(Archive) Dral

*"The world is filled with strange things! Strange things everyone should discover together, on a marvelous journey!" - Dral Revo*

## History

Dral was born in Torch, Numeria. Though the city was under the thumb of the country's resident Despot, it was still able to maintain its independence thanks to its namesake Torch, which provided for a great forge from which to craft wonderful things.

As such, rather than being Technic League members, Dral's parents and friends formed their own special 'league.' Only instead of calling it a league, they named it the Order of the Octagonal Table, and all members were minor arcane spellcasters or hoarders of miscellaneous knowledge. Dral, of course, picked up on his parents' tendency towards magic, and from an early age studied the trade.

However, as he grew up, Dral began to chafe under both the thumb of the Technic League and the lack of depth in his Order's knowledge. The most powerful spell most of them knew could only make a bit of grease on the ground, and while they had a great deal of books and knowledge, most of it was on pointless materials.

Dissatisfied, Dral sought to improve his intelligence beyond that of his peers. He worked with the strange chemicals oozing out of Numeria's ground, eventually perfecting a formula that could enhance one's mind at a minor, temporary cost to one's strength. Using this, he redoubled his studies into the arcane, and became a notable caster himself.

In his late twenties now, Dral waved goodbye to his parents, friends, and job (he had made do by teaching the children of Torch for some time), and set off into the wide world to explore what it had to offer him. He very intentionally set off in the opposite direction of the League, knowing they'd probably string him up for not paying some ludicrous tax on breathing the same air as them.

So he explored the world, spending his free moments studying and his more serious moments casting spells and joining other small groups of adventurers. He traveled the world, trundling along and gathering so much knowledge he almost didn't know what to do with it all! It was during these travels that he determined that the best teacher was experience, not the books he had turned to in his youth.

Just as he gained enough experience to consider spells yet unknown to him, disaster struck! He had been on board a ship on the high seas, when he was abducted by pirates! Of course, he found the experience very thrilling. The pirates found his magical ability also thrilling, and pressured him into teaching them his skills with a wand and book.

Dral, however, wasn't stupid. He knew that if he taught these brigands anything of real power, they could do some serious harm to innocent people! Instead, he gave them only the basics while copying everything he could of how they behaved. When, after several weeks, he had his chance, he grabbed everything he owned and jumped overboard with a life preserver to keep him afloat.

He'd much rather die himself than be party to a magical massacre, after all.

Fate, however, seemed to favor him, and instead of drowning at sea or forcing him to do some on-the-spot spell research, he somehow ended up washing ashore in the city of Fiend's Reach. Delighted, intrigued, and soggy, Dral set off into the city to offer both his intelligence as a service and to discover the intricacies of this new world he had stumbled upon.

## Appearance

Dral is middle-aged man of average height and slightly chubby build. His hair has already managed to turn grey, though he himself is just grateful it hasn't fallen out. He typically dresses in frayed suits and disarrayed robes rather than anything fancy, and it's usually very easy to spot a few stains and stray threads on him due to his lack of personal care.

His face is crinkled with a few laugh lines, and almost always he can be found smiling in wonderment at the new world in front of him.

## Personality

Dral loves to laugh and loves to learn. He likes to poke fun at others and has a hard time taking things as seriously as he should. Rather than become distraught at the thought of being taken to a new world, he has taken to it like a duck to water.

He considers himself a simple man, and generally does not wish harm upon others. Though his school of fancy functions on befuddling the mind and enchanting the soul, he only does it so that he need not inflict direct harm and end conflict as quickly as possible. The thought of getting 'knee deep in the dead,' as it were, makes him slightly queasy.

He vastly prefers the idea of practical experience in the field to that of studying in dusty libraries, and tends to distrust wizards and other casters who have only spent their lives reading out of tomes. Though unlikely to say it to their face, he considers such people a danger to both themselves and the parties they attach themselves to.

## Friends

While Dral considers most anyone he meets as a friend, he has not made any particular ones in the Reach.

## Enemies

The passage of time is a high one for Dral. He loathes to wait and also loathes that he can feel his body aging. In terms of people, however, Dral can't really name anyone in particular.

## Aspirations

Dral seeks to possibly attain immortality one day, or at least have some sort of legacy! While he abhors the idea of founding any sort of school, he does entertain the idea of making a sort of guild of practicality, which guides its pupils in the field rather than a classroom.

Perhaps most of all, Dral would like to actually be able to exert control over time itself. However, his current abilities render that most unlikely.