Nith

Nith
Basic Information
Species	Arcana Wolf
Died	1023
Cause of Death	Succumbed to injuries inflicted by pack member
Nationality	Urushee
Aliases	The Wolf
Game Statistics
STR CEL END COM INT PER LCK N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
HP AC AP INIT N/A N/A N/A N/A
HR CRIT MD N/A N/A N/A

Nith or "The Wolf" was a Wolf Arcana, as well as the first recorded member of an Arcana species, whose interactions with two scavengers shortly before his death would foreshadow many years of tense relations between the emergent Arcana creatures and the civilized races of the world.

Discovery

Discovered by Scavengers Simon Tully and Throdrid Bonedigger in 1023 while hiking the wilderness towards the capitol of Urushee, Nith approached them and communicated in Elven that it had been severely wounded in a fight with non-Arcana members of its pack that had come to oppose its designation as the Alpha Male. Referring to himself as Nith, it was eventually able to gain the trust of the Scavengers after an extended tense confrontation that reportedly lasted four hours, during which they attempted to gain assurance that they were not being tricked by fey, or a species of local carnivorous Altered legend that was rumoured to take the shape of other beings.

Death

By the time the two Scavengers had decided to trust Nith, the state of its wounds had become much too severe for it to fully move by itself. Despite their best efforts to halt the progression of these injuries, the wolf would succumb later that evening, after recounting its life and kin to the Human and Dwarf scavengers.

History

In their recounting of the incident, the Scavengers claimed that Nith was not aware of why he had developed such heightened sentience, possessing it since birth, and had been able to lead his pack successfully, leading them to safe shelter in an increasingly hostile environment in the Urushee forests. Making contact with a nearby settlement descended from Urusheen refugees who had chosen to stay in their home nation, Nith had befriended an Elven child after previous attempts to communicate with the locals resulted in panic and distrust towards The Wolf following local legends.

Through this child, Nith would trade valuable resources he uncovered in the forest such as herbal medicines, rare foods, and beast carcasses for similar goods and information, that he would use to the benefit of his tribe, as well as learn the Elven language to a competent degree. Simon and Throdrid would later confirm this story with the settlement in question, and delivered the news of Nith's passing to the distraught Elven accomplice, who had by then grown to be a prominent leader in his circle.

The Elven village, now learning of the truth of the creature they had distrusted many years ago, held a public burial for Nith. A monument would later be erected in the center of the town.

Initially, individuals not of this settlement were highly skeptical towards the Scavengers' claims, with several academic journals dismissing their story as fiction, with notable researcher Dr. Hatthroe describing it as "a pure flight of fantasy", despite testimonials from the Elven encampment they had travelled to. It would be many decades until their tale was revisited, under the context of irrefutable evidence towards the existence of Arcana species, and the findings of the two explorers would properly be recognized.

Legacy

Dr. Hatthroe would formally retract his previous comments in his memoirs published soon after in 1045, stating the following:

"It is with a heavy heart and great regret that I learn there was much truth behind the words of Simon Tully. Had we not been so fast to dismiss the possibility of creatures beyond our understanding, there are a great deal of tragedies we would have had the foresight to deter, and many lives of these creatures of the Arcane could have been spared."

The tale of Nith is remembered as a caution to the consequences of distrust and paranoia. While he is honored as a brave individual that believed in the kindness of other species around him, the failures to believe in what the Scavengers did not yet comprehend formed a tragic pattern that would be repeated many times in the following decades.

The monument to Nith remains in the town of Perseverance, and has been recognised as a formal point of pilgrimage for members of Arcana Species wishing to pay respects to their ancestry.