Born and raised in Clement, Boa was always a quiet but intelligent child who learnt how to stay out of trouble and who to make trusted friends with. She grew to become a seamstress and made beautiful garments as she also learnt the subtle ways of pulling other kinds of strings.
Najé was born into the family business, Lanta's Plantains. As a lively child, she quickly learnt to hold her head high and not stand for any nonsense when other children poked fun at her because of her family's faith. After her frail old mother passed away from an incurable age-related disease, Najé Lanta became the leader of The Black Plantain, a lesser known religion followed only by her family, who worshipped a macaw god that watched over their plantations.
With rising threats from the Melopian Commonwealth pushing towards Anvil, Fort Endié had its prisoners relocated before the guards were ordered to the coast for to offer support and receive further military training.
Najé Lanta first met Boa when she brought her plantains to trade in Clement. Boa was surrounded in beautiful fabrics and garments and beckoned her over to the market stall. They had an instant connection and Boa left Najé with a colourful headscarf. It took little convincing for Najé to make numerous return trips and before long Najé Lanta (age 21) and Boa (age 23) were married. Boa took her trade on the road and teamed up in business ventures with Najé as they travelled through the region.
While dropping off supplies to a small farming village, Najé and Boa Lanta learnt that the community was struggling to raise a newborn child called Natten. They had managed to raise them for a year but were concerned for their health and wellbeing. Natten's father died to Orubian soldiers before they were born and, tragically, Natten's mother died of grief not long after childbirth. Najé and Boa offered to adopt the child as their own and returned to Boa's family homestead in Clement where they could stay put for a while and make sure Natten would grow healthy and strong and have friends.
Mt. Darvus has had infrequent rumbles since the First Age but on Thirday 10th Fireturn 510 2A it began to vent and a slow plume of smoke rose from its peak. Being the nearest settlements on either side of The Great Stubs, Clement and Sunja evacuated. However after a month of steady activity and no change, the majority of folks cautiously returned as the volcano seemed to be in a stable condition. This continued for 4 years and the plume predominantly blew towards the direction of Belu and Kondura. During this time many more folks came to visit the area in awe of the natural phenomenon. In the third year of venting, Najé and Boa Lanta left with their child Natten (now 9 years old) to resume their business and trade on the road and Natten was excited to see new places outside of Clement.
On the night of the eruption, the ominous black plume rose with a geyser of red death from miles around. More shockingly though was the bright green and purple arcane lightning that stormed through the smoke for five days. The eruption and lava flows wiped out many nearby farmholds and settlements, including Clement, and caused folks to flee with nothing but their families to the safety of the Nurbotu Scar. These survivors eventually made a new home for themselves there and are slowly making a new life as the Nurbotu Scarfolk. Scholars all across Anvil are investigating the volcano and surrounding area to prove (or disprove) theories that the start of this eruption is what caused the rifts to other realms to start appearing all across Melior.
The Rupture, often referred to as The Apocalypse, took place across the entire world of Melior on Thirday, 10th of Darkfall 514 2A. It was a catastrophic and unforeseen event that wrought havoc upon the world, plunging it into complete and utter chaos on an unfathomable scale. Countless numbers of rifts to unknown realms and planes of existence tore open the very atmosphere with devastating force. The shock waves and ground tremors leveled villages and crumbled structures for miles around causing millions of casualties across the globe. The damage caused by the Rifts was only the beginning. Through the rifts came new kinds of folks and creatures, some friendly, others hostile. They brought with them powerful magic - something the world of Melior had never seen the likes of before.
The eruption of Mt. Darvus wiped out many nearby settlements and farmholds, causing folks to flee with nothing but their families to the safety of the Nurbotu scar. Clement was hit the hardest and the few folks that ventured back returned to find their town almost completely destroyed - buildings crumbled, everything covered in a thick blanket of suffocating grey ash. The high street, once a bustling place of trade and commerce, now repaved in a steaming black road of putrid lava.
The first of the folks who fled from Clement and other nearby settlements and farmsteads arrive at the Nurbotu Scar, a sheltered crevasse with a small stream of flowing water that eventually leads to larger tributaries connecting to the river on which the capital city of Day resides. The youngest and most able bodied folks arrived first and set up camps and places to wash off the ash and clean their injuries. Many folks remained to look out for the rest of their community and family members to arrive, whilst runners continued forwards on to the capital city to seek aid. Najé Lanta, Boa, and Natten joined with their carts and horses to help evacuate folk who were unable to walk and brought them to safety.
After days of gruelling travel trying to carry what little posessions they could rescue, the majority of remaining survivors from Clement and other nearby farmsteads and towns have made it to the safety of the Nurbotu Scar where they are welcomed by folks who've set up camp there. Many are too tired or injured to continue onwards.
The folks who continued onwards from the Nurbotu Scar towards Day, the capital of Somar, were turned away at the gates among hundreds of other folks seeking shelter in the walls of the city. With the ongoing invasions of strange new magic-weilding folks and creatures, and their own dead and critically wounded to care for, there was simply no room nor help available because of the destruction caused by The Rupture. Word spread about the camps set up at the Nurbotu Scar and more folk returned to it than had left.
On a return journey back to the Nurbotu Scar, Najé Lanta (age 32) was attacked by a rifthound. She fought bravely with her sharpened farm tools and managed to tear through the beast with a wine-red sickle - but not without sacrifice. Najé was gravely injured, her arm had been savagely mauled to the bone by the beast and her leg lay limp. By pure luck, one of the Nurbotu Scarfolk out on patrol heard the screams and tied off her arm before bringing her battered body back to the healers. Najé’s arm was so mangled the healers could do nothing for her and the bacterial venom from the rifthound’s fangs had already started a rapid onset of necrosis. They decided to amputate. The healers closed the wound and helped align the broken bones in her leg. She would walk again in half a year, but not without revenge. Chair-bound, Najé lead a team of scouts and hunters to end the threat to the Scarfolk once and for all. They tracked the giant paw prints back to a den, where the hunters were able to lure away and put down another rifthound whilst the rest of the hunters trapped and caged a litter of newborn pups. Najé insisted that the hunters keep the pups to try and raise them, as taming any riftbeing had never been done before. The plan was successful and the Nurbotu scarfolk now had a pack of rifthounds under their control to defend their people from predators of all kinds. In celebration, Najé was named The Alpha for her dominance over death itself. She is looked up to as a hero of the scarfolk and now oversees the raising of rifthounds and their training. As part of her new-found calling as The Alpha, she leads patrols with a team of three - each controlling a leashed rifthound in their routine around the boundaries.
The riftguard of the Nurbotu Scarfolk was formed thanks to The Alpha - Najé Lanta. She became the founder of the guards after acting on an opportunity to trap and train a litter of rifthound pups. After many grueling months of discipline, her team of rangers was successful in controlling the beasts and are now the first folks in Melior to have their own tamed rifthounds at their beck and call.
With their new rifthounds on leash, the Riftguard set up a base of operations in the abandoned Fort Endié. The remote location of the fort makes it ideal as it does not intrude upon the local space or hunting grounds of the Nurbotu Scarfolk, and the deafening howling of the rifthound pups in the night does not disturb the locals from this far away. The training yards have been refitted with obstacle courses and straw mannequins for both trainers and their hounds alike to learn commands, behaviours, and manoeuvres ready for their nightly patrols and new-found life as ultra guard dogs.
As word spreads that the capital is closed and there's a safe haven among the Nurbotu Scarfolk, more folks arrive with their livelihoods on their backs. The Nurbotu Scar is becoming dense and more crowded every month that passes. With only nature's walls to protect them, they will soon run out of space to construct their makeshift homes.
With a growing population and a limited living space, members of Riftguard branced to form an approachable community guard (without the intimidating rifthounds) called The Nurbotu Guardians in order to help keep the peace among the Scarfolk and also help out with construction and repairs. People come to the Guardians for advice and help with what to do, or how to handle disputes.
To solve the crowding issue of the Nurbotu Scar, The Nurbotu Guardians travelled to an old and crumbled ruin of a fort that resides halfway between the Nurbotu Scar and the capital city. Over the next six months they cleared and rebuilt the fort into a safe enough state to live in and repaired the outer walls to be defensible. Volunteers with strength and skill helped to repurpose the rubble into new buildings and homes as the rest of the Scarfolk started to move into these new homes.
The capital city of Day fully re-opens the gates but requires proof of residence within the city in order to use many services including medical care and education. The majority of folks who previously resided in the capital were unable to escape with their documents, and for others their possessions were lost either in the chaos of The Rupture or in the eruption of Mt. Darvus.
After being pushed away time and time again from the capital, the Nurbotu Scarfolk incentivise folks to move from the old campsite into the safe walls of the newly restored Guardian’s Nest. The certificates created a further sense of belonging and pride in their community as the fort quickly expanded to accommodate more newly built houses and structures, and even an outer wall to protect the new builds.
Guardian's Nest, previously a crumbled old fortress, is now a thriving village with a diverse population of different folk kinds. Many newcomers from other planes of existence beyond the rifts were denied residency in the capital city of Day, but were warmly welcomed at Guardian’s Nest if they helped out in the community. Very few people remained at the original camping grounds at the Nurbotu Scar, but some folk chose to stay there.
As Guardian’s Nest grew from a fort, to a village, and into a sprawling and lively town with supporting farms and roads - it was finally added to local and regional maps. Trade flowed through from the capital and up to the town where they could barter and sell local produce for what they needed to thrive.
Natten Lanta, now 32 years old, is elected as the mayor of Guardian's Nest. In their first speech as mayor, they share a vision of prosperity for the growing town and wish to welcome folks from all realms and walks of life to learn from each other and develop the first magic-centric city of Somar. In their first point of order they officially opened the Guardian's School of Magic, which is open to all ages and teaches folks how to learn, use, and practise their newfound magics safely in many different fields of practicality.
