Description
Before you stands a figure of modest height, roughly five and a half feet
tall. He wears a pair of tanned leather boots, their laces loosely tied for
comfort rather than precision. His shirt is a loose-fitting white linen,
unbuttoned from the chest to the collar, and it drapes casually over tan
leather trousers. Draped over his shoulders is a stylish navy blue overcoat,
adorned with thirteen sewn-in patches-military in style, though none bear
the marks of any known township.
His skin is deeply tanned, but carries a subtle bronze glow that seems to
catch the light even in shadow. A thin mustache, neatly trimmed to
symmetrical points, frames his upper lip. His silver eyes are pale-almost
white-and narrowed with small, focused pupils that give him an intense gaze.
His black hair, tied into a ponytail that falls midway down his back, shares
the same radiant quality as his skin, each strand catching the faintest
bronze shimmer like sunlit obsidian.
Role
The Twelfth Child
Added Sat Jul 26 20:19:13 2025 at level 11:
Inside cozy, cluttered burrow in Upper Cragstone. The walls are lined with
mismatched trinkets, carved jokes, and thirteen glowing talismans.
It was a night of thirteens.
Thirteen bells rang through the cavernous streets of Upper Cragstone. Thirteen
candles flickered in the family burrow. Thirteen bowls of stew had gone
half-eaten, quickly forgotten in the scramble.
At last-amid laughter, chants, and expectant breath-the twelfth child arrived.
"Sotharien," breathed Yullen, the father, cradling the newborn's impossibly
warm body. The baby's skin shimmered faintly with an inner light, and when he
opened his eyes-eyes of polished silver-the whole room paused. A pulse of
heavenly warmth radiated from him, and the candle flames straightened, as if
saluting.
Aunt Tess dropped her spoon. Mother Eshra gasped.
"Oh," she whispered. "He's-he's touched."
"Azure-touched," said Granny Marnie, drawing a trembling line of chalk around
the boy's cradle. "He's been kissed by the Fields. An angel's essence lives in
him."
A reverent silence filled the burrow.
Then: "But... he's the twelfth," Eshra said.
And they all turned toward the still-swollen belly, still shifting. Within the
hour, Pearl was born-squalling, pink, perfect. Entirely normal. The lucky
thirteenth. And yet... it was Sotharien who glowed.
Eshra held both babes and began to weep-not from sadness, not from joy, but
from the disorder of it all.
Pearl's Conviction
Added Sat Jul 26 20:22:28 2025 at level 11:
Sotharien and Pearl, age ten.
They're playing atop a limestone outcropping in the cavern, throwing pebbles
and shouting riddles to echo off the walls. Sotharien wears a robe too big for
him and has learned to dim his glow around others. Pearl has a sock puppet
named Thirteen that "whispers" prophecy.
"It's obvious," said Pearl. "You were just early."
"Early?"
"You came too soon. You're not really the twelfth. You were just in a rush.
That's the chaos in you."
Sotharien laughed, and it sounded like a bell striking silver.
"You think that fixes it?"
"I think you're hung up on the wrong things," Pearl said matter-of-factly.
"Besides, you're the only one who can make Grandfather laugh when he's in one
of his moods. That's gotta count for something."
Sotharien looked down at his hands, the faint shimmer under his skin, the way
shadows bent oddly around his shoulders when he was emotional.
"I don't hate it," he said. "It's just... not what was supposed to happen."
Pearl smacked him with Thirteen.
"Nothing's supposed to happen. That's what Thirteen says. That's the fun of
it."
That night, while Pearl snored, Sotharien lay awake staring at the stone
ceiling, his silver eyes reflecting the glow of his own skin. A faint,
familiar warmth lived in his chest-something that whispered of purpose, but
also of a fate not meant for him. And still, Pearl loved him as though he were
the thirteenth.
Stepping Out
Added Sat Jul 26 20:24:01 2025 at level 11:
Sotharien, age twenty. His leather armors now shimmer with embroidered sigils
and luck runes. He wears a ring of 13 silver threads, and Pearl walks beside
him with mismatched boots and a grin.
They stood at the border of Cragstone, where the ladder led up to he road that
stretched east towards the Eternal Star.
"Going to the surface?" Pearl asked. Her voice had matured, but it still
danced.
"I'm going to the Academy. This pulsing within me yearns to seek out it's
purpose. I don't know where I'll end up, but I'll visit, I promise."
She nodded. "They're in for a radiant surprise."
Sotharien turned to her. "Pearl... I never said thank you."
"For what?"
"For never resenting me. For letting me resent it for both of us."
Pearl just shrugged. "You're still my twin. You just glow. Big deal."
Sotharien smiled. "You should've been the one. I'm chaos. Disorder. The
twelfth."
Pearl's eyes softened. "And what does that tell you?"
"That fate has a sense of humor," he said.
Then, with both laughter and purpose, he stepped forward-embracing the fire,
the glow, the burden, the randomness that made him. Not the thirteenth child.
But still chosen.
In his heart, a divine warmth pulsed.
Pearl's Divinations
Added Tue Sep 9 21:03:14 2025 at level 35:
A dimly lit back alley in Upper Cragstone.
The air is humid and the temperature moderate in the alley. A dark wooden
plank hangs above a door draped with beads. "Pearl's Divinations" is written
in common in white ink upon the plank and a crudely drawn replica of Thirteen
is painted to the side of it.
Sotharien pushes through the beads and, unable to contain himself, his skin
starts glowing brighter just as his eyes light up at the sight of his sister.
"Pearl! You look amazing sis! When did you cut your hair so short?"
"Ages ago ya big goof! You just haven't visited, like you PROMISED you would!"
"Aye, I know and I'm sorry for that. I've just been busy. BEING A SQUIRE OF
THE FORTRESS!"
Pearl giggles and points out the doorway, "Can't you read? I'm a full blown diviner now. I know
you're a squire."
She takes on a pointed and pleasant expression.
"I told you you would do it. What I am not strong enough to divine however, is
THE divine. Were you ever able to find Lord Whiysdan?"
"Oh Pearl, he's amazing! He's just as aloof and wild as we had always heard. He gave me this magic
cup!" Sotharien pulls the pewter mug out of his knapsack and shows it to her,
accentuating the glyphs.
"He also poured beer all over me haha! I looked like cousin Korsin at that gathering when we were
fifteen. And he blessed me with this!" With that Sotharien whirls about the chromatic flame.
"This explains why I sometimes can't see you. You need to be careful
Sotharien. There's much I can sense that can go wrong in the future."
"I will, and I won't be gone so long this time, I promise. The Maran Tar'a'bal is calling, I am
needed. Be well Pearl!" With that, Sotharien closes his eyes and hums. But as he does so, his chest
grows warm and the air ripples as he attempts to send himself home. He suddenly finds himself in a
marsh far from Voralian! With some guidance he finds a way out, confused by the sudden change.
PK Wins
Aug 12, 2025|Lv 23|Voralian City|Raiytha vs 1: [23] Sotharien (100%, crush)
Aug 25, 2025|Lv 31|Voralian City|Rexio vs 4: [41] Vimalv (7%), [37] Pertitious (21%), [31] Sotharien (0%), [40] Vaehlen (70%, smash)
PK Deaths
Aug 12, 2025|Lv 23|Voralian City|vs 1: [24] Raiytha (100%, slice)
Aug 17, 2025|Lv 25|Fortress of Light|vs 1: [34] Nyzharethul (100%, searing cut)
Aug 19, 2025|Lv 31|The Ruins of Ostalagiah|vs 1: [31] Wugfort (100%, parting blow)
Aug 27, 2025|Lv 32|Voralian City|vs 1: [39] Phel (100%, punch)
Sep 7, 2025 |Lv 35|Voralian City|vs 1: [41] Takoa (100%, claw)