Kraus Inderift

Kraus Inderift was a high ranking member of the Sanctuary of Stone, a special division of the Apothietic Knights. During his first adventure he contracted lycanthropy and became an outcast. He would eventually undergo a ceremony known as the "Ceremony of Lune" to control his inner beast and join the ranks of the Sanctuary of Stone. During his time as a Blood Hunter for the order, he ran into Adelaide and Hill of Coal before fulfilling an order to return to Vodopav.

History
"'What is this? Dirt? Why am I carrying the earth!?'"

Childhood
Kraus was born to a Goliath couple who traveled down to the small village of Cadenburgh. They traveled from the mountains after their old home was destroyed by a Roc. They raised Kraus as a human among other humans. Though he quickly outgrew the other kids. As a result, the other kids saw Kraus the "big kid", the one to be friends with if you want to intimidate others.

During his childhood, Kraus began to grow close to a much smaller kid, Jonah. The two had a lot in common in the games they liked, and what they liked to talk about. But Jonah was also the target of a lot of bullying, a lot of verbal abuse that Kraus didn't really try to stop. One day, Kraus noticed Jonah had bruises all over his body, and he said he had fallen while cleaning the stables. Kraus naively accepted the explanation, even though the bruises didn't seem to go away for weeks at a time.

It wasn't until Kraus decided to help Jonah with his work that he found the horrible truth, that the other kids, kids that Kraus considered his friends, were beating up Jonah. Kraus, enraged, threw the other kids off him, threw a few good punches, and had them all screaming and running in fear back to their parents. Jonah cried. And the two of them spent a long night just trying to process the events.

Since then, Kraus has been a staunch defender of his friends, and fought against bullying. Both verbal and physical.

Adventuring
Kraus and Jonah grew up together and decided they wanted to be adventurers. After defeating a monster that attacked their home, Kraus and Jonah decided to join the Adventurer's Guild of Rhine and officially start adventuring.

However their time in the guild did not last long. During their first adventure, they found the thief they were after was a werewolf. The werewolf had jumped at Jonah but Kraus intervened, getting slashed across the chest.

Eventually the pair with their other adventuring companions defeated the werewolf and completed the mission. But little did Kraus know how the wound would affect his life from then on.

Struggling with Lycanthropy
Within the next month, Kraus began experiencing severe night terrors, and hallucinations. He often would find himself reaching towards Jonah with aggressive thoughts in mind, but always stopped himself last minute. Jonah became concerned and asked if he should see a cleric. Kraus agreed that when they would hit the next town, he would go to see one.

Unfortunately, it was too late. The next morning, Kraus had awaken to his entire campsight being torn to shreds, his clothes ripped, and Jonah nowhere to be seen.

Kraus was distraught, he tried to make it to the nearest village to see a cleric, but when he eventually did not only did the cleric not diagnose him in time, but Kraus awoke to the body of the cleric torn ashred inside his own chapel. It was at that point that Kraus ran off into the woods. He tried to survive on his own in the forest. An outcast of civilized society, and struck with grief.

It wasn't long before Kraus began to consider ending it all. He had chased away his friend, killed an innocent man, and gods know how many others suffered during the many black-out nights. He decided to kill himself.

Kraus settled near the closest cliff side with the intent to throw himself from it before night would come. He spent hours, staring off into the abyss of the forest hundreds of feet below. Before Kraus knew it, the sun was setting. He panicked and right before he could jump, he was stopped. The commanding voice of a woman called out to him, and asked him what he was doing.

Either due to emotional distress or looking for some semblance of forgiveness by a stranger, Kraus unloaded everything onto the woman. How he lost his friend forever and killed at least one innocent, but likely more that he could never know about for sure. How he stays up at night, and fears for the monster that he allows to wander the world and slaughter the innocent. The woman consoled him, and told him if he were to jump the monster would be killed. But she also told him that the monster would never see the justice that he deserves. She offered him her hand, telling him that there is another way to ensure those deaths were not in vain.

The woman took him away from the mountainside that night, and chained Kraus in an Adamantine prison with chains and all. She took him north, to Vodopav, where Kraus would undergo months of physical torture and mental trauma, to prepare himself for what his advocate called "The Taming."

Joining the Sanctuary of Stone
Kraus would be baptized under a rare circumstance, three full moons. His advocate, the woman who found him all those months ago, warned him that his connection to the Spirit of Lune would be stronger than most would have to contend with. But if he survived, he may yet become the most powerful of the Sanctuary.

Kraus was to undergo what was known as the "Ceremony of Lune", also known as "the taming" by members of the Sanctuary of Stone. Kraus would be presented to the Spirit of Lune to recite the sacred oath of the Sanctuary of Stone, and he would have to come to terms with his inner beast. Under this ceremony he and the animal would become one and coexist for the greater good. He would have to understand, and control his inner beast for this to work. If he failed, he would be turned to stone, and destroyed.

Kraus took the ceremony and recited the oath of the Sanctuary."I am one with my inner beast, to deny it would bring shame onto my honor and bring imbalance between the beast and I.                                                                             I will protect the innocent. To bring harm to the innocent will shame me and break my oath.                                                                                                                                I will never be cured of my curse. To loose my inner beast makes a mockery of those still suffering, I will be dead to my order.                                                                         I will never spread my curse. To spread the curse to anyone is herasy of the highest degree, I will be dead to my order.                                                                                   To break these rules, is to be judged by the Spirit of Lune. And it's judgement I shall accept.'" After accepting the oath, Kraus drank the blood of his advocate and was exposed to the light of the three moons of Nibiru. He became connected with the spirit of lune. He confronted his inner beast in a portion of the ceremony that took up the better part of six hours. During this time, his body was nearly torn apart. By the end of it, Kraus was connected with his inner beast, and grew a mastery of his blood in the form of blood magic.

Since then, Kraus has been an ambitious and welcomed addition to the Sanctuary of Stone. He went on to travel the world, slaying monsters and saving lives. He eventually found himself wandering Vat Veld and came across an Archfey who had been torn in two. Alongside Adelaide, Hill of Coal, and two other adventurers, they reuinited the Archfey and returned her to her natural state. It was shortly after this that Kraus got a letter of high priority from the High Father himself, demanding that all members of the Apothietic Knights return to Vodopav immediately.

Personality
Kraus is a caring person, who can be a bit overbearing at times. He has a one-track mind, once he has an objective not man nor earth can stop him from achieving his goals. He is also very protective of those weaker than him, or at least those he perceives as weaker than him. Stemming from that need to protect others, Kraus also hates bullies with a burning passion, and detests those who take advantage of others. As a result, he also has a natural hatred for fey, who many of which get their kicks of taking advantage of people. He also fights his own inner demons, containing and coming to terms with the bloodthirsty thoughts that haunt his mind from time to time.