Nightscales' Bio

In what is known as the "Kinglands", the tribes of many mer, fay, and wild-folk had to hide from the tyranny of the kings of the Five. Wanting nothing more than to live in peace, free to live under their Ancestral Gods, the wrath of Hume Might would slay any overworld dweller who did not speak of the highest of their Five, even their own caravans. Still some Hume were tolerant to the likes of the others' ways, but rare to not traveling with a stolen trinket of one of their gods shown proudly and shined up to appease the faithful guard within even gypsy camps, was seen as a foolish endeavor ending in only misery.

Nightscales belonged to one such traveling camps, fled from slavers in a raid on his people's tribe in the far Eastern Deserts of Fer'halaad, far from the outreaches of the Kingdoms of the Five's domain, in the lands of the Twin Gods of Yor and Kier, the Sun and Moon. Nightscales was merely a young wyr upon the raid, merely just the size of a Hume Sharp-Steel, but fully capable of traversing the harsh desert pillars and canyons himself; running with a small gang of hoodlums from his nest, trying to get ever-closer to the Tyrralfeir to gloat of bravery and swiftness.

After the raid on Myrla'ziar, Nightscales' Tribe, he wandered the wastelands of the Fer'halaad roaming westward until he was found by a lone wandering soldier. This soldier wore sigils of the three kings of the Kinglands, all atop each other, and torn from burned uniforms holding onto his upper arm woven by strands of fabric through his chainmail. The Soldier was kind and unlike the other few Hume the young kobold had seen, especially that of soldiers. Nightscales, exhausted from the dust of the Fer'halaad open wastefields whipping at him, allowed the soldier to place a small parchment over his body, and followed the Hume to his camp in a cave nearby escaping the sandstorm that was hastily bellowing up.

In the cave, the soldier took his cowl off as well as his leather dogon around his face and revealed his past to his new companion. His face, covered in scars, one eye white as his hair, his voice kind and scarred, just as his past. He told Nightscales of his plight against the Kinglands and their Five gods of Terror and defilement. He asks of his companion's gods, stating no ill will of other gods for he sees none presence in his journeys against even those he's been led to follow unto his own age, merely traveling to meet new cultures, and defend the lost and innocent, especially against the corruption against tyrant gods.

Nightscales only knew one god, not even that of her own shadows, just old enough to have sat at the gathering for a few. Nightscales shared of his peoples' god Mjirr, and her way of coming into the universe, the place above the world of Nost Algi-Gamma, the infinite void of light, and her virtuous plight with the living creatures of the worlds she was to guide and protect from the wrath of the heavens above. Mjirr was not the only god in the Mjirr Scolla, not even the first, nor would be the last, but the one created from this wave's Wrath, created to quell the heavens to allow the flourishment of life in the lands below them. He speaks that his knowledge of else of Mjirr was not known to him, just that the goddess was able to create shades of herself to aid in her task but knew none of those shades.

The two left the cave the day after when the storm died down, the soldier leaving his friend behind to sleep several times to look for food or shuffle through the rocks for scraps of old war metals. Shortly after leaving the cave, the two made it out of the desert, out of the storm, and into a small jungle on the Western edge. The Soldier spoke after a long time of silence of a small gypsy camp in this jungle, nor Hume Gypsies, Wild-folk, he took Nightscales to them, told them of his people, religion, and the raid. Before leaving back into the desert, the soldier told Nightscales to stay with his friend in the Gypsy Camp and gave him a book he found in a cave he found while scouting the other night. He said the Gypsies would be moving westward soon, and he would rejoin them soon.

Nightscales felt strangely calm around his new companions, Wild-folk were similar to Hume, but wore strange furs about their bodies, tails and ears jut from their backs and heads, as well as claws on their hands and feet. Their beliefs were well spoken, magic filled the air, and danced around the campfire as shapes of feminine forms plumed forth from its flame and danced above in wild dance as their whisperer spoke words of the old ones, sounding like deafening echoes as even Hume Soldiers whom came for the feast stood round in utter disgrace to their Five as the Whisperer spoke ill of them in a war between gods. Next morning Nightscales asked the new traveler-mate Alira why soldiers of the Kinglands are so calm around the camp, even when the Whisperer speaks in praise against their Five.

Alira laughs and tells him the Whisperer speaks magic, not words. Whispers to those whom allow their mind open, and hums to those who don't. The Soldiers of the Five only hear her song, not her words, so their reality of the song is far different than that of what we who have no ill faiths. She asks if Nightscales has opened the book her friend gave him upon his departure, still wrapped in cloth and hanging on his side in its satchel.

Nightscales, still worried about the soldier, tells her he'll open it when he returns. Alira tells him not to wait around for that one, older than he looks, lived a long time and still not seen that monk for decades at a time. Confused, Nightscales spends the better half of the night staring at Alira trying to se through whatever magic she wears to conceal her true age; Alira giggling every so often when she realizes what the young lizard is trying to do.

"My magic is far older than this entire Gypsy Tribe. Try little one, one day you may hone your eyes to see through such illusions, bare witness to the true words spoken by the Whisperer, and see Treifkar's true self. But even if those are seen, mine will not change. I've not hidden anything from you young one, Treifkar hides from everyone, for fear of what's yet to come on shores of the far from west. Words he's told me, I still not know the reasoning of." -Alira, Gypsy Woman

Nightscales would travel with Alira for the next few years, she teaches him the ways of safety in the Kingslands, and gives him a medallion of the goddess of the Five, Wadar, as is the god the Gypsies pretend to follow to walk freely in the Kingslands, especially in the far west, those ruled over the Zealot King of the West Shore. She tells him to clean it as if it were the most precious thing he owned, just as he protects the Book, still uncovered and on his side. Travel in the Kingslands went well, mostly unopposed except by the few bandit camps swiftly either dealt with by the tribe's hunters or their tradesmen, obtaining spoils in either fashion depending on the dealt hand.

5 years since he was Put in Alira's care, the tribe arrives at Westshore, the Kingdom of the Zealot King, Mardiff Keins. The Gypsy camp is halted by a fell tree and a few guards blocking the way. They tell the gypsies to turn back, the Kingdom is off limits to outer-folk while their order is busy bringing peace to those following the Fallen Gods. Alira confronts the guards and asks who the Fallen are. The Guard speaks that the Five are not what they seem and an old ruin was found nearby marking the first coming of the Five, and scholars have noticed a definitive sacrificial sight, as well as Awakening Sigils, Dark Magic known to shatter Mortal bonds to turn kings into Djinn. The Five were kings of an old order, turned Djinn by sacrifice of thousands of Fay-Folk.

The Gypsies set camp nearby just east of the village, their elders meet with the Whisperer in secret. Nightscales is ushered by the Whisperer to come inside the Elders' Tent, that he is ready to hear the Whispers of the Forsaken-Folk, and their last rites. The Elders are in a circle around a small fire, mere chars now, but bleeding black tendrils of smoke reaching out in spirals above the smoldering flickers. The Whisperer speaks with words for the first time Nightscales has ever witnessed, her mouth moves but only screams can be heard; ear piercing, deafening screams of thousands of Fay, Mer, and Wild-folk, roars and cries of gods as they all die, fallen under the might of a catastrophic sacrifice. Nightscales passes out in the turmoil and bears witness to a vision of the past.

This vision Nighscales witnesses the death of thousands of his own kind, chained together and charred in an instant by red tendrils of death as the Five Kings stand in the center of the circle of bodies. His own body, chained in the circle, as the tendril touches his body, he falls into a hellish void, flames whipping around as his body vanishes in a burning flame, piercing all armor, even bone. His vision now one with the King of Blue, Wadar, as he now stands and witnesses the deaths of the thousands around him, he can feel the king's body fill with their combined magics, and feels a smirk arise without any ability to move or even act away from this new prison.

Nightscales awakes several days later, after becoming trapped within the eyes of the God of wisdom, forced to witness the fall of Hume Kind into their new gods and the rise of their new faith under the Five God-Kings as they press into the Eastern lands of Fer'halaad to confront the Underlords of the Shad-folk and cull their kind from the lands to bring prosperity back to the world, once stolen by the Darkness of their king, Tyrralfeir. The Five, even with their newfound might could not slay Tyrralfeir, instead cutting his wings, and bannishing his might into the Enderlands, beyond the veil of his reign. The Five brought an end to a war that would have culled the entire land of life, but was only done with the end of thousands of those they enslaved. The Five became literal gods as the followers grew, as Djinn their power grows from worship, just like gods. Eventually, as their physical forms were shed, they remained in the world in Ethereal Form, taking form of new creatures to unite the races under one banister.

The Wisperer asks what Nightscales thinks, should The Five be reprimanded for their crimes, or respected for the sins they needed to commit to fight as deadly an evil as Tyrralfeir? Nightscales remained silent for the next week, thinking and trying to understand why he was shown these visions, what this even means to him. His demeanor changed from depressed to excited as the Soldier, Treifkar, returned to the camp. Nightscales happy to see his friend ran directly to give his old friend a welcoming Hug, but taken aback as he realized he was now standing up to his chest, rather than knee.

Treifkar asked what he thought of the truth of The Five. If they really should have done what they did, or should they have all died against the Shad-folk and the Underlord. He said the Wisperer told him as he re-entered the realm, and said you needed some support for the journey ahead. Nightscales addressed the soldier by name, leaving him confused, and shocked that Alira told his real name. "So, Alira spilled the beans, eh? Heh, I'm not mad, I've learned better in my travels between the realms. The old Treifkar might have slain this whole Gypsy Camp if my name was uttered, that Treifkar was a long time ago..."

Nightscales, confused remembered Alira's mention of Treifkeir being much older than he appears, asked how old he really was. Treifkar turns his head towards his friend, puts his Dogon on, and cowl, stands up and as he begins walking away Nightscales can hear his voice in his head, like the magic the Whisperer uses. "Whispers of my deeds can be found as far back as the current Whisperer's Lineage. Seek the Ruins of Hellsgate. The Shore beyond the Westshore awaits. ♪ The towers will fall this fortnight, and new paths will flow. Beyond the shores of Twilight, the dawn of dreams must go. ♪ " Treifkar disappears in the night, vanishing from the camp and even Alira claims she didn't see him in, or out.

Nightscales, now haunted by Treifkar's words, turns to the book at his side, still covered by the cloth when Treifkar first gave it to him, after he found it in a cave nearby as he claimed those years ago when they first met. He pulls the book from its satchel for the first time ever and uncovers it. The book, Blue as the deep waters, with a massive smooth gem in the middle shining like the blue of the moon, as he looks into the stone an eye can be seen, not only seen but seems to peer back at him, he swears he's seen it blink from time to time as well. He opens the book, and the words written in something other than Kingslandish, seen in old memories around his tribaland cave walls, but never old enough before the raid to study and understand their meaning. Strangely, the symbols not known, as if the eye whispers their meaning to him. He knows the story in the first pages very well, they tell the tale of Mjirr, her creation, and her place in the universe' structure.

A couple weeks go by, the Gypsy camp remaining outside the nearby town awaiting the guard to allow them onwards to the west. One day, just moments before sunset, an explosion can be seen on the horizon, at the water's edge, at Westshore. The Castle Towers are burning, the towers fall, all villagers, including the gypsies standing in awe at the horror of what just happened, the Guards on the road cheering. The Gypsies remained up through the night, packing up as the guard on the blocked road stated they were allowed to move onward now that the rebellion has ended, and the Tyrant Kings of the Five were dead and gone.

The gypsy caravan kept traveling all the way to Westshore where they witnessed countless villages of burning effegies, the fall of The Five, and a new era in a land once torn by warlords, truths only known by those Whisperers kept, but some history found by those same Hume that once followed, but not the whole of the truth. The Gypsies set up their camp outside the walls of Westshore offering their labor skills to assist in the reconstruction of the city in its new light. Several years passed before the City was bustling with new life, open markets, and none speaking of gods other than The Five cut down by zealot soldiers. Rumors of a foreign land slowly spread across the city, guards spoke about the Old King's twin sons survival, fleeing to a strange Isle to the west.

Nightscales overheard many of these stories, and even found a boat captain whom claimed to have sailed to this island many times. After asking Alira's opinion, and telling her of Treifkar's words last he visited, she agreed it was probably best his find this new place, seek out the place their friend told him to seek out, and uncover whatever it was he wishes you to find.

So Nightscales joined the Boat Captain an journeyed to the new land, a land called Kraitith, a far shore to the West of Westshore. The Captain during the journey found the Lizard-folk Nightscales oddly friendly of a character, wanting to learn the ways of the sails, and willing to even swab the deck from time to time, especially after losing his lunch upon it's just polished wood. The Captain told Nightscales of the two Kings, their fight, and their split. Ari was the one he was told to seek out, kind and uncaring about followers of other gods outside The Five, he would be the best option to find what he came to Kraitith to seek.

1. ↑ A young Wyrmling, one of 4 stages in the life of Lizardfolk.
2. ↑ A very large desert raptor, a predator of the deserts of Fer'halaad.
3. ↑ In Mjirr Scolla, "Heavens" is another word for Universe, or the Place above the Sky.
4. ↑ The name of the Soldier friend of the Gypsy, the one who found Nightscales.