Neera

Neera

the basics

full name • Neera

nicknames • N/A

age • Thirty years

primary standing • Somewhat advisor to Kron

secondary standing • Soldier

faction • Cursed Thorns

species • Iguanodon

gender • Female

sexuality • Hetero

the appearance

origin • Dinosaur

height and weight • 8.0 feet high, 31 feet long; 8,400 lbs

overall appearance • A lithe iguanodon female, Neera's form is a lot less bulky than that of her brother. Where Kron is all muscles and weathered skin, Neera is only a little less weathered, but is more limber and (relatively) less heavyset than the sibling whose footsteps she has spent her whole life loyally following. Her features, unlike his, are smooth, more familiar with smiling, and her eyes are yellow and intelligent-looking. Her tanned skin is mottled with distinctive purple striping along her back and up her neck, which becomes more of a pink shade at the crest of her smooth skull.

the personality

overall personality • Intelligent, no-nonsense, and seemingly just as committed to the old 'survival of the fittest' mentality as Kron, Neera nonetheless displays a softer heart than her brother. Perhaps this is because she isn't the one baring the burden of leadership, so she can afford the luxury of compassion; or at least, that would be the way Neera herself tends to think of it. In actual fact, her devotion to these ways springs far less from her belief in them than from her steadfast loyalty to Kron himself; she believes in her brother and trusts his judgement, if not blindly, then certainly with less caution than she would show were she following anyone else.

All the same, even Neera, for all her often-blind loyalty, is capable of having reservations about Kron's style of leadership. While, for Kron, no cost is too high as long as the strongest reach their destination, Neera has an - albeit skewed - sense of what counts as "acceptable losses" and will draw the line when these seem to be mounting up. That said, she doesn't feel comfortable truly opposing Kron, who has watched out for her ever since their parents died.

the history

overall history • The last of her clutch of eggs to hatch, making her the youngest of her siblings, Neera was born in the Nesting Grounds like almost all of her kind. A (mostly) safe haven in a world fraught with danger, the valley was a whole world of green for a baby iguan0don, who quickly learned to romp alongside her older brothers and sisters. First amongst those siblings was Kron; a bossy big brother, but one who knew his own mind... and as much as she occasionally poked fun at this tendency of his, Neera quickly became like a shadow to her older sibling.

It couldn't last, of course. The Nesting Grounds were only a temporary sanctuary; every year, the herd migrated to the valley to lay their eggs and wait for their young to hatch; and every year once every child had been born, they headed back out into the wilderness. And so, soon enough, Neera and Kron's parents were gathering up their children, nudging them out of the sanctuary of the Nesting Grounds to join the long trek south. Though there were still patches of greenery along the route, the herd went long stretches without water, and Neera wasn't able to understand why. What had happened to that world of safety and luxury that she'd been born into?

She didn't fully grasp other things, either. Such as why the number of their siblings kept decreasing. Never fully exposed to the concept of death, the youngster at first struggled to grasp why, as the days dragged wearily by, their group of nine siblings became a group of eight. Then of seven. By the time the water hole came into sight, she understood all too well what was happening; and by then, it was just her, Kron, and their parents left.

Soon to be just her and Kron.

If Neera hadn't witnessed the deaths of any of her siblings, she couldn't miss it when, as the family lingered towards the back of the herd, carnotaurs rose up on them. She might have charged to her own death in a misguided attempt to help them, had Kron not obeyed their parents final command and forcibly shoved her ahead of him back to the centre of the herd. Neera was devastated, the image of those giant teeth rising up towards them imprinted in her mind... she began to follow Kron unswervingly. He was all she had left, but he was her big brother, he would always know what to do; and as he grew to be convinced of his Survival of the Fittest mentality so, too, did Neera. He was Kron, of course he knew best; and though she might not always completely agree with his decisions? Neera voiced little dissent, choosing to accept that since his ways kept them alive, Kron must, ultimately, know best.

When he made his play for leadership of the herd, Neera was at his side. When Kron appointed Bruton as his second in command, Neera followed along with the pair, the unofficial third member of the leadership trio. And when a few members of the herd fell, every migration, as Kron refused help to those who struggled... well, that was the price of survival. If it weighed on Neera, she passed it off in her mind as acceptable losses; what were a few deaths, if they meant the majority survived?

This life might have continued indefinitely, if not for one night that changed the future forever. A fireball fell from the sky; shockwaves and flames ripped through the herd's foraging grounds, forcing the start of the migration early. Nor had the rest of the surrounding lands been spared: the familiar route had been all-but obliterated, replaced with a merciless desert; and what had once been a difficult trek now became a death march. More and more animals joined the herd in the desperate hope that Kron could lead them to some kind of shelter (including that unmissable giant brachiosaur who lagged at the very back of the herd), but Neera could see something that none of them could: that Kron himself was displaying an uncharacteristic uncertainty in his rare unguarded moments.

Something had to change... and it did, though not necessarily for the better. The route they were struggling to follow unexpectedly gave way to lands of a different kind, full of creatures the likes of which Neera had never seen before. And as she and Kron scouted ahead one night, Neera allowed her curiosity to get the better of her. The answers she received, from the most unlikely of creatures, told of a war being fought over paradise lands, ones that may have been even better than their potentially lost-for-good Nesting Grounds. While Neera was less certain, Kron immediately rediscovered his old decisiveness; pledging the herd to the strongest army in return for their share of this world as a new nesting grounds. As always, Neera kept any reservations to herself and followed her brother's lead.

the Role play sample

the role player

alias • Cheetah

age • 28

pronouns • Male

other characters • Mulan, Cody, Shenzi, Amelia, Experiment 624, Sunray, Judy, Dr. Facilier, Tiifu, Angry, Faline, Berlioz, Dogo, Karmi, Vixey