions resulting in exile (Marayena's cousin, the previous wearer of the skin, was exiled himself). Among the Lines, it is even rumoured to be cursed. For this reason, when it's presented to Marayena, she's horrified and does not want to be bound to it.
As the prey skins become more fragile, so does Actaeon's Mantle; already filled with turmoil and instability, it becomes volatile and unreliable, threatening to bring Marayena with it.
Daria
Full Birth Name: Daria Malory Annora Whitethorn Alias/Title: Her Grace, Lady Daria Malory Annora of House Whitethorn
Preferred Name: Daria
Nickname(s): Dar, Dari (both by close friends and family), Ria (if desired by potential LI)
Age: 21
Gender: Female
Sexuality: All with a small preference for het
Skin Bound?: Yes - bound at first attempt, inherited her great-grandmother's skin
Family Line: The Whitethorn Line - Deer
Line Placing: Second eldest
Thoughts on The Gathering?: Daria has attended the Gathering before and finds it a bit tedious, although she enjoys using spare pockets of time to browse the great libraries in the host manor. She has begun to dislike socializing with other Houses in recent years, finding herself often thrust into the place of a mediator as Family relations continue to grow strained. For this reason, she struggles to truly enjoy the Gathering.
Thoughts on The Ball?: The Ball is Daria's favourite part of the Gathering. She finds the political aspect particularly intriguing and sees it as a way of strengthening her own relations with other heirs. She also likes that the masks allow for conversation without the loosely veiled influences of skins.
Reputation:
The Clever Fox
Daria is well known among the heirs as polite and diplomatic. She gets along well enough with most, as she avoids outright disagreements. She is generally appreciated for her dry remarks and witty jokes, a quality not typical of Whitethorn heirs. There is some speculation that she is not truly a Whitethorn heir at all, but most of these mutterings were stamped out when she bound to her skin.
Appearance Description:
Daria is fair-skinned, which heavily contrasts her darker features. She has a finely structured face with straight eyebrows and long eyelashes, and dark eyes that can go from doe-like to cutting in moments. Her hair is dark brown, long, and slightly wavy, and is often pulled into a braid or ponytail. She's around 5'5 in height and tends to wear autumnal colours such as off-whites and browns. She bears subtle similarities to her older brother, Aurelian. In her childhood, some referred to her as 'the moon to Aurelian's sun'.
Skin Description:
The deer is petite, with a soft brown, dappled pelt and small antlers with few prongs (ref: Chital deer). It's lithe and agile with a gentle face and white-tipped tail.
The skin is worn as a pair of delicate, white, wrist-length gloves. The fur lines the inside and is dappled, similar to the pelt of the deer, although few save for Daria are aware of this. A small copper button fastens the glove at each wrist.
Personality:
Daria comes off as precise and calm, speaking with measured phrases and careful elegance. She's clever and cunning, quick to make connections, and quicker to hide them. Despite her wittiness, most people do not recognize how clever she truly is, and she intends to keep it that way.
Daria strongly values honesty and is quick to distrust. Similar to her patron animal, she can be quite skittish—she does not take well to strangers and doesn't let people in easily. Due to the nature of deer, she can come across as disloyal. In truth, her trust is tough to gain and easy to break. She is quick to protect herself if she senses dishonestly or cruelty—and quick to flee if she suspects danger.
She dreads large, inter-Family events, mostly due to the vast degree of mediating that is necessary. She finds acting as a mediator draining, but will do it if and when necessary, mostly by instinct of her skin. She understands the importance of peace but dislikes her role in maintaining it—although she consistently finds herself mending relations between Families, especially the heirs, she distrusts them herself. Daria does not particularly like any of the other Families, but has a particular aversion to the Predator Lines. She agrees with her family's belief that Predator families mistake dominance for protection, and fears this confusion will end in tragedy.
Daria believes balance means true equality between Predator and Prey lines. She disagrees with the notion that Predators should hold more power, whether in a conflict or in the absence of one.
Daria is strong-willed and resourceful, and (save for her family) she is polite but guarded. Often, she even finds herself speaking carefully around her most trusted—her parents and siblings. She often feels somewhat out of place in her family; although she respects and appreciates the warmth and openness of the Whitethorns with each other, she wonders if she's not quite as honest as everyone else. She knows she belongs, but she's not sure if she should.
Strengths & Weaknesses:
Strengths:
- Clever and cunning, and incredibly intuitive (empathy-adjacent, but not quite there)
- Diplomatic and honest; despite how they feel about her, most heirs tend to trust her and her words
- Resourceful, and can often gain an upper hand in situations, usually through careful analysis and planning
- Easily keeps secrets; does not divulge information freely, and can hold her cards close to her chest if and when she deems it necessary
- Very well-read from a youth spent combing the libraries (has rudimentary knowledge of many languages and is able to decipher most texts)
- Talented pianist
Weaknesses:
- Not well accomplished in physical combat
- Although generally quite careful and strategic, she makes rash decisions when the safety of her loved ones is at stake
- Somewhat insecure of her role in her Family
- Worries that her skin doesn't feel a kinship with her, and at the same time strongly cares about it; isn't quite sure what to feel, which at times causes her to be out of harmony with it (this can weaken her instincts or make her more prone to them in a volatile manner)
- Can be quite blunt, sometimes causing rifts between her and those she cares about
- Since she is polite and measured, she often comes across as reserved; although she is generally trusted and well-liked by heirs, none save her siblings truly consider her a friend (which could prove problematic in times where collaboration is necessary)
- Feels a growing resentment toward the Lines in general, exacerbated by her sister's forced binding to Actaeon's Mantle
- Quick to distrust (in a dangerous situation, she may spend more time on the 'why should I believe you' end and less on the 'how can we fix this')
- Has a strong sense of self-preservation, which may drive a wedge between her and her Line and skin (and may cause issues with other Families in the future if she outwardly clashes with her Line-bound duty)
Likes & Dislikes*:
Likes:
- Reading, especially historical and other such old books, and big libraries
- Rainy or foggy days, as well as snow
- Family events such as holidays, where skin-bound duties are less important
- Receiving gifts
- Playing chess
- Acting like a child, when she feels safe to do so (running through empty halls, playing hide and seek, snowball fights, etc)
Dislikes:
- Cut flowers (they're just going to wilt)
- Large parties, especially those which involve intermingling of Families
- Feeling uncomfortable or out of place
- Physical combat (mostly because she's terrible at it)
- Waste of any sort
Relationship Status: Single as of the onset of the gathering
Significant Other: None
Crush: None
Exes: None
Children: None
Familial Ties: Strong with parents, Aurelian, and Mara. Appreciates Aurelian's ability and willingness to mediate, as it takes some burden off of her.
Other Noteable Affiliations: PM me
Theme Song*: Who is She - Monsters
Other: Daria's favourite colour is blue—any blue, really.
When she shifts, instead of all at once, it begins with her hands, moves up her arms, and extends from there.
Daria is afraid that she is beginning to lose touch with her skin, and despite the instability in the Lines causing a decline in skin integrity, she believes it's her own fault. She worries that the innate instincts of the skin clash with her personality, and she is not the right bearer for it.
Daria's skin comes from a line of quiet, driving forces behind the House of Whitethorn, and its bearers historically perform an especially strong mediating role within and outside of the House. The skin is strong-willed when interacting with prey but submissive towards predators. Previous wearers often felt strong fear along with a strong sense of sacrifice.
Sometimes Daria finds unsettlement creep into her from previous wearers, and she wonders if the skin holds memories of things that should never have been known. Perhaps the ancestors who wore this skin held the secrets to the Lines, and the ancient knowledge of how to save them... or destroy them.
***This is NOT written with AI. I just really like em-dashes and semicolons, to a disturbing degree
Note for Meander: feel free to reach out to chat about the family! I'd love to come up with some lore and personalities for family members with you ^^ 
Fall Month: 1 
Night 
Fog Moon: 
