Samanayrs

Greetings Sam-lovers, one and all! This is your friendly neighborhood Jenn, saying that she wasn't quite sure what to do with the last three Sam-shower slots remaining to her, one in September and two in October. One of the September spots is going to a joint breeding with Aranel. Others in the past have gone to joint breedings, in times when points were scarce and extra breeding modiems a rarity. Joint breedings are really rather fun and they double the amount of satisfaction, what with two people receiving a foal to squee about. Also, the guaranteed breeding success bit is a pretty darn awesome thing to work with. I love me some foals, and I know that most other people around here do as well.

So! I've decided to hold a contest, because I'm having too hard a time deciding and I love you guys. This is running with two spots. They will be completely separate judging pools. If you've jointly bred with me in the past, you have less chance of winning in an effort towards fairness.

One spot is for people with the means/points to obtain two breeding modiems themselves. One spot is for people who cannot, either because they have no tradeable items or because those items are very firmly earmarked for something else. I'll be providing the breeding modiems for this spot from my own item pool. If you enter the I-have-or-can-get-modiems spot, you are ineligible for the Jenn-supplies-modiems spot, and vice versa. Both are for October.

As this is a contesty thinger, there must be something to judge. I've always felt most comfortable with writing, so it's going to be a prompt that people need to reply to. Not an RP, but a prompt. In a way, it's more like the style of the bio contest. Instead of your dream Sam, however, you will be describing something else.

The theme of this contest is "Ancestors".

1. Pick a pair of Sams in a Song that you'd like to use the spot to breed. I'd like to see new blood in the gene pool. They must be:
- Available for you to breed (one belongs to you, or one belongs to me, or they belong to an Open Song, or you know you can get permission for sure)
- New parents (no foals yet under either the stallion or the mare, and check with me if you're using one of mine as a few are already in the middle of a breeding)

2. Think about your chosen pair and pick one of them to write for.

3. Fill out the form and answer the prompt: Who was one of this Sam's ancestors?
- They may not be a currently living ancestor
- You may write about more than one ancestor, so long as they interact
- Please, for the love of muffins, do not write about "Defender of the Noble Peace, most valiant and brave and stoic of the Samanayrs of his area who saved babies and upheld the law for the good of everyone and blah blah blah." I'm sure he's great, but I'll be honest with you that it would be boring. Also, "Malice of the Wicked Eve, most reviled and hated of the Samanayrs of her area, who lured in unsuspecting stallions or ate babies or ruined the plantlife in the surrounding area for years to come" is kind of painful. Ideally, you'd give them depth. Mundane can have depth. So can crazy, or silly or inconsequential. Go extreme if you want, but make sure there's something of substance in there. Everyone has strong points. Everyone has flaws. Being "too nice for her own good" is not a flaw, unless it's accompanied by enough negative consequences of niceness to make it a legitimate flaw.

4. Reply to this post with the form. Please do not PM it to me. You may PM questions, but not the form itself. I can't proofread anything for you, since I'll be judging it with the help of a friend or two.

And that's it! So. Here's the form. Feel free to reply with as many questions as you'd like. <3 This contest will be closing on August 31 at 8 PM EST (Eastern US time, whatever that is on PI).

Your Name:
Which Slot: (Jenn provides or you provide?)
Pairing: (Names and links)
Why Them: (Explanation of what makes this pairing special or awesome to you)
Ancestor's Name: (Made up by you)
Ancestor's Story: (Minimum 300 words, as you'll need at least that much to build a character)

Could somebody poke PI with the link to this and a brief explanation, mebbe? <3

I think you might want to check your end time...that's 45 minutes in the past and over half an hour before you posted this...

But it sounds fun! I may have to sit down and think about this!

Oh, and I posted on the Sam thread on PI. I'll edit in the end time after finding out when it is for sure.

...thank you, Ori. You're totally right. I meant to post the 31st, same time. xD *edits* And thank you again for the PI post.

The two Sams that we pick would still have to be in the same Song though, no? Ie. I wouldn't be able to pick one of yours and one of mine unless they're in a Song together, right?

Just to clarify

Yep, you are correct. <3 All normal Sam breeding rules apply, which includes Song requirements.

Also just to clarify - I have enough points for one breeding modiem. Should I only enter in the Jenn-provides slots?

Yep, that would be right. <3 If you can't provide both breeding modiems yourself, you enter for the Jenn-provides.

This sounds like fun! (of course, I just finished searching the songs XD)

Hey, Harroway? You wouldn't mind if I used your Song of the Ascending Aether, would you? The two of them are SO tempting.

Thanks for running this contest!

Your Name: Math
Which Slot: I provide the two breeding modiems, a species modiem and a colour (yellow and white)
Pairing: Dance of the Rainbow Light and Cusp of Calling Solstice
http://samanayrs.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=279
Why Them:
After I saw that you had to use new parents, I began my search for an open song.
I got lucky when I noticed the bright colours of the feathered winged goodnessy song. <3 I fell in love with the lead stallion, Dance, and one of the mares nicknamed Cusp. Their colours are just so bright, and they pull you in.
Dance's little mane feathers just put the icing on the cake while Cusp's black and white mane adds the sprinkles to the cupcake.
So yes, I just fell in love with those two and was lucky enough that they were eligible for this contest.
I was also thinking, who could I give an interesting ancestor? I looked at the colours of the members to make their personality, and I had to do Dance's great grandmother who doesn't really exist and now I want her in sam form. XD
Ancestor's Name: Jitter of the Evening Sun
Ancestor's Story:
Jitter was known by others to be the poetic mare in her song, but she also had many skills. She knew how to sing the most melodic melodies, and she could beat anyone in a wrestling match. Yet, she could could only find happiness gazing up the sunset each evening.
She had many loves, and always expressed it in a different way. One day, she would write a poem and the other she would just gaze up at the sun.
She had dreams of being someone who studied the sun, but she always just stuck with writing about it's beauty.
When she wasn't reading, writing or wrestling, she could often be found flying up onto the mountain to talk with her friend, a cute little yellow dragonet.
She was born and raised in an orchard... by her song that included bird mimics and rainbow coloured sams.
She had feathered wings, and would almost always be stretching them as if to show them off. She had feathers entwined throughout her mane and loved it when they blew in the wind as she flew through the sky.
She was bi-eyed, and was a tad colour blind when it came to colours. She had always wondered what green, or yellow had looked like. She always wondered what she looked like colourwise... others would tell her, but how would she knew what the colour was unless she could see it clearly.
For her writing of poems, she would use a feather ink pen that was the feather of a canary. She would gracefully swipe the pen over the paper, and create the most beautiful of poems and stories. As you read earlier, her stories were of the sun and it's many gods and legends. Her favourite piece was a poem titled Sun of Many Days. It was based on her days looking up at the sun...

The sun
It appears every single day,
And it is something I love to view
It's just that it's up so high,
Not even my wings
Can carry me up
I wait for the day,
That I,
Will touch that sun

It was her favourite piece of work and she often would proudly read it to her song members. Not many sams liked her, but they did love listening to her poems.
When she got to be the elder of the song, more sams began to enjoy her company. She could share her knowledge with their foals, whom she considered her grandfoals.

And now for a sample of a normal sunlit evening walk for Jitter...

Jitter eagerly placed her paper and feather pen into her knapsack. As she slung it over her neck, she began to slowly walk. The wind blew into her face, ruffling her wings and fur. She squinted as she briskly moved forward.
Her tail swished as the wind settled into a light breeze. She stopped for a moment, taking in the sunlit landscape and continued on.
She took note of the flowers that lined the grassy road that she was taking to the mountain top. Her bright yellow, orange, white and blue colours seemed irridescent as the sun shone down on her.
She threw her head up, and gazed at the rays that came from what they called the sun. As Jitter came closer to the mountain, she tightened her sack straps. She began to make the long journey to the top, where she would meet her friend Glitter of the Bright Sun who was an adorable yellow dragonet.
Glitter always told her the best ideas for poems and stories, and Jitter would listen intently as not to interrupt.
This evening, Glitter had a different story to tell. She told Jitter that the sun came up late, and the moon would come early. Jitter looked surprised, and quickly got out a sheet of paper and her feather pen.
Without a word, Glitter flew up into the sky, taking off to another mountain. A tear fell down Jitter's cheek as her friend flew off until the next evening. It had become a ritual of Glitter's, and was hated by Jitter.
After she had written her poem, Jitter began her journey back by the moonlight.



I'm too lazy to do a word count... but I know it is well over 300. XD


Math

Ahh, unfortunately the breeding page states:

There is a limit of two Modiems per breeding.

The only exceptions to this are rarity modiems, which can be used as multiples in conjunction with other modiems. Because these slots will already be using two breeding modiems, no others can be used.

Dang it. XD I'll just be supplying the breeding modiems I guess. <3 It won't hurt to save the other two for October... hopefully.

Your Name: Bluestarwolf12
Which Slot: I provide
Pairing: Blaze of Highland Glory and Wraith of Fallen Bones
http://jennalyn.net/critters/sams/song- ... dhills.htm
Why Them: I was wandering through the songs, looking at every one that didn't have any offspring (be it open, semi-open, or closed), while at the same time, looking for a Sam that looked like it would have an interesting ancestry. At first, I had picked the Song of the Ascending Aether, but, not surprisingly, Harroway's using them. So, I continued my search. That's when I noticed Wraith, in an open Song, with no offspring, and my heart skipped a beat. I instantly started thing of what a rich ancestry Wraith might have, and I knew I had found my pair.
Ancestor's Name: Keeper of the Eerie Boneyard
Ancestor's Story: (Word Count: 544)
Shadows crept across the sky as night descended upon the land, causing the home of one particularly dark Sam to be shrouded in complete darkness. Just the way she liked it. The Samanayr crept from her daytime cavern out into the night, pausing at the entrance to make sure no sunlight remained in the sky before revealing herself to the darkness. Slowly but surely, a shadowy figure appeared crept from the cavern, its fur is nearly as black as the night, with small white markings that almost appear bone-like in shape littering its pelt. The mare’s mane is in brilliant contrast to the black fur, almost being the color of freshly fallen snow. At first glance, it appears as though the Sam’s head is white, but upon closer inspection, it becomes apparent that she is wearing the skull of another Samanayr over her head. She also appears to be wearing a variety of other bones, on necklaces, bracelets, and other adornments, further adding to the creepy appearance of the mare.

She begins to wander around the rather large area that she calls home, making her nightly rounds of the bone yard. Yes, the bone yard. A while back, back when this Sam had been a mere filly, a fire had devastated a large valley where many Sams lived and thrived. Hundreds were killed. Only five survived. Of those five, only two remained in the area after the fire, the other three unwilling to stay in a place of such misery. The two that stayed were Keeper of the Eerie Boneyard, and the colt that had been by her side for every moment of her life. He was pure white, with brilliant golden hair and hooves, and his personality seemed to be almost the exact opposite of Keeper’s. The two spent a great deal of their lives in the burned valley, digging up the bones of their fallen loved ones and giving them a proper burial. It wasn’t long before their efforts attracted Oquiesas, who proceeded to attack and kill Keeper’s beloved. Of course, this wasn’t before the two had had a small child, who had been in her beloved’s care during the attack. Keeper had been able to stay hidden, unlike her beloved. After the fact, she had located his bones, and wore them as a symbol of her mourning. Naturally, she assumed her child to be dead, leaving nothing for Keeper to be attached to besides the bone yard. And so, she made it her sworn duty to defend this place, keeping it tidy and free of visitors to as much an extent as she could. She marked every grave with a small rock, and patrolled the place every day. During her patrol, Keeper of the Eerie Boneyard would allow her thoughts to wander to her past, would try to remember her mother’s face, or her father’s, but after a while, nothing would come. She simply could no longer remember. Shortly after that, she forgot who she used to be, and within a year’s time, why she was even there. All that was left was her desire to defend the bone yard, no thoughts filled her mind, no memories to recall, no real emotions, merely a shell of the creature she once was…

I edited Jitter's story. <3 I may edit it again, but it will be my final story by the ending time.

Math wrote:I looked at the colours of the members to make their personality, and I had to do Dance's great grandmother who doesn't really exist and now I want her in sam form. XD

Considering that these are supposed to be dead ancestors...that would be really weird to have her as a real Sam.

*continues to putter away on own story which is running away from the direction it was supposed to go in*

I just thought of something! What if the Sharians were able to create an amulet that could bring the dead back to life when worn? Sorta like the amulets that give Sams traits that they weren't born with. Then there could be a new trait: Undead! XD

I know... I wouldn't get her but I want her. XD

Bluestarwolf12 wrote:I just thought of something! What if the Sharians were able to create an amulet that could bring the dead back to life when worn? Sorta like the amulets that give Sams traits that they weren't born with. Then there could be a new trait: Undead! XD

That would be so cool!

This ended up being a lot longer than I had anticipated!


Your Name: Harroway
Which Slot: Jenn provides! (October)
Pairing: Mystic of the Jewelled Sky
Mystic of the Churning Ocean
Why Them: They are my absolute dream-Sams come to life after 3+ years of waiting. They're everything I dreamed for and more. I've always had a fascination with seraphim, and they are the first Sams to display the seraphim trait (in feathered form). They are also my first Mystics! I've wanted a child from them, but I love the idea of sharing the squeetasticality (yes, that is now a word) of sharing the first foals from my dream Sams with someone more than having one all to myself. I'd like to share the dream.
Ancestor's Name: Mystic of the Consecrated Brilliance (Churningocean's great grandmother)
Ancestor's Story: Mystics were highly regarded in Samanayr society for many reasons - they brought magic, survival and sometimes protection to whatever Song they decided to visit. Many Samanayrs spoke of hoping for a mystic to come to their Song. Some wished for an earth mystic for finding grazing grounds, some wanted a wind mystic to bring or drive away rain, and others still hoped for a water mystic to clean mossy pools or bring forth clean drinking water.

Consecratedbrilliance was a light Mystic - able to light darkened areas with special orbs she could produce that floated around her form like companions. She was so happy to finally be of age so she could travel on her own, brightening the deep forested areas of her homeland. Leaving the pair of her mother and father behind, she set off on a journey to aid her fellow Samanayrs, ignoring the warning her parents had given her. Others may not see you the way we do. Rushing headlong into her journey, she bid them farewell, not seeing the worried glances they gave back to her.

Mystic was naive - she trotted happily through the thick forest she had finally ended up in, hearing other Songs in the darkness. She smiled and called to them, her lightened orbs casting wild, great feathered shadows through the trees. "Gyreetings!" she cried joyfully, "I am heyre to aid you!" She was the only Samanayr she knew with six feathered wings, and she was proud of this fact. That is, until Songs of Anger were shrill in her ears. Mystic didn't understand.

She was an unfamiliar, loud and very large thing - extremely foreign and threatening, as the stallions saw it. They had never seen anything like her before, and all she was to them was a giant black creature with magical orbs floating around it, casting light out before it. It was hunting for us! they thought, seeing feathered shadows, spines to them, slice through the thick forest like knives. Stallions hide their mares and foals further in the trees. Battle cries broke the silence.

"Monsteyr! It's a monsteyr! Dyrive it away!" came a shrieking cry through the trees. Mystic was terrified and fled back the way she came when angry, ram-horned Samanayr stallions started to charge her. Trees shook with the impact and leaves blew into her face as she ran, horrified. She tried to reason with them, shouting back over her shoulder that she was a mystic, come to help them. Her words fell on deaf ears as one stallion managed to clip her, causing the mystic to tumble down a chasm in the rock, light orbs disintegrating as they collided with nearby trees. Songs of Triumph filled the night air as the thing was bested, beaten, broken.

Mystic was never the same since.

She had tried in vain a few more times to come back to that forest, sometimes without her orbs, sometimes in the middle of the day. She thought the light of the glowing sun would allow them to see that she meant no harm, but it did no good. Everywhere she went, shadows and anger greeted her. She was driven from any Song she came near. She was labeled a monster, a predator, and an enemy. Years went by as this cycle continued until Mystic simply gave up.

Her demeanor hardened with age and she grew distant from Samanayr society. Mystic would stand on an empty crag overlooking the ocean and sing to the sky, hateful, resentful. How could this happen to her when she only wished to help? If that was the way life was meant to be, then she would embrace it to the fullest extent, tendrils of rage clutching her heart. No one would benefit from her magic except herself. Anyone that came near her claimed territory were greeted by the beast - a fearsome and huge creature with knives for wings. Many Samanayrs fled in sheer terror at the sound of her song.

Many years would pass before a single stallion came to her on a dare from his other bachelor Song members. In her grieving fury and painful loneliness, she allowed him to stay. He fled the day she found she was going to have a foal, terrified and embarrassed. He was to get close to the beast, see if he could best her. The bet was won and Mystic was the only loser in the equation - she was alone again on her crag overlooking the ocean.

Mystic quietly laid down when her foal was born, grooming the tiny filly, who whinnied at her mother gleefully. The foal danced, testing out her wobbly legs and turning around in circles, revealing to her mother the one thing Mystic had hoped not to see. The filly was cursed with her mother's terrifying trait - six wings. A Song of Sorrow filled the air.

Ahah... Technically I already managed to score one of Jenn's breeding slots, so this is more for fun than anything else. However... I do so badly want a baby from this pair. SO BAD. Rend is wow-tastic.

Your Name: CosmicDragon
Which Slot: Jenn Provides. ;D I have some stuff in store for my modiems. -plotplots-
Pairing:
Rend and Mystic of the Burning Metals
Song of the Glistening Night
Why Them: Rend was one of the first elemental stallions I saw when I started following Samanayrs, and to this day he remains one of the most spectacular in my opinion. And pairing him with his original mare, the absolutely magical Burningmetals~Mystic, is guaranteed to make equally as awesome-tacular foals!
Ancestor's Name: Foresight
Ancestor's Story:
(Knowledge Elemental)
Normally, a Samanayr's first glimpse of the world is of something bright, something new, perhaps something terrifying. But for this stallion, it was different. He open his newborn eyes, and already he knew the name of the mare who's eyes gazed into his with wearied affection, before his first steps he could register the call-name of the tree whose branches webbed overhead, by the deep amber of the leaves he knew the season.
Autumn.
He blinked, instinctively his feet scrabbled for a hold in the dewy grass, and he opened his tiny jaws to whinny a greeting to the mare who had borne him. Not a sound emerged, and for a moment the foal looked surprised. But only for a moment. His eyes glittered with an understanding out of proportion to his age.

Years later the same stallion looks out across a valley, lit by the pale silver light of a full moon and the white fire of stars, yet he sees none of it. In his eyes are the same glimmers of understanding from foalhood, intensified into the searing glow of intelligence. But not merely that... For those curious,or perhaps foolish enough to look deeper, the swirl of the galaxies not merely a reflection but hovering, a spinning vortex of golden flecks. The span of ages lit them from within, like a beacon.
He knew the names of every Samanayr inhabiting the valley, though he had yet to meet a single one. He cared very little, however. He was tired, tired of life without surprises, tired of waking each morning without the excitement of a new day. Each moment of his life was pre-lived, he saw each event before it happened, life held no surprises for him, and so he shunned said life, walling himself away in fits of anger, depression, and world-weary boredom.

It was not until late in his story that these walls were torn down. The mare was nothing special, her appearance one of an ordinary Samanayr, dull in color, her nature one of simple curiosity and a longing for the kind of adventure one finds climbing rocky mountains and dabbling in brooks. It was merely by chance she stumbled upon him, locked in the shadow of his own foreknowledge. But she was something new, something unexpected. Her very being was invisible, she failed to register in his knowledge of events both past and present.

He met her eyes, and in that very instant something changed. She returned, day after day, until she could coax him out to walk the ways of the world with her. He would follow her anywhere, after all! She was a variable in a world where he knew the answer to every equation, and that excited him, enthralled him.

*Checking* Has Mystic of Echoing Jungle any offspring, Jenn, and/or is in the process of getting offspring? xD;

Nope, no foals in the works for him at the present time. ^_^

I really need to sit down and enter this contest >> I had an awesome idea, but the stallion had a foal last season outside his Song XD (Glitter x Healer) Back to the drawing board!

Your Name: Janalee
Which Slot: I can provide them. ^^
Pairing: Inferno x Rend
Song of the Glistening Night
Why Them: I'm still really, really excited to have won Inferno, and the thought of her future foals makes me smile uncontrollably...and I think CosmicDragon's description of Rend as "wow-tastic" pretty much sums up the rest of it. *grins* I'd just love to know what kind of Elementals their children would be.
Ancestor's Name: Wildfire
Ancestor's Story:
It was the familiar nightmare again.
No matter how many times she had it, the mare always woke up gasping, always uncertain where reality started again. With a frantic glance around her though, the fragmented pieces fell back into their usual places; no, there was no fire. No, no one was burning.
Shuddering silently, she forced the living fire of her mane and tail to shrink down, till they resembled lightly smoking embers more than open flames; till they were safe. Till everyone was safe.
Finally calming down in the embracing darkness, the mare gazed wearily at all of the peaceable, sleeping forms around her; at least she hadn't woken anyone up yet. She was afraid that one of these times she might scream, and then they would force her to tell them all what she saw so often. Who would trust her then? After all, she couldn't even trust herself; she knew you couldn't have the same dream over and over again without it being true. Certainly, some day that fire would come, and she would be behind it.
While the last flickers of the nightmare preyed at her mind, she tried to recall who was in it this time. Were they strangers? Some of those lying beside her now? Or, perhaps, old faces long since past? She couldn't remember; and besides, in the end, they weren't anyone at all. Just more blackness against that vivid red.
With a bleak sigh she shut her eyes tightly, trying to focus her thoughts away from that terror, and towards what she should do. Once again, the idea of simply leaving crossed her mind; she couldn't put them in danger if she wasn't there, could should? But all that meant was that someone else would be in danger; that was the problem with fire, it spread far and wide by its own free will. There was nowhere she could go where she would be alone enough for that to work...and without the others there, she knew it'd be so much more tempting to revel in that glorious blaze.
She knew she wanted to be tempted.
Her nostrils flared in indignation and fear at that alien thought, that silky smooth voice that wasn't quite hers. She pushed it down violently, as she had pushed down her fiery locks, till it seemed nearly to disappear. It might be her fate to be at the heart of that fire, but she was determined to resist it as best she could. After all, how could she give in to it, and still be herself? And if she couldn't be herself, what kind of spirit would rise from those flames?



(I actually started writing about a different ancestor first, but his temperament ended up being so similar to Inferno's that I thought it wouldn't be any fun. ^^ And so, I went with an Elemental who was scared of her own power instead; I might add in his story later if I have time to finish it though. Thanks for the chance, and hope you have fun reading all the entries!)

Slight edit to the contest in that they're both going to have to be October. Sorry about that - my bad. <3