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IC Information:
Name: Nepeta Leijon | Nyah Leijon
Canon and medium: Homestuck (webcomic)
Age: 13 | 16
Preincarnation Species: Troll
Preincarnation Appearance: Here.
Any differences: As Nepeta will be human rather than a troll, she's completely lacking in the alien appearance - fangs, horns, gray skin, yellow eyes, technicolor blood - as well as the heightened durability of trolls.
Starting Location: Locke City
Preincarnated History:
Nepeta is part of a race of trolls, a species much older than humans. Trolls live on the planet Alternia, in a different universe that hasn't been touched upon other than mentioning there are other races inhabiting it.
In Homestuck trolls are gray-skinned, horned humanoids who are described as being incredibly violent and dangerous. Although trolls originate on Alternia, they are so aggressive that all the adults are members of the Imperial Fleet which flies the galaxy conquering other planets. The only inhabitants of Alternia are the troll children, who are tasked with keeping the troll culture alive.
The reason that young trolls can be left unattended is because the reproductive system of trolls is a bit different than humans. Trolls contribute their genetic material to a being known as the Imperial Drone, which combines them all in an incestuous slurry which spawns the baby trolls, who resemble grubs. After hatching, the grubs must undertake incredibly dangerous trials to receive their lusus.
The lusus is a monster which functions as the troll's caretaker. Unlike human guardians, however, it is more of a give and take relationship. While the lusus will keep the young troll safe from harm, the young troll must learn to function as a zookeeper to ensure their lusus is healthy.
A lusus and its troll share the same blood color, of which there are many. Troll culture is dominated by something called the hemospectrum, in which the different troll blood colors are ranked. It ranges from red (the lowest) to violet (the highest), the higher ranking trolls being sea-dwellers who form an aristocracy which rules the entire planet.
Nepeta, for example, has green blood which places her perfectly in the middle of the hemospectrum. Her lusus is a large cat with two mouths named Pounce de Leon who resides with her in a cave that is relatively isolated from other trolls and seems to be fairly undemanding of her charge. Other lusii, such as Vriska's, are much more high maintenance and may even require that their troll feeds them other lusii or trolls in order to keep them under control.
As if this wasn't confusing enough, the twelve trolls who the story features decide to play a game called Sgrub which brings about the destruction of their world. The players survive by entering the game, and battle through it to win the ultimate prize - a new universe to live in, and the chance to repopulate their species.
The game exists in a universe separate from the one that the trolls previously inhabited, called simply the Medium. The Medium is made up of twelve planets for each player of the troll session (personalized to their specific role in the game) along with the battlefield planet Skaia and the two dream moons of Prospit and Derse.
Skaia is the major fixture of the game and the location of the battle raging between the opposing forces of Prospit and Derse (both populated by game-created living chess pieces known as carapaces), whose fight is the main fixture of the game's mythos - the White forces of Prospit wish for the players to be successful and create a new universe, while the Black forces oppose it.
No matter what actions the players take in the game, Prospit is fated to lose the fight on Skaia. This loss will trigger the Reckoning - a bombardment of Skaia by meteors; the planet will initially redirect them through portals, creating the meteors which threaten the players upon their initial entry into the game, but eventually will be unable to protect itself and be destroyed. The goal of the game is to defeat the Black King before Skaia is destroyed and claim the ultimate prize of a new universe.
To aid players in this goal, each of them is assigned a mythological role which they must fulfill in order to achieve their full potential in the game - Nepeta's title was the Rogue of Heart. Every title grants its players various preternatural abilities associated with their class and aspect, although we fail to see Nepeta ever exercise whatever powers she was granted through hers. We do see other trolls using theirs, however - Aradia is the Maid of Time and thus able to travel to the past and future, while Vriska is able to steal other people's luck and use it as her own as the Thief of Light.
One of the most important aspects assigned in the game was that of Space, whose player is tasked with breeding the frog which would eventually become the new universe of a successful session. Although Kanaya (the Sylph of Space) attempted to fulfill her duties, Karkat stopped her before she could find the last frog required to breed the Universe Frog in order for them to confront the Black King. This resulted in a universe that was inherently faulty - Karkat later refers to it as being given cancer.
The troll session lasts a month before the group confronts the Black King. Nepeta spends a large portion of this time exploring her planet (the Land of Little Cubes and Tea, whose acronym is exactly what you think it is) with Equius, taking down monsters and climbing up the level system in the game.
The eventual battle with the Black King proves to be more difficult than any of them had imagined due to an unintended consequence of the choices that had been made early on in the game.
When the trolls entered Sgrub they were each given a kernelsprite, a floating ball of light and game code. Throwing an object into the sprite before entering the Medium proper would result in the enemies of the game being 'prototyped' with aspects of whatever object had been placed into the sprite - for example, Aradia (the troll Nepeta was responsible for getting into the game safely) prototyped her sprite with a frog in order to force characteristics of an animal which the Dersites considered abhorrent (as it was linked with creation) onto the Black King and Queen, who gained their powers by taking on all the prototypings of the players. This would cause the Black Queen to refuse to wear the ring which granted her these powers out of disgust and allow the trolls to steal it and banish her from Sgrub, eliminating one of the threats to their victory.
Feferi, another troll and heir apparent to the Alternian empire, had accidentally allowed her lusus (an underwater eldritch abomination) to fall into her kernelsprite and be prototyped. This gave the Black King all of the powers her lusus had possessed, which included the ability to unleash a scream deadly enough to eradicate an entire species.
What appeared to be an unwinnable battle turned in the troll's favors when the doomed alternate selves (from timelines which were not the 'correct' one) of Aradia appeared and used themselves as a living shield to nullify the King's screams. Nepeta and the other trolls used this opening to assault the King and eventually defeat him, revealing the door to the new universe.
Unfortunately, before they can receive the prize a demon appears and destroys the gateway to the new universe. This demon is Jack Noir, an omnipotent being from another session (which, in a wonderful display of the Confusing Time Shit of Homestuck, is being played in the universe the trolls have been locked out of) banished to the trolls' game and bent on destroying everything in his path. He is far more powerful than the Black King and unable to be defeated by the combined efforts of the group, and so the remaining doomed Aradias sacrifice themselves in order to create a distraction so that the others can escape.
In desperation the group takes refuge in a place called the Veil, an asteroid belt on the edge of the universe. From a laboratory situated on one of the asteroids they eventually become aware of the people playing in the session which was responsible for the destruction of their own (done yet again through Weird Time Shit - Terezi manipulates events so that her past self becomes aware of the other session) and who reside in the universe which was supposed to be theirs - a group of four humans named John, Rose, Dave, and Jade.
Having little else to do but sit around and wait for Jack to find and slaughter them, the trolls begin speaking with the humans; initially the endeavor is meant only as a means to harass the people who ruined their future but eventually they become enmeshed in influencing the human session, often in ways which paradoxically lead to the creation of Jack Noir and their own game going off the tracks. Nepeta joins the others in contacting the kids, and although only one of her conversations (with Rose, prompting the girl to give her laptop to her sprite so that Nepeta could continue conversing with him) is shown in canon, it is implied that she's spoken to Jade and Dave at some point as well.
Although contact with the humans offered a small form of distraction, the trolls' fate continued to remain grim - unable to find the group and kill them, Jack instead turned to destroying the planets in the Medium. After systemically eliminating each of the twelve player planets, he turned his sights on Prospit and Derse.
Prospit and Derse were especially tempting targets as they housed the trolls' dreamselves - second bodies which resided on either moon and were awoken when the players slept. These dreamselves acted as second lives in the structure of the game - if a player died they could be revived with a kiss as their dreamself took the place of their regular self. The destruction of the moons meant that there were no second chances for the trolls anymore, and if they were discovered by Jack there would be no coming back for them.
Nepeta had the misfortune to be dreaming on Derse when Jack arrived to destroy it, and thus experienced the death of her dreamself firsthand. She was stabbed multiple times and left to bleed out as she witnessed Jack unleashing his powers and destroying the planet itself.
The destruction of Derse had added significance, as it destroyed the dreamself of Aradia, which had been hidden and sleeping in the planet's crypt on her quest bed. In order to achieve god tier (the ultimate level in the game system and the full actualization of a player's powers) one had to die on their quest bed - and Jack's destruction of the planet does just that for her.
Aradia had been killed prior to entering the game, and so her soul had spent time as both a ghost and a game sprite (for some time Nepeta, as her server player, was the only person outside of those involved in her death who knew that Aradia was no longer alive) before entering a robot body that had been built for the express purpose of housing her.
With her dreamself's ascension this body was no longer needed and so it exploded in the Veil so that her soul could reunite with her dreamself - right in front of Nepeta, who was just waking up from being murdered on Derse.
Throughout all of this Nepeta seems to remain on decent enough terms with the other members of the group (aside from Eridan, who rankled her by trying to hit on her). However, two trolls especially influence her actions and feelings - Karkat and Equius.
Karkat is her unrequited crush, the ornery subject of her affections that she has been flushed for for quite some time. Although Karkat is perfectly aware of (and uncomfortable with) her feelings, Nepeta doesn't realize this and is far too shy to confess to him. She's well aware that even if she did he likely wouldn't return her feelings as she suspects another of her good friends is also crushing on him, a fact that keeps her from intruding on their budding romance even more than her own shyness. Although she's fairly aware that the crush is doomed, she can't seem to shake it.
Equius, on the other hand, is her moirail - an alien romantic concept which basically equates to soulmates who keep each other from becoming destructive monsters. Although he's domineering, bigoted, and more than a little weird, Nepeta cherishes him more than almost anything in the world. She never makes a major decision without consulting him first, and usually bows to his opinion despite it often being contrary to her own feelings. His safety and emotional well-being are very important to her and she gives up large amounts of her time in order to ensure them.
Reincarnated History:
Nyah's father is a Swedish photographer who traveled to the American southwest for inspiration; while there he met and fell in love with her mother, a Navajo woman who worked at the camera store he frequented. Several years after they'd been married they decided they wanted to spread the happiness they had to others and committed themselves to volunteer work in Africa. Some time after beginning their work Nyah was born, named in the language of the people they were currently staying with.
The majority of Nyah's life was spent traveling across the African continent, aiding her parents in everything from digging wells to building schools. Her parents loved her dearly and were intensely supportive of everything that she was interested in or did, no matter how strange it was. They also allowed her a great deal of autonomy, leading to Nyah both spending large amounts of her time with the people her parents had come to help and wandering unchaperoned away from civilization simply to see the sights.
Around the time that Nyah turned sixteen, her parents decided to take their first break from volunteering; they were getting older, making the work more difficult, and believed that a rest would leave them energized to jump back into the fray. Much to their daughter's chagrin they moved to Locke City, renting an apartment and sorting through the necessary paperwork to homeschool her.
First Echo: While jogging in the park one morning, Nyah was attacked by a dog which had gotten free of its leash. She managed to avoid incurring serious injuries, but not before she received an Echo of the last time something dog-shaped had attacked her: her dreamself's murder by Jack Noir on Derse. (from this flash, roughly 0:29-0:42)
Preincarnation Personality:
Nepeta is incredibly upbeat and friendly, especially for a troll. She enjoys roleplaying and often inserts pieces of roleplay into her dialogue with others, but refuses to play the more dangerous kinds of roleplaying (such as FLARP). This is only partially because she was banned from such activities by her moirail (fated friend, roughly) but also because her personality doesn't have enough malice for that kind of game.
This is ironic when one considers that most of her life is spent hunting large monsters with her lusus and bringing them back to her hive, which resembles a cave more than a home. Nepeta is possibly the most feral of the troll children, wearing the skins of her kills as clothing and drawing on the walls of her cave in their blood.
Although she hasn't been seen interacting with all of the other trolls, Nepeta is very interested in their relationships. She keeps a 'shipping wall' on one of her cave walls, which shows all possible relationships for the twelve trolls. Interestingly enough, she only has an interest in the red quadrants of troll romance - matesprits (the closest to human romance) and moirails. This probably stems from Nepeta's love of cute and happy things, and not wanting to think about her friends hating each other enough to form a black romance.
She's very outgoing and physically affectionate, snuggling up to her lusus while using her computer and tackling Equius when he appears on her planet in the game. This doesn't translate to aggression, however. For all her energy Nepeta seems to be one of the most level headed trolls, able to be moirails with Equius, who is described by Karkat as 'the only bigger asshole than me' which considering Karkat's self-loathing is significant. Nepeta repeatedly defends Equius and her friendship with him, telling the others he 'isn't that bad'.
This is typical of Nepeta, who always seems to think the best of people. She gets along with everyone, including the deceased Aradia who comes across as creepy to the others. In fact, she is one of the first to discover Aradia is dead at all.
Although such a positive outlook is almost necessary when it comes to dealing with the other trolls, Nepeta may take it a little too far and over-simplify the actions of others. She doesn't want to roleplay with Vriska, for example, because when Vriska is playing her characters 'do horrible things'. Considering Vriska is the one responsible for crippling Tavros and killing Aradia, this is something of an understatement (it's unclear whether Nepeta is aware of this, however). She's a very naive girl, more likely than not to trust anyone who acts in a friendly manner towards her.
Despite appearances to the contrary, Nepeta is by no means stupid. She's aware enough to pick up on the unspoken feelings between others trolls, and knows that Karkat only roleplays with her to be facetious and hurtful. Her cheerful outlook allows her to look past this, however, and enjoy the fact that she's having fun.
Any differences:
Nyah is much more naive and sheltered than Nepeta - she's spent her entire life traveling across Africa with limited access to the goings-on of the rest of the world, and as such is ignorant of most pop culture and other similar things. She's still intelligent and astute to other's feelings, but her realm of general knowledge is rather narrow; she knows a great deal about African culture and the politics of the region, but would struggle to recognize contemporary actors or fashion trends.
She's also a lot more obviously weird than Nepeta. Because her parents never deterred her from anything that she wanted to do in pretty much any area, she has a lot of odd quirks that become much more obvious when she's in an urbanzed setting like Locke. For example she always has feathers in her hair, she prefers to go barefoot no matter where she is, and is very deep into the spirituality side of her Native American heritage. None of these eccentricities feel odd to her, as she's never been told they're odd, and she doesn't understand anyone who wants her to stop.
That said, she's missing the majority of Nepeta's own quirks. While she has a keen interest in storytelling and will frequently comment on things from the perspective of a budding author, she's never really dabbled in roleplaying and doesn't have much of an urge to begin. Nyah enjoys cats, certainly, but is lacking Nepeta's obsession with them to the point of spitting out cat puns in her everyday conversation. Most obviously of all, Nyah really doesn't care about the romantic entanglements of other people; in her opinion they're just detours in the road to real adventure and excitement.
All of the violent urges inherent in trolls are missing in Nyah, as she's a human. While she's incredibly athletic (especially when it comes to running) she has none of the combat prowess of her former self, and only tiny bits and pieces of tracking knowledge that has been imparted to her on her travels.
Abilities:
- troll physiology: aside from the aforementioned physical differences, trolls also possess enhanced durability and strength, able to survive and inflict blows that would instantly kill normal humans. Nepeta, for example, remained alive and conscious after being stabbed multiple times in the abdomen, and has spent her entire life hunting hostile animals several times her size with nothing but her claws and teeth.
sylladex: a real-life version of a video game inventory, this allows Nepeta to store items in hammerspace and retrieve them whenever she pleases.
- clawkind: Nepeta's strife specibus, which functions as a syalldex for weapons in particular. her 'claws' are retractable clawed gloves, much like Wolverine's of X-Men fame.
- fighting ability: Nepeta is incredibly skilled in combat, coming from an inherently violent race and having spent her entire life hunting for subsistence.
- hunting skills: as such she's also an incredibly skilled huntress for her age, able to track and take down monstrous animals by herself.
- Rogue of Heart powers: the abilities granted by her in-game title. Nepeta is never shown using these powers in canon, although presumably she is capable of using them. what being a Rogue of Heart allows one to do specifically is unknown, but the capabilities of both her aspect and class are known: rogues steal 'for the benefit of others' and Heart is in reality more akin to soul.
therefore it follows that Nepeta's powers likely allow her to steal 'soul' in order to help others.
Roleplay Sample - Third Person: this sample was originally written for![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
capeandcowl, which requires all samples to be written as if in the game, hence the setting
Nepeta had never been near a city in her life, let alone in the middle of one, but five minutes into the experience and she could already tell that she hated them. The steel buildings shooting up into the sky felt cold and unwelcoming, as if they were staring down on her in disapproval. There was no grass, nothing natural, just concrete and asphalt and artificiality as far as she could see.
Equius would like this purrlace a lot better than me she can't help think as she pulls her trenchcoat more tightly around her and begins walking again. She wasn't afraid of the city (fear was for facing down a charging hoofbeast with a twisted ankle and no lusus in sight) but the alien environment took a moment or two to be slotted into perspective by her mind, transformed into a grand roleplaying scenario that was not only fun but exciting. This place was much more palatable when it was a forest petrified by a dark wizard's magic, cursed to stand as a stone testament to his dastardly actions.
Restored to her regular cheery state by her imagination she soldiers on, curiously peeking into shop windows as she explored her new surroundings. Her painfully nonhuman appearance earns her no small amount of disdainful stares, but if she's aware of them she gives no indication of it. There are much better things to do than get preoccupied by the way strangers were eyeballing her. Things like stalking pigeons.
The birds catch her eye as they land in a massive flurry of wings and beaks to feast upon a half-eaten muffin that someone's carelessly dropped into the street. They're the first real sign of life besides the humans that she's seen here, and the discovery is ridiculously exciting. They weren't the largest of prey, but a hunter always needed to keep their senses sharp and their claws keen.
Pressing herself against the cool glass of the window she'd been ogling a moment before, Nepeta carefully sidles herself into the best position possible without disturbing the birds. They seem to be used to people's presence, but that was no reason to get sloppy about things. Her eyes lock onto a straggler pecking at some crumbs that have fallen outside of the larger group, a small grin breaking out as she follows its movements. Bingo.
The tensing of her entire body is the only warning given before Nepeta launches herself off the wall and at the poor bird, pinning it to the ground with one hand as she lands on all fours like some kind of alien cat. The pigeon struggles uselessly for a moment before she snaps its neck cleanly with her free hand and it goes limp in her clutches. A fine catch indeed for the mighty huntress on the prowl.
A shrill cry punctures her self-congratulatory daydream and she looks up sharply to lock eyes with a scandalized looking woman standing on the sidewalk's edge. Apparently she was less than appreciative of the magnificent example of stalking that had just played out in front of her.
This time Nepeta can't resist reacting; she slowly stands up and turns to face the woman in full, keeping her eyes on her the entire time. Then, very deliberately, she pulls a face and sticks her tongue out at the shocked woman before pocketing the dead pigeon and striding off down the road as pleased as she can possibly be.
The mighty huntress has struck a great blow against the dark wizard's hold on this mystical forest today.
Roleplay Sample - Network:
wow
i didnt actually expect to make contact with anyone on the other side
especially since im not even trying to quartz-gaze right now
thats pretty impressive on everyones part, so congrats to me and you guys i guess
although to be honest i was kind of hoping my first spiritual connection would be a little more interesting than just opening up an internet forum
i know that modern adaptions are really in at the moment but this is just lazy :/
your quests better be a lot more engaging or you just lost a promising young shaman
and peeking around here a little bit i dont think you can exactly afford that
Name: Nepeta Leijon | Nyah Leijon
Canon and medium: Homestuck (webcomic)
Age: 13 | 16
Preincarnation Species: Troll
Preincarnation Appearance: Here.
Any differences: As Nepeta will be human rather than a troll, she's completely lacking in the alien appearance - fangs, horns, gray skin, yellow eyes, technicolor blood - as well as the heightened durability of trolls.
Starting Location: Locke City
Preincarnated History:
Nepeta is part of a race of trolls, a species much older than humans. Trolls live on the planet Alternia, in a different universe that hasn't been touched upon other than mentioning there are other races inhabiting it.
In Homestuck trolls are gray-skinned, horned humanoids who are described as being incredibly violent and dangerous. Although trolls originate on Alternia, they are so aggressive that all the adults are members of the Imperial Fleet which flies the galaxy conquering other planets. The only inhabitants of Alternia are the troll children, who are tasked with keeping the troll culture alive.
The reason that young trolls can be left unattended is because the reproductive system of trolls is a bit different than humans. Trolls contribute their genetic material to a being known as the Imperial Drone, which combines them all in an incestuous slurry which spawns the baby trolls, who resemble grubs. After hatching, the grubs must undertake incredibly dangerous trials to receive their lusus.
The lusus is a monster which functions as the troll's caretaker. Unlike human guardians, however, it is more of a give and take relationship. While the lusus will keep the young troll safe from harm, the young troll must learn to function as a zookeeper to ensure their lusus is healthy.
A lusus and its troll share the same blood color, of which there are many. Troll culture is dominated by something called the hemospectrum, in which the different troll blood colors are ranked. It ranges from red (the lowest) to violet (the highest), the higher ranking trolls being sea-dwellers who form an aristocracy which rules the entire planet.
Nepeta, for example, has green blood which places her perfectly in the middle of the hemospectrum. Her lusus is a large cat with two mouths named Pounce de Leon who resides with her in a cave that is relatively isolated from other trolls and seems to be fairly undemanding of her charge. Other lusii, such as Vriska's, are much more high maintenance and may even require that their troll feeds them other lusii or trolls in order to keep them under control.
As if this wasn't confusing enough, the twelve trolls who the story features decide to play a game called Sgrub which brings about the destruction of their world. The players survive by entering the game, and battle through it to win the ultimate prize - a new universe to live in, and the chance to repopulate their species.
The game exists in a universe separate from the one that the trolls previously inhabited, called simply the Medium. The Medium is made up of twelve planets for each player of the troll session (personalized to their specific role in the game) along with the battlefield planet Skaia and the two dream moons of Prospit and Derse.
Skaia is the major fixture of the game and the location of the battle raging between the opposing forces of Prospit and Derse (both populated by game-created living chess pieces known as carapaces), whose fight is the main fixture of the game's mythos - the White forces of Prospit wish for the players to be successful and create a new universe, while the Black forces oppose it.
No matter what actions the players take in the game, Prospit is fated to lose the fight on Skaia. This loss will trigger the Reckoning - a bombardment of Skaia by meteors; the planet will initially redirect them through portals, creating the meteors which threaten the players upon their initial entry into the game, but eventually will be unable to protect itself and be destroyed. The goal of the game is to defeat the Black King before Skaia is destroyed and claim the ultimate prize of a new universe.
To aid players in this goal, each of them is assigned a mythological role which they must fulfill in order to achieve their full potential in the game - Nepeta's title was the Rogue of Heart. Every title grants its players various preternatural abilities associated with their class and aspect, although we fail to see Nepeta ever exercise whatever powers she was granted through hers. We do see other trolls using theirs, however - Aradia is the Maid of Time and thus able to travel to the past and future, while Vriska is able to steal other people's luck and use it as her own as the Thief of Light.
One of the most important aspects assigned in the game was that of Space, whose player is tasked with breeding the frog which would eventually become the new universe of a successful session. Although Kanaya (the Sylph of Space) attempted to fulfill her duties, Karkat stopped her before she could find the last frog required to breed the Universe Frog in order for them to confront the Black King. This resulted in a universe that was inherently faulty - Karkat later refers to it as being given cancer.
The troll session lasts a month before the group confronts the Black King. Nepeta spends a large portion of this time exploring her planet (the Land of Little Cubes and Tea, whose acronym is exactly what you think it is) with Equius, taking down monsters and climbing up the level system in the game.
The eventual battle with the Black King proves to be more difficult than any of them had imagined due to an unintended consequence of the choices that had been made early on in the game.
When the trolls entered Sgrub they were each given a kernelsprite, a floating ball of light and game code. Throwing an object into the sprite before entering the Medium proper would result in the enemies of the game being 'prototyped' with aspects of whatever object had been placed into the sprite - for example, Aradia (the troll Nepeta was responsible for getting into the game safely) prototyped her sprite with a frog in order to force characteristics of an animal which the Dersites considered abhorrent (as it was linked with creation) onto the Black King and Queen, who gained their powers by taking on all the prototypings of the players. This would cause the Black Queen to refuse to wear the ring which granted her these powers out of disgust and allow the trolls to steal it and banish her from Sgrub, eliminating one of the threats to their victory.
Feferi, another troll and heir apparent to the Alternian empire, had accidentally allowed her lusus (an underwater eldritch abomination) to fall into her kernelsprite and be prototyped. This gave the Black King all of the powers her lusus had possessed, which included the ability to unleash a scream deadly enough to eradicate an entire species.
What appeared to be an unwinnable battle turned in the troll's favors when the doomed alternate selves (from timelines which were not the 'correct' one) of Aradia appeared and used themselves as a living shield to nullify the King's screams. Nepeta and the other trolls used this opening to assault the King and eventually defeat him, revealing the door to the new universe.
Unfortunately, before they can receive the prize a demon appears and destroys the gateway to the new universe. This demon is Jack Noir, an omnipotent being from another session (which, in a wonderful display of the Confusing Time Shit of Homestuck, is being played in the universe the trolls have been locked out of) banished to the trolls' game and bent on destroying everything in his path. He is far more powerful than the Black King and unable to be defeated by the combined efforts of the group, and so the remaining doomed Aradias sacrifice themselves in order to create a distraction so that the others can escape.
In desperation the group takes refuge in a place called the Veil, an asteroid belt on the edge of the universe. From a laboratory situated on one of the asteroids they eventually become aware of the people playing in the session which was responsible for the destruction of their own (done yet again through Weird Time Shit - Terezi manipulates events so that her past self becomes aware of the other session) and who reside in the universe which was supposed to be theirs - a group of four humans named John, Rose, Dave, and Jade.
Having little else to do but sit around and wait for Jack to find and slaughter them, the trolls begin speaking with the humans; initially the endeavor is meant only as a means to harass the people who ruined their future but eventually they become enmeshed in influencing the human session, often in ways which paradoxically lead to the creation of Jack Noir and their own game going off the tracks. Nepeta joins the others in contacting the kids, and although only one of her conversations (with Rose, prompting the girl to give her laptop to her sprite so that Nepeta could continue conversing with him) is shown in canon, it is implied that she's spoken to Jade and Dave at some point as well.
Although contact with the humans offered a small form of distraction, the trolls' fate continued to remain grim - unable to find the group and kill them, Jack instead turned to destroying the planets in the Medium. After systemically eliminating each of the twelve player planets, he turned his sights on Prospit and Derse.
Prospit and Derse were especially tempting targets as they housed the trolls' dreamselves - second bodies which resided on either moon and were awoken when the players slept. These dreamselves acted as second lives in the structure of the game - if a player died they could be revived with a kiss as their dreamself took the place of their regular self. The destruction of the moons meant that there were no second chances for the trolls anymore, and if they were discovered by Jack there would be no coming back for them.
Nepeta had the misfortune to be dreaming on Derse when Jack arrived to destroy it, and thus experienced the death of her dreamself firsthand. She was stabbed multiple times and left to bleed out as she witnessed Jack unleashing his powers and destroying the planet itself.
The destruction of Derse had added significance, as it destroyed the dreamself of Aradia, which had been hidden and sleeping in the planet's crypt on her quest bed. In order to achieve god tier (the ultimate level in the game system and the full actualization of a player's powers) one had to die on their quest bed - and Jack's destruction of the planet does just that for her.
Aradia had been killed prior to entering the game, and so her soul had spent time as both a ghost and a game sprite (for some time Nepeta, as her server player, was the only person outside of those involved in her death who knew that Aradia was no longer alive) before entering a robot body that had been built for the express purpose of housing her.
With her dreamself's ascension this body was no longer needed and so it exploded in the Veil so that her soul could reunite with her dreamself - right in front of Nepeta, who was just waking up from being murdered on Derse.
Throughout all of this Nepeta seems to remain on decent enough terms with the other members of the group (aside from Eridan, who rankled her by trying to hit on her). However, two trolls especially influence her actions and feelings - Karkat and Equius.
Karkat is her unrequited crush, the ornery subject of her affections that she has been flushed for for quite some time. Although Karkat is perfectly aware of (and uncomfortable with) her feelings, Nepeta doesn't realize this and is far too shy to confess to him. She's well aware that even if she did he likely wouldn't return her feelings as she suspects another of her good friends is also crushing on him, a fact that keeps her from intruding on their budding romance even more than her own shyness. Although she's fairly aware that the crush is doomed, she can't seem to shake it.
Equius, on the other hand, is her moirail - an alien romantic concept which basically equates to soulmates who keep each other from becoming destructive monsters. Although he's domineering, bigoted, and more than a little weird, Nepeta cherishes him more than almost anything in the world. She never makes a major decision without consulting him first, and usually bows to his opinion despite it often being contrary to her own feelings. His safety and emotional well-being are very important to her and she gives up large amounts of her time in order to ensure them.
Reincarnated History:
Nyah's father is a Swedish photographer who traveled to the American southwest for inspiration; while there he met and fell in love with her mother, a Navajo woman who worked at the camera store he frequented. Several years after they'd been married they decided they wanted to spread the happiness they had to others and committed themselves to volunteer work in Africa. Some time after beginning their work Nyah was born, named in the language of the people they were currently staying with.
The majority of Nyah's life was spent traveling across the African continent, aiding her parents in everything from digging wells to building schools. Her parents loved her dearly and were intensely supportive of everything that she was interested in or did, no matter how strange it was. They also allowed her a great deal of autonomy, leading to Nyah both spending large amounts of her time with the people her parents had come to help and wandering unchaperoned away from civilization simply to see the sights.
Around the time that Nyah turned sixteen, her parents decided to take their first break from volunteering; they were getting older, making the work more difficult, and believed that a rest would leave them energized to jump back into the fray. Much to their daughter's chagrin they moved to Locke City, renting an apartment and sorting through the necessary paperwork to homeschool her.
First Echo: While jogging in the park one morning, Nyah was attacked by a dog which had gotten free of its leash. She managed to avoid incurring serious injuries, but not before she received an Echo of the last time something dog-shaped had attacked her: her dreamself's murder by Jack Noir on Derse. (from this flash, roughly 0:29-0:42)
Preincarnation Personality:
Nepeta is incredibly upbeat and friendly, especially for a troll. She enjoys roleplaying and often inserts pieces of roleplay into her dialogue with others, but refuses to play the more dangerous kinds of roleplaying (such as FLARP). This is only partially because she was banned from such activities by her moirail (fated friend, roughly) but also because her personality doesn't have enough malice for that kind of game.
This is ironic when one considers that most of her life is spent hunting large monsters with her lusus and bringing them back to her hive, which resembles a cave more than a home. Nepeta is possibly the most feral of the troll children, wearing the skins of her kills as clothing and drawing on the walls of her cave in their blood.
Although she hasn't been seen interacting with all of the other trolls, Nepeta is very interested in their relationships. She keeps a 'shipping wall' on one of her cave walls, which shows all possible relationships for the twelve trolls. Interestingly enough, she only has an interest in the red quadrants of troll romance - matesprits (the closest to human romance) and moirails. This probably stems from Nepeta's love of cute and happy things, and not wanting to think about her friends hating each other enough to form a black romance.
She's very outgoing and physically affectionate, snuggling up to her lusus while using her computer and tackling Equius when he appears on her planet in the game. This doesn't translate to aggression, however. For all her energy Nepeta seems to be one of the most level headed trolls, able to be moirails with Equius, who is described by Karkat as 'the only bigger asshole than me' which considering Karkat's self-loathing is significant. Nepeta repeatedly defends Equius and her friendship with him, telling the others he 'isn't that bad'.
This is typical of Nepeta, who always seems to think the best of people. She gets along with everyone, including the deceased Aradia who comes across as creepy to the others. In fact, she is one of the first to discover Aradia is dead at all.
Although such a positive outlook is almost necessary when it comes to dealing with the other trolls, Nepeta may take it a little too far and over-simplify the actions of others. She doesn't want to roleplay with Vriska, for example, because when Vriska is playing her characters 'do horrible things'. Considering Vriska is the one responsible for crippling Tavros and killing Aradia, this is something of an understatement (it's unclear whether Nepeta is aware of this, however). She's a very naive girl, more likely than not to trust anyone who acts in a friendly manner towards her.
Despite appearances to the contrary, Nepeta is by no means stupid. She's aware enough to pick up on the unspoken feelings between others trolls, and knows that Karkat only roleplays with her to be facetious and hurtful. Her cheerful outlook allows her to look past this, however, and enjoy the fact that she's having fun.
Any differences:
Nyah is much more naive and sheltered than Nepeta - she's spent her entire life traveling across Africa with limited access to the goings-on of the rest of the world, and as such is ignorant of most pop culture and other similar things. She's still intelligent and astute to other's feelings, but her realm of general knowledge is rather narrow; she knows a great deal about African culture and the politics of the region, but would struggle to recognize contemporary actors or fashion trends.
She's also a lot more obviously weird than Nepeta. Because her parents never deterred her from anything that she wanted to do in pretty much any area, she has a lot of odd quirks that become much more obvious when she's in an urbanzed setting like Locke. For example she always has feathers in her hair, she prefers to go barefoot no matter where she is, and is very deep into the spirituality side of her Native American heritage. None of these eccentricities feel odd to her, as she's never been told they're odd, and she doesn't understand anyone who wants her to stop.
That said, she's missing the majority of Nepeta's own quirks. While she has a keen interest in storytelling and will frequently comment on things from the perspective of a budding author, she's never really dabbled in roleplaying and doesn't have much of an urge to begin. Nyah enjoys cats, certainly, but is lacking Nepeta's obsession with them to the point of spitting out cat puns in her everyday conversation. Most obviously of all, Nyah really doesn't care about the romantic entanglements of other people; in her opinion they're just detours in the road to real adventure and excitement.
All of the violent urges inherent in trolls are missing in Nyah, as she's a human. While she's incredibly athletic (especially when it comes to running) she has none of the combat prowess of her former self, and only tiny bits and pieces of tracking knowledge that has been imparted to her on her travels.
Abilities:
- troll physiology: aside from the aforementioned physical differences, trolls also possess enhanced durability and strength, able to survive and inflict blows that would instantly kill normal humans. Nepeta, for example, remained alive and conscious after being stabbed multiple times in the abdomen, and has spent her entire life hunting hostile animals several times her size with nothing but her claws and teeth.
sylladex: a real-life version of a video game inventory, this allows Nepeta to store items in hammerspace and retrieve them whenever she pleases.
- clawkind: Nepeta's strife specibus, which functions as a syalldex for weapons in particular. her 'claws' are retractable clawed gloves, much like Wolverine's of X-Men fame.
- fighting ability: Nepeta is incredibly skilled in combat, coming from an inherently violent race and having spent her entire life hunting for subsistence.
- hunting skills: as such she's also an incredibly skilled huntress for her age, able to track and take down monstrous animals by herself.
- Rogue of Heart powers: the abilities granted by her in-game title. Nepeta is never shown using these powers in canon, although presumably she is capable of using them. what being a Rogue of Heart allows one to do specifically is unknown, but the capabilities of both her aspect and class are known: rogues steal 'for the benefit of others' and Heart is in reality more akin to soul.
therefore it follows that Nepeta's powers likely allow her to steal 'soul' in order to help others.
Roleplay Sample - Third Person: this sample was originally written for
capeandcowl, which requires all samples to be written as if in the game, hence the settingNepeta had never been near a city in her life, let alone in the middle of one, but five minutes into the experience and she could already tell that she hated them. The steel buildings shooting up into the sky felt cold and unwelcoming, as if they were staring down on her in disapproval. There was no grass, nothing natural, just concrete and asphalt and artificiality as far as she could see.
Equius would like this purrlace a lot better than me she can't help think as she pulls her trenchcoat more tightly around her and begins walking again. She wasn't afraid of the city (fear was for facing down a charging hoofbeast with a twisted ankle and no lusus in sight) but the alien environment took a moment or two to be slotted into perspective by her mind, transformed into a grand roleplaying scenario that was not only fun but exciting. This place was much more palatable when it was a forest petrified by a dark wizard's magic, cursed to stand as a stone testament to his dastardly actions.
Restored to her regular cheery state by her imagination she soldiers on, curiously peeking into shop windows as she explored her new surroundings. Her painfully nonhuman appearance earns her no small amount of disdainful stares, but if she's aware of them she gives no indication of it. There are much better things to do than get preoccupied by the way strangers were eyeballing her. Things like stalking pigeons.
The birds catch her eye as they land in a massive flurry of wings and beaks to feast upon a half-eaten muffin that someone's carelessly dropped into the street. They're the first real sign of life besides the humans that she's seen here, and the discovery is ridiculously exciting. They weren't the largest of prey, but a hunter always needed to keep their senses sharp and their claws keen.
Pressing herself against the cool glass of the window she'd been ogling a moment before, Nepeta carefully sidles herself into the best position possible without disturbing the birds. They seem to be used to people's presence, but that was no reason to get sloppy about things. Her eyes lock onto a straggler pecking at some crumbs that have fallen outside of the larger group, a small grin breaking out as she follows its movements. Bingo.
The tensing of her entire body is the only warning given before Nepeta launches herself off the wall and at the poor bird, pinning it to the ground with one hand as she lands on all fours like some kind of alien cat. The pigeon struggles uselessly for a moment before she snaps its neck cleanly with her free hand and it goes limp in her clutches. A fine catch indeed for the mighty huntress on the prowl.
A shrill cry punctures her self-congratulatory daydream and she looks up sharply to lock eyes with a scandalized looking woman standing on the sidewalk's edge. Apparently she was less than appreciative of the magnificent example of stalking that had just played out in front of her.
This time Nepeta can't resist reacting; she slowly stands up and turns to face the woman in full, keeping her eyes on her the entire time. Then, very deliberately, she pulls a face and sticks her tongue out at the shocked woman before pocketing the dead pigeon and striding off down the road as pleased as she can possibly be.
The mighty huntress has struck a great blow against the dark wizard's hold on this mystical forest today.
Roleplay Sample - Network:
wow
i didnt actually expect to make contact with anyone on the other side
especially since im not even trying to quartz-gaze right now
thats pretty impressive on everyones part, so congrats to me and you guys i guess
although to be honest i was kind of hoping my first spiritual connection would be a little more interesting than just opening up an internet forum
i know that modern adaptions are really in at the moment but this is just lazy :/
your quests better be a lot more engaging or you just lost a promising young shaman
and peeking around here a little bit i dont think you can exactly afford that