Ravi, the Blazing Soul

Many years ago, a small little kobold managed to take the cities by storm. A thief by trade, she managed to swindle a fortune that would make a dragon jealous. She called herself the Jewelmother, and her reign of terror was notorious. The rich were aghast to find their fortunes swindled, but no one could seem to get a hold of that slippery lizard. But in the height of her career, she seemed to all but vanish. Whispers were that she was finally caught by some quiet guard, ignorant of the criminal he nabbed.

The truth was far stranger, though. The Jewelmother had the particular ability to practice parthenogenesis: without a proper mate, she was able to generate clutches of her own, and she would train each to be proteges. Before long, she had a whole clan of kobolds, very almost identical to herself. All trained in the art of thievery. But she was callous, not even properly naming them, but rather numbering. Year after year, egg after egg, thief after thief. She would create a whole empire of criminals and rest easy on a growing hoard of gold.

True to the name, Femtem was the fifteenth jewelchild. Already at the outset, though, Femtem seemed to not quite click into the mold presented before her. She wasn't bad at thievery, but it didn't quite sit well with her. She suspected her jewelsisters felt somewhat the same, so maybe this was simply the normal reaction to being a thief for life.

All that changed on a routine mission to ransack a temple for its treasures. Nestled in the dark heart of a bustling city, the Temple to the Great Light seemed small and unassuming, thus garnering the type of rumors that would lead a thieving clan to target it. But when Femtem infiltrated the temple in the dead of night, she found the cult gathered in a ritual to beat back darkness. While this left the relatively few valuables unguarded, she instead watched from afar and admired their craft. Dawn broke. Despite the risk it posed, she revealed herself to the cult and requested some means to join them. The good-mannered cultists welcomed Femtem in.

The Order of the Central Flame revered the sun. No, not Lanthandor (though they got along well enough with his followers), but the actual object at the center of the plane. In an age of deities, these outcasts worshipped the star, revering it for its life-giving ability, fearing it for its might and magical disruption. But above all, worship of Sol was about reflecting the fire of the sun with your soul and actions. Thus, many of the Order were also monks trained in the way of the Sun Soul. Primarily, it was a means of stoking the fire within, though some did use that to spread their word and to ward off ice and darkness.

Femtem's entrance into the order was through a literal baptism by fire. Spiked on herbs and left within a fiery crucible chamber, the kobold experienced visions and tapped into the inner soul. There, a new discovery was made. Taking on a new name, Ravi stepped from the crucible changed, and he knew the path he would walk. He started in lower ranks, simply making sure the temple was kept up. But soon he was truly fitting in with the other cultists, and soon the monks took him into training. Though it was demanding, it was rewarding, and he excelled.

One day, the most curious visitor came: a younger jewelsister by the name of Nitten. She was sent to retrieve him, but he gently chided her and invited her to join in their daily rituals. This obviously had quite the effect on her, as Ravi watched her leave without her mark. He was satisfied enough to avoid recapture, but was astounded when days later she would return requesting safe haven, having been cast out from the clan. Her brother was more than happy to bring her under the cult's guidance.

Even as a newer entree, Ravi has already made great strides in his journey, a fact not unnoticed by the cult. He is often given the chance to venture out from the temple in good service and proselytizing. In addition to generally getting the word of Sol out, he hopes to continue Nitten's path to a brighter day, hoping maybe to turn the whole clan at some point. After all, he knows what the fire can do to a soul: temper it into something more.