Moon Elf, Monk

Lawful Neutral

Age: 110

Language(s): Common, Infernal

Description:

5' 8"; slender but muscular build, silver skin, glowing white eyes, jet black Zuko bun, Ancient monk script fully lining body + arms + back from the neck-down. Dark monk robes with an open chest, and thin but sturdy staff. Meditative and observational first, then charismatic and actionable. I put little trust in fate or deity, refusing ever to become a victim of anything beyond my own will. I don't talk about the thing that torments me, for it is my burden alone. I put no trust in divine beings, and I refuse to ever become a victim or allow others to be victimized.

At the ides of adulthood, when living with my wife and child in a small, but diverse village nestled deep in the High Forest, my wife welcomed a lone, aged traveler seeking refuge. It had been many years since I had spoken with or seen my lineage, and the stranger felt like a mystic apparition from this forgotten past. We welcomed them with a modest dinner and with queries of their journey, all met with wise, but dark, musings of the elements and the deities. Their dusty, moist voice brought to life a recurring dream I had faced for decades prior: scenes of dark magic and destruction, of death and power. And so, I awoke with a jolt late in the evening as I usually did, yet this time I found myself against the corner of my quarters, hands and body covered in fresh and glistening blood. The room was dead silent, the stranger nowhere to be found. And at the bed, where a mother and child once lied, there were but wretched red sheets and pools of darkness. For many years I wandered the Earth in search of the aged travel, at first with a heart of vengeance, but now, decades later, with a heart of curiosity. In the search of these answers, my travels led me to the Spine of the World, where I would first arrive at a remote monk monastery. Entrusting myself to the care of the monks, I submitted to their initiation ritual, drinking an ancient potion that awoke past memories and inspired future prophecies. And so, I finally learned the truth: that the traveler was no more than a manifestation of a fiend that had possessed my family for generations, one whose malice and power could exceed beyond any traditional elf, but one with a will of its own. In joining the monks, I set off to find answers about this fiend, to find new worth and acceptance for my own atrocities, and to learn whether there is a form of aligning my morality with this wretched power.

Special Skills:

In combat, my character (at level 3), is skilled in the ways of the shadow, using darkness and stealth to combat enemies. These techniques can also be used to spy upon other characters. Through deep meditation, my character may attempt to communicated with the fiend within. Who knows what answers such demon might have.

Heart of Darkness: a look into my eyes paints a picture of a dark, complex, and painful past, one evoking fear but also welcoming empathy and vulnerability.