» A roleplay I wanted some feedback on..., A couple ideas rolling around.

Well, since this would be my first post here (on a site which I, honsetly, just stumbled across twenty minutes ago) I would just like to say, er, hello?
Well, that was rather pathetic, but on to the main subject.

I'm a mediocre writer (which I know I am because I had to use google to correct my 'meidokre' spelling). Although grammar is one of my weak points, I've been told by others that my creativity and character development skills. So, with my Halo obsession coming on so strong, I thought I might try and write a few fanfics or at least one shots.

Problem is, I am a unconfident, nerd with a powerfull case of low self esteem.

So, as such, I need to think my ideas through and get a doctor prescribed 22 cc's of assurance before I get anything done or even started (I really can't imagine how pathetic that sounds).

So it's here that I am whipping out one of my ideas that I've head rolling in my skull for a while now in order to get them straightened out and criticized.

The main course:

Roleplay name:The Divide.
Characters: Very Alien heavy. A lot of sangheilli's for those out there who seem to have a fetish of the species like I do.
Time: Post Halo 3
Setting: Sangheili colony
It's more or less the story of a pair of brother and sister religious figures living on a small Sangheillian colony after the Great Schism and after the death of the Prophet of Truth: The Priest of Joy, and the Priestess of Sorrow (Yes, from which my screen name was created).
In a more detialed summary it would revolve around the trials the brother and sister would have to face with the cries and disorientation of their people after the Covenant has fallen, and the onslaught of Jiralhanae who, in their vengence and pride, have attempted to wipe out the small, outer colonies of Sanghelios, possibly along with the struggles of other characters and inner conflicts that might arise. Since it's not very developed I'm very much considering turning this into an RP.
And on another note, this is actually somewhat based off of a one shot I did that included a Sangheilli Heretic leader known as the "Priest of Sorrow" that I had to scrap because it didn't fit into the time line, and also a picture of the "Priestess of Sorrow" which I am currently coloring.
But before I go posting, I have a couple of problems with this already.
First off, looking at the list of Covenant Worlds on Halo Wiki, I don't see any Sangheilli colonies other than the home planet of Sanghelios.
Secondly, I was beginning to doubt if there actually are any Elite religious figures within the Covenant (although than the High Council may be considered as such) other than the San' Shyumm, or if they would be cast aside as protectors. Since there are no known official "Priests" within the Covenant, I imagined the rank being that of much lesser, local, spiritual leaders that could be of any species, and could report to the heirarches of the Covenant (though they more than likely would have no say in any of the matters and would simply act as messengers).
Thirdly: Female Elites. Yes. Always the controversey over them- What do they do?Do they lay eggs? Do they have any status? What do they look like? Do they have boobs? (I've found the answer to be "YES" among males and "NO" among females. Hmm. I wonder why. </sarcasm>). The problem mainly would be that there would need to be a definate physical look, societal status, and role that would need to be defined that the official story simply cannot provide. It would also need to be something everyone can agree on.

Agh. So many bothers...
Still, I thought it might be something interesting that might appease some OC hungry fellows out there while also weaving a tale of survival. And I know it may seem trivial, but would someone care to give advice before I go charging out into the Rumble Pit?

Interesting to say the least.

How did you come to the conclusion that female Sangheili had breasts? They being so reptilian and all.

Justification, if you will. I'm curious.

Well thank you.

And actually, there is no justification for it and I'm entirely against the idea. I was simply putting it there because there seems to be a large number of (unsurprisingly) male artists who like to draw female Sanghelli, with of course, breasts.
In fact I find it entirely absurd and almost horrifying to think of female Sangheili with breasts just because of the jaw structure of the Sangheili species and the fact that infants could very well be born with teeth. Sharp teeth.
I wouldn't really call this a controversey, as it's more of the need some men have to put breasts on things, illogical or not.

This post has been edited by Priestess Of Sorrow on Jul 25 2008, 05:47 AM

All well and good then. Ignore perverted artists, because I'm surely a supporter of non-breasted female Sangheili.

My theory: (I've thought about this far too much for it to be healthy..)
Before Prophet rule, the females might have been like the typical farmer's wife. Care for the children, tell stories, make clothing and other such craft. The peaceful kind of stuff while the men were out working and meeting the ol' Prophets.

While under Prophet rule, were kept away from the public eye, seen as nothing more than breeders and entertainment for the more wealthy of the soldiers. Some may have been put to work making weapons and armour in factories while the less fortunate were kept in small cells to await a soldier's brutal lust.

Then, after Prophet rule, I figure the females will have taken up roles as soldiers as well as mothers for future generations, but their children would be from love (after a 'buffering' period where the Sangheili begin to revert back to their former ways) rather than breeding.

Why I say the Sangheili mothers were firstly mothers and secondly caring:
They are an intelligent race, sentient. They learn from life, rather than having killer instincts imprinted from birth (however the post-Prophet Sangheili may have this).
Through stories and nurturing, a Sangheili becomes what it will be as an adult slowly, though as a child, the mind is like a sponge and takes information quickly. Most learning and training is taken care of in the first 10 cycles of life or so.

I can go into how they breed if you like, I have a theory for that too.
Lastly, not breasted, because they are far too reptilian to even look accurate with them. The structure of the body gives off a more bird-like anatomy if anything warm-blooded. They don't look like milk-feeders anyway, their children would be fed supplement foods only because their stomachs couldn't digest meat right away, I suppose.

Ehh kind of ran off with it a little.. sorry.

No, no, that's rather good actually!

I'm not sure if I entirely agree on the 'kept out of sight and away' theory, as I read in Contact Harvest that at least the females of the San 'Shyuum are somewhat about in the public eye, though they have no where near the respect or power as their male counterparts. Though I can't truly say this would be the same for the Sangheili.

And nextly, it is only known that the Aristocrat's of the Sangheili culture can choose any female they want to breed with, but they are forbidden to marry. Plus, the mention of "Marriage" within their culture would lead me to believe that women may have a stronger role, even if it is just a vow to mate with one particular male (and possibly the male the same).

But I agree completely that they don't have breasts. They are far too reptile like, but I don't believe they truly are reptiles either (I highly doubt that they are cold blooded), rather I believe they would be more akin to the Dinosauria family, particularly the Dromaeosauridae.

If you're still around, Priestess, I'd like to make a few comments on your RP concept.

Fist off, I'd like to say that it seems very interesting. Not the least of which being the setting, which makes integration of human characters particularly difficult (which is a good thing, actually, as far too many people make UNSC characters anyway).

While a colony might work, I'd almost make more sense to make the setting Sanghelios itself. Besides our knowing more about the locale, its more the Brute's style to abandon common sense and cut straight to the heart--they might bother with the outer colonies, but likely as targets of opportunity rather than actual assaults.

Anyway, I liked the little discussion between you two about Sangheili females. Both humorous and entertaining to read, and perhaps a bit edifying.

Ah, thank you vIsitor

And that actually seems like a great idea to put Sanghelios as the main setting. I initially avoided it because I thought the Sangheilian Navy might be too strong for the Brutes to even land on, but, now that I think about it, the Elites may have very well have a weakened Navy, especially after declaring themselves Sepratists. Plus that "Rush in, Guns ablaze" tactic does sounds very much like the Jiralhanae, even though it isn't the smartest. But, heck, they're called "Brutes" for a reason, right?
And on another note, that simple setting change has been proposed, it could open up a wider variety of characters. Not that I want to get too optimistic, but we could very well introduce some main characters in the mix and have someone roleplay them ( if I recall, the Arbiter and Rtas were returning to Sanghelios). And this could provide an opprutunity to roleplay characters who have official back stories that were never explored, such as N'thro and Usze.

All in all, that was a great suggestion. Thank you!

Shotgunned playing N'tho (the name has changed on Halopedia) for semi-obvious reasons.

Complete fluke that my Gamertag shorthand is Nthro.


This actually sounds like a really good idea indeed, all we need is some confident Covenant Separatists and a few more bios!

Ahaha, yeah. The funny thing was I was actually looking at N'tho's Halopedia page when I was typing it up, but I still spelled it as "N'thro" because I always think of "Nitro". Yep, I have a grade-A attention span here.

And it does seem to be developing fairly well. Though looking back, a may make it so that the role play would be more open to military characters, which I think would make it much more combat oriented and fast paced.

And I personally think that's an awesome gamertag if it has Nthro in it. But then again, I'm the weird freak who fell in love with N'tho at first sight, so maybe I'm just soaking in my fangirlism over here.

Ah well.

If I might make a suggestion, I recommend you try to start this RP as soon as you can manage. With the a resolution to the current Red-Polar schism a distant possibility at best, it would appear that activity isn't going to resume without outside influence, especially since the aforementioned two members rather deeply embedded themselves into the workings of the current RP thread before their altercation.

Anyway, I would certainly join an RP like this.

Sorrow, this RP sounds like an excellent idea. I like the idea of an RP focusing on beings other then the UNSC's soldiers. Elites are probably the coolest race in the entire Halo series. The coolest gear, lines, missions and jobs are theirs. i would certainly join such as this! After I write Aran's biography. Also, would the Arbiter be involved? It would be nice to play/ watch a canon hero in the RP.

Yes, the responsibility of playing the Arbiter and Halfjaw are to be decided, I'm thinking Priestess would have a pretty good idea of how they'd act and what they'd say outside of what we've been given by Bungie.
She seems to have a fair bit of research behind her love of Elites :3

Welcome, Arbiter! And thank you FloodSpore, I'm flatterted.

As to your suggestion vIstor, yes, I'm actually working on the starter for the RP, though I've been a bit busy with school coming on and preparing for Fall and what not. I've decided how I want the introduction to start, so the RP could possibly be up within a week or two, and I'll also try to have my character approved befor then.

And answering Arbiter's question, yes, the Arbiter could very well be involved, though his reason for being where he would be and what he would be doing there would have to be decided by the player controlling him.

I might also make another change, and switch from the two characters, Preistess of Sorrow and Priest of Joy, starting from the beginning, to just starting with my character of Sorrow. I may also make Joy a higher ranking official, which would make sense, as I see the Sangheilian culture as still holding males higher than females, even in regards to siblings. I was also thinking of switching the RP from having no real starting objective, to having an initial quest, which would be to find the missing Cardinal of Joy (Kind of running out of ideas for titles. Can you tell? *dunnowtfthisemoteisfor* ) who was in charge of communications for the incoming Sangheilian Navy, but has since gone missing and is feared dead.

I apologize if it sounds like I'm constantly changing things, but I'm trying to make this plausible and effective before I set it running. Beh, isn't having low confidence just great?

Oh well. I'm hoping to have my character's profile up by Wednesday. Thanks you guys!

This post has been edited by Priestess Of Sorrow on Aug 25 2008, 08:30 AM

I look forward to it, Priestess.

Likewise. I hope you can find the time soon.