Editing Campaign:Essence Inversion/Mara River-Chaser (section)

== Basics ==
* '''Campaign:''' [[Campaign:Essence Inversion|EI2]], rest in peace
* '''Name:''' Mara River-Chaser
* '''Concept:''' Ninja Chameleon Explorer
* '''Caste/Aspect:''' Full Moon Lunar
* '''Anima Banner:''' A chameleon hanging upside down from a waterfall pouring out of a tree.
* '''Tell:''' Independently tracking eyes.
* '''Motivation:''' See everything in Creation and map it.
* '''Intimacies:''' Exploration, fascination with Fair Folk, hatred of Linowan, Sagacious Hermit Opossum.
* '''Experience:''' 60/60

=== Background ===
Mara's Exaltation came after four days of being chased by the Linowan through the outer edges of Halta's forests. It was her 16th birthday, and the last day of her Trial of Survival when she stumbled into a Linowan camp, headfirst onto their huntmaster, in fact, after a week spent trekking through the remotest parts of her homeland she could find.

Mara has long been enamored of the secret places of the forest; the hidden glades and clearings, and took every chance she could to find them. Her greatest love was of the rivers, and the way they twisted and turned and slunk through her forests, bringing life and making music and carrying interesting things down them. Her parents called her 'River-Chaser' for her fondness of them. It has led her to mischief before, such as when she stumbled into a Wyld zone as a girl. She danced there for hours among the Fair Folk, placing flowers and vines in her hair and rolling around with the grass pixies until a very large and imposing man came and extricated her, then brought her home Since then, she's had a greenish tint to her skin and kept the flowers in her hair.

Mara escaped an unpleasant fate at the hands of lonely hunters mostly by main desperation, but also her talent for slipping unnoticed through the forests. She ran and hid for four days, sometimes posing as foliage, other times opting to simply go unseen. She had the advantage in that she knew some of the area in which she ran, but even that didn't keep them off of her heels.

Eventually, the girl came to the foot of a massive tree and scrambled up the trunk. The tree went on forever, and the Linowans seemed to always be no more than a couple branches behind her. Finally, she made it to the tree's crown. She stared in awe at the sight she was greeted with, mouth falling open and tears running down her cheeks at the beauty of the endless green treescape. Mountains rose nearby, pointing jagged peaks into the clouds. Melted runoff from the warming peaks flowed down into deep, powerful rivers that carved the landscape. And there was more on the horizon. She smiled as Luna painted the mark of the Full Moon on her brow. She knew that, someday, she'd be able to see it all.

While she was goggling in rapture at the view, the tree's original occupant was busy kicking the Linowan hunters out of his home. Sagacious Hermit Opossum, a surly elder Lunar, found the girl still standing at the top of his tree and threatened to kick her down with them, until he saw the mark of Luna on her forehead. He muttered irritably to himself, and decided he'd better teach the brat before she hurt someone.

Years later, Mara emerged from her teacher's home, armed and ready to explore. She made a promise to return to the lovable old coot, and send souvenirs from across the world to him. First, though, there's a world to see.

=== Appearance ===
Mara in both her human and beastman shapes wears a long leather breechcloth, a braided leather choker with colored glass beads, elbow-length black gloves and a huge mapcase slung across her back. . Also, in both forms, her hair has flowering vines and twined into them, which grow from her scalp and change with the seasons; vibrantly green in summer temperatures and brown (and kept tucked into the rest of her hair) in the wintry months.

Her human form is long-limbed and athletically toned from a life spent climbing through trees. Her skin is tanned a light brown with a greenish tint to it, and her hair's a deep, rich emerald. When she isn't wearing her trading vest, the silver tattoos of her breastplate can be seen flush against the skin. Her eyes are bright green, and can track independently of each other.

Her beastman form is taller and leaner than her human form. Her hair is longer, reaching down to her hips, and is framed by a short frill curling back from her forehead and ears. A tiny horn adorns the tip of her nose, and two more curve up off of her eyebrows. Her scales are any number of colors, depending on her mood or the surroundings. Her long tail, of which she is excessively proud, waggles and coils on its own, and enjoys wiggling into places it shouldn't.

Her spirit form is a large but cute chameleon with moonsilver tattoos banding its neck and upper body and a long, wiggly tail.