Aina Hurrungane Concept sketch, (c) IB

Aina Runa Hurrungane

Development: Extremely high development

Created: Late 2005

Site: Shattered Realms

Profile

Concept photo

Outside link:

Additional Aina sketches

See similar concept sketches at Exploit's page.

Status: Active

Type: Playable

Character tree [?]

Direct branches: Shanna

Indirect branches: Kee, Exploit

Secondary branch: Through Shanna- Outbound, Jeyel, Gouge, Nakymaton

Character summary

Aina began as a character somewhat before she was modified for an X-men-type universe called Grant City at Shards. At first she was primarily a character design based loosely on myself, but it wasn't long before histories were being given to her. The first was the history of Aina Hurrungane, and later she went on to become creatures with parallel or very similar stories in different universes, such as Exploit and Elle Vee (who I have basically scratched from the record :P). In reality I suppose you could say the entire things tarted with Kee back in the 1990s and later influenced Shanna, but Aina was far enough along a different line that I consider these to be only minor influences.

* History

Aina was born in the Sogn og Fjordane region of Norway, far inland on the Sognefjord along in a small, then-sleepier town named Sogndal.

Her father was a salesman, typically of any necessary household objects and home-woven clothing but also of oddities found in the mountains such as artifacts and folk-art. In the days when she was a child, transportation throughout Norway was still very much a difficulty, and the 'roads' that existed for travel were walking-trails through the mountains. In order to reach Bergen most quickly, their preferred city in which to sell, members of the family must hike over the mountains along passes and, frequently, cross glaciers. (Note: this is truly how things were until fairly recently in Norway. A visit to either Breheimsenteret or The Norwegian Glacier Museum, I unfortunately cannot remember which, brought me onto this aspect of Norwegian life and I was a little blown away.)

Aina may have loved her father more than her mother due to his long absences and, at an early age of 8, began accompanying him across the ice. This was to be a tradition in the summers for years to come until she began maturing into a young woman, when the first oddities began to show themselves. On one such trip a particularly odd summer had resulted in less-than-stable ice. The family had been growing and needed the money they would gain from this trip to the city, however, and so they pressed on regardless. Occasionally other children would go with her father, but on this trip Aina was present, and it turned out to be quite fortunate. Prevention of accidents came mainly in the form of one simple rope tied around both the father's waist and the daughter's, and indication that neither of them really expected any trouble, but indeed with the father leading a patch of thin ice was found in the worst way possible and, as he fell into the crevasse, began dragging his daughter with him. She had been carrying one of the suitcases and it somehow caught, wedging itself in the ice enough to support both of their weights. It was obviously only a temporary solution, however; even a stout wooden case could likely not hold the collective 300 plus pounds for very long.

Aina was always a strong girl, but she was still, at the time, rather slight, and her father was not particularly slim. Despite the impossibility of it, Aina held and then pulled herself over the suitcase, and then both of them to safety. The obvious shock of not only such an incident, but also the outcome, sent them packing home.

Although seen as strange the obvious positive outcome of the incident kept anyone from really commenting further on it, but soon far stranger things began to show themselves and less and less was said about their oldest daughter: a stubborn coat of fur and ever-growing hair in the winter, the loss of it in the summer, the slight webbing of her fingers if too much time was spent in the fjord catching flatfish, the elongated teeth, and so on. As a child she may have loved these developments, but with the added uncertainty of a teenager, she was not prone to running about in the freezing weather without protective clothing. Still loved by her family, Aina nonetheless felt tortured by these experiences and perhaps even sub-human, worthless. It was when the small tail began to form that Aina ran away. The timing, although she hadn't known it at the time, may have been her biggest stroke of luck.

Aina's past for a long period here is unknown and forgotten by herself, and not quite perfectly hashed out in my brain either. In reality Aina barely consciously remembers much of her childhood, either. What undoubtedly occurred, however, was the sudden attention and search by a foreign entity, a governmental interest in the rumors that had sprung up around this family and child. Although they were devastated when Aina disappeared, the arrival only weeks later of suspicious and seemingly hostile men relieved some of their grief.

Aina had run to the Jotunheimen region from which she now takes her namesake (see below), but ran into trouble when governments from other regions came across not only the stories of a human with impressive strength, strange powers, and some sort of ability at 'fast-evolution', but when new stories began to come in of herders losing flock to a strange creature which, although only occasionally seen, was wreaking havoc on their livestock. Only too happy to have the threat gone and in some ways associating this creature with the trolls of legend despite its relatively diminutive size, they offered any and all information they could about her whereabouts. With her mind still stuck in a primitive perspective and being used solely for survival, she was eventually outsmarted and 'brought to justice' in the form of removal from the country.

This is where her story splits depending on which universe she is being played in. For Furcadia, it was at this point that she entered into the slave trade, with the occasional experimental procedures and general abuse that came along with it. For the Grant City (X-Men universe) storyline her path is much more convoluted and will not be further discussed here for the time being.

* Abilities

Aina's raw ability is that of what might be called hyper-evolution. She can change, physically, in a relatively short period of time (days to months) depending on the physical change taking place.

This results in a few base abilities and drawbacks, depending on her environment. In any environment Aina is an exceedingly quick learner in all subjects; in a stable environment she also a photographic and/or exceptional memory. These skills apply to all subjects, whether it be language, mathematics, engineering, or so forth. Aina is also of above average than most humans physically, be it strength, speed, or agility in all environments, though of course her abilities become slightly less under harsher times.

There are drawbacks to her body being so capable of evolving to fit its immediate environment, however: Aina has a dangerous tendency to 'devolve' to a more primitive mentality under not only a stressful environment but also in many stressful situations. She is quick to enter a fight-or-flight mode and, unless kept in a stable and good environment for an extended period of time, has difficulty with reasoning and calm investigation of an immediate and serious problem or threat.

This is partially due to the fact that, when living in hard times, her body will divert energy resources from the brain areas to more important things like the muscles or those areas of the brain most directly related to functioning in the wild.

She is also, due to this, occasionally at the whims of her biology; Aina has experienced, on rare occasions when she is living well and her body considers conditions to be right, a strong urge to mate with partners deemed suitable. It is not an uncontrollable urge, but it has led to embarrassing situations.

Additionally, there has been little evidence in the past to suggest that Aina is at all in control of her ability, as her body seems to do what it wants to fit her scenario. It is only recently that she has managed some control over the changes occurring in her body as well as her own thoughts, and slipping into a more primitive nature is a very easy thing to do.

Sidenotes

Aina sprang from a love of Norway which germinated, coincidentally, in my visiting and studying abroad in Norway in the fall of 2004. I loved not only the landscape and country but the language and people as well. Paired with the fact that I had had dreadlocks just months before, which had been taken out to honor my brother's wedding, and I was still a bit bitter about it, a character started to develop with some of this background and physical features.

The name 'Aina' has a Scandinavian background and means 'always', while her middle name, 'Runa', has a root of 'Rune' and means 'secret lore'. Many Scandinavian surnames typically were taken from the landscape and place-names at which a person was born or lived; although Aina's original surname was something different, upon her self-imposed exile she fled to the Jotunheimen region of Norway (an area which holds Northern Europe's highest peak) and found herself living in the harsh winter in the range of mountains named Hurrungane. These are indeed places I visited while there, and you should too. According to Wikipedia, the meaning and origin of the name 'Hurrungane' is uncertain, but it may stem from old Norwegian words describing the sound of falling rock and ice, or might just mean 'the bastards'. Either seems appropriate.

Character similarities

Shanna -

Kee -

Exploit -

Character information

Sex: Female

Age: 46

Race: Human, mutated.

Occupation: None.

Relationships:

Mother: Unnamed, deceased.

Father: Unnamed, deceased.

Siblings: Five: unnamed, deceased.

Significant others: One: unnamed, deceased (Grant City universe). Sageth, estranged (Furcadia universe).