Application for Exit Void

[dreamlinks]

player.

NAME/HANDLE: Kerry
PERSONAL JOURNAL: halfbloodly
ARE YOU 16 OR OVER?: Yes
CONTACT: Aim: 'mysterytourist'; Plurk: halfbloodly
OTHER CHARACTERS: Scott McCall wolfteen, Julian Keller hellionated, Marius Pontmercy bonapartist


character.

CHARACTER NAME: Mirar the Dreamweaver
SERIES: Trudi Canavan's Age of the Five trilogy.

Wikipedia entry on Age of the Five
Wikibin article on Mirar

CANON POINT: The end of Voice of the Gods.
AGE: Physically he looks around 30. In reality he's over 1000 years old.
APPEARANCE:

Mirar is tall and healthy. He is in good shape, his body made strong and fit through near constant traveling. While he had been in hiding, with his Leiard persona in control, he had been somewhat more thin since he had not traveled so much. Since regaining full control of himself, he has gained weight and strength again. His hair had originally been black, but while he was concealing himself, it turned white-blond and this was how it appeared when he was Leiard. One of his first acts was to shave the beard Leiard had grown, and as soon as was practical he dyed his hair black again in order that he would not be recognised. Now that he is in full command of his body again, he will stay cleanshaven or lightly stubbled at most, and his hair remains dyed. Now that he is no longer in hiding and the Leiard persona has merged with his own, his hair will grow back black, as it had been originally*. His PB is Richard Armitage.

*Note: The books do not make a statement about whether Mirar's hair colour will grow back black, or stay at Leiard's blond. However I have made this assumption because another character, Emerahl, has the ability to change her age in the books. When she made herself younger, her hair stayed white as it had been when she was old, but grew back as her natural red. My interpretation is that he had unconsciously changed his hair colour while healing his broken body, as part of his need to conceal himself. Now that his identity has been fully restored, I believe his natural hair colour would reassert itself just like Emerahl's had.

PREVIOUS GAME HISTORY: N/A

PERSONALITY:

Early Life

Across both continents of Ithania, Mirar the Dreamweaver is a well-known name, famous for his charismatic personality, his past deeds, and his supposed death. He is known to be extraordinarily long-lived, having been born around 1000 years prior to the beginning of the book series. He was born during what was known as 'the Age of the Many', a time when the world was full of multiple gods - beings of pure magic, who can interact with the mortal world only through the actions of a willing mortal. The Age of the Many culminated in the war of the gods, when all gods were killed save for five survivors. These five proceeded to exert their dominance over Ithania. In the Northern continent they became known as the Circle, and their followers became known as Circlians.

Mirar, whose long life allows him to remember the world before the Age of the Five, remembers that the Circlian gods were excessively cruel in the past. He therefore rejects them and refuses to worship them. He is possessed of a great, moral concern for humanity. Blessed with a particularly strong magical Gift of healing, he believes in helping people to the best of his ability. He wants to heal, and to teach others to heal. He believes strongly in community and companionship, and he wants to give people a different option beyond that offered by the gods he despises. Mirar founds the Dreamweavers - a cult whose members do not worship any gods, but are tolerant of all religions and treat people equally. They heal any who will accept their services, and one of their greatest laws is neutrality. They refuse to harm other people, they refuse to take sides in war, they refuse to involve themselves in politics. These tenets form Mirar's core beliefs, which he uses as the foundation upon which to form the Dreamweavers. All who choose to become Dreamweavers take vows to live according to those tenets, and they identify themselves by weaving a particular vest that tells everyone in their world that they are a Dreamweaver. Mirar gives the Dreamweavers their name due to their use of magic to link their minds through dreams, to share thoughts and memories as well as teachings. His formation of this cult, and devotion to his people, is one of the core principles of Mirar's character. He is always fully devoted to the Dreamweavers, and deeply cares about them.

As the Dreamweavers' founder, Mirar chooses not to settle in any one place, but to travel throughout Northern Ithania, visiting Dreamweaver Houses in all corners of the continent. He becomes known for his love of traveling, and displays a marked inclination for moving between big cities full of people, rather than settling anywhere. He is also known for his passionate nature, and becomes famous for his seduction of many women. He loves and becomes infatuated with many women, without ever falling in love with any of them. He maintains a deep care and consideration for all people, while avoiding deep attachments or commitments to anyone.

Despite this, he has an engaging personality that makes him seek out the company of people. He is good at talking to people, in part because one of his magical Gifts allows him to sense the emotions of the people surrounding him. He is friendly and generally avoids serious topics, unless he is drawn into them. Though he prefers to live as a wanderer, making casual rather than deep connections, he does occasionally make exceptions and become more attached to individuals. One important example of this is Emerahl, a fellow immortal. Though she is not a Dreamweaver, Mirar teaches her how to link with him through dreams, and also teaches his healing Gift to her. Until Auraya appears in his life, Emerahl is the only person who has been able to learn this particular Gift, and throughout his life, she exists as a good friend and regular adviser of Mirar. In his early life, she is also his occasional lover. They come close to reigniting this relationship during the events of the books, though this never comes to fruition.

Mirar's affection for other people, however, does not extend to the Circle of gods, and he is also defined by his powerful dislike for them. Having formed the Dreamweavers, Mirar is outspoken against the gods. He uses dreams to reach out across Northern Ithania, spreading stories of the gods' past atrocities - such as the goddess Huan's torturing and killing of many people until she could create races of mutants who could fly and live underwater, and the god Chaia's use of magic to sexually stimulate women and drive them insane. He is unafraid of the consequences of these actions, believing that he must tell people what the gods do not want them to know. This belligerent attitude draws the gods' attention to Mirar, and around 100 years before the beginning of the first book they order his death - an action carried out by their most devoted follower, Juran. Juran finds the Dreamweaver House that Mirar is in and demolishes it on top of him, crushing him, and presumably killing him. Thanks to the power of his healing Gift, however, Mirar is able to just about survive - at a cost.

Leiard and Mirar

Juran's attempt on his life causes Mirar's mind to undergo a severe trauma. His body had been so severely injured by the effects of being crushed that he requires an enormous amount of magic just to keep himself living. He focuses at first on maintaining only the bare minimum that has body needs to live, and then heals himself slowly. This process takes many years, and involves him having to heal parts of his body that are beginning to rot. While this is happening, it is necessary for him to hide his mind from Juran and the gods, since he knows that he will not be able to protect himself if he is attacked again. He therefore buries those aspects of his personality that are most recognisable to others - his outspoken nature, his desire to seduce many women, his belligerence - and creates a softer persona that he can hide behind. Over time, this softer persona begins to form an identity of its own. This persona calls himself Leiard, and is primarily characterised by great patience, seriousness, intelligence, and an instinct to avoid trouble. Mirar's memories of his life are buried deep inside his mind and Leiard forgets who he really is. He believes that his own memories have become confused with 'link' memories that he had gained from sharing dreams with other Dreamweavers. However, he has an instinctive dislike of Jarime, the city where Mirar had been 'killed', and he is nervous around anyone who was devoted to the Circlian gods. Despite this, Leiard retains Mirar's confidence in his own abilities, as well as his drive to help people. While Auraya is a child, she is his student, and he teaches her how to make Cures from plants in the forest near her home. Even though she abandons his teaching to join the White, who Leiard instinctively fears, he continues to treat her mother's illness in her absence. These traits were very reminiscent of Mirar, who consistently believed in teaching others and providing healing for anyone who wanted it. Additionally, in his sleep, Leiard is unknowingly projecting an obscure dream to any sorcerer sensitive enough to receive it. This dream is of the large tower in Jarime, which houses the White - the name for the Circlian gods' chosen servants, of whom Juran is now the leader. The dreamer would imagine the tower crashing down on top of them, killing them painfully. Emerahl, who was tortured by this dream for months, realised that it was symbolic of Mirar's 'death' at Juran's hands, though she did not understand that the dream was coming from Mirar himself until she encountered him some time later. Like everyone else, she believes that Mirar is dead, and that the dreams must be coming from a particularly powerful Dreamweaver.

The Leiard persona remaines stable until he is forced to enter the city of Jarime and sees the tower of the White for the first time. He is particularly horrified to discover his former student has become the fifth White, and he struggles with his perception of the White as his enemies versus his liking for Auraya. Her influence encourages him to take on a representative role for Dreamweavers as an Adviser to the White, actively confronting his instinct to avoid contact with them. In agreeing to this, Leiard shows that he retains Mirar's original concern for his people. He wants to try and improve relations between them and the Circlians, even though doing so puts him in close proximity to the White tower and to Juran - both of which he naturally fears, thanks to their association with Mirar's 'death'. However, taking this position causes Mirar's true memories to begin surfacing until they became not just memories, but an actual voice in Leiard's head that comments on the choices he is making. When Leiard becomes Auraya's lover, Mirar acts as a voice of reason in his mind, warning him against falling in love with one of the White. However, Mirar notably admits that Auraya is attractive, despite feeling wary over her connection to the gods. Other characters begin to notice the emergence of Mirar's presence. They see Leiard appearing to argue with himself, and notice that he appears quiet and lost in thought for long periods while he converses with Mirar in his mind. Both Arleej, a senior Dreamweaver, and Jayim, Leiard's short-lived apprentice, are worried that he is losing the sense of who he is.

What they do not realise is that the essence of Mirar inside Leiard is more than just a collection of memories. In essence a dual personality has been created, with Mirar's true mind becoming stronger and stronger over time until he is able to become the dominant personality within his own body. Ironically, Mirar's rise to dominance is provoked by the influence of Juran, the one who had tried to kill Mirar in the first place. Juran discovers the affair between Leiard and Auraya and promptly banishes Leiard. Leiard willingly gives control of his body over to Mirar since he believes he would not otherwise have the strength to end things between himself and Auraya. Mirar takes the opportunity to purchase the services of a whore and shave his beard away - and it is during this moment that Auraya finds him. When she realises he is with a whore, she assumes Leiard has betrayed her, and leaves without confronting him. Mirar does not realise this at the time, but understands it later, and believes that it is for the best. At this stage he also encounters his old friend Emerahl, who had been traveling with the whores. Unlike Juran, who had not recognised his old foe inside Leiard, Emerahl recognises Mirar by his face, and she begins to help him. His two personas war for dominance until Emerahl is able to sort out the truth of their past through dreamlinking. She is able to question Mirar's sleeping mind, forcing him to trawl through his buried memories and recover the truth of what he had done to himself after Juran attempted to kill him. Though this revelation proves that the true owner of his body is Mirar rather than Leiard, the two personas are still unable to reconcile until Mirar is able to accept that Leiard truly is a part of him. He needs to understand that Leiard is not just a wayward personality, but has been generated from his own mind - and therefore, all of the attributes displayed by Leiard are also a part of Mirar. The patience and caution that Leiard had learned, and the capacity to fall in love with another person - something that Emerahl had stated she once believed was impossible for Mirar - are really all a part of Mirar.

Unwilling to believe he is really the same person as Leiard, he parts company from Emerahl with both personas still existing in his head - though Mirar is now in charge, and Leiard is the inner voice providing advice. Though he is aware that he must stay hidden from the gods, and he is shielding his mind as Emerahl had taught him, Mirar's care for other people makes him prioritise the health of the species of mutants called the Siyee over his own needs. He uses his particularly remarkable healing Gifts to save them from a plague, and in so doing finds himself in Auraya's company again. Now struggling with his own feelings, he slowly comes to accept that he and Leiard truly are one person. When Mirar accepts that he truly does love Auraya, in spite of how dangerous it is for him to care so much for one of the White, Leiard's presence in his mind disappears:

"Leiard is me. I am Leiard. He is what I became when I suppressed those parts of my character that once held back feelings I thought were dangerous. Feelings like love.

I am Leiard. Leiard is me.

I love Auraya."

The two personas become one, leaving Mirar with a deeper understanding of his own mind than ever before. He understands that in the past, he had pushed aside feelings that he believed were dangerous, such as the ability to love, in order to protect himself from them, and that such feelings were able to come to the fore through Leiard while his more recognisable attributes had been hidden.

The Restored Mirar

The understanding of this provokes another shift in Mirar's personality. He emerges from the experience as the combination of the person he was before Leiard, and the person that Leiard became. Once he accepts it, his love for Auraya is something that defines Mirar. When she asks him to teach her his healing Gift he does so, even though this requires letting down his guard and linking with her mind. It is through this that the Circlian gods, through Auraya, see Mirar for who he really is and order her to kill him. Auraya is furious with him for 'deceiving' her into believing he was Leiard. She is about to kill him when he fully opens his mind to her. When she realises the truth of what had happened to him, she refuses to kill him - which, since his death had been ordered by her gods, creates problems for her - but she does banish him from Northern Ithania. Despite this, he now maintains a loyalty to his feelings for her and refuses to respond to flirtations from other women as a result - a marked difference from when he had been willing to purchase a whore's services, prior to merging with Leiard. Only when Emerahl tells him that Auraya has no feelings for him, and that she had accepted the sexual advances of the god Chaia, does Mirar give in and sleep with another woman - another Dreamweaver named Dardel, who had been soliciting him for some time. Even at that, his feelings for Auraya remain important to him, and it takes very little to give him hope again that she may care for him. When she agrees to stay in Southern Ithania and realises that she will encounter Mirar again in the city of Glymma, she contacts him as though he is an ally, and he is quick to take that role. Mirar never stops thinking of her positively, and seems to naturally view them as being on the same side even though Auraya has so often been on the side of the gods - Mirar's enemies. When she is taken prisoner by the Pentadrians' leader, Mirar begans to think of them as enemies even though they have treated him well. During this time, he keeps close contact with Auraya and dreamlinks with her every night, helping to keep her sane while she is held prisoner. What has happened to her distresses him deeply, and he continually seeks a way to help her throughout her imprisonment.

Despite his feelings for Auraya, Mirar is not overcome by love. How he feels about her is never his only consideration, and is not often even his central consideration. Mirar maintains a deep affection for and loyalty to the Dreamweavers, and he is deeply concerned with how his actions will effect them. Once he has left Northern Ithania and is no longer living in a country where the Circlian gods' servants would seek his life, he quickly starts to consider whether he should reveal his true identity. His deliberations about this are dominated by his concern that whatever he does will impact on them. He recognises that revealing himself may strengthen a people who have often been persecuted, especially in Northern Ithania. He is always very clear that he does not want to be seen as their leader, either in a political and a practical sense. He seeks their friendship, and he wants them to know him for who he is because he retains the love of people and companionship that he has always had. However he does not want to be viewed as someone greater than any other ordinary Dreamweaver. When he does reveal himself, he is careful to discourage his people from undue reverence. When invited by the Pentadrians' leaders to discuss politics, Mirar consistently expresses reluctance, and reinforces his belief in the neutrality of Dreamweavers. He consistently seeks to represent the core tenets of the Dreamweavers' beliefs, but always says that he cannot speak for them, and that his role is in teaching and sharing his experience rather than in leading them. Despite this, he is highly aware of his responsibility to them and displays a clear understanding that his actions will impact on them. He knows that even though he does not wish to be seen as their leader, others may view him in this way and he must ensure that nothing he does can endanger them. Although his feelings for Auraya are very strong, his sense of responsibility to his people is stronger. This is made clear when Auraya is imprisoned, and Mirar can do nothing to rescue her without revealing what he has done to the Pentadrians - thereby risking that the Pentadrians may begin treating Dreamweavers as poorly as their Circlian counterparts do in the North. Instead he takes a diplomatic approach, making a deal with the Pentadrians that they must give him Auraya in exchange for his agreement to protect them in battle when they face the Circlians. This allows him to insist on life-saving healing for Auraya, while also ensuring that the Pentadrians accept that he will only protect and heal them - a compromise, since he refuses to break the Dreamweavers' vow of non-violence to fight for them even when he knows it is what they would prefer.

This diplomacy, in itself, is evidence of how Mirar has changed through his time as Leiard. The Twins, a pair of Immortals who have a particular gift for mind-skimming and understanding the perceptions and opinions running through societies, are concerned when he travels to Glymma. They recognise that the Pentadrians will try to get Mirar on their side, and are concerned that if he is faced with situations he dislikes, he will make enemies of them and cause them to turn against both him and his people - similar to how his vocal protestations against the rule of the Circlian gods had made the Circlians into his enemies before. Mirar notes that he has learned from that experience, that he has spent a century living as a person who was not vocal about his objections and who avoided trouble. His life as Leiard has made him more patient, less belligerent, and more careful in how he deals with people. It is notable that while he is regularly described as confident, he is not arrogant, and characters who comment on it generally note that it is a confidence that comes from his many years of experience.He still prefers to keep conversation light where it is possible, to behave in a manner that is friendly and - with those he knows well - teasing, rather than serious. However, there is a side of him that is serious, considerate and sensible, attributes that developed much more fully while Leiard was in charge of his body. Ultimately, Leiard's caution has matured Mirar, without diminishing the confidence, assurance and concern for people's wellbeing that had always been a part of his character.

ABILITIES:

Mirar is one of the six most powerful sorcerers in his world - called either Immortals or 'Wilds' in his world. He draws magic from the world around him, and has the ability to utilise it in a range of different ways that he calls 'Gifts'. Mirar's Gifts fall into three main categories:

Healing

The Gift for which Mirar is best known is healing. It is what he calls his 'innate' Gift - the one which best defines him. He has shown a willingness for teaching this Gift to at least two other sorcerers: Emerahl and Auraya. When teaching Auraya, he warned her that in order to learn it she would have to understand the principles behind it, and most sorcerers would not have that ability. It is implied that the only sorcerers capable of learning it would be those at a comparable magical level to the Wilds. While Auraya and Emerahl were both able to learn, the books note that neither of them can use it so well as Mirar - presumably because the use of it came naturally to him. His Gift of healing manifests in the following ways:

- He can see and manipulate how organisms are constructed at the cellular level. This means that he can encourage cells that have come apart to join together, enabling him to accelerate the healing of wounds, remove scar tissue, unblock blood vessels, and in general restore a body to its normal state.
- He is able to sense and isolate where foreign bodies have corrupted cells, and remove what is foreign. This enables him to locate poisons and cause them to exit the body. It also allows him to discover strains of viruses and diseases within a person, and destroy them with his mind. He has stated that he will only take this action if the person's body is completely failing to fight the disease on their own, since to destroy it with magic will mean that the body will not develop natural immunity to the disease. As a general rule, Mirar promotes and aids the body's own healing since that will be a greater longer term help, and only takes over the healing process completely if the person would otherwise die.
- By employing these abilities to their fullest extent on his own body, Mirar was able to stop himself from aging. This makes him one of only six sorcerers who has been able to use their Gifts to make themselves 'Immortal'. It is, however, not true immortality, since it only halts the aging process and allows him to heal his own injuries and poisonings. It does not mean that he could not be killed at all, since the books make reference to other Immortals who had been killed by the magic of their enemies. However, as shown by Juran's failed attempt to crush him to death, Mirar is notably difficult to kill. Because of this, his enemies theorised during the books that the best way to ensure he could not come back would be to completely destroy his body until nothing was left - for example, by immolation. They were never given the chance to test this theory.

It is notable that while Mirar will use his healing Gifts whenever they are needed, he will not use a greater amount of power than is required. As well as his magical Gifts, he possesses a vast knowledge of medicinal Cures that can be used to treat illnesses and promote healing. Where the application of a Cure is enough to help someone, Mirar will use that, employing his own magic only where it is needed. He also prefers to help the body to heal itself rather than doing all the work for it. As a rule he does what the body needs, no more and no less.

Mental

Mirar has a limited level of psychic awareness which manifests itself in the following ways:

- He can sense the emotions of those around him. This is not the same as being able to read their minds, since he cannot see what they are thinking. He can however gain a sense of the feelings behind their words.
- He can shield his own mind from other readers. This Gift was taught to him by Emerahl, so that he would be able to hide from the gods and prevent them from recognising him. It involves using magic as a mental 'fog', which keeps other inquiring minds out of his own.
- He can enter what is known as a 'dream trance', and through this, skim the minds of the people around him. If the person is awake when he skims, he will get a sense of their emotions and be able to see what they are seeing. More often he will seek sleeping minds, where he can actively communicate with the mind rather than just touching it passively. When he does this he generally intends to hide his presence, though he can be discovered if the person realises he's there and can touch other minds themselves. He is therefore not entirely undetectable. When in this state, he can introduce ideas to the foreign mind to get a general sense of how they would react/what their opinions would be/what their prejudices are. He still will not hear exact thoughts, and he cannot actively control or manipulate a person's mind beyond that he can suggest ideas and provide information to see how the person reacts.
- He can initiate a 'dream link' with another mind. This requires the person to be either asleep, or in a dream trace as described above, and it requires them to answer and accept the link. It does not require them to have mental powers of their own, though it does require their permission. During a dream link, he can mentally converse with the other person. Memories and thoughts can be shared. The state can also constitute a shared dream where the two minds can imagine themselves interacting physically. If their dream-selves touch, it will feel similar to actual touch since they will be utilising the memory of touch. As the founder of the Dreamweavers, Mirar invented a ritual of dreamlinking whereby Dreamweavers would join hands and share thoughts, seek solutions to problems and ask for advice, share learning and experience and commune with each other. They will generally transfer memories in this state, which will then be called 'link' memories. Mirar can use a link of this nature to transfer teaching, such as when he taught Auraya how to heal in canon. Dreamlinking and mind-skimming are the only magical gifts that can still be used within a Void (described below) because, according to Mirar, they do not require magic to be in constant supply. It would appear that magic is only used to create the initial link between minds, which then stays constant until one of the participants disconnects.

Kinesthetics

Mirar can manipulate the magical energy around him to produce a number of different physical effects. This includes:

- Exciting this energy in order to generate heat and light. This can be a small light, or just enough heat to warm a bowl of food. By drawing more magic, it can become an extremely intense light source, and enough heat to start a fire.
- Applying this energy forcefully, creating a solid block of magic that can be manipulated. This would be used either by expelling it outwards to create a 'blast' of power, or by creating a shield around himself which he calls a barrier. Since he refuses to harm humans or participate in violence, Mirar uses blasts of magic rarely; for example he used it to free himself when he was caught in an avalanche. He uses barriers far more frequently since they are protective in nature and can be used in defence of both himself, and the people he is healing.
- Applying this energy to objects, encouraging them to move or change direction. This is in essence a limited form of telekinesis. Mirar has used this Gift, most notably, to help give direction and stability to a small dinghy whilst traveling. In order to do this effectively, he needed to be trained by Emerahl in the application of the Gift to the boat, meaning that such application is not innate and must be learned through experience.

The use of magic has some notable restrictions. In order to use it, the sorcerer must draw it from the world around them. This means that over time, the magic in that area will begin to be depleted so they will have to physically move a few steps away to draw more. If forced to stay in one place for too long, they will have trouble with using their more energy-intensive gifts (such as creating magical blasts). If too much magic is drawn from a particular area, it may create a Void - a ring of space where no magic remains. Most Gifts cannot be used within a Void. The only known exceptions to this are mind and dream links, as described above.

Additionally, the use of each Gift requires practice and experience to use it effectively. New uses of magic can only be learned if the sorcerer has the aptitude for it. However when teaching Auraya how to heal magically, Mirar told her that her ability to use it would depend not on how powerful she was, but on whether her mind would be able to understand the principles of what was to be done and then employ this.

POSSESSIONS:

The clothes on his back:

- a pair of boots
- trousers and a tunic
- an outer robe
- a woven vest, which in his world would identify him as a Dreamweaver

A traveling bag containing:

- a spare tunic, Dreamweaver vest and pair of trousers
- a small purse of local coin
- a small store of dried food, enough to last 2-3 days
- a flask full of water
- a selection of 'Cures' - herbal and medicinal remedies from his own world. These are finite, but his supply at first will be plentiful since he had been on his way to battle where his role had been to protect and heal. When they are used he will try and replenish them from in-game sources, where these are available.

samples.

JOURNAL ENTRY SAMPLE:

Mirar's thread on the Test Drive meme - with Zoey (non-castmate) and Emerahl (castmate)
Conversing with Snow White (non-castmate)
Conversing with Auraya (castmate)

THIRD-PERSON SAMPLE: As per the guidance for applications, I don't think I need a third-person sample since I already have others in game. However if one is needed, please let me know and I'll be happy to provide!