O R I O N - W H I T E
Details
Full Name: Orion Mathew White
Race: Human
Sex: Male
Age: 19
Height: 6'
Weight: 160 lbs
Birthdate: 63rd of Glade, Year 101
Birthplace: Betham, Koltoska
Profession: Hunter
Housing: A cabin on the border of Nivenhain
Partners: N/A
Titles: N/A
Factions: N/A
Fluencies: Koltoska, Common
Conversationals: None
Ineptitudes: None
Appearance
Orion is a man of slightly above average height, with a lean, balanced build. He has soft, fair skin and a clear complexion, with youthful features that properly display his age. He has medium brown hair that scarcely covers his forehead, often somewhat slicked back, though due to its length it takes on a distinctly different style. Most people would describe Orion as a handsome young man, in a sort of simple way -- he doesn't try overly hard with his appearance and doesn't really care about how he's perceived, but due to his athleticism and features he's often courted by the young ladies (and occasionally gentlemen) of New Betham.
Orion typically wears the attire of a rube; suspenders, simple white shirts, linen trousers and woven jackets. He's also known to wear hats, often mariner's or fiddler's caps.
Personality
Formed by his life of migration and war, as well as deeply-entrenched conservative values, Orion is an often quiet and soft spoken man, something of a wallflower -- but one with strong moral convictions. He truly cares for others and loves the people who love him, fighting tooth and nail for them and often placing others before himself. Ultimately, Orion is a survivor. He often brushes with death and has learned to live in an environment rife with danger. Still, he's a curious man interested in seeing the world and finding his purpose within it.
Orion speaks with a quaint, even charming, country tinge to his voice. He's not incredibly well-spoken and he's not fully literate, only capable of really writing his name and other basic conventions. Lacking in any formal education, he makes up for it in practical knowledge and a tolerance for disgusting work and diligent labor. He finds 'city-folk' like in Nivenhain to be strange, gaudy and crude, without manners or kindness. However, Orion has a deep fascination with Lorien and its society, considering -- even despite its war -- it thrives, with massive cities upheld by their population, even if those same cities are maintained by deplorable machines.
History
Orion was born in the town of Betham, western Koltoska, situated upon the long forest edge separating the Rien-Daravain borderlands and Larissa Valley. Betham was a small community of less than two hundred, and it existed at a time long before the apex of the war between Koltoska's two neighboring realms. When Orion was a child, Koltoska was -- in some ways -- a unified nation, with large parts of the region occupied by a militaristic liberation front called the KLA, or the Koltoskai Defense Army. His father was a Ranger for the KLA, and his mother was -- aside from raising him and his young brother -- an informant, often scouting the borderlands to detect the movement of Awoken of any kind. Considering their close placement to the front and the unique scouting positions available due to their nearby mesas, day-scouts like her were invaluable, and Orion and his brother would often stay with their grandparents while his mother scouted and his father fought to keep their area secure.
The Koltoskan, in many ways, had a pleasant life. His father taught him the basics of gunslinging, and trained him to be a Ranger. His mother taught him much of what he now knows of people; their many vices, but also their curiosity and splendor. He was taught to have dignity, care for others, compassion and manners. He was taught to love and be open to people and the world -- and in many ways, his home on the edge of the valley brought him a fulfilling youth. Within those years were friends and experiences that remain lifelong, even though many of them have now died.
In the year 116, Betham was destroyed by what the KLA often refer to as an 'Awoken War Machine' - the production of a Master Artificer, often produced in the Manufactory of Verdiven. Those creatures, made to do nothing else but kill, and designed with meticulous detail enabling them to cull even Argent Knights, were often far beyond the pale of what the KLA could handle. With them frequently came other Awoken, perhaps inferior but built still for war. During the battle for Betham's continued being, Orion's father died, leaving himself and his younger brother to flee while his mother continued to scout to help guide the fleeing refugees. She lost her leg on the flat of those mountains, fending off a spider-like Golem that had been sent out to kill stragglers. Though she survived, the woman received a grievous infection and after her amputation, she was never the same.
After Betham's destruction, most of its population moved to a town named Clearwater, situated within the true flat of the valley, surrounded by arid plains and red hills. A much larger town, and a bastion of the KLA, the remaining hundred or so people -- after losing much of their flock amid the migration, or in the battle -- felt safe, easily absorbed into the population of the larger hub. Only a year later, Clearwater was destroyed by a massing force of Awoken, one that had swept through the valley at a pace unfathomable to its residents. Without fear of hunger or attrition, and with no need to sleep or set up agriculture as they passed, the metal monsters cleaved a path through the valley that they filled with pain and brutality. Orion's mother, being that she had lost one leg, was strapped to the back of a horse where she sped towards the west.
Orion and his brother left with a caravan, mostly comprised of the people of Betham that still remained. They decided to move north towards Nivenhain, believing that proximity to Lorien would bring them some level of safety. Many of them, upon arrival, passed through the border and said goodbye -- never to see their people again. Those that remained found that their belief was largely true; Argent Knight and their Hollows would often patrol through, hunting Awoken. The Argent -- diligent and abiding by their goal -- never strayed to terrorize their forested town, and in their desire to prevent Awoken from slipping into Lorien's borders, they formed a weave of protection for the Koltoskans who had moved there, as well.
In many ways, this was where Orion's development as a person. The town founded was called New Betham, constructed entirely of cabin homes within the forest, with a population of only around fifty people, doubling that number in time. His mother became a minister for the Omen, a preacher in crutches, speaking of how God - the Returning King - had led them all to New Betham. In many ways she became a leader for their town, a symbol of bravery and resilience. Orion finally took up arms as a Ranger of the KLA, following his father's footsteps. His younger brother became an animal breeder, managing and disciplining horses and other livestock. Orion learned that duty -- and serving the people around him, protecting the people he had grown to love -- brought him no small amount of fulfillment. He began to dedicate his life to being a Ranger, hunting stray Hollows to learn how to fight, and pursuing the same long-arm skill his father once displayed.
Somewhere in all of the ardors of life, he began to develop this joy in service. But within that pride, built of community, came too a sense of fury. Orion's story begins at a crossroads, between fighting for his kin and peers and pursuing a greater goal, alongside the fractured remnants of the KLA: Koltoskan restoration, the return of their Military Commune, and the rebirth of a people against the genocide of a metal-born, invasive force.
