Kethrai

Kethrai
Status	Active
Race	Prydaen
Gender	Male
Guild	Empath
Instance	Prime

Description

You see Heart Tender Kethrai, Life Weaver of Kaerna Village, a Prydaen Empath.
He has an oval face, cat-slitted moss-green eyes and a whiskered nose. His deep purple-streaked lavender mane is shoulder length and curly, and is worn in a halo of tousled curls. He has sandy fur with brown points, a fluffy tail and a lissome build.
He is short for a Prydaen.
He is a moth-stalker.
His facial fur is decorated with a bounty of tiny melir blooms. Clustered around his left eye, the white glaes flowers glisten with delicate rosy pink hues. Tiny petals trail downwards, whirling along his jaw as though scattered by an errant breeze.
His abdomen has a tattoo of a stunning vela'tohr flower bleeding through a variety of jewel-toned hues.

He is wearing a pale lavender etrana blossom with rich mulberry undertones, an Elven gold wedding torque capped with carved tiger lily carnelian blooms, a saffron marblesilk ysin embroidered with an extravagant flush of pale purple shalyria blossoms and a pair of gilded leather sandals with tiny gold buckles.

Origin Story

Kethrai was born on the 27th day of the 10th month of Nissa, 422 A.V., in Kaerna Village. His parents Yunalor and Rehmasi are both Rangers, but they settled down on a small farm to start their family. Although the plan was for Kethrai to be one of many children, he never got any siblings, so his parents poured their adoration, and expectations, solely on him.

Kethrai's upbringing was not in traditional Prydaen style. Although Kaerna sits practically in the shadow of Sunfall Hub, his parents were unwilling to risk the dangerous trip through S'lai territory, so he did not grow up raised by a village and hearing stories from the elders. Instead, he heard the old songs from his parents and extended family once in a while, but most of his formative experiences were like those of his Human and Olvi friends in Kaerna.

As a result, Kethrai was taken aback when, not long before his fifteenth birthday, Yunalor and Rehmasi began drawing up grand plans for an expedition to Dawnvale Hub. After so long in farming domesticity, their wanderlust had been returning, and they had raised Kethrai with the idea that when he came of age to apprentice, it would be under Kalika. So, they reasoned, all three of them could go, as a Ranger family, and be among the first pioneers building a new home for the Prydaen people in unknown and likely dangerous surroundings.

But the idea of living the next part of his life in a remote Hub surrounded only by other Prydaen was not as appealing to Kethrai. He barely spoke the language, barely felt connected to the customs and culture, and could hardly even stomach raw meat. He felt more connected to his Zoluren home than to a distant racial homeland to the west. After a long and protracted shouting match, Kethrai packed what little things he could consider to be his own and hopped on the next Trader caravan heading south. Through sheer pique and rebellion against his parents' plans for him, Kethrai found a different guildleader to apprentice under: Salvur Siksa of the Empath guild.

"I still feel like that was the right choice," Kethrai says when he reflects on it. "Looking at where my life is now, I don't think I'd change any of the decisions that led me here. Except, maybe say less hurtful things to my parents. That was the last interaction I ever had with them."

Basalt Isle

On the 36th of Arhat, 439, Kethrai joined a host of other adventurers in the assault on Basalt Isle with the goal to destroy the Lich Jeihrem. They were unsuccessful in that goal. Kethrai now considers it lucky that everyone who went to the Isle came back without anyone lost and left for the necromancers on the beachhead. It was a traumatic time for everyone involved, and he has begun developing ideas of how Empaths can be better equipped to help people not just with physical injuries and ailments, but with the mental scars that such a trauma leaves behind.

Guild Philosophy

Kethrai holds himself to high standards of behavior: he doesn't practice sorcery, he is a strict pacifist and refuses to cause harm to living beings even in self-defense, and he tries to embody Hodierna's grace as best he can in the world. He applies empathy not just supernaturally but in all his dealings with others, and will not refuse to help someone in need of healing for any reason other than that person being actively engaged in violence against him, his friends, or innocents.

None of this means holding everyone to the standards he applies to himself. He recognizes that other adventurers often engage in sorcery, and for the most part has adapted to this fact. He understands that other adventurers need to practice and mete out violence, and in some cases even admires their willingness to set aside their own safety and spiritual needs in defense of others.

The one hard line Kethrai remains unwilling to cross or compromise on is necromancy. Having grown up hearing stories from his ancestors who were part of the Great Migration and saw Lyras's crimes first-hand, followed by his own experiences on Basalt Isle, he will steadfastly refuse to consider any good ends that may come from the evil means of that practice. Despite a number of long and admittedly thoughtful conversations with several necromancers, they have served only to sharpen his conviction on these points.

To Kethrai, his empathic senses are the greatest gift he's ever received, and using them to reduce the amount of hurt and suffering in the world is the greatest work he can ever aspire to. Although he's at least grown accustomed to it, he can still sometimes feel discomfort when witnessing other Empaths engage in acts that cause them empathic shock. That discomfort is sharpest around the Icutu Zaharenela spell, which feels not only uncomfortably close to necromancy but represents a complete perversion of the ideal that empathy represents to him.

None of this discomfort extends even a little bit to the practice of shifting. While Kethrai recognizes the practical need to be discreet in provinces where the practice is officially forbidden, the ability for an empath to consensually assist another person in shaping the reality of their body to best match their ideal self-image represents a perfect use of his gift.

Shifting Services

Kethrai will provide shifting services free of charge to anyone who wants them. Everything up to and including decade shifts is available. Interested parties should contact via gwethdesuan.

Relationships

• Married to Anuril
• Apprentice of Korya Pr'kova
• Mentor of Opol FeralClaw, Linsue, Aransa, and Timorias

Quirks

• Shy and polite around strangers, but more playful with his friends
• Lives with his husband Anuril in a modest house in Willow Walk
• Likes: teaching, writing, music, sweets, warm weather, the beach, ice skating (the only good thing about winter)
• Dislikes: very spicy food, raw meat (fish is OK), cold weather, moongates, necromancy

Writings

• On the Prydaenese Language

Logs

• Arthe Dale concert (2023-04-21)
• Zoluren Tour of Homes (2024-01-28)
• Discussion with Valenal (2024-07-28)
• A Place to Grieve (2024-09-11)