Information

[galskap]

Character Information

Name/Alias: Allie
Gender: Male
Age: 20



Note: A lot of what makes Allie himself is a contrast to the world around him, as well as the actions of others, meaning a lot of what makes him who he is is totally dependent upon the people around him. Anything set in gray is basically extraneous information that is like 50% necessary to get the whole picture. Anything set in LightSlateGray more like 80% necessary.

Additionally, just to cover my ass right off the bat: Trigger warnings for suicide and rape; content warning for psychological decay and depression. (Primarily regarding the back story about Allie's mother)

Terminology:

The Walt

Dunn - the outer region
Djok - middle region
Dief - inner region
D'ylg - center of the forest
Shayten - mysterious "shadow beings" from inside the Walt. Their source unknown to humankind

Hunters

Ylda - basically Jesus, started up the religion and created the Hunters' Guild
Archer - Speaks for itself
Keeper - Short for woodskeeper; navigates the woods
Seeker - identifies approaching shayten

World

Norr (n) - the North as a region
Verltak - Local name for the "roof of the world"; the farthest northern region accessible to man

Society

Erwa - Elders; similar to Mr, Mrs, and Ms.
Verltaker - one who is from the Verltak

Language building:

"Godt dag" - Good day
"Mir van" - My friend



Possessive (without pronoun) combines. Verl(world)tak(roof);

Physical Description:

Northerners are heavier set, broad people built for harsh winters in the forest. The particular village Allie comes from is a lumberjack village, making the population over all absolutely MASSIVE (they're like Dutchmen basically.) They have light skin with many rosy features, dark hair, and usually green or blue eyes.

Short for his age, Allie looks like a miniature version of the expected Northerner, especially dwarfed in his village of oversized woodcutters. He has round cheeks and broad shoulders, although weighs a little less than would be considered ~ideal~ for a Northerner since he just doesn't eat as much as he ought to (small eating disorder which carried through most of his life.) He has bright blue eyes and his hair is a peculiar shade of gray with a consistency not unlike a man in his 80's - rest assured, Allie is a young man in every other aspect. He wears in hair back in a headband so keep it out of his face.

For casual attire, Allie wears a lot of what we would call "ugly Christmas sweaters," which are actually quite fashionable in the Northern regions. His winter wear is the uniform assigned by his village's branch of the Hunters' Guild. The coat is light blue with off-white trim, reaching to about his mid thighs, and has standard issued boots. His hat, scarf, gloves, and snowpants are brown. With his uniform, he wears a sling which holds a quiver of arrows around his hip, and then on the opposite shoulder would carry his strung bow.

World:

For all intents and purposes, the world which the story takes place is called "Earth" - but more accurately, in the psuedo-Germanic language which the storyline primarily takes place, Joerde is the name it goes by. There are a great deal of languages in the world, but if anything is reworded, it's based on the local tongue which the story is set in. The similarities it holds to earth are based wholly on geographical location (i.e. the North is based loosely on Germanic/Skandinavian or Russian culture - the South is highly Balkan or Middle Eastern), and also in the fact that they are, without question, humans who inhabit this planet and are the dominant species (presumably). Beyond that, not much of a similarity.

There are three primary inhabited regions which the story takes place in, although the main story is set within the first of these: The North, the South, and the Top of the World (Verltak). While there are other regions, they don't matter as much (swamps to the east prevent easy travel that direction, and the Welt is so incredibly dangerous that trade that way is hugely stunted.)


The South Ilien's birth place
Highly based on Mercantilism and set in a two class system. It prides itself as the richest society in the world, and even its lower class could be considered better off than others. The society is insanely huge as well, spanning hundreds if not thousands of villages scattered across a highly desert society rich with mining materials. Its biggest shortcoming is a distinct lack of wood - the closest thing they have to trees are a ton of cacti. In the past the South has made attempts at conquering the North, but due to weather conditions (the North is balls cold while the South is very hot), and concerns with the Walt's increasing danger, the South never had much luck. Settlements have also failed for the latter reason - we'll get to that danger in a bit. At any rate, they're considered peaceful by the North, and are frequent trade partners in this age.

Verltak Roan's birthplace
Also called the Top of the World, this region could be considered a part of the North, and any Southerner would think you were a bit crazy to call it anything different. Those in the North know better: that those who live on the Top of the World are practically a whole different breed of northerner. This area is determined as the "last accessible point in the north," and very few people travel up there or leave there. People from this region are more tribal, and live off the land with caution and are highly religious. It's also heavily believed that those at the Top of the World have a kind of magic imbued within them due to long nights spent under the Aurora.

Because of the isolation from the rest of the world, the Verltak eventually developed cultures and festivals all their own, but maintain a strong basis in the primary religion which unifies the North (by comparison, the rest of the North has lost some of its roots from Southern influence.) Contrarily, they worship the Aurora as a god, and it's widely believed by all nations that magics from these lights that changed the "natural" hair colors and eye colors of the people to something more outlandish (e.g. Roan has deep maroon hair - his mother has dusky purple.) These magics also make them the most renown Hunters in North.

The North is where the story takes place!!!!
The North a subarctic region cut up into hundreds of sections that are governed completely independently of each other, and many of these sections don't even touch, leaving a great deal of the land in the North completely lawless, although most of these areas of land are too dangerous to bother with anyway. Northern villages closer to the Verltak tend to be more tribal, but trade with the South has made many of the villages more urbanized, especially in villages closer to that region. Still, they maintain a certain degree of socialism.

The region is covered by a thick and dangerous forest, with some portions of it referred to as the Walt, a mysterious and dangerous "forest" of darkness and illusion. It houses monsters, called Shayten, which are considered the enemies of people and light, although their purpose is unknown. Initially villages were set up with a great deal of distance set between themselves and the Walt, but as years pass and the darkness of the forest grew, the area which the Walt covers is much larger, and slowly edging in on many villages.

It's hard to say what a Shayte is, because no one can really get a good look at them. Those who have the best idea of how they appear have generally become too hysterical to actually articulate what they've seen. The general consensus is that they are black, conjointly tree-like and animal-like, and that their bodies are made up as shadows which feel tarlike when materialized. They are a menace to psychological health, and the very sight of them can drive a person mad; or, in more severe cases, their existence can cause the healthiest man to have a heart attack inexplicably. They reside inside the Djok, but occasionally are seen in the Dunn. Some are so powerful that they are invisible or nearly impossible to see - their powers are so immense that mortal minds cannot even fathom their existence.

Despite their general mind-numbing capacity, people of the North have gradually developed a small resistance to this. People from the South have nearly no resistance and out of 10, 5 die, 3 go insane, and 2 are lucky enough to have parents or grandparents who were northerners. People from the Verltak have an incredible resistance to these Shayten, and it's surmised that the Aurora which they worship have had some effect on the willpower of a person which may affect areas around it in a gradient. The further north you go, the better the resistance to Shayten is. Note, however, that the further north one goes, the thicker the woods become, and the more dangerous the Shayten are.

Because of this, the villages of the North are unified by the Hunters' Guild as well as a Council of Chiefs. The former is actually much more important and influential in the organization of all villages in the region, as the latter are actually just economic-based interactions. The true story of how the Hunter's Guild was formed has been mostly lost to society today, but was instead preserved in religious texts through a story about a woman named Ylde, an archer from the Verltak who mistakenly discovered the solution to pushing back these shadowy creatures. She's sort of the Jesus figure for people in the North, although those in the Verltak regard her as a goddess. She created the first clan of Hunters, and spread their methods through out the land, along with the religion which the Verltaken("People from the top of the World"). Ultimately, this created a militant religion of archers set on the defense of humanity against the creatures within the forest.

This religion dictates a couple of important things, but primarily: an obsession with light. The Sun is their holy entity of sorts (gender neutral, and not called a God but revered as one), and heaven is perceived to be located on the Sun, where only light and goodness is held. The soul is an essence of light, and the material world is a burden for light as it blocks it's passage and casts shadows (Shadows = Shayten). That isn't to say the material world is unnecessary or evil, as there are things within the material world which bear or create light - and living a full life within the material world is important toward enlightenment and the ultimate ascension toward heaven. (There's a pun in there somewhere.) The soul is ALWAYS pure, and the general and approved of view is that all creatures are inherently good.

Flesh is generally regarded as a vessel for light, however being a part of the material world is highly susceptible to corruption - and when a soul inhabits a corrupt body, the mind itself becomes imbalanced and unfit for society. People who are criminals or villains are thought to have had their material body corrupted, so their good souls have lost control. Generally, when a body has become corrupt like this suicide is an accepted form of "release," although there's controversy what the ultimate outcome of this kind of action will cause (reincarnation, ascension by forgiveness, ultimate demise, etc), and there's some distinction of views within a single village. As you might imagine, due to the nature of the Shayten driving most Hunters to insanity, the culture is more forgiving of it, as damning the people who risked their lives to protect the village is kind of a douchy thing to do.

Bodies are always disposed of through cremation, so long as there is still access to the body. Cremation is seen as releasing the soul inside to go forth and do their afterlife thing, where hopefully it can find better peace. So they also really like fire in general. If a body is not cremated, the soul is perceived as trapped, and it's really quite a sad business. Many Hunters have been lost inside of the forest.

Today, the guild is still highly regarded by people, although aren't revered so much as respected, and nearly all children are geared toward becoming hunters from the day they're born. After six months the children who are seen as fit are removed from their parents' care and into a kind of village daycare where they will continue living for the next nine and a half years. Children are raised by the village Erwa - retired Hunters who have let go of the militaristic aspect of the Guild and moved into the religious aspect. Although the Erwa handle most of the raising, it's considered the duty of all the village to help raise children.

They're raised as one would expect to raise children, however at the age of ten children are introduced to the hunter lifestyle. This aspect of life is considered vital among Notherners, learning how to navigate areas blind folded, increase peripheral vision, taught hand-eye coordination, and pretty much everything that a Hunter could develop to be. It's during this time that most children exhibit an affinity for a particular skill set. At the age of thirteen, they are introduced to their parents finally, and at the age of fourteen are expected to pick between their parents' trade or the Guild. About a fourth of them stay part of the Guild, but their numbers are reduced again within a year as not all volunteers exhibit the capacity for military training, or are flat out scared out by the prospect of Shayten driving them mad.

Hunters operate as squads of three, and all squads consist of at least one of the following: an Archer, a Keeper, and a Seeker. Archers excel at rapid firing arrows at their target. Keepers have incredible sense of the Walt and can navigate it in and out without relying on the usual visual cues. Seekers are able to spot Wisps, which are weaker "shadows" of the Shayten - Wisps are a lesser form of Shayten that can still cause psychological problems, indicate the coming of a Shayten, and are used by the Shayten to expand their territory; so if an area has an abundance of wisps in it, Shayten have easier access to that area. Wisps in recent years have become increasingly abundant.

All three are archers of a particular brand, excelling at rapid fire attacks (the ancient style redeveloped by Lars Andersen, specifically), and this style of archery is used throughout most of the North. This fast shooting style was chosen to match up with the fast movement of the wisps which are shaky and difficult to pin down - two arrows are needed to pin. Once they've been pinned down, Hunters slash them with a Gold(*) dagger. Shayten are a little different and shot with gold arrows or fire(**) arrows. (* - Gold is actually not the same material as the gold we have on earth, but is called the same thing. It is mined specifically in the North and has magical properties which Wisps and Shayten are adverse to.) (** - Fire is a bad idea, they tend to set everything on fire and can kill Hunters so it's more of a last ditch effort.)

Archers are pretty straight forward. Although all hunters are required to pick up archery, the fastest of them take on this title - experienced Archers can fire arrows at triple the speed of normal hunters. Generally they have a high willpower compared to the other two as they tend to have to look at their targets more clearly. Archers are tacticians as well, and when approaching a Shayten, are in charge of battle plans.

Keepers, shortened from Woodskeeper, are incredible at navigating the forests to the point of being almost super natural themselves. A high class keeper can close their eyes and travel through the Walt and make it back out without a single misstep. Beginner keepers usually do this by counting steps. Some are able to use particular markings in the Walt to determine bearings. In terms of will power they fall right about the middle.

Seekers develop to have a high sensitivity to the darkness in the woods which help them identify oncoming Shayten and wisps. These hunters generally have the lowest willpower as it seems to correlate with the ability to sense the darkness, but as a consequence, Seekers generally do not last long in the Guild as their sanity suffers heavily. It's rare for a seeker to die on encounter, but their suicide rates are notably higher than the other two. Many have developed techniques to manage their sanity such as darting their eyes around, wider peripheral ranges, and indirect shooting styles.

FINALLY, The Walt
The Walt is a mysterious part of the forest which is always changing - what was there one minute ago may not be there the next. The trees appear to always be changing places, and it's extremely easy to get lost inside it without the assistance of a Keeper. Keep in mind that although the forest is thick and covers most of the North, not ALL regions are part of the Walt, as the Walt's area is determined only by the presence or influence of Shayten.

Dunn - The outer of the Walt. This area is primarily only infected with Wisps, but occasionally Shayten slip into this region. There are some villages within this region which have inhabitants, but they generally die out quickly through serial kilings or evacuation. The story takes place almost right outside of the Dunn. It's easier to navigate this area even without a keeper's skills, but still problematic.
Djok - The middle region of the Walt. A keeper is pretty much required to travel in this region as the forest is so inconsistent that entering it can be a death sentence by itself. Experienced hunters travel to this area to seek out Shayten and kill them - doing so decreases the size of the Dunn incredibly and is the only way to reduce the growth of the Walt. Animals here are strange, influenced by the darkness of the forest, and their nature is almost like the land equivalent of the ocean.
Dief - The deepest part of the Walt, which only a few and countable number of people have been inside of. Every dozen years or so the best and bravest hunters are selected from the guild to head into this area for information. It's very rare that someone comes back from this area with a majority of their sanity in tact, and participating in this exploration usually means retirement. Not much is known about this section.
D'lyg - The center of the forest. At the time the story starts, only one person has ever been this far into the forest - however it is unknown to anyone the specific details of the encounter as that person was driven far beyond madness.

So long story short: there are OP creatures in the forest which are so powerful that the mere sight of them makes a man go bonkers. If they gain control of the forest, it'd be kind of like cutting down all the trees in the rainforest.

The story basically takes place right along the edge of the Dunn inside of a large, lumberjack village. The village is set very high in the North, but is more urbanized due to a particular wood market in this area which aristocrats in the South are very interested in. It's winter nearly all year around, and summer is more of a breath of fresh air.

History:

In order to understand the state of Allie's existence, we need to back track to a few years before he was born and follow the life of his mother. Now, due to some weird religious tendencies, it's not actually allowed to speak her name so it never gets mentioned and even Allie isn't wholly certain of her name. Any way, generally she's referred to as "Allie's mother" or "the Huntress."

At the age of 25, she was regarded as one of the most powerful Seekers in the village, as she had suffered nearly no sanity drop in the five years that she had become a full fledged member of the Hunters' Guild, and had gone up against a number of Shayten and came out mostly unscathed. She had also mastered the skills of an Archer, promoting her to the status title of "Sniper" - basically, she was a Shayte's worst nightmare. Her skills eventually surpassed even the Village Guild Master's skills. She was also lined up to be married to a young Keeper with whom she went on nearly all of her hunts with, and was clearly very in love with him. Although the true nature of their relationship was romantic, the platonic bond they shared was also very powerful.

The two agreed to partake in an exploration of the Dief, accompanied by two other members. Inside the Dief they encountered a massive, deer-like Shayten who had taken an incredibly solid form unseen by any before- it had influence over the area around it, which the Huntress was only able to describe as "like a gravitational push" when it attacked. The other two hunters were killed while trying to escape this creature, thrown into trees and their bodies smashed. The Huntress was lucky enough to miss the blast, and her fiance caught the least of it, but fell into the gnarled roots of a tree near where they battled. After going to him to assure his safety, the Huntress single handedly defeated the monster with a fire arrow (a desperate shot) - however, instead of burning, it disintegrated.

Going back to find her fiance, she found that he was not there any more- it's hard to say if he was swallowed up by the roots of the tree, disappeared into the darkness, or ran off on his own, but in the end, he was lost, and the Huntress drove herself mad trying to find him again. Days of circling and screaming brought her accidentally back into the village where she wept uncertainly at the sight of it. When the village heard what she had done, the entire place was in an uproar with the new and incredible information that she had brought back with her, Hunters and Councilmen alike cheering for her to be made the new head of the guild. Repeatedly she declined, but eventually, depressed and psychologically unfit, she gave in with tears to a lesser offer, and pleased that they "just please stop." At the age of 26 she was removed from hunter life, but maintained her position in the guild as an organizer and traveled to some villages to tell her story.

Her psychological decay was a relatively easy one comparatively, though: depression, and there were whispers that the decay wasn't even a result of her encounter with the deer-like Shayte, but agony over the loss of her lover.

Meanwhile, the Village Guild Master, a Ranger (Archer+Tracker) had something of a jealous streak in him (again, psychological decay brought him to this state, although his decay was too subtle.) When she received her title as the Huntress, it basically crowned her as the most powerful hunter in village memory, which he had been working at the title tirelessly for years now. He hated her. He devised to ruin her, but nothing seemed to affect her and she had a general indifference toward any usual attempt to make her life miserable (he pulled her into retirement, he deemed her unstable for human interaction, he often harassed her personally to the point of tears) but she never seemed permanently bothered - her condition made her unstable in even small circumstances. Although easier tactics could have been found to dispose of her, he only wanted to drive her to the point of suicide, saving his soul from the consequence of murder, and proving that his torture had worked to its highest degree. But he met with no success in those previously mentioned attempts. Eventually, he devised that the only thing that could truly crush her was the betrayal of her fiance - so he molested and raped her, shaming her for being unfaithful. In many ways, he'd devised the right scheme to ruin her absolutely.

After a few weeks of attempted self starvation, the Huntress actually came upon the discovery that the result of his violation left her pregnant. Realistically, it was her dream to have children with her missing fiance, and being of a particular brand of faith, there was no way she could die nor abort the baby. If it were any other woman, he might have created the perfect permanent torture. But... she isn't any other person. Her depression quickly turned around, and she even seemed to have regathered her wits about her. Having told no one of the rape or pregnancy, the village was shocked at the Huntress's ultimate turn around. She went out on two hunts by force and came back covered in the tar that Shayten often leave behind when they die. The squad she had gone with had been abandoned by her. Some surmised that she had gained mastery as a Keeper through these events. Rumours were spread that she was the greatest hunter who ever lived, surpassing perhaps even Ylda of centuries before.

She approached the Village Guild Master and challenged him to a Hunt. A one-on-one duel for the top position of the Guild, which surprised him, but he took it because he was required to. They had three days to prepare before setting out. In the day before setting out, she informed Erwa Holle that "Only one of us will come out of that forest alive."

Once the two of them entered the Djok, they agreed to split up and meet there when the Hunt was over. They set out on their own and disappeared into the Walt, but immediately the Huntress set to stalking him out once she was certain it was clear. Once she had located him, immediately she began to shoot at him with the full intention to murder (considered extremely damning for a soul, and more or less she was sacrificing her position in Heaven.)

Being both skilled Archers, the battle went on for some time as each would destroy the others arrows, but no matter what she stalked him deeper and deeper into the Walt, even far into the Dief as he cursed her for her insanity. Eventually, both out of arrows, she tackled, wrestled, and choked him to death, screaming the whole time. Not even words, just screaming until tears filled her eyes and choked him even longer than his life had faded from him. She had her revenge - his soul would be trapped in the forest where no one would find it.

She should have died there, not having the right skills of a Keeper to correctly navigate the Dief, she eventually came to a mysterious clearing in the woods. This is the ??? mentioned earlier - the center of the forest. While the Djok is gnarled and disgusting, ??? turned out to be a beautiful clearing with low, bluish-white lights that illuminated the area, and a tree which was utterly perfect. She fell at the sight of it and crawled into the area. It was here that a woman of the same blue-ish light approached the Huntress, and at the sight of this stranger the Huntress immediately began to weep - not because of her depression, but because it was the only response that her mind was able to conceive. The Being that stood before her was beautiful beyond imagination - a perfect being in form and figure whose beauty truly could drive mortal minds to insanity beyond comparison. She bent over to the Huntress and offered her this: "I will save your son but he must become mine as well." When given clarification, the Huntress learned that this Being could make the son look as her fiance had. It could make him its, and any trace of the Village Guild Master would disappear from both of them.

Weeping, she agreed. Darkness consumed her and she woke up back in the village.

During the nine months, the Huntress was a menace, and had to me monitored closely in order to keep from harming herself or the child- no portion of her mind was left in tact. But when she was calm, she would remark while rubbing her stomach that the child was her fiance's. When her son was born, she had only a short time with the baby where she wept at the sight of him and cried out: "Allie! Allie!" Unfit to raise a child, he was taken away from the Huntress, and "Allie" was the name given to him, mistaken as the name she wished to give the child. It was later realized that she had been apologizing in an ancient tongue which was mostly forgotten except for by a small few Erwa (including Erwa Holle.) No one had any explanation for why she knew any of the language.

The eventual decay of her mind was remarkable, for despite how out of touch with reality she was, she simply would not die. One day she escaped from the ward (a remarkable feat that led to more intense security measures soon after), was missing for a night, and reappeared in the town square. She was covered in blood and dead as a doornail.

Enter Allie. This boy was born with a thin head of brown hair and and blue eyes - as was promised, shockingly similar to his mother's fiance. He was quickly taken away from his mother and put into a nursery of sorts where he was waken in by a wet nurse for a short period of time. Once weened off the tit, he was placed into the care of Erwa Holle, who had been a beloved mentor of his mother and she was also very concerned about the well being of the son after everything that had happened. However, Allie exhibited strange behaviour, sobbing loudly any time he was left alone or the lights were turned out, and reacted terribly to strangers. He showed an aversion to all things new, and up until three years old was terrified of pretty much everyone who came near him - Erwa Holle was about the only person that didn't strike the heart of fear into him.

After the age of three, Allie's hair started to change, losing its rich and pleasant dark brown color and trading in for hair which had the consistency of an old man's. Children were raised in small groups at this point, called the nursery. Only peppery haired at this age, Allie ended up being outcast by most of the children for being "odd" and "strange," although most adults would have reviewed him as a quiet and tearful boy. Some of the boys ridiculed him, but only to a small degree. Most of the children turned their cheek or tittered at Allie. As he grew up, he preferred the company of adults, and usually they gave him work to do. Erwa Holle was his favourite to help, in particular because she was with the nursery children so long.

At ten years old he moved into the next group referred to as the schools, which focused on developing hunter skills- basically everyone is required to know something about hunters life considering it is a primary focus of their religion. While there, he had two primary tormentors: Redd and Ilien. Redd was the worse of the two, an he usually pushed around and stole Allie's food. Redd also had outside sources, and just before Redd left to "meet" with his parents, he informed Allie that "there won't be anyone waiting for you because you're a loser! No one loves a loser like you!"

Ilien came some six months after Allie joined the schools. She was the daughter of a well-liked merchant who traveled between the North and South. However, while traveling through the Dief on their way to get a delivery, their cart was attacked, her brother attempted to save her by running from the turmoil, but they encountered a Shayte in their escape. The brother died from a heart attack, and Ilien blacked out. When she woke up, she was mostly blind, and due to a lack of childcare facilities in the South, she was put into one of the nursery schools in the North.

She bothered him frequently, plucking at his hair and remarking on it, stealing his food, and was generally ten times more persistent in bothering Allie than Redd ever was. But she never harmed him in a way which would be cruel to a normal child. Eventually, as Ilien picked off his plate for food he wasn't eating, he began to cry. Ilien was utterly shocked at the response, and asked "Is everything alright?" When he looked up at the girl, he realized that her question was completely sincere, and after a few exchanged words, he realized in a mortified way that he had misinterpreted her entirely. She had wanted to become friends.

To make up for the grief that Ilien had caused him, she promptly made herself the protector of his little gray hairs, to which her first quest became kicking the snot out of Redd, then hurt herself, cried to the Erwa, and said Redd had started it. The boy was promptly punished. Ilien asked if they could be friends now, more forward with her words, and Allie couldn't stop blushing for the fact that she had gone so out of her way for him. The two became fast friends after that.

As they grew, each developed remarkable skills as Hunters. Ilien proved that sight was not a hunter's most valuable skill, and became incredibly powerful as a keeper (one who navigates the woods); mean while, Allie showed peculiar, but no less exceptional results as a seeker (one who sees through the woods) - through trials of peripheral sense ans attention to detail, Allie scored exceptionally high, likely due to his anxiety (so the Erwa believed); and it was suggested that his willpower was remarkably low, making him naturally vulerable to the shifts in light and shadow which Shayten cast. However, Allie fell miserably short as a Keeper and Archer, but his value as a seeker left the Erwa urging him to continue as a hunter.

When Allie became thirteen years old, he had been VERY excited to finally meet his parents, but instead of the usual greeting, Allie was taken aside and sat down, and told that his mother had died some years ago and no one knew who is father was. It was not revealed who his mother was exactly. Imagine being thirteen years old, waiting in anticipation to meet your parents just like every other kid, only to find you that that bully you had was (in a child's mind) totally right. Note, however, that it was left out who is parents were; Erwa Holle believed it would be too much pressure to put on the boy and reserved the information to herself.

Allie immediately started balling at the revelation of such overwhelming disappointment, and several times he tried to run away from the daycare after that. This child believed there was no one who wanted him, even disregarding the relationship he'd built up so strongly with Ilien. Naturally, the attempts failed.

Once when he fled, Allie ran square into an older boy with unnatural maroon hair. The boy yelled at Allie for being a ditz, making the poor boy cry, and effectively yelled at him more because it was ridiculous to start crying suddenly after being yelled at!!! Ultimately, it was a hideous first encounter, but the loud wails and shouts helped the Erwa find their missing boy and bring him back. Yes, a strangely pointless incident for Allie, but that head of maroon hair will be back!

Erwa Holle adopted him shortly after, fond of the boy and she still had an ache in her heart over the loss of the Huntress. Erwa Holle took care of the younger children in the mornings, and in the evenings took on her role in the village as the Storyteller - many more of the stories she told to Allie in detail. Allie adored the stories of the Huntress, and admired her greatly. Erwa Holle let slip that Allie's skills as a seeker could one day match up with the Huntress's, and that was enough to make her his idol. It was not that he believed he would reach Erwa Holle's estimate which made him eventually calm down from his self loathing; but rather, he found a goal. He wanted to live and protect the village, because the idea of happened to her happening to anyone else agonized him. He would seek until there was nothing to be sought.

Allie was offered a special opportunity to become a Storyteller in light of his limited options (which was literally just becoming a hunter), and the special association with Erwa Holle, as well as his lineage (not that he knew that). Ultimately, he became torn between the two; to become a hunter and perhaps die trying or to become the Storyteller and fill a greatly needed position in this tribal community. Only one of them would let him live out his goals. In the end, he decided to be a hunter - he couldn't bear the idea of sitting within the village while darkness encroached upon them. He didn't want to see anyone become so full of madness. But he also asked if he could become a story teller some day when he left the guild, and of course Erwa Holle agreed. She had no children who would take up the position. Allie was quick to announce his occupation at 14 years old.

Ilien followed him on the simple basis that "it sounds like fun" - her peculiar bad vision stopped her at nothing, and had learned to navigate places with a kind of echolocation through clicks. During training (which would last six years) Ilien and Allie stopped being as close as they used to be, namely in that Ilien started to make other friends and Allie was left behind. Among their group of trainees were a few they already knew, but remarkably: Redd, who had also volunteered to be a hunter, and had already accumulated a small gang. At the start he left Allie alone, disinterested in picking on the boy, and it would have stayed that way always if not for events to come.

At 15, he was sorted into a squad for hunting trips - which, for the trainees, actually just meant animal hunting, but were permitted to kill any wisps on sight. Trainees were left in charge of meat gathering which would be passed on to the butchers. They operated instead in teams of four, which at 15, Allie was put into a group with Ilien and a boy name Hoden. There was one other girl who graduated a year after the squad formed, and her name didn't matter; when Allie was 16, a boy named Dray joined him, who was a friend of Redd's.

Ilien was always his friend, and Dray never liked him much, but Hoden was the most spectacular boy (or man) Allie had ever met. He was jovial, amiable, courageous, and deadly. He liked Allie a lot, and although a few years separated them, Hoden often remarked that he regarded Allie as a brother. Allie never understood why, although Ilien believed it was related to Hoden's older brother dying some years before in the forest, and she admitted Hoden had once asked about why Allie was always so frightened.

Dray and Ilien never got along; and Dray hated Allie strongly, finding his timid nature infuriating. Hoden often mediated. Allie, although his seeker skills were fantastic, proved to be more trouble in the Walt than anticipated as nearly everything startled him, and Dray (another seeker) was needed to fill in Allie's strangely unreliable sense as a Seeker. The poor boy would startle if a rat moved through the snow, or if the trees swayed the wrong way, or really anything that was sudden scared the shit out of him. I.E, Allie has incredible perception as a Seeker and spotted things faster than anyone else, but he also caused a lot of false alarms.

In February, when the days were becoming longer and the darkness in the forest became weaker. Allie was 17, and Hoden was a few months away from graduation. The squad was out hunting a bear spotted in the Dunn, but had gone just a little too deep. Allie was particularly easy to startle on this day, and jumped for nearly everything, leaving Dray heavily annoyed with Allie, and again putting Ilien and Dray at odds with each other, and Hoden having a generally bad day because his team is a disaster when Allie couldn't keep it together.

Despite the bickering and arguing, Allie picked up on the trees moving as if wind was blowing, and he did so so quickly that no one at first could believe it. He saw the trees bending and aching, and could see wisps stretching beyond their patrol route. Little worms, like flies, decorated his vision. They knew full well what the signs meant: a Shayte approached. The group was quickly split up, unprepared and too weak to fight it off. Hoden took Allie and Ilien took Dray in hopes to confuse and scatter the Shayte's interest enough that they would either slow it down in time to escape. Hoden kept a few steps behind Allie in order to make sure he made it out okay, but as Allie ran he heard a sudden howl and turned back to find Hoden face down in the snow, rolling over soon and agonizing in pain. Allie had just barely missed it, but Hoden had tripped over and sprained his ankle on a gnarled root.

Rushing back, Allie tried to convince Hoden to put an arm around him and he would carry him out- there was no way they'd both live if Allie did that, and Hoden urged him to run straight in one direction if he wanted to make it home, but when Allie didn't listen they were forced into fighting and argument with a degree of physical confrontation - Allie couldn't bare the idea of Hoden dying, and Hoden wouldn't stand to let his teammate die uselessly on his behalf. At least by himself, Hoden had a chance to make it out alive if the Shayten didn't come.

But it came as they fought. Hoden lay on his back looking up at it, while Allie stooped over Hoden and pinned him down thoughtlessly. He recognized the face of horror in Hoden's face. In his peripherals saw black tar dripping down and felt air like fire on his back. Stupidly, Allie looked back to see exactly what he had come to face, but before he could get a clear look at the monstrous thing, he blacked out from overwhelming stress. Within two days both of the boys were found, Allie was passed out still but breathing, and Hoden had died of a heart attack. Allie didn't fully recover from the incident for about two weeks, but when he finally woke up, his mental state was as it was.

As a result fellow trainees had redeveloped a particular hate for Allie based on the notion of "it should have been him." Allie recognized this hate as well, but attended training as he was supposed to, ignoring his peers as he usually did. The bullying picked up again, and Allie decided just to take it and remain quiet, terrified of what defending himself might do, but also understanding their anger. Hoden was well-liked by all, and Allie was a loser from start to finish. Dray moved on to a new group, and Allie and Ilien remained sort of odd ones who never quite fit well with any archers; although they were highly specialized, their short comings ultimately made them difficult to match with others.

It was discovered that, on the day that Hoden died, the Djok made a huge leap in size, as well as the Dunn, and later it was revealed that the increase in size swallowed up at least one of the villages at the Verltak, killing all but two (one, actually, as one of the two commits suicide consequently). The first of these, a woman, came with half her mind gone and crying for her son. The second came months later in the middle of summer. He was a boy named Roan, and supposedly son of the mother who came before.

In the years that followed, Allie's ostracism became painfully apparent, treated as if he were cursed for getting the wonderful young man killed. Ilien did what she could to keep her friend company, but it seemed as though any time they had to separate, Allie was again left to the bullying he suffered as a boy. He came home a few times battered to pieces, emotionally torn up, or dead on the inside. He nearly gave up being a hunter, and as his abilities as a hunter had barely improved since joining the trainees, he felt it would have been worth it to quit. He promised Ilien he would try to graduate with her, but lacked confidence in his abilities.

There was one notable month when a girl from the Eastern merchants took a shining to Allie, and she would pull him away from training to spend time together. Being a dumb boy, he followed her on the simple basis of having a friend, but learned only after a first kiss that he had totally misunderstood, and became overwhelmingly infatuated with her. Unfortunately, with the caravans, she disappeared without a goodbye.

On the third anniversary of Hoden's death, a memorial was held by the trainees, and after practice Allie went to visit with Ilien where they attempted to contact his spirit using taboo magic from the South- it didn't work but Ilien was clearly desperate to hear from their old squad leader again. Together they stayed at her house for a while, but as darkness closed in just a little too long, Allie realized his mistake and rushed out of her house to head home. Bad idea: going out in the dark was considered even WORSE taboo. On his way home, something about the air and the way the lights move changed, and every part of him understood that these were the signs of an oncoming Shayte, but just short of refused to believe it. Still, terrified, he looked around. Something dark in the shadows stared out at him, and Allie quickly passed out on the spot. He was found in the town square the next day, out cold but again, still alive.

Allie awoke suddenly two weeks later in the infirmary, sat up, and was so jarred by the motion that he immediately keeled over and puked his guts out. He reported that a Shayte was spotted in the village when he was able to, which caused a heavy stir among the Erwa and council members. Some wanted not to believe him, as no one else had seen even a wisp that night, others feared that this meant they would soon follow the path of the village(or villages) in the Verltak. Eventually, he discovered that Roan had been making frequent trips in the morning to check on Allie; and a little after that, learned it was Roan who had found him. Never mentioned to him was the strange behaviour he exhibited when Roan found him.

Although graduation was nearly postpone, it was uniformly agreed that despite the strange and concerning circumstances revolving around the possible Shayte spotting in the village, the Guild needed the new members desperately. Graduation proceeded on March 20th, on the spring equinox, as it was done every year. In the Djok Allie spotted an oncoming Shayte almost thirty minutes before it came and could even report its approach - by four and a half minutes, he became feverish with high anxiety, and blacked out moments before its final approach. Normally he might not have been suited, but the accuracy couldn't be matched by anyone in the guild.

Allie was assigned to a squad with Ilien, who had graduated with him, and Roan, who had graduated the year before and specialized in archery heavily, similar to how Ilien and Allie were with their skillset. Things went reasonably well, although Ilien and Roan seemed not to get along, Roan did not seem bothered by Allie, and (not to Allie's knowledge) actually took a shining to him. They would eventually become shooting partners in the mornings when the range was quiet, and similarly they remained quiet as well.

Ilien went inexplicably missing, and further investigation indicated that Ilien had stolen one of the trained carrier horses from her family and rode down the merchant road. Following the trail for a day, they eventually found her stunned and mortified over the ripped apart body of her mother. All signs, at least as far as Allie could tell, pointed toward madness, and a thick darkness loomed over the area which Roan could sense. The Walt had grown again.

Personality:

Alright, so before we get started, there's something in the history section that needs to be clarified that couldn't really be clarified there because none of it is known to Allie (presently), and the reason for its importance is that it basically recreated the person Allie could have been. See, when Allie's mother agreed to let the Being "save her son," she unwittingly agreed to letting her son become a GOD. How his godliness relates to him is all just bad news, but basically, She is some kind of weird protector of the forest, and with it being slowly cut down, She needed something to carry on after him should Her territory (the Walt) ever be extinguished. The Huntress and her child were just sort of convenient, but don't get her wrong! She's not a malevolent thing, just so powerful that the very sight of Her would drive a person to incurable madness, as happened with the Huntress. So as a result of this, Allie is basically a dormant god just waiting to take his place and has absolutely no idea about it. Also, his god powers kind of suck anyway, but that's obvs in the abilities section.

Allie is still mostly human, however, but like trying to mix oil into water, it doesn't really work out how it was planned. The human parts of him are unstable, and this embodies itself as complete and utter terror of (almost) absolutely everything. He was literally born scared to death, and as he grew up being incredibly stressed out and anxiety ridden, his hair poofed gray very quickly. Through most of his young life, he was a difficult child for how scared he was of everything around him, he has grown out of a lot of his childish fears and has taken on greater, darker fears. Okay, well, no, he's still afraid of a lot of things from his childhood too, but like let's be real, there's only so long you can go terrified of everything before you're like "Ok, I can be slightly less frightened of this now."

So that's basically Allie's main character point: scared shitless. He doesn't tend to get nearly as scared these days as he used to, but his fear has embodied itself in many different ways, giving Allie a kind of weird personality.

Outwardly, the boy is quite serious. He doesn't make a lot of jokes, he doesn't kid around much, and he's not exactly the most fun guy to be around (unless you like picking on people and making them flustered.) He does know how to laugh a little, although he's far too reserved. It's a lot thanks to Ilien that Allie has any sense of humor at all, as she would often urge him to smile and laugh more. His humor was bred through hers; but he only ever laughs as a third party. Telling Allie a joke wouldn't get you far (he might laugh politely). Allie has grown to appreciate Ilien's high-tempered wit, and often finds himself chuckling when she would bicker with Roan.

In most cases, Allie is agreeable. He's hardly a crowd pleaser, but rather he doesn't want to deal with the repercussions of squabble that offering his own opinion would cause. Occasionally he will voice what he thinks, and nearly always his thoughts are overwhelmingly pessimistic, but Allie is so much of a pushover that most have learned to ignore his fears instinctively; and even Allie pushes aside his own fears sometimes in favor of a more positive outlook. Hoden, with his sunshine smile, could talk Allie out of a cloudy day.

He's got a natural intelligence which is further embodied by the sheer number of books that he reads, and also stories that he's been told about the world. He likes lame things like history and/or religion (they pretty much go hand in hand). Being more bookish than most Northerners, he has a wealth of knowledge that no one around him really knows about or cares about. In fact, poetry arts are more appreciated than his collective knowledge. So his hobbies don't get him far on the friend front in the cold winter world.

Allie holds a sort of fearful respect for those older than him or more powerful than him, although there are a couple whom he respects in terms of wild fascination. The Huntress is one such person, whom he gapes at in stories; but also he holds a remarkably degree of respect for Roan, his peer. He fears letting those around him down, and actively wants to make people proud of him - since he was a child he only ever wanted to try his hardest for Erwa Holle. As much as he tries to ignore it, it pains him to think others are looking down on him or think ill of him.

You might be thinking: huh! Allie seems like a decent guy, why so much bullying? All the ostracism?! WELL. There's something about him, coughGodcreaturecough, that makes those around him distinctly dislike or avoid him. It's not any kind of magical power that a person feels suddenly "*poof* wow i hate this guy!!!" but more like a natural instinct that goes completely unnoticed. Obviously not everyone can have this kind of sense, and there are a couple of factors that might lead someone to completely disregard the ominous and unsafe feeling Allie permeates.

As was mentioned, Allie is an easily frightened young man. It was worse when he was younger, but for all it's jump first, think later - high anxiety leads him to startle at even a bunny appearing from the snow, and then feel silly for being so frightened of something that is (presumably) only innocent. He's mostly stopped giving false alarms as a seeker (misreading the shift in shadows), but now and then it gets the best of him. It makes him a bit annoying to deal with, and so Allie takes very careful precaution to be as unobtrusive as possible, having a soft voice and passive attitude. Even though he jumps easily, Allie has developed a weird sort of control over his terror; so his yelps or shrieks are actually very quite if not completely muted, and he's not prone to fierce reactions which would inhibit others.

His terror has a very distinct benefit, however. For one, it makes him extremely observant because everything catches his frightened eye, and there is nothing Allie does better than spot minute details. Does he always observe them correctly? Nah, he's still dense as lead. For another, Allie shows an incredible lack of skill drop when in tense situations. Imagine shooting at a still target verses shooting at a bear- while a normal person may exhibit decreased skill against the bear, Allie shoots basically the exact same in both situations. In fearful situations, he's not any different than he would normally be, making for a sort of weird contrast in how reliable he is as an archer, disregarding his overall low skill and shaky accuracy.

Allie shows a kind of control over his terror as well. Put it like this: he's afraid of the dark, and so if he wants to avoid the dark, he'd have to light a candle; but being afraid of burning the house down, he will determinedly not light the candle and sleep in the dark. He has a hierarchy of fear, basically; although the fear of dying is great within him, he has a greater fear of failure or idleness, and of the village being swallowed up by the Walt.

There are two things that Allie fears above all things: total rejection and the truth.

His fear of total rejection is based on past bullying, because those views are the most likely thing to get him hurt. He'd rather receive indifference most days and worries over his interactions with other people because he knows that how their conversations go can affect how they view him. He would rather live a quite life by himself if it meant avoiding hurt and pain.

But for as much as he just wants to be left alone and not given any trouble, he's not very good at denying a chance at companionship. He honestly just wants to be liked by someone, and even a momentary show of goodness or affection can make the boy melt like snow. The guy has no real concept of acquaintance verses friend, because he had grown up his whole life where every person he met was an enemy or Erwa Holle. To those who show him even the slightest bit of affection, Allie is extremely loyal. Despite Ilien's unintentional bullying, Allie very quickly forgave her at the prospect of a friendship. The girl with glasses still affects him. Even Roan, who he has only been close to for a snort time, has taken on great importance in his life.

Once Allie lets go of his fear of rejection, he takes on a new fear: a fear of loss. Hoden was one of the most important persons in Allie's life, and after he had accepted that Hoden honestly and sincerely liked him, Allie became fiercely loyal to his senior. Even though Hoden urged for Allie to run off without him, the frightened boy refused to abandon his friend and risk Hoden's death- it's unlikely that Allie running would have saved Hoden, anyway. Similarly, Allie still possesses a lot of anguish over the loss of his parents. It could be said of Allie that although fear is the basis of his personality, it's love that drives him forward.

No matter how well he knows someone, Allie still has trouble with people. He stutters and blushes, and glances every which way to avoid proper eye contact with a person. Roan ends up being a constant source of embarrassment when they finally start interacting with each other. Situation: Roan and Allie accidentally meet in the morning, both looking to practice their archer. Roan left about a half an hour before most other hunters would start their morning practice, and Allie attempted to call him back, asking why he wasn't staying. "Small talk" was Roan's short answer, and Allie shut right the fuck up and blushed like a damn shoujo. He felt foolish and terrible about bothering Roan. This ends up happening a lot through their relationship, as Allie got embarrassed about literally everything Roan did. (Roan is, after all, the cool incredible foreigner from the Verltak who shot an arrow like he was born holding a bow.) It's not just with Roan that he does this (Hoden was the prime offender before), and pretty much anyone can turn the guy pink if they look at him for a few seconds too long.

Finally, Allie has a very distinct and strange fear of reality and the truth - which sounds a bit weird being a generally down to earth guy who likes history and reading, but remember, he's a god-to-be who doesn't know it. Think of it as an instinctual resistance to reality, as though the human portion of him isn't ready to accept what he actually is. His mind pushes away anything that could be related to that, as well as any other thing that may be considered frightening or damaging. He doesn't like to ask how people are feeling, or what they think of him. He doesn't want to know the truth, and he's not a truth seeker. He doesn't ask questions as much as someone who likes reading so much - he just reads and that's it. In fact, reading human history may be truth for human, there is an Ultimate Truth that exists only within the forest- a truth even greater than humanity itself which is hiding somewhere within his soul, and it's waiting for him to find out. The part of him that is a god wants nothing more than to find reality, though, and creates a conflict inside him he won't know of for some time.

Abilities:
Hunter

As a hunter, Allie is considerably adept with a bow. Although, it's important to mention that due to the quickness of Shayten, the archers in this region have emphasized very heavily on a rapid fire archery style, which was redeveloped in our actual world by Lars Andersen and was effectively the ancient shooting style of archers prior to the invention of the gun.

Allie is physically fit, although he has a great deal of trouble keeping up with his peers due to a very mild degree of asthma- which I want to emphasize upon its mildness because it's basically nonexistent in the summer but becomes relevant during the winter, and worse so as the temperature drops. He can't run as fast as his peers but he can run farther than a number of them. He has terrible aim, but his ability to load arrows is considerably better than others, although he's very clumsy still and drops his arrows during training and practice. (Less so on hunts.)

The Huntress

Seekers develop to have a high sensitivity to the darkness in the woods which help them identify oncoming Shayten and wisps. These hunters generally have the lowest willpower as it seems to correlate with the ability to sense the darkness, and as a consequence, Seekers generally do not last long in the Guild as their sanity suffers heavily. It's rare for a seeker to die on encounter, but their suicide rates are notably higher than the other two. Many have developed techniques to manage their sanity such as darting their eyes around, wider peripheral ranges, and indirect shooting styles.

Allie's incredible skills as a seeker come from his mother more than anything, as seeking abilities tends to be related more to genetic lineage than anything. However, his abilities as a seeker are wildly increased by his bond with the Being in the forest. In combination, Allie is the ultimate seeker, and it's nearly impossible for even a wisp to get by his vision.

As was mentioned in the history section, he unfortunately is also scared of fucking everything, so he tends to see more than just the wisps and misidentifies these things as signs of wisps or Shayten. So despite being such a powerful seeker, he's liable to misinterpret the things he sees as being more than what they are. Having graduated, the problem is less than it used to be.

The Being

It's been mentioned that Allie is essentially a god, which probably is like WOAH SO COOL but no, it's not actually cool at all what he can do, especially considering that he's also part human and the uncool things he can do are actually really problematic. Remember his fear of, like, everything? That all boils down to this aspect of him.

Being part god, Allie has the incredible and monumental ability to be disliked just by looking at him!!!! The Being that is technically his second mother is an all powerful being of unknown origin who's beauty is so overwhelming that the sight of Her can case incurable hysteria. If Allie were to get access to his god form (which would be permanent and very unfun to RP so it will never be a thing), he would do the exact same to anyone who looked at him. But hey, the price of beauty, am I right? Right now, however, it's severely suppressed by his human form (intentionally done by Her), and instead he just emits an aura that makes people not want to be around him or associate with him. Again, this can be overpowered by people who are dense as fuck (Roan), don't give a shit (Ilien), exceedingly warmhearted (Holle), or have some affiliation with Her (which is no one). In short, you don't need super powers to overcome it.

His other amazingly suckish god power is a high susceptibility to the effects of any maddening, hysteria inducing, or hallucinogenic thing! Whatever it is, it has to have some psychological basis. Drugs are going to fuck him up pretty bad, illusions are pretty much two fold. Encounters with particular powerful wisps can leave him mentally paralyzed if they catch him by surprise (again, being an incredible seeker helps him avoid this.) Shayten encounters with recovery times usually take him about twice as long (recovery times are actually only a few days most of the time.) You can tell Allie won the god lottery.

There is one thing that sets him apart as "powerful," and that's the fact that no matter what the psychological damage is, he can recover from it, and the madness cannot kill him. No one really notices this because Shayten encounters have vastly different effects on the mind even when the encounters seem perfectly the same. Easiest example would be his close encounter with the Shayten that killed Hoden - it was powerful beyond reckoning, enough so to kill Hoden on the spot. Allie should have died as well, but instead entered a recovery stasis that took two weeks to heal the human parts of his mind that basically disintegrated. He cannot be reduced to insanity for long periods of time, and his body is slowly working out a mechanism that basically shuts him down when it's at risk. After this first encounter with the Shayte in the forest, the Shayte that met him in the village was not nearly as powerful, but his body knew what to respond to so it happened quicker. It's a defense system that works specifically on Shayten, but could cause blackouts if the god part believes the human part is in danger.

Like I said, his powers suck.

Samples

Dialogue:
Exposition/Introspection: