PERSONALITY

• Beacon feels more made than born. They are something different than they were before their curse. They scarcely remember that person.
• Those memories don't bother them, though. In fact, the people who knew them before they were changed were more disturbed than they are. They enjoy learning about who they once were, though most of those who knew are gone now.
• Beacon's demeanor can best be described as that of a monk. They are serene, slow to anger, and difficult to read.
• Beacon is made of hope. There's almost an innocence in the way they believe things can become better -- but to know them fully is to know that it is more of a spiritual purity than naivete. They're no fool.
• Beacon recognizes that part of them is synthetic now. The organic parts of them are differentiated from the inorganic -- the glass that protrudes from their skin, becoming more prominent than their bones every day. They're at peace with this.
• As a well-known spiritual figure in the wild clans, Beacon takes their responsibility to fellow wild mages very seriously. That's why they're making the trek to Faline.
• Beacon is very peaceful and pleasant, but they're also a shady gay bitch.
• Beacon cares very much for the plants that live inside of them. Though they are succulents that require little attention, they drink and maintain their body with these growths in mind. That said, they're looking a little rough these days because of their long travels.
• Nothing is more important to Beacon than the recognition that every living being has a soul: that is, something metaphysical and precious that lives inside of them.
  
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HISTORY

Before the curse, Beacon was someone else entirely. They were a wholly organic being, a person, maybe with a distinct gender identity, maybe with hopes and dreams that are quite different from the ones that drive them now. They were born in a remote wild clan in the Sunless Jungle. They had parents, but they had no siblings.

Though they showed no magical ability, they were a thought leader among mages and non-mages alike, and they were an extremely devout practitioner of ancient rites to the patrons now called Fortune, Grace, and Destiny. They were particularly skilled and patient when educating the clan's young people, and soon took leadership of these rites.

This version of Beacon was looked upon as a sort of priest or abbot by their clan and others in the vicinity. Someone who knew Beacon before their curse would say that they were more troubled, that their conviction in magical freedom and the freedom to practice traditional religion -- though it remains now -- had a sharper edge.

It was this sharper Beacon who was robbed of their students by the Order, which failed to recognize the link between the traditional religious practices performed by the clan mages and the way they conceptualized their magic itself. Though not entirely a pacifist, Beacon was strongly opposed to violent resistance even then, and they believed they could convince the king's officials that allowing the young people to stay with their families was in the best interest of both the kingdom and the clans. They were wrong.

When the students returned, they were different. Agitated. Even the meekest among them was quicker to lash out. Beacon knew something was wrong, not just mentally or spiritually, but magically. What was a frightening mystery to others in the clan seemed cut and dry to Beacon: they were out of balance with the metaphysical forces of Ritha, and if they couldn't reconnect with their traditions, they would be lost to the one that weighed on them the heaviest.

One by one, the young mages began to corrupt and wreak havoc on their own clans. It was during an attempt Beacon made to bring balance back to one of their students before they turned monstrous that they were cursed -- alone with Beacon in a ritual tent, the young mage began to glow hot white from every orifice, until all of her was a searing, blinding light. Nothing was left of the tent but ash. Nothing was left of the young woman but a pile of sand that quickly blew away. Only Beacon remained, their flesh replaced by sand, parts of their skin turned to glass in the heat.

It wasn't until they'd received medical care from the clan healer that anyone realized the person Beacon was before this curse was no more. They weren't quite childlike -- they had an adult's full knowledge of the world -- but simple facts of life were new to them. This was a serene, seemingly enlightened figure who personally embraced their new body and eternal life while knowing it was the result of a violent curse that should befall no one ever again.

This new Beacon, though an enigma in many ways to the people who once knew them well, was perhaps even more equipped than their previous version to serve as a high priest of the traditional clan religion. It is with that authority that they have traveled all the way from the Sunless Jungle to Faline in the hope of sharing their story and changing the minds of those who would restrict the freedom of the wild clan's mages. But it's been a long journey in hiding, and their beautiful, delicate skin continues to crumble.

(615 words)