Atherious Starfallen

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## **Personality**

Though Atherious's life did not start out the most pleasant, he has not let it effect his curiosity of the outside world or it's inhabitants. If one were to describe him they would say he is soft spoken and kind. Often being overly apologetic in even the most casual conversations. Atherious is very much a pacifist and has no desire to learn to fight as he believes regardless of reason violence is never a good resolution to solve ones problems in life. His undying curiosity often leads to getting him in trouble.

Though not a 'social butterfly' by any means Atherious does enjoy meeting new people in his own way, though he does struggle to socialize due to his nervous nature. He particularly likes to meet new races and learn about their homeland and even though he unable to read due to a lack of education he prizes maps and any books that have pictures regardless of subject as they were not available in his home village Hoping to learn one day more about what the weird shapes over the maps mean.

> "I'm not sure why the chief tried to kill me but perhaps it is for the best that I walk this path even if I must do it alone. To forbid or deny others the choice to experience the world and all the wonders it has to offer is truly harsher than even the coldest of winters. Though I do not trust the word of a stranger every life is precious and should be cherished regardless of their intentions being good or evil, in the grand scheme of things it does not matter for they are still a living breathing being and should be treated with care and kindness."
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## **Appearance**

Atherious is an Avariel, a dying race of Winged Elves adapted to living in mountainous and cold climates. His skin unlike his pale brethren is actually quite tan due to his choice to live in warmer and more sunny regions. His platinum blonde hair fading to a dark grey from front to back seems to appear to be metallic in color often appearing to catch and reflect small amounts of sunlight. Though not tall in stature being only 5' 7 his wings are slightly over double that in length being around 12 feet wide when fully his wings are fully spread. The wings though can be folded inwards to a limited extent.

## **Backstory**

Atherious was born in a small unmarked Avariel village, high in eastern mountains. To a small family of apothecary parents that doubled as the village healers. The terrain and weather made food very scarce at times. Due to how remote the small village was there are no roads or trade routes up to the village and the lack of being able to transport large quantities of meant that most of the villagers viewed trading as being a fools errand and simply not worth it for the small amount gained. This lead to the villagers learning to live off the land and what little it offered. and because of this. to this the tribe developed a distrust of outsiders and over the generations became more and more isolationist until it was imbedded into the culture itself. Leaving the village besides to get food was forbidden and was punishable by death as it was deemed to risky to attract attention. From a young age Atherious always wished to explore the outside often leaving the village under the false reasons of looking for herbs for his parents but in reality he would explore the mountains surrounding his village. Eventually the village chief figured out what he was doing but due to Atherious being so young was spared under the pretext that he was kept under a watchful eye and forbidden to leave the village grounds.

Of course as Atherious got into his early teens his strong desire to learn would often lead to many escape attempts to sneak away though most turned a blind eye to him obviously disappearing as they viewed it as harmless. However eventually he was caught by the village chief cliff jumping and gliding before being taught by his parents how to fly, nearly crashing into peaks several times in the process. After gliding down to nearly the base of the mountian he was phyically tackled by the now furious chief weilding a short knife who had flew down after him down to kill him. In a panic Atherious rolled over before he could be pinned down and stabbed to death, he quickly got to his feet nearly getting slashed in the back of his legs as he stood by the recovering chief. His survival instints kicked in and he began to flee to a nearby ledge and expand his wings to try to escape by gliding away. As he got to the ledge he leapt unaware that the chief who wasn't able to catch him in time had thrown the knife which caught Atherious by surprise as he felt a sharp pain where the airborne knife had cut into a part of his right wing and grazed along his neck before flying onwards into the clouds taking some blood with it. Atherious paniced by pain and fear glided through clouds blindly for for seemed like minutes until suddenly the clouds parted infront of him revealing what appeared to be farmland and a lush green countryside.

Letting out a gasp of surprise he felt like suddenly the pain had just faded away and all that mattered was how beautiful and new. It was pure bliss for him as everything from the warmer temperature to the farm houses was extremely exciting to him. Though after only a moment the pain returned, his body began to feel heavy and his vision shaky and blurry. He felt tired and sluggish and did not know what was happening to him only that the blood was staining his cloths and he was loosing alitude slowly. Against his efforts he did black out only to wake up a unknown number of times. it was as if time was skipping. Barely able to keep his eyes open he turned himself toward what looked like tree's and a farm house and barn. And as he turned he passed out again for several minutes gliding in a wide circle downward eventually causing him to be awoken by colliding with some densely leafed oak tree branches causing him to hit multiple branches absorbing most of the speed he did eventually fall through. He tried to expand his arms out to catch his fall which caused him to break his wrists upon impact to the ground.

He laid there on his chest too weak to move and began to think to himself about his family and how the chief had attacked him without hesitation,He wondered about where he was and if he was going to die here in the middle of nowhere. He then noticed the green grass below him and how it almost felt soft. He stared at the grass as his vision began to fade to darkness. He then suddenly saw a leather boot land in front of him with a thud and heard what sounded like a panicked male voice speaking in a unknown language but the sound had seemed to fade with his vision sounding far away and quiet. He heard what sounded like a tearing of cloth and felt like something was being pressed to his neck. Though painful to the touch he did not have the energy to stop whatever was putting it to his neck. He tried to look up to see whom the boot belonged to but then passed out again.

After a unknown amount of time Atherious woke up looking up at the sky and his arms above his head and noticed he had been flipped over and was being dragged by his legs. His neck felt like it was being squeezed and he noticed several layers of strips of cloths had been fashioned as a bandage around his neck to stop the bleeding. He felt his head become heavy again passed out again.

When he awoke again he found himself in a bed with a sheet over his torso and legs with a familiar tightness not only around his neck but around his wrists and wing. He noticed the blue he was staring up at was not the sky and after a moment realized he was in someone or somethings house as it was a wooden ceiling that had somehow been colored that way. He went to sit up and felt some small amount of weight on his torso that didn't belong to the sheet. a orange creature laying on his stomach and starting at him with big round eyes. Surprised by this he let out a panicked gasp and simply got a weird noice from the creature. "Meow." The orange creature said in protest to him moving. He then heard a chuckle and looked up to see what appeared to be some other creature. It was able to stand like him but didn't have wings and his ears appeared to be too short to be a elf. Atherious could only gasp in surprise once more as he was speechless by both these unknown creatures and then looked back down to what was on top of him with more panic in his eyes. The creature at the door made some weird noise that sounded like speech but Atherious simply couldn't understand what he was saying. It seemed like it was trying to explain something to him but and was trying to be kind "D̶o̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶w̶o̶r̶r̶y̶ ̶a̶b̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶P̶u̶m̶p̶k̶i̶n̶,̶ ̶H̶e̶ ̶d̶o̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶b̶i̶t̶e̶.̶.̶.̶.̶m̶u̶c̶h̶.̶ ̶H̶e̶ ̶m̶i̶g̶h̶t̶ ̶g̶i̶v̶e̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶a̶ ̶n̶i̶b̶b̶l̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶o̶u̶g̶h̶" the creature said in a unknown language to Atherious. Atherious replied with a weak smile in his own language "I'm sorry but I can't understand you. Who are you? What is this-" paused as he felt something touch his arm and screamed in panic as he was surprised that something held his arm.

Atherious had been keeping his eyes trained on the orange creature nervously the whole time did not notice that the creature that spoke to him had walked over and to the side of the bed and gently had grabbed his arm and began to guide his hand to the orange creature on his torso until his hand gently touched the soft fur of the orange creature to which it simply made the same "Meow" sound and then began to make a purring noise. Letting out a sigh of relief that the orange creature seemed friendly. The creature holding his arm let out a chuckle and released his arm. The creature then pointed to itself and said "Marcus." And Atherious pointed to himself but then paused and pointed to himself thinking that the creature was asking for his race and said "Avariel" quietly to which the creature gasped and repeated it to himself while reaching over to a shelf and grabbing what appeared to be some sort of rectangular object and openning it to reveal weird thin weird white sheets. The creature stopped about half way through the book and pointed to the page which had a picture of a Avariel and pointed to him and Atherious not being able to read but recognizing what it was asking to confirm what he was as the word that Atherious had spoken meant the same thing in his language. Using this method with the book he explained to Atherious he was a Human through a picture and repeating the word to Atherious and pointing to himself. Afterward he pointed to the orange creature and explained it was a cat.

Over the next few weeks Atherious was taken care of by Marcus. Marcus was always gentle and patient when feeding and changing his bandages. Marcus gave Atherious his nickname and the current name he goes by of Atherious Starfallen as a joke that he was like a shooting star that had fell from the sky. By the time they could communicate clearly without pointing Atherious had simply decided to adopt the name as he clearly had no choice of ever returning to the village without paying for it with his life. He decided that he was going to make the most of his new life and enjoy each day instead of dwelling on the past. And thus his nickname became his real name. Marcus multiple times would try to get information on what happened and where Atherious had come from but not knowing which direction he flew from and how far away Atherious simply did not know and would get very upset every time his wounds were brought up in conversation as it terrified him to relive the memories of barely escaping with his life. Though he doubted his family approved he did tell Marcus about his village and the way of life and in return Marcus told him of his backstory as a retired veteran ranger.

Despite his lack of knowledge when it came to farming Atherious would try his best when doing chores even working in the rain. He wasn't very handy with tools but he would try his best to learn from his mistakes under guidance from Marcus. Eventually Marcus taught him how to fish in exchange for Atherious's knowledge in herbalism. He very much enjoyed the rain as it was a odd thing to him for water to fall from the sky without it being extremely cold and in a snowy white form. He would often stand out in the rain much to the disliking of Marcus who would always drag him back inside to make sure Atherious did not catch a cold. Marcus would always scold Atherious about it but whenever it would rain Atherious would immediately try to go outside to experience it again.

As fall set in Atherious finally recovered fully from his injuries, He had learned the basic common language and was personally ready to leave and explore. He did however feel indebted to Marcus, After explaining his desire to leave Marcus though sad to see him leave understood his curiousity after living together for a few months he knew once Atherious was curious about something it was nearly impossible to convince him to do anything else. With a warm smile and a gentle hug to which Atherious though nervous did not flinch from recieving. Marcus gave him his fishing rod that he had trained Atherious with to use on the road for food explaining "How else can you feed two?" Atherious confused asked "Two?" Marcus with a slight nod looked down to Pumpkin and shrugged "Pumpkin never really liked me much anyway. As long as you take care of him and feed him right i'm sure he would not object to going with you." Atherious looked down at Pumpkin and shrugged "I guess I don't got much of a choice do I? You follow me around the farm anyway so I doubt you would stay behind." He said with a light smile while giving Pumpkin a head pat. Pumpkin confirmed his theory with a "Meow" and rubbed up against his leg. He thought about it for a moment and then nodded to Marcus "Alright I will take him along with me. Thank you so mu-" Marcus interupted him mid sentence "Don't thank me Atherious, Pumpkin was the one that found you and lead me to you. With all the attention you have given him and the chores you have done you don't have to worry about any debt, all I ask is you stop by to visit from time to time if you get the chance."

And with that Atherious nodded again without a word gently scooped Pumpkin off the floor and cradle him in one arm while holding the fishing pole with the other and with a smile he left, going where the road took him.

## Aftermath

Atherious continues to explore to this day with his cat Pumpkin. Though he doesn't understand how currency works he often barters with locals that live along the roads he travels with herbs that he is able to forage or the fish he is able to catch. Still learning how to fly and due to Pumpkin having a fear of heights he tends to prefer to walk most places only to not freak out Pumpkin.

## Trivia

* Atherious is a birb
* Atherious has a strong dislike of doors as he often gets stuck due to his wingspan even when folded
* Atherious is very protective of Pumpkin viewing him as his new and only family
* It took me nearly three IRL days of working and editing this to get it at least semi presentable while not being overly simplified while also not being ultra short and basic! Yeah lots of rewriting was not fun i'm not going to lie :/. It was originally four pages long and ain't nobody got time to sit and read for that long on a character sheet so I hope that it was not too hard to keep track of the backstory as I tried my best to compress it down. Thanks for reading! :)