Alice, The Blight Seeker:

[To Be Filled Out]

Aiden, The Lonely Amateur:

Aiden is exceedingly shy. He has always been this way. As the owner of a small shop in Maliscade’s Commerce District, Aiden makes a living by selling arcane components, tools, and other items synthesized by magic.

He sees the beauty in disparity, but this love cuts him deep. At once, the novelty of diverse perspectives, interests, and experiences excites and pains him. Disparity is a labyrinth with high walls. Taking the time to understand everyone is mentally draining. Aiden wants to make that process easier.

Atlas magic forces a doorway from one person to another. Indirectly, it gives one person the ability to experience a fragment of another’s life, learning from experiences that are not their own. Atlas Shards are valued as accelerated training tools, but only when recorded from valuable subjects. Only Pulse knows how the magic works down to the finest details. For most, one Atlas Shard will not be enough to grant them the knowledge they desire. Some take to the magic with uncanny familiarity. Aiden’s hobby is to explore the magic’s potential to open lasting doorways to facilitate understanding.

Like a wall, a door is neither good nor bad. Somewhere along the way, Aiden lost himself in exploration with his new friend Caim. Using Caim’s unique physiology, the amateur scientist discovered valuable insights that would come to attract the attention of an ambitious Hexaline Knight. This knight aims for a higher post in the theocracy’s leadership hierarchy. She sees Atlas magic as a useful tool in enhanced coercion and indoctrination techniques.

Aiden isn’t suited for combat, and he has never held a weapon nor wielded magic in such a manner. In an increasingly dangerous world, he might not live to see the research gleaned from his hobby project perverted like that. His willing test subject, Caim, will. The question is whether Aiden’s compassion has succeeded in teaching Caim to forgive.

Novette, The Idle Botanist:

The word “lazy” is used in many ways. Sometimes, a person is just trying to relax. Other times, they are trying to escape from unbearable circumstances. Miscommunications can also lead to the accusation being thrown about. Novette falls under none of these categories.

Novette is a botanist who knows what she wants. She knows that flourishflora research isn’t a priority of the theocracy, but that didn’t stop her from setting up shop in the bastion city Maliscade. Without grants to fund her research, she is forced to grow and sell simple decorative creations to get by. Novette doesn’t complain because she is content. Even if she doesn’t have the money to buy advanced laboratory equipment, she is happy to live among the unusual plants, studying them in her free time.

Though she holds an advanced degree specializing in protoflora ecology and has expertise in many related fields, Novette’s friends only see her as a florist. They think she is drawn to flourishflora because of their colorful blossoms. Early on, Novette learned to leave them to their shallow opinions. Ever content, her ego is resilient enough. Novette doesn’t doubt her own intelligence, she isn’t ashamed of making a humble living, and she will always know what she wants. If an opportunity to pursue her dream presents itself, she will take it. If not, she is content.

It is widely accepted in the scientific community that flourishflora give more than they take. Somehow, the energy that sustains them is multiplied, spit back out into the world in different forms. Species grow fruits, vegetables, petals with unique chemical compositions, or so many other incredible things. Novette loves that about them. Ecologies revolve around different species of flourishflora, and most people don’t even acknowledge how incredible that is. Like the flora, fauna, and fungi that live among them, these people take flourishflora for granted.

Novette doesn’t lack ambition, but she accepts her current reality. She is just a person trying to live her life. The botanist keeps to herself, but deep inside, she believes flourishflora have untapped potential. Even in a nation reliant on technology adapted from the ‘Pulse insights’ of magic, or manufactured using blightsources harvested in festerfonts. Flourishflora still have much to offer the world.