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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Isida Kep'Tukari" data-source="post: 2233528" data-attributes="member: 4441">Here's an idea I have for a shifter druid:Kershalt hummed to himself as he watched the village below, idly stroking Mershalk’s fur, being careful to avoid his spikes.  Golden brown eyes under bushy brows regarded the place cautiously, and his thickly-bearded face showed faint curiosity.  Despite the fact that his shifter heritage cried out to him to be in the wilderness, away from civilization, he repeatedly found himself drawn to towns and cities.  The reason, he supposed, was the Last War.Everyone had been affected by the Last War, himself as much as anyone.  A native of the Eldeen Reaches, he had been recruited as a scout and skirmisher.  Though young, he gained experience quickly, for those that did not, died.  He became known for his tenacity and ferocity when taking out enemy scouts, and more than once crawled back to the base camp with wounds that would have killed a lesser man.  Five years he spent fighting in the war, before the treaty was signed.  Suddenly free of his responsibilities, he found himself with little to do.Even as a young boy, Kershalt had been drawn to the creatures of the woods; not at all surprising for a shifter.  His parents raised him kindly, taught him to respect both the wild woods and the more cultivated lands.  But shifters have many characteristics of beasts, and pushing their younglings into the world when they’re mature is one of them.  At nine years of age, Kershalt was encouraged to leave his homestead.  His parents had a new baby to care for, and it was high time for him to depart.  Kershalt walked into the woods, and did not emerge for another three years.  During that time a Warden of the Wood, a human druid named Inshen, took the young shifter boy underneath her wing.  She taught him druidic magic to go along with his wild instincts, and helped him find an animal friend to share his life with.  With her guidance, he rescued a young dire rat and nursed the animal back to health.  At twelve years of age, Inshen died when a battle raged through their woods.  Running and hiding, his new friend in tow, Kershalt fled from the battles that had slain his mentor.  It was another three years before he had gained the strength, courage, and skill to emerge from the woods.  The Wardens of the Wood began to seek out solitary druids and rangers, to recruit them to help protect the villages, towns, and woods.  Kershalt’s solitary nature and skill in the wilderness made him a natural scout, and he willing fought and killed those that would defile those places in his charge.  In his mind, each death helped return life to the earth, life that had been robbed when Inshen died.Now he worked with the Wardens of the Wood again, helping protect villages and forests again, but this time his cause was not necessarily lethal.  Now he warded off large predators, helped with the harvests, rounded up stray livestock, and discouraged bandits.  There was a curious freedom in that, and one that allowed him plenty of time in the peaceful and prosperous towns.  He always tried to present a good front when entering a town, brushing his beard and hair, making sure his clothes were clean, and combing Mershalk’s fur and polishing his spikes.  The rat suffered the simple leather leash Kershalt put on him, treating it as a game, because it made the townsfolk feel better about the dog-sized spiked rat.  Chortling softly to himself, Kershalt made his way down the slope to the village.</blockquote>

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