Post by Malevora on Nov 19, 2013 3:10:07 GMT -6
NAVIGATION CHAW, Hathor Seneka
Name: Hathor Seneka
Gender: Female
Age: 9 ½ moons
Species: African Scops Owl (Otus senegalensis)
Kingdom: Guardians
Position: Navigation Chaw member
Description: Hathor is a miniscule owl, measuring a mere eight inches in height, a solid inch (or at least 2/3 of an inch) is feathers. What she lacks in size, however, she makes up for in looks. At the tips of her silver-tawny feathers there are lighter bars. Rimming her figure-eight facial disk is a streak of pure black, accentuating the flecks of black throughout all her plumage. She has a fluffy puff of pale feathers just above her beak, which is a pearly peach colour. She has a tiny crack in it, but it is barely noticeable. She has tiny but sharp talons, which she covers with iron NAST battleclaws during battle. Hathor has a level voice and sharp, intelligent features, Her eyes have been described as a warm brown, like still ponds, and always have a distracted look as if she were thinking of a million things at once. Her wingspan is about 14.5 inches long, longer than should be necessary, which allows her to fly very far with almost no effort at all. Her tail feathers are three inches long, and she has a permanently crooked feather on the edge. No matter how many times she molts, it always ends up bent. However, she has learned to live with the affected ruddering and it is now seen by others as kind of cute. DO NOT MENTION THIS TO HER if you like your beak on the lower half of your face. She doesn’t like being called cute.
Personality: Hathor is very harsh and judgmental during first meetings, but after winning her approval she is very loyal. She is very strong-minded and equally stubborn, but she is also incredibly brave and daring. She has a lot of nerve. Hathor is also an intellectual genius, as well as clever and witty. She's also analytical, strategic, and is very wise. Her fatal flaw is excessive pride: she thinks she can do anything and do it well, better than anyone. Hathor can be very caring but possessive of the people she loves. She’s pretty sassy, and will not tolerate insults to her friends. Hathor is a very intelligent owl. She's sensible, making her a clear, quick thinker in times of trouble or danger. In terms of Hathor in social settings, she can be very cold and shallow when meeting someone new. However once she has gotten to know someone, they become very dear to her, and she'll become protective of her loved ones. In short, Hathor is wise, stubborn, tough, strong, brave, protective, daring, adventurous, creative, and ambitious. She is a wonderful character that many would aspire to resemble.
Strengths: She’s intelligent, able to deduce an answer from the tiniest of clues. This ability comes from her mother, a renowned owl named Bellona, author of Footprints of Hoole and Winds of Hope. Hathor is halfway through her own book, Godly Wings, (a book describing how the famed scholar Strix Senkha’s discovery of how winds work have affected the way owls have altered their flight patterns to take advantage of every feather, as well as introducing the Ventus Notus wind) though few know this and she is reluctant to let anyone know. She is also quite brave, ready to sacrifice herself for her friends any day. She’s pretty tough, able to fight fiercely despite her diminutive size.
Weaknesses: She has difficulty flying during even the slightest of headwinds (she worked out just how much wind she can fly safely against. It’s ten knots) and this irritates her to no end. She’s also highly proud, and will often land herself in a worse situation then before by refusing to do something. She’s also cave in to any blackmail that concerns her friends, unable to see them hurt even a little bit.
History: Barely two moons out of the egg, Hathor knew the name of all the stars visible from the mouth of their small hollow in Ambala. The walls were crammed with books, and there was a small sub-hollow area off to the side that Bellona used as a study. The walls were wallpapered with stellar maps and charts. Lyndon, Hathor’s da, had been an apprentice smith before meeting Bellona. A pair of NAST battleclaws that had gone blunt with disuse hung above his nest. The wall around Hathor’s nest was covered with scratched images cut by talons that had barely hardened off yet. Images of wolves, falling crow-like birds and an owl with shining eyes. This was Hathor’s favourite story, and she knew it by heart. Each night she scratched a bit more into it.
Then, when Hathor was lying tired in her nest after a hard day of branching, they came. The Resurrection Claws. A group of owls who seeked to live the way the Hagsfiends had in the ancient past. They painted their plumage black as night and burned, looted and killed anyone they saw at night. Some were even rumoured to be cannibals. They flew across Ambala that night, and saw Lyndon returning to his nest after a hard day of hunting. They nodded. The tree of Hathor was their target. They silently plucked coals burning with Ice Flames from the leather pouches around their necks. Then, as one, they emitted a shriek that would have Glaux yowling for his mother. They swooped down, dropping their coals at the base of the tree. The leader entered the hollow. Lyndon fluffed up his feathers and fanned his wings threateningly. There was no bargaining with the Resurrection Claws. Suddenly the owl shrieked and leaped forward. Lyndon leaped aside, fear lending him speed. This turned out to be a mistake which he realised almost immediately. His daughter was unprotected. Another owl, an Eagle Owl, forced itself into the hollow, eyes fixed on the owlet in front of him. She squeaked, and the owl pinned her under his claw. Lyndon swung his wing and hit the chieftain. He dived forward and the chieftain turned and struck. Hathor’s da cried out as one wing spun into the night. The claws were knocked off the wall by the chieftains flaring wing. The owl pinning Hathor down snarled and bent down. “This owlet looks… tasty…” he murmured to himself, slackening his pressure a tiny bit. Hathor seized her chance, wriggling out and diving to the fallen claws. She picked them up and threw them. The owl snarled as the claws hit him. Lyndon let out one last croak and rolled to the mouth of the hollow, plummeting towards the icy flames climbing ever higher. Hathor sobbed and slipped her tiny feet into the tiny claws. She waddled to the doorway just as the Eagle Owl got up. He lunged and she squealed and hurled herself out, falling, the world rushing by. Her vision tured blue and white and her wings frosted over slightly. She had reached the fire. Suddenly the fire caught a substance in a vial hung just under Hathor that Bellona had used to tell the temperature. With a bang, it exploded, and Hathor was flung skyward, her feathers singed and frozen, the tears that she had been crying frozen on her face. She spread her wings and caught the thermal from the explosion. She was flying. But it had come at such a price. She flew all the way to the river Hoole, trying to avoid the rushing river but plunging in. But her diminutive size and wide wingspan saved her. She drifted unconscious down the river. Surely she was seen. But no-one cared about the owl in the water. She washed into the Hoolemere Sea. When she awoke, she panicked about the unfamiliar surroundings and thrashed. Losing her balance, she slipped below the waves. Her eyes locked with that of a fish. Somehow, impossibly, it understood her need and flung itself from the water and the action caught. Hundreds of fish leaped and splashed. A hunting Buffy Fish Owl Guardian overhead spotted the fish and dived. They scattered and the owl, Khione, saw the tiny owlet drowning. She grabbed her like the fish she sought to hunt and hurtled from the waves, Hathor in her claws. She called to her home and her home beckoned. It would accept the new owl. Not her home. Hathor’s home.
In Character
There was silence around the Great Tree of Ga’Hoole. Only the quiet scratching of a quill could be heard. In her hollow, Hathor wrote.
It is rumoured that the “Godly Wings” are truly the energy of the land hoisting strigidae in flight. However, what they truly are is a wind that blows constantly off to the south, angling slightly upwards. This wind is called Ventus Notus. This wind helps grounded owls; indeed, all birds; to fly if they angle their wings in a correct manner (see diagram 3)
DIAGRAM 3: CORRECT MANNER OF CATCHING VENTUS NOTUS
Suddenly there was a bustle outside the hollow and Ginny, a Black Barn Owl and Hathor’s best friend landed inside the hollow. She came over and plucked a roasted mouse cube from Hathor’s nut bowl, munching on it. “Ah, that’s good mouse” she sighed. Hathor smiled.
“You know, today I was reading a book that got transferred from the Palace. I found out where my name came from.”
“You did?” asked Ginny. It had long been Hathor’s wont to find out the origins of her very untraditional name.
“Yes. It came from the Others. They all had different versions of Glaux and the First Order. In one version, Glaux is the only divine one and is simply called God, while the First Order are called Angels. In another, Glaux is master of the sky, called Jupiter, and each of the First Order control an aspect of life and each have different names. Anyway, in one known as… uh… Eejitian… I think that’s how it’s said… anyway, one of the First Order, you know Tytonida, of beauty, is called Hathor. That’s where my name comes from. I am named after the goddess of beauty.
“It’s fitting…” murmured Ginny.
Name: Hathor Seneka
Gender: Female
Age: 9 ½ moons
Species: African Scops Owl (Otus senegalensis)
Kingdom: Guardians
Position: Navigation Chaw member
Description: Hathor is a miniscule owl, measuring a mere eight inches in height, a solid inch (or at least 2/3 of an inch) is feathers. What she lacks in size, however, she makes up for in looks. At the tips of her silver-tawny feathers there are lighter bars. Rimming her figure-eight facial disk is a streak of pure black, accentuating the flecks of black throughout all her plumage. She has a fluffy puff of pale feathers just above her beak, which is a pearly peach colour. She has a tiny crack in it, but it is barely noticeable. She has tiny but sharp talons, which she covers with iron NAST battleclaws during battle. Hathor has a level voice and sharp, intelligent features, Her eyes have been described as a warm brown, like still ponds, and always have a distracted look as if she were thinking of a million things at once. Her wingspan is about 14.5 inches long, longer than should be necessary, which allows her to fly very far with almost no effort at all. Her tail feathers are three inches long, and she has a permanently crooked feather on the edge. No matter how many times she molts, it always ends up bent. However, she has learned to live with the affected ruddering and it is now seen by others as kind of cute. DO NOT MENTION THIS TO HER if you like your beak on the lower half of your face. She doesn’t like being called cute.
Personality: Hathor is very harsh and judgmental during first meetings, but after winning her approval she is very loyal. She is very strong-minded and equally stubborn, but she is also incredibly brave and daring. She has a lot of nerve. Hathor is also an intellectual genius, as well as clever and witty. She's also analytical, strategic, and is very wise. Her fatal flaw is excessive pride: she thinks she can do anything and do it well, better than anyone. Hathor can be very caring but possessive of the people she loves. She’s pretty sassy, and will not tolerate insults to her friends. Hathor is a very intelligent owl. She's sensible, making her a clear, quick thinker in times of trouble or danger. In terms of Hathor in social settings, she can be very cold and shallow when meeting someone new. However once she has gotten to know someone, they become very dear to her, and she'll become protective of her loved ones. In short, Hathor is wise, stubborn, tough, strong, brave, protective, daring, adventurous, creative, and ambitious. She is a wonderful character that many would aspire to resemble.
Strengths: She’s intelligent, able to deduce an answer from the tiniest of clues. This ability comes from her mother, a renowned owl named Bellona, author of Footprints of Hoole and Winds of Hope. Hathor is halfway through her own book, Godly Wings, (a book describing how the famed scholar Strix Senkha’s discovery of how winds work have affected the way owls have altered their flight patterns to take advantage of every feather, as well as introducing the Ventus Notus wind) though few know this and she is reluctant to let anyone know. She is also quite brave, ready to sacrifice herself for her friends any day. She’s pretty tough, able to fight fiercely despite her diminutive size.
Weaknesses: She has difficulty flying during even the slightest of headwinds (she worked out just how much wind she can fly safely against. It’s ten knots) and this irritates her to no end. She’s also highly proud, and will often land herself in a worse situation then before by refusing to do something. She’s also cave in to any blackmail that concerns her friends, unable to see them hurt even a little bit.
History: Barely two moons out of the egg, Hathor knew the name of all the stars visible from the mouth of their small hollow in Ambala. The walls were crammed with books, and there was a small sub-hollow area off to the side that Bellona used as a study. The walls were wallpapered with stellar maps and charts. Lyndon, Hathor’s da, had been an apprentice smith before meeting Bellona. A pair of NAST battleclaws that had gone blunt with disuse hung above his nest. The wall around Hathor’s nest was covered with scratched images cut by talons that had barely hardened off yet. Images of wolves, falling crow-like birds and an owl with shining eyes. This was Hathor’s favourite story, and she knew it by heart. Each night she scratched a bit more into it.
Then, when Hathor was lying tired in her nest after a hard day of branching, they came. The Resurrection Claws. A group of owls who seeked to live the way the Hagsfiends had in the ancient past. They painted their plumage black as night and burned, looted and killed anyone they saw at night. Some were even rumoured to be cannibals. They flew across Ambala that night, and saw Lyndon returning to his nest after a hard day of hunting. They nodded. The tree of Hathor was their target. They silently plucked coals burning with Ice Flames from the leather pouches around their necks. Then, as one, they emitted a shriek that would have Glaux yowling for his mother. They swooped down, dropping their coals at the base of the tree. The leader entered the hollow. Lyndon fluffed up his feathers and fanned his wings threateningly. There was no bargaining with the Resurrection Claws. Suddenly the owl shrieked and leaped forward. Lyndon leaped aside, fear lending him speed. This turned out to be a mistake which he realised almost immediately. His daughter was unprotected. Another owl, an Eagle Owl, forced itself into the hollow, eyes fixed on the owlet in front of him. She squeaked, and the owl pinned her under his claw. Lyndon swung his wing and hit the chieftain. He dived forward and the chieftain turned and struck. Hathor’s da cried out as one wing spun into the night. The claws were knocked off the wall by the chieftains flaring wing. The owl pinning Hathor down snarled and bent down. “This owlet looks… tasty…” he murmured to himself, slackening his pressure a tiny bit. Hathor seized her chance, wriggling out and diving to the fallen claws. She picked them up and threw them. The owl snarled as the claws hit him. Lyndon let out one last croak and rolled to the mouth of the hollow, plummeting towards the icy flames climbing ever higher. Hathor sobbed and slipped her tiny feet into the tiny claws. She waddled to the doorway just as the Eagle Owl got up. He lunged and she squealed and hurled herself out, falling, the world rushing by. Her vision tured blue and white and her wings frosted over slightly. She had reached the fire. Suddenly the fire caught a substance in a vial hung just under Hathor that Bellona had used to tell the temperature. With a bang, it exploded, and Hathor was flung skyward, her feathers singed and frozen, the tears that she had been crying frozen on her face. She spread her wings and caught the thermal from the explosion. She was flying. But it had come at such a price. She flew all the way to the river Hoole, trying to avoid the rushing river but plunging in. But her diminutive size and wide wingspan saved her. She drifted unconscious down the river. Surely she was seen. But no-one cared about the owl in the water. She washed into the Hoolemere Sea. When she awoke, she panicked about the unfamiliar surroundings and thrashed. Losing her balance, she slipped below the waves. Her eyes locked with that of a fish. Somehow, impossibly, it understood her need and flung itself from the water and the action caught. Hundreds of fish leaped and splashed. A hunting Buffy Fish Owl Guardian overhead spotted the fish and dived. They scattered and the owl, Khione, saw the tiny owlet drowning. She grabbed her like the fish she sought to hunt and hurtled from the waves, Hathor in her claws. She called to her home and her home beckoned. It would accept the new owl. Not her home. Hathor’s home.
In Character
There was silence around the Great Tree of Ga’Hoole. Only the quiet scratching of a quill could be heard. In her hollow, Hathor wrote.
It is rumoured that the “Godly Wings” are truly the energy of the land hoisting strigidae in flight. However, what they truly are is a wind that blows constantly off to the south, angling slightly upwards. This wind is called Ventus Notus. This wind helps grounded owls; indeed, all birds; to fly if they angle their wings in a correct manner (see diagram 3)
DIAGRAM 3: CORRECT MANNER OF CATCHING VENTUS NOTUS
Suddenly there was a bustle outside the hollow and Ginny, a Black Barn Owl and Hathor’s best friend landed inside the hollow. She came over and plucked a roasted mouse cube from Hathor’s nut bowl, munching on it. “Ah, that’s good mouse” she sighed. Hathor smiled.
“You know, today I was reading a book that got transferred from the Palace. I found out where my name came from.”
“You did?” asked Ginny. It had long been Hathor’s wont to find out the origins of her very untraditional name.
“Yes. It came from the Others. They all had different versions of Glaux and the First Order. In one version, Glaux is the only divine one and is simply called God, while the First Order are called Angels. In another, Glaux is master of the sky, called Jupiter, and each of the First Order control an aspect of life and each have different names. Anyway, in one known as… uh… Eejitian… I think that’s how it’s said… anyway, one of the First Order, you know Tytonida, of beauty, is called Hathor. That’s where my name comes from. I am named after the goddess of beauty.
“It’s fitting…” murmured Ginny.
