[Our Presences Fades: Narawen]

[Empress of Neon]

As I have something of a personal policy in that after a certain level is reached, I'm essentially playing ironman mode on the server. Sadly, Narawen died after this milestone in a raid against the Dread on the surface :(

In the end, she fulfilled her function and purpose for being in the Dunwarren nexus. She helped inflict casualties on the Dread's key clusters. She died with love.

~WARNING! MAJOR SPOILERS!~

[hide]Her story is one that started in sorrow and utter despair. During the early days of the darkening, she lost all. Including her family and betrothed. In the face of suicide by starvation, or drinking the vial that offered a 'better way', she chose to take that step. Her last years the happiest of her life. This was during the period in which the kingdom of Evermeet was being overwhelmed by the Dread. She would have been among the casualties if she wasn't holing up in the isolated fishing village of Elion. Many peculiarities emerged after the sun perished, but the one that changed her and the village's inhabitants was the emergence of a mysterious, symbiotic creature that would create a deep an intimate bond with its host.

The creature would grow closer on a physical and mental level. Injecting a narcotic-like venom that would essentially put its host's body into an utter state of euphoria, while simultaneously developing a psionic-link very reminiscent of other aberrant creatures. However, where others would come to dominate or create disastrous unions, the creature itself was lacking any true intellect prior to the joining. Much of what it came to believe or perceive in this strange world would be shaped by the host. As it turned out, many in Elion had a more 'benign' and 'neighborly', if somewhat haughty, nature typical of sun elves. Very soon, their minds quite literally became one. Indeterminable from the other; one shaped by the sun elf host to be protective and caring of its kinsmen in the end-times while the other came to be more open-minded, tolerant, as well as curious.

After coming to understand its host, the First strove to ease the suffering of the other Tel'Quisser wallowing in despair or misery. The world was dying. The kingdom was fading. Their gods were dead or missing. And many had known great loss. Sadly, when its presence became became known to the others, both were greatly ostracized. Some even tried to kill the two. They were bested; more baffling to the villagers, they were spared.

"We know this. We were this. Your lives and wellbeing matters deeply to us. You are loved."

Every chance the host and the symbiotic creature could, they took the high road. Where others showed hate and fear, they showed them love and care. Indeed, it was rather difficult to stay angry when the host was in a near-constant state of euphoria. Something that often reciprocated and expressed in goodwill, as the symbiote had all but assumed every bodily function and movement. Two had become one in body and mind.
Some left the village. Others died to the mutating wildlife. But some came to grow curious, if wary. What had their kinsmen become? Was the creature truly a benign one? Others saw it abominable, but there was something very attractive and sincere; even envious; to be seen in the constant state of happiness and benevolent rhetoric of the First. Familiarization was slow, as was tolerance. It wasn't until the lover of the two followed their bonding in kind (a romantic gesture as much as a want to simply be with her again) that something interesting happened.
While the two hosts and their symbiotes remain parted in body, it seemed there was a link between the symbiotes themselves that allowed them to bond in mind, if not flesh. Whether it was maturation or something about the sentient hosts themselves, the capacity to share a psionic bond seemed to develop. In the years to come, this would grow as more and more villagers slowly succumbed for the want to escape the ever-hopeless world that had come to haunt them. Sadly, some still struck out; no matter how much mercy and 'love' was shown. Others even committing suicide, rather than succumb to the 'abomination' that had seemed to take over their village. Only a single villager remained committed to killing the whole, however. Thankfully, they were spared a choice of morality when mutated flora ate the 'one-man-hunter'. Though some had already been lost by then.

Many minds had become one at the end of it all. A true enigma born from the biological, instinctual, circumstantial and cultural-social variables that had resulted from the symbiotes and the hosts:

A Benevolent Hive Mind.

Sadly, Elion would not be ignored forever. The symbiotes did much to help protect and preserve their hosts, but it became increasingly clear that they would not be able to fight off the Dread in their little village forever. No matter how coordinated and precise they had become. With most of the wildlife gone or hostile, the hive mind instead approached relatively docile or at least 'approachable' entities that yet remained in the hills and dying trees of Evermeet. The only entities it believed it could understand and 'harmoniously' incorporate into itself. Other hives.

Bees, wasps, ants, beetles, and even new aberrant (sometimes terrifying in appearance) insectoids were soon incorporated into the whole after the symbiotes made similar bondings to their queens. This had an unintentional effect, however, of affecting the whole as more and more joined. Dialogue, rationality, as well as bizzare instinctual drives soon began to supplicant the nature of the hive mind.

"Can we fly or crawl there? We will devour them. Let us protect you. We are ready to die for the whole."


It would even come to conflict or interplay with some of the sun-elven characteristics that had come to shape it, but ultimately balance out into the expressions that Narawen would come to demonstrate during her time in the Underdark.


The want to build and expand the hive for the better of the whole: "Let us make the Dunwarren Hallow more habitable for the solitaries."
The want to protect those in the hive: "We wish to eradicate this hostile hive predating on Dunwarren Occupants."
The extreme ethical and moral confusion resulting from her broad inclusiveness of likeness with others: "We are confused. We do not wish to attack any of you? Why can't we be harmonious and attack the Dread as one?"

Her general regret when Dunwarren Occupants would rather fight to the death than run: "Please flight. We do not wish to eradicate you, but we most protect the host."
Even her willingness to incorporate drow occupants (of all things!) into the sphere of likeness: "There is no hate. Only love. We were one, once? Let us help you find harmony again? Join us?"

Thankfully, the original hosts remained central to the core being of the hive mind, not just tempering but channeling the drives of the insects that had been uplifted to a new state of being and understanding.
"We understand. We were this. We are this. We are one."

The escalation mirrored the growth. Soon the village became little more than rubble and ruins; many of the hives and colonies having effectively migrated to the village. Very soon burrows were dug. As the climate continued to deteriorate, so to did the Hive dig deeper and deeper as their home had become an effective wasteland above. The only ones even able to set about for resources or interception of Dread forces being the hive's warrior caste broods themselves. Even then, few were expected to survive. They died with love for the whole.

No matter how quickly they adapted or effectively they warred with the Dread as a single entity; no matter how fast growth or expansion below occurred; the Hive could never effectively strike out on its own. Its 'presence' and coordination waned the further its broods set out from the will of the hosts. Tel'Quisser or otherwise. Effectively turning them feral and aimless beyond a point. Lost and forgotten. Dooming them to a defensive posture that was made worse by the ever-relentless, adaptive Dread attacks.

Then it came. The hooded man. He who spoke of the Exile Collective. Offering not only allies, but a way for the Hive to strike at key Dread facilities if they were willing to join the Collective.

Out of sheer desperation, despite the Hive's wariness, they agreed. Sending the only one among them who had the means to not only retain their presence (and will), but summon the broods where they they could do the most good. A biological nexus in the form of Narawen. The young elf who had been scarred with sorcerer by the Red Star's rebirth. The Hive was loath to risk any of its hosts. Even the loss of one meant losing a part of itself. A significant loss that would weaken the Hive overall. But it had no other means of extending itself so far from the Hive. Were it not for the promise of allies, it would never have risked her at all.

The journey was long. Many died. Many more would die still. But they would do it with love (For the Hive!).

Her time in  Sanctuary was as much a learning experience for the Hive as much as it was for her. Seeing so much mutual bloodshed and violence in the backdrop of the Dread threat not only confused but grieved the Hive. It made less sense since many had a close likeness to eachother; attributing much of their woes to their state of being 'solitary' (sun elf haughtiness showing itself yet?). At first, her inclusiveness was broad over who was 'part of the whole' in her stay in the Dunwarren. Every 'occupant' was an extension of the Hive allies. To be attracted to the cause or made to be indirect allies that could be coordinated with in mutual benefit and harmony.

Sadly, this receded more and more to the Collective's territory and the Tel'Quisser in the Gardens. There were moments of conflict when she (that is to say, they) nearly strayed from their harmonious and benevolent nature, but they concluded (thanks in no small part to some of the city's better halfs) that nursing cooperation and goodwill between themselves and others was the most rational course. Not only to ease the suffering of the solitaries ("We remember. We were this. Let us ease your suffering?"), but also because it made the most rational sense. More numbers; greater coordination; a bigger threat to the Dread.

Where others strove to kill or cannibalize on the city's carcass, Narawen became a busy little worker in her efforts to promote harmony and happiness. She had sub-goals of turning Starag's Rest and the Vaults into much more pleasant areas (perhaps even a 'New Sanctuary', in light of the chaos outside the Collective's territory).

"When needs are met, there is no need to cannibalize. When understanding and mutual cooperation grow, so to does harmony. Intimacy; a shadow of our whole; can strengthen the many in this. When there is love, it is no longer a question of how to take. But what can I give for the whole? For it is loved. This is the true power of harmony. Being."

She had aspirations to attract the elves of the Garden into the Hive. It was, in fact, second in the hierarchy of goals and priorities that dominated her (in)actions and behavior. Sadly (to no one's surprise) no other elf seemed particularly eager to 'understand' or 'embrace' what she spoke of (or rather, who she was). It was ultimately another loss for the Hive, as it had a very real want to grow in harmonious joinings in order to extend its presence and incorporate more into its whole. It had not forgotten the loss of the elven 'godsires'. The "Greater, intimate beings that made solitaries feel whole; a shadow of what we are". It very much wanted to fill that void, so the hosts that had shaped it would know that warmth and intimacy once again...

"Do you feel us?" *A sense of goodwill from the Hive (Bless!)*
In the end, much of her preachings ended up being applied to a broader audience; harmony and love among them.


Her (their) vision was one of creating a more tight, closely-knit community in Sanctuary. Expanding minds and seeing to the needs of the many while their (her) presence was there. Sadly, she died before she could see it even come to its infancy.
Like the warrior drones, she was fearless in the face of death. It was never a question of if, but when and how much productivity could be achieved towards the goal of eradicating the Dread between then and now. Unfortunately, she was weak in body what she compensated in mind. What fate will befall the Hive, or what it has learned from Sanctuary's self-sustaining disharmony and chaos, may never be known.

But it's unlikely anyone will forget that smile anytime soon.

[/hide]

Only screenie I collected. Does a pretty good job of capturing Narawen's strength. Numbers.

"We are Many. We are One."

[Chiaroscuro]

Amazing, amazing, amazing.

I wish I'd had more interactions.

[cmenden]

I was SO intrigued by this PC, I wish we'd have more time with her/it/them!


Well done!

[moreherbpls]

You were one the first characters I met since returning to efu and were slowly becoming one of  my favorite Exile players, I loved everything you were about, from the bugs to all the love.

Great work! Wish I got to see more, can't wait to see what you do next!

[Miraie]

Khzt.

We are the One. We are the All.


Sacrifices are made on the Great Journey. Kkhhh.


The Dread must be pushed back.


Khhzzt. The Collective sheds no tears.


No tears.


No tears.

[Starfield]

Welcome back, and thanks. ;)

[A Mothers Dying Wish]

A right-and-proper freak.

Was sad to hear that you died before Kora could make up her mind on whether she wanted to beat her up or not.

Good stuff.

[wundyboy]

Enjoyable PC, sad that I didn't get more interactions with her.

[goate]

On one my my interactions with her (can't say which one) she did something very IC'ly authentic at personal cost that completely ignored everything that you must have known OOC'ly.   I was quite impressed.

[Svordaloz]

A refreshing character, seemingly benevolent, but as you talk with her, little voices whisper in the back of your head saying,"no one's this NICE without an idea in mind", making you question if it is a front or not.

Shame it came to an end so soon!

[granny]

such a beautiful, colorful and complex tale. you don't know how much frustrated I am to see she departing this soon. I had big hopes of seeing her flourishing and pushing many other stories.
I cannot wait to see what you will bring EFU next!