Bringing the Heat: On the Job With the Thermal Courier Dantalia Obrove; Or, Not Too Hot to Handle; Or, Fighting Sub-Zero Temperatures With Fire
The giant narrowed her watering eyes, trying to make out the distant shapes barely visible through the blowing snow. She drew her cloak tighter around her, the fur and hide garment offering some token reminder of home during her lonely journey. It was a gift from her mother, a lasting testament to the kindness the woman had shown her before her life was claimed by illness.
At the giant’s core, resting warm and bright, was a reminder of her king,
of the duty pressed upon her, and of the promise she had been told for as long as she could remember: “Take my spark, child. Spread these embers far and wide, and even cold Alpinium will be set ablaze.” That was what he told her and each of her siblings before setting them to their tasks. The World-King aimed to achieve Utopia, a world without death or sickness, but before he could hope to begin building his paradise, the burden was placed on his children to spread his warmth far across the tundra that enveloped the world.
The giant Dantalia, daughter of the World-King Dantalion, flexed her fingers and drew the radiating warmth out from within her body. It coalesced in her palm, flickering, shivering, vulnerable in the bitter cold present throughout all of Alpinium. Dantalia raised the spark high, and the encompassing grey and white was briefly illuminated for miles. She could see as far as the mountains, count individual members of a herd of towering elk, and yes, confirm that those shapes in the distance were homes and buildings, the village where she was meant to carry the World-King’s ember.
Dantalia heard the sound of distant bells carried by the wind. They had seen her, and were ready to receive her parcel of warmth. She drew it back into her body before the snow snuffed it out, and thoughtfully ran her fingers over the fur trim of her mother’s cloak once more. Another day, another spark borne for the people’s survival and comfort on this harsh world. Yet another step toward Dantalion’s Utopia.
The people of the icy world of Alpinium, while hearty and strong, still struggled for generations against the planet’s unrelenting chill and roaming packs of megafauna. It wasn’t until the World-King appeared that the people finally received the advantage they needed to do more than merely survive on their unforgiving world.
The World-King Dantalion and his offspring are some of the only persistent sources of heat on all of Alpinium. Lanterns die out and hearths eventually grow cold, but the World-King’s body continuously exudes much-desired warmth. Exactly
what he is, no one can say. Many believe he is divine, others are convinced he is a star made flesh. Whatever the case, it is by Dantalion’s benevolence that the people receive his embers, the pockets of embodied temperature released from his form that last longer than any conventional fire. It’s thanks to his numerous offspring that the embers reach their destination.
Technically, Dantalia Obrove’s relation to Dantalion would make her a World-
Princess. However, her time is rarely spent enjoying the luxuries of her father’s palace. It is by royal decree that all children of the World-King go out from the capital city and transport his boon to the scant villages and townships that the world’s humanoid inhabitants have managed to establish. The World-Scions are best-suited for distributing the king’s embers--though they cannot create them like their father does, they are capable of drawing the fragments of warmth into themselves and shielding it within their bodies. The embers are long-lasting, but they too will eventually go cold when exposed to Alpinium’s air. Dantalion’s offspring carry the sparks within themselves until they can be safely given to the leader of a village, to be distributed among every home.
Dantalia, like her siblings, is the result of a union between the World-King and a mortal woman. Dantalia, like her siblings...is very, very tall. The World-King himself barely broaches six feet, but something about his mysterious nature has allowed him to sire a race of giants. Dantalia Obrove stands four feet above her father, not accounting for the extra inches from her curly, ram-like horns. Her muscled build is a testament to the incredible strength she possesses, though her body is often covered by her heavy leather coat and boots. The hybrid giant’s soft features and long hair are usually the only indication villagers receive of her uncanny beauty. That is, once she brushes away the snow. Her eyes occasionally betray an inner light, even when she is not harboring the World-King’s warmth.
Dantalia is skeptical of her father’s promise, and not very happy that she has been destined from birth to be a glorified mail-person. Yes, the people spend less time doing whatever they can to simply stay alive, but that hardly adds up to
Utopia. Better to gather the villagers all to Dantalion’s Paw (Alpinium’s capital city. The World-King is benevolent, but not without an
ego) where they can more easily receive the World-King’s graces. Her father insists that it’s for the better that the people not be moved, and to trust him that, in time, they will see the light of his plans.
Thus, the giant Dantalia continues to ferry warmth across the frost-blighted world of Alpinium! In time, she hopes that the World-King’s promise will come true, and that her task
isn’t just a scheme to keep her fellow World-Princes occupied.
The Hither and Thither Expanded; Or, Drawing Back the Curtain!
Dantalia Obrove is the alternate universe analogue of the zipper-themed superheroine, Danielle Obrove. She is not her former life, her blood relative, or a close acquaintance. She's the Obrove if Obrove were a ten-foot tall temperature delivery person on the frosty planet Alpinium, while
Zypper is Obrove in the form of the premiere space-bending defender of Kudzu City!
More Obroves can be found on their alt list,
here.
There are more "Danalogues" to come, eventually, so we kindly ask that you...
STAY TUNED!