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Time is inconsistent for me wherever I travel, so I cannot mark these Chronicles with dates. My companions and I have traveled the world, traveled the planes, and have now finally breached the wall of Time itself. Only by recording our deeds can I preserve our memory in the events of the Cosmic Rain.

It was the five hundredth and fiftieth year of the fifth era of the Imperial Calander and I was twenty two years old, and the continent Rohawkk was besieged at war by the skirmishing activities of two very powerful warlords, Alaric and Mehmed II. I was traveling the Five Lands as an itinerant merchant and performing acrobat. The age was coming to a close as the fields and sciences of the days grew increasingly more advanced, and the political and religious orders of the known world struggled to confront a more skeptic public.

I am a Catfolk, or Nekojin as we prefer to call ourselves. I have long, shaggy red hair, curly; and olive skin and short yet broad physique with a lithe and agile build. My tail is long and tufted at the end like that of a lion. My eyes are large and green and almond shaped. I wore a green brocade and loose brown slacks, saggy. A red overcoat wrapped my shoulders, and a wore a gold necklace with a sapphire embedded within its center, and a couple of elegant rings. My boots were dark brown, and the stockings I wore were long and gray.

The last seven years the continent of Rohawkk had been stricken by a Blight, and not even the high druids knew how absolve it, and so with each incurring year the lands yielded less and less crops, and it was only getting worse.

Also the elementals were encroaching upon settlements nestled on the countrysides with increasingly hostile intent.

My tribe, the Starfoots, were staying at the south of Emera in the forest town of Elacruse, which was a city neighboring the capital: Emerald Center, which was currently under the jurisdiction of the warlord Mehmed II. I hadn't seen them in a while, and it was unusual for the males of my race to go off adventuring, so there was that to deal with when communicating with strangers.

So far I took to the art of haggling quite well, and my mentor saw me as a natural. But I didn't communicate all that much with many of the other merchants, preferring to conduct my business on my own.

The walls of Brier Rose Reach were tall and brown, and resembled a picket fence, though much larger. It meandered much like the surrounding terrain, swerving frequently. Guard towers notched the unusual barricades, hosting squadrons of sentinels.

Only two other merchants went with me past the gates, the caravan always being on the move and different participants having different stops. They were both strangers to me, however, and as soon as I made my way into the city the three of us left off into different ways.

I was an adventurer, not just a merchant and an acrobat, and I had traveled in all five nations of the continent of Rohawkk. One of these days I intended on traveling to foreign lands, like Qio Li to the East and Thrace and Hauvikka, and perhaps even Aumbro to the south. But as of right now, with the Five Lands being in such a turbulent state, I had business to take care of before chasing after any more of my more wild dreams.

My relationship with my mentor was casual, and he wasn't traveling with me on this trip. He was a Changeling named Athairon Firesong. Brier Rose Reach is positioned to the north east coast of the nation Emera, and Athairon was currently in one of the Merchant's guilds headquarters in the mountainous country of Effeverlaan.

But my interests in political affairs waned these days, and although my mentor, Athairon, kept up with them, especially with the recent war in the Five Lands going on, my feelings of apathy towards these international squabbles and affairs merely intensified at the lack of progress being made, not to mention the social regression. No, I did not concern myself with either politics nor religion, choosing instead to indulge myself with the pursuit of profit and the challenges of commerce.

While I'd initially obtain mine material needs through burglary and petty theft, in recent years I'd gravitated to the drug and alchemical trade. Although substances like gleam and lucidian were not always legal--especially lucidian--I knew how to profit from it. I sold softer reagents too.

All my business as a peddler selling the harder drugs had been conducted in other settlements prior on the road, and I was here at Brier Rose reach to meet some friends on some more personal matters. The remainder of my shipment of alchemical ingredients were scheduled to be shipped off by sea by the wharves of the rocky coasts northeast of the coastal city. The air in Brier Rose Reach was stale and humid, and the temperature hot. I intended on unloading the rest of my small cargo a few hours into the city, after settling myself a bit. The transactions of my journey were nearing its end, and I meant on socializing with old friends once the last of these shipments was taken care of.

There was Timaeus and has brother Crito, both of the Rowan race and scholars and magic users in their own specialized fields. My other friend, Delaigo the purple haired, human samurai, would arrive here a few days later. I didn't see people on cordial matters as much these days, especially not old friends, and I looked forward to our meeting once more.

As I grew increasingly affluent in the material sphere, I had more room to spare in recreation and leisure. Becoming a merchant had provided me with the means of pursuing more cerebral activities, and I now looked back piteously to the years of my late teens when I was a petty thief and small time circus and fair performer. I sometimes practiced the arts of conjuration, illusion and enchantment, and although some of the bardic training of my earlier youth facilitated in many degrees the accruing of these expertise of subtle and quite indirect disciplines of magic, there was also to thank the removal of baser stresses by the rise of my social standing from the criminal to the artisan class. I had my mentor Athairon Firesong to thank in much regard for this mercy.

Travel to me these days felt low-key, and my disposition of temperament sought a broader variety of experience than my life as a merchant currently had to offer.

Sometimes I would dabble in the theater, both as an actor and a playwright, when I was not busy with my commercial duties. None of my plays so far had been accepted, or even finished, and I had not landed any major roles as an actor yet.

Within the last year I'd landed a job at the Amagiri, an international political agency specializing in espionage, an agency of a sort which dealt in social affairs. It was an entry level position. I seldom was commissioned any tasks so far.

Upon settling in Brier Rose Reach, I resolved to resume my life as an adventurer and treasure hunter once more, putting my activities as a trader momentarily behind.

And although I usually felt complacent with my life, their lingered in the borders of my psyche for something more. But whenever I thought about my needs and how they all seem met, no discernible features came readily to my mind as to what my desires really were, or why late at night I would often fantasize about drama, romance and adventure, despite the way my past experience had taught me they were sources of anxiety and strife. Albeit also sources of meaning.

While I passed the walls and walked into the city, I observed its commercial activity, and its people going about their daily lives. It was noon, and the three suns were at their apex in the sky. The buildings nestled within the walls of Brier Rose Reach spread out spaciously, interspersed by broad roads.

I found lodging at an inn after depositing my merchandise at a warehouse. It would be a few more days before I shipped them off to the sailors at the dock. In the meanwhile, I ate and drank the bar, which was at the first floor of the inn, while the rooms were up the stairs.

Although the life of a merchant proved itself quite profitable, I intended on resuming my old practice as a treasure hunter once these shipments got done.

The sky was clear was clear and as I walked outside I observed the hustle and bustle of commercial life. Brier Rose Reach was situated by the coast, and I could feel the cool monsoon sweeping from across the bay. The temperature was hot but the air, being coastal, felt cool.

After refreshing myself at the bar, and there still being a few hours of daylight left, I sauntered off to the public square to check on current affairs, because I wanted to hear some of the latest rumors, and it was not quite the hour for gossip at the tavern.