#childhood tales of krakonos

[hriobzagelthewanderer]

Today, of all days during the Winter Celebrations, Chaos, and all else going on, is a special day.

You remember little of what had found you there, lost in the snow on a trail through the seemingly endless woods, but you remember her- a solitary younger woman of white hair, with oddly finned ears and bright grey eyes. Vaguely, you recall wondering if she was part of the falling snow around you or a hallucination - not that you knew the word yet at such a young age - as she reached out a hand towards you from under her warm cloak.

That woman, Lyth, as she was named, would become known to you from that moment forwards by another name, lovingly: Mutti, your mother in all but blood.

You remember her best as a Baker, but also as a tutor in defending yourself, in sorting out your angers, frustrations, fears, and doubts through practicing in artisan and culinary works, and eventually the role model you sought to emulate for much of your younger years.

Occasionally you would have disagreements, no family is without its hangups on occasion, and there were times when what at the time seemed like your own personal curse would force you again to become lost and alone amongst the woodlands once more for long periods of time, but one way or another, you always found your way back to that Clocktower Bakery, and to her welcoming, understanding arms.

It would not be until adulthood that you gained more perspective, on your nature and your goals, and not until you reclaimed the Halls of your Predecessor that you learned of the fond irony; of how Krakonos before you had considered the young dragalina dropped at his doorstep for tutoring to be the closest thing he had to a daughter, hundreds of years before the events that forced him to turn the wheel of reincarnation and create you.

Nonetheless, no matter what you've discovered, learned, or become, no matter where you call home, she remains as your mother, even now when she moves on from the Bakery for more Bardic work and performance, with a new partner and little step-sister for you to visit with.

No matter what, given it seems nobody will ever know what day you were truly borne on, you will always consider today to be your de-facto birthday, the day you celebrate the proper start of own life.

[hriobzagelthewanderer]

[Hriob's Abilities: Arcane Absorption and Adaptation.]

From the very beginning, even before he learned about his true nature and origins, Hriob has always had a strong, nearly unparalleled connection to magic and the world around him - sometimes as a boon, other times more of a curse.

Mainly, this power is arcane in nature, but has aspects both spiritual and psionic... Absorbing magic from his surroundings, be they ambient, dormant, or active and offensively being thrown at him, forces him to attune to the energies, storing the power within his own body's energies while memorizing the 'pattern'/structure of the magic, if there is any, in the process. Over the years, he has honed, meditated, and refined this process to allow him to passively harmonize and synergize his own energies with those of his surroundings to the point that all life force within a wide range around him is a part of his effective reserves of power - and in turn is empowered to grow and flourish while in contact with his spirit.

However, while he has yet to show an upper limit to how much power he can store at a time, the nature of what he 'eats' in this manner is very important to the process. 'Simple' Elemental powers are ideal, while more complex curses, charms, hexes and enchantments take longer to 'break down' and digest. That said, some elemental affinities are better than others - pure life force or spiritual energy is best, especially from flora rather than fauna, but of the 'basic' natural elemental alignments Wind and Lightning are the most attuned, and Fire the least. Holy energies are mostly neutral, if difficult to 'digest' as well, but 'Corruptive' forms of power, such as demonic, eldritch, and necromantic forces tend to be the hardest on him - at best forcing extreme strain to process, at worst literally forcing him to endure harmful physical backlash while dealing with the influx.

As a child, he had next to no control over anything, often acting as an unwitting vessel for stray spirits, and causing freak storms and wild miscasting whenever his emotions went awry. However, every time he would have perished was countered by latent protections placed upon him at his 'birth', even if scars often remained. While intelligent and insightful, his luck truly was horrific when it came to his chance encounters, as even if he occasionally found shelter, friends, and surrogate family from time to time he never seemed to truly be able to stay around before some force seemed to push him to wander again.

It was not until adulthood, even if it was not for longer still that he learned his true Fae heritage, that he truly grew to maintain a true grasp of his abilities, and hone them properly. It was during this period that he expanded his attenuation to all of nature around him, and began devouring knowledge of spellcraft - and literal spells - ravenously to expand his repertoire of magic... and from there expand his skills to all manner of crafting, magical or otherwise.

[hriobzagelthewanderer]

4. What is their relationship with their parents? What’s a good and bad memory with them? Did they know both parents?

5. Do they have any siblings? What’s their names? What is their relationship with them? Has their relationship changed since they were kids to adults?

[[Hriob is an only child, and technically an orphan. He would have been a feral child to boot, had he not been all-but-officially adopted by a dragoness named Lyth when he was still very young. Under her care, even if Fate something kept drawing him back to forests and away from her care from time to time, he was able to learn how to read and write, how to bake, and that not everything was out to kill him how to trust again. One of his best memories is being brought inside a warm, rustic bakery during a rainstorm and helping to make cinnamon rolls under a watchful eye.]]