Harper Ilaria

[Admin]

Harper's primary Skill is Key, the ability grants a stronger sense of the Grail and a greater ability to harness it in a Cathedral. An Immortal with a mastery of Key is twice as likely as an Immortal without this Skill to be successful in harnessing the Grail.

Harper's Key Skill is particularly strong and she sometimes finds it overwhelming.

Harper is currently featured in:

"All That and a Box of Donuts" in the
Crusade Battle Anthology;

"Immortal Waking" (available in the Mardi Gras 3000 Player's Handbook).

[Admin]

Tue Sep 16, 2008 9:04 am

AreaneCreator wrote:

So I was talking to Jenn about the new show "Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles" and she mentioned that the actress playing the Terminator character, Cameron, looked a lot like Harper. I thought this was funny, because the actress, Summer Glau, played River Tam from Firefly, my original inspiration for Harper.

I went online and was looking through clips of Firefly and I found one I actually wanted to post. There are many, many differences between River and Harper, but this video skims over most of those differences and, if Harper was having a particularly tormenting day (and was in space, lol), this video could be her and her brother.

I wanted to post it not just to give everyone a better understanding of Harper, but I wanted to explain her relationship with her brother, John. John is going through a bit of a breakdown in the novella "Harper," and I wanted to show his true self. (Though there are even more differences between Simon and John than there are River and Harper. John is a lot more Terrapyre and not nearly as smart as Simon but, well, you'll get the idea.) You could even pretend that the captain is Lazarus without a cane. Lazarus would probably be amused with the idea of being a space cowboy/pirate.

So check this clip out. It is a fanvid so, of course, it's corny, but whatever. Also, please ignore the bits that go with the show. Obviously Harper wasn't experimented on or had multiple brain surgeries. Also, small warning, there is a scene near the beginning where River is in a stasis chamber and is curled in the fetal position, her arms crossed over her chest, and it shows her bare side. Nothing is shown at all, but I didn't want someone to be offended

www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsQLPktsPqk

[Admin]

Tue Sep 16, 2008 9:04 am

Sha wrote:

Great clip, Launa. When is Harper set? Will you be writing other novels about her? Will any of them be during Prime Time? She seems an excellent character.

Sha

[Admin]

Tue Sep 16, 2008 9:06 am

Areane Creator wrote:

Harper is set in 2029 (originally 2039, but I think Lazarus might be changed by Neroian Nights, and there is no evidence of that in the story, so I pushed it back a decade.) She will also appear in my first trilogy novel which is set in the late 1980's (her birth is outlined here) and in the much more distant future in the third novel of my trilogy.

She really is an excellent character, with many different torments, challenges, and gifts than most Terrapyres. She is forever trapped as a fifteen-year-old, an uncontrolled psychic, a bit of an empath, and a talented key skill. She knows very little of her past, so all the abnormalities in her life are complete mysteries to her. She knows where she is, sometimes where she will go, but not where she has been.

I would love to write more stories with her, I just don't have any set ideas. I could definitely write something in prime time, and I probably will, but nothing has really struck me as a firm plotline (though with Harper, really anything can be added into a plotline without it seeming weird I mean, her novella has a short discussion on purple squirrels and how they don't match against an orange sky. And it reads quite normally, actually.)

[Admin]

Tue Sep 16, 2008 9:07 am

AreaneCreator wrote:

Here is some information about Harper.

Never in my life have I: Learned how to ride a bike. But I guess that's what happens when you grow up with a bunch of big, bad (paranoid) Terrapyres... They'll teach you to box, but they don't want you to skin your knee!

My hair is: A living entity. I'm sure of it. Tried to strangle me in my sleep the other night.

When I was 4: I discovered my love of chocolate donuts

Last Christmas: I thought the lights were winking at me. But don't worry, they didn't know anything... they were supposed to do that.

I should be: Sleeping. It's the middle of the day.

When I look down I see: My feet.

In the morning I:Slide across the kitchen floor in my socks just to see how far I can go without moving my feet. Then, I make popcorn just to throw it at my sleeping brother. Sometimes, I doodle on the counters. Once I jumped off the roof to see how fast I would heal.

Last night I was: Painting... on my bedroom wall. Why? Because I thought someone told me to.

I am morally opposed to: Remote controls. They're creepy.

Tomorrow I am: Planning to steal my brother's phone. Then if he wants to talk to his girlfriend, he'll have to trade me for it. I'm in the mood for ice cream.

Tonight I am: Going to see if Dunkin' Donuts will deliver.

[Admin]

Tue Sep 16, 2008 9:09 am

EJ wrote:

Harper Ilaria is not your average anything and definitely not your average Terrapyre.

Harper Awakened at a young age and primed shortly thereafter at 15. This means her body will not age past adolescence. Harper knows that because of this, she will never to be a woman or have a child. S

She doesn't drive. She has an incurable sweet tooth. The desire for ice cream, donuts or other sweets is what will take her out into the world the most often.

She is prone to visions and hallucinations. She sometimes experiences visions of the future, but they are often not clear enough for her to either make sense of or articulate them.

She finds solace in dancing, so is often seen at clubs. She has an unusually high pain threshold which, combined with her natural aptitude in hand to hand combat, makes her an incredibly valuable fighter.

Harper has an uncanny Key Skill. If the Grail Drops nearby, she will be able to track it without error, either on foot or in a vehicle.

She lives with her brother, John, and an older Terrapyre named Lazarus. They have been lairmates for a long time.

[Admin]

Thu Oct 23, 2008 7:13 am

[Admin]

Thu Feb 05, 2009 5:27 am

Brianne wrote:

Download an original background for this character, made using IMVU, at:

www.mardigras3000.com/downloads/backgrounds/Harper.bmp

[Cris]

Update on Harper.

Mardi Gras 3000 strives to be inclusive. In fact, that is one of our primary goals at this forum and with these characters.

When I sat down to work with the stories on the Crusade Battle Anthology and in The Player's Handbook, I was struck by Harper. Her erratic behavior didn't quite gel for me because I didn't understand why she behaved as she did.

I came back to the forum, read everything about her, watched the YouTube video that Launa had posted and researched the way in which Joss Whedon had conceived the character of River Tam for Firefly because this was Launa's starting point for Harper. But Whedon has, in my opinion, always played fast and loose with the science that affects his characters and the experimentation River was subjected to didn't seem to mesh with her behavior.

However, as I watched the clips and thought about Launa's ideas, it became clear to me that Harper was suffering from an illness. After discussing the possibilities with Launa and Jennifer, we decided that to make Harper truly who she was conceived to be, she would have schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia is not uncommon and is treatable with medication and therapy, but that doesn't mean person with schizophrenia will have an easy time managing her illness. The way this will manifest with Harper will be in the form of visual and auditory hallucinations primarily and secondarily, some instances of anxiety and paranoia.

If you couple schizophrenia with a very strong Key Skill, you have the makings of one of the most fascinating characters in this universe. Imagine hearing a voice telling you to throw paint on the walls of your room as clearly as the voice of Christ telling you the Grail is close by. Imagine seeing an image of the Grail right in front of you as clearly as you see a dead relative. Imagine not being able to distinguish between which is the true voice of Christ and which is just a manifestation of your mind's own struggle with itself.

I am extremely proud of the choices we've made for this character and encourage those of you who want to know more about Harper to read "All That and a Box of Donuts" in The Crusade Battle Anthology and also "Immortal Waking: Harper," which is included in The Player's Handbook.

Some films I recommend for insight into schizophrenia are:
A Beautiful Mind
Pi
Fight Club

Cris

[Launa]

Cris, I know I have said it privately, but I will definitely say it publicly. I was honored by your work with Harper. I think, with your insights, she has grown exponentially as a character. You helped make her more real without subtracting anything from her current character or my vision of her... you just pulled her out of YA obscurity Thank you very, very much.

[Admin]

Launa and Cris,
I think this is an incredible decision. It brings such a realism to Harper and her story. I'm really looking forward to reading her novel when it's released. Thank you both for taking the time and focus to truly bring this character to life.
Brianne