The Beast

Nést Yokté, better known as “The Beast,” was a kíndallan chieftain during the Second Age. A warrior par excellence, he led his army to countless victories in their war for independence from the Kingdom of The Highlands. But it was not until he partnered with the shrewd human negotiator Bonnie MacAdam—first professionally and then romantically—that he was able to force the Treaty of Meltwater and achieve his lifelong goal: a safe haven for his people in the post-apocalyptic paradise of Eden.

Appearance & Personality

Though he was born, like all kíndallans, with the ability to shapeshift, Yokté spent most of his adult life trapped in the same physical form—a monstrous form he’d taken to intimidate a group of elven ne’er-do-wells terrorizing the Gadallan countryside.

Yokté’s body was thick and muscled and far taller than the average kíndallan at 6' 4" tall. His horns were massive and curled, like a ram’s. And his face, while still vaguely humanoid in its features, was animalistic.

In terms of his personality, The Beast was a calm, centered, and pragmatic stoic at his core. While he adopted the persona of an uncontrollable madman on the battlefield, that was all an act. He was, first and foremost, devoted establishing a peaceful life for his people. Above all, he wanted them to be safe and to have the opportunity to thrive. And if that meant playing the part of a bloodthirsty barbarian from time to time, then so be it.

Biography

Childhood

Nést Yokté was born on the planet of Gadalla in 1897 (99 Edenian ) of the Earth-666 iteration of reality. He grew up in the Village of Furs, a trappers’ town at the southern edge of the Kedaliknan Fjordlands, and his early life was a peaceful one.

That all changed near the end of his tenth year, when elven terrorists bombed the nearby Monastery of the Many Paths—an event which radicalized the young Yokté and saw him join the local branch of the Wabkíní freedom fighters.

From that point on, war would dominate his life.

Adolescence

Over the next five years, Yokté fought alongside the Wabkíní to defend his homeworld from repeated elven incursions. The most famous of these was the Battle of the Yan dal Kogdoo, where the Wabkíní defended a group of pacifist elven refugees from their more militaristic brethren. And yet, it was the Skirmish at the Yaxfíg which would have the most profound impact on Yokté’s life.

The skirmish was the result of an elven covert ops squad ransacking a winery which belonged to one of Nést Yokté’s dearest comrades. The elves were not expecting much resistance at such a remote location, but Yokté and his squad of Wabkíní were staying there for a spell to regain their strength. And so, this turned what might’ve amounted to little more than an armed robbery into a full-on firefight.

A full-on firefight where one side was drunk off their shapeshifting asses.

In the midst of the chaotic fighting, a ferschnickered Yokté transformed himself into a hellish-looking beast to try and frighten the elves away. It didn’t work, and all he got for his trouble was the blast of an elven curse straight to his chest. From then on, Nést Yokté would be stuck in the form he’d chosen on a whim—stricken with the most loathsome malady in all of kíndallan society: tíkné ta.

He would never shapeshift again.

Adulthood

In the year 1912 of Nést Yokté’s version of reality, a Calamity struck, most of the universe was destroyed, and the survivors found themselves scattered across the land of Eden.

Yokté and many of his kíndallan compatriots found themselves in The Highlands, a mountainous region where they were outnumbered by human refugees and the diminutive Edenian natives—the halflings—who seemed to have been waiting for the humans to arrive for some time. For reasons unbeknownst to the kíndallans, the halflings gave the human beings dominion over the whole of the Edenian South and The Highlands were a part of that gift.

This might’ve been fine. It might’ve been, if the humans weren’t so xenophobic. Instead, hostilities broke out almost immediately between the humans and the kíndallans. And with the powerful Hamish and Johanna leading the humans, Nést Yokté felt like he had his back against the wall. He’d fought off the colonialist tendencies of the elves for years, though. And so, he had to believe he could win this fight as well.

In time, the careless humans found themselves embroiled in conflicts beyond counting. They sought to wrap up some of the wars they felt were ultimately unwinnable. And that is how, in the year 138, Nést Yokté came to meet a young ambassador from Queen Johanna’s court: Bonnie MacAdam.

It took four years for the two sides to come to agreement, and each time Bonnie returned to the castle of the so-called ”Beast” to negotiate, rumors swirled that she’d been comprimised in some way. But while it was true that Bonnie had taken Nést to bed, the “naïve” beauty and her “deplorable” beast separated business from pleasure at all times. Only at the very end did their emotions threaten the progress toward peace.

In early 142, two critical developments came into play:

1. After nearly twenty-eight years living with tíkné ta, Nést’s health was in steep decline. A kíndallan was not meant to hold one shape for that long, after all.
2. An important deadline set by The Great Abdication Movement was about to pass. The crown had agreed that the future King Hamish II would marry a “girl of quality” on the day he turned 18, a woman picked from a pool chosen by the people—and Hamish II’s birthday was fast approaching.

Nést was ready to depart this life, to end his pain, but he wanted to secure his people’s freedom first. Bonnie was on the list of “women of quality” given by the people to the crown. To Nést, the solution seemed simple. But while Bonnie the Negotiator agreed, Bonnie the Lover did not.

It took a further six months for Nést to convince Bonnie to let him go, but eventually she did. And it was thus that, three days before Hamish II’s eighteenth birthday, the Treaty of Meltwater was signed.

Three days later, at first light on the day that Bonnie would marry Hamish II, she helped the ailing Nést step into the gentle current of Connor’s Creek. They kissed one last time. Then Nést Yokté, feeling that his work was done, surrendered himself to the water and returned to the great river from which all kíndalla are born and to which all of them must, eventually, return.