 RHYLEN "I walk the plains. Brother to all, son of none. Here, I am home."
Physical Information
Race: Drykas (Cyphrus Grasslands)
Birthday: 85th day of Winter, 488 AV
Age: 21 Years
Gender: Male
Physical Description
Born of the Cyphrus Grasslands, Rhylen is a true child of the plains. His eyes, often considered his most striking feature, are the color of the sky; pale blue when his mind is clear and breezy, stormy grey when thunderclouds roll in. A mane of untamed hair falls sporadically to his shoulders, framing a soft, stubble-laden face, somehow uncharacteristic of typical Drykas horsemen. His brow is also soft, and his nose oddly round, but his dust colored skin and quiet calm demeanor are reminiscent of the gently sloping tides of the grasslands.
Standing just less than six feet, with a frame most grasslanders would call ‘coltish’ and any outsider would simply consider awkward, Rhylen moves with a lanky quasi-grace. His physique is lean at best, hinting at an ability to endure the hardships of the plains, rather than confront them head on. Rhylen’s unusual mannerisms consist of an inability to stay still for very long, and a penchant for gazing at the horizon instead of what stands before him.
Rhylen wears the sky and the earth, its plants and its animals, with a bearing for one who respects the gifts of the land. Under a patchwork cloak of hare and fox furs, he wears light riding leathers and boots, a pale linen tunic the only sign of his modest import among the horse clans. Occasionally Rhylen will collect feathers and unusual stones, which he haphazardly crafts into ornaments for his person, aside from that, his looks are as natural as the winds that drift nimbly through the tall grasses. Rhylen’s windmarks, which he’s never before witnessed, are tattooed from behind his right ear to partway down his back, curling around the right side of his neck, parallel to his spine.
Character Concept
Rhylen’s qualities, like the Sea of Grass, are many and often at odds with one another. His demeanor is that of the insecure when around other individuals, often abrupt and ill at ease. When alone, however, he exudes calm and a reflective quiet. The same occurs when he is in unfamiliar situations, as most social interaction is for him, his restless air stirring up the dust at his feet. Needless to say, Rhylen avoids crowds whenever possible.
The grasslander has a great respect for all things alive, cherishing the moments when he sees life flourish, and mourning the senseless losses of illness and war. The thought of death and any association with undeath wreak havoc with the unfortunate Spiritist, creating waves of unnatural anxiety within him. This may be why cannot eat meat. Not because of religious or humane practice, but because his body physically rejects any animal products ingested.
Rhylen’s belief that all living things are one affects his relationship with other beings, sentient or not. He does what he believes is right and good, according to the things he has seen in his brief life, a life he hopes to have go on for as long as possible. Though he would not call himself a pacifist, for defending one’s life and the lives of those he cares for is seen by him to be right and good, Rhylen would sooner flee from confrontation than risk bringing harm to himself or another. This is made much easier by the constant companionship of the Cyphrus Strider mare, Thalla, his bonded mount and best friend.
Character History
From birth Rhylen has always been somewhat of an oddity. Refusing to speak long after other Drykas children had began babbling nonsense, his unusually common conversations with ‘imaginary’ friends couldn’t be properly documented until well after other children had moved on to wrestling and chasing horses. Most children teased him, and the other clansmen pitied his poor parents. Parents who has sired two strong and vibrant sons who were at this time learning to ride their bonded mounts.
It was not until the tribal shaman Raghnall happened upon the village that anyone even guessed at Rhylen’s true nature. He was a natural Spiritist; a medium between the living and the dead and easily possessed if not properly trained. Before the child’s sixth birthday he had lost everything he’d ever known and was now the charge of an unfamiliar man headed in an unknown direction.
Life had only become more terrible after that.
Forced nightly to commune with the sometimes deranged and unnatural beings that lurked where only he could see, Rhylen quickly came to fear the shaman Raghnall and his harsh form of training. Though not a Spiritist himself, Raghnall knew other magics, and believed he could strengthen Rhylen’s talents through a strict regimen of channeling spirits. The child was also forced into accepting a portion of the shaman’s power in the form of res, a brutal ritual that left Rhylen near-death for some time and then dangerously ill for several years of his life after.
Eventually Rhylen came to understand his purpose, however, what the shaman had always known, to some degree, and had never been able to reveal through words alone. In adolescence Rhylen became stronger. He could resist the pressing force of possession and was even able to weakly control the res that had blossomed inside of him. Rhylen was now a shaman’s apprentice, no longer a child, but a living breathing embodiment of the grasslands.
Thalla found him then.
The strider had come to him amidst a malevolent Cyphrus windstorm, guiding him safely to his camp as if she were a goddess herself. Raghnall had said it was a sign that the grasslands had truly accepted him as one of its own, though Rhylen had taken it to mean something much different. As his windmarks were painstakingly etched into his flesh, Rhylen could think only of one thing, he finally had a friend; a being with which to share the love that would sustain him for many more years. |
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by Rhylen on December 3rd, 2009, 5:56 am 
