Knight Mikishi

Character Full Name: Mikishi
Age:
Hometown: Dist

Description
Race: Shardmind
Class: Wizard
Level: 3
Deity: Ioun
Size: Medium
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 200 lbs
Gender: Male
Hair: Green
Eyes: Yellow
Handedness: Right

Personality Traits


Mannerisms and Appearance


Background Story
Mikishi awoke at the bottom of the lake near Dist. Paelias the Wizard was the first person he met when he walked out of the lake, and with all the seaweed which had accumulated around Mikishi, Paelias thought he was some kind of sea monster. However, like many wizards, Paelias was a skilled naturalist, and he soon realised his mistake. Several castings of Prestidigitation cleaned Mikishi up a bit, but his crystals always retained a green tinge.

Paelias and his wife, Jelen, had never been able to have children of their own, and they decided to semi-adopt Mikishi. Paelias taught Mikishi the basics of Wizardry, along with the Elven language and a formal background in natural lore. As an Eladrin Wizard, Paelias was drawn to worship both Corellon and Ioun. This too was passed on to Mikishi, although he preferred Ioun over any of the other Gods.

Jelen was also very religious, but she was no adventurer and prefered a quiet life. She spent most of her time cooking, cleaning and reading religious texts - most of which she received from her husband. Her love and support for Paelias is what allowed him more time for study.

Over time, Mikishi gained a number of friends in Dist, many of them local hunters and fishermen. Despite his physical shortcomings, Mikishi was a keen outdoorsman, and enjoyed field studies where he tried to observe all the creatures who inhabited the land. In his spare time, Mikishi was an avid reader, and in just a few short years had managed to read through Paelias' entire library, with many of the more interesting books having been read three or four times.

When the call went out to send promising children to the Castle of Narshe, Paelias was in a quandry. Mikishi obviously had the talent, but did he really qualify as a child? It was a very perplexing question, but in the end, Paelias decided it didn't really matter. In terms of years and experience in the world, Mikishi really was still a child, and despite having a great deal of knowledge, he still had a lot to learn about people. Besides, the opportunity was too great to pass up, even though it did mean sending Mikishi away from the only home and family he had ever really known.

Mikishi's arrival at the castle wasn't without problems either. Of all the odd candidates to be sent for evaluation, he was one of the oddest. And even though he tried to be friendly, there were many who simply wouldn't accept him. There was even some debate as to whether he qualified as a candidate at all. During this time, his only real friend was Squire Korgoth, who recognised Mikishi's intelligence and obvious education, and asked for help with his own learning difficulties. That was something Mikishi was happy to do - sharing knowledge was always one of his greatest joys.

But some children will always try to make fun of those who are different, and here was no exception. At first, the bullying was covert, and consisted of minor annoyances and occasional name calling out while out of hearing of anyone in authority. But as Mikishi did his best to ignore it, it quickly escalated to the point where several of the larger and bolder children decided to physically attack him. It was only through the daring intervention of Squire Korgoth that Mikishi managed to survive the attack. This firmed up the friendship between the two, and also steered Mikishi towards spells which would help against these kinds of attack in the future.

To the surprise of many, including Mikishi himself, he stayed in the program while others were slowly weeded out. Over time, the objections to him staying on as a Squire were forgotten, as his talent and natural sense of ethics shone through. Mikishi continued to work hard, and because he had no need to sleep he converted his bedroom into a library and shrine to Ioun. The room was always open to the other students, and on occasion some could be found there studying. Mikishi spent a lot of time trying to educate Squire Korgoth, but only had limited success. While he learned more from Mikishi than anyone else, it seemed that Korgoth's talents lay in other areas than mental studies.

Mikishi also continued his practice of going on field studies, often having Squire Korgoth and Squire Ambrose for company. They tended to do the physical things, while Mikishi both increased his knowledge and put his training to practical use. Surprisingly, he had more success making friends with the natural creatures of the wild than with many of the people in
the castle, and several animals would come to him on sight.

One of the field trips especially ended up with some long term ramifications. Mikishi, Korgoth and Ambrose were traveling mountainous terrain (and as usual, Mikishi was behind the other two, struggling to keep up), when they encountered a wild Bugbear. Mikishi knew such creatures could be especially dangerous, and urged his companions to run. But it was too late, they were already engaged in combat. After a fierce fight during which both Korgoth and Ambrose took some serious wounds, Korgoth managed to slay the creature. It was then the group learned exactly why the bugbear was so ferocious - it was a mother protecting her cub.

There was some question about what to do with the cub. Knowing the nature of such creatures, Mikishi felt the best thing might be to kill it, or at the very least place it with some other creatures who might possibly teach it to be less dangerous to other creatures when it grew up. Korgoth and Ambrose objected to those ideas. Korgoth was feeling guilt over killing its mother, and Ambrose felt it would be best if it grew up with its own kind, with maybe a bit of assistance over time to encourage it to be more gentle as it matured.

Given his own background, Mikishi found this reasoning hard to understand, but it was clear that both his companions felt very strongly on the issue. It took a little while, but Korgoth and Ambrose were able to get Mikishi to agree to their plans, and at the same time Mikishi realised that he would have to learn a lot more about families and kinship in general if he were to truly understand how the world around him functioned.