MOTE
ElementalsStreet Sweeper and Accidental Information Broker
"I am small. I am dust. But dust is everywhere, and dust sees everything. You would be surprised what the world says when it thinks no one is listening.""
Identity
- Residence
- Earthheart Citadel, Lower Warrens district
- Civilization
- Elementals
Appearance
• Physical: A tiny, wispy figure barely three feet tall, composed of fine dust, lint, and microscopic earth particles that drift in a vaguely humanoid shape. She is easy to overlook, sometimes literally invisible in dim light, her form so insubstantial that a strong breeze can scatter her temporarily. Her "face" is suggested by two slightly denser concentrations of dust motes where eyes would be. • Clothing: Wears a doll-sized scarf knitted for her by a kind Human child, her most treasured possession. • Distinguishing Marks: She leaves a faint trail of clean floor behind her wherever she goes, as she involuntarily absorbs dust and grime into herself.
Relationships
- Family - A loose community of other Minor Elementals who gather in the Citadel's forgotten spaces
- Allies - The Human child who gave her the scarf, an elderly Earth elemental janitor who treats her as an equal, a Lower-class merchant who pays her in fabric scraps for useful gossip
- Rivals - A cruel middle-class Earth elemental overseer who considers Minor Elementals vermin and has tried to "disperse" her
Personality
- Traits: Humble, observant, quietly resourceful, possesses a deep well of dignity despite her lowly status
- Mannerisms: Drifts to corners and edges of rooms instinctively, whispers even when no one is nearby as though rehearsing conversations, collects small lost objects and leaves them where their owners might find them
- Voice: A faint rustling like pages turning in an empty library, so quiet that listeners must be perfectly still to hear her.
Backstory
Mote coalesced spontaneously in a dusty corner of the Earthheart Citadel's Lower Warrens, not through proper Confluence Birthing at a Nexus Cradle but from a minor ley-line leak. Minor Elementals like her are considered barely sentient by many, a classification she quietly disproves every day. She was ignored for her first decade, learning to exist by watching others, until a sympathetic janitor gave her a broom and a purpose. She has been sweeping the Lower Warrens ever since.
Daily Life
Mote sweeps the corridors and public spaces of the Lower Warrens from before dawn until well after dark. Because no one notices her, she overhears everything: conspiracies, confessions, business deals, love affairs, and treason. She has become the most well-informed being in the Lower Warrens entirely by accident. She trades scraps of information with other outcasts for small kindnesses.
Secret
Mote has overheard a plot to assassinate a member of the Earthheart Citadel's ruling council. She knows the conspirators, the method, and the date, but no one of importance will listen to a dust mote. She is desperate to find someone who will take her seriously before it is too late.
Story Hooks
- 1 Mote approaches the adventurers as the only people who might listen to her assassination warning, but she must convince them she is more than mindless dust first.
- 2 The overseer who persecutes Minor Elementals is escalating to organized extermination, and Mote's community needs a champion.
Narrative Value
Mote is an underdog whose humble nature conceals extraordinary value as an information source. She challenges assumptions about what constitutes a "real" elemental, provides street-level intelligence, and offers emotionally resonant storylines about dignity and being overlooked. ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════