Odinel Groverunner

"I have no God."

A combat medic raised in an imperialistic and fascist empire, Odinel was always taught that there’s two kinds of people in the world: those part of the Empire, and those who have yet to realize they are part of the Empire. Now he’s in a brand new world and relearning everything he thought he knew about people, society, and life in general. 

Biography

His first few missions were mundane and mostly involved patrolling peaceful planets. However, he and his squad soon got orders for their first major mission. Planetary subjugation of a newly discovered world and the Emperor himself would be joining them. 

Having never been part of an invasion fleet before and nervous about his odds of survival in making planetfall, Odinel was allowed to see how the landing zone would be made safe. He watched from the bridge as an emerald sphere so similar to his home planet gently rotated below. Surprisingly a vessel, civilian by the looks of it, rose from the planet's surface and placed itself between the fleet and the planet and requested to negotiate. Smiling, Odinel was happy to hear that no invasion would be necessary. Surely they would negotiate the planet's surrender, right? However, his Emperor was unfettered and ordered the planetary bombardment to begin. Odinel’s entire world view shattered along with the lone vessel that stood against them as below, the beautiful hues of green became marred with brown and red. 

There was no resistance from the natives when Odinel landed with his squad and they set up base. Inside his mind though, he was broken. The Empire he thought he loved so much had just committed an atrocity he could never dream of. Was everything he learned a lie? Aimless, he wandered off into the ravaged landscape and found himself surrounded by motes of light shining pale blues, vibrant golds, and royal purples. Scared, he tried to run but the motes spun faster and faster around him until they were a brilliant white… and then he found himself in Osterra. 

Thrust into a world of magic that was unfamiliar to him and without any of the tech he was used to,  Odinel found himself in a battle involving literal demons. Luckily, Odinel was found by The Grove and helped them as much as he could to drive off the foul creatures. Now a stranger in a strange land questioning everything he thought he knew, Odinel hopes to rebuild himself and everything he knows and become a better person. 

Growth

One year into his arrival, Odinel gained a new moniker, The Groverunner, a title he wears with honor. He's found his home and was glad to die for the friends he's made, though his brush with death as strengthened his resolve to help those who go through death. He still finds it a disturbing experience.

He's gone through debt and attained riches in the span of a few months. Coming from a society that doesn't use money, this was quite the shock.

His carrot farm is going well, it's a short ways north of Aspen's Rest. His companion-carrot, Chester, helps him speak to the carrots and encourage them to grow.

Cultists, and Carrots, and Villages Oh My

After learning to sell his body thanks to the teachings of Pecune, Odinel came into a large amount of wealth while raiding a cultist temple to stop their ritual. This was completely unexpected and coming from a post-scarcity society meant Odinel had no idea what to do with his newfound coin. After much frivolous spending, Odinel decided to start his own village, a place modeled after his home. Naturally, his loyal carrot Chester would join him on this journey and in fact gave Odinel most of the advice in getting the village up and running.

Things take time though. Location was something that still needed to be decided and more importantly, the inhabitants. Farmers from Aspen's Rest and carrots were a guarantee but the orcs of Poplar Falls were also welcome additions. More surprising was the addition of some Saurian individuals who chose to join after the cultists were fought off from their home. It helped that the planned village location was only a short ways north of the current Saurian homeland. It's easy to move if it's not that far! Odinel had hopes that these newfound villagers would be a great boon to his as-of-yet unnamed village.

The location decided and the inhabitants ready, the last thing needed was a name. Odinel decided to name the village Emerald Harvest in honor of his home. Of course carrots would be grown there and Odinel also reached out to Dane the Herbalist and Lazlo the Tea Merchant to aid them with their materials. Odinel now only awaits Autumn to commemorate his village.

Personality

Odinel is a born follower. He’ll prefer to follow those he sees as his superiors and is often surprised at the general lack of hierarchy within The Grove. When given what he perceives as orders he’ll strive to follow them to the best of his ability as any good soldier would. Of course, given his nature, Odinel perceives more things as orders than he probably should. 

The sudden change in environment has led to culture shock for Odinel. Going from a spacefaring society to one of high magic is a drastic change, and has caused Odinel to often assume anything he doesn’t understand is normal and he’s just not used to it. That and already being somewhat passive has led Odinel to let others lead the conversation and not bring up his thoughts or views. He’s trying to learn to express himself better, though. 

Odinel is coming to terms with the realization that the Empire was not all it was cracked up to be and with that, that many of his views are wrong. As such, he’s eager to learn about other people's views and motivations, things he’d never even considered could be different before. He hopes talking to others will help him figure out how to be a good person.