Capric/CaloWhitecapBackground
Short Background:
Calo was born into a secluded barbarian tribe in the far northwest, where he was training to be the shaman for the tribe. He exalted as a no moon Lunar instead, upon his first sucessful use of astrology using his own starmap. He was driven out of his tribe shortly thereafter, and wandered only a short while before coming across a fellow casteless woman named Lexis Nightfall.
Keeping to the north, Calo (going by the name of Storm Mist) and Lexis travelled east, trying to keep ahead of the dual threats of the Wyld Hunt and the Raksha. Through a series of Unlikely Events and Amusing Adventures, they picked up an additional three freshly exalted casteless: Sioxe Tem ("Branch"), Ta Shen, and Raki the Grin (sometimes, Raki the Gin). They were very suspicious and cautious as a group, as they were rather used to any and all outsiders trying to either kill them or enslave them. Nevertheless, they survived and, through application of the strong taboos instruted by Lexis, did not fall into chimerism.
Eventually though, a pair of tatooed Lunars from the Silver Pact came out to bring back this group of casteless. They met in the northern borderlands. The casteless pack did not trust the tattooed Lunars, and the matter quickly came to violence. The casteless pack was subdued, although Lexis managed to escape to the north.
Brought back, given tattoos, and given instruction by a mentor from the Silver Pact, Storm Mist now regards his escapades as a casteless as remarkably stupid, and counts himself luck to be alive and free. As a newly tatooed Lunar, he is now going about finding his place in the north, although some of his habits (and taboos) from his casteless days still remain.
Long Background
Pre-Exaltation
Calo Whitecap was born into the tribe Eru-on-sea-of-glass, WSW of the Floating Palace. The "sea of glass" from which the tribe got their name was a nearly perfectly flat sheet of ice that extended as far as the eye could see. Presumably it ended in the water, although no one from the tribe had ventured to see in a long, long time. The tribe subsisted from hunting in inland forests and icefishing from deep wells through the ice down to the water.
Calo was an inquisitive youth, listening with keen ears at what the hunters told from their trips abroad, to what the women said as they gossiped in the ice caves, to the simple tales that the children were told to teach them about their world. His curious nature quickly drew him to the tribe's shaman, a man called Ras Frostwhisper. The shaman found Calo to be a quick learner, and began to educate him in the way of the spirits.
Calo, with medium height, medium build, was not amongst the foremost warriors of his tribe. He was only moderately respected within his tribe, as they took his natural inclination to listen and watch for timidity. His fellow youths distained him somewhat, and his serious nature did not mesh well with the boasting culture of the Eru tribe. Nevertheless, he was a very competent hunter, and those whom he travelled with on long hunting treks respected his effecient approach towards overcoming obstacles.
Calo, meanwhile, had discovered astrology, and had begun to construct a starmap based on his observations. Lacking paper, he used a flat field, with stones and simple woodwork to mark, and used the natural light and wind to help convey the interrelationships that between the stars.
Ras, knowing little of the art, could only tell Calo the very basics. Calo, however, seemed to have a much firmer grasp on the subject that his teacher. Ras was surprised and suspicious of the youth at first for this, but to Calo the reason was simple: lore was not the sole property of the shaman, although he did keep much. Calo listened to the women as they talked, to the youths as they boasted, and to the hunters as they sang: occasionally a small nugget of wisdom, unknown even it's speaker, could be found in the most unlikely of places. The same could be said of the land and the animals: Calo found there was wisdom to be discovered in the way the trees grew, or the frequency and direction of the winds. Mostly lesser wisdom, yes, but Calo felt that eventually greater wisdom could be found.
His starmap was not something that was easy or fast to construct, as the life of a tribal barbarian does not give one an abundance of free time. However, in the dark months, and early mornings, and late nights, Calo would steal away to alter his map, taking into account some new star he had noticed, or some relationship that had become evident through other means. Though it took a number of years and suffered frequent setbacks, the starmap slowly started to come into shape. Calo started to make predictions from it, and drew conclusions about the accuracy of his map from the accuracy of his predictions.
Finally, once he had reached a point where his confidence in his map was high, he decided to show Ras his starmap, the fruition of his philosophy and method. Ras agreed reluctantly. Calo brought him to the field, and explained his map to his mentor, who was completely unconvinced. As a demonstration, Calo then made a prediction using his map. This prediction was totally unlike any other he had before; the message was clear, direct, and unmistakeable: Calo would die at midnight, in one week's time.
Ras recommended the field be destroyed, and that Calo leave his foolishness behind. Why waste time on a map that tells you nothing of value? There are more valuable things to do than rearrange stones based on old wives tales: the spirits must be appeased, the animals hunted, the maidens wooed, and the village maintained. Had not Calo already spent far too much pursuing useless things? There was still time to change his ways, Ras said. Calo was unconvinced. The prediction still rang through his head, and would not be denied.
For the next week, he slept fitfully at night. On the night of his predicted death, Calo went to his starmap, holding his bow. He found a stranger there, gazing over his map. Tense, Calo approached the stranger.
The stranger spoke without turning to face Calo: That this map was in some respects a better reflection of the heavenly sky than the finest maps of the Empress. That the inexpert map, lacking detail and only approximating the movements of the heavens was much like the heavens themselves: lacking detail and only approximating the movements of Creation. And the stranger pointed to a rock, saying it was out of place, that no star occupied that vector. Then the stranger turned, showing her face to Calo and said that also, no star in the heavens above reflected her presence on Creation below. Flashing a feral grin, the stranger dissapeared and Calo, newly Exalted, was left alone.
