Kakopi

Kakopi had a rough childhood. Though his family was doing well financially, his parents were always at each other's throat and were all but present for their son. The only times he wasn't invisible to them was when they were ordering him to choose a side in fights he didn't understand.

As soon as he felt confident enough about his chances, Kakopi simply fled his household, hoping to never have to deal with his parents ever again. Having carefully planned his escape and brought with him all the necessary belongings, he spent several years going from town to town, trying many different jobs and learning many practical life skills. Though he had a nice time around people and they liked him in return, he never made any actual friends during that period of his life.

One day, as he was enjoying a drink in a bar after work, he spotted a strange individual about to attack an Awyerian customer at the counter. The stranger hadn't made any aggressive move yet, but Kakopi could feel imminent danger emanating from them, just as he was able to tell when his parents were about to burst in anger back home.

Extending his leg and making the stranger trip, he prevented them from stabbing the Awyerian customer right in the nick of time, as their blade plunged into the counter mere centimeters away from its target's arm. The stranger got back up and turned around to face his opponent. Kakopi barely remembers the brief but intense fight that ensued; only that it involved a bowl of very hot soup, a chair that rotated a good 5 or 6 times while airborne, and the sounds of a couple broken bones (in the stranger's body, of course).

Once the fight concluded and the stranger was arrested by local authorities, the Awyerian customer (who kept drinking the entire time, seemingly oblivious to the entire event) addressed Kakopi a friendly pat on the back and told him he had "the sloppiest goddamn moves" but "pretty good instincts" nonetheless.

Intrigued by this Awyerian person, Kakopi talked to them the next day, at which point they finally introduced themself as Ashair. Explaining to Kakopi he had a fair potential at becoming a good martial mage, Ashair offered to train him, which he accepted. After intense training and long travels alongside his newfound master, Kakopi eventually honed his abilities well enough to be granted the title of master as well.

Kakopi lives in a modest home he built all by himself in the middle of a desert, near a medium-size Aitavaran city called Rabosa. Aside from occasional trips to the city to buy tools or food, he mostly stays at home, taking care of his place or studying texts about ancient martial mages, or goes training only gods know where in the desert.

Though Kakopi lives a very solitary life and never stays more than a day or two at the time in Rabosa, its inhabitants know him well and he has many friends there; he often spends more time in the city checking on them than trading goods.

Kakopi is only able to store and use very low amounts of mana, but excels in detecting his opponent's weak points. He knows precisely where to strike his opponents and which elemental strikes, even barely charged, will disrupt them and how.

On top of his martial mage abilities, Kakopi has excellent survival skills. He knows how to build and maintain shelters, find food and hunt for animals, and how to best use his surroundings to ambush his opponents.

Kakopi got his favorite knife from Lukin, Migao & Rayni, who decided to offer him a practical gift in after he confessed his place unfortunately had "little spare room for purely decorative objects, if at all".