Osian

Osian is the son of a sheep farming family, and grew up in the same tiny island community as Morgan and Myfanwy Howel, his childhood best mates. Recently their paths have diverged, but he's still there for them when they need him.

Osian has a genuinely sweet nature, and is both charming and playful. He loves being the centre of attention for something funny he did or the clothes he wears, and luckily also knows when to stop with his humour. He stars in all the gang's most hilarious TTRPG stories (he plays a naked-mole-rat-kin jester in their most long-lived adventure, whose spells have bizarre and unexpected results). He pays a lot of attention to his outfits, like Myfanwy (though he tends towards different styles) and they enjoy going shopping together in the largest local town to their school. As a younger teen, he sometimes overspends on fashion - causing tension with his parents as the family is far from rich - but his growing sense of responsibility soon puts a stop to that as he gets older.

Osian is a very kind, loyal and affectionate person and a great support to both twins. (The downside of his loyalty is that he won't hold his friends accountable for their faults and won't question their bad decisions - for instance solitary night swims while depressed.) He is also very determined when it counts. He seems easy-going usually but he won’t back down from a stance he feels is important, even when it causes conflict with the people he loves. This is demonstrated in his support of his lgbt+ friends and relatives, which his father finds uncomfortable, and also his decision to not go to university but eventually take over the family farm, which ends his romantic relationship with Myfanwy.

Osian’s pride can also cause trouble for him. He doesn’t receive charity well and finds the expensive clothing items Myfanwy buys for him as gifts when she suddenly comes into money at age sixteen, which are all perfect for his style, an embarrassment and a burden. The feeling that they are no longer equals nags at him and contributes to their eventual breakup. He also struggled when moving from his tiny primary school, with fewer than ten pupils, to his much larger secondary school because his pride in his achievements as a big fish in a small pond were greatly diminished by the new classmates who outcompeted him at most subjects. This was when he took up sport (at which he performs well even amongst the larger student body) despite finding organised activity rather boring. He also got into a few school fights for his pride in his family, friends, and poor rural background. Osian was always happy to defend them - especially Bron and Morgan, who both attract unwanted attention - in a battle of fists, and sometimes felt shame about this pugilistic streak as it conflicted with his religious background. Raised by his own mother in the cult of the Little Mother, Osian is a surprisingly sincere worshipper and generally does his best to live life in her image - but the humility and gentleness this requires are the points where he has to spend quite a few prayers for forgiveness.

Early Life

Osian’s family run a small sheep farm on Ynys Goleudy, the same tiny island that Morgan and Myfanwy were born and raised on. The three children were looked after by the same childminder, a rather mean and bitter woman, and quickly formed a bond that ended up being lifelong. Though the island was small, the three were all imaginative and played make-believe games together from further back than any of them can remember. In fact, many of their only remaining memories of early childhood are the fantasies they came up with together. The lessons they took at infant and junior levels of education were always delivered to the three together, as they were the only students of their age in the school. They all performed well enough but none of them found it especially engaging and Osian in particular had a tendency to mess around when the work was dull.

Growing Up

At age twelve, the children had to leave the island of their birth to attend secondary school on a much bigger island nearby. Osian had anticipated this with excitement for a long time so it was very distressing to him to find that he did not excel at any subject in comparison to his new classmates. Though he was far from stupid, he was neither academic nor an intellectual, and he and Myfanwy were quickly sorted into middle ability level classes while Morgan was placed in the higher sets. None of the three were happy about this but Osian was most upset as his pride was badly dented. In order to be top at something again he took to sport and began to work hard in his physical education lessons rather than goofing around. He actually found the rules and structure of organised sport rather boring in comparison to wilder games like manhunt or piggy-back jousting, but nevertheless he did do well at it. He would never be picked for captain due to his lack of interest and commitment but he played well at most sports on offer. The three of them (Morgan, Myfanwy and Osian) made up for their separation in school by spending all their free time exploring the island together, pretending to be knights in armour. There was an abandoned castle not far from the school, and despite the fact that it was strictly off limits officially, the three often went there to hang out and play in the ruins.

Making Plans

Osian and Myfanwy had started dating aged fourteen, and continued that way until the time came to really think about their futures. Osian’s father had recently had a heart attack (that he was recovering from) and for the first time Osian realised that if he didn’t take over the farm from his parents as an adult, then it would have to be sold. (Bronwen already had plans elsewhere.) He hated the thought of everything his parents had worked so hard for being traded away to someone who might not run it with such care and dedication to the welfare of the animals, and so he decided to give up on the idea of going to university and instead start helping with the farm work and learning about the more technical and financial side of it as soon as possible. Myfanwy was heartbroken to find that her dream - to live in a bustling city and get a good degree - was not Osian’s and the two could not reconcile their plans. They broke up but remained dear friends.

Alun • father

Alun, Osian’s father, has always struggled to understand his son. Osian’s interest in fashion and seahorse cartoons strike him as worryingly effeminate, and he finds Osian’s closeness to Morgan a cause for concern too, as Morgan is clearly a very mixed up young…person. Osian as a young teen dreamed of living with his friends far away from Alun’s disapproval, which is why it’s such a shock to Myfanwy when Osian decides to succeed his father as a sheep farmer instead.

Bron • sister

Osian is extremely protective of his younger sister. Bron was an unusual (and unusually intelligent) child and was ostracised by her peers at school, so she often tagged along with Osian, who always had a place for her at his side. He is convinced she will do great things, and he's probably right, though the world may take less notice that Osian expects it to.

Bron and Osian both enjoy TTRPGs, usually playing together with Myfanwy and Morgan. Bron is fast at mental arithmetic, which Osian appreciates a lot. However she does find it irritating when Osian derails things too much in game, and Osian likewise feels annoyed that she’s so goal-focused.

Osian and Bron both find it darkly humorous that Alun never worried about Bron’s lack of masculinity because he was concerned about Osian’s instead.

Myfanwy • ex-girlfriend and close friend

At heart, Myfanwy and Osian both have a childlike capacity for joy that allows them to spend hours together without time seeming to pass at all. They play, together or in parallel, at all sorts of things. Neither of them would like the kids at school to know that they still play with toys as simple as a flocked animal figure or wooden building set, but they are more open about more “grown-up” games like exploring ruins or roleplaying. Osian has a gift for spontaneity that usually delights Myfanwy, who is also somewhat impulsive in nature but second-guesses herself constantly.

While Osian and Myfanwy dated for much of their teenage years, their relationship was really closer to “best friends who sometimes kiss”. Osian found it very painful to end this happy state of affairs but his loyalty to his family ultimately outweighed his loyalty to Myfanwy, despite everything.

Morgan • close friend

Osian often finds Morgan's more outré thoughts confusing. He likes being someone that Morgan can confide in but he wishes his friend were a little simpler to understand, and had fewer demons. When Morgan gets into a depressive funk Osian has an unfortunate tendency to fuss over him, which Morgan ignores completely (but Myfanwy finds irritating). The two of them are happiest together when Osian succeeds in getting Morgan to engage without a feeling of self-consciousness, by involving him in an improvised comedy routine or roleplaying scenario, or just doing some activity together, like skipping stones.

Osian secretly had a crush on Morgan when they were both pre-teens and Morgan was living as a girl. He has never told anyone this.

Physical

• As an adult, Osian is about 175 cm cm tall and strongly built.
• His dark brown fur has red tones visible in the sunlight, but by dim light it looks black.

Demeanor

• Osian is very cheerful and his laugh is a pleasant one, though he’s also given to a fake laugh that he made up to be as annoying as possible. Morgan HATES it when he uses it in public.
• He constantly rocks any chair he sits in that can be made to move, back and forth, and has broken chair legs this way before.
• He likes to leap from one surface to another, or pull himself up onto walls, or do other playful displays of strength - not because he’s showing off, but purely for the pleasure of it.

Style

• Osian has always loved brightly coloured clothing, preferably with as many hues close together as possible.
• As a teen he wore scene fashion, but now he is a farmer he has had to ditch the kandi bracelets for rubber gloves. He still tries to dress whimsically and cheerfully though!
• Myfanwy once bought him two identical pairs of shoes except in different colours, so he could wear them as two odd pairs. Despite feeling uncomfortable about taking charity, he loved them a lot.

• He owns a pet sheep named Woolly Baa Baa, who adores gingernut biscuits.
• Osian loves legends about warriors of long ago, especially knights, and intended to play one in Sea of Sand (Morgan’s TTRPG setting), after he had learnt the system with a silly throw away character. They all grew attached to this lumpy little jester though and Osian has played him ever since.