Drifel Valyra

[Valyr]

Name: Drifel Valyra

Age: 171

Race: Dwarf

Height: 3’11”

Weight: 190 lbs

Physical Description: A dwarf with stark white hair and a short, clean beard, Drifel Valyra appears old, tough and experienced at a glance. He’s got a few old scars on his face, but they have healed to be nothing more than small lines. He wears a green and brown outfit with a heavy cowl for hiding his white hair while out hunting, which has bits of leather for reinforcement. It’s somewhat torn up, but obviously well cared for.

Possessions: A thick, heavy crossbow, and a quiver to match. Similarly, the bolts he uses are all exceptionally wide. The crossbow is made out of an unusually dark wood, but has no enchantments or other special features. He owns a small shack on the road between Marn and Shim, has an adopted shifter son named Kitan, and regularly hunts for commodities such as animal hides and meat. He’s never seen without a bottle of spirits somewhere on his person. Drifel also posesses various hunting traps, most of which are set up throughout the forest, and has several bear traps in his backyard in case a troll or other sub-intelligent predator species decides to approach his house.
One of his most treasured possessions is an enchanted obsidian arrow, which, if dipped in blood, tracks the owner of the blood by levitating in the air and pointing like a compass. It can only be used once, because the arrow never resets targets- even if the current target dies. Due to its symbolic importance to Drifel, there is a good chance he couldn’t bear to use the arrow anyways even in ideal circumstances.

Powers or Strengths:

-Years of living on the road and in the woods have turned him into a skilled survivalist. Drifel knows the patterns of wildlife and can track targets through the outdoors.

-Drifel is an excellent marksman, though he isn’t a ranged sharpshooter. He prefers mid range battles to sniping. Drifel is also exceptionally fast at loading and firing off his crossbow, giving him the element of surprise when suddenly attacking someone. By extension, he is difficult to take off guard.

-He is good at moving through cities and crowds, and tracking people through it, despite possessing the wide build of a dwarf. He likely picked up the ability during his time as a guard.

-As a result of raising a fox shifter, Drifel is good at seeing through illusions.

-Drifel's long list of life experiences have left him very learned in the ways of the world. He has basic knowledge of the customs and laws in several different cultures.

Weaknesses:

- Drifel is something of an alcoholic. After drinking, his aim and reaction time worsens, and if someone offers him a drink, he won’t be able to refuse. He has a notably low alcohol tolerance for a dwarf, much less one who drinks as much as he does. His continued self harm is pronounced in a different fashion when he attempts to stop, prompting fits of sweating, irritability, and occasional spasms.

- He bears a good deal of guilt over the actions he took as captain of the guard. Seeing similar things, or performing similar actions, will severely dampen his will to continue.

-Would sacrifice just about anything for Kitan. This goes beyond Kitan’s well-being. Drifel also feels a strong need to protect his innocence- if Kitan is somehow threatened, he would be very easy to manipulate.

-Drifel is slightly reckless. This trait was more pronounced in his youth, which prompted the atrocities. Lingering guilt will still cause him to recklessly take actions if on the surface, the moral action seems clear. This has an unfortunate habit of self perpetuation when he notices the full implications too late- at which point he will again attempt to set things right with brute force and bull headed stubbornness. Fortunately, if someone calls this behaviour to his attention, he will remember what he did before and stop immediately.

-Cannot fight well in close quarters. If an opponent gets to close, Drifel will be hard pressed to turn the situation around. His dwarven stature is not ideal for running, making it hard to regain distance. He can throw a good punch, but even the barest armour will still stop his blows.

History:
Nearly a century ago, Drifel was the captain of the guard in the non-human district of Vitalis- as ineffective a post as there could ever be in the crime ridden city. Understaffed, underpaid, and despised, Drifel was desperately looking for any way to turn the city around. One day, fate took pity and gave him a small chance.

It happened that an acquaintance of his provided him with a quiver filled with enchanted crossbow bolts, all built from beautiful obsidian, and told the captain that whenever they stuck the blood of the guilty, they would guide him to the offender. Taking heart and gathering the most loyal guards in the watch, the dwarven captain went to each crime after it was perpetrated and found blood which was spilled in the action. The arrows struck true, and the night was one in which justice was finally served to guilty.

Emboldened, the dwarven watchmen continued this practice. The supplier provided more of the arrows- for a small fee, of course- and justice was served time and time again, as the innocent and guilty alike trembled before the new order which was befalling the district. The more the targets fell, the less cautious the city watch became; eventually, more signed up, believing, for the first time in ages, the guards to be the winning side. The same petty and immoral lot that had supported the organized crime now swung support to the guards. Thugs who found themselves leaderless could suddenly find a nice position with legal backing, supporting the law rather than hiding from it.

Drifel’s crusade continued and the arrows no longer had anything to do with it. More organized resistance formed when the recovering smuggling rings gathered what forces they had. The situation growing ever dire, it was only inevitable that violence would bloom in its full, fiery wrath.

It was a hot, uncomfortable day when the riots began. Under the searing sun, Drifel made the decision to use force to restore order. His guardsmen, now composed of the same people he had been fighting, were eager to regain control of the city streets as they had held them under organized crime.

The massacre was terrific. Drifel led his men without doubt, at first; but when he turned his heavy crossbow to the rebels, he finally noticed the smoke and the ash about him. He noticed it was his soldiers that were looting, as guards dragged the unfortunate citizens out of their homes. He realized, finally, that he hadn’t been the captain of the guard for years. He was just another criminal, using the guard force as his weapon of intimidation. He saw this scene, played again and again in his memories, understanding for the first time that all his recent busts had been nothing more than excuses for open theft and petty assault. He had become the criminals he had hunted, operating on only his vices, his obsessions. Simple denial had thrown his world into chaos.

The situation soon collapsed entirely. Imperial guards, alerted to the situation and far more professional than the street rats under the dwarf's command, swiftly seized Drifel and put him on trial. What passed for justice in Vitalis was swift and sure, if not entirely pure. Found guilty of various crimes, he was seized by the human guardsmen and promptly thrown out the front gates, an exile from the empire's territories.

He left the city without a word, his head hung in shame, mouth agape with wonder that it had all gone wrong. When his first step hit the dirt, a shout turned him around- as silent as Drifel himself, his supplier handed him his crossbow and an unusual leather bundle. He turned back to the city before Drifel, stupefied at the visit, could ask even a single question.

Inside the bundle was a single black arrow, without a spot of blood on it.

As an exile with no other place to go, Drifel joined a mercenary company that went as far east as Tian Xia; looking to forget, like many sell swords he took to the bottle. Many were the days he would drink himself into a cationic stupor, having lost all he knew, and with it, all purpose. Yet even drowning his sorrows was not enough- still overcome with guilt and afraid of becoming another monster, he left the mercenary life quickly.

He had heard in his travels of a quiet place called Thar Shaddin, and promptly decided it would be the best place to leave the past behind him, a place close enough to home he could work but isolationist enough that no one would recognize him. His warden days were behind him but he could hunt. His wanderings had given him that much.

On this last journey, he awoke one day to find an unusual sight. A child had been left in his camp, asleep and pure. Fox ears poked out the sides, which he recognized as the trait of a shifter. He looked around briefly for others, but even his woodsman’s knowledge could find only the barest traces. Drifel looked back at the child and decided that while it wouldn’t be much, he was looking for redemption, and adopting the lost soul seemed like the best place to start.

The child, by the name Kitan, was weak and malnourished, but the venison Drifel provided quickly set that straight. Drifel did his best to teach the boy the lessons he had learned; though he could never quite bring himself to tell of the full extent of his crimes. He would always wonder if he did the right thing, preserving the innocence he had found, yet nonetheless continued to speak primarily of the kindness he had seen and done. While his goal had been to teach the boy, Drifel soon found he was teaching himself as well- in his stories, he had done good in his life, and there was enough good in the Pal Tahrenor that he could continue to face it, even fight for it. Through Kitan, Drifel had begun the long road to self forgiveness. Growing highly affectionate for this unexpected blessing, upon reaching Thar Shaddin he even gave his own last name to the shifter, Valyra.

Yet despite this, seeing his child's adoring eyes had its own barbs attached. It would occasionally occur to the dwarf that his son was looking up to a lie, and such moments invariably prompted another round of drinks; while he was never physically abusive, even while drunk, seeing his father during such moments hurt Kitan in ways beatings could not. The boy's mind, blissfully ignorant of the past, never understood the reason why his father did such things.

Over time, Drifel nonetheless gained a surly sense of humour around the young shifter which he was later able to turn to others and reintegrate into society. He set up shop as a hunter, trading pelts to some of the larger companies to provide for his son.

Even so, Kitan grew into a charming, intelligent young man and moved to the city to work as a courier; though he didn't mention it to the dwarf, he was also looking for someone who could help his father's alcoholism. Drifel remained in the woods, thinking when he was at home, hunting when he had to and enjoying the taverns whenever he could. Alone, he faces new adversaries, foes, and challenges in Thar Shaddin, far away from the past- and he does it cracking jokes to the bawdy song of Marn's taverns and the wind over the Ofriyu Mar.

“There is a lot of good in the world- and a lot of evil too. What you’ve got to remember is that the same people do both. Everyone’s got their flaws, yourself included. The most you can do for good is to wake up in the morning, forgive others, yourself, and keep going. You’ll get better. And so will they. Now buy me another beer, so we can both forget I ever said that softhearted horseshit.”

[Saruna]

I like the changes. Approved. Vitalis hasn't seen a lot of use yet, so its condition is workable. It should work well enough.

Thank you for updating the map, Zina!

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