Zaurea Kalakea the Initiate of the Jaguar, Marshall of the Fortress

Title History

Role

Chapter 7

It has been some time since I've sat down and written in this diary. I
suppose little of its original purpose still lives. A once damaged
little girl who had found a pillar to cling to in her faith and purpose
in restoring purity to the undead has now since become a pillar herself,
one of the Light. She looked down at her shoulders and remembered the
many conversations that came before the Goddess of Purity placed the
mark upon her. It had taken her long to realize she masked too much of
the burden she carried to Lady Baerinika, but now realized that she
was the place to share the burden and find the resolve to carry even
more. She could not rest, but must continue to improve.

This same conversation had led to her resolving to be more challenging
to the squires she stood over. She had tried to do so in fun challenges
but found that they did not respond to it and lost interest. Instead,
she had been forced to take a more demanding tone with them to improve
as she had been shown herself. When the late Coqui finally took his
last breath over a life that had likely lasted through her great
grandparents if not longer, Zaurea found herself wondering who would
next hold the mantle. She found another elf take it in Talanashta. It
was not perhaps her first choice, but it would have been her second and
in time she found it was a wise one. The Light within Yerial quickly
faded as he entered retirement rather early, but it was hard to judge
humans compared to the long lived elves or even her own kind. Together,
they had set harder requirements to those that sought to be Squires so
they would be better prepared for the weight of the Mantle of the Maran.
It would be some time before she could resolve that this was a wise
change, but she was hopeful.

In reflection, she had found that few of the dreaded necromancers roamed
where she could harm them. She had found her prayers from her Lady quite
effective against the undead and they often cowered or took to their crypts
when she was awake. She found that the darkness of souls that swirled
around the spear of the emperor was now the biggest challenge she faced.
She did not yet have an answer to the ease at which he drained her
mental energy and resisted her prayers, but she hoped to one day find
the path to haunt their nightmares.

Role

Chapter 6

I've been too long away from my journal, but I suppose that is what
happens when you dedicate yourself to such an important duty of finding
and removing darkness. That is what I want to tell myself, but I am not
sure it is true. I was in such a dark place when I started writing in
this book. I found solace in writing what I experienced. Life has been
so much better since Lady Baerinika started walking beside me and I
joined the Fortress.

Horfik the gruff dwarf who stood as our Marshall and brought me into
the Fortress has since retired. I found that I missed them and that
the Fortress was just a little bit less without all of the pillars
of leadership. filled in. I went to Lady Baerinika to see which of
our Marans would be best suited to rise up. I was surprised to find
myself become a Maran and told it would likely be between Usanaar
and I. I sought out Usanaar for many weeks but could never find them
to talk to them. When I next returned to my Lady to learn more of
myself and my walk with her, I told her I was unable to find them
but had been thinking about how I would lead if called upon. I found
myself with the mantle of leadership that I had found I wanted.

I knew there were many ways I could proceed. I could try to bluster
and command and demand like some fools do. I instead focused upon
learning how our Captain who has led for so long handles their duties
and recruitment for the Fortress. I found myself understanding the
intentions to bring the Squires in and teach and train them so that
they can become into Maran one day. I found that none of my current
plan had to change, as it was all focused upon the growth of all
Squires. I would teach them to know their abilities, their mental
health, and the Fortress as well as they would let me.

Role

Chapter 5

I sit within the walls of the Fortress deciding to write of my first
days seeking Lady Baerinika and finding my way here. The more I write
the more I find understanding of who I am. I recall my first journey
through the seas to the mountain to the east and into a jungle ruin
with jaguars to be quite memorable. I had read of the jaguars but
thought them more symbolic than reality. Imagine my surprise when the
first one walked up then purred at me. After that though, the real
test began. I began to make frequent walks to the temple to offer my
prayers and dedications to be a priestess.

While I waited, I found myself being consistently helped and watched
over in the kindest ways. I had Heralds and members of the Fortress
asking to make sure I had everything I could ever want to travel.
The kindness I was shown made me realize the loneliness I had been
experiencing. I had left my tribe and began training to be a warrior
priestess, but often walked by myself. I worshipped frequently while
waiting for a blessing that I knew would come in time, but until it
did would be a test of my faith. As I asked the first of the Fortress
why they aided me, I found their answer so simple that I felt the
call to pledge myself. Gilliri said that helping any of the Light
was helping themselves. I found myself returning and making my
pledge when it would be accepted.

The interview later with Marshall Horfik was very odd, the dwarf a
bit grouchy in their words with me. I had known older giants like
him and kept my words direct and honest. They sought ones to grow
and fight the largest evils and I knew I wished to do just that. I
had seen the vampyre Iskrith haunting Thera and knew with the power
my Goddess would imbue me with it would be a fight I could take.
I am glad Lady Baerinika provided what I sought, for when I told her
I wished to be her warrior priestess to fight the undead she granted
me the prayers of a Life's Champion.

I still recall the holy figure dressed in white hunting leathers
appearing before me. It felt as if a shining Light surrounded her,
but that may have just been my own perception of meeting who I had
so diligently sought. If I had the talent for drawing, I might
attempt to sketch her below, but nothing I could produce would do
her any justice. I am glad that she now walks beside me.

Role

Chapter 4

A few weeks have passed, and I have since entered an academy for young
adventurers trying to find their way within Thera. I do not feel like
an adventurer, but it did let me speak with many about the paths I
could take. I did find it disturbing how accepting they were of the
darkest hearts walking and training to taint all of Thera.

I spoke with each guild about my desire to cleanse the undead from
Thera. Two of them felt fitting, but the code of the paladins was
too restrictive. I had roamed the seas coming and going with the
waves and the tribe as it suited us. It didn't feel right to begin
binding myself to codes and rules now. I felt a sense of potential
when speaking with the shaman, though they taught two very different
hearts.

I read through the books on religions and found myself praying for
the first time to a specific deity, not just to the Gods of the
Light and Storms. I knelt and prayed my very first prayer to the
Goddess of Purity, Lady Baerinika, that she takes me upon her wave
so that I might cleanse the lands of the undead.

Role

Chapter 3

I gathered what was left of my tribe and swam away. I sought out
another group of storm giants that was willing to raise us as if we
were their own. I even stayed for a week but did not find myself
at peace with them. I had seen what the children had not. The horror
of that scene replayed in my nightmares every time I tried to sleep.
I told them of that sunken ship and to avoid it at all costs, but
they had only heard and not seen. I hoped they did not have to see.

It is here and now that I sit upon the dock of Hamsah and try to
decide my path. I could try to return to the sea, but I have seen that
there is more to this world. It feels as if I was a small fish in a
small lake. I had felt safe and secure and happy within that lake,
but now I had been lifted out and shown that there is more to this
world. That feels true even if it sounds utterly absurd. Perhaps the
world is just absurd? I do not know.

The sun sets upon the beautiful Aryth Ocean, yet I can't enjoy it any
longer. I see it and I think of my mother and father down there, ready
to pounce upon any soul who wanders into that ship. I knew there is
darkness in the world, but of every evil I had been taught of none
can so entirely corrupt someone so terribly. Everything of good within
my parents was now tainted. That makes me angry, very angry. They may
look like my family, but they are not. They are merely a tainted,
twisted, version of their former selves. I knew I must find a way to
destroy them, not out of hate or anger but out of love.

Role

Chapter 2

One of our own who dealt with the outside merchants heard rumor of a
chest filled with magic within a sunken ship in our ocean. The merchants
said it was rumored to be haunted but valuable. The elders begrudgingly
agreed that this might be worth investigating. We gathered as a tribe in
war regalia in readiness as two of our best scouts disappeared into the
ship. I can still hear their screams in my mind now as I write this. The
pain in the wails moved the tribe to act and without hesitation. They
swam down to save their friends.

As a youth still, I was near the rear of our formation with the younger
children in our tribe. I heard those screams and felt the call to war
as strongly as any of my tribe did. I started to swim down when I saw
young children coming with me. I turned to stop them and that is when
I saw their watcher swimming with the rest of the tribe. I decided in
that instant that still haunts me. I turned and gathered the children
and pulled them back.

The sounds of battle carried strongly in the first minutes that felt
like they stretched an eternity but soon those sounds died into an
eerie stillness. We waited for hours for one of our tribe to return,
but none ever did. I swam down very slowly and quietly to see what
had happened. I saw zombies gorging themselves on my fallen tribe. I
wish that was the worst of it, but it isn't. I saw my mother and
father devouring members of their tribe. Whatever vile magic
perverted that ship had turned some of our tribe into the undead.

Role

Chapter 1

I take quill to paper willingly for the first time in earnest for one
reason - fear. I fear I will forget the events of the past weeks. At
times I think I want to forget, but how could I ever right the wrongness
of what happened if I begin to forget?

Where do I begin, where can I begin that would make any sense? My
name is Zaurea Kalakea. I was, no I am the only daughter to my mother
and father. We were part of a small tribe of storm giants that lived
in harmony with the Aryth Ocean. It feels so long ago. The scent of it
still blows through the docks of Hamsah as sit I and write this but it
is not the same. It isn't as strong, as pure.

There were enough dangers that all of us were taught to fight and hunt
from a young age. I embraced the style of life we had and was one of
the most athletic of the youth. We of course studied our letters,
numbers, and writing. While I became proficient in these studies, I
found no joy in it.

We were so confident, at home in the water. How could we have been so
foolish?

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