Rocii Xudrau's page

Rocii was born in a simple farming town on the outskirts of a larger city. The town was far enough from the city to not have much interaction with city dwellers, yet still close enough to have protection of threats in the world. This resulted in a very peaceful community of hard workers. The expectation was that this town produce enough food to keep themselves fed and still have a large share that can be sent to the city. The taxation laws were simple, provide your good to the city and we will provide protection and aid for major events like illness that go beyond herbalism. However, basic daily life things were up to the people of the town to take care of on their own. Homes were made of simple thatch, mud, and straw, roads were nothing more than trampled dirt roads covered in gravel, and the people were a simple folk.

The nearby city was a center of education and wealth, so the people had access to rise above their station and leave their homes if they prove that they can contribute in the city. Since the town Rocii was from was a farming community and the people are expected to manage themselves, schooling was not a major part of their lives. As a result, it is rare that someone from the village prove able to contribute to the city in ways outside of farming and herbalism, but this is a world of magical gifts and abilities. Every few generations someone would manifest a keen intellect, a small affinity for magic, a deep wisdom like that of an old soul, or the like. Often, these people would leave the town to expand upon their gifts, but it happened so infrequently that seldom would the town suffer in their ability to produce quotas expected by the city. It was a happy balance, and the simple folk of the town were content with the way their lives were going.

Rocii was a fairly typical child in the town minus one small difference. He always seemed to have an uncanny understanding for cause-effect relationships. He didn’t often do things like touch hot fire coals, or climb up on a table where he could fall off. It was clear that he wasn’t fearful of such things, just that he understood the folly of something that was so obviously dangerous. One would be hard pressed to call it one of the “gifts” that would manifest every couple of generations, so little regard was paid to his natural inclination towards logical analysis of the world around him.

Unlike Rocii, the simple folk of the town weren’t quite as adept at bridging connections to form cause-effect relationships. The townsfolk thought it would be a great idea to closely cluster their structures to act as a natural wind break. The area wasn’t particularly windy, but there could be some gusty days. As far as the people were concerned they thought they were being smart with their town’s design of using their structures to serve as shelter and a natural wind break. It was this supposed favorable design that led to a major tragic event.

Late on a spring evening when Rocii was only 6 years old, his family had just finished dinner. It was one of those particularly gusty evenings that happen in early spring in this area of the world. There wasn’t need to keep the fire going, because it had started warming up over the last week. Rocii’s mother was going about her usual routine of putting out the fire with the left over drinking water, sending his father off to get more water to wash the dishes, and sweeping up around the house. Rocii loved the sound of sizzling that came with his mother putting out the fire, and had gained a general understanding that water was stronger than fire over his few years of life. He enjoyed finding how opposing things worked together.

Curiously, though, he noticed a small wisp of coming from the ashes tonight. This was a new sight for him, and he found himself mesmerized by this new phenomenon. After all, water is greater than fire, and it didn’t fit with how he understood the world that after water there could be no fire. His mother thought nothing of the wisp of smoke, because as most adults understand, a lingering coal may still be hot but present no major threat as it doesn’t have enough fuel to start another fire. His mother’s brain may have processed the fact that there was a wisp of smoke, but it is such a minor thing of irrelevance that the processing never reached her conscious mind.

Rocii’s father returned home from the town well with more water, and as he walked in the door a gust came in with him. It stirred the fire pit sending a little of the ash out onto the floor along with a single glowing coal. Rocii was transfixed by the coal. It challenged his current understanding of how things worked around. This fire beat water! He walked over to touch the coal and found that it was still very hot. He didn’t yelp when he touched the coal, he was too entranced by it to really register any pain. However, in his pulling back of the arm it knocked the coal a little further into the corner next to the fire pit. Rocii’s parents witnessed none of this because his mother was berating his father for not being more careful coming in and how she will have to sweep up again for the ash.

Rocii continued to sit and stare at the coal in the corner as his parents went around their nightly routine. It was time for bed, and he was tucked into bed, but he couldn’t sleep. He had to see more, so he snuck back to the kitchen area and for the next several hours just sat and watched as the coal glimmered. It is here where the town’s design flaw became most apparent.

The thatch and mud walls were not fire-proof and after several hours the coal sparked a small flame on the wall of Rocii’s home. He didn’t scream or shout. The life of this magical coal was all consuming to him. The small flame began to grow, spreading up the wall, to the ceiling, and smoke began to fill the room. It was at this point that his parents woke up, but it was far too late to put the fire out with the wash water left over from doing the dishes. They grabbed Rocii carrying him outside all the while screaming for help. While the townsfolk may have been simple people, they didn’t panic. They knew that they would need to get everyone involved in making a bucket chain from the well to the house aflame.

Rocii was standing a safe distance away from his now engulfed home. The wind was fierce at this point, which served only to help transfix Rocii further. After all, he’d watched his parent blow out a flame many times before. This was a lot of blowing, and instead of the fire going out it grew! It grew to the point that he couldn’t see any part of his house any more. The wind then carried the flame to the neighbors place. It was fascinating, no matter how hard the wind blew it did nothing to the flame! The townspeople threw bucket after bucket of water on the fire, and it made the same familiar sizzle but did nothing to put the fire out. Other townsfolk threw pales of earth on the fire to try to smother it and again, it did nothing.

Before the end of the night the fire had spread to destroy nearly 75% of the town. Rocii was changed. He watched a tiny coal go from just a simple wisp of smoke to consume his entire home and most of his town. His predilection to logical connections had a new solidified strand in it: nothing is more powerful than fire.

As Rocii grew older his fascination with fire only grew. His understanding and respect of the power of fire coupled with his deep understanding of cause-effect relationships meant that he didn’t run around starting fires. Fire was something to be studied, not played with. The way that Rocii’s brain worked began to alienate him from most of the village he grew up in. He was thought to be cold and distant. He was thought to be arrogant in his correction of others errors. He never felt like he was above others, he was simply stating facts. It was this alienation that led him to leave his village as a teenager to go to the city and find his way there.

Many of his years of study were focused on physical principles, chemical reactions, and all things related to making and controlling fire. He applied his logical mind to learning as much as he can in all aspects of fire except magical practices. Magic was incantations and flourish, not rational study as he saw it. His rational mindset was welcomed in the academic circles he studied in even though in his early days he was often involved in civil arguments about the whimsy of magic not being a useful pursuit. However, as he learned more, he discovered something about himself. He had been born with a subtle gift.

Rocii wasn’t gifted with the likes of magical affinity, he would never be a mage. He wasn’t gifted with wisdom to bend the forces of nature and healing. His gift was more one dimensional. To this day, it isn’t entirely clear if his gift was something he was born with, or something that manifested with his unrelenting study of fire, but by his early 20s he discovered he could pull fire from the air around him and control it to his every whim.

As the years have gone by since his discovery, he’s made a reputation for himself that had him cast out from the city. His teaching of lessons was seldom welcomed. An outside observer might call Rocii evil, but he’s never understood this sentiment. It is quite simple, fire is the most powerful element, and therefore you must respect it. If you don’t, logically you should be taught why fire is the most powerful element. His personality was off-putting. An outside observer may call him arrogant, but he’s not arrogant. Logically, everyone must fear his ability to shape such a powerful element. An outside observer who calls him a pyromaniac will soon find out just how controlled he can be with fire. It is all common sense to Rocii, why won’t everyone understand?