Orlon Gantiel

Renowned quarterstaff instructor and lover of spicy food.

Rough Around the Edges

Orlon is a quiet, well built faun who stands proudly yet moves with a fighter's grace. He can be found out in the front courtyard of the Khin Martial Academy, where he teaches the quarterstaff all day long.
Many folks find an excuse to stop by on their work breaks to watch his students perform incredible feats of strength, and some even place verbal bets on sparring outcomes. Or at least that's what they say.
They definitely aren't waiting for him to work up a sweat and continue the session in just his baggy dark green breeches.
Orlon's muscular upper body is transcribed with scars of varying origins, which spark admiration and curiosity among many. One tale is known to all, though - his left horn is completely snapped in half from the very first quarterstaff tournament he fought in when he was 20. In close-quarters combat, his opponent's staff somehow got caught in his tines and twisted with a horiffic crack as the both of them fell to the ground. He won the match but he let his opponent take home the trophy in favour of keeping his own cracked memento, which he displays at home on his mantel.
At the end of a hard day's training, Orlon thoroughly enjoys dining with his friends. He loves hot spicy food, and can handle the fieriest flavours that the city has to offer.

A Broken Start

Orlon was born in Kankos on the west coast of Anvil just two months after The Rupture. He learnt to crawl in the dust of the apocalyptic chaos and his parents were clueless on how to raise him and his two brothers in such dangerous and changing times.
Mostly fending for themselves, he and his siblings learnt to exchange errands and physical labour for knowledge and education from injured and eldely folk of their home city, Dulakest. He got his first job working as a stableboy and worked hard for his koinz, and every night he counted them and dreamt of a better life.
As the years went by and into early adulthood, his brothers enrolled in the navy and set sail for their futures. His parents divorced and went their separate ways too, and at age 19 he was left to decide on his own path. With what little savings he had amassed, he payed for half a voyage upfront and the rest in labour on a ship heading to Belu on the other side of the continent.
Arriving in the capital city, Khin, Orlon continued paying off his debt at the docks working long days loading and unloading heavy cargo from the ships. He enjoyed the hard work and soon built up an admirable physique, and his new friends invited him to join their fighting club and try his hand with a quarterstaff.

Life of a Fighter

Something about the firmness of the smooth wooden shaft in his hands lit a fire in him, and he began to take his training seriously in order to fight in tournaments for prize money.
Even with the loss of half a horn in his first victory, the thrill of the fight made him feel alive. Working less at the docks and more at the Martial Academy, Orlon gained a reputation for being "undefeatable", and he unfortunately let the title get to his head.
He began to fight in private clubs in daring brawls with questionable standards.
With a foolish and pricey wager gone wrong he was blackmailed into fighting in a mixed weapons cage tournament against a lithe woman with a sleek rapier. His arrogance blinded him from grasping the extent of her range, and within seconds she lunged and cut deep into his bicep. His whole world clattered to the sound of his quarterstaff on the floor, and the roaring crowd faded to a muffled murmur as he passed out.
He awoke in the infirmary of an Ardorist temple, barely able to move enough to look down at his left arm, puckered and sewn up like a butcher's joint.
He wept.

Faun Reborn

The Ardorists cared for Orlon and dressed his wound, and continued to support him after his stitches were removed. The cut was deep and took a long time to heal, and Orlon lamented at his loss of strength, dignity, and ability to train again.
He sank deep into depression over his weakness for more than a year, but still the Ardorists checked in on him and supported him through his struggles without judgement.
He opened up to their kindness and lowered the barriers of his past, sharing painful memories and learning new valuable lessons in the healing process.
Without being prompted to, Orlon asked to join the Path of Ardorism, and was welcomed with warmth.
Through his new found faith, he was able to process his pain, forgive his past, and learnt how to trust people again.
He resumed his training, and focussed on supporting disadvantaged youths to keep them out of trouble. His strength regained, and his reputation grew in a positive light.
Many of the children asked him if they could join the academy, and with so many new recruits he soon rose to the title of lead instructor at the Khin Martial Academy, where he still teaches the quarterstaff to this day.

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Hard Truths

His time of healing at the Ardorist temple was a journey of therapy and self discovery. He worked through many hard truths of his depresssion about what kind of a person he had become and it brought up deep feelings of shame and regret.
The Ardorists helped him to see that his arrogance and feelings of superiority had festered into his romantic and sexual life too, which reflected in his desires to only engage intimately with folks who were physicaly stronger or more agile than himself. He had pushed away the platonic love of his friendships, and rejected the wholesome people who genuinely cared about him because he saw them as "too soft".
This epiphany sank him much deeper into darkness.
With his mangled arm still healing and feeling trapped in a scrawny, weak figure - he felt like no one would be attracted to him ever again.
The Ardorists did their best to teach him slow and gentle self love that helped to raise his spirits, but still it was not enough. They suggested enlisting the help of a professional concubine, and with his consent he began to slowly build physical trust with his sexual therapist.
The concubine worked through the physical traumas with him and identified the buried kinks in his mind. With care, guidance, and a lot of aftercare, Orlon learned to embrace his desires in a healthy way and he decided to keep a journal to help document his thoughts and identify his feelings surrounding sex, romance, and preferences.

by TJ Trewin (created using HeroForge)

A Well Kept Secret

Long after his healing and well into his career as lead instructer at the Khin Martial Academy, Orlon met up with his concubine mentor, who wanted to check in on him to see how he was doing.
Orlon smiled, laughed and rejoiced telling them about his new experiences and how he'd enjoyed revelling in primal, masochistic encounters with consenting friends - and how he now enjoys being regarded as a sex symbol, even though people mistake him for a dominant sadist with his line of work.
He derives pleasure from his own physical exertion, and enjoys putting on a show of strength for the folk who come to watch him train.
With a heart full of pride, he told them all about his career progression and how he was educating and protecting the youths of the city whilst teaching quarterstaff at the academy - which evolved into a lengthy discussion about how he wanted to do more for his people and to give something back to the world in thanks for the Ardorists' guidance.
As Orlon expressed his passion for embettering the lives of others, the concubine revealed themselves as a member of The Keepers, a secretive organization that held more power in Anvil than Orlond realised. They want to shape the world into a better place of understanding and shared prosperity - something that Orlon resonated with - and he accepted the invitation to train in secret and become a Keeper of Self.
With his new and powerful connections, he is able to help in secret operations across the entire continent and help people to become their best selves.

Pronouns
He/Him

Current Location

Khin

Species

Faun

Ethnicity

Kankosi

Other Ethnicities/Cultures

• Beluvian

Date of Birth

Kolkaz 4th Ganzagar 514 2A

Birthplace

Dulakest, Kankos

Gender

Male

Eyes

Hazel

Hair

Ruffled, dark chestnut brown and a full thick beard with dusty greys coming through

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Tanned, with short brown hair covering his lower body

Height

5'4"

Belief/Deity

Path of Ardorism

Ruled Locations

• Khin Martial Academy

Languages
Common, and semi-fluent in a couple of others

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Sexual Preferences
Pansexual
Masochist
Primal (prey)