🎀 Wisteria 🎀

A calm and righteous life had never appealed to the heir of a chieftain of a small Nakiri tribe since childhood. While his father, Sirin, devoted himself entirely to the people and the service of Arteria, his son, named Shen, preferred to follow only the wind. The latter regularly subjected the boy to long and harsh training sessions, practically excluding rest during the times when the entire tribe prayed to the infamous goddess.
"But why did Shen so categorically refuse worship? Did he not come to believe in Arteria?" you might ask. The answer would be simple and painfully banal — the boy grew up without a loving mother, who had passed away so early that only unreliable, illusory images remained in the boy's mind, occasionally vaguely reminding him of that bright woman.
"Such is the will of Arteria," Sirin spoke the fateful phrase on that very day to his son, who was crying his eyes out for the first and last time.
From that moment on, something in the child's psyche broke, and while continuing to believe in the goddess's existence, he renounced her and continued to walk the path of the wind. The latter was not to blame for the fact that Sura — that was the name of Shen's mother — had fallen ill with a serious disease.
All this led to a gradual loss of connection with his own father, who, although a glorious Nakiri warrior, masterfully skilled in the art of spear fighting, preferred to spend far too much time venerating Arteria and atoning for the sins of his son who had "strayed from the righteous path." Shen himself, meanwhile, had never committed any evil deeds and therefore genuinely did not understand why Sirin was trading the chance to become stronger and better for some kind of nonsense.
The problem was also that the rest of the tribe did not understand Shen's views either. However, people were afraid to say this to his face, as the boy was growing into a very strong and capable warrior, someone to rely on in battle. Yet, for some reason, no one wanted him to rule over them in the future after Sirin.
As for his peers, they were more afraid of the strong young man and therefore behaved courteously around him, just so he wouldn't beat them up for insolence. Although in reality, Shen wasn't all that aggressive or quarrelsome. He simply enjoyed participating in battles, even training ones. But who is to blame if everyone around interprets a challenge to a friendly duel as a desire to thrash someone for some nasty things said behind one's back? And this despite the fact that the warrior was unaware of even half of these rumors...
Only Grandmother Ayda, who had given life to Sura, never turned her back on her beloved grandson. Unlike Shen, she revered Arteria and did not blame her for her daughter's death, yet her mind also had room for many other things. For example, music and art.
But Ayda's favorite pastime was telling Shen about how her great-grandmother Ikara married an unusual traveler who claimed to be a descendant of "some ancient dynasty or other."
"In truth, she fell in love with him not for his belonging to some honorable lineage," Ayda remarked once again while telling her grandson about a distant ancestor. "If all our men are inherently fickle in nature, especially when they think Arteria isn't watching, then in that man's eyes burned the most genuine righteous fire."
"So, he worshiped fire, like we worship the winds?" Shen interpreted his grandmother's words too literally.
"I think, considering some facts, yes, the flame of freedom reigned in his soul," smiled Ayda, who was trying to impart a somewhat different meaning to her words.
The young man, who introduced himself to everyone as Jun el Isin, while once traveling with his friends, asked the tribe's people to let them stay for just one night so they could continue on their way afterward. The kind Nakiris did not even think of denying the wanderers shelter, so they let them in, not realizing what it would lead to.
A single day in that place was enough for Jun to fall hopelessly in love with the chieftain's daughter, Ikara. And these feelings turned out to be mutual.
However, the young enchantress did not want to leave her family, so the traveler faced two options: leave, leaving behind the most beautiful and pleasant young woman in the world, or stay and become part of the tribe. The man, who already liked the Nakiri tribe's way of life, chose the second option.
Thus, after passing a series of trials to prove he was worthy of the chieftain's heiress, Jun became part of this tribe, although he did not become his father-in-law's successor. Nevertheless, it was not for this burden that he gave up his former way of life, but for the one who became his wife and bore him offspring.
"The funniest part is that many girls in the tribe dreamed that the strong and handsome Jun would grant them a little of his attention too," Ayda stated with a hint of pride. "But until the very end, his eyes were fixed on only one woman."
Jun el Isin passed away quite early, though not as early as Sura, leaving a huge mark on the hearts not only of his wife and heirs, but also of the entire tribe. Moreover, unlike his last descendant, the man is still revered to this day.
Shen always took pride in his ancestor, and one could even say that Jun el Isin, whom the young man had never even seen in his life, became something more to him than his own father, the connection with whom grew fainter with each passing year.
The older the warrior grew, the more he thought about listening to the elements. Not just the air, as everyone around did, but also the flame, as his distant ancestor used it in the young man's imagination. And one day, when his father once again launched into a long and monotonous lecture about how the goddess sees everything and that it was time to start venerating her, Shen exploded.
The young man realized he simply could no longer live like this, so he decided to leave the tribe and become a hermit. At least this would help him get away from all this imposed religious fanaticism with Arteria, the hatred of which, though long subsided to mere slight resentment, remained. Perhaps, if everyone around hadn't irritated Shen with the obligation to pray to and revere her, he would have long since calmed down about the goddess.
The young man decided to leave the tribe under the cover of night, as Jun el Isin would have done if Ikara had agreed to follow him, but before that, he decided to say goodbye to the person dearest to him — his grandmother.
"Take care of yourself," the understanding Ayda hugged her grandson.
"I will!" Shen smiled. "Perhaps someday I will return here..."
"And by that time, I'll certainly be dead!" the old woman chuckled, after which she rummaged through her belongings to pull out an unusual-looking golden bracelet adorned with precious fiery-red stones. "Take it."
"Oh, grandma, men don't wear trinkets," her grandson looked at her askance.
"And your ancestor, Jun el Isin, did," Ayda snorted. "At least he certainly never took this little thing off, especially when he went into battle. True, after marrying Ikara, great-grandfather didn't really fight anyone, except wild animals, so he gave the bracelet to her..."
"Alright, alright, I understand," Shen grumbled, snatching the ornament from the hands of his pleased grandmother. In any other situation, he wouldn't have minded spending time with Ayda and listening to another story about his ancestor, but deep down, the warrior feared that he would get so caught up chatting with the old woman that parting from her would become even more painful.
Having said goodbye to his grandmother, Shen set off, taking with him only his favorite battle spear, with which he had seen many a hunt for predators, the bracelet he put in his pocket, as well as money and provisions, the warrior set out to meet adventures. His only companion was the eagle Inar, whom the wind once allowed the young man to tame.

***
The journey that Shen had imagined turned out to be not as exciting as he had pictured it. Living simply as a wild man and catching animals for food was, of course, possible, but it didn't always work out. The young man was certainly capable of defeating any predator, but finding one was not so easy, which meant having to frugally subsist on just herbal tea and what the warrior had brought with him. Thus, for the first time, he realized the value of his tribesmen, among whom were experienced hunters who helped track down the prey.
Nor was this the life Shen aspired to. So, after a couple of days of hermit existence, the young man set off for the nearest settlement that might appear on his path. The first thing to appear on the novice wanderer's path turned out to be one of the cities of Serberia.
There, the young man, unaccustomed to city life, had a hard time, as everything he wanted had to be paid for, and the funds he had were far from sufficient. This meant he had to earn them.
Knowing nothing but fighting, Shen decided to become a simple mercenary, agreeing to absolutely any assignments. However, the organization the young man chose turned out to be not as honest and worthy as the warrior had initially assumed.
Shen could not have imagined that his boss was using his company as a front for laundering money obtained by the thieves' guild. And for the most part, these "mercenaries," who had even taught the young man a few fraudulent tricks during his time working there, were the most common thieves.
The realization of this fact was extremely painful for the honest Nakiri warrior, who, though he had not participated in criminal operations, could do nothing but hasten to leave the city and leave behind all the acquaintances he had come to consider friends over more than a year of work.
Shen continued to wander the world, now no longer lingering long in any particular lands, so as not to learn another painful truth about his employers. And this would have continued, had life not once brought him together with an artist-merchant, Raphael Ambrosius Costo.
Those were hard times when the young man's savings were very meager, and for some reason, he couldn't find any work. Then Shen despaired so much that he was ready to sell the main reminder of his grandmother and ancient ancestor — the golden bracelet that had lain all this time in his travel bag.
Fortunately, having met not some despicable, dishonest swindler, but a rather honest Raphael, Shen not only realized the value of the item belonging to Jun el Isin, but also heard many other interesting facts about the ancient Hekkelian dynasty. So there could be no question of selling this treasure.
The artist himself, in a word, turned out to be a descendant of an equally ancient Enkinabu lineage. And he became interested in the personality of the seemingly simple young man, who was also an honest and worthy warrior. Therefore, he decided to tell him about his organization, the "Golden Griffin," and offered him to become a part of it. And Shen, inspired by the pleasant conversation with Raphael, could find no reason to refuse. After all, it was better to cooperate with a charismatic and, in his view, worthy man than to starve to death or work for another gang of thieves.

Date of Birth: April 21, 703
• Constellation of the Eagle
+2 to speed, +1 to perception, +30% to observation, +20% to accuracy, +20% to evasion, +15% to air resistance, +30% to air efficiency.
• Constellation of the Hero
+3 to three characteristics of choice, +1 OC, +3 OU, +20% to resistance (2, 3, 5), 20% chance to activate an additional turn after completing the previous one, but no more than once per phase.
Origin:
• Nakiri Plains
The character can evade a negative action directed at themselves (1% chance for each unit of piety, number of activations unlimited).
Conviction:
Dakara (El Isin)
• The character's melee and ranged attacks deal 75% additional fire damage.
• +50% fire resistance.
• The character ignores (piety*10)% defense.
Characteristics:
Strength — 6 (+3)
Endurance — 5
Agility — 7 (+3)
Perception — 8 (+1)
Speed — 3 (+2)
Intellect — 3
Spirit — 1
Faith — 9 (+3)
Charisma — 0
Beauty — 0
Skills:
Nakiri Warrior (free)

• Winds of Nakiri
1. Immunity to the air element
2. The character's attacks deal an additional 100% air damage
3. +50% to evasion
4. +50% to will
5. Additional evasion roll
• Native Land
1. The character is trained in riding
2. The character receives an eagle companion, it has an evasion of 300 (if it takes damage - leaves the battlefield), it deals no damage but its attacks (accuracy equals a value of 200) paralyze the enemy for 1 turn if they fail a resilience check against a static value of '100'
• Nakiri Spear
1. +2 to attack range
2. The character's attacks deal damage to all enemies on the line of attack
3. The character's attacks deal 50% damage to all enemies on cells adjacent to the line of attack
• Sting
Deals fivefold damage to the selected enemy, accuracy for this attack is twice as high; cooldown: 2 turns
• Hawk
The character performs a jump (range: 8) and overcomes all obstacles in their path, upon landing they deal threefold damage to all enemies around them and paralyze them (resilience check against might); cooldown: 5 turns
Combat Training

• Mastery
+30% to accuracy and evasion when using a chosen weapon type [3]
• Nimbleness
+3 to evasion for each point of agility if the character is not using armor [4]
Medic

• First Aid
Returns to life a character who died from a lack of HP. Only outside of battle. The chance of success is equal to the inverse percentage value of the character's current health value [4]
Rogue

• Acrobat
+2 to evasion and +2 to initiative for each point of agility [2]
• Trickster
+2 to accuracy +2 to initiative for each point of perception [2]
Inventory:
• Food
• Nakiri Warrior's Spear
• Golden bracelet with red stones
• Money