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Milliways: In Milliways, Strahan has been killed by Niall's daughter Keely, and has since taken up residence in Milliways, enjoying as it were his afterlife. Prior to this, he had made much trouble not only for the Cheysuli in general but the House of Homana in particular, starting with Donal, who was at the time Carillon's chosen heir [Carillon having only sired one legitimate child, and a daughter at that], and progressing towards Donal's son and heir, Niall, Niall's sons Brennan, Hart and Corin, and finally Keely, who, as mentioned, put a final stop to Strahan's machinations.

In Milliways Strahan has not given up plotting and scheming; far from it. He looks forward to the day when he can exact revenge upon the House of Homana, and, being Ihlini, is prepaired to wait as long as one must until the moment arrives. While in wait he entertains himself by learning about the bar, new magics, and redefining what his relationship to his god, Asar-Suti, entails.

Otherways: For Otherways, a long time has passed since the prophesied child—Cynric—was born, lived, sired children, watched them grow and have their own children, and finally died. Several centuries in fact, and as it is in our world, the world in which the kingdom of Homana exists has expanded, new lands and kingdoms discovered, and, over time, what we consider the birth of modern industry has taken root and begun to grow. In this version of Homana, Strahan as we know him never existed-at least, he did not exist prior to Donal's ascention of the Lion Throne and the beginning of a second Cheysuli dynasty.

As the dawn of a new future unfolds, the Cheysuli, who have long since recovered their Firstborn gifts, find themselves the rulers of a world where, in their eyes, man is at war with nature, with nature being repeatedly being beaten back by man's newly-discovered machines and the abilities such machines bring. On one hand, they desire to again abdicate the throne, and retreat into the wild to live as their ancestors had done for millennia. On the other, being the rulers of this world means at least having a say in how affairs of state are run. As Mujhar, one can make decisions that one feels is best for the kingdom, and not just for its human inhabitants.

It's in this world, where the original Ihlini are a dying race numbering less than thirty-odd individuals, that Strahan is born into. Like others of his kind, he is the result of the reunion of the two magical races, the Ihlini and the Cheysuli, which helped bring peace back to the world in which the Cheysuli inhabited. Like all Cheysuli, he has a lir, a hawk named Sakti, but they are not his only company. Four unbonded lir [the descendants of the lir freed from the Womb of the Earth] in the forms of wolves accompany him and give him council on all matters of life, both important and trivial, for that is part of the purpose the lir fulfills.

In this world, Strahan is just another individual trying to make sense of the changes Homana and the rest of the world face daily. But it's in Milliways that his real story begins.

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A Word About Cheysuli Canon.

The Chronicles of the Cheysuli—a work of fantasy spanning eight books, with three more planned—documents the period of time in which the Cheysuli believe that the prophecy of the Firstborn—stating that a child would be born who would bring peace to four warring realms and two magical races—is nearing fulfillment. The Ihlini have taken note too, and in response, have redoubled their efforts to stop this prophecy from being completed, for they fear racial annihilation. The fact that Cheysuli and Ihlini had been bitter enemies for centuries only compounds this fact.

The tale begins with Alix, who realises that she is not who she thought she was, and, in discovering her true self, helps to set the prophecy into motion. In time her son Donal would become the first Cheysuli Mujhar in centuries, ending the dynasty of Homanan rule, and as can be expected from a people who still fear the Cheysuli for their magic, including the shapechange, they are none too keen on giving up the Lion Throne to the Cheysuli in the name of a prophecy most care little about.

But despite this, the line of Cheysuli rulers are established, particularly when Niall, the son of Donal, produces heirs of his own. Sensing that the only way peace can be brought to the world and to his family he gives a kingdom to each of his sons as well as his daughter. To Brennan goes Homana. To Hart, Solinde. And to Corin, Atvia. Keely, being female and thus unable to inherit a kingdom of her own, is betrothed to the future king of Erinn, and thus the "four warring realms" are brought into a kind of familial unity. All that is needed is for the Cheysuli and the Ihlini to set aside their differences in favour of bringing about the prophesied child, and everything will be complete.

Otherways!Homana Extended.

This version of Homana, set approximately five hundred years after the birth, life and death of Cynric—the child of the prophecy—has, over time, sought out better ways to improve one's lot in life. Although there is peace, yet there is still the struggle of daily life and the desire to make it easier for oneself to get ahead. It began with the desire to set out into the unknown, to see if there are other kingdoms in their world, and if so, to find a way to form an alliance with them and to encourage trade in goods as-yet unknown to Homana. This happened roughly three hundred years after Cynric's rule, urged on by the Homanans. The Cheysuli went along, as they wished to find new places to live, as their numbers were reaching an unprecidented and unpredicted high. But Cheysuli are not conquerers by nature; they wished only to establish a home for themselves in accordance with the laws of the new lands they would come to inhabit.

Two hundred years later, with seventy percent of the known world "discovered" by the Homanans and the Cheysuli, and with Cheysuli enjoying life in their new homes, the industrial revolution began. While the Cheysuli distrusted this advancement in technology, fearing that the balance between man and nature would be upset, the Homanans embraced the changes, believing that at last they would achieve true prosperity and be able to accomplish a kind of "world superpower" [if you will] that would lead the way to even more progress. This would bring a new tension to the Cheysuli, who felt themselves divided again. Some Cheysuli, disliking the change, decided to move lock stock and barrel back into the forests to live as their ancestors did. Others felt that through technology, one could bring true peace to the world—as long as the Cheysuli remained on the throne in order to regulate the advancement, while others yet felt as the Homanans did, and believed that the technology should be embraced fully, as through it the dawn of a new era, a Utopic era in which no one ever suffered, would be reached.

Through all this, the Ihlini as an independant race have seen more and more of their kin interbreed with the Cheysuli over the centuries, and watched with a sense of hopelessness as their existance came closer to an end. Now that Asar-Suti was defeated and his followers more or less gone, they were being seen as relics of a by-gone age. With the Seker no longer a threat to the world, people soon came to see the stories about Asar-Suti and the men and women who served him and brought fear to the world as products of superstition, and the Ihlini that still existed as the emblems of such a time. Something that the Ihlini object to and fiercely. Although there is no Seker to serve and thus they live in a state of peace in their homeland of Solinde [now a province of Homana], they are dying out, as more and more succumb to old age [yes, Ihlini age, but because their lives are much longer than other races, the aging process is accordingly slow], and feeling the same way the Cheysuli did when they were facing genocide as ordered by a long-dead Mujhar, decide to rebuild their people as best they can with the numbers that they have left.

It seems as though tension is once again brewing in Homana, the Homana Strahan of the new, neo-Firstborn Cheysuli, lives in...

Otherways!Strahan's personality.

Strahan is a young man in his twenties, neither as evil as his canon self nor totally good, that has been born into a time when the changes Homana is facing have just begun. He's not sure what his opinions on the matter is. Should he reject the changes? Embrace them fully? View them with caution and endorse the need to monitor this technology so that the needs of man and nature is taken into account? It's something many in his clan feel, and something that has divided up his town [Cheysuli have learned to live in settled areas like towns], pitting individual against individual in heated debates about what the best course of action should be. Strahan, not being someone of any real influence in his town, being the child of parents who do not sit as members of clan council, can only stand by and watch, caught up in the whirlwind that is industrial progress and trying to find his feet and his future in this new age. Now that the industrial beast has been born, and is incapable of death, the only thing one can do is find a way to adapt to its presence.

With the help of his lir Sakti and the four unbonded lir wolves, he does his best to keep his head above water amidst the chaos of a new dawn...

Appearance [human]: With the exception of his eyes, which are the same as they are in his canonical self, Strahan looks the classic Cheysuli, with black hair and dark skin. However, he tends to dress in what seems to be a mixture of Homanan, Solindish and Ihlini style, only occasionally donning traditional Cheysuli leathers, and usually only for special occasions and festivals.

Appearance [animal]: In lir-shape, Strahan is a hawk, like Sakti. And for the most part, he looks just like her; the only thing distinguishing one from the other is the size of the bird and the fact that like all Cheysuli Strahan retains his eye colour in animal form.

Abilities: Strahan has the amalgamated gifts of both Cheysuli and Ihlini, minus the magics granted to those Ihlini who allied themselves with Asar-Suti. That means that he can manipulate objects about him and turn them into other things, as well as the ability to fashion a living creature out of only a fragment of the original body, plus Ihlini illusions and glamours. Cheysuli talents are the ability to heal someone with the earth magic, the ability to compell someone to do one's wishes, and the assumption of animal form [lir-shape].

Notes: When using italics, Strahan is either using the Old Tongue, the remnants of the Ihlini language [this will be indicated in posts and comments which language it is], or he is communicating with his animal companions. The lir will always use italics when replying, and generally speaking they are only heard by other lir, Cheysuli of Strahan's type [those with the Old Blood in them], other sentient animals, spirits and gods/god-like beings.

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[Disclaimer: Strahan, the Cheysuli, their world and everything in it is the intellectual property of Jennifer Roberson, who owns it all. This journal and the character Strahan who is portrayed in it are being used solely for RP purposes in otherways, from which no profit is being made nor intended to be made.

This is just for fun.

Thank you.]

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