Facets of Fantasy: Sea

Once, when he was very young, he had gone out to see the ocean. He couldn't remember how old he was, but even now, it seemed to him as though it was his very earliest memory that still dwelt in his brain. He had gone to the sea with someone – an adult, perhaps a priest, perhaps even his father. It had been a man, nonetheless. The man had showed him the great ocean, and the ships sailing upon it, and he had spoken.

“Son-” he had probably said, or maybe “Young man”, or possibly even “Aust” - Aust couldn't remember the exact words. “Son – I think the only way you can understand Creation is by looking at the sea. It's perfect. It's so smooth, and flat, and beautiful, and untouched – and yet it hides so many secrets. Some are beneficent – people to meet, beautiful sights to see – but some are dreadful: Storms, whirlpools, terrible monsters. Always remember, though, that there is someone responsible for everything. Someone is causing everything in the world – nothing “just happens.” Just as every island has its ruler and every storm has its port, someone cares for everything in this world, and when you grow up, you will be responsible for something too. Maybe one day, you'll have your own island.”

But then again, he thought, what is the sea? Water. He had mastered water long ago. The sea meant nothing to him, now. Salt water. He could rule water, make it bend to his will, make it sing and dance if he wanted to – but sometimes, when he looked at the sea, a little of it splashed his face, and he could have sworn it came from his eyes.

One - Beo

We start here, at the beginning. I had already played for five years when I began running Arcana Unearthed, but Breath of the Ancestors turned out to be a very different sort of game – one that had the lofty goal of exploring the human condition. It did so partly through the story, but primarily through the characters. Beo was an interesting case.
An orphan and runethane apprentice, Beo had been forcefully transformed into a mojh, a genderless reptilian – and also carried the dormant mind of Xethar Ar'Nuade, the Sleepwalker, bound with an unbreakable rune inside him. Beo's struggle was one of freedom – freedom from Xethar, freedom from his reptilian form, and ultimately, freedom from destiny itself. A very tragic hero, Beo destroyed everything he held dear yet kept on fighting out of a sense of responsibility. Beo was, basically, the first roleplaying character I'd seen with a rich and complex inner life, one whose dulled emotions were gradually replaced with oaths and responsibilities, yet whose very fundamental struggle was one of liberation. He was a revolutionary, both in the story and in terms of how I've come to view roleplaying games.
Beo is an iconic character. He is the epitome of his creator's style, a conflicted and tragic hero whose weaknesses are far more interesting than his strengths.
Beo had many cool moments, but I think my favourite may yet be his final confrontation with the Council of Dragons, in which he denied them dominion over the world out of sheer spite. They offered him everything he wanted, but he turned them down simply because he really, really, really hated those guys – and in doing so, saved the world. Or possibly doomed it; we never actually found out.