Name: Kobi

From: Realmwalkers

Role: Near PC, converted to NPC

You will probably never know how truly close Kobi here came to becoming my PC, as apposed to Natalie, in Realmwalkers back in the day...

Kobi's a complicated fellow, having spent a good portion of his life locked away in a monastery deep within the mountains back home in Evandalis. While there was a time when he was a part of civilized society, he chose to separate himself after a tragedy claimed the life of someone very close to him. He spent several years training with an order of monks, up until the establishment of New Evandalis on Haven three years ago. It was at this point where Kobi finds himself trying to reintegrate into society, which can prove to be quite difficult when you've been in a monastery as long as he has. A chance encounter with Mei-Lynn Zhang (while he was working as a waiter at a restaurant she frequented) and an opportunity to show off his martial arts training (single-handedly thwarting a robbery attempt) resulted in the two becoming friends, and Kobi was eventually recruited to help Mei-Lynn and Lotus Albrook deal with their issues with Dark Dance. He popped up briefly in Natalie 5 to kick some booty, but was part of the group that got captured, and was later recovered in Natalie 7. At last check, he was in New Malstron with the others, trying to figure out what to do next with his life.

Why Natalie over Kobi?: That, my friends, is a damned good question! I thought both characters had potential, so it easily could have gone either way. I guess I wanted to try my hands at something a bit different, that being actually writing for a female character for a change. If nothing else, though, portions of Kobi's personality pop up in Darren, Natalie's faithful friend, from time to time. I mean heck, they're both martial artists, and their both bald! It works!

Random Sidenote: Originally, unbeknownst even to Kobi himself, the order of monks he trained with were the guardians to the Talisman of Chaos, the second half of Evandalis's Artifact. Even more shocking is the fact that one of the wily senior monks actually slipped it into his bag, in an effort to hide it once the attackers attempted to lay claim to it. While he did still train with the guardians of the Talisman, his story's been changed so that he does not actually possess said Artifact. However (and still unbeknownst to the young man), he does possess the key to finding the second half. Kobi's a little on the dense side, so it may be some time before he realizes this, though.

The Future: Finding and going through his notes has been very mentally stimulating, as I've begun to wonder what would happen if Kobi realized that he was the key to locating the Talisman of Chaos. Another story could easily come from all of this... let the gears begin turning!