Xiat
A blue-scaled iruxi of the iruxi village in the Greenbelt. Xiat is non-binary and uses they/them.
Appearance
Blue scales. Xiat is originally from the cold regions, which makes them a rarity twice over - most iruxi favour tropical and temperate biomes, swamplands, coasts and river lands. Kairos’ first read of the colour was tropical ancestry, and she was wrong.
Xiat is cold-touched: inclined to cold rather than harmed by it, where iruxi as a rule are hostile to it. This is not a cosmetic difference. The mound runs cold and dry, which means the rest of the village cannot comfortably spend time inside it - and Xiat can. Xiat is effectively the only set of eyes the village has in there, which is very likely why they are the one who knows about the spirit.
Iruxi grow throughout their lives, gaining size and strength with age, and live up to 120 years. Xiat is visibly larger than when Kairos last saw them.
Relationship with Kairos
An old friend of Kairos from her earlier travels. She is an elf who still looks 18-20 and has not changed since; Xiat has aged in the way iruxi do. Neither of them has said yet how long it has been.
History with the Party
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Session-27 Xiat was the first of the village to meet the party after Djacquess hailed them across the river for permission to visit and flew the mounts over. They introduced themselves by name and asked the party to wait outside.
Xiat told the party that the king seems possessed - acting oddly, possibly by an evil spirit - and is encouraging the other iruxi to actively hunt humans.
The next morning, Xiat met the party’s raft in silence and smuggled them into the village unseen by the king. They are now actively concealing armed humans inside a settlement whose ruler has ordered humans hunted.
After the party killed the creature in the mound and Vesket ordered them off the island, Kairos asked Xiat to keep in contact and send word if the king backslides. Xiat is now the party’s standing source inside the village - and stays behind with a king who has just been intimidated by humans Xiat smuggled in.
Notes
- Role in the village is not yet known - whether they speak for it, guard it, or were simply the one sent out.
- Being asked to wait outside is not a refusal. Iruxi are patient by doctrine and slow to act; the party is being weighed.
- Xiat is going behind their own king to outsiders, and to humans specifically, while the king is telling the village to hunt humans. That is a considerable risk to take, and it suggests either real desperation or that Xiat has support inside the village. Their safety is a live concern.