Adrian 'Omen' Kallis

Omen is a bard, proficient with the lute, the lyre and the pan flute. He's a very talented performer, reaching local acclaim and renown in the city of Dapple Hills, most often found performing at Cidersprings, playing his pan flute. Known to be obstinate with a strong set of morals, devoted to Rayien (though he has been spotted worshipping Kir'sekai on the d-l), a bit of a lothario and known to be gone before morning with the people who've had the pleasure of encountering the bard in such a fashion.

## Adrian 'Omen' Kallis

Adrian Kallis was born to parents Johannes Kallis and Melisant Kallis in a small village named Cedar Grove, home to the largest (and only) temple to the war god Rayien in all of Korem proper. His father, Johannes, a teacher, accomplished musician and scholar educated in Jerohem, met Melisant, third daughter of a wheat farmer in Cedar Grove, very young, and the two were sweethearts throughout most of their upper schooling, before Johannes, at age 16, went off to Jerohem to further his education, promising Melisant that he would return with a ring.

He returned six years later, at age 22 and promptly proposed in the middle of the main street of Cedar Grove, still wearing his travel clothes and road dirt. She accepted immediately and the following spring, they were wed in the Temple of Rayien, where Johannes since had been employed as a teacher of litterature, language and algebra. He also tutored promising young students in music. The young couple was gifted a house by the Temple of Rayien as a wedding present, and in this villa on the edge of town, overlooking yellow fields of wheat, is where Adrian Kallis is born some years later.

### Childhood and early life

Having had a bit of difficulty conceiving, Adrian Kallis was welcomed for the blessing from Rayien he was to his parents, this bright green eyed and golden hair baby was everything Johannes and Melisant had wanted. He picked up skills quickly, eagerly taught by his doting parents, who embraced parenthood with a fervor and soon he was talking, questioning everything, humming along to his fathers music and dancing on his mothers feet. When Adrian was age two the family, much to their initial surprise, given how hard it had been to conceive the first time, welcomed another addition to their household in the form of baby Caliope Kallis.

Adrian easily fell into the role of older brother, even if Caliope wasn't much fun in the those first few years (the most interesting thing she did was blow magnificent spit bubbles) and her name was quite difficult for a young Adrian to pronounce, mostly shortened to 'Callie'. She would soon become a regular participant in a young Adrian Kallis' grand deeds (and misdeeds), and though Adrian had many other friendships as he grew, he never outgrew his friendship with his sister, who became as attached to him as his own shadow. There would be many grand adventures of playing at sword fighting with broomsticks, painting a kitchen floor with jam to test their ability to slide in it, and later an almost relentless betting war, that only ended once Callie had put her bed up as collateral and Adrians mother found them dragging her bed to Adrians room, after she lost, and made them return the bed and stop the wars.

At age ten a further development happened to young Adrian Kallis that would forever change the trajectory of his life. It had long been noticed that the young Kallis boy seemed to walk in Rayien's light, he excelled at sword practice and had a firm grasp of morality even at a very young age, where most kids are more concerned with what flavor pudding they might have for dessert. The fact that the boy was favored by Rayien was definitively proven to the temple when Adrian, a thin and lanky boy, put a couple of boys years beyond him in both schooling and body mass, on their asses for bullying and belittling a traveling merchant from the desert. During the fight witness account tell the tale of seeing Adrians shadow grow to twice his size, with a flickering tail and rams horns crowning the shadows head.

### Training and schooling

Adrian Kallis was since put into accelerated studies within the temple, where he was receiving his schooling, and put under apprenticeship with Master Ores, the high cleric of the temple, to be groomed to step into his shoes one day. For the first time in Adrian Kallis' young life, he started to struggle to keep up with the higher demand for not only accelerated studies but also the demand and expectation of perfection from the young boy that Rayien had apparently chosen. He dealt with initial jealousy from his peers and relentless adoration from others, and though Adrian had always enjoyed the spotlight, the pressure would sometimes get to him, and some days he'd disappear after school and hide in the wheat fields, finding a secluded space to play his pan flute for the clouds above.

He quickly learned that while actually excelling at your studies is of course, preferable, you can get away with just *seemingly* excelling. He learned to run circles around most of his teachers and tutors, developing a silver tongue for negotiation, placation, smoke and mirrors, and sometimes straight up lying to the adults around him. This gave him a lot more breathing space to relax and the initial jealousy of his peers soon faded, placing him squarely as the golden boy of Cedar Grove, while still affording him time to play pranks and general mischief with his friends and younger sister.

### The beginning of the fall of Adrian Kallis

With the adoration of his peers came many opportunities to explore romantic relations at quite an early age, the young boy was rarely without a girlfriend for long since age of thirteen and though he rarely seemed that enthused about his partners, he was definitely a young and curious boy, practicing kissing behind barns, passing notes in the hallways, and learning exactly how to honey his words, even as his voice had only just started to crack. And it only got worse once his growth spurt hit and daily training started to tone his physique. His lack of complete enthusiasm and tendency to move on to the next fancy rather quickly soon earned him a bit of a reputation as a philanderer, though more often than not, it would be his partners seeking him out rather than Adrian luring anyone into relations.

Among noteworthy dalliances is Mariána, called Mari, a traveling 18 year old bard who passes through town when Adrian is 15. If asked Adrian would accredit a lot of his nimble and talented fingerwork to Mari, as they spent hours strumming, among other things, a lute. Another noteworthy dalliance is Padrig Pewter, a smith's son, who becomes Adrian's first real venture into same sex relations - it ends poorly, as the other boy is far too closeted and self-hating for it to end any other kind of way. There are a few others that venture into Adrian Kallis' bedroom, but none of any real importance or consequence.

Until *her*. She's a young brunette with brown doe-eyes, and Adrian falls faster than he wants to admit. It’s a longer courtship than he wants to admit as well, it takes countless flowers, waxing words, poetry and songs dedicated to her on his pan flute, before she finally agrees to a date.

The date goes horribly wrong. Adrian is far too nervous to be his normal, charming self, his palms are sweaty, he’s stammering over his words, at one point he spills wine on her white shirt, and he accidentally cops a feel when he’s trying to fix it – apologizing profusely, as she start to laugh. Not cruel laughter, no, it’s as soft as their alabaster skin, and as she calls him an ‘idiot’ and push a soft kiss to his cheek, Adrian Kallis would never be the same.

### Becoming 'Omen' and losing Adrian Kallis

Clara becomes sick when she and Adrian have been together for two years, he's planning on proposing to her, when instead, he is kneeling at her bedside as she coughs up bloody mucus. The illness takes five days to kill her, she slips away from him while he's sleeping at her bed side, and a distraught Adrian, hearing no reply from his deity and finding the clerics stumped, takes matters into his own hands. He calls upon dark forces to bring her back to life and the dark forces grant him a ruby with the promise of '*a life for a life*'. The ruby brings Clara back to life but erases Adrian's memory of his entire life.

He winds up wandering the costal regions of Korem, traveling from city to city aimlessly, looking for things that spark his memory; girls or boys with beautiful brown eyes, brown hair and pale skin. With no memory of his name, he gets by borrowing names from people he meets, until he's given the name Omen by the other’s living on the streets of the city he visits, because bad things seem to follow him – a gust of cold air, things will move unpredictably, flames will flicker and sometimes incorporeal voices are heard, like whispers on the wind. The cracked holy symbol he received a day before Clara fell ill hidden on the inside of his shirt and a ruby dangling from an iron chain.

He spends two years homeless and living on the streets of cities in Korem, survives two winters, a stab wound to his gut made by the broken off leg of a chair, almost cutting his femoral artery open climbing over an iron fence, eating poisonous berries and nearly dying from it, and general starvation and exhaustion. He winds in the city of Nether Puddlestone where his life is about to change once again.

### Notable encounters and first meetings

Throughout his travels, Omen meets a host of people and creatures that will all affect him to various degrees, this section will contain the most noteworthy encounters.

#### Remnant

In Nether Puddlestone a starved and penniless Omen with a broken pan flute has a chance encounter with a creature the like of which he's never seen before; a very large, strawberry blonde and green eyed centaur, who seems unaffected by the ominous aura that permeates Omens presence. The two walk together for a little while, and the centaur, who introduces himself as Remnant, offers to buy the human boy a hot meal. They go to Gillie's to eat and share a meal together, and though Omen never says so out loud, he senses in Remnant a kindred spirit and is struck by the urge to follow him. So he does. At first at a distance, following in the shadows, but a botched attempt at haggling with a leather salesman bringes Remnants attention back on him. Remnant winds up purchasing the leather string that fixes Omen's pan flute, Omen thanks him, and the two separate again - but once again, Omen tries to follow him in the shadows, although this time, does so poorly. Remnant notices him, and just outside Nether Puddlestone, the two agree to travel together, after Remnant catches him red-handed.

#### Nyx

In Dapple Hills Remnant and Omen encounter the curious duo of Nyx Flutterfeet and Nirámi, a pixie and a tiefling, who are traveling together. Nyx promptly offers Omen an appletart that the bard was salivating at and he takes it gratefully. Both traveling duos are looking for a tavern to stay at and decide to find one together, and after being rebuffed at a bathhouse, they decide to look for a tavern with a bathing option, which is how they wind up at Cidersprings together. Omen quickly finds that Nyx left the feywilde to find an elven man, who's locket he found and became enamored with. In Nyx Omen sees a reflection of the true romantic in himself and he quickly comes to consider the pixie a true bosom friend.

#### Nirámi

At Cidersprings Nirámi, Omen and Nyx decide to drink together, Omen putting it off slightly to take the stage before he starts drinking. When he gets on stage he finds that Nirámi, while attempting to cut a purse off of another patron, gets caught and guards are called. Springing quickly into action, Omen tries to distract the guards and keep them off of Nirámi, who succesfully, aided by Niva, manages to get out of trouble. After he finishes performing, he settles back at the table with the others and his first impressions of Nirámi are that of partnership, he sees a person who matches him step for step, a devils advocate and a good friend, quickly coming to consider her his best friend.

#### Tameth

The party meets Tameth within the jade sea. Omen is taking a watch and hears a flute attempting to mimic his pan flute within the woods, taking it as a challenge he tries to play a harder melody, which the flutist in the woods attempts to follow. Eventually a half-elven boy with whiteish blonde hair, blue eyes and freckles reveals himself, and the two sit down to talk during Omen's watch, playing the flutes and talking about music, eventually Tameth shares a pipe of dreamgrass with Omen and after smoking it, Omen leans in to press a kiss to Tameth's cheek, before going to sleep. On their next encounter with Tameth, during another nightwatch, Omen asks him if he'd like to make out, to which Tameth agrees and they wind up rolling around on the forest floor of the jade sea. Omen gravitates towards Tameth as if the boy has a magnetic field he can't resist, though he has tried. He's deeply attracted to him but does also, unlike many of his other conquests, consider him a friend.

#### Clara aka Soul

For a long time, Omen could not remember Clara's name, nor her appearance. In his mind she was a brown eyed, brunette with pale skin and no other distinguishing features. He sought her memory like a man dying of thirst in the desert searches for water, finding women and men with matching features to chase the memory of her. He meets Clara again at the Ciderspring inn and though he does not recognize her, he courts her, seeking her company, bringing her flowers and starting a correspondence with her via letters, even though he learns that she is engaged to another man. They exchange letters with a flirtatious undertone, never quite crossing the line, but certainly seeking it. Clara was intriguing to Omen because she filled the empty space Soul left so easily, and as it turns out, it's because she was Soul all along.