Son of a Pythian apothecar, Keelan spent his days mixing poultices and refining tinctures. Come night, he’d entertain himself with jaunty tunes on his fiddle. Keelan’s work took him often to the shore of Lake Suibhne, where he’d stuff his pockets with herbs and cuttings. His existence was rigorous yet simple, and simple yet rewarding. No matter how cold the northern winds blew, Keelan found warmth in his life.

He was engaged at a young age to Esme, his childhood best friend. He loved her companion dearly and was to be married on the Winter Solstice, a most auspicious date. When the morning dawned on his wedding day, Keelan was nowhere to be found. Unbeknownst to most of the guests, he was dead.

Keelan was killed the night before his wedding. His body came to rest in Lake Suibhne, under the ice, barefoot and dressed in nightclothes. He was stabbed in the chest with a hairpin carved from whale bone.

Keelan’s spirit lingered in the waters, tethered by the solstice moon. For many years, he remained in a dreamlike state, not quite deceased, yet not quite alive. When he was finally awoken with the coming spring, he found himself transformed into Tuatha de Dahann, a faerie creature. While most of his early memories remain intact, the details regarding his untimely death are a mystery.

Keelan’s appearance has turned ghostly and unkempt, with wild long locks and a greenish pallor to his skin. He has no facial hair— having struggled to grow it in life, and completely failed to grow it in death. The rest of his hair, however, has gone gangbusters. His ears have grown angular and elf-like, and his eyes have developed a layer of tapetum lucidium. This causes them to refract like a mirror in darkness. Some of his teeth have turned jagged and shark-like. They’re well maintained for a corpse, but frequently have little plant bits wedged between them. His hemline is constantly wet, signaling his ties to the lake. Keelan’s nails are grotesquely overgrown and mud-caked. Keelan has always had a vast population of freckles, an inevitable result of his long work days in the sun. His most notable marking is a narrow scar on his chest, where the bone hairpin stabbed him. Even though the wound has long since healed, it still seems to ache. He frequently dreams of the injury, interpreting his blood as a “…swathe of red ribbon.” He still wears his tarnished wedding ring.

Personality wise, Keelan isn’t quite Keelan anymore. A part of him is wholly fae now and a new being altogether. This has made him more erratic, spontaneous, and curious. He has a tendency to play with his hair while speaking. Some animalistic tendencies have gripped him in his altered state....