Altered Lore

Nadir

9 min read

Nadir

Overview

Nadir, born 383 AC, is a Lyra Exalt and Alterer with demiurgic abilities, specializing in painting-based Ignescence. Bonded to Bubbles, a carp-like Chimera, he serves as vanguard in the Expeditionary Corps. Nadir was found as a newborn on his adoptive parents’ doorstep in The Wayfarer following a Tumult singularity collision, and his true origins remain unknown.

Background

Origin and Adoption

Approximately nine years before Nadir became an Exalt, the Lyra Sahanka The Wayfarer collided with a Tumult singularity. That same event deposited a naked, silent newborn on the doorstep of Ghamam and Kinta, two painters of the Tisdhera Clan. Kinta wrapped him in cloth and blanket, and the couple raised him as their own son.

Explaining the baby’s sudden arrival to neighbors required considerable deception. As Nadir grew, his parents invented increasingly far-fetched excuses for the bizarre phenomena that followed in his wake. The Lyra’s tolerance for the strange aided their efforts to conceal his unusual nature.

Childhood in The Wayfarer

Nadir grew up in The Wayfarer, the Sahanka of the Tisdhera Clan. The family resided in a house with a capricious, temperamental personality—its sliding workshop door jammed during plastering or painting work, its stove refused to function during certain meals, and its bathroom played hide-and-seek after extended water usage.

From earliest childhood, Nadir spent time in his parents’ painting studio, which had large bay windows and stored solvents and paints. He filled notebooks with pastel and wax-crayon drawings, progressing to charcoal, colored pencils, gouache, and watercolor as he matured. He developed from simple doodles to elaborate portraits, still lifes, and landscapes. While classmates engaged in stunts and pranks, Nadir sat in corners sketching, his fingers routinely stained with pigment or charcoal.

Nadir’s quiet demeanor and solitary behavior prompted teachers to summon his parents frequently. Kinta maintained this was simply his nature. Ghamam considered leaving The Wayfarer so Nadir would not have to endure the clowning that characterized the Tisdhera Clan, but Kinta insisted moving would be worse. Other children teased Nadir because he did not talk much, but he communicated primarily through drawings.

Training Under Zahira

When Nadir began painting the world through Ignescence, the Tisdhera Clan Matriarch placed him in Zahira’s care. Zahira was a mapmaker who served as the Wayfarer’s Inkwell—the cartographer responsible for drawing maps of explored territories. At first Nadir saw no connection between cartography and painting, but over time recognized both were ways of depicting the world.

Zahira insisted Nadir start with fundamentals: reproducing, imitating, and copying to improve technique before developing personal style. Nadir initially saw little value in the exercises but noticed his ability to identify and express his artistic intent improved as he practiced painting the external world. Zahira called this development “mastering your imagination.” Through this discipline, Bubbles’s traits also became more refined—training Nadir understood was designed to prepare them for becoming an Exalt.

Bond with Bubbles

Nadir first introduced Bubbles to his parents as an imaginary friend; they could also see the creature. Ghamam and Kinta immediately recognized Bubbles as a Chimera, though they never learned where Nadir had found the large carp. Initially appearing daily to play, Bubbles eventually came to live with the family permanently.

The house reacted to Bubbles’s presence with jammed doors and malfunctioning fixtures. Bubbles’s size caused damage—vases, shelves, and most notably the family’s porcelain collection suffered from tail and fin collisions.

Manifestation of Alteration Powers

Around the time Bubbles joined the household, Nadir began displaying exceptional Alteration abilities. Paper and canvas no longer sufficed; he began painting directly onto reality. One evening, his parents returned from the Painthouse to find the living room transformed—Nadir had turned it into a pool of paint so Bubbles could swim.

Nadir frequently reshaped his surroundings through Ignescence. In a single afternoon, he conjured an entire playground on Dali Square—slides, merry-go-rounds, swings, candy-apple stalls, and carnival rides. The Tisdhera Clan elders reprimanded the family. Weeks later, he transformed the school into a zoo, bringing to life every animal his classmates had sketched for him on paper. Another time he manifested a pirate ship crewed entirely by sailor anteaters in the middle of a street.

After each incident, Ghamam and Kinta discussed boundaries with Nadir. Ignescence should not be silenced or suppressed, only channeled to a canvas broad enough to express itself without causing chaos.

The Tumult Incident and Recognition as Exalt

While The Wayfarer drifted over the sea at the edge of the Terra Incognita, a Tumult storm struck. The Sahanka lurched as the city shifted shape in uncontrolled spasms. Nadir and his parents sheltered in a neighborhood bunker with other residents, the heavy hatch sealed behind them.

During the night, while Ghamam and Kinta slept, Nadir went to the armored hatch and began opening it. Other adults failed to stop him in time. When the bolts slid back and the Tumult surged inward, its currents engulfed Nadir and Bubbles. Those inside braced for impact, but the winds did not flood the shelter. Nadir stood at the threshold as Tumult currents wrapped around him in rose-colored patterns. His form shifted repeatedly but returned to its original shape each time. The storm subsided, and a wave of colors radiated from Nadir across the entire city.

When survivors emerged from shelters, they found the city intact and untouched by the Tumult, save for locations transformed into art—trees made of pigment, fountains flowing with watercolor, buildings turned to woodblock prints.

The Tisdhera Clan Matriarch learned of Nadir’s actions and summoned the family through her Shepherd. After waiting in the antechamber of the Big Top, they were received by the Matriarch’s representative of Thalia. The Matriarch offered them cakes and tea. Without removing her mask, she studied Nadir and questioned him at length about what he had experienced facing pure Tumult and whether he had heard its call.

At the interrogation’s end, the Matriarch declared that Nadir and Bubbles would become an Exalt. She would ensure they received education and training needed to join the vanguard of the Expeditionary Corps. When Ghamam protested that a child could not be sent to face the Rediscovery Endeavor’s perils, the Matriarch remained firm. She stated Nadir was no ordinary boy—his demiurgic abilities would only grow and must be channeled accordingly.

When The Wayfarer set out toward the unknown, Nadir departed with the expedition.

Abilities

Nadir specializes in painting-based Ignescence, using Alteration to reshape reality through artistic vision. He can transform environments, manifest entities from paintings, and summon Eidolons including Nereid, Oread, and Nuit. His demiurgic abilities are capable of protecting an entire Sahanka from a Tumult storm. Until he achieves complete control over his Alteration, Nadir is required to be supervised by an Eidolon during field operations. Through The Musubi, he is bonded with Bubbles, with whom he exhibits perfect osmosis.

Timeline

393 AC - Painting in the Painthouse at City of Scholars

Nadir painted flying islands and clouds in the Painthouse while Bubbles floated under the glass roof, working through artistic phases from ukiyo-e to impressionism to fauvism, with Art Nouveau and Klimt increasingly catching his eye.

393 AC - Painting Nuit in the Painthouse

Nadir painted a depiction of Nuit, an Egyptian goddess Eidolon hugging the sun and cradling it beneath a cloak of stars, working in the Painthouse while planning to add golden Egyptian patterns and an eclipse.

393 AC - Forest Nymph Guidance

Nadir collected dead wood for a fire while a dryad guided him through a forest, and manifested leaves of gouache to flutter around her as thanks.

393 AC - Mapmaking with Zahira

Nadir worked on surveying sketches under Zahira’s supervision while she drew a map of the Thessalian Quadrant, taking readings with tripod, poles, sighting station, and reflector prisms alongside explorers.

393 AC - Crossing Water with Nereid

Nadir summoned a Nereid Eidolon to transform a lake into a Japanese woodblock-style theater set with removable panels, allowing him to walk across sandy ground between static rollers.

393 AC - Mountain Descent with Oread

Nadir called on an Oread Eidolon to surf a controlled landslide down a mountain, painting rocks in a style inspired by August Macke—required to be supervised by an Eidolon until achieving complete control over his Alteration.

393 AC - Watching Kasirga Aerialists

Nadir watched Kasirga Clan aerialists descend from heights with colorful ribbons while The Ouroboros and The Wayfarer traveled side by side with frequent shuttles between the two Sahankas.

393 AC - Observing Koi in the Thessalian Quadrant

Nadir watched Koi, a carp Leviathan, dance above the rice fields of the Thessalian Quadrant while Bubbles played with it, and sketched the aerial ballet in his notebook to show Zahira.

393 AC - Rescuing Three Little Pigs in Thermaic Quadrant

Nadir and Bubbles rescued the Three Little Pigs Eidolons from gravity currents in the Thermaic Quadrant that threatened to sweep them away, jumping in despite knowing it would earn a scolding.

393 AC - Pelagonian Quadrant Expedition

Nadir and Bubbles exhibited perfect osmosis during an expedition to the Pelagonian Quadrant organized by Leocardius Sree, examining frescoes in ruins with architecture similar to the City of Scholars while Yanna of The Qorgan surveilled them and concluded Nadir was not a Perjurer.

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