Kell: The Rythmn Of All Souls

Finding work was hard, even for a competent steel-mage like Kell. "I sold all my metal years ago," said one farmer when he came knocking. "But there's a market in town on Friday. You might find someone there." The nights they didn't spend in hollow trees they slept in barns belonging to generous country people in return for whatever animals he had caught that day. They drifted from place to place, sometimes accompanied by other beggars and vagabonds. There were a lot of them, the fat lost from their cheeks and loose skin hanging under their arms. Kell and Zuberi showed them what kindness they could, but they had as little to give as the others did. They helped a lot of people bury their kin, at least the ones who hadn't already been pecked out by the carrion-birds.
Always they followed them, graceful silhouettes circling high above the trees.

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

The war has taken a serious toll on Kell's body. Although still nimble he suffers from chronic pain, especially in his hips and knees. In bad weather and delta flares he walks with the support of a staff.

Special abilities

Kell is an accomplished metallurgist, able to channel the large amounts of energy necessary to reduce mineral ores to their elemental states. He is also able to physically manipulate metals and glass, having learned the skill of toolmaking from his mother. These days he struggles to maintain the emotional balance necessary for control of magic, especially when tired or after severe nightmares.

Apparel & Accessories

Kell prefers to wear brightly patterned clothes, often combining scraps and offcuts of fabric into new garments. He tends to dress conservatively, although during the hottest months even he will settle for a light chest wrap and loose trousers.

Specialized Equipment

Kell wears a steel band on his left wrist weighing appropriately three hundred grams, which he uses to meld into tools or weapons whenever necessary. When inactive, the band has no clasps and cannot be slid over Kell's hand, ensuring that the precious alloy will not be stolen.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Kell was born and raised in a small settlement in the mangroves of northern Tsoria, the second of six children to a human father and halfling mother. At seventeen he and his twin sister Zuberi travelled south to resist the invasion of Tsoria by Pa'an-Chil. Kell was taken captive early in the war and held in a labour camp until the Tsorian rebellion was finally crushed four years later. He now lives in Tellor, one of Tsoria's few remaining active port towns.

Gender Identity

Male, transgender. He has retained his unisex birth name, although he tends to eschew the more feminine epithet Rhythm. He has presented as male since early childhood.

Employment

Kell's father and many of his extended family members worked as weavers, specialising in working with invertebrate fibres. Growing up Kell learned many of the skills necessary to raise, harvest and process these fibres and likely would have inherited the family business with his siblings. He still occasionally finds work mending or making clothes in Tellor, and hopes in time to start his own woolbeetle colony.
Like many residents in Tellor, Kell only finds casual work to earn an income. He typically barters his services as a toolsmith in exchange for food or favours. Occasionally he finds employment at the docks, although his facial scarring marks him out as a former soldier, so many foreign employers refuse to take him on.

Mental Trauma

Like many of the soldiers, the war has left Kell with severe PTSD. His symptoms include recurring nightmares, mood swings and erratic channelling of delta radiation. He and Zuberi both suffer from survivor's guilt, having failed to defend their home and family from being destroyed by the elves.

Intellectual Characteristics

Kell is an accomplished metallurgist, able to channel the large amounts of energy necessary to reduce mineral ores to their elemental states. He is also able to physically manipulate metals and glass, having learned the skill of toolmaking from his mother. These days he struggles to maintain the emotional balance necessary for control of magic, especially when tired or after severe nightmares.

Social

Family Ties

Kell and his twin sister Zuberi are the only surviving members of their family. Their parents' and siblings' bodies were never found but they are assumed to have been killed with the rest of their village in a war-time raid. Kell maintains a shrine on The Island Cemetary in memory of his lost family members.

Religious Views

Kell practices a [religion], a blend of Huriya and traditional halfling customs. While he has long since lost his faith in the existence of God, the rituals he has performed since childhood bring comfort to him.

Ethnicity

Orimiri

Birthplace

Tsoria (interior)

Current Residence

Tellor, Tsoria

Eyes

Bronze. Left eye only remaining, suffers from blurred periphery vision and photosensitivity

Hair

Pale, woolen, fast growing. Kept braided when long, shaved each spring

Known Languages

Kell was raised speaking English and three halfling languages. He has since learned Svalhi, Archevis' native tongue, although he remains some way from fluent. He has picked up a few words of Chillian, mostly insults.