Re: (IC) The Village of Korthos
"Magic is more familiar for my kind, though very few of us have the mastery of using it. I have only heard of two that could channel the power of spells, and they had been specially-made for artillery purposes," Ballast says, musing out loud. "It is not something to distrust, as we see it, as warforged are born of it and many of us saw a great deal in the War. I, less than some, but when I spoke to others, they would describe fireballs and lightning bolts on the battlefields, sometimes as allied spells that would clear your way, othertimes as enemy fire that would try to clear you away."
He shakes his head, "I could see how magic could be thought of as dangerous if the most of what one sees of it is turned against you. But I find it good that you were able to gain strength in magic for what you were not given in body." Ballast gestures to his own heavy frame with its hard plates of dense metal over the corded "muscle" of wood fibers and cable that made up his body. "Form dictates functions amongst my kind. I was forged to be a bulwark, a shield. An expensive investment, I was told often enough, one the captain was determined to recoup by teaching me the blacksmith's art alongside my defending duties. And at times, when I was not needed for either, I was to sit in the bowels of the ship and be ballast during stormy weather. The signing of the Treaty of Thronehold changed little for me, as I had never known a choice. But now... I have been given a choice of companions who treat me fairly, and not as a convenience. Who are willing to repair and heal me. Who use their axe or spells to defend me and help defeat our enemies. The choice of friends, for me, is a strange and wondrous thing.
"Fenris reminds me of Anchor, a fellow soldier from the same mould. We met several times at docks while gathering supplies to do repairs. Anchor saw the sun even less often than I, and he performed his duties with straightforward diligence. I would try to talk with him, and he would only respond reluctantly. Things had a purpose and a way with him, and he had survived because he followed that way. I suppose I was an example of a different way, and Anchor thought I was destined to fail and would not be taken down with me. I do not know what happened to him. I hope he found a way that continues to suit him. I hope he has found friends."