THE LIGHTLESS Character Profiles #5: L.E.

Creator and proprietor of the Refulgency, everyone called her L.E. (Light Echo), because she had never told anyone her real name. Her star’s name was Locus, and it was a motherly, concerned voice in her head, often times driving her nearly mad with its incessant nagging and criticisms of her actions. Burns covered most of L.E.’s body, after surviving a battle with a rival group of Shapers. For the most part Shapers kept to their own communities. However, some of the most nomadic, and selfish would cause havoc whenever and wherever they could. These Shapers were known for attacking L.S.O. owned property, but they were not always so discerning in their nefarious actions. L.E. learned this the hard way, as a group of Shapers blew into Sorrowville only days after she had started the Refulgency. With very little Shapers recruited so far, and those who were lacking in experience, L.E. faced the nefarious Shapers on her own, killing some, and scaring the rest away, but was seriously injured. Doctors struggled to save her life, but in the end she survived, and bears the scars to this day.

Before the Refulgency

L.E. grew up in Sorrowville to a family of Shapers. Growing up with the Old Ways in her head, and becoming a Shaper herself at a young age, she had never known anything outside of the lifestyle, nor did she want to for quite some time. Relations between people and Shapers wasn’t always cordial, as either party had the tendency to discriminate against the other, but this was something that L.E. would quickly leave in the past as she grew older. Her parents had always tried to bring more Shapers into Sorrowville, as they believed that they could protect their home without having to fully adhere to the L.S.O.’s expensive protection, and to help keep the Old Ways alive in the hearts of the people of Unfeasted. Her parents’ dream would pass on to her, after caring for them for years, they passed a year apart from each other. L.E. was an only child, and had no other family she could reach out to. Sorrowville was her family now, neighbors, family friends, and coworkers at the local community center. L.E. was a youth worker, and had for some time slipped in some of her ideology about Shapers and the Old Ways, and much to her surprise people didn’t seem to care. In fact, parents began thanking and complimenting L.E. on her efforts, as she was also just a terrific teacher. With her parents’ dream still in her head, she would use her days off and vacations to visit Quadrant One’s cities and towns, not only gathering as much info as she could about the place she inhabited, but to see if there might already be Shapers out there willing to relocate to Sorrowville. Mildly successful in bringing back a handful of Shapers from her travels over a two year span, L.E. imparted to them the dream she wished to make a reality. However, her parents’ dream of protecting Sorrowville and the Old Ways had morphed and grown into L.E. wishing to protect the entire Quadrant, and one day to move beyond it. This of course would take many people, and a lot of power and money, as establishing business between Quadrants wasn’t always easy or cheap, the L.S.O. had made things are hard as possible to stretch out across the continent. Talk spread throughout the small town of Sorrowville about what L.E. was doing, and she became a local celebrity, with parents not only offering themselves to the cause, but their children and family members as well.

Dreams Unbroken

The Refulgency was established, with less than thirty members, including some of L.E.’s own neighbors from the community. She would continue her job at the community center, but shifted from mentioning the Old Ways and Shapers to teaching people about them, adults as well. It shocked her how little some people knew about these things that had been her entire life ever since she could remember, and it thrilled her beyond measure. Sorrowville as a whole didn’t bring in a lot economically, but that began to change after L.E.’s first campaign out into the Quadrant, at first just seeking out jobs on her own, and bringing back whatever she could to help her community. But after awhile, and after enough ears had heard about this group of Shapers that not only worked for cheap, but carried a good message, were humane to Leviathans, and never brought pollution or mayhem with them into the places they worked, people started calling L.E. requesting her and her Shapers.

What Happens After the Dream Becomes Reality?

L.E. would find herself so fulfilled, her parents’ dream larger and more impactful than they would’ve ever imagined, that she struggled to keep her same level of enthusiasm day in and day out. Work was work after all, even as fulfilling and helpful for Unfeasted as it was, and L.E. started to get burnt out.

L.E. beguiled Leviathans that her and her Refulgency were sent out to relocate, in order to not only cut down on the amount of time it took to complete a job, but to be able to do more jobs in general. The quicker they worked, the more work they could do, the more people they could help, it was a never ending cycle. And the jobs never ended. Some weeks were slower, some busier, but L.E. had to keep recruiting just to keep up with the demand she had found herself under. This is around the time she started taking an interest in growing flowers and herbs, wearing whichever she was interested most in at the time behind her ear, fidgeting with it enough that it became a nervous habit of hers.

Her burnt out phase would come to an end seven years ago, as the Refulgency had grown not only in membership exponentially, but their renown had stretched beyond Quadrant One. Calls came in from various branches of the L.S.O., even estranged and operating outside of the Old Ways Shapers, all wanting to either solicit their services, or to threaten them into ceasing operation. This was just the spark of conflict L.E. had been without for quite some time. She had become rather cocky, self-assured, and competitive, and would use this to fuel her second wind, attacking Quadrant One’s problems with an all new edge and determination.

Sorrowville was booming. The Refulgency’s membership reached into the hundreds, and the Old Ways had become a palpable, real thing that existed beyond that of her family and their seemingly tired traditions. This was something that everyone could get involved with, even if they weren’t Shapers and didn’t want to be. L.E. took care of her community, so her community took care of her, plain and simple.