Eupraxia the Heron, Daughter of Pherenika

[Quarterdragon]

Eupraxia the Heron

Eupraxia's long, strange journey to the center has finally come to an end.  I was relieved to find that this time around I got plenty of screenshots that don't spoil rings.  The Heron was intended to be a bounceback concept after the Tears of Blood died.  She had essentially the opposite view of ringrunning that I portrayed on Quarterdragon: this was no grand journey to the center to fulfill a ridiculous wish.  She thought she would find something terrible at the center, and she intended to kill it.  To that end, a staggering variety of PCs joined her quest.  In her first phase, her anti-monarchy sentiments drew the attention of a collection of druids, and the original Breakers were formed, though they lacked that name.  Sadly, all the changelings ended up dying in unrelated incidents within a couple days (one within 2 hours) of passing the Ring 95 challenge.  The second phase, which was the longest and most varied experience, began when the Companions of the Twisted Spire joined forces with the Breakers, creating a new group of nine members, taking up the name of the Breakers.  The new Breakers were together from the Wizard Warrens where the alliance was sealed all the way to Baz'eel, though only four remained by the time that distance was crossed.  Some exciting things happened along the way, which are depicted in screenshots below.

Considering Eupraxia's nautical background, it seems fair to call what followed her personal doldrums, though in this time she was not entirely adrift, as it was after the rush to Baz'eel that she joined Eliphas on his outring schemes, some of which are still in play, so I won't spoil.  The most public, of course, was Luke Danebluff's expedition to kill Ib'javi, in which Eliphas played a critical role.  Eupraxia hated the plan from the beginning, and tried to convince Eliphas to stay behind, but when he wouldn't, she joined him in Hell, where she experienced her worst failure in the City of Rings by failing to protect him.  Self-loathing set in, and it did not lift until Saibhon Dumein, an old friend from before she became a ringrunner, returned to Ring 99 and gave her the perfect target towards which to funnel all her bitterness.

And then the rings beyond Baz'eel opened; some of them earlier than I think most people were aware, but most only very recently.  The remnants of three groups to have reached Baz'eel joined forces, and created a group I would never have expected to be as fun as it was, but there is something to be said for traveling with somebody you loathe, and I was twice-blessed in this regard.  I wish I had more non-spoiler screenshots of Dorian Raventree, but he did a great job balancing out Eupraxia's relentless vitriol towards Aethelwine Sothilde.  This group only existed for about 10 days, I think, forming somewhat before the announcement from the Vizier, but it was an amazing experience to tackle the truthfully absurd deepest of rings with this motley crew.  Without saying what we found at the center, I can say I absolutely recommend striving for the deep rings both for the wildness of the content and the incredible lore the DMs have built.

Who she was:
Before Awakening, Eupraxia was a sailor on her mother Pherenika's ship: Eleutheria.  An ironic name for a vessel that often traded in slaves, selling justice by way of indenture contract for captured pirates to the merchants of those ports along the Sea of Fallen Stars which allowed such.  She never knew the shores of her mother's homeland, the isle of Ixinos, but she greatly respected the cultural symbolism of birds that the citizens of that place would take (completely made up, sorry if that offends any canon lore enthusiasts).  Her symbol was that of the Heron, which represented learning and improvement in her mother's homeland, and was chosen because Eupraxia always felt she had to struggle to stand out from the shadow of her naturally talented older sister, Pelagia (whose symbol was the Eagle).  She always felt pressure to live up to the better legacy of her family, her mother having been one of very few to try to claim the symbol of the Roc, only just failing in the rites of the people.  Her time in the City of Rings convinced Eupraxia that her sister must have awakened before her and made her own run to the center, one of the few beliefs she held with no rational basis.

Now, on to the screenshots.  I've divided these up by broad topic to make them easier to manage.

[hide=Eupraxia's Personality and Outlook]
I don't think it was any secret that Eupraxia hated the City of Rings, and would have much preferred to remain in the old life she recalled.  Her bitterness with regards to her situation was one of the character traits that I found easiest to portray.  It wasn't all there was to her, though, and it was a joy to discover what memories she still cherished, and what new friendships mattered to her.









[hide=Minor Area Spoiler Visible]

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[hide=Aethelwine Silver]
I had a few rivals during this run, but ultimately it was the last active member of Amastacia's Wake who got the best and worst of Eupraxia's animosity.


























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[hide=William Thorne]
William Thorne was not the first surrogate father to join Eupraxia's quest for the center, but he was the one who ended up being with her until that quest's conclusion.  She wasn't the best friend she could have been to him, often belittling his beliefs, while he in turn would kindly whisper to others along the road that she had an affliction of the mind that caused her to be unnecessarily abrasive.







[hide=Minor Ring Spoiler]

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[hide=Eliphas]

Eliphas was a mad old wizard, and madness wasn't something Eupraxia much cared for, but his exceptional ability convinced her to put up with all of it, and in the process she learned some things as well.  Losing him in the raid on Ib'javi's Citadel was her greatest failure.




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[hide=Dumein]
Dumein was actually the first friend Eupraxia had in the City of Rings, and while they drifted apart, she was always glad to see him, despite her claims.  In the beginning, I was trying for a Mulder/Scully dynamic between the two of them, but I think it ended up being a slightly less respectful riff on the relationship between Seth Bullock and Reverend H W Smith from Deadwood.








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[hide=The Duke of Deals]





[hide=The Biggest Deal, Minor Location Spoilers for a Deep Ring]
Eupraxia did not like being betrayed like this


Danebluff didn't seem to mind much


Perhaps there is some joy to be found in this after all


The cruelest salting of wounds



She figured Dumein would like this story because he loved suffering.

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[hide=The Breakers]








Angvald actually joined the Breakers during our original run, he was just a little slow and didn't make it into Baz'eel until 5 months after the rest of us.





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[hide=Miscellaneous]






























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[Hide=Obligatory Cold Steel Meme]

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I have some other pretty cool screenshots, but none of them have been approved for release.  I will see if eventually they become okay to post.

[Poolson]

Well I'll be damned.

I never thought I'd see this thread.

Good hustle, champ. Eupraxia's "no-nonsense" was endearing.

[LoveLess]

Eupraxia was such a realistic character you could honestly see being developed when tossed into the City of Rings.

When my daily schedule was screwed up and occupational pressure started building up during the start of the pandemic, it was great to come home and continue our adventure! It was a blast being able to share even half of her journey.

Great job and good luck on the next!

[Kiaring]

I met her maybe three times. I was smitten from the first. Such an amazing character! <3

[Random_White_Guy]

I know along the way you often said you felt it should have been Quarterdragon making the distance and not Eupraxia, but having played with Eurpaxia over around five PCs in the last year, even before the Striders, you managed a herculean feat in maintaining attachment to a character through thick and thin times.

Her sailor's brashness was a joy to play against Fynn's piracy
Her aloofness was fun to dance around on Beauxregard
And even her earnest attempt to help my Beggar Elf Monk was sublime.

All the times you or WIlliam would pop into the crossroads I loved paying a visit on whoever I was playing to just shoot the shit with the mysterious, enigmatic, Deep Ring Breaker.

Hope you can find as much joy on your next as you did with Velastra, but Heron was supremely enjoyable in her own right.

And our on-again off again rivalry on Fynn and Heron brought a very enjoyable bit of contention and tension in Ring 64. There were legitimate times along the ways I was certain we'd come to blows, or worse, and that's a supreme amount of spice from the PC end to enjoy.

[VanillaPudding]

Very nice, as always :)

[LiAlH4]

I loved all of our interactions. Well done and congratulations!

[Dhund]

She was one of Griffin Banick's friends. He was always hoping to be able to catch up to her and the Breakers, but never managed to get a key beyond 95 before the Torc War ended. Still, for the times they had in the 99th and areas connected, like the seams, he enjoyed it

[in hoc signo vinces]

Your reputation was so terrifying that we joked about marrying Evander to you to make you Nephezar's champion.



Kudos to an excellent character. :D

[Sublime]

The definition of cool.

[Wyrmlance]

Back when I started on EFU last February, Eupraxia was the first character to pay any real notice to mine. I was overjoyed when Archibald was invited to the crew because I felt like I had struggled to get involved in RP, and throughout the few weeks that followed until the death of my character, I had a ton of fun - she was a big reason I stuck with EFU. A great character; it was a joy to follow her progress over the span of her arc. Well done!

[MonsterMoose]

[A slow, meandering clap]

[Canadianloki]

Prax was well in short prax was a never ending source of awe. A shame I never really got know her well since I retired Arn before the gates opened up but the small bits of rp during 64, making it to Baz'eel and after the ib'javi siege. She was a wonderful character whom I saw as nigh unstopable. Congrats on making it to the center.

[Grix]

Barooo! Ring 1 duuuude! Eupraxia was an absolute legend of a character. She was one of the most human pc's I've ever interacted with who was just... real. On her own level she just felt like a genuine person and not some done up character. She was absolutely -awesome!- Thank you so much for putting up with the Anomaly that was Angvald! And top notch work on the Heron!

[Aethereal]

The remnants of three groups to have reached Baz'eel joined forces, and created a group I would never have expected to be as fun as it was, but there is something to be said for traveling with somebody you loathe, and I was twice-blessed in this regard.  I wish I had more non-spoiler screenshots of Dorian Raventree, but he did a great job balancing out Eupraxia's relentless vitriol towards Aethelwine Sothilde.

I think you handled the 'loathing' extremely well, because it never felt like it was overbearing (even though it was constant and unending, literally, up to the very end Eupraxia had a minor barb or two to push into poor Aethelwine). Indeed it was done in such a way that I could always enjoy it OOC and never found it truly irk me as a player and for that you deserve some kind of commendation because it seems like a talent of its own. Annette Winespill also did this style of antagonism well too and in that respect, I was twice blessed for such an experience; it's really just goodhearted negging and teasing even though IC it might also be taken as mean-spirited and offensive. I think it also helped that there were these moments of mutual and or begrudging respect between the characters and that they did also share a lot of history. It made for an excellent story, a fun journey, and a well earned conclusion.

There's also so many great screenshots here plus more to come?! I can say I was thoroughly amused by the 'Aethelwine Silver' section of them.

Finally, thank you (and all our fellows players and DMs involved) for making our break to the centre of the City of Rings such a memorable, intense, and enjoyable experience.