Summary

Pavati is a half-spirit creature who can materialize into human form for a time. She has the ability to shapeshift into various creatures to keep herself safe from danger.

The origin of Pavati is unknown, and as she's a spirit - she has no age. Pavati is a ghostly, ethereal forest creature.

Personality

Emotional
She tends to embrace her positive and negative emotions fully, she's full of excitement. But it's all too easy to switch between happy and angry very quickly. She can get rather carried away.

Mistrustful
She is wary of all things and people - in her original form, she's often hunted for, therefore in her human form, she does not take any chances. She's wild and successfully taming her requires a special set of abilities and personality.

Curious
At the same time, she's extremely curious and interested in the new and different. Whatever it is, if she hasn't experienced it before, she'll want to give it a try.

Direct
She finds it hard to resist urges and impulses. In fact, when she really wants something it's hard for her to keep her desire in check. It's all too easy to sacrifice a lot for instant gratification.

Spontaneous
She tends to be pretty full of energy and love the thrill of new adventures. But that energy isn't always completely constructive. Her spontaneity and impulsiveness might mean that it's sometimes all too easy to lower her guard for the promise of a good time.

Nature lover
She's one with nature, she was born from wilderness. She will protect it at all cost and will not be remotely interested in interactions with those who seem uninterested with its magic.

 Ideals

Change. Life is like the seasons, in constant change, and we must change with it.

Nature. The natural world is more important than all the constructs of civilization.

Free Thinking. Inquiry and curiosity are the pillars of progress.

 Bonds

I'm fascinated by the beauty and wonder of my homeland.

I will bring terrible wrath down on the evildoers who destroyed my homeland.

Should my discovery come to light, it could bring ruin to the world.

 Flaws

Don't expect me to save those who can't save themselves. It is nature's way that the strong thrive and the weak perish.

I am slow to trust members of other races.

There's no room for caution in a life lived to the fullest.

I'm moody, recklessly impulsive, and possessive. I'm emotionally fragile.

Now that I've returned to the world, I enjoy its delights a little too much.

Important notes

Do

• draw her with Takiri ♥
• experiment with her clothing and accessories; the only requirement is that they should fit tribal aesthetics and stay within her color palette
• experiment with her hair; braid it or add feathers and beads
• experiment with her body and face paint patterns, but please keep it the same colors as one on the reference sheet
• 
  

Don't

• ship her with other characters; she's destined to be with Takiri
• change her body type and skin colour - she's pale and gray-ish.
• remove the tattoo from her back.

Favorite things

• DAWNS / DUSKS
• UNDIVIDED ATTENTION from Takiri
• WATER: she will be often found around some water, like streams, lakes and waterfalls...

Story

Origin

The Creation of Pavati - legends
She exists in many legends passed about her over the years.

Common element that links all of them mentions that she’s been born from a morning dew drop – right as the moon started to disappear on the horizon at dawn. Born from a water element, she’s often associated with it, and serves especially well as a warning from going into deep, unknown bodies of water in the dark, as well as in the dusk or dawns.

In these stories she will claim any form to be able to lure you into the depths. Her charm is hypnotizing. She will keep you charmed until it’s too late to get back to the surface, and you will drown.  There are versions of this legend that claim she harvests the drowned human souls to sacrifice them to a Great Spirit, who’s therefore also been responsible for her creation. This is a version used commonly by parents to keep their children from wandering too far into the water by themselves. The legend passed between adults, however, involves Pavati luring especially men to her deadly underwater grip. In those, she uses her human female form to charm and attract them, where the similar process begins. In all those, Pavati once again simply fulfills her deadly deed.

In another very common tale, it is said that she's so beautiful that when men see her in the woods at night, they follow her, charmed, into the dense fog that spreads around her. They cannot find their way out and after wandering around for hours, they slowly start losing their minds. No one knows what exactly she does to them in the fog. If there is water nearby, they'll most likely be found drowned even before dawn. If they're found alive, they seem to have gone insane and within a few days they'll be found near the closest body of water, dead, just like all the other ones.

Spirit

Pavati is a much feared and often adored spirit. Fog, change and seduction are crucial elements her spirit is associated with and most would describe her as possessive and predatory.
She's depicted either as humanoid being, or as a hybrid of a deer and a fox. Her shrine, hidden deep in the mountain forests, links her with the human world.

She changes into a human form to seduce lost travellers. She never kills them, but the intense encounters with her make them lose their minds to varying degrees. Still, their stories of encountering Pavati are then usually dismissed, blamed on their insanity or simply an influence of tribe's old legends.

Trivia

• Her name, Pavati, means "Clear Water" in Hopi language.
• In her original form, Pavati is a timid forest spirit - ghostly, ethereal creature resembling a mix of canine and cervine species.
• She is immortal - she can't die from old age but she can be hurt and pass away if her wounds are too severe.
• For reasons, she can only change into a specific form for a night - or day.
• Usually she's highly harmless. Preferably hiding and running away from danger. If given no choice, she might kill the aggressor.
  She's known to local tribe members as a creature from legends and stories. Typically, no one comes out of meeting her with a straight mind (if alive). However, she treats one man differently - a shaman from Manyárani tribe, Takiri.

Skills

• She's very skilled in seduction ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
• She can change into human or any forest creature for limited amount of time.
• When directly threatened while in her original form, she'll flow through the enemy, taking the life straight from their heart

Appearance & Design Notes

• Her eyes have no pupils. The hair are behaving like a mist or cloud, they are very long and glowy.
• Her hair glows and is floating around like a mist. It can be tamed to a hairstyle, so feel free to experiment with that!
• She wears little to no clothing; if she does, it's similar to what she's seen on humans from local tribes..
• The symbol on her body means give me your heart. 
• Her original, feral form

Palette

Playlist

Relationships

Takiri

Soulmate, lover, destiny Takiri was born into the Manyárani tribe and grew up manifesting extraordinary shamanic skills. This path eventually led him to encounter Pavati, who tried to seduce him as any other lost traveller, but something stopped her in her tracks. From that moment their relationship grows stronger every night - would Pavati abandon her spirit form to be with him forever?