Genbo the Dishonored

When the Fae fled to eastern Peltas during the distant days of the Awakening, not all settled in the primordial forest that became known as the Mistwood. Some made new homes for themselves on the edge of the neighboring Cloudspire Mountains, amid snowy peaks and dark, craggy gullies. Among them was the Fae who would become known as Genbo the Dishonored. Thought of by his fellow Fae as stony and unsmiling, Genbo found his personality well suited to the unyielding and lonely mountaintops. He built a home there, often assuming the form of a great condor to sweep over the land. Though ennobled within the Fae Court as the Prince of the Peaks, he spent little time among his own kind, instead teaching eagle chicks how to fly, tutoring the mountain winds to sing, and forging two swords from the deepest ore, claiming that the soul of the Cloudspires imbued the blades with crushing weight every time he struck with them. Genbo would likely have been content to see out many ages in solitude, but it was not to be. Yakai, while not as filled with unrest as it had been during the rule of the Mikage, was in the Age of Ruin still prone to bouts of localized lawlessness, while the Dwarves of the neighboring peaks had abandoned their isolation and were now expanding their holdings. Worst of all to him, the Mistwood Fae were becoming increasingly looking to expand the boundaries of their forest. The Rhythm of the great forest was becoming unsettling. Genbo had a keen sense of justice, and it seemed as though his kind were straying down a dark path. Realizing that to remain isolated would only see him overtaken by events, Genbo took flight and made a rare appearance in the Fae court in Nyresa. He tried to convince the ministers to take a less militaristic stance, but his pleas fell on deaf ears. Even worse, when he returned to the mountains he found his Fae kin there preparing for outright war. They intended to attack a Dwarf mining operation that had displaced a large number of their kind. Genbo refused to be an aggressor, claiming that there was no nobility in choosing war over diplomacy. The Fae’s attack was a disaster, and in the aftermath they sought a scapegoat. Genbo was seized and accused of cowardice and betrayal. He refused to legitimize the court by mounting any defense, being as silent and unyielding as his mountain home. He was sentenced to a punishment no less cruel than death. His great wings were hacked off, and he was exiled, forbidden from ever returning to the mountain peaks he had grown to love. Genbo accepted his sentence without comment and complaint. Despite his resilience, it took a deep toll on Genbo’s psyche. Known now by the Fae as Genbo the Dishonored, he traveled into Yakai, where he journeyed aimlessly for a time, becoming a grim and sorrowful fable in the stories of the Humans there. While the pain of his severed wings never left him, with time Genbo rediscovered some purpose. He knew isolation was no longer feasible – he had been cast from his home, and there was no option other than to go out into the world. Disdaining his supposed dishonor, he began to journey across Yakai, seeking to protect those suffering from bandit predation or the cruelties of unjust lords. He searches still for a purpose outside of solitude, something to convince himself that the shame and sorrow he has buried deep within himself may yet flourish into something meaningful.