Reference Sheet: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/45195552/

Physical Appearance: A tall, thin, very scarred Drow with frizzy white hair and a vague dotting of white freckles across his black skin. He more often than not always looks like he’s just woken up, with his clothes being wrinkled and his hair being unkempt. Cali has several scars across his body. The most notable being a deep one around his neck, one in the very center of his chest, two under his pecs from top surgery, and one starting at the top of his belly button and ending at his pelvis.

Clothing: More often than not Cali wears the same outfit as he is in the reference image. At the very least he’s ALWAYS wearing a cape. Capes are just socially acceptable blankets you can take with you

Expressions: Tired, aloof, annoyed

Likes: Tinkering, magic, fish, letter writing, journaling

Dislikes: Birds, other drow, lockpicking

Fears/Phobias: Gymnophobia

Cali is a tired shell of a man trying to overcome his past traumas. Extremely high anxiety and usually acutely stressed even if nothing’s going on. He tries to be the calm, cool, and collected person in his circle, but his past has made him unintentionally chaotic. The very nature of his being makes following the standard rules of society impossible, so he’s thrown those rules to the wayside and made his own. He has his own moral code that he sticks to regardless of what’s “socially acceptable”.

Generally speaking Cali is a curious and inquisitive individual. He has a love for mechanics and engineering and can easily spend hours meticulously taking apart and putting a device back together just to see how it’s made and how it works. When he comes across something he’s never seen before he’ll usually spend some time figuring out what it is, what it does, and how it works. This curiosity also makes him a bit of a history buff, wanting to learn everything he can about his family’s past and the past of his current home. His hunger for information often becomes more trouble than it’s worth, with Cali searching for “forbidden fruits” and indulging in them despite knowing information of that nature will only harm him. He can’t help it.

Deep down Cali is a bit of a hopeless romantic, if someone with a girlfriend can be considered “hopeless”. His past traumas have made him somewhat untrusting and uncertain of others, and his issues with own identity really hinder him from showing this side of himself, but when he likes someone he’s fully invested. Romantically or platonically, if Cali likes someone he makes it known. Usually by writing them letters or sending them little trinkets he’s crafted. He likes keeping in touch with those he considers “friends” and has a massive hoard of every personal letter he’s ever received. His collection of letters is one of his most cherished possessions.

Strengths: Intelligence

Weaknesses: Mental state

Weapons/Tools: Arcane pistol, Hans

Being a tinker, Cali can not only engineer fantastical machines, but he’s also able to enchant them. He was the pioneer inventor of firearms within Mirror Domain and his own pistol is able to store various different spells that shoot out in place of bullets. Handy when he’s casting something meant to hurt someone, but confusing when he pulls out and shoots his pistol to heal or investigate other magic items. Really his gun is the exact same as a wand, just with the added bonus of being able to shoot bullets in addition to magic.

One of Cali’s other main inventions is his backpack. A backpack with a set of hands he calls “Hans”. For all intents and purposes, Hans is Cali’s familiar. The two are tethered together via magic and Cali is able to take control over Hans’ arms when needed. That being said, he usually allows Hans to act of his own free will; calling him his “right hand man” (pun fully intended). Hans mainly acts as a walking mount to Cali’s arcane canon, which hans is able to aim and fire at Cali’s instruction.

Addictions: None

Mental Illnesses: Anxiety, depression

Physical Illnesses: None

Disabilities: None

Allergies: None

Kalyana Rovalur was born in Monspianza to his mother Akore Rovalur. His father was never in the picture, mainly because his mother never actually married. Instead she chose the most suitable mate based on her family’s standards. In Akore’s mind she never “needed” a husband.

    Kalyana is a stereotypical tomboy. Likes more boyish activities and fights his mother on acting “lady like”. As a young child (ages 5-11ish) this is played off as normal kid phases and is never really a huge issue. At most his peers find him odd for acting more boyish because female drow are in charge and why wouldn’t you want to be a dominating force in society?

    Kalyana discovers blacksmithing. Finds the idea of making something out of literal trash and common everyday objects fascinating. You can literally just take rock from the walls of the underdark, get it hot, and forge it into fantastical pieces of art! How is that not cool? From here he begins hanging around the local smithy on a regular basis trying to convince the blacksmith to teach him his ways.

    Smithy doesn’t want to teach Kalyana anything. Knows his place in the Rovalur house and doesn’t want to get the kids hopes up. Has him do busywork around the smith whenever he comes around to keep him busy so he or one of his coworkers could get someone from the Rovalur house to bring Kalyana home

    Years of hanging around and watching the smithy Kalyana picks up some tricks. Starts picking up scraps of metal and gears and whatnot and begins teaching himself to be an artificer. His first ever successful invention was a simple pocket watch cobbled together with found objects. This is seen as a treasured item and for the longest time he brought this thing everywhere

    Around 12 or 13 (puberty, yay) Kalyana’s body goes through your standard puberty changes. Begins getting breasts and all the other curses of womanhood and really begins feeling out of place in his body. For the first time he really begins questioning his identity and eventually comes to the conclusion he is, in fact, a boy. Always was, but now it’d finally set in.

    Begins binding. Cuts his hair short. Asks his mom to call him a boy because, duh, he is. Akore is NOT having this and thinks this is Kalyana’s way of subverting his responsibilities as future matriarch. Starts getting more harsh with him and really begins pushing the role onto him.

    Tensions rise. Akore begins verbal and physical abuse. Public humiliation in the form of forcing off his binder in public. Whippings, scratching, pushing. Typical drow punishments. By this point the nearby locals have began to catch on to the Rovalur houses “mentally ill daughter” and it’s started to damage the house reputation. Kalyana’s mother goes on a frenzy trying to repair her reputation in town while also whipping Kalyana into shape. This continues for a few years.

    At 14 Kalyana reaches his breaking point. There was no one single event that sparked this, but rather years of built up resentment that began boiling over. If his mother wanted him to be “normal” he was going to find a way to be “normal”. A normal boy. After doing some research he learned several things. While magic could fix him, it’d be far too expensive and any mage with powerful enough magic most likely would not help him because all of those mages work for highly esteemed houses and, well, let’s just say drow social norms see people like Kalyana as an abomination to society. Magic would not be a feasible option.

    Learns about a surgeon in the neighboring city of Blingdenstone. A Deep Gnome named Exen. He’s very much a quack doc and someone you go to for more “under the table” operations, but he’s a renowned cosmetic surgeon and seems to be Kalyana’s best bet for fixing his body. He gets his mom to allow him to go on this trip alone by saying he’s going to Blingdenstone to become more “normal”, but leaves out the part about him becoming a more normal boy rather than a girl like his mother expected. He is given two weeks to go there and do whatever it is he’s going to do.

    Kalyana goes to Blingdenstone, talks to Exen, and after a humiliating time trying to explain his situation Exen eventually accepts and does the surgery. Kalyana gets a full mastectomy and a hysterectomy. Surgery is rough because it’s like the 1400’s (if not further back). Recovery is rough and while he did have Exen to take care of him he did not have the strength afterwards to make it back home in the time frame his mother gave him. Remains in Blingdenstone for about three weeks.

    Akore comes to Blingdenstone in search of her son. Finds Kalyana at Exen’s clinic and is thrown into a rage. This surgery was a direct insult to her and everything their house stood for. Kalyana went against her word and behind her back and at this point he was too much of a disgrace to the family name to be worth keeping around. She plans on having Kalyana executed, but Kalyana rebuttals saying that doing so would shatter the family reputation permanently. If anyone ever learned about what he did his mother would be shunned as well, and he made it clear if she was going to have him executed he wasn’t going down quietly. Basically “if I go down I’m taking you with me”. His mother, maybe out of lingering compassion or fear of being shunned herself, agrees to let him go so long as she never sees him again.

    Still in the midst of recovery Kalyana packs up what little he brought with him and moves far away. He opts to move to Velkynvelve, a known military outpost, and uses his house insignia to get himself a job as a mechanic. Comes up with a lie that the Rovalur house sent a group of young boys to the base to teach them some life skills, but the group was attacked along the way and Kalyana was the only survivor. The attack was also an excuse to cover up the still fresh surgery wounds and the blood crusted on his clothes.

    The base is skeptical of his claims but they’re short staffed so allow him to join. They ask his name and, never going by another name in his life, Kalyana begins giving his full name. Quickly cuts himself off knowing that if word got out he’d be killed and the people there think his name is “Cali”. The name sticks and from that point on Kalyana goes by Cali.

    Cali works under the guide of a much older drow named Klix. He’s a jolly old bastard who quickly takes on a paternal role. Both he and Cali teach each other everything they know about engineering and Klix teaches Cali several “quality of life” spells to make his time working there easier. Namely prestidigitation and cure wounds, which Cali uses to sooth his surgery wounds. By this point everyone at the base bought his story of being attacked and generally view his scars as a symbol of strength. That said, Cali never at any point made a point of showing them off.

    Cali does not have a home at this point. When he’s not working he’d either sleep in the barracks or find some remote alcove and camp out for the night. One day the entire base comes to a grinding halt and everyone has to leave for around two weeks. Cali, with no home and however to go, wanders the caves of the underdark before stumbling across a hidden alcove about an hour out from town. Figures it’s the perfect place to start constructing a home for himself and works on doing so day in and day out until the base is back up and running.

    Around age 15 things start shifting around the base. New tasks are assigned, new people are brought on, and most importantly Klix is let go from his position. With Cali around, a much younger and more spry worker, his services are no longer needed. Cali is then placed on a new assignment. Drow caravans are not weather proofed for surface level work (you don’t get rain or snow underground). He’s tasked with weather proofing essentially all their gear for an upcoming mission.

    Cali is introduced to a new mechanic at the base named Faz. Faz is your stereotypical jock type who’s done work “up top” and is more or less sent to share his knowledge with Cali. Faz starts bringing Cali to the training grounds after work to bulk him up claiming that if war ever does break out he won't survive based on how scrawny he is (nicknamed pipsqueak). Cali hates this, but kind of agrees with what Faz has to say. After all, why turn down a chance to become more manly?

Training after work means no time at home. Cali's house starts falling to disrepair and Cali no longer has time to take care of himself after work. His house is an hour away, so his life devolves into waking up, hour long trip, seven hour shift, up to four hours of training, and then another hour walking home. By the time he actually gets home he just crashes for the night before repeating it all over agai

Cali begins automating his house so it doesn't turn to a massive junk heap. Also makes quality of life adjustments so he can have his machines do the work for him while he's away (cooking and cleaning). It’s a pretty good set up. His machines tend to everything so when he gets home he can have a warm meal and not have to look at a total mess. Still wishes he had more free time but, hey, it’s better than nothing.

    Cali and Faz’ training sessions catch the attention of one of the female cadets at the base. A drow named Aunrae. With actual military training under her belt she begins joining in on the boy’s sessions to show them proper techniques and whatnot. Cali views Aunrae as a friend and develops a bit of a crush on her. It never really goes anywhere. Doesn’t get the chance to, but it was nice while it lasted. Aunrae made the training sessions far more bearable and she teaches him to play to his strengths. Basically “If you can’t hit hard then avoid getting hit. Focus more on dexterity rather than physical strength. Play dirty. After all, it’s war”

    Cali is 16 now. One day after training he gets scuffed up pretty good. The head of the base sees the group all bloodied and demands they go get cleaned up. Cali has never been fully naked in front of anyone at the base before. Faz has seen him with his shirt off by this point but nothing more. While getting cleaned up and changed Cali’s secret comes out and Faz is in the know. Immediately turns on him but they manage to strike up a deal. Not to get too crass with the description, but uh… Cali still has girl parts. They still work just fine. It’s not a favourable deal on Cali’s end, but at that point he was willing to do anything to keep Faz quiet. Still, even with their deal it’s clear to everyone that something happened between the two. Faz starts using him as a literal punching bag and Aunrae catches on. Does not know Cali is trans at this point.

    Around age 17 Cali and Faz get into a dispute. Cali is tired of being bullied and tries standing up for himself and as revenge Faz spills his secret to Aunrae. Any mutual feelings there may have been were gone by this point. As nice as Aunrae was to Cali, she also turned on him the second she found out and berated him for “lying” to her and for being a disgrace. Now both Faz and Aunrae torment Cali and the deal about keeping quiet is basically thrown out the window.

Keeping tabs on two people is too much. Cali needs Faz and Aunrae to keep quiet. He doesn’t want to lose his home or his good standing here at the base and he REALLY doesn’t want this to get him killed. Things continue to go downhill and push comes to shove. An elaborate plan is crafted to silence both of them permanently. Cali uses his skills as an artificer to stage an accident. Basically, he luers the two of them in to his shop and rigs some heavy machinery to fall on them while he has them inspect it. Feels horrible about this, but in this situation it was quite literally their lives or his and he was not going down quietly.

The murder of Faz and Aunrae weighs heavily on his mind. Cali goes off the deep and and completely drowns himself in his work in an attempt to keep himself distracted. This continues on for the next three or so years and the higher ups at the base really start to take notice of his progress. He’s the best artificer they have and as far as they’re concerned he’s devoted to his work. Many praises.

For these three years Cali pretty much isolates himself as much as possible. When at work he works. No idle chatter, no after work training, nothing. He only talks when it’s absolutely required of him. After work he’d go home and tend to his machines. Keep his fully automated house up and running. At this point his life is work, upkeep house, and sleep. No friends or hobbies or anything. A dull existence, but it’s better than being dead.

Cali is 20 now. Almost 21. The war breaks out. Long story short, King Daxalim had made a deal with a demon lord to keep himself in power. There was a revolution trying to overthrow him and making this deal basically ensured his victory. The base Cali worked at had been working under this demon lord on the side of Daxalim for several years at this point, but Daxalim backed out on his word. In return for this demon lord’s help he had to promise his firstborn child, but when his son was born he refused to hand him over. So, the demon lord (and by extension the military Cali worked for) swapped sides and began fighting against Daxalim.

Because of this sudden shift Cali was thrown into battle. His ranks specifically were tasked with killing off Vesstan Daxalim, the kings son. The Daxalim family line was full of traitors and backstabbers as far as Cali was concerned.

This war gave Cali a golden opportunity. He could make a name for himself here. He could finally be in control of his own reputation and for once in his life people would view him as the man he truly was. He went a bit insane in his pursuit to kill off Vesstan. As the battle droned on be became the unofficial leader of his group and he and Vesstan became furious rivals. It got to a point where if the two were ever on the same battlefield as one another it’d turn into a one on one brawl between the two.

Cali was never as physically strong as the other soldiers, but he used his machines to make up for it. He’d station canons around the battlefield to act as diversions from himself. Soldiers would rush over to disarm the canons and when they did Cali would shoot them down from above on what was essentially a flying platform with even more canons on it.

Cali hated the “rules” of war. Never understood why they existed. In his mind, Daxalim’s ranks were killing his people in mass because he didn’t uphold his end of their agreement. HIS people were being killed because of this bastards selfishness. Why should he hold back? The more of Daxalims ranks he can kill the faster this war can be over. Cali… Committed several war crimes. Most of them included chemical warfare and the slaughter of surrendering ranks. When he aimed to kill his aim was to kill as many of the opposing side as he could whatever the cost.

One day Cali was contacted by an unknown individual. This individual claimed to have slain Vesstan in battle and wanted to hire Cali on to help him with something. This individual never gave Cali his name and never really stated what this job was for, only that it involved Vesstan Daxalim’s body and Cali’s skills as an artificer. The man had encased Vesstan’s body in a thick yellow crystal to prevent his soul from escaping into the afterlife and he wanted Cali to forge the boy’s soul into a powerful magic item. Cali agreed to this, wanting to cause Vesstan as much pain and suffering as he thought he deserved, and the crystal Vesstan was trapped inside was polished and affixed to a Daxalim family heirloom. Vesstan was turned into a magical sword powered by the soul of a royal.

Word got out of Vesstan’s death and because Cali was his most hated rival his death was pinned on him. Cali did not kill Vesstan, but at this point the sword had been found and it had Cali’s handiwork written all over it. He was soon captured, and in the kings grief he opted to have Cali killed and forged into a sword as well. An eye for an eye, as they say.

Cali did not make his own sword, and because the artificer responsible for making it was far less skilled the two swords did not have the same magical properties. Where Vesstan’s sword merely drew from the power of his soul to make the blade more powerful (as far as anyone at the time was concerned) Cali’s soul was not as well contained. As years went by Cali found himself asleep most of the time, but on occasion his soul could be awakened by a spark of rage and he could manifest himself into a phantom image to fight against whatever angered him.

Nothing from Cali’s time as a sword really stuck in his memory. He just remembers being asleep, occasionally waking up in a fit of rage before falling back asleep once more. He lived his life like this for around 500 years before one day he found himself being freed from this curse. His sword had since been donated to a local museum and in the museum’s quest to uncover the secrets of said sword Cali’s soul was somehow freed permanently. A local mage named Cairo had found a way to manifest Cali’s old physical body and Cali was brought back into the world!