Leif

Leif Reference Image

**Leif** is a major character from The Runaways campaign. He is a pixie met in Arc 1 and is later revealed to be the Sage of Earth. He is a recurring character in the series.

## Appearance

Leif is a pixie with a standard build. He has bright green hair, brown skin, yellow eyes, and a goatee. He has a squared nose and pointed ears. His hair is seen at different lengths throughout the campaign, but he is often seen with it in a low ponytail.

He is usually depicted in a large bulky cloak to hide his wings. There is a green gemstone brooch on his cloak. He often wears dark green shirts, lighter green pants, and leather boots. He often carries a leather satchel. He wears a gold chain necklace enchanted with an enlargement spell. He sometimes wears a gold band on his left ring finger, though it is never mentioned whether it was in any way connected to Liz.

## Personality

Leif is an abrasive character who is slow to trust. He has a dry and sometimes dark sense of humor, and has often joked about his own or other's deaths. He is fiercely loyal to those he cares about, namely his sisters and Liz. He also seems to show some sense of responsibility when taking care of children, such as Kori or Mo and Terry.

## Abilities

As a pixie, he is capable of flight using his wings. He is also almost entirely resistant to charm spells and can detect low-level magic without casting. While he normally wouldn’t need to sleep because of his fae blood, his unhealthy habits have led to him adopting a human sleep cycle.

Leif is an incredibly capable magic user and fighter. His specialty is with druidic plant magic, summoning vines and trees with ease, though he has proven to be capable of illusion magic as well. When recently induced with pixie dust, these powers increase greatly, though they dwindle after around eight hours. When he awakens as the Sage of Earth, these powers expand greatly and he adopts earthen magic as well, though he rarely uses it. While magic is his primary form of combat, he was also trained in hand-to-hand combat, aerial archery, and sword fighting as part of his royal training.

## Background

Leif was born in a small forest kingdom near the center of the Eastern Continent called Willow's Brook. He is the second child and first son of the royal family, making him a prince. He has an older sister, Vylot, and two younger sisters, Cryth and Aster.

When Leif was 10, his parents were killed in a forest fire. The royal advisor, an elder pixie named Woodie, assumed temporary control of the throne until Vylot was old enough to assume power. With the mortality of their royal family now looming, Woodie focused all of the royal family’s time on crown studies. Leif and his sisters were trained in diplomacy and history, as well as magic and sword fighting. He struggled to pay attention despite excelling in several classes and often snuck out disguised as the common-fae. Woodie often reprimanded Leif for this behavior, insisting that he was to take over if something happened to Vylot.

When Vylot was 15, she assumed the crown, making Leif the crown prince. Woodie intensified Leif’s studies, often comparing him to his sister who had excelled at her studies. Leif, despite excelling at the combat training, continued to struggle in the academic classes. In order to focus, he started abusing pixie dust. By overdosing and then starving himself, he found he could hyper-focus and perform high-powered magic feats easily. However, this took a great toll on his body and he often became exhausted and irritable for days afterwards. Rumors of his condition spread around the kingdom, and he quickly developed a reputation for being rowdy and irresponsible. While being loved within the lower ends of society and popular for a laugh among the common folk, he was generally deemed unfit to lead.

Around the start of the campaign, Willow’s Brook was invaded by Azariah Fitch and his crew. A number of fae, including Vylot, were kidnapped and taken to Avorsa. With Vylot gone, control of the province fell to Leif. Public outcry was great, as many felt he would be unable to rule. Rather than ascend to the throne, Leif chased after Azariah and left Cryth in control of the kingdom. After failing to trap and defeat Azariah in Lolis, Leif was captured and locked in a mausoleum for a week. Due to his binging and starving habit, Leif was able to survive without pixie dust when other fae would have died.

After Leif and the Runaways defeated Azariah Fitch and freed Vylot, Leif was awakened as the Sage of Earth. Rather than return to Willow’s Brook, Leif went with Mori and the Runaways to the Oasis, where he became a member of the Citadel. After briefly helping with the magic research on the Elemental Amulet, Leif was set loose to settle down within the Citadel. After struggling to adapt to the size of his new home, Leif purchased a golden necklace with a permanently etched rune for the Enlargement spell. When wearing it, he got mistaken for an elf by a passerby. He decided to continue claiming to be an elf and started hiding his wings within a large cloak.

When searching for a place to buy pixie dust, he met Lizbeth Florde. The two quickly hit it off and became friends. The two go on a date at the Spring Harvest Festival, where the Runaways discover Leif’s enchanted form for the first time. Despite an awkward encounter, Leif and Liz enjoy their time at the festival and continue dating afterward. This festival is also where they meet Karly X, who is operating as a carnival barker there. The three exchange numbers and become friends.

Throughout his time at the Citadel, Leif continues to grow closer to Liz and Karly, as well as with the other Sages and Mori. He continues his childhood sword training with Iggy and adopts meditation and hand-to-hand combat training with Mori. After being summoned to reduce the avalanche in Vestell, he meets Kori. When she moves to the Citadel, he assumes a sort of parental/older sibling relationship with her. Later, when Blaire joins, the two form a sort of sibling banter with each other, and jokingly take “joint custody” over Kori. As the only one of the Sages to have met Karly prior to them becoming a Sage, he is much closer to them than the others. The two were regular pen-pals and spoke frequently on the sending stone. Leif attributes his growing love of gold jewelry to Karly.

During the final fight, Leif, along with the other Sages, was kidnapped by Vanessa Roman. At one point before the Runaways arrive, Leif is able to break briefly from Vanessa’s hold and attempts to attack her. She dodged his attack and, as punishment, forced him to watch her destroy Willow’s Brook with her magic. When the Runaways arrived, he also watched Liz sacrifice herself to save Saga Maslanda. Because of this, Leif was notably absent during the post-fight celebration.

After the events of the campaign, Leif’s whereabouts are unknown. It has been alluded to by Karly and Vince that took his own life after the events of the finale.

## Trivia

* Leif is one of the few characters in the campaign without a last name. Some writings of his name have his last name as a pictograph of a falling leaf.
* Leif was created by Meta while playing the game Miitopia, along with other notable characters Liz and Azariah Fitch.
* Meta was also notably inspired by The Legend of Zelda franchise when designing his character.