Profile
Filonyn Colodan
Overview
Filonyn is my player character in Monster of the Week. They have lived in Newhaven, the setting of the game, for as long as it has existed - although from their perspective, they’ve only recently gotten settled in there. Filonyn is around 1200 years old and so long as nothing kills them, they will continue living indefinitely, so periods of time that are vast to humans mean very little to them.
Filonyn is working alongside the Monster of the Week party largely because they feel obligated to do so. The coming apocalypse which the group is attempting to prevent would be particularly devastating for the fae, so for their own sake it is necessary to stop it. Furthermore, and more significantly to their thought process, it would be unforgivably rude for Filonyn to simply leave, as they are already involved.
For their entire life, they have worked as a dye-maker, weaver, and seamster, so they are very good at it. As a result of industrialization, their market is now mostly restricted to historic reconstruction hobbyists, as handmade textiles and clothing are not affordable to most people and they lack the social media presence needed to attract celebrity clients.
Personality
Filonyn is quiet and reserved, particularly around individuals they do not have any sort of arrangement with. They tend to bottle up emotions and mainly confide in private journals instead of actual friends - they do not really have any close friends any longer, anyway, as a result of a prolonged and nasty falling-out with their former best friend which has been unfolding for the last four or five hundred years. Largely as a result of this catastrophe, they are unwilling to trust their fellow fae enough to open up to them, but humans are not an adequate alternative given their tendency to die of old age within what is, from Filonyn’s perspective, a very short period of time. Unwilling to spend all their time grieving, Filonyn simply does their best to avoid getting emotionally attached to anyone who isn’t also immortal.
Even compared to most fae, Filonyn is extremely prone to boredom. This is why they are living among humans in the first place - having become bored of fae court life within less than 200 years, they felt that perhaps it would be more interesting to live in human society since it changes so rapidly and frequently. This gambit was not successful, as they swiftly became bored with human affairs as well, but since they were not about to go back to the fae court, they remained living among humans. Having seen history repeat itself many times and having seen neither humans, fae, nor demons really get anywhere in the past 1200 years, Filonyn has decided that no one has much agency and that they, along with everyone else, are simply being pushed around by circumstance. They’ve definitely got depression, but it is undiagnosed because they do not recognize that anything is wrong and also because it’s not like they can just go to a human therapist.
Despite being very introverted, unwilling to form a real friendship with anybody, and prone to sensory overload, Filonyn attends parties and other social functions very frequently. This is because they feel obligated to do so - it is considered a serious insult among fae to reject an invitation. This attitude extends to basically every area of their life, and is almost entirely the reason they are involved in monster hunting right now despite being the sort of entity usually targeted by such operations. They got dragged into it, and it would now be grievously rude to leave. They now participate in all jobs and social events scheduled by the monster hunting party, as well, despite refusing payment for the hunting jobs for fear of becoming indebted to anyone.
If left to their own devices and not invited to do anything, Filonyn is a bit of a recluse. They stay home and spend nearly all their time weaving and sewing, go out during the day only to sell their textiles and clothing at local craft festivals and Renaissance Faires, and do all their grocery shopping in the middle of the night. Their internet presence is minimal, consisting of an Etsy account and an account on an old sewing forum that was fairly active during the 1990s but is now only frequented by them and a few elderly people. Their house, located in an area that was once the woods a few miles outside of the town but is now part of the suburbs, is surrounded by a massive brick privacy fence that hides their home and garden from the neighbors’ view. After becoming involved with monster hunting, they put up a significant quantity of magical wards around the house, as well. Few of their neighbors have even seen them, and as such they are the topic of quite a bit of speculation.
Etiquette is very important to Filonyn, as is typical with fae, although their ideas about etiquette do not necessarily line up with the average human’s. Living among mortals means that they must suffer many indignities in silence because humans simply do not consider the behavior rude and so they’d draw suspicion if they made a huge deal about it. Because of this and because of their rocky relationship with many of the other local fae, they are holding onto a massive amount of spite and will take any opportunity they can to be passive-aggressive without being outright rude. The journal entries they write, which do not need to be polite by virtue of not being public, are often downright cruel.
Story
Filonyn came into existence sometime around 800 AD, in the Carolingian Empire. If asked, they will say that their country of origin is the Roman Empire, for that is what everyone was calling it back then and they are unaware that no one calls it that anymore. They have spent most of their life wandering around Europe, settling down in one place only for periods of time roughly equivalent to a human’s lifetime due to the frequent necessity of moving in order to avoid various conflicts. For a while, they were very successful selling clothing to the nobility and royalty of various kingdoms, particularly since at the time there were no regulations about revealing one’s presence to mortals and so they could leverage being fae in business dealings when they felt it was safe to do so.
Their former best friend Myantha is around their age, and they have known each other since their youth. They were quite close until the 1600s, when Myantha decided that humanity was not worthy of respect or consideration. This was not something Filonyn initially considered their problem, but since Myantha felt betrayed by their continued association with humans and began targeting their mortal acquaintances, it became their problem and led to the near-total deterioration of their relationship. Unfortunately for both of them, it is considered unforgivably rude in fae circles to cut off another fae, particularly one who you have known for a long time, and neither of them is willing to accept the social consequences of doing so. As a result, they still interact frequently, and must keep up at least a thin veneer of civility when doing so. It is terribly awkward and miserable for all involved.
Filonyn moved to Newhaven, a town created with the explicit purpose of allowing monsters to live in peace so long as they did not attack people or intentionally make their presence known, as soon as it was founded. They have now been there for about 100 years, and have managed to stay out of trouble for the entire time, at least until recently.
In the past several weeks, they have become involved with a group of monster hunters and now feel obligated to continue being involved. On their first hunting trip, they got stabbed with a cold iron spear, which could have killed them - after that, they have been more cautious and avoided such severe injuries. The same cannot be said for the rest of the party. Filonyn mainly contributes magical support and assistance with negotiations, because even though they are fully capable of holding their own in a fight, they really prefer not to after what happened on the first hunt. Currently, the party is attempting to prevent the apocalypse and taking side jobs when it seems there is nothing helpful they can do about it. Since multiple party members are infamous among the local fae for a variety of reasons, Filonyn is very concerned about the effect this whole affair could have on their reputation.
Trivia
- Filonyn's large veiled hats are dual purpose - they hide their face and protect their eyes from bright light.
- Filonyn will speak for hours about textiles if you bring up the subject.
- Filonyn has a pet tarantula named Scarlet. The current tarantula is technically Scarlet IV.
- Filonyn's relatively benevolent attitude towards mortals causes other fae to view them much like how humans tend to view really outspoken vegans.
- Filonyn still has nearly all of their old clothing going back to their youth. They're a bit of a hoarder.
Playlists
Relationships
Myantha Wren
Ex-friend
Myantha and Filonyn were best friends for hundreds of years before a prolonged falling-out over their differing attitudes towards humans. They still hang out even though they hate each other, because they don't want to deal with the social consequences of cutting each other off. They frequently have tea parties with other mutual friends that invariably devolve into bitter, passive-aggressive arguments.
Kimdyn
Friendly acquaintance
Kimdyn is probably the closest thing Filonyn has to an actual friend, considering they hang out often and are on good terms, but they are both so bad at expressing genuine emotion that despite that, they barely know each other. Kimdyn throws wild parties which Filonyn does not like, but he is a rare fae who is chill enough not to mind if they don't always attend.
Scarlet IV
Pet
Scarlet is a tarantula, and as such, is incapable of a caring relationship. This is exactly why Filonyn got a pet tarantula in the first place - they wanted something to care for to keep them grounded, but did not want something that would be affectionate, because they worried they could become too attached to an affectionate pet. As her name suggests, Scarlet is the fourth tarantula Filonyn has had (all named Scarlet).
Hunting Party
Associates
The hunting party consists of, from left to right, Irene, Nate, Marie, Filonyn, Francis, and Sebastian. The dog is Nate's pet, Princess Monster Truck. Together, they have done several hunting jobs. Although some party members have already befriended each other, Filonyn doesn't make friends so quickly - they are mostly on good terms with everyone except Francis, who they are angry at for lying to them, though.
