You were born amongst the faerie folk that lived in Ephira for thousands of years, you grew up in a tribe sworn to protect an ancient Unseelie faerie settlement, nestled deep within a cave of glowing Celestrine crystals, called the Faelumen. For generations, your tribe had lived and died in the service of the Faelumen, and the powerful faeries who held dominion over this faerie city. Strength, sacrifice, and unwavering loyalty were the bedrock of your family’s honor, and the magic of the faeries shielded your tribe in return.

From a young age, you were trained as a warrior like the others in your tribe, destined to serve, to fight, and, when the time came, to give your life in defense of the Faelumen. But love had carved its own path for you.

Oogtok, was a warrior of another bugbear tribe. But she soon became more than just another fellow protector of Faelumen in your eyes. As you matured, you felt a strange, unexplainable magic drawing you to her. You felt that the purpose of your life has shifted, it was not to protect the Faelumen, but to protect her. You felt that she and only she was your tribe. When you confessed this newfound devotion to your family, your father, a warrior and warlock devoted to the Faeries, was enraged. Having given all six of his children to the service of the faeries, he could not understand, nor forgive your defiance.

One dark night, you met with Oogtok in the primeval forest and fled together, abandoning the only life that you had ever known. 2 bugbears finding purpose not in glory of the battle but in each other, bound no longer by duty, but by love. You started your life together by running and never stopping. You knew that the Faerie warriors are on a hunt for you, but in a strange way you found comfort in your nomadic lifestyle. Home was wherever Oogtok was, and as long as you were with her you felt at home.

But that peace, was soon shattered. one night as you laid in a beautiful meadow, sleeping in a lovers embrace, a band of hobgoblins ambushed and captured you both and locked you in separate cages. As you overheard the captors’ plans, your blood boiled. they didn’t intend to return you to the tribe. They meant to sell you as slaves. the thought of Oogtok in chains ignited a fire within you, a rage took over you and gave you the strength to topple your cage from the cart. As the cage tumbled down a hill, you struck your head, and passed out. You woke up, to find yourself tangled in vines in a dense, green and beautiful forest, miles from the road. Desperately, you climbed back to the path, but the hobgoblins and the carriage were long gone.

For a year, you searched for Oogtok, scouring the wilderness, never giving up hope. you could feel in your heart that she was still alive, that somewhere, under the same sky, she still breathed. but despite all your efforts, you couldn’t find any trace of her. The bond between you weakened, and you longed for the safety and comfort of her presence. your search eventually led you to the outskirts of the dome wizard city of Aethoria. one night, in the depths of drunken sadness, you shared your tale with a wizard. The wizard, felt your pain and told you that she knows how it feels to not be able to protect the ones that you love. She attempted to scry for Oogtok using a piece of her clothes that you still carried. But the spell failed. She offered comfort, explaining that ”many factors could have caused the spell to fizzle, for one I don’t know Oogtok personally”,

But before parting ways, she told you of the Aldorion Spires. If your bond with Oogtok was truly magical, then perhaps the power of the Spires could help you. miraculous things happened near those crystalline towers, even in a world as strange and enchanted as ours. Now, with renewed purpose, you try to find a way into the dome city, to get closer to the spire, and to see if looking into the depth of the crystalline spires you can see a spark of your love.