Post by ananse on Mar 12, 2009 20:53:15 GMT -5
Name:
Akand
Age:
23(due to his bloodline appears 15-16)
Race:
1/4 Elf, 3/4 Human
Appearance:
Akand's mixed lineage gives him a very distinctive appearance. Thanks to his elven ancestry the man does not look as masculine as most other males his age due to his extremely slightly features. Rather he looks slightly more like a teenage girl than a young, fit man. The man's face is delicate and angular looking, giving him a sharp, refined appearance and at the same time making him look slightly angry much of the time. Long, silky hair, choppily cut, and devoid of light flows down his cheeks to end just at the top of his collar bone.
Beneath the waterfall of darkness lies the man's eyes. Akand's seeing pools are a calm, deep, seaweed green. The black hair hides a deep cross shaped scar on the left cheek. The scar is rather large, and the skin of it having a ruddy red shade. Beyond that there are no other abnormalities to mar the feminine looking man's face.
To match his girlish looking face Akand is extremely thin, weighing a mere 130 ibs and only measures up to a measly 5'5. Despite being so small the man is very lithe, and his muscles although not appearing perfectly tones are more than adequate. That's not to say that the crossbreed is extremely strong, but rather he is built more toward speed. The Surdan man's skin is a deep tan, not as dark as many of his Surdan kind, but still much darker than most men. Oddly enough much of the man's body is devoid of hair, thus making him look much younger than he is.
Like many of his kinsfolk Akand does not much like leather or any of the more oppressive fabrics, instead he enjoys wearing loose pants that allow for air flow. So as not to ruin any good fabrics the man most of the time wears black or brown pants, that will not be stained or destroyed by his traveling. To make his travels more manageable the man wears thick work boots, a thin scarf wrapped around his mouth to make the desert winds more bearable and a linen vest. At his waist rests two curved daggers, and a pair of katars. Often carried with the man's large bag is a pata. The unique weapon is made of iron and thus is not very useful in regular combat even for someone of elvish blood.
Around the man's wrist is a silver armlet. On the armlet is embedded a small oval jade stone, and detailed around it is the etchings of winds. This armlet is the man's family heirloom, and is enchanted with a protection spell. It can help ward of projectiles and magical attacks, but in a close combat fight is not useful at all. The only other use the heirloom really has is the ability to have magical energy stored in it. Of course any energy stored in it will be used if the ward is used so storing energy in the armlet is not terribly useful when one is in a pinch. Due to it's age and lack of proper care rust has gathered around the edges and made the once grand looking armlet look pathetic.
Personality:
Despite his delicate and fragile appearance Akand is not in the least effeminate, rather he is much less emotional than even most men. As such he is not one who is too quick to anger, nor be overtaken by depression or guilt. Instead the Surdan is likely to get at the most agitated or reach a much milder mood. The only way to truly anger the man is to betray his trust, which he does not give out often. At the same time the man is not often truly happy, and often rues his dispassionate ways.
Most of the time the man is fairly content with how his life is, and acts generally kind and happy. Even though he often looks angry or mean the young man is rather nice to most people, and only treats a person poorly if there is a possible benefit to it or if they have already treated him that way. The male is rather charming and loves to joke around and act playful. That and the man's looks has earned him a fair deal of friends from both genders.
In spite of that kindness Akand would kill a man without a second thought if he saw a way for it to improve his life. This is probably because the male's detached personality type, so he doesn't put much stock into loyalty or even common decency. Rather Akand cares only for himself, and only puts his life on the line if it is necessary.
This other side of Akand is more than not holding any loyalties. When the man wants he can become cruel and merciless. Anything or anyone that gets in the way of his wants or needs is seen as an enemy. Those that have seen the male when he isn't using his normal happy demeanor generally tend to avoid him afterward for fear of what he may do if he sees them as an opportunity.
History:
Akand's grandfather, Kalm, was a man whom believed that everyone and every life was amazing. The man spent days at a time just listening to people tell their life stories, his entire being engrossed in their words. So in love with the experiences of others was Kalm that he spent nearly his entire life traveling in search of more and more diverse people. The man enjoyed hearing anyone's story, whether they be a wealthy merchant or a gold-less street urchin.
When the man was very young he started to travel about on his own. At first it was just short two or three day trips to nearby human villages, or outpost nearby. Then slowly his travel lust grew more and more and Kalm began to leave home for weeks at a time, his mind hungrily searching out the stories of others. Eventually he stopped coming home as often, and started to travel further and further away from the forest that had birthed him.
The only problem with this was that Kalm came from a very old and very conservative family. Much of the man's family spent decades at a time studying magic, or intellectual pursuits. So many of the man's family believed that he should spend his time doing something productive rather than wasting his time on those that would be dead in a few decades anyways. They tried to have him live a proper lifestyle, but the odd elf was already too in love with the outside world to return.
After a great deal of time spent traveling Kalm slowly became less and less like the elves that had been his only family for so many years. The man began seeing that the overly polite ways were actually taking away from their interactions with others. Rather, being more forward and honest seemed to be the best way to get to know who someone was and the best way to accept them. In truth elves looked down on the other species because they envied their care free ways.
As the man fled from the ways of his kind they too began to distance themselves from the man who had gone native and become such a dirty barbarian. During his very infrequent visits back home the man often found his former friends avoided him, and his family treated him like a stranger. This did not worry him too much, since after all he had already heard many of their stories and thus had nothing to gain from talking to them any further. Eventually Kalm just decided to break himself from his kin permanently and left this ancestral home one last time, only taking one heirloom with him.
After resuming his travels the elf that had become so very human decided to immortalize all those amazing people he had met in his decades of life. Kalm started to make a book, telling all the stories of those that had been kind enough to open themselves to him. In a desire to make this book truly be worthy of all those he'd met Kalm would often spend months at a time in solitude just trying to find the best way to word the achievements of others. Within thirty years the elf had been able to chronocolize the lives of over two hundred people. The book had truly become the man's life.
Then Kalm met a woman that was so fascinating that he did not want to know her story, he wanted to be a part of it. The woman was a dancer in the far desert south of continent.. It was the first time that the elf had traveled so far south, and due to a recommendation from a local he'd headed to the local bar. In the bar was a woman who was so filled with self confidence and wit that for once Kalm did not think of his book, instead he thought of what he wanted as a person. The dancer's name was Anya and once she was done dancing Kalm began to talk to her. Anya was everything he thought, she was charming, filled with wit and surprisingly educated about the world.
There was only one problem with the romance that Kalm so wanted. Anya had absolutely no interest in the elven man, rather she saw his kind as one that no mortal could love. So every night for a year Kalm visited that bar, hoping to draw the beautiful dancer into his arms. Again and again he was rejected by Anya, and treated like little more than a pest. Slowly the man grew more and more depressed, and started to avoid the bar and the woman that he could not bear to leave and yet would not be allowed to love.
Finally Anya decided to get rid of the elf's obsession once and for all. The woman married to a wealthy merchant, Setran, who like Kalm frequented the bar that Anya worked in quite often. The man took Anya in without a second thought, he, like so many, had been in love with her for some time and would gladly have given his fortune for the chance to lay with the dancer even once. On the eve of her wedding a broken hearted Kalm kidnapped Anya. After hours of asking her why she rejected him the woman finally told Kalm the truth, "Even if I married you and we loved each other for all my life I would only be a small flash of your life. You'd love another, and another and eventually you'd forget me. With my fiance he will love only me and will die with be being all he needed. To him I will remain important."
After one night of love Anya was returned to her wealthy husband, a silver armlet a token of the memory of what could have been. Kalm knew that he could not have the beauty. Anya was truthful with her husband to be of what she and Kalm had done, and the man so begotten by her gladly forgave the former dancer. So the two married the night after her return, and celebrated their union. Nine months later Anya gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. Setran and Anya decided to raise the baby as if it was for sure his, either though both knew the truth. They named the baby Virlomi and showered her in all love and comforts that the couple's more than ample fortune could afford.
While his true love began her life in matrimony Kalm decided that it was time that he shirked himself of his depression and returned to his life's work. For months Kalm tried to return to the carefree vagabond that he had been, but the man could not find travel as exciting as it had been before Anya. He did not have the same lust to wander aimlessly through the world. The man even tried to write more of his book but found that even the book did not offer the same comfort it once had. It was as if all of life had been rid of it's colorful splendor, and no matter how he tried the man would never be able to regain the lofty life he had once had.
Then after six months away from the woman he loved the old Kalm was awakened. The man realized that he had left a massive in his book. The elf had not bothered to write the story he knew best, his own. So Kalm returned home to discover the story that he had spent all of his life making. The man returned home and began questioning his childhood friends and his family about himself. At first most treated Kalm as if he was an outsider, but once he revealed the work on his life most retracted their cold view of him and aided him in the completion in this volume of his book.
Around the time of the half breed's birth the world took a very sudden turn. The dragon rider known as Galbatorix betrayed the other riders and with a band of rouge dragon riders began to hunt down the others mercilessly. The people were in constant fear of this madman, some would not even travel for fear that they would somehow be drawn into the conflict. Setran being the wealthy and protective man that he was hired a small army of mercenaries to protect his family from the dangers this ever changing world was giving birth to.
At first Anya believe that her husband was over reacting and spending money needlessly. Surely this small group of riders could not possibly face the entire force of the Dragon Riders, any fool could see that. Yet as time drew on the traitor grew stronger and stronger, and the number of dragon riders left to oppose his insanity decreased. It didn't make sense, how could one man overturn a system that had that much power? How could he turn the world upside down in such a short time? For all the woman's intelligence she could not find a way to possibly understand what was happening in her own life and the world around her.
Then Setran's decision showed how wise it truly was. The bastard Galbatorix had managed to shake the very foundation of Alagaësia and had destroyed the very order of the dragon riders. The crazed man had even taken over the city of Ilirea, crowning himself the emperor. In an act of defiance to this false king southern Alagaësia broke from kingdom and formed the country of Surda. Setran, being ever loyal to the true King that Galbatorix slew lent the country of Surda his mercenary army, so that it could help defend the young country's borders.
By doing this the man found himself very much in the mix of the country's inter workings and found himself to now have a large business spanning much of Surda. For a merchant like Setran this was a dream come true, he had a large business in a new country. Yet because of this the man found himself traveling even more often that he had before the split of Surda from the empire. Of course this was very hard on the man who was so in love with Anya and so fascinated by his daughter. For the better of both the family man put up with being gone for so long in hopes that it would make life better for them.
As Virlomi grew Setran was very close to her, and treated her as if she was a gift from the gods themselves. Of course this surprised Anya, she had expected the man to treat the child as if she was an outsider or worse not even acknowledge her at all. Yet Setran showed genuine love for Anya's daughter, and spent nearly all of his time home playing with her and teaching the girl all he knew about the world. The man told her everything about his travels, and kept her as his best confident. Father and daughter ended up becoming closer to friends that anything else.
Virlomi was a very odd child, she was very small for her age and extremely bright. Of course Anya and Setran were more than happy with their daughter, but it started becoming apparent to many of those around them that Virlomi was no normal little girl. Many other "nobles" began calling Anya a harlot behind her back and claiming that Virlomi wasn't Setran's. Of course by Virlomi's fifth year alive that was very obvious, but others knowing the truth was dangerous. It could affect Setran's business and even his connections with the new king of Surda.
The five year old was incredibly inquisitive and often spent the time that Setran was away questioning her mother, and their servant Dae about every little thing that crossed the girls mind. Anya did not mind much, she was very happy that her daughter was growing to be intelligent and interested in learning. Yet the servant did not feel the same way, the woman was uneducated and not very bright at all. As such she felt threatened when a girl a fourth her age was able to ask questions that she could not answer, nor even fully understand.
Dae began to avoid the little miss, resenting the child's over inquisitive nature and the gall of asking her olders and betters such questions. As the child grew and began asking more and more bold questions the servant found her replies were often curt. Soon she began even shutting the girl down before she could begin her assault of intrusive and rude queries. It wasn't that difficult, the child was very self conscientious for her age due to her diminutive size and how much lighter her skin was than all those around her. A well laid negative comment and the child would be quiet for days.
Anya and Setran did not know about the way their serving woman was treating their daughter because a five year old rarely tells on a grown adult and Dae made sure that she was perfectly polite and kind when the couple was nearby. So as the girl became suddenly withdrawn and quiet the two loving parents became concerned about their daughter's well being. Anya tried many times to ask the girl what was bothering her, but Virlomi would often ignore the questions or change the subject. Setran was not as overt and simply started to slowly slip casual questions into the two's conversations. Things as simply as "how was your day?", "How do you feel?" and such worked well with the child.
Despite his covert questioning and loving approach Virlomi did not immediately give up the pain in her heart. To his questions the girl would often remain silent or would answer in a very short, and vague way so that she wouldn't have to deal with it. Yet slowly the man was able to discover what was on his daughter's mind, and who had caused the turmoil in the small child. Was Setran was sure of what had caused his beloved child such pain he was furious. Immediately Dae was removed from the couple's home, thrown out onto the streets so that she could feel the full consequences of her actions.
Protecting his daughter was sadly one of Setran's biggest mistakes. To remove the girl's emotional problems was to create many political and social problems for him and Anya. The infuriated Dae decided to take her knowledge of how the family worked to one of the man's few political rivals. The woman began weaving tales of how Virlomi was the daughter of a demon, and how she was truly a sadistic beast not the sweet little child that she appeared to be. Of course most did not put much stock in what one uneducated peasant woman said, but many were superstitious and in their fear of the emperor had become suspicious of anything that could be a possible threat.
As such the stories about Virlomi's paternity and purity became more and more frequent and ever more dark. Soon enough many of the Surdan population knew of the demon child, and some even claimed that they should rush Setran's mansion destroy the foul beast. Anya started to become worried for the safety of her daughter, with so many so angry it was not safe for the child even in her own heavily guarded home. If things became much worse the entire family could lose their lives because of one foolish servant woman.
The two parents started to try and find some way to remove their daughter from the volatile and dangerous world that her homeland had become. Yet the two could not think of anyway to do so, they did not have any connections outside of Surda and even if they did how could they transport the girl anywhere without her being in danger of a mob? As the years passed the desperate couple just kept on adding to their home's security in hopes that with enough money they could safeguard their child's life. Despite the increased security both knew it was not enough, if some group of fanatics wanted to take their daughter's like they were likely to do it no matter how many blades barred their way.
Then like a miracle another option was offered. In his search to complete him book and learn more about himself Kalm had returned to Surda to meet his now nine year old daughter. The two of elven blood immediately liked one another, for once Virlomi knew someone who was not stumped by any of her questions and who's knowledge seemed infinite. For Kalm the child was amazing, with her human blood it seemed she had gained a zest for life that most elves could never have and yet she had retained so much wisdom and intelligence from her elven heritage.
Of course the child was not told of Kalm's true relationship with her, instead Setran and Anya decided to say that he was an old friend of Anya's. Even at a young age it was easy to see that this was not the entire truth, but Virlomi didn't bother pressing the issue since now she had a very unique and interesting friend. When her "daddy" told Virlomi that Kalm wanted her to go on a trip with him the child jumped at the opportunity, she would finally be able to see the world and best of all she would do it with someone who knew so much about it.
The truth was that Anya and Setran were so worried for their daughter's safety that they asked Kalm to finish raising her so that she could live a long and healthy life. The elf was so very happy to accept, Virlomi was after all his daughter, and beyond that she was a very bright and playful child. She would definitely make traveling so much more fun. Plus the girl would make a great asset to his book, doubtlessly she'd play a huge part in his life and would be worth at least a volume all her own. So the true father and daughter departed Virlomi's family home on the day that she turned ten.
Traveling was actually rather difficult to do with a child, much less one that aged at such a slow rate. It seemed that Virlomi had taken after her elven ancestry more so than her mother's human ancestry and she was aging at a rate that she probably would not look like an adult for at least a decade or maybe even two. This meant that they could not travel quickly unless Kalm carried the child, which was rather difficult to do with all of the gear he was already carrying and they could not travel for very young since the girl had been pampered all of her life and thus she body was not used to any prolonged activity.
So to pass the time as they traveled the man began to teach his daughter the ancient language. While they walked he'd point at an object or animal and say it's name then say it in Elvish. Virlomi absolutely loved learning the true names of everything and soon started making her father teach her more than just nouns, but even how to use transition terms, verbs and adjectives. This actually worked against her, because every time that Kalm would ask the girl a question he would do so in Elvish and make her reply in kind. The child found that the ancient words would not form a lie no matter how hard she tried. So Kalm and Virlomi were always honest with one another.
Then after ten years Kalm decided to finally tell the girl the true power of all that he had been teaching her all those years of travel. The girl now a woman was even more fascinated with this than of anything she had ever encountered. The girl immediately took to magic and due to her proficiency with Elvish she grew better and better very quickly. It actually surprised Kalm how in just a short decade his daughter was almost at his ability with magic, when he had been alive nearly two hundred years and had practiced magic casually the entire time.
For thirty more years the two traveled together, never speaking of what their true relationship was. Kalm was fairly certain that his daughter had realized the truth since she was sixty now and still looked young. Virlomi despite knowing did not feel that she needed to ruin the unique relationship that the two had developed by pushing Kalm into being some kind of father figure. Plus she had already had a great father, Setran.
The two finally departed ways when Virlomi learned that her mother had fallen ill and that she would not last longer. The daughter attempted to have Kalm come with her to Anya's deathbed, but the elf had already made peace with that he could not ever have Anya and decided that it was best not to relive his old feelings. So Virlomi traveled to Surda, where else the elf decided to visit the city of Kuasta since he had not been there before.
When Virlomi got to Surda her mother's condition had gone from bad to horrible. The once beautiful, and fierce woman was now reduced to a pitiful husk of the person she once was. Despite Virlomi's magical prowess even she could not do anything to change her mother's condition, except to slightly ease some of the pain and make it so that Anya's mind was slightly more clear. Thanks to that Anya was coherent in her last weeks of life. A few days before she died the now old woman passed onto her daughter the gift that Kalm had given her.
After the funeral pyre burnt out Virlomi left her home once again, this time she traveled Surda healing those that regular medicine could not. Like her father Virlomi loved to hear the stories of others, so instead of making them pay her in gold the woman had them simply give her enough to eat, a temporary home and their story. This lead the woman all over Surda and helped her understand more about her homeland than she ever could have in that huge mansion filled to the brim with books.
Akand's father, Ajit, lived a very different life from the one of knowledge, comfort and happiness that was Virlomi's. Ajit was born into a very poor family of seven. As such the Surdan male learned to work at a very young age and began to help his father, who was a blacksmith, at the age of seven. Of course there is little a child can do to help with such work at such a young age, so mostly the boy would help carry coals, water and tools for his father and older brothers as they worked.
Ajit's father, Durai, was the only blacksmith in their little village and so he spent most of his time repairing farming and mining equipment. Although the villagers were very appreciative of his hard work they could not exactly pay the man so most simply gave Durai whatever they could spare, and if they could not spare anything the man was willing to wait until they could. This made life very harsh on the large family and thus all seven boys more often than not did not get much to eat.
Despite the none too easy life that his father lived Ajit was attracted to smithing. A smith could shape the lives of others with his hammer. By molding their tools, Ajit could mend the lives of hundreds if he wanted. So like three of his brothers before him the man sook to master his father's art. Sadly this lead the boy to realize that his father was not very skilled at all, rather Durai knew the bare basics and thus he probably could not fix anything but farming tools.
Once Ajit turned fourteen he made the decision to live his home to better his work so that he could actually help people, instead of just doing patchwork on shoddy tools. So with a little bit of food to travel and a few of his father's old tools Ajit departed from his home for. Aberon, figuring that in the capital there must be many skilled weapons smiths. Sadly the youngster did not really know what he was getting himself into.
When the boy got to Aberon he found that the city was nothing like the enclosed little world that was his home. Here people cared very little about the lives of others and instead sought to better their own lives even if it was at expense of others. To a boy that was so kind hearted this place was simply too much to handle. After a month of living there Ajit had been mugged twice, beaten up three times and once even spat on. If not for the kind eye of a strong weapons smith the boy would probably died of starvation.
The weapon's smith was a woman named Jyoti. She was a large, strong and some would even say(although not to her face) masculine. The woman was infertile and thus was never blessed with the gift of children, much to her husband and her's disappointment. So when the giantess of a woman saw the huddle heap of skin wrapped around a hammer Jyoti's heart being as large as her she brought the boy home to her husband and her's smithy. The place was small, and in need of work but it had all that a good black smith could wish for and that was all that the couple had ever really cared about.
It took a few weeks to get the boy the boy strong enough to work again, but once he was Ajit was well again he was all over the studio, trying out everyone of the weapons smiths' tools. The pair complained about the boy, saying that he was an useless brat but Jyoti and her husband were secretly filled with joy that for once their home was filled with the smiles and laughter of a child. So like that Ajit became the couple's apprentice. The boy learned quickly and surprised Jyoti by making a well balanced longsword withing two months of living under their tutelage.
For five years Ajit helped the couple with their business of making weapons of Surda's royal army. The work had the boy always learning something new and working with materials his father had probably never even had the pleasure of running his callused fingers over. Yet at the same time it was very difficult, Jyoti was getting old and could not do as much work as she used to and yet the place was getting more and more work everyday as it seemed that Surda was slowly getting ready to bulk up it's armory.
Then the worst happened, Jyoti's husband died. The man was working for nearly three day's straight to meet an order and had not been drinking enough water. Eventually he'd died of a heat stroke. This worried Jyoti and after the funeral she closed shop, intending to live off what she had been wise enough to save up in all those years that she had been bent over a forge. Jyoti asked that Ajit would stay with her and help her live until she followed her husband. Ajit realized that the woman did not really need his help, but simply did not want him to follow in her footsteps and live a hard life. So with a very polite no he left his second mother.
For twelve years the man traveled Surda, picking up new techniques for blacksmithing. Finally he settled down in Cithri, intending to start up a shop of his own since the town did not have enough. This was only hard to do because with the way the world was changing materials were not easy to come by. Yet somehow the man managed to get by, barely that is. Many days the man would only have one meal and some he would not eat at all.
In her travels Virlomi went to Cithri to help mend the broken bone of a foolish malnourished blacksmith. The man had been working without food for three days. When she got to the border side town Virlomi found the man still trying to mend a sword one handed. Quickly the woman forced the idiot to lay down and began to heal his wound. Since the man had not been eating properly the half elf decided to stay for a few weeks until he was healthy enough to return to work.
While staying with Ajit the healer learned of the man's odd philosophy that he could mend people's lives if he fixed the tools they used to live them. This was a bit narrow minded and altruistic, but it seemed Ajit was not just some stubborn simpleton that had decided on a mentality and stuck to it. Rather the man knew that that would not be enough to completely fix the problems in people's lives or the world, but at least he was trying to make them easier and this was the best way he really knew how.
After the man was healthy once more Virlomi could not help but to stay longer, she used the excuse that she wanted to make sure he would not be reckless again, but they both knew that was not the truth. After the fourth week past his return to health Ajit gave the woman what she really wanted, his life story and a happy night. After that night Virlomi departed to go help other Surdans live their lives easier.
Five months after Virlomi departed the woman returned to Ajit's doorstep, her belly swelling with the life of another. After explaining to the man that he was the last she had slept with Ajit gladly accepted Virlomi and his future child into his home. The two very diverse people enjoyed one each other's company and the remaining fourth months of the pregnancy were spent with many interesting conversations.
When the child was born the two discussed their options. Ajit offered to take the boy in himself and raise him on his own so that Virlomi could continue to travel and do her important work. Virlomi too offered to raise the child on her own, allowing Ajit to continue his passion and not have to stress over feeding two more people. The two argued for days over it, neither one wanting to put a strain on the other's life. In the end Virlomi decided to raise the child with Ajit, she would just heal citizens of Cithri and aid the man in his work.
So Akand was raised in a home where both of his parents were working their hardest to make other's lives more pleasant rather than even attempting to make their own even tolerable. By the time that the boy was five all of his cloths were ones that those his parents had helps had donated to him since their children did not need them, the house that the family lived in was in a constant state of disrepair and all the food that the family got was donated and thus sparse.
Most infuriating of the situation was that Ajit and Virlomi stopped paying really any attention to their son once her was old enough to mind himself most of the time. The boy grew very lonely in the time after him leaving the center of his parent's world the child really had nothing to do and no body to talk to since no other children wanted to play with a child so small and frail and he and the few that probably would have over looked that were put off by his already feminine appearance. So at a young age the boy who had been taught to read very young began to delve into all of his mother's magic books.
The boy was able to speak broken Elvish by the age of seven, and was trying to cast spells to make himself larger. Of course this did not work since the boy did not know how to access his own magical energy, not the energy of anything around him, but still the child tried. When Virlomi returned home one day to find her son saying in Elvish, "Tall like a mountain cow" she was immediately alarmed. Akand was very frightened when his mother yelled at him for the first time, saying that he had no business in her magic. After a rather scary interrogation Virlomi learned that her son was trying to make himself as tall as a fern tree, but had fumbled the words.
So to avert any possible accidents Virlomi began teaching her son the ancient language the proper way in her free time. Slowly for three years the mother taught he son, only spending what little time she wasn't helping to help Akand learn the language of his grandfather. The boy was often irritated with his mother, who couldn't bother to take time out of her busy day to give her son a full, proper lesson, instead she would only spend twenty or thirty minutes with him each night. Yet the boy could do nothing about it since she was the one with all the books and the knowledge, and there wasn't exactly a mage looking for young mixed breeds to teach.
After Virlomi had finished teaching her son Elvish she returned to the life of dealing with the boy only when she had to. The boy begged her to teach him magic, but his mother said that she was too busy and he too irresponsible. This broke Akand's heart. The only thing that the child had available to him that other children didn't was magic and the ancient language and now even that was being taken away.
No, he would not let Virlomi rob him of his heritage just because she didn't care enough to teach him. So in private the Surdan child began to use what he knew of Elvish to teach himself magic. First he started with something simple that could not go awry and cause him undue attention. It was a spell simply to lift a rock from the ground. Of course his first attempt came to nothing. Still the child did not let that dishearten him, instead he started to attempt the spell anytime he was alone, which was quite often.
After two weeks of this the boy was finally able to lift a rock off of the ground. The elated Akand started to practice this everyday until his could barely feel the resistance of the rock's weight. Then the boy started to try other spells, like lifting silverware, hammers, and other household items that were slightly harder to say in Elven. Then Akand started to do slightly more complex spells, like a spell to immediately dry him off after a bath, then a spell to remove dirt from his body, after that he tried a spell to keep his house slightly warmer. It seemed that with his Elven roots he was a natural with magic.
Then the child made a mistake, he tried a spell that was too much for someone of his level. One day Akand was hungry, and craving cherries. The family did have a cherry tree but the major problem was it was not yet old enough to produce anything. Being a ten year old that thought he could change the world anytime he wanted Akand decided to make the tree "grow up" faster. Sadly despite his knowledge of the Elvish language Akand was still just a child and wording things just as a child would so he tried a spell to make the tree "grow up" and it did just that.
The problem is the tree would not stop growing and the boy did not know how to cancel the spell. So with every branch that the cherry tree grew the boy's energy was depleted more and more. Eventually the Surdan ten year old fell unconsciousness, his body growing weak from the magical strain. Luckily Virlomi came how early and found the child nearly dead. Using her healing abilities she was able to revive Akand long enough to tell him the proper phase to stop the tree's growth.
After that incident Ajit was furious with Virlomi, and twice threatened to kill her when he looked to see his son still unconsciousness from the strain that the spell put on his body. The parents eventually decided that this was nearly inevitable with how they had raised the child and his lineage. Worried for their only child's well being the two decided to seek out the help of Virlomi's teacher and father Kalm. This was easy enough after the woman scryed her father and then sent him a message.
When Akand woke up after three days of sleep he found himself having more attention paid to him than ever before in his life. Everywhere he went both Virlomi and Ajit follow. For a boy who had nearly raised himself the lack of privacy was irritating and very difficult to handle. Despite the two being around him Ajit and Virlomi did not really scold the boy, instead they mostly left him to himself unless he attempted magic. Soon enough Akand realized that something was different, but did not really know what.
Then a after month of basically being stalked by his parents a stranger visited the trio. He was tall, graceful, muscular, and had an odd air to him. Immediately Akand was fascinated who this man was, where he came from, and oddly enough how old he was. Virlomi introduced the man as Kalm, a friend of Akand's grandmother's and her former magic teacher and traveling companion. Even at ten the boy felt that there was more to this man's connection to the child than being an old family friend.
Yet he didn't question the connection because after the introductions were made the stranger made a strange proposition to Akand. He wanted the Surdan boy to come keep him company on his travels and read a book the man said was very important to him, and in exchange he would teach Akand magic. This was obviously the opportunity of a life time and there was no way the child could pass it up. So a week later the boy happily left his home with the man he'd soon discover to be his grandfather. As a goodbye gift Virlomi gave her son the armlet her mother had passed on to her.
Kalm was an extremely unique. He always seemed calm, collect and most of all happy. Even in bad weather the man had a smile on his face, whenever Akand questioned why the man was so infuriatingly happy Kalm would just say, "Because this all just part of the story. The bad parts just help make the good ones better, so I smile whenever something bad happens knowing that a very good part is coming up." Despite their different personalities Akand couldn't help but like this man he discovered to be an elf.
For one of lessons Akand had to read two chapters of the elf's ridiculously large book. The book was just a massive compilation of hundred of people's stories, most of which had nothing to do with one another or anything truly important in the world. Yet Kalm seemed to think that everyone one of the people's stories was valuable, unique and in need of treasuring. So to learn magic the boy slowly learned the stories of so many men and women who just happened to chance upon the elf that was so very human.
Another part of the deal that he had not been informed about was the lessons in fighting the Kalm decided to give his grandson. For every twenty miles that they traveled Akand was forced to spend an hour learning martial arts and swordsmanship from Kalm. For the small boy this was a horrifying idea. Yet after a while he came to love learning how to defend himself, and sometimes would ask for them to go on a detour on the way to towns so that he could get another hour of lessons that much faster.
After nine years Akand finally finished the book with a smile on his face. For all his resistance to the ways of his grandfather the man had learned to love Kalm's ways and had to some extent become like the childish elf. After finishing the book the two finished up the lessons of magic that Kalm had been giving a his beloved descendant. So with a hug, and a wave the two parted ways and exited one another's stories.
After leaving the side of Kalm Akand was not entirely sure what to do. The world was not a safe place due to the war between the Varden and the Empire so traveling by himself would be dangerous, and the boy honestly feared not having Kalm at his side if he were attacked. So the boy settled down in Teirm for a bit. To make a living the boy used his limited knowledge of healing spells to heal people with minor illnesses for money, and when that wasn't very lucrative he would use his magic to steal.
It was an easy life and gave the now "pretty" lad time to make friends, something that he had not had the opportunity to do before. The young man could often be found at the local bar showing off his magic tricks, or telling stories about some of the people he had met in his travels with his grandfather. Many people were drawn to the boy's charming personality which he'd inherited from Kalm and childish looks.
After two years of this easy life the Surdan was interrupted while healing a client. A small group of soldiers barged into the man's home saying he was under arrest. Apparently the fact that he knew magic and was Surdan lead many people to suspect that he was not the gentle little lad he appeared to be. After a short struggle and a few none too kind spells Akand was able to escape, with enough of his small personal fortune to survive a trip.
In fear that he would not be so lucky next time Akand decided to head to where he thought the safest place would be, the Varden. Sadly since most of the man's friends spent a great deal of their time drinking the man did not have updated information of where the resistance group was and thus worked on what he thought to be rather exclusive knowledge that they were staying with the dwarves.
After a long journey and a fair bit of annoyance from Empire patrols Akand found his way to Tarnag. Lucky for the half breed the short people let him in their city. The man was rather annoyed to find out that the Varden and it's dragon rider had moved on to Surda. Despite that annoyance this made the male happy enough after he realized that meant he was now in the safest place. Here he would not have to worry about Empire patrols yet he wouldn't have to fear being caught up in a war that had nothing to do with him.
So using his gold to ease himself into a life with the dwarves Akand stayed in Tarnag. After a while he knew the place fairly well, and found that he rather liked the little people there. They were honest, hard working, intelligent and most of all they did not poke too much fun as how girlish he looked. The only thing that made him the butt of any of the dwarven jokes was the fact that he was beardless, and that was fine with Akand. Once the lad had even got to catch a glimpse of the dragon rider while he was visiting the city.
Then the Surdan heard that the empire and the Varden had found a secret catch of dragon eggs and now each side was trying their hardest to produce as many riders as they could before the other. With this knowledge Akand decided that it was about time that he went to say hello to his mother...
Roleplaying example:
(This is an RP sample I used to get into a random guild on another site, I was going to use something original, but was just too tired to after finishing my history.)
The tired sun sank into the horizon, dying the cloud's a grapefruit pink. As the great ball of fire fell further and further into the distance a gruesome scene was slowly shadowed and hidden from the waking world.
A sob echoed through the small clearing, crying out for the return of light, the return of hope. As it became obvious that this desperate wish for illumination would not be granted the cries' creator slowly lifted himself off of the blood soaked bed of leaves that was the sight of his greatest misfortune. With small grubby hands the diminutive figure hugged itself to block out the cold, but to little avail. With the onset of night the woods had become suddenly cold, and thus very hostile to the eleven year old boy lost in them.
With a heavy sigh and one final tear the child decided to look back once more on the horror he had just witnessed before trying to find civilization. In the forest deep in the thralls of autumn there lay three bodies, their forms littered with scraps of metal and their blood dying the orange leaves a dreadful burgundy. Just a few hours ago the freckle faced lad had been arguing with his sister about who got to ride in the front seat and now he was staring at her lifeless figure on the forest floor impaled by countless shards of glass from the windshield. If only he had won that rock, paper, scissors game she would be the one alive.
Even as he closed his eyes little Garret saw his family, there dead eyes haunting him with the memory of what had once inhabited them. Shaking himself the boy decided that he could not die out here, if he did grandma would wait for him forever, never knowing what had happened to the family that was suppose to be coming to her sixty fourth birthday party. With a hard, desperate looking in his evergreen eyes the preteen looked around for some way to escape from these cold woods. He couldn't go back from where he'd come because the cliff was nearly straight up, and just wandering the other way would end up with him even more lost. The only real option seemed to be to follow the cliff side until it came to a point where he could climb.
Without a second thought the terrified, tawny haired lad started following the steep cliff side eastward, his bruised body trembling with every step. Maybe if he hurried he could tell grandma happy birthday. With that sad and childish wish in his heart the lone survivor of the car accident clung to life and searched for salvation, never knowing that a rescue crew was on their way to where the Lyon's family had crashed. Being a just a child he never knew that his family's On-Star would call an ambulance after a crash, so with every step he moved further and further away from his only real hope of survival.
Akand
Age:
23(due to his bloodline appears 15-16)
Race:
1/4 Elf, 3/4 Human
Appearance:
Akand's mixed lineage gives him a very distinctive appearance. Thanks to his elven ancestry the man does not look as masculine as most other males his age due to his extremely slightly features. Rather he looks slightly more like a teenage girl than a young, fit man. The man's face is delicate and angular looking, giving him a sharp, refined appearance and at the same time making him look slightly angry much of the time. Long, silky hair, choppily cut, and devoid of light flows down his cheeks to end just at the top of his collar bone.
Beneath the waterfall of darkness lies the man's eyes. Akand's seeing pools are a calm, deep, seaweed green. The black hair hides a deep cross shaped scar on the left cheek. The scar is rather large, and the skin of it having a ruddy red shade. Beyond that there are no other abnormalities to mar the feminine looking man's face.
To match his girlish looking face Akand is extremely thin, weighing a mere 130 ibs and only measures up to a measly 5'5. Despite being so small the man is very lithe, and his muscles although not appearing perfectly tones are more than adequate. That's not to say that the crossbreed is extremely strong, but rather he is built more toward speed. The Surdan man's skin is a deep tan, not as dark as many of his Surdan kind, but still much darker than most men. Oddly enough much of the man's body is devoid of hair, thus making him look much younger than he is.
Like many of his kinsfolk Akand does not much like leather or any of the more oppressive fabrics, instead he enjoys wearing loose pants that allow for air flow. So as not to ruin any good fabrics the man most of the time wears black or brown pants, that will not be stained or destroyed by his traveling. To make his travels more manageable the man wears thick work boots, a thin scarf wrapped around his mouth to make the desert winds more bearable and a linen vest. At his waist rests two curved daggers, and a pair of katars. Often carried with the man's large bag is a pata. The unique weapon is made of iron and thus is not very useful in regular combat even for someone of elvish blood.
Around the man's wrist is a silver armlet. On the armlet is embedded a small oval jade stone, and detailed around it is the etchings of winds. This armlet is the man's family heirloom, and is enchanted with a protection spell. It can help ward of projectiles and magical attacks, but in a close combat fight is not useful at all. The only other use the heirloom really has is the ability to have magical energy stored in it. Of course any energy stored in it will be used if the ward is used so storing energy in the armlet is not terribly useful when one is in a pinch. Due to it's age and lack of proper care rust has gathered around the edges and made the once grand looking armlet look pathetic.
Personality:
Despite his delicate and fragile appearance Akand is not in the least effeminate, rather he is much less emotional than even most men. As such he is not one who is too quick to anger, nor be overtaken by depression or guilt. Instead the Surdan is likely to get at the most agitated or reach a much milder mood. The only way to truly anger the man is to betray his trust, which he does not give out often. At the same time the man is not often truly happy, and often rues his dispassionate ways.
Most of the time the man is fairly content with how his life is, and acts generally kind and happy. Even though he often looks angry or mean the young man is rather nice to most people, and only treats a person poorly if there is a possible benefit to it or if they have already treated him that way. The male is rather charming and loves to joke around and act playful. That and the man's looks has earned him a fair deal of friends from both genders.
In spite of that kindness Akand would kill a man without a second thought if he saw a way for it to improve his life. This is probably because the male's detached personality type, so he doesn't put much stock into loyalty or even common decency. Rather Akand cares only for himself, and only puts his life on the line if it is necessary.
This other side of Akand is more than not holding any loyalties. When the man wants he can become cruel and merciless. Anything or anyone that gets in the way of his wants or needs is seen as an enemy. Those that have seen the male when he isn't using his normal happy demeanor generally tend to avoid him afterward for fear of what he may do if he sees them as an opportunity.
History:
Akand's grandfather, Kalm, was a man whom believed that everyone and every life was amazing. The man spent days at a time just listening to people tell their life stories, his entire being engrossed in their words. So in love with the experiences of others was Kalm that he spent nearly his entire life traveling in search of more and more diverse people. The man enjoyed hearing anyone's story, whether they be a wealthy merchant or a gold-less street urchin.
When the man was very young he started to travel about on his own. At first it was just short two or three day trips to nearby human villages, or outpost nearby. Then slowly his travel lust grew more and more and Kalm began to leave home for weeks at a time, his mind hungrily searching out the stories of others. Eventually he stopped coming home as often, and started to travel further and further away from the forest that had birthed him.
The only problem with this was that Kalm came from a very old and very conservative family. Much of the man's family spent decades at a time studying magic, or intellectual pursuits. So many of the man's family believed that he should spend his time doing something productive rather than wasting his time on those that would be dead in a few decades anyways. They tried to have him live a proper lifestyle, but the odd elf was already too in love with the outside world to return.
After a great deal of time spent traveling Kalm slowly became less and less like the elves that had been his only family for so many years. The man began seeing that the overly polite ways were actually taking away from their interactions with others. Rather, being more forward and honest seemed to be the best way to get to know who someone was and the best way to accept them. In truth elves looked down on the other species because they envied their care free ways.
As the man fled from the ways of his kind they too began to distance themselves from the man who had gone native and become such a dirty barbarian. During his very infrequent visits back home the man often found his former friends avoided him, and his family treated him like a stranger. This did not worry him too much, since after all he had already heard many of their stories and thus had nothing to gain from talking to them any further. Eventually Kalm just decided to break himself from his kin permanently and left this ancestral home one last time, only taking one heirloom with him.
After resuming his travels the elf that had become so very human decided to immortalize all those amazing people he had met in his decades of life. Kalm started to make a book, telling all the stories of those that had been kind enough to open themselves to him. In a desire to make this book truly be worthy of all those he'd met Kalm would often spend months at a time in solitude just trying to find the best way to word the achievements of others. Within thirty years the elf had been able to chronocolize the lives of over two hundred people. The book had truly become the man's life.
Then Kalm met a woman that was so fascinating that he did not want to know her story, he wanted to be a part of it. The woman was a dancer in the far desert south of continent.. It was the first time that the elf had traveled so far south, and due to a recommendation from a local he'd headed to the local bar. In the bar was a woman who was so filled with self confidence and wit that for once Kalm did not think of his book, instead he thought of what he wanted as a person. The dancer's name was Anya and once she was done dancing Kalm began to talk to her. Anya was everything he thought, she was charming, filled with wit and surprisingly educated about the world.
There was only one problem with the romance that Kalm so wanted. Anya had absolutely no interest in the elven man, rather she saw his kind as one that no mortal could love. So every night for a year Kalm visited that bar, hoping to draw the beautiful dancer into his arms. Again and again he was rejected by Anya, and treated like little more than a pest. Slowly the man grew more and more depressed, and started to avoid the bar and the woman that he could not bear to leave and yet would not be allowed to love.
Finally Anya decided to get rid of the elf's obsession once and for all. The woman married to a wealthy merchant, Setran, who like Kalm frequented the bar that Anya worked in quite often. The man took Anya in without a second thought, he, like so many, had been in love with her for some time and would gladly have given his fortune for the chance to lay with the dancer even once. On the eve of her wedding a broken hearted Kalm kidnapped Anya. After hours of asking her why she rejected him the woman finally told Kalm the truth, "Even if I married you and we loved each other for all my life I would only be a small flash of your life. You'd love another, and another and eventually you'd forget me. With my fiance he will love only me and will die with be being all he needed. To him I will remain important."
After one night of love Anya was returned to her wealthy husband, a silver armlet a token of the memory of what could have been. Kalm knew that he could not have the beauty. Anya was truthful with her husband to be of what she and Kalm had done, and the man so begotten by her gladly forgave the former dancer. So the two married the night after her return, and celebrated their union. Nine months later Anya gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. Setran and Anya decided to raise the baby as if it was for sure his, either though both knew the truth. They named the baby Virlomi and showered her in all love and comforts that the couple's more than ample fortune could afford.
While his true love began her life in matrimony Kalm decided that it was time that he shirked himself of his depression and returned to his life's work. For months Kalm tried to return to the carefree vagabond that he had been, but the man could not find travel as exciting as it had been before Anya. He did not have the same lust to wander aimlessly through the world. The man even tried to write more of his book but found that even the book did not offer the same comfort it once had. It was as if all of life had been rid of it's colorful splendor, and no matter how he tried the man would never be able to regain the lofty life he had once had.
Then after six months away from the woman he loved the old Kalm was awakened. The man realized that he had left a massive in his book. The elf had not bothered to write the story he knew best, his own. So Kalm returned home to discover the story that he had spent all of his life making. The man returned home and began questioning his childhood friends and his family about himself. At first most treated Kalm as if he was an outsider, but once he revealed the work on his life most retracted their cold view of him and aided him in the completion in this volume of his book.
Around the time of the half breed's birth the world took a very sudden turn. The dragon rider known as Galbatorix betrayed the other riders and with a band of rouge dragon riders began to hunt down the others mercilessly. The people were in constant fear of this madman, some would not even travel for fear that they would somehow be drawn into the conflict. Setran being the wealthy and protective man that he was hired a small army of mercenaries to protect his family from the dangers this ever changing world was giving birth to.
At first Anya believe that her husband was over reacting and spending money needlessly. Surely this small group of riders could not possibly face the entire force of the Dragon Riders, any fool could see that. Yet as time drew on the traitor grew stronger and stronger, and the number of dragon riders left to oppose his insanity decreased. It didn't make sense, how could one man overturn a system that had that much power? How could he turn the world upside down in such a short time? For all the woman's intelligence she could not find a way to possibly understand what was happening in her own life and the world around her.
Then Setran's decision showed how wise it truly was. The bastard Galbatorix had managed to shake the very foundation of Alagaësia and had destroyed the very order of the dragon riders. The crazed man had even taken over the city of Ilirea, crowning himself the emperor. In an act of defiance to this false king southern Alagaësia broke from kingdom and formed the country of Surda. Setran, being ever loyal to the true King that Galbatorix slew lent the country of Surda his mercenary army, so that it could help defend the young country's borders.
By doing this the man found himself very much in the mix of the country's inter workings and found himself to now have a large business spanning much of Surda. For a merchant like Setran this was a dream come true, he had a large business in a new country. Yet because of this the man found himself traveling even more often that he had before the split of Surda from the empire. Of course this was very hard on the man who was so in love with Anya and so fascinated by his daughter. For the better of both the family man put up with being gone for so long in hopes that it would make life better for them.
As Virlomi grew Setran was very close to her, and treated her as if she was a gift from the gods themselves. Of course this surprised Anya, she had expected the man to treat the child as if she was an outsider or worse not even acknowledge her at all. Yet Setran showed genuine love for Anya's daughter, and spent nearly all of his time home playing with her and teaching the girl all he knew about the world. The man told her everything about his travels, and kept her as his best confident. Father and daughter ended up becoming closer to friends that anything else.
Virlomi was a very odd child, she was very small for her age and extremely bright. Of course Anya and Setran were more than happy with their daughter, but it started becoming apparent to many of those around them that Virlomi was no normal little girl. Many other "nobles" began calling Anya a harlot behind her back and claiming that Virlomi wasn't Setran's. Of course by Virlomi's fifth year alive that was very obvious, but others knowing the truth was dangerous. It could affect Setran's business and even his connections with the new king of Surda.
The five year old was incredibly inquisitive and often spent the time that Setran was away questioning her mother, and their servant Dae about every little thing that crossed the girls mind. Anya did not mind much, she was very happy that her daughter was growing to be intelligent and interested in learning. Yet the servant did not feel the same way, the woman was uneducated and not very bright at all. As such she felt threatened when a girl a fourth her age was able to ask questions that she could not answer, nor even fully understand.
Dae began to avoid the little miss, resenting the child's over inquisitive nature and the gall of asking her olders and betters such questions. As the child grew and began asking more and more bold questions the servant found her replies were often curt. Soon she began even shutting the girl down before she could begin her assault of intrusive and rude queries. It wasn't that difficult, the child was very self conscientious for her age due to her diminutive size and how much lighter her skin was than all those around her. A well laid negative comment and the child would be quiet for days.
Anya and Setran did not know about the way their serving woman was treating their daughter because a five year old rarely tells on a grown adult and Dae made sure that she was perfectly polite and kind when the couple was nearby. So as the girl became suddenly withdrawn and quiet the two loving parents became concerned about their daughter's well being. Anya tried many times to ask the girl what was bothering her, but Virlomi would often ignore the questions or change the subject. Setran was not as overt and simply started to slowly slip casual questions into the two's conversations. Things as simply as "how was your day?", "How do you feel?" and such worked well with the child.
Despite his covert questioning and loving approach Virlomi did not immediately give up the pain in her heart. To his questions the girl would often remain silent or would answer in a very short, and vague way so that she wouldn't have to deal with it. Yet slowly the man was able to discover what was on his daughter's mind, and who had caused the turmoil in the small child. Was Setran was sure of what had caused his beloved child such pain he was furious. Immediately Dae was removed from the couple's home, thrown out onto the streets so that she could feel the full consequences of her actions.
Protecting his daughter was sadly one of Setran's biggest mistakes. To remove the girl's emotional problems was to create many political and social problems for him and Anya. The infuriated Dae decided to take her knowledge of how the family worked to one of the man's few political rivals. The woman began weaving tales of how Virlomi was the daughter of a demon, and how she was truly a sadistic beast not the sweet little child that she appeared to be. Of course most did not put much stock in what one uneducated peasant woman said, but many were superstitious and in their fear of the emperor had become suspicious of anything that could be a possible threat.
As such the stories about Virlomi's paternity and purity became more and more frequent and ever more dark. Soon enough many of the Surdan population knew of the demon child, and some even claimed that they should rush Setran's mansion destroy the foul beast. Anya started to become worried for the safety of her daughter, with so many so angry it was not safe for the child even in her own heavily guarded home. If things became much worse the entire family could lose their lives because of one foolish servant woman.
The two parents started to try and find some way to remove their daughter from the volatile and dangerous world that her homeland had become. Yet the two could not think of anyway to do so, they did not have any connections outside of Surda and even if they did how could they transport the girl anywhere without her being in danger of a mob? As the years passed the desperate couple just kept on adding to their home's security in hopes that with enough money they could safeguard their child's life. Despite the increased security both knew it was not enough, if some group of fanatics wanted to take their daughter's like they were likely to do it no matter how many blades barred their way.
Then like a miracle another option was offered. In his search to complete him book and learn more about himself Kalm had returned to Surda to meet his now nine year old daughter. The two of elven blood immediately liked one another, for once Virlomi knew someone who was not stumped by any of her questions and who's knowledge seemed infinite. For Kalm the child was amazing, with her human blood it seemed she had gained a zest for life that most elves could never have and yet she had retained so much wisdom and intelligence from her elven heritage.
Of course the child was not told of Kalm's true relationship with her, instead Setran and Anya decided to say that he was an old friend of Anya's. Even at a young age it was easy to see that this was not the entire truth, but Virlomi didn't bother pressing the issue since now she had a very unique and interesting friend. When her "daddy" told Virlomi that Kalm wanted her to go on a trip with him the child jumped at the opportunity, she would finally be able to see the world and best of all she would do it with someone who knew so much about it.
The truth was that Anya and Setran were so worried for their daughter's safety that they asked Kalm to finish raising her so that she could live a long and healthy life. The elf was so very happy to accept, Virlomi was after all his daughter, and beyond that she was a very bright and playful child. She would definitely make traveling so much more fun. Plus the girl would make a great asset to his book, doubtlessly she'd play a huge part in his life and would be worth at least a volume all her own. So the true father and daughter departed Virlomi's family home on the day that she turned ten.
Traveling was actually rather difficult to do with a child, much less one that aged at such a slow rate. It seemed that Virlomi had taken after her elven ancestry more so than her mother's human ancestry and she was aging at a rate that she probably would not look like an adult for at least a decade or maybe even two. This meant that they could not travel quickly unless Kalm carried the child, which was rather difficult to do with all of the gear he was already carrying and they could not travel for very young since the girl had been pampered all of her life and thus she body was not used to any prolonged activity.
So to pass the time as they traveled the man began to teach his daughter the ancient language. While they walked he'd point at an object or animal and say it's name then say it in Elvish. Virlomi absolutely loved learning the true names of everything and soon started making her father teach her more than just nouns, but even how to use transition terms, verbs and adjectives. This actually worked against her, because every time that Kalm would ask the girl a question he would do so in Elvish and make her reply in kind. The child found that the ancient words would not form a lie no matter how hard she tried. So Kalm and Virlomi were always honest with one another.
Then after ten years Kalm decided to finally tell the girl the true power of all that he had been teaching her all those years of travel. The girl now a woman was even more fascinated with this than of anything she had ever encountered. The girl immediately took to magic and due to her proficiency with Elvish she grew better and better very quickly. It actually surprised Kalm how in just a short decade his daughter was almost at his ability with magic, when he had been alive nearly two hundred years and had practiced magic casually the entire time.
For thirty more years the two traveled together, never speaking of what their true relationship was. Kalm was fairly certain that his daughter had realized the truth since she was sixty now and still looked young. Virlomi despite knowing did not feel that she needed to ruin the unique relationship that the two had developed by pushing Kalm into being some kind of father figure. Plus she had already had a great father, Setran.
The two finally departed ways when Virlomi learned that her mother had fallen ill and that she would not last longer. The daughter attempted to have Kalm come with her to Anya's deathbed, but the elf had already made peace with that he could not ever have Anya and decided that it was best not to relive his old feelings. So Virlomi traveled to Surda, where else the elf decided to visit the city of Kuasta since he had not been there before.
When Virlomi got to Surda her mother's condition had gone from bad to horrible. The once beautiful, and fierce woman was now reduced to a pitiful husk of the person she once was. Despite Virlomi's magical prowess even she could not do anything to change her mother's condition, except to slightly ease some of the pain and make it so that Anya's mind was slightly more clear. Thanks to that Anya was coherent in her last weeks of life. A few days before she died the now old woman passed onto her daughter the gift that Kalm had given her.
After the funeral pyre burnt out Virlomi left her home once again, this time she traveled Surda healing those that regular medicine could not. Like her father Virlomi loved to hear the stories of others, so instead of making them pay her in gold the woman had them simply give her enough to eat, a temporary home and their story. This lead the woman all over Surda and helped her understand more about her homeland than she ever could have in that huge mansion filled to the brim with books.
Akand's father, Ajit, lived a very different life from the one of knowledge, comfort and happiness that was Virlomi's. Ajit was born into a very poor family of seven. As such the Surdan male learned to work at a very young age and began to help his father, who was a blacksmith, at the age of seven. Of course there is little a child can do to help with such work at such a young age, so mostly the boy would help carry coals, water and tools for his father and older brothers as they worked.
Ajit's father, Durai, was the only blacksmith in their little village and so he spent most of his time repairing farming and mining equipment. Although the villagers were very appreciative of his hard work they could not exactly pay the man so most simply gave Durai whatever they could spare, and if they could not spare anything the man was willing to wait until they could. This made life very harsh on the large family and thus all seven boys more often than not did not get much to eat.
Despite the none too easy life that his father lived Ajit was attracted to smithing. A smith could shape the lives of others with his hammer. By molding their tools, Ajit could mend the lives of hundreds if he wanted. So like three of his brothers before him the man sook to master his father's art. Sadly this lead the boy to realize that his father was not very skilled at all, rather Durai knew the bare basics and thus he probably could not fix anything but farming tools.
Once Ajit turned fourteen he made the decision to live his home to better his work so that he could actually help people, instead of just doing patchwork on shoddy tools. So with a little bit of food to travel and a few of his father's old tools Ajit departed from his home for. Aberon, figuring that in the capital there must be many skilled weapons smiths. Sadly the youngster did not really know what he was getting himself into.
When the boy got to Aberon he found that the city was nothing like the enclosed little world that was his home. Here people cared very little about the lives of others and instead sought to better their own lives even if it was at expense of others. To a boy that was so kind hearted this place was simply too much to handle. After a month of living there Ajit had been mugged twice, beaten up three times and once even spat on. If not for the kind eye of a strong weapons smith the boy would probably died of starvation.
The weapon's smith was a woman named Jyoti. She was a large, strong and some would even say(although not to her face) masculine. The woman was infertile and thus was never blessed with the gift of children, much to her husband and her's disappointment. So when the giantess of a woman saw the huddle heap of skin wrapped around a hammer Jyoti's heart being as large as her she brought the boy home to her husband and her's smithy. The place was small, and in need of work but it had all that a good black smith could wish for and that was all that the couple had ever really cared about.
It took a few weeks to get the boy the boy strong enough to work again, but once he was Ajit was well again he was all over the studio, trying out everyone of the weapons smiths' tools. The pair complained about the boy, saying that he was an useless brat but Jyoti and her husband were secretly filled with joy that for once their home was filled with the smiles and laughter of a child. So like that Ajit became the couple's apprentice. The boy learned quickly and surprised Jyoti by making a well balanced longsword withing two months of living under their tutelage.
For five years Ajit helped the couple with their business of making weapons of Surda's royal army. The work had the boy always learning something new and working with materials his father had probably never even had the pleasure of running his callused fingers over. Yet at the same time it was very difficult, Jyoti was getting old and could not do as much work as she used to and yet the place was getting more and more work everyday as it seemed that Surda was slowly getting ready to bulk up it's armory.
Then the worst happened, Jyoti's husband died. The man was working for nearly three day's straight to meet an order and had not been drinking enough water. Eventually he'd died of a heat stroke. This worried Jyoti and after the funeral she closed shop, intending to live off what she had been wise enough to save up in all those years that she had been bent over a forge. Jyoti asked that Ajit would stay with her and help her live until she followed her husband. Ajit realized that the woman did not really need his help, but simply did not want him to follow in her footsteps and live a hard life. So with a very polite no he left his second mother.
For twelve years the man traveled Surda, picking up new techniques for blacksmithing. Finally he settled down in Cithri, intending to start up a shop of his own since the town did not have enough. This was only hard to do because with the way the world was changing materials were not easy to come by. Yet somehow the man managed to get by, barely that is. Many days the man would only have one meal and some he would not eat at all.
In her travels Virlomi went to Cithri to help mend the broken bone of a foolish malnourished blacksmith. The man had been working without food for three days. When she got to the border side town Virlomi found the man still trying to mend a sword one handed. Quickly the woman forced the idiot to lay down and began to heal his wound. Since the man had not been eating properly the half elf decided to stay for a few weeks until he was healthy enough to return to work.
While staying with Ajit the healer learned of the man's odd philosophy that he could mend people's lives if he fixed the tools they used to live them. This was a bit narrow minded and altruistic, but it seemed Ajit was not just some stubborn simpleton that had decided on a mentality and stuck to it. Rather the man knew that that would not be enough to completely fix the problems in people's lives or the world, but at least he was trying to make them easier and this was the best way he really knew how.
After the man was healthy once more Virlomi could not help but to stay longer, she used the excuse that she wanted to make sure he would not be reckless again, but they both knew that was not the truth. After the fourth week past his return to health Ajit gave the woman what she really wanted, his life story and a happy night. After that night Virlomi departed to go help other Surdans live their lives easier.
Five months after Virlomi departed the woman returned to Ajit's doorstep, her belly swelling with the life of another. After explaining to the man that he was the last she had slept with Ajit gladly accepted Virlomi and his future child into his home. The two very diverse people enjoyed one each other's company and the remaining fourth months of the pregnancy were spent with many interesting conversations.
When the child was born the two discussed their options. Ajit offered to take the boy in himself and raise him on his own so that Virlomi could continue to travel and do her important work. Virlomi too offered to raise the child on her own, allowing Ajit to continue his passion and not have to stress over feeding two more people. The two argued for days over it, neither one wanting to put a strain on the other's life. In the end Virlomi decided to raise the child with Ajit, she would just heal citizens of Cithri and aid the man in his work.
So Akand was raised in a home where both of his parents were working their hardest to make other's lives more pleasant rather than even attempting to make their own even tolerable. By the time that the boy was five all of his cloths were ones that those his parents had helps had donated to him since their children did not need them, the house that the family lived in was in a constant state of disrepair and all the food that the family got was donated and thus sparse.
Most infuriating of the situation was that Ajit and Virlomi stopped paying really any attention to their son once her was old enough to mind himself most of the time. The boy grew very lonely in the time after him leaving the center of his parent's world the child really had nothing to do and no body to talk to since no other children wanted to play with a child so small and frail and he and the few that probably would have over looked that were put off by his already feminine appearance. So at a young age the boy who had been taught to read very young began to delve into all of his mother's magic books.
The boy was able to speak broken Elvish by the age of seven, and was trying to cast spells to make himself larger. Of course this did not work since the boy did not know how to access his own magical energy, not the energy of anything around him, but still the child tried. When Virlomi returned home one day to find her son saying in Elvish, "Tall like a mountain cow" she was immediately alarmed. Akand was very frightened when his mother yelled at him for the first time, saying that he had no business in her magic. After a rather scary interrogation Virlomi learned that her son was trying to make himself as tall as a fern tree, but had fumbled the words.
So to avert any possible accidents Virlomi began teaching her son the ancient language the proper way in her free time. Slowly for three years the mother taught he son, only spending what little time she wasn't helping to help Akand learn the language of his grandfather. The boy was often irritated with his mother, who couldn't bother to take time out of her busy day to give her son a full, proper lesson, instead she would only spend twenty or thirty minutes with him each night. Yet the boy could do nothing about it since she was the one with all the books and the knowledge, and there wasn't exactly a mage looking for young mixed breeds to teach.
After Virlomi had finished teaching her son Elvish she returned to the life of dealing with the boy only when she had to. The boy begged her to teach him magic, but his mother said that she was too busy and he too irresponsible. This broke Akand's heart. The only thing that the child had available to him that other children didn't was magic and the ancient language and now even that was being taken away.
No, he would not let Virlomi rob him of his heritage just because she didn't care enough to teach him. So in private the Surdan child began to use what he knew of Elvish to teach himself magic. First he started with something simple that could not go awry and cause him undue attention. It was a spell simply to lift a rock from the ground. Of course his first attempt came to nothing. Still the child did not let that dishearten him, instead he started to attempt the spell anytime he was alone, which was quite often.
After two weeks of this the boy was finally able to lift a rock off of the ground. The elated Akand started to practice this everyday until his could barely feel the resistance of the rock's weight. Then the boy started to try other spells, like lifting silverware, hammers, and other household items that were slightly harder to say in Elven. Then Akand started to do slightly more complex spells, like a spell to immediately dry him off after a bath, then a spell to remove dirt from his body, after that he tried a spell to keep his house slightly warmer. It seemed that with his Elven roots he was a natural with magic.
Then the child made a mistake, he tried a spell that was too much for someone of his level. One day Akand was hungry, and craving cherries. The family did have a cherry tree but the major problem was it was not yet old enough to produce anything. Being a ten year old that thought he could change the world anytime he wanted Akand decided to make the tree "grow up" faster. Sadly despite his knowledge of the Elvish language Akand was still just a child and wording things just as a child would so he tried a spell to make the tree "grow up" and it did just that.
The problem is the tree would not stop growing and the boy did not know how to cancel the spell. So with every branch that the cherry tree grew the boy's energy was depleted more and more. Eventually the Surdan ten year old fell unconsciousness, his body growing weak from the magical strain. Luckily Virlomi came how early and found the child nearly dead. Using her healing abilities she was able to revive Akand long enough to tell him the proper phase to stop the tree's growth.
After that incident Ajit was furious with Virlomi, and twice threatened to kill her when he looked to see his son still unconsciousness from the strain that the spell put on his body. The parents eventually decided that this was nearly inevitable with how they had raised the child and his lineage. Worried for their only child's well being the two decided to seek out the help of Virlomi's teacher and father Kalm. This was easy enough after the woman scryed her father and then sent him a message.
When Akand woke up after three days of sleep he found himself having more attention paid to him than ever before in his life. Everywhere he went both Virlomi and Ajit follow. For a boy who had nearly raised himself the lack of privacy was irritating and very difficult to handle. Despite the two being around him Ajit and Virlomi did not really scold the boy, instead they mostly left him to himself unless he attempted magic. Soon enough Akand realized that something was different, but did not really know what.
Then a after month of basically being stalked by his parents a stranger visited the trio. He was tall, graceful, muscular, and had an odd air to him. Immediately Akand was fascinated who this man was, where he came from, and oddly enough how old he was. Virlomi introduced the man as Kalm, a friend of Akand's grandmother's and her former magic teacher and traveling companion. Even at ten the boy felt that there was more to this man's connection to the child than being an old family friend.
Yet he didn't question the connection because after the introductions were made the stranger made a strange proposition to Akand. He wanted the Surdan boy to come keep him company on his travels and read a book the man said was very important to him, and in exchange he would teach Akand magic. This was obviously the opportunity of a life time and there was no way the child could pass it up. So a week later the boy happily left his home with the man he'd soon discover to be his grandfather. As a goodbye gift Virlomi gave her son the armlet her mother had passed on to her.
Kalm was an extremely unique. He always seemed calm, collect and most of all happy. Even in bad weather the man had a smile on his face, whenever Akand questioned why the man was so infuriatingly happy Kalm would just say, "Because this all just part of the story. The bad parts just help make the good ones better, so I smile whenever something bad happens knowing that a very good part is coming up." Despite their different personalities Akand couldn't help but like this man he discovered to be an elf.
For one of lessons Akand had to read two chapters of the elf's ridiculously large book. The book was just a massive compilation of hundred of people's stories, most of which had nothing to do with one another or anything truly important in the world. Yet Kalm seemed to think that everyone one of the people's stories was valuable, unique and in need of treasuring. So to learn magic the boy slowly learned the stories of so many men and women who just happened to chance upon the elf that was so very human.
Another part of the deal that he had not been informed about was the lessons in fighting the Kalm decided to give his grandson. For every twenty miles that they traveled Akand was forced to spend an hour learning martial arts and swordsmanship from Kalm. For the small boy this was a horrifying idea. Yet after a while he came to love learning how to defend himself, and sometimes would ask for them to go on a detour on the way to towns so that he could get another hour of lessons that much faster.
After nine years Akand finally finished the book with a smile on his face. For all his resistance to the ways of his grandfather the man had learned to love Kalm's ways and had to some extent become like the childish elf. After finishing the book the two finished up the lessons of magic that Kalm had been giving a his beloved descendant. So with a hug, and a wave the two parted ways and exited one another's stories.
After leaving the side of Kalm Akand was not entirely sure what to do. The world was not a safe place due to the war between the Varden and the Empire so traveling by himself would be dangerous, and the boy honestly feared not having Kalm at his side if he were attacked. So the boy settled down in Teirm for a bit. To make a living the boy used his limited knowledge of healing spells to heal people with minor illnesses for money, and when that wasn't very lucrative he would use his magic to steal.
It was an easy life and gave the now "pretty" lad time to make friends, something that he had not had the opportunity to do before. The young man could often be found at the local bar showing off his magic tricks, or telling stories about some of the people he had met in his travels with his grandfather. Many people were drawn to the boy's charming personality which he'd inherited from Kalm and childish looks.
After two years of this easy life the Surdan was interrupted while healing a client. A small group of soldiers barged into the man's home saying he was under arrest. Apparently the fact that he knew magic and was Surdan lead many people to suspect that he was not the gentle little lad he appeared to be. After a short struggle and a few none too kind spells Akand was able to escape, with enough of his small personal fortune to survive a trip.
In fear that he would not be so lucky next time Akand decided to head to where he thought the safest place would be, the Varden. Sadly since most of the man's friends spent a great deal of their time drinking the man did not have updated information of where the resistance group was and thus worked on what he thought to be rather exclusive knowledge that they were staying with the dwarves.
After a long journey and a fair bit of annoyance from Empire patrols Akand found his way to Tarnag. Lucky for the half breed the short people let him in their city. The man was rather annoyed to find out that the Varden and it's dragon rider had moved on to Surda. Despite that annoyance this made the male happy enough after he realized that meant he was now in the safest place. Here he would not have to worry about Empire patrols yet he wouldn't have to fear being caught up in a war that had nothing to do with him.
So using his gold to ease himself into a life with the dwarves Akand stayed in Tarnag. After a while he knew the place fairly well, and found that he rather liked the little people there. They were honest, hard working, intelligent and most of all they did not poke too much fun as how girlish he looked. The only thing that made him the butt of any of the dwarven jokes was the fact that he was beardless, and that was fine with Akand. Once the lad had even got to catch a glimpse of the dragon rider while he was visiting the city.
Then the Surdan heard that the empire and the Varden had found a secret catch of dragon eggs and now each side was trying their hardest to produce as many riders as they could before the other. With this knowledge Akand decided that it was about time that he went to say hello to his mother...
Roleplaying example:
(This is an RP sample I used to get into a random guild on another site, I was going to use something original, but was just too tired to after finishing my history.)
The tired sun sank into the horizon, dying the cloud's a grapefruit pink. As the great ball of fire fell further and further into the distance a gruesome scene was slowly shadowed and hidden from the waking world.
A sob echoed through the small clearing, crying out for the return of light, the return of hope. As it became obvious that this desperate wish for illumination would not be granted the cries' creator slowly lifted himself off of the blood soaked bed of leaves that was the sight of his greatest misfortune. With small grubby hands the diminutive figure hugged itself to block out the cold, but to little avail. With the onset of night the woods had become suddenly cold, and thus very hostile to the eleven year old boy lost in them.
With a heavy sigh and one final tear the child decided to look back once more on the horror he had just witnessed before trying to find civilization. In the forest deep in the thralls of autumn there lay three bodies, their forms littered with scraps of metal and their blood dying the orange leaves a dreadful burgundy. Just a few hours ago the freckle faced lad had been arguing with his sister about who got to ride in the front seat and now he was staring at her lifeless figure on the forest floor impaled by countless shards of glass from the windshield. If only he had won that rock, paper, scissors game she would be the one alive.
Even as he closed his eyes little Garret saw his family, there dead eyes haunting him with the memory of what had once inhabited them. Shaking himself the boy decided that he could not die out here, if he did grandma would wait for him forever, never knowing what had happened to the family that was suppose to be coming to her sixty fourth birthday party. With a hard, desperate looking in his evergreen eyes the preteen looked around for some way to escape from these cold woods. He couldn't go back from where he'd come because the cliff was nearly straight up, and just wandering the other way would end up with him even more lost. The only real option seemed to be to follow the cliff side until it came to a point where he could climb.
Without a second thought the terrified, tawny haired lad started following the steep cliff side eastward, his bruised body trembling with every step. Maybe if he hurried he could tell grandma happy birthday. With that sad and childish wish in his heart the lone survivor of the car accident clung to life and searched for salvation, never knowing that a rescue crew was on their way to where the Lyon's family had crashed. Being a just a child he never knew that his family's On-Star would call an ambulance after a crash, so with every step he moved further and further away from his only real hope of survival.
