Rayne Shepherd

Rayne is the protagonist of the story World of Rayne. As the title might suggest, the story centers around one of the many fantastic worlds Rayne has developed. In her journey through her own story, Rayne comes to terms with the actions she has taken as a writer and comes to learn more about herself as well as the story as it weaves itself around her plot holes.

Rayne has been in development since 2008 and is the most similar character to Kinsara. She still possesses many of the qualities she was created embodying; a frustration with the mundane, a feeling of being trapped in reality, especially under the foot of an oppressive parent, and above all a heavy sense of escapism.

Biography

Rayne was born and raised in Olympia, Washington. Her father and mother, Travis and Yasmin, met when Travis was working as an editor and fell in love with Yasmin's works of fiction. He decided to quit his job and become a writer, thereafter seeking out Yasmin's advice. The two became fast friends and were eventually married. Yasmin, unfortunately, passed away very shortly after Rayne's birth, leaving Travis to raiser her on his own. His novels couldn't bring in enough money to support the two, so Travis was forced to find editing work again. In the beginning of Rayne's story, her relationship with her father is very strained because Rayne wants to become a writer, but Travis is afraid of her ending up in the same situation as him, and tries to forbid it. For many years he has made attempts to quash her love of fantasy and literature.

Rayne has had depression since she was very young, something which her father did very little about, partially because of Rayne's own stubbornness. Starting in junior high Rayne began developing social anxiety, and the two disorders combined led her to intermittent bouts of anorexia. In high school, Rayne's sole friend and confidant was Zhang Tiantian (张天天), who also lived in an oppressive household while harboring a love for fantasy, and the two were extremely close. Just before their senior year and college applications, however, Tiantian cracked under the weight of stress and anxiety and took her own life. World of Rayne begins two months after this traumatizing event.

In Fire the Canons, Rayne was one of the first four characters to be introduced to the apartment building. She originally shared a room with Adi, and the comic often focused around the shenanigans involving their interactions with Changeling and Reuben upstairs. At the time, Changeling was mostly a simple stalker and assassin in World of Rayne, and in FtC he developed a sort of awkward crush on Rayne. Over a period of about three years this grew into mutual affection as WoR and Changeling's character were both developed. Eventually, in early 2013, Rayne and Changeling became an official couple, and shortly after their romance was worked into World of Rayne as well. The two were married on October 31, 2013.

Appearance

In World of Rayne, Rayne is extremely thin and sickly-looking due to her anorexia. Her hair, which breaks easily, is constantly trimmed to keep it manageable, leaving her with jagged layers of bangs and thin, collar-length hair which she usually keeps in twin braids.

In Fire the Canons, after a few years Rayne chopped her hair short and wore it in a pixie cut for about a year before growing it back again into a more healthy-looking version of her previous cut. She is slowly recovering from her anorexia but still struggles with it from time to time.

Rayne is half-Turkish from her mother's side, and inherited Yasmin's large nose and wide cheekbones. From her father she inherited thick eyebrows and a cleft chin, which paired with her extremely flat chest leaves her with an altogether somewhat masculine visage, of which she is very self-conscious.