Dar Shadowpaw

Deep in the poison marshes and overgrown forests of the mostly abandoned kingdoms of Riven make the home of the nomadic Wolvine tribe know as The Unsettled. Dar Shadowpaw was born among them, the only surviving child of a litter that claimed the life of his mother; Dar started life alone. His father, a tribal elder, had little time to spend with the boy and Dar grew up very wild and rebellious. He had learned the stories from the lore keeper of how the wolvine had been some of the first and fiercest beastkith to revolt from their slavers. But he paid little attention to the tales of what that revolt cost the rest of beastkith society. Because while the pack that became The Unsettled formed, the rest of the wolvine in captivity were being culled. In response The original elders decided the Wolvine of The Unsettled would remove themselves from the world, keeping hidden by always moving; a directive that only broke once in the following 200 years With disastrous effect. Despite the teachings of history Dar felt his people needed to be proud in the world not cowering like prey. One autumn during Dar’s 11th year The Unsettled set up their Encampment near a small village, called Sweetbrush. Despite their closeness the Wolvine forest craft and minor illusions kept anyone from knowing they were there. Dar decided he would go into the village and introduce himself. Just as he was reaching the outskirts an Unsettled sentry saw him and sent him back home chastised. A couple days later Dar tried again, this time traveling another route hoping to avoid detection. But before he reached the village he was surprised by a small gnomish girl sitting on a rock. “Hi” she said, Dar instinctively tried to hide his ears and tail but she didn’t seem to care. “Do you wanna play?” Forgetting his purpose Dar went off with the girl, Astra. She introduced him to her best friends, Half-elf brother and sister Kel and Kal. For the next couple weeks they were inseparable. Dar would sneak away every afternoon after his lessons to meet his friends for their adventure. Some days they played alone and other days more children from the village joined them. Different children of different races and no one ever thought less of him for his uniqueness. This was the acceptance the elders needed to see. On one particular day as Dar was building up courage to speak with his father he found Astra in the field running toward him crying. “Dar, please help. They just fell down, I can’t… I’m too small.” Dar followed after the panicked gnome and saw two half-elven children flat on the ground staring blankly into the sky. he tried to lift them but though he was stronger than her he had no knowledge of how to balance a deadweight body. So the limp form of Kel collapsed back to the ground. Dar stood up and stated running. Astra shouted: Wait, I can't keep up" He yelled back to to stay put while he got help. He ran as fast as he could panicking, practically ferrel into the center of Sweetbrush, since it was closer than his encampment. He grabbed on to people in the street begging them for help but they saw his triangular ears, sharp claws, pointed teeth, and swishing tail and pulled away afraid and disgusted. No one would help a few pointing and saying not to follow the uncelly child lest they be cursed. so he ran back out of the village and toward the Unsettled encampment. In the woods he came across that same sentry who again tried to chastise him but Dar just grabbed him and pulled him along to where the two half elves and Astra were. Examining the children and seeing the swelling around the nostrils and discoloration of the fingertips the sentry knew they needed help greater than his knowledge would provide. He picked up Kal and helped Dar to prop Kel over his shoulders. The two carried the incapacitated and now unbreathing children to the Encampment with Astra close at their heels. The Wolvine people who saw scattered away from the presence of outsiders until the elder council made there way to the group. The sentry explained that the children had been paralyzed and poisoned most likely by a myconid spore. The tribal Medicinewoman stepped forward and with a few waves of her hands the two half-elves were breathing and awake. Before anything else could be said Astra, Kel and Kal fell into a deep sleep as the tribal Mystic came to the fore. "What have you done, young shadowpaw. you expose us all and endanger the very nature of your pack." the Sentry was sent to return the children to the woods near the village and another to determine the effect of the breach.The tribal mystic used a large portion of his power for the year to erase the memories of the people of Sweetbrush of the wolvine boy running through the street, the memories of the children could not be erased since they had been woven deeper by this time. The entire Tribe pulled up roots and moved well before the end of the season and before being prepared, to prevent any other incidents. the council called Dar to answer for his actions and despite seeing the fear and lothing on the faces of the villagers he made his case that his friends had accepted him with no judgment and that if the tribe were to give people a chance they could rejoin society free of fear and filled with pride. The council too stuck in their own beliefs, dismissed the acceptance of children as nievite. They condemned Dar saying: You have endangered the whole pack, the whole tribe. WE had to give up this fantastic hunting ground far before season to keep you away from your friends and your friends away from us. it is unacceptable. you are unacceptable." they wanted to remove all traces of Dar's Wolvine nature and banish him, Docking his ears and amputating his tail since he had proven incapable of being prudent. But his father offered another solution. He would take his son to the Fortress of the Ways, the revered and secretive Beastkith Monastery that allowed no one entrance but Monk or initiate. There he would leave his son to be taught Discipline and self control. He convinced the Council the secretive monks would not betray their existence and would make a proper wolvine out of the boy. And so it was that Dar was brought to the Fortress of the ways where he studied for years. His most valuable master among the many was the master of Shadows. A Pooka named Brother Fuz. Dar thought this small bunny man would be easy prey at first until he learned, or rather was forced to learn, that he could neither see nor touch Fuz unless it was master's will he do so. He learned to meditate and calm his thoughts from a Babarian called Sister Patina. Of corse in the beginning being meditative meant patina sitting on him to keep him still. He studied balance with A Flattail who seemed to like nothing more than knocking him over, always saying: "Balance does not come from standing it comes from not falling down". And his martial combat was handled by all of them led by a Kitsune named Samayana. The training was grueling and Dar often crawled into bed and cried himself to sleep. But over time he learned discipline and more importantly he learned the power of a secret. That a secret was a tool a weapon that if used tactically could turn a battle to your favor. This is the lesson he needed to learn but not for the reason intended. His father and the council had wanted him to learn that secrets must be kept but he had learned that secrets if kept are worthless, if they were to have value they needed to be exposed at the moments that provide the greatest advantage. ON what would be his final day at the monestary Dar spoke to Fuz about this. Fearing Fuz would disapprove Dar hesitantly told him he still wanted the world to know the secret of the Wolvine so they could stop hiding and take the dignity they were denying themselves. Fuz asked: "Is this Pride talking, the young boy you were would have said pride was important". Dar said it wasn't pride it was generosity. He said he saw greatness and strife for his people both along this path but it was a path given not one taken away as was by this forced exile. it was then that for the first time ever Dar caught Fuz by surprise into a take down. Fuz looked at his pupil and said: "your training is complete. you know the power of secrets now and you know how to wield them. Go, rejoin your people, Stay and serve the Way or find another course. You are ready, your path is your own secret to carry." Later that night Dar made his goodbyes and left the fortress of the Way. He thought hard about how he would proceed. Would he return to the tribe, go back to Sweetbrush and see Astra and the twins, or would he head out into the world. He decided that if not he then no-one was going to change the fortunes of the Wolvine but he could not expose them without preparing the world. Instead he would travel from Riven to other kingdoms, nations, provinces... where he would be an ambassador of beastkith and Wolvine through his deeds. And once they saw what wolvine were like he could bring the Pack out of Hiding. He made his way to the Ports of Riven in the city of Northald where he boarded a ship called the Flying Dutchment on route to Thawl-Anon in Inita...