Munchkin

6th Sphere DreamSeer

Master Teacher

DreamSmith

Last Character Description Per Original UL Database: With upswept hair and a twinkle in her eye, she seems almost too mischevous for her own good. Her attire is layers of pastel taffetas that shimmer with some strange dust...

Background

Munchkin is a half-faerie Princess from Cloudsbreak. Her mother, Altasia, Queen of the faeries, placed a love spell on a human, Marcus Bane, causing him to fall in love with her. They produced one daughter, Munchkin, before the spell wore off. Marcus, the womanizer that he was, already had one son, Jevik Bane, and later went on to seduce a human woman, producing a second daughter, Bloom. Altasia, following the wishes of her people, eventually married Prince Caldis, and they produced a daughter, Istania.

Munchkin was raised in her early childhood among the faeries, though secretly had a longing to know her father's people. Her sister was always intensely jealous of her, frequently referring to Munchkin as a "half-breed" and studied the black arts of their people. Munchkin, being much gentler, neglected her studies most of the time, preferring to spend her time exploring and daydreaming. She always had a soft spot for injured animals and the downtrodden, whereas Istania scorned them.

As both girls moved into their teens, they underwent many rituals, some involving their arcane powers. Munchkin was at a disadvantage, as she had always neglected her powers, except for the healing arts that helped her menagerie of pets.

On her sixteenth birthday, Munchkin was married to Prince Rohan, a seemingly mild young man, though he lacked a sense of humor. This marriage had been arranged when Rohan and Munchkin were infants, as was the custom among royalty.

Rohan and Munchkin were reasonably happy for a while, though Munchkin was secretly fearful of her cold husband. Rohan, like Istania, scorned those weaker than himself, and frequently forbade Munchkin from carrying out her rescue missions.

When Munchkin became pregnant, Rohan was exultant, expecting the son he craved so badly. After all, faeries generally produce several children at a time, so the odds were at least one was a boy. However, an early psychic exam revealed that, not only was Munchkin carrying only one child, that child was a female. Rohan was irate, blaming Munchkin for not carrying his son and reviling her for her mixed heritage, revealing a previously-hidden bigotry against humans. He divorced her on the spot, sending her home to her mother in disgrace.

In due time, Munchkin produced her daughter, falling in love with the quiet, beautiful little girl. She named her daughter Minuette. As Minuette grew, it was obvious she was a scholarly child, constantly seeking out the WHY to everything.

Munchkin continued to be curious about the humans, and eventually approached her mother, and after much talking, convinced her to allow her to live among her father's people for a time, to learn their ways. Minuette was to remain with the faeries, as she was a royal princess of two families, and would continue her studies with her grandmother.

Munchkin's decision to seek out the humans infuriated Istania, who felt Munchkin was betraying her people, and vowed revenge.

Munchkin entered the City of Dreams in search of her father and any human relatives she could find. She was immediately attracted to the Dreamers of Light, eventually becoming a ruler of that house. There she found her brother and sister, Jevik Bane and Bloom. Through talking with them she learned what a cad her father really was, and decided she wanted no part of him, so ended her search. She didn't know Istania was waiting in the wings for a chance to exact revenge.

Time went by, and Munchkin, then a DoL guardian, fell in love with Valourin, a DoL ruler. One day, in the sanctuary in Lambent Flats, they were astonished to find Queen Altasia and Princess Istania. Altasia welcomed her new son-in-law with open arms, revealing that she sensed Munchkin was expecting quadruplets.

This, to Istania, was the final humiliation. A faerie marrying a half-demon was disgraceful and a further betrayal of the faeries. Istania evoked a curse on Munchkin's unborn children and on Valourin. Unless they turned one of the babies over to the faeries to be raised at birth, Valourin and the babies would revert to their demonic mature -- and their first act would be to kill Munchkin! Altasia was unable to reverse this curse and sadly returned home.

Weeks went by, and Valourin and Munchkin, though still ecstatically happy, worried about the fate of their children. Mannox Riversdg and Darion, two DoL initiates adept in the powers of the Arcane, devised a plan to reverse the curse. In Mt. Illapse Sanctuary, when the children were born, a demon emerged. Valourin quickly got his wife and children out and Mannox Riversdg and Darion defeated the demon and broke the curse, barely escaping with their lives. To this day Darion bears scars on his chest from his fight with the demon.

Munchkin's daughter, Minuette, followed her mother to the dream in due time, seeking to expand her knowledge in the studies of the dream. Istania followed, attempting to drag her recalcitrant niece home to marry her off. Istania, however, met her match in her lover, Asmodan, and has vanished.

A New Dreamer

Munchkin entered the dream on March 22, 1998, a young, lost dreamseer. She wandered the dream for a few hours, joining up with a couple of other new dreamers. After a couple of attacks by Cain, another new dreamer, she was 'rescued' by members of OOSM. One particularly caught her attention because of his halo. She thought Roland was a god because of his care of the newly awakened and that the halo was an indication of this.

Eventually she returned to threshold, where she met a very strange dreamer and told her tale of being attacked. This strange dreamer was named Yog-ka. Roland had told her to learn house beliefs. At this time there were three open houses, DoL , HC and OOSM. Munchkin went to the thresholds of these houses to learn all she could. HC made no sense to her at all: freesoul, the dream doesn't affect the wakened world? It had to! Logic stated actions in the dream had to affect the wakened world. Banishment? Oh, yes, tell the mares to go away, but what's going to stop them from turning around and coming right back. No, HC was not the place for her.

Looking back, based on her experiences with Roland and other of the Order, one would think she would have wound up there. But, when she went to their threshold to learn their beliefs, and she went there three times, she was ignored. So eventually she moved on to DoL , and found what she was seeking. Imprisonment made much more sense that banishment, and they were illuminated. So, within four hours of entering the dream, Munchkin knew her place in the dream.

Munchkin spent her first week learning the dream: hunting, items, so much to learn. She spent a lot of time in DoL threshold, listening and learning, and very soon began helping other new dreamers. She would slip outside to Illapse regularly to play with the Emphant out there. Now, Munchkin was no hunter, and was collapsed more often than not. Each time she would slip back into DoL threshold and hide behind the flags, embarrassed.

Her second day in the dream she was accepted as a private student by CrysDark. Keep in mind, teachers were not numerous then, so it was a real honor to be a private student. That evening, she waited five hours for CrysDark to appear, as Cloudsbreak prevented his making their scheduled appointment. When he finally arrived, her took her to the caves on Illapse to work on her fighting skills. However, something prevented that lesson. A dreamer named Boggen, who didn't want people hunting the mares, warded Munchkin and her teacher in a cave and collapsed them. You can imagine how frightened Munchkin, still a new dreamer, was. A long time later, when they finally escaped, Munchkin stood on the rock in Camp of Kings and learned her first two arts, Push and TranceFlame. Munchkin was so awed she swore to devote herself to being a great teacher, even knowing halos were not handed out freely.

There was an intiation freeze on all the houses that week, which looking back was good, as Munchkin got valuable training that week from the DoL members in Threshold. Those guiding her wanted her to have the support of the whole house for initiation, and she pretty much did.

The intiation freeze ended on Friday, March 27, at midnight. Munchkin was in Illapse Keep with a couple of other pledges and many of the house members. At midnight, she was astonished when Valourin himself initiated three dreamers, one of them herself! Perhaps that is why she stormed during the initiation interview? All the way back up the mountain, she just KNEW she'd lost her chance at initiation by daring to storm on the great Valourin!

DoL Initiate

The next three weeks were busy ones for Munchkin, as she quickly found her place in her house. She dreamed as many as 20 hours a day, so her advancement was rapid, for those days. She achieved a sphere a week, this on top of working constantly around the house. Naturally, her rapid advancement promoted jealousy, as most didn't realize it was due to the hours she dreamt. The day she received her second sphere, she started refusing to accept board XP, and got into many exhilarating arguments with the rulers, especially Maker. As stated earlier, Munchkin's rapid advancement created jealousy from those who didn't advance as fast. This bothered Munchkin, though she tried to hide it.

One day, before she was knighted, Munchkin ran into Ruler Valourin in the initiate entrance. He sensed something was wrong, but Munchkin was shy of telling a ruler of her problems. He told her he wanted to be her friend, and that she could tell him anything. This shocked Munchkin, as, to her, Valourin was an exalted figure to be awed and feared, and legends didn't befriend little dreamseers. But he did, and eventually Munchkin began to open up to him. Valourin took Munchkin as his apprentice, and the legend who taught her to dream with honor now began to teach her how to teach with honor. Many weeks later, one bright day in threshold, he said she was ready, and they went to Renrut's Study to find Sabra, where she was ordained.

DoL Guardian

Her 28th day in the dream, she was ascended to third sphere. Her ascension ceremony was done out of sequence at the house meeting, and she was told to stay where she was. Then they called Dr Carl G Jung, Victrix, and Cyborg512 forward, and to her amazement, all four were knighted guardians!

Prior to initiation, Munchkin had been mildly attracted to Alchemist, who helped her learn and work on arts and gave her a lot of advice. Once she entered the house, however, Victrix took on her dream training, showing her many of the wonders of the dream, including the new areas that opened to her when she achieved her first sphere. Eventually, friendship turned into affection, and, several weeks after they were knighted, Munchkin and Victrix were married in Neutral Home. One unique aspect of this wedding was the presence of a joint Honor Guard, comprised of DoL and HC, and captained by an HC initiate named Killenmenjaro, who requested that position. At that time it was VERY unusual for DoL and HC to cooperate to that extent, as relations between the two houses were strained.

Munchkin and Victrix obtained fourth sphere, and Valourin gave them a unique roleplay task for Nightmare Form. At this time, there still weren't that many dreamers with the art. Munchkin had been hunting with her mentor, and they were attacked. Valourin was severely injured and, in tending his wounds, some of his essence mixed with Munchkin's through her own open wounds, tainting her own essence with Valourin's demon blood. Still unawares, she transmitted this essence to Victrix in a kiss, and they both began to randomly turn into nightmares. It took many lessons from Valourin for the young couple to learn to control the transformations, and Victrix gained control quicker than the emotional Munchkin.

Due to their dreaming hours, Munchkin and Valourin were frequently alone in the early hours of the dream, doing house chores and teaching. Their friendship continued to develop, becoming firm. At this time, Valourin was married to Tiger, and Munchkin to Victrix. Both sensed subconsciously it was becoming more than friendship, but they wouldn't admit it to themselves, determined to continue with their marriages. Then two things happened: Victrix left for a week, and Valourin's relationship with Tiger deteriorated after Yog-ka's murder of Sabra. This deterioration was compounded by startling revelations Valourin discovered about his wife.

Munchkin and Victrix's marriage was not a bad marriage, but there was little excitement. They were good friends, very good friends, but there was no magic, though she tried to pretend to herself there was. The inevitable happened, and Valourin and Munchkin turned to each other. Munchkin could not dream a lie, so when Victrix returned, she told him what she had done and left it to him whether they would remain married. Despite his love for her, he couldn't handle what she had done, so their marriage ended.

Munchkin was very devoted in her house duties, and very hard on herself when she made mistakes. Once, she felt she had failed to guard the Stone properly, and insisted Valourin punish her, though he kept telling her she had made no mistakes. So, for several hours, she guarded the Stone, standing and watching it, in party with Valourin, though they could only speak to each other of house affairs, no personal issues at all. This was a punishment to them both, as Valourin felt he had failed in not convincing her she had done no wrong, and the restriction of not being able to discuss anything personal was a harsh one on them both.

Not long after Munchkin's marriage ended, Valourin divorced Tiger and she left the dream. The reasons for her decision, and the revelations that caused [[Valourin] to leave her, are not mine to tell, and I won't. Let her rest in peace. Munchkin and Valourin eventually married, and all who knew them at that time can tell you they were incredibly happy, and that happiness radiated onto all around them. Those dreams were happy dreams, as they worked side by side, making their house strong.

A lot of changes were coming about in the dream, and one of them that happened at this time was the establishment of a dreamwide Teachers Council, who would establish teaching and ordainment protocols and do triage for Lyrans, hopefully decrease the long lines of people waiting to see Lyrans. Dr Carl G Jung and Jevik Bane selected Munchkin for the [[[Dreamers_of_Light|DoL]] representative, and she accepted. The hardest thing Munchkin faced in this role was convincing the male rulers that they would have to go to a GUARDIAN in order to see a Lyran. At one point, she gave up and Tzintha gave her a whip to keep the rulers in line and represent her authority--a whip that paralyzed HER! Munchi solved her ruler problem by taking foci assistants--all rulers--who held the same powers she had except for voting power at teachers council meetings.

At this time, DoL ordainment procedures were rather erratic. The dreamwide teachers council inspired Munchi to establish a teachers council in DoL , comprised of foci heads, and assistants, who interviewed potential teaching candidates before and after training, as well as set teaching standards in the house. This system is still used, in modified form, in DoL today as well as in GoE.

As a guardian, Munchi was also heavily involved in diplomatic duties, friends with most rulers in the dream, and able to avert many crises. She didn't believe in house bigotry, therefore was able to discuss issues without a lot of name calling.

Among the dreamers Munchi initiated into DoL, a few stand out, two of which eventually became DoL guardians. One was Breyd, who impressed Munchi with her intelligence and aptitude while she was still a young dreamer, and Munchi frequently referred to Breyd as Little Munchette. Valourin took Breyd as a teacher apprentice as well (and he seldom mentors anyone) and at her ordainment, Munchi gave Breyd a riding crop, which Breyd still carries to this day.

Another dreamer Munchi initiated into DoL , who is still a DoL guardian, was Super Mix. The initiates used to tease Munchi because in the early hours of the morning she'd stand at the entrance practicing arts on the initiates. They dubbed this practice Morning Punishment, yet all loved it. Others Breyd initiated included Bloom, Hirogiifiq, The Striker, and Lord Omnipotus

DoL Ruler

Munchkin eventually ascended to ruler, and was heavily involved in teaching and diplomacy. She was a member of the dreamwide teaching council, established the teaching and initiation systems in DoL, and was DoL ambassador and head of diplomacy. Eventually, she and Valourin had quadruplets, naming them Jevik (for her brother), Wraith (for Val's best friend), Crysanthia (from Munchi's first teacher), and Mysteria. They also adopted Hirogiifiq, the child from hell!

While Munchkin's dream continued to shine with happiness, Valourin slunk into a fit of deep depression. He distanced himself from everything that was DoL , including his wife. Munchkin was willing to let things continue, thinking he would eventually turn back to her. But, after over a month of pulling further and further away, Valourin asked for a divorce. Munchkin loved him too much to deny his request.

The ending of her magical marriage signified the start of a downward slump for Munchkin. A week to the day after their divorce, Valourin married Aytania. He pulled further and further from DoL, finally leaving the house altogether...and DoL lost one of her greatest rulers.

With the departure of Valourin from DoL, relations between Wraith and Munchkin got worse. They were totally opposite: Wraith believed in 'chak diplomacy', while Munchkin was a pacifist, considering violence a final option, after all else failed. There were two factions in the Rulers Circle of DoL at that time: The DOVES, comprised of Munchkin, Brain, Bloom, Dr Carl G Jung; and the HAWKS, comprised of Wraith, Cyborg512, Habassa5. Dr Carl G Jung|Doc returned after a long absence, changed, and swung more to the Hawk side than the Dove. Valourin had been the glue to the Doves that held them together, and with Dr Carl G Jung's change, things got rather sticky.

I prefer not to go into too many details of those final days in DoL--some things are better left alone. Many of the house, including rulers and guardians, had brought an issue to Munchkin's attention and, when, as was her way, she took it to Wraith, he went wild, wanting to 'demote the bad seeds who dared criticize him' and, after spending three days in a cave without an emblem, threw a public tantrum in Illapse Sanctuary in front of many house members. Now, to Munchkin, this was totally unacceptable. Power plays were unacceptable, and there was no way she was going to allowed the house to be split in half. So, after a long and painful rulers meeting, she had Dr Carl G Jung demote her from DoL, in order to prevent the house members being hurt in a power struggle.

Phoenix

Those first hours after walking away from DoL were a blur. She haunted Cairn of Sorrow, and many DoL came to her, hurt and crying at her departure. Breyd appeared, and reminded her she had promised to remain in DoL only as long as Munchkin did, as she had been victimized by power plays and smear campaigns herself. Munchkin was unable to stop Breyd from leaving DoL. But, she did stop many. She hadn't left her house only to have the members she left to protect leave as well. Most of the DoL guardians came to Munchkin, many unhappy with the turn the house had taken into violence, and begging Munchkin to open a house based on the values their DoL used to represent: honor and fellowship.

Munchkin scoffed at first--her, open a house? But they were insistent, so she agreed to try. She discussed it with Breyd, and Breyd wrote the first draft of what was to become the Proposal to Open Gathering of the Entranced.

Anyone who thinks it is easy to open a house needs to think again. First you have to come up with a believable set of beliefs--and they have to be different from other beliefs in the dream. Then, you have to find a large group of people willing to follow those beliefs. Munchkin and Breyd had an additional problem: the beliefs had to be something that would be believable for two former DoL leaders, or their credibility would be in question. BUT, they had to be DIFFERENT. They weren't seeking to open a new DoL. So, they looked at the two major beliefs components. The first was illumination. Both felt the dream affected the wakened world...but....what if there was MORE? Hence, the theory of enlightenment came into being. Breyd's suggestion that they throw in an Oriental flavor with the theory of Nirvana only made enlightenment a little more different.

From there, they moved on to mare theory, which would be the key to whether the dream would accept their transition from DoL to the new house. DoL mare theory had the mares cast in the role of kidnappers, who were holding and torturing the souls of unawakened dreamers. But, suppose the translation of the ancient scrolls was in error? Suppose the mares weren't the aggressors, but the VICTIMS? Again, going back to the multi-plane theory, suppose one of the existent planes was a plane of pure evil, and souls travelling among the planes were trapped in this plane, and the harmonics of that plane transformed the souls into a creature of pure evil?

After consulting with some of their advisors, who included Valourin, Jevik Bane and others, they decided this was indeed a natural and believable theory, so they moved on to what to do with the essences. Draining was out of the question, and they couldn't use imprisonment or banishment, mare hugging wasn't a viable option. Munchi kept teasing about 'freeze-drying the mares and putting them in a coffee can'. For a while they played with the idea of stasis, but this was too close to DoL theory of imprisonment. They kept bouncing around ideas, until finally, they went back to their theory. The mares were transformed by evil, why not strip that evil away, and, how? From this, the concept of cleansing was conceived and, hopefully, we will have a cleanse mare art soon.

Long before they had their charter fine-tuned, it was discovered that there were the Three Pretenders, one of them for the house they sought to open. So, despite the fact the charter still had too many DoL overtones, they had to go forward with it. The charter was released, and the nonviolent nature of their beliefs attracted members. In a ceremony at The Bridge of Memories, Brosh was rescued from Chaos and aligned herself with Phoenix, who changed their name to The Entranced. She named the three founders, Breyd, Munchkin, and Liondra, the leaders of the group. No rulers and guardians were chosen, as they felt it would be presumptuous to declare themselves rulers of an unopened house. Their pillar system of dragons and winds was implemented, further outlining the future leaders of the new house.

The following month was long and hard, keeping the group intact and growing, settling disputes, continuing to work on the charter, and other chores. Many times Munchi would dream 48 hours straight to be available during times of crises. One particular incident really hurt Munchi. Lissa of HC had always been a close friend, and Munchi had befriended a dark mare named Gobolos, who liked to eat cookies with some of Munchi's kids. Gobolos and HC were not the best of friends, to put it mildly. Gobolos was on Evernight, and Munchi went to see her, stopping the mare from attacking HC. Lissa told Munchi if she wanted to talk to the mare, take her off Evernight, so Munchi took Gobolos to the Basin of Stars. HC followed and, in Fayd's, for the first time in Munchi's dream, HC attacked Munchi. They weren't attacking the mare, they were attacking everyone else in the room. Lissa and Munchi still haven't been able to mend their friendship which was severed as a result of Lissa's orders to attack her, and Lissa's subsequent allegations that freespirits didn't have beliefs.

On October 31 they sent Brosh back into the chaos and at midnight, Brosh returned a guardian of GoE and the house opened.

Reference http://www.geocities.ws/munchkin_UL/pages/munchkin.html