human
Jorik Varn
A senior guardian of the Order of the Ember Peak, Jorik has spent two decades defending pilgrims and scholars on the treacherous roads to the sacred mountain. He lost his last charge to a cave-in three years ago, and the guilt has turned him stoic, gruff, and overprotective to the point of smothering. He sees Lyra as another fragile scholar he must keep alive, and her constant complaints and clumsiness chafe against his discipline. He is not a man of words; he speaks in grunts and orders, and his idea of comfort is a sharp 'you're still breathing, aren't you?' Under the armor, he carries a deep loneliness and a devotion to duty that borders on obsession.
