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| | ==History== | | ==History== |
| − | He's eleven. At least, that's his best guess. He doesn't really remember ever having parents, nor does he remember adults looking out for him, but he knows his birthday is the seventh day of Ascending Fire, and he's been keeping track of his age for as long as he can remember. He hasn't really thought about it in too much detail.<br>
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| − | He goes by "Cael," though he couldn't tell you who gave him that name. He's also been called "little bird" for his dexterity, his somewhat irritating habit of never knowing when to stop asking questions, and his constant childish energy. Cael has spent his life - what he can remember of it, anyway - on the streets, with friends his own age or alone, with bigger kids and sometimes even working for or running away from bigger beggars, adult thieves, and the like. The streets of Nexus are the only home he's ever known, but he knows them quite well.<br>
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| − | Within the last few years, he's fallen in with a small gang of seven or so (it fluctuates) other kids, ranging from half his age up to a youth who claims to be nearly twice that, though his voice hasn't changed. Cael believes him, anyway, since Twining Vines is a Wood-Aspected Dragonblood, and says it's normal for Dragonbloods to grow up slowly. Nobody's quite sure what that means, other than he probably should be a noble, even though he's not. Twining Vines, for obvious reasons, took the leadership role in their little gang of urchins.<br>
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| − | It was a particularly daring plan of Twining Vines's that led their group to start infiltrating and robbing local temples and merchant's houses. The youngest posed as beggars, or as servants' children, and scouted out places, while the older ones - Cael's age or so - learned more...advanced means of larceny. The oldest kid besides Twining Vines, Emari, was also the fastest, so she was responsible for distracting any guards.<br>
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| − | At least, that was the plan. They only pulled off two heists successfully - not even enough to blip on the radar of the major powers of Nexus, truth be told - before a third blew up in their collective face. A raid on an Immaculate temple went very, very poorly when they had the misfortune of trying it when a bookkeeping error scheduled visiting Realm Immaculates on a pilgrimage and Lookshy soldiers on seasonal patrol both passed through at the same time. Thanks to the Abbot's miraculous efforts, peace was kept between the two contingents, but so many young Dragonblooded out to prove themselves proved disastrous for the raiding whelps. Not only were they easily detected, but the rival groups made a contest out of rounding them up, keeping score by the number they caught. Emari was the only one fast enough to escape, though Cael almost made it by himself, since he was on roof-watch. It was only thanks to his almost getting away that Emari was close enough to turn back and, with some quick wit, turn the two rival Dragonblooded hotheads who had caught the boy against each other long enough for 14-year-old Emari and then-10-year-old Cael to escape into the sewers of Nexus.<br>
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| − | They got lost down there for a couple of days. Ironically, it was Cael who helped keep Emari from starving, as he was better at hunting down the sewer rats and finding discarded flammables to burn them. Unfortunately, sewers make for less-than-sanitary conditions, and they both fell very ill. While a nearly-delirious Cael stumbled through the seemingly-deliberately-twisting passages of the sewers, looking for something slow enough to catch to bring back for himself and the feverish and unconcious Emari, he met a very nice lady who offered him help. She was still bloody from her kill - he couldn't tell what it was - but offered it to him if he could catch it again. So he chased it when it got up, even though he couldn't tell what it was, and several times he had to squeeze through places it shouldn't have fit. As he ran, he didn't notice at first, but he started to feel better. And the tunnels, normally so dark, were illuminated in a silver glow. It wasn't until he fever broke mid-stride that he realized it wasn't hallucination, but was coming from him.<br>
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| − | The creature led him into a dead end, undistinguished from others in these sewers save for the pretty little gem in the wall. He knew what it was without quite knowing how, just as he now knew what he had become, again without quite knowing how. The young Lunar claimed the hearthstone of one of the Undermanses of Nexus, and turned to kneel before his goddess. The silver-horned huntress laid a hand on his brow, and placed a bloody finger on his lips. "Hurry back to your friend; if you can save her, you can save most of the others."<br>
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| − | The hummingbird flew with all its might back to Emari, now knowing all the secret ways of the manse to which he had become attuned. Though he brought little food, she was too sick to eat. He knew not medicine, though his mind was sharper than ever before, filled with knowledge he had never learned. He knew the name of a being who could help her, so he called to it, from sundown to midnight, until it arrived. The enormous, glass-bodied bug happily agreed to see forevermore to Emari's health, and vanished within her body.<br>
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| − | Within hours, the girl was awake, and famished. Cael showed her his new Caste-mark, and his new form (a hummingbird), and assured her it meant that not only could they go back up top, but they could find food and even rescue their friends.<br>
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| − | It didn't take long to plan the more careful infiltration of the Immaculate Temple a second time. This being Nexus, with no real jails, that was where they knew their friends would be held. Emari and Cael ultimately rescued 4 of the 5 kids who were caught. They had been put to work as scullery servants in the Temple, though none liked the harsh discipline, even for the semi-regular (if meager) meals. Twining Vines had disappeared when they were captured, and wasn't kept with any of them. No one knew what had become of him, though the monks had been overheard commenting about "proper education."<br>
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| − | In the little over a year since then, Cael has become the new leader of his little gang, which has only grown. The increasing demand for mouths to feed becomes stressful at times, though so far, between hunting vermin and organized pickpocketing, they've kept their nearly one score number healthy enough. Emari, for her part, has never been healthier, though her appetite has grown significantly. Cael's gang is immensely proud of their "monster boss" and his usually-massive arm, and for his part, Cael finds himself curious about subjects he never even considered before, and knowing esoteric things that he has no idea how he knows. He knows he's a Lunar, though he knows little about what that means. He knows of demons, and gods, and has made minor pacts with some of the local small gods to help his gang out. He understands the manse system that runs beneath Nexus, twined about its sewers, and has used them to become a master cat-burglar when times grow truly thin. He even knows he has an ancient friend whose name he fears to say aloud, though he has not yet found the courage to spend a moonless night communing with him.<br>
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| − | He hasn't yet met another Lunar, and all of his own blood hunts have been for stray animals, vermin, and insects. He is especially fond of the mosquito form he picked up a few months ago, as it makes sampling blood for temporary forms much easier. He desperately wants to protect his gang, and to take in any other urchins who might need his protection. He loathes bullies and thuggish thieves who take with violence, especially from the smaller people amongst the poor of Nexus. His fondest dream would be establishing a place of safety for all, but he knows his sewer-manses are nigh-uninhabitable, being unfit for human life. They nearly killed Emari, after all, and would have, had the silver-horned huntress not blessed him.<br>
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| − | In order to give context to some of the strange things he just knows, he is working up his courage to summon his ancient ally. His strange knowledge tells him that, for him, it is safe, but his years of growing up hearing snippets of Immaculate philosophy and of general horror stories of over-ambitious Thaumaturges who thought just that makes him wary. He does have an urge to try out his full strength, but he hasn't yet found occasion to do so. It would be horribly obvious, and would cause more trouble for his gang than it is worth. Though it has been useful to allow rumors of the "brass-and-silver horror" that protects the urchins of his borough, so he has terrorized more than a few thugs when they sought to pick on his gang. It's how several of the newer members have joined.<br>
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| | ==Personality== | | ==Personality== |
