Role

Chapter 2

Inspired by his disappointment in Thror, his religion not being as close to
the Men-ji's imagining of it as Quird had hoped, Quird turned to Rayihn.
Determined to prove that the passion of Love can forge a far stronger bond
than any anger or revenge, he has begun to come to terms with how great a
challenge that is. Anger drives the wars onward, it's negativity becoming
like a furnace amongst it all. And although Quird avoids feeling it himself,
he finds it great quantities in friends and foes alike. He has even realised
he breeds it. Yet his point remains - his love for the Land and his emotional
bond to it have made him a great warrior. In one way, this is a success. In
another, it is a failure.

Quird left his tribe as a spiritual acolyte with a gift for healing. He has
turned that gift to manipulating nature into a weapon. Thorny plants that
grow at astounding rates inside someones chest. Briars that thrive until they
reach dangerous proportions, in order to sting at intruders. Seeds that
sacrifice their life to give bursts of flame and fire. To Quird these are
small sacrifices to fight back the Lands pain. But he has had to sacrifice
his own ideals in order to make himself this way. Love remains strong but
peace seems distant.

For now, he consoles himself with the knowledge that each blow he strikes
back is lessening the Land's own pain. It is pushing back civilizations
advance. This is not healing in the most traditional sense but it is surgery
against a force that is invading Thar-eris. With each step forward, Quird
wants to put a greater stress on consolidation. He has devoted time to trying
to replant and regrow the Ashes of Nowhere. He searches the land for places
of great beauty, to show his goddess Rayihn how the Land has gifted us with
beauty that compares to her own - in the hopes he can petition her for more
aid and more power. To him, his goddess is a strong and powerful woman but he
understands she may not be completely on his side. Whatever he can do to
bring her in, he is doing.

Moments of meditation are becoming sacred to Quird, and he studies if not
practices the life of an aesthetic - someone who can act as a spiritual
guide, healer and teacher in a time of peace. Amongst the Outlanders, he
hopes to gain a reputation as all three above that of a warrior.