Moros

Moros was born into the very highly regarded Photia family, who were well respected disciples of Volkan in the city of Myrtos. Moros’ parents knew their child was doomed from the second they laid eyes upon him, naming him Moros, meaning doom, and giving him the second name Keres, after the death spirits of old. They tried to hide him, in fear of the community fearing and avoiding the family because of the child, so hide him they did. For years of his life, Moros was left secluded in the basement of the Photia household, and when he was old enough, the family brought him above ground to live as their servant, and guests unknowing of his parentage.

The best way to keep this secret from the world was to not even tell Moros himself of his parentage, that is, until the day he turned 18. On this day, his parents told him of their secret, how they were his parents and how he was doomed. Overwhelmed by this, Moros ran from his home and happened across a small grotto and sat, wallowing and digesting this new information. As he was absorbed in thought, Moros noticed a faint, blue light coming from deeper in the oldwoods, which he followed to happen upon an anvil covered in blue flames, the symbol of volkan. Feeling drawn to it, Moros touched the anvil and a voice rang out in his head, the voice of Volkan himself. The voice boomed “Your doomed fate is to be struck down by your so-called parents, out of fear for losing their esteemed status. Do with this information as you will, child, for it is the only gift you shall receive on this day.” Not a second after the sentence was finished, the anvil exploded, surprisingly having no effect on the surrounding woods or even Moros himself.

A day passed, and Moros spent his night in the woods considering what to do about his parents, finally coming to the conclusion that, to protect himself, he must sacrifice his “parents”. He decided it would be best to do it under the cover of the night, so Moros began the trudge to what he thought was his home.

Upon arrival, Moros found his parents to be asleep, yet realised he had no weapon, so he made his way down to his room and took up the knife he had been hiding in case someone tried to attack him in the night… ironic. Moros stood over the bodies of his sleeping relatives, his knife hovering over his father, a seed of doubt suddenly planting itself in his mind “what if they aren’t the reason I die? What if they’re innocent?” and with that last thought, Moros plunged the blade into his father’s throat, for he knew that these people were no innocents. They had locked him up and pretended he was someone else’s child, and their slave, if that was innocence then Moros did not want to see what guilty looks like. After the deed was done, a familiar blue glow was spotted by Moros in the main room of the home, and by following it, of course, was the burning anvil the same as it had appeared before. However, this time when he went to touch it, the voice was changed. It was that of what sounded like 3 ancient sounding women, cackling in his brain “Well done child! You have done as we asked and are one step closer to your fate!” suddenly the anvil melted away to reveal three triangles, all meeting at a centre point. The symbol of the three fates. “For this deed, you shall be granted with the power of sight. Be grateful, for you shall need it when the time comes.” And with that, the voices ceased, and the symbol melted into a puddle of black sludge. A moment passed, then two, when suddenly Moros collapsed from a terrible pain in his head. After writhing around for what seemed like eternity, he was able to stand and suddenly received a vision. He saw an aasimar man, who reminded him of the young prince stepan, sparring with another man who was trying his best not to severely injure him. The feeling was strange, for Moros wasn’t just observing this happen, but he was experiencing it, he could feel himself laughing, along with three other men, with subtlety as to not offend the younger man. Looking around, Moros also noticed that, aside from the aasimar, all the men here were human, of varying age and builds but all human, nonetheless. He went to say something and ask what was going on, but as Moros tried this, the vision immediately ceased. The image of the sparring dissipated and his home returned, though everything was spinning, to Moros at least, and it became too much as he collapsed and passed out, not to wake until morning.

Come first light, Moros arose to the stench of rotting flesh, suddenly remembering what had happened the night prior, he ran out into the street screaming for help, saying someone had killed his masters in the night. The guard came to take the bodies away, all the while the other members of the temple consoled him. In this time, regrets began to grow inside Moros, and it was then that he pledged himself to atone for this sin. After being questioned by the guard, the temple gifted Moros with his parents Volkan pendant, which he took graciously. They also assured him that if he ever needed aid, be it lodging, food or otherwise, the temple was open to him. He kindly rejected their offer for now, but told them he would keep it in mind for future. Though, Moros would take the name Photia, as opposed to the Keres name he was given, to honour his parents.

From here, Moros set off into the oldwood to hone his craft. He stayed there for a year, and learned to see into the future of certain individuals, through practicing on small wildlife. With this skill, he moved back to the city of myrtos as a wandering fortune teller, giving small fortunes and bigger fortunes for those with heavier pouches.

One day, Moros was doing as he did, advertising his services on the streets, when suddenly he saw that Aasimar man from his first vision, 8 years ago. It was indeed the prince Stepan, surrounded by an armed guard. He knew that he must give this man his fortune, and employ himself in his service somehow, to fulfil his fate. Moros immediately leapt in front of the prince, persuading him that he was indeed legitimate in his practice, and that the prince would greatly benefit from it. The guards tried to shove him off but were stopped by the prince, who was intrigued at this offer, and accepted it. Right there in the middle of the street, Moros channeled his gift as well as he could, to impress this man, and what he saw would definitely do so. In his vision, he saw a boar of monstrous size, soaked in oil as the prince held a torch, ready to throw. He saw glimpses of other things too, many included the three other men that Moros saw in his first vision, and many also included Moros himself. These included battles, sparring, and merrymaking in general. Moros came out of this vision, and shared with Stepan what he had seen. The prince looked intrigued. He pondered for a moment which seemed to last a lifetime, until finally he offered Moros a place in his retinue as his soothsayer, for, as the prince put it “he who can see his fate, can bend it to his will”.

From then on Moros was a part of the Prince’s retinue, advising him in important decision making to the best of his ability. He did this for 5 years, and continues to do so in the present, growing close with Stepan and the others in the group. It made him feel as if he truly belonged.

And yet as all good things must, Moros' life came to an end. After surviving a giant boar (well, dying to it but being returned to the land of the living after this unfortunate event) and a sea hag, Moros was petrified by the beast of Sydon, Skolopendra, along with his companion bidat and Prince stepan himself. To this day his physical body resides in the palace of Estoria, while his spirit resides in the underworld as it eternally wanders with Bidat.