Leith Brutus

Biographical Information:

Age: 17 (as of part 1)

Sex/uality: Lesbian female

Height: 6'1

Birthday: August 13th

Ethnicity/Race: Ferroburghan/Atzlanian, Human/Dryad Demiforma with royal blood

Magic: as a Demiforma she has access to two elements, getting fire from her human half and life from her dryad half. She can summon thorny vines that she can set on fire.

Pre-Story:

Before getting into Leith's story it's important to establish the circumstances of her birth. Her mom, named Cornelia, is from Ferroburgh. Her dad is the king of Atzlan, named Ba'lam. Cornelia moved from Ferroburgh to Atzlan because she wanted to be a botanist and the Ferroburgh soil isn't great.

Cornelia worked her way up and was eventually employed as a royal botanist in the castle, working for the king Ba'lam. They got interested in each other romantically and admittedly Ba'lam sort of admires Ferroburgh despite the tensions their kingdoms always had. Atzlan always had a strong connection to nature and he was starting to want to follow Ferroburgh's path of industrial advancement, even though others didn't really agree. He started preferring people from Ferroburgh over his own people which is where his initial interest in Cornelia came from.

Cornelia gets pregnant and she knows the two of them will be in big trouble. Although Ba'lam is not yet married or even seeing anyone else, getting someone pregnant out of wedlock-- especially if it's an immigrant from a kingdom that nobody likes-- comes with its own can of rats. Ba'lam impulsively asked Cornelia to marry him so they could pretend the pregnancy happened after that and they could start being open about being a couple. Cornelia thought that was a horrible idea and that no one would approve of his decision and that he'd lose the respect of his people. He was insistent that he didn't care about that but she said that she did and that she didn't want to spend the rest of her life being disliked by nearly everyone around her. Ba'lam relented and bid her farewell, but gave her an expensive red gemstone from his collection so she'd have something to sell so she could start a new life and support their child. Cornelia ended up keeping it because it had sentimental value.

Cornelia leaves but the trip back to Ferroburgh is really difficult since she's pregnant and on her own. She passes through the Alesian tribe and they let her rest there. She tells her story to the chief named Cynebald and he offers to let her stay there until she decides where she wants to go. After a while, she adjusts to life here and feels reluctant to leave, and Cynebald assured her that she could be a permanent addition to the tribe if she wants which she thinks sounds nice.

It's relevant to mention that Cynebald's wife died recently. It was a freak accident where she was hit in the head by a falling stone on a walk through the mountains right in front of her three year old son, Luchtaine. Because Cornelia and Cynebald were now both without a significant other, they bonded about that and eventually got together.

With that background established, Leith can finally be born and begin her story as Lilith, which was her birth name. Growing up, Lilith was raised as an Alesian girl and from a young age felt a melancholic dissatisfaction that she couldn't quite place. She didn't get along with other girls her age and seemed perpetually unhappy. It was only when her step-father and uncle spoke of hunting and adventure did her eyes light up. When Luchtaine started learning how to hunt and explore, she wanted to come too but wasn't allowed. She was instead taught skills related to housework which greatly frustrated her. Those around her were confused about her stubborn persistence in wanting to do traditionally masculine things and her aversion to femininity. There are roughly 200 deities in the Alesian religion, and over the years Lilith had tried to pray to every single one of them at least once asking them to turn her into a boy. This didn't work.

Eventually Luchtaine started teaching her what he was taught in secret. He even started teaching her the language people in Ferroburgh and Atzlan used which was usually only taught to men who were expected to find work there. The two often got in trouble for this but it did not deter them. The only thing that occasionally made Lilith not go overboard with her rebellion was the fact that it made her mother sad since her mother just wanted her to be a "normal daughter", whatever that might mean to her-- which Lilith didn't know.

When Lilith was 12, her mother fell il. It's a latent illness she got during her time in Atzlan, similar to how chickenpox turns into shingles years down the line. No one could treat her because only Atzlan carried the needed medicine because they're the only ones who ever needed it. It's also very expensive since it uses rare materials.

So now Cornelia's sick and no one knows what to do, so Cornelia gets an idea. Cornelia told Lilith to pay a visit to Atzlan and ask to see the king so she could ask him for medicine. Lilith could take the gem Ba'lam gave Cornelia as proof of her identity.

Lilith's uncle (Cynebald's brother, named Miach) takes her to Atzlan to see Ba'lam. Miach says to the soldiers at the gate that the child of Cornelia, the former royal botanist wishes to see the king in order to request treatment for her illness they couldn't get back in Ferroburgh. One of the soldiers says it's unlikely he'd grant their request even if she was a model employee years ago to which Miach told him to ask anyways. Obviously, the request was granted and the two were let in.
Once Lilith was alone with Ba'lam he loses it crying, saying he wishes he couldve raised her, she looks so much like her mother etc etc, here take this medicine. He wants badly to catch up with her but says it's more important to get Cornelia the medicine as soon as possible. He asks for them to come visit once she's better.

Lilith and Miach come back but Cornelia is already dead. Luchtaine had to watch his second mother die but he takes comfort in the fact that unlike him, Lilith didn't have to witness the death of the one who gave birth to her.
With her mother dead, the one thing holding Lilith back from her rebellious nature was gone. Tensions with her step-father grew since he was very distraught from having his second wife die and he often told Lilith "What would your mother say if she saw you acting like this?" which caused Lilith to be even more angry with him. Luchtaine always took Lilith's side in these fights as well. Gaibhne, the biological son of Cornelia and Cynebald, was like 7 at this point and did not enjoy this hostile environment.

Around a year later, Luchtaine thought he'd take Lilith out to Ferroburgh for the first time-- even though it required sneaking her out. Luchtaine, being seventeen years old, had started working in Ferroburgh and thought he'd bring her along to try it out too. The idea here was that she'd prove that she could handle the role usually given to men and their dad would stop trying to keep her at home. Luchtaine worked as an assistant to a bookbinder named Auster. Luchtaine would bring Auster manuscripts and materials and all that good stuff. He also goes by Cain in Ferroburgh, thinking if he went by a common name there he would blend in just a little better despite being an obvious outsider.

Their time helping Auster went well, and afterwards they decided to do some shopping to get supplies to bring back home. Luchtaine wanted them to do it togther but Lilith insisted they do it separately because she felt like she was being babied. Luchtaine reluctantly agreed and they went their separate ways. Not long after they split up, a boy Lilith's age followed her and tried to rob her. He defeated her very easily. Lilith had been told about the gap males had over females in both physical and magical strength, but it wasn't until now that she realized first-hand just how insurmountable that gap was.

When she met up with Luchtaine again she was crying her eyes out and told him what happened. Luchtaine was furious and said he'd beat the shit out of that kid and Lilith felt conflicted because she was glad her brother cares about her a lot, but on the other hand she doesn't want to be protected. All her life she was told she was meant to be protected while men would do the protecting, which she had always wanted to resist.

Luchtaine gets Lilith's shit back but bystanders did not react well to see a 17 year old beating a 13 year old's ass. So knights were called and swiftly came to apprehend Luchtaine, but Lilith witnessed something strange happening-- no attacks on Luchtaine left any injuries, and instead injuries appeared out of thin air on the nearby knights. Lilith has only ever seen Luchtaine use his fire magic before and it dawned on her that this new ability must come from a Phantasm that shared Luchtaine's body that she had no idea existed. Before realizing how his power worked, one of the knights died trying to attack him. The knights were terrified by this and thought he'd be too dangerous to leave alive so now Luctaine is a wanted criminal with an S rank on the criminal tier list and Lilith is physically and psychologically incapable of being away from him. The two can no longer return home.

(Quick interlude: in this setting, there are ghosts that can possess people called a "Phantasm". If you make a deal with one and agree to share your body with it, you get to use their magic. The circumstances in which Luchtaine made a deal with one aren't important to Lilith's story so don't worry about it. Mwah.)

Now on the run, they make their way to the island of Lactoria to the west. It was annexed from the island kingdom of Okeanos around 100 years ago and crown never put much effort into policing it so there'd be less knights there to catch them. The knights weren't exactly rushing to put up wanted posters here because it's fucking Lactoria so Luchtaine got to stay under the radar and no one knew he was an S rank outlaw. Luchtaine and Lilith stowed away on a ship to get there.

On the way there, Luchtaine finally explained to Lilith that yeah, he did host a Phantasm who gave him the ability to automatically transfer his injuries to other nearby people. He got an extreme fear of random death after his mom died and when a Phantasm visited him saying she could grant him a near fool-proof immunity to death he had to take it. He'd had it since he was thirteen. Lilith's immediate reaction was yet more jealousy towards her brother. How come he got a ghost visiting him and offering him a solution to his major problem? Where was her superpower huh? The whole "learning my brother has sold his soul four years ago to cheat death" revelation aside, it's worth mentioning that it's at this point that Lilith cuts her hair and starts dressing in boy's clothing since there's no longer anyone around who will throw a fit and also, she thinks strangers thinking she's a boy at first glance will keep her safer.

Lilith and Luchtaine came to Lactoria in the wake of a war between an organized crime ring and the crown that the crown had won. This left orphans and those whose families had gotten arrested during the recent trials. Luchtaine and Lilith managed to find a group who took them in and appreciated their skills. Well, mostly Luchtaine's skills, but they're a package deal. It was here that Lilith actually honed her skills related to fighting, although she was frustrated at being so far behind her brother who got much more dedicated training back in Alesia since he was even younger than her. She took a liking to knife throwing and got pretty good at it too.

Despite the rough political situation where she lived, Lilith actually had a relatively smooth and pleasant time for the next three years. This was only interrupted at the age of 16 when Luchtaine was given a "mission" in Hecadia and said he wanted Lilith to come with him. When Lilith asked where on earth he got this "mission" from, Luchtaine explained that he's been working with the Canivo crime family for the past two years. While it was common knowledge in the criminal underworld that Luchtaine was an S rank outlaw no one fucked with him because if they did, the Canivo crime family would actually kill them, which was not worth that sweet sweet bounty money.

Lilith was mad he kept this from her and he told her that not telling anyone was their policy and he had no other choice, but he got permission to tell her now because he told his boss that he wanted her to come too and he agreed that she might as well be let in on the reason they were leaving. He wanted to take her with him because he could potentially be gone for months and he knows how bad her separation anxiety is even if she won't admit it. He also wanted her to see more of the world which she had always yearned to do. This request was granted because Luchtaine is the Canivo family's special little birthday boy.

Their objective was to go to Hecadia and make contact with the teenage son of a recently-deceased Consigliere (aka the third-in-command and the mob boss's advisor). The story there is that the Consigliere, named Paul Alavega, actually worked as a Ferroburghan diplomat for his day job. When stationed in Hecadia around 17 years ago, he had an affair with a married woman which resulted in his son Alvis. The woman, Thyra, has a lazy ass selfish husband so she had an affair as a way of rebelling against him. She has three children to her husband, and out of her four total children Alvis is her favorite because she feels like Alvis is "hers" while the rest belong to her husband. Paul had been arrested like 5 years ago and recently died in prison.
So anyways, after finding Alvis, Luchtaine is supposed to inform him that his real dad was a mobster and take him back to Lactoria where he'd get his inheritance. Russel Canivo, the boss of the Canivo crime family, basically saw Paul as a brother and has additional emotional investment and would also just like to meet him and tell him all about his dad. Virgil, a capo of the Canivo family, took them to Hecadia by boat and they arrived in the district of Angelonia at the port town of Iluklosta.

But of course, everything goes wrong. As it turns out, Virgil actually wanted to take this opportunity to betray the Canivo family and take Alvis hostage for ransom. To Luchtaine and Lilith, he told them that he'd stay at Iluklosta and wait for them to come back with Alvis. Then, after they left, he sneakily went to the authorities and told them that Luchtaine-- an S rank criminal in Ferroburgh-- had stowed away on his ship and was now loose in Hecadia. Even though his magic prevents him from being injured there's nothing stopping anyone from restraining him and throwing him in jail or something. With wanted posters and bounty rewards put up, knights and bounty hunters alike were on Luchtaine's tail. With Luchtaine unable to complete his mission due to being on the run and inevitably arrested, Virgil would make his way to where Alvis was staying and kidnap him. He would then write a letter to Russel demanding money in exchange for Alvis's safety.

Upon being chased down so soon after setting foot in Hecadia, Luchtaine began to suspect Virgil turning on them because who else would alert the authorities about him at this point. Lilith agreed with this hypothesis.

Virgil did not account for Lilith's presence during this mission, but he didn't think she'd get in the way. He thought that as soon as it became apparent that Luchtaine's ass was grass and about to be mowed, she'd flee to safety. But she stayed with Luchtaine, unable to think of a life without him in it. Knowing his arrest is inevitable, Luchtaine makes a confession to Lilith: he hates Russel. He hates the entire mob. He hates himself. He has had to witness things more depraved than he could have ever imagined. He had to kill people. He never wanted to bring back Alvis. He just took this mission because he wanted to take Lilith, get out of Lactoria, and never go back there again.

But with Virgil turning on them, things changed. Originally, Luctaine was going to abandon the mission for Alvis completely and take off for Avalon-- a completely different kingdom. Virgil was supposed to just wait in Iluklosta, and by the time he realized they would never be coming back with Alvis, they would already be long gone. The most he'd be able to tell authorities were "Umm... the outlaw Luchtaine was here... a month ago..." which wouldn't lead to his arrest any time soon.
But now that everyone and their dog knew about the S rank outlaw in town their dream of running off to Avalon together wouldn't come true because there was no way they'd make it that far before Luchtaine got caught. Luchtaine told her she'd have to go there on her own. He got real with her and sincerely, unironically told her that he loved her more than anything in the world and all he ever wanted was for her to be safe and happy. He said he would jump from place to place, evading the law and bounty hunters as long as he could, and as danger would follow him it would stay away from her. They now go their separate ways.

Lilith has no idea what to do at this point. She's alone in a foreign kingdom, with no formal education and can't even read. What was she supposed to do now? Get a job? Make a living like a normal person? She could always find her way back to Atzlan and ask her dad for help. He obviously cared about her a lot based on their last interaction and if she showed up, he'd probably just let her stay in the castle and work there. It would be long trip, though, and there was something she wanted to do first. She wanted to meet Alvis. Considering Virgil obviously betrayed them, Lilith correctly guessed that Alvis was in danger. Given she was the only one who knew about that who was able to help it felt wrong to not say anything. Luchtaine had gone over where he was earlier so Lilith knew where to go.

Lilith makes her way to the small town of Holfoss in the district of Singeva. It's mostly just farms. She asked around until she got to "Evensen farms", which she was told is the farm owned by the dude who's married to Thyra (Alvis' mother).
But upon approaching the farm she was suddenly attacked by some dude a few years older than her. She tried asking what the fuss was, and upon seeing her genuine confusion, he said that his little brother was kidnapped and he thought she was with the kidnappers and wanted to take more of them. She bluntly said "Alvis is the son of a dead mobster and I was tasked with helping him get his inheritance but someone else who came with me turned against us and if Alvis was taken that probably means he's been taken hostage." The dude was baffled and told her to get in there and explain herself.

The dude is Alvis's older brother, Rogier. Lilith sits down with him and gives him all the details, and for legitimacy mentions specific details about his childhood and family that she heard from Luchtaine who heard it from Russel who heard it from Paul who would never shut up about it. Rogier was like "Got damn!" or something. Lilith decided to leave because Alvis wasn't there anyways. She didn't want to talk to the authorities because she has no idea how many allies Virgil has in Hecadia or if they have their own mob or whatever, and given what Luchtaine said about his experiences with them, they absolutely terrified her.

But despite her fear, Lilith gets an idea. She wants to save Alvis. After being protected all her life she sees an opportunity to fill the protector role and needs to go for it.

Soon after leaving Evensen farms, she's approached by Virgil himself. It clicks that after kidnapping Alvis, he must have been waiting here for her in case either her or Luchtaine showed up after him. Liltih an idea and she decides to put on a show. Before he can get a word in, she says that she's happy to see him and asks if he's seen "that bastard" Luchtaine. Virgil is confused, and says that he hasn't, and asks what happened to him. Originally, he was going to try and threaten Lilith into coming with him to lure out Luchtaine and turn him in to get some bounty money for himself and his buddies, but seeing her demeanor he decided to keep that to himself for now and see what was up with her.

Lilith said that Luchtaine tried to throw her under the bus and divert the knights attention away from him and towards her by accusing her of a crime she didn't commit and then skedaddling, so now she wants revenge. She says she's aware that he snitched on Luchtaine soon after they left Iluklosta, and she was initially angry with him but now that she had a bone to pick with Luchtaine she offered to work with him to find him and turn him in. Virgil was skeptical about her story, but accepted her deal, thinking that keeping her close would help him find out if she was telling the truth or not. And if it turns out she was lying, it would still be possible to use her to lure out Luchtaine. Lilith also claimed that the reason she was at Evensen farms was that she thought Luchtaine might have been here and she might get a clue about his current whereabouts, which she unfortunately did not.

Virgil introduced Lilith to his buddies, which is a small criminal organization specializing in loan sharking and various forms of fraud. They don't really have a "gang name" or whatever, but they're located in the city of Favrholt so we can just call them the "Favrholt Lenders", or "the lenders" or something. Anyways, a bit more about Virgil: he was such a valuable member of the Canivo family before his betrayal because before he joined, he was a completely legitimate merchant from Hecadia. Being able to go to and from Lactoria and Hecadia without suspicion, and be able to go to any port town with ease made him very useful. But because the mob is fucked up and scares him he wanted to move to slightly less fucked up crime, which just involved a little fraud as a treat instead of constant full-blown gang wars on crime island. He didn't have much of a reputation in Hecadia yet so he decided to do a lil hostage shit with Alvis.

To test her, Virgil got Lilith to be a runner for his loan shark buddies. To gain his trust, Lilith rolled with it, holding on until she could find out where Alvis was. She didn't even ask about him yet, not wanting to raise his suspicions. After a couple months working for them, after getting an assignment from some loan shark dudes in one of their buildings, Lilith overheard them talk about "getting him some damn food" or something. Thinking it was about Alvis, she did some sneaking around in this building and sure enough found a little blonde bitch locked up in the basement. It was indeed Alvis and she helped him escape and the two went on the run together. Lilith left an anonymous tip about Virgil and his buddies to the authorities but didn't stick around to give any testimonies herself because she was a criminal too at this point and didn't want to get in trouble.

When Alvis asks for her name, it occurs to Lilith that she can completely reinvent herself now that no one around knows anything about her past, so she introduces herself as "Leith" and completely commits to the cross-dressing bit. Given her height, masculine appearance, naturally deep voice, and new androgynous name, she's nearly always mistaken for a guy and does nothing to correct this assumption. Her reasons for doing this are unclear even to her.

Leith and Alvis travelled north to the large city of Sinnu and attempted to find legitimate work. They rented a very cheap apartment and got money by taking on jobs at the adventurer's guild. After about a month of doing jobs and building a good reputation, they got invited to a private guild called the Mataheim Gild, named after the lake where their headquarters was situated. Leith getting hired was in part due to the novelty of being a Demiforma who can use two types of magic. Alvis was actually a healer, which gave him a valuable niche in the organization as well. Her adventures in this time include but are not limited to: the time another guild calling itself the "Mataheim Faction" set up shop on the other side of the lake causing a fierce legal battle between the two, the time Leith and Alvis took a job way up north and Alvis nearly died from Hypothermia, the time one of the guild members went to trial for a murder that happened 20 years ago, and the time Leith recognized one of Virgil's buddies running a scam and she had to nudge other people into exposing him without getting involved herself lest she's recognized as the "snitch from back then".

Months passed, Leith turned 17, and her life managed to plateau into relative normalcy. She started to think of her future and thought about living with her dad in Aztlan. Their brief meeting five years ago was still fresh in her mind and she at least wanted to talk to him and inform him that Cornelia was dead. Not wanting to go all the way to Aztlan, she had another idea: the annual meeting between the royalty of all 7 kingdoms is approaching, and since her dad will be at the meeting she thought it would be a good time to try and meet with him. Over time, she had come to view her father less than positively and think of him as irresponsible for knocking up her mother out of wedlock in the first place. She planned to announce, in front of the other present royalty, that she was his daughter in order to hold him accountable for what he had done and ensure that he'd no longer be able to sweep her under the rug. The meeting takes place on Opabinia, an independent island where the Opalite people live-- the island is connected to a unique ley line that causes anyone who isn't part of the Opalite bloodline to experience excruciating headaches, with the exception of those with royal blood whose magic is similar enough to the Opalites that they can stay there for around a day before the headaches start to set in.

Since anyone entering and leaving Opabinia is strictly monitored, Leith set up a public request that went "Hiiii I want to interview an Opalite person for my school project, I'll give you 100 dollars" and when Lucien, an Opalite woman accepted the request and met Leith, Leith said "I lied, there is no school project. The real request is I want you to take me to Opalite island. I'll claim to be your friend and also I'm distantly related to royalty so I'll be fine." and Lucien was like "Lol ok I'll take you". Soon after Leith's arrival at Opabinia, the story begins.

Personality, Interests, Quirks, Dilemmas, and Beliefs:

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Relationships:

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