Aris (I-prmopts)

  Imagine the best friend possible. Honest, loyal, supportive. One that’s fun to be around and to joke together, but also someone that will lend you a shoulder to cry on. That’s Aris. He always thinks about others before himself. He treats everyone equally, no matter their looks or status. He sees everyone as a potential friend. On top of that, his unique looks make him interesting and handsome.

  However, that does not make him perfect. He’s got his flaws and quirks. For example, he loves frogs. He can spend a whole day crawling over muddy forests, looking for the most unusual of the species. He’s also uncomfortable about the flaws in his looks, even though he’s the only one to see them. He’s nocturnal and his eyesight during daytime is terrible.

  Aris loves to explore and meet new people. He has an easy time making new friends and stays in contact with most of them after moving to a new place.

  + amicable, supportive, fun
  - weak, obsessive, overdramatic

  Aris used to be a simple mushroom farmer. He lived with his family in a quaint village located high up in the snow-covered mountains. The area was hard to reach, but for him and his kind it was a calm and safe heaven. Too calm. Every day seemed the same. Farming, observing the same species of frogs, reading. He wanted more from life. He wanted to explore, go on adventures, meet new kinds of people and most importantly, see a lot of new species of his favourite small amphibians.

  It took him a while to pick up the courage to leave his home and travel to the big city, but eventually he did it. There he met Hickory and they took on like a house on fire. Together they came in contact with Sye who later introduced them to Nahi and Marlevort, whom they began working for as a group.

  In the most simple terms possible, you could say that in their little group Aris plays the role of a DPS. He’s a fighter. Thanks to his heritage he wields magic power. He can use his spells to enhance his own (or others) abilities or provide them with a small amount of extra protection, but more than anything, he can cast offensive magic to greatly hurt their enemies. To say the truth, everyone in their group is a fighter. They are not the most balanced party. Hence why they often get into so much trouble.

  Outside of fighting Aris doesn’t really have an assigned role, though he happily picks up the one of a party jokester and general caretaker. He has no medical knowledge and won’t be the one to cure someone’s wounds unless he really has to, but he’ll be there to solve conflicts, boost morale and provide a friendly shoulder to cry on.

  Aris, just like anyone, has had many dreams in his life. To leave his home and explore the world. To become the greatest wizard in existence. For all the centaurs to get a gum stuck in their manes. However, he has one wish that overshadows all the others. It’s something he’s dreamt of since he was a child and is the greatest goal of his life.

  That is to see and document information about every frog in the world. It’s an ambitious dream, but he has already started putting it into motion. He has a Great Book of Frogs, which he hopes to publish once he finishes it. Right now it’s just a notebook with his scribbles and notes. Wherever he travels he always makes sure to find some time to devote to crawling over swamps in search of new species. He hopes to discover a completely new one and have it named after him.

  There are quite a few things that Aris is afraid of. One of them being the undead. Mummies, skeletons, zombies, all of them. It does not matter the species. If it moves when it shouldn’t, it truly frightens him. It’s something that’s beyond his understanding and something he will avoid at all costs. Yet, there is something that scares him even more.

  A legend. Some might say that’s it’s just an urban myth, since noone seems to have actually seen it. But there are tales passed from generation to generation about a terrible monster that lurks in the night and absorbs everything it meets in it’s way, especially children that don’t listen to their parents for some reason. It’s called the Void or the Black Hole. It’s body is pitch darkness and everything it touches becomes part of it. It can even make the stars go out. Aris would rather encounter a hundred undead than even think about meeting this creature.

  Aris’s name doesn’t really have a meaning. There is no great story behind it or a specific reason why he was given it. There are no special naming traditions in his village. When he was born his parents picked it for him. It was back when they were still together. His mother came up with it and they both thought that it sounded cute and definitely fit their adorable, tiny, blue-eyes son. That was basically it. A cute name for an equivalently cute child.

  During his life in the village Aris only heard positive things about his name. It was short, it sounded nice and was easy to remember. It wasn’t overly popular, so luckily there weren’t a bunch of little Ariss’ running around the place, but it wasn’t especially rare either. When he moved to the big cities and met humans some of the young children joked that it sounded almost like a girl’s name - Alice. It did not bother him.

  The one thing that is his greatest strength is also his greatest weakness. It sounds poetic, but is also the source of his greatest problems.

  As an adventurer, explorer and fighter Aris has to face many difficulties day by day. Hunger, cold, giant spiders, evil warlocks that trap defenceless princesses in tall towers. However, those are all matters of the body. Aris avoids physical pain as best as he can, but he can take physical wounds. Those always heal with time and adequate potions or magic.

  What troubles him more than anything are the matters of the mind. Aris easily makes friends. Too easily. He considers almost everyone he meets a friend. He remembers their name, their troubles and does his best to help them overcome them. Yet, worrying about others and always putting their needs before his is not a healthy situation. He gets himself in trouble and gets hurt in their place.

  When Aris was a young child he would sometimes hear the other children laugh at him for not having galaxies as bright as theirs. It made him feel awful. He wished he could do something about that, but it was out of his control. So instead he just hung his head and went back home to sulk or read a book and cheer up.

  In his adult life he experienced much fewer situations where he would be disrespected. He’s unusually likeable and believes that everyone deserves respect, no matter their species, class or anything else. This attitude of his seems to rub off on other people.

  When it comes to insults, he’s learnt to deal with those. Anything about his body he will just shrug off. However, he’s easily annoyed if someone disrespects his magic abilities or interesting frogs. Especially if it’s a centaur. Then he will lash out and even challenge them to a fight.

  If Aris had a superpower it would be his ability to make friends. It might sound lame and not like a superpower at all, but it definitely is his greatest ability. Aris is a learned sorcerer possessing a great deal of magic power and knowledge, but he does not consider it to be his greatest asset. He definitely thinks that he is the best frog scientist in the whole world, but very few people seem to appreciate that. One person, to be exact.

  Aris doesn’t even consider his amicability to be his greatest strength. He just tries to be nice and treat others the way he’d want to be treated. Possibly that is why it is his greatest feat. During his journeys around the world Aris has many a great deal of individuals of various species and jobs. He keeps in contact with them and can count on their help if he’s ever back in the area because they know they can also always count on him.

  Just as his friendly attitude is his greatest strength it is also his greatest weakness. Whenever Aris meets someone new he offers them honesty, hospitality and friendship. That’s how he’d like to be treated and that’s why he treats others this way. However, expecting that people will approach him with equivalent kindness is a mistake. People are wary of strangers and may find his amicable attitude suspicious. Others will consider him to be gullible and will try to use and trick him. A seemingly wonderful feature may lead to many unpleasant situations.

  Another thing is that he cares too much for his friends. Though he left his home to go on a journey around the world to discover new species of frogs and write a book about them he has set his own goal aside to help his closest friends. He has endangered himself and gotten hurt on multiple occasions helping or protecting them.

  Aris is the type of person to worry about their mistakes and will do his best to try and fix them as soon and as well as he can. That’s why he’s able to live without too many regrets. Yet, not all mistakes can be fixed, especially when he’s not aware of making them.

  Back when Aris used to live in his small village in the mountains, he shared his house with his parents. His father had another wife and with time stayed with her more and more, barely visiting his old household. It was perfectly normal for the people in their village. The wives were good friends or at least that’s what Aris thought. It was many years after, when he was an adult and far away from home, that he realised that his mother might have not been alright with that arrangement. When he thought about those moments again he suspects that his mother might have been heartbroken, maybe even depressed, but hiding it from her son as not to worry him.

  Aris regrets not realising it sooner and leaving because he has no easy way about contacting his mom. He wants to go back and make sure she’s okay, but the journey will be long and other responsibilities are keeping him from coming back home.

  Though Aris is officially a sorcerer and a traveller, in his own mind he is a scientist before anything else. That means he has an analytic mind. He processes things and experiments. And any experiment will provide results. Quite often the experiments will fail, but that’s okay because they still produce results. Even from a failed experiment you can learn of what doesn’t work and what to avoid. That’s why Aris doesn’t really mind being wrong. It’s impossible in life to always be right and being wrong isn’t bad because you still get to learn and he loves to learn.

  Of course, no scientist will be satisfied with a failed experiment. Therefore if he’s informed that he’s wrong about something he will try to learn the correct answers or ways. Whether it be by talking to others to correct him or finding out on his own. A scientists job is never done.

  He was always meant to be a follower. He was raised in a small village in the mountains with it’s own traditions and rules. One of them is how the leader is chosen. They don’t need to have royal blood. Royalty isn’t even a thing. They don’t even need any special qualities that would ensure that they would be fit to lead a group of people in a way that would provide their safety and prosperity. No. It is solely based on their looks. The one who’s bosy shows the most beautiful and bright galaxies is the one chosen to become a ruler. Because of that Aris never had even the faintest chance to be a leader. He accepted it and was content with it. Even now, traveling with his new friends, he’s fine following in their lead, but it’s a little different than at home. He trusts them and chooses to follow and if he has a plan they agree to follow him.

  There are quite a few little things that Aris takes pride in. The first would definitely have to be his Great Book of Frogs. A project he’s been working on since he was little. During his journeys he managed to expand it quite a lot and is looking forward to finishing it. Another would be his own self-confidence. He didn’t have too much of it back when he lived in his village in the mountains, but it was greatly boosted when he found friends that like and accept him for who he is.

  They too are the things that he is most proud of. His friends. He’s proud that he can be a part of their group. Proud of how they have grown since he first met them. Proud of the accomplishments they managed together and that they always stuck together no matter how bad things got. He’s proud of them and tries to live his life the best way he can so they can be proud of him too.

  Without a doubt there is one trait that Aris considers his most valuable - his attitude towards other people. He’s kind, friendly and open. He tries to treat everyone equally, no matter their gender, species or looks. He simply wanted to treat people the way he’d like to be treated and expected that that was how majority of the population worked, but it turned out not to be true. There are many that enjoy being rude and cruel.

  Over his travels he met a good amount of people that he helped by simply being nice to them and treating them on his own level. They were always kind people beaten up by the world, bullied for their strange looks or their weird hobbies. Aris with his bright smile and genuine desire to be their friend has helped them. A friend was all they needed in their lives of loneliness and sadness. Aris realises it since there were times when he felt similar back at his old home.

  Aris makes friends with all sorts of people. He likes it when they’re fun, like to joke and join in with him on doing pranks and playing games. He likes when they’re creative and passionate, no matter what they’re passionate about. But all of that is just a nice addition because the one thing he really expects from others is thoughtfulness. More than anything he values their heart. Even the most simple man with a complete lack of humour, someone who never strays from following the rules can still be his friend as long as they’re a kind and sympathetic person. It does not mean that they have to be an altruist monk that devoted their whole life to serving others, no. He has friends who are rough on the outside and emanate “bad guy” vibes, but they have a gentle heart, care about others and would never do anything hurtful.

  When you think about someone that you admire the most, the person to usually come to mind would be someone witch special achievements. A great hero, a king, a rich lord or a very successful person. However, that’s not always the case. For Aris it’s a simple merchant. Most that look at him would see a middle-aged boring man. Not especially fit or muscular, elegant or handsome. They would not spare him a second look, especially knowing that in his life he achieved nothing more than a small cart of goods and a donkey that pulls it. However, for Aris, who spent all his life in a small village on the top of secluded mountains, that man was an inspiration. He was always kind to Aris, told him of his journeys selling merchandise around the world and listened to the kid when he told him about his dream of learning about frogs. He didn’t laugh at him, but motivated him to spread his wings and do it. To this day Aris admires his lifestyle and is happy to have met him.

  Aris can be superstitious when it comes to scary things. Usually he doesn’t really think about them, but if he’s scared for example during spooky holidays when legends say that evil monsters come out at night and the only way to avoid getting eaten is by hanging tomatoes from your ears, he’ll do it. It mostly happens when he’s scared of a certain situation, especially if it involves the undead.

  Aris is not religious. In his land it is widely believed that his body displaying glittering star patterns is an actual universe. The glittering dots real planets forming real galaxies. The black spots of darkness are meant to be black holes, sucking up anything that comes near them. That is why the owner of the body dies the universe dies with it and all the stars go dark. Aris, like many other youngsters, finds it very hard to believe and prefers to just not think about it.

  Aris is all about organised sloppyness. He can’t really be called a hoarder, but he sure likes to collect various items, especially when they’re funny or imbued with magic properties. He haphazardly drops them into his bag. When you look in, it’s chaos with no organisation whatsoever, but he still manages to quickly find what he needs and seems to remember and know where each item is. His room looks somewhat alike. There are plenty of trinkets on the shelves, multiple blankets and pillows are strewn across the floors and his bed. Things, many of which he doesn't even know the purpose of, hang from the walls and even the ceiling. Yet, everything is clean and each item seems to have it’s proper place, as he always knows where to find it.

  The only difference is his attire. It always has to be neat and fresh, his hair brushed and his body clean.

  Aris is not one to keep secrets. Not because he’s a blabbermouth and he can’t keep them, no. If necessary, he’ll stay quiet, but he simple doesn’t like hiding things from people, especially if he cares about them. Aris is like an open book. Ask him anything and he’ll tell you. His fears? Ok. His past? Sure. Most embarrassing moment from his childhood? No problem. He’s willing to share even with strangers although he would find those questions very weird if they came from a stranger and would probably suspect some malicious magical intent.

  The only secrets he keeps are those that others have confined in him. The only thing that could be considered a secret is his relationship with Sye. He’s not actively trying to hide it, it’s more that he’s not completely sure of what he feels and expects Sye to be uncomfortable with it. But even that is not really a secret, especially since eventually the two of them became a couple.

  Aris has always coped with sadness by talking about his feelings. Ever since he was little. If he injured himself or was bullied by some kids he would return home and go to his bedroom. It would make him feel even more sad and lonely on top of that, so he would leave and go to his mother for help. They’d talk and she would hug him and smile and he would always feel better. It’s the same today. When something is weighing on his chest he’ll talk to one of his friends. Problems are always solved easier when multiple heads are working on them.

  If he’s not feeling particularly sad, but rather melancholic, he’ll read a book or go out to explore and find some frogs. He’ll sketch them in his notebook and write some new information about their habits. Pursuing his hobbies is always a good way to cheer himself up.

  Anger is not an emotion that Aris feels too often or too strongly. In fact in the small group of friends he’s been travelling with for the past few months, he’s usually the one having to calm down the aggressive tendencies of his companions. He is the voice of reason looking for a peaceful compromise when they start rolling up their sleeves.

  Aris is a cheerful person, very amicable and optimistic. He’d much rather make friends than enemies, hence why he doesn’t get angry too easily. Still, there are certain things that will put even him off balance.

  Or specifically, one thing. Centaurs. He hates them with a passion and even just looking at their faces makes him angry. He has a reason for it - Centaurs believe in astrology and since his body is a map of the sky, they always want to examine it and tell future from it. Aris doesn’t believe any of it and calls them stupid horses. His companions find this rare outbursts of rage pretty hilarious.

  Aris is a very intelligent individual. Among his small group of friends he is probably the most intelligent, at least when it comes to certain aspects, since there are many various types of intelligence. Sye definitely has more street-smarts than him and a more cunning mind, while Nahi and Hickory have more knowledge about the world and how to survive in it.

  Aris is emotionally intelligent. He knows how to talk to people and recognise their intentions. He’s also knowledgeable about magic and it’s aspects, he knows how to use it and even how to be creative and modify spells to suit his needs. He’s also relatively fast to learn new things like languages and potion properties. As a scientist he has a curious and analytic mind. He loves to explore new (and old) subjects, experiment and stay up for hours reading books under the night sky, be it fiction or science journals.

  During his life Aris has experienced all kinds of change. It’s an essential part of life and will happen whether one likes it or not. There have been two great changes that have affected him the most. The first one was him leaving his home village in the mountains to become a travelling frog scientist. It was great. While he’s mostly an adventurer exploring the world and fighting monsters to protect people, he’s still pursuing his dream. He’s been able to make many new friends and grow as a person. Another great change was a very negative one. It happened more to his friend than himself, but affected their whole group. Nahi was taken away from them by her father who intended to use her for his nefarious plans. They had to split their group to go looking for her. For all the months they’ve been together they never had to separate. It had a great effect on them and they worried whether it would strengthen or split their group in the end.

  Aris’s preferred way of expressing himself is through jokes. He loved to lighten up the mood and bring some humour into any conversation.

  Aris is a frog scientist and is quite content being alone for long periods of time, travelling through swamps interrupted by nothing but croaking of frogs. You might think that makes him an introverted loner, but it’s not true. He loves company. As soon as he’s done doing research he’ll visit a bar, talk to strangers about his discoveries, join in card or dart games and sing karaoke on stage.

  As a sorcerer he casts spells with his hands. He’s used to gesticulating quite often which might be why he also does it when he speaks. Not all the time, but rather when he wants to accent a word or a sentence he will wave his hands, as if trying to get attention to listen to the important things he has to say.

  Aris has been blessed to be born a magical species. He has innate power that he can cast spells with without really having undergone any training. In some sort of way, he doesn't actually know, but can feel what to do to achieve what he wants. They're mostly simple things. Moving small objects, creating light or making illusory sounds or images. It's something that all within his kind can do and isn't considered anything special. However, Aris has been practising his magic for all of his life and it's the experience that he gained through training that makes his spells powerful. He learned new kinds of magic. He loves experimenting and exceeding the limits of already known spells. He learned how to create portals, walls of ice and missiles of pure energy. Magic is not only a useful tool, but something he very much enjoys. It's an ability that he never plans to stop training.

  Aris doesn't really have any skills that he could use on something he doesn't enjoy. However, there are many things he likes to do where he lacks any ability. For example, he lacks artistic skill. His greatest passion is researching frogs. He has some magic abilities that help him locate them and knowledge which he uses to analyze them and find out new facts about different species. He catalogues everything in his Great Book of Frogs. He likes to accompany his facts with drawings of the frogs. While they should like anatomically correct depictions of species, they look like a child's cartoony scribbles.

  One of Aris's greatest skills is his magic. His greatest desire, other than frog studies, is helping his friends. With a combination of offensive and defensive spells he can do it. He can fight and protect them from danger whenever necessary and even provide entertainment during more quiet times.

  Aris is lucky enough to not have been in too many tragic situations. When he was a child he injured his leg. He was scared of the consequences to the point that he didn't tell his parents, but hid in his room. Only after the shock had left him and he started feeling the pain he finally went and told his mom.

  He has grown much from that time. He's no longer a terrified little boy, but he will still seek comfort. Even though he's perfectly fine being alone, hardships are easier when shared with people that care about him.

  Right now if a tragedy happened, his immediate reaction would be shock, but also a desire to help. To somehow fix things and heal wounds, whether internal or external. Even if it was hard and time consuming, he would make it his most important task and drop everything else for it.

  Many people's first impression of Aris is that he is an extrovert who loves showing off, talking about himself and being the centre of attention. It's not precisely true. He doesn't mind giving an occasional spectacle and he will put a lot of flare into it. When he does become the point of interest he gives it his all, but he does not seek attention. However, whether he wants it or not, he very often does bring a lot of interest.

  Aris doesn't mind talking about himself and will share most of the info about himself even to a complete stranger, but won't go out of his way to change the subject to himself. He doesn't dislike it, but he much rather enjoys learning about others, their habits and culture. He likes to listen to their stories. He grew up in a small village high up a snowy mountain range and everything new is interesting to him.

  Aris doesn't really view himself as neither a hero nor a villain. He thinks of himself as a simple scientist constantly seeking new knowledge about amphibians of the frog kind and also a magician who, with a group of trusted friends, does odd jobs to earn money. This is correct, but in reality he quite often becomes sort of a hero. The work he and his group do often ends up with them helping people. They take care of dangerous threats and solve mysteries, saving villages from monsters and bringing them hope. He may not be wearing a shining armour, but he does go out of his way to help the people he meets, even if it ends up not bringing them much wealth.

  If he were to choose a role it would definitely be that of a hero. Aris appears to not have the slightest bit of evil inside him. Unless he has to deal with centaurs.

  Aris is very pro medicine and healers. He considers himself a scientist and medicine is a type of science. He doesn't get sick very often so he doesn't have too much experience with them. As for injuries, since he was little, those were mostly healed via magic. He never really had to taste awful medicine that humans are forced to take when they become ill. A spell and some rest are usually enough to fix him up.

  Aris really only became interested in medicine after meeting his current friends. Before, it wasn't necessary for him, but now he's looking into research of anti-poison potions. They become quite handy, since he has a whole bunch of poisonous frogs that love to touch people and jump into their glasses of water.

  Aris doesn't really know much about any other type of medicine or herbs and has to seek help in case it's needed.

  You can't say that Aris doesn't mind nosy people, but his tolerance for them is much higher than most other people. Aris is very curious himself and finds that to be a great trait in people. Curiosity helps them learn and experience new things. It's the root of research and progress. It makes things exciting and life worth living.

  It's different with nosyness. Aris doesn't really have any secrets. His life is an open book. If you want to find something out, all you need to do is ask. However, he wouldn't enjoy being questioned or someone getting too interested in his life or someone else's. He doesn't mind talking about himself, but he'd much rather talk about frogs. He would tell someone if they were being too intrusive.

  All in all, Aris doesn't mind people like that too much, but they have to be respectful and know when to stop prying into business that isn't their own.

  Aris has great rapport with nearly anyone, no matter their species, age or personality. He always tries his best to find some common ground with them and to have a great time and many pleasant conversations together. It's hard to dislike him.

  In his group he's the second oldest, with one the members of his team being underaged. The role of a caretaker falls onto the oldest member with Aris being a support. He prefers to be a friend to everyone, rather than a mom, but he always looks out for them anyway. Like a cool uncle figure that will take you rollerskating and laugh when you scrape your knee, but do anything in his might to protect you when actual danger comes around.

  Aris also has to play the role of a babysitter to his many frogs. They have various species, ages and characters. Some of which require (or desire) attention and special treatment.

  In Aris's culture their outer appearance is incredibly important. Social ranks are gained not by skill or inheritance, but by the beauty of one's body. An individual with the brightest and the most shining stars becomes the leader of the whole village. Aris was unlucky to be born with quite a few black holes, considered major flaws in the universes of their bodies. It made him insecure, but he's grown to accept it. It's not something he can improve, even if he wanted to change. He wouldn't mind getting rid of some of the blemishes, but otherwise he's quite content with his body. He's not aiming to be the best or perfect, so he mostly accepts himself the way he is.

  When it comes to things he can affect, he likes to improve himself and will work on fixing his flaws. However, only if he considers it a flaw that needs to be worked on.

  Aris has very high social intelligence and is great at recognising emotional situations and adjusting to them, despite being rather a loner. He doesn't have one specific way of comforting someone, as everyone is different and needs a different approach and he's good at knowing what they need.

  He's favourite way of approach towards an upset person is humour. He tries to turn a bad situation into a joke if possible. It defuses the tension and can make someone laugh and turn them happy from upset.

  In situations when someone is sad and humour doesn't work he'll always offer a shoulder to cry on and a comforting hug. He'll be there for the person as long as they need, saying some nice words and patting their back.

  When there is conflict and anger, he usually tries to bring attention to a different subject, use humour or try to find a compromise between the fighting parties.

  Aris sees compromise as cooperation and he's all for working together. After all, everything works out better when there's more heads to think, more hands to work and more reasons to laugh.

  Aris is not a fan of arguments. He doesn't like making enemies and would rather be a friend of everyone. Besides, arguments are stressful and make everyone upset. He would much rather find a solution that satisfies both parties, rather than keep insisting of having things his way exactly the way he wants.

  That's the case in most situations. However, Aris will fight for his rights when he really wants something. For example he will not compromise on going around a swampy marshland to avoid the moisture and difficult terrain because he will want to explore it for all the wonderful species of frogs that live there. He will be okay compromising that he will go there alone while the others wait. As long as both parties are satisfied.

  Aris knows how to present an argument in the most favourable way and some persuasion techniques that often let him get what he wants, but he's not exactly great at arguing. For starters, he doesn't like arguments. Especially ones that include loud voices and anger. He doesn't even like it when others argue, even if he's not involved. He'll always do what he can to end it, defuse the situation and find a compromise.

  He doesn't mind so much arguments that are just passionate discussions. For example, he can talk for hours about his frogs, arguing why they're extremely interesting animals and why being an amphibian scientist is the best job in the world. He will argue even if noone wants to listen. Yet, Aris will never get overly loud or angry. He respects the other person's opinion even if he disagrees with it. He'll be excited, but won't push his point of view onto someone else.

  When Aris used to live high atop the mountain tops he used to spend a lot of time by himself. He was a mushroom farmer and would spend long hours on his farm accompanied only by his own thoughts. In his free time he would go searching for new and interesting species of frogs - a hobby that noone else was interested in sharing with him. He wasn't unhappy. He didn't mind. He could focus on his work and the frogs. Aris isn't exactly extroverted, but he does love meeting new people and making friends. He never wastes an opportunity to chat with those that share his passion or simply want to have a good time.

  Aris loves being surrounded by his closest group of friends. He definitely feels best when they're all together and doesn't like separating. However, if it's necessary, he'll go on a venture alone and will not mind the solitude.

  Aris doesn't really have a sense of duty. At least, not in the same way that most people do. Back when he used to live in his village in the mountains he never had any major duty. There was a leader of the colony, but they didn't really rule over everyone, but were more just a representative. He had no such duty as protecting his village or joining the army to fight for the king. In the village he was free to do what he wanted, without having to obey a major law. Only duty he had would be one that he put upon himself.

  Therefore his sense of duty is very low. If he was told to do something because it was his responsibility he would probably disobey. He values his freedom and won't do things just because he’s told, but only if he chooses to out of his own will.

  In Aris's colony it is common knowledge that all knowledge comes from the stars. Not exactly because stars are especially smart or because they can tell the future, but simply because spending all night looking into the sky is a calm way without distractions that lets you contemplate your problem in great detail. It is also common knowledge that stars can't predict anything. They're just stars. To this day Aris often spends his time watching the night sky and seeking knowledge. However, thinking about issues on your own can only do so much, no matter how much time you spend on it. That's why after watching the stars and collecting his thoughts he usually asks someone he knows for an opinion and help. It used to be his mother, but these days it will be his friends. If none of them are available, he'll seek guidance from a stranger. Sometimes it's not about the knowledge they can tell you, but sharing your problem and speaking out your thoughts.

  There is one thing in this world that Aris is especially passionate about. Frogs. Those green amphibians have taken control over his heart and his mind. They're not just a hobby for him. He claims himself a frog scientist and wants to become a person with the most knowledge about them in the world. One of his dreams includes releasing his own book where he collects information about all the different species of frogs that he has discovered during his adventures. He collects information about their size, colour, habitats, mating habits and the poisons they use to catch their prey. Luckily for him, he's immune to them. He has collected some of the species and keeps them in the house to the displeasure of his roommates. He likes to experiment with them and will conduct all sorts of testing on them, but never anything that could hurt them. He loves them too much.

  Most of the time Aris speaks fluently. He's often dressed head to toe in a black cloak that makes him seem very mysterious. Nothing further from truth. He only wears it as protection from the sun. His voice may be a surprise to strangers then, as it sounds nothing like the mysterious individual they expect. He sounds jovial and friendly. He often speaks first and can talk a lot, but is mindful of his companion and won't interrupt them. He will lower his voice and speak slower if he wants to make himself seem more mysterious, most likely when telling a story.

  When something excites him his speech becomes quicker and he talks more, interjecting his words with small cries of joy, like "woo!". He also begins gesticulating more than usual.

  The only time his voice becomes higher is when he gets angry, specifically, when talking about centaurs which he isn't on the best terms with.

  Aris's first reaction to coping with trauma is to seek comfort from others. He doesn't do it actively, it's a subconscious reaction. Pain and problems are a little bit easier to bear when shared between people.

  When he was a little boy he badly hurt his leg on an ice spike. It was painful, but more than the pain, he was afraid that he might just lose his leg. He panicked. He hid in his room, too scared to tell anyone or seek help. Eventually, when the shock passed and the pain became worse, he told his mom and she immediately comforted him and nursed his wound.

  Perhaps the reason Aris subconsciously wants to share his pain is because he wants others to rely on him. He always wants to help them with their problems in whatever way he can, even if it's just lending a shoulder to cry on.

  Out of the three possibilities, neutral definitely fits Aris the most.

  Aggressive is certainly out of the question. Though he can be rash with his actions and sure likes to talk and throw out possibilities and ideas, he is not the type to force his way onto others. He prefers to follow Sye, their leader, as he believes he has their best interest in mind.

  That doesn't quite mean Aris is passive. Back when he used to live in the mountains he definitely was on the passive side. He worked alone and the colony didn't make any decisions he could have an impact on.

  Aris likes to be helpful and add his own ideas into future plans. He will actively communicate with his group or strangers and situations and will impact them, but won't be the decision-making person.

  That's something Aris doesn both intentionally and unintentionally, as it's simply one of the traits of his personality.

  Aris will always find some time to take care of himself. Even a lot of time.

  Him and his friends often end up in action-filled situations where they're either running away from or chasing towards something. For example, recently they have been scared off by a gang of kobolds while exploring ruins in search of treasure. This type of lifestyle does not leave much more for self-care and relaxation, but Aris will always find some time, no matter what the conditions are.

  Caring for one's looks is very important to him due to his upbringing. In his culture the most beautiful individual is chosen as leader. Their kind treats their bodies with utmost care - it is believed that their bodies are universes, just like the one they live in. It is their duty to care for them. Even though Aris doesn't believe in that, he still finds time to take care of himself because a healthy body is a healthy mind.

  Centaurs! If there's centaurs involved, Aris is going to be against it. Those hooved half-humans are his enemies and he will not stand for anything that they want. Unless he can be convinced.

  Centaurs believe that the glowing dots on Aris's body are stars creating constellations in a whole new universe. While many of the people in his colony, especially the older ones, also believe that to be true, Aris does not. However, that's not the problem. The issue is that centaurs love staring at him and telling the future from the movements of the stars on his body. That is ridiculous. Aris is against both such crazy ideas and being analyzed. He hates it when he has to deal with the centaurs and there's a whole herd of them observing him as if he was a curious treasure map.

  Because of their beliefs Aris is against centaurs. He doesn't really hate them, but, as a rule, will always be against them and any idea that involves them.

  Aris likes a whole spectrum of colours. There isn't really any colour he dislikes, although it depends on what that colour is used for. He especially likes bright colours and contrast, but his absolute favourite is violet.

  When he was a little boy his mother used to read him a bedtime story that influenced this. After years, Aris doesn't remember very well what the book was about, but he remembers one character. The evil frog villain, Toadia McFrog. Though she was the bad guy of the tale, she was adorable and always had plenty of fun and curious ideas of how to cause some troubles for the heroes. She was violet in colour and so was the poison she used in various ways to try and infect the good guys. She was his favourite character and the colour is nostalgic and is connected to good memories, even if Toadia herself wasn't a good frog.

  If lied to, Aris would definitely get hurt. He himself is an open book and doesn't lie unless he really has no other choice or if it's a small, harmless lie for the sake of a joke.

  Nahi, one of his best friends, lies to him quite often. He tries to teach her that she should be truthful, but she's very stubborn. Nahi only lies about small things, usually when she thinks that if she tells the truth, she will get scolded or stopped from realizing an idea a little too crazy. She never hides any of the important stuff, so Aris has learnt to accept it. He understands that people have their own reasons to lie and hide stuff. As long as his friends know that they can rely on him and trust him with anything, he can deal with the little things.

  If he was lied to by a stranger, he would find them suspicious and try and find out their reason for their bad acting.

  Just like any child, or at least most children, Aris displays some traits of both his parents, but in certain aspects is also completely different from them. Aris is calm, kind and caring just like his mother. For her, her family is the most important in the world and she always thinks about them before herself. Aris is similar and will do anything to help his friends and make their lives a little bit happy.

  Aris's father is a quiet man who most likes the company of books. It's because of him that Aris learnt to love literature, though he prefers science journals rather than novels, like his dad.

  Both of his parents are major romantics. It's a trait of all the people in his village. They're prone to be nostalgic, philosophical and to over romanticize things. Like his mom, Aris is monoromantic, which is an unusual trait to the people of his village.

  Aris usually moves elegantly. He's slim, with long legs and a good posture. The glowing dots on his body glow, making him look like a graceful disco dancer.

  One of the times when Aris loses his grace is when he crawls over muddy ground of a swamp, ducking under thick green leaves and branches in search of rare species of frogs. However, he displays some special ability of not getting overly dirty despite the surroundings and, if there ever was such competition, would definitely get the award of the most graceful swamp crawler.

  Another such occasion when Aris becomes less elegant than usual is during his work of exploring dungeons and fighting monsters. Oftentimes he has to run and dodge to avoid getting hit and in the heat of the moment it's hard to stay graceful. However, when he's casting spells and hands draw the shapes of magic runes, his movements are alluring and sublime.

  Aris is a creative being and will sometimes use his surroundings to his advantage, but he's definitely not a strategist and doesn't have the highest survival skill so he prefers to rely on his skills. He's used to living in a peaceful place where the only thing he had to worry about was not staying out in the sun for too long. To avoid it he would cast an easy spell that created a transparent dome around him that would stop the sunlight, but still let him enjoy the views and sleep in peace.

  He learned to use his surroundings mostly from Sye, but also from necessity. For example, when he and Sye got surrounded by monsters and Sye couldn't attack them because he ran out of arrows for his crossbow, Aris created new ones for him by freezing water from the nearby puddles into the correct shapes and made a wall of ice behind which they could hide.

  Aris would never be late! Except for almost all the time.And it's not just fashionably late. He can be late a full day or two. Or early. That happens as well.

  Time is a concept that the people in Aris's village don't keep track of all too scrupulously. Things get done when they need to get done. Most of them spend long nights on philosophical debates with no mind to what time it is. When there is a meeting everyone knows to come right now. If it was scheduled, for example, in an hour, everyone would arrive at different times.

  Likely, Aris doesn't keep track of time very well. Living among people he is forced to try, but old habits die hard. He's excited to show up for events and will often be early, even multiple days. When it comes to chores he tends to push them off in time.

  Aris grew up in an environment mostly void of conflict, at least the aggressive, heated kind of conflict. The people in his village loved watching the stars and debating about various subjects. Each had their own argument, but they all looked at them from a philosophical point of view. There was never a "right" and "wrong", but rather a "what if?". Most of the time they all came to a compromise being "maybe". There were of course some difficult social situations, but they were rare and Aris never really had an opportunity to learn how to act during such occasions.

  He definitely doesn't like conflicts and doesn't understand them very well. He wishes for everyone to live in peace and get along with each other as it was at home. Therefore he will try to diffusite heated arguments and calm down the people involved. He does it intentionally, but it's also in his nature.

  Aris isn't a very loud or obnoxious character, but he does bring attention, so when he speaks, people often listen to him. At least at first because they're curious of what such an interesting-looking individual has to say. Later they realize he doesn't have any grand ideas, but mostly just adds funny comments and silly ideas into conversations and often stop paying as much attention to him.

  Aris likes having his voice heard as much as the other guy. It's a sign of respect and good leadership. Himself, Aris isn't the type to rule, but he's also not an obedient little lamb. He prefers a democratic conversation where everyone can be heard and a consensus that will satisfy everyone can be concluded.

  If no such option is available, he's more likely to stay quiet rather than argue his way to victory. Unless the subject is extremely important, Aris will be okay sinking into the background.

  Aris decided to leave his village so that he could realize his dream of becoming the most knowledgeable frog scientist, to discover new species and write a book about them. In order to do so, he wants to explore the world. That's the reason he joined his current group of friends. They make it possible and thanks to them he was able to visit new places and make great progress on his journal.

  However, ironically, his friends are also the thing holding him back from achieving his goal. Aris oftentimes puts their needs before his own and regularly chooses to have fun with them rather than deciding to leave them to pursue his dream.

  One time, when Aris was a part-time fortuneteller and told people's futures for them, Sye asked him about his own. Aris thought about it and realized his aim has changed much from before he left the mountains. He decided it was okay and that he is happy with things as they are now.

• The Farm

    Aris was born in a very small village high upon the snowy mountain tops. It was secluded from the rest of the world with very few outsiders ever visiting it, mostly to trade food for minerals. The life was calm, peaceful and uneventful. Aris grew up surrounded by the same people he knew since he was born. He took on a job as a mushroom farmer, not having many more possibilities in the small place. Books were his best companions as every day he worked on his magic and dreamed of a day he would leave this place and explore the world.

  
  

• The Journey

    One day he finally came down the mountains. His dream didn’t get realized exactly as he planned for it to, but that doesn’t mean it was worse. Aris met Hickory who became his first friend in the new world. They decided to stick together. They had great chemistry and both wanted to explore the world, though for different reasons. Their little party soon expanded as Nahi joined them for their new adventures where she helped them slay monsters and help people. Tough situations made them grow close to each other and they have stuck together ever since with Sye joining them soon after.

  
  

• The Home

    Together the four of them ended up living together in an old wooden house located on a small island. They did not have much choice as they spend all their money and could not go back to their previous job for one simple reason - they ended up accidentally destroying the place. Those events at first seemed like a chain of misfortunes, but were instead a blessing in disguise. Together they formed a company that worked like a well-oiled machine and became best of friends. Aris’s dream was slowly realised as they travelled, encountered new people and adventured, always having each other’s backs.

  
  

• The Stars

    In Aris’s family there is a legend saying that their bodies are actual universes. Sure, they shine like the night sky full of stars, but to Aris that always seemed like lunacy, but some really believed it, for example, the centaurs. When a great calamity struck the world one of them approached him. The beast could not be slain, but could be erased from the world by sending it into a black hole. Like one of many that Aris had on his body. It was a moment he had to decide whether or not he believed the legend. If they tried to send the beast into his body it would either succeed or kill him. It was a hard decision, but Aris was willing to make a sacrifice to save those he cares about.