A dusty gold like the sands he lives in, there is little to Ba’al that truly stands out. He is a creature of simplicity and his appearance reflects that, lacking the bright and loud colors that tend to be quite common among the world.

He is a sooty gold palomino, pale with touches of a richer, darker gold that mar his pelt. Perhaps it is the harsh Solterran sun that bleaches out his coat so severely, or perhaps this is just how he always appears. Having never experienced another land, Ba’al doesn’t know. His mane and tail are a soft, silky alabaster but have no other striking detail.

His breeding is hardy, a Mustang cross that gives him his average height, sturdy body build, surprising stamina and endurance, and the hardiness of his hooves that let him trek across dunes of sand and rocky, desert terrain with little difficulty.

Settled amidst a pale ivory bald face is a set of heterochromatic eyes; his right eye a soft blue, and the left a rich gold. Four white stockings crest up the young palomino’s legs, and that pretty much sums up this simple soldier of Solterra.

Ba'al is complicated.

There is a lot to him, you see, and most of it not even he understands.

At first glance, Ba'al seems quiet, aloof, and stern. He is a soldier first and foremost and clearly dedicated to his task of serving Solis and ensuring that the current monarch is steered along the narrow path of truth.

Behind that detached demeanor is a dangerous, brewing anger, one that shows itself at the most inopportune of times with a hair-point trigger. It is uncontrollable and anything can spark it, and Ba'al lacks the control to sort through his emotions and anger before it can get the best of him. This has caused multiple back-alley brawls and street scuffles, and more than once has he said biting words that he had never truly meant.

He struggles with guilt and fear due to these severe episodes of biting rage and animosity, as though he has no idea what comes over him during these moments and his lack of control is terrifying. After all, he is a soldier and should have that mental and physical control, he should be able to stop himself... Yet he can't. And he hates it.

Self-loathing is mixed in there somewhere, intermingling like a deadly cocktail of destruction. Despite all of that negativity bred from a youth of bloodshed and violence, there is goodness within him, hidden beneath layers of hardened instruction.

Having lived in Solterra for the entirety of his life, Ba'al is insatiably curious to the outside world. There is a childlike eagerness to him, a desire for adventure and to experience the unknown. Beneath all of the no-good details of his being, there is a colt robbed of his childhood who simply wants to explore and see the world with his own eyes.

He loves the sunrises and sunsets. He loves the feel of the wind in his hair and the scent of rain on the breeze, no matter how rare it might be in Solterra. His heart screams for the unknown, to see the sights that the world has to offer and taste the foreign flavors of the world... Yet his own insecurities and anxieties keep him home bound, a cage in the shape of a dust-covered land that has become nothing more than his safety blanket.

It started with the sound of a ’click’ that seemed far too loud for the chamber stained in the stench of blood and smoke, followed immediately by a muted ’thump’ of heavy metal falling upon stone.

It started with the fall of a King far too negligent with power and the removal of a collar.

Perhaps that was truly when Ba’al was born, for he had certainly not begun to live before then.

Two-toned eyes of soft blue and gentle gold blinked sluggishly as though waking from a deep slumber. Once, twice, three times. The lack of weight around his neck was foreign, its weightlessness confusing and disorienting after so very long, and so his eyes sought out pools of familiar burning ember set within a serious face to ground him as he sank into the unknown, lips parting as though to draw in his first breath, exhaling to speak his first word so soon after rebirth. A single word, a single name;

”Helios.”

There, in the chamber of death and carnage within the capital of Solterra, a new King crowned in the wake of murder and riot and flames, Ba’al began his life anew, birthed from a womb of war and revolution.

---

Ba’al does not know where he is from nor the origins of the blood in his veins. Any semblance of family is long gone, forgotten from seasons of manipulative brainwashing, cruel forms of training, and pointless violence.

Born in the unforgiving landscape of Solterra, he was quickly snatched up by the greedy, selfish, cruel hands of Warden Viceroy. A young mind could be manipulated and controlled, a blank canvas prepped and ready for the most macabre of creations. And oh, what a creation Ba’al became.

The perfect little soldier, as all of Warden Viceroy’s ‘project’ were. Apathetic, cruel, dangerous, they would follow orders without a moment of hesitation, trained to give everything of themselves without remorse or distraction. Ba’al was one of them, the ‘child soldiers’ of Solterra, rumors whispered on the wind but known public by a single, unsent letter.

Ba’al, however, was not entirely broken.

Despite the cruel punishments and torturous creativity of Viceroy’s ‘training regiment’, a childish heart remained hidden beneath the layers of murderous intent and militaristic training. If not for the actions of one individual, Ba'al might not have become the fellow that Novus now knew him as.

It was Helios that shielded Ba'al from the worst of Viceroy's implications and cruelty, taking him under his proverbial wing, teaching him, helping him, loving him like the family that they both had been torn from. They fell in together, magnetized as though by incident alone, and in Helios the dust-colored youth found a friend, a mentor, a rock when the darkness became too much, and a brother.

With the death of Zolin came a freedom that Ba'al had not known. It was Helios that removed the cruel silver collar from around his neck, believing the youth to still be capable of goodness, of righteousness even though they had both committed sins beyond salvation. It was the removal of said collar that birthed Ba'al anew; this new world, his for the taking...

Yet he did not take it.

Instead of leaving the cruel and unforgiving sands of Solterra behind to satisfy his insatiable curiosity to this vast, open world suddenly unveiled around him, Ba'al remained at Helios' side. After all, he was a soldier first and foremost; serving the Crown was what he knew, and so that is what he did. For seasons he served Sovereign after Sovereign, and they came and went like the cycles of the sun that eternally chased the moon.

It was only the crowning of Orestes that Ba'al stepped up, placing himself on one King's side while Helios stood on the other with the rise of the Triskevma. They no longer served the said Sovereign's of Solterra, but instead Solis... For it was by Solis' right that Orestes had risen to Kinghood.

Ba'al still struggles to acclimate to this second life, unsure of his rightful place or how to atone for the sins that he committed; the lives taken as a child soldier created for war, the violence spread and the blood flaked and drying beneath the cruel desert sun. Despite his uncertainties, he remains at Orestes' side as it is his duty, but more than anything his loyalty lies first and foremost with his brother, Helios.

The creed of the Triskevma is burned into his brain, as through them he hopes to finally, someday, find repentance for his many sins committed against the people he now served.

To place Solterra before self.

To keep the peace.

To burn the unrighteous.

Kit is a Golden Tabby Tiger. Unlike her white and black or orange and black striped cousins, Kit's coat is predominately white with patches of burnished orange, and the stripes that run along her coat are a deep copper in color.

She stands at three feet, five inches which puts her slightly taller than most of her kind, but her weight is terribly unsteady. Because of the harsh environments of living in Solterra, Kit's weight fluctuates depending on the availability of food. While never outright underweight she lacks most of the muscle and stored fat that comes with a healthy diet, and so whenever she and Ba'al travel from Solterra, Kit occasionally will gorge herself on more abundant game whenever the opportunity presents itself.

She is a bit of a diva in her personality, who is attracted to shiny trinkets or pretty things. Profoundly lazy at the best of times, Kit would prefer not having to lift a paw to do much if she could help it, but with Ba'al's position as a soldier of Solterra that unfortunately isn't as frequently as she wishes. Her favorite pastime includes sunbathing in the, but whenever they can spare a moment she enjoys a refreshing swim at the Oasis.

Despite her general laziness, Kit is incredibly protective of Ba'al and will put herself between him and any perceived danger, thinking him almost like a child of her own.