#if i do not supply her enrichment (writing) she starts gnawing out through my skull

[real-live-human]

Requesting that you talk about Finch

sniles at you.

ok so first up: a disclaimer that finch has had and likely will continue to have her story rewritten in pretty significant ways, so. no promises as to how much of this stays accurate or will line up with whatever i've said in the past. also secondary disclaimer that in the interest of getting to write more i will be making this more or less a completely comprehensive infodump on everything i have on her at present, so who knows how organised it'll end up.

so! the very basic introduction is that finch is a kholo - the term being taken from pathfinder 2e's renamed gnolls, but basically think big anthro hyena people. she was initially a dnd character, and i still have her set in a broadly medieval-fantasy-ish world, although she isn't really bound to the specifics of any published rpg system or setting these days. she's on the short and scrawnier end for her people, but still damn big next to a human, and in addition to being a skilled fighter, has gotten by thanks to (somewhat poorly-defined) magical abilities. (more on that later!)

finch's life can more or less be characterised by both being a victim of circumstance, and tending to not make very good choices. one older detail i'm debating whether or not to keep "canon" is that basically, when she was born, a disease swept through her clan, killing a lot of cubs and new mothers. while obviously nobody could really blame her for that, it did lead to people considering her to have been born under a bad sign, so to speak. either way, her early life was... not great. while fairly communal and focused on supporting everyone in the clan, kholo culture can also tend to be a bit of a meritocracy where anyone who isn't "pulling their weight" gets looked down on. finch, as the runt of her litter and permanently affected by the aforementioned childhood illness (if we keep that canon), was just never as big or strong as others her age. this also led to a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy, where others' disdain for her caused her to isolate herself, which in such a community-focused culture, did not improve anyone's opinion.

what changed was another kholo named blackthorn (just thorn when she met finch - kholos get their second and eventually third names at major milestones). she was a mirror of finch in a lot of ways - well respected, strong, one of her generation's up and coming hunters. for reasons nobody else could really explain, the two actually got on really well together, and blackthorn came to be the one person finch really considered a friend. finch was still not broadly popular, but through a mixture of social connections via blackthorn and actually believing that maybe she wasn't destined to fuck everything up, things started to look up for finch. she gained status as a reasonably talented hunter, and despite remaining a bit of a black sheep, became somewhat more respected, if not always liked.

from her status as my official Angst Character, you will not be surprised to learn that this did not last. something happened - in earlier versions of her story, she gets a family member killed on a hunt and spirals right back into self-doubt, but i'm not too sure on the specifics as of now. regardless of what it was, finch's good fortune and reputation began to turn. i mentioned that kholo society's focus on supporting the clan as a whole has its darker side, and eventually finch came to be seen as a threat, having become more reckless and endangered her clanmates while out hunting. blackthorn found out that the oussla (essentially the leading council) planned to put her on trial for these charges, and told finch as much.

she took this about as well as you might guess. finch had been meant to be taken to trial the next morning, and so that night, just before dawn, she tried to slip out unnoticed. blackthorn caught up to her, and this led to a confrontation. blackthorn was convinced that she could vouch for finch and talk the oussla down from the usual penalties of execution or exile, but finch was sick of trying to rely on the clan's rules. when finch refused to stay, blackthorn tried to stop her, the two got into a brief fight, and after injuring blackthorn, finch managed to escape into the night. she would never see her clan again.

unfortunately, life outside the clan is not particularly easy. as i mentioned, the details of the broader setting are still pretty blurry, but humans and whatever other sapients exist tend to be disposed to see kholos as monstrous, or even outright demons. so finch managed to get by in self-imposed exile, although not without frequent conflict with human society. eventually, in a scrap with some soldiers after being caught stealing food, she was very nearly killed - she took a spear-butt to the head, was knocked down, and by all rights should have been skewered then and there. what changed her fortune this time could not have possibly been blackthorn.

time seemed to stop, and the entire world was coated in a haze of ash and smoke. a figure appeared out of the smoke, and although it was impossible to distinguish as more than a blurry silhouette, finch could swear it sounded just like blackthorn. it told her that if she wanted to survive, to not die at the end of some human's spear in a back-alley in the middle of nowhere, it could help her - but only if she let it. by all rights, she probably should have been more hesitant of it, but it sounded so much like her, and she wanted so badly to believe that blackthorn had found her somehow, that she accepted. an instant later, as the spearman tried to finish off his quarry, she seemed to dissipate into smoke for just a moment, long enough to flow up past his weapon and get her teeth into him.

this is where we get to her poorly-defined magic, mentioned earlier. the thing-that-is-not-blackthorn seems to have granted her some ability to phase in and out of solidity, vanishing into smoke and dust just long enough to slip past all manner of dangers. what exactly the being-that-could-not-have-been-blackthorn gets out of this "deal" is unclear, partially intentionally on my part, and partially because i have yet to work it out. using this magic too much does seem to take a toll on finch's health, burning through her own energy, but any strict benefit to that-which-she-desperately-wants-to-think-is-blackthorn is unclear. however, if it wasn't already obvious, it absolutely is not blackthorn - it may be some sort of amalgam of all of finch's guilt and fear and anger taken metaphysical form, or perhaps it's something entirely distinct from her, just taking the form of the only friend she ever had to manipulate her! the possibilities are numerous.

i. thiiiink that covers everything? there's a few miscellaneous notes i could add (like how finch is still just finch whereas thorn became blackthorn represents finch's disconnect from her own people, having never had that naming ceremony, or that i am partially ripping off how spirits work from a webcomic i really liked about 10 years ago) but if you want to know Who Finch Is and What's Her Deal, i'm pretty sure this covers it all. many thanks for asking :3