Welcome to Kestrel

Takes place mostly in a kingdom (or out at sea) on a large crescent shaped island surrounded by a bunch of smaller islands, or basically anywhere in The Isles of The Birds. The main island is called Kestrel, the castle sits at the front of a mountain range, facing inland and protected by the mountainous wall behind it. The island is currently just ruled by a queen who has been betrayed, so a lot of the little islands around it think it might be easier to invade and take the land for itself. (Coincidentally) All of the islands named after birds of prey are still loyal to Kestrel, and have formed the Falcon Alliance. One day, an assassin almost gets at the queen but is stopped by a stranger, who is then hired as a mix between a royal guard and a pirate. So, now we've got a bunch of pro-justice pirates in a medieval setting (fancy old coats with modern designs) on a boat called The Scion.

So, why do we have justice pirates in the first place? Well, partially because Kestrel is in danger of invasion, but that's mostly the cover up reason, not to say that they don't defend against aggressors. Those in power are intimidating, but when you take it down to the basics, they are only humans. A kestrel is a fairly small bird.
There isn't much tech, (at all) they do have stuff like oil lamps, stoves, and running water, but considering that nature is a being of it's own will in this universe, and a kind being at that, they have many natural solutions to their problems. (ie: they have so many herbs, they can pretty much blend whatever medicine they need) Kestrel has extremely accurate and professional craftsmanship, but their secret is well kept. At least, they thought they did a pretty good job. The public knows that they use lasers for carving, but not how it works. Of course it could be used for ill if the word got out, and of course, that's exactly what happens. One of the scientists betrayed the queen after the islands around them started to as well, selling the blueprints. There's not much to it, mostly magnifying glasses for the light, but it requires a special kind of crystal that captures, refines, and releases light. After this information leaked, the queen assembled this crew of pirates to redeem the blueprints and collect any weapons in order to stop the disaster that would sprout if the situation was left unattended. But in order to fight fire with fire, the crew is armed with laser guns of their own.

Many of the crew members have their own motives for being a part of the crew. When push comes to shove, can they trust each other to complete the mission or will the crew resort to mutiny?

There are a few kalons with powers, most to all are controlled or given by the god that watches over the Isles of The Birds who shows them self to kalons who they "deem worthy" or feel obliged to help. All royalty (ie: the queen) can fully communicate with the god, able to see the entirety of their current form- as a silhouette of light. The god usually only appears to other kalons as specific body parts. (ie: the eyes or paws) The crew on the ship is currently divided into 3 units: the aerial unit, the marine unit, and the standard unit.

Home: Welcome

Who am I.

If you asked me when I was a kit, I would have told you what I was.

A 9 year old merkalon named Xilo Cobalt, the son of Isaac and Beck, with three siblings. I don’t remember their names, but I remember that we were happy. We lived in a nation to the north, known for its sailors and fishermen. Ironic, fish-people living amongst fishermen. It was odd to live with kalons who thought of fish as food. They were all friendly to us as far as I can remember, and while it upset my stomach every time I saw dead fish being sold, I can respect that it was their job.

There was one fisherman, a retired one, who was especially kind to us. He knew how hard it must have been for us to live around kalons who thought of fish as nothing more than food. He showed me all of the stars and constellations, including my favorite, Arcturus, which was the brightest star in the northern hemisphere and the fourth largest star in the whole sky. He told me that it’s name came from the roman word for bear guardian: Arktouros because of how it watches over the two ursa constellations. He told me that the star watched over all of the kalons who, like the two bears, deserved it’s protection. I asked him every time if I deserved it’s protection even if I knew what his answer would be, simply because it had meant so much to hear him say “Yes.”

My family would sail farther into the ocean where the reefs and higher populations of fish were, you weren’t allowed to fish there in order to protect the coral. We loves swimming there, but since I didn’t have gills, I had to resurface after a while. I remember how beautiful that reef looked, even on the surface. The most prominent color was orange, it was highlighted by clouds of red and turquoise, all different hues as it blended together into a joined mass. The coral moved with the tide and made a sea of its own. There was nothing like following a school of fish along the seabed, watching them twist and turn around obstacles as one living organism. The merkalon members of my family could interact with sea life. None of us could really ---talk--- to the fish, put blatantly, it’s because fish fall short in brains, but their connection and communication as a group is incredible. I still don’t understand it but as it’s become a closer part of my instinct, I think it’s some extension of intuition.

One of my brothers, the one with blue fur… He was a merkalon as well. We would go down to the docks, usually sneaking out on full moons or early in the mornings as the sun rose. We loved looking across the horizon and talking about our plans to sail the world. We would try to build little wooden boats, of course needing help of an adult considering how little we were, but we had finally finished a usable one. We took it to the docks together, we were really excited to try it. We should have chosen another day. We hopped in the boat and started paddling along. No one was worried about us, if the boat sunk, we were part fish so we could just swim back. We saw a rusty cargo ship after half an hour or so, it looked abandoned and spooky, so we paddled over to see if we could check it out or loot it for “treasure,” like the pirates we aspired to be. We brought flashlights with us, clutching them in our paws in case we would need them. There was no light inside it’s weathered hull, but my brother and I were too young to recognise how dangerous this could be. We found a few things here and there, just enough to keep our interest, noticing that things got more valuable the farther in we got. The final object we found was a pearl necklace that stood on a small table in the center of a large room lined with shipping crates. As I reached out to take it, a group of three kalons sprung from the dark and rushed at us. We tried desperately to escape, to run, but our fish tails were no match for their actual paws. It took mere seconds for them to catch up. I yelled at my brother to help me knock boxes into their path, but he bailed on me once he realised that he could escape at my expense. As the anonymous kalons reached me, I tried to yell my brother’s name, to say something.

All that came out was the howl of a betrayed animal.

Home: About

My kidnappers wanted to use me to herd fish into their nets so they could profit off of selling them in bulk for half their worth. I refused.

I decided that whatever they could do to me would be better than giving them what they wanted.

How noble.

Nonetheless, they threw me in the water again and again, hoping for some progress. They must have been watching carefully, because they had figured out that I couldn’t breathe water. They chained me up with an anchor, saying that they would throw me in the sea to drown among the fish that I “loved so dearly.” I pleaded for my life, told them I would do anything, but I couldn’t stand the thought of dying. I cried. Those wretched beasts seemed to enjoy watching this. They told me that it was too late, that I should have done what they wanted.

And then they threw me overboard.

I struggled in those chains as I sunk deeper and deeper. I didn’t have time to think of how impossible it would be to escape. I held my breath the whole time, something I had become good at. I had never gone this deep before. My lungs strained to hold my breath, my entire chest throbbed from the pressure. The darkness of the sea started closing in, wrapping around me like a giant, suffocating blanket. I couldn’t get out. Two giant glowing paws came down from above. I knew I was reaching my limit, but I was still fascinated by the hallucination. As they reached me, the paws went around me, and in an instant, their claws were unsheathed. The pain felt so real, too real for a hallucination. I screamed, the sound coming out in muffled bubbles.

“This is how I die.”

My lungs could hold on no longer.

I gasped for air.

But I didn’t open my mouth.

I could feel water rushing in and out of the raw wound in my side. I could see pieces of chain around me, sinking slower than I was, and I realised that the giant paws must have broken some loose. Freed, I twisted to look at my sides. Five perfect slits.

---Gills---

I had no idea how in the world that could be possible, but there I was, breathing water through cuts in my side that seemed to lead directly to my lungs. I didn’t question it any further.

Looking around, I noticed some light below me, so I swam towards it. All kinds of glowing coral grew on the seabed, enough to see clear as day. I glanced at the surface of the water, so far above me. My kidnappers would surely find me if I came back up, so I decided that I would be safest in the ocean.

And that’s where I lived for the next 10 years.

There was no one to talk to, so I just stopped using that part of my brain. My thoughts turned into the simple pattern that is instinct, and I became nothing more than the fish I swam with. My exposure to the bioluminescent material down there gave me a glow of my own, so I fit right in. I spent my time in an almost zombie-like state, like what happens if you’ve been doing nothing for too long. I don’t remember much from my time there, but I’ll tell you a few important details. Knowing that the star Arcturus only sat in the northern hemisphere, I made a point of swimming away from it, until I could no longer see it’s light. As I grew, the shirt I had worn when I first took residence in the ocean had become far too small for me to wear. I took spare shirts or jackets from sunken ships, trading each for a new one as they started falling apart. I found a large jacket in a sunken ship called the Jukka, the boat’s name emblazoned on the sleeve. That jacket was the last thing I took from the sea, and the first thing that I brought to land.

Home: About

I had come upon a series of large islands, the first inhabited place I had seen across my travels. (I hadn’t been in a rush to swim anywhere, mind you, and our planet is considerably bigger than yours with more water separating the land.) It was night, but I could see the mountains on the island well enough, blocking me from approaching that way. After an hour or so, I came to a spot where I could get around the mountains. I walked ashore- well, I suppose I ungracefully flopped ashore and realised that I would need a more efficient method of travel. I could balance on my tail well enough, upright as is normal. Moving is the hard part.

At first I tried hopping, it took too much effort and I barely moved anywhere.

Then, I tried inching about like a caterpillar, which worked, but probably looked incredibly silly.

I coiled up like a snake to sit and think. A snake. Then I had it, I could try to slither.

I went back and forth a few times on that beach to make sure I could maneuver without falling over, even if I was a little unstable. I felt happy with my conclusion, and was glad to know that I could still think. I hoped I would be able t find someone to ask where I was, needing to ask the question aloud to myself before getting it right.

“Hello, where am I?”

I slowly made progress inland, emerging from a small layer of forest to see a cobblestone path. To my left was a village lit by lanterns, and to my right, a church. The church looked truly magnificent, I had never seen one so big or beautiful. It sat at the base of the mountains, raised slightly so you could access it only by a staircase. I heard the sound of rustling leaves and turned to see someone leaving the village and heading towards the church. Since it was night, I decided it would be best to ask them instead of waking someone else.

I started to follow them, then wondered if something was wrong, they kept looking around like they were afraid to get caught, but he was just going to the church. I was confused, but I decided to keep my distance, following him around the back. It seemed pretty heavily protected for a church, I assumed it must have some holy artifacts that they didn’t want stolen. Once this kalon broke in, I knew something was wrong.

We continued through the building, and the more elaborate decorations I saw, the more I started wondering what kind of church it could have been. We emerged into a grand hallway where I saw two kalons talking one wearing robes. Those weren’t the robes of a priest.

Those were the robes of a king.

I was in a castle.

The kalon I had been following pulled something from his pocket and pointed it at the king. He told the king that it was a shame that he had to die this way, and at that, the king and his servant turned to face them. The king’s expression was of shock, but the other kalon’s was of pure fear. I realised that the kalon I had followed must be an assassin, and whatever it was that he held, it was a threat.

My survival instincts kicked in, the world flashed before me and my vision became clearer. I didn’t question it. I slithered over to the assassin, using me front paws to go as fast as possible. I coiled back and sprung. Time seemed to slow, the assassin turned around to look at me, but was too late. I had my target locked, and as I came down upon him, so did two other paws.

Giant and glowing.

I must have snapped their spine, because they were dead when I came to my senses. I realised that I was panting, so I sat back and tried to calm my breathing. I had no idea why I attacked the assassin. They should have killed me with their… well, I didn’t know what it was at the time. I looked over at the trinket that lay on the ground, the one they had pointed at the king. Looking back at the two kalons whose lives I had just saved, I said the following in a voice that reverberated through the quiet corridor.

“Hello, where am I?”

Home: About

The king told me that I was on the island Kestrel in the Isles of The Birds. He thanked me for saving his life and explained to me what a blaster is, the laser gun that the assassin had tried to use to kill him. He offered me a job aboard some official royal crew, as a navigator of the sea and someone who could rescue the crew incase of a shipwreck. He told me that the glowing paws that guided me were actually that of a god. He was shocked that I could see any of it. He asked me who I was. I wasn’t Xilo Cobalt anymore. Thinking back on the star that had guided me here and the coat that sat on my shoulders, I told him the following.

I am Jukka Arcturus.

I spent two years working for him, working on becoming a civil kalon again. The job was fairly easy and I felt most at home at sea. I learned how much of a threat it was for other islands to be figuring out the science of the blasters, it was confidential information, how they worked, and the fact that it had gotten out seemed to scare the king. I, of course, was not allowed to tell anyone of the blasters’ existence, I avoid the topic to this day. In all other aspects, the kingdom was striving. The princess of Kestrel was about to marry a prince and take her seat on the throne, and as tradition went, the king and queen were to leave on a voyage on the sea to give her some time to know how it felt to run a kingdom. It was a joyous time. I was to be on the boat, purely to protect the king and queen incase of emergency. We were sure to be alright though, all signs pointed to perfect weather for those few days, and for a while, that’s exactly how it went.

Until the third night.

A rogue storm had blown out from seemingly nowhere, a catastrophic wind that shook the mighty boat. Being the tallest thing on the tumultuous sea, our boat was the first thing to be struck by lightning. It sunk quicker than you would think it should. I swam a few feet from it to get a better view to find the king and queen, those who I was obliged to save first. I started swimming towards the ship, struggling through the currents. A bolt of lightning then hit the sea, what fraction of it that traveled to me was strong enough to knock me out.

I woke up on the sea bed, and for an instant, thought that I was back at my time living there. My memory came back as I saw the wreckage of the ship, I swam over to it. Too much time had passed for anyone to have survived and I had felt almost guilty for having gills. I found the bodies of the king and queen, deciding that I would take them back to Kestrel for a proper burial. I swam to the surface and saw something there as I approached. The god was perched on the surface, the only things I could see clearly were it’s paws and eyes. It looked curious.

I burst into rage.

“WHY DIDN’T YOU SAVE THEM?”

It just blinked in response. I rose above the surface. I now saw its reflection below me. I was breathing hard and being irrational, but I didn’t care.

“Why did you help me kill that Kalon?!!!”

I continued to yell. It was pointless, and I knew it. The fact that it looked at me so blankly, so innocently curious, I hated it. I HATED IT.

“Why did you save my life?”

The water stirred and it disappeared. I started to calm down, and despite my best efforts, tears started running down my already wet face.

“Why am I here.”

The kingdom mourned their loss for many days. It seemed that the princess had gotten into some trouble while we were away. The prince she was going to marry tried to sabotage her, but she killed him first. Once the news spread, people started trusting her less and less, assuming she had just killed him for her own gain. Others saw the opportunity to take over the throne and tried to kill her. They all met the same end. The few islands whose leaders still believed in her joined together to make The Falcon Alliance which stands to this day. The new queen knew how loyal I had been to her father, so she sent me on a mission. I would hire a crew to sail to the different islands and take back what was rightfully ours. The science of the blasters was never meant to be used in battle, only for the carving of metal, and we couldn’t let the situation get out of hand. With funding from the queen, I purchased the Scion, it’s name is synonymous with ‘heir’ as I felt it would take the place of the crown in a sense.

We became known as pirates, feared and respected. We did more than steal our weapons back, protecting the islands, capturing slavers- we have grown quite the reputation. I became known for my skill for slithering and how deadly fast it could make me. I got the nickname of The Black Mamba after one of the world’s deadliest snakes.

We are still far from our goal, despite all of our success, the enemy keeps rebounding. Recently, the island Vulture’s king had gotten enough of our blaster technology to make cannons to put on a ship that nearly destroyed the Scion. Things were looking grim, many of my crew had fallen, casualties beyond what I had ever imagined. I was frustrated that I didn’t see this coming, but there was only so much I could have done. I felt useless, every shot we fired at the enemy did no damage. The kalon who was shooting right beside me fell into the sea as a particularly powerful blast cut through our hull. I looked around to make sure I had the opportunity for a rescue before diving in after him. As I spotted him, laser blasts started ripping through the water around us. I couldn’t climb back onto the boat because of how tall it was, and everyone was too busy to toss me a ladder. He could clearly tell that I was starting to panic, and told me that it would all be ok. I looked down at him to see that he had coughed up a bit of blood. He had been shot. He died smiling, satisfied for a reason that was beyond me. He was a young lad, dedicated to protecting Kestrel. He had so much more of his life ahead of him, and that had just been ripped away.

“This can’t be right.”

I looked at the hole in our boat, it was sinking slowly, riddled with gunfire. I couldn’t let it end like this. I wouldn’t.

The world around me became clearer and more defined. I felt the sea around me start to stirr. A wave rose from the seemingly calm sea, I was on top of it. I looked to my right to see the god in its entirety, and judging by their terrified expressions, our enemy did too. As the wave rose and narrowed into a spire, the god and I seemed to fuse. We were one entity with the same goal, the same eyes, and the same beating heart. I felt my lungs fill with something heavier than air. The wind whipped strands of water into orbit around us. The world flashed white as I opened my mouth and let out what the god had bestowed upon me.

Light.

Searing, burning light. It came in the form of a laser of sorts which fanned out until it engulfed most of the enemy’s ship. The buzzing sound that it made rose in key as I reached the limit, and for a second the world went still, our opponents shrouded in light. The explosion that came next was beyond surprising. It knocked me into the ocean and blew our already damaged ship a few meters back.

We managed to get it back to the nearest ally island, had it fixed and upgraded. I still have this power, not half as strong as it was then. I need to charge my blasts and it’s not much stronger than a regular blaster’s laser. I rarely use this power because I want to keep the rumors about me as flexible as they are now, but I do get a few other side-effects of this power. If I’m really concentrated, mad, or deep in thought my eyes start to glow brighter and a little light will come from the back of my mouth. (My shine and eyes always glow softly, the strength changing with my mood.) If I’m angered or stressed, sometimes a bit of static will ruffle across my fur and scales in the form of miniature lightning bolts. Don’t touch me then unless you want to get a shock.

That was the last time that I’ve seen the god.

I got a lot of questions about what had happened and how I used the power of the god, but I wasn’t interested in answering, I didn’t know. Rumors turned to myths turned to legend as my story was spread. Some say I’m a demon who rose from the void to bring justice, some say I am a god.

I won’t tell them so, but I think it’s all rather silly. So who am I really?

I’m just a pirate named Jukka Arcturus with a mission to protect these islands.

To protect my home and the kalons who believe in it.

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