Te'Keer

Keer in the Forest of Shadows back when the universe was still relatively young. His father, a kilnaush, moved into the Forest to live with his family. Keer was a happy child and learned how to weave dreams with help from his mother and learned how to use his ears effectively from his father. His father also instilled a curiosity about the greater world in him. Even at a young age, he wanted to know what was outside of the Forest.

When he turned 13, he set out to do some minor exploring just outside of the Forest limits. Once he felt confident, he left on week long trips to see even more of the world and learn what it was like. He had no knowledge of money, technology, or the written word, but all aspects of life outside of the Forest intrigued him.

Exploring the World

Everything about the world interested Keer. He wanted to find out as much as he could about it and wasn't afraid to stick his nose into places it shouldn't go to learn even more. Through this annoying tendency of his, he ran into a chameleonian named Astar who was out exploring the world in his own way. He got along with well the other guy and the two decided to work together to increase how well their respective adventures went. The end result of their decision was a strong friendship and a huge number of ridiculous shenanigans. They had a small grove of trees they always met at before heading off, since Keer still stopped by his Forest to let his parents know he was doing alright. He planned to leave for a longer trip before too long.

The Great Fire

One day, while Keer was taking a nap, a thunderstorm rolled through and one of the lightning strikes made contact with some dry bushes and dead trees. A fire started and, through a number of misunderstandings, nothing was done to bank the flames. Keer, currently dreaming, sensed the presence of too many people in the realms of unconsciousness and realized that one of the people was the guardian of the Forest, Alteer. He shook himself awake and set off to find her and see if she needed help. He managed to find her and drag her out of the most dangerous zone. Keer spent the next half a year nursing her back to health and planting seedlings when he had any spare time.

He lost his family to the fire, but did not allow himself too long to mourn them and bring himself down. He had a forest spirit to look after.

Keer and the Forest Spirit

After Alteer recovered from her near death ordeal, she stuck around near Keer. This made it difficult for Keer to leave the forest like he used to. He managed to visit the grove he used to meet Astar in a few times, but, no matter how long he waited, his friend didn't show up. After the third time, he decided Astar had moved on and assumed he was dead, which was fair enough in his opinion. He turned his full attention onto Alteer, realizing that she had no idea how to properly interact with other people and that, if he wanted to make sure she could manage the people of the forest properly in the future and avoid bad situations like the fire, he'd have to help get her used to talking and communicating.

It took a while to get her to get her to talk to anyone, but, once he got Alteer across that bridge, the rest of the Forest started to recognize what their guardian was truly like. They saw her less as a cold and distant and more as awkward and uncomfortable, leading to them being more understanding and open with her. Keer, impressed with the improvement his interactions had made, continued to stick with Alteer, giving her the nickname Ali and treating her less like a powerful being and more like a little sister he was looking after.

The Flu

Many years after Keer saved Alteer's life, a terrible wave of influenza swept through the Forest, killing a number of people and weakening many more. One of the worst hit by this illness was Keer, whose body gave out on him. He was plagued with a high fever, aches across his entire body, and the inability to keep even fluids down. As his energy wore away, he became less and less coherent, leading to Ali spending an entire week by his side, doing her best to nurse him back to health as he had once done for her. On the eighth day, Keer's body began to fail and, in great pain, the dark creature asked Ali if dying would hurt, because he was tired of being in pain. His body gave up later in the morning, leaving Alteer desperate and overwhelmed by grief.

Shades of Terrible Ideas

Rather than lose Keer, Alteer used her shadows to bind up Keer's soul, waiting a few minutes for a shade of doubt to appear to take him away. When the soul beast showed its face, she bound it up, too, dragging her catches underground into one of the darkest tunnels she knew of, allowing her powers to stay consistently strong enough to keep both entities bound in the Forest. Eventually, the Dark Lady stepped in and asked Alteer what she was doing. Alteer replied that she was not strong enough to take care of the Forest without Keer by her side, and that he was the first person to take the time to get to know her.

The Dark Lady agreed to let Alteer keep the soul as long as she made a sacrifice. The two settled on taking her shell from her and using it to construct a body to take the place of Keer's old one as well as Alteer's old protective shell. What they ended up with was a strange beast made from shadows and shell. Alteer remembered what Keer asked her about feeling pain. She decided to cut this aspect out of his new form, leaving him as a being with no sense of touch, taste, or smell.

When Keer woke up, he could not figure out what happened to him. He was much larger than he remembered, he could not feel anything, his ears seemed muffled, and he felt hollow and disconnected from who he was. Alteer quickly stepped in and let him know what happened, pulling him back into a comfortable mind space. She gave him the new name of Te'Keer to show his connection to her and the Forest.

A New Way of Living

Years went by in which Te'Keer adapted to his new form and connection to the Forest. He and Alteer built up an even better connection as they learned to work together and cover each other's weaknesses. The empty feeling Te'Keer experienced right away did not end, but he learned to fill in the missing pieces of his life with connections within the forest with Alteer and the inhabitants. He became a beloved aspect of the Forest alongside Ali, and was often referred to as Uncle by the people he took care of.

Even though he could no longer dream, he found ways to teach the children of his Forest how to weave and understand how to pull dreams together from a structural standpoint. He took this up as an additional aspect of his job, making a point of having lessons focusing on his old brand of magic. As such, he became an easy first step for anyone hoping to become a dream weaver.

The Deep Dream Island Epidemic

Another epidemic spread through the Forest years and years later, more concerning than any illness the forest dealt with in the past. People started to fall asleep and not wake up, which distressed Te'Keer. He stopped Alteer from keeping everyone awake, enlisting her in helping him keep everyone physically alive while they slept. When the sleepers awoke and the crisis was over, he noted that one of the Forest dwellers, Eran, remained asleep. No matter what he did, he could not wake the young man and, as years wore on and Eran remained in a coma-like state, he came to the conclusion that Eran had something to do with ending the epidemic. Unfortunately, without the ability to sleep and dream, he was unable to confirm his beliefs.

Fire Vs. Forest

Tensions with the nearby human towns reached a point of uncomfortable tension in the more recent years. Te'Keer tried to re-establish a good connection with them, but, most of the humans in the surrounding areas were suspicious of the dark creatures that lived in the Forest of Shadows. Despite the tense relationship with humans, Te'Keer did not expect an attack from anyone, especially not a foreign human nation. The attack started in the morning, robbing the forest dwellers of a safe escape from their home. Te'Keer and Ali started to work out an escape plan while they ushered as many as they could into dark hiding places. They started to organize a counterattack when the humans set the forest on fire.

Te'Keer realized the situation was too dangerous to fight back, and Alteer agreed with him. She told him to take as many people as he could and lead them to safety while she distracted the humans. He protested her decision, reminding her that she was the Forest Spirit and that she should be the one to shelter her people. She countered that he was her shell and that he had to protect everyone when it came down to it. With time running out, Te'Keer was forced to agree and made off with fifty or so people from the forest while Alteer drew the attention of the attackers.

The Worst Road Trip

Te'Keer and the refugees set off during the heat of the afternoon. The shell directed all the shadowkin to stay under him in his shadow while he kept the young and injured mnemodi on top of his shell as he tried to make as much distance between the Forest and himself. Fear and panic drove him into a state of fight or flight that pushed him forward for days, recovering his strength during the night and forcing his way through bright light while the sun was high. Though he could not sense any humans in pursuit of him, he was not willing to take a risk with that and slow down. He carried his people forward to Hailfire Peak where he forced himself to rest in the shade of the mountain and think over what their next plan was.

He sensed as more of his people weakened and died, but he could not feel the way the corruption of the forest weakened his shell and dragged his energy down. He forced himself across the outskirts of the desert, sheltering everyone to the best of his ability, and did not stop moving until he reached the ocean on the other coast. There, strength exhausted and his body at the breaking point, he collapsed in the sand, unable to carry on, but also unable to pass out.

And then, Even More Humans

A human showed up on the beach near Te'Keer, He called out to the shell and asked what he was doing on the beach in such a state. Te'Keer called back the people of his Forest that had snapped to attention when the human approached, uninterested in any kind of dangerous interactions at this point. He gave the human a brief description of what they had been through. To his surprise, the human offered him and his people a place to stay inside the nearby city, telling Te'Keer that he would allow him to stay there as long as he needed as long as he lent him his power sometime in the future. Knowing he didn't have the ability to take his people any further, or to shelter them for much longer, Te'Keer agreed to the man's conditions.

Within an hour, he found himself in an empty shop in Trifold with boarded up windows and dusty floors.

Bar the Bar

With a dark location to live in, Te'Keer set about figuring out what to do with himself and the rest of the Forest. He knew the inhabitants should be free to move about as they saw fit, and thus turned his attentions to the shop itself and figuring out what he could do with it if it wasn't a simple shelter to keep everyone safe. One thing he remembered from his previous travels was how nice bars were and how welcoming they were when nobody was trying to chase him out for not realizing he had to ask a barkeeper to pour him a drink instead of reaching over and taking any bottle of alcohol he felt like. Unfortunately, he was aware that most humans would not want to visit a bar run by a hulking forest guardian. He would have scrapped his plans to make a bar if it hadn't been for Nova introducing him to a strange man who ran a nearby junk shop.

The man, Crow, agreed to help Te'Keer with his appearance as a favor for Nova, who had previously befriended him with his talent for getting rare and interesting sparklies. With Crow's help, Te'Keer was able to assume a human appearance and blend in with most of the human city. He decided it was safest to stick to his disguise and pretend to be human unless there was a need for him to take his true form. A month later, he had the old shop cleaned out and installed a front bar in it. It was not impressive by any measure, but Te'Keer took some pride in the fact that he put together a bar from memory in such a short time. He spent the next months gathering alcohol and learning how to tend a bar.

Ace Nephew, Miuchi

The one person from the Forest stuck with Te'Keer even after Bar was in operation was Miuchi, a young boy orphaned by the fire. The child grew more attached to Te'Keer during the journey, latching onto him in the absence of his mother. Te'Keer, in turn, embraced his affection and clinging. Once they were settled in properly, Te'Keer realized that Miuchi would need some level of education if he was going to stick around in a human city with him. In fact, he would need to learn a number of human things if he wanted to be successful as well. In order to give the two of them the best chance possible, Te'Keer asked for help with reading and letters from Crow. A few days later, realizing his mistake, Te'Keer asked the man who gave him the shop to help him learn to write and read.

While learning this new skill, Te'Keer realized that, even more than himself, Miuchi deserved a chance to blend in with society in Trifold. He knew the boy was still skittish around humans after the fire situation, but, he wanted to give him a real chance to come to his own conclusions about humans without being scarred by the past. After a discussion with Miuchi, they decided to ask Miuchi's friend for help. The end result was Miuchi obtaining a human form that protected him from light damage and switching his name to blend in better with human society. Now, going by the name Chris, Miuchi was able to help Te'Keer run Bar more smoothly and efficiently.

At some point during the following years, Chris told Te'Keer that the king of Trifold had told him he had to go on a trip far away, but that he'd be back as soon as possible. A few months later, he returned with a small dragon named Tove, who he introduced as his new friend who he freed from deep underneath a city. Te'Keer is still a bit perplexed as to why Linford requested Chris for this mission.

Strange Portends

Later that month, Te'Keer met a new bunch of patrons who decided his bar was an alright place to drink. They ended up having a tiny demon with them, something which Te'Keer found very fascinating. He hadn't heard anything about the demons in a long time. He couldn't decide if this change was natural or if someone had finally made a point of freeing the demons. In some ways, Te'Keer felt like the strange demon the new patrons brought into the bar was a sign of changes to come. With Alteer dead, his forest in a state of corruption and death, and more of the people of his forest dying every year, Te'Keer wondered if the fortune the amnesiac demon brought with him was that of a coming end for him.

Good News

The more Te'Keer heard about Chris' adventures, the less sense the pieces of his story made. The part the confused him the most was the magic hammer. He knew Chris' friend didn't need to play by any rules, but, it still seemed odd that he'd have a magic hammer to give the boy for his journey. It was just specific enough with its powers without being a true fail safe to give him pause. After asking a few times, Chris told him it was a hammer made by a magic, undying chameleonian artificer living high up in Hailfire Peak who had discovered the secrets of immortality. This news surprised Te'Keer, but could not motivate the shell to get up and investigate. The person who could motivate the shell to get up and investigate was Nova when he returned to the bar with a demon, golem, and the news that he was hard at work purifying the Forest of Shadows. Keer, overwhelmed by gratitude and suffering from his chronic curiosity, decided to go up to the distant mountain under the conditions that Nova would look after the bar and not turn it into a business front for any smuggling.

Despite preparing for his trip, Te'Keer did not mentally prepare himself enough for dealing with an antisocial lizard. His attempts to talk with the artificer ended with a somewhat broken door and the artificer escaping into the system of tunnels winding through the mountain. Te'Keer decided he had spent enough time away from his bar and left his name and address along with some bottles of wine outside of the tunnel entrance, figuring that the lizard would either stop by or not, and that either option was alright with him.

Bottle to the Head

A few weeks later, Astar tracked him down, marched into his bar, and smacked him upside of the head with a bottle of wine. Te'Keer is adapting to having his passionately frustrated with him friend back in his life, pointing out just how depressing he's gotten since they last met. For his part, he's tried getting Astar to talk to more people and be more social. It wasn't too effective, but Te'Keer had no idea what else he could do.

Once Astar figured out that Te'Keer had no senses, he made getting those back for Te'Keer his number one priority. After a lot of hard work, he'd made Te'Keer a functioning nervous system out of runes that allowed him to feel things again. While Te'Keer considered this a huge improvement, Astar was less impressed by his handiwork. He pulled a few strings and got Te'Keer a functioning body back.

Abilities and Powers

Shadow Abilities

Te'Keer has a detailed power over darkness and shadows. As long as he's got darkness to work with, he can manipulate it into physical forms and sense what is hiding in it. The most common way he uses this power is to monitor who and what is in his domain. He is also good at using shadow hands to pull, grab, restrain, and protect people. The downside to his shadow abilities lies in its weakness to light. As with most of the creatures from the shadow forest, Te'Keer's shadow lose strength and substance in bright situations.

Shell

He is bound to the shell of an ancient forest spirit. It gives him a huge amount of defense and amplified strength, but its power is weakened depending on how bright the surrounding area is. It can withstand direct sunlight for a while and acts as a shield for the other inhabitants of the Forest of Shadows during bright times, but the longer it's exposed to direct light, the more delicate it gets. Sometimes, in bad situations, it's possible to see hairline fractures across it. When its reached this level, it is possible to shatter the shell beyond repair with a strong blow. If it is allowed back into a dark area, the shell will recover and seal up the splits it has, just as long as no pieces of it are missing.

While the shell is primarily and external defense, Te'Keer can also internalize it as a structural support, allowing himself to move faster and interact with his people with 100% less hard shell in the way. He only does this when he feels safe and at ease, since the process takes away his main defense.

Connection to the Forest

Both Alteer and Te'Keer have a strong connection to the Forest of Shadows. Te'Keer can sense how the Forest inhabitants are doing as an instinctive power. It makes him an empath for a small number of people. He can also feel how the Forest itself is doing, which gives him an idea of how healthy or sick it is, allowing him to adjust how it's being managed if need be.

Relationships

Forest Family

Alteer - She's so important to me, even now that she's dead. When we first met, I was kind of afraid of her. She was so strong and tough and hardly ever talked. We all loved her, myself included, but it's hard to talk to someone who's all shut off from everyone like that. After the fire, I nursed her back to health. She kept coming to me after that, and, I guess we formed a bond during that time. She didn't seem so frighting, she just seemed lonely and scared. I only left the forest a few times after we started spending more time together.

Chris - This poor, sweet, summer child. I am doing my best to teach him what I know, but, I'm always a bit worried he'll get stamped out by the world. He's far too idealistic for a world this dark. He needs to learn to be more careful and he needs to learn that he can't leave the people who care about him out of his plans. I think he's starting to get the picture now, but ohhh, I was not happy

Dia - Back before the forest burned down, he was in and out of it on a regular basis. He always seems to find a way into trouble. That's ok, though, he's very capable and all of us have his back for him. He pulled himself together when the forest fell, and I'm lucky to have him stopping by now and then, he always catches fish and brings them here. I wish he could have had better luck in love. I know how rough that is, and I think he's a bit dejected about things these days. On the other hand, I also wish he'd find himself some better taste in people, since he seems to always find himself a nice collection of troublemakers.

Eran- It's been so long since I've seen Eran! I guess he goes by Rocco now, but I can't break my old habits. He's so monotone and so devoid of color, which is strange to see. He used to be the most vibrant person in the whole forest back when he was awake. He recently took something back from Raz, but he hasn't been able to figure out what to do with it. I'm going to do my best to help him find his footing.

Gobi - I guess this one's part of my family now, too, since Nova has it under his care.

Nova - Ah, my little master thief. I think, if the forest hadn't died, he might have left and sought his fortunes elsewhere, just like I wanted to do when I was younger. I'm impressed with how clever he is. He puts his head to good use, always finding new things to do and new ways to deal with getting what he wants. I love hearing stories about his adventures in the wide world.

In some ways, it seems like he's doing for me what I did for my sister; drawing me out and keeping me engaged in the world. I get the feeling he helps me out a lot more than I realize it, and I'm very grateful to him for this.

Rene - It's beyond me how Dia ended up with such a sensitive kid, but, I love it. Sure, Rene is sneaky and nosy as they come, but, I think he's an interesting challenge for Dia to deal with. Keeps him on his toes and thinking about other sides of situations. If he just had Rupert, I think Dia'd be a lot less willing to talk to people outside of our forest and a lot more withdrawn. He's an interesting challenge for me, too. I won't lie, I've had to rethink how I approach things with Rene and try to tone my methods down.

Rupert - This kid is tough! It's like night and day between him and his brother. He's easier for me to understand for sure, and I am quite glad to have him around when his family ends up in town. He's tough enough to play fight with, too, though, I guess he's getting too old for that now! Ah well! He's got a good head on him, and I know I can trust him to take care of himself and his family. I think he's got the best sense of both the old forest life and this new, displaced one. I think it's because he's got a lot of lizard blood in him. I hear those treasure lizards are a bit nomadic.

I guess he's got a bit of a connection to Eran, which is surprising and nice to find out about. Eran could use as many friends as he can get right now.

Friends

Astar - Alas, my old friend from when I was but a wee shadow. We got into lots of adventures and trouble that required quick thinking and crafty plans to get through. I lost touch with him a long time ago, after the first major fire in the forest, and I couldn't find him again afterwards. After a while, I figured he moved on to other things and then probably died, but, no. He didn't die. He went and found a way to do the opposite of that.

He's been through a lot since we last met. He's gotten kind of depressing, but, hey, I have, too. He just needs to get used to people again so he can be selective with who he's short with instead of brushing everyone away right off the bat. I really missed him. Getting back in touch with him has been a life changing event. He went and made it his goal to keep me from fading away and giving up. I hadn't even realized how bad I'd gotten until he smacked me with a bottle of booze. He just, he stuck with it, asked around for help, and has somehow gotten the feeling back in my body. I have no idea how he managed to get me into such a lifelike state, but I am not complaining. It's amazing to taste feel and sleep and dream again. It's the best gift anyone has given me.

Astar's remembered a whole lot more about me than I expected. It's been forever since we spent time together, and yet. He even remembered how much I like being shoved around. Or maybe I just needed shoving around, ha! I need to ask him how long he wants to stay around. If he's planning on heading home soon, I'll need to work out plans for when I should visit him. I don't want to lose this connection again. He's way too important to me.

Crow - He helped me out when I first ended up here. He's very odd, but I don't mind that. If he wasn't odd, I doubt he would have stopped by a year after I got here and given me some help. He collects shiny things, so I save him the bottle caps when people order drinks with them. I'm pretty sure he considers this payment for the pendant he made me, but it's really not. I owe him a lot and I hope to make things even someday.

Marduk - What a funny little demon! I can see why Nova likes him so much. I like him a lot and he hasn't even saved my life. It is a pleasure to have him around. I hope he stays around for a while. I'd like to get to know him better. I am also fond of his area of expertise.

Tove - I love having him around, even though I really can't keep him here for too long. Not right now, at least? Seeing more of the world and learning new things will do him a lot of good, and he deserves a chance to run around and figure out who he is and who he wants to be after being locked up for a thousand years. It's nice to have a cooking buddy now and then, though. Especially one who can taste food. It really does help make things better.

Patrons

Braelii - She certainly seems spirited. I'm glad she gets along so well with Tove. That dragon could use more friends.

Chicory - I guess this is Sully's sister?

Daniel - I'm a bit uncomfortable around this man. He's godtouched, and not in a way I recognize. Absolutely terrifying.

Emii - This tiny dragon girl means business, I love how excited she gets about juice, and, I guess, everything! She's got to be a handful for her dad, but I like it when she stops by in the tavern. I hope she visits more and drags Tove out to see some of the city with her and do dragon things.

Gru - He's both laid back and full of energy. I can never get a handle on him, but, that's ok. He seems like a good guy and I like how he appreciates the cooking we do. Certainly nosy, though, but, I can hardly blame him. I do wish he was less insistent on nosing into my life.

Lonnie - Absolutely terrifying. Astar is on good terms with him, but I can't bring myself to feel overly safe around any gods apart from Eran.

Raz - Things are very complicated. He's a good kid, and I know he's learned a lot since his time as the Nightmare, but I still need to come to terms with a few things before I can feel entirely at ease around him again. I know that moment will come, especially since they're tangled in there somewhere. At least I know he has a good heart, and at least I know that something good came out of that huge mess.

Sid - The amount of stupid, reckless things he says and does reminds me a lot of some of the People back home. I swear, it seems like he's always ready for a fight, and not just with fists. It's annoying, but also nostalgic and endearing. Besides, he has a good heart. If he didn't, he wouldn't have bothered dropping his money while stealing booze. He is certainly biased about what he believes, but it's not like I can claim I'm not the same way.

Solana - She's strong willed and certainly a powerful woman. I understand the general idea of what she's been through, but, I think she's got too tight a grip on revenge and grudges. I've talked to her, and I like to think that I managed to get that idea to her, but, I'm also nooooot the best at motivational talks. I'm better with motivational actions. I would have to describe her as someone I am unsettled by, but who I feel a connection with.

Sully - My favorite thing to do is mention the juice tab and watch how he reacts. I don't actually have a juice tab, I just make up numbers when he asks me what is tab is, I say them. There is a clear split between how he acts around his weird human friends and his cool human daughter. But, he's still a kid. He's still growing up and working himself out. I'm sure he'll find himself eventually. Hopefully before he figures out the juice tab thing. I want to treasure that for as long as possible.

Yantzey - Such a curious man! I'm not sure he's always the best about asking the right questions, which is tragic.

Stories

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