In the comic: Kale Romarin
Kale is a Ceannic/Sønska translator, a sarcastic grouch who wants to be left alone, and a corporate-cult survivor who still has a whole lot of trauma to unpack. Born and raised in Montmere, a city in Ceannis on the border of the Mountains; now living in Central. Killed some people, under circumstances he doesn't like to talk about.
Kale's freedom is carefully-supervised and has a lot of conditions, including government-mandated therapy, at the same clinic where Thorn goes for PTSD treatment. His apartment is also on the first floor of Thorn's building, and as circumstances keep throwing them together, he's been making friends with Thorn in spite of himself.
He has a brain condition that causes mild visual hallucinations – nothing dangerous or distressing, just inconvenient. He also has prosthetic spelltech eyes; these are unrelated to the hallucinations, which he's had since childhood, and can still see when his eyes are out.
Has a therapeutic soulbond with his dog, Niamh, to help with all of the above. Not really optimistic that he deserves a redemption arc, but he's at least doing the work.
“Kale Romarin” is a witness-protection alias. “Kale” because it sounds close to his birth name; “Romarin” in honor of anti-cult activist Peony Romarin.
Ethnicity: Aibrean
Age (first appearance): 32
Languages: Ceannic, Sønska
Likes: Sunglasses, long sleeves, his dog, Thorn, liver and bacon (moreso post-dog-soulbond), imported Sønska goods
Dislikes: Feeling helpless, having to navigate general human interaction, Northwind Prismaceuticals, crushing on people who are taken
Special skills: Healing magic, telepathy and mind-altering magic, fluent bilingual translation, crushing on people who are taken
(For the relationships Kale had pre-name-change, scroll down.)
Kale's current residence in Central was ordered by Acai. He's currently monitored by a team of people, including a primary magical handler (Goldenrod Dinya), a therapist, and the Woman in Black.
He slowly and awkwardly makes friends with Thorn. It develops a side of more-intense feelings he's trying to suppress, though it's tough, especially when Thorn does things like “save his life” and “take the sordid backstory in stride” and “physically pin him on a couch.”
At first, Kale only encounters Leif when Leif and Thorn are together, and is wary about Leif's situation at first, since he's familiar with the treatment of servants of the Sønska companies in Montmere. Eventually Kale gets Leif's contact information, and they start having friendly conversations over text.
In the comic: Niamh
Good dog. Has a therapeutic soulbond with Kale, created as part of his post-murder-y rehabilitation. She helps Kale identify hallucinations, supports him through emotional trauma, and is a positive motivation to get up in the morning.
Special skills: Understands Kale's feelings and sit.
In the comic: Kudzu Carvi
Dark magical boy who “got all murder-y up in the northeast” until he was dealt with by the Romarin administration.
He was the mind-control "fixer" for Northwind Prismaceuticals, a medical spelltech company which had serious problem with industry manipulation in general.
The company was headquartered in Montmere, where it cultivated a culture of not trusting any non-Northwind medical treatment. Kudzu himself had excellent self-taught healing magic, but was steered into using his powers for things like erasing patients' doubts about Northwind treatments instead.
This all worked out great for Northwind executives, until they ordered Kudzu to shred the mind of someone he cared about. That one backfired. Spectacularly.
Kudzu originally tested positive for magical potential in elementary school, but was advised not to pursue it because of the hallucinations. Those turned out to be not a problem at all.
Kudzu and his older sister were raised in Montmere by two of their grandfathers. It was a stressful childhood, not because any of them were abusive or uncaring, but because their household had a lot of combined health issues and not enough support to go around: anything not treatable by a Northwind product was left untreated.
In his late teens, Kudzu's nibling Calyx Carvi was born, and Kudzu's fear over Calyx's health issues pushed him into a spontaneous first transformation. Later, Kudzu became Calyx's legal guardian, and was an adoring and protective uncle right up until Calyx succumbed to their medical problems.
Northwind executives were originally afraid of Kudzu, but when trying to have him killed didn't work, they settled for manipulating him into serving their interests instead. They were still wary enough to invest in high-powered mental shielding tech for themselves.
Kudzu became friends with (and then developed a crush on) Hermosa Zikos, the vet for Calyx's pet rabbit. Hermosa cultivated the friendship, because he was an undercover agent sent to investigate Northwind, but concluded Kudzu was a genuinely nice person who was being manipulated by the higher-ups. The reveal of Hermosa's spying gave Kudzu enough of an emotional shock that it led into his final power-up transformation.
Characters | |
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Ceannis | Thorn • Kale • Knights • Team Relatives • Mages • Historical • Other Ceannic characters |
Sønheim | Leif • Embassy Staff • Vampires • Other Sønska characters |
Other | Tamaputians • Other Characters |