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{{characterprofile
{{characterprofile
|name= Alosaka
|name= Alosaka
|image= [[File:Alo Z finishing.jpg|thumbnail|center|400px]]
|race= [[Human]]
|caption= Alosaka, undoubtedly upset again over something or other. Artwork by the player.
|culture= [[Seareach]]
|race= Human
|culture= Seareach
|class= Healer, Storyteller
|class= Healer, Storyteller
|profession= [[Empath]]
|profession= [[Empath]]
|religion= Devotee of [[Kuon]]
|religion= Devotee of [[Kuon]]
|affiliations= Member of the [[Landing Defense Irregulars]]
|affiliations= Member of the [[Landing Defense Irregulars]], squire to the [[Order of the Silver Gryphon|Silver Gryphons]]
|word=
|word=
|disposition=
|disposition=
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|spouse=
|spouse=
|loved=
|loved=
|instance= Prime
|town= Mist Harbor
|town2= Wehnimer's Landing
}}
}}


[[File:Alosaka.jpg|thumb|400px|Alosaka, in happier times. By the player.]]
'''Alosaka''' is a young empath and storyteller hailing from a small coastal village near the Sea of Fire in the northern Turamzzyrian county of Seareach. Following the events of [[All That Remains]], during which [[Socius Leiffen]] led monstrous armies in assaulting Wehnimer's Landing, Alosaka became involved in the town's defense, and later placed a bounty on Socius' head, precipitating the events of [[Equilibrium]].

'''Alosaka''' is a young empath and storyteller hailing from a coastal village near the Sea of Fire in the northern Turamzzyrian county of Seareach. Following the events of [[All That Remains]], during which [[Socius Leiffen]] led the monstrous armies of [[Vlashandra]] in assaulting Wehnimer's Landing, Alosaka became involved in the town's defense, and later placed a bounty on Socius' head, precipitating the events of [[Equilibrium]].


He is a member of the [[Guardians of Sunfist]], and as his thesis project for mastering developed [[Guide to Warcamps|extensive maps]] of Grimswarm encamping strategies across the western half of the world.
He is a member of the [[Guardians of Sunfist]], and as his thesis project for mastering developed [[Guide to Warcamps|extensive maps]] of Grimswarm encamping strategies across the western half of the world.

He presented the prosecution's case against Socius Leiffen during [[Equilibrium - 5120-07-12 -The Trial|his trial in Mist Harbor]]


===Stories and Fables===
===Stories and Fables===


Although his primary avocation is healing, Alosaka is more widely known for his stories. Although their subject matter ranges widely, most trace their origin back to fables or allegories native to his home county, and deal with moral lessons such as loyalty, ephemerality, duty and friendship, with characters often personified by animals or spirits.
Although his primary avocation is healing, Alosaka is more widely known for his stories. While their subject matter and genre ranges widely, most trace their origin back to fables or allegories native to his home county, and deal with moral lessons such as loyalty, ephemerality, duty and friendship, with characters often personified by animals or spirits.

He competed in the 25th Bardfest, performing '''''[[Find the Beginning]]''''' as his entry for the preliminaries, and '''''[[Memories Like Snow]]''''' in the finals, which placed fourth. He also won the Best New Voice award that year.


===All That Remains and Equilibrium===
===[[All That Remains]] and [[Equilibrium]]===


{| role="presentation" class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
{| role="presentation" class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
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{| role="presentation" class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
{| role="presentation" class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
| <strong>Night Letters </strong>-- The bounty that precipitated the events of [[Equilibrium]]
| <strong>Afterward, in Town </strong>-- Seeking stories in the ruins of the Landing.
|-
|
<pre{{log2|font-size=100%|border=none|margin-right=25%}}>
The house was still a ruin when Alosaka arrived.

Scavengers should have picked through it by now. Turned over by thieves searching for an easy score. There wasn’t even a front door to keep them out, just a splintered frame that looked on the cobbled, trash-strewn streets. Anyone could walk in, just like he had. He paused inside the entry, in what had once been the kitchen, and considered the destruction.

The food in the pantry was untouched, though the door had been smashed in and bags of mouldering grain now soaked up rainwater seeping beneath the windows. The cloying aroma of a dozen different spices burned his nose. A huge tin of crushed tea lay broken beneath the table and now stained the floor a peculiar, rich shade of brown. None of the cereals or fruits were eaten -- the beasts that had ransacked this house, and many others in this neighborhood of Wehnimer’s Landing, preferred other food.

Past the shattered kitchen and common area was the home’s only true room. They’d tried to block it with boards and a dresser, but such obstacles may as well have been wet paper to the monsters of Socius’s army. The door was torn off its crude hinges and tossed into the fireplace. He stepped over the broken remains of the barricade and tried to put the pieces back together in his mind.

The parents had made their stand here. A bent fireplace poker and a stain in the center of the room suggested that. And at the far end of the room, opposite the door, a bed stood upturned against the wall. Dark smears discolored the wood beneath it.

No stories left to find here. He stared at the stains for a while, then turned and left.



The fountain in Erebor Square was a modest thing, with a basin only a few meters around and a simple, dark stone plinth supporting a stylized black gate, out of which flowed a stream of frigid water. The basin sparkled in the sunlight, and beneath the rippling surface shone thousands of silver coins. Alosaka stood quietly as an old man walked up to the stone rim, fished a silver out from his robes, and tossed it in with a splash. The man bent his head for a few moments, and with some silent prayer complete, he sat down on the rim with a restrained grunt.

Alosaka waited until he was settled, then sat beside him. “An offering for someone?”

The old man wheezed. Fluid rattled in his lungs, and he pressed a small cotton bag against his face. The scent of dried roses and something fouler, something of decay and sickness, filled the air. The man hacked into the bag, took a deep breath, and shook his head.

“No,” he said. “A hope.”

“Oh.” A pause. “For, uh, for what?”

The old man waved a gnarled hand at the fountain. “Before the monsters came, there was a girl who spent the day here. She didn’t mind the cold, and she would roll her pants up and walk in the fountain, collecting the coins. The temple let her keep a few every day, in exchange for the rest.”

Hm. Alosaka dipped his fingers in the water. They went numb instantly. He glanced at the black gate atop the stone plinth, from which the waters flowed. Lorminstra was the goddess of winter as well as death.

“Was she…” he trailed off.

“I don’t know,” the old man said. The wheeze returned to his voice, and he pressed the bag of crushed roses against his face again. “I don’t know. But I haven’t seen her since that day… And ever since I’ve been tossing coins in the fountain, thinking that maybe when there’s enough she’ll come back to collect them. I know it’s silly, but…”

“I don’t think it’s silly,” Alosaka said. He drew in a deep breath, held it until the tension in his chest eased, and slowly let it out. “It’s… it honors her, at the very least. What was her name?”

There was no answer to this, not at first. Perhaps the old man hadn’t heard him. Alosaka leaned forward to ask again when the old man suddenly jerked. A wild, confused light filled his eyes, and his hand scrabbled at the stone rim for purchase.

“Her name?” A lost note entered his voice. Lost and desperate. “I don’t know. I never asked her name. I never asked, and now…”

“It’s fine,” Alosaka said. Quickly. His mouth was suddenly dry. “You can ask her when she returns.”

“But what if she never does?” The old man reached out and gripped Alosaka’s shirt with a desperate, wretched strength. “I’ll never know her name. All these years and I never asked and now I will never know!”

“It’s fine,” Alosaka said. Soothing tones, like one used with a wounded animal. He tried to gently prise the old man’s fingers apart, and when that failed he stood, pulling the man up with him. “It’s fine. Please, just, let go—”

“Do you know?” The man’s voice cracked. Hysteria inflected each word with high, glasslike tones, ready to shatter. “Do you know? Tell me, damn it! Tell me!”

“I’m sorry.” Brusque, now. They were drawing attention from the crowd. Men and women stopped to watch the pair of them tussle by the fountain. He forced the old man’s hands open as gently as he could, which was none too gentle. The ancient, papery skin around the man’s wrists tore, and dark, thick blood seeped out like sludge. “I don’t know. I’m sorry.”

“Tell me!” Anything of reason in the man was gone now. Tears flowed freely down his cheeks. He stumbled to his knees, one arm gripping the edge of the fountain, the other clawing at the cobbles. He lunged after Alosaka with a sudden burst of strength, but it was the strength of a collapsing dam, and he ended in a pile beneath his robes. Still, though, from out the robes came his crying voice, no longer that of a man, but the moan of something broken. “Tell me! Tell me her name PLEASE TELL ME!”

Alosaka turned. He pushed through the circle that had gathered to witness the spectacle. With enough distance the sound faded, and eventually he could no longer hear the sobs of an old man, grieving for the loss of something he’d never had.
</pre>
|}

{| role="presentation" class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
| <strong>Night Letters </strong>-- The bounty that precipitated the events of [[Equilibrium]].
|-
|-
|
|
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{| role="presentation" class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
{| role="presentation" class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
| <strong>Loose-leaf </strong>
| <strong>Loose-leaf </strong>-- Seeking more stories from the dead.
|-
|-
|
|
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{| role="presentation" class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
{| role="presentation" class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
| <strong>A Hardening of Perspective </strong>
| <strong>A Hardening of Perspective </strong>-- Correspondence with Faerinn, one of Socius' allies and defenders.
|-
|-
|
|
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{| role="presentation" class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
{| role="presentation" class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
| <strong>The Fire Next Time </strong>
| <strong>The Fire Next Time </strong>-- Temporarily suspending the bounty.
|-
|-
|
|
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{| role="presentation" class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
{| role="presentation" class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
| <strong>I Dreamed a Little Dream of Thee </strong>
| <strong>I Dreamed a Little Dream of Thee </strong>-- Withdrawing the bounty in exchange for a trial of Socius in Mist Harbor.
|-
|-
|
|
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|}
|}


{| role="presentation" class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
[[Category:Adventurers]]
| <strong>Justice: Coda </strong>-- After the trial of Socius in Mist Harbor.
[[Category:Wehnimer's Landing Player Characters]]
|-
[[Category:Mist Harbor Characters]]
|
<pre{{log2|font-size=100%|border=none|margin-right=25%}}>
The flagstones are still wet with dew in Erebor Square when Alosaka arrives. The tall row houses lining the east edge of the square conspire to block the morning sun’s warm rays, leaving the cool stones in shadow even as the sky grows brighter. Few other citizens are out so early – he has the square almost entirely to himself. A few acolytes, escaped from the massive temple that looms over the square, tend to the graceful modwirs whose leaves fill the air with a soft rustle.

There is a wide fountain in the center of the square. He takes a seat on the basin’s rim, neverminding the damp of the stones, and fishes a silver coin out of his tunic. It’s an older stamping, worn smooth by the years, and he wonders for a moment how many of the hands that have held it over the years are dead now. Then he flips it into the fountain, where it sinks with a soundless ripple.

On other days, the fountain’s bed would be carpeted in silver, each one a wish. Today, only a few other coins sparkle from below the water. It will be years before there are enough to bother collecting. The realization squeezes his throat shut, and he closes his eyes until the sensation passes.

There is another beside him when he opens them again. An old man, wearing fine clothes, his face lined with hardship. He stands with the aid of a cane beside the fountain and carefully leans forward to dip his fingers in the water.

“A fine morning,” the old man says. His voice is airy but deep. “You were the one collecting all those stories, weren’t you? Ever finish?”

Alosaka shakes his head. “Not yet. Many of them are lost forever, I think.” His mind goes back to the house on Wisraith, torn apart during the invasion. Of the family that lived there, only stains on the floor remained. Their story would forever remain silent.

“Not lost,” the old man says. He gestures at the statue in the center of the fountain. “She knows them.”

“Maybe.” Alosaka looks up at the statue. It is a young likeness of the Goddess of Winter, not much more than a girl. “Do you think she cares? About how they died?”

“I reckon it’s all the same to her.” The old man leans against the fountain’s basin. “Do you care where the coins in your pocket come from?”

Hm. Alosaka glances back into the fountain, trying to find the coin he’d tossed earlier. From here, though, they all look the same. Was it that one?

The silence between them stretches out, crowded around on all sides by the sounds of the waking square. Voices drift in from the row houses. Somewhere, a merchant pulls a cart across the cobblestones.

The man speaks first. “I heard there was a trial. For the Fist.”

Alosaka nods. He thinks he sees the coin, now. If he wanted, he supposes, he could just wade in and get it.

“Heard you won it for us,” the man continues.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“You don’t sound so happy about it.”

“Should I be?” The coins don’t matter, Alosaka decides. He turns away from the basin to stare at the temple instead. Whatever mordant architect designed the hulking facade loved tombstones a bit too much. “They’re barely even punishing Socius. ‘Exiled’ from the Landing, as if he ever planned to return here. Oh, and he’ll have to pay a few silvers for every person he killed. Ten coins for every man, perhaps, and five for every child.”

A silence, again. A few children, rangy and wild, spill out from an alleyway and race across the square, shouting names and the rules of some hidden game. The old man watches them until they vanish around the corner.

“You sound very angry, in fact,” the old man finally says.

“Good. I am.” But it’s not anger he feels now, not any more. Just an emptiness. The hollowness of defeat. This bitter taste, he has come to realize, is nothing more than failure.

The old man shakes his head. “Such dark feelings will poison you. What have you done to deserve them? Did you kill those children?”

“No, of course not. Socius did that.”

“And did you help Socius escape?”

“No. Others did that.”

“And did you do everything you thought was right?”

“Yes.” It’s not much more than a whisper. “But it wasn’t enough. He’s still free. They’re all still dead. How can you just… accept that?”

“You can’t control the world. You can only control one thing.” The man reaches out with a gnarled finger and jabs Alosaka hard in the chest. “Just this. Don’t let what others do determine your feelings, or you will always be sick at heart.”

Alosaka rubs his chest. “You say that like it’s so easy.”

“Oh, no.” The man chuckles, then pushes away from the fountain and adjusts his coat. “But in time you’ll understand. Good day, then.” He nods, and without a glance backward continues his slow amble across the square, whistling the refrain of some tavern ditty that was popular a generation before Alosaka was born.

How wonderful it must be, to see a fallen world and still be happy. To not shake with fury when monsters triumph all around you. To take all these righteous feelings, bundle them up like a flower, and set them loose on a gently flowing river to drift away.

To fail, and try again, with joy. He sighs and leans against the fountain, eyes closed, listening to the town slowly wake into life.
</pre>
|}

Revision as of 19:16, 18 April 2021

Alosaka
Alo Z finishing.jpg
Alosaka, undoubtedly upset again over something or other. Artwork by the player.
Race Human
Culture Seareach
Class Healer, Storyteller
Profession Empath
Religion Devotee of Kuon
Affiliation(s) Member of the Landing Defense Irregulars, squire to the Silver Gryphons
Alosaka, in happier times. By the player.

Alosaka is a young empath and storyteller hailing from a coastal village near the Sea of Fire in the northern Turamzzyrian county of Seareach. Following the events of All That Remains, during which Socius Leiffen led the monstrous armies of Vlashandra in assaulting Wehnimer's Landing, Alosaka became involved in the town's defense, and later placed a bounty on Socius' head, precipitating the events of Equilibrium.

He is a member of the Guardians of Sunfist, and as his thesis project for mastering developed extensive maps of Grimswarm encamping strategies across the western half of the world.

He presented the prosecution's case against Socius Leiffen during his trial in Mist Harbor

Stories and Fables

Although his primary avocation is healing, Alosaka is more widely known for his stories. While their subject matter and genre ranges widely, most trace their origin back to fables or allegories native to his home county, and deal with moral lessons such as loyalty, ephemerality, duty and friendship, with characters often personified by animals or spirits.

He competed in the 25th Bardfest, performing Find the Beginning as his entry for the preliminaries, and Memories Like Snow in the finals, which placed fourth. He also won the Best New Voice award that year.

All That Remains and Equilibrium