THE CHARACTERS
AXYL
Born into a broken world that has long been dead and vastly underpopulated, Axyl has kept herself tucked away in a moderately safe corner of the world, in the village of Blacktide. Her exemplary combat skills and thirst for danger have turned her into an adrenaline seeking monster slayer, and is usually sought after for protection during hunting seasons, or on the rare occasion when an unknown creature appears along the coast, westbound from the forbidden east.
Axyl knows enough about what was taken from the world to feel its hopelessness in the absolute. She harbours that sadness in a space that none can see, and finds herself emotionally masking around others in order to keep spirits high. But, when she finds herself alone, she is very much at the mercy of the world's bleak nature, and the severity of those feelings are the catalyst that drives her reckless nature.
She has little regard for her own life, and would happily cast it aside if it meant taking some of the world's clawed darkness with her.
After a chance encounter with Kei, and the lingering death of a friend, she is finally compelled to leave her home and explore what remains of the world in search of answers, however hidden or volatile they may be.
KEI
Raised by a small band of alchemists amongst the meadows beneath the Shattered Causeway, Kei is a renowned healer and academic with a strong affinity for animals. They are one of few people in the world with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge of the past, and so dedicate most of their time to hunting down what little pieces of it remain. The monstrously large scroll on their back serves as a type of journal, where they draw abandoned sights and copy rare runes, hoping to reconstruct the lost language of the Golden Age.
Because the alchemists do not prioritise the ways of the past, Kei underwent these excursions alone, and would be absent for weeks, sometimes months. The beauty of the south gave Kei a strong sense of reflection and somber appreciation for the fragility of the world, imagining what may have occurred within the stoney halls and windswept fortresses along their travels. It was a sobering realisation when, on a rainy afternoon, one cache of weapons led to another within what they thought was a coliseum for music and artistry.
It is their near constant revery of the past that makes them somewhat uncomfortable amongst the living, despite their willingness to heal with impunity. Though they'll never admit it, they fear for the future. If there is any chance for civilisation to grow once more, Kei believes it a necessity to know the wrongs of the past so that they may not be repeated.
Blocked by the southern cliffs and the impenetrable peaks of the Shivering Spine, Kei finds theirself needing to travel north and around to continue their studies, hoping to find a capable guide along the way.
SONYA
Where Sonya was born, none could say. Grandmaster Ravna, one of the few remaining armourers and blacksmiths of the world, had broken her silence on the matter when Sonya was 16, encouraged by several stouts of white ale. It pained Ravna, and was told through misty eyes. She found Sonya at the edge of a broken giant's bridge in the north, an infant in the arms of a woman recently dead from The Curse. She had been wrapped entirely in blood twine, guarded by arms made entirely of stone. A few steps further and they would have joined the rest, below. A mass grave of cursed souls,
This was an awakening for Sonya. To have been so close to death before life had even begun, and then taken in by another who could have simply walked away. She felt a debt placed upon her, to live as tenaciously as she could, both for the mother she never knew, and the woman who took her in. No half measures, no dwelling. She would tear into the mantle of the world and bend it to her will, quickly learning to craft equipment to rival that of the Grandmaster's.
The surpassing came sooner than later, when Grandmaster Ravna made one of her yearly sojourns to the walled city, each time armed with new plans and equipment to break the walls. The spring of Sonya's 26th year was the last she saw of her mentor. It was made obvious, by both customers with inquisitive ambitions and her mentor, that going anywhere other than west was a deadly mistake.
So she would man the forge, herself, and quickly become the best there is. She could at least provide those eastbound fools a means of defence...were there any travellers left to equip. Those that head east do not return. It was a disturbing sight, then, to see a man she did not recognise making her way towards her from the eastern paths, dressed in foreign clothes...
MARKUS
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