Ashaby

Ashaby is an Olagus and Swarm Host chosen by the Swarm to be the main Host. Their role in the Swarm is the Traveler and they are never in one place for very long.

Appearance

Ashaby is a bipedal red furred creature with four arms. They have four fingers on each hand; two being large claws and the other two being smaller claws. Their feet have the same amount of toes with the same size differences. Ashaby has pointed cat-like ears and two antennae between those ears. They have one pincer on their mouth, the other being missing and replaced by a scar, rendering them unable to speak. They also have two sets of pedipalps on their cheeks, used to hold food in place while they eat. They have a furry ruff around their neck that is a lighter shade of red than the rest of their fur. They have a long thin tail that ends in a tuft of fur shaped like a butterfly. They also have a long scar down the middle of their back. Their eyes are pastel purple with darker purple spiral pupils.

They wear a black shirt, pants, and belt and a purple poncho over them. They also have a mask over the bottom of their face. Their pedipalps are usually tucked under the mask, but sometimes stick out.

Personality

Ashaby is rude and doesn’t care for social expectations; they are prone to playing pranks and challenging people to physical fights, especially when they know they will win. They are always traveling and like hearing stories and gossip from the many places they visit. They dislike being inside buildings and enjoy sleeping outside. They like sewing and destroying things and their favorite food is strawberry ice cream. Because they’re always somewhere different, they don’t have very many close friends but they have made a lot of acquaintances and allies throughout their travels.

Ashaby cannot speak verbally, dislikes technology, and has not found a sign language that accommodates for their four fingers, so when they want to express themself, they resort to writing it down or miming their thoughts.

History

Ashaby was born in Olvion in a small family with two older siblings; Yettel and Mavrackle. They have never been capable of verbal speech and so before Ashaby learned how to write the three siblings had to find ways for Ashaby to communicate nonverbally through body language. As Ashaby grew, they began feeling less and less a part of their community. While their siblings were patient enough to learn how to communicate with them, their other family members weren’t.

The older the three siblings got, the farther apart they grew. Eventually, Ashaby left their home and began traveling Olvion in search of somewhere they could feel accepted. When they couldn't find somewhere to belong in Olvion, they moved on to Infallis and when they didn't find it in Infallis, they moved on to Earth and when they found nothing on Earth they almost gave up. Until, they met the Forgotten Prophet.

The Prophet was largely alone too; The Swarm having left them with only their personal Swarm member who, while still loyal, no longer spoke to them like it used to. Ashaby and the Prophet bonded over their loneliness and shared love of plants and they became very good friends.

Eventually, The Swarm decided to make Ashaby the new main Host of The Swarm and Ashaby agreed. As the main Swarm Host, Ashaby travels and helps The Swarm find new Hosts. When they traveled to Crowdale, they met both Constantine and Bog and both eventually became fully realized Swarm Hosts. Ashaby also led Bog to Mayvally's old laboratory so she could find Valrik's ghost.

Ashaby's favorite place to visit is Crowdale, but they still never stay long.

Relationships

Mavrackle

Mavrackle is Ashaby's older sister and the oldest of the three siblings. Mavrackle always encouraged any misbehavior on her siblings' parts and frequently took the blame for their rule breaking. Though she stood up to the rest of their family on Ashaby's behalf, she was also prone to bullying them on her own. As the two grew older Mavrackle became less and less kind towards Ashaby, which contributed to their decision to leave. As adults, Ashaby has yet to contact Mavrackle again, though Mavrackle herself is remorseful of how she began to treat Ashaby.

Yettel

Yettel is Ashaby's older sibling, though not by much. As children, Yettel often took Ashaby's side over Mavrackle's in arguments. They were very close and liked playing pranks both on each other and the rest of the family. When Yettel got their job as a messenger, they began spending less and less time around their family, including Ashaby, which also contributed to their decision to leave. As adults, they have not interacted but have ran in the same circles before, just barely missing each other.

The Forgotten Prophet

Ashaby and the Forgotten Prophet were each other's first friends in a very long time. The two of them are very close and though Ashaby is never in one place for very long, they make it a point to visit the Prophet in Crowdale frequently. The two like going on walks together, gardening, and helping Constantine with his library.

Constantine

Ashaby met Constantine while he was a teenager working in Crowdale's public library. Ashaby thought Constantine's dry humor was funny and that he looked lonely and so The Swarm agreed to make him a Host. Over the years they grew closer and Ashaby now considers Constantine's house the closest thing to a home they have. Though Ashaby dislikes being inside buildings, they have a habit of sneaking into Constantine's house and eating all of his strawberry ice cream. Constantine doesn't actually like ice cream very much and only has it in case Ashaby visits (Ashaby does not know this).

Trivia

• Ashaby's name was inspired by the character R. F. Jackaby from the Jackaby book series by William Ritter.
• The first Ashaby drawings were tiny stick figure silhouettes that I doodled all over my homework.
• Ashaby's original design was dark blue with a black cloak and bright blue eyes.
• Ashaby is one of the only characters of mine that my mom knows by name.