Icons of Theia Backstories #1: Koze
Welcome to a new Icons of Theia content series called Backstories, where we will tell a bit more about the origins of your favorite Icons.
As always, if you wish to learn more about Icons of Theia, make sure to check our website to find out everything you need to know about the game. Also, you can already sign up for a Beta invitation spot when it is made available — just click the “Sign Up for the Beta” button and create your account.
We are starting the Backstories, with our newest announced Icon, Koze, the Wind’s Proxy. You will have the chance to learn more about his origins, his strange relationship with a certain spirit, and a terrible incident that shaped not only his — but the life of other Icons as well. Enjoy the reading!
The Wind’s Proxy
Digyu is home to many legends and myths, told from generation to generation throughout the centuries. And in the vast mountains and forests of the south, it was no different. One of these stories tells the tale of the Staff of Etisarap, an object of immense power once wielded by a great hero, who summoned the great wind spirit Etisarap to protect her people against the enemies that once inhabited their sacred homeland.
After immense hardship, they managed to defeat their foes, and leaving their warring days behind, they relinquished the Staff, placing it at the top of the revered Yamka mountain, where it lies since then, waiting for someone Etisarap would find worthy to wield it to protect Digyu… The legend has been told for centuries, but no trace of the Vane has ever been found on the top of the Yamka. As said, just another legend… or was it truly just that?
Growing up being fascinated by these stories, Koze has always accepted the fact that he an outcast, even among his own. Members of the House of the Bear, infamous for being abrasive, short-tempered, extroverted, and most of all, least in tune with nature when compared to most Digyuians, always found the very calm and shrewd boy somewhat off-putting — and definitely awkward.
Adding to his oddity, Koze developed throughout his childhood a natural burning instinct to protect and serve nature: even seeing someone walk on the grass would make him feel deeply uncomfortable. Despite these quirks and unusual personality, he was loved by his parents and members of the Council that governed their region in the name of the old Dragon Empress of Digyu.
His life however was to radically change. At age 14, a few months after a boy in Vijaya managed to communicate with the strange Crystals that had appeared over the continent a few years before, the sudden reveal: Koze told all that he could see the legendary Staff and Etisarap in his sleep and that… it was calling for him.
Despite his parents vehemently objecting, the young boy surreptitiously made his way to the summit of the Yamka, with his kin and other House of the Bear members chasing him through the perilous, snowy journey. As he reached the end of the journey, the Staff materialized in front of him, and a bizarre mix of Attunement and possession took place. Etisarap and Koze became one, connected through the power of the small Crystal fragment placed at the tip of the Staff.
Following the incident that became legendary across Digyu, Koze, through Etisarap, has accomplished much to protect nature and Theia — by all means. His oddity increased as his power did, and most people became afraid of what he could do, his parents most of all.
For years, he was left to his own, lonely affairs, and Etisarap waited inside him, knowing that a storm was brewing, one that would endanger the entire planet. And such a storm arrived shortly after the controversial election of the new Empress and her decision to intervene in the Jukurian Independence War.
Eager to quickly come to her new ally’s assistance, the Empress secretly summoned Koze to the capital, assigning him to support the fleet that was to fight the Bainbridgeans in the first major engagement since Digyu entered the war. Seeing an opportunity to serve his higher purpose, he accepted.
At the height of the fierce naval battle, with the realization that both sides were causing enormous harm, not to each other, but to Theia herself, ditched the Digyuian “cause”, and decided to take matters into his hands to avoid further calamity to the nature he revered.
He didn’t expect he would be so effective in doing so.
Through Etisarap, Koze conjured destructive winds that not only dismantled most ships from both sides but also created immense waves, forming a tsunami that washed away an entire village of simple fishermen located on Digyu’s eastern shores, killing hundreds, leaving a single survivor: a small girl playing with her bow in the nearby hills overlooking the village, powerless to come to her family’s aim when the waves reached, bringing doom and destruction to everything she knew.
The Empress was mortified when she learn about what happened, but she also knew she could never afford to have him as an enemy, not now, at least. Covertly sending him away back to his home, she covered his participation in what became known as the “Strait Incident”, blaming the tsunami on Bainbridge’s greediness that was weakening Theia, rallying Digyu into continuing on the offensive. She never told anyone want truly happened that fateful day — not even to the young survivor, who grew to become the Empress’ own protégé and member of her Elite Guard. To this day, Tomoe doesn’t know how her family and loved ones actually perished underneath the waves.
Since the Incident, Koze retreated to his homeland, living in almost total isolation in the southern mountains. A chance visit to his parents however led him to one day find out something he wasn’t really supposed to know…
And that would be all! Did you enjoy it? So make sure to let us know Discord and Twitter and stay tuned for the next edition. See you around, Theians!
