Working on Burning Stones so have an excerpt: aka sure is nice having the protagonist have cryptic visions of the future as a way to forshadow lmao. also ignore the dialogue grammar i’m still figuring out how a southern-imperial person would approach northern grammar besides having trouble with the “no” word because the phoneme doesn’t exist for them and wondering how the fact northern can use the word “nu” to mean any of the question words.
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Giving a glance back at the metal gates, Guri followed him with Yarr by her side. “High Father,” she said, “Why is your temple doors are a wall?”
The high priest paused for just long enough to mistake his silence for polite contemplation of her answer. “This city is under a curfew,” he said, and then added when she didn’t appear to understand the last word, “like a bedtime for the people.”
“I understand the word,” Guri told him, shifting her bag onto Yarr’s back, and giving her a chance to think of her response. “What I ..no...understand is why the doors are a wall.”
The high priest shook his head. “You will in time. This city is not your mountain. Many things are different and the people are not all friends here.” He stopped in front of a door and motioned at it, before he asked briefly, “You read the letter, yes?”
Guri nodded. “You have.. problems in Riverport.” He had a rebellion against the temple’s rule of the city. “But,” she hedged, “I am ..no.. your wall.” She was not the person for the job. Not when his goals were a violation of the freedom the spirits themselves championed. They had always been on the side of revolution, of people fighting for their own rights and chance to control their lives.
The high priest’s reasons for bringing her were clear. To squash whatever resistance to the leaderships of the temple existed. To bring an end to the rebellion.
The high priest did not look pleased, and the old lines that had creased his face deepened into a frown.
For a second, his face was cast into shadow and the soft green light of the plant lanterns along the wall burned red and gold. A cold chill touched her neck and Guri dropped into a shallow bow, averting her eyes.
“I will do what I can to help,” Guri said, forming the words and regretting that she hadn’t practiced more on the trip. “I serve the spirits.” She served the greater good first.
Barring the doors to the public did not sit right. But neither did the high priest’s reaction to his authority being challenged.
She kept her hands poised like the mountain in front of her eyes and waited for him to break the moment.
The high priest nodded, his features softening. “Lessons are in the big hall. Tomorrow. After Breakfast.” He gave her a curt nod and then walked down the hall, the skirt of his robes billowing in dark shadows.
Born on the Islands of the Imperial Empire (it’s a democracy) he was taken in by the temples and eventually ended up as High Priest in Riverport. Due to the politics of the Warring Lands, he is seen as unfit to head the temple as a man, and is trying to maintain a cohesive structure in the face of a divided and turbulent city.
He is a tall man with once dark hair that has been streaked by gray and light eyes.
1: What’s your OC’s biggest insecurity and how would they react if someone pointed it out to them?
His biggest insecurity is that he thinks people don’t respect him that he’s a pretender to the position of High Priest and not chosen by the spirits some of the new up and coming priest/ess are. He reacts by trying to reassert himself.
3: Does your OC behave differently around different people, if so with whom and how?
Oh yes. In his younger years before he was named high priest, he was less insecure about his position and was often seen as a surrogate father for many of the orphans living in the temple. He is kind to the ones who are still around as adults such as Tolle. He is stern in every day life and he plays up the wise and benevolent angle for public.
5: How would your OC generally react to someone being verbally abusive towards them for no apparent reason?
At the point he’s at now, shock since it’d be like being verbally abusive to the pope, not really something people /do/. Although he’d likely see them as a threat and find a way to make them disappear.
