Erakirak
Erakirak
About My Character
Appearance
Erakirak is an Egalrin who resembles a humanoid falcon.
The feathers covering his body are a haphazard mix of brown and grey, giving a somewhat messy appearance even when he is perfectly well-groomed... which, to be fair, he usually isn't. His face is elongated and culminates in a sharp-hooked beak that, in contrast to most of the rest of him, is rather brightly colored... blue-black at the tip, yellow at the base. His eyes are large, often comically so, and a deep blue.
He relies on his feathers to take care of both warmth and modesty, usually wearing no clothing other than a chain shirt and a headband. He carries a bow, a quiver and a small pack.
He is often accompanied by a griffon and a hawk.
Overview
"Erakirak" is the closest Trade transliteration of his true name in Auran, which is much more of a bird-shriek sound. It doesn't mean anything in Auran, it's just a name. He accepts "Rak" as a Trade nickname.
Ever since early Daeshen 1020, when Rak's wings matured, he pretty much flies everywhere. He's a bit overly proud of his wings.
He is very rarely seen inside the Alexandria city walls. When he is, it's usually for a specific reason, and he gets out as soon as he can. He is not comfortable in urban environments, nor around so many humans.
He is kind of bigoted against humans, but he feels bad about it and tries to get over it.
Roleplay Hooks
Some possibilities:
- Patrolling the Undertunnels or the Felwood for threats.
- Being introduced to his griffon).
Details
Early history
Erakirak was hatched in a rogue Egalrin marauder camp in the Sky Curtain Mountains and trained as an assassin, specifically to kill humans. Their intention was to use him to start a war between the civilized Egalrin and the humans of Alexandros by assassinating key humans.
It didn't work out that way, though: Erakirak was injured almost fatally on his way to Alexandros, and was nursed back to health by a human ranger, Lowan, in the course of which he rejected the service of Kakkai'on the Wrathful and embraced that of Cernan the White, rejected his past as an assassin and set out to find a new path.
No longer welcome among the marauders, he relocated to the Hayatiento Aerie. He keeps his shameful origin a secret as best he can.
Capabilities
Rak is an archery specialist and prefers to fight with a bow, preferably from the air.
As an Egalrin in light armor Rak can fly. As a Ranger, he can track and navigate the outdoors, especially in the mountains.
Aerie
Erakirak lives in the Hayatiento Aerie in the Redridge Mountains, beneath Fate's Spire. He arrived there in 1018, a couple of years after its founding, and was "adopted" by the elders. They don't know his story, but have some suspicions.
He donates a significant portion of his income from Explorers' Guild jobs to the Aerie. (mechanics note: for RP purposes, his crafting of his Ancestral Bow is free as the bow just manifests powers on its own; for RP purposes, the money he spends on it is actually donated to the Aerie)
He helps patrol the Undertunnels from time to time.
Murder moved in with him in 1020.
His animal companion, Erakirak#Silverwing, spends much of her time around the Aerie when she's not with him. She is gradually being adopted by the community as a kind of mascot, and has even begun patrolling the Aerie's borders and bringing meat to the communal stewpot on her own... her way of pitching in!
Silverwing
Silverwing is Rak's animal companion, a griffon with a tawny lion's body with the head, wings, and talons of a giant eagle. The inner feathers of her wings, for which she is named, are a striking silver.
Her true name is in Auran, not readily reproducable in English/Trade, and means something like "Her Wings Shine in Moonlight".
Pets
Rak takes care of several domesticated birds, most of whom hang out at the Aerie and aren't really well-trained yet. He has one trained red hawk, "Redwing", who follows him everywhere.
Bow
Lowan, the Ranger who trained Rak in the path of Cernan the White, had a masterwork longbow and a mithril chain shirt left to him by a former associate, under circumstances he never explained. When Rak completed his training Lowan gifted him these two items.
The bow, unknown to Rak, is a powerful magical artifact, with its own purpose and personality (see Ancestral_Weapon). It is Neutral Good, and it seems to really want to defend... something. Or perhaps more precisely, to plant arrows into anything that would threaten... something. Or, well, something like that, anyway. It's all very vague.
RP History (highlights)
Meeting Murder
Defending the Mictlan
Meeting Silverwing
They first met while Rak and others were searching for treasure in a cave north of Alexandria, where they discovered a pool of sparkling black water. (There'd been a lot of that lately, a symptom of the taint that had infected the land.) Trapped in the pool was a wounded, miserable-looking griffon, and Rak was moved to rescue it. Both he and the griffon were heavily wounded by the monsters in the cave, and the beast was decidedly not tame, but she appeared to trust Rak. He named her Silverwing, after the silvery inner feathers of her wings. She had an unusually tough hide for a griffon... perhaps a side-effect of her immersion in the magically tainted waters?
He managed to convince her to follow him back to the Aerie, where he got help treating her wounds. On his way there he ran into Murder, who helped take care of them both, and he watched sheepishly as the women in his life negotiated over him.
Over the next few weeks he began to train Silverwing, who took reasonably well to his company and Murder's but remained skittish and reluctant to interact with other humanoids... unsurprising for a wild animal, admittedly, though more unusual for a ranger's companion.
Later Murder, Rak and Silvie were camping overnight in the Redridge when they heard the cry of another griffon, and Silverwing got suddenly territorial. The other griffon turned out to be Erithamiel, Ga'Elian's animal companion, and Erakirak introduced them nervously.
Ga'Elian invited them to attend the Estellen Calen, a sylvanori ritual to heal the land from the spreading corruption, and a few days later Rak did so, with Silverwing following him anxiously. They were both caught up in the ritual, and afterwards their bond grew much stronger. Rak theorizes that the corruption in the cave pool might have been interfering with their natural ranger/companion bond, and that in addition to healing the land perhaps the Estellen Calen healed Silverwing as well?
Whatever the reason, the pair work together much better now, and when they next encounter Ga'Elian and Erithamiel she is much friendlier. Actually, she and Erithamiel are a LOT friendlier, and the two rangers begin to wonder whether the "Second Spring" has affected their companions' mating cycles as well as the land itself.
The next day, Silverwing got wind of a trail that led her, Erakirak, Ga'Elian and Erithamiel to a Corrupted woodland southwest of Vadran Village, where a ghoul had arisen. They can't do much about the Corruption, but they put down the ghoul before it can infect anybody else. A similar incident occurred later, involving an underwater creature.