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Romps and Reconstruction in Loka: Steam, Magic, and Mysteries in the Frozen Wasteland.
Dec 21, 2024
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Kaze
Kaze Kharanaku
Male Weasel
Appearance
Kaze is of a small, lithe build, standing just under 5 feet tall. The weasel has a bit of an unkempt,
dirty appearance to his dark brown fur, which is only made scruffier by the rough look of his clothing.
Kaze’s lean, powerful body is often wrapped in layers of thick, tattered salvagings of what was once
proper dressings.
Around Kaze’s waist is a roughly made belt, braided of hand-twisted flax cords, to which is bound a
small, rawhide pouch. His feet are usually bare, or wrapped in strips of rawhide during harsher weather.
A sly glint highlights the mustelid’s dark eyes, accentuating the devilish, rascally look he naturally
possesses. The weasel’s gaze is alert, taking in everything from his surroundings.
Background
Kaze wasn’t always a mountain-man. In fact, he was raised nowhere near the Alburz range. Instead, he spent his childhood in Escorus. The first ten years of his life were of a simple, working class lifestyle. Though his family were laborers with no history of magical affinity, Kaze showed, from a young age, a natural talent for moving air.
His father, a carpenter, worked hard to take care of his wife and sons, but often struggled to make ends meet. As such, during Kaze’s tenth year, he and his sister were sent to live with their uncle, who ran a farm outside of Quark.
When Escorus burned, Kaze’s father was among the first to be killed. His mother, however, escaped safely in the havoc, and joined her children on the family farm.
Over the next few years, the farm went under. First a drought, then locusts, and even flood damage slowly tore the family operation apart, until Kaze’s uncle had to sell the farm.
Most of the family took to moving between the larger cities, living in slums and trying to get back on their feet. Kaze, however, split from his family, and began wandering the forests and highways. After a short time, the young weasel disappeared into the Alburz mountains, presumed to be dead. At first, Kaze found survival to be a difficult task, so he often fed and clothed himself by demanding a ‘toll’ of supplies. Having no use for money, he refused to take coin of any sort. However, as his foraging and crafting skills increased with time, he confronted travellers less and less, instead living on the fat of the land, and travelling to Noria every spring to trade for supplies.
Kaze’s natural talents with air magic developed quickly over the years, but his lack of formal training often means a lack of contol over his abilities, especially in moments of overpowering emotion. Kaze’s anger, sadness, and joy often manifest themselves in sudden gusts of wind.
Though literate, Kaze is a bit undereducated, having lived in the lower classes of society until his disppearance at age 15. As such, he can read and (to a lesser extent,) write fairly well, but is lacking instruction and practice in most areas of formal schooling. Additionally, his social skills leave something to be desired, due to having minimal interaction with others over his late teen years. As such, he may seem oblivious to social cues, and at times, even a bit uncouth. This is not intentional.
Magic
Kaze has a very strong natural talent for air magic, but lacks any sort of training on the subject. Most of his talent and practice developed during his time in the woods; magic turned out to be an excellent survival tool, for a multitude of reasons.
Due to having honed his magical talent while alone in nature, Kaze’s approach to the concept is somewhat naturalistic, the result being a very strong empathy to the air. He responds to the wind, and the wind responds to him. A sharp change in Kaze’s emotional state often manifests itself as an abrupt change in wind direction; this is one of many symptoms of Kaze’s lack of control over his ability.
Running fast, jumping high, and striking hard are skills that one invariably develops, given enough time surviving on the fat of the land. However, Kaze takes this one step further. As a mechanism for hunting, and evading danger, the weasel has learned to propel his body in short spurts by forcing a column of air behind the appropriate body part. In doing so, he is able to jump higher and longer, pounce faster, and strike harder. Combining this with a practiced use of his claws, Kaze developed a natural skill set, which used only his body, and served him very well over a half-decade alone in the forest.