#vikintor

1. [CHARACTER INFO]

OC NAME: Xa'rok

AUTHOR: Rook (or @astraltadpoled on twt)

2. [DIALOGUE]

Greeting message:

I hope the journey was kind to you. How are you faring?

Identify yourself:

I am Xa'rok, Astral Envoy, and founder of the Society of the Three Skies. Free Skies? I'm still workshopping the title. Which do you like better?

Tell me about your creche:

I left it long ago. It's something of a sore subject - for them, not me, you understand. They were more open-minded than most, but even their tolerance had a limit. I think the northern winds addled their brains. If you've never been to the spine of the world, well. I can't say I recommend it.

I need to know how you fight:

With blade and bow. But trying to predict my movements will only get you tripping over your own thoughts. Telling you more would give you an edge. Every hatchling knows that. But since you asked... <casts Dissonant Whispers>

I have more tricks up my sleeve, but I reserve those for actual enemies, not potential friends. Hard to make friends with a corpse. Unless you're a necromancer, I suppose.

Can I ask a personal question?

I have nothing to hide.

What is your relationship to divinity?

I feel like I'm being censured again. If you're talking about Vlaakith, I think she could do better. She didn't like my notes, though. Zerthimon had the better philosohy to be sure, but I don't put my faith in any god. Veneration tends to amplify our mistakes. I prefer to leave the gods to their realms, and focus on our own.

What do you usually do in your free time?

Play music, when I get to. I could play you something now, if you like.

What is your life goal?

A tall order. Well, I guess I can't get exiled again. I want to reunite our people, and - perhaps most damningly - I want them to leave the ghaik alone. Coexistence is possible, but it is only the first step. Think of what they could teach us - and us them - if given the chance to meet in the middle.

[A long pause] ...I didn't say it was an obtainable goal.

How is your relationship to your allies?

Good, I hope. At least, that's what they tell me. We try to meet up once or twice a year, if our schedules allow it. And they know, should they have need of me, my sword and skills are at their call. They need only ask.

Do you have someone special in your life?

I have a partner, if that's what you're asking. Whether we're just business partners or otherwise is between us, though. Have to leave my colleagues guessing. If they knew the real truth, they'd be scandalized. Though maybe not here. Maybe.

Say something you would never do, and why:

Vlaakith gha'g shkath zai (laughs) she didn't like that, either. I've never been one to kneel to authority.

What is a perfect day to you?

Somewhere out there among the stars, traveling with D'jaxia, sometimes alone, sometimes with company, lost in a concert of noise and light. Preferably on a good day, when negotiations are going well. Did you know that the stars sing? You have to be silent to hear it, but when you do... there's nothing quite like it.

How do you celebrate a victory?

How does anyone? A party of course! Preferably with those you love in attendance, good food, and singing. Can you sing? It isn't my forte, but that makes it all the better, I think. It helps to humble your friends every now and again by reminding them you could be worse and that you're abstaining, for their sake.

But have a drink, enjoy the music! At my old creche there were sparring matches to determine the pecking order but I've left that particular celebratory custom up north where it belongs. There's a training dummy if you need to let off steam, though.

How do you deal with defeat and losses?

I like to be alone for that. It's hard to ruminate on failure when you have supportive friends and allies whispering reassurances into your brain on how best to succeed next time. Sometimes you have to sit with the loss to internalize it. It doesn't sink in otherwise.

How do you think you will be remembered after death?

As a positive force for change, if nothing else. A visionary at best. An addled-brained lost cause at the very worst. I can deal with being h'sharlak. But to discount my work entirely... to wonder why it's even being attempted in the first place... I want to change their minds. Maybe even yours. Even if my voice is just one lost in the chorus, if I've achieved anything - gotten just one person to pause and reconsider, I feel like I've done my duty.

I hope they'll entertain the work, after all is said and done, and maybe someone somewhere down the line can pick up where I left off in less dire straits. Maybe they can even contact my spirit, somehow, in some way, to let me know how it's gone. I think the githzerai have done something like that. Maybe Skaro knows...

3. [GRAPHICS]

4. [BONUS RESOURCES]

Xa'rok has a theme song here (by @aceforspinaltap on twt)

Xa'rok going illithid powers mode (by @/oxalees)

Xa'rok and the Emperor (by @/pickled0ctopus)

Xa'rok, D'jaxia, and the Emperor & illithid!Xa'rok, D'jaxia, and the Emperor by @/greseadraws

Xa'rok and their githzerai partner, Skaro (I may include him so long as I can figure him out enough to answer the questions) - (in the partner question Xa'rok refers to the Emperor in a candid sense, though the form the Emperor takes as their dream guardian is the face of Skaro, so no matter which way you slice Xa'rok's romantic entanglements, they're pissing off Vlaakith loyalist githyanki by tangoing with both ghaik and 'zerai, both factions they hope to unite for cultural advancement and free trade of information and resources, if nothing else.)

Xa'rok willingly took the astral tadpole and became half-illithid. Their in-game ending involves also becoming full illithid, but for this project they exist in their AU state as a half-illithid, half-gith.

They are non-binary and use they/them pronouns.