the snowflake project

Name: Sky-Kicker, Taki’vellu

Age: 1,300 +/-

Height, Weight, Body Type: 6’9″, 175lbs., ectomorph

Eye Color: Ice blue

Hair Color, Style: White with tinges of blue.

Skin Tone: Pale with hints of dusky green.

Physical Condition: Fit and athletic – lithe and lean. Fat free.

Distinguishing Features: Obsidian rings in his ears and nose, black patterns tattooed on the left side of his face.

Physical Imperfections Most Likely to Change: Facial tattoo will be expanded to mark his increased honor in his tribe.

Gestures: Wipes face with a downward motion to express disappointment or frustration.

Ethnic Group: The Eldest, Shihasa’inu, Elf

Family Background: Sky-Kicker came from a line of elvish scientists (they worked with the old magic, the forbidden magic) – his family worked directly on the project that led to the Griind.

Religion: Sky-Kicker worships The One God, Sa’Inu. As penance for their great sin, the Eldest have turned what was once a refined religion full of pomp and pageantry into a visceral series of rites designed to promote utter debasement and humility.

Parents: Sky-Kicker’s parents were both scientists – biologists. They built on the work of their forebears – millennia of study in genetics – and perfected a new organism that would revolutionize warfare and defeat the Dwarves. Both parents were killed in the horrific war that followed, by their own creations.

Siblings: Sky-Kicker is an only child – His parents died before they had the customary second child (The Eldest believed in perfect equilibrium and kept the population stable.

Neighborhoods: Sky-Kicker’s tribe lives in the swampy northlands to the west of the mountains – they live in a tribal village – abandoning the great cities and buildings their people once built. Now, in his self-imposed exile, he roams the forests in human lands, waiting for the purpose he is to fulfill.

Income: Sky-Kicker lives off the land.

Growing Up: Sky-Kicker was born in the largest and oldest elvish city on the mainland – Boso’fa, the Forest in the Clouds. As a child, he would play atop the spires of Boso’fa, leaping from the tops of buildings onto the backs of circling srylla (a kind of enormous bird). His favorite stunt was to do a handstand on the back of a sryll. On his first naming day (when he was 10 years old) his parents named him Taki’vellu (Sky-Kicker). Not long after that the Griind were unleashed and the world changed forever. His parents were killed and Boso’fa reduced to a ruin. He lived through decades of violence, first as a child refugee and then as a soldier. Finally, the Griind were beaten back, fell dormant, and he joined a remnant of Eldest who were starting a new way of life, going back to a more natural state, rejecting science and for its great capacity to be misused.

Education: Sky-Kicker is wise, having lived for so long, and he knows much about the natural world.

Skills, Talents: Sky-Kicker is a skilled woodsman, a powerful warrior, and a talented True-Singer. Like all of the Eldest, Sky-Kicker naturally emits a feeling of calm that affects humans and dwarves.

Short and Long Term Goals: Sky-Kicker’s ultimate goal is to redeem the Eldest so that they can return to be a part of society. On the shorter term, his goal is to mentor Kos, who he believes is the greatest hope to unify the three peoples.
Short and Long Term Wants and Needs: Sky-Kicker misses his people deeply, and wishes to return to them.

Introvert/Extrovert: Introverted and task oriented.

Eccentricities: Sky-Kicker talks to himself.

Type of Temperament: Calm and collected – not particularly friendly or welcoming.

How He/She Handles Anger or Rage: Sky-Kicker, like most Eldest, carries a deep sense of cultural guilt for the Griind. However, in Sky-Kicker, that guilt is accompanied by a deep well of anger at the way the Eldest have been forced out of the world.

Admirable Traits: Sky-Kicker will always keep his word and come through for those he cares about.

Negative Traits: He can be too hard a teacher, allowing his student to be hurt by a lesson.

Habits: Aversion to sleeping on the ground (prefers trees); answers questions with questions.

Prejudices – Good and Bad: Sky-Kicker assumes that all humans and dwarves hate elves. He has an inherant distrust for other races, but not a hatred of them.

Things that Irritate: Arrogance in others or an inability to really listen to what is being said.

Things that Make Character Uncomfortable or Embarrassed: Talking about how he was named. Eldest names are designed to instill humility with maturity. An acrobatic stunt is a childish thing to be proud of when you live thousands of years.

Most Painful Things in Life / Traumas from Past: Parents dying at the beginning of the Griind war. First love dying in the Griind war. The fact that the Eldest were forced to the fringes of society.

Political Leanings: The wisest and most willing to act should be in charge. Power comes with respect, and both are earned.

Sense of Humor: Sky-Kicker’s sense of humor is based solidly in the bravado and pride of others. If a humble man falls, he’s there to help – if a proud man falls, he’s there to laugh.

Fears: Sky-Kicker is afraid of his past, afraid of his parents role in the destruction of the world as he once knew it. He’s afraid that the Eldest will forever fade into obscurity.

Phobias: Sky-Kicker has mild xenophobia.

Friends: Kos

Enemies: The Griind

Major Problems to be Solved (At Least Three): Getting Kos to see his responsibility; Training Kos to use his magic; Rallying his tribe to fight the Griind again.

Solutions to Problems (At Least Six): Sky-Kicker uses his glamour to show Kos what it is to be unable to act for yourself. He puts Kos in danger, provoking the magic from him. He also drills Kos in meditation to help him learn to control his ability. He returns to his tribe with the head of the man killed by the Griind – proof that the Griind are poised to ruin the world again.

Lessons Learned: Sky-Kicker learns to adapt to Kos’s way of thinking laterally as opposed to the linear mode of logic – one thing following another – that the Eldest are comfortable with.

Chronology of Actions from Beginning to End of Story (One to Twenty):

• Leaves his tribe – no longer able to stomach their diminished existence
• Communes with the Fadd Tsora, learns of the coming conflict
• Discovers Kos in the woods
• Nurses Kos back to health
• Tries to leave Kos when he’s healthy, but decides against it
• Trains Kos to survive in the wilderness
• Witnesses Kos’s magical potential
• Communes with the Fadd Tsora again, learning that Kos has been chosen to lead
• Trains Kos to use his magic
• Beguiles Kos into accepting his responsibility
• Gets shot and captured by a hunting party
• Tells Kos not to rescue him
• Aids in the battle for the village with the Griind through magic
• Goes back to his tribe and shows them the head of the messenger
• Is elected war leader of his tribe’s army
• Marches back to the pass and leads his army against the Griind with Kos