Pax Polillon

Pax in Deep-One regalia (Photo by Jake Jones)

### **Origin**

Pax Polillon hails from the Black Seas, somewhere on the outskirts of one of the Eight great Deep-One cities. Born on a kelp farm to low-status parents who never received military training due to their birthright lock, Pax expected to live a humble life tending the kelp crop in obscurity. Unlike other Deep-Ones her age, she was raised with little education or exposure to the outside world, and never learned to speak Trade Tongue or even perform simple math. Somewhat late into her teen years, much to everyone's surprise, her birthright weapon manifested, and her life took on new shape. She left for training in the city (though somewhat older than the others), and completed her trials and The Reveal as a Guardian Defender.

### **A Heavy Burden**

Following training, she served several years protecting one of the Gates, and became close with another defender named Corel. She observed as Corel grew feelings for a younger Deep-One named Chel, and was shocked but delighted by the news that they had secretly performed a Bond ceremony together to create new life. Pax wept in wonder at the first sight of the softly glowing conch shell.

The joy was short-lived, however, for the couple grew apart each day, and eventually Chel left Corel brokenhearted with a growing life that neither truly knew how to raise. Corel succumbed to despair and Pax followed them to the edge of a deep trench known to house ravenous horrors in its depths. At the edge of this dark tear in the ocean floor, Pax made a vow to care for the shell in Corel's stead.

### **The Mainland**

Now bearing the burden of this fragile shell, Pax received her first placement on land, and set off for the surface with several other Defenders. They were tasked with cleansing Aether corruption wherever it spread, and travelled from Embassy to Embassy with mixed reception from the land dwellers. Pax struggled to communicate with her extremely limited grasp of Trade Tongue, but got by with the help of the more worldly Veth, a Lakesider invoker of Zet'Tallan. Chased from some towns, and welcomed in others, the two eventually found themselves where all roads seem to meet: Haven.

### **Death**

   Despite Haven's propensity for violence and conflict, Pax settled into a comfortable life operating from the Embassy near Haven, and formed lasting friendships with several other Unda and many land dwellers alike. She worked hard to learn more Trade Tongue, and grew fond of the curious food and customs of the mainland. Aether corruption reared its head now and then, but she and the other Unda were always there to quell it. What she could not have prepared for, however, were threats of a different nature. In the midst of the Hallow Festival, Pax was carried off by a cursed hound from Death's Realm and killed in a lonely, dark grotto. She shared one last telepathic exchange with her dearest friend Nilo, and then her voice went silent.

### **Return**

Months—though they felt like years—passed in Death's Realm, yet Pax refused to let her consciousness move on. She clung to this realm, running through its shifting labyrinth in search of a way out, and fighting off the hoards of soulless husks who had lingered much longer than her. Each day she felt her grip loosen, and her eyes glazed over white, as if some part of her was waning. But then it appeared: a perfect replica of Haven, though shadowy and empty. Things were always changing here, but this was truly new. Then, through the emptiness, came a familiar voice—it was Nilo calling her name. Pax fought her way with newfound zeal to the foot of the Keystone tower, and was reunited with her friends and countless other residents of Haven. All victims of a planar shift that had shunted half the town into Death's Realm, many still possessed their souls, but were constantly beset by desperate husks clawing for their own. The living did not belong here. It was a formidable struggle to survive the Realm and forge a path home, but there were helpful forces in this place, and power in numbers. Pax escaped with the others, grateful for every sensation that had been lacking in that purgatory. The blinding sun, the taste of food, and the sound of friendly voices.