Starfish is the journal of Nisnivani of the Arashanti (whose first name translates to star of the sea–starfish), a human mage from the game World of Warcraft on the Wyrmrest Accord realm. She is not played as a mage in character, however, and is a member of a side culture I created in a quest for a human cultural perspective that wasn’t extremely western-centric and Caucasian. I love cultures and I get passionate about them, I wanted to play a few humans that weren’t so very western and Caucasian in their culture. Thus, the Arashanti were born (and I am very interested in other people that create small pockets of culture for clans and tribes not of the core in game–so long as they make some sense). I figure the world of Azeroth is much bigger than what we get to play in and at this stage in Azerothian history many tribes and clans and such can remain virtually undiscovered and unknown. After all, does your history book concentrate mainly on your country’s history or does it also cover every single bit of history of every people in the world? We are still, in the age of computers, uncovering tribes and cultures unknown to us. Even after such discoveries many of these small tribes and cultures are unknown by the majority of people outside of them.

Arashanti is a work in progress for which I have also created something of a language for. I admit to pulling inspiration from other cultures, but the Arashanti do these similar things for their own reasons. There is a small dot-like six-pointed star tattoo on each vishna, the inspiration came from India, but the reasons for the tattoo are Arashanti.  When I have updated the mass of information I have already created on the Arashanti, I will provide a link to it.  But most times the more fun way to learn is by reading or experiencing the culture in action, a little at a time, than by reading a document dedicated to it.

On a final note, every page of Starfish is written in Arashanti unless otherwise noted.  I left some words untranslated because I felt it added more flavour and because some terms’ real meaning for a culture get lost in translation.

Name

Nisnivani of the Arashanti (Nees-nee-vah-nee & Ah-ruh-shahn-tee)
Nisnivani means “star of water” (starfish)

Nickname
Vani (Vah-nee)

Race

Arashanti (Human)

Class

Vishna (Elemental priest of sorts; OOC Mage)

Professions

Tailoring/Enchanting

Career

Vishna (something of a  shamanic priest for her people) .  Vani also runs an ethnic shop in Stormwind’s Old Town sector (can’t be visited IC though).  It is primarily a tailoring shop.

Hobbies

Singing, reflecting, journaling, cooking, tailoring, writing  songs and poetry, collecting things of the sea, such as dolphin figures, studying marine life, drawing.

Description

Vani is naturally dark with solid black hair that flows just passed her hips.  Her hair is mostly loose, save for one half-inch thick braid that starts behind her left ear and usually drapes over her shoulder in front.  The bottom half of the braid is decorated in alternating stone beads of blue and white.  Her eyes are blue and she has a sapphire-blue tattoo set over her third eye (figuratively speaking); the spot just above and between her eyebrows.  At first glance the tattoo seems to be a small dot, closer inspection reveals it to be a six pointed star.

Vani carries the accent of her people, those with knowledge in such things may be able to place it from the areas of Stranglethorn Vale, particularly the northern hills.  Though the accent is noticeable, it is not overly thick and fairly easy to understand.  For the most part, it simply softens the harsher sounds in common (for example, the sharp a, as in cat, will come out more rounded and subtle; the ch blend is sometimes pronounced more like the sh blend; etc.).  Additionally, Vani also tends to speak very softly and can sometimes be difficult to hear.  Her accent is a bit thicker than Vati’s.  She often smells like the sea.

Personality

Vani is very withdrawn and rather shy.  She is most often rather quiet but not always observant because she is prone to withdrawing into her own mind, imagination, and/or memories.  She is very reserved, sincere, cooperative, and agreeable.  However, she also seems a bit out of touch with “reality” in a removed from the world sort of way.

Family

Vani is the middle child of three sisters, each born into the profession of the vishna (determined to have the gift of the elements at birth).  The youngest sister, Shantala, is now deceased, having been killed in the more recent scourge invasion (her remains have been found and cremated as per custom).  Her mother died giving birth to Shantala when Vani was quite young.  The eldest sister, Sharasvati, is still alive but somewhat distant since the youngest’s death, separating from tradition more.  Their father died in a hunting incident when Vani was only 10.  Her paternal grandmother, Nadira, passed very recently.  She was never close to the rest of her family, and they’ve all passed as well, mostly in the troubled times her tribe were met with in Northern Stranglethorn Vale before they dispersed.  However, there are a few Arashanti living in the apartments of the building Vani now owns.  One of these includes a young Arashanti girl who has begun working in Vani’s store.

Background

Vani was raised as a water priestess since her birth due to her tribe’s ability to sense natural gifts with the elements in most infants.  She is the middle of three sisters and her background primarily rests in the details of her family.  As the middle, she has always felt a little forgotten and she tried to fight this by remaining the most traditional in hopes of approval.  However, she has also always felt apart from them, so her adherence to rules and tradition may be as much a desperate struggle to feel less like an outsider as it is for approval.  When she was not being rigorously trained by the tribe’s elder vishna, she was playing the role of first daughter in the family (the eldest was stubbornly inquisitive and non-traditional in this sense, adhering to her role as a vishna, rather than eldest daughter).  Shortly after her father died, her paternal grandmother moved the family to the safety of Stormwind.  Around this time most of the tribe was also dispersing to safer human settlements, finally giving up their settlements in the vale to the wilds and dangers crushing in on them.  Vani has returned to the lands to see for herself the lack of evidence that her tribe even existed there for millenia, their way of life does not leave as lasting a mark on the environment as the primary human culture.  Without a male, it was up to Vani to care for her grandmother and sisters, so she opened up a tailoring business in Stormwind.

Nadira (her grandmother) also saw Vani’s traditionalism (and her sister’s lack of it) at one point and intended to remedy it by arranging a betrothal between Vani and an elder vishna’s nephew (who was not a vishna, but had the status to seek one as partner).  However, the young man was impatient and spoiled.  He died before they could be married and was buried in istkashar (shame), the mark of shame tattooed on his forhead.  It was the first burial that Vani had ever witnessed and the thought of it has stayed with her.  The Arashanti burn the unshamed to free the spirit; they believe burial traps the spirit in the earth, keeping it from moving on until the earth brings their remains to the surface once more–only then are they permitted to rejoin priva mansa and be reborn.  Shantala (the youngest sister) died in the most recent waves of scourge invading Stormwind and Nadira followed soon after.  This left Vani living alone in Stormwind, running her tailoring shop, while her only remaining relative, Sharasvati, travels the worlds for stories and records.

Vani did not remain alone with her shop for long.  Recent events have connected her to a generous benefactor who invested in the Arashanti ethnic shop, enabling Vani to purchase the whole building, including the small apartments above and behind it.  Since then the benefactor has kept one apartment and some surviving Arashanti have begun to fill the others.  A young Arashanti girl has begun helping Vani staff the shop, freeing Vani up to work on custom orders, meditate, or work at her duties and rituals as a vishna.