KEYLON STONESHELL

The world of Nimir is home to many, including the elemental tribes of the Cheylonar (“People of
the Great Turtle”). Some call them primitive, others call them naturalists, but one thing is for
sure – they are wary of civilization getting too out of hand and plunging them all back into a
Dark Age like the one that happened after the Age of Miracles. When taken together, the four
tribes represent all races in Nimir as well as many of the vocations the people of Nimir take up.
Each tribe favors a varying level of “civilization”, but none are found dwelling within the largest
cities of Nimir, at least not for long.
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This story focuses on the Air Cheylonar of the Aydimar Desert – traders of the steppes and
desert settled around an oasis in the foothills of the Ain Dem mountains that they refer to as “the
Source of Blood”, for its access to ferrous minerals and water. This rather large, walled
settlement (more a small city than anything) is what has allowed the Air Cheylonar the ability to
thrive in such a harsh environment without establishing an empire. Due to their abundant
resources they are consummate traders and crafters – to call them a barbarian horde would be a
disservice to the tribe. They are deeply spiritual, revering Istus and Kord as central figures in
their faith and make music and art just as any other culture would. They aren’t xenophobic, so
much as they are wary of the ever forward moving beast that is “civilization” – and would argue
that by their tenants, they are the more civilized ones when compared to those who deem
themselves more “advanced”.
Even so, Keylon Stoneshell is an oddity among his tribe. The half-orc was found as an infant in
the oasis town of Hammaslathi – a trading hub in the Aydimar. His parentage is uncertain, but it
was the human Bassaym Stoneshell, Chief of the Air Cheylonar who found the abandoned infant
and took him in to be raised among the Air Cheylonar. At a young age, the son of Stoneshell
took to going on trips with his father and others to trade in the larger cities of the desert and as
such grew up as much “on the streets” as he did in the “wilds”. He was always a strong child, a
large part due to his parentage, and delighted in the rough housing play common among many of
the youth in Ain Dem. Four years ago, Stoneshell’s son underwent his Emergence – a ceremony
marking the ascent to adulthood and the discovery of the role he would play in his tribe as an
adult, as well as the discovery of his name. As tradition dictated, the boy was sent into the desert
with nothing more than modestly girded loins and a waterskin and was expected to only come
back when his path was clear. Days later, lacking food or water with skin cracking a blistered
from the rays of the sun, he found himself hallucinating laying against a boulder and attempting
to find respite in the minimal shade the stone cast. In the distance he saw a slow-moving object
and as it inched closer and closer he felt himself slipping farther and farther from consciousness.
He couldn’t tell how long he had been unconscious for, but when next he opened his eyes he saw
it, moving slowly away – a large turtle, one whose meat would feed him and whose blood would
bring some relief to his thirst. He made a pathetic reach forward and the beast glanced back at
him impassively before taking a few steps – just enough that the weakened half-orc could not
grasp it causing him to plunge face first into the sands. As the boy tried again, dragging himself a
few feet forward, the turtle remained steadily out of reach… and so the pitiable convoy traveled
across the desert – young Stoneshell single-mindedly focused on his quarry and the turtle single-
mindedly focused on where he was going. How long it took, he wouldn’t be able to tell you, but
eventually as he reached out to drag himself his hands hit dry grass instead of sand and as the
boy looked up he saw a large stone, cracked in the middle and forming a shelter from the sun
surrounded by burnt grasses. The turtle as headed inside, and so young Stoneshell followed
behind thinking he had finally trapped his prey. Instead he heard a small splashing sound as his
eyes adjusted to the dimness of the shelter.
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Days later the boy approached Ain Dem, caked in dry and cracking clay completely nude
(having used dry grasses to turn his only garment into a second water container) and with a crude
stone knife tied to his waist. At his side was that same turtle who wore a woven container upon
its back and inside that container were her hatchlings.
His tribe welcomed him home, took him in, and celebrated the blessings he received from the
primary totemic spirit his people revered. They named him Keylon – a name in their language
that honored the animal that had chosen him. Such a blessing meant that he was destined to lead
his people one day… but not until he finished the Trials by learning from the world and from the
other three tribes of the Cheylonar.
A year later he set off to Hammaslathi with a few coins and armaments as well as the blessings
of his people. The Air Cheylonar were wealthy enough to secure Keylon passage to where he
needed to go, but the Trials demanded that if Keylon was to be chief one day, his journey needed
to be as the Great Turtle journeyed – deliberate and purposeful.
He met Zraxan – and odd dragonborn hermit - in Hammaslathi while trying to secure passage out
of the desert and took the reptilian man as an omen that he was on the right path. He made fast
friends with the man and encouraged him to journey out of the desert into the world to see what
it had to offer. From then on, he and his “shell-less cousin” (referring to a kinship he claimed
through the reptilian connection of turtle and dragon) journeyed – Keylon looking for wisdom
and strength as well as learning about the world, and Zraxan… well, looking for whatever it was
warlocks looked for. Keylon was happy to be moving slowly through his journey. He had many
years to learn and was in no rush to find the other tribes of the Cheylonar. They took odd jobs
and, more or less, filled the role of mercenaries and adventurers, which seemed to suit them well,
so when a job on a ship headed to Darith needed extra crew members Keylon convinced his
companion that it would be worth their time… and it didn’t hurt that a chance to not only see, but
cross the ocean, was also on the docket.