etc info:
-past: mantra was born into the khlyppan family, which had, in years past, had a large claim over the islands of devitt and ruled them for several centuries. in the era into which she was born, though, the family had begun to decline, and had been experiencing betrayals, bad luck + accidents, affairs, scandals -- basically anything corrupt -- for several generations. her mother had had a particularly bad experience with this, and wanted to save her daughter from the family's fate, so she left mantra anonymously at an orphanage when she was a few weeks old. although she had told no one there about mantra's heritage, as time went on the orphanage head began to become suspicious -- mostly because of the tattoos on her back that her mother had not been able to prevent the marking of. [the gryffins of devitt developed a type of tattooing which not only marked the skin but caused the fur in that area to grow that color. all gryffins have a tattoo of some sort, which are done at birth; each island has a different area on the body and pattern. the commoners usually have a sort of band at both ends of theirs, and have it on their limbs/tail/neck etc. the higher families do not have bands and have theirs on the torso or face.] most of the commoners disliked and distrusted the khlyppans, and some had started to hope the family's reign would finally end. seeing mantra as a possibility for the continuance of the khlyppan line, when mantra was about four or five, the head ratted her out to a group of underground radicals. the radicals initially planned on killing mantra in the middle of the night in the orphanage and blaming it on the khlyppan family; however, when the group was actually there with the small child in front of them, they deviated from the plan, and instead cut off half her wings, most of the feathers, and chopped off the back ponytail. [acceptable hairstyles of the gryffins were very specific; there was to be two braids or locks of hair on each side of the face, and one in the back, and there was to be little or no trimming of the hair in a gryffin's lifetime. to cut the back lock, which was the most important, was a mark of a degenerate, and looked down upon. actually, kind of like cutting off a top knot of a samurai in japanese society.]
when mantra awoke [from the sedative that had been given to her to keep her from crying out during the operation] she was in intense pain, but tried her hardest to keep her tears inside. she did not cry once while the skin on her wings healed. however, the occurrence caused her to become mute. without having wings, a back lock, and not speaking caused others to look down upon her, and as she grew older she was considered useless for anything besides janitorial or servant work. at 13, the orphanage head, to resolve a debt to the bartender, gave her over to a nearby bar to work without pay cleaning up after the drunks. she began to grow bitter and depressed and did not think she would ever get out of that life, but she still had hope for something, some possibility of change. luckily for her, that change came in the form of a certain captain kenniaul arang. on a routine stop to refill the rum barrels, kenni wandered into the bar in which mantra worked. the bartender told kenni about mantra, and that she was pretty much useless in gryffin society. being in need of a cabin boy and seeing the shithole life mantra would probably have otherwise, kenni handed a bag of gold to the bartender and left with a new crewmember. the first words that mantra uttered in nine years were a stuttering 'thank you' to kenni. mantra became a decent part of the crew of kenni's ship, and began to speak again regularly [although still quite quiet].
on one route, from a storm, the ship was put off course, took damage, and forced to dock at an uncharted, abandoned island. upon returning from scouting the island, kip reported a crumbling castle and a stone marker with ancient hronic script carved into it. being illiterate, he called for mantra [who had secretly studied ancient languages and cultures when she was younger]. mantra was astonished to read the island and castle was khlyppan property, and it was then she told kenni and kip her true heritage. kip, being a fellow gryffin, started talking with her more, and through him she learned about many of the things that her family had done and what had happened to them, both good and bad. she was also becoming aware of a slow decline of the general life on devitt islands, and decided to herself to try and change things; to reclaim the respect of the people as a different khlyppan, and then to revolutionize gryffin government and society to more benefit the people. at 20, with the help of kenni's earnings, she was able to begin attending an academy in devitt renown for those wanting to become influential in politics. because of the revolutionary governmental change, social standards were also being shaken, and mantra was able to attribute a large step in this by attending the academy despite her short hair [which she now saw as a personal sign of strength] and lack of wings. she was later commended of this and a pair of substitute wings was created for her.
-personality: mantra is inherently an outspoken person, despite the years of silence in her childhood. being raised by kenni helped to bring this out of her. she has a good ability to see the overall picture of things and knows how to get what she thinks should be done without stepping on anyone. she has a strong will but still has some fears and weaknesses.
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