Noble Wolf
Noble Wolf of the Shimmering Lagoon
Imagine a life in a place where everything is simple. It’s generally peaceful, everyone knows their place and everyone is content. And from the day you’re born until the day you die, you know your place in this world. And that’s just how it is. But for one stonekind whisper, born to be a laborer, this sounded like a terrible deal.
That whisper was a young male once known by the name of Proud Grey of the Black Oak – a seemingly average stonekind, who was named for not only the color of his skin, but also for his demeanor. Proud but not arrogant, brave but not foolish, his sharp wit and dull humor certainly made him stand out from the crowd of his fellows he’d known so well.
It wasn’t long before he grew tired of the monotony of his place in this society. It was uncommon for a stonekind to be so intellectual, and at the time he himself viewed it as a curse. Nobody understood quite why he felt so misplaced, and honestly, he didn’t either. Nor could he understand the general complacency of the rest of his kind. Did they not care for what happened around them? Did they not long for a life that wasn’t their own? And if they didn’t, why did he?
Some believed that he was born with the soul of a mindkind, but there was no way to be sure. It was only natural that he got caught up in his own mind; and eventually resolved to study all that he desired to know. By the age of twenty, he’d already started to observe his surroundings. He also managed to get his hands on foreign books that spoke of foreign lands. The more he learned, the more he wanted to know. He continued to acquire the knowledge he craved, and continued to work in his society. One day, he thought, one day he’d experience the world.
All of the discoveries he made gave him hope and resolve. He’d show the world what a stonekind could do, he just knew it. He practiced fighting with sticks, practiced archery with bows of his own crafting, and learned how to use his flight abilities in a combat situation. He was already well-built from all of the physical labor he’d done, which certainly helped. Some knew of this, and some of those who knew thought it was an interesting endeavor. Others just didn’t understand, or thought he was simply being childish.
But, over the years, he learned more about his world’s history as well as its present. A lot of what he read of the cultures of other societies were interesting and sounded preferable to the caste system he’d found himself trapped in – but some sounded so much worse. Slavery, totalitarian governments, brutal wars, hate crimes, racism, other discrimination, torture… He soon realized the error of his naïve optimism. The world wasn’t a fantastical realm full of magic and wonder; at least, not in the way he’d once believed. He was certainly right to have taught himself combat – in a world this unforgiving, there would likely be those who’d desire to end him based only on his race.
He’d managed to withdraw from the lifestyle he’d been leading. No more did he work for his people, nor did he really associate with them – always having his nose buried in a book in the home he’d built deep within the tropics where he could be alone with his studies. He learned about the societies and cultures of all the world’s peoples, and figured out how they ticked. He memorized all of the customs, all the ways to behave around certain cultures.
One day, when he was around the age of thirty, some stonekind he occasionally associated with visited him in his cottage. They informed him of adventurers that had been spotted. Naturally he was interested in these adventurers, and flew out to see them. He was met with two humans, an aeondra and a cura. They seemed leery at first, but he managed to introduce himself well enough for them to be receptive.
He learned that they were paladins of the order of Oriah, divine of wealth. They adventured in her name, accumulating wealth and striking down her foes. Seeing the chance to be taken under the wing of warriors and taken on adventures, he expressed interest. After a lengthy discussion, he was able to convince them he was worth taking along with them. That day was the last time he’d seen the islands of his origin.
As it turned out, they’d traveled to the Erewa Isles to track down a paladin that had betrayed their order, but apparently he’d managed to get himself killed on the way there, so it saved them a lot of work. They apparently wanted to explore some lost ruins that other members of their order had discovered – crawling with monsters and filled to the brim with treasure. But, if they were going to bring him, he’d need to suit up.
And so they briefly stopped in Ekiato, made their way through to Saioshi and eventually to Juventius. Where better to get the gear they needed than the trade capital of the world? They got him suited up with fine enough light armor, got him a decent quality shortsword, and soon headed off.
That was merely the beginning of his adventures, however, as he joined his Paladin crew wherever they went. They found that he proved useful once he’d gotten into the swing of things, and especially proved to be a very useful scout due to his ability to fly. No more than a year into their travels, they swore him into their order, and from then on he lived by the tenets of Oriah.
He enjoyed not only the thrill of exploring strange new places and encountering strange new creatures, but also the excitement that came with the risks of exploring monster-infested dungeons. Though he at first felt some remorse in killing such creatures, he soon grew to be satisfied by the feeling of mowing down hordes of wild beasts. He enjoyed his time with his companions, and learned of the magics and fighting styles associated, but only grew particularly close to the aeondra, Aearemae.
It had come to their attention that there was betrayal in their ranks – one of the five had been misleading them, and had duped them into breaking several of Oriah’s tenets for his own desires. To Aearemae there was only one solution to this: purification. He knew full well that Grey wasn’t responsible or involved. And thus, the two of them ended the lives of the three companions they had been traveling with for the past few years.
It was something he had trouble processing for a time. He didn’t feel guilty, he just felt… strange. Logically, it made some sense. It was like the permanent removal of anything one was used to, of course he’d be left with a strange sense of emptiness. They were also kind of like friends to him, but one of the people he’d grown to trust had actively and maliciously deceived them. He continued to stew on that thought as they summoned Oriah, telling them of the betrayal and subsequent purification.
It seemed that she admired their dedication to her order and rules, and told them to continue becoming stronger – they seemed like the types she could rely on in future. So, from there, Aearemae and Grey collected all of the goods and coin their now-dead companions possessed, and used it to invest in some much higher quality equipment. Aearemae had custom suits made for the two of them; heavy plate for himself, and a much lighter set for Grey. They were finely crafted, unique, and clearly represented their order. Their weapons, too, were crafted to their liking.
Aeremae wanted Grey to rebrand himself, to become someone he could present to the world as a name to be feared and admired. So they both got tattoos representing themselves and their order, and the whisper once known as Proud Grey of the Black Oak was now to be known as Noble Wolf of the Shimmering Lagoon; which was where the two had ended up calling home. They designed and built a house, and it was there that they stored all of their earnings from their adventures.
They did indeed end up being fairly trusted to do important tasks in the name of Oriah, but one day, tragedy struck. They managed to take down someone who was bad business, but at the cost of Aeremae nearly dying. Thankfully, he was saved by Wolf’s quick thinking, but his injuries were so severe that he wouldn’t be able to do combat for a very long time – perhaps even forever. To him it was a pyrrhic victory, and a nice early retirement – but to Wolf it was something more.
By this point in his life, he’d managed to separate feelings from reason. He was pragmatic and practical, a swindler and a backstabber. He was able to deceive people into trusting him, and then perhaps make good on that trust if they were worth it – but would otherwise be willing to watch them die. Though Aeremae was now nothing but dead weight, he knew that he’d grown too attached to cut him off. And so, to resolve his emotion with his reason, he chose to continue his adventures and quests; and continue to strive toward a future of luxury and extravagance with his lifelong companion.
And so, at age 37, Noble Wolf of the Shimmering Lagoon is a force to be reckoned with and one with a silver tongue, at that. Logical, selfish and sly, he’s the kind of person you want on your side, but not one you want to disappoint too often. With the deaths of many an enemy of Oriah under his belt, the desire to live life to the fullest in his heart, and the goal of living a life of extravagant luxury clear in his mind, Wolf continues his adventures and refuses to let anything stand in his way.
But, as he’d returned home from a recent adventure to check up on his companion, he received a message. Yet another fool had become particularly bad for business in the eyes of Oriah. This fool was known to live in Bakieh, on the continent of Victelus; a place Wolf had yet to visit in all his travels. He packed up, suited up, and got ready to head off. It was time for another adventure.
Mental characteristics
Gender Identity
Male
Sexuality
Ambiguous
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