History

Born in Lurelin village to a family of shifters, those able to change seamlessly between wolf and man at will, Ronan has always known what his purpose is: to protect his home. At the age of nine, Ronan selected his first weapon in a traditional rite of passage and began to train in earnest with it. Having spent the last couple of months with wooden replicas to make sure his chosen weapon truly did suit him, Ronan found the axe as fitting as another tail.

The second rite of passage for a shifter comes at the age of sixteen; the head of the household and the young shifter in question journey out to the Shrine of Courage, where they make an offering to the goddesses before dueling in a ritual battle. This is to formally show off the young shifter's particular talents that make them 'stand out from the pack', so to speak, and Ronan's was no exception. Switching between magical and physical attacks, Ronan put his all into the duel, and when it was done, was praised in particular by his mother and leader of the pack, Haizah, for his ability to adapt to his surroundings and his skill with lightning magic. As with all shifters who pass through this rite of challenge, the head of household gives them a title in honor of their achievements. For example, Ronan's older brother is "the Bloodshard Flail". And today, Ronan joined him as "the Azure Lightning".

Once a shifter has earned their title, they are considered an adult with all the freedoms and privileges of such, something Ronan had been excitedly chomping at the bit for more and more as his yearning to explore further from the village gnawed at him. He's calmed down in the few years that have passed since, maturing from the hyperactive, exciteable teenager he was to the (mostly) even-keeled adult he is now.

Even then, Ronan for his part tends to wander probably a little farther out than he should while out patrolling the once-tropical forests of the Faron region, but he just can't help it. It's like something in his blood is calling him beyond the horizon, even as his soul screams for him to stay put. For now Ronan satisfies the urge with familiarizing himself with more and more of the territory outside of the village, as well as volunteering to be part of the trade supply runs between Lurelin and Hateno. Trade runs that occasionally run afoul of bandits and raiders, and one on horrific occasion, an invading rito band. An attack made even worse by the unintentional revelation that it had been YEYVA who set the whole thing up - Yeyva, Darren's older sister and one of Ronan's two best friends. Who had been convinced to turn a knife on the livelihood of her people and hand it over to feathered soldiers.

It didn't matter that Yeyva had a point, that Hyrule Kingdom had the most land avaliable out of all the races, they were vassals TO said kingdom. They weren't ALLOWED an opinion other than the one the king had voiced, and besides, they were a FISHING village. What were they gonna do, when they had their own mouths to feed and this unnatural winter making feeding said mouths more and more problematic? When sometimes it was a stretch just making ends meet on top of paying their dues to their monarch? The War of Spears was beyond them; something that was making Yeyva just as frustrated as he that the other couldn't understand. And when they were overwhelmed - because again, a few villagers + one battle-trained wolf verses RITO SOLDIERS - Ronan could only watch, restrained with all the rest, as she helped the enemy pack up the foodstuffs and other supplies they had labored to gather before taking off into the skies. Leaving only her last words to him ringing harshly in his ears: "THINK, Ronan! For once in your life look beyond this tiny spit of land and THINK about how the rest of the world affects us!"

Lurelin had largely ignored the war up until this point, but it turns out this was just one of several raids pushing deeper and deeper into hyrulean territory. That the rito were escalating things, and Hyrule was being forced to answer in kind. Or, that was the official statement, anyway. With how things had gone down with Yeyva, Lurelin village wasn't so sure. Not anymore. But how could they be? While on the surface it sounds like Hyrule Kingdom could honestly afford to scoot over and let the rito have Hyrule Ridge, they weren't the king. They're just commonfolk. They have no IDEA what the reasons must have been to justify not doing so. And there had to be, right? Reasons for it. Good ones. Because their king wouldn't risk his people in a full on war with the rito when the curse of a thousand winters was doing enough damage to them already...right?

And yet, something deep in Ronan's bones whispers that the damage is already done; that the war has now arrived on their doorstep, and there is no ignoring it now.

About the Shifters

No one really knows who the first shifter was, or how the ability even came to be. Some say they were originally wolves starving from famine, who pledged themselves to the protection of the village in exchange for food and shelter. Others say that the first shifter became so after falling victim to a curse, before twisting it into a blessing. Either way, shifter and man aren't really considered distinct, not in Lurelin village culture. They're all one people, after all. So what if some of them are a little more feral than others? They're still one of their own, and they'd sooner burn their rods and boats than cast the shifters from their homes and hearts.

Shifters can be distinguised from normal wolves by their human eyes, ability to speak, slightly larger size, and geometric patterns on their fur. Said patterns can be any color or shape, and no two shifters are the same. Their coat colors draw from the same pool as wolves though - you won't be seeing any neon green shifters running around. Neon green geometric patterns, sure, but coats? Nope.

During the Calamity, the shifter bloodlines took a significant hit protecting Lurelin village, and while that and their distance from ground zero spared them from the widespread destruction that wiped several other settlements off the map, it also meant that the several bloodlines there once were abruptly became ONE. And though eventually the shifter population did recover, that doesn't change the fact that only one family line remains. One family to protect their homes with fang and steel.

• Shifters don't have the ability to understand animals in either wolf or human skin. Being a wolf doesn't allow them to automatically speak to and understand animals; animals have their own, inhuman, way of communication. Besides, that would make hunting awkward - for the humans, that is. For animals it's just a way of life.
• Magic use in Lurelin is entirely self-taught, so to speak. It's all in the little tricks and tips generation after generation of fishers have come up with to make their trade easier, utilizing magic in ways mages with a typical education wouldn't even consider. The only part of it familiar to them would be the offensive magics meant for battle that the shifters - and anyone else who has the desire and magical fortitude to learn - employ.
• "Hyrule proper" is a term that refers to the territory in Central Hyrule Field, containing the capital of Castle Town as well as a few large outlying villages and towns. It's not a nice term, as it implies places like Hateno and Lurelin are worthless despite them being major contributors to the kingdom's agricultural economy.
• "Hang up the fur and fang" is a saying about shifters who have retired from the warrior/guardian lifestyle. They don't ACTUALLY give up their second skin, or spend any less time in it.
• The reason why Ronan's ears are both pierced on the left side is because Vyn wanted to do it, and he did it incorrectly. Vyn was so proud of himself, Ronan didn't have the heart to correct him, and he's worn them proudly like that ever since (even if nowadays Vyn is embarrassed by his child self's mistake).