Watership Down

[Raptor]

"All the World will be your enemy, prince with a thousand enemies, and when they catch you, they will kill you.

But first, they must catch you."

All rabbits know the words of El-ahrairah's blessing. They all rely on trickery and cunning to avoid the thousands of enemies who would rob them of their lives.

But one of the worst of these enemies isn't a living creature at all. It is called the White Blindness, a horrific disease that causes rabbits to wander, pained and blinded, to their deaths.

A warren has surcumbed to this terrible fate. But before the entire warren was doomed, several rabbits, too frightened to remain, fled from the warren, in search of a new, safer beging. They were uninfected, and have been seeking the safety of a new warren ever since they set out.

Only time will tell if the find it.




Common words:

To get the true feeling of Watership Down, I've included a list of common "lapine"(the rabbit languge in the book) words.

bob-stones: A type of guessing game with stones played by rabbits.
elil: Enemies of rabbits, including fox, stoat, weasel, cat, owl, man, etc.
embleer: Stinking, the word for the smell of a fox.
flay: Food, specifically grass or other greens.
flayrah: Unusually good food, such as lettuce, carrots, etc.
Frith: The Sun, viewed by the rabbits as a god.
Frithrah: "Lord Sun", used as an exclamation. Analogous to "My God!"
fu-InlÈ: After moonrise.
hain: A song.
hlao: A depression in the ground formed by a daisy or a thistle, specifically one that can hold moisture. Also used as a rabbit's name.
hlessi: A rabbit who lives aboveground or otherwise out of a warren; a wandering rabbit. Plural hlessil.
homba: A fox. Plural hombil.
hrair: Many, uncountable, any number above four.
hraka: Droppings, excreta.
hrududu: Any type of motor vehicle, such as a tractor, car or train.
InlÈ: The moon, moonrise. Also means fear, darkness or death(as in the Black Rabbit of InlÈ)
lendri: A badger.
li: Head.
marli: A doe, mother.
m'saion: "We meet them"
narn: Nice, tasty.
ni-Frith: Noon.
nildro: A blackbird.
Owsla: A group of strong rabbits second year or older surrounding the chief rabbit.
pfeffa: A cat.
-rah: A suffix denoting meaning prince, lord or Chief Rabbit(as in Threarah, Hazel-rah)
-roo: A diminutive suffix meaning "little".
silf: Outside.
silflay: To eat above ground; to graze.
tharn: A state of paralyzed fear or confusion. Can also be used to mean "looking foolish", "forlorn", "heartbroken".
thlay: Fur.
threar: A Rowan or Mountain Ash tree.
u: The.
U hrair: "The Thousand". The term used by rabbits which refers to all their collective enemies.
vair: To excrete, to pass droppings.
yona: A hedgehog. Plural yonil.
zorn: Destroyed, murdered. A catastrophe.

Bios:

You will play as either one of the rabbits who escaped the White Blindness, or one they will meet along the way.

Name:
Gender:
Age(Rabbits commonly live for about four years):
Personality:
Appearance:
Backstory:

Note:

Your character is a rabbit. The average rabbit CANNOT make friends with foxes, consort with humans, talk to humans, or do anything that your average rabbit cannot do. This also includes magical powers. While Watership Down certainly hinted at the supernatural, with Fiver's foresight, and the ending, this does not at all mean that you can have rabbits that transform into hawks.

On a lighter note, your character can tell any of the numerous stories mentioned in the novel, if it suits the situation and the character him/herself. If you're feeling especially creative, you can include you own, brand new stories.

[Raptor]

"Embleer Frith."

The rain wasn't accompanied by thunder. At least there was that consolation. However, the rain did come pouring down, non-stop, drenching anything and everything unfortunate enough to be caught out in the downpour.

One of these unfortunates was a rabbit, by the name of Thistle. He was not the only rabbit to be wet through. There were several others, hopping through the fields.

"Thistle, are we going to be alright?" Asked a nervous voice beside him. It was a much smaller rabbit, named Walnut. He was shivering, not only because of the cold, but because of obvious fear.

"We'll be fine. We just need to get out of this blasted rain." Answered Thistle. In truth, he wasn't quite sure if they'd be fine. But he didn't want Walnut to miserable and terrified, so he felt reasurring Walnut was the best thing to do.

"Besides, elil don't like the rain either." Thistle added. He'd hoped this would brighten Walnut's mood, but the mention of the Thousand only served to make the little rabbit speed up slightly.

'Well, it's true.' Thought Thistle. 'We won't have to worry about that.'

[The Great Valley Guardian]

I'll post my OC's info here as ewll...

Name: Mayberry

Gender: Doe

Age: 1 year

Personality: She has a major temper and is absolutely NEVER afraid to show it…which might explain why she has no friends.

Appearance: Her fur is white with a grey underbelly. She is the smallest doe in her warren but her ability to fight and vocalize her opinion is the only reason her warren recognizes her at all.

Backstory: Contrary to the standard Warren, Mayberry was the first and only Owsla captain ever in her previous warren. In order to gain this position however she literally had to fight and bad mouth her way up to through the ranks. This would also explain why the two friends she did have were Owsla guards.
Unfortunately a routine patrol ended in the death of one of the scouts in her command and as per the warren rules she was to be executed for her failures.
This obviously didn’t sit well with Mayberry who ran the first chance she got and hasn’t looked back since.


~~~~~


Mayberry was sitting in the rain, not really caring if she got wet. She'd been running for days and she was unbelievably tired. If an Elil attacked now....she wouldn't have the strength to fight or run. She slowly hopped forward in the grass until she thought she could see something that looked like the outline of other rabbits.

She wanted to be cautious about just waltzing up to other hlessi...if that's what they were. She decided the best move would be to simply follow them and see where they were heading and wait for them to rest.

[Myrkin]

Thyme stopped running for a moment, as he shook himself in attempt to dry his fur. It worked a bit, but after few seconds he was again soaking, as rain didn't cease to rain. Thyme snorted with annoyance.

"First was disease and now we are running about in the rain. Could it get any worse?" he asked aloud, not really expecting that any of the other rabbits is going to answer that question. Nonetheless someone answered:

"It always can, Thyme." He looked to the right. It was Neltita who spoke.

"Oh... Yes. Knowing that really cheers me up." he said, rolling his eyes.

"Look at that in this way: we could catch White Blindness back in the warren, but we are here, safe and sound. Little rain is not so bad. In fact, I like it." Neltita said.

"I like it too, but only when I am in a dry burrow." Thyme retorted, shaking his body again. The water from the sky didn't just make his fur wet, but also made his body shiver from the cold. He sneezed strongly, for which he received a look of worry from a doe.

"Are you alright, Thyme?" Neltita asked.

"No. I think I may caught cold." He answered.

"I have a good news for you then. I see a good place for shelter." she said pointing to some thick line of bushes up ahead...

[Raptor]

Thistle noticed that the doe who had warned of the impending disease was pointing out a nearby grove a thick brush.

'What was the doe's name? Nel.. Neltita, that's it.'

Thistle looked at Walnut. Walnut's ears drooped slightly, drenched with water. He looked terrible.

Thistle wasn't thrilled about heading into the thick brush, for fear of elil hidden in the darkness.

But... it was out of the rain.

Still, Walnut looked even more terrified about heading into the dark brush.

"Thistle.. are.. are we going in there?" Walnut gulped, shivering.

"It's out of the rain." Thistle replied, a shiver shaking the moisture out of his fur. Moments later, he was drenched again.

"But I don't like it either. Still, it's better then standing out in the rain."

[The Great Valley Guardian]

Mayberry could see the other hlessi wondering into a set of brush and she assumed that they were doing it to get out of the rain. After the last one had entered the brush she hopped forward still being cautious about this whole idea. Against her normal nature she stood meekly outside the bushes and shook herself off to try and keep her fur dry, but all she accomplished was getting more water in her fur than she wanted.
She then spoke up by accident and said,
"Oh...this is great! I hate getting wet...This is humiliating!"

[Myrkin]

After entering the bush, Neltita noticed that one doe is still out in the rain.

"Come here then. It is safe now and dry too." she said loud to the doe, who wasn't known to her. She shook herself off to dry herself, but a few drops of water fell on Thyme.

"Watch it, Neltita! Some of us have enough of their own water on their fur." he exclaimed and then he sneezed again. She turned back to say sorry, but as she noticed Thyme's state - ears dropped, body shivering, sneezing - she stated instead:

"You don't look good."

"What can I say to that? You are not exactly my type either." Thyme answered, trying to joke.

"I am not talking about your looks, silly, but about your health." Neltita said "We need to warm you up or you will get seriously ill." She cuddle to Thyme, so he could get some warmth. She felt that his body was very cold. Perhaps he was in worse condition than he seemed.

[Raptor]

Thistle looked around in the brush. It seemed alright enough.

He pricked his ears up, listening for any unusual sounds. There was nothing other then the other rabbits.

Thistle didn't even smell a trace of elil. It was almost too good.

Walnut had haulted at the edge of the brush, so quickly that Thistle hadn't even noticed.

The little rabbit's ears were down against his back, and his eyes were white in terror.

"I-I-I don't... I don't like that place, Thistle!" He said, shivering in the rain.

Thistle hopped back to him. "You need to get in here. It's safer in here then it is out there! There's not a trace of elil, and it's dry."

"Bu-but-"

"Frithrah!" Thistle exclaimed. He went around behind Walnut and pushed him into the brush. Thistle didn't like doing this, but it was either pushing him in or leaving him outside, and he wasn't going to leave Walnut outside.

As soon as he looked up, he noticed another rabbit still out in the rain. It was a smallish doe, one that he didn't recongnize. Thistle notice Neltita invite her in, and suddenly a little on guard. 'I don't recongnize her...' Thistle thought. 'But... there isn't any harm in letting another hlessi stay come with us. I just hope she isn't from the old warren. But I don't recongnize her... so she's probably not.' Thistle scratched his behind his right ear with his back leg. Water droplets scattered from his fur.

[The Great Valley Guardian]

Mayberry was stunned that these hlessi were just inviting her to stay with them...but it did seem rather silly to just sit in the rain and catch a cold, so she shrugged and after watching one buck rush out and push another one into the bush, who looked extremely hesitant to go at all she slowly followed after them and stepped inside the bushes.
She then shook the water off her fur and sighed as she felt dry, and more importantly somewhat safe in quite a while.

She looked around at the other rabbits gathered in the thicket and decided that staying on edge was the best choice in case any of them were hostile.

[Myrkin]

"Thank you for your care." Thyme said "I think I will take a nap. I am tired of this running and... and..." he sneezed again "and this darn cold." he muttered.

"I am not sure if this is good idea. If some elils came while you are sleeping..." Neltita stopped talking, as she noticed that Thyme had already fell asleep. She decided that it is better for him to get some rest and if need emerge she could always wake him up. She looked around, at other rabbits and she wondered what they will do next now, after they left their warren. Where would they go? She glanced at dark brown rabbit, called Thistle. If she remembered right he was the one who thought about leaving the warren immedietely after she gave her warning to Chief Rabbit. Perhaps he was the right rabbit to talk to about next actions.

"You are Thistle, right?" he said to him, not moving from Thyme's side, as she was still helping him get warmth "Dont you think we should talk about what we are going to do now?"

[Raptor]

Walnut had finally overcome his fear, well, partially, and nearly collapsed with exhaustion. Thistle watched for a second, to ensure he wouldn't wake up, and turned to Neltita. "I agree. I haven't had much time to think since we left the warren." He said, shaking a bit more water out of his fur.

"But we can't stay here too long. I need to rest as much as anyone else, but the brush is as good a place for elil to hide as it is for us." He added.

"We should stay here until everyone's rested enough to move on. I don't want some embleer homba finding us here."

[The Great Valley Guardian]

Mayberry growled as she spoke up.
"I demand to speak to your chief rabbit NOW!" she stated as she stamped her foot twice. "Now which one of you is the leader?" She then looked over at Walnut and asked, "Why is your friend so scared..he should be ashamed to be a rabbit with such a fear of everything! Why if I weren't so tired and wet, I'd cuff him across the nose I would!"

[Myrkin]

"Yes. We have to move out soon. It is safe here for now, though." Neltita said, then she glanced in direction which they had been moving before they stopped "We will go that way, won't we?" she asked Thistle, not looking directly at him "Hrududu's trail, water and men's warren. We will come through these and then..." she was interrupted by this other doe's words, which she didn't find very nice, but she still remained calm when she answered:

"Our previous Chief Rabbit died back in the warren and we don't have any... Or at least we don't have any at this moment." she added, looking at Thistle for a second.

"Anyway, I think you should leave Walnut in peace. He has a hard time and teasing him won't make it better for him or anyone else."

[Raptor]

Thistle glared at the new doe. He would've snapped, would have stood up for Walnut, but he didn't want to wake his friend, who was still asleep. He was also tired. Thistle was tempted to cuff the doe, but he realized that would serve no purpouse other then making both him and the doe angrier.

Instead, he said "If you had just fled from a warren that is infected with the White Blindness, and had been running in the rain since fu-InlÈ, wouldn't you be rather frightened and tired as well?" Thistle looked at the doe, not angrily, but with what appeared to be a questioning glance.

[The Great Valley Guardian]

Mayberry scoffed aloud and was tempted to laugh as she heard Neltita speak.
"Well then...I suggest you find one! Wandering around here like a bunch of lost fools will only attract more elil than I care to admit! Of course until then I suppose I'll have to watch over you all...as its clear for the moment you have no chance without an Owsla authority."
Mayberry then laid down on her side now feeling far more tired than she'd realized.
"My name is Mayberry. You all do well to remember it." she said aloud before closing her eyes and trying to rest her body.

[Raptor]

Thistle wanted to argue, but Mayberry had already gone to sleep.

"Thank Frith she's not awake anymore. I couldn't take much more of that." Before he continued, he added "I've half a mind to chase her out. But that really wouldn't achieve anything." The excitiment had nearly made him forget about Neltita's trance-like state.

Thistle was about to lie down next to Walnut, when he remebered, and looked up. "Neltita, what was that you were saying before? About the 'man's warren' or something?" He asked.

[Myrkin]

"I think I've just met a rabbit that is so much more annoying than Thyme could ever be." Neltita mumbled, glancing at a new doe. Then she turned to Thistle who had asked her about her vision.

"I was talking about the places that we have to come through, if we want to find a really safe spot. At least I have a feeling this is right way for us to travel." she answered Thistle question "I am not sure what exactly 'men's warren' is, but perhaps we will find out once we see it."

[The Great Valley Guardian]

Mayberry may have been asleep, but her dreams continued to take her back to the day her patrol was attacked and the scout under her command was lost, and in a moment she began to cry and whimper aloud as she whispered in her sleep, "M-my brother....I'm..I'm sorry...this is...my fault." Then the scene in her mind switched to her standing before the warren council and she spoke aloud once more.
"I did what I needed to do...nothing more...and i-if you don't like it then go ahead...and kill me."

[Raptor]

Thistle looked to Mayberry's twitching form. "What's that all about?" He questioned, getting to his feet. He listened for a moment.

"What sort of chief would kill his own rabbits? Questioned Thistle, quietly. It was slightly disturbing... "Well, she's probably just dreaming." Moments later, he dismissed Mayberry's sleep talk.

It might be important, but they all needed rest, and the weight of the journey had finally caught up to Thistle. He blinked blearily, turned back to Neltita, and said "Well, that's right. We can't really know what to expect until we find it." He laid down, blinked again, and went to sleep.

[Myrkin]

Neltita was not so tired as the rest and besides someone was needed to watch for elils. Everybody else was sleeping anxiously now. The rain kept falling for a long time, hour or two, before it slowly started to cease. Neltita looked up to the sky, but Frith's light was still blocked by wall of clouds. She could tell, thanks to that particular knowledge about time, which was possessed by every adult rabbit, that it was long after ni-frith now. She thought it might be a good idea to move out, so she decided to wake up Thistle first:

"Thistle. Wake up, Thistle." she called to him, nudging him in the process.