Justinian

**Type:** Shapeshifting Poukha, His most common form is high mountain Jackalope.

**Class:** Academe

**Rank:**

**Court:** Unseelie

**Realm Tree:** 7 Realms of the Goblin Kingdom

## **Background: Once Upon a Time...**

*"Life is what you make of it, so allow me to guide you to your fullest potential."*

A tiny baby found by humans in the spring of the horse on Beltane during the celebrations of Floralia. Twas an odd day full of circumstance when they found him, lying there in a nest woven in lily of the valleys. He was brought home and was christened Justinian. Then the couple raised him but over the years they discovered his ability to change his face to look like others. It wasn't that they didn't believe their eyes it was simply they loved him and accepted him as their son. His adopted mother had saved some of the lilies of the valleys and gifted him a tea cup she had made with images of the plant painted on it and then a leather bound book she had made her self out of pressed leaves and cloth strung together with twine and inside was not just the lilies but all the other plants he had discovered over the years. At the age of 13 he started to change more often his face shifting every time he met someone new. This scared some folks and others were in awe but to him he didn't even know there was changes happening. The strangest things were the little bumps that were slowly growing on his head to the point he started to have to cover his head with a great straw farm hat.

His mother being afraid of the quickly spreading whispers about her son's abilities when ever she visited the village, set her heart and took him to become an apprentice of anyone of the artisan caste that would take him. Hoping that if he was working in a respectable calling, the villagers would forget his “changes”. She was right of course and so he set forth and took to a profession of Millinery. Taken on by a hat maker who was also made gentleman's finery as well. Justinian had taken the habit of always wearing something across his face lest someone would see it change and become afraid while he was doing his apprenticeships, soon he became quite known for his designs and people came from miles round for one of his illustrious hats or even a new piece of finery. The hatter who took him on had been wary at first but Justinian proved to not only be a fast learner but even did jobs efficiently his other apprentices wouldn't. So he taught him how to read and write, and when he wrote to do so in a fine turn of hand teaching him in fact his own signature script. He had hoped Justinian would one day continue where the other apprentices fell short and he would have had not his heritage called him back to where he belonged.

On Beltane of his 30th year once again in the spring of the horse he came across an olde man who offered him a horn in exchange for part of his meal. Justinian didn't have a sumptuous feast but what he did have he shared, the turkey was lean but savory and the goat cheese tart but filling they had water of the stream and potatoes mashed with a little salt. To Justinian it was a feast so to the man it became so as well. The man looked rather worn for wear so after breaking fast with him he also gave the man his coat and hat and a few coins for the road. The olde man smiled and simply said “I give you now what you do know your seeking, but for someone who can look like almost anyone, it is time for you to look like you.” Placing the horn in his hand he then sauntered off and left a bewildered Justinian looking after him long after the man was gone and no longer in sight.

After returning home he sat down at his writing desk and wrote a letter to his Mentor and Master as he truly felt like he was still an apprentice in his learning. What he didn't know was he had not only surpassed his Master but the horn was revealing his true nature. After he finished the missive he left it on the olde Milliners desk tucked into the band on the particular hat he had been building for one of their current clients. In fact Justinian was terribly proud of the top hat and went to put it on. However a shock was in store for him because as he stood in front of the mirror such a sight greeted him. Gone was his hair of the colour of honeyed wheat now instead was hair of the colour of snow and the little bumps he had carefully covered for years had sprouted into the beginnings of antlers. Even that he could take into stride but it was the sight of the rabbit ears attached to him that made him squeak and pass out.

He was found several hours later by none other then the olde milliner himself. Who set to gathering up his unusual looking journeyman apprentice. Sighing heavily he calmly got him sat in a chair in between a lot of embarrassed squeakings of pain when Justinian accidentally squished a tail he had not known was there. Finally gathering his senses about him mid 4th cup of tea, he peeked over to the mirror once more and had seemed to be returned to the self he remembered. He sighed unsure and admittedly scared of what he had become and they both decided it was best if he went on his way. Not that his master had an issue with unusual creatures but he knew the other apprentices and the town itself was sadly very superstitious. And he did not want an innocent creature to get hurt by folks who didn't understand. To help in Justinian's almost impromptu travels, his master gave him a bulky cloak and a months earnings and sent him sadly out the door and into the night. Justinian had already packed and had planned to go but not like this. In the bulky cloak he struggled as he made his way getting lost in a fog bank and that was when he crossed paths with a barn owl that was watching him with great interest.

At first he felt like the owl was almost guiding him and then came to feel just as often like the owl was definitely laughing at him. It was to be much of how they would become in the future yet written at that point in time. As the tawny barn owl guided the newly awaken fae far from his home and his life, they ventured further and further away from the human realms towards entering the Underground. The Owl led him only to inns that served fae food and drink to ensure his change was permanent. The next few weeks he spent a lot of time there exploring the Chilterns Hills country side. The owl seemed to loose interest so so set to look for it when during his explorations he came across a gaunt man named Jareth. The eyes of the man reminded him strangely of the Owl that had been guiding him further up and further in over hill and dale. They shared many a meal together on the journey and the man revealed he was traveling to the the Goblin Kingdom. Inviting Justinian to be his travel companion who decided why not, the adventure had been unlike anything he had known thus far. Jareth took them to an inn called Spriggans Kettle. What Justinian didn't realize was this place was one of the many that was a hidden doorway to the Underground, to the very realms of the fae, and the one leading him was an Unseelie fae King. Upon leaving they ventured up further past the Spiggans Kettle and found themselves in heap of trouble, as a clan of trow fell upon them angrily because they felt they had not properly paid the tolls required unseen at the Spriggans Kettle. The King knew not of these changes nor the change of ownership of the Spriggans Kettle to the Trow Clan knowing only the prior owners who were of course Spriggans but also not to be trifled with.

As the King was in disguise as a solitary fae and the Justinian was seemingly mortal, the Trow thought they had finally found some sport. Being cornered now back to back Jareth got cocky thinking he could just deal with the Trow and did a bit of flashy defense magic. However that gave him away as being more then he seemed so they ensnared him in a de~glamouring spell and bound him in a form that was least likely to stop them which turned out to be the owl. The very owl that had been leading Justinian almost up to the point he had met the gaunt man. This shocked Justinian, who was still gathering his bearings as he had never been in an actual fight with anyone. Let alone a magical one with crazed faerie beings bent on seriously hurting them. The closest Trow grabbed the owl by the leg and laughed about making it a meal tho it was a disappointment it was not pork. Offended the owl bit and hissed at him flailing as it still was held by the leg. The trow grabbed one of its wings and decided it was going to rip the owl in two. In that moment something came over Justinian as the little nobs on his head grew out into a decent pair of bone white antlers as the rest of him agonizingly transformed. Human ears shifting into a massive set of rabbit ears, his hands grew into clawed paws as his body contorted the way human legends described a man turning into a were like creature. The trow closest to him looked up in shock as he was clocked upside the head by the monstrous rabbit like creature who grabbed at the owl yanking the Trow off the ground as It let go of the owl in shock and was set flying just by sheer momentum. Turning more on instinct then actually conscious thought the giant rabbit kicked out hard with its hind legs aiming at all that dared to encircle them. By the time he was done they were surrounded by the clan flopped over various trees, rocks and sprawled on the ground.

Coming back to himself shocked at what he had done, he grabbed their belongings clutching the owl close and ran into the woods.

He came across a cabin in his terrified haste and decided that would be the safest place for the time being. Then he cared for the unconscious owl as best he could before passing out hard from all that had happened. Over the next few days after the owl had shifted back to being the gaunt man he now knew as Jareth and now knew was fae. As Justinian was finally able to take better able to care of Jareth, they talked a lot and learned a decent amount about the other. Jareth then explained they had made it to into the heart of Folaigh. And where they needed to go in order to get to the Goblin Kingdom proper. Justinian was confused as to how they were now in the realms of the fae and Jareth gently explained they had been in since passing thru the veil upon entering the Spriggans Kettle. Jareth had Justinian write a missive to the castle asking for an escort the last part of the way. To which the King's own Seneshal Mirabelle came and collected them. When asked if there was anyone else, Mirabelle stated they would need no other escort, then for the rest of the journey she set to chewing out Jareth and informing him that the King would not be pleased with his foolish and wayward actions. This really didn't seem to affect the fae and every once in a which he would glance over and wink at Justinian as tho this was a normal way he was treated by the King's own personal attendant. It made Justinian think he might be interacting with a cousin of the King or even a brother so he became quiet and listened while the other two sorta talked.

It was still a bit of a journey but when they reached the castle Jareth left urgently being called to court and Mirabelle settled Justinian in a just off the armory wing and told him on the morrow he would be summoned to court. That made him so nervous as he had never been before a King and did not know how to act. The next day was chocked full of many surprise one of which was the discovery his traveling companion had been none other then the King! In fact much of their traveling happenstances were discussed in front of a full court and because of the unconscious action of protection of another King Jareth bestowed upon Justinian a special Knighthood in the Order of Blanc, something few had ever received in the long reign of King Jareth. Justinian was then told to apprentice to the Brotherhood of Phelan because they would help him learn about himself and also teach him to control his shifting abilities. And finally he was sent to train in the Order of Merlynn. From that day forward he was in steadfast service to the King and was trained as scribe and scholar by the king himself. When the time came and Her Highness the Fairy Princess Lolly was in serious discussions with King Jareth over things within the Hedge and beyond. King Jareth made Justinian his Ambassador of the 7 Realms of the Underground and offered him up as scribe to Her Highness as a means to connect the courts. To this day He serves both courts with a humble pride. And will continue to do so til he has been told otherwise. He currently seeks a Knighthood in Her Highness's Fairy Princess Lolly's courts as well, and one in Jarl Gunther Hammerhands court as well.

## **Faerie Heraldry**

Justinian is not in the Heraldic Registry

## **Awards, Titles, Honorifics**

**Titles:** Scribe to Her Highness, the Fairy Princess Lolly, Scholar scribe and humble advisor to His Majesty Jareth, Knight in good standing of the Order of Blanc, The historian of the myths and legends of the 7 realms, Ambassador of the 7 Realms of the Underground, Troubadour and Miestersinger of the Brotherhood of Phelan, 3rd degree dream keeper and spell keeper of the Order of Merlynn, Lore Keeper chronicler of seen and unseen trooping faerie legends and true tales.

**Awards:**

## **Intriguing Facts**

--Justinian's pookha heritage comes from the giant French high mountain white lops.

--His penchant for tea cups and tea has gotten him in trouble a few times for “borrowing” tea cups from both High Queen Oona and King Jareth.

--Rumour has it that his shape shifting ability allows him to look like even King Jareth himself should he over choose to do something that daring.

--Justinian is so ocd even his scrolls have scrolls categorizing them.

--Accidentally seeing skin not meant to be shown on another person causes him nose bleeds. (This includes the time Count Morbid accidentally almost mooned everyone on the F.A.E. News Network.)

## **As the Quill Pen Flourishes**

--Justinian likes to write for The Fairy Press, his specialty is in Mythical Flora and Fauna. So please make sure you get a copy as soon as possible, because The Fairy Press is packed full of sooooo many wonderful fae things.

--When in his off hours he collects myths and legends to share on his media places one of course being the 7 Realms Tales.

--He is an avid reader and writer, and is currently penning many a story, one of which is about a hare turned hatter or maybe they always were hatters... one can never tell these days. His current focus is learning as much as he can thru Tír Eolas Academy and doing the duties he is bestowed with.

## **Where the 'Lope Can be Found**

Instagram: @quill.pen.artisan

email: quill.pen.artisan@gmail.com

Fb: Jay Jay (Justinian Blanc Esquire-Loz)

Discord: Justinian Blanc, Esquire#5411

## **Friends**

***Fairy Princess Lolly Kilrain:*** From the first moment he crossed into her kingdom and spied Her Highness graciously sitting atop a racing snail, he knew in an instance this noble to whom he would gladly swear service to, he would remain forever loyal and felt it would truly be a genuine honour and pleasure to be in service of. The Princess worked so hard to do what what she dreamed and to make that a treasured dream for others to be part of as well. And the best part is in her own way she was doing that and it made him be in awe and look up to her. In time they grew to be friends because he learned that even Royales need confidants too. And that in many ways the Royales struggle harder then their common man counter parts, they just aren't allowed to show it because of protocol. But it also meant they were always under pressure. Justinian resolved he would give his all in service, loyalty and friendship to Her Highness. To which he has never strayed.

***Jarl Gunther Hammerhands:*** When Justinian first met The Baron now Jarl, now Count, he honestly thought he should have worn the brown pants. Up until that moment he had only met smaller fae folk but Gunther made him feel like he was looking up a massive holly tree as his eyes traveled upwards from booted feet all the way up to the massive horns. The Trolls humour quickly won the Jackalope poukha over and soon they talked of crests and things to help the Princess make the Kingdoms of New Faerie better. His admiration for Gunther grew as did his loyalty to him. He and Gunther both served and with a willing heart and to help not just those they were in service to but to the very Kingdom's they served in. There was no doubt in the poukha's mind that he finally found friends and a place to call home and Gunther was truly one of those he would always call friend proudly! Ion the Leprechaun: Tho they never seem to talk much, there was a common reserved quietness, and a unspoken joke only seen twinkling in the eye, it is something they share. Between the Leprechaun's understanding and soft spoken ways and the fact they are both avid rock hounds Justinian came to admire and look up to Ion. He also admired the way Ion the Leprechaun, Gunther and The Princess Lolly seemed to be at ease (usually) with each other and he hoped someday this would be something he would have with all of them as well.

***Baroness Famous Dana the Bogganness:*** Warm, honest and fun loving, the Bogganess has taught him so much, sometimes they have spoken volumes other times a simple and genuine hello how are you. Her know how in the kitchen inspired him to return to things he onced loved when crafting food and to not let his food allergies limit his food creativity, often turning a bland and unsavory meal into a feast fit for a fae noble.

***[[[Musicbox Fairy]]:*** Outside of tea, music is one thing that really does tame the beast, and the Musicbox Fairy is well versed in the kinds of music Justinian likes, In fact on several occasions she personally ventured to the burrow to bring life and vibrancy to him when his inspirations had dulled. She has a way with her rhythmic magical melodies that create the perfect mood no matter the occasion every single time.

***His Majesty Jareth :*** The two struck up an odd kind of friendship due to both of them being fae animal shifters. Mainly because His Majesty was intrigued by the jackalope poukha, who proved his worth in writing missives on behalf to His Majesty when they would travel together. After Justinian was badly wounded protecting His Majesty when he was trapped in owl form. He was bestowed the Knighthood of the Order of Blanc for those acts of selfless service and made His Majesties personal scribe. When the 7 realms started becoming known to the human realms His Majesty then made Justinian His Ambassador on behalf of the 7 realms of the Undergrounds.