Taimo Shivelight

Gruff / Blunt / Guarded / Protective / Petty

Taimo is a guardian of the wilderness, and seeks strongly to keep it as lawless and wild as possible. The only time he's soft and gentle is when it comes to natural life. That, he values. Taimo will gingerly care for flora and fauna alike, and guard them fiercely from the changes sentient things bring. Hunters are fine, that is a part of life. It's those who would turn forests into fields and empty lakes who he hates.

Unfortunately, though he is perfectly fine morally with hunters, his portfolio of "the hunted" has a side effect on him. He is one of those hunted. Taimo is the fabled beast that all who enter his woods feel compelled to keep an eye out for, on the off chance they can shoot him down and pin his head to their wall. He has evaded any attempts at doing so for years upon years, constantly hiding or running. What they don't know, and what he so bitterly refuses to share, is that the one who hunts him successfully will take over his role. They would become the hunted next. He doesn't have much faith in any of these new age hunters' abilities to last long.

He never shows himself. Not even to those who revere him. Taimo's size, shape, anatomy, is all unknown to the world. Centuries of staying hidden have rendered him an expert in that field, and in his forest, the environment itself seeks to shield him from view. Hunting him down in his own home is nearly impossible, and he never leaves it for that reason. Despite knowing the hunter would take on his role next if they were to succeed, he still has that very mortal desire to stay alive.

Many stories exist about how he came to be, but the consensus, among many fables and stories, is thus:
Taimo was first created as young creature in a young world, primal and nonsentient, emerging from a large flower blooming. As the world developed, so did he. Beginning as a skittish, fearful creature that crawled and hid, to something fleet of foot and able to climb, to horned and clawed prey that fought back against death's jaws, to the one he is now. There is some contention about whether or not Taimo is sentient now. The locals are adamant that he is, while hunters that wander into the area seem incapable of seeing him as anything more than a wild animal of legend. What power can a god of prey have, when they themself are hunters' quarry? In truth, Taimo is very much sentient, and has been for a long time, with all the curses and blessings that come with sentience and self-awareness. 

The residents of his sprawling territory have made it their unasked mission to discourage visitors and snap them out of The Hunted's passive charm, to keep Taimo safe and to keep the hunters from getting killed. Generally, the less a visitor has hunted in their lifetime, the less likely they are to give into the compulsion, and easier it is to snap them out of it if they do. The truly dedicated hunters are gripped by the land's drive to seek and give chase so tightly that the thought often stays with them even once they leave the territory.

Taimo keeps his ears out for all who come to visit or reside in his land. The forest itself keeps him well-informed on everything, from treetops to deep roots, and everything that breathes over its dappled ground. As such, he's aware of  the locals' reverence for him, the things they do for him, the visitors that want him dead, and even the visitors who want to find him to plead.

Though he doesn't care if the hunters that succumb to his territory's draw think of him, he does feel genuine, though subtle, appreciation for the locals who try to stop them, and respect him and the role he plays. To them, he is "Taimo the Traceless", the prey that cannot be caught, trapped, or tracked. That view of him is uncommon but does exist outside his territory. And sometimes, a truly desperate soul will come crawling to his land, hoping for his aid. Often they are running from persecution, seeking sanctuary with his help.

Taimo can sense intent. It's the prey in him--they know, or at least suspect, when they are being lied to or lured. They sense when something is off, and that sense in him is heightened to extremes. Taimo will sometimes allow his forests to help, to an extent, and conditionally. It will never shield anyone as carefully as it does with Taimo himself, but it will extend both better stealth and silent steps to those Taimo helps. Unfortunately, and unrealized by many, seeking to be absorbed into the Hunted's land has unintended repercussions that Taimo cannot prevent. If somebody were to find you, the urge to hunt you would be present, though less intense than with the god, and those under his protection lose some of their mind. They become a little less reflective, less focused on the long-term. Less sentient, more wild.