The Tale of Blu

He is a newtling born in the Zola Fel river valley near the Fives Eyes community and near the territory of Muriah the Broo Queen. His full name is Lil'lul'blul'lul'lol'lu'blu. He is somewhat small for his kind and has navy blue markings. As he grew up he was always smaller and skinnier than the other pups but smarter, louder and faster too. He ran everywhere, hopped up and down, sang, danced and spoke to the thin air. As a human this would be called being hyperactive but by newtling standards he was considered to be a bit mad. Throughout Blu's childhood his village and all in the surrounding area lived in a low-level but constant fear of attack from beasts, Muriah's broos, bandits, Sun Domers hunting for newtling tail, and more. There was never a time when they didn't feel threatened and Blu spent many a day huddling in a village hidey-hole with his siblings as some danger prowled nearby. Blu was afraid but he also wanted to help his folks.

His high coordination and squirely fighting tactics served him well in mock battles with other pups and led him to believe he had a future as a warrior and might aspire to be a rune lord. Blu could see all too clearly how the ever-present fear slowly ground down everyone and he burned with the desire to help them. He dreamed of becoming a great hero, vanquishing the foes of his people and then cheering them all up. As he grew older he discovered that he had little patience for formal weapon training (he just couldn't stop clowning), that his weakness and small stature would always disadvantage him and that his tricks were of little use against trained opponents. He did however have an extremely high aptitude for magic. After his dream of being a rune lord died he still wanted to use powerful magic to chase away the shadows that plagued his folk. And then give them all a good laugh!

He was fortunate that a shaman named Whitetail lived near by and was willing to take him on as an assistant. Despite his high-strung nature he found it easy to concentrate and learn because he truely loved magic and spirit lore. He progressed well in his studies and eventually succeeded in gaining a fetch. After that he began visiting the spirit plane more and more. One fateful trip he suddenly found himself face-to-face with King Bull Frog! He was terrified but for some strange reason (maybe divine inspiration) he started cracking jokes. King Bull Frog liked this and engaged him in a joke-telling contest. Of course Blu lost but he was quite intrigued and afterwards asked his master about this great spirit. His master introduced Blu to Karmud, the priest of the King Bull Frog cult at Five Eyes, who initiated him into the cult proper. Blu was only slightly surprised to discover that his master was also a cult member. That explained why the old fellow had been willing to take on as lively an assistant as Blu.

As Blu gained more knowledge and power as a shaman his natural eccentricities grew more pronounced. He basic motivations were unchanged but his methods of helping people and his penchant for practical jokes became more and more intertwined. Eventually his master suggested
that it was time (past time many in the area would have said) for him to go out into the world; to discover what it had to offer and gain experience that would aid him and his people when he graduated to bachelorhood and settled down. His master's parting gift was a 6 point magic storage matrix tattoo'd onto his belly. Karmud gave him some information on how to find other members of the cult. This included locations of shrines and where he might meet small activist cult bands that hunted monsters, harried bandits and carried out occasional reprisal raids on Sun Dome or Lunar outposts. Much to his surprise his entire village chipped in to provide him with a fine set of fishscale armor. While his antics were quite un-newtling-like his madness was considered almost holy.

Blu spent a few years travelling up and down the Zola Fel river between Corflu and Pavis. In 1623 he visited Pavis itself and sought out a King Bull Frog priest named Ooklaaff, himself a Bull Frog, who tended a tiny shrine hidden in the Rubble in a grotto under a marsh south of Ogre Island. Ooklaaff taught Blu the divine magic of Feign Death. To learn the spell Blu had to run from bandits, hide in a swamp and then pretended he had drowned when they caught up to him. They were afraid of the swamp so they left him alone and he gained the spell. That was the second scariest adventure of his entire life but it was also exhilerating (fighting Bad Man after gaining his fetch was the scariest). Blu remained in the Pavis area after that, generally staying with Ooklaaf's motley band of sometime raiders.

The King Bull Frog cult has a courtesy arrangement with the Zola Fel cult whereby traveling initiates can fulfill their service obligations at shrines or temples of either cult. Blu took advantage of this many times in his travels and so developed a good relationship with a number of Zola Fel centers, including the Zola Fel Temple Barge in the Rubble. It was there that he met Che'enshashan, the temple priest.

In early 1624 Blu contracted the Lunar mining disease and discovered that neither he nor anyone he knew could cure him of it. When he heard that he could obtain a cure from Orlanthi rites up at the Pairing Stone he managed to get a boat ride there. Along the way he had a strange, mystical dream about a dragon flying over Pavis. He knew it was a vision but he had no idea what it meant. At the Pairing Stone he met and was cured of his illness by the Wind Lord Krogar Wolfhelm. Krogar was amused by Blu's exurberance upon being cured and they became friends. Blu described his vision to Krogar but Krogar had no answer for him. Shortly after that a fellow named Miloh the Shrewd contacted him, told him that others had had the same vision and inducted him into the New Teeth.

[[more to come on this]]

During the past two years Blu has stayed in the vacinity of Pavis. Among other things he's been playing a strange game of hide-and-seek with Ooklaaff, who's been moving his shrine around and hiding it in various places in the Rubble. He's met a variety of newtlings living around Pavis and found out more about Orlanthi and Lunars. The Lunars he find especially interesting. He thinks they need a real good prank played on them.

He's also heard a lot about a collection of fellows called the River Voices who've made a name for themselves within the Zola Fel cult. He thinks it would be fun to go on adventures with them. They all sound very serious. Perhaps they could use a good joke or three. Quite recently the New Teeth have asked him to try to join the River Voices. Apparently they figure into the New Teeth's plans and as they've suffered some loses to their ranks recently they might be looking for a new member.

Blu's social relationships:

His home village, clan and family:
They've had only the normal doses of good and bad fortune. They are all in generally good shape and Blu visits whenever he's passing by. Despite a truely positive and affectionate relationship all parties seem to think that his stopping in for short visits a few times a year is a perfect arrangement. His entire village gave him a fine set of fishscale armor when he left home.

The River folk:
He does community service as he travels up and down the river. He's never done anything especially noteworthy but has nevertheless done a good job of living according to the ideals of the King Bull Frog cult. He has never participated directly on raids against the Lunars, the Sun Domers  or deserving merchants but he's helped groups that do.

His shaman master:
Whitetail, shaman of King Bull Frog and River Horse.  One of the secret leaders of the Five Eyes newtlings, who is hidden in a cave complex under the cliffs of Five Eyes and rarely seen by the outside world.  Very hush hush; even the party doesn't know of these caves. They parted on good terms. Blu visits him whenever he's passing by and would be welcome to come for advice or training.

The King Bull Frog cult:
Karmud, the guy detailed in the King Bull Frog writeup.  He came down south to visit Five Eyes newts and tend the hidden shrine. Inducted Blu into the cult and taught him the Lucky spell. Blu also visits him when in the area. He tithes and does community service at appropriate times. He is in very good standing with the cult.

Note that Blu's specific time and money cult obligations are often on the honor system because King Bull Frog has no fixed holy dates!

Ooklaaff the Bull Frog, King Bull Frog priest in the Rubble at a tiny shrine hidden in a grotto under a marsh south of Ogre Island. Ooklaaff taught Blu the divine magic of Feign Death. Lately this shrine has been moved around alot in secret by Ooklaaff as a practical joke. Not even cult members know where it is and have to waste time searching for it. The last known location was a grotto in Puzzle Canel. Whenever Blu meets Ooklaaff in the presence of others they pretend that they don't know each other, just for fun.

The Five Eyes community:
The Dragon of Five Eyes, or The One, of just Five Eyes, sleeps in caves at the top of Five Eyes Rise, a cliff formation overlooking the swampy village and fort that the Five Eyes newtlings and dragonewts inhabit. Blu has never even seen the dragon. There are hidden caves at the base of the cliffs that are fiercely guarded by the newtlings, and there is a complex of many river cult-affiliated shrines/temples. Very secret! Blu knows of these caves and it is a cult taboo to speak of them to non-cult members (and maybe even low-level cult members).

Contacts in the Zola Fel cult:
Many, many creatures of Five Eyes area: dragonewts including BVoN (Lord of the newtlings), a river priest magisaur (duckbill dinosaur), a wyrm named Heir of Flame, lots of newtlings, and probably Tison. You know the Fearsome Five newtlings who sort of serve Caernak, but have their own agenda.  They scare Blu;  too much death in them.

You'd know Sa'arachmbro, High Priest, as a casual acquaintance and holy man, and you'd recently have met Che'enshashan, Pavis Temple Barge priest.

Of course you know of the River Voices and might even have met some of them in the past.

Blu has often fulfilled his service obligations to the King Bull Frog cult by helping out the Zola Fel cult through a courtesy arrangement between the two cults.

Pavis:
Local Pavis newtlings, such as Melkess the smuggler newtling, and Hriss and Bro, newtlings who run the Golden Dolphin Inn in Pavis.

You probably heard of P'lishoornakashi, the valiant newtling River Voice who served with Caernak way back in the early days of the new River Voices, and died valiantly fighting a walktapus underneath Devil's Playground.

Miloh the Shrewd is known as a boatman of the River and a Pavisite of old blood, plus shadowy connections. He inducted Blu into the New Teeth.