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VOTE FOR ME DURING THE WEEK OF APRIL 8TH, 2011
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Its details have been washed away with the storms of the desert, but the story remains.
It tells of a guardian of a tomb, both gifted and cursed to protect the secrets of the Sakhmetians, for all of eternity.
Just one protects the sacred King's resting place... her name?
Charelia.
The blistering desert heat surrounds you as you push against the blowing sand. You'll admit it. The nomad aisha that you talked to got you curious. Who was this Charelia? He refused to tell you any more of the so-called legend, saying if you wanted answers you'd have to find them yourself. Good idea? Probably not on his part. As soon as he said that you took it as permission to find the tomb and find out.
So would it be really your fault if you opened it and a horrible curse was put on Sakhmet or something? No way.
You take a swig of water as you continue on your way. Maybe you should have asked for directions. That Aisha seemed to know his way around the desert. You could see the outskirts of Sakhmet from where you were standing in the north. To the south, you could see Coltzan's shrine. Was that what he was talking about? The aisha said tomb, not the shrine. You've been there plenty of times before, and there's no way the late king of Sakhmet could be resting there. There are always way too many pets hanging around outside of it. It wouldn't be fit for a king.
Tomb, tomb. Where would a tomb be? It'd certainly be hard to miss, tombs aren't easily hidden. Tombs are usually pyramids, so you decide to head toward the valley of the pyramids in the northwest corner of the Lost Desert. It's not very far from where you are and you reach the largest, most elaborate one in a few hours.
You're parched but you forget it because you're so excited that you're finally here.
There's a giant opening at the bottom of the pyramid, leading undoubtedly to where the entrance to the tomb was. The torches in the long hallway down to the true entrance flicker as you walk in. You're on a mission though, and you're not stopping regardless of the hieroglyphs on the walls depicting a most terrible doom to any that enter.
You finally reach the end and you're greeted with a giant circle slab of rock. You try to move it but it won't budge. You notice that there are some symbols on the door. Being the proficient Sakhmet researcher that you are, you know how to read it. You let your fingertips drag across the carved words.
I shall cower before no evil.
With a jerk, the door begins to move. It rolls to the left while the other circle underneath rolls to right, pulling away from each other. Sand tumbles down as the rocks of the tomb itself seem to change and alter for entrance. Your heart is pumping quickly. You can't wait to get in.
Your reverie is soon shattered.
What are you doing here?
You turn to look straight into the eyes of a hissi. The intense stare from her yellow eyes seemed to pierce into your heart.
I-I was just looking for the tomb of-
You're interrupted with a hiss. The hissi smacks her tail on the ground and sand billows up.
This is the sacred tomb of King Coltzan the III. Leave at once.
She doesn't look like most hissis that hail from the Lost Desert. Instead of her scales being a darker sand color, they're black. A strip of what looks to be actual gold runs down from her headdress to the tip of her tail.
I said leave now.
You pause a moment before speaking.
Are you the one they call Charelia?
Her eyes widen. ...How do you know that?
A nomad told me. He says you're a legend.
And here I thought I was just a guardian of a tomb.
C'mon. Won't you just tell me a little bit about yourself?
She sighs before responding. Fine. But not here. I don't want to disturb the King.
You nod, and the two of you walk to the entrance of the tomb - in the long hallway you had just entered. You turn to face her, ready.
Listen, and I'll tell you.
You shake your head. Not really many details, sorry.
Relia's eyes narrow when she hears this.
Such disrespect for the king. The poor lupe.
You could always tell me.
I suppose. Today's world doesn't seem to care about the history of King Coltzan the III. So I might as well teach you, she says reluctantly. So listen up.
King Coltzan died on July 9th, 2001, from what I've heard. However, my story starts before that.
I was 19 when I first met the princess. Perhaps you know who I'm talking about, perhaps you don't. Her name was Princess Sankara. She's often thought to be the daughter of the King since another Aisha, Princess Amira, was related to him, but she wasn't. I met her when she was still the heiress to the throne of the Fourth Khonsu Dynasty. She was just nine-years-old when she had to flee her home and find refuge in Sakhmet.
The sweet, generous King of course welcomed the child with open arms and treated her as if she was his own. This is why, when she came of age at 18, she recieved a Royal guard, just like the other royalty of Sakhmet did.
The guard she received? It was me.
I had worked next to King Coltzan ever since I could hold a sword. I was powerful. I was one of the best royal soldiers the king had, so of course he picked me to guard Princess Sankara.
We got along just fine. She was a determined young woman, and I admired her for that. She confided in me. She told me her plans to raise a grand army when she became queen. She used to be good. It all changed when she heard that Princess Vyssa was in line to become the queen.
This drove her mad. She tried to pretend that she could still have her army when Princess Vyssa became the queen, but I knew the Princess was angry.
I was not the least bit surprised when she told me what she was going to do.
We had been together a year - I was 29 and she, 19. One day while we were in the castle gardens, she turned to me and said
The king must die.
I couldn't move, even though I knew she had been thinking about this for a while.
You are my right-hand adviser and I need your help. Will you join me?
I'll need someone to be on my council once the deed is done. Think of it, Charelia. You know the Royal Family of Sakhmet has an endless supply of wealth. It could be yours. I'd give you all you want. All I ask is that you help me.
Did I accept?
Of course I didn't. I would never hurt the King. Never. He had supported me through all these years. He was the best king the history of Sakhmet had ever seen. I would never, ever, tear his life from him.
So I told the Princess I wouldn't do it.
Well, just think about it.
I thought about it. Not on whether to accept, but on what to do. I knew when she was going to do it, as well. The King had set a date for five royal guests to join him for a feast. That was July 10th. I knew I couldn't outright say that his so-called-daughter was planning on killing him to his face. He would never believe me. That's why I had the idea of threatening to expose her at the feast itself. King Coltzan may not believe me but the other guests would. Princess Sankara had stopped looking popular in the public and politic eye.
I rushed to her room that day, hours before the feast ws to begin.
Princess. You cannot do this.
She stopped brushing her thick, black hair, looking at me from the mirror in front of her. So you've made your decision then?
I have. I respect you, Princess, but I will not let you kill the king.
She turned around. And you think you can stop me?
I do. If you refuse to stop this nonsense, I will expose your plan to the guests.
The princess looked at me for a long time before responding. ...Alright. You win. I won't kill him.
I gave a sigh of relief. Then c'mon, I said, turning my back to her. Let's go downstairs.
I didn't notice her grabbing the vase on her desk.
In a flash she was behind me and she brought the vase down onto my head. I was on the floor, out cold, before I really registered what happened.
When I woke up, she was dragging me by the tail into this very tomb. She saw me stir and so she looked over her shoulder.
Well, good evening, Charelia. It's nice to see you up, she cackled as she hoisted me further onto her back. My face was dragging in the sand and my wings were bound tightly to my sides.
Sadly, the vase wasn't enough to kill you. However, I came up with a different way for you to die.
Where... are we? I spat, getting a mouthful of sand in the process.
We're in that old geezer's tomb. It's for him when he kicks it, but I figure I might as well toss you in here as well. He'll need a guard or something when he travels to the underworld or whatever.
Princess Sankara stopped walking and let me drop to the ground. There you go, you traitor.
You're the traitor, I hissed. They'll find out that you killed the king. Mark my words.
She just laughed at me. She withdrew a knife and brought it towards me.
You're going to kill me while I'm bound? How cowardly of you.
Oh, I'm not going to kill you at all. Slowly, she began cutting the ropes that bound my wings. Is it really my fault if you get locked up in this tomb? It could've been an accident, you know. These doors won't open from the inside. She began to walk towards the entrance.
It was nice knowing you, Charelia.
With that, she was out through the entrance. I tried to escape before they closed, but it was too late. The circle stones had already sealed me in the tomb forever.
I panicked, of course. I tried to pry the doors open but obviously that didn't work. I screamed and yelled but I knew nobody would hear me. It was hopeless.
Hours passed and I could feel the air become more stale. I knew I didn't have much longer to live. I was exhausted, so at that point I just lied down and waited to die.
King Coltzan's famous words echoed in my mind as I let myself drift into sleep.
I shall cower before no evil, and defend the virtue of my people against all enemies. Regardless of the outcome, at least I know that I have fought for a most noble cause.
When I awoke, I was not dead. The air supply was certainly low, and it was getting hard for me to breath. I figured that I woke up because my body couldn't take the deep breaths that are needed for sleep. I closed my eyes again, waiting for my last breath.
Hello, Charelia.I opened my eyes to see Nuria, the most powerful fire faerie of the desert - of the whole world, even - sitting right in front of me. Her firey wings illuminated the entire tomb.
N-Nuria! Oh, my prayers have been heard. Please, Nuria, help me, I begged, bowing to her.
Sadly, Charelia, I cannot do that. The faeries have decided this is the way it must be. I felt myself slump, losing the hope seeing Nuria had given me. But I have watched you. We knew the Princess would turn against her king. And you, Charelia, did not falter in the face of evil. You are strong.
Load of good that will do me, now that I'm going to die.
Nuria looked at me for a moment and then continued. You will not die. I straightened up, confused. The King needs someone strong to protect him while he rests in his tomb. The faeries have forseen this and we decided upon you.
Charelia, you will be the guardian of the tomb.
I stared at her blankly. I had heard the stories of the tomb guardians. Guardian? But this means...
Yes, Charelia. You will be both gifted and cursed. I must transform you into a sort of half-hissi, half-faerie being. You will be immortal forever with this. A little of our magic goes a very long way, but it does not come without its consequences.
Your body will change. You will no longer wear the standard look of a desert guard. And, in this form, you will be trapped in this tomb forever.
But the faeries need to be able to contact the guardians occasionally. This spell will give you a form that will allow you to leave the tomb. It is not possible to give you a completely faerie form without losing your original. You will have a part of your beast form left in your faerie form.
Beast and faerie. You must choose which one you wear carefully. Spending too much time outside the tomb is dangerous. It is your duty, now, as a guardian.
Do you know the desert oasis to the north? I nodded. It is here that you may visit. Any farther and you will be punished by the faeries.
Do you understand all that I am telling you?
I was shocked, honored, scared, eager, and reluctant all at the same time. But the faeries had chosen this path for me, so I had to say...
I do.
Nuria smiled and then clasped her hands together, casting a spell on me.
I believe in you, Charelia. Good luck.
With that, she disappeared.
The way you see me now is the way I looked after the spell. I have been in this tomb for 9 years now.
Name: Charelia
Pronounced: Shar-elle-ee-ah
Nickname: Relia
Gender: Female
Age: Was 29, now immortal
Species: Hissi
Paint: Desert & Shadow
Owner: Rx
Personality: Protective, Stoic, 'real', somewhat sarcastic, not as mysterious as a legend should be
Home: King Coltzan the III's tomb in the Lost Desert
Scales: Black
Hood: Gold and blue
Jewels: Ruby red
Parents: Unknown
Siblings: None
Love: None
Likes
King Coltzan III, Nuria, Sa, the Lost Desert, warmth, the oasis
Dislikes
Princess Sankara, the cold, dampness, being 'mysterious', overly happy people, tomb raiders
Quick Anthro Ref
Zay
...I pity her. I really do. The horrors I have seen in my life pale in comparison to her - and yet she is able to keep her sickly sweet and happy disposition. I'd dislike her, but I'm too busy admiring her for her amazing tenacity.
She used to be a bratty, regular krawk. But then she was kidnapped by someone called the Tailor, who completely reworked her and made her into this almost-plushie state.
I don't think even I could handle it. But she lives on and is still happy.
And how could I forget this little rascal?
This here is Sa. He's my companion I found lurking about in this tomb a while ago. I don't know how he got in but I found him stuck behind a few rocks. I was able to use a bit of my magic to cast an short immortality spell on him - then when I saw Nuria again I asked if Sa could be immortal along with me.
We get along fine, but sometimes he's just really annoying. No, Sa, I don't want to play every second of the day. If you're wondering what 'Sa' means - or the symbol on his head which isn't normal for a Kepru, it means protection. I guess it sort of fits me in that I'm a protector as well.
Art by Christie
Art by others
By Dorothy
By Kisa
By O.G.
You should probably go, guest, she said suddenly through a moment of silence. The king's spirit usually returns from the shrine at sunset.
Well, can't I just stay a little while longer so I can see him?
Relia stares straight into your eyes and lets out a long hiss. No. Absolutely not.
Eesh, I was just asking.
I don't care. Really, you should be going now. She turns around and begins to slither towards the entrance of the main tomb. She stops for a second and then looks back at you. Come again soon. I actually enjoyed talking with you. Maybe next time I'll tell you some more Sakhmetian secrets. She laughs, and then with a hiss the grand slabs open and close, sealing her in the tomb where she would stay for the rest of her life.
My name's Christie. In the coming sections, I will elaborate a bit about myself, why I chose Charelia to apply for, why you should ultimately choose me as the owner, and my future plans with her.
Let me just remind you of a few things~ I will be changing her gender and I will refer her to as Relia, Relie, Reli-kins, or whatever annoying variant I'm thinking of at that moment. 8) I also use smilies.
These sections are going to be much cheerier than the sarcastic feel of the petpage.
Without further ado... Proceed to learn about Christie!
I'm called Christie everywhere. On the internet and in the real world. It's just my nickname but it's my favorite. I used to go by Sketch, or before that, Nabooru. Coincidentally Nabooru played a part in the character, but I'll talk about that later. Now I have graduated to only using my nickname.
I turned 17 in the beginning of June. As my picture to the left shows, I'm incredibly pasty-white (blame it on spending too much time in the computer room). I've usually got my blonde hair in a ponytail and I wear my glasses all the time. I can't see a thing without them. I live in boring old Oregon (which is not to be confused with Boring, Oregon).
Before we continue on with me, I'd like to show you the love of my life - my wonderful German Shepherd, Eureka. I feel like I should tell just a little bit about her because she's such a huge part of my life (and she's adorable!) She'll be two years old come October, and she's the best dog I've ever had. (Alright, I'm feeling a little sentimental right now, since I haven't seen her for a week because she went on vacation with my mom, so please pardon the Eureka-spam)
I'm obsessed with all things creative - music, writing, drawing, painting, sewing, and my newest hobby ball-joint dolls. If you search 'what is a bjd' you can find out a lot about them. I played the oboe for almost 7 years now and while I'm not the biggest band nerd around I do rather enjoy noodling around. I've been writing since I was a wee lassie. Neopets furthered my love for writing. Here's an example of my... glorious writing skills back when I was in fourth grade.
I shaked my head, thinking that I was Imaging. But then he spoke. Flame, Protect your necklace with your life. Do not let those that evil consumes ruin you. You're the last one with a Draik Necklace. Then he smiled his smile when we still lived at our house, when the flowers where in bloom, and when any thing was happy. Here, have a gift, Flame, my sweet child. His face disapered, but a plushie of him and a picture of my mother and father at their wedding. I left that place, but will always remeber it.....
*headdesk*
Obviously I've improved a lot since that example. But what about art? Let's see where Christie used to be...
Shield your eyes from super happy desu kitty!
To see where my art is now, visit my art page~
Now, that's all the important stuff for Christie off-neo.
But what about her on neo?
Let's get the skeletons out of the closet right away. How many times have I been frozen?
Twice.
And no, I'm not going to say 'But it wasn't my fauuuuulllt TNT is just so horrible!' because I deserved both freezings.
The first time was back when I was about 10 or 11. Now, I just shake my head at the amount of naivety I had at that point in my life. I was frozen for saying a bad word. One of my friends watched an episode of South Park. She told me the word and said it meant 'annoying'. I thought it wasn't THAT bad of a word, but it actually was a really offensive and derogatory term (you know how South Park is). I didn't know that at the time. I sent it over neomail, complaining about a character from the show Teen Titans, and then was immediately frozen. I couldn't get my account back because I had obviously broken the rules and Neo didn't fall for the "I didn't know what it meant!!!" excuse, even though it was true.
However, I have never been frozen again for a bad word, or received a warning for bad language.
The second time... I knew the rules and I broke them anyways. My friend and I had seen popular artists on neo take neopet commissions, so we thought we could get away with it as well. However, we were frozen but those artists weren't. I had put so much work into that account just to throw it away because of greed.
I quit Neo after that and didn't come back until summer of my Sophomore year (the freezing happened right around the start of 8th grade). I applied for a krawk, Aixyre, trying to reinvent my beloved krawk Zaysiine, but sadly I was rejected. So I forgot about neo again until the summer of this year.
I have learned my lesson though. Neopets is just a site - it's not real life and it's certainly nothing to get so greedy over. I will never be breaking the rules and I'm very careful everything I do fits in Neo's rules.
Now about the accounts I have. My first account was angle1007 (...yes, that's how I spelled angel seven years ago) but it's frozen now because I decided to self-freeze it. Horreur was an old account I made a while ago that escaped the chain ice. This is now my main account. My side account is artihilist. It looks empty right now but actually this is where Charelia would be moved to. This isn't to say Charelia would rot there. The reason I'm going to have her on my side account is for the following reasons.
In case I get ANY other permie that would better 'fit' with the pets on my main account, I don't want to move Charelia to a side account if she's cross painted. I wouldn't be able to afford another desert paint brush and then a shadow paint brush to get her clothes back. By keeping her on my side account, it would ensure the fact she would never be transferred if cross-painted.
I also only plan on having two accounts: horreur and artihilist. Why? Because I don't think I could handle any more than 8 possible characters. I don't know what counts as 'an active side' as right now I only have two characters I actually own (Zaysee and Oniryugami_ Kouhei) so the pets on artihilist don't have pages. But I promise Charelia would not rot on that account.
My last reason is because I plan on having a lab map on that account, and it's the only place I'd be able to change her gender from male to female. xD I hope this is alright with you.
I do love art, thus I enjoy the BC and the Art Gallery. I do have records of my old achievements on neo back a few years back.
If you'd like verification of this, you can check with my old neo buddy, Paint
My only trophy since was getting into the AG.
Edit: I won 1st in Techo with 239 votes! c:
That's about it for my history on neo. Don't let my past discourage you too much - as I've said before, I've learned my lesson and I will never break the rules again. Charelia would not be frozen.
Even so, why would you want to choose Christie?
Why MeWell, I'm going to be a senior in high school next year. This could be seen as a bad thing, but I hope I'll have more time than I did when I was a junior. I hear that senior year is the easiest. So I would access neo. I can't promise I'd sign in every day come school, but I would work on Charelia and such.
I'd be a dedicated owner, and would show Charelia off. BC, RPing, and even the site spotlight. That's why I've focused her design closely to neo - my dream is to win the site spotlight with her page.
I'm no good at the why me section, because I hope that through this app I've proven to you that I'd be a good owner and would be worthy of being Charelia's next owner.
But why would I choose Charelia?
She's a very well-named, desert hissi.
Gasp! How completely shallow of me! It must mean I'm just a pet collector, right?
Wrong! I have always loved hissis since they were released. Even more, I love the new desert hissi (I didn't like the beard thing with the old desert hissi). So after coming up with a character, I discovered Charelia and decided I just had to apply.
The character idea came from when I was playing the Spirit Temple in Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. It was essentially a thought explosion after I thought 'it'd be really cool to have the Spirit Temple music on a petpage!'. And then the rest of her character just morphed from that. She's very, very loosely based on Nabooru, the sage of the Spirit Temple, in that they both guard something very important.
Yes, I'm a nerd, and I love it.
But why a hissi? Why did I have to choose your desert hissi for this spontaneous idea? Well, the reason that I chose Charelia specifically is because of the name. When I saw Charelia, I thought her nickname could be 'Relia' which reminds me of 'Relic' which in turn reminds me of Ancient Egypt from which she has some influences.
And to take a step back - why would I choose a hissi? I'm obviously better at drawing other pets like krawks or lupes. Well, that's the point. I want to get better at drawing snakes and Charelia would provide me that opportunity.
So besides drawing her, what do I plan on doing with Relia?
So, here's a quick list of all the things I'll do.
- Adopt her on artihilist
- Change her gender when I get a lab map
- Get her Kepru
- Paint her shadow
- Give her a custom lookup
- Finish her petpage
- Enter her in the Site Spotlight
- Enter her in the BC
- Draw her a lot
- Make her a link
- Trade links
- Give her adoptables
- Search for customs/trades
- Roleplay her
Now, I'm no good at customization, but this is what she would look like. I try to give all my permies at least some sort of customization. ^^;
Site Spotlight? With an original character? That's unheard of! Well, it's not, actually, and I plan on winning it. x3 I will add more of 'list' kind of a page on her petpage as it seems the Site Spotlights like them. I'm thinking of calling it 'Sakhmetian Secrets'.
And I intend to BC her a lot. I actually rather like BC'ing and it'd be fun to enter in a category like hissi. As of right now I have no BC trophies to boast of but I'm hoping to win in Techo this Friday~
I will shower Charelia with creativity and attention. This much I promise.
So what do I NOT plan on doing?
Trading her!
I promise I'll never trade Charelia. Charelia would be a permanent character for me and I wouldn't dream of trading her for anything 'better'. That's just lame.
Getting Frozen
Well every Neo user plans on not doing this. But me especially! I don't want Charelia to get to me only to be frozen a little while later. So rest assured she'd be safe in my hands.
Forgetting her
I've really grown to love Charelia and I wouldn't let her rot in my side account. While I can't sign on every day to feed her or play with her, I'll put her in the neolodge so at least she's not crying. I can't say I'll give her a picture EVERY day but I will draw her a lot. All I can promise is that Charelia would not be forgotten with me. c:
That's about it.
I have to thank some people first:
Dorothy for just being there xD
The App Chat peoples for keeping me sane and... on track (not distracting at all... I promise! 9_9)
These sites for being helpful with CSS (I coded most of the page myself but there was some content I referenced)
Thanks again for reading this. Good luck on choosing the owner for Charelia, and I hope you have a great day~
alright, this is Kouhei!
Name: forgotten
Given/New Name: Oniryugami_
Alias: Kouhei
Gender: Male
Species: Draik
Location: Mountains of Shenkuu, but travels all the time
Age: Young for a dragon, would translate to about 34 in human years
Body Type: Very sinuous and lean. He's strong though.
Personality: Kind, impetuous, passionate, affectionate, vigilante, just
Parents: Passed away naturally
Siblings: None
Mate: Used to have a wife in his clan, but he has not seen her since he was kicked out
Children: A daughter named Naoko, who is about 8 in human years. He also has a son that would be about 14 in human years. He has not seen them since he was kicked out either
Okay, this is going to be really brief.
Kouhei was born and raised in a clan in the Shenkuu mountains. He had a very normal life. His name was not Kouhei or Oniryugami at the time. At (this in human years, I haven't really decided the clan's age scale) 20, he met a beautiful draikess and he fathered his first child, ??? (don't have a name for him now). The child is now 14. Of course Kouhei and the draikess got married, and the two got a lot of criticism for jumping into the marriage so quickly.
They had Naoko when Kouhei was 26. Then, when she was three, a catastrophe happened.
The leader of the clan was murdered. Of course Kouhei didn't do it - but somebody framed him as though he did. (He still hasn't figured out why). And of course the only draik that could confirm his alibi was his three-year-old daughter, who everyone said would lie for her father and couldn't be trusted.
Killing clearly wasn't acceptable in the clan, but killing the leader was the highest crime you could commit. The clan decided to punish Kouhei by erasing his name from every corner of their culture and replaying it with Oniryugami which means Demon Dragon God (respectively). Even his wife called him that. The only two that believed him were his children, but he wasn't allowed to see them again.
So, he was kicked out and has since been living on his own. He adopted the name 'Kouhei' since it means Justice, and he is continuously seeking justice because of what happened. Basically he goes around smiting the bad and fighting for justice.
