Naitheas Blackstaff
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Growing up in the Western Heartlands was difficult for Naitheas. He lived with his family in a small village outside of the Cloak Wood with his mother and father. When he was only 8 years old, his parents died to a disease that was spread by a sickened badger which had been digging through their food stores. When the father went out to shoo it away, he saw the badger was feral, and was bitten by the diseased animal. His mother contracted the disease through contact with the father, and they both passed 2 months later, leaving Naitheas to find for himself in the village.
Nate was not watched closely, and was pretty much allowed to do as he pleased. When he was 12, he wandered into the Cloak Wood alone, hearing giggling. He followed the sound deeper and deeper into the wood, until it disappeared. It was almost certainly a faerie of some type toying with the child as a prank, but it was certain to not end well. All Nate found was a glowing red set of eyes, and a ferocious growling. The fey had unintentionally led him to a Worg.
Sure he was going to die, Nate closed his eyes and began to cry. He fell to his knees, hearing the growling and letting it overtake his emotions. He cried and waited for what seemed like hours, but was almost certainly closer to 3 minutes. When the death he expected did not come, he opened his eyes to see a large bearded man holding the Worg by the fur on the back of its neck.
“This is no place for a young boy to be alone, now is it? Come. We’ll get you taken care of.”
The druid and his worg companion led the boy back to the grove deep in the Cloak Wood. It was here that he met the various druids of the circle. There were druids of Malar, Silvanus, Mielikki, Talos, Auril… all of the nature gods seemed to be represented… as well as the Mistress of Disease, Talona.
Blackstaff was a Talontar druid who kept mostly to himself. Hearing Naitheas’ story about losing his mother and father to disease, caused him to take Nate under his wing, so to speak. Blackstaff taught Nate that he could not control the disease, nor could he control who lived by it and died by it… or rather that he could, but it would not be the natural way of life, and this should not be done. Blackstaff smiled to the young man, explaining that he should be considered lucky. His parents died to a natural sickness, not one that was forced on them by magical means. It took Nate years under Blackstaff’s tutelage before he could truly understand what he meant.
At the age of 23, Naitheas was accepted as a member of the druid circle of the Cloak Wood. When he was given this honor, he adopted his mentor’s name, calling himself Naitheas Blackstaff.
Naitheas’ first task, was to travel the long road to Narfell. Talontar Blightbringers were spreading a disease, both natural and magical, and though disease on its own is not wrong… the wanton spreading of it is. Disease is a tool to continue the cycle of life. A tool for nature to quell numbers, to take those who are too weak to live under the circumstances they are given. The blightbringers were spitting in the face of the balance, and Naitheas was not about to let that go unpunished. He set off at once, staff in hand, to cleanse the Rawlinswood.
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Reviewed, XP Pending!
