Personality: Rua's personality is a reflection of her troubled past; she has trouble trusting others (especially men and authority figures), she has a morbid outlook on almost everything, and avoids social interaction when she can. The little socializing she does do is with ghosts and whatever bookish types she can find who will tolerate her sometimes odd personality. Rua is not attracted to boys, though would be attracted to girls if she could get over her hang-ups about what happened to her mentor, Kel. In general, Rua has trouble letting go of things, carrying every little tragedy in her heart for far longer than is healthy. Rua is convinced that she is haunted by the ghost of Kel (despite assurances from staff and other ghosts that she is not), because Rua frequently "sees" Kel following her about in a ghostly patronus-like form. Rua's patronus even looks like her dead mentor, and Rua has been known to talk to Kel when she thinks she is alone and even involuntarily summons the patronus to comfort her when she is sad or scared. As something of a protective mechanism, Rua prefers "socializing" via the journals instead of face-to-face as much as she can get away with. When she does socialize, she tends to be very sarcastic as a means of hiding any of her vulnerabilities. Often times, she tries to just hide in her room or the library and read, but it seems the other students have an annoying tendency of dragging her off to do some stupid thing or another.
Original/Canon Background: Rua is a character from my comic, Twice Blessed, who hasn't had a lot of screen time yet but will play a bigger part in the future. In the comic, Rua is a sorceress who was adopted in her adolescence by a mage named Kel. Kel sensed great and unusual Shadow potential in Rua and trained her as her apprentice. Rua was born in an alternate version of Ireland called Athair, and was raised in what is basically an alternate version of Germany, on the edge of the Veritas Empire's border. More information about her world can be found here. (Warning, I'm having some technical hiccups with the site right now, send me a message if you can't get through.) Their relationship was somewhat dysfunctional, for while Kel loved Rua in a more maternal way, Rua secretly developed a strong crush on Kel. The priesthood of Veritas decided that Kel was dangerous and raided her home with the intent of trying and executing Kel and Rua as witches. Kel died so that Rua could get to safety, and it tore Rua apart. When divine magic could not save Kel, Rua delved deep into her studies of shadow magic and tried to use to pull Kel back from the River Styx. In doing so, she almost killed herself and tore a rift between the realm of the living and the dead. Kel's spirit was returned to the world as a specter, who then sought out Delbin, the champion of Shadow. Delbin begrudgingly sealed the portal and saved Rua, but from now Rua is literally haunted by the ghost of the woman who meant so much to her, slowly driving her more mad.
Background (AU!Canon; HP): Rua was born in the town of Cratloe in Clare county, Ireland. From the time she was born, many strange happenings followed her about: lights would flicker and go out without explanation, whispers of the dead would fill a silent room, and/or temperatures would plummet in a room on a warm summer day. Her parents, both wizards of rather limited power, moved to a hidden cottage in the nearby Gallowshill Woods to keep her from drawing unwanted muggle attention, where she was home-schooled and allowed only to play with a few older children from other nearby wizarding families. Rua proved to be a very curious child who loved learning from both books and the from the world around her. As Rua got older, she developed a strong curiosity of what was in the woods of Gallowshill, a curiosity which grew stronger as she heard tales of banshees and fairies and other things that supposedly lived within. She wandered deeper and deeper into the woods, and soon her parents forbade her to play in them. However, Rua did not listen, and would frequently sneak into the woods. When she was 7 years old, Rua came across the fugitive witch, Kel Rundamair, who used the forest as one of her hiding places from the Ministry of Magic. The naive Rua befriended Kel, and Kel, believing Rua to have great potential for dark magic, took an unhealthy interest in the child. On Rua's eighth birthday, Kel "adopted" (read: kidnapped) young Rua, and took her to a new hiding place in Germany's Black Forest. Kel tried to train young Rua in witchcraft almost immediately, despite the generally accepted knowledge that children younger than 11 could not safely control such power. After a couple disasters that nearly scared Rua away from using magic entirely, Kel eventually accepted that Rua was too young. She instead worked to keep Rua fascinated in the power of magic, and instead taught her theory (in the form of stories) and had Rua assist her in her black rituals and research for three years, doing what she could to give the girl a jump-start in her training in the dark arts. Rua learned what she was taught surprisingly well, and made a very clever and useful assistant to Kel during these years. On Rua's eleventh birthday, Kel took her to the wand-maker Gregorovitch, who matched Rua with a hard 13-inch hawthorn wand with a dragon-heartstring core. Kel then began tutoring Rua in the ways of magic, teaching Rua all the basics (but with a calling in the dark arts in mind). Rua had come to want Kel's approval more than anything, and that, combined with her natural hunger for knowledge, spurred her on to learn as much as she could regardless of the danger. Rua proved to be a serious studier and a fast learner, and indeed showed a talent with jinxes, hexes, and curses that Kel found encouraging. When Rua was 13, Kel was about to begin her training in truly dark magic, but fate intervened. Aurors finally found Kel, and when they attempted to capture her, Kel engaged them in a deadly dual that forced the aurors to kill her. Rua was brought back to her father after five years of absence (her mother having died in the interim), but the man seemed to have mixed feelings about being reunited with his daughter after having lost his wife. Rua's father determined that she had learned some magic, but grossly misjudged how much since Rua did her best to hide anything she'd learned that could be connected to the dark arts even a bit. He arranged for 13-year-old Rua to transfer to Hogwarts as a second-year student (thinking she'd fallen behind), and in her first year it seemed like even that might be too much for her. Struggling with recent traumatic experiences and hiding much of what she learned out of fear she would be killed like Kel, Rua fared poorly in her early classes and mostly shunned the other students. The head of her house eventually figured out that Rua had much more potential and arranged for her to receive regular counseling with witches who were good at that sort of thing. By the end of her fourth year, Rua had shown marked improvement and performed exceptionally in all her classes, especially in Defense against the Dark Arts, Charms, and Potions. She still showed little interest in socializing with her peers, preferring to devote herself to studying or locking herself somewhere private where she could talk to the "ghost" of Kel. She also took a strong interest in the other ghosts of Hogwarts around this time, socializing with them more than the living, it seemed. It was this year that she learned to summon her patronus, and it is a charm she has practiced incessantly ever since. Rua, now beginning her 6th year, is a mostly normal student, albeit an anti-social one with an unhealthy interest in ghosts (and secretly in the dark arts). She managed to get O's in all of her OWLs last year, but has tried to let as few people know about that as possible.
How would your character fit in to each House? Gryffindor: Rua can be exceptionally brave in some ways, but not in the reckless way that Gryffindor's tend to be. She has no interest in heroics or chivalry. Hufflepuff: Rua is hard-working, but that seems to be the only Hufflepuff quality she has. She is not friendly and is prone to keeping secrets, and would be a rather dark cloud amongst the otherwise cheery Hufflepuffs. Ravenclaw: Rua is an avid learner, and definitely has the wisdom, wit, and intellect of a Ravenclaw. Rua loves things that make her think, and the one type of person she gets along with at least somewhat are deep-thinkers. Slytherin: Having originally been trained by a dark witch, having a secret interest in dark magic, and being a pureblood are all reasons Rua may be sorted as a Slytherin. However, Rua is not ambitious, nor shrewd, and she is certainly not a strong leader.
RP Samples: Sample Journal Entry: It looks like another year is about to begin... I glanced over some of the other journal entries others have been making, and all the whining about summer being over? Wasted ink. Honestly, I'd rather read Hufflepuff love poems. Did anyone learn anything useful during the summer? Any new spells researched? I'd love to hear some news of that sort... Anyways, I'm off to see if there are any new ghosts in the school. I'll check back later.
OH, AND NEW STUDENTS, I'm Rua. Don't bother me with any stupid questions, alright? Especially not while I'm reading.
Sample Interaction Post: Rua crept back to her room late at night, a large musty book carried under her arm. Back in her bed, she lays it out and magically lights a small floating candle. Reading the words, she mutters to herself, "Tenebris magicae... fortissima est... clarissima luce..." She then looks about suddenly, and whispers more conversationally... to empty air. "Yes, I know what I'm doing. I had the best teacher, didn't I? Not my fault you couldn't stick around... I have to find books like this on my own." Rua pauses, as if listening to a return reply. "No they don't let students check out books like this! Why do you think I made such a trip in the cover of darkness? I-" She pauses, and suddenly looks frightened. "Did you hear that?" she says in a lower whisper. Rua, now tense, hides the book in a special satchel of her own enchantments, blows out the candle, and pretends to be asleep.
no subject
Rua is not attracted to boys, though would be attracted to girls if she could get over her hang-ups about what happened to her mentor, Kel. In general, Rua has trouble letting go of things, carrying every little tragedy in her heart for far longer than is healthy.
Rua is convinced that she is haunted by the ghost of Kel (despite assurances from staff and other ghosts that she is not), because Rua frequently "sees" Kel following her about in a ghostly patronus-like form. Rua's patronus even looks like her dead mentor, and Rua has been known to talk to Kel when she thinks she is alone and even involuntarily summons the patronus to comfort her when she is sad or scared.
As something of a protective mechanism, Rua prefers "socializing" via the journals instead of face-to-face as much as she can get away with. When she does socialize, she tends to be very sarcastic as a means of hiding any of her vulnerabilities. Often times, she tries to just hide in her room or the library and read, but it seems the other students have an annoying tendency of dragging her off to do some stupid thing or another.
Original/Canon Background: Rua is a character from my comic, Twice Blessed, who hasn't had a lot of screen time yet but will play a bigger part in the future. In the comic, Rua is a sorceress who was adopted in her adolescence by a mage named Kel. Kel sensed great and unusual Shadow potential in Rua and trained her as her apprentice.
Rua was born in an alternate version of Ireland called Athair, and was raised in what is basically an alternate version of Germany, on the edge of the Veritas Empire's border. More information about her world can be found here. (Warning, I'm having some technical hiccups with the site right now, send me a message if you can't get through.)
Their relationship was somewhat dysfunctional, for while Kel loved Rua in a more maternal way, Rua secretly developed a strong crush on Kel. The priesthood of Veritas decided that Kel was dangerous and raided her home with the intent of trying and executing Kel and Rua as witches. Kel died so that Rua could get to safety, and it tore Rua apart.
When divine magic could not save Kel, Rua delved deep into her studies of shadow magic and tried to use to pull Kel back from the River Styx. In doing so, she almost killed herself and tore a rift between the realm of the living and the dead. Kel's spirit was returned to the world as a specter, who then sought out Delbin, the champion of Shadow. Delbin begrudgingly sealed the portal and saved Rua, but from now Rua is literally haunted by the ghost of the woman who meant so much to her, slowly driving her more mad.
Background (AU!Canon; HP): Rua was born in the town of Cratloe in Clare county, Ireland. From the time she was born, many strange happenings followed her about: lights would flicker and go out without explanation, whispers of the dead would fill a silent room, and/or temperatures would plummet in a room on a warm summer day. Her parents, both wizards of rather limited power, moved to a hidden cottage in the nearby Gallowshill Woods to keep her from drawing unwanted muggle attention, where she was home-schooled and allowed only to play with a few older children from other nearby wizarding families. Rua proved to be a very curious child who loved learning from both books and the from the world around her.
As Rua got older, she developed a strong curiosity of what was in the woods of Gallowshill, a curiosity which grew stronger as she heard tales of banshees and fairies and other things that supposedly lived within. She wandered deeper and deeper into the woods, and soon her parents forbade her to play in them. However, Rua did not listen, and would frequently sneak into the woods. When she was 7 years old, Rua came across the fugitive witch, Kel Rundamair, who used the forest as one of her hiding places from the Ministry of Magic. The naive Rua befriended Kel, and Kel, believing Rua to have great potential for dark magic, took an unhealthy interest in the child. On Rua's eighth birthday, Kel "adopted" (read: kidnapped) young Rua, and took her to a new hiding place in Germany's Black Forest.
Kel tried to train young Rua in witchcraft almost immediately, despite the generally accepted knowledge that children younger than 11 could not safely control such power. After a couple disasters that nearly scared Rua away from using magic entirely, Kel eventually accepted that Rua was too young. She instead worked to keep Rua fascinated in the power of magic, and instead taught her theory (in the form of stories) and had Rua assist her in her black rituals and research for three years, doing what she could to give the girl a jump-start in her training in the dark arts. Rua learned what she was taught surprisingly well, and made a very clever and useful assistant to Kel during these years.
On Rua's eleventh birthday, Kel took her to the wand-maker Gregorovitch, who matched Rua with a hard 13-inch hawthorn wand with a dragon-heartstring core. Kel then began tutoring Rua in the ways of magic, teaching Rua all the basics (but with a calling in the dark arts in mind). Rua had come to want Kel's approval more than anything, and that, combined with her natural hunger for knowledge, spurred her on to learn as much as she could regardless of the danger. Rua proved to be a serious studier and a fast learner, and indeed showed a talent with jinxes, hexes, and curses that Kel found encouraging.
When Rua was 13, Kel was about to begin her training in truly dark magic, but fate intervened. Aurors finally found Kel, and when they attempted to capture her, Kel engaged them in a deadly dual that forced the aurors to kill her. Rua was brought back to her father after five years of absence (her mother having died in the interim), but the man seemed to have mixed feelings about being reunited with his daughter after having lost his wife.
Rua's father determined that she had learned some magic, but grossly misjudged how much since Rua did her best to hide anything she'd learned that could be connected to the dark arts even a bit. He arranged for 13-year-old Rua to transfer to Hogwarts as a second-year student (thinking she'd fallen behind), and in her first year it seemed like even that might be too much for her. Struggling with recent traumatic experiences and hiding much of what she learned out of fear she would be killed like Kel, Rua fared poorly in her early classes and mostly shunned the other students. The head of her house eventually figured out that Rua had much more potential and arranged for her to receive regular counseling with witches who were good at that sort of thing.
By the end of her fourth year, Rua had shown marked improvement and performed exceptionally in all her classes, especially in Defense against the Dark Arts, Charms, and Potions. She still showed little interest in socializing with her peers, preferring to devote herself to studying or locking herself somewhere private where she could talk to the "ghost" of Kel. She also took a strong interest in the other ghosts of Hogwarts around this time, socializing with them more than the living, it seemed. It was this year that she learned to summon her patronus, and it is a charm she has practiced incessantly ever since.
Rua, now beginning her 6th year, is a mostly normal student, albeit an anti-social one with an unhealthy interest in ghosts (and secretly in the dark arts). She managed to get O's in all of her OWLs last year, but has tried to let as few people know about that as possible.
How would your character fit in to each House?
Gryffindor: Rua can be exceptionally brave in some ways, but not in the reckless way that Gryffindor's tend to be. She has no interest in heroics or chivalry.
Hufflepuff: Rua is hard-working, but that seems to be the only Hufflepuff quality she has. She is not friendly and is prone to keeping secrets, and would be a rather dark cloud amongst the otherwise cheery Hufflepuffs.
Ravenclaw: Rua is an avid learner, and definitely has the wisdom, wit, and intellect of a Ravenclaw. Rua loves things that make her think, and the one type of person she gets along with at least somewhat are deep-thinkers.
Slytherin: Having originally been trained by a dark witch, having a secret interest in dark magic, and being a pureblood are all reasons Rua may be sorted as a Slytherin. However, Rua is not ambitious, nor shrewd, and she is certainly not a strong leader.
RP Samples:
Sample Journal Entry:
It looks like another year is about to begin...
I glanced over some of the other journal entries others have been making, and all the whining about summer being over? Wasted ink. Honestly, I'd rather read Hufflepuff love poems. Did anyone learn anything useful during the summer? Any new spells researched? I'd love to hear some news of that sort...
Anyways, I'm off to see if there are any new ghosts in the school. I'll check back later.
OH, AND NEW STUDENTS, I'm Rua. Don't bother me with any stupid questions, alright? Especially not while I'm reading.
Sample Interaction Post:
Rua crept back to her room late at night, a large musty book carried under her arm. Back in her bed, she lays it out and magically lights a small floating candle. Reading the words, she mutters to herself,
"Tenebris magicae... fortissima est... clarissima luce..."
She then looks about suddenly, and whispers more conversationally... to empty air.
"Yes, I know what I'm doing. I had the best teacher, didn't I? Not my fault you couldn't stick around... I have to find books like this on my own."
Rua pauses, as if listening to a return reply. "No they don't let students check out books like this! Why do you think I made such a trip in the cover of darkness? I-"
She pauses, and suddenly looks frightened. "Did you hear that?" she says in a lower whisper. Rua, now tense, hides the book in a special satchel of her own enchantments, blows out the candle, and pretends to be asleep.