Welkinal Lyralo

Welkinal Lyralo was one of the most famous illustrators and naturalists in Xalier. His depictions of the flora and fauna of the continent, as well as his investigations and research on them, have mesmerized generations of scholars, and his name is revered as one of the leading experts of his time.

Physical Appearance

Welkinal was a navasti. After his Marking Ceremony, his colors were red, blue and turquoise.
 

Personal History and Education

Welkinal was hatched Talon Sumno, the only surviving egg of the Taruks, Welk and Inal, of the Town of Sumno, a small rural settlement in the west of the northern region of Xalier.
From a young age, he showed a great passion for nature and an impressive talent for drawing and painting. He could always be seen chattering nonstop with the gardeners and farmers asking them endless questions or helping the Master of Beasts tend the manafeeks that were kept by the town; or running around the street lighter begging him for small pieces of spent ikukoi when his pencils ran out.

Apprenticeship

His drawings adorned the walls of almost every establishment in the town, and caught the attention of Master Kohlo, a naturalist that spent a few months in Sumno studying their herds of manafeeks. Kohlo offered the impressed parents an apprenticeship for the boy in exchange for a breeding pair of manafeeks.
At the age of 8, Talon went to live with Master Kohlo in the town of Mosser, near the border with the Uchana territory. There he learned from many renowned Masters in the field who visited Kohlo for his famous gatherings. Among them was Lyraine of Aiger, a kutabasti scholar and book hunter who delighted Talon with stories of all the places she had visited.

Hostage in Sogser

When Talon was 10 years old, the city of Sogser declared war against the neighbor city of Baseg. The Enibek of Sogser, to finance the war, asked all the towns in the region to join the war effort, included Sumno, and to force them into compliance he kept all their heirs at the palace. When the guards from Sogser came to Master Kohlo's door looking for Talon, the old Master had no choice but to give him up. The boy understood, and begged his Master to let him go, promising to come back.
At Sogser, Talon became a quiet child. He spent most of his days by himself at the library, or at the temple of Ronaba, the patron deity of his town, praying for his parents who had been sent to the front after they had tried to get their child back.
Months into his captivity, Lyraine, arrived at Sogser alerted by Master Kohlo. Her fame allowed her to present herself to the Enibek as a simple scholar needing to research for his next book and asked permission to use the city library as it was one of the best in the region. She also requested an assistant who knew how to draw and Talon, who's talents were well known, was assigned to her.
A year later, Talon's parents were killed during the war, and Enibek Sogser forced the child to signed off his title, officially annexing the town to the City.
 

Escape to Aiger

Without the fear of putting Talon's parents at risk, Lyraine smuggled the kid out of the city.
They sailed back to Aiger with a merchant ship, and after presenting their case to the Enibek there, Lyraine became Head Librarian and Curator of the City's Library. She was allowed to adopt Talon, which caused a bit of a stir among the people (especially the distant branches of the family) as Talon was supposedely from a lower cast. However the boy fully embraced her ena's culture (adoptive parent) as it helped him cope with the loss and uprooting he felt.
Under her guidance and care, Talon slowly healed from his experiences although he remained extremely introverted. To help him cope Lyraine, took him on many field trips where she taught him the intricacies of researching and studying the flora and fauna of a region.
Talon also helped Lyraine with her curator's duties and remade several drawings during those years which are kept by the Aiger Library.
At 25, during his Marking Ceremony, Talon choose to follow the tradition of his adoptive mother and changed his name to Welkinal Lyralo to honor his hatch parents and the two people who had rescued him from Sogser.
With Lyraine's support, Welkinal completed his Nature and Art studies at the Libunem Academy and began his travels around Xalier. On the day of his graduation Master Kohlo gifted him a young manafeek descendant from the ones his parents had given him when Talon was a kid.

 

Work

Welkinal's series "A Guide to Xalier" are among his most successful works. Each installment had hundreds of images of the plants and animals found in different locations.
The installment dedicated to the Rainbow Forest of Usane, where he briefly mentions the Ynaritos Uashi (a relatively unknown bird at the time) became, in later years, the inspiration for another explorer, Iarante Kael, who would later become his apprentice.
Welkinal assisted and illustrated Iarante's book which helped to make the species known.
Welkinal's thirst for knowledge took him to every corner of the continent. He managed to get access to places normally forbidden for regular travelers. His quiet and respectful demenor gained him the appreciation of the people he interviewed, and many people allowed him to share some secrets of their respective places. An example of this is how he managed to get permission from the carakan tribes to write a book about the flora and fauna found in the Cave Forest, and the inner Valley.
When Master Kholo died, Welkinal inherited his properties, and among them were the herds of manafeeks. Motivated by this he wrote the definitive guide to caring for these creatures, and with the help of his apprentices, they distributed the species in different points of Xalier and studied how they adapted. The results of these observations were published in a posthumous book.

Work with Carakans

In Welkinal's own words, one of his biggest accomplishments was "when the Carakans allowed me to make a book detailing all the species of flora and fauna of the Sidumbu Forest, and all that came after". The carakans are extremely protective of their forest and few visitors are allowed to attend the rituals that occur between its walls, let alone explore the entirety of it.
Welkinal gained the trust of the Amun Driaj Rusai, while xe xerself had been helping with the Udanga forest fire. Welkinal had impressed Rusai with his dedication towards the masantaks who had been trapped in the fire, despite them being quite fearsome creatures, and had invited him to visit their lands.
 

The first time I visited Sidumbu I was still almost a creaky boy, I remember wishing I had many heads like a Donoti so I could see all the forest at the same time. It was haunting and eerie, and gorgeous. The soft glow of the starry mothbats, and the veins of glowing fungi completed the picture. My face felt wet and just then I relized I was weeping overcome by emotion.

— Welkinal Lyralo, Memories.

  Welkinal finished the compendium in almost a year. Some of the drawings were even painted using ink made with the represented fungi. It was during this time that his famous accident happened.
While walking among the forest suddenly the floor ceded under him and he fell through a hole into an underground river. After almost drowning he reached a giant vaulted room and came face to face with the Amun Driaj.

I was coughing my lungs off, and part of me truly believed I was going to end up roasted over a pit at the very least, but she just laughed. Xe saw the panic in my eyes, and congratulated me in finding out about Varnorian's Weave". I had no idea at that time that with a simple misstep I had changed my destiny.

— Welkinal Lyralo, Memories.

After spending a few days locked in his room while the driaj decided his future, Welkinal was allowed to explore the Weave and the Amun Driaj xerself acted as guide, but there was a price to pay.

The Amun Driaj just left. Xe said my life has been spared, but I have a choice to make. I can explore the Weave, but at the dusk of my life, whenever that would be, I'll have to come back. What do I do? Coming back and submitting to Varnorian and forfeiting my place with Suraini as I had promised my mother? What would she say? and if I leave.....Can I really leave this place behind? Can I really pretend I haven't seen what I saw?

— Journal of Welkinal Lyralo.

That first trip, Welkinal explored the Weave with the Amun Driaj as guide, and after getting an overview of it, he was allowed to explore it in its entirety.
Three years took for Welkinal to travel the known, and some not so known corners of Varnorian's Weave. He even got to the famous forbidden passage but, same as many before him, he couldn't move past it and felt the chills and anxiety that came with standing near it. He tried many times, but in the end he had to admit defeat.
His journals detailing his trip is one of the most complete examinations of the Weave, and they are kept by the Carakans per their agreement.

Promise Fulfilled

At 111, sick with ikaburat after living too many days inside an abandoned mine, Welkinal, accompanied by his faithful apprentice, returned to the Sidumbu Forest as he had promised the Amun Driaj. He was welcomed as a loved friend. The carakans dine in his honor for days, and on the eve of the New Year, when the tired goddesses go to sleep, Welkinal laid on his forever bed among the beds of Lyralis (a small flower the carakans allowed him to name in honor of his mother). The Amun Driaj recited the rites, and his apprentice covered his body with a shawl made of intertwined nelohi's souls.
His body can still be seen among the foliage, his body mixed with the Lyralis creating a new flower which the Amun Driaj named Welkralis.