Urifir (Kirin) Lightbringer

(image made using this picrew by Naylissah, then edited by Kirin Martin)

Urifir (Kirin) Lightbringer is a halfling from the city of Tábor, in the northeast region of Paneas. E is particularly small at just shy of 88cm tall, and eir hair is an unruly shock of white; most notable, however, are the shadows that twist unnaturally under em, licking at eir heels or –at the worst moments– encasing em completely.

## Backstory

> *As long as I can remember, I have had a special relationship with light and darkness. Lanterns would flicker around me; shadows would move and sometimes even whisper to me, urging me to follow them in the dark. When I was young, I thought I must be cursed. I was terrified of the dark and the creatures that dwell in the darkness itself. I told my grandmother-- who raised me alongside my mother-- about all this once, and she became concerned and thoughtful. "Your father used to say things like that... How curious." The thing is, my father died before I was born. My mother and grandmother don't talk about him much, and their explanations of how he died contradict one another. My mother remembers him as a gifted artist who befell a tragic end, while my grandmother recalls a reckless boy who put himself in danger and paid for it with his life.*
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> *Maybe it is just a projection of my own fear of the dark, but I have always felt that my purpose is to be a light for others who find themselves lost in darkness. I know that the world can be a dark place, and that there are darknesses even I cannot imagine. But I also know that all it takes to fight back the darkness is one candle, so I intend to be that for anyone who needs it.*
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> *I am insatiably curious; I often wonder how others experience and think about the world, and I take note of observations and different perspectives in my journal. I wear a moonstone pendant given to me by my grandmother for protection, its soft glow helping to calm my fears in truly dark situations.*
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> *I answer the king's call not interested in glory or riches. I can feel the darkness shifting, so I've decided to serve as a beacon of light against the gathering shadows.*
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## Name

Urifir possesses two names; the first, given to em at birth, is Kirin Lightbringer. E only accidentally acquired the additional name when asked by a faerie dragon what e wanted, e replied "I want the name of the person or creature responsible for Locke Lambert's death." Since acquiring the second name, it has felt like a more natural name for em — doesn't e just look more like an Urifir than a Kirin? — so even those who knew em beforehand have shifted to calling em Urifir.

## The Shadows

The shadows that are always present under Urifir are a result of eir connection to The Border Ethereal. With the help of their amulet The Reader, Aisha Qorel described the shadows as

> *...reflections. of lives lost. grudges and promises. shadows of people’s intentions. people lost to the in-between.*
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Aisha's perspective of Urifir's relationship with the shadows was that e is

> *...like the spire somehow… an anchor between our world and the void.*
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Urifir wears an amulet called The Onyx Whisper, which amplifies eir connection to the shadows and enables em to use that connection for some particular purposes.

## Void-touched

Traveling through the Spire while planar influence was improperly limited has affected Urifir's body. The essence of The Border Ethereal, eir home, has induced the following abilities:

* **Translucence:** whenever e is transported (via Misty Step or the like), parts of eir body remain linked to the intangible nature of eir home, lending em resistance to all damage for a few seconds in combat.
* **Void sight:** eir eyes have acclimated to nothingness. Once long rest, e can cast See Invisibility without using a spell slot, but its effects last for only 10 minutes.
* **Protector of the Border:** e has learned the Spare the Dying cantrip.

## Urifir's Journal

Urifir keeps a journal of notes on eir person at all times. Eir journal features sketches and notes, especially regarding the shadows, but also regarding interesting people e meets, plants e finds, calculations about curious towers in the distance, etc.

Eir notes re: the shadows, starting at the discovery of The Onyx Whisper, can be read here.

**... and I would love to tell you more, but perhaps at a later date.**

## Art of Urifir

Urifir brings Levy a drink in the Freyhill jail and gathers information, trying to convince him to live because his horse likes him and promising that e will do whatever e can to prove his innocence.A very bad night... Urifir tried to enter The Border Ethereal to reach Elek, but encountered Eldrias there and was tortured by her for hours before passing out, at which point e awoke, physically unscathed, back in the Material Plane.Urifir stands with Meera inside Val'Nar's Spire, terrified of repeating eir last experience here with both The Onyx Whisper and The Tear of Shakar. When a portal is conjured for em to leave immediately, the shadows are drawn toward it, tugging at em like an undertow.The two amulets Urifir wears: The Onyx Whisper and a moonstone pendant gifted to em by eir grandmother.