Skyfin

Information

Player: Xigo

Character Full Name: Skyfin

Character In-Game Name: Skyfin

Nickname(s): 'Swift Tide' if anyone should choose to call him by his past name. He's not one for nicknames though.

Association(s): Winterfin Tribe

Race: Murloc

Class: Shaman

Age: 31

Sex: Male

Hair: The normal 'back spines' of a Murloc, his drooping more than most others.

Eyes: A deep red, with black pupils

Weight: 52lb.

Height: 4'2ft.

Appearance

Usual Garments/Armor: Skyfin wears very little about himself, save a plain brown sash that goes from one shoulder to the opposite hip. It is within this sash that he carries anything that might be important to him.

He occasionally paints his scales, though, only when he expects a fight.

Personality

Skyfin is a very honorable, courageous Murloc. He goes out of his way to do what he views is right. No matter what the opinions of others might become of him. No matter the risk to himself. If he views something as a righteous goal, he will fight his hardest to achieve it.

He's also rather compassionate. Skyfin genuinely cares about anyone whom he might consider a friend or an ally. This care extends to them even during as a fight, where he will go out of his way to ensure any wounded are able to quickly retreat from the conflict. To his enemies though, he is relentless. Like many of his people though, he is not one to simply attack those he hates. No, instead he bides his time. He waits for the right moment to strike. It is when their guards are down does he strike. And it is once they ready themselves for prolonged conflict does he leave once more, continuously harassing them with hit and run attacks until they fall.

While Skyfin is normally not one to 'judge a book by its cover', he does have a deep hatred of Forsaken. He gets along with Night Elves and Tauren, his people having had fine encounters with D.E.H.T.A. The Orcish mindset also appeals to him, putting one's people before the individual. Ultimately the Alliance/Horde conflict means nothing to him, and he stays out of settlements aligned to either most of the time.

As all Murlocs do, Skyfin attempts to attach a god or some sort of symbolism to everything on Azeroth. The water is life. The fire is death. And so on, and so on. However, what he has never been able to discover is what the sky represents. Is it freedom? The end of all things? An afterlife? He believes that if he keeps traveling and observing the sky in different places, he will eventually be able to determine what it is.

Skyfin, as his name suggests, is very interested in... the sky! He seeks to discover what it means, in the hope that it might better the survival of his people. His belief on exactly what the sky is will change from time to time, as he learns more about it. One week he might see it as some wall that protects Azeroth from outside invasion. The next he might view it as a second sea. And so on, and so on. He only intends on returning to the Winterfin tribe once he discovers what it represents. Along with, of course, maps of the outside world.

History

Skyfin was not always known as Skyfin. No, instead when he hatched from his egg, he was given the name of Swift Tide. His people would raise him the same as they did a great deal of young hatchlings. They would teach him the ways of the hunter, showing him how to gather food and meat for his tribe.

Whilst he trained to become a hunter, Swift Tide often allowed his curious nature to get the better of him. He would ignore tales of the horrors that lurked outside the Murloc settlement, often dragging along other youths with him for his dangerous treks into uncharted territory. It was these journeys that earned him the ire of a great deal of the tribe's adults. Not so much because he was endangering himself. But it was mostly due to the fact that he would endanger others in an already incredibly hostile environment for Murlocs.

One of the tribe's shaman, however, noted his actions. This shaman was known as 'Dancing River', and he immediately took Swift Tide under his wing when the hunters eventually forsook him. It was there that Swift Tide's unnatural curiosity would be sedated, as he was taught a great deal of things. He learned that there was meaning in everything. The trees. The fish. The earth. Everything existed for a reason.

His training took countless (ten) years. Ten years of discipline. Of work. Of little reward. Fortunately, the training did quench his curiosity, and he stopped going on random journeys as his mind focused on learning of the spirits and world about himself. And he eventually became a valued member of the Winterfin Tribe, regaining their trust and good will. While it was not often that someone would come to him with an issue, Swift Tide would always do his best to aid however he could.

Over the years though, Swift Tide and the Winterfin Tribe came under a series of attacks from the rising undead threat in Northrend. As a shaman, it was Swift Tide's duty to heal anyone who survived such a conflict, and move the bodies of the dead into the sea, so that their souls might return to the murky depths of it to swim for eternity, and have an eternal bounty of fish. At least, that's what he liked to believe the afterlife was akin to. He didn't truly comprehend it.

Still, while Swift Tide put on a brave face whilst ferrying the souls of his fellow Murlocs to the great beyond, it took its toll on his being. He became a very grim Murloc over time, as he saw so many corpses of his kin, their bodies torn to ribbons. And oh, how it sickened Swift Tide. He hoped for naught more than them to go away, and leave them be. But they came back. Again, and again, and again.

It was on one fateful day that Swift Tide actually witnessed one of these atrocities. One of the foul undead came to butcher him whilst he healed one of his injured kindred. In an act of sheer bravery, the wounded hunter, known as Furious Wave, leaped up to attack the Night Elf, ignoring his injuries. And it was there that Swift Tide saw Furious Wave fall as the abomination slit the hunter's throat with a claw. It was this death that caused Swift Tide to snap. In his fury, he called to the spirits he had conversed with. He asked for them to bring vengeance upon the butcher. And to his great luck, they answered. By striking the undead with lightning. As its corpse fell to the ground, Swift Tide looked up to the sky. And it was there that he saw the heavens themselves crackling with rage and fury, lightning dancing in the black clouds above.

He returned to Dancing River to ask him about the phenomenon. Unfortunately for him, the elder shaman knew not of why Azeroth had aided Swift Tide in his time of need. He did, however, decide that Swift Tide was protected by the great ocean in the sky. Knowing not what to do, Dancing River suggested that the younger Murloc meditate on the manner, and learn why he was aided.

Swift Tide did meditate as was advised. He meditated for an entire year, only breaking from his trances to aid his brothers and sisters in fighting the many creatures that would attack his people. And each time he fought, he noticed that the sky aided him time and time again. He was eventually able to summon lightning from his fingertips to bring his terrible wrath down upon the evil undead. His command over the storms only increased with time and meditations, as he could eventually will the skies to bring down thunder upon his foes.

And yet even as he meditated, Swift Tide could attach no meaning to the sky. At times it was a protector. At others it was a vengeful warrior. It seemed to shift and change constantly, sometimes being clear, sometimes being clouded. In his frustration, he went back to Dancing River, asking him what he believed the sky to be. And Dancing River simply replied that no one knew what the great ocean above meant. It was simply the sky.

It was at this point that Swift Tide knew what he had to do. He needed to discover what the sky was. To display his dedication to his fellow Murlocs, he changed his name to Skyfin to represent his new goal. And it was then that he declared that he must leave his tribe for a time to find the sky. Whilst his friends and allies were sad to hear that the shaman would leave, they ultimately supported him. He reminded them all that he would return one day, when he understood why the sky would aid them like such. With support rising for the Winterfin tribe from new-found druidic allies, he was free to depart. Before his departure however, a number of his kin expressed curiosity about the outside world. He agreed to attempt to map it at the very least, though his main objective was discovering the sky.

With naught but staff and sash does Skyfin now wander Azeroth. Mapping the world and finding the meaning of the heavens above.