Post by Kaori - Kailani on Feb 12, 2011 0:32:31 GMT -5
Character Information
[/u]Full Name: Kailani Annelise "Lani" Kealoha
State: Hawai'i
State Nickname: The Aloha State
Capital: Honolulu
Country: Hawaiian Islands Republic
Affiliation: Independent. In favor of restoring the Union, but hesitant to become involved in open conflict out of self-preservation. Holding on until there is no choice but to join the Unionists to survive.
Date of Birth: birth unknown, statehood August 21, 1959
Appearance: Lani doesn't really have many odd characteristics. She's short, stoutly built, and appears to have a fully native bloodline with her darkly tanned skin and long, frizzy dark brown hair. About 5' 2", she's one of the shorter states, but makes up with it in pure temper. She has a rather athletic build, and sometimes worries about her weight - she'll never be a skinny girl under normal circumstances. Lani's eyes are brown, but she thinks her best feature is her ears, oddly enough.
In terms of clothing, less is more. Lani hates wearing more than a tank top and shorts most days, but longer clothing is acceptable for hiking in the rainforests or mountains. Anything goes at the beach, so long as all the essentials are covered, but she hates formalwear with a burning passion. Even so, Lani keeps a suit and skirt and a evening dress for political necessities. Doesn't stop her from trying not to wear it, however. Her wardrobe does not, in fact, include a grass skirt or a coconut bra, although she does have one or two dresses in a traditional style. Flipflops are all she needs most of the time, plus a sturdy pair of sandals for the forest and the volcanoes. Lani is always barefoot at home.
Though none are obvious, Lani bears a wide collection of old and faded scars on much of her arms and legs. Even Lani can't remember where most of them came from - they're all remnants of the days of the warring ali'i between the islands, before Kamehameha's reign. They have faded steadily across the centuries, but have been vanishing at an alarmingly fast rate in the modern day. The only noticeable scar is a small but violent burn on her back, near to where her heart would be. It's located that it can be partially covered even by the back of a two-piece swimsuit, and isn't especially obvious even then. However, it's easy to spot if one knows where to look. Lani hates drawing attention to it.
Likes:
- the ocean - Lani's life comes from the sea. She relied on it in the past for food and transportation, but now it is largely recreational. If there's a sport on water, chances are Lani's tried it. And done very well at it, to boot.
- island food - Food is life for the islander. Seafood, fruits, nuts... if it grows in her islands, Lani will eat it. She gets upset without three square meals a day.
- companionship - Back in the good old days, Lani didn't need people; her home kept her happy. But after about two and a half centuries of being around others... it's not so easy to let go again. It's not like she needs to live in the middle of a city and see her friends every day, it's just... not so much fun spending weeks and months without hearing from anyone else.
Dislikes:
- isolation - It's been hard for Lani to readjust, suddenly on her own again. Though she spent years reminiscing about "the old days", it's only now she realizes how much she appreciated her adoptive family.
- cold weather - It's gotta be warm. It really just has to. Not that it's well-known, but Lani is also sensitive to abnormally hot weather (90's and up). The problem is most often cold weather when she travels, though (below the lower 70's).
- remembering - Memories aren't always good... in fact, the best ones already seem to have fled to sunnier shores. The more Lani tries to keep them from interfering in her life, though... the more they seem to hurt when they show up again, just like they always do.
Strengths:
- stamina - As an individual, she'll be the last to quit or die trying. No challenge is left unheeded. However, as a nation, she doesn't have any particular might and is more cautious.
- charisma - What, did you think just anybody could be a major tourist destination? Not that she tries it much outside the tourism business, but Lani can be very charming. In fact, it's her first response to be friendly to people she doesn't see often.
- skill - She isn't a genius or an engineer, but Lani can definetely work with her hands. When she was younger it was things like knotting fishing nets, weaving sandals, or tying fishhooks. Though she's best at traditional things, she's generally pretty resourceful physically.
Weaknesses:
- temperamental - Blows up really, really easily. Of course, a lot of this is just hot air, letting out some stress on an unfortunate sibling. What else can be expected from a volcanic state?
- emotional - Lani's been really tangled up for a really long time. Especially bad are her issues with people she loves and hates equally. Being this torn up, it doesn't take much to tip the balance and seriously mess her up for awhile. She's tried to fortify herself against the crisis, but... an emotional shock or dragging up the wrong memory could be disastrous in these troubled times.
- lazy - There's the good days, of course, when she feels like she can take on the world... but then there's those days when she won't drag herself out of bed for the world... On her lazy days, not even the sun should try and interrupt her routine; Lani will ignore anything and do exactly what she wanted, only twice as slowly.
Personality: Overall, Lani is rather volatile. The volcanic nature of her home lends itself to a sometimes violent, sometimes extreme, and always dynamic personality. Though known to have a fairly serious temper, Lani's more bark than she is bite, and sometimes likes to yell at others just because she can. She doesn't usually think things through, is sometimes vain, and generally enjoys attention. At first sight, she's generally polite to others, especially tourists and sightseers. It takes a few years of knowing Lani before the facade mostly falls away.
Her active side is generally dominant. As an individual, she has a huge amount of energy, and hates quitting. Lani is prideful and will never back down from a challenge on her good days, and doesn't generally think things through. Lani's lazy days come out of nowhere, and are the flip side of her personality. As this person, she expresses a desire to do nothing, or to do it at her own pace. She is not to be pushed to do something, and is not below doing it twice as slowly out of spite when being hounded. Lazy Lani can be pleasant and relaxed, though, if one can embrace the feeling.
In the modern day, Lani has few chances to use it, but she does carry a strong sense of nobility along with her pride, lingering from the days of Hawai'i's great kings. One of the specific (and slightly odd) tenets of this moral code comes from the first written law of the islands, Kanawai Mamalahoe, or "Law of the Splintered Paddle." It originated in 1797 from Kamehameha the Great, and decrees the safety of noncombatants in battle. Lani applies it to her life and her politics, making it her business not to interfere with people she isn't directly dealing with.
Relationships: Born in ancient times, Lani is unsure of her ancestry, but still feels a kinship with other Polynesian nations and territories, considering them all close "cousins" of a sort. Her closest ties to nations were with England and America in the early days after European contact, and didn't get along with either at first. Eventually, Alfred's influence won out and he began to exert power over her home, but her relationship with England became more cordial over time. In the years before annexation, Lani was very attracted to Japan, and tried to grow closer to him, although she was unable to convey her feelings. As a territory, she struggled to feel that she could still face him as an equal, but the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor terrified, angered, tore apart, and confused her in equal measure. Even in her statehood, Lani was unable to sort out how, if at all, her feelings had changed after the event, still feeling a strong influence from Japan due to immigration. When America fell and Lani declared her independence, she realized she might now be able to face Japan as an equal again, and perhaps begin to confront her feelings, but has had to shove all these thoughts and feelings aside as she tries to eke out an existence on her own once more. Despite her deep-seated resentment of America later in her first independence, after her annexation and especially following her statehood, she had come to rely upon and trust him, although she still liked to gripe about the overthrow whenever she got bored. As a major tourist destination, Lani knows all of the states and several countries in passing, though she was always a bit isolated from the others. She was always closest, however, to the west-coast states and the non-continental Alaska. Since the collapse, she has become more isolated than before, but is still trying to keep as much contact as she can.
History: Hawai'i was settled centuries ago by Polynesian adventurers, and developed in a state of geographic isolation. Throughout her history, local ali'i, or chiefs, fought for power and territory across the islands. It was not until after the arrival of British explorer James Cook in 1778 that her growth was complete. Utilizing European guns and ships, King Kamehameha the Great was the first to unite all of the Hawaiian Islands in 1810. The monarchy was short-lived, however, as first foreign missionaries then businessmen moved into the archipelago. As the last queen, Lili'uokalani, gave one final effort to return control of the islands to the native Hawaiians, the businessmen and plantation owners revolted. A troop of US Marines overthrew the monarchy in 1893, and the islands were annexed five years later. An important stop across the Pacific Ocean, Hawai'i is remembered for the infamous Pearl Harbor attack in 1941, drawing America into the second World War. In 1959, Hawai'i became the fiftieth and final state of the USA.
The collapse could not have come at a more precarious time for Hawai'i. Though she remained loyal to the Union for as long as possible, once the CSA reformed and other nations began to carve up the remaining states, Hawai'i declared independence and seceeded. Her geographic isolation has protected her so far, but her economy is suffering. Already imperiled by recession, tourism dropped as travel suddenly became not only inconvenient but more expensive to Hawai'i, outside of the USA. She has struggled to stay afloat so far, and is working desperately to establish trade relations to be able to provide essential goods and gain financial stability, especially attempting to cooperate with her old friend England. Though she has been barely able to manage, and scrape by with a little to spare, Hawai'i has begun to fear that the only way to ensure her survival is to reconnect with the other states and restore the Union, lest she fail and be snapped up by an untrustworthy, land-hungry nation finding easy prey. On a sentimental level, she is worried about Alaska, now under Russia once more, as she has not managed to contact him yet at all. At this point, too distracted to linger long on a past that torments her, Hawai'i wonders if she might be able to call on Japan for help, but has not been driven that far yet. Her efforts at communication, however, are not particularly effective, and she has been forced to start seriously considering joining England and the states now under him simply in order to survive if this situation drags out much longer.
RP Sample:
An arc of crystal-bright droplets burst from the ocean's surface, dazzled by sunlight. No one witnessed the sight, though, in the quiet, protected cove, except for the dark head that bobbed in the waves. The young woman waited, still except for her gasps as she regained her breath. Her hair was slicked to the top of her head, down to where it fanned out immediately underwater, a dark-brown cape casting shadows on the shallow, sandy bottom. Rocked by the waves, Lani listened to their crash on the beach and the shrieks of a few shorebirds. When the quiet noises became too much, she plunged back under.
Suspended in the clear, mobile water, Lani dug her fingers into the sand and held fast, letting a few stray bubbles escape her nose and mouth. Though a constant pull was exerted on every inch of her skin, it seemed as if she hardly moved, the way the ocean held her. To Lani, it also seemed to hold her thoughts in place, keeping them from tearing her apart. The waves washed away everything - the pressure to make trade agreements, the worries of establishing a military presence, the news reports of the fallen states, the inability to communicate with her old friends and adoptive family - and replaced them with the dazzling sunlight sweeping across the ridged sand, dotted with fish and coral.
But soon, even the sea could hold her no longer, and she had to return to the surface.
OOC Information
Name: Kaori
Time Zone: Pacific
Other Characters: None yet!
Chantango: kaoriitalia
Codewords: Forever United
FINALLY FINISHED! Although I'll reserve the right to add more stuff in the weeks and months to come if I think of it... honestly, it's easier to get to know characters by writing them than by writing a profile, I think... There's always gotta be something forgotten that'll come back in a few weeks that I'll have to dash back on and fix...
For those who knew the old Hawai'i... I've been updating her in the past few weeks. Just to make her more continuous, better-flowing... So she's become a bit different!
Also to those who used to know Hawai'i... let me explain her new name. Or, anyone who's interested. Here's the lowdown:
NOTE: those with short attention spans will not wish to read it. Those who are not diehard language or history nerds, proceed with caution.
Her first name is Kailani, which means "sea and sky/heaven". The old Hawai'i, Iolani, means "bird of heaven". It was appropriate because the royal palace was (is) actually called 'Iolani Palace, which is a very slight variation with the apostrophe (it has a more masculine connotation). However, I happened to come across another Hawai'i that had the same last name as mine, only with her first name Kailani. I felt that, although it carried no historical significance (as far as I know), it still fit better because Lani loves the sea so much, and she is the embodiment of her land. I wanted to give her a stronger connection there. Also, I felt that it just sounded better. A personal preference. For those who are language nerds like me, you'll notice the same "-lani" in both names. It carries different meanings depending on context, but in these kinds of names it most closely means "heavenly", and carried suggestions of royal lineage. (It was common in royal names: you may recognize Queen Lili'uokalani and her heir, Princess Ka'iulani.) I'm also pretty convinced by now it was a popular or common component of girls' names. Other language nerds (or otakus) might find it comparable to the use of "-ko" in Japanese girls' names.
Her last name is Kealoha. There's no super-special thought process to this. It's harder to find last names (baby name sites are not helpful in these cases), and I stumbled across this. I was immediately attracted by the "aloha" in it. Anyone knows that aloha means a "hello" or "goodbye" greeting, but did you know that it also means "love" in Hawaiian? That's why I love and want to learn the language - you greet any old stranger you see with "love". A quick Wikipedia cross-check said that Kealoha was a fairly common Hawaiian surname, so... I went with that. It means "the beloved one" or something in that general idea...
And finally, her middle name, Annelise... That's completely new, literally just this evening. I found Lani's name to be oddly short when I was doing some history studying this week... of course, part of that was because I was reading ridiculously long royal names that seriously cannot be memorized or even read aloud by the average American. That's why I leave it at Lili'uokalani or Kalakaua or Kamehameha or whatever the first name is... But, what I discovered by chance, is that from the time of missionaries onward, all native Hawaiians were required to have a traditional European name to go along with their long Hawaiian name. (Breaks for a quick Wiki check to make this a good example...) For example! Victoria Ka'iulani Kalaninuiahilapalapa Kawekiu i Lunalilo Cleghorn. (See what I mean? Try saying that ten times fast... or just once!) That was Princess Ka'iulani's full name. Her last name came from a European relation of hers, but her first name was Victoria. So in this example, she was given a name that was popular at the time - in this case, named after Queen Victoria. Queen Lili'uokalani's European first name was Lydia, a case in which a name was chosen that sounded similar to her real name (she was born Lili'u, but became Lili'uokalani when she was named Kalakaua's heir). I followed this train of thought for Lani. It's not as close as I could have gone (I toyed around with Alanna), but I didn't want something that started with the same letter or sounded too close to avoid sounding tacky or confusing people. You'll notice another difference, too: Lani's European name is written as her middle name, whereas in real life the European names were written before the Hawaiian name. Here's how I figure it would have went: Lani would have been given the name Annelise as her legal name, probably by England (America just seems too... rowdy to worry about stuff like that) or even just a regular missionary in the islands. When that legislation became obsolete, Lani would have fixed her legal name to put her own name first, but wouldn't have abandoned the European name (I dunno, maybe it grew on her after all that time), so it just morphed into her middle name. No special meaning to it; like I said, I just picked it because it had a vaguely similar sound.
That was a VERY LONG lecture on Hawaiian names... good thing it cured some boredom. Enjoy, any language, history, culture, or language/history/culture (like me!) nerds out there!
