Character Background and Info

[resolutefocus]

Canon: Guild Wars 2 (MMO)
Wiki link: here

Canon Background & Information
World:
Tyria - A fantasy realm of adventure and magic, Tyria is home to a diverse range of sentient peoples, some veiled in secrecy. It is also a land with long and complex histories--wars between rival factions and races have changed the face of nations in ways that continue to resonate today.

The greatest threat now facing Tyria is the threat of the Elder Dragons. With power like great forces of nature, these ancient beasts have awoken and now threaten to consume and destroy every element of life on the planet. To battle against them, the three Orders of Tyria--the Order of Whispers, the Durmond Priory, and the Vigil--have banded together. The dragons, meanwhile, spread pestilence-like corruption throughout the lands, and the inherent magical energies of Tyria have been thrown into flux.

Species:
Sylvari - Tyria's youngest race, sylvari grow from the Pale Tree where they mature as they share in the collective memories and knowledge of The Dream of Dreams. They awaken when they drop from the tree, their bodies already matured. The first sylvari awoke into the world about twenty seven years ago.

The Dream of Dreams does not create a Borg-like collective or limit individuality and variation. It is, rather, like a vast lake or a deep well out of which each individual sylvari has drawn a cupful. What is contained in one draught is not necessarily the same as what is contained in any other. These varied individual samplings are each supplemented by the Pale Tree who assures that every sylvari has the basic, vital knowledge they will need to function well in the world--knowledge like how to read and write, for example. This knowledge also includes the basic teachings of Ventari--a peaceable centaur sage who, along with a human named Ronan, originally planted and nurtured the Pale Tree over two hundred years ago.

These teachings, which form the basis of sylvari society, are also inscribed on a massive stone tablet held in the sylvari homeland, the Grove. They read:

I. Live life well and fully, and waste nothing.
II. Do not fear difficulty. Hard ground makes stronger roots.
III. The only lasting peace is the peace within your own soul.
IV. All things have a right to grow. The blossom is brother to the weed.
V. Never leave a wrong to ripen into evil or sorrow.
VI. Act with wisdom, but act.
VII. From the smallest blade of grass to the largest mountain, where life goes—so, too, should you.

Thus, although a sylvari might be quite young on a human age scale, even the newly awakened--"saplings"--are not children. Sylvari have no notion of childhood and find children of other races to be a fascinating curiosity.

After awakening, sylvari maintain an empathic connection with the Dream, and through it, a connection with other sylvari. Their experiences and the knowledge that they gain in life contribute to the Dream for future sylvari, but they do not literally gain new information when they sleep each night, the way that they had done before they awakened.

For some sylvari the connection with the Dream is more intensely felt than for others, and each sylvari lives it differently. There are those--called Dreamers--who maintain a faith in, and connection to the Dream and to the Pale Tree. Another faction, however, believes the Dream to be like a form of false consciousness and Ventari's teachings a dupe leading sylvari away from their true nature. These members of what is called the Nightmare Court attempt to corrupt (or free, depending on one's perspective) the Dream and turn it to Nightmare, using pain, torture, and the infliction of suffering to try and convince others of the truth of their claims.

Still other sylvari attempt to sever their connection from the Dream completely. Through daily meditation and taking themselves outside the Grove these "Soundless" sylvari remove themselves from the Pale Tree's influence. This path, it seems, is not one without its risks.

Sylvari quick facts:
- Because they are plants, sylvari do not bleed human-like blood. Instead, if they are wounded, they bleed golden sap.

- Sylvari can regrow limbs. They can also grow leaf-like clothing and influence their appearance by changing the style and color of their hair at will.

- They glow (some more than others, each a different color) at night.

- They do not reproduce sexually; however they do have sex for pleasure. There are "male" and "female" sylvari because the race was created by the Pale Tree based on its (sometimes imperfect) image of humans. In sylvari culture, there is no stigma against same-sex love or relationships, and gender is not understood the same way as it is in human cultures.

- At times sylvari can seem very naive, artless, or gullible. They are also very curious, probably because the race is so young and their memories and shared knowledge thus necessarily limited.

Character Information
Personality:
A true guardian through and through, Kyinnlen is the sort of person who would not hesitate to put himself in harm's way to defend and protect those he cares for. He is steadfast and resolute in battle and will jump into the middle of a fray, drawing attacks towards himself and away from his allies. That does not mean that he constantly mollycoddles or mother hens his friends though. Off of the battlefield he is exceptionally "live and let live" in his attitudes.

While he's is less doe-eyed than many sylvari, he's still young enough to be hopeful and generally optimistic. Despite venturing outside of the Grove and seeing strife and conflict, he's not (yet) become hardened or disillusioned with the world. He's quite non-judgmental, accepting virtually any difference as simple personal variation, so long as it's not taking life from others. He's also intensely loyal and patient. He has no particular ambition to lead others or to advance in rank, but merely to conduct himself in accordance with Ventari's key teachings, which he deeply believes: act with wisdom, but act; all things have a right to grow; follow life where it leads.

In a sense, his personality is quite submissive, though without being passive: he's not brash or brazen, he doesn't tend to argue, and he's willing to take a lot of things in stride. On the surface, he's easy to overlook because of his quiet presence--he's a bit like the ground-covering vine whose roots are what holds a whole hillside in place: you don't have cause pay it much mind so long as it's there.

He joined the Vigil because straightforward, direct actions suit him. He lacks the boisterous personality of some Vigil members, but his own difference troubles him no more than anyone else's. He's not an ebullient talker and is much more likely to confine his questions to those that will help him assess the right course of action. With those he trusts or with whom he can see the wisdom of their tactics, he may ask little at all, instead simply doing as they say.

When he met his mentor, Sesyria, it was a veritable "love at first sight" experience...but only for Kyinnlen. Despite knowing that his love is unrequited and might remain so forever, Kyinnlen is happy just to work near Sesyria, to travel with him and fight by his side.

He's fond of animals, skrit, quaggans, hylek, and children (though he knows pretty much nothing about the latter, so mostly he's just as curious about them as they are of him). He also really likes to cook, especially for people he cares about. Making meals for people makes him feel like he's providing something necessary--it's an unassuming quotidian expression of care.

Appearance:
Kyinnlen has pistachio-green skin with a soft texture, a bit like that of a silky-soft succulent. His "hair" grows in a Mohawk of dusky burgundy leaves, branches and twigs. Some parts are more flexible than others, but the majority is not especially soft. The leaves on his head have a rhododendron-like texture. His eyes are golden, and he glows a pinkish color at night. He is short, even for a sylvari, standing just over five feet tall. He wears heavy armor made from a mix of woody and traditional metal materials and caries an amberite greatsword and a longbow.



Birth date and timeline notes:
Kyinnlen awoke in 1325 AE. He joined the Vigil just before the time of the attack on Claw Island but he was at Vigil Keep and not present for that battle.

He was not present for the destruction of Lion's Arch, having never traveled to the city before Scarlet's attack. He spent the majority of 1326 far from the city on missions for the Vigil elsewhere [TBC].

Character History: here