Prie Stein

*Some are born with a bright future. Some are doomed to inherit that same future.*

## History

### Beginnings

Issellinner was a small, relatively unimportant village of aquatic elves in the outskirts of Oustomias populated seas at the bottom of a continental shelf (where oceans start to get real deep). Its own miniature culture revolved mostly around some interesting alchemy research, and exporting some odds and ends to Thalassa. Mostly comprised of a few related families who had settled together, the only things that would have stuck out to visitors ( if they ever had any) would have been the fact that most of the folk had crustacean or animal companion and the ability to merge with them, or else the central building that served as a lab, clockwork workshop and shrine to Brigh. The odd, normally less hospitable location made invention necessary to survive, as well as operate. Besides, it helped to have at least one deific connection, especially one who wasn't a God of the Eldritch Deep.

The head of house, Mysshandera, -Brighs cleric and the central piece in running the whole facility- had been stomped on a particular problem with the steam vents for awhile, and had been attempting to commune with Brigh for insight when there was a sound at the door. Opening it provided likely her largest surprise of the century. There, frozen in spot was a clockwork wolf, but more curiously, its immobile jaw was latched around an elven child, who's skin was still slightly translucent in places, meaning the aquatic elf babe couldn't have been more than a few hours old! She rushed it inside, despite the curious messenger that would have to wait, and received a vision of an adult elvish woman venturing onto the land and beyond to bring renown to both the sea and protection to knowledge, Mysshandera knew that it was a charge from her God to rear the child up. She named her Prie, and placed her in a toolbox with a patch of undersea moss for a pillow. Her second biggest shock came, when she went to tell everyone.

She had assumed that the odd mechanical wolf was a messenger alone, and had likely gone its way. So when she returned to the door and it was still there, her surprise was compounded when she realized that shed missed something in her haste and surprise. Sitting on its back and grasped around its neck was a second child, another girl. Carrying the wolf and attached infant inside, she noticed the way that the construct utilized water to function and was shocked to realize that a simple hydraulic pump would have solved her mechanical dilemma! So she set the babe in on a nearby bench, unnamed but asleep, as her mind swiftly performed calculations on her mechanical issue, and she set to work to fix it, forgetting to tell anyone about the whole event as she fastidiously toiled in her workshop until the evening.

Despite the odd circumstances around their arrival, the two grew up healthy and hale, and as twin sisters the two spent many hours under the tutelage of the villages finest tinkerers and alchemists. Hailed as children of Brigh, they seemed to catch on quickly to the trades, and had a knack for inventiveness, with Prie always just a hair behind her sister.

The messenger construct lay dormant, though still operational for the intervening years as they grew up. The vision had shown Mysshandera that it would be Prie's companion, and that she would inherit the ability to merge with it much like they did their own companions when the time came to leave.

As they approached adulthood, Prie's sister had a bout of curiosity. The two were untraveled, having never gone outside the village for their own safety, but she couldn't help but wonder what the heavens looked like. Books and teaching told her of lights in the sky called stars, what spun and turned each evening like a giant clock, and celestial bodies called a sun and moons that ruled the sky each day and
 night. Such curious wonders couldn't be satiated in knowledge only, she had to see and experience them. Thus, the near adult snuck out one eventide to swim to the surface. The adrenaline of new experiences and encounters just beyond the surface drove her onwards as water swished through the webbing between her aquatic elven fingers. She could begin to see the shimmering wall ahead, calm and dotted with dancing lights, stretching as far along the water as she could see. And breaching it felt amazing, as air brushed across her wet face, a new sensation, and she was flooded with hundreds more as the night sky loomed overhead, the horizon in the distance barely creeping a few lines of orange and purple. It was everything she dreamed it could be, and it was so vast! She absorbed every moment, one would almost think her a Desnan with the way she stared in awe, until the sun began tonight up the opposite horizon, barely lighting what must have been land in the far, far distance. Realizing how much time she spent pondering the machinations of the heavens, she swam back home nearly as quickly as she had left.

She was tired the next morning-tide, having been awake all the interim, but she still couldn't get the pictures out of her head. Herself and Prie were reaching adulthood soon, when Prie would leave off to some fantastic adventure. She didn't know what she was going to do before, but
 now she couldn't hold it in. She had to adventure just the same! There was no other option, there was just too much to learn and experience. She fell asleep a few times at her desk, but always dreamt of those heavens. She had to go back tonight, and shed bring Prie along with her.

That eventide, two aquatic elves slipped mostly unnoticed from their settlement in search of the heavens. The surface though was not the calm sheet that caused the stars to dance when they arrived however, it was a roiling mass of waves. It was a tempest, and a dark omen at that. Still, the two tried to catch a glimpse of the stars and moons, but the clouds and rains blocked the light, as bolts struck the water surface in electric fury.

It was over in a flash of light.

It blinded her a moment, the sudden contrast of light in dark, and the sound deafened her for a long moment, as she reflexively backed beneath the surface. When she came to, she saw a body floating flat along the waves. Fear.

She swam up to the figure, still unable to hear as her eyes struggled to continue adjusting, but her senses didn't need to be operating perfectly to recognize Prie's lifeless, drifting body as a massive wave slapped them both down beneath the water. Her face had a massive dark spot, feeling crisp and flaky beneath a horrified and terrified touch. Fear and guilt powered the swim back down to the village.

It was long too late though when they arrived. Prie was dead. The others, however, assumed the opposite. Prie and her sister had been
identical twins their whole lives, not just in name but actuality. Like two sculpted from the same mold, they had identical birthmarks, and no scars or such to distinguish each other, it was mostly the style of dress. And as Prie held her sisters green and magenta hat in her hands, her sisters death was misinterpreted as her own - for Mysshandera had seen a vision of Pries bright future, so naturally she was the one to survive.

And so, Prie decided that she did survive.

She took up her sisters name, and donned her cap. Within the month, she reached the cusp of adulthood, and was shown how to harness the magical energies needed to merge with a companion, which she would use to fuse with the wolf messenger on her wonderful adventures on the surface. Time flowed on as Prie masked her hollow guilt behind the face of a sister. In an ironic twist, a mark appeared as she first successfully performed the ritual to learn how to merge with her watery construct companion, a (her witchmark spheres drawback) small gemstone on her chest that spun with colours and starry light from then on whenever she performed magic, spinning and reminding her of both the starry above and her guilt below.

She didnt spend much time with the village after that, having mixed feelings about her new adventure. It was what she had wanted- new life, experiences, knowledge, the chance to prove herself and discover what she could do. But it wasn't the way shed hoped it would happen. She could hide it and bluff it away, but each time she Fused to become DiWolf, her guilty conscious reminded her that her life was now a facade, and that there were once two elven daughters of Brigh.

## Appearance

Aquatic elves can run a gamut of visual styles and skin-tones as varied as human races. Prie herself has fair skin, reminiscent of a white sandy cove. Her hair begins an auburn similar to some redder kelps, before fading to a sea-green that matches her eyes. Just a little shorter than the average aquatic elf, she still easily matches most other races standard conceptions of height. Her most prominent other racial feature is her cool skin and the near transparent webbing between her digits - the trick to swimming under the sea with ease.

In terms of dress, most of her clothes run a deep pink and green trend, somewhat iridescent from the types of natural waterproof dyes derived from a cultivated species of clam. Matching her usually light personality, he ends up with a short skirt that allows freedom of movement, as well as a light vest and jacket that leave her lower midriff exposed. She's rarely without a magical satchel on her back though, that doubles as both toolkit and alchemy lab, along with carrying the other odds and ends she may need.

## Personality

Prie's always been a happier gal, curious about the world around her and what makes things tick. If you give her the time, she could give you 5 questions in return. Some of this comes from a natural intellect that desires to discect how the world operates around her, but it's also likely do to the seclusion of her upbringing, where the faces numbered less than 50 for around a hundred years, and visitors were few if any. Not to mention that books were a rare commodity, needing special treatment to survive underwater. Thus, most of what she knows comes from quizzing the tight-knit community, and memorizing manuals on machining. Having recently been introduced to the wonders of a library in Thalassa has her diving into hundreds of topics she's never even considered, and she doesn't plan on staying backwater for long.

She's got an internal feel for right and wrong, which just simply makes sense to her. The fact that it doesn't to others is perplexing, as are the large amounts of laws and strictures some nations have in place. They seem constraining, which makes it hard to grow and learn, though perhaps they exist because not everyone seems to have the same ideas on morality as she does. It'll be hard adjusting to others expectations.

## Aspirations

Prie at present plans to not only adventure out into the world, but also learn about it. The pursuit of knowledge, invention and discovery are a core part of what drives her after all. She's unsure where she's at with that old prophecy though, because as far as she's aware - it wasn't about her at all, though now that she's 'pretending' to be her sister she's uncertain what it means anymore. At the least though, she wishes to make a strong positive impact on the world somehow - she doesn't doubt she's going to manage it someway. Maybe it will be a book she authors, or a new type of construct or technology she develops. It will be something, that much she's confident in.

## Friends

Zeta: The first airbreather she really held a conversation with, she's confused as to what her motive is. She never would have guessed Zeta a slave, and it's confused her because of her preconceived notions on how the world works. Then again, something felt odd about it for sure, and she can't help but feel like Zeta's either being abused somehow or is in some sort of trouble otherwise.

Ronda: The Magister of Thalassa was one of the first to welcome Prie to the big city. She'd been watching Prie it would seem, and meeting up and talking together Prie has agreed to an apprenticeship under Ronda. The fact that it also grants access to the largest library Prie's ever seen had nothing to do with it at the time, but having more than four shelves of books is a large boon nonetheless. She seems earnest enough, and has a heart to share with others (at the least her outsiders), a trait Prie can admire.