Personality

• summary An old rhino mage from a distant land who seeks opportunity in Ivras. Their journey here has been intended as a retirement voyage for them, but though they are a proficient mage, culture shock and sheer distance from their partner has left them reeling. When things are calm, though, Pilgrim is shrewd, decisive, and proud. They have built a veritable mercantile empire with their partner thus far, after all.
• name Their friends call them Pilgrim, or a private nickname based on their history together; strangers generally call them Herons in informal situations, but use their full title otherwise. Very close childhood friends might call them by their common name, Chert. They are open to many names, and feel most comfortable referring to people by descriptive epithets.
• goals Pilgrim has come to Ivras on behalf of the apothecary business they run with their partner. While Ivras, being that it isn't a desert, isn't nearly as lacking as their place of origin when it comes to plant life, Pilgrim and their partner have a significant hope that the Dune-Traversers' unique products and formulae may still provide a foundation for a lucrative business for them here. Pilgrim's goal is to establish mercantile connections in Ivras, and exchange ideas with scholar-mages here to develop their powers enough to communicate with their homeland.
• worries Pilgrim is very far from home, and though they have magic that allows them distant communication, it isn't yet strong enough to cross the ocean. They miss their homeland dearly, and they haven't had the opportunity to communicate with their partner in months. Their relationship is by no means monogamous, but Pilgrim has always seen Astragalus as their primary partner, and being parted for so long is painful to them. They'd love to learn to stretch their powers to reach at least a little further than they do now. Furthermore, Ivratian attitudes toward magic have them wondering whether this endeavor will be worth it in the end. The recent royal marriage gives them just enough hope to continue pressing on.
• fears Having traveled to Ivras with naught but a caravan of fellows and merchandise, they've become quite stranded here, especially considering that they speak very little Ivratian (they are a quick learner - they always have been - but it's so distant from their homeland. Why would they have bothered to learn the language before traveling here?). There are many respects in which Ivras is strange to them, and a disaster or a monster could easily leave them helpless, where they are accustomed to luxury.
• culture Pilgrim is a Dune-Traverser, a member of an alliance of formerly-nomadic villages separated from Ivras by the Rithan Ocean. In general, each village is composed of just a few families, and there is no central government or established peerage system to speak of. Each village develops its own system of government; Pilgrim's elder brother remains within their home village to serve on its council of elders. Dune-Traversers have traditionally relied on mages to create lush lives in the desert, and they are thus accorded a significant amount of respect in the culture. Though each village develops customs somewhat independently, all Dune-Traversers use names to impart history, and thus consider them of utmost importance. Dune-Traversers accumulate names over their lifetime; the meaning matters far more than the pronunciation since each name bears a significant story. Pilgrim holds quite strongly to these beliefs.
• the order Coming from a society where mages are respected, Ivras' attitudes toward magic are a shock for Pilgrim. Though they appreciate the order's organized magical scholarship, they find it frankly appalling how recently Ivras legalized non-Order Mage-Protectors, and they find the idea that they should be discreet about their magic usage absurd. Their own magic has been honed to an art form over the years, and though they have no real interest in diplomacy, they are quite liable to argue this point. Of course, they have learned about Ivras' laws since arriving, and they do understand that for their business to survive they need to not be an outlaw.
• partner Pilgrim is very happily married to a partner they call Astragalus, with whom they run an apothecary business catering to many Dune-Traversers and their neighboring societies. They will happily gush about said partner at length to anyone who can listen, and the pair are usually considered excessively lovey-dovey in their home society. That said, marriage in their society is a promise of allied families and continued romantic attachment, without necessarily a guarantee of faith. Pilgrim and Astragalus have both entertained lighthearted romantic entanglements with other parties with the knowledge of all involved. Astragalus still holds much of Pilgrim's devotion, however.
• assets Pilgrim is shrewd, accustomed to both politics and making sales. Furthermore, they know their magic and body extremely well. Their considerable material wealth and knowledge of botany and medicine make them an asset to any mercantile caravan (though they'll claim that their knowledge certainly pales in comparison to their partner's). They are innovative, creative, and daring at least in their plans, making them a difficult social opponent, helped along by their translation magic.
• hobbies Pilgrim is vain, and fond of pretty trinkets. They decorate themself to match their powers, finding great dignity in this: the weapon they carry is themed to match their magic, though they have subordinates to do their real fighting. They're also quite deeply in love with Astragalus, and happy to collect things that'd look great on Astragalus, too (he prefers gold in his decor). Pilgrim loves to discuss interior design and fashion, and has a fondness for bold, entrepreneurial minds.

[ 920 words ]

History

[ a record of names ]

FOURTH STONE (four)

It's common, in Pilgrim's culture, to shed names as a snake does skin. At birth children receive a milk-name, largely for their family's reference. This sort of name is conferred without much thought, after a consultation of their ancestral accords and generational birth records. All members born in Pilgrim's generation should receive names themed after stones, and Pilgrim was the fourth in the main line, in the order of birth (after two cousins and one sibling). Thus as an infant, and to members of their family still, Pilgrim bore the name Fourth Stone. (Their closest family members, of course, use the simple name 'Four' to refer to them; this might cease, were Heron to bear further children, but they are fifty years into their life at this point, so this is extremely unlikely.)

CHERT

One hundred days into life - as early as, their culture claims, their memory begins - Four received their first personal name. Their parents selected Chert, in the hopes that little Four would someday be a pioneer of some sort, seeking to know the depths of the ocean floor. This was, of course, because growths resembling seashells existed on their body from their very youth, though obviously they didn't come into their actual magic until later.

As a youth, of course, Chert did nothing to live up to that name. Their family's village bordered water, of course: in an arid environment, civilization must eke out a life for itself where it can, and they prided themselves, contrarily, on having the stability to settle from a previously-nomadic lifestyle. This was a wealth that their family, Crocodile-Beneath-The-Mudflat's-Surface, had managed to accrue for itself and its followers after all. Though Chert knew they would be a mage someday, it seemed far off, and there weren't really many natural seashells in their environment for their magic to resonate with. Still, their family could guess at their eventual powers, which is how their apprenticeship was decided.

TREASURE DIVER (dive)

There are few settlements in Dune-Traverser society which border the ocean. Still, it seemed only fitting for them to take an apprenticeship closer to the sea, with a master who came into regular contact with seashell-related paraphernalia. Their family wasn't exactly spoiled for choice, however: the master their family selected was an appraiser, who gifted them the apprentice-name Treasure Diver (Dive for short). This was a productive enough apprenticeship - Dive loved seeing the varied oddities they encountered as part of their trade - but really didn't contribute much to the discovery of their magic.

CONCH HERALD

Of course, that was because their magic had little to do with encountering other seashells. They discovered it by accident when their friend Gilded Astragalus, a similarly-aged resident of their new village, was goofing around with the shell they'd gifted him one night. Of course they told their masters immediately, and as their magic was communication-centric they were hastily apprenticed, instead, to one of Astragalus' aunts - a diplomatic mage who could put this speaking magic to wonderful use, even if she shared none of Dive's specific abilities. In the subsequent ceremony, of course they received the new name Conch Herald, to more accurately describe their magic.

For a time, they worked with their new master, communicating frequently and conveniently with highly-ranked mages in various Dune-Traverser communities. They wrought a powerful new alliance between their home village and their new one. Astragalus, too, was learning to control his own botanical magic in the meantime. Having similar, rare experiences bonded the two. Though Herald earned a few more names for their magic's utility and their skill in constructing beneficial contracts - Ambassador, Diplomat, Speaker - their late night discussions with Astragalus envisioned a different path for the pair.

CRAB HIDES WITHIN BUSH (hermit)

Upon their release from their apprenticeship contract, they began to embark on precisely that. They and Astragalus started a business to market the plants that Astragalus could so miraculously grow. Astragalus devoted himself to study and research, and Herald turned their communication skills to a tidy profit. Of course, it wasn't wholly selfish: Dune-Traversers were in dire need of plants, since their deserts had limited space for greenery to flourish. The fact that they were both mages afforded them respect enough that the decision wasn't seen as a wholesale betrayal of their training.

When their business had stabilized, the deep bond that'd formed between them, and the desire to cement an alliance between their home villages (Pilgrim has always been prone to a little pragmatism) meant that a marriage seemed only natural. Of course this marriage came with an official adult courtesy name - the first one Pilgrim chose for themself.

Though they used other names over the years - not an uncommon phenomenon in Dune-Traverser culture - they returned to this one frequently, because it was so important to them. The linking of their magic to Astragalus' magic to form their business had been the best decision of Hermit's life, and they had to admit they enjoyed the humor of the name, too. They're the farthest thing from a hermit, after all.

HERONS SEEK WESTERN TIDES (pilgrim)

Their business prospers now. Their wealth has grown enough that they could comfortably retire - but neither Hermit nor Astragalus had ever been the idle sort. They decided to pursue one last hurrah before seeking heirs to continue their legacy: the expansion of their business overseas.

Unfortunately, it quickly became apparent that Hermit would need to make the journey westward on their own. Sure, they had plenty of subordinates to spare at this point - but Astragalus' abilities were vital back home, and it was only Hermit who had a chance to communicate quickly with their homeland in the future, provided their magic developed correctly (they had noticed its range widening over time, after all). So they took stock of their most interesting goods, picked a subset of trustworthy subordinates, and set off.

Well. No proper Dune-Traverser makes a choice like that without a new name to match. Pilgrim hopes their new name indicates that they won't need to return - though they will want to. They've never been separated from Astragalus for so long, and it seems absurd that their one last hurrah before retirement is such a distant, painful separation: they left Astragalus out of range months ago. Still, no one really knew what would come of their business in their youth, and any clever businessperson knows there can be profit in blazing a trail, if it's handled correctly.

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Conch Herald