Avall

Hello, my name is Avall, and I am a Haifisch born into the Siren class. My guide growing up was a Shaman who traveled between land and water, keeping relations between the Harvester and the Listener cities civil and promoting harmony between the two communities. This guide taught me that my voice was my greatest weapon and to be strong in the face of fear. She also told me tales of what younger me believed to be imaginative stories meant to put me to sleep, but also ones I later learned to be legends of what forces really exist at the center of our glorious planet. My place is with neither the Listeners nor the Harvesters; I am what some refer to as a ‘wanderer’. When I am present on land, my long magenta locks shimmer against my olive skin as my exoskeleton quickly coats my entire body, revealing my more human-like form.

Growing up with a role model such as my guide, loyalty was instilled in me for my planet and the mysteries that lie deeper within it. My guide went missing when I was only a child. Her position as a Shaman got her involved with some dangerous research missions regarding the divine Song of the Gods. Not everyone on this planet agrees with the harmonious way of life our society promotes, and some would wish to discover the treasures hidden within the melodies our mother planet sings to us to keep as their own. Among these individuals are our greatest, current threat, humans. Those immoral creatures with their sad, fragile lives ruined the habitants of their homes, so they wish to come for ours. Us Haifisch created life on Ithun (Proxima-B) that is non-sustainable in the hands of human communities. We have a love for our God, Ithun (Proxima-B), that humans could never understand or begin to try to imagine.

There is an age-old debate between those who find us Haifisch hypocritical for claiming this planet as our own despite non-nativity and those who believe we have bonded to the spirit of Ithun and that it is our duty to serve it. In honor of my guide, I have chosen to live a life searching for answers to the questions that loom over what lies beneath the depths of our mother planet. I have become somewhat of a lone-fisch in my travels between land and sea as I search for answers. Not only am I looking for a clue, a hint, something–ANYTHING that could lead to some kind of explanation for the ambiguity of my guide’s disappearance, but I have also been searching for insight into the discussions among our dignitaries and ambassadors regarding the human invasion. Governmental relations have been especially rocky between the Harvesters and the Listeners ever since word spread that our representatives were entertaining a proposal that involved negotiating with those on earth.

An oppositional group emerged comprised of an underground network of Haifisch and Havroids who disapprove of any relations with the human species. We call ourselves, The Resistance. Our goal is to preserve the wonder and glory found within our planet and the forces that enrich it. We see humans as groups of ungrateful creatures who chewed off the hand that fed them. The destruction of their planet goes against all morals and ethics we stand for here on Ithin. Their disregard for any life forces other than their own would poison the structure and pillars of our societies. Within this community, members pose as inconspicuous members of everyday society while simultaneously collecting any intel that could help our cause. A major motivator behind my passion is a deep love and respect for my deity, which I consider to be made up of the very essence of our beautiful planet. My purpose is to protect and serve this planet out of respect and gratitude for what it has done, and continues to do, for our kind.

Overall, the process of creating this new identity was fairly challenging. I enjoy getting to use my imagination to create the backstory for an entirely different creature I am not the most familiar with yet. The easier parts included curating what kind of personality and ethics I wanted my character to embody, but the more difficult part was creating motives behind these. Another difficult aspect of this character-creation process was the premise of doing so in unknown elements. The conditions of our character’s inhabitants are completely foreign, so it was interesting to create a character for a world made up of unfamiliar territories and societal structures. Upon giving it some thought, I brainstormed a few suggestions regarding the kind of gear the Haifisch could use in combat and daily defenses. One idea I had was a sort of protective second eyelid that many aquatic creatures possess for protection purposes. Since they are shark-like in a sense, this could help the Haifisch minimize the possibility of vulnerabilities in their vision during a fight. Another suggestion I had was to formulate a unique bond that takes place between a Haifisch and a Havroid. This bond could lead Havroids to form a connection and a sense of protectiveness over their Haifisch. This could offer Haifish a loyal companion who is willing to make sacrifices.