- Characters

Nemira

A dweller of the Petrian deserts, Nemira is a young girl who was trained to be a battle thrall for the Empire. Highly skilled with the scimitar and the bow, she travels through the desert on her Sandskimmer, a sailing vessel of her own design. She spends her time hunting to provide for her stronghold, helping those lost in the desert, and searching for new Gaia to tame.

Nemira and her family were captured by the Empire and brought to the capital when she was just a child. Since her people were famed as skilled warriors and hunters, the Imperial Regime forced them into the army. Nemira was separated from her family and trained to be a thrall, working as a scout for the military.

As an expert tracker and hunter, her primary task was to search for weaknesses in fortified towns so that the army could swoop in and take out the guards. However, Neira quickly figured out that the military was using her to find more slaves from border tribes outside the Empire. She then rebelled, leading the Regiment on a wild goose chase for months before finally being caught. She was sentenced to exile in Gaia.

When she landed in Petria, Nemira discovered an ocean of sand much like her lost home. Realizing that she could finally have a land of her own, she built a town and invited people to join her. She became a capable and admired leader, earning her the title Nemira the Zephyr for the speed she can travel on the sand and her ferocity in battle.

Nemira comes across as reserved and seemingly distrustful of strangers, given her history with the Empire. But once befriended, she is kind-hearted and steadfast. She will often rescue people who are lost in the desert and guide them to safety.

Every bit a warrior, Nemira hates the Empire and will fight tooth and nail to preserve the freedom she has found in Petria.

Old Jack

A former commander of the Imperial Army, Jack was once known as Artorius, a seasoned general who did the Empire’s dirty work, believing that it was for the greater good. His dedication to the mission and his brothers-in-arms inspired many to look up to him.

What no one anticipated was a crisis of conscience from such a dedicated soldier. Having chased down many perceived enemies of the Empire, Artorius discovered that the Emperor was sending many to exile in the newly discovered land of Gaia. Worse, many of these exiles were simply civilians whom the Empire had repressed for speaking out against its cruelty. Entire families had been uprooted and made to disappear.

He refused to perform these capture missions, instead allowing his quarry to escape. When the High Command discovered his deception, he was arrested, court-martialed, and exiled as well. Artorius found himself in the barren, burning lands of Moltania, surrounded by fellow exiles like him. But to his surprise, no one recognized him. With that, Artorius buried his past as a soldier. Calling himself Jack, he used his knowledge and survival skills to secure and establish a settlement for him and his new people. Jack went on patrols to survey their land, forging alliances with other groups he met. He eventually learned to tame the jackal-life Gaia and is seldom seen without Sparks, a fire-breathing Gaia he has raised. Never one to sit still for long, Jack quickly coordinated with other settlements, creating and developing a communication network. Moltania grew into an organized and thriving region under his eye. He turned his attention to mining, helping everyone make a living with trade and forging weapons. Part of him cannot forget the past, however, and he has resolved to return and demand justice from the Empire. Or deliver it.

Due to his military upbringing, Jack has a stoic and strict expression at all times, and focuses on things as they come, and is quick to sort priorities according to urgency and importance. He tends to be rather gruff, but his actions show that he tries to think of others first. He dislikes unnecessary conflict. He typically hides his expert combat skills for fear of arousing suspicion, using them only as an extreme last resort. He never leaves a single person behind if he can help it.

A career soldier, Jack’s loyalty to the Empire has eroded to nothing. To fill the void, he has declared allegiance to his people of Moltania and will stop at nothing to protect them. Still, he is terrified that someday, people will recognize him as the soldier Artorius and exile him from the land he has come to love.

Sestine

No one on Shoreland loves the island life more than Sestine. A boisterous, physically strong teen girl, she loves to spend time surfing, fishing, and taming water-based Gaia.

Sestine was born a middle-class citizen of the Empire. She would have lived a normal life had her parents turned a blind eye to the cruelty and excesses of Emperor Argath. But being brave and good-hearted, they published the truth and spread the message regarding the Empire’s atrocities. When the military caught wind of their activities, the whole family was imprisoned and sentenced to exile in Gaia.

Though initially fearful of the new world, Sestine fell in love with the gorgeous island she found herself in, quickly adapting to her new home. It didn’t take long before she had explored the entirety of Shoreland. Now she looks forward to visiting distant lands in hopes of discovering new Gaia.

Over time, the incursion of outsiders poaching on Shoreland’s resources has put pressure on the Shorelanders to defend their borders. This has led Sestine to patrol their territory and challenge any would-be thieves.

Thanks to her parents’ example, Sestine is fearless, channeling her courage into physical combat instead of words. She is ready and willing to get rough to establish who’s the more skilled warrior. She prefers action to planning and is most likely to jump ahead without much forethought.

Always on the go, Sestine is in exquisite shape and capable of hunting and traveling for days on end. She’s a speedy swimmer, able to dive deep and hold her breath for a significant amount of time. Her enormous appetite matches her physical abilities; she typically eats enough for three adults yet never seems to gain weight. She likes to travel so she can sample as much of the local cuisine as possible. Boisterous and happy-go-lucky, she tends not to be hung up on the past and prefers to look to the future with excitement.

Eli Mauros

Eli was born from a long line of scholars and scientists from the old Empire. At the time, education was considered a privilege for the noble class. Eli, however, believed differently. He wanted to create a school for all classes of people to attend and learn as they pleased.

This liberal view of learning rubbed many nobles and merchants the wrong way. Who wanted an educated peasantry, capable of knowing when they were being duped? They prevailed upon Emperor Argath to get rid of the young scholar. Thus, Eli found himself arrested, his library burned down by soldiers, and forced on a one-way trip to Gaia.

Nevertheless, nothing could get Eli down. Upon landing in Zapporos, he immediately helped the exiles develop the means to survive on the electrically infused region.

Before long, the Zapporos stronghold began to thrive under his guidance. His goal now is to tame as many Gaia as possible to study.

A brilliant lover of math and sciences, Eli is a cheerful chatterbox who loves nothing more than talking endlessly about science and tech, even when no one is around to listen. In a fight, Eli is likely to speak non-stop about whatever topic comes to mind before, during, and after the battle. He will gladly offer advice or observations about whatever event is unfolding and would love nothing more than a captive audience to hear him lecture. He has no worldly desires except learning, to the point that his friends need to remind him to clean up his house and take care of himself.

Sarathe

Sarathe was born into royalty. A princess of Alarus, a nation once friendly to the Meleagant Empire, the future of Sarathe’s family seemed to be bright at first when the Empire was at its most potent. However, the death of Emperor Aratron and the succession of Argath swiftly turned their good fortune. Argath ignored the alliance treaties and quickly annexed Alarus into the Empire. When the kingdom fought back, their army was utterly crushed and the palace overrun. Sarathe was the only survivor and the last remaining member of the royal family.

Instead of a public execution, Emperor Argath decided not to make a martyr of Sarathe and instead exiled her to Gaia. At first lost and overwhelmed by the new world, Sarathe got her bearings and found an unconquered land in Auralis, where she gathered her followers and recreated her stronghold in Auli.

However, old wounds run deep and have never fully healed. Sarathe longs for revenge against the Empire. She searched deep in the mountains for Gaia that could aid her. Her time taming them has given her some resistance to their frost abilities.

Of all the exiles, she is the only one who aims to return to her former world and fight against Emperor Argath. To this end, Sarathe has been gathering riches and training her people to raise a mighty army.

Befitting her rank as a princess, Sarathe is exceptionally skilled in dual-wielding short swords.

Those who meet Sarathe will find her intelligent and a good conversationalist. Honest to a fault and absolutely honorable, Sarathe is proud of her heritage and will not let anyone forget that they are in the presence of royalty. However, her royal bearing and intellect don’t do much to conceal her temper. When offended, she tends to develop a bitter grudge against the perceived offender and would spend tremendous effort to “put them in their place,” which sometimes leads to problems for her faction. Her temper has led to others nicknaming her “The Cruel Princess.”

Vartos

Born up in the branches of the great rainforest of Oakendor, Vartos was the firstborn son of one of the leaders of the human settlements in the region. With no ties to the world that his parents came from, the great woods of Oakendor were all that he knew. Agile and athletic, the young man was an avid hunter and often joined hunting parties.

One day, Vartos was chasing some choice game and unintentionally broke off from his group, venturing too far into the deeper parts of the forest, which was marked as a dangerous no man’s land. There, while Vartos managed to hunt his prey, he was caught in the middle of a rainstorm and took refuge in a tree hole, where he came face to face with a Feliar cub that was easily the size of an adult human. He prepared to fight to the death until he noticed that the snarling cub was injured. Unable to leave as the downpour intensified, Vartos kept an eye on the beast as he sat opposite them in the hole.

With temperatures dropping, the two felt extremely cold and hungry. Vartos still had his catch from earlier and decided to share half of it with the cub, tossing its share over. The cub cautiously nibbled at it and ate its fill, relaxing its guard towards Vartos. The next day, when the rain ceased, Vartos watched as the cub stood up and left, looking back at him before doing so. Vartos made his way back home shortly after.

A few days later, when Vartos was hunting alone, he sensed that he was being watched, and to his mild surprise, the Feliar cub emerged from its hiding place, patiently waiting for Vartos to approach, and joined him on his hunt. That day, Vartos brought home the most amount of game he had ever caught.

Vartos and the Feliar Cub formed a bond from then on, and the two have been hunting partners ever since. However, his people eventually found him out, and out of fear, the Feliar cub was captured and caged while they put Vartos on trial for endangering the village.

The villagers believed that Vartos was inviting disaster. Vartos, however, vehemently insisted that “Shati,” the cub, was his partner and friend. It did not help that Shati’s pack came looking for her, with adults twice the cub’s size. Vartos quickly broke Shati free from its cage, and the cub returned to her pack, which then left the village in peace.

Feliars started frequenting the village’s borders shortly after, making everyone tense and on high alert. Vartos was kept under arrest until one day, Shati and a couple of adult Feliars arrived, leaving fresh meat near the village’s borders. This continued until Vartos was eventually released.

Since then, Vartos and his tribe have established an ambiguous relationship with Shati’s pack, hunting alongside their own partnered cubs. Vartos has become the authority on Feliars and has continued to try and learn more about his friend.

Confident, tough and resourceful, Vartos is always looking forward to the next big hunt. When he isn’t out hunting, he can be seen play-fighting with his partner Shati. He holds little interest in most things but is more than eager to teach people how to bond with Feliars and train them as hunting partners. While he is in no hurry to leave his village or Oakendor, Vartos does find the idea of exploring Gaia and finding other Gaigai to tame rather interesting.

Badrock

Born to a couple of miners from the Dirts in Caven, Badrock has always resented his home and daily life. It was just an endless cycle of mining, digging, eating, sleeping, and more of the same. It was all he’s ever been taught to do since childhood, and he’s had more than enough of it.

Hotheaded, never one to back down from a fight, Badrock often gets in trouble with other miners. Badrock has always dreamed of living on the surface, but everyone he’s ever spoken to has either told him that it would never work or that it’s already been tried before, and he would just fail like everyone else.

Never one to give up on his dreams, Badrock decided to run away from home, daring to scale the canyon walls to reach the surface using his digging tools. Unfortunately, he was caught in a flash sandstorm and was caught by a Serran mid-fall. Not one to accept defeat, Badrock began to fight back and whack at the winged reptile with his digging tools, causing the both of them to fall deeper into the gorge.

For weeks he was presumed dead. Then one day, Badrock was spotted being carried by the Serran. Both of them were wearing the remains of his shirt in matching scarves, with Badrock laughing and shouting, “See ya, losers!” He tossed a small sack filled with rare gems that he mined from the “Deep” to his parents as a parting gift.

He has since traveled around the Everworld, searching for Gaia that match his “aesthetic sense” and intent on making a name for himself as one of the most bad-ass Gaia commanders ever.

Crass and rough around the edges, Badrock often speaks before thinking, but to his credit, he owns up to his words and never backs down from a challenge. Though he likes to insult people or poke fun at them, he tries to take matters into his own hands and solve their problems for them, usually in a method or way that he deems “bad-ass.” He is the type of character whose motto in life is “Go big or go home.” He isn’t big on authority figures or anyone who tries to throw their weight around.

Sela

Sella was born in one of the settlements near the border between Caven and Abyssen. Shortly after her birth, her parents disappeared, presumably into the mists. She ended up being adopted by her father’s brother, who treated her coldly and disdainfully, blaming her for the loss of his brother and sister-in-law. Refusing to name her, he simply called her “Girl.”

It didn’t help that the girl’s skin and hair were pale as snow, and her eyes were deep purple— traits unknown to her parents’ families. The community called her the Nameless Child and feared her as cursed. They did the bare minimum to provide for her needs, resulting in her becoming frail and withdrawn.

The girl would simply find a corner to hide in and stay out of everyone’s way, looking at a precious locket with pictures of her mother and father. She would often talk to them, wishing to find them and be a happy family together. Then one day, the girl woke up to hear a voice calling from the mists past the border.

She had always heard the stories and warnings of the mists, but she felt no attachment to the village. Whatever lay beyond must be better than the lonely life she had. And so the little girl, no older than 10, wandered into the mists of Abyssen, never to be seen again. Or so people thought.

Years later, the first-ever recorded instance of a human coming out from the mists of Abyssen was recorded. The girl had pale skin, ivory hair, and purple eyes and was followed by two Gaia that looked like living shadows attached to her. She pointed at her uncle and former guardian, accusing him of lies and betrayal. The two shadows dragged the screaming man and threw him into the mists of Abyssen. The girl and her shadows walked past the terrified people and looked at them coldly, only telling them one thing before disappearing.

“My name is Sela.”

Since then, sightings of an eerie little girl, no older than 10, have been reported throughout the region. The reports are conflicting. Some claim she is malevolent and frightening, while others describe her as a sweet and lonely child. She always gives her name and asks if anyone has seen her mommy and daddy.

Normally quiet and soft-spoken, Sela tends to be very polite, if not sullen. She is curious about the world and looks at things with child-like wonder at times, and when she forgets herself, she asks many questions as an average child would. However, she tends to grow sad and hide behind a smile whenever she is reminded of mothers and fathers.

She does not take kindly to bullies or abusive adults and is more than happy to scare them into changing their ways or making them “go away” by shifting them to another location, usually to teach them a lesson. She is friendly towards other children and often wants to play with them, taking great care not to scare them with her Gaia companions, who are very protective of her. Sela uses the mysterious abilities of the two shadow Gaia as a means to travel. She sometimes treats them as her only friends.