Infopost (WIP)
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longestduranceName: Thais Gavras (The Old Soldier)
Age: 178 (by birth-year), 200+ (chronological), 42 (relative/by new birth certificate)
Seeming: Wizened
--Blessing: Can transform one thing into another with the proper tools. Costs Glamour if jury-rigged.
--Curse: Risks Clarity damage if caught off-guard by an unpleasant surprise.
Kith(s):
--Hunterheart: Tracking creatures of/from Faerie is easier than for others.
----Pounce: If the target can see his eyes, Thais can spend Glamour to make them freeze or flee in terror. Thais also can cause increased harm to targets he's affected this way.
--Bright One: Becoming the center of attention in a social situation is very easy.
----Flare: Thais always has a visible glow, even in the darkest of rooms, though the Mask normally prevents mortals from seeing it. Spending a point of Glamour to turns this glow up to a dazzling brilliance that blinds enemies; the Mask does not obscure this light.
Wyrd: 4/medium
Clarity: 6/medium
Willpower: 8/high
Court: Winter (local/current), West/White Tiger (future court goodwill/acts as liaison)
Title: none (current), Liaison to the Directional Courts (West/White Tiger, specifically) of San Francisco and later Las Angeles. (future)
Contracts: (Favored Regalia: Jewels, Mirror)
--Light Shy (c, Jewels): Becomes unnoticed (unless attracting attention) to the mind, but not recording devices. Can do this to objects too.
--Changeling Hours (r, Jewels): Can reverse, freeze or speed up objects in time to "fix", make immune to change, or corrode them. Can Freeze an object permanently.
--Know the Competition (c, Mirror): Through playing a game, Thais can learn about someone else.
--Walls have ears (c, Mirror): can speak with objects to learn about them, how to use them, or have visions of what was happening around the object at certain times in the past (up to three)
--Unravel the Tapestry (r, Mirror): can rewind time (10 seconds) to change things because he's still aware of what happened the first time. Allows him to make a surprise attack if he wants. Self-activates if he dies (only once).
--Fae Cunning (c, Shield): much easier to dodge attacks, even firearms. Even supernatural things that would usually not be dodgeable at all (although requires a clash of wills).
--Pathfinder (c, Steed): Can learn the direction, distance, (and types if Goblin Fruit) of features of the Hedge.
--Ermine's Winter Coat (r, Winter): blends in with surroundings, gaining benefits to avoiding being tracked by Fae, to stealth, to dodging attacks and to seeming mortal in clashes of wills.
--Ice Queen's Call (c, Winter): Spitting on the ground creates a isolated blizzard with freezing cold (that he's immune to) and plagued by sorrowful whispers and sounds.
Merits:
--Dual Kith: ** (both Hunterheart and Bright One)
--Acute Senses: * (what it says on the tin)
--Arcadian Metabolism: ** (increased healing in Fae realms)
--Goblin Bounty: * (almost always has access to goblin fruit)
--Hedge Sense: * (excels at navigating the Hedge)
--Winter Mantle: * (Future: **) [Easier to escape notice while spying (future: easier to lie)]
----gains Glamour when helping others come to terms with grief
--Eidetic Memory ** (what it says on the tin)
--(future) Court Goodwill; West/White Tiger: ***** (can use up to *** West/White Tiger Mantle effects)
--(future) Mentor /w Goodwill: *
Attributes: (x/5)
--Mental:
----Intelligence: ***
----Wits: ****
----Resolve: ****
--Physical:
----Strength: **
----Dexterity: ****
----Stamina: **
--Social:
----Presence: **
----Manipulation: ***
----Composure: ***
Skills
--Mental:
----Academics: **
----Computer: o
----Craft: **
----Investigation: **
----Medicine: *
----Occult: **
----Politics: ** (future speciality: Freehold/court)
----Science: *
--Physical:
--Athletics:
----Brawl: **
----Drive: o
----Firearms: ****
----Larceny: *
----Stealth: *
----Survival: * (speciality: Hedge/Arcadia)
----Weaponry: **
--Social:
----Animal Ken: o
----Empathy: **
----Expression: ***
----Intimidation: o
----Persuasion: **
----Socialize: **
----Streetwise: o
----Subterfuge: **
Quick timeline:
Birth Year: 1846
Enlisted year: 1862 (just turned 16)
Abducted year: 1864 (early, had not turned 18 quite yet). Fetch destroyed. Declared missing, presumed captured.
Declared dead: 1866
Escaped to San Diego: 2024
History:
Thais was the first full-term surviving child of a union between two immigrant families from southeastern Europe (the two families had been part of separate small groups that had pooled resources to immigrate from Crete and Cyprus respectively and stuck together after meeting on US soil due to the closest thing to shared culture that they had in the US) that had by the time of Thais's birth settled in Indiana (nearish where the West and East forks of the White River meet up). Although assigned female at birth, Thais's father was adamant that his wife and all his children (the three that survived until adulthood were only Thais and two younger sisters, however) should be able to fully protect and support themselves, so Thais learned everything about fighting by hand and by available weapons that his father could teach. Thais also learned reading, mathematics and three languages (Greek, Turkish, and English) from his parents, grandparents and various extended family members. Greek was the primary language spoken in the home with Turkish as a close second, primarily with older members of the family on his mother's side. The first generation immigrants of the two groups had primarily been craftspeople and merchants, with several of the eldest being involved in ship building or coopers. Thais's father in particular worked both with general carpentry, and (essentially pre-modern) forestry to supply members of the extended family that had remained in the nearest settlement as coopers with raw materials. Thais had opportunities to learn basic carpentry techniques, but had a much greater interest in activities outside the home workshop and so learned those first and better. Later events would ensure that Thais wouldn't get the chance he'd expected to learn the rest of what his father could teach him at a slower pace.
The extended family groups had been pushed further and further west primarily through active and passive discrimination from the overwhelmingly western European population of the admitted states and territories of the US at the time. Because the family groups had initially immigrated to find freedom and safety from Ottoman rule (a history of revolutionary firebrands in the family tree put targets on their backs) in their respective islands, and because it had not gotten better as expected once in the US, all members of the family had great sympathy and empathy for others who found themselves experiencing discrimination. Though they did what they could to reach out, much of their efforts had little to no effect on the greater trends, except where abolition was concerned. They were vocal about it in their communities, and became deeply involved in the Underground Railroad. Some of Thais's aunts/uncles and older cousins even took regular trips southward to sell "extra" barrels, and then would come back north to their homes with escaped slaves hiding in their wagons (and sometimes the unsold barrels, especially during the height of the Railroad). Thais's family in particular, living farther from established settlements, frequently sheltered escapees in their home, and Thais's father regularly acted as a guide to help them go further northward using paths less traveled.
As adolescence helped Thais shoot up in height to rival the tallest of his relatives, he began to help out where he could, first marking trails and hunting and trapping small game to help feed their guests, and then as the years moved on and more and more groups came through, going out to meet new arrivals while his father guided previous arrivals further north. This all culminated in an event that would define something very important for Thais, who had up until this point felt off without any understanding as to why.
Thais's father ended up shot while guiding a group north, and while he made it home, he'd lost a lot of blood, and aggravated the injury so that he would be unable to walk more than a few hobbled steps for weeks at least. Thais immediately volunteered to fill in as guide, but his mother and sisters were rightfully worried about the increase in opposition from bounty hunters in the area, and the terrible consequences if an attacker who might overpower Thais saw him as a woman. Even Thais's father seemed like he might agree, but Thais argued that if he wore his father's clothes and cut off his hair, everyone would see him as a man, because he was so tall. With his family's blessing after his youngest sister's suggestion they could make the shorn hair into a wig, that was what he did, and being recognized as a man in his 'disguise' made Thais realize that he was a man, and resulted in an epiphany about what had felt off for so long. Fearing distressing his family farther, Thais told no one this for some time.
It was not very long at all after this that the Civil War broke out, and Thais's father had been denied upon attempting to enlist because of his lingering post-injury difficulties walking. With many of his uncles and male cousins enlisting and going to fight, Thais became increasingly distressed by his own barriers to doing the same, including being too young. Meanwhile the older of his two sisters was having visible distress about some mystery problem of her own after having taken over transporting the raw materials their family used in their craft to town, just as Thais had now been doing most of the harvesting of the wood for their father since the injury. After some coaxing Thais finally got her to admit the problem, that a girl from town "made her heart flutter, and dreams about kisses and more come" instead of boys. And in return, Thais admitted out loud to someone else for the first time that he wasn't a woman, even if he didn't understand how. Brother and sister shared a good hug and relieved cry together.
Less than a week later, his too-young-to-enlist cousin convinced his family to give him permission to enlist anyway, and this left Thais wracked with guilt over not being able to help the Union how he felt he should. That night, Thais stole his father's clothes (for the first time, without permission) and tried to sneak out. His father caught him, and after wearily asking if there wasn't a way to dissuade Thais from this path, finally gave permission, saying that he thought that "someday a woman wouldn't need to disguise herself as a man to go and defend her country." Thais choked on telling his father the truth, and eventually just promised to do his utmost to come back home after the fighting was done.
He went afield to enlist so that the recruiter wouldn't recognize him or his family name and almost got denied anyway, because the recruiter didn't believe his age. Thais admitted he was actually sixteen (true anyway) in desperation talking about how his cousin (a month younger!) had been allowed to enlist, and that was enough to convince the recruiter to look the other way. Then he found out he'd been enlisted as a drummer instead of a regular soldier. Thais borrowed a razor after that, in hopes that appearing as freshly clean-shaven instead of with an amount of fine 'baby' hair on his cheeks would help him appear older.
It didn't really work, but demonstrating his discipline and prowess with guns (rapidly climbing from a very good shot to a crack shot) ended with him becoming a soldier instead. Thais ended up seeing battle several times, and won the respect of his whole regiment with his bravery. He was also lucky enough to avoid being seriously wounded, even though he had at times rescued other wounded at direct risk to himself. This, unfortunately, caught the attention of the Keepers, who had been abducting soldiers from both sides a few at a time since the start of the war.
Thais had been assigned to night watch on the night of his abduction, and perhaps the only mistake that the Keeper made was visiting the nearby (as the True Fae travels) Confederate camp first. Thais spotted and recognized the uniform of the helpless and already traumatized abductee and raised the alarm before shooting.
...the uncanny double of himself. Which caught on fire! The fetch was thus destroyed, replacement uniform burning almost entirely and leaving behind military paraphernalia and weapons, including a musket and powder flask, rifle and paper cartridges, bayonets and ramrods. Thais was doomed from the start, and the alarm alerted others who were either captured or killed but the presence of additional weapons among the corpses convinced the regimental leaders that Thais and another responder, not killed in the conflict, had been captured by an enemy incursion. They were both listed as presumed captured but credited with stopping an attack under cover of darkness.
[Thais remains completely unaware, but he was eventually declared officially dead (presumed while as a prisoner of war) and his family was given a posthumous award and a sum of money (his pay) in honor of his sacrifice. His family remained passionate about fighting against discrimination and for equality down through generations, with his elder sister in particular becoming involved in the women's suffrage movement, and his younger sister fighting for equal education for her whole life, including founding a school dedicated to that aim eventually.]
Thais after being abducted into Arcadia was drafted into an eternal war, although war-games was perhaps more accurate, because the two Keepers continued their war for no real reason other than their own amusement. The difference was negligible anyway, because for the soldiers it was as real as war could be, even if the weapons and tactics changed at the Keepers' whims. Death was a constant, although not permanent. Those who died were often punished for doing so after revival.
Thais was punished for disrupting his own abduction too, and initially transformed into a not-remotely humanoid form as a cavalry mount (if it's still a cavalry when the mounts are giant saber-toothed cheetahs). Even after the Keeper grew bored of the punishment and pleased with Thais's effectiveness even as a cat, and "recreated" Thais back into a "proper soldier," Thais was ever after left with some kind of feline feature as a reminder. Even when he spent time as the banner flying over the troops, made of woven starlight, he still had a cat-like form depicted as the symbol painted across him.
Over two centuries passed in Arcadia, the eternal war continuing through incarnations that ranged from high fantasy warfare to futuristic sci-fi warfare, and even forms of warfare that go beyond human comprehension. Thais started skilled and grew ever more skilled, and mostly pleased the Keepers very much. He spent considerable time being used as a spy and scout, and as a trainer, and eventually a leader of the armies. And he found loopholes for escape, but rather than use them for himself, used them to get others free again and again, choosing to stay behind with the aim to get all the captive soldiers free. And eventually after long enough had passed that Thais was known simply as The Old Soldier to most, and even the Keepers, Thais found a way to apply that loophole to everyone at once, after the Keepers (perhaps foolishly) gave him the boon of all the soldiers between them being his. So Thais simply focused on the thought that they were marching for the mortal world, and led the soldiers out.
The Keepers caught on, because of course they did, but even two True Fae couldn't recapture them all, so Thais and others made it out. Even if, by the usual reckonings, Thais shouldn't have had something to help lead him home. Except Thais's concept of 'Home' had long been people, and rather than set hopes on his blood family, he set his hopes on rejoining with the soldiers he'd already helped escape. It was enough to lead him out, to a Home kept alive in the heart and memories of one he'd helped.
That's how he ended up in San Diego in 2024, because that success was Henry, now known as Fantomas, living there and helping to forge new documents for newly escaped Changelings in the San Diego freehold. Henry promptly took Thais in and started slowly introducing him to a world almost two centuries past what Thais last remembered. It mostly went smooth! Except for a car backfiring while Henry was taking Thais on a walk about town and Thais triggered and panicked right into moving traffic and a concussion. Luckily Thais wasn't seriously hurt, and knowing about PTSD is the first step to addressing it.
Also during this period, Thais was introduced to Steven "Sharpteeth" Durante, another Changeling and under the Mentorship of Fantomas. After the introduction, Steven invited Thais to room with him (if only because Fantomas had just a couch, where Steven had a guest bedroom/office complete with daybed) while Thais accustomed himself to the future and did important things like get his GED.
Age: 178 (by birth-year), 200+ (chronological), 42 (relative/by new birth certificate)
Seeming: Wizened
--Blessing: Can transform one thing into another with the proper tools. Costs Glamour if jury-rigged.
--Curse: Risks Clarity damage if caught off-guard by an unpleasant surprise.
Kith(s):
--Hunterheart: Tracking creatures of/from Faerie is easier than for others.
----Pounce: If the target can see his eyes, Thais can spend Glamour to make them freeze or flee in terror. Thais also can cause increased harm to targets he's affected this way.
--Bright One: Becoming the center of attention in a social situation is very easy.
----Flare: Thais always has a visible glow, even in the darkest of rooms, though the Mask normally prevents mortals from seeing it. Spending a point of Glamour to turns this glow up to a dazzling brilliance that blinds enemies; the Mask does not obscure this light.
Wyrd: 4/medium
Clarity: 6/medium
Willpower: 8/high
Court: Winter (local/current), West/White Tiger (future court goodwill/acts as liaison)
Title: none (current), Liaison to the Directional Courts (West/White Tiger, specifically) of San Francisco and later Las Angeles. (future)
Contracts: (Favored Regalia: Jewels, Mirror)
--Light Shy (c, Jewels): Becomes unnoticed (unless attracting attention) to the mind, but not recording devices. Can do this to objects too.
--Changeling Hours (r, Jewels): Can reverse, freeze or speed up objects in time to "fix", make immune to change, or corrode them. Can Freeze an object permanently.
--Know the Competition (c, Mirror): Through playing a game, Thais can learn about someone else.
--Walls have ears (c, Mirror): can speak with objects to learn about them, how to use them, or have visions of what was happening around the object at certain times in the past (up to three)
--Unravel the Tapestry (r, Mirror): can rewind time (10 seconds) to change things because he's still aware of what happened the first time. Allows him to make a surprise attack if he wants. Self-activates if he dies (only once).
--Fae Cunning (c, Shield): much easier to dodge attacks, even firearms. Even supernatural things that would usually not be dodgeable at all (although requires a clash of wills).
--Pathfinder (c, Steed): Can learn the direction, distance, (and types if Goblin Fruit) of features of the Hedge.
--Ermine's Winter Coat (r, Winter): blends in with surroundings, gaining benefits to avoiding being tracked by Fae, to stealth, to dodging attacks and to seeming mortal in clashes of wills.
--Ice Queen's Call (c, Winter): Spitting on the ground creates a isolated blizzard with freezing cold (that he's immune to) and plagued by sorrowful whispers and sounds.
Merits:
--Dual Kith: ** (both Hunterheart and Bright One)
--Acute Senses: * (what it says on the tin)
--Arcadian Metabolism: ** (increased healing in Fae realms)
--Goblin Bounty: * (almost always has access to goblin fruit)
--Hedge Sense: * (excels at navigating the Hedge)
--Winter Mantle: * (Future: **) [Easier to escape notice while spying (future: easier to lie)]
----gains Glamour when helping others come to terms with grief
--Eidetic Memory ** (what it says on the tin)
--(future) Court Goodwill; West/White Tiger: ***** (can use up to *** West/White Tiger Mantle effects)
--(future) Mentor /w Goodwill: *
Attributes: (x/5)
--Mental:
----Intelligence: ***
----Wits: ****
----Resolve: ****
--Physical:
----Strength: **
----Dexterity: ****
----Stamina: **
--Social:
----Presence: **
----Manipulation: ***
----Composure: ***
Skills
--Mental:
----Academics: **
----Computer: o
----Craft: **
----Investigation: **
----Medicine: *
----Occult: **
----Politics: ** (future speciality: Freehold/court)
----Science: *
--Physical:
--Athletics:
----Brawl: **
----Drive: o
----Firearms: ****
----Larceny: *
----Stealth: *
----Survival: * (speciality: Hedge/Arcadia)
----Weaponry: **
--Social:
----Animal Ken: o
----Empathy: **
----Expression: ***
----Intimidation: o
----Persuasion: **
----Socialize: **
----Streetwise: o
----Subterfuge: **
Quick timeline:
Birth Year: 1846
Enlisted year: 1862 (just turned 16)
Abducted year: 1864 (early, had not turned 18 quite yet). Fetch destroyed. Declared missing, presumed captured.
Declared dead: 1866
Escaped to San Diego: 2024
History:
Thais was the first full-term surviving child of a union between two immigrant families from southeastern Europe (the two families had been part of separate small groups that had pooled resources to immigrate from Crete and Cyprus respectively and stuck together after meeting on US soil due to the closest thing to shared culture that they had in the US) that had by the time of Thais's birth settled in Indiana (nearish where the West and East forks of the White River meet up). Although assigned female at birth, Thais's father was adamant that his wife and all his children (the three that survived until adulthood were only Thais and two younger sisters, however) should be able to fully protect and support themselves, so Thais learned everything about fighting by hand and by available weapons that his father could teach. Thais also learned reading, mathematics and three languages (Greek, Turkish, and English) from his parents, grandparents and various extended family members. Greek was the primary language spoken in the home with Turkish as a close second, primarily with older members of the family on his mother's side. The first generation immigrants of the two groups had primarily been craftspeople and merchants, with several of the eldest being involved in ship building or coopers. Thais's father in particular worked both with general carpentry, and (essentially pre-modern) forestry to supply members of the extended family that had remained in the nearest settlement as coopers with raw materials. Thais had opportunities to learn basic carpentry techniques, but had a much greater interest in activities outside the home workshop and so learned those first and better. Later events would ensure that Thais wouldn't get the chance he'd expected to learn the rest of what his father could teach him at a slower pace.
The extended family groups had been pushed further and further west primarily through active and passive discrimination from the overwhelmingly western European population of the admitted states and territories of the US at the time. Because the family groups had initially immigrated to find freedom and safety from Ottoman rule (a history of revolutionary firebrands in the family tree put targets on their backs) in their respective islands, and because it had not gotten better as expected once in the US, all members of the family had great sympathy and empathy for others who found themselves experiencing discrimination. Though they did what they could to reach out, much of their efforts had little to no effect on the greater trends, except where abolition was concerned. They were vocal about it in their communities, and became deeply involved in the Underground Railroad. Some of Thais's aunts/uncles and older cousins even took regular trips southward to sell "extra" barrels, and then would come back north to their homes with escaped slaves hiding in their wagons (and sometimes the unsold barrels, especially during the height of the Railroad). Thais's family in particular, living farther from established settlements, frequently sheltered escapees in their home, and Thais's father regularly acted as a guide to help them go further northward using paths less traveled.
As adolescence helped Thais shoot up in height to rival the tallest of his relatives, he began to help out where he could, first marking trails and hunting and trapping small game to help feed their guests, and then as the years moved on and more and more groups came through, going out to meet new arrivals while his father guided previous arrivals further north. This all culminated in an event that would define something very important for Thais, who had up until this point felt off without any understanding as to why.
Thais's father ended up shot while guiding a group north, and while he made it home, he'd lost a lot of blood, and aggravated the injury so that he would be unable to walk more than a few hobbled steps for weeks at least. Thais immediately volunteered to fill in as guide, but his mother and sisters were rightfully worried about the increase in opposition from bounty hunters in the area, and the terrible consequences if an attacker who might overpower Thais saw him as a woman. Even Thais's father seemed like he might agree, but Thais argued that if he wore his father's clothes and cut off his hair, everyone would see him as a man, because he was so tall. With his family's blessing after his youngest sister's suggestion they could make the shorn hair into a wig, that was what he did, and being recognized as a man in his 'disguise' made Thais realize that he was a man, and resulted in an epiphany about what had felt off for so long. Fearing distressing his family farther, Thais told no one this for some time.
It was not very long at all after this that the Civil War broke out, and Thais's father had been denied upon attempting to enlist because of his lingering post-injury difficulties walking. With many of his uncles and male cousins enlisting and going to fight, Thais became increasingly distressed by his own barriers to doing the same, including being too young. Meanwhile the older of his two sisters was having visible distress about some mystery problem of her own after having taken over transporting the raw materials their family used in their craft to town, just as Thais had now been doing most of the harvesting of the wood for their father since the injury. After some coaxing Thais finally got her to admit the problem, that a girl from town "made her heart flutter, and dreams about kisses and more come" instead of boys. And in return, Thais admitted out loud to someone else for the first time that he wasn't a woman, even if he didn't understand how. Brother and sister shared a good hug and relieved cry together.
Less than a week later, his too-young-to-enlist cousin convinced his family to give him permission to enlist anyway, and this left Thais wracked with guilt over not being able to help the Union how he felt he should. That night, Thais stole his father's clothes (for the first time, without permission) and tried to sneak out. His father caught him, and after wearily asking if there wasn't a way to dissuade Thais from this path, finally gave permission, saying that he thought that "someday a woman wouldn't need to disguise herself as a man to go and defend her country." Thais choked on telling his father the truth, and eventually just promised to do his utmost to come back home after the fighting was done.
He went afield to enlist so that the recruiter wouldn't recognize him or his family name and almost got denied anyway, because the recruiter didn't believe his age. Thais admitted he was actually sixteen (true anyway) in desperation talking about how his cousin (a month younger!) had been allowed to enlist, and that was enough to convince the recruiter to look the other way. Then he found out he'd been enlisted as a drummer instead of a regular soldier. Thais borrowed a razor after that, in hopes that appearing as freshly clean-shaven instead of with an amount of fine 'baby' hair on his cheeks would help him appear older.
It didn't really work, but demonstrating his discipline and prowess with guns (rapidly climbing from a very good shot to a crack shot) ended with him becoming a soldier instead. Thais ended up seeing battle several times, and won the respect of his whole regiment with his bravery. He was also lucky enough to avoid being seriously wounded, even though he had at times rescued other wounded at direct risk to himself. This, unfortunately, caught the attention of the Keepers, who had been abducting soldiers from both sides a few at a time since the start of the war.
Thais had been assigned to night watch on the night of his abduction, and perhaps the only mistake that the Keeper made was visiting the nearby (as the True Fae travels) Confederate camp first. Thais spotted and recognized the uniform of the helpless and already traumatized abductee and raised the alarm before shooting.
...the uncanny double of himself. Which caught on fire! The fetch was thus destroyed, replacement uniform burning almost entirely and leaving behind military paraphernalia and weapons, including a musket and powder flask, rifle and paper cartridges, bayonets and ramrods. Thais was doomed from the start, and the alarm alerted others who were either captured or killed but the presence of additional weapons among the corpses convinced the regimental leaders that Thais and another responder, not killed in the conflict, had been captured by an enemy incursion. They were both listed as presumed captured but credited with stopping an attack under cover of darkness.
[Thais remains completely unaware, but he was eventually declared officially dead (presumed while as a prisoner of war) and his family was given a posthumous award and a sum of money (his pay) in honor of his sacrifice. His family remained passionate about fighting against discrimination and for equality down through generations, with his elder sister in particular becoming involved in the women's suffrage movement, and his younger sister fighting for equal education for her whole life, including founding a school dedicated to that aim eventually.]
Thais after being abducted into Arcadia was drafted into an eternal war, although war-games was perhaps more accurate, because the two Keepers continued their war for no real reason other than their own amusement. The difference was negligible anyway, because for the soldiers it was as real as war could be, even if the weapons and tactics changed at the Keepers' whims. Death was a constant, although not permanent. Those who died were often punished for doing so after revival.
Thais was punished for disrupting his own abduction too, and initially transformed into a not-remotely humanoid form as a cavalry mount (if it's still a cavalry when the mounts are giant saber-toothed cheetahs). Even after the Keeper grew bored of the punishment and pleased with Thais's effectiveness even as a cat, and "recreated" Thais back into a "proper soldier," Thais was ever after left with some kind of feline feature as a reminder. Even when he spent time as the banner flying over the troops, made of woven starlight, he still had a cat-like form depicted as the symbol painted across him.
Over two centuries passed in Arcadia, the eternal war continuing through incarnations that ranged from high fantasy warfare to futuristic sci-fi warfare, and even forms of warfare that go beyond human comprehension. Thais started skilled and grew ever more skilled, and mostly pleased the Keepers very much. He spent considerable time being used as a spy and scout, and as a trainer, and eventually a leader of the armies. And he found loopholes for escape, but rather than use them for himself, used them to get others free again and again, choosing to stay behind with the aim to get all the captive soldiers free. And eventually after long enough had passed that Thais was known simply as The Old Soldier to most, and even the Keepers, Thais found a way to apply that loophole to everyone at once, after the Keepers (perhaps foolishly) gave him the boon of all the soldiers between them being his. So Thais simply focused on the thought that they were marching for the mortal world, and led the soldiers out.
The Keepers caught on, because of course they did, but even two True Fae couldn't recapture them all, so Thais and others made it out. Even if, by the usual reckonings, Thais shouldn't have had something to help lead him home. Except Thais's concept of 'Home' had long been people, and rather than set hopes on his blood family, he set his hopes on rejoining with the soldiers he'd already helped escape. It was enough to lead him out, to a Home kept alive in the heart and memories of one he'd helped.
That's how he ended up in San Diego in 2024, because that success was Henry, now known as Fantomas, living there and helping to forge new documents for newly escaped Changelings in the San Diego freehold. Henry promptly took Thais in and started slowly introducing him to a world almost two centuries past what Thais last remembered. It mostly went smooth! Except for a car backfiring while Henry was taking Thais on a walk about town and Thais triggered and panicked right into moving traffic and a concussion. Luckily Thais wasn't seriously hurt, and knowing about PTSD is the first step to addressing it.
Also during this period, Thais was introduced to Steven "Sharpteeth" Durante, another Changeling and under the Mentorship of Fantomas. After the introduction, Steven invited Thais to room with him (if only because Fantomas had just a couch, where Steven had a guest bedroom/office complete with daybed) while Thais accustomed himself to the future and did important things like get his GED.
