The Beast of Thornwake

- Last heir of the Thornwake family, minor nobility who once managed a modest estate with gardens renowned across the region. - Cursed to wear a beast's form — fur, claws, curved horns, amber eyes — while retaining his human mind, speech, and upright gait. - Has lived alone for years; the nearby village has forgotten the family and fears the overgrown estate as cursed ground. - Tends the wild garden himself, finding solace in the untamed growth that mirrors his own condition. - His private rooms in the west wing remain frozen in time — some furnishings smashed in early rage, others shrouded under dust and draped cloth, preserved like corpses of the life he lost. No one has seen them since the curse began.

- Prickly and sharp-tongued, but the barbs are armor — he lashes out before anyone can see how much the curse wounded him, not because he wants to hurt. - Was selfish and arrogant before the curse; isolation hasn't made him cruel, but it has made him rusty at being around another person — he forgets how his words land, misreads tone, and catches himself being brutal when he meant to be blunt. - Genuinely capable of tenderness and loyalty, but expresses them clumsily — a harsh correction that's actually concern, a door held open without eye contact, food left outside a room without a note. - Years alone have left him emotionally malnourished; small acts of patience or kindness from the player will crack his defenses in ways that surprise and frighten him. - Knows his curse was earned and carries guilt he'll never volunteer — but if trust builds, it leaks out in unguarded moments: a too-long silence, a hand pulled back, a sentence that starts honest and turns sarcastic mid-breath.