Zea
child of Iunn
Name pronunciation: "ZEE"
Young, curious, intrepid explorer, originally of the Mountainfolk Iunnians, Zea forms the heart of the adventures. Wherever she goes, Zea brings the peoples she encounters an outside perspective that can restore their unity.
Origin:
People:
Episode:
Main Relationships:
son of Krezlon
son of Krezlon
son of Krezlon
son of Immortalüx
daughter of Immortalüx
daughter of Parugon
son of Somnia
Backstory:
Zea always felt different from other Iunnians. Her curiosity about the wheeling cosmos and her creativity set her apart from the mundane routines of her brethren. For much of her young life, Zea walked on the fringes of her mountain community. Her brother, Zed, inspired her with cosmic storytelling and daring questions in his spare time. Zea and Zed were children of Joio ("Joy-oh"), their high mountain village perched on the crater of a dormant volcano. Their parents had left Zea and Zed a guiding monument inscribed with the wisdom of their lives, lessons grown in the stone made from their bodies. Zea and Zed were the only two siblings produced by their parents' lithification, rare for Iunnian families.
While Zed found a place as a skilled and respected Shleper'nin, a protector of the village goatelope herds, Zea tried many professions, none of which satisfied her heart's desire to explore the night sky, the deep mystery others told her was forever beyond her reach. Zea found the next best thing: she decided she would explore all of Iunn. She became a world traveler, setting out to meet other peoples and wildernesses. In her travels she learned navigation skills and interpersonal insights that would be essential to her future journeys on other worlds. Zea sailed with the Sayel'nin of the Metalfolk, hiked game trails with the Woodsfolk, and delved into wild lands untouched by Iunnian civilization.
As she at last returned to visit home, scaling the mountain slopes through neighboring villages, Zea witnessed a catastrophic volcanic eruption tear open the land and sky above Joio. The dormant volcano awoke, hurling molten rock and ash into the village and its fields. Zea sprinted up the mountain, looking for Zed. When she spotted him, he was guiding the panicked villagers and herds away from the lava. The Well of Ancestors, their stone heritage, buried by the angry red river, Zed remained the village's only guardian. While Zea sprinted towards him, Zed committed a heroic sacrifice that saved her life and the countless lives of Joio and Ezir (Ouy's home) in the forest below: jamming his ancient Shleper'nin staff into the mountain side, Zed collapsed the nested mountain cliffs, falling with the stone into the roiling lava. The flow dammed, the fires in the forest below prevented, so many lives saved, yet Zea fell, grief gripping her double-knees, to the stone, having lost the one person in life who mattered most to her.
Zed
Shleper'nin of the village of Joio.
In the midst of the crisis, Zea encountered another who had lost their sibling to the lava flow: Ouy. Through their shared tragedy, Zea and Ouy recovered by the light of each other's kindness. Each reminded by the other of their lost one. Zea and Ouy developed an unbreakable bond uncharacteristic of strangers from different Iunnian peoples.
Humbled by her absence from Joio when the village had needed her most, Zea escaped into life with the Woodsfolk, living in a cabin on the river's edge next door to Ouy. The village of Shen became their home base as they went exploring together in the local forest. Zea loved the diversity of wildlife in the forest. The two, best of friends, seldom went anywhere without one another. Zea found a role as a rivercheese-maker in Shen, and became well-known as an excellent chef.
Shen was known for taking in fugitives from other realms, and so quite a diverse population posed opportunities and dangers. For one, a Metalfolk bully named Ygo who had been outcast from her society made life difficult for Zea and Ouy. Ygo's band of followers terrorized merchants and hardworking people for their wares. The Shahm'nin of Shen kept her in check, but Zea and Ouy had to fend for themselves for the most part.
After the disaster that destroyed both their villages, Zea retained a fear of the mountain volcano that kept her from returning to her homeland. It was out of sheer curiosity that Zea mustered the courage to climb to the volcano rim when she sensed the presence of the mysterious falling star that would lead her on an epic adventure among the stars.
Zea never knew the extent of Ouy's feelings for her until long after her departure, but she always cared for him and enjoyed his gentle and open mind. Though she did not know it, Zea would never see her home planet again, but she would become part of the chronicle leading to the end of her Universe in 40 billion years, and she would be the only living being to transit to the next one--and become part of our own human origin story.
Quotes:
"I know what you feel. I have been there myself, apart and alone from the vast universe, so, so very small… But then I was lucky enough to go out there and meet the cosmos."
--Episode V, Skeptic
"..."
--Episode __, ___
