Altered Lore

Kauri

9 min read

Kauri

Overview

Kauri, born 381 AC, is a Muna Exalt and Alterer who serves with the Expeditionary Corps at The Screed. Bonded to Puff, a Chimera that takes the form of a massive ram, Kauri grew up as a shepherd in the Vanderun Shards of Caer Esvander before joining the Rediscovery Endeavor. Kauri practices Alteration through tapestry-weaving on The Skein, drawing ideas from surrounding consciousnesses to manifest entities, and is capable of performing The Musubi bonding ceremony.

Early Life in Vanderun

Kauri grew up on a farmstead in the Vanderun Shards, a region of floating islands in southern Enosha characterized by frequent tremors and seismic activity. His father worked as a shepherd, while his mother possessed expertise in hydrosystems and water sciences, traveling frequently to redirect streams and manage water reserves for farming communities across the floating islands.

The family farmstead was located far from any city, in the heart of Caer Esvander. Farmsteads in the region were scattered miles apart, and Kauri walked nearly an hour each day to reach the hamlet school, descending in the morning and climbing back each afternoon. His childhood friends included Arib, Fania, and Tadeu, with whom he attended a “second, truant school” during free time.

Life on the Shards required constant adaptation to seismic conditions. Houses were equipped with straps, ledges, and fastenings to secure belongings, and families ate on hollowed wooden tables with recessed slots for cups and plates. Buildings were constructed from flexible materials such as wood and straw for easy repair after tremors. Kauri never went out without a grappling hook to cross gaps between Shards when rope bridges or wooden spans became impassable.

Work as Shepherd

When his father’s knee gave out, Kauri took over tending the family’s Glyptoyak herd. He learned each beast’s temperament and behavior patterns. Every year he handled their transhumance, driving them to the high plateau in a weeks-long journey with only his dogs for company.

The animals served as Kauri’s early warning system for seismic events, sensing tremors minutes before they struck.

Training by Niavhe

During one summer transhumance, while resting under the stars on the high plateau, the Eidolon Niavhe appeared to Kauri. She chose to remain with him for the duration of the retreat, speaking at length about the Katkera, its fauna and flora, and the fragile balance holding the web of life together. She taught him how to commune with animals and plants through The Skein’s dendrites without words, and entrusted him with a secret he swore never to reveal.

Year after year during summer drives, Niavhe continued training Kauri until he committed to joining the Muna. When he told his parents, they refused to let him leave for Kirighai—they could not manage the farm without him. Instead, they arranged for the village Alterer to summon Eru, who came three times weekly to continue Kauri’s training. Eru taught Kauri to let instinct speak rather than overthink when using Skein abilities.

Niavhe had told Kauri his gift was strong, that he was a “budding Sprout” in the web of The Skein, and it would be a shame to let him wither.

Skein Abilities

Kauri possesses the ability to establish mental links with both humans and Leviathans through The Skein. When linking with humans, he can transmit emotions, impressions, and memories rather than words. When extending his Skein toward a Leviathan, Kauri experiences the connection as a stream flowing into the sea, encountering a consciousness of overwhelming vastness. Puff can shield Kauri from emotional overflow during such contact, absorbing the torrent through his vaporous fleece and reforming it using Mana.

Kauri can also drain Mana from surrounding plant life and redirect it toward injured beings to accelerate healing. His Alteration method follows traditional Muna practice, working like weaving a tapestry on The Skein: the threads create shapes representing things, and the Skein feeds ideas from surrounding consciousnesses into the pattern. Through this technique, Kauri can manifest entities by drawing on impressions from nearby minds—such as a hunter’s memory of jade jewelry or a pilot’s painted bird emblem—and stitching them into a cohesive form.

The Earthquake and Displacement

The glyptoyaks raised their heads one day as an alarm rang through The Skein. Before the first tremors struck, they were already twitching and stamping. Kauri freed the herd to scatter south toward the island’s center, then rushed to warn his father and help him outside. He rang the bells ten times to alert neighboring valley dwellers.

When the earthquake hit their Shard, a fissure tore across the mountainside, carving through grassy slopes. The homestead cracked down the middle and collapsed toward the Underdeep. Authorities declared the entire zone unstable and uninhabitable. Many families were forced to relocate, and the community scattered—Tadeu left for Svarograd, Fania and her family headed for the city.

During relocation paperwork, a recruiter for the Rediscovery Endeavor noticed the family’s file. Kauri’s mother’s rare expertise in water sciences was in high demand to manage The Ouroboros’s water reserves and supply ground troops.

Life with the Expeditionary Corps

The first months aboard The Ouroboros were difficult. Kauri and a handful of other children whose parents possessed irreplaceable expertise were confined inside the flying city, allowed on deck only when weather and admiralty permitted. They took refuge in the greenhouse to play.

At The Screed, Kauri tends sheep and lambs on the pastures. Unlike the Vanderun Shards, the ground at The Screed is silent, without constant tremors.

Bond with Puff

Puff is Kauri’s Chimera Alter Ego, a massive ram who disguises himself among the sheep flock at The Screed. Kauri first encountered Puff while tending sheep, when he sensed a presence behind him after freeing a lamb caught in a fence. Through his Skein sensitivity, Kauri alone recognized Puff’s true nature as a Chimera parading in ovine form.

Before deployment to The Screed, Kauri spent time with Puff aboard The Ouroboros, feeding the animals and filling grain bowls each morning. Puff was initially distrustful but gradually relaxed in Kauri’s presence, sensing that he posed no threat.

Timeline

393 AC - Woollyback Transhumance

Kauri led the Woollyback flock out of The Ouroboros to begin transhumance across the pastures of The Screed, guiding them with whistles, tongue clicks, and his shepherd’s crook while Puff grunted alongside to keep the herd moving.

393 AC - Wyvern Attack on Woollyback Flock

During a severe storm at The Screed, a wyvern attacked Kauri’s Woollyback flock, and Puff charged the creature with his horns to buy Kauri time to lead the sheep to the pen.

393 AC - Healing Puff After Wyvern Attack

Kauri drained Mana from surrounding plants to heal Puff’s wounds from the wyvern attack, inadvertently shriveling a bush and exposing a robin’s nest to predators.

393 AC - Musubi Ceremony with Puff

Kauri and Puff underwent The Musubi bonding ceremony presided over by Eru, with both of Kauri’s parents in attendance wearing ceremonial dress and ritual face paint as woodland animals gathered as witnesses.

393 AC - Armored Bird Manifestation

Kauri wove an armored bird entity through Skein-based tapestry Alteration, drawing ideas from surrounding consciousnesses to create a form durable enough to withstand explosive spears and fast enough to intercept Soledad and Halua.

393 AC - Dream with Eru and Pan

Kauri experienced a dream in which Eru sat beside him, tending a fire, while Pan played mischief among the Woollybacks, and Kauri sensed through The Skein that one is never truly alone—recognizing that Puff’s outward appearance as a ram concealed his true nature.

393 AC, October - Advocating Peaceful Solution

Following the destruction of AES Sune by Halua, Kauri spoke up in the mess hall when Sol rallied hunters for a retaliatory hunt. Kauri cited Niavhe and Kaibara as examples where listening rather than violence led to resolution. Sol dismissed this as believing in fairy tales, and the hunters lost interest in Kauri’s appeal.

393 AC, October - Intervening to Protect Halua

During the Bravos trap operation against Halua, Kauri mounted on Puff in armored bird form emerged from the smoke and intercepted Sol as she charged toward the wounded Leviathan. Puff’s jade and emerald plated feathers blocked Sol’s path, forcing her to veer away at the last moment. Kauri used Alteration to transform incoming projectiles into flowered branches and boxwood thickets, shielding Halua from the hunters’ attacks.

393 AC, October - Facilitating Sol-Halua Bond

Kauri deliberately slowed Puff to allow Sol to catch up, then established a mental link with her through The Skein. Through this connection, Kauri transmitted Sol’s own childhood memories of loving Leviathans with her brother Saul—the picture books, the models, the bedtime stories. When Sol resisted, Kauri extended his Skein toward Halua, experiencing the Leviathan’s vast consciousness and memories of his origin, imprisonment, and exile. Sol witnessed these memories alongside Kauri through their shared link.

393 AC, October - Officiating Sol-Halua Musubi

Kauri performed a Musubi binding between Soledad and Halua by imitating the gestures of the Ollam from his own ceremony, stitching the two beings together through The Skein while two Yzmir mages observed.

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