Todo

Arakkoa Shaman
In the depths of the Strigi-Forest, along the velvet river, lies the home of the Arakkoa. The Arakkoa are a race of owl-Humanoids who have chosen to live a quiet life in the Strigi-Forest. The Arakkoa are a predominantly peaceful race, seeking only to live in their villages along the velvet river. The Arakkoa survive on a diet of fish and hunting in the forests surrounding their villages. While they are very capable warriors, they choose to not participate in any wars that don’t directly affect their homelands.

The Arakkoa pray to their own God, Asio, whom they believe will bring them peace and prosperity if they are faithful and peaceful in his honour. The church of Asio is in the centre of the Arakkoa villages on the banks of the velvet river and is usually presided over by various Shamans whom are chosen by a rite of passage. The Shaman usually number five, however there have been instances of there being four or six and at one point even ten due to the vague nature of the rite of passage. One of these Shamans is Todo. When Todo was young, he was a playful owlet and well known throughout the village. Todo was often seen climbing the buildings in the village and once got into a lot of trouble for climbing the steeple of the church of Asio. One day while Todo was playing, he ran into the forest north of the village. Todo got lost in the forest and travelled for days searching for his village in the depths of the forests. After several days alone in the woods, Todo was trying to sleep among the brushes beneath a tree. While he was trying to sleep he could hear a faint growling and footsteps. When Todo looked up he noticed that several beasts were hiding in the undergrowths around him, preparing to pounce. Todo froze out of fear and hid himself beneath the leaves, hoping for a miracle to save him from the certain death that was about to strike. While hiding beneath the leaves, Todo looked up to find that a strange creature was fighting off the beasts.

The creature seemed to move like a black mist and amazed Todo. After the ordeal was over, the beasts were slain and their blood covered this weird creature. When Todo asked the creature if it would kill him, the creature replied ‘I came here to save you Todo. My name is Valek, let me lead you home.’ Valek led Todo home to his village and kindly asked Todo to never mention to anyone that he existed or lived there.

While Todo was naughty as an owlet, he grew up to become a powerful warrior and a trustworthy Shaman. Todo never forgot about Valek and chose to live on the Velvet River, downstream from the Raven Forests to prevent others from travelling upstream and protecting Valek from anyone who might try to find him or attack him. Todo travels daily from his home on the velvet river to the Church of Asio to perform his Shaman duties and to pray, he practices his martial arts in the evenings and meditates throughout the day, finding time to teach the Arakkoa owlets if possible. Todo does not always agree with the decisions of the Elder council of the Arakkoa and believes they are more bloodthirsty than Asio would permit them to be, and instead of welcoming strangers and feasting with them, sometimes defensive action is called upon too early, negating the option of peace.