Elin Txartela - Printable Version

Festering Hate. What else was left to feel after a miserable defeat and extermination for all they had accomplished? It felt like ages ago that this troupe of Xitians was pushed back into the mountains. Hiding with their heads down in the very mines their previous slaves bore out of its stone. Securing themselves a small hidden encampment that would serve them for decades to come. Only requiring the compliance of its neighboring city to survive the years. Festering Hate. Sure, this site shall claim that name from the few who interact with it.

Of the Xitian families that formed within and survived, the Txartelas (zar-tell-uhs) were among the strongest and most well known. Both Ashleh and Verde Txartela were well-respected commanders in the general army and served close by with their troupes. Staying together through the toughest of trials. From them, seven children would come into the world. The youngest of which was afflicted with a curse any Xitian Family would rather make disappear. This baby, born as Elin Txartela, had no glow about their eyes. That intricate connection to Umbraie severed in some way. It was perhaps the baby's only saving grace that Festering Hate was in no position to be killing their small population of Xitians.

For most of her young years, the world did not care about her or her family. Or knew. The middle realm being strung up on civil wars allowed these stragglers the breathing room they needed. That did not make her years easy though. Since she could walk and talk, she was expected to help her mother work and temper the competitive nature of her older siblings. There were no lies about being a late bloomer or anything told to her. Nothing to sugar coat her position among the others. Being the youngest in her family didn't even really keep her young ears from hearing how different she was. Taught to loathe the other races, to keep yourself pure and whole. Regardless, she participated in all the same rituals. Lit the same candles, held the same ceremonies. During these early years it was most of what she could do to feel warmth in the cold of His absence.

It was towards the tail end of the Mesalians fighting one another that the young girl first started noticing herself fall even further from His grace. First discovering her loss of vision while working deep in the mines. Mistaking one of the numerous dusk spawn deep within as an older brother and approaching with little regard for her own safety. She managed to scrape by with quick thinking and running with her small life. This problem made her paranoid of things she could not see. The issue popped up a few more times during trips and ceremonies. Nobody up to this point knew why the young one's eyes grew bad and shortsighted. For now, simple glasses would be procured from their neighbors. Her family grew weary of the presence, despite her otherwise having the same spirit as her brothers and sisters.

It was around this time that Verde spoke in private about sending her off into the world. Exile, proper. With rumors of their brethren possibly returning, the family would not dare have its name marred by her. Elin was kept around because there were no such signs for so long. The red child would overhear him speak in such ways at least once. Her mother, for now, denying him the right. Most other children at her age would probably plead and beg for forgiveness. She could not help the circumstances of birth. And perhaps that could work. But it was against everything she'd be taught in. No, the young girl steeled herself against the odds and actively tried bettering her siblings. Age differences aside, it was noticed within the same year that she spent more time devout and training. A youth convinced she could prove herself valuable to her kin. For the while, it helped keep her in good graces with her father and Umbriae. Until the official confirmation came to fruition. Elin just stepping into proper teen years, the portal leap to life and allowed Xitians back into the Middle Realm. No longer crushed with the need to survive on the back of their heels the Txartelas and most others in Festering Hate welcomed the news with open arms and prepared themselves for the trip back. Most hadn't even seen their home realm in person then. All of it spelled bad news for Elin.

The young teen was to be taken in by their neighbors. The loyal sympathies of Londor, up to this point not even bothering to be named proper in her life, would see her being treated better than most places. This was but a thin viel of a lie to protect her though. The family still intended to be rid of her so that her name cannot be mentioned back home. For they are not so lenient there. Ashleh would be the one to confess to her mere days before they'd leave her behind what this all meant for her:

"Hun, you are as much family as your brothers and sisters to me and your father. Please, don't let this darken that light in you. I wanted to be the one to tell you this... Most won't see you as kin. A lot will see you as an abomination. Plenty of others will lump you in with your kin, definitely if they see you as a threat. But He sees past such petty squabbles. Stay strong."

---

Londor, as accepting as it was, still had in it a stilted view about the Xitians that made initial integration rough. Elin was first dropped before a blacksmith before her family left to attempt an apprenticeship, but the occasional friends that came to the smith's residence would bicker and bemoan her presence. A suggested alternative was for the youth to work in the tavern. Serving and cooking for some of the locals that, half the time, weren't even sober enough to complain. She was young and didn't have too many other options, so the red-head tried her hand at that for a while. Learning basics in cooking and brewing for the lads who ran the place, Baret and Ringo. She even got a little popular with a group of elderly locals who found her 'cute'.

The tavern had a problem some time into the coming summer though. Not but half a year into her work and living alone did her workplace had a rodent problem. Rats. Ringo had constant issues trying to eradicate the buggers with conventional means and hiding products better. To be frank, a lot of the town had a problem that summer. The teen wasn't one to watch from afar though. She got to work borrowing books from a scholar's library and thumbing through what she could gather. Finding herself sometimes... lost beyond looking for the answer. She came into it asking how to deal with rats, and now she was reading up on horticulture. An older man came upon her reading one day and snuck behind the studying girl. Seeing she had issues pronouncing one of the plants on the page.

"Squill. A flowering plant. Can help with clearing the lungs of mucus and works as an aid for poor livers. Why would a girl be looking so hard at it?"
It'd get a rise out of the girl who was alone during these study sessions most nights. Peering past her glasses up at the man with a curious gaze. Without further prompting, she asked her first of many questions to the man in front of her. Gene Abedon, one of the city's scholars and scribes.

"Can you kill rats with it?"
This was but the first lesson she'd learn from the man. Humored, the scholar would follow as Elin showed him spots in the tavern where food was rummaged through, and where traps proved ineffective against the larger number of pests. It wasn't too hard to find the plant in question, their proximity to rocky rivers. The plant liked roosting in sun or shade there and was generally safe to forage for. Gene knew of a good application for the plant that seemed too convenient. Chopping the bulb into chips then grinding them into dust, to pour the bitter powder across bait for rats. It was her first foray into the world of herbalism and pest control. Here she'd get to see just what crazy toxins and chemicals the Middle Realm held. This was the moment Gene saw the tough, smart youth more suited to his study than a mere tavern server. Just fourteen and adopted by the city's brains. There's not much better life than that.

Under tutorship, the young woman would learn more about the world outside her small confined existence in Festering Hate. Pouring over books and being taught by Gene himself about history, maths, and expanding her mind to the possibilities of her trade. Alchemy was his passion as a teacher, and he'd readily teach her the basics and beyond for years to come. No longer needing to put so much work into just living on the streets, the woman has the time to develop herself into what she always saw herself as. A devout warrior of Umbriae. With tutoring happening in the afternoon, she developed a long and respectful few hours of routine for the morning and before bed. Gene saw nothing wrong with it and even studied a bit from her about the Xitian culture. Living among these others softened her against the more harsh, conservative views instilled in her birthplace. Fueled by her previous success with the rat problem, the young woman approached her adult life and had her hand in helping develop more pest control for the burgeoning city. Gene and she were considered the region's exterminators, and for a while, it seemed like the distraction of some notoriety kept her mind off how painful her existence was. Sure, there was the usual weird look and side-eyed glance the girl got for her red eyes. For how strangely proud she was to have them. But nobody tried touching her ego. Not like she was easy to pick on anyways. She was a strong woman. Well read, even. Living among the Mesalians was surprisingly easy with all this in mind. Here, at least.

---

But nothing lasts, and visions fade. It was no secret the girl needed her glasses, but up close to her turning seventeen whatever basic prescription these old spectacles were started to become lacking. It wasn't hard to fill in for another examination and sequential pair. Not the first time, at least. But it seemed like every other year she needed to have a change of pair. By the time Elin heard the news of mythical beasts erupting into the middle realm she thought she'd be happy. Ecstatic, even. That was the most interesting piece of news she'd be getting for a while. But her mind was clouded and anxious. Whatever glasses she had now were thick, and it weighed on her that she may just lose her sigh altogether down the road. She became even more of a recluse among the Mesalian population there in Londor. Feeling her great dissatisfaction with life cloud her studies and mess with her personal life, Gene sat her down. To ask her about what she wanted. Not of him, but of her life.

Just a couple of years before the present day, the girl finally parted ways with her old master. Now equipped with thick red lenses and goggles to hold them, the woman set off for a small venture around the Mainland. Departing from her tutorship and embarking on a quest of the self. Trekking between the smallest of towns and the biggest of cities in search of a purpose. Devout as she was to herself, her upbringing, she found nothing to suggest she can just acclimate with her kin. Umbriae continued to challenge her existence, to test her resolve. It was the only excuse why she was chased out and threatened anywhere. Why her devotion was never acknowledged. It took just one run-in with some of the vilest, racist bandits to make her realize how much of a test this was. Beaten and taken to be sold off. Their only salvation was poisoning in the dead of night.

Getting by with her life, she had just one place left she knew of that was less than ideal. Gene mentioned the Forbidden Lands offhand plenty of times, and she's read a bit about some of its older settlements. It was a hotbed for contention and violence. Harsh Survival. But also a free land. With what she had left on her, she'd attempt to board a ship headed there. braving the seas for the first time in hope of finding something more to herself.

Besides, the world's largest pests are known to roam those lands.