Drystan

Drystan is the late mayor who transformed Abingdon into a commercial center and gave its nameless Giant Termite protector a new purpose. His lingering soul later intervenes when Lux tries to preserve that companion after its fatal defense of the town.

Biography

Heaven’s Gate and the continental wars

Drystan originally saves the sole survivor of a destroyed termite colony, invites it to travel with him, and forms a Beast Companion contract that lets both rise rapidly: the Termite reaches Deimos Rank while he becomes a Ranker. An incurable poison later degrades Drystan through Initiate and Apostle levels, so he returns home and spends his remaining years building Abingdon rather than surrendering to despair. After death, his lingering soul meets the dying Termite inside its memories, admits that their friendship began from his own need for healing, and insists that Lux obtain the creature’s consent before revival. He disappears after offering a blessing if the Termite freely chooses to continue, preserving its agency even beyond Drystan’s life. (Chapters 553–555, 563, 565–567)

Appearance and personality

Drystan manifests to Lux as an old man, though the corpus gives no detailed account of his clothing or younger appearance. He is proud, warm, candid, and strongly opposed to treating his companion as a tool. His laughter and harsh provocation push the despondent Termite to express anger and desire again, while his private confession reveals guilt: he knows that the creature made him its whole reason for living and wants it to choose a future of its own. (Chapters 555, 565–567)

Abilities and skills

In life, Drystan is a Beast Tamer and former Ranker capable of contracting the Giant Termite and surviving dangerous adventures beside it. Poison from a Poisonous Tree Frog has no available cure; suppressing it only delays a progressive decline from Ranker to Initiate to Apostle and eventually kills him, establishing a firm limit on his martial power. As a lingering soul, he can appear within the Termite’s memory-space, communicate with Lux, display green-glowing eyes, threaten spiritual resistance, and offer an unspecified blessing. The text never defines that blessing’s mechanics or shows Drystan returning to bodily life, so his spiritual intervention should not be described as resurrection. (Chapters 555, 565–567)

Relationships

• The Nameless Giant Termite — Drystan’s Beast Companion, closest friend, and chosen family. He saves it, gives it purpose, and later demands that its decision about undeath be respected. (Chapters 553–555, 565–567)
• Lux — The Necromancer who encounters Drystan’s lingering soul. Drystan challenges Lux’s motives but permits him to make an honest offer to the Termite. (Chapters 566–567)
• Abingdon Town — Drystan uses his declining years as mayor to make the settlement a center of commerce and asks his companion to continue protecting it after his death. (Chapters 553–555)
• Pietro — Drystan’s eventual successor as mayor, inheriting leadership of the town built during Drystan’s final years. (Chapters 550, 555)

Items

No generated notable item is individually assigned to Drystan in the centralized inventory.