( RYAN GUZMAN, PANSEXUAL, CISMALE, HE/HIM ) — by the grace of the gods, old and new, i present to you ALFYNN NYGHTSHADE of HOUSE NYGHTSHADE within the lands of CASTHER. the gods have blessed us with their presence for 37 years. many know them to be CARING, CAUTIOUS, and CURIOUS, and while it is not always shown, it is said they can also be DANGEROUS, SECRETIVE, and PARANOID. what will their tale in the story of metia be? only they can write it, so let’s see how their legend unfolds.
no good turn goes truly unpunished for long -- and no skilled scientist remains good forever.
even without magic, alfynn nyghtshade's hand with herbs and tinctures had become something of an anomaly. some even wondered if he'd receive invitation to work with the solanis school of magic, with how some of his potions and draughts would take effect. many would indeed call it a gift from the gods.
alfynn just called it a blend between mathematics and cooking.
just as one wouldn't bake sweets for someone with a stomachache, there were simply some compounds and substrates that you'd give for certain symptoms, and some you wouldn't. crossing known effects with trialed and tested preparations (often upon himself), alfynn was able to combine effects to great....effect. one of the secrets of medicine was how like effects would exacerbate one another, leading to quicker treatment and greater cures, but also... devastating implication.
the difference between a cure and a kill could be as little as a few more or fewer drops, a few extra degrees of heat, an extra leaf, a spare petal...
with his father, the lord of house nyghtshade -- and frustratedly worse at herbalism than his son -- vying to get everything his genius scion would be worth, alfynn could only pray that his compounds would do more good than ill.
