KRYIKH'S ADVENTURES, PART ONE Kryikh grew up in the kenku settlement of
Akkra, a dense underground warren in the cliffs above Alta, a rather rough-hewn
town on the coast, hundreds of miles east of Portlandio.
He showed magical aptitude at a young age and
was apprenticed to a transmuter. After his training, however, he was co-opted
by the local kenku mafia. Kenku are big on urban organized crime, and the Akkra
kenku had spread into Alta and other nearby towns, and established criminal
gangs there.
Kryikh therefore found himself in Alta, working
for one of the kenku gangs—the Gray Claws—as an alchemist, preparing potions and
the like. However he hated this work. Not only is he basically opposed to
criminal work, he also hates being told what to do. He also felt that this work
was a degradation of alteration magic, which he sees as something almost
sacred, a life philosophy. (And he has always been most interested in
alteration magic for the possibilities it may contain for enhancing kenkus’
natural flying abilities.)
Deeply unhappy, he began to spy on his masters.
Matters came to a head when he overheard them discussing a third way to fly –
not naturally, or using conventional magic, but some kind of arcane
manipulation of the air itself—known as airbending. He also overheard plans for
some kind of alliance between evil airbenders and the kenku airmasters.
On a whim, Kryikh stole a scroll explaining and
illustrating airbending techniques. He then decided it was time to leave Alta
and escape the gang. He realized he had to put as much distance between himself
and the Gray Claws as possible. He had heard that there was a larger city to
the West, where one might lose oneself and start a new life. And so he set out
on his long flight westwards along the coast.