Ferak

Ferak grew up with the grit of the Kame’in stone elves but carried a bitterness far heavier than any boulder he could shift with magic. By the time he was old enough to shape stone with a touch, he had already buried both parents—one lost to illness when his medicine ran out, the other crushed beneath the cavern she collapsed to save her comrades. Those losses hardened him long before Quake ever shaped him into a weapon.   His mother was a healer and rebel who supported the Old Ways of the terra elves, the teaching of stone and the strength of leaders. The weak amongst the tribe established a new order of the elves of wealth ruling the people. This new system had merchants buying votes to rule the Dominion of the Underdirt while the strong geomancers and warriors were relegated to a soldier class with no political sway.. The strong used to rule the Underdirt but weakness spread through the bretheren like a plague.   When the mighty Quake was stripped of his title, an insurgent group led the first rebellion to kill the Prime Minister Leon. The group was captured and Ferak's mother was one of the insurgent members who attempted the coup. Leon wanted to make an example of anyone to dared question the new regime. The prisoners were to be locked away for life.   Little did the world know that the reclusive medicine women who was a prisoner had a young son at home and a dying husband. A husband that only she could heal. The young Ferak took care of his father as long as he could but his mother's medicine eventually ran out.   Ferak fell asleep to in the warmth of his fathers embrace but awoke to the cold rigamortis of his corpse.   Ferak's father was the first death the fueled his hatred for the Dominion. He was only ten years old.   In a public trial, Quake had informed the elves that these terrorists did all they had done on their own accord and not by his instruction, They were inspired by his speeches but he did not orchestrate the assassination attempt. This kept the former leader of the stone elves out of prison.   Six years later Quake had been given the title of advisor to his political adversary. Playing coy, Quake told Leon to relocate the insurgants to a more secure prison. Ferak at this point was sixteen and was working the deep mines underground to pay his rent and sometimes buy food.   During the prisoner shift, Quake publically took the side of his followers and attacked the guards of the Prime Minister. Freeing his most devoted followers after six years behind bars. Ferak's mother was one of the insurgents still alive.   During the escape, earth was shaken and hills were moved. The elven guards attacked Quake's supporters. As the group entered a cavern, hope was diminishing. Ferak's mother knew what must be done so her cause could live on.   Ferak’s mother grabbed the arm of Quake and told him of her son as she faced her pursuers. She bravely held the entrance as the other rebels escaped. As the guards neared, She brought the cave entrance done upon herself, sealing the entrance so her friends could be free.   The fire to Ferak's fuel was the heroic death of his mother.   Quake was the one to tell Ferak of what his mother did, he also mentioned what she believed in and made sure Ferak had the same idea seeded in his head.   A few years after, Ferak's anger drove him against the Dominion and he became one of Quake's greatest, most loyal generals.   He clung to every detail Quake shared about his mother—her defiance, her beliefs, her final act—until the rebellion became the only thing that made sense in a world ruled by the Dominion’s cruelty. He crafted a stone pendant from the rubble left behind and now uses it as the core of the armour he summons, the one relic he allows himself to keep.   In battle he’s blunt and unforgiving, the kind of fighter who pushes forward until the ground itself splits to follow his lead. Around Twyst, though, he’s a mess of unspoken longing, trying and failing to hide how much her indifference bothers him. For Quake, he’s unwavering—loyal in the way only someone forged by grief can be, eager to reshape the world with the same resolve his mother showed when she held a tunnel against an army.