Favored

Adored

Shortly after Tau'sith reached her nineteenth birthday, she felt the first tug of her familiar. Out in the world, waiting for her to find it. Like many others, she packed up her things and ventured out into the world on a grand adventure to find her other half, changing direction as her dreams guided her forward. She went east to Nashaki and the Eternal Empire, to find the fire and passion that would light her soul. She went north, as far as Viden, to look for the curiosity and drive to focus her energy. A journey of epic self-discovery, spanning arcs, across the world. Eventually she'd end up in Ne'haer, searching for the balance to unite these conflicting orders in the sanctity of religion, a pilgrim of spiritual harmony. Her visions were stronger; she knew that at last she was close. But they came too few and far between, muddled and dwindling. Her arcs of travel and personal growth had taken a heavy toll on the familiar's body.

Ashan masqueraded as a wandering hermit in those days, a faceless nobody peddling small wares across the Western continent. Their paths crossed many times around Ne'haers outer territories, mostly through accidents or happenstance. From time to time, they would even spend long evenings together, questioning the mysteries of the world and venting their worries to one-another, as only two poor and unknown souls could. It was from here that Ashan first learned of her struggles, and where his interest sparked. Her devotion to finding her other half soon led to research into the spirits themselves, their world and its people, their very nature and their vast and complex history. Idle curiosity piqued, Ashan provided her the materials to continue delving deeper, further... and their talks together only grew longer and more intimate.

It wasn't long before the two finally came to understand what was happening. She loved him for his deep existential thoughts, mindfulness, comfort in his own skin and a sense of independence both physically and mentally that made him refreshingly unique in so many ways. He loved her for her determination, inner strength, optimism and her one unmitigated desire: "To become a spirit one day myself. Perhaps a Diri. Wandering the world forever." They left the city together and traveled across the wilds of the west for a time, enjoying the peace it brought them to eschew the constricting grasp of civility. For a time, Ashan found a like-minded soul. She became pregnant with their child; he could tell there was something different about this one, different to the feel of an ordinary infant, even one with his blood, but knowing they would be together, it didn't worry him much. They'd have time to raise the child together and teach it of their ways, out in the wilds as it was meant to be. For a brief snatch of time, he was happy. He never understood the cost of this pleasure until it came time for Tau'sith to pay it.

Exploring the world with Ashan was not what her familiar needed. She could only choose one - the other half of her life, or the other half of her soul. She chose wrong. The day her familiar died, her scream of agony tore a hole through Ashan's heart, but what truly dealt the killing blow was knowing that, even knowing how much this meant to her, he'd been the cause that she'd fallen so far from her path. Though he tried - and he did, almost desperately so - he could not repair the damage that the loss had caused her. It only steered her deeper still into a growing pit of loss, bitterness, and eventual hatred. Her adventurous spirit fizzled and ebbed; her strength waned, her curiosity ebbed. Everything that he had once loved about her sloughed off the shambling corpse beneath, and soon he could take no more, waking up every morning to look upon his own mistake.

He sent her back to where she came from, still pregnant and broken, back to her homeland to live out the rest of her days with her family. He would not be shackled by the needs of a child, and so he left that too, hoping that it would grow up among its own people and become strong and fierce in its own way. But before she left, he imparted two gifts. A lock on his powers and true heritage to keep him safe during his time away, from those that would prey upon his kind for powers and sustenance, and other things, if his suspicions of the child's domains were to be believed. Made from a deal struck with a powerful Anak, to protect him until such a time that he was ready to begin learning. The other, a cryptic message imparted upon his to-be familiar Archailist, to help him discover the way back to his father, should he choose to follow it.

Ability Name Ability

Understanding and acceptance are the first and most important aspects of gaining true affinity with another person. A comprehension that goes beyond words or actions, but goes down to the root, the cause of it all. This is why the Mortalborn of Affinity holds this source with such high regard - and why he must first see a person for all of what they are. He must feel the relationships that they hold, not just with other people, but with things and concepts. The affinities they feel.

Once every five trials, at a touch and with intense concentration, the Ashanborn can feel a person's soul and the aspects acting on it at that given moment by initiating skin contact and holding it as they channel their power through the subject. Since this ability lacks refinement, so only the most powerful forces will be felt. These can be aspects such as love for another person, if the individual is thinking about that person or they are nearby, but only if this is a deep, true, intense love, such as soulmates, married partners or close family members; these can be intense passions for a particular skill or profession, if the person is thinking about, currently performing, or has recently performed said skill or profession; these can be goals, aspirations or intense drives, as long as the person is thinking about those drives or currently acting out those drives. Due to the nature of the Spark and Immortal Marks and their actions on the soul, the Ashanborn is able to feel the presence of a Spark or an Immortal Mark, but cannot discern the Domain of this Spark or the Immortal of the Mark unless he has used the same ability on an individual with this Spark or Mark and is aware of it (has knowledges specifically relating to its feel under Disclosure) nor can he determine the strength of their Spark or Mark.

These aspects appear to the Ashanborn in sensations, as he touches each link to the soul in turn and shares in the feeling. The longer the touch, the more information can be pulled, but the longer each subsequent connection will take to decipher (i.e., the first connection may take only one bit to understand, but the second will take two bits, the third will take three, and so on) as the Ashanborn's body struggles to keep his own affinities and those of the subject separated. The order in which the Ashanborn will discover the affinities of the subject is mostly random, however significantly powerful affinities take priority over others (a smith at work will be thinking more about their love of smithing at that given moment than the love of their wife, and therefore the Ashanborn will interpret their smithing affinity before their wife).

This ability does not require the consent of the subject, and the ability can be stopped by breaking skin contact. However, it is also extremely uncomfortable for the subject, often causing flashes of memory and vivid hallucination with every connection felt, along with a general powerful sense of nakedness and exposure as their very essence is scrutinized.

Should the Ashanborn spend longer than approximately fifteen bits (minutes) attempting to understand the subject's soul, their affinities will become entangled. From this moment, for the rest of the season, the Mortalborn will suffer with bouts of memory loss and confusion, as his soul is tugged with an intense love for a person he has never met before, or a love of a craft he has never practiced. These affinities, powerful as they are, will compel him to perform for them, constantly pressing on his thoughts and filling him with melancholy, depression and restlessness while he does not act on the enthralling tugs at his soul.

Abandon Ability

To bring liberation to the world, one must first remain liberated themselves. To this end, the Mortalborn of Liberation holds a very simple innate power.

The Ashanborn's skin can turn unnaturally smooth for up to half a break (hour) at a time per day, lasting the entire duration or in small momentary bursts. While he is in this state, any person attempting to grip him will find it incredibly difficult to find a good handhold, as his limbs will simply slide back out of the hold, or a single twist of his body will cause their grip to slide off, as if he was covered in incredibly thick grease. Restraints placed upon his body will likewise slide off, no matter how tight and even if covering his entire body. Finally, though his flexibility is not enhanced in any way by this ability, he will find it significantly easier to slide through small gaps.

The downsides of this ability are that although he cannot be grab, he also cannot grab; during this state, his own fingers also slip off anything he attempts to grip. Furthermore, magically-enhanced restraints cannot be escaped, however restraints with magically-enhanced locks can (since this ability does not attempt to unlock the restraint in any way, but instead remove the restraint in its entirety).

Siphon Ability

To bring liberation to the world, one must first remain liberated themselves. To this end, the Mortalborn of Liberation holds a very simple innate power.

The Ashanborn's skin can turn unnaturally smooth for up to half a break (hour) at a time per day, lasting the entire duration or in small momentary bursts. While he is in this state, any person attempting to grip him will find it incredibly difficult to find a good handhold, as his limbs will simply slide back out of the hold, or a single twist of his body will cause their grip to slide off, as if he was covered in incredibly thick grease. Restraints placed upon his body will likewise slide off, no matter how tight and even if covering his entire body. Finally, though his flexibility is not enhanced in any way by this ability, he will find it significantly easier to slide through small gaps.

The downsides of this ability are that although he cannot be grab, he also cannot grab; during this state, his own fingers also slip off anything he attempts to grip. Furthermore, magically-enhanced restraints cannot be escaped, however restraints with magically-enhanced locks can (since this ability does not attempt to unlock the restraint in any way, but instead remove the restraint in its entirety).

Animal Training

Nir'wei has 2 Animal Training Capstones. Click the Heading above to see the rest of the Skill 1 Capstones information.

Animal Husbandry

Nir'wei has 2 Animal Husbandry Capstones. Click the Heading above to see the rest of the Skill 1 Capstones information.

PC Name has achievements in the following skills:

• Animal Training
• Animal Husbandry