Dim/UnbreakableLotusHistory
History
Lotus' tribe made its home in the shifting sands of the South. For many years, they trod the burning dunes, never content to stay in one place for more than a few months at a time. They fought, they rested, and above all they survived in a place no others could. For this, they were proud.
Lotus was a small, sickly child. Convinced he would never survive in the harsh desert environment, Lotus was left to die of exposure on his fifth summer. His parents moved on with the tribe, mournful but resolute. For seven days and nights the tiny child wandered the burning wastes, but he never once faltered. On the dawn of the seventh morning, he walked into the encampment, parched and burned but alive. His parents rejoiced, embracing him and asking how he had survived. Lotus simply smiled, saying he had promised never to tell. Confused though they were, his parents were glad, and gave him the name Unbreakable, for his miraculous survival.
From that day, Lotus became the icon of strength. None in the tribe save the Elder could best him in contests of strength or fortitude. And though he followed the warrior's path, he began to study under the tribe's shaman. Lotus appreciated the shift and flow of the natural world, and relished every scrap of knowledge the old shaman spoke out. He learned the ways of herbs and poultices, of spirits and their appeasement. He learned the ways of husbandry and even raised one of the massive Dubaq riding lizards from a whelp. Koresh he named the creature and companions they ever were. In his fifteenth summer, Lotus assumed the role of tribal Shaman.
For the next five seasons Lotus aided his people in their many hardships; illness, famine, even encounters with the Fae. But nothing could prepare him for that black day.
The day started as any other; the sun rising swiftly over the desert, bringing heat and life to a night-chilled land. Lotus felt something wrong in the air; the sharpness of a storm lay on the horizon. Without warning a sandstorm tore into the tribe's encampment, shredding tents and scattering belongings. As the tribe scrambled to secure their holdings, a terrible wailing began. As the sand blotted out the sun, dark shapes burst from the sandstorm. Dark things they were; teeth and sticky needle-claws, soft and sharp and wet. They attacked, again and again, and their gentle ministrations felled man, woman and child with equal ease. Lotus used what little magics he knew to combat them, but his knowledge and strength were simply too little.
For whatever reason, Lotus was the last to be taken. The deamons circled, wailing and laughing with such ferocity as to drive a man to madness. Lotus knealt, and began to pray to the force that saved him so long ago in the desert.
Oh, great Sun, who gifts all with life. \\ Oh, great Sun, who brings light to dark places. \\ Oh, great Sun, who saw fit to burn from me my weakness. \\ Oh, great Sun, hear my call, and see my vengance wrought.
With a suddeness akin to a desert rainstorm, the sand-choked wind ceased, and the Sun's pure brilliance shone down upon Lotus. He felt the heat, stronger than ever before, beating down on him. But he did not feel the inevitable weariness of Sun-sickness; he fed upon the Sun, and felt himself grow ever stronger.
With a mighty yell, Lotus filled himself with the Sun's power, and shone a light brighter than the noonday. His enemies knew his power, and feared. With the gold of the Zenith pouring from his brow, Unbreakable Lotus stood tall. With a cry of righteous fury, he filled his foes with the Sun's pure light and broke them.
Lotus, realing from his newfound power, sat in the shade of a tent, and slept. He dreamed a man, teen feet tall and with eyes of dawn, drew him from his sleep and spoke with him. Together they worked at piling the bodies, a task that was made easy thanks to his guests' four arms. The Golden Man showed Lotus a trick of Essence, a way of consecrating bodies so they would never be bound to this mortal realm. He thanked the man and offered him what meager fare they could scavenge. They ate bread and drank sweet water as they watched the sun set. Lotus wept, and the man spoke soothing words to comfort him, but of what transpired between them, Lotus has never said.
When Lotus awoke, no trace of his camp was left. He stood, shaking the sand from his tabard and sleep from his eyes. He let out a high ululation, and Koresh came bounding over the dunes, eager to play. Lotus mounted Koresh and paused to look over the land. Not a trace remained of his people; the desert had consumed every scrap of their existance.
Lotus nodded; it was as it should be.
Bearing the gifts he was given, Lotus headed West, in accord with his agrement with the Golden Man.
