Name: Mercy
Character name: Lykkir Mohr
Feature you are applying for: 1/2 Selkie
Description of the character:Personality:Lykkir is an extremely flawed young man. Childish and narcissistic, he tends to whine a lot and throw overdramatic tantrums about petty occurrences. Additionally, he regards people as possessions, which results in him having a very territorial mindset about relationships. That is, in a relationship, he expects to be the center of attention, which has resulted in ex-boyfriends and ex-girlfriends feeling as if they have just broken up with a leech. Lykkir also fails somewhat at empathizing with people, except when it comes to sexuality. With the exception of sexual emotions, he finds relating to other people difficult and can often only see situations from his point of view. Moreover, Lykkir holds delusions about many things, which range from his abilities to his status as a "special" or "gifted" person to his perception of reality. In Lykkir's mind, due to his elevated state of vanity, he's a falsely exiled selkie prince, the misunderstood and outcast hero of a primitive and mystical tribe of half-humans who will embrace him when he finds them. In reality, he's a whiny, delusional diva.
Which is not to say Lykkir doesn't have redeeming features. He does. Aside from his sexual charisma, Lykkir is passionate, engaged, enthusiastic, persuasive, cunning, self-preserving, flamboyant, and imaginative. When it comes to activities he genuinely enjoys, he throws himself into the act with fervor and excitement. If he truly wants to, he applies himself most dutifully and will refuse to rest until he perfects whatever it is he's doing, because he truly loves it. Also, when not whining or throwing tantrums, Lykkir truly possesses an immense and powerful presence. He tends to dominate social situations and excels at persuasion, due to his cunning. While he may be self-absorbed, he also is self-preserving, and makes pragmatic choices when it comes to his own skin. Lastly, Lykkir has an overactive imagination, which can lead to both creative problem solving and vague delusions of grandeur.
I think Lykkir, personality-wise, fits selkie traits while still maintaining his own uniqueness and independence. Selkies are temperamental, flighty, wanderlustful, passionate, enthusiastic, vain, and self-absorbed, just like him, but they are also loyal, full of integrity, and noble, which he is not. His differences make him human and not a cookie-cutter example of a half-selkie child. To me, Lykkir just as defined by his human flaws as he is by his selkie heritage.
Background:Lykkir's hometown, Mikladalur, is the source of a very famous selkie legend. In the legend, a young farmer hides the sealskin of a selkie maid to make her his wife. During their marriage, he makes sure to keep the sealskin locked away in a chest with the key around his neck at all times. On day, however, he forgets somehow to take his key and when he returns home he finds the chest unlocked and the selkie maid gone, returned back to the sea and her selkie family. (Interestingly, she leaves her human children behind.) Enraged, the farmer goes hunting and kills the selkie's selkie husband and two sons. She vows to take revenge on all the men of Mikladalur, drowning or killing all men until there are enough corpses to hold hands around the entire island of Kalsoy.
I decided to tie in the Wizarding World as such: the selkie's revenge applies only to Muggles, as Wizards had always taken special care to respect selkie customs and, for a while, even helped the selkies exact their revenge. As time passed, the Wizards began to mind their own business until they stopped helping the selkie revenge altogether, but the Wizards and selkies of Mikladalur and Kalsoy are still on, if not friendly, then certainly not hostile terms.
This is why Lykkir's mother, Apollonia, had no qualms about crying seven tears into the sea to summon a male selkie. Male selkies differ greatly from female selkies when it comes to their interactions with humans. While human males are always trying to hide female selkie sealskins to make them their wives, human females (usually ones dissatisfied with their lives) summon male selkies for one night stands. These relationships never last long (some literally for just one night, as in Apollonia's case), but a human female may carry a male selkie's child. This is what happened with Lykkir.
According to lore, male selkies are extremely seductive to human women. As there is little established lore written on part-selkie descendants (apart from many of them having short fingers), I decided to write it so that male part-selkie descendants inherit at least a significant fraction of their fathers' allure along with an affinity for the sea and some seallike habits (i.e. liking fish, being good at swimming, etc.), but not the whole sealskin/transformation thing. The male selkie's seductiveness is similar to that of the veela--that is, it doesn't create true love, but rather "an infatuation that...wears off after a while." Hence, male part-selkie descendants are able to vaguely "seduce" people the way female part-veelas are, for a short amount of time, while the seduced is in the vicinity of the selkie descendant. This seductiveness certainly varies from person to person, and what one person feels as intense sexual charisma another will feel as mere charm. I imagine female selkie descendants have a similar power. I know that female selkies dance beautifully and certainly incite at least some desire in human males.
Application: I was joking around with Ju
lie, saying that the androgynous blond model Andrej Pejic is proof male veelas exist, when I thought, well, why not? The veela/siren special features had always been interesting to me. To use the feature, you would certainly have to use restraint and creativity while roleplaying, so that the special feature never turns into god-moding. This, to me, poses a fun and interesting challenge, and I've always wanted to do something similar. However, none of my female characters fit the veela/siren special feature. Salomé tries very hard to be a femme fatale, but to make her a veela would take away a lot of her character development and remove much of the challenges that make her so human. Pixie is, well, a pixie. Definitely not veela/siren material. And then I got to thinking, well, why not something similar to a male veela? The special feature type is already interesting enough, and to play it as a male character would make it even more interesting, and more challenging, because it hasn't been done before (as far as I know.) With that in mind, I began to research similar humanoid/shapeshifter creatures of mythology, with my two main choices being either kelpie (evil drowney water horse-man) or selkie.
I want to point out that this special feature is not a replacement or a cop-out so that I can play Lykkir as a male veela. Rather, the "male veela" idea was a jumping-off point, and the selkie feature is my way of creating a new special feature that ties in thoroughly with my character and his development, with the added challenge of playing a previously only female special feature. To do this application, I did a lot of research on selkies and the town of Mikladalur/island of Kalsoy. Selkies aren't male veelas, they're selkies, and a special feature in their own right that I feel fits in very well with the whole MH vibe. Not only are selkies seducers, but wanderers and nomads as well. They have their own brand of temperament and personality that I feel fits Lykkir very well and should be fun to play.
I wrote Lykkir specifically with this feature in mind. Much of his background story, mannerisms, worldview, and personality tie in closely with his selkie heritage. His relationship with his mother, for example, is strained because he (delusionally) believes his mother must have a. done something bad to make his father leave and b. stolen his sealskin so he can't follow his father. He worships his father, whom he has never known, and a lot of his personality stems from him trying to become just like his mental image of his father. Lykkir also holds a delusion of enlightenment, a delusion that hopefully other people will have fun setting straight. Also, due to his perception and interpretation of his father's "abandonment," Lykkir is extremely needy, demanding, and possessive in relationships while at the same time bad at empathizing with emotions unless they're of a sexual nature. Without this feature, Lykkir doesn't really feel like Lykkir.
Future plots:As this feature is so integral to Lykkir's personality, I can see it popping up in a number of "normal" plots where his feature isn't the focus of the plot. I can also imagine the following plots:
- new race issue with half-human, half-other wizards. Just like the two Wizarding Wars were essentially fought over blood status, there could be another interesting boardwide plot where half-humans have to go into hiding or are kidnapped for experiments/questioning. There could be a whole political issue regarding half-human wizards. For example, some parent could instigate it by questioning the humanity of these half-humans and whether they should even be allowed in school. That could lead to a heated, political debate and possibly another war. Of course, there aren't a lot of half-human characters on MH, but people could definitely take sides and the issue of werewolves and vampires could be brought in as well.
- some Nautic Magic plot, taking place at Durmstrang, where Lykkir disrupts class and tries to show off. I have scanned the Nautic Magic threads, and Varamyr definitely seems to be the sort to not take too kindly to people disrupting his class and attempting to show off. This could set into motion a grudge between Lykkir and a number of professors and between Lykkir and his housemates as well, as I'm sure his little show would result in chips being taken away. Cam has approved this.
- relationship issues with Lykkir and possible significant others. The significant other in question could be questioning whether they are truly attracted to Lykkir as a person or whether most of it is just his selkie allure, or Lykkir could, being the suspicious, insecure diva he is, question whether the significant other is truly attracted to him. This could lead to very interesting relationship dynamics and threads.
- fights between Lykkir and other students. These could result in a number of different possibilities. One possibility is the female in a heterosexual couple becomes momentarily and involuntarily attracted to Lykkir because of his power and her male counterpart calling Lykkir out for a fight. Another possibility is Lykkir intentionally trying to seduce, say, a rival's girlfriend, and said girlfriend, knowing exactly what he wants to do, taking some precautions that result in a fight. Another possibility is Lykkir attracting an unwanted admirer, whom he attacks out of exasperation and annoyance.
- a sneak-out plot. As a result of Lykkir's affinity for the sea, sailing ability, wanderlust, and talent in Nautic Magic, he could definitely come up with a possible sneak-out for certain housemates (or even just schoolmates) and take them sailing. This, of course, is both dangerous and daft, and could result in disciplinary action from the Durmstrang staff that could be very fun to play out. Cam has approved this.
- a running away plot. As Lykkir has always harbored the delusion of one day running away to join his father's selkie tribe, it's perfectly likely for Lykkir to one day, fed up and overemotional, run away in the general direction of where he thinks his father is, and end up somewhere completely unexpected, dangerous, and foreign. That could result in a number of "stranger in a strange land" threads that I imagine could be fun both for Lykkir and whomever he encounters.
RP sample using the feature:The sea nipped at Lykkir's heels like the ghost of a playful pet. He stood there, motionless, while the waves tumbled onto the shore, eyes closed and a shit-eating grin splattered on his face. He spread his arms wide in the pose of a willing martyr and stuck his tongue out to taste the spray. Tongue massaging the air, Lykkir tried to catch the upward splashes of seawater. Salt tore across his lips, settled in the nest of his eyelids. His toes curled in their bed of sea-soked sand, luxuriating in the rough wet. While the sea lapped at his legs, jumping for his hips, the wind fought back and batted his hair and back. He was nature's plaything, the toy of the elements. This, Lykkir knew, was bliss.
Far away, a foghorn moaned a one-note dirge, mourning something unseen. Up above, seagulls plotted mass takeovers, squawking in their unintelligible code the myriad ways they would slaughter mankind. Lykkir listened to nature's sad and frenzied warnings, and he smiled. He loved the smell of destruction on the air. And then, he heard it. The slap of a tail on the water, the baleful bark of a familiar friend. Lykkir's eyelids split open, letting in a needle-blanket of salt air. But he paid the pain no mind. A seal, so close to shore? A selkie? With caution, Lykkir turned in a slow semicircle towards the source of the bark. There, in the shallow tidepools, lay a seal. Its liquid-heartbreak eyes stared straight at him, daring him to come closer.With a deep breath, Lykkir accepted the dare and plunged into the ocean. Was this his chance. Had his father returned for him after 17 long years?
But now the sea was angry. It slapped Lykkir over the head and shoved fingers into his nose and dug hooks under his eyelids, making him choke and sputter as he fought to stay afloat. This was ridiculous. He was the best swimmer he knew. Through the veil of murky saltwater, Lykkir thought he saw the seal bite itself on the wrist. Coughing and twisting in the sea's strangle, he watched as the seal tear its paw off to reveal a short-fingered human hand. Trying not to drown, he watched as the seal skinned itself. Out came a beautiful woman, eyes the exact color of the sky on the night of a shipwreck. Her long blonde hair whipping in the air, she looked him right in the face and smiled. In that moment, Lykkir's heart stopped.
And then the world snarled, twisted itself into a ball and tried to chew its way out of its own skin. Thrashing, Lykkir felt something rough and heavy fall over his body, dragging him this way and that, contorting him in poses he never could have imagined. He struggled not to choke as the something dragged him towards shore. As if in slow-motion, a flurry of blood blossomed from his ankle as he hit a rock and a rat king of kelp skittered by. As if encased in jello, Lykkir watched as a beautiful, iridescent spiral shell was pushed towards the beach by the sea's invisible lasso. His lungs felt drenched in burning fat. His fingers felt like those of a dead man. His wrists felt imploded. Idly, Lykkir wondered if this was what death was like. As the fisherman's net spilled him onto the shore, Lykkir remembered the selkie woman and twisted his head to and fro, trying to catch one last glimpse of her.
"Whoa there, lass! Stop struggling, I gotcha, I gotcha. You're safe now." A sea-roughened voice hit Lykkir like a bucket of raw fish. Snarling, he punched the air, boxing shadows of shadows. Twisting so his head was in the air, he stared through the net's holes towards where the selkie had been. Nothing. Whatever imbecile had just caught him like a sea of stupid tuna had just ruined his only chance to find his father. Fuming, Lykkir lay there as the net was untwisted and then lifted off of him. "You're alright, girl, you're safe now."
"Safe?" Lykkir screamed. "Are you fu**ing kidding me, you just--" And then a rough beard was rubbing against his smooth chin, and a pair of chapped lips closed over his, slimy slug tongue probing for an entrance.
Oh shit, Lykkir thought.
Not another one. With every ounce of strength, he fought back against the enchanted fisherman, struggling to push him away. But then the heavyset man was on top of him, hands pawing at his shirt and grappling at his wrists. This had never happened before, with anyone. The most they had done was develop a stupid look on their faces and falter in their speech, but none of them had ever
kissed him, and in such a disgusting way, too. Opening his mouth, Lykkir let the other man's tongue enter his mouth and then bit down, hard. Blood seeped into his throat, gagging him, making him want to lie down and throw up. But he kept biting until his right hand found what he was looking for. Tightening his grip on the rock, Lykkir slammed it into the side of the fisherman's head.
Letting go of the man's tongue, Lykkir watched as the man's eyes rolled into the back of his head. And then, the man slumped forward, completely immobile. Wriggling like a leech, Lykkir tried to push the man off of his own body, but he remained where he was. The body wouldn't budge. Fuming, Lykkir let loose a howl. Great, just great. This really was the perfect ending to a perfect goddamn day.
