Ekrotu Suuna

Ekro is a young tribal Druid, hailing from the Darkwood, who specializes in healing provided by the power of the inherent Violet Hex.

## **Appearance**

Although still majorly resembling humans, the Foltic clan of the Utanan race differ from the species they originated from in a few rather unique fashions. For one, their skin is a stark white; to call them "pale" might even be a bit an understatement, but to otherwise say that it heavily stands out among a crowd would also be in ignorance of how much they utilize the color black, both in clothing and dye, and how effectively it camouflages - or at least distracts - from the snow-skinned aspect of the natives. It is unknown if this "hue condition" is a result of the Foltic having resided in the Darkwood for so long, or if it's yet another byproduct of the Violet Hex, but their heavy use of the prior mentioned darkest of colors is without a doubt an effort to remain visually low-key to enemies and predators. Another characteristic of the Foltic, and one that is however most certainly a result of the Hex, are their violet eyes, glowing with a brightness unachievable without some sort of mystical explanation.

As far as Ekro herself is concerned, she respresents her people extremely well. She stands at an even 5'5", slim yet fit in a way that would be expected out of adaptation to the environment. Various, mainly animal-inflicted scars mark her body throughout, though most are buried beneath the profile of cloth, leather, and ink. Most likely noticeable of them all is the small, bite-shaped section missing from the back of her right ear, and a trio of claw gashes just above the heart. Her straight black hair, pulled back into a semi-loose, semi-high ponytail, has just the left temple cornrowed as according with departure ceremony.

Regarding clothing, Ekro dons a sleeveless, black leather shortrobe that extends to about the knees, the material fairly tattered in various places. Her feet are left curiously bereft of any sort of shoe or boot, but from mid-foot and upward to the covering point of the robe, her legs are entirely wrapped with simple black cloth in a style almost mimicking of bandages. Her arms, bare of any dress, save for a similar black wrapping over her left forearm and hand.

Just as much as they favor the color for attire, they favor it for their tribal dyes and inks. Ekro's contrasting eyes sit amid heavy smears of black paint, with small trails left running down the length of cheeks, and another smear across the forehead. Her neck and upper chest, visible due to the open and angular style of her robe, are uncharacteristcally clean. Most prominent of all this "darkpaint", though, are the elegantly defining black druidic glyphs that decorate the entirety of her arms and back of her hands. Upon very close inspection, these are no simple tattoos, but rather fairly deep engravings and grooves in the skin that have been traced over with an irremovable dye. These glyphs, while a Druid is using his or her magic, glow to match the same color of their eyes - the key sign of the Violet Hex that resides within.

Curiously, Ekro very often wears a simple, black piece of cloth as a blindfold, with it completely blocking any vision in or out. This small detail, mistaken enough, is not actually indicitative of whether her eyesight is intact - which it is - but rather of a very old Foltic tradition for healers. This custom, supposedly, is to help with magical focus: after a healer goes so long while blindfolded, its removal allows their abilities to be more temporarily refined with the regaining of the sense of sight. Possibly more perplexing than the tradition itself, however, is the fact that being blindfolded does not seem to hinder Ekro's awareness and ability to move efficiently whatsoever. (Some outsiders and researchers theorize that this "tradition" is just a cover story, and the real reason for it is simply to shield their eye color on the hope of keeping their identity as a Foltic hidden, or perhaps even mask the glow from predators. Others think it is a type of meditation, a kind of priority-shifting where Foltic Druids instead use their ability to communicate with nature directly as the primary way of getting around. No matter what, very few outside of the natives know the truth.)

Beneath this layered and painted tribal visage is a girl who's only a few years into adulthood. Angled eyebrows, a slightly celestial nose, and a distinguishable, diamond-shaped face actually give off a fair air of allure, but seeing a Foltic shed their usual getup and wild cosmetics is about as common as seeing a beardless, sober Dwarf.

## **Personality**

Much like her people, Ekro seems to act with simplicity, but is internally a rather complex individual. Although she holds an almost etheral calmness in just about every step and situation, what many think is sheer fearlessness or even lack of care is in reality a carefully observant nature at its core. She is, more often than anything, studying and watching, something she has a lot of time to do and interest in doing since so little of the rest of Aneos has been witnessed by the Foltic. Although seldom reflected on her face, like a lot of emotion, she has a natural fascination with the great many things that are unknown to her, which amount to quite a high number.

This somewhat hermitic perception, however, is rather humorous when considering that while in comfortable company Ekro tends to shift into a surprisingly likable charm, if with a penchant for (usually) lighthearted sarcasm and quipping. Even moreso interesting while in the light of this tribal mindset, is the fact that she very often likes to help wherever or whoever she can with her abilities. Despite the seemingly tough outer shell, Ekro being the most personable of her clan, and also being chosen to travel Aneos, are not totally unrelated. Not much at all is likely to set the girl off, either, but when it does happen, what was once a securely bottled temper will almost instantaneously turn into

When Ekro does bother to speak, it's unclear whether her exceptionally blunt speech patterns are born out of only a decent grip on language in general, or if it's simply evidence of her - and possibly all Foltic's - overly extreme straightforwardness; that is, in the rare case they deem any forwardness at all is actually necessary.

Also of note, if a bit unsurprising, is Ekro's protective attitude toward most things found in nature. Animal and plant life are held with much respect among her people and typically seen as equals,  or sometimes even friends. On the flipside, her attitude toward demons is a bit biased in favor of negativity, given how commonly her people have clashed with the Darkwood's other inhabitants and more belligerent neighbors over the years.

Unfortunately, perhaps the most standout aspect of Ekro's personality is the Violet Hex's biggest drawback: sporadic mental instability. Ranging among her tribe from mildly incoherent rambling to total insanity, the Hex slowly decays the mind over time and without discrimination - this is why the Foltic clan is one of the few in existence that does not place elders in positions of high importance. Luckily, Ekro is young and strong-willed, and does not regularly suffer from the affliction outside of intense nightmares and, on particularly bad days, some drifting schizophrenia. Nevertheless, she cannot push away that cloud that hangs overhead, that ever-so lingering threat of impending madness, and she dreads being unable to save herself or her people from the pain.

## **Skills & Abilities**

### ***The Violet Hex***

A thing of much debate between the very few outside of the Foltic who know of its existence, the Hex is at least agreed upon as being the source of all Druidic powers seen among the tribe, even if its origins are shrouded in mystery. Although not a tangible force, its presence within a Druid can be easily detected by their vibrant violet eyes, and when the runic carvings on their arms glow the same color while a power is being utilized. The Hex, with Ekro, entails the following:

### *Contact Mending*

Direct (or nearly direct) physical contact with the hurt or sick aligned with heavy concentration by Ekro allows her to treat a wide array of injury, although the severity of it determines how much magic and time must be used. This is easily Ekro's most proficient ability, and the reason why her place among her people was as their chief healer, despite her young age. A truly natural gift, and in more ways than one. Typically a pleasantly numb experience as well, as most report, if a bit jarring at first due to the small, purple, almost serpentlike lines of energy that seem to work their way from the Druid's arm glyphs, across her hands, and onto the site of injury, where they will dissipate slowly as the wound seemingly reverts into nonexistence.

### *Earthspeaker*

The ability to "talk" with the flora and fauna of Aneos is something much more common among the Foltic Druids than healing, although the success of the ability varies heavily from person to person. Out of lack of experience, this is oftentimes much more energy-draining on Ekro than her healing, where a simple minutes-long "conversation" (more of an understanding, really) with something only as large as a wolf could still leave her totally exhausted. Talking with plant life is much less tiring, but also usually yields much less discernible results. Due to this, it is commonly reserved just for pathfinding or to convey a sense of gratitude before a necessary harvest.

### *Shapeshift*

The staple trait of almost all Druids, but Ekro's own talent for skinwalking is only moderate at best, mostly out of focus toward her healing and simple young age. That stated, she does still know a small handful of forms, their use favored almost exclusively for situations requiring stealth or scouting. These forms include: a common raven, a black fox, a non-venemous kingsnake, and a trout.

### *Naturalist, Naturally*

If there are trees nearby, Ekro is right at home. Woods, forests, jungles - her knowledge covers just about anything pertaining to these biomes, whether it be where to hunt, what to hunt, what's poisonous, what's venomous, what path to take, or simply where to fall asleep without fear of getting mauled to death in the night.

## **Equipment**

### *Survivalist's Tools*

At one side of her waist, holstered through a single loop in the simple tight strip of cloth acting as a belt, is a single-bladed Foltic axe that looks half-ready for battle and half-ready for chopping wood. Mostly akin to a hatchet in size and shape, its shaft is made of a durable greywood and blade of a nearly unbreakable and deceptively sharp obsidian. Not a pretty piece of equipment, but intimidating, even if it is used more as tool than weapon, and its weight is well-distributed for effective throwing. The small, black leather satchel Ekro shoulders cross-body to the opposite side of her waist contains a few, but important things: various herbs and little flasks of liquids to aid in healing or recovery, a small book of information containing various records of environmental and Druidic importance, and an obsidian dagger meant for unknown purpose.

## **Background**

Across much of lower Aneos are scattered groups of surviving Utanan, the race of tribal humans that have lived about the continent for at least some long ages. But only one very specific tribe of the Utanan, residing in the heart of the Darkwood and known as the Foltic, hold the Violet Hex - the mystical essence residing within all members of the clan, its name dubbed by outsiders for as much of the trait that makes the specfic group of Druids unique as it was for their unfortunate state as a seemingly cursed people. Not much is known about the Hex or its origins, even by the tribe themselves, and what little secrets about it that are still locked in the minds of the oldest of the clan are likely lost forever between the tumbling waves of their insanity. Instead, the Hex is just accepted as the way things are.

From their first breath, all Foltic children are inspected and monitored heavily until sign of their inherent "gift" granted by the Violet Hex, whether the discovery be done by witnessing their primary power itself, which is always the foremost to be shown, or by waiting until their first birthday, where the strange Hex engravings appear on their body over the course of a day. If no power was shown until then, it would be easy to identify the child's role by the glyphs: healers would always have them on their arms and hands, skilled communicators on their chins and necks, strong shapeshifters across their abdomens or backs, and so on. No matter the power, the carvings always appear when a child turns one year old. Inexplicable, like all things involving the Hex - but at least it became expected.

When Ekrotu Suuna was born, her gift became readily apparent. Her mother, a Utanan from a different clan - thus one non-Druidic and unafflicted by the Violet Hex - was bleeding out and destined to die. Demons had years ago massacred the Foltic's only Hex-gifted healer, and nobody from the visiting Yiomic clan - her mother's clan - was naturally talented enough to deal with the problem. The situation required magic, a very specific magic at that, and none was there. But yet here, entering into the world, was little Ekro, a quiet child who when quickly placed into her dying mother's arms - as if simply by proximity - kept her from the brink of death. Could it be?... Yes. Finally, the clan had another healer.

On her first birthday, after hours and hours of anxious waiting dragging on, Ekro's glyphs appeared; the tribe rejoiced, wasting no time as they moved into immediate celebration. Her father was ecstatic and her mother could not stop dancing around the fires, having decided to stay among the Foltic despite her own tribe's pressure to "leave the cursed ones to themelves." But, this joy would not last forever. Life for all Foltic was hard, especially the young, who before long always had a mantle of responsibility to uphold...and trials to endure.

At five, Foltic children undergo the Rite of Color, the only test that requires the use of a Hex ability, but the use of one possessed by <i>all</i> Foltic: communication with nature. Given a bad-tasting alchemical drink that induces temporarily blindness, the child must find an assortment of different plants and flowers in the wild (while watched by clan warriors, of course) with the use of this ability and also bring back an "acquainted" animal whom they will attempt to bond with and, if shapeshifting capability is present and strong enough, also attempt to mimic the form of. The reward for completion of this rite: coloring and tracing in of the child's Hex glyphs with the tribe's permanent jet-black ink, though it does virtually nothing to dampen the Hex's signature violet glow during power use. In conclusion, this reward is likely not given out of practicality, but more as just a sign of growth within the clan.

When Ekro underwent the Rite of Color, she found her goals easily enough, but when the time came to find an "acquaintance", she instead became distracted by a distant cry in the woods. She followed the painful wailing to almost a mile out of tribal territory, much to the dismay of her guards who claimed to have heard nothing, and came upon a tethralisk, an animal native to the Darkwood, albeit injured heavily. Although she could not see him at the time, Ekro attempted to connect with this creature, and got no result. Still, filled with empathy, she found where the animal laid and sat with him, letting down a comforting hand, and began to heal the wounds inflicted by what seemed like a much larger predator.

As she walked back into town, she walked proudly, as did her new friend. She had completed the Rite of Color, and when her parents celebrated, Ekro turned to this tethralisk, and he turned to her: <i>"Thank you."</i>

Over the next several years, Ekro became busy with practicing her mending arts in between her trials. As demon attacks in the Darkwood seemed to increase further and further, so did the amount of injuries she would have to tend to, especially as the Foltic's only healer. It wasn't until she was about 16 years old when she encountered her first demon of major consequence, at night out in the wild, exploring when she shouldn't have been...

It openly called itself one of malice, but its will ran much deeper than that, much more sinister than simple wishing to inflict harm; it wanted her to <i>witness.</i> Although there was no corporeal form, no physicality to this Immortal, its voice was thick with presence, like an infection of the mind. Slowly it beckoned, fighting against Ekro's mind, and in an instant took control of her body by using nothing but its thoughts, guiding her forward through several days' worth of time to the doors of a long-forgotten temple deep within the Darkwood. The place was lit like starless midnight, yet all was laid before her. As she stood at these doors, utterly terrified, she could not help but feel as if she was staring into the mouth of another world entirely, paralyzed by a feeling of nightmare manifested. This temple was one filled with nothing but a primeval intent, and its invisible eyes stared back at her. She collapsed at the doors, remembering in the eternity as she went down nothing but a silence that was almost deafening to witness. Luckily, years ago, she had made a friend in a tethralisk who wanted to return a favor.

When she awoke amid her tribe, tethralisk friend at her side, she said nothing of her demonic encounter, nor of the presence it had wanted to show her. She said nothing to herself, either, unwilling to let the thoughts drive her more mad than the clan's elders. Instead, she let herself be silently changed that day, for better...or for worse.

By Ekro's twentieth year, the state of the Foltic had declined rapidly. The Violet Hex's effect on the mind had driven almost half of the tribe into driveling, hollow people. The remaining, amidst their own struggles, communed with a vow to do something. It was here that Ekro was selected to leave her tribe and the Darkwood, to undergo the Rite of Departure, chosen by her friends and family to head out into the rest of Aneos in search of...<i>anything.</i> Although she was their only healer, she was also their only chance, as one of the most healthy and capable in the entire group.

On the Night of Departure, as she treaded the path and began to sneak her way out of the Darkwood, she remembered an old name whispered by her father back in his saner days...the Ansari. She remembered how the Foltic, during their more travel-capable times, would send one or two of their own to occasionally barter with the equally reclusive group of Elves.

She set herself in their direction, and walked.

## **Familiar**

### *Cteth*

Ekro's tethralisk 'friend', a hybrid species that blends what seems like the body of a grey jungle panther with the hide, head, and tail of a stone basilisk. Quick, deceptively quiet, able to take a beating, and with a tail as sharp as teeth, this Darkwood predator is not to be trifled with...when he's in the mood for a fight. Ekro's relationship with the tethralisk is interesting, to say the least. Sometimes they go months without seeing each other, sometimes they go weeks almost entirely at each other's side. His inclination on whether to follow her doesn't seem determined by anything specific, and she never bothered to ask why; she favors his usefulness far too much to pry, even if offered scarcely.

## **Misc.**

Very occasionally, Ekro herself exhibits a somewhat odd fondness for quietly humming while she heals the injured. Even more uncommonly displayed - to an utmost rarity - are the pleasant melodies of a natural vocalist.