Edit - I won the contest, so this girl is officially property of =Whivit now!

Boop de doop, contest entry for =Whivit! The challenge was to design an original character of any sort. Yay for creative freedom, amirite.

So meet Aster. She is a young, female, striped hyena. Because, um, everyone should have a hyena character. Soo fun. Okays.

Aster was removed from her mother at a very young age by a group of hunters belonging to a native african tribe. They brought her back, and subsequently she spent most of her adolescence growing up tied inside a shack with the tribes medicine man. Fed pieces of meat from the hunts, she never left the hut from which she was tied and communicated to none but the occasional hound that showed any amount of interest.
But very quickly, this cushioned life began to take back from her. In many parts of the world, hyenas are consider sacred and parts of their body are highly valued for medicinal purposes. It started off innocently - a chunk of fur, a fallen-out tooth. But when a bout of sickness washed over the tribesmen, the need became too urgent. They pulled her teeth out; tore off a claw, cut out an ear. She was castrated; and finally her right eye was sliced out.
Whatever feelings of loyalty or trust Aster had were bled out of her. Helpless to the assaulting, she became the unwilling medicine cabinet for the tribe until at last the sickness was too strong - they would need a greater means for sacrifice. When they bound her legs and muzzle again, she knew what was coming and fought violently until at last, exhausted, she lay still as the knife loomed over her and began to cut down to her eye.
Maybe the ropes were not properly tied, maybe it was just the adrenaline - but for whatever reason Aster gave a final lunge at freedom and found the ropes falling away from her. Terrified and utterly bewildered, she reacted as any being would - aggression. Yelping, she lashed out at the man trying to capture her, and felt herself sliced across the chest and shoulders. Miraculously, it did not sever her major vessels, and she managed to escape, bleeding heavily.
Aster's mentality is the result of her strange upbringing. She does not understand how to take care of herself, nor others. She's got enough instinct to feed herself, albeit her feeding consist mostly of insects and carrion, but thats really where it stops. She has no social skills whatsoever, and what remnants she remembers of speech are rarely used. Her mind seems to consist only of the fear reflex, and for whatever reason, she has never shown aggression since the day she made her escape.


LONG HISTORY IS LONG. I hope this is somewhat in the area you were looking for, Whivit. If by chance I do end up winning you are more than free to simplify her, I know she's a bit complex. Sorry this is so messy, and I know my handwriting is pleh. If anyone has any trouble reading it, let me know and I'll, uh, translate.

Art is (c) *Kaylink