Basic Information
Race: Akalak
Birthday: Winter, 466 A.V.
Gender: Male
Physical Description
Cugacon, Cuga for short, is medium sized for an Akalak. Standing about 6’8”, he weighs in at around 240 lbs, solidly built of hard, lean muscle. Due to his constant training and conditioning and the physical demands of the hunt, he is in excellent shape and very healthy. His skin is a deep cyan, his hair black, and eyes dark green with flecks of gold in their depths. The first mark of Evantia (the gnosis of Wysar) a blue flame with a strange glow, appears on the back of his neck. He is 45 years old, a young adult by Akalak standards.
Character Concept
Strength and valor, loyalty and courage – these are the virtues of the Akalak. For an Akalak raised surrounded by the best and bravest of their race, as Cuga was, these values are etched deeply into his heart and soul. But it is a soul he shares – for the secret of his race forces each and every Akalak to not only face his inner demon – but to co-exist with it, somehow. It is said that the older the Akalak is when his ‘dark brother’ first appears, the stronger that shadowy side will be. In some ways, Cuga’s childhood was the easier for the fact that this darker side of himself remained hidden, buried, or perhaps . . . latent. In hindsight, it seems that perhaps Eowe was simply biding his time, building up strength. For when Eowe first emerged, the struggle between the two personalities was almost the death of Cuga. He barely managed to contain and once again bury Eowe, and since that time, Cuga has expended a great deal of effort in trying to ensure he does not reemerge. To date, he has been very successful with keeping a lid on Eowe. But this ruthless suppression of this other part of himself takes it toll, and is, in the long run, very unhealthy. Cuga’s father has time and again urged him to seek help in learning to find a better balance with his dark brother, but so far Cuga has not done so. In truth, though he is scared of very little in this life, Eowe frightens him to the point that he would rather live with only half of himself than risk letting Eowe loose again.
What Cuga fails to acknowledge is that Eowe too has strengths – traits that could be useful to his light brother. Where Cuga is a bit conservative, Eowe is bold, a risk taker – and taking risks is sometimes necessary in this life. Where Cuga is loyal to a fault, Eowe views the world with a bit more skepticism, and his realism allows him to be a better judge of character, and the honesty or lack thereof in others. Where Cuga is focused almost dispassionately on his function as a hunter, Eowe is a creature of great passion – whether it be rage or lust, fierce irrational devotion or a burning commitment to a lost cause – Eowe feels things much more deeply than Cuga ever can hope to. Where Cuga is steadfast and dedicated to the bitter end to what he knows is his duty, Eowe can bring multiple lenses to bear on a situation, finding a view that renders the most clarity of what is really going on, though it might be the lens of what is most self serving. If Cuga were ever to find some way to tap into his brother, instead of smothering him, he would be a better man for it. If he goes on as he has been doing for thirty years now, some day, Eowe will make his move – and the result may be the destruction of both of them.
For now, Cuga is a quiet person, reserved and a bit of an introvert, by choice. He is solemn and rarely laughs, and seems to focus his whole existence around hunting, especially hunting Zith, and keeping his city safe. He is quite intelligent, but lacks creativity entirely. If he has a warmer, lighter side, it hasn’t really shown itself.
Character History
Cuga was born in the beautiful city of Riverfall, in a home on the sixth tier shouldering up to the Bluevein as it plummeted down the cliffs to the sea below. His mother was a Nakivak, a Konti who had been rescued from slavers on the plains of Cyphrus by a band of Ceruleans. She accepted a contract originally with Cuga’s father’s brother, to try to bear him a son. She did conceive, but that ‘uncle’ died during a vicious encounter with a glassbeak out on the plains. According to Akalak custom, his younger brother assumed the contract and when Cuga was successfully birthed, he adopted the boy as his own son. Cuga never knew his mother, though she did have another child – this time with his adopted father. It was a female baby, and his mother left Riverfall soon after that child was born. Cuga does not know his sister, but that doesn’t bother him. He wishes that he had a brother instead, but his father has not been able to have another child since his sister was born. The next female contracted, a human, conceived but died during the last part of the pregnancy, the son she carried dying with her. His father has tried to sire children on other Nakivaks, human and Kelvic, but none have conceived. There are no other males left of Cuga’s family, besides himself and his father. So being the last of his line, so to speak, there’s a lot of pressure on Cuga to hurry up and find a female and start trying to have a son, or preferably, sons.
Cuga’s young life was entirely typical of an Akalak child. His father’s ‘job’ was based in one of the two outposts set at the top of the falls, where warriors and Cerulean alike were tasked with being the first alert system, and first line of defense, against any foe that might approach Riverfall. Cuga then was raised surrounded by warriors who, perhaps even more than those Akalaks in other professions, took their continuous training in deadly earnest. Mizahar was not a friendly land. It was not a peaceful place. Danger was all around their treasured city – their city, despite it was a replacement for the one lost during the Valterrian. Cuga’s father and his fellow warriors were bound by duty and love to protect it, and its citizens, and Cuga himself grew up imbued with the same sense of loyalty and passion and pride in his beloved city. From an early age, he strove to be the best, the strongest, the hardest and most resilient fighter that he could be. He trained with extreme zeal, pushing himself to his limits and then reaching for more, a son that his father could be proud of – an Akalak his people could depend on. His intention was to hopefully follow in his father’s footsteps and work as a guard at the outposts. That was – until he first set foot out on the plains that stretched out beyond the top of the falls, a grass covered echo of the Suvan that rolled in blue-green swells 3000 feet below.
They stretched out – the grasslands – in an unending, undulating ocean, to the far, far horizon, and the boy was hooked – mesmerized and bewitched by its call. At first with his father and other warriors, sometimes with the Cerulean they kept watch over or worked uneasily with, and finally, by himself, Cuga spent every moment he could spare away from his rigorous training out on the plain. There was just something about its sense of the infinite, the fact that he knew it led onward and outward for mile upon mile upon mile. Like those who might hear the call of the sea, Cuga heard the call of the grass, and he knew in his heart that it had something to do with his father – his real father who met his fate out there in the grass. His father had been a hunter, and Cuga would be a hunter too. His adopted father was not disappointed – as a hunter his son would be respected. When Cuga’s own sons came along, as he hoped desperately they would, it seemed certain they too would choose to be proud, strong warriors.
Thus at the age of fifteen, Cuga went out with three other boys and successfully negotiated his Rite of Trial. An old, tough minded glassbeak was dispatched without too much trouble and all four boys returned to the city to be lauded and celebrated. Cuga announced his intention of training to be a hunter, one of his deceased father’s old friends agreed readily to train him, and his feet were set on an old and honorable course. Life was good.
In a way, it was both an unusual thing and a good thing that even by this time in his life, Cuga had never yet felt the presence of his dark brother. But not too long after he passed his Rite of Trial, he finally experienced the emergence of Eowe, the being he later came to secretly call his demon self. It happened during a hunt for Zith. Cuga had been left behind with other boys at a relatively safe distance, the adult hunters having moved on to get closer to their prey. The clever Zith, though, had already realized they were being pursued, and some circled back and took the group of boys by surprise. In the horrible, bloody chaos that ensued, Cuga was first injured, raked deeply by a Zith’s razor sharp talons, and then he felt something bubble up inside of him. It was as if Eowe came bursting forth, fully formed, and intent upon destroying everything that for so long he had not been able to touch. Like some sort of berserk maniac, Cuga flung himself unarmed at the Zith and ripped it to shreds with his bare hands. But then, he turned to the next being closest to him, who happened to be one of his friends. It was never very clear – the boy had already been practically disemboweled by another Zith. The only other boy to survive, besides Cuga, insisted later that Eowe ripped his friend’s head from his shoulders. Cuga claims to have no memory of any of it. All he knows it that when the adults returned, he was sitting in the midst of a field of carnage, four dead Ziths and as many dead Akalak boys – and one very terrified boy already running for his life, miles away when they finally tracked him down. Covered in gore from head to toe, Cuga appeared almost catatonic, and when touched he lashed out, but feebly. Never, to anyone, has he related the battle he fought with Eowe, even as Eowe destroyed the Zith. But he determined on that day that Eowe would never surface again. And he has committed himself to that vow.
Life, as they say, went on, and over the next fifteen years, Cuga deliberately tried to ignore the fact that, like all Akalak, he had this darker side. Instead, he focused with even greater intensity on his training and conditioning, and he developed a reputation for being an extremely solemn, serious minded boy, who kept to himself a lot. He was soon known as an extremely skillful and tenacious hunter. At the age of thirty, he easily passed his next Rite of Manhood, on a solo hunt, bringing back a brace of Zith heads strung from a pole. Once again, his father and his city congratulated him and celebrated his success. He was allowed to forge his Lakan, which he did with a soaring sense of pride of accomplishment and gratitude to Wysar. Cuga was now an adult and his father began to subtly push him to prepare himself to find a female to procreate with – they needed a son, a grandson. They needed it and their race needed it. Think about it son, his father would say, a tinge of the melancholy of their race underlying his deep voice.
Cuga, ever one to listen to his father, and his elders, and to know where his duty lay, has been considering it – this conundrum that seems to be the doom of his people. With no especial qualms about the traditions that see other Akalaks buying Kelvics as walking wombs, or forcing ‘rescued’ females of other races to accept sexual servitude in return for the Akalak’s grace, Cuga simply searches for the most efficient solution. Each option has a potential drawback. Humans tend to have many complications and a high mortality rate before a healthy child is birthed. Konti often bear females, which are of no use. Kelvics were perhaps the best choice, and Cuga has taken to frequenting the market, looking over the daily offerings. Females of other races are fairly rare in Riverfall, and Cuga has no desire to range far afield to find a mate. So . . .
Putting off a decision would be a very foreign concept to Cuga. He is a person of forethought and planning, but ultimately of action. Once he has weighed the pros and cons carefully, he will act, and deal with the consequences as they arise.
Training
Skills:
Starting Packet
Unarmed Combat 10 [Starting Package (0), Racial Bonus (10)] - Novice
Hunting 30 [Starting Package (30) ] - Competent
Tracking 20 [Starting Package (20) ] - Novice
Earned XP
Animal Husbandry - 4 - Novice
Observation - 2 - Novice
Arcana
None
Gnosis
Evantia of Wysar (first mark)
Lore
Akalak history and culture
Akalak weaponry
Holding Emotion At Arm's Length
Love And Loss
Languages
Fluent: Tukant
Basic: Common
Poor: Zith
Equipment and Possessions
Ledger
+100 gold [Starting Package]
Thread List
Race: Akalak
Birthday: Winter, 466 A.V.
Gender: Male
Physical Description
Cugacon, Cuga for short, is medium sized for an Akalak. Standing about 6’8”, he weighs in at around 240 lbs, solidly built of hard, lean muscle. Due to his constant training and conditioning and the physical demands of the hunt, he is in excellent shape and very healthy. His skin is a deep cyan, his hair black, and eyes dark green with flecks of gold in their depths. The first mark of Evantia (the gnosis of Wysar) a blue flame with a strange glow, appears on the back of his neck. He is 45 years old, a young adult by Akalak standards.
Character Concept
Strength and valor, loyalty and courage – these are the virtues of the Akalak. For an Akalak raised surrounded by the best and bravest of their race, as Cuga was, these values are etched deeply into his heart and soul. But it is a soul he shares – for the secret of his race forces each and every Akalak to not only face his inner demon – but to co-exist with it, somehow. It is said that the older the Akalak is when his ‘dark brother’ first appears, the stronger that shadowy side will be. In some ways, Cuga’s childhood was the easier for the fact that this darker side of himself remained hidden, buried, or perhaps . . . latent. In hindsight, it seems that perhaps Eowe was simply biding his time, building up strength. For when Eowe first emerged, the struggle between the two personalities was almost the death of Cuga. He barely managed to contain and once again bury Eowe, and since that time, Cuga has expended a great deal of effort in trying to ensure he does not reemerge. To date, he has been very successful with keeping a lid on Eowe. But this ruthless suppression of this other part of himself takes it toll, and is, in the long run, very unhealthy. Cuga’s father has time and again urged him to seek help in learning to find a better balance with his dark brother, but so far Cuga has not done so. In truth, though he is scared of very little in this life, Eowe frightens him to the point that he would rather live with only half of himself than risk letting Eowe loose again.
What Cuga fails to acknowledge is that Eowe too has strengths – traits that could be useful to his light brother. Where Cuga is a bit conservative, Eowe is bold, a risk taker – and taking risks is sometimes necessary in this life. Where Cuga is loyal to a fault, Eowe views the world with a bit more skepticism, and his realism allows him to be a better judge of character, and the honesty or lack thereof in others. Where Cuga is focused almost dispassionately on his function as a hunter, Eowe is a creature of great passion – whether it be rage or lust, fierce irrational devotion or a burning commitment to a lost cause – Eowe feels things much more deeply than Cuga ever can hope to. Where Cuga is steadfast and dedicated to the bitter end to what he knows is his duty, Eowe can bring multiple lenses to bear on a situation, finding a view that renders the most clarity of what is really going on, though it might be the lens of what is most self serving. If Cuga were ever to find some way to tap into his brother, instead of smothering him, he would be a better man for it. If he goes on as he has been doing for thirty years now, some day, Eowe will make his move – and the result may be the destruction of both of them.For now, Cuga is a quiet person, reserved and a bit of an introvert, by choice. He is solemn and rarely laughs, and seems to focus his whole existence around hunting, especially hunting Zith, and keeping his city safe. He is quite intelligent, but lacks creativity entirely. If he has a warmer, lighter side, it hasn’t really shown itself.
Character History
Cuga was born in the beautiful city of Riverfall, in a home on the sixth tier shouldering up to the Bluevein as it plummeted down the cliffs to the sea below. His mother was a Nakivak, a Konti who had been rescued from slavers on the plains of Cyphrus by a band of Ceruleans. She accepted a contract originally with Cuga’s father’s brother, to try to bear him a son. She did conceive, but that ‘uncle’ died during a vicious encounter with a glassbeak out on the plains. According to Akalak custom, his younger brother assumed the contract and when Cuga was successfully birthed, he adopted the boy as his own son. Cuga never knew his mother, though she did have another child – this time with his adopted father. It was a female baby, and his mother left Riverfall soon after that child was born. Cuga does not know his sister, but that doesn’t bother him. He wishes that he had a brother instead, but his father has not been able to have another child since his sister was born. The next female contracted, a human, conceived but died during the last part of the pregnancy, the son she carried dying with her. His father has tried to sire children on other Nakivaks, human and Kelvic, but none have conceived. There are no other males left of Cuga’s family, besides himself and his father. So being the last of his line, so to speak, there’s a lot of pressure on Cuga to hurry up and find a female and start trying to have a son, or preferably, sons.
Cuga’s young life was entirely typical of an Akalak child. His father’s ‘job’ was based in one of the two outposts set at the top of the falls, where warriors and Cerulean alike were tasked with being the first alert system, and first line of defense, against any foe that might approach Riverfall. Cuga then was raised surrounded by warriors who, perhaps even more than those Akalaks in other professions, took their continuous training in deadly earnest. Mizahar was not a friendly land. It was not a peaceful place. Danger was all around their treasured city – their city, despite it was a replacement for the one lost during the Valterrian. Cuga’s father and his fellow warriors were bound by duty and love to protect it, and its citizens, and Cuga himself grew up imbued with the same sense of loyalty and passion and pride in his beloved city. From an early age, he strove to be the best, the strongest, the hardest and most resilient fighter that he could be. He trained with extreme zeal, pushing himself to his limits and then reaching for more, a son that his father could be proud of – an Akalak his people could depend on. His intention was to hopefully follow in his father’s footsteps and work as a guard at the outposts. That was – until he first set foot out on the plains that stretched out beyond the top of the falls, a grass covered echo of the Suvan that rolled in blue-green swells 3000 feet below.
They stretched out – the grasslands – in an unending, undulating ocean, to the far, far horizon, and the boy was hooked – mesmerized and bewitched by its call. At first with his father and other warriors, sometimes with the Cerulean they kept watch over or worked uneasily with, and finally, by himself, Cuga spent every moment he could spare away from his rigorous training out on the plain. There was just something about its sense of the infinite, the fact that he knew it led onward and outward for mile upon mile upon mile. Like those who might hear the call of the sea, Cuga heard the call of the grass, and he knew in his heart that it had something to do with his father – his real father who met his fate out there in the grass. His father had been a hunter, and Cuga would be a hunter too. His adopted father was not disappointed – as a hunter his son would be respected. When Cuga’s own sons came along, as he hoped desperately they would, it seemed certain they too would choose to be proud, strong warriors.
Thus at the age of fifteen, Cuga went out with three other boys and successfully negotiated his Rite of Trial. An old, tough minded glassbeak was dispatched without too much trouble and all four boys returned to the city to be lauded and celebrated. Cuga announced his intention of training to be a hunter, one of his deceased father’s old friends agreed readily to train him, and his feet were set on an old and honorable course. Life was good.
In a way, it was both an unusual thing and a good thing that even by this time in his life, Cuga had never yet felt the presence of his dark brother. But not too long after he passed his Rite of Trial, he finally experienced the emergence of Eowe, the being he later came to secretly call his demon self. It happened during a hunt for Zith. Cuga had been left behind with other boys at a relatively safe distance, the adult hunters having moved on to get closer to their prey. The clever Zith, though, had already realized they were being pursued, and some circled back and took the group of boys by surprise. In the horrible, bloody chaos that ensued, Cuga was first injured, raked deeply by a Zith’s razor sharp talons, and then he felt something bubble up inside of him. It was as if Eowe came bursting forth, fully formed, and intent upon destroying everything that for so long he had not been able to touch. Like some sort of berserk maniac, Cuga flung himself unarmed at the Zith and ripped it to shreds with his bare hands. But then, he turned to the next being closest to him, who happened to be one of his friends. It was never very clear – the boy had already been practically disemboweled by another Zith. The only other boy to survive, besides Cuga, insisted later that Eowe ripped his friend’s head from his shoulders. Cuga claims to have no memory of any of it. All he knows it that when the adults returned, he was sitting in the midst of a field of carnage, four dead Ziths and as many dead Akalak boys – and one very terrified boy already running for his life, miles away when they finally tracked him down. Covered in gore from head to toe, Cuga appeared almost catatonic, and when touched he lashed out, but feebly. Never, to anyone, has he related the battle he fought with Eowe, even as Eowe destroyed the Zith. But he determined on that day that Eowe would never surface again. And he has committed himself to that vow.
Life, as they say, went on, and over the next fifteen years, Cuga deliberately tried to ignore the fact that, like all Akalak, he had this darker side. Instead, he focused with even greater intensity on his training and conditioning, and he developed a reputation for being an extremely solemn, serious minded boy, who kept to himself a lot. He was soon known as an extremely skillful and tenacious hunter. At the age of thirty, he easily passed his next Rite of Manhood, on a solo hunt, bringing back a brace of Zith heads strung from a pole. Once again, his father and his city congratulated him and celebrated his success. He was allowed to forge his Lakan, which he did with a soaring sense of pride of accomplishment and gratitude to Wysar. Cuga was now an adult and his father began to subtly push him to prepare himself to find a female to procreate with – they needed a son, a grandson. They needed it and their race needed it. Think about it son, his father would say, a tinge of the melancholy of their race underlying his deep voice.Cuga, ever one to listen to his father, and his elders, and to know where his duty lay, has been considering it – this conundrum that seems to be the doom of his people. With no especial qualms about the traditions that see other Akalaks buying Kelvics as walking wombs, or forcing ‘rescued’ females of other races to accept sexual servitude in return for the Akalak’s grace, Cuga simply searches for the most efficient solution. Each option has a potential drawback. Humans tend to have many complications and a high mortality rate before a healthy child is birthed. Konti often bear females, which are of no use. Kelvics were perhaps the best choice, and Cuga has taken to frequenting the market, looking over the daily offerings. Females of other races are fairly rare in Riverfall, and Cuga has no desire to range far afield to find a mate. So . . .
Putting off a decision would be a very foreign concept to Cuga. He is a person of forethought and planning, but ultimately of action. Once he has weighed the pros and cons carefully, he will act, and deal with the consequences as they arise.
Training
Skills:
Starting Packet
Unarmed Combat 10 [Starting Package (0), Racial Bonus (10)] - Novice
Hunting 30 [Starting Package (30) ] - Competent
Tracking 20 [Starting Package (20) ] - Novice
Earned XP
Animal Husbandry - 4 - Novice
Observation - 2 - Novice
Arcana
None
Gnosis
Evantia of Wysar (first mark)
Lore
Akalak history and culture
Akalak weaponry
Holding Emotion At Arm's Length
Love And Loss
Languages
Fluent: Tukant
Basic: Common
Poor: Zith
Equipment and Possessions
- 1 Set of Clothing [cloak/coat & footwear included]
- 1 Waterskin
- 1 Backpack which contains: 1 Set of Toiletries, Food for a week, 1 eating knife, Flint & Steel
- 1 basic 20x20 single room cottage (400 sq feet) with a hearth, bunk, chest, chair, and small table.
- Family Heirloom: None
Ledger
+100 gold [Starting Package]
NPC Info :
Thread List
Summer, 511 A.V. :
Fall, 511 A.V. :
