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Name: Master Ziz • Master Zizang • Zizang
Pen number: Four
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Will you make any use of the Cryst?: Short answer: absolutely!
When I was graciously gifted a custom token as an introduction to this species, I promised myself that that Cryst would be the only one. I would not go crazy and adopt many, I would focus on a single Cryst until I was absolutely sure that I could handle another one.
And then I saw Zizang. I told myself, I told friends, I muttered it under my breath: I was not getting another Cryst! I was not allowed to fall in love, I was not allowed to think of a name, a personality, a history... and then before I knew it I already had! His incredible edits and colors drew me in; the personality he seemed to whip into existence in my head took hold faster than I could think, and I would be over the moon to really own him. To rp him! To watch him create his story and be able to type it out, to draw him - for real! to show and paint the scenes we describe together. To make friends with him, to explore his past with others, to become part of a community again. I've been out of practice for a while, but Zizang has drawn me in and I know that I will love and adore him, develop and care for him, draw and commission him!
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Personality: Zizang isn't quite sure he knows himself!
Calm • Contemplative • Genial • Reverent
Calm 1. (of the weather) pleasantly free from wind.
Zizang is, as the stillness of a windless night, calm. He never rises to anger, and feels no ill will to those who do - only that they may improve upon their minds and find a peace that allows them to remove themselves from anger. His presence exudes the idea, his massive form very still and at peace. He is not incapable of losing this calm demeanor, but when he does, watch out! It can explosive and dangerous, righteous and full of fury. It is difficult to push him to this explosion, but once it is started, it cannot be stopped until he has corrected the instigation of his anger. He is usually roused to anger by things that are unjust and unrighteous; anything that he comes across that is unfair in this way causes him great unhappiness until it is corrected. Beyond these instances, he is almost never roused: preferring to retain his attitude and demeanor, and therefore more easily access his memory and those things he cannot recall well.
Contemplative 1. expressing or involving prolonged thought.
Zizang spends much of his days in deep thought, whether still and watching the world around him change and go by, or in fluid motion as he travels or works. His favorite activity for this kind of thought is the formation of vessels and pottery; it is often that he finds himself with clay between his paws, turning and turning and shaping the vessel as he turns and shapes his thoughts. Often these vessels come to nothing, lacking the skill of human digits, but the shapes that he makes are beautiful in some way and end up, many times, holding flowers for some few days before the rain comes and washes them apart. These simple workingns with earth allow him to remain in a state of contemplation for longer than when he is not doing something. However, many of his days and nights - all, actually, he has not missed a day and has no plans to - are begun and ended with offerings to his ancestors, and long minutes of thought. He does wish he could remember the ancestors he is offering to, and much of this time is spent on that, but they seem to favor him and his offerings nonetheless.
Genial 1. friendly and cheerful.
Zizang's attitude towards all those he meets is one of friendship; he wishes to know and come to enjoy the company of any whom he comes across. He has no reason to be upset, sad, or solemn, and so remains happy and cheerful at all times. Most things in the world cannot bring him down: a rainstorm is seen as an opportunity to gather clay or clean his fur, an unknown and rocky path as one to focus and concentrate his efforts at traveling well. Death and disease can take a hit at this attitude, but once he has done all he can his nature causes him to turn to cheering and helping those around the afflicted. Even outright unfriendly faces are treated with respect and happiness, and he does whatever he can to help their day along - even if that's turning about face and leaving them alone.
Even when accosted by those who wish him harm, he is happy and chatty as he shows them they cannot take what is his. He will move and change his position so that he cannot be hit, slipping around teeth and claws and slamming his softened paws into their necks, back, and the weak places in their legs: leaving them crumpled on the ground as he seems to dance out of reach on his toes. More often than not, he ends up eliciting an apology from those who have accosted him; when they are untenable to his attitude, he is unafraid to use his teeth to stop them from harming anyone else.
Reverent 1. feeling or showing deep and solemn respect.
And finally, Zizang is incredibly respectful to everything he sees. From other Crystinalians to other creatures, from old shrines to new places of rest, from the smallest flower patch to the largest tree towering above him. Those who must die to feed or protect him are treated with utmost reverence, his rites performed over their bodies and nothing but what is needed taken from them. In the case of prey, all that they have to give him is used, from fur to meat to bone, and in the case of enemies and robbers, only the occasional token, that he may leave above their unmarked graves so that those who may come looking for them may find their bodies at peace. He has the uncanny ability to move through an environment without harming the things within it, without trampling grass or disturbing flowers, missing small insects and animals with great care. His respect is not quite solemn, as his genial nature interferes with that display of respect: much of his careful movements are delivered with a smile instead of a cheerless expression. His reverence is however inherent, and he is incapable of letting it go for even an instant.
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History: Zizang has a bit of a problem. He seems to be missing something!
The great cat woke one day and continued on his way out of a mountain, unsure of where - or who, or what - he was, only knowing that he would really like to get off of the towering, freezing hunk of rock. Certain things came easily, albeit with some degree of confusion, to him: such as the daily morning rites honoring ... Something. He wasn't sure what, to be quite honest, but he was sure that he needed to perform them and do so well, and so he had for the past three days as he came down the mountain.
He saw his first other living soul upon reaching the base of the mountain; a creature that looked somewhat similar to him, with the big paws and fat fluffy tail and shiny sharp back and all, but was missing a few of his more distinct traits - such as his whiskers.
"Master Ziz! How wonderful it is to know you have returned from the mountains unharmed. Did you find the Way?" The creature said, smiling brightly and standing to all four paws as he approached.
"I surely have," he replied, thinking the creature meant the way down the mountain. And what was this word that they had called him? Was that his name? He wasn't quite sure, honestly.
As he wasn't quite completely off the mountain, he bid the other farewell, nodding his head, and continued on the way down the mountain. He was soon called: "Master Zizang! Master Zizang!" by one quite smaller than the other, although similar in appearance, and gifted a small bundle of food, as well as a small meditative token. "You must have lost yours in the mountain, Master Zizang, and father couldn't possibly allow you to go without a gift." The smallish creature smiled, somewhat less widely than its father, and bounded off, back the way it had come. Zizang, as he was apparently known, considered the gift for a moment, before picking it up between his teeth and deciding to pause to investigate it when he reached a pond a ways off, far enough he did not think that the creatures would bother him or ask him any more questions while he considered what to do now.
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Zizang had now spent many days outside of the mountain from which he had come, and learned many things. He had been treated with a great deal of respect by those he had come across - all of those the same type of being as he, apparently known as Crystinalians. He had kept the meditative token close, a small rock shaped by many days of use. Most others here had similar tokens, that they held or bit or rubbed paws on as they thought or dedicated rites. There were not actually that many Crystinalians in this valley, protected as it was, and every single one of them apparently knew him. As he resided on a rock overseeing a small pond below, teeming with life, and several large koi fishes, he pondered.
He had been respected, and gone into the mountain to meditate or find the Way - capital W, not lowercase, something other than the way out of the mountain - and it appeared to him that he had lost his memory while up there. As he had traveled, slowly, around the little valley, he had remembered some of his previous life, but really only those things far back: the smell of his mother, bright lights and moving leaves above him, romping with a couple other, similar Crystainalians, setting out on a journey of some kind. He remembered rites as long as he was calm and collected, the motions coming to his muscle memory easily, with great, slow, reverence, as he placed things upon an altar, dedicated objects such as food and drink, or even blessed children.
He assumed that while in the mountain, he had hurt himself on accident, as he could remember nothing beyond this - at first, not even his own name - and his body ached and hurt for many days after he returned. He blamed the cold for his minor limp and aches, and was treated with kindness and aid when he admitted his pain, with hot compresses placed against his limbs and back to aid in the release of bad tempers. It helped a good deal, and by this time he rarely felt pain from it, beyond the occasional headache. He had been invited to train and practice his fighting skills the whole while, and it had only been last night that he had finally accepted a challenge, finding himself roundly beat. For some reason, however, this was perfectly fine: his honor was not smirched by a loss, and the challenger had been incredibly happy for the lessons he had learned from Ziz.
He sighed a large breath out, one he had not been completely aware of holding in, disturbing several small flowers that had fallen from the branches above his head into the pond below. As he watched their progress across the pond, he considered them. They, much like he, had been torn asunder from that which they knew - their branch - and placed into a brand new environment, but one that was not hostile and terrifying as may have been expected: instead this new environment was welcoming, and calm - the pond. His whiskers and fur shifted in the air; as if his breath had brought wind to move the flowers along. He thought about that, for a moment. It seemed auspicious, as a flower found its way to a tiny stream across the pond from him, watched by a large golden koi, and slipped down a river out of his view. Perhaps it was time for him, too, to slip away from this peaceful valley and find new friends, who did not know a version of himself that no longer existed.
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Zizang, once our great master,
Had gone up to the summit of
Heaven
And found himself in contemplation:
Finding the Way in whispers of wind,
In stillness of body and mind,
in Purity.
It was on an auspicious day:
The Master found himself pushed,
Great winds spoke to him,
Told him to seek the Way.
Our Great Master
Has gone on his way, out of
Our valley, bounding across
The world, seeking the four corners
and furthest extent of the world,
Seeking himself.
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Other: Zizang Trivia!
It is probable that Zizang fell while in the mountains, and thereby gained his injuries and memory loss. He is incapable of accessing memories from just after his early childhood all the way until the day he walked down out of the mountain. As such, he has a dislike of high, craggy places.
He is a master/follower of The Way, which is something he doesn't fully understand anymore, but it is apparent to him that he once knew very much about it - enough to be respected by many of the Crystinalians within the little valley he came from. He left one day, and he is not sure if he can find his way back, but he may do so if he ever regains his memory.
The home that he had did not really have many Crystinalians within it, being only a small valley nestled within a crag somewhere, and everyone knew everyone - making the memory-less Ziz feel very awkward. This, above all things, pushed him to leave, with his sense of respect and dignity, he could not omit the truth from these Crysts anymore. The Crysts that he left behind felt that their Master Zizang was merely continuing to follow the Way, and bid him great farewells upon discovering his absence later that day.
He prefers his nickname, Ziz, rather than any of this more official titles or his full name. Although it is something that he knows was his name before, it still feels somewhat awkward to call himself Zizang, as he cannot remember being called that all his life - just his childhood nickname, Ziz.
It is said (the truth of this statement remains questionable) that the tracks he leaves as he walk have spirals in them, an indication that he has found the Way and it is within him.
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