Karrin the Blue

Spes est scintilla quae non comprimitur apud indifferentiam immanem callosamque universitatis.

**Karrin the Blue** is a knight and mage of Plort.

## The Tale of Karrin the Blue

Once upon a time, in the land of Tivit, lived a mage by the name of Karrin the Blue. In the earlier years of her life, she dwelt in the calmer outlands of Fanvik-Neht, but all records of work in that time have been lost. She then left those lands and walked with a tribe of Bronee before finding the land of Tivit, where she studied the art of Arpying.

From the libraries of Tivit she learned the ways by which the nations of the Scholars' Empire had been founded and learned of their shared traits. And in time she learnt to recognize the traits of the Marizu, whose ways had been nigh-unheard of to her as they rarely ventured to the outlands where she had lived.

One day, in her studies she heard tell of the land of Plort, and set off with her books of magic and gods. Though she was inexperienced in the ways of fighting the Marizu, it was not long before she began to make raids into the familiar outlands to cull the rare incursions she discovered. In these battles she found aid in the Fast Seneschal and later a monk, and often she used her knowledge of the magic of Beytah to aid them.

She continued in this way until one day she saw a vision of the Marizu war-leader, Nova, and the desolation she had brought to the lands of Fanvik-Neht where Karrin had once roamed. She and the monk travelled to defeat her, and though the battle was long and hard, Karrin the Blue dealt the death-blow herself.

Though the battle against the scourge Nova had been won, it was not without cost - during their campaign the mage had been observing the festival of Nahn-Oh Wry-Moh, and she found herself exhausted. She returned to her home, retreating from the societies of Plort to meditate and regathering her strength, making frequent pilgrimages to the lands of Tivit and Aohtree, and seeking new knowledge in the port town of Tumblar. Having since honed her skills in Arpying, Beytah, Vew'zorse, and Eich-Tee-Ehm-Ehl, she now undertakes scouting missions into the Marizu lands, though the results are kept hidden until she believes that she has gathered enough information to be of use.

## The Weapons of Karrin the Blue

When Karrin the Blue first began her excursions to the Marizu lands, she carried with her four weapons: Lana, a crossbow of great power which could strike from afar; Narav, a furred cloak to ward against harm; Tera, a pair of gauntlets and boots, in appearance alike to an insectile carapace, each piece engraved with spells of battle-magic, fleet-footedness, and protection; and Ari, a shining blade which held in its heart the fires of its creation, which could be seen in the red glow of its fuller. With these in hand, Karrin set out to battle.

One day, while out routing a Marizu incursion lead by Alyxx Heart alongside the Fast Seneschal, Karrin found two artifacts on the battlefield that could be salvaged and purified of their Marizu origins. And so she took Alicia, the shadowed axe, and Lumina, the brilliant tome, and conquered their powers and remade them into Fiorano, the obsidian halberd, and Theia, the magical book.

When the battle had concluded, she set about creating a trio of artifacts, which would never see combat but aid in preparation. First, she traveled to the lands of the Bronee, and spent twelve days gathering herbs and weaving the magics of the land. On the dawn of the thirteenth day, she held the product of her labors, a rose-colored pouch containing as many healer's potions and herbs as she knew, and the pouch was named Kindheart. She then ventured to the ports of the armies, where she spent twenty-four days studying the ways of the scryers and diviners. On the dawn of the twenty-fifth day, she held the products of her labors; a pair of white spectacles, which could examine the inner workings of an artifact, which was named Caroline, and a spyglass that could see into any familiar land, no matter how far it might be, which was named Anne. With these tools in hand, she returned home.

One day, while looking through her spyglass, the Fire-Mage glimpsed a collection of Marizu encampments, and though each one was small their numbers suggested a quick spread. Karrin set off on a ship, and while she sailed she forged a new weapon - a curved blade, with a dark sea-green blade and the hilt fashioned after the clever tentacles of the octopi, with a shining green gem in the center. The blade, she judged, would serve well against the magi of the Marizu, for it had been made to channel magic as well as any wand, and she named it Cepha.

Though the blade was well-made, upon her landing Karrin found no use for it, for the encampments had been abandoned and all marks of the Marizu wiped away. In the dusty remains she found a forgotten weapon, a red Marizu's knife, made as a copy of a Konti-Nyuum relic. She took it with her, and in the fires of her hearth she remade it into the dagger-wand Amara.

For a time, she rested in the vale with her two companions. She discovered an old tome recounting the rarely-heard tale of the land Dhirotailehs, and from the knowledge within she wove a long rope, which split into three weighted ends, and spun magic into each strand to keep it strong, and it was named Riaa'lzhor.

Upon one fall day, a scant time before the festival of Nahn-Oh Wry-Moh, Karrin the Blue received a vision, foretelling the Marizu warleader Nova, who spread ruin in her wake across. She and Thanasius Ampelius left as soon as they were able, arriving on the Marizu lands as swiftly as they could. They followed the trail of destroyed land, aided by a wandering knight, until they caught up with her. In a great duel, Karrin the Blue battled Nova, until at last she struck the fiend's heart with such force that Ari shattered.

Karrin and Thanasius returned home, exhausted by their efforts. Nevertheless, in her forge, Karrin worked day and night to repair her first sword. Finally, she held aloft a new sword, thinner than the old, but with a ember-red blade as sharp as a flame. Her magic sapped, she rested, honing her skills with each weapon and each magical school she could find. And so she remained, until recently, when she began to walk through the cities of Borrd again...