Jart: Mental Journal of a Son of Umberlee.

[Nokronis]

I cannot remember my birth, and do not know if I had a childhood. Mother says I am special, that I was born for a purpose, to serve her, to teach the world of her strength. Of my strength. The strength of the winds and the sea.

I live only to serve she who gave me life, my mother, Umberlee.

I will not fail, Mother, I promise.

[Nokronis]

We were born in the depths, in the dark, dank, cold of the sea, off the coast of Calimshan. Me, my brothers and my sisters, from the very moment we were born we were tested against the wrath and chaos of the ocean.

Only the strongest, fastest, and smartest of us survived. I would like to say that I was any of those, but to be honest.... I think it was merely luck that I was not swallowed up by one of the creatures of the deep abbys....

I hold little love for anything, and though it seems I should love my siblings... I do not.... instead I envy the strenghts they have that I lack, and I hate them for it. I know that the Queen favors them over me.... why else would she have created them in such a way, and I, given such a frail form.... closer to human than any of the others.... even given some of their weak thoughts and feelings. I curse myself, but I curse my siblings more....

[Nokronis]

I remember swimming through what was almost pitch darkness with my siblings, sounds of abominable creatures could be heard easily, and their were many..... it took awhile to see them, and for many that was too long for them to react.

I remember exerting all of my energy, trying to swim as fast as I could, and yet I lagged so far behind the others. It did not take extremely long for my speed to decrease, and I yelled out to my siblings for aid, but they would not give it.... they were born of the true chaotic nature of the sea, and as such they held no concern for any but themselves, even one of their own. It was survival of the fittest, and I was not among those few.

As I slowed.... I remember cold hard jaws clamping down upon me.... and then the darkness was completed....

[Nokronis]

I awoke to find myself lying down on the sea floor, a sea elf kneeling down next to me mutter prayers or something. My arm felt odd, and I took a moment to look down at it only to see that it was not there.

I silently cursed myself for my weakness as the sea elf continued to murmur things, I caught a word "Istishia" I had no idea that that was the name of a god as I had little to no knowledge as of yet, only that I could speak and think.
But I had a foreboding sense at hearing the word, and I was not sure why.

He bowed his head and put his hand to my arm, mumbling a few more words that I either could not make out or could not understand, and I watched and felt as my arm slowly regrew itself. It was some of the most intense pain I have ever felt.

When it was finally complete the elf removed his hand, looked at me and offered a smile, I didn't return it. I was angry at myself for failing my queen at a time so early as my own birth, and even more so that some sea elf had been necessary to save my pitiful life.

"I don't need your charity.", I shook my newly regrown arm and scowled at him as I started to swim away.

[Nokronis]

My limbs were weak by the time I reached the shore, and I could barely lift my head to see that it was night, and the full moon was high in the sky.

This was my first time on land, and only the third hour of my life or so, but I could sense that their were dangers even on land that I could not see, and most assuredly would have trouble fighting against if I didn't try to move quickly, especially in Calimshan.

I could hear something in the distance, walking toward me... I had no idea what it was but I was fairly sure it had no intention of allowing me to live without a fight, and I was right.

It was one of my brothers, the biggest and strongest of the small group that survived, he bellowed out a laugh at the sight of me weak and crippled on the ground, my recently regenerated arm quivering and still exceedingly weak from its recent recreation.

"Get up runt, get up and face your brother!", he waited a moment as I struggled to try and stand, but before I could do so he kicked me back to the ground and I heard a crack in my ribs.

I spat up blood and saw some of it in my own hand, and I am not exactly sure what happened but I was filled with a rage and strength that I still have never seen again.

I jumped up and swung out at him several times, striking him as hard as I could, the blood still trickling out of my mouth. Sadly my blood rage was short lived, but it was enough to get a chortle out of my brother as he put his arm around me and lifted me up. "Alright, you might not be the best, but I guess your still worth saving."

[Nokronis]

It didn't take long for my brother to get us to the coastal cave that the rest of my kin had apparently chosen as their temporary home, even after at least ten miles of running he didn't seem phased in the least. I wasn't exactly surprised though, he was much bigger and stronger than me, hell he was even more intelligent.

He set me down and poked at my ribs a second to see exactly how many he broke, he said it wasn't too bad and it should heal within the week. My other siblings hardly even gave me a glance, most of them being even more anti-social than myself, my brother was the only one that seemed to speak.

My siblings never had names, and neither did I at the time, we were simply 'The Children of Umberlee', and that was all we knew, all we felt..... except for me.

My brother said I needed to get my rest, we had a big day tomorrow .

[Nokronis]

The next day we swam to the city of Calimport, I wasn't told why, mother only talked to my brother (The biggest one that beat me senseless). It was a fair swim, and as usual I was lagging behind again, but despite that I still kept close enough not to lose them this time.

I was tired by the time we got there, but my body seemed to be slightly adapting to the strenuous activity. We saw a few Genasi as we walked through the town, they offered me us nods of respect, we returned them but only just barely. We were the Children of Umberlee, even one so close to what we are could not match our power or purity of blood, theirs being soiled by human parents. However we still held a deal of respect for them, being our "cousins" in a sense.

Despite the small Genasi presence in Calimport most of the residents gave us odd looks, most likely finding it odd that their were water Genasi who chose to walk on land, and in such numbers. We came across a beggar in the streets at one point, naturally he asked us for money, standing in the path of my brother was a mistake.

He grabbed the man by the neck and crushed his wind pipe, tossing him aside in disgust as his corpse crumpled to the ground. I did enjoy being part of this group my siblings and I were in, but I always felt inadequate, and it made me jealous and angry.

We finally came to a shabby inn, my brother slammed the door open, breaking it off its hinges. There were many humans crowded inside, and all eyes turned to us, my brother just gave a small grin.

I was about to learn what the true meaning of being one of the Children was.