Raftorin

Background
Raftorin was naught but a young kobold when a mysterious being came into his life. It was majestic, and it shimmered brightly in the dark cave, appearing before the tribe in a flash of blinding light. The community of kobolds began to worship it as their God, as if by instinct. In due time, they came to know this glorious creature as a chromatic dragon. Her name was Silvia, and she taught them everything she knew about the world: communication, clothing, development as a society, and how species lived and thrived.

As Raftorin grew, he began his training as a young knight for the Koboldian Empire Knights, or KEK for short. He clawed his way up the ranks, unfazed by garbage missions that others might consider hardly above slave work. It was on one such mission that Raftorin's troupe managed to capture a Goliath. He towered over them with his large, lumbering body, yet oddly, he didn't show signs of hostility.

Raftorin didn't agree with the methods used to enslave the creatures that crossed the tribe. He and the goliath talked frequently, as Raftorin was posted as his usual guard, the other kobolds scared of his intimidating size.

NOT RAFTORIN HOWEVER, HE STARED HIM DOWN!

The more Raftorin got to know the goliath, the fonder he grew of him. One fateful day, during a routine prisoner transport between mining quarries, Raftorin was left alone with the giant, as the other guards were too frightened of him. Not thinking twice, Raftorin undid the locks on the goliath's shackles before wordlessly turning and walking away.

Raftorin never looked back, fully expecting to never see the giant again. Before returning to the other guards, Raftorin roughed himself up, giving himself several bruises and scrapes to reinforce the false narrative of a forced escape.

As days turned into weeks, and weeks months, Raftorin became a well respected knight, entrusted with his own battalion of soldiers to lead into battle. Life changed quickly as the tribe transformed from a cave dwelling community into a full blown kingdom. People were happy- that is, until the attack.

The Dwarven Kingdom rapidly encroached on the Koboldian Kingdom, and territory disputes became a fierce, daily struggle. Struggle turned to all out war when it was discovered that the dwarven Kingdom attacked and murdered an entire village; the village where Raftorin's parents lived.

Raftorin was livid; revenge was all he wanted. He made careless mistakes that, with calmer eyes, would have doubtlessly kept countless lives from being lost. In the end, it didn't matter. It all came tumbling down when the kobolds went knocking on the door of the dwarven capital.

The dwarves were expecting them. They were met with an ambush, and it quickly turned into a bloody massacre. They all would have been dead, if not for the heroics of Silvia, flying in to the front lines to protect their troops. She used her broad wings to shield the troops from incoming fire from the dwarves. The fear of the insurmountable might of the dragon brought the dwarves to their knees, allowing for victory- but at a cost. Her protection did not come without sacrifice, as after that day, Silvia was never able to fly again.

Raftorin refused to accept the loss of any allies moving forward. The screams and cries of his allies that were lost, and the graves that lie between the two kingdoms are forever etched into his mind.

After much consideration and discussion with Silvia, Raftorin stepped down form his position as a soldier. She understood the reasons behind the foolhardy actions he took on the battlefield, and she did her best to re-assure him that the lives lost weren't his burden to bear. As kind a gesture as it was, it ultimately didn't help to set his conscience at ease.

Raftorin's men still carry a great respect for him, and on the day he decided to set off on his journey, they waved their standards in farewell.

Though Raftorin begins a new chapter in his life, he carries with him a heavy burden.