Character Analysis

Illiana's an interesting character. Illiana Silna, a South Pole summoner (exactly what it says on the tin). I know people are curious about her, so time to go into detail about it. She actually only got her last name recently, so yeah.

Origins.

Funnily enough, when I made Illiana, I was trying to make a villain character (hence why most of the letters match up). I was trying to base someone on Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty, and just directly ripping Maleficent is just not on, so I started trying to formulate a character who could be on a villainous level that matches her's. At her time of conception, I was talking to another member of Archipelago Exodus and he brought up the idea of her being a South Pole Summoner. Because no one really uses another person's races, I thought I'd break the paradigm and make one. At the time of conception, SPS were considered as villains due to their amoral attitude on establishing themselves and due to Miko's past actions.

When it came to actually forming the character, though, she stopped being a villain. I don't much like writing characters out of my age range (Illiana is my oldest, at 21) and I don't think I've ever seriously written a female character before Illiana. There were some automatic characteristics that came with being a South Poles Summoner, such as her green hair. Another issue, that really shaped her personality, was that SPS are persecuted just because of Miko's actions when destroying Slateport. Because of the prejudice, it rapidly evolved into Illiana trying to do the right thing. Instead of a villainous character, I ended up with this kind of misunderstood hero, but I have no regrets!

Her having a dragon as her initial summon creature was because of the typical default summons of SPS, as dictated by Lee. However, since spiders are gross and I don't remember the third option, I went with the wyvern choice. The wyvern's name is Gi (pronounced 'Guy'), and has ice-breath. As for her weapon of choice, her spear, I was fed up of having sword-wielding characters.

Personality.

Illiana, through and through, has a very positive and helpful personality just because she's always interested in doing the right thing. She doesn't care about what happens afterwards or how she might be treated, but she will always strive to help or heal people when she can, just because of the persecution she suffers on a daily basis. In her opinion, it's unfair for her entire race to be judged based on one man's actions, even if it wasn't entire his fault (Illiana views Miko's destruction of Slateport as a mixture of a necessary evil and being forced into it to defend himself).

She is fiercely loyal to her friends, even when they drive her insane sometimes, and she goes to extraordinary lengths to prove this. This ranges from fighting to save the world (see LaDC) or representing them in court despite having no knowledge of how the court system works (Obscured Truth). She's also very intuitive, recognising when someone is right or wrong, and will strive to do whatever she knows is the best course of action for her and her friends, even if it's not the smartest, safest or wisest.

Her personality even shines through with people she doesn't know. She walked up to a mafia boss (not knowing who he was) and healed his foot from a stab wound (and a broken nose), purely because he had been injured. As far as she was concerned, which was enforced by his story afterwards, he had been unjustly assaulted and needed medical attention because of it. She has no qualms with using her healing powers when she thinks they should be used.

She also has little respect for certain rules and regulations, because she had always been a middle-class child who wanted more from life. Instead of being drafted into the military, she ended up flying away with Gi to the Archipelago and beyond, just because she longed to see the world outside of the South Pole tunnels. However, if she knows the rules are in place for a very good reason, she does her utmost best to follow them.

Appearence

Illiana, by and large, has the appearence that any twenty one girl would have. A lot of her wardrobe is made out of skinny-jeans, some looser ones, and a lot of fashionable t-shirts in varying colours. She also has a variety of bandanas in case she wants to hide her hair, for those rare times when it'd be a huge giveaway for her origins. Mostly, though, her attire is very trendy.

Her biggest defining feature is her hair, however. A forest-green shade, and just longer than her shoulders. Her hair is fairly thick and slightly wavy, with no roots visible (understandably). Naturally, her hair is actually a medium-dark shade of brown but due to being a summoner, and the algae that is beneficial for her hair, she had green hair. She rarely hides it, being proud of her heritage, but she recognises that there are some situations where it wouldn't be appropriate.

She also likes jewellery. Mostly, she wears looser bracelets made of silver, nothing overly showy or eye-catching. Mostly she wears small studs or rings in her ears, and has no other piercings. However, she has a selection of summon-attracting-jewellery, as she likes to call it. Made entirely out of enchanted gemstones, she has sapphire earrings, an emerald necklace and ruby bracelets. While her selection is bigger than that, those are the ones that she would choose to wear, preferring the colours over things like pearl or opal.

History

Her history is within The Exploration, but here it is for those who haven't read it:

Illiana was only the half-typical South Pole Summoner.

In many aspects, she was perfectly normal. She came from a middle-status family within the tunnels of the Antarctic. Somewhere around the middle tunnels, not too close to the surface but not too close to the bottom tunnels. She had the basic expectations of a female summoner placed upon her. Learn to summon, start combat training, learn to heal and craft weapons, earn a summon and perfectly execute missions. In that respect, she kind of succeeded and proved herself.

Except, a few things were off. She didn't really follow the rules like she should have done. She skipped important things to see the surface. The sun and the sky, or the darkness. The endless expanse of ice. She wasn't meant to stay underground, she preferred the fresh air and the freedom. So maybe she wasn't all that typical, as far as summoners go.

She stuck to the normal routine of the summoners. She ate the same fungus foods, sometimes fish when it was available. She underwent her combat training, but immediately found that she was more of a natural with combat magic. Healing was not beyond her, so she was special. Kind of. Basics of both style. She could heal, she could fight. She was more versatile than many of the other summoners when it came to field work. Useful. And not at all expected.

The summoning ritual was simple enough to pick up, though unnerving the first time she had to acquire her first summon. Like all the other summoners, she went deep into the tunnels. Deeper than she'd ever been before, but maybe that was because she usually went up instead. Much to her surprise, there were worms. Minhocaos. Giant worms. Massive, wriggling, slimy worms.

Gross.

And kind of absolutely terrifying. The sight of a thirty foot tall worm was not something she had ever expected to see. The fear of it falling on her was also strong. She staggered back a few steps, not like that would save her from being crushed and slimed. Nonetheless, she crafted the spell and performed the ritual, ensnaring the worm and containing it within the summoning bead. Breathing a sigh of relief, Illiana ascended the tunnels and back to what she considered normality.

Only a few years older, she acquired her first real weapon and her first real summon. Her spear, she helped crafting like other young summoners. It was designed more towards practicality than grandeur, but the sapphires inlaid along the blade were appealling enough. Magically protected and virtually indestructable. She was an expert with the weapon. The feel of the spear in her hands was natural as she twirled and struck her targets. Shortly after having the weapon crafted, Illiana was sent on her first assigment.

"Acquire her first summon."

Absolutely terrifying. There was no kind of about it this time. She'd found her first summon, not far from the tunnels. A sapphire wyvern, that had been picking at scraps of food on the surface. A wolf or a penguin, anything unlucky enough to cross its path. Illiana discovered that she was not an easily frightened person, but an angry blue wyvern looking for food was enough to send a shiver down her spine.

The fight was short, which was some small comfort. The wyvern was weakened by its hunger, which gave Illiana enough of an advantage. She danced with her spear, twirling the weapon like a baton but stiking like a snake. She was agile and quick on her feet, moving around the strikes and blasts of ice from the dragon's mouth. One misstep had caused the wyvern to get in one heavy blow, swatting Illiana with the force of a wrecking ball. She rolled away, focuing on healing spells and fixing the bruise that was already forming.

That was when the wyvern stopped attacking, instead watching the green haired girl warily. She used the opportunity to catch the dragon, sealing it within a summoning bead. The bead flashed and turned a sapphire colour, matching the dragon's scales. She'd done it. She'd got her first real summon.

Right in time for the Slateport incident.

News spread fast. Some of the stories were warped, but the gist of it was the same. Miko had destroyed Slateport. His summon, Bagan, was the strongest summon of any South Pole dweller. The reception was mixed. Some thought Miko was brilliant, finally giving the rest of the world what was coming to them. Some thought he was an idiot, declaring war then not following through.

Illiana didn't have an opinion. She understood, sort of. She hadn't been there, so she hadn't seen what had happened and why Miko had summoned Bagan. There could be any number of reasons for it, any number of reasons why he might have been forced to summon Bagan. She didn't know, so why should she have to pass judgement? None of her business, not really.

She thought Miko was respectable. Maybe not the best leader ever, but he kept on trying and that was what mattered. That's why she kept on trying. Why she'd always keep on trying. That was why she was never really typical in the first place.

At eighteen, she was on the surface again. She wasn't meant to be. She was never really meant to be, but that had never stopped her before. Illiana, the problem child. The one who followed orders but never followed rules, the one who loved to breathe the fresh air of the surface instead of the stale air of the tunnels, the one who loved more than anything to be out under the real sky and just be herself.

The summoner got most of her training done on the surface. There couldn't be many more people in the world who could wield a spear with as much grace as her, spinning it round her hands and her body lightly and efficiently, striking blows that could shatter ice and ruin bodies. Her magic was still not on the same level as those specifically trained, but she didn't mind it that way. She was who she was, and she wouldn't have it any other way.

A fireball was the simplest offensive magic she had learned and the one that came most naturally to her. With a sweeping movement, she conjured the flame and threw it forward like a baseball. In the same movement, another flame erupted in her other hand and she spun elegantly, throwing the second fireball ahead. As she gathered up the energy for a third, she noticed it.

A rip in the sky. Like some inter-dimensional monster had torn open a breach.

Illiana stared for a moment, frowning as she tried to understand what was happening. It was like the barrier breach from not that long ago. The crack between dimensions that Vincent had opened, the one that had threatened to destroy the world. The only difference was that this seemed much less hostile. No black tendrils, no black thunder. Just swirling colours.

She had two options.

The first was obviously to enter the tear. Reckless, foolish, but oh so tempting. The second was to inform someone. This was a serious issue. Anything could come through the breach. It was a serious issue that should be taken seriously.

Yeah. That'd happen. Illiana snorted, and felt a little silly for thinking something like that.

Like the other female summoners, her art of summoning involved directing the summon into existence. She gestured in a sweeping motion over her head, then brought her palm into a thrust forward. As she did this, a ghostly figure melted into view and followed the motion of her arm until she thrust her palm. The sapphire wyvern exploded forward, fully corporeal. Illiana ran towards the edge of the ice and threw herself off the edge. The wyvern swerved in the air and caught her smoothly on its back. With a beat of its wings, the dragon shot upwards, into the unknown.

Personal Impact

Illiana has been the first female character I've properly written, and she's also the first character I've had who isn't interested in just themselves. As much as I portray characters like Yoshimitsu as "for their friends", all of them do have some personal and not-altruistic reasons for what they do. Illiana will always be the first entirely good-natured and willful character I've written, and it's been a real eye opener for my other characters.

She's probably the most human of my entire cast, including the few of them that ARE human! She has realistic reasons for what she does and even if her goals themselves aren't acheivable, she's still fight for them because she knows it's right. She also has the most believable reactions to other characters out of all of my characters, and it's nice to be able to write something like that for once. She's not interested in saving the world, just helping her friends survive and stopping someone who she knows is wrong (especially in LaDC).

It's also nice to write a low-power character. While she HAS powers, and they ARE offensive (and overdone), neither of them are ludicrously powerful or topic-breaking. Because of the nature of her powers, I have to be creative in how she uses them (such as shoving the flame down a dragon's throat to burn it from the inside). With her spear and her planned upgrade, she has some very sharp and unusual choreography which is very refreshing to write and it's really helping me change the way I would normally RP a battle.

The most interesting thing to write is someone who's from a hated minority. It's not something I ever have done nor ever though I would. However, it's a very very interesting subject to write and to figure out for myself how she would react to such things! In OT, she realises that Williams is prejudiced against her for being a summoner, so she tried to make herself seem reasonable. The thing is, I would never have considered a character taking that move before I wrote it in that RP!

Illiana is definitely a character who is helping me redefine for myself what a character is and what they should do, and she's really helping me create a much more sophisticated and engaging style of writing, one that I hope readers are drawn in by.