Altered Lore

Arjun

8 min read

Arjun

Overview

Arjun is a Muna Exalt and Alterer who specializes in agriculture and cultivation. Through The Musubi ceremony, they bonded with Spike, a sentient cactus Chimera who serves as their Alter Ego. Arjun proposed the Rediscovery Endeavor to find a cure for the dying Spindle and volunteered to lead the expedition beyond Asgartha’s borders.

Background and Agricultural Expertise

Arjun comes from a farming family with extensive agricultural lands including niece Flore, brother, grandfather, and various cousins, aunts, and uncles. They are an expert farmer with deep knowledge of multiple agricultural disciplines–they grasp handfuls of earth and inhale the humus, identifying good soil that is fertile and fruitful. Arjun uses Alteration to help crops flourish by extending their perception through The Skein. When closing their eyes, they can feel the energetic web vibrating with life as it unfurls through them and their garden. Through The Skein, Arjun can sense how different plants interact and detect when plants are under pressure from neighbors. They work with numerous crops including wheat, flax, spelt, endives, alfalfa, tomatoes, zucchini, kale, and many others. Their daily work follows the rhythm of nature–digging, planting, harvesting, and sometimes taking naps in the shade of weeping willows.

Arjun hums Muna nursery rhymes as personal ritual whenever planting seeds. They view seed planting as a sacred moment requiring careful preparation of soil furrows to provide nutrients and protection. When soil is ready, Arjun adds touch of Mana without forcing nature’s magic, witnessing germination process as cotyledons open, radicle emerges, and plumule unfurls with golden sparkle. Arjun has shared seeds with Teija, and Rin found seeds in bottom of Arjun’s pots when taking down floral tent before striking camp, deciding to share them as Arjun had done with Teija.

The Dying Spindle and Meeting Spike

For years, Arjun watched The Spindle withering away despite all efforts to save it. Arjun tried to find a remedy, traveling across the peninsula in search of a treatment. They invited mushs to spread mycelium on The Spindle’s bark and applied powerful ointments, but the tree appeared to be missing something. Arjun knew that The Spindle was a knot in The Skein, and that the entire Mana web of the peninsula was connected to this tree. Arjun met Spike while wandering under the canopy of trees–the small Chimera was trying to climb an apple tree. Arjun struck the trunk with a stick and an apple fell next to the sentient cactus. After that encounter, Spike didn’t leave Arjun’s side, following them and eventually climbing on their shoulders. Over time, Spike got into the habit of dozing there or in Arjun’s hood.

Bond with Spike and Proposing the Endeavor

During their long wanderings, Spike provided great comfort to Arjun. Bonding through The Musubi was an obvious outcome, almost a necessity. One evening during a fireside gathering, Arjun stood up to speak–to help The Spindle come back to life, there was no choice but to venture beyond the borders of Asgartha. Through the veins of The Skein, Arjun felt the unanimous blessing of their peers. Many years separated Arjun’s proposal from the great departure, and Arjun went to the capital to help the Expeditionary Corps prepare, providing expertise in hydroponic farming, permaculture, soil regeneration, and biomimicry.

Preparation for the Expedition

Before leaving, Arjun insisted on taking a few months to see their family again and share in their life. They would humbly take care of turning the soil, planting, and harvesting. They might go with niece Flore to take care of yaks or help Qaaje repair his barn before the rainy season. They would distribute gifts to their family before departure.

Timeline

379 AC - Summoning Mowgli

Arjun set down basket of offerings at old forest threshold and summoned Mowgli, the wild child Eidolon.

380 AC - Encounter with Parvati

While bathing in river, Parvati appeared and placed hand on Arjun’s cheek, projecting images showing essences joining.

382 AC - Encountering Multi-Headed Hydracaena

While climbing hill, Arjun encountered imposing dracaena creature with multiple heads looking hungry for Arjun’s apple.

384 AC - Traveling with Kimo

Arjun helped Kimo, a traveling Cornucoopia merchant, whose carriage wheel got stuck in mud. Kimo suggested visiting Spindle Tree for official training.

388 AC - Summoning Daughter of Yggdrasil

Village faced food crisis, and Arjun summoned Daughter of Yggdrasil, a sentient tree Eidolon whose canopy covered in flowers then fruits.

392 AC - Creating Hot Spring with Aloe Vera

Arjun tapped into Mana bits Spike gathered and materialized natural pool with sulfur-tinged water. Aloe Vera appeared and played with Spike in the water.

392 AC, October-December - Territorial Dispute with Lindiwe

Arjun wanted to transform scrubland into orchard where Expeditionary Corps could harvest fruit. According to Treaty of Aysun, area was site of Indus Tribe’s last camp. Lindiwe prevented Arjun from claiming the land to protect the sacred burial ground.

393 AC, January-March - Caring for Sick Spike

Repotter Otter repotted fevered Spike in greenhouse with clay, bark, and soil, removing wilted flowers so new buds could bloom.

393 AC, January-March - Rescue Mission with Yeti

Spike led Arjun on rescue mission where they discovered Yeti sheltering cold birds against chest in snow.

393 AC, January-April - Rescuing Rin and Nilam Discovery at Storvhit

During Storvhit expedition, Spike shed form to ride Tumult currents after summit became singularity. Arjun spotted Rin stumbling through blizzard toward a sérac edge and rescued her with Orchid’s help, providing shelter in a grown floral tent. After Rin’s recovery, Arjun led exploration through cerulean moraine, discovering massive crystallized roots—the fossilized remains of a dead world-tree similar to The Spindle. Following water course, they discovered the cyclopean trunk of The Nilam, surrounded by Mana Moths swarms dancing around its sapphire-glowing heart.

393 AC, January-April - Seed Sharing Discovery

Rin found seeds in Arjun’s pots when taking down floral tent, and shared them as Arjun had with Teija.

393 AC, June-August - Collecting Samples in The Undergrowth

Arjun collected plant samples in The Undergrowth for The Farm’s greenhouse and herbarium, gathering fragrant berries and exotic species from thickets and flower beds with petals never seen before, wrapping specimens carefully to avoid damage.

393 AC, June-August - Fair Fox Encounter

Fair Fox appeared to Arjun in The Undergrowth, presenting its Hoshi-No-Tama artifact with outstretched paws—indicating Teija was nearby and needed help. Arjun mentally informed Spike they would need to reschedule plans, accepted the artifact, and followed the fox.

393 AC, June-August - Escorting Cuddly Corgi to Nilam Spires

Arjun escorted Cuddly Corgi—one of Arawn’s hounds sent by Teija from The Crow’s Eye—to Nilam Spires to request Yzmir aid, providing regular Mana infusions during the journey. Teija’s voice had carried fear, a confession urging Arjun to leave the abyss quickly, warning something was “not right” down there.

393 AC, June-August - Exchange with Flore at The Farm

Arjun visited The Farm and met with Flore’s Eidolon in her vegetable patch, delivering bulbs and plants gathered from The Undergrowth. In exchange, Flore gave Arjun Sap-engorged strawberries wrapped in cloth.

393 AC, June-August - Cart Ride from The Farm

A gardener offered Arjun a ride in a cart laden with Sap-cultivated produce—oranges, pomegranates, pumpkins, mushrooms, and flower bouquets—destined for The Mess and the morning market at the Ordis town hall square.

393 AC, June-September - Sap Discovery in City of Scholars

While taking a break at the City of Scholars excavation site with Spike curled up beside them, Arjun conversed with Treyst about the mysterious substance being drilled. Arjun theorized that the substance was the Sap of the world-tree, which the ancient inhabitants had channeled and exploited until the tree died. Arjun noted a fresco on the wall depicting the world-tree connected to the city below and observed that the Sap’s finite supply meant a similar fate awaited any civilization overly dependent on it. When drilling triggered a Tumult Singularity, Arjun was present during the emergency evacuation.

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