#varune

Jos Verlooy & Varune.

Final of the Belgian Championships 

World Breeding Championships at Zangersheide

Alternia

Name (preferably include how you came up with it and why): Varune Cabyll

‘Varune’ is based off of Varuna, the Hindu god of oceans. Varune is associated with water, his element. The name can be translated as “he who covers or binds.” Varuna also famously had a steed who was part fish. He is also a god of law, who punishes those who sin without remorse.

‘Cabyll’ comes from “cabyll-ushtey” which is Manx for “water horse,” more specifically the famed creatures called kelpies which appear to be normal horses that lure people into riding them and then drags them into a nearby body of water to consume them, only leaving the liver behind.

Oh I absolutely love kelpies, this is gonna be fun.

Age: 8 sweeps (~17 years old)

Strife Specibus: ropekind, pistolkind (revolverkind? I’m not sure if revolvers would have their own specibus), knifekind (bowie knife)

Varuna’s weapon of choice was a pasha; a rope or noose. Varune enjoys tying up his foes, strangling or hanging them. The revolver and bowie knife are more practical, as he is a bit of a survivalist and hunts for his own food. Plus, he has to butcher trolls for his lusus.

Revolvers are just guns, so pistolkind works! Though really ropekind might be all you need. In fact, maybe scrap guns and replace that with gluekind? As a reference to the way kelpies hunt. It’s often been theorized that you become stuck to the horse, as though glued. So Ropes, glue, and knives.

Fetch Modus: Knot modus (I can’t think of a better name). When he captchalogues an item, it immediately turns into a rope that he has to tie into a unique knot. If he attempts to retrieve the item, he has to successfully untie the knot.

Ooo, I like that!

Blood color: Cerulean

Symbol and meaning: Scorcen, the Uniter

“The Uniter” is kind of ironic because he’s really bad at making connections. Varune is trying really hard to find his place amongst others, but is mostly just good at making everyone hate or dislike him. Maybe he’s unites them in that way? He would love to bring people together, but the only way he knows how is by tying them up.

Trolltag: landboundEque

“Landbound” literally means “restricted by land” but it can also mean “going towards land.” An eque is a Roman knight or one from the order of nobility called Equites that often became knights. It is also the vocative singular form of “equus,” or horse. In Greek/Roman mythology, Poseidon/Neptune is the god of horses as well as the ocean. So although a landbound horse seems redundant, it hints that he is a being of water trapped on the earth.

Quirk: (he speaks kinda gently… with a bit o-f a so-uthern tang) (ya kno-w… like the who-le “speak so-ftly but carry a big stick” way a thinkin) ;]

Phrases are sectioned off with parenthesis which gives the impression of whispering and also looks like his facial scars. Will use horse puns and cowboy or southern lingo. Turns o’s into o-’s to represent little lassos or nooses. Doesn’t use periods, commas or most other punctuation but will use ellipses as a way to catch his breath. Will substitute “of” with “a” and cut off “g” from words with “ing.” Uses :] smilies and any variation of them. Will never swear and will likely use substitutes like “fiddlesticks” or “so-n o-f a gun.”

Now I love this… I really do… But Kelpies are scottish and I just cannot pass up the opportunity to tell you that Scots Highlanders and those of them who moved out to the old west match up with his personality tendencies so well. They were used to harsh and unforgiving land and were used to criminals and massacres, and they were damn willing to fight for their land. So maybe a scottish accent here instead of a southern one? 

Special Abilities (if any): I like the idea that trolls hold the capabilities of all blood colors within their genes but only some are activated when the wriggler is developing, which differentiates them at birth. So polyblood incoming! Varune is a mutant and possesses the gills and fins that a seadweller would normally have as those genes were activated. Therefore, he is proficient at swimming and can breathe water. In order to hide his secret, he has forcibly removed his facial fins which has left his face scarred. He’s kind of sensitive about it (both emotionally and literally, the scars still hurt) so he tries to hide them behind messy hair. His normal lungs are a little deformed so he sometimes has trouble breathing air. This can be temporarily remedied by a quick dip in the water.

Varune also possesses the psychic abilities that ceruleans can have but slightly different. Rather than being able to control others, he is only capable of suppressing the abilities granted by their blood such as lowblood psychic powers, cerulean mind control, indigo freakish strength, purple chucklevoodoos and seadweller aquatic capabilities. He has to consciously overpower others and it takes a rather heavy toll on him physically. He starts hemorrhaging and will bleed from his eyes, nose, ears and mouth the longer he suppresses someone or if he is using his power on a particularly powerful individual. If he does it for long enough, old wounds, like his facial scars, will start to reopen and bleed. Luckily, he heals pretty quickly. That being said, he could lose fatal amounts of blood if he pushes himself too hard.

I do kind of like that this ability is something of a metaphysical lassoing. I definitely need to say though that people above the cerulean station are generally more resistant to psychic interference and that a powerful individual probably isn’t going to be someone he’ll be suppressing anyways. Like, I don’t think he’s going to be out here stopping a purple from chucklevoodooing because that’s what purples HAVE chucklevoodoos for, to stop the people below them from getting big heads and fighting back. So definitely keep this idea for people in the reasonable range, but it’s probably best to reduce the effective range of the ability so it’s not too OP.

Lusus: A cabyll-ushtey/kelpie. It looks like a regular horse when on land but has a fish tail. Like the Kelpie from the manga Dungeon Meshi https://imgur.com/a/rD6TRvQ

Varune’s lusus is his trusty but despised steed. It maintains an intense bloodlust and is immensely hungry. Unfortunately, its favourite food is fresh troll. He learned this the hard way when it tried to eat him when he was rather young, but fortunately Varune lasso’d its mouth shut, jumped on and didn’t let go until it calmed down. Since that incident, it seems to listen to him. However, Varune is forced to kill other trolls to give it a steady supply of meat. That at least keeps it from going mad from water deprivation, as he roped it into the whole cowboy shtick too.

God I love this thing, but kelpies kind of need water in some capacity? Maybe there could be a nearby lake that his lusus can take a dip in (and that Varune occasionally indulges in soaking in).

Personality: Varune feels most at home when he’s in the water. He feels like it calls to him if he stays away for too long. But if anyone ever saw him swimming, they would likely have him culled on the spot. As a safety precaution, Varune has abandoned his bayside hive to live farther inland. He can’t be tempted to go back to the water if he’s surrounded by plains as far as the eye can see! At least that’s what he thought. Even as he roams the countryside, he dreams of the embrace of the sea. He is determined to stay away, even if it makes him miserable. It’s better than being dead! He picked up the cowboy lifestyle as a way of coping with being landlocked and he really enjoys it! Unfortunately, it doesn’t reduce his love for water.

On land, he really feels like a fish out of water. Literally, he has trouble breathing the air due to his defective lungs. He’s also rather shy and uncomfortable, often bumbling through social interactions. He really would like to make friends, as he is really lonely and his lusus isn’t much company. He’s also afraid that someone might learn his secret, so he’s never comfortable enough to really get close to anyone. Varune feels most confident when doing his cowboy thing or when he’s in the water, but quickly falls apart when approached.

Other highbloods think he’s a joke. He has tried to associate himself with the local lowblood ranchers and what not, but is typically rejected because they think he’s making fun of them or simply because he’s a cerulean, a caste known for their cruelty and untrustworthiness. He’s hurt, and even a little bitter, about this but never takes it out on them. Instead, he takes it out on criminals, bandits and lusus thieves. He’s taken an oath to fight crime wherever he finds it. He doesn’t like to admit it, but he is truly a cerulean in that he loves subjugating and torturing those he deems detrimental to society. One time, after capturing a bunch of criminals, he lined them up and hanged them, one by one. It was one of the best moments in his life. It’s no wonder that the lower castes fear him.

As a result, he’s only managed to make a small group of friends. He had a prospective matesprit, Lelaps, who he bonded with through their love of the wild, but found himself in an auspistice with their ex-moirail, Hemati. He is attracted to Hemati blackwise and loves that all three of them are in a relationship together. Since he’s unsure if he can get them both, he is more than happy to continue the ashen romance they’ve got going. He’s a little desperate. Varune has somehow managed to befriend a seadweller, a very excitable girl who seems to like being on land. He feels a kinship with her, so they get along pretty well, even if she kind of drags him into all sorts of things. But he likes being pulled into stuff and is grateful to be included in her escapades, no matter what they are.

Something about kelpies that I need you to know here is that they’re like, Dangerously Attractive. In horse form they’re known to be beautiful, like, prize horses, and in humanoid form they’re known to be Gorgeous. Like, Distressingly So. That’s part of their temptation play in trapping prey. So I think maybe that’s something you should utilize? Ceruleans are said to have a mask for every situation- and you’ve worked on that well enough with his cowboy schtick and hiding his identity, but I think you could play with it a little more in the criminal range. Him acting like a charmin’ young cowboy (hey, the hot cowboy IS a trope-) and kinda lullin them into a false sense of security and oops, suddenly you’re lusus food. 

I dunno if the like, really obvious murders should be a thing tho. I think maybe he could like, just quietly get rid of criminals and feed them to his lusus. And so there’s rumors around him that tend to keep other people, uhhh… away. 

Interests: Being a cowboy, fighting crime, torturing criminals, trying to make friends, puns, lassoing, hunting, swimming

Title: ??? of Blood

Bonds are extremely important to Varune. He’s really bad at making them, but he tries. He likes binding things together or binding things to him. Strangely enough, Varune is kind of fighting his heritage and also not. The seadweller within his genes is calling for him to return to his home, the ocean, but the cerulean that runs through his veins is bound to the land. So he is caught between land and the sea, like how his lusus is simultaneously a land and water creature. He devotes himself to a cause and to a people, regardless of how they treat him. He is also trapped by the expectations of society, as he can’t truly be where he belongs in the sea on the threat of death and is shunned by the people he seeks to be kin with because of the reputation of his caste.

As for titles, I’m unsure of what he could be. I’ve considered Knight, someone who serves Blood, because he’s a dude on a horse and he’s horse-themed. It’s a gimme. Also since he shares the Knightly problem of lacking in their Aspect from the get-go. Prince or Bard was also considered because of how he breaks ties with things only to find himself tied to other things, as well as he tries to escape the bonds of his blood only to find himself bound once again. There’s also the denial of the gifts of blood that his psychic ability has on others.

Oh, I like love Bard of Blood for him. The passive destroyer of what gives. He’s someone who accidentally breaks down the bonds around him and who also denies his own aspect in many ways. Bards refuse their aspect in many ways and I do think that’s largely what he’s doing… And doing so kind of does create a freedom for himself. Living on the plains, the Wide Open Spaces that the breathbound would so enjoy… 

Land: Land of Crowns and Rings (LoCaR)

I’m not totally sure of what the Land should be called, so I’m willing to hear suggestions!

I imagined a land that’s mostly covered with cerulean blue water with grey, rocky islands. Instead of nice sandy shores, the beaches are lined with huge, sharp rocks like stalagmites that act as a deterrent from going into the waters. A bird’s eye view would make the islands look like crowns from the rings of spikes. Also, crowns can be used to describe the height of waves or tides. So there would be huge waves crashing uselessly against the rocks, unable to get in.

I’m gonna go on a bit of a tangent here and talk about what Varune’s Denizen could be. This is gonna be a doozy.

As a counterpart to Breath players’ Typheus/Typhon, I thought Zeus would be a good Blood Denizen. Why? Typheus/Typhon is the strongest of monsters and had to be defeated by the strongest of gods himself, Zeus. Although Zeus is typically associated with the sky, (just as Typheus is a ground monster) he most often punishes wrongdoers by trapping or binding them. Typheus himself was either bound to Mt. Edna or trapped in Tartarus by Zeus. Zeus also famously bound Prometheus to a rock, Cronus was similarly trapped in Tartarus, and chained up many kings as punishment. Blood is the aspect of Imprisonment and Binding, but also of Relationships, Legacy, Oaths and literal Bloodlines. Zeus is famous for having many children and is related to every other god in some way. Who would have a Legacy/Bloodline more well-known than Zeus? Zeus is also called upon as the keeper of oaths and is invoked by those making oaths/promises.

I guess the Land’s Quest could be that the wrath of Zeus was awoken and resulted in the imprisonment of the consorts, Turtles, onto the barren islands, away from the bountiful sea.

I Love this……… this is a really great concept, really. The consorts, separated from the sea by the giant pillars of stone surrounding their islands. Varune, the Bard of Breath’s quest is to destroy the ground that binds them and allow them to feel the ocean breeze once more… 

Dream Planet: Derse

Varune is ultimately unhappy with the circumstances of his life. He feels trapped by society’s standards and wants to be free to live his life but is also desires to be a part of it. He hates how people are separated by their castes and wants everyone to live together and treat each other fairly. He hates that he is a member of snobby nobility and would rather just do his own thing. He knows that highbloods treat everyone else like garbage and wants to help them when and where he can, even if they hate him and want nothing to do with him.

Appearance: Varune would definitely have long hair in a ponytail, with messy bangs that attempt to cover his facial scars. He probably dresses like a stereotypical dashing cowboy with the hat an all. Maybe also with a bandana to cover his face during day excursions.

Design!:

Horns: I wanted to have one reflect the symbol and one in the sort of iconic cerulean hook style, especially because a hook looks vaguely like a fish tail that Could be on a kelpie. 

Hat: I edited it from llemonllum’s base. Cerulean cowboy hat! 

Hair: I wanted to keep it relatively simple, with crowded bangs for scar hiding purposes. There’s a hairband in Hemati’s blood color. 

Face: I just wanted to try to make him as handsome as the homestuck style will allow. 

Outfit: Just a handkerchief over a normal buttondown that you’d see on a cowboy and cerulean denim I edited from Terezi’s pants. 

Shoes: Cowboy boots in Lelaps green! 

He’s great! Thank you for sharing.