A former boneborn soldier, given true life through coming in contact with the Stone of Life & Time. Now the caretaker of a group of orphans.
Description
Skellington is a boneborn soldier that survived the demon purge following the Chaos Times 400 years ago. During the purge, he wandered off chasing some civilians into the Lost Forest, getting lost and eventually coming in contact with the Stone of Life and Time, giving him a true, real soul.
He now lives in a cabin in the woods, protecting a group of kids he rescued from Kaligo soldiers.
Being a boneborn, a demon, he avoids human settlements as much as possible, for fear of being destroyed like his brethren centuries ago. If he has to go anywhere near human settlements, he goes in the dead of night, putting on as many layers of clothing as possible; pants, boots, gloves, and a large robe that hides the rest of his skeletal features from the moonlight.
Backstory
Skellington was once a plain demonic grunt, one of millions of skeletal warriors serving as the Allfather’s fodder. After being created, he spent the first hundred years of his existence in the misty, toxic caverns of Etheria, practicing combat drills along legions upon legions of fellow boneborn.
When the Etherian invasion of the mortal plane finally began four hundred years ago, at the very start of the Chaos Times, Skellington and his legion of warriors were assigned to one of the portals opening on the island continent of Ocula, in the developing city that would later become Ironrock.
Among two thousand mindless warriors just like him, he stepped through the gates to the mortal plane. There was instant chaos, human soldiers and civilians alike screaming as they were cut down, one after another. There were orders to not let a single person live, not even children. Skellington did as he was ordered, cutting down anyone in his way.
However, someone slipped past in the chaos, a woman cradling her baby. Skellington ran after her, chasing her out of the budding city, now burning with deep amethyst flames. He ran after her into the nearby forest, determined to follow his orders through.
The forest grew deeper and deeper, the trees taller and taller until they reached for the heavens. Before long, she had disappeared, vanishing deep into the forest. Skellington found himself at the edge of a pristine, still lake. He peered toward its edges, but the woman was nowhere to be found.
As he turned around to head back, there it was, standing tall like a tree, with glowing red eyes – a giant. Before he had time to react, its massive fist slammed into his skeletal body, throwing him into the lake.
He sank to the bottom like a rock, his body cracked and shattered all over, the purple glow in his eyes fading. Just as his body hit the sand, something pulsed within the lake, like the heartbeat of the forest itself. In that very moment, it was like he woke up from a terrible dream. His eyes flickered back, not with the demonic purple glow of the Stone of Creation, but with a vibrant teal. His vision sharpened near instantly as a new awareness made home in his body. His bones started bending, cracks mending themselves.
There he was, laying on the bottom of the lakebed, eyes peering toward the surface with newfound clarity. For the first time, he experienced life, real, true life. He had, unbeknownst to himself, come in contact with the Stone of Life and Time, one of the three World Stones.
He stayed on the lakebed for hours, taking it all in, before finally crawling out of the lake. He took note of all new sights and sounds, a newfound curiosity having sparked inside of him, along the desire to live, to survive. He no longer wanted to follow the orders of his creator; he wanted to live.
He spent the following days wandering the Lost Forest, engrossed by all the beauty of life and nature. He studied the different forms of life; plants, insects, birds, even a few giants, nearly being flattened by one.
Day by day, he learned to adapt, learned what spelled danger, and what was harmless to him. Powered by a tiny magilite core in his skull (like all boneborn), he had no desire to eat or sleep, which he found quite perplexing as he examined the other creatures survive.
Curiosity led him to wander further East, from Belua to the Western side of Ocula. There, he wandered the forests, taking a particular interest in studying humans. He silently watched the people rebuild their villages, only for demons, and later other humans to burn them down.
Over the course of decades and centuries of studying people at a distance, he learned a thing or two. It began with lots of failed attempts at construction and crafts as he tried to replicate what he saw. Around a century later, Skellington actually completed the construction of a crude cabin deep in the woods near the village of Ossaan.
After he made himself a home, he took a particular interest in collecting various bits and bobs he found in the forest; neat rocks and sticks, even the occasional object dropped by hunters.
Some tools and objects even came to him through the occasional goblin attack. The goblins never stood a chance against him, lacking both the strength and skill required to hurt him, eventually learning it’s best to avoid him altogether.
Over four centuries later, while going to study the humans at a distance, he saw Ossaan on fire. It wasn’t the first time he saw the village burn, but this time was nonetheless different.
People ran for their lives from the invading Kaligo troops, many headed for the forest. A group of kids, two boys and a girl, no older than five, ran right toward him, falling to their knees at his feet. The family he chased centuries ago flashed in his memory. Gears were turning in his head, processing what to do in this scenario. The kids looked up at him, seeing his bony face, a terrified look on their tear-filled faces. Those three kids were the first people to look upon him in over 400 years.
As two Kaligo soldiers approached, blades drawn, Skellington stared at them with a calculating gaze. His hand moved on instinct, blade drawing with a whisper. The soldiers were quickly cut down, a century of practice no match for them.
The kids, now seeing him as their protector, even despite his appearance, ended up following him back to his shoddy cabin. Now orphans, the kids had no place to go back to, no parents to take them in, and so they clung to Skellington for survival.
Fueled by his curiosity, Skellington agreed to take care of them in order to learn more about people. A year went by quickly, and the kids told him everything they knew, everything they were taught by their parents. He learned their names; Greta, Noah, and Nilo. The kids even came up with a name to call him, referring to him as Mr. Skellington.
Most of what Skellington learned had to be learned through brutal, time-consuming trial and error; learning to set traps for small game, foraging for edible plants, making rudimentary clothing for the winter, even how to start a fire. There were times where they went days without food, times where the kids nearly froze solid.
Now, a year later, traps are working better, they have consistent fire, even warm clothing for the winter. There is still a lot to learn, and he is yet to venture into any human settlements, never talking to anyone but the children.
Special attributes, items
Skellington still has his old armor from when he was a warrior of Etheria, now stashed in his makeshift cabin under a pile of clothes. He has also kept his old steel sword, only taking it with him when leaving the safety of his cabin.
Skellington is quite good at melee combat, having trained around a hundred years in Etheria among his fellow boneborn.
Being a boneborn, he has exceptionally strong bones, basic intelligence (and nearly zero social awareness/competence), and the ability to speak in a raspy, creepy voice. However, like most boneborn, he is entirely unable to use magic.
Over decades of observing humans at a distance, Skellington has picked up a few more skills, namely foraging, tracking, and rudimentary craftsmanship.
Misc information
Skellington is quite possibly the only ever demon of Etheria that has gained true, genuine life. All other demons are solely mimicking life, acting as pawns for the Allfather Demon instead of having true autonomy. This is a limitation of Creation magic, as it cannot create true life, consciousness; a quality only the Stone of Life & Time possesses.
The children regularly play with the various things Skellington has found throughout his centuries in the forest; old carved figurines, various stones and sticks, even a torn teddy bear that Greta has taken as her own, naming it Barry.
Age: 505 years
Height: 175cm
The World Stones 