Damparo

Damparo, champion of the Moon, guardian of the Valley, keeper of the Garden, is known in the whole world as the hero who ended the second era, killing the archdemon ruling over Nys.
Thanks to the blessing of the Goddess he obtained during his journey before the fated fight, he is now a demigod.
At first, scholars and priestesses from the Church asked him questions about the second era, since he is the most accessible source of knowledge about it, but his vague answers ended up averting them. Many think he is holding significant information for unknown purposes and reasons.
He now serves the Goddess as the guardian of the valley where she resides. He lives in the Garden of Memories, wandering peacefully in the pefnakadd, the atomic constituents of the garden.
He built the garden himself, helped by the first priestesses and acolytes, and tend to it alone now. He has been residing in it alone for more than two thousand years and has never moved away for extended periods, except during the abyssal crisis in the nineteenth century, when is power was required all over Doujate.

Physical Description

Special abilities

During the second era, it was essential for each person to know how to defend themself and the others. Damparo was no exception to this, but, whereas most other people trained to use improvised or wooden weapons, his father found an ancient metal sword during an expedition and gave it to him. Damparo found himself to be a skilful swordsman.
While this ability can seem an underwhelming achievement to the modern Nysian citizen, being proficient at using a metal sword was a significant advantage during the second era, when weapons were hard to forge and trainers hard to find.
The sword, already in passable conditions, wore out during the years, until it broke. Part of the wear was due to the fire magic Damparo applied to it to gain the ability to attack spirits and incorporeal demons.
When he met Vidris, she enlightened him with the understanding of the magic veil, and he added basic illusion spells to his repertoire.

Specialized Equipment

The current equipment Damparo carries, which he used in the battle against the archdemon too, was given to him by a forest spirit after he broke his weapon and left his village. Both the armour and the sword are enchanted and made out of unknown materials. Comparisons with some ancient artefacts from the first era suggest it could be of similar origin. Why a forest spirit would possess such objects remains unclear.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Damparo was born in the elven forests west to Doujate during the Second Era, with a different name he does not want to tell. Counting years was particularly hard at the time because of a thick dark mist, the kradd, covering Nys for long periods. Sometimes it was even difficult to keep track of days. Damparo guesses he lived with his nomad village for more than twenty years, but less than thirty.
He stayed with his village until demons attacked, with only a few survivors alive. He and his companions found a new tribe and lived with them for some time until they met an old man travelling alone in the woods. He prophesied a long journey east for them, towards the Sieuch Valley, and they departed.
Once there, Damparo received a second prophecy from the Head Priestess Elaique. He and his only survived friend were to kill the archdemon ruling over Nys, thus ending the horrors of the second era. They succeeded, but his friend died in the final battle.
Damparo went back to the Valley, which he became the guardian of. He helped the Church grow in the first centuries of the new era and build the Garden of Memories at the entrance of the Valley. He has lived there since.
Full history

Thanks to his abilities, he was a well-respected member of the community. He was brave, but not reckless, inspired others and often led dangerous expeditions. After a fire spirit gave him a partial understanding of basic magic, he became as important as the elders, who asked for and put in high consideration his opinion before important decisions.
After the encounter with the spirit, the village had better luck than it ever had. They found suitable places to spend the winters, protected ones when the kradd was higher, and they suffered, in general, fewer diseases and distress. On one hand, this was due to the newly acquired magical skills, which allowed Damparo to take better care of sick people and scout the land with more confidence. On the other hand, Damparo believed, and still believes, the spirit protected them.
Everything seemed excellent, until a night, when the kradd had raised so high it had covered every hill and inch of land for weeks, demons attacked them. They fought valiantly and repelled the attackers in the end, but the village had been almost entirely wiped out.
The survivors wandered for some time until they found a new tribe to join. Everyone welcomed them, even their sorcerer, who saw Damparo has a possible new source of knowledge, not a rival in the arcane arts. Some of the survivors integrated well in the new village, some others didn't. It was nobody's fault.
After some time, during an expedition, Damparo and three others of his old friends met an old man, possibly a forest spirit, who prophesied them a pilgrimage to the Sieuch Valley and the encounter with a powerful goddess. Before anyone could ask a single question, the man had disappeared.
Damparo and the others departed after a month, with a new goal, fulfilling the prophecy and end the second era. The elders disagreed, but they were resolute, and nobody could stop them. They did not even know where the Sieuch Valley was, let alone the "land that will be Doujate". The prophecy vaguely stated "in the east", and there they went.
During the journey, they temporarily joined several other elven tribes going in their same direction. They also encountered a forest demon who gifted Damparo the equipment he still uses. Once, they were saved by a small village of heterogeneous peaceful humanoids, some short with greenish skin, others resembling animals, like goats or lizards. They fought together a couple of battles, before departing. They seemed not different from demons, and Damparo now believes they were a group of peaceful ones.
Despite the help they got, their courage and strength, only Damparo and a friend survived to see Krylach, the holy city Eleise founded outside the Valley after the Moon Goddess gifted her magic.
The Head Priestess Elaique (who scholars argue is another name for Eleise), prophesied Damparo would kill the archdemon, thus ending the second era and defeating the kradd. He ventured alone in the Sieuch valley and met the Goddess, who blessed and enlightened him with a full understanding of the magic veil. He swore to fight against the Abyss, and she renamed him Damparo.
He and his friend then proceeded towards the site where the archdemon resided. Damparo is not sure about where the place is in modern Nys. The constant presence of demons and the kradd confused the two heroes for the whole journey. He now believes they went around the mountains surrounding the valley clockwise, which more or less means they might have gone through the modern Dark Lands, maybe into imperial territory.
His friend was with him until the end, and they fought the archdemon together, but Damparo was the only survivor. They had ended the second era, destroying the seal generating the kradd and killing the mighty demon. A new world was born, full of hope and oblivious of the past.

Mental Trauma

Damparo can no longer fight the Abyss for what he calls corruption trauma. In fact, his active presence during the abyssal crisis in the last century was delayed as much as possible. Even then, he was often only present to encourage soldiers and guide them, but not to fight personally.
During the fight against the archdemon, the Abyss tainted him at the point it would be dangerous for him to fight it again. He is too vulnerable to chaotic energies to fight major battles without being thoroughly corrupted, he says. If he were to participate in such fights, for instance in the Dark Lands, he would for sure finds himself in a state similar to an advanced stage of the demonic taint. Someone would have to kill him, with the result that many would die, before someone could defeat him (if someone were strong enough).

Personality Characteristics

Motivation

Initially, all Damparo wanted was for his village to survive. Staying alive was of secondary importance, as proves the fact he remained behind to facilitate his companions' escape.
After learning magic, he understood there was more to life than survival. His goal slowly shifts from helping the village as a whole wondering safely from region to region to find a place where they could thrive, possibly actively protecting others. It was ambitious, even though it was happening to the Iruir elves of Eleise.
With the defeat of his village, his hopes faded, but then he met the old man. Though the prophecy did not specify Damparo would have been the one killing the archdemon, he was eager to be part of the "hope for a new world". Again, his life became expendable, but this time for a greater purpose. They swore they would have done what necessary to ensure at least one of them could arrive in the mysterious valley and meet this goddess.
He deeply believed, after Elaique's prophecy, he would have to die to fulfil his role in defeating the kradd. It was a sacrifice he was willing to take, especially to preserve the life of his last friend. But then, the battle went differently and was his friend to die. The event drained his will to live. He went back to Vidris to report their victory, walking in a renewing land, "filled with hope", as prophesied, but without motivation. The Goddess asked him to be her guardian, and he accepted.
He built the garden imagining his beloved forests, which he never saw joyful and never will see again. Tending to the pefnakadd and helping the Church grow in its first centuries helped him find a role in the new world he helped to create. He can no more fight the Abyss, but he can help, inspiring and informing people, possibly preparing new heroes, when the time will come.
The advent of the Cosmos Wayfarers seemed to revive his hope in the fight against the Abyss. He claims they could be strong enough to stand a chance at the end of the third era when a new epochal fight will take place.
Or, at least, this is all he answers when someone asks what gave him the strength to face such harsh times. Many scholars claim he is hiding something relevant. He and his friends were all ready to sacrifice themselves to the greater good, the death of a single person could not weight so much on the heart of Moon's champion. They believe he learnt some mysterious truth about the cosmos, as the first prophecy foretold, possibly about the nature of the Abyss itself, and that made him desperate.
When confronted about the matter, Damparo only adds that "even if there were something else, your limited mortal mind would probably not understand it, anyway".

Likes & Dislikes

Damparo loves nature, or, to be precise, his ideal of what healthy, uncorrupted nature is. He lived his first life in a twisted version of the elven forests, in a state of corruption more advanced than the modern Dark Lands. During his second life as a champion of the Moon, he remained in his Garden, mostly undisturbed, so that he never experienced the nature he had contributed restoring.
Nevertheless, he idealised it, looking at how peacefully flowers and trees were growing in his place. By chance, the real elven forests are not dissimilar, with nomad elven tribes coexisting with nature and its wonders.
He has always been humble. Even now, though he is a demigod, he dislikes titles, and, as the main consequence, Doujatar nobility.
Arguably, he does not like a single detail of what Doujate has become during the last centuries, in particular the Kingdom and the Church, blindly fighting at their Goddess command. He hates their complex bureaucracy, which makes everything harder, and their "unhealthy relations", as he says, with titles and power. He genuinely thinks they will lose their battle, that is, the battle of the Goddess, and makes no mystery of this.
He does not answer when called by one of its (numerous) titles, no matter how relevant the situation is. He forced the Church to officially change several speeches of rituals where his presence was required because he ignored the Head Priestess addressing him.

I explicitly told them several times I disliked all that bombast, but they still went on with it. What did they expect? You should have seen their faces during the first coronation. Astonished, terrified. I dared ignore their priestess. I waited until she called me by my name, I mean, the name Vidris gave me, before doing anything at all. It is already a title on its own.

— Damparo, talking about titles

Personality Quirks

Damparo knows an ancient language nobody else speaks. He claims its called "Snwyfr" and that spirits spoke it.
Recently, Damparo began speaking in Snwyfrish in public. Nobody understands it, so nobody can tell whether he is actually building sentences or just saying random words. Someone suggests he uses it to communicate to invisible spirits, others to think aloud without being understood.
Whatever the truth, he also began ignoring people calling him Damparo. He says he only answers to his true name, which he is not going to reveal, however. Priestesses are worried they will have to change the speeches again and call him as "you".

Do you see why I say they will lose the war? Their beloved champion may have gone mad, which would be totally possible after two millennia dealing with them. I began talking to myself in a language they think I made up myself, which, by the way, I didn't, and what do they do? They worry about their formal speeches.

— Damparo, talking about Snwyfrish

Social

Contacts & Relations

Isolated at his place, Damparo did not make contact with individual people. Many people visit the Garden, but they are mostly researchers interested in the statues, or people going for a nice stroll. Even when someone goes there to speak with him, it is not guaranteed he will show up. It is not rudeness, as the clergy takes care to specify, it is just that he is a demigod and experiences times and life in a different way. He may decide he does not want to talk with people for a while, but it could mean weeks or months for him.
In truth, he does not care about talking to visitors. Once in a while, he speaks with random people, when he wants information about what's happening outside. There is no selection, he literally picks the first person he sees in the Garden, except when looking for a specific source.
But when a wayfarer visits, his behaviour changes. He shows up instantaneously and asks questions about the organization, their missions and the state of the kanvæ. He ignores the reason for the visit until they provide all the information he requires. After that, he usually listens to what they wanted and tries to help. Damparo will also neglect any ritual or meeting related to the Church while talking to wayfarers.
Starting from the signing of the New World Treaty, he calls himself a wayfarer, though, as long as anyone knows, he never entered the Crossroads. The fact that he does not consider himself a member of the Church makes his alleged affiliation with wayfarers even more relevant.

Religious Views

He considers Vidris, the Moon Goddess, as a peer and does not rever her in any way.
Once he was eager to participate in her battles against the Abyss, but now her will of annihilating peaceful demons and the undead too averted him from her goals. He claims they are not that dangerous if they even are at all. According to him, the Church should have allied with them, as the Wayfarers did, and fight the Abyss with them. Damparo makes no mystery of his consideration for the Goddess. Priestesses and people of power avoid the topic with him since these blasphemies make them unease.

Show spoiler

He does not reveal it to anyone, but thinks Vidris has a greater plan which undead people, and in particular their leader, do not like, at the point that they could hinder her. For this reason, she is trying to eliminate them before proceeding with her main design, disguise the slaughter as a holy war.

He believes in the existence of other, superior gods, much more powerful than any entity encountered on Nys or in other kanvæ. These gods would be responsible for the creation of Nys and the whole cosmos.
He claims the Abyss was a byproduct or a side effect of their creations, and that they want to get rid of it as much as anyone else, but they are unsure how. The role of all people, including himself, the Goddess, undead and demons, is to find an effective way of destroying the Abyss.
Free will allows anyone to decide whether they want to fight for the Abyss or against it, and, in the latter case, how exactly. He believes the elder gods will choose their champions, when the time is right, and task them with the ultimate accomplishment: destroy the Abyss, or let it devour the universe. In both cases a new world will be born, and the old one forgotten.

Image credits: Fabrizio Fioretti (on Twitter)
All rights reserved.

Divine Classification

Demigod

Realm

Garden of Memories

Church/Cult

Moon Church

Honorary & Occupational Titles

Champion of the Moon
Guardian of the Valley
Keeper of the Garden

Age

Around 2120 years

Birthplace

Elven Forests

Eyes

Green

Other Affiliations

• Cosmos Wayfarers

Related Myths

• Cycle of the Ages
• Second Era
• Single Priestess, Double Priestess

Ruled Locations

• Garden of Memories

The encounter with the spirit

At some point around my twenties, I joined an expedition to scout the lands ahead and find a protected spot where the village could spend the winter.
We found a couple of suitable clearings, but on our way back, demons ambushed us. Three others and I fought to buy time, while the last two companions fled back to inform the village. Of the four fighting, I was the only one to make it alive, and only because a benevolent fire spirit showed himself and helped me in the fight.
It was unlike anything I had ever seen, like a humanoid bird, maybe a crow, with wings instead of arms, apparently made out of fire.
I knew messing with spirits was dangerous, but I asked it to teach me magic. Nobody within my village knew anything about magic, and I had the opportunity to become an eng, a sorcerer, similar to the alńe in the Dark Lands. That skill would have been so useful to the village, I could not let it go.
The spirit said nothing and left. I fell asleep, or blacked out, and when I woke up, I knew how to use fire magic.

— Damparo

The old man's prophecy

A long journey awaits the heroes, out of the woods, into the land we will call Doujate, far to the east, towards the Sieuch Valley, where the Goddess resides. She chooses a champion, the future is clear. ████████, █████, ██████ and █████, hope of a new world.

— An old man

(Damparo never reveals his old name and those of his friends when reporting the prophecy)

The priestess prophecy

A new name, a new life, our champion will win, triumph on demons, no fear of the Abyss. Face the corruption, learn cosmos' truth. For a new world, filled with hope.

— Elaique