Barayle

**Background**

Barayle, a Minotaur born as a royal as the direct son of the current King and Queen, who was not as strong or brave as the others around him. He lived in a underground kingdom away from the prying eyes of humans and other monsters where minotaur's could keep surviving despite the lack of sunlight below them. Uncharacteristic of Minotaur's, Barayle loved to treat everyone equally around him regardless of stature, age, or gender, and hated violence or conflict despite his monsterious nature. Unlike most of his kind, Barayle did not fit well in their golden standards of strength, which made many of his peers down upon him as he didn't discover his latent magical powers until after his leave. Though Minotaur's have to venture out onto the surface for hunting, only warriors fit for survival and combat were opted for the dangerous task of venturing Dugrad, and Barayle never saw the surface during his time there.

Along with the other monsters, Barayle was taught to treat other minotaur as family and formally call them brethren. As every child of the underground, he was told at birth about a prophecy that one day a minotaur will rise up from the ground and rule over the terrorizing humans and sub-humans above the ground so that one day Dugrad will thrive once again for what it was before mankind. However, Barayle was not fond of the idea of rule by strength and eventually would leave Dugrad, leaving behind his unfit crown and would become a heretic for many to be told in the kingdom.

Miraculously escaping Dugrad (what would be the most horrifying thing to ever happen to him), he traveled far and wide to where he would experience first hand the harshness of anything that wasn't a human.

## Personality

Barayle is a direct contradiction to the meaning of being a minotaur. Meek and somber, he isn't very conferential and curls up at the thought of conflict. Tending to just let things happen to him and tries his best to avoid any direct confrontation.

Despite no longer being one, his roots of being raised as a noble has made him have a gentle and polite personality combined with his weak nature. He takes a more bookish approach to things and is a gentle giant. Being new to life on the surface, he is quite surprised at the similarities in language compared to the ground and up, and is quite fascinated by the agriculture and design, mostly favoring picture books for him to learn about the art and structure of other animals of creatures he had never seen before.

## Relationships

* Barayle at first was quite skeptical of everyone he was captured with as he wasn't sure if they would be as discriminating as the other humans, but Klein was a strange case. It was almost as if his race didn't matter and never heard of the word of prejudice. Such behavior made Barayle very suspicious of Klein at first, there was no way a human would be so openly nice and trusting of a monster, but over time began to have less doubt about him, especially since Klein stood up for him in the boat to Talladega. Barayle treasured the time they spent together shopping buying a hat and "sweet rocks." When Klein offered to bring Barayle to Casterino, he was reluctant at first but felt as if Klein could really be the first person to accept and keep his word as Barayle now has no where else to go. To Barayle, Klein is a symbol of hope of what the future could be if monsters and humans to walk together on the Earth as equals.

* Like Klein, Barayle was quite fearful of Maggie as she was a human along with Klein, who should be quite distrustive and hateful of Barayle. Although that didn't seem to be the case, he feels as if Maggie is a little distant, as if something else is bothering her. When Maggie first discovered her magical prowess, he was quite confused as to why she seemed distraught. The question as to why pondered deep into Barayle's thought to where he had to confront her about it. If she believes that her magical prowess bloomed too late, Barayle wants her to be assured that at least she still has someone or a family to still be proud of her. Barayle has no one left for anyone to be proud of him, so if she needs someone that can be impressed by her achievements, Barayle will be there.

* Barayle being captured along with Skartt should theoretically make him more comfortable around the goblin, however, Skartt's behavior and distrustful nature has left Barayle to be a little anxious and careful around him. Skartt along with Barayle were at first expecting to leave the party after their escape, but Barayle decided to stay for his newfound friends, along with Skartt himself. Although, Barayle himself doesn't think that Skartt would stay for the same reason. Should he leave, Barayle would bid him well... That is, until Skartt had purchased a particular map that details the location of the minotaur kingdom. After a failed negotiation with Skartt, their relationship had become a little thorny. Even though Barayle had left his country, he still cares for the well being of the underground citizens, and is quite fearful should the map fall into the wrong hands. Barayle doesn't dislike Skartt, and knows full well that he could probably take care of that map better than anyone... But that fear of knowing that Skartt has the map will always be the thorn in his side, and the greater fear of what will ACTUALLY happen should Skartt decide to follow the map or leave the party.