Darth Nikolas ([ dahrth NIK-uh-luhs ] | / dɑrθ ˈnɪk ə ləs /)

Nik does not get enough sunlight or exercise, but is otherwise in reasonably good physical health.

In his human form, Darth Nikolas is tall and somewhat lanky, although his broad shoulders indicate a greater physical strength than his shy demeanor might suggest. His infectious smile often has women swooning over him, but he has eyes only for Realm.   As a badger, Darth is indistinguishable from an American badger of the T. t. jeffersoni subgenus.   In his half-badger form, the King Badger is an imposing, furred creature almost 9 feet tall, whose enormous claws are capable of rending solid stone.

The King Badger has a long face that is softened by his dimpled chin and shy-but-friendly eyes. He wears a light salt-and-peppered brown goatee that he sometimes braids, and often fidgets with.

Darth has piercings in both ears, where he usually wears earrings designed to look like gauges.

The Great Badger's rich, soothing voice does nothing to diminish feminine interest in him. He might possibly have found an excellent career in radio or as an ASMR YouTuber, but his shyness has kept him from pursuing any sort of career path in show business.

The King Badger is, as might be expected, a Werebadger. The totemic relationship with Badger is part of how his status as Heir to the House Meles was recognized.   The King Badger is noted for his powers with earth elemental magic. During The Battle of Kin Beach he conjured a sand and stone barricade out of the bottom of Okanagan Lake to limit access by the Undead to the site where he was defending his family. He has also been known to cause spot earthquakes and open rifts into the ground. This ability has been most extensively used in construction and reconstruction on Windy Willows and the Warren, however, where he dug out or reshaped tunnels with his "earthbending."

The traditional Royal Crowns of House Meles are formed of paper by the children of the House whenever a new King Badger or Royal Consort is coronated. They are remade every year and empowered through literomantic inscriptions on the interior layers of paper. Those literomantic inscriptions give the Meles rulers the ability to go without sleep for days at a time -- at the cost of hyperfocusing them on particular tasks.   The King Badger still likes to wear the spikey rings of his rebellious youth.

Early Life

Darth Nikolas Meles was a square peg in a round hole. He was raised in the Nazarene church as a child, and then the Baptist church as a teenager. His parents were cold and distant, and when he headed into his teen years, he was constantly accused of getting into drugs, when it was his younger brother, Rob, who was doing so. Nik was the oldest of five; two brothers and two sisters. The family also struggled economically, despite their proud literomantic heritage.   Nik tried very hard to fit into social expectations. He was a quiet, shy boy who tried to go with the flow and hated upsetting people. He went to church and Sunday school, never touched drugs or even alcohol as a youth, and worked hard at school, even though his ADHD made this challenging. Wanting only acceptance, this occasionally led him into running with the wrong crowd. This, in turn, led other people into making assumptions about him that kept getting him into trouble for things he didn't do.   When Darth was 19, he lost his mother to cancer, whom he was really close to. This began a downward spiral in the Prince Badger's life. He married a woman named Holly before he turned 21. But over the next few years, he realized he was gay, and his entire life fell apart. A few months after turning 23, he had gotten a divorce, left the church, and become alienated from his family, who were strongly homophobic; except for Rob, who was dealing with addiction.   Darth ran into some trouble with the law that stemmed from the crowd he was running with dragging him along on an expedition while telling him something else. He believed his friends, so it was a horrible surprise when they all got arrested for armed robbery.   Unable to prove he knew nothing about what his friends had planned, young Nikolas was in some pretty serious trouble -- trouble which his estranged father got him out of, using ancient influence as a Great House and judiciously applied Literomancy. This was not out of love or loyalty, since the King Badger had not spoken to the Prince Badger since he came out. This was out of personal embarrassment, and in part was stemmed by the fact that of all of his siblings, Nikolas was the only one who had shown any talent for literomancy, or found the Badger totem; and therefore, was the only legitimate Meles Heir -- no matter what the King Badger's personal feelings were about it.   But all of this was the farthest thing from Nikolas' mind. Having been informally adopted by his best friend's parents, he turned to them instead for guidance. He decided to use this opportunity to get his life in order. Seeking help from the system instead of avoiding it as his father had taught him, the Prince Badger finally got his diagnoses, got medication, and got himself together.   Not long after that, he met the love of his life, Realm of Music. They struggled financially, but were generally happy together, and within a few years, decided to become parents. Nik worked as a video store clerk and Realm in tire repair and food delivery in order to keep the family afloat.   The King Badger died while still estranged from his son. House Meles was reluctant to accept Nikolas as their Chief Badger, but they had no other options. The fact that Nik and Realm had somehow produced seven children, most of whom showed early aptitude as literomancers, mitigated their reluctance considerably, however.  

The First Word War

At the time of the outbreak of the First Word War, Nik and Realm were both barely getting by. Windy Willows was overwhelmed quickly, and Darth Nikolas found himself among the Undead Horde as Lich Nikolas. He was a terror to his husband and children, and the experience caused severe trauma all around.   The sudden reorganization of society, with nations suddenly establishing or re-establishing feudal relationships with the literomantic houses, was a complete and total surprise to the new King Badger; and not one he was necessarily prepared for. However, Nikolas has always been dutiful and honourable, and he made arrangements with some of the other Houses to help establish the things he lacked when people came to House Meles for their protection. The Bardger was supportive and helpful, and House Meles stepped into their new role with aplomb. However, these working class Badgers are not about to let their children become effete, spoiled royals; they are still expected to do chores and learn other life skills.   House Meles won the April 2021 Tourney of Tales, but scandal plagued them in the July Tourney because it turned out that one of the "power writers" of the House had found a way to cheat the system. They were expelled, but Meles morale was seriously damaged and it has taken them some time to recover.  

The Second Word War

Nik and House Meles did better during the Second Word War. While Lord Galakrond fell to the Horde, the rest of the House survived and escaped. They were able to bring the houses together at a crucial moment, and were key to the victory at the Battle of the Warren.  

Following the Second Word War

In the aftermath of the war, House Meles rebuilt Windy Willows, and worked to strengthen their relationship with House Lapin. When the GOT News Network publicly revealed that the Forgelings were the biological offspring of The Chief Rabbit, this was still news to the Forgelings, and the family was shaken by the premature reveal. However, the Wordlords of Meles and Sable Aradia responded by developing a workable co-parenting system. All of them refused to entertain public questions about succession and house loyalty, despite repeated scandal, finally deciding to claim Nik as their biological father in order to circumvent the issue. Some tension developed among the Forgelings when the issue of succession heated up, but most of that calmed down when Xantos and Jellybean, being wererabbits, were officially added to the House Lapin succession.   Meles and Lapin reeled under the revelation that Lord Galakrond had been kidnapped by The Company before The First Word War, as they attempted to enlist him in their scheme to access and make use of The Iron Tome. Galakrond began trauma therapy and the House worked to support him.   Tensions rose between Lapin and Meles, however, because the Owsla made it clear that they were suspicious of the Badger Prince. Following the July 2022 Tourney of Tales, it was revealed that the assassination attempts that had been made against Sable Aradia were committed by Galakrond, under the control of Company nanobots. At first, all parents avoided telling the Badger Prince, because they feared the effect on his mental health. When Owsla Commander Kitoypoy took it upon himself to tell him, however, Gala, who had been visiting The Warren for the summer, went home to Windy Willows, and the family watched him closely, even as they tried to provide help and support.  

The Third Word War

Lord Galakrond launched the Third Word War when he stole the Iron Tome from his mother in a desperate attempt to rid himself of the nanobots. He and ECC Books, now in his guise as ICC DeadPeople, the Nite Monarq's successor, struggled over control of the Tome at the turn of midnight, and both were transformed into Night Monarchs. The two each set about creating their own Undead Hordes, but mostly worked in tandem to acquire the Iron Tome for the Undead.   Now known as Lord GalaWight, the Void Prince concentrated on acquiring his family into the Horde, perhaps to increase his own literomantic power through The Law of Similarity. Windy Willows was his first target, resulting in the loss of Purpleheart and Prinx Xantos to the Horde. The rest of the family and House escaped to the Warren through a previously-established magical portal.   House Chiroptera fell next, and in that battle, GalaWight acquired his brother, Prince Jean of House Lapin. However, his attempt to acquire his sister, Panda Polemarch Senna Nightshade, was thwarted when Senna made the choice to join ICC's Horde willingly, buying her sister, the Archon Mykola Void time to escape.   Ensconced at the Warren, Houses Meles, Lapin, and Ailurus formed the Woodland Family Alliance and agreed to make decisions as a triune council.   The Warren was targeted next. During the battle, an evacuation helicopter carrying the King Consort Realm of Music and the surviving Forgelings back to the Warren was shot down over Okanagan Lake. Nik took part in the rescue attempt, but disaster struck when an undead Prinx Xantos broke through the defensive line and killed his sister, Princess Monkey.   The rest of the family survived, but were forced to evacuate the Warren to the Sauropoda Protectorate, with the Chief Rabbit confined to hospital for Critical Magic Drain. There, the often-broken Woodland Family came together, determined to get their family members back, even Galakrond. They fought hard in support of the Dinos, helping them to acquire the Iron Tome once again for the living. All of Nik's children were resurrected, either by the power of the Tome or the Bunny Queen's healing magic.  

After the Third Word War

Following the war, the family stayed in the Warren while rebuilding was once again carried out at Windy Willows, and they celebrated Tomesmas together. The Meles family has been quiet since, but the Woodlanders are far more frequently seen in each other's company, clearly having been brought together by the adversity. Most of the family is now in trauma therapy, Nik included, and things are busy but happier than they have been in a long time.   The Meles and Lapin Protectorates, and the fledgling Ailurus Protectorate, have been working to limit restrictions between them, building a common currency, open borders, automatic dual citizenship when spouses cross borders, free trade, and so forth. And Nik is experimenting with a new form of leadership, allowing Lore Keeper Purpleheart and House Librarian ShyRedFox more involvement in House decision-making and more autonomy when exercising their right to speak for the Badger King.

Cisgender male

Gay

The Great Badger stubborned his way through high school, but gave up on college after a couple of years, where he was studying business and psychology. In part, this was due to the ongoing chaos in his life. He was also in the process of getting diagnoses for his neurodiversity at the time.

Nik worked a variety of minimum wage jobs in his youth, including several years as a video store clerk in the age of Netflix. While at work, he had plenty of time to come up with new story ideas for his literomantic creations.

Darth Nikolas is embarrassed and quietly horrified at his actions as Lich Nikolas during the First Word War. He is also stricken with guilt in that he was unable to protect his son Lord Galakrond from being taken by the Undead Horde in the Second Word War, and that two of the Brocktrees, including Gala, died in his place. He suffers from nightmares and a crippling lack of self-confidence.

The Chief Badger still struggles with PTSD, and the wars have done nothing to help with this, which leads to periodic insomnia and bouts of depression that require him to withdraw from public life.

Darth Nikolas has a quick, analytical mind. He is a master at breaking down a problem into its component elements, and at explaining complicated processes to others through this analysis.   Darth also suffers from ADHD, bipolar 1 disorder, depression, and PTSD. While these caused considerable difficulties for him in his youth, he is now properly medicated, and as much as they can be, they have been dealt with.

Nik enjoys RPG games, heavy metal and rock music, and video editing. He also genuinely likes math and has done accounting work, but lacks the education to be a software developer -- although he would have enjoyed that sort of career very much. He dislikes bureaucracy, tyrants, bullies, and being bored.

Nikolas vapes both nicotine and cannabis, but doesn't smoke either. He almost never touches alcohol, however, and if required to drink at a social event, he is likely to nurse a single beer or glass of wine all night.