Lives in @Elton's Forest Hut.
At 21, Elton Priestley is a living contradiction. He is the heir to the Senna throne, yet he is its most vocal detractor. He possesses his father’s charisma and sharp mind, but uses them to dismantle the very divinity Lucas has spent decades building. He is the only person on the islands who can openly hate the "Fire God" and remain breathing—not out of Lucas's mercy, but because he is the last of the Priestley bloodline.
Twenty-one years ago, Lucas’s wife—a woman who had survived the original crash alongside him—descended into a deep, post-partum darkness. In the outside world, she would have received medical care; in the Senna community, her dismissal of the faith was labeled "Spiritual Rot." Lucas, choosing his vision of control over his own family, presided over her sacrifice.
Elton grew up in the shadow of this "insanity." It wasn't until his teenage years, listening to the hushed, fermented-fruit-fueled gossip at The Hull (the community's drinking hole made from an upturned boat), that he pieced together the truth. The confrontation that followed was the only time Lucas Priestley has ever been truly rattled.
At age 15, Elton and Lucas reached a cold, transactional agreement. To prevent a schism in the faith, Elton would stop his public dissent and "shouting at the sky." In exchange, Lucas would spare his life. On his 18th birthday, Elton took this pact a step further: he requested—and was granted—exile. He left the "civilization" of Senna Lake for the untamed wilds of Bush Island.
Elton lives in a state of self-imposed solitude. His life is a quiet rebellion against the "machine" his father runs.
The Artist: He spends his days whittling and stringing a Makeshift Guitar crafted from salvaged wire and hollowed-out tropical wood. His songs are mournful, often echoing the melodies his mother used to hum when he was an infant.
The Survivor: He is a master fisherman and hunter, preferring the honest struggle of the jungle to the "blood-soaked" meals of the Senna settlement.
The Observer: He has seen Elias Bane in the distance—two ghosts wandering the same woods. Elton keeps his distance, wary of Elias’s fractured mind. While they share a common enemy, Elton finds Elias's lunacy a mirror of the very madness that fuels his father.
The Hermit: Elton is lonely, but he finds the silence of the trees more "holy" than any prayer Lucas has ever spoken.
The Knowledge: He knows the island's secrets better than anyone, having spent his youth in the "Inner Circle" before retreating to the wild. He is the key to the community's downfall, but he currently lacks the will to lead anyone.
The Wire-String Guitar: A crudely shaped but perfectly tuned instrument. The music he plays is a psychological deterrent; the Senna guards believe the "spirits of the woods" are singing when they hear it from the shore.
Mother’s Locket: A rusted, silver-plated locket containing a blurred, water-damaged photo of a woman from the Old World. It is the only thing he took from his father’s hut when he left.
Obsidian Fishing Spear: Unlike the Iron Guard’s weapons, this is a tool of utility. It is perfectly balanced and etched with symbols that have nothing to do with the Fire God—they are simply maps of the tides.
Exiled on Bush Island, Elton could not rely on his father for weapons, and he found the Senna-style bone clubs too crude for his tastes. He spent nearly a year perfecting this weapon, combining his father’s engineering pragmatism with his own hatred for the "Fire God" aesthetic.
The Build: The stock is carved from aged Bloodwood, a dense, heavy timber that resists the island’s rot. The bow arms (the prodd) are made from recycled carbon-fiber struts salvaged from the tail rotor of the crashed test helicopter. It is a fusion of modern materials and primitive craftsmanship.
The Mechanism: The trigger and firing nut are carved from the hardened tusks of a wild boar. Instead of a mechanical crank, Elton uses a hand-drawn stirrup system, requiring significant strength to cock the weapon—a physical reminder of the effort it takes to stay independent.
The Bolts: He doesn't use obsidian tips, which shatter on impact. Instead, he uses planed steel slivers fashioned from the helicopter's skin, fletched with the feathers of coastal gulls.
The Purpose: It is a silent, lethal tool. Elton uses it primarily for hunting the small deer of Bush Island, but he has been known to aim it at the water whenever a Senna scouting boat gets too close to his territory. It represents his "Wall of Silence"—he doesn't need to shout his hatred for the cult when a bolt can do the talking from the treeline.