As the Crown-Prince of the Ilmarian Kingdom, a heavy burden was placed upon Mako’s shoulders from a young age. Mako is the seventh generation of the Ilmarian Royal Family under the patronage of the Goddess of Water, Elenirah. During his earliest years, Elenirah often spent a great deal of time in the castle, helping care for Mako while his mother was raising the newborn princess, Cecilia.
As a royal, Mako received the best instruction for both education and combat. Mako excelled at archery and sorcery, though he was no slouch when it came to physical combat from a young age. It was during his youth when he first met the Mizalou family. Lady Mizalou often visited the castle, seeking to attain power through any means necessary. Despite not having any children of her own yet, Lady Mizalou saw her adopted daughter, Alexandra as a bargaining chip to curry favor with the Royal Family.
Despite his gifts, the Queen of Ilmaria, Tyrea Okami, refused to allow him to do any military service. Even when the young boys and girls were being introduced to the prospective military academies, Tyrea ensured that Mako was somewhere else training. Mako was often accompanied by Alexandra on these training days alongside his two best friends, Shade and James. James was a member of the guard and Shade was the Queen’s hired hand, both of whom spent a large amount of time in the castle where Mako was homebound. Eventually, Mako grew disappointed with his life in the royal capital, especially since Elenirah had been appearing fewer and fewer times as the children grew up.
Much of Mako’s childhood was spent studying scrolls and ledgers about leadership and government service. By the age of fifteen, Tyrea began introducing Mako into government meetings. She warned that this was training for what he would have to do when could no longer rule. While Mako acknowledged this fact, he vehemently disliked attending government meetings. Instead, he would’ve rather been a soldier or a guardsman. He wanted to make a difference and protect people. He wanted to use his royal position to save as many of the poor as possible.
At one point, Mako grew so dissatisfied with his royal duties that he ran away from the castle. Tyrea sent all her available resources to find her son, but no one could track him down. There were only three people who could track him down for various reasons. Elenirah followed his every moment since he left the castle, keeping a watchful eye of the young man. Alexandra seemed to know where he was at all times, perhaps as a result of her youth as an orphan on the streets or some unseen force. The only person who accompanied Mako was Shade because he knew that Tyrea would be less strict if the prince had a protector.
Inevitably, Elenirah found Mako just north of the border between the Kingdom of Driktha and Ilmaria. While the young prince refused to flee the country, he did express his dissatisfaction and disappointment with his position in the kingdom. To his surprise, Elenirah agreed with the young prince. The Water Goddess sat down across from the prince on a log, taking a more human look in the young man’s eyes. Mako and Elenirah trained for four days using magic and swordsmanship to hone his abilities, so that Mako could convince his mother to let him fight for his kingdom.
After Mako travelled with Elenirah back to the kingdom, the two found Shade and Alexandra along the way back. Tyrea held a parade and celebration when her son returned to the capital, something that the entire kingdom celebrated at once. The Royal Ballroom was filled with many nobles seeking to curry favor with the young prince as he was crowned. Despite meeting all of those nobles, many of them were uninteresting to the young lord because most of them wanted to use his power for their own means.
Yet there were a few who met him with sincerity. There was a jeweler named Doctor Renin, who quickly became a friend to the Royal Family. He would often gift the Royal Family jewelry on their birthdays, and he ensured that any gems gifted to the Royal Family were of the highest quality. Mako met an old friend, Eila, a seer and Seynan scholar who possessed the unique ability to dispel curses faster than most. The young witch set up a workshop not too far from the castle. A couple other nobles Mako met that night included a Gishnu monk conducting an independent study of the scriptures, the leader of an independent City-State in the Kingdom of Tatsunia known as the “Crystalline Seekers,” and lastly an emerging power within the Northernmost region of Ilmaria.
Shortly after the reception, Tyrea appointed Mako to be the Public Government Liaison, opening the door for Mako to help the public. However, what he didn’t bargain for was having to do paperwork all day, nor was he ready for the number or requests that he would be receiving that made zero sense. Some of them didn’t even give him action plans. Mako would spend two years in that position, slowly becoming more and more frustrated with the lack of action until the public started bombing buildings and protesting against a threat that the kingdom could not yet see…
