Character

Rakul Terrash is 13 years old. The planet he lives on has a longer rotation than earth, so this makes him more mature than you might expect. He's a goatlizard. At least, that's what everyone else calls them. Goatlizards prefer to call themselves Rukiri, and argue about the correct way to spell it in other languages. He's got short, gray-brown hair over most of his body, and smooth pebbled lizardskin everywhere else. Those parts are mostly yellow, green, or white. He has a green crest like an iguanna's, but bigger, a thin whippy lizard tail, and a feet that are almost (but not quite) cloven hooves. He has no horns.

His older brother does, though. Rakul's brother looks like a giant anole standing on two legs, covered in goat hair, with a pair of horns. Goatlizards vary a lot in appearance.

Rakul is a farmer. Well, most of the time. He'd rather be a hero, or an adventurer, or a treasure hunter, or a mercenary, or....the list goes on. So it's no suprise that, whenever he can, he sneaks down to a grove somewhere on the bounds of the farm-cooperative that he lives and works on. Not all goatlizards are farmers, but it's a decent living.

Hidden in that grove is a staff, that Rakul drills with as often as he can, trying to teach himself how to fight. Someone else used to practice with him, but they're gone now. The staff is shod with metal at either end, with a pair of seemingly-pointless metal rings pierced through each shod end.

Rakul has no idea what the life of a hero, or a treasure hunter, or a mercenary, is really like.

But he's going to find out soon enough.