CHARACTER SUMMARY Patrick Altair Species: Gene modded human (Red tailed hawk anthro) Significant abilities: Desolidification, Degree Control, Animal Communication Occupation: IT technician Age: variable in 25-35 range Hailing from the Winds of Change setting, Pat is what might be called a "self insert" character.  That is to say, other than his world being different, he's basically me, with certain levels of wish fulfillment and desires added in, as well as exploration of certain events that I didn't do as we diverged.  He works in IT where he can, but he's also had other jobs as a messenger, spice shop proprietor, and even occasionally a combatant when necessary, though he prefers not to dirty his hands.  Perhaps his biggest divergence is the fact that he met The One For Him, Cassandra Delarose, and after a few years of dating, eventually proposed to her in a way that was accepted.  This was not without risk, due to them being from two different realities, but they and their friends were able to figure out a way to make it work that his nanites would not badly affect her or others, including potential children. Kawheek Species: Asari Significant abilities: Martial arts capacity, ki energy attacks and powers, natural healing. Occupation: eastern inspired monk and soldier for Hashinshira Age: Variable in 19-50s depending on canon point Hailing from a smaller Thordani village which no longer exists, Kawheek was hatched to an Asari leatherworker and priestess.  His father did not live long into his life, given the nasty combat he was exposed to, and he was raised primarily by his mother.  As he grew, he was taught the ways of Faenya and of basic combat, as well as general skills to work around the community.  His life took a different turn from being a cleric when, on a hunting mission one day when he was young, he found an injured human monk.  After consulting with others in the village, Roganas, as his name was, was given shelter in the village in exchange for labor.  He also openly taught martial arts to some of the youth there, a skill which Kawheek took up and excelled at.  While a former member of the Scarlet Brotherhood, Roganas hid his specism, if it existed, well.  Had he alternative motives for teaching, however, he was never able to realize them as Kawheek's village was wiped out shortly after Kawheek's 18th solstice by an attack of fire giants.  Both Kawheek's mother and Roganas were killed, and the few survivors, realizing they could not fend off a second offensive, shortly relocated to Hashinshira, a larger Thordani anchor settlement in the Hellfurnace mountains.  Once there, Kawheek joined the guard and worked hard to protect his adopted home, eventually becoming friends with others. During a day of hunting, he was captured by slavers in the mountains and taken into the Underdark with others from the village. Sidkah, a ranger and outdoorsman, Astrid, a cleric, and Tseerik, a sorcerer. Not trusting the last at first, he nonetheless worked with all three to escape the captors and move on to escape. On the escape, in order to aid the kobold Liatris in retrieving her queen's crown from the escaped red dragon whelp Duritax, they provided a distraction. This was the wrong course of action, which later resulted in Duritax attacking Hashinshira and slaying many, including Skekris, the aging Heliospix (High Priestess). Afterwards the four made it worse by leaving Hashinshira to check on the kobolds and collect Duritax's hoard. Liatris was the only survivor of the kobolds, and on returning, they were exiled from the village for somewhat over a year to atone for their misdeeds and lack of foresight.  Taking shelter at Kawheek's old hometown for a brief period, they ended up being defeated and surrendering to a gryphon, and then had to leave further afield to human lands.  Once there, they were attacked for the treasure they carried, and lost some.  They also were mistaken for demons in the first village, similar to vrocks, which gained them ill repute and respect despite it.  Being hired by a deposed ruler, Lord Drax, they were commissioned to help him regain his throne from Roostam, a barbarian who had taken it in his stead.  The campaign to do so lasted half a year with fits and starts, before it was revealed that Roostam was being manipulated by his close advisor (who had been replaced by a Toschar monster).  Eventually the party convinced him to abdicate peacefully after slaying the toschar and went off on further adventures, before returning to Hashinshira later on the appointed date to re-assimilate into their hometown, though never fully fitting in again after having tasted the adventurer's life.  Still, they could be counted to appear and help the village when the call to arms was sounded. Melody Nicole Shebesta Species: Wildtouched (Great Horned Owl) Significant abilities: Perfect healing, shapeshifting (great horned owl anthro and feral only) Occupation: Multiproficient professional artist Age: 25 Born of two humans, Melody was raised in a conservative christian home to be a proper WASP housewife upon becoming an adult.  However, this did not happen as when she was in her teenage years, she started shapeshifting as per her Wildtouched heritage.  Her parents saw this as a sign of demonic possession, and this began a strong conflict between them, eventually culminating in a contested, and somewhat abusive, relationship between the three, which ultimately saw her evicted from their home on her eighteenth birthday, and disowned shortly after that.  Having expected and prepared for this, Melody landed on her feet, going to college and earning a degree instead, a process which itself had some bumps and bruises along the way, and becoming a strong independent woman.  She spent some time on her own (possible branch point), renounced her religion, and became politically active whilst working as a freelance artist.  Eventually she was hired on as animator at a firm. Richard Peter Gallian Species: Wildtouched (red tailed hawk) Significant abilities: Perfect healing, shapeshifting (red tailed hawk anthro and feral only) Occupation: Student, EMT Age: variable in early to mid 20s Born of two humans, the son of an ER doctor and his love, Richard had a more relaxed childhood than Melody.  The first of three children, he grew up in central Maine, with his needs mostly provided for.  This isn't to say there wasn't conflict, as he had issues with dictates about sports and extracirriculars laid down to prevent his injury by his parents.  His own awakening occurred in his teenage years as well, but he was lucky enough to manage to keep it secret.  He moved out at the first opportunity, claiming he needed some space to study for college, and his parents supported him in the endeavor.  A parkour/freerunning practicioner, he found great joy in flying and being on his own, and also met other wildtouched in his area; a raccoon, two grizzly bears, a cougar, and a few others.  This friend circle was not to last, however, as attempts to infiltrate it by outside forces for negative reasons scattered them all, and resulted in Richard going to ground for nearly a year across the USA, aided by his Wildtouched nature.  He eventually returned and found safety to finish his degree, but was again alone.  He finished his degree and works out trying to keep his secret while also having fun with it and figure out more details behind why he exists as a Wildtouched... not realizing that if he gets an answer, he may not enjoy what he finds. Thenyr Nontdargo II Species: Thordani Significant abilities: Combat training, divine powers granted by his goddess Faenya Occupation: Priest, cleric, warrior Age: Variable, mid to late 20s. Hatched in Hashinshira proper, Thenyr grew up as an orphan in the temple after his parents were killed before he was old enough to form strong memories of them.  He was raised as a acolyte of Faenya and trained in her wisdom, as a sort of child-of-the-community along with several other youngsters who had been orphaned in the same attack.  Expecting to simply walk the same path, things changed when he was in his teenage years when Kawheek came to the village to select a student to train.  Impressed with the youth, Thenyr was selected as his student and trained with Kawheek for several years, in the hopes of succeeding Garv, the current Heliospix, when he passed or retired.  While neither has come to pass yet, Thenyr has become well trained, if unconfident in his ability to lead the village, enough so that a secondary leader (Sheryd) was selected in case he was unable to perform the task satisfactorily.  Following that, he simply is waiting in the wings and is well liked by his people as his chance to shine or fall approaches. Nathan Scott Renfrew Species: Human Significant abilities: Expert marksman, Athenian Devout Occupation: Realmwalker Age: 22 to 30 Born a few years before realmfall, Nathan spent a significant amount of his childhood obsessed with the realms, and training to be a realmwalker, regardless of how many people told him it wasn't a real job or that he wouldn't make it.  Due to his dedication, he did, graduating from a US satellite of Lecci Realmwalkers University in 2019 and being picked up by Realmwalkers Incorporated shortly thereafter.  Moving to Lecci and beginning to work as a junior realmwalker, he showed a strong aptitude for the work, and made a few good impressions with superiors, including saving his boss's life on a botched run.  Eventually he started to move into his own, independent runs, and made many friends, both human and not, including Dawn, a harpy whom he grew to love and care for.  Following a massive expedition helping a group rescue their friend, he spent several months in realm as a teacher of native realmies, teaching them about the Scientific Realm, and by his mid 20s, married Dawn in a small ceremony, despite his parents' disapproval.  The honeymoon went poorly, with Dawn kidnapped and held hostage in a war Nathan wanted no part in, but with aid from the temple of Athene, to which he is sworn as a devout, he was able to rescue her and many others.  He then transferred to the Norse realm, just in time to be turned into a werewolf by a power play by Fenrir.  He rather botched his response to this event, costing Athene a subgod and a significant power source, in his shortsighted haste to get himself fixed.  Following this he was condemned to spend several months as a nonanthro owl and to be completely honest about why this was to all inquiries, a rather humbling and grounding experience for him to have to endure.  Following his return to human form, he was immediately caught up again in an attempt to rescue the subgod, who instead of wanting to be rescued had instead summoned him as a trap to take her own revenge on him.  He accepted this further punishment with grace, having had his mark changed to another god and his gender swapped, but he was able to cure it after some time and questing.  Following the cure, he became embroiled in an attempt to infect all svartskoll, including Dawn, with a tailored virus to kill them.  He was able to save their lives by working with his enemy Fenris yet again and then moving on to have the virus modified by Athene.  Following this, Dawn became pregnant, and they moved on to a new phase in their life together. Lt. Arrow Quincy Vershaft Species: Mod-Buteo Significant abilities: Age: 22-30 Born, or rather hatched, on Terra Buteo, Arrow had a hard time with the accelerated education common to his planet, as well as the constant jockeying for position amongst the other chicks.  He wasn't bad at his studies, just bad with the politics.  Nevertheless, he passed, and became somewhat of a burnout right off the bat.  His parents, worried about the honor of the family lineages, sent him to the Advanced Gmelin Academic and Technical Education Program, or AGATE, hosted on Gmelin, a largely uninhabitable moon of the planet.  Here, Arrow flourished, finally finding the tools and support he needed to succeed.  Following a few years on AGATE, he returned to the surface of Terra Buteo, and landed a job initially on Ring-Seven, an orbital shipyard and spacedock, working as a repair technician and systems engineer.  Once finished with his education there, he moved on to the HMS Solsbury, which was a posting of endurance as he rankled at the rules placed on him and the strict discipline on the ship.  When a friend left the Solsbury to take a ship that his father had bequeathed him, Arrow jumped at the chance to join a more relaxed, less hostile crew, and was rewarded with a Lieutenant rank and position as the the systems officer of The Cause, an aging cruiser with a mixed race crew.  This became his true family and friends, and was where he found himself most at home for several years. Faenya Species: Goddess (normally perfected Thordani or avariel) Significant abilities: Weather control, solar deity, healing, god-level powers Age: Eternal The patron deity of the Thordani and Asari, Faenya shepherds them through difficult times and seeks to improve their lot.  They venerate her as their sole deity and her powers are accessible to their priests for the purposes of controlling air and sky, the sun, healing, and improving the world in various ways.  Her long term goals are to see the Thordani and Asari survive, and eventually be brought to par with the other civilized races of the world.