Faran Beshral
Attributes
Constitution: Soak
Intelligence : Spellcasting
Wisdom: Spiritual Magic
Description
It was a hot and humid day on the king's road. Sweat pours down your face as you lead your pack animal down the road. A spot of shade catches your eye and you make your way toward it, seeking relief from the hot sun. Under the tree providing the shade is a young man, tallish and somewhat lanky. He has a hawk's nose and a face free of stubble. Dark hair falls in waves to his shoulders. His deep set eyes glitter green when they catch the light. Despite his severe appearance he seems somewhat jovial. He smiles warmly when he greets you and sounds like he's humming a small tune. It's cool under the tree. Very cool. The traveller is wearing simple clothing: a faded red shirt half tucked into a simple set of brown-grey trousers, simple leather boots, a small backback and a few scroll cases on his belt. He carries no weapon you can see. "Greetings, friend," he says, "I am Faran Beshral."
Backstory
It's intoxicating: the Symphony. You can get lost forever in it. It's dangerous, but sweeter than lovemaking.
They studied me once, the oldsters with their books and charts. They didn't know how to Sing, to improvise with a Song. They bade me Sing for them. I was happy to do so, for the Singing is sweet. I picked a Song from the Symphony, a stronger one in that place. As soon as the first note left my mouth the table I stood on began to float into the air, it was one of those heavy ones they're fond of, cherry wood I think. Euphoria flooded me and the Song sang back to me. I caressed the String and the table swayed in the air. I plucked it with my voice and the table danced. Once I had finished, the table settled back to the floor. I opened my eyes to find the oldsters looking at me, then they left me by myself, no doubt to confer amongst themselves. They always did that. Keeping me in the dark. But I was content. They fed and housed me while they studied me and bade me study with them.
They try so hard with thier books and charts and drawings to bend the Song to their will. It's so, I don't know, fumbling? They make things hard on themselves. But the Song is kind and sweet, like an indulgent grandparent. I could sit under a tree during the day and listen to the Song respond to their elaborate words and gestures, like a expert pianist acompanying a very tone deaf vocalist. It would make me laugh at times to hear them, something I'm sure they thought made me quite insane. All they need to do is listen. To be fair though, I've never met anyone else who could hear the Symphony and I wasn't always able to.
I am the son of a hunter and woodsman, from a very backwater village in an isolated part of the world, nowhere you would have heard of. My father would take me on extended hunting trips into the wilds. We would hunt, cook and salt meat for storage as we travelled. I had been doing this since I was old enough to knock an arrow and draw it to cheek. I could not hear the song then. We had a favorite camping spot we would use regularly that was three days travel from our home. It was sheltered, had clean running water from mountain springs and was a nexus of several game trails. Most of all the place FELT good, right and safe.
One time when I was of thirteen summers, we reached the end of our hunt and were journeying back home. At camp, we both saw a star fall from the sky. It burned bright in the sky and fell in our line of travel, making a brief flash on the horizon when it landed. My father and I remarked on it for a time, deciding it was quite far off and went to sleep, disregarding it. We woke the next morning and resumed our travel. Two days passed and we approached our favorite campsite, only to find the trees in the area sheared off, vegetation flattened and the creek was now filling a great hole in the ground. We surmised that this must have been where the star had fallen. My father urged us to move away from the place, but I felt drawn to it and to the pool.
It had been hot travelling, so after setting camp I stripped down and dove into the pool. I had an odd curiosity to see if I could find the star at the bottom of the pool. The water was icy cold. I swam to the bottom of the pool and sifted through the new mud at the bottom for anything interesting. I came up for air and dove again. Time and again, nothing. I passed a certain point, what must have been the center and deepest point of the pool, when my head began hurting. I chocked it up to holding my breath for so long, and took care to go up for air more often. I was growing frustrated that I could find nothing in the pool, too frustrated to notice a growing buzz in my ears. Soon it became too loud to ignore and I surfaced, unable to understand what was wrong with me. I sat, dripping wet at the edge of the pool, listening to the buzz. The buzz changed as I focused on it. It turned into many different distinct buzzes, then not even a buzz but a humming like that an instrument makes. I had been to village festivals before and there was always a band playing music. This was like a hundred village bands playing in my head. It was delightful really, every hum was in harmony with the next, creating a beautiful melody. There was one hum that stood out from the rest though. It was very different, and even though distinct it brought completion to the entire melody. It pulsed with power in my head. It bade me hum along with it. Feeling silly, I did so. I hummed along with it. It felt like light and life flooded me. Perfect ecstasy.
I don't remember anything after that.
I awoke in a bed in a strange place. I was told that I was found unconsious and naked in a section of freshly burned forest without a mark on me. I was found by a group of refugees fleeing a series of natural disasters that had plauged the region for three years straight. Fire would leap up from the ground to consume forests and fields, rivers would swell and flood, cracks would open in the ground and mighty storms would lash at the earth, all in a seemingly un-ending chain. Thousands died, I was told. The people told me the gods were displeased with them, that's why they had been cursed. It had all begun when a star fell from the sky three years ago.
I made the connection but I could not believe it. I was there when the star fell, but I didn't remember anything after that. I felt something cold deep in my gut when I realized that I could be somehow responsible for what had happened to these people. They asked me who I was and where I was from. Fearing them I lied and told them I was set upon by bandits who robbed me and left me to die in the fire. They seemed to believe me, to my relief. After I was found, the disasters stopped, but I was the only one who noticed that.
I could still hear the hum, though some parts were distant and other parts closer, like a few instruments playing louder than others in a band. I didn't feel the compulsion to hum along though, as sweet as the memory was. I asked if anyone was playing music nearby. I got strange looks and shaking heads. The music never stopped though. I didn't matter if I plugged my ears, I could still hear it. It only left me in sleep. As I travelled I noticed parts of the music would get louder and others recede. I would reach points where one part would be very loud indeed, but when I moved away from it the sound would diminish.
I stayed with a family of farmers displaced by "the god's wrath". Evidently the farmer's youngest daughter, of my age, was the one who had found me and took a liking to me. She was pleasant to be with so I had no objections. As the months went by I listened to the music, for it was impossible to ignore it for long. The desire to sing along with it grew steadily. I left one night and walked a ways from the make-shift house the farmers had settled in. I stopped in a clearing in a wooded area. A Song was clear here. I felt the desire to Sing with it, strongly. Gingerly and weakly I hummed along with it. I heard a creaking around me in the woods and quickly stopped, pulling myself away from the sweetness of the Song. When I stopped, the creaking stopped as well. I tried again and the woods rumbled dangerously. I got the feeling this was a bad thing, but the Song insisted I continue. This time I didn't hum along with it but hummed my own tune that complemented the Song. To my amazement, the Song changed to complement my own melody. I watched in the moonlight as shoots sprang from the forest floor! Ferns grew to full size and then some! A sapling of a tree grew to a height equivalent to my own! The area around me seemed more verdant and green.
I chose another song from the Symphony and did the same thing. The air in front of me crackled with energy. The Song didn't want to be imitated, it wanted to accompany. It wanted to react. There were so many songs, it was so easy to get caught up in them, but I restrained myself. I knew then that I was responsible for those long years of destruction and death. I was responsible for these families leaving thier homes. All because I only sang with the Song. I was dangerously sweet, but maybe what I could do could be used wisely and have benficial effects. I resisted continued experimentation tonight and returned home.
I spent the next year working as a farmer, but exploring my new talent when no one was around. Over time I was able to lift abnormally large objects and grow healthy crops. I'd sneak in whenever someone was sick and sing. They'd be healthy again the next day. Animals in the village always took a liking to me. I always tried to hide what I did for fear of being cast out or even killed for the misery I had caused. In secret I turned light into cutting beams, split the earth open, cooked my food with no fire and used metal to lift myself into the air. I didn't define my life by anything except for the nights I spent experimenting with the Song. Then the war began.
Two kingdoms squabbling, that's how it always starts. This person insulted that person, this land belongs to me; in the end its always the little people who suffer. Often needlessly. We were fairly ignorant of the war, or of politics in general, in our little village until it was right on our doorstep. The soldiers came in broad daylight, expecting little resistance for we were only a village with no militia. They came in killing. We had little time to run or react. I was in the fields at the time when the soliders came out of the woods. I heard a cry and a farmhand I was working with fell dead with an arrow in his chest. The others working with me began to run. I ran with them. I was no hero. In retrospect it was easy to see what they were doing to us. They came at the village from all sides, penning us in the center, killing a few to give us the proper motivation.
We all met at the center of the village like they planned for us. Families and neighbors, paniking and scared, children screaming and crying at thier mother's aprons. The men formed a circle to protect the women and children. I joined them, mostly out of peer pressure. The soldiers closed in on us. I could see at a distance they were raiding the village stores and barns, that much was to be expected I suppose. As my fear increased I heard the Symphony most clearly. It beckoned to me, but I forced it down. They weren't killing us outright so maybe there was still another way out of this without exposing myself for who and what I was.
The soldiers formed into ranks and a robed figure with a staff began barking orders. To a certain group of men he simply gave a look to. The men came forward and forced their way into the circle of villagers. They overwhelmed and killed several in the barrier of village men. They began pulling young women and girls out of the cicle center. They cut the clothes off of them and... took them. There in front of all of us, even in front of the children! For the first time rage replaced my fear. Rage and confusion. Why were they doing this? Why didn't they just kill us? What use were we to them alive? With each question I grew angrier and angrier.
The village men rushed the soldiers then. I'm sure they felt the same anger I did. More so. Many of those women were wives and daughters. A short melee ensued. As expected the villagers were cut down in the end but not before they gave the invaders a good going over. That was when I saw it. Some helmets got knocked off in the melee so I noticed the facial features of the attacking soldiers. They were natives of the country we resided in. In fact I was certain many of them came from this region. Our own contrymen. Why were they dressed as enemy soldiers then? Our own people were doing this in place of our enemy? It made sense now, why they were keeping us alive. They wanted us to carry the stories of the enemy's "brutality" to our fellow countrymen. It was all a ploy. A plot to create support for a pointless war.
That was the breaking point. I was so angry now. So angry I didn't care anymore. I didn't care what people thought of me now, I only cared about what these people were doing and those they were doing it to. I stood in the ruined circle of village men in front of the remaining women and I SANG. I reached out to a song, the one I know was part of the earth and sang to it. The earth ripped open under a pack of soldiers. Those who weren't swallowed by the earth were knocked to the ground by the tremor. Confusion ran through the ranks. I reached out to another Song. In front of me the air crackled with energy. Men shuddered and jerked where they were standing while sparks arced between them and between the plates of thier armor. I heard the Song of the animals then, the cattle that had been herded nearby. The Song was far too weak to affect them and make them stampede, so I had to abandon that option. By now the confusion had cleared and some of the soldiers were approching me. I Sang again and once again they crumpled, jerking with electric energy. One man crumpled under the weight of his own armor. The earth split again and again, tossing soldiers around. Walls of air appeared separating and protecting the villagers from the soldiers. Half of me wanted to protect the village, the other half wanted to slaughter the entire regiment all by myself.
I sang and fire bloomed in a group a soldiers, cooking them in thier own armor. I paused for a second to catch my breath when I saw him: the commander. He was the one wearing the robes who was backing orders before. I was trying to decide which song I wanted to use on him, when he made a complex gesture with his hands and spoke some words I didn't understand. To my amazement, and panic, the song REACTED TO HIM! This was well before I had ever known about wizards and mages and thier use of "magic" as they call it. My moment of confusion had cost me. I felt cold, very cold. I felt my arms and legs go numb then the rest of my body. I couldn't move! Water droplets formed and froze to me. I felt the horrible pain of death over coming me. Darkness was closing in over me. Thoughts raced through my mind. The Song had reacted to someone other than me? Could he hear the Song like me? He didn't even sing he just made that weird gesture and said some funny words! Was I doing things wrong? Had the Song betrayed me?
I felt warmth. Not that strange warmth you get from being numb but a genuine warmth. I felt power and awareness. There was a presence of power there as well, I've felt that power in the Song, but there was no music associated with this presence. It was a being with no song. I felt confidence and power. I felt it in my arms and legs. I moved and the ice burst off of me. I screamed with the pain of renewed muscles working, heaving cold air into my lungs and my heart beating cold blood through my veins. It was refreshing and it brought my mind into focus. The "mage" in front of me was stunned, but not for long. As I stared at him with my hate filled eyes he began one of his complicated gestures. I reached out to a Song with a note and braced myself against the ground, for I knew what this one did. The effect of the Song hit the buttons of the mage's robes and threw him through the air, interrupting his casting. I grinned in satisfacion. I WAS FASTER. They were doing everything backwards! A group of soldiers advanced on me before I could notice them. I trapped one of them in solid air but they fell on me with their swords. My body was seared with the pain of bein cut, but strangely I was able to keep going. I flung myself out of the way of them, a arrow struck my left shoulder in the process, and sang. These soldiers convulsed and fell with electric energy. I walked forward and found the mage where he lay in the remains of a house where he landed. His staff lay across his chest. I gazed down at him with all the contempt I could muster and sang out again. His staff became heavier and heavier. He yelled at the pain of being crushed. I heared his ribs cracking and breaking. Good. I sang on and finally he died, crushed under the weight of his own staff. With a little help from me of course.
Two more arrows slammed into my back. It hurt, but I didn't feel like falling over. I wasn't dying. I sang and a group of soldiers exploded into flame. I crushed soldiers with thier own armor. I fried them with energy. I flung them around with the earth or suffocated them inside a box made of air. I was a mass of wounds and arrows when the last of the soldiers lay dead. I hunted them all. Made them pay for what they did.
I stood at last in the village center, before all the villagers who yet lived. I stood amid the carnage I had wraught, bleeding and heaving breath in exhaustion. I looked into their eyes. I saw fear and terror in thier eyes. The people I had known, lived with and laughed with now looked on me as a monster. The men yelled at me. Told me to get out. I was confused, I fought for them. Made the ones who victimized them pay. They yelled all the more. They said they saw me die, but rise again. The called me Immortal. They said I would bring ruin worse than death to them. The family that had taken me in turned away from me, like I was a stranger to them. I was angry, betrayed. but I could raise no hand against them. I destroyed a regiment of soldiers but could do nothing against a group of unarmed villagers. I left.
I travelled after that. Going here and there aimlessly. I felt lost and broken. The Song still bade me use it, so wherever I went crops grew and the sick got better. I found a group of mages and I took up with them, that's how I ended up learning more about their backward ways. I used the time to study who and what the Immortals are and found their more proper name to be "Ageless". I suppose the name was appropriate, for as the years went by I found I didn't change. I also didn't need to eat, though it hurt to be hungry. All the same I didn't die. I learned about the Ageless weakness also. I figured I would need to watch my back around mages, not to mention freezing climates. I bore the scar of my death but not as others know a "scar". I felt normal, but others would describe my skin as being cold. I hope this would never give me away.
The oldsters had one thing mostly right. I noticed that areas in which a Song was loudest was the spot where a Leyline was present. Leylines are lines in the world which carry power from place to place. The mages insist this is where most magic comes from. They were intrigued by my claim to actually "hear" them. They had maps of leylines which I found to be absolutly facinating. I was able to correct some of the maps for them and even tell them about the leylines which ran through man and beast. Their books told me of leylines hidden from the world as well, lines in the stars and in worlds beyond this one.
There is little more to tell, dear traveller. You have listened well to my tale and I see you think me insane. It doesn't matter. the Song and the Symphony are all I live for now, the sweetness and joy they brings. I'm travelling to Avalon if you're curious, to meet with more of these Ageless friends of mine. I hope they have something interesting for me. Fare you well and may the Song be loud in your ears!
Spell Description
Spells:
1: Song of Plant - This song affects the Leyline of Plant and encourages or stunts the growth rate of plants in the area to supernatural speeds. Power is greatest in Forests, weakest in cities. At its strongest, the singer can germinate and grow plants from seeds in seconds, at weakest, the singer may only sustain existing plant life.
2: Song of Magnetism - This song affects the Leyline of Metal and allows the manipulation of metal objects in relation to the caster. If the mass of the object is less than that of the caster, he can move it away or toward his center of mass. If its mass is greater than that of the caster, the caster moves away or towayd the object. Power is uniform in the world.
3: Song of Gravity: The singer accompanies the Leyline of Gravity to manipulate the mass of one object making it weight little to nothing, or too heavy for anything to hold. Power greater underground, weakest or nonexistant in upper atmosphere. At strongest, the singer may reduce an object's mass to zero in 30 seconds, the the upper atmosphere it may take hours.
4: Song of Fire: Manipulating the Leyline of Magma the singer can create fire from nothing and manipulate existing fires, augmenting them or diminshing them. Power is strongest near volcanoes or geothermal vents, weakest near sources of water.
5: Song of Rock: Accompanying the Leyline of Earth, the singer may agitate a section of silicon based objects or ground. Power is greatest underground and weakest in the upper atmosphere. The singer can split rock or merge it and create violent tremors knocking people and weak structures over.
6: Song of Cosmos: A Leyline of Cosmos is a rare thing but has miraculous powers. The power is strongest near meteor strikes. If the singer uses a leyline created by a meteor, its potential is limitless but has only one use. The song of Cosmos is weak everywhere on a planet. It can be used to get vauge impressions of the future or the past, limited to feelings.
7: Song of Electric - Harmonizing with the Leyline of Energy, the singer may concentrate or disperse electrical energy in an area, damaging creatures and objects within the area. The Leyline of Energy is the fastest moving leyline. It is strongest during storms and is weakest underground.
8: Song of Dimension - Hidden from the world is the Leyline of Dimension. There are arguably an infinite number of these leylines but the singer may only sing to one of them. The song transports the singer to a mirror world, an exact copy of this one but without man or beast. Here the singer and any of those with him may move from place to place, sing the song again and return to the "prime" world. The singer cannot affect the prime world from the mirror world, or vice versa. This power is uniform in the world.
Spirit:
1: Song of Man: This song affects the Leyline of Human and allows the singer to speedily treat or encourage injury and sickness in people. Power is strongest in cities, weakest in the wilderness. Injuries heal in seconds in cities, hours in the wild.
2: Song of Soul: Implementing the Leyline of Soul, the singer uses spiritual energy to create barriers against magic. The song can also be used to encourage magical effects. Power is uniform in the world.
3: Song of Animal: The singer caresses the Leyline of Beast and may affect the mood of any animals he can see, agitating them or calming them to the
point of slumber. Power is strongest in the wilderness and weakest in cities. At strongest, the singer can affect an animals mood within seconds, at weakest it can take days.
4: Song of Water - Utilizing the Leyline of Water, the singer may manipulate water in its liquid state. The singer may take water from an existing source and move it, creating a jet of water or a ball that can be thrown. This power is strongest on the oceans, moderate around rivers, lakes and aquifers. It is weakest where there is no water naturally.
5: Song of Air - The singer harmonizes with the Leyline of Air to affect any volume of gas. The singer can manipulate a gas in an area compacting it or dispersing it. He may harden the air creating barriers or objects, or he may remove the gas from the area creating a vaccuum. This power is uniform in the world but powerless in the upper atmosphere.
6: Song of Light - The caster joins the song of the Leyline of Light and may change any source of light freely. He may increase the amount of light a source gives off or block the light from reaching an area. He may also concentrate the light into a focused beam that can cut through most materials given enough time.
7: Song of Friction - The Leyline of Friction hums and the singer acompanies it. It allows the singer to heat or cool any substance over a period of time. While not fast enough for combat purposes, the caster may cool a section of water into ice, heat wood until it bursts into flame, or simply keep himself warm or cook his food. This power is uniform wherever there is material.
8: Song of Movement - Through careful study, the singer has heard the Leyline of Momentum. Accompanying it, he may increase or decrease the speed at which something is travelling in a straight line. A person on horseback may travel many times his usual speed or slow an arrow in flight to a stop. This power only affects an object that is moving.
Deathwound
Frozen solid by magic. Specifically from his extremities inward. This leaves him vulnerable to freezing temperatures if he is left unable to "magically" sustain his body temperature. The effect of the wound is a constant chill to his skin.
