Bowyn Elmwood

## Appearance

Bowyn's skin tone is on the fair end of the spectrum. His hair is short and somewhat messy with shades of silver and pale blue. His eyes are light blue with a silver snowflake pattern in the iris.

Bowyn sprouts a pair of dark blue horns from his temples a couple of inches long, his wings are insect like and look almost like stained glass with darker shades of blue nearest his body gradually growing lighter until the almost white at the edges, with black, exoskeleton like, structures separating shades of color. He normally wears long and dark blue fur trimmed hooded coat, handmade, that has seen better days and has been frequently mended in places by Bowyn’s less than skilled hands. A dark gray shirt underneath, dark trousers, and dark brown leather boots. He nears a silver ring on his finger and an usually feminine silver locket underneath his shirt with a picture of him and a lover long gone. He also carries a bow and quiver of arrows, a small knife in his boot, and a dagger at his side.

## Personality

### Likes:

⋆The cold, winter, and ice
⋆

Theft

⋆Shiny things

⋆Ice sculpting

⋆Hunting

⋆Sweets

⋆Mead

### Dislikes:

⋆Hot climates

 ⋆Dark Elves

 ⋆Dragons

 ⋆Violence

 ⋆Forest fairies and their sunny dispositions

 ⋆Bright lights/Overpowering sunshine

 ⋆Undead

### Fears:

⋆Fire’s that are not contained/Burning to death

⋆Death

⋆Loss of freedom

⋆Dragons

### Personality:

Bowyn likes to think of himself as “not really a people person,” leaning more towards an introverted and loner nature but mostly due to his extreme distrust of others. He expects the worst from people and once they fail him, he doesn’t offer second chances, preferring to write them off as not worth his time. His closest friend is a merlin named Boreas and while it is an extremely lonely existence, he has decided it’s safer that way. Bowyn looks out for himself, just as he has for most of his life, and only keeps others around him if they are useful in some way. A life of having to depend on himself has taught him that no one else will look out for his interest so that is his top priority. Although he rarely goes out of his way to be intentionally cruel without cause, he lacks a filter, saying whatever’s on his mind to the point of brutal honesty and doesn’t ever go for a tactful approach. He will do whatever he has to do for survival, if that means leaving another in danger then he will. Attachments are dangerous, other people will get you killed, and Bowyn plans to die of old age rather than another's carelessness. A younger Bowyn was much kinder, more willing to sacrifice, and as he now sees it, much weaker. He is still capable of kindness, if he has something to spare, giving to one less fortunate is acceptable to him, but no longer would help another to the detriment of himself.

To Bowyn bravery is not a virtue, but rather more easily equated to foolishness. If that makes him a coward so be it, he would rather be cowardly than dead. He tends to be level headed, thinking things through before he acts and very rarely resorting to violence these days. He tends to be mostly bark and very little bite when it comes to his temper, while his words can be cold and cruel he has little taste for violence, preferring to walk away from confrontation, there is very little he’d risk life or injury, and fighting over a disagreement is something he’d see as not worth his time or effort. Bowyn is patient, willing to wait for what he wants, and for the most part seems calm to the point of being apathetic to most things. Bowyn is a survivor, if after all he’s lost, he stops surviving, then everything he lost was for nothing, and he can’t let it be for nothing. So, he keeps going, he digs down deep and does whatever is necessary to keep going. Bowyn has put such an emphasis on his survival, and on blurring the pain of his past, that he has grown too numb to thrive. He cuts himself off from attachments with others out of fear; either of possible betrayal or of experiencing more loss.

There are many of his kind who would think Bowyn a bit insane; spending his time talking to a bird and stealing shiny trinkets just to look at them. His own grief and unwillingness to ever truly deal with it, has certainly affected his mental state; he hates himself for having let another die in his place, he lives so that their sacrifice isn’t in vain, but he gets no joy from life. His melancholy aura has tainted his once charismatic nature, others find him draining to be around which suits his self-induced exile anyway. His humor is often bleak and sarcastic, though the only one he currently shares his dark humor with is a bird who somehow manages to put up with him. Although not classically educated, Bowyn is no simpleton, he excels at problem solving and critical thinking, especially when his survival is dependent on it.

## Background

### Current and Past Lover(s):

* Aeryn Snowflower (former, deceased, undead)

### History:

Bowyn was found as an infant; cold, hungry, and alone, left in at the large elm doors of the village orphanage. Like the other orphaned children his surname was Elmwood, signifying his beginnings as a orphaned child, a status that followed him well into adulthood. Here was where he grew up alongside the other fae children who had been either abandoned or whose families had died. Although most winter fae were poor, Bowyn and the other orphans got by on scraps and donations from the already impoverished village. Winter fairies already had so little to begin with; a frozen territory that made most farming difficult, and so close to Daka, and the dark elves, they were constantly under the thumb of the Lich. Dark elves frequently stole winter fairies from their lands, rumored to be used in experiments by the king, and over the years his people learned that fighting back got you nowhere good. Being so close to Daka also meant that they were ruled much harsher than the kingdoms further away, any signs of insurrection were viciously stomped out, and growing up here meant knowing that your life was subject to the whims of the King. The dragons frequently strayed from the island to hunt on their lands going after the reindeer that many winter fae relied on for food or thinning out the herds that the luckily few relied on for livelihood. Although their magic was fairly powerful the winter court was kept in such a state of poverty that all their energy was focused on survival rather than their subjugation. Raising one’s status was nearly impossible here, and the social classes almost never intermingled.

A young Bowyn grew so accustomed to hunger that eventually, like it did for most of his kin, it became a dull ache so that he was only minorly aware of the sensation. He learned to steal from an early age as a means of survival, starting with food, and quickly found that he was good at it. He would share what he had with the other orphaned children, as they had all become like family to one another. When he was ten one of the older boys, Toth, began taking him hunting with him. They started with smaller game at first but as they got older, they moved on to bigger things such as reindeer and even boar. Every now and again they would trade furs, hides, and bones from their kills at Domoros, the nearby wealthy Demi-Human city. Bowyn was jealous of all the prosperity he saw in Domoros, he gladly helped himself to whatever he could fit into his pockets while he was there, and frequently brought back stolen sweets to the younger children. He was fourteen when his friend Toth died, gored by a boar during a hunt, and Bowyn took up the mantle of looking out for the weaker and younger children of the orphanage.

After Toth’s death He decided he would not let himself be weak, although scarcity of food was a huge limit to what he could do, he trained himself from a thin boy into lean muscled wiry young man. He also focused on training with his cryokinesis, neglecting most of zooliguisim and healing in favor of more offensive magic. He kept training, hunting, and stealing, finetuning his skills and making sure he was strong enough to help those around him who needed it. At sixteen he left the orphanage and began working in tavern assisting the cook. He also began creating large ice sculptures out front, drawing in crowds to the tavern, and Bowyn found he had an artistic gift for it. Few winter fae had time to waste on arts, but since it brought in business, his employer encouraged him to continue with his passion. He made just enough money to rent himself a small room and continued to bring food to the orphanage after his hunts or sweets on his way back from trading. Now and then he would even be commissioned to create ice sculptures for the more noble born winter fae and other nobles nearby for their parties. It was through these commissioned works that Bowyn met her.

She had hair like white gold, long and shimmery, and eyes like emeralds bright enough to lite up his entire world. He quickly learned that her name was Aeryn, and she was fiery and hopeful, unlike anyone else he’d ever known. Over the course of a few days Bowyn feel fast and hard. He was creating several large reindeer sculptures for the wealthy Snowflower family, as they owned the largest herd, and their daughter, Aeyrn, loved to watch him work. The two grew incredibly close, even after his work was finished, and for once he was truly happy with his lot in life. It wasn’t simple, he was a poor orphan and her family was one of the few that did well in the winter court. He couldn’t afford nice gifts but he would steal small shiny trinkets from Domoros, and while Aeryn would scold him for stealing her eyes always gave away how much she loved them, and she always kept his gifts. Her family never thought him good enough, he parents and her older brother Rhyden never saw him as a worthy suitor. It hurt, knowing that others would always see him as less than due to the life he’d been born into, but Aeyrn never made him feel that way. When they were together, they were always equals, family and means didn’t matter, and what they shared was enough for both of them. All Bowyn wanted was to marry and build the family that he never had, but he wanted a way to be accepted by Aeyrn’s family first, he didn’t want her to lose what she had and he knew the schism between her and her family hurt her too.

When a handful of children from the village where taken by Dark Elves, Bowyn thought he had his chance to prove his worth. He joined up with a handful of other men from the village in hopes of rescuing the children before they crossed over to Daka. He thought if he succeeded her family would see he was brave and he’d be respected as a hero but Aeyrn was worried he’d never come back. He went with the men and they soon caught up with the dark elves to make their stand. A small fight broke out on the edge of winter fae territory between hardened dark elf soldiers and idealistic young winter fae men who had had enough. Bowyn watched so many of his kin slaughtered and he too thought he was done for as well. After taking a handful of arrows and then a fatal hit of dark magic he lay, dying, in the snow.

Then somehow, she was there, Aeryn, by his side healing his wounds. Bowyn begged for her leave him, screaming and choking on blood, but she stayed, healing him until he was well enough to run. As soon as he could stand, he grabbed her hand and tried to flee with her but she was so weak from the magic she had used. The elves attack continued, arrows flew, and as he tried to carry her but he was still too weak and she was hit by dark magic. Aeryn collapsed, left without strength to continue further, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave her. Her voice, barely a whisper pleaded with him to go, to live, as she died in his arms. All Bowyn wanted to do was die there next to her but he found the strength to run. He ran deep into the forests until he couldn’t run any longer and collapsed. Later, when he awoke, he was alone, but he had made a promise to live and so even though it was the last thing he wanted to do, he kept going but in the confusion of battle he had gotten so turned around that he found himself lost. After some time wandering a Merlin helped him to find his way home.

Upon returning to his village he learned what Aeryn’s brother had done, hoping to rid his family of his sister’s unworthy suitor he had sent word to the dark elves of the attack, and in return the village was spared further retribution. After that Bowyn turned his back on all his people, no one could be trusted and if he were to keep his word and stay alive, then he would give no one the chance to betray him. His once kind spirit was hardened, as if a layer of permafrost now covered his very heart, and Bowyn now promised himself he would never grow close to another. He left his village to live in self-imposed exile in the woods, hunting for what he needed and going to other towns to trade but never setting foot inside his home again. Deep in the forest he began spending all of his spare time creating ice sculptures of Aeryn, desperate to be able to see her face once more, and afraid that time would ebb away at the memories of her. Despite his best efforts time eventual did, he found he could no longer recall the exact shape of her lips, the angle of her ears, and the details of her wings. Worst of all was the way a sculpture could never quite capture the spark of hope in her eyes and that too faded from his mind.

His only true companion has been the merlin who helped him find his way home, and while he neglected his zooliguisim to the point where it was non-existent after so much time with this bird it remains the only animal he can converse with. He has since worked on his healing some, tending to his own injuries rather than subject himself to some other fae healer and while his work is nowhere near good, it is passable. His cryokinesis remains his strongest magical skill although even that is practiced less than his thieving skills nowadays. Bowyn still indulges in his kleptomaniac tendencies, stealing shiny trinkets that remind him of Aeryn in some way, and surrounding his shelters with them. After a time, sculpting no longer soothed him, the sculptures themselves were becoming poorer imitations and he sought out other ways to ease his pain. He found occasionally he catches glimpses of her through the use of hallucinogens bought through Domoros’s black market, but in order to afford them he needed to do more than hunt and occasionally trade. So Bowyn relied on his only other skill, stealing. He eventually connected with other, less than savory, individuals, stealing things of value, and found this also helped to distract his mind. Although he frequently worked with and dealt with the same individuals Bowyn considers none of them friends, only keeping around those who have purpose to him and never really trusting them.

Boreas, however, sees this as an improvement as at least his damaged friend now talks to more than just ice sculptures and a bird. Boreas also lost his mate the night the winter fae fought with the dark elves, a stray arrow leaving only one of a bonded pair. The lone merlin then bonded with a sad lost fairy who shared a similar fate. Boreas, being a bird and much more practical than a fairy, healed well with time but found his friend unable to move on. So, the merlin stayed with Bowyn, choosing friendship over a natural bird life. At first he found it difficult to resist natures call to find another of his kind but he found the look of despair in his friends eyes made it too difficult to leave. Boreas tries his best to help the fairy move on, although the creature is awfully stubborn, he continues to push Bowyn towards civilization in the hope that eventually the fairy will be able to live with his own kind again.

## Combat Information

### Physical Strengths:

⋆Speed/Endurance

⋆Tracking

⋆Stealth

### Physical Weaknesses:

⋆Warmer climates/Heat

⋆Iron

⋆A fair fight

## Additional Information

* Bowyn just recently discovered that the woman he loves was turned into an undead by Aklenroth.
* Bowyn is 27 years old.
* He has a merlin as a companion by the name of Boreas.