Goodseed

Name: Chicklet
Age: Adult
Contact: chickletlarp
Characters Already in Teleios: NAdeshiko/Nagihiko Fujisaki, Kaylin Neya, Skuld
Reserve:He has some reservations about rolling out of the nest.

Character Name: Goodseed
Journal: SowGoodSeed
Age: Adult
Universe: Dinotopia - so a hidden lost island on an Earth
Canon Point: Canon OC
Debt: 7 months

Class A: 0
Class B: 1 count - theft. He apologized after, and made amends, but he still feels guilt and regret.
Class C: 1

Violating the spirit of the Code of Dinotopia

GRAND TOTAL: 7 months

Setting: Dinotopia is an island well away from the mainlands, lost somewhere in the middle of an ocean, shielded against time. On Dinotopia, the dinosaurs didn't die out, this one small pocket of them survived. A culture evolved on the island that helped everyone have a place, so that everyone could live in peace. Their numbers were few, they did not wish to make them fewer.

As there were few mammals, and Saurians sought peace, the carnivores split into two groups. Those who could and would accept a diet of fish instead of meat, supplemented with fruits and grains (For those who could eat them) became part of the larger Dinotopian culture. Those who could not, or would not, moved into an area reserved fro them called the Rainy Basin. They feed on each other, and on donations and offerings made by the rest of the Island. Fish is brought in some times, and left in designated locations, and Dinotopians who are dying of age or injury will often trek to the Basin, to offer themselves as food, so that nothing is wasted, and so that the peace is kept.

Eventually humans started to find this island. Never many at once. The great reef around the island protects it, and destroys any ships that come too close, great storms blow ships and aircraft (later) alike off course, and the only people who make it to the island are those that the dolphins can save. The people helped through the gaps and holes in the reef by dolphins are called Dolphin backs, and all humans on the Island count their heritage in generations. (I am 8 generations Irish would mean that the oldest ancestor the person could trace came from Ireland.)

The official language of Dinotopia is called Saurian, as most of the dinosaurs can understand human speech, but not replicate it, but the humans can be taught Saurian. They write with the "foot print alphabet"


All Dinotopians and Dolphin backs are expected to learn and follow the code of Dinotopia, which is summed up as "Sow Good Seed."

Survival of all or none.
One raindrop raises the sea.
Weapons are enemies even to their owners.

Give more, take less.
Others first, self last.
Observe, listen, learn.
Do one thing at a time.

Sing every day
exercise imagination
Eat to live, don't live to eat.
D -

The tablet with the codes is broken, the last code lost to history, and thus a topic of much speculation among the Island's many inhabitants. Most have their own personal belief as to what the last code is.

Dinotopians are known for their love of peace and their love of fun, and very much for their love of bright colors. They are warm and welcoming of Dolphin backs and do their best to get along with whomever they encounter. They have their own culture with their own idioms. Some examples:

1. To have strong scales. = To be tough, to have think skin.
2. To roll out of the nest. = To leave the island.
3. To crack through the shell. = To pass into adolescence.
4. A rolled-up scroll. = Someone whose behavior is puzzling or unpredictable
5. Something is boiling in the pot. = Something is brewing.
6. To look at someone from horn to tail. = To look someone up and down.
7. To be in the horsetails. = To be lost or overwhelmed.
8. To be in someones scroll. = To be good with someone.
9. Sing and it will go away. = Take your mind off your troubles.
10. Jolly-head. = Amusing fellow.
11. Head-scratcher. = Worry, problem, or difficulty.
12. Breathe Deep, Seek Peace. = Farewell, peace be with you, take it easy, Hello, Hi, etc.
(List copied and pasted from HERE
There are also others like "breathe deep, fly high" as a greeting/farewell to those who work and live in Canyon City.

History:
Goodseed's father and uncle were a pair of Jolly-heads. Or so they saw themselves. They thought naming their hatchlings BreatheDeep and GoodSeed was a jolly fun idea. Goodseed's father especially has fun on the farm, calling out instructions to his son during the planting: "SOW! Sow, Goodseed!"

However Goodseed, and his cousin Breathedeep who is a Spinosaurus that works the Dolphin watch take their names seriously. They work hard to be worthy of such names, used by Dinotopians far and wide.

This isn't to say that they didn't get into messes as hatchlings. Once they found something washed up on the beach that they thought were weapons from outside the nest. Thinking they were weapons, they secretly tried to figure out how they worked, to play with them. They both got clonked hard on the noggin, and cried so loudly that their parents came rushing out.

They swore they never wanted to touch weapons again. Weapons are enemies, even to their owners. Sage advice indeed. So how dismayed were they to be given as punishment a single task - carry that which they had found to Waterfall city for safe keeping and storage. The very things they feared to touch. Sacks with fish and greens and water skins were packed for them, they wore their best vests and hats, and they set off upriver to the majestic Waterfall city. Quite the adventure indeed, though they never forgot what rode along in those sacks with their lunches. They tried to sing away their awareness of it, but with every mile behind them, the were more and more certain they never wished to touch weapons again.

Then they saw Waterfall city itself. -

And even what they carried fell to the back of their minds. It was the first time either hatchling had ever seen it, and they were awed. They paused to watch a pair of Skybax fly overhead, and a great Galley off to the East, passing bravely over the Basin. They saw waterfalls and buildings and colors like they had never imagined!

They found the great library and brought their findings and their tale to the pair currently heading the archives, an older Saurian and a young Dolphin back. They told what had happened and of their punishment, then hesitantly, carefully, pulled out the weapons.

They... had not expected the human girl to start laughing. She explained, finally, that while they could be used as weapons, outside of the nest, those were called "baseball bats", and they were used for a game. She found a ball and gathered a crowd - crowds were always easy to gather in Waterfall city, really, and taught a mixed group of humans and Saurians how to play Baseball. though... some adjustments for size and anatomy had to be made. At the end most everyone was laughing and having a great time. A few others had played before, and helped teach, or coached from the sides.

But Breathedeep and Goodseed stood back and watched, feeling very conflicted. The wise Saurian who worked with the young girl pulled them aside and explained that while most tools and toys could be used as weapons, most weapons could be used as tools. That what made something a weapon was how it was used, and how the person holding it saw it, and how he or she made others see it. They thought of the bats as weapons, and so they were. But the hook lines the Watch used to fish sometimes could be a weapon, just as a knife could be a tool. To honor the code, they had to decide not to never touch anything that could be used to do harm, but to find ways to use it to help and do good. Such as by playing a game, or catching fish, or cutting fruit.

A great feast was held - because it is Waterfall City, and they need only the paltriest of excuses to celebrate - and when the cousins left in the morning, they left well fed, and feeling more content in their own scales.

It was some two or three years later, that Goodseed stole something. He had not intended to. Harvest was nearly over for the year, and he was tired and hungry and thirsty. He had been working for days, as the harvest and the sowing were always the hardest times for his farm. Having done all he could manage for the night, he slid out of the harness he was using, and took a walk to unkink his muscles.

There, on a rock, he spied a melon. It was unlike anything his family grew in Greenglen, and it looked so tasty that the young Goodseed could not quite help himself, and he started eating.

He realized that he had taken from someone else when he heard a shout. Sheepishly, he backed off. The irritator who had been bringing the melons to share was annoyed at first, but relented and told Goodseed to go ahead and finish that one, since he started it. While the other Saurian was there as their guest to trade, Goodseed did all he could after harvests, to make sure he was taken care of, in apology. It was all forgiven, without much fuss, but to this day, even so long since Goodseed has cracked through the shell, he still feels badly about that melon.

Goodseed and Breathedeep had a grand celebration when they cracked through the shell and took on duties in Greenglen and Paleopolis respectively. In the time between planting and harvesting, Goodseed always manages to take at least one trip down to visit his cousin, and one trip up to Waterfall City.

Breathedeep manages to visit at least once a year, at the farm, though as Goodseed often notes - he pretty much always manages to arrive just at the end of harvest.

I will be taking Goodseed during his trip back from visiting Breathedeep. He knew it was going to rain, so his clothing, along with the fish he was given, are all in a bag he is pulling along with a vine on his tail. No weapons in there whatsoever.

Personality:

Goodseed works hard to live up to his name; in the general sense, the Dinotopian sense, and the literal sense. He wants to be a good seed. He wants to be something, someone, that will feed countless others, the start of growth, the start of something wonderful. He wants to help and take care of people where he can. He is sweet and kind, and sometimes a bit timid, perhaps, but he always means well.

He has learned to be thoughtful, and spending most of his time on farm work, or traveling on his own has lead to him being in the habit of thinking before acting or speaking, and being slow to change. When something confuses him, he tries to think about it calmly and rationally.

He is used to a quiet and somewhat sedate life. People pass through his village on their way to the shore, or to Waterfall City every so often, and he is kind and personable with them. He's even seen a few Dolphin backs who had finally gotten used to Breathedeep and Serendipity that decided that he was terrifying. He would put on his best vest, a small smile, and let them see hm work the fields. Even if there was nothing that needed doing at the moment, he'd find something. He'd use the claw tools to pull weeds, or he'd plow a fallow field. Seeing him doing basic work seemed to calm even the most timid Dolphin backs, and when he can make them laugh, so much the better. Then his father coming out and acting like a Jolly-head usually finishes the issue, leading to a much calmer trip the rest of the way north.

Powers/Abilities: He is big, he is strong. He understands most human languages that he has encountered (three flavors of English, a little French, a little Chinese, and some Latin) Though he speaks only Saurian. He is literate, and well versed on farming skills. No magic. No tech abilities. He's just a large, kind-hearted dinosaur farmer.

(May I request that he is assigned a farm job, perhaps?)

Appearance:





Samples:

Actionspam Sample:

http://royalflowers.dreamwidth.org/14798.html?thread=69326#cmt69326 - Rp with Mal, voice testing thread

Prose Sample:

[Goodseed poked the bracelet on his wrist. It was pretty enough, but he would have preferred more color. What true Dinotopian wouldn't? Ah well, so many interesting clothes here, he could find something, he was sure!]

[But they said that this was for communicating, so he wanted to try it. So he reached out to the first mind he could think of here.]

"Breathe deep, seek peace, friend," [he sent.] "I was just thinking about trying to find some new clothes. Have you any ideas?"