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Character of the Season
Frail in body but dangerously quick of mind, Nikandr is the sort of character who proves that curiosity can be just as perilous as any weapon. A necromancer, inventor, and problem-solver with more ambition than self-preservation, Niki approaches the world like a puzzle box begging to be opened, even when what’s inside has teeth. Blunt, dry-witted, fiercely independent, and carrying a history best left partially buried, he has a knack for making even failure feel fascinating. Whether he’s raising the dead, moving across Caido to King's End, or experiencing a hangover for the first time, Nikandr brings a wonderfully strange spark to Caido, and we can’t wait to see what trouble his brilliant mind wanders into next.
Congratulations, Niki!
Credits
Court of the Fallen was created in October of 2018 by Odd, Honey, and Crooked.
OG Skinning provided by Kaons, with functionality and many custom plugins made by Neowulf!
if there's a reason I'm still alive when so many have died
When the younger attuned spoke, Noah listened without interrupting. Turning from the flames, he let his gaze steady on Sohalia even as she kept hers on the fire. He shifted slightly, the firelight catching along the edge of his features as he considered his next words. He let out a breath, words catching for a moment at the tip of his tongue, before he fully proceded. "Safrin has a reputation, that is true." he said, reassuring a part of her that trusted the words of others. "Some of it earned. Some of it exaggerated, depending on who’s telling it, I think." Maybe it wasn't, maybe it was. Noah didn't know every intimate or dark or dramatic moment between Safrin and her other followers, namely Ronin and Deimos, but he did know what they had told him and he was able ot hold that otgether with his own judgement of her.
The hunter turned away briefly. "She’s not simple. None of them are." Then Noah nudged another piece of brush into the flames, watching the way it caught before continuing. "But you’re right to question what you’ve heard." He said. "Most people don’t form their own opinions about the gods, they inherit them." He paused and turned back towards her. "But if Safrin has given you a quest, then she’s already decided you’re worth her time." he added with a shrug. "She doesn't just hand them out like candy."
She's not simple, Noah said. And wasn't that true of everyone, deity or no? There were layers and complexity to every individual, every relationship - so why would Soh's budding relationship with Safrin be any different? Perhaps she had judged the goddess too harshly, but clearly Safrin was not holding that against her. Otherwise, why would the herald have given her a quest? "I suppose we all have our preconceived notions about something or other," she mused. "But that doesn't mean we shouldn't challenge those beliefs. Especially when there's nothing you yourself have experienced to actually support them."
The fire flickered, and Soh turned a gilded smile towards Noah. "Thank you for talking about this with me," she said. "It's been very helpful." Not enough, perhaps, to aid Soh in deciding on a deity to pledge herself to, but enough to consider it a step in the right direction.
When memories fade we've got each other When time and confusion collide
Sohalia
Minor powerplay allowed without permission.
Feel free to use force/magic on Sohalia.
if there's a reason I'm still alive when so many have died
Noah inclined his head slightly at her thanks, the gesture quiet but genuine. Her words settled easily with him. There was truth in them, in the idea of challenging what you were handed instead of simply carrying it forward without question. It wasn’t the easier path, but it was the one that meant something. He knew Sohalia to be one that challenged ideals if they didn't make sense to ger -- after all, Stormbreak was open to the abandoned because of her. "It helps to talk it through," he said, "most things do."
The fire shifted and cracked between them, sparks lifting and twisting into the darkening sky before disappearing entirely. Noah’s gaze followed them for a moment, thoughtful, but something else tugged at his attention before the quiet could fully settle again. A sound carried faintly across the tundra, stretched thin by distance. It wasn’t quite the wind, though it moved like it, and not quite an animal either. It started to rumble, to deepen, until the hunter recognized it as a distant wail.
He didn’t react immediately, but the change in him was there if someone knew how to look for it. His shoulders drew a fraction tighter, his head angling slightly toward the treeline as his focus shifted outward, instincts sharpening beneath the surface. He hated this screaming, wailing, sobbing rain. The thunder that shook the earth with its mourning.
Noah exhaled slowly, steadying, before turning his attention back to Sohalia. "You spend much time in out at night?" he asked, tone casual enough to pass, though it didn’t quite mask the intent behind it. A faint, almost wry curve touched his mouth. "You know any old stories?" he added, glancing briefly toward the dark beyond the firelight, before urning his glacier eyes back to her.
For a moment, the only sound was the crackling of the fire. But then, a distant, keening wail sounded from the depths of the forest surrounding them, echoing through the trees like something almost alive. And where Noah grew tense, shoulders tightening as he sought out any potential threat, Soh seemed almost to cave in on herself ever-so-slightly, shoulders rounding and gaze boring into the fire. She hated the screaming, sobbing rain that had been so prevalent this season. It bothered her on a level that she didn't even know how to fully describe.
Anani curled around her shoulders as she took a deep breath, banishing any thoughts of ghosts in the trees. It was just the weather, and while unpleasant, she was sure that this, too, would pass. In the meantime, though, Noah had asked her a question, and Soh's lips tilted in a crooked smile. "My first shift was an owl," she said. "I used to sneak out at night to teach myself to fly." So, yes: much to her guardian's chagrin, she'd spent a great deal of time out at night.
As for old stories, though, Soh pursed her lips. "There's an old one from the Grounds that I heard growing up," she said slowly. "Though it's been so long since I've thought about it that I'm not sure I remember all the details." Reaching up, she stroked beneath Anani's chin, drawing a chiming sort of purr from the cloud wyrm. "Have you heard the story of the Devil's Klaw?"
When memories fade we've got each other When time and confusion collide
Sohalia
Minor powerplay allowed without permission.
Feel free to use force/magic on Sohalia.
if there's a reason I'm still alive when so many have died
Noah’s brow furrowed faintly at the name, the sound of the distant wailing wind carrying through the silence between them as he searched his memory for it. The Grounds had never truly been his home, not the way Halo was, and many of its older stories still felt foreign to him even after all these years.
"I haven’t," he admitted, the corner of his mouth tugging slightly in quiet interest. "Can’t say I know many old Grounder tales."
The hunter shifted again near the fire, lowering himself onto a broad piece of split wood near the edge of the warmth. The movement was unhurried, deliberate, his attention staying on Sohalia as she stroked beneath Anani’s chin. Another distant groan rolled somewhere far out across the tundra, like grief swallowed by snow.
Noah glanced briefly toward the darkness before looking back to her, one arm resting loosely across his knee. "Go on, then," he said. "I’m listening."
