Manaia Longfellow

## Early Life

Manaia Longfellow was a simple man. Found as a baby floating in a coracle in the great lake of Mysteria by a man he came to know simply as ‘Grandpa’, Manaia was raised as a farmer and a peaceful soul.

Once he reached adulthood Manaia had a thirst for adventure, he had grown to be a large man, taller and stronger than most that he would meet at the markets where he and his Grandpa would sell the fruits of their labour. The two lived a peaceful life until the day the darkness came. Manaia had awoken to see shadowy figures passing his window and to hear the screams of his Grandpa. Bursting into the old man’s room he found nothing but an empty bed and a toppled table.

From that day onwards Manaia sought to find his Grandpa, he travelled the lands of Mysteria searching but never finding the man that raised him. On his travels he met with others like himself, vagabonds who would wander the lands each with their own goals of revenge, discovery, adventure or simply kinship. The Dark Elf Jarlaxle Baenre, The Wall Builder Zakral, these were amongst the first that Longfellow would encounter but over time they would find others, they formed a community. They were known as the Mystic Nomads.

## The Nomad Years

For a time Manaia lived and worked with the Mystic Nomads, amongst them were some of his (then unknown to him) ancestors such as Queen Avarian. After his ancestor Lord Bond came to him in a dream, the Giant-kin decided to leave his homeland of Mysteria for new adventures.

## The Dream

Manaia had a dream one night in which his ancestor Lord Bond came to him from Oblivion with the aid of Davian technology (and a Dave to operate it). During this dream Manaia learned of his heritage, he learned that he was born in The Void to a mother who had been tricked by The Ringmaster, Manaia's father. The dream ended with the advice to "Find your power, follow the light!", advice that Manaia has used as his mantra ever since.

## Adventures in Eternia

Manaia arrived on this new plane as the sun was setting over the sea and so the Half-Giant took shelter in the ruins of the lighthouse beside him, he found a nearby sheep and slaughtered it for its mutton, built a fire to cook it and slept besides the warmth of the embers.

The next morning Longfellow was awoken by a roaring. Outside of the lighthouse was a beast of terrible rage, the demonic bird-lizard attacked at the lighthouse to no avail. Thankfully the farmer was a great fan of the gliding technology of the Pandorans that had settled in Mysteria and so he climbed to the top and leaped towards the land.

As the winds took the Giant, he saw a crack in the ground ahead of him, he headed towards it with an eye to hiding from the monster behind. As he banked off to drop in towards what he believed would be safety he was greeted by a fire-breathing wyvern with a hunger for Giant blood.

Manaia managed to turn in time to avoid the flames, but his glider’s wings were not so lucky. As he crashed to the ground, the farmer rolled down the hill of volcanic soil, brought himself to his feet and ran faster than he could remember running before. He pelted down the mountain seemingly leaping tens of metres with each bound until he reached the shore ahead of him. As Manaia turned to see the wyvern still following, he heard a call from the waves.

The call was that of Barrabas Kilgannon, an old friend of Lord Bond's and member of Firebrand. He saved Manaia and gave him passage to the new lands of Lemuria.

## Life in Lemuria

Since first sailing to the vast lands of Lemuria, the Giant had spent much time with the Firebrand crew as Barabbas was able to seek them out and re-join them using a mystic bond that Longfellow could not explain. Together they searched and found a Dave, not one that had been known previously to Firebrand but rather a Lermurian Dave, a salty sea dog of a man known not for killing creatures with reckless abandon but for sailing the seas in search of treasures and adventure. This man had come with a companion of his own, Victor Morgan, an island native that had crossed paths with the new Dave during his travels.

After countless journeys to a plethora of lands and a significant number of battles with the creatures of the Lermurian islands, the two newly reformed crews found a home together on an island aptly named Giant’s Rest, the island was perhaps better described as a cluster of tall interconnected pillar-like islands with lush green land atop them. Over time they forged a life for themselves, living in harmony with each other and the creatures that inhabited their newfound home but something about it never felt quite right.

Over the months of settlement the two crews began to explore the neighbouring islands, they found maps that lead them to treasure, they battled great creatures of the sea and in the case of Ulf, a number of creatures of the land – the large cats were the catalyst for more than one of their island relocations. But it became more and more obvious that some of the members were not the men they once had been. Manaia, a simple farmer, no longer had interest in growing crops and tending livestock. Instead he hungered for the fight. The Sea Dog Dave and Victor spent more days at sea than on land in search of the next battle. An aging Ulf and his Firebrand companion, Fox built defences in expectation of a war at any given moment, never content to simply rest. It seems that the influence of The Ringmaster on the Firebrand crew had affected some more than others, that the time in the Void for Manaia was having a similar effect. Dave and Victor’s time amongst them would lead anyone to question whether they had spent time in the darkness themselves. The group may not still possess the powers of Archon and The Void but the rage never left them, the thirst for victory over others had changed these men. They were a brotherhood, bound by a desire for little more than conquest in battle.

## Roleplays

Introduction

The Dream

A Brief History/Adventures in Eternia

The Brotherhood