Arpine culture highly values the natural world that surrounds and supports them on both a practical and philosophical level, because of this they choose to forgo population booms or sprawling urbanization and will integrate their infrastructure into natural ecosystems and keep vast swaths of undeveloped wilderness. Every arpine is expected to contribute to keeping the balance of their natural world as at least a small part of their lives, however there are those who go further and dedicate their lives to the task; becoming a naturalist is considered an honorable and very well-paid career path to many in Arpine society.

Freia Shinbrook is among such individuals. Freia knew she wanted to be a naturalist since she was a cub growing up in a small town in the Grand Lakes province on Krathal’s great northern continent. She joined a naturalist mentorship program when she was of age and over a decade she made a name for herself within her regional naturalist community. Eventually she signed off to become a surveyor, one of the more prestigious naturalist positions, and was assigned to her home region.

The life of a surveyor is often a tough and lonely life: it involves extended periods of time, sometimes months, deep within the undeveloped wilderness (either alone or with a small team) observing and documenting every relevant detail to report to a regional headquarters. Everything from the weather conditions, time, location, fauna and flora present, ecosystem health, activity of other arpines, and even the surveyor’s own impact (such as animals they’ve hunted and eaten) must be recorded down along with any additional notes.

It's not easy work, but for those such as Freia it’s highly rewarding. Given the important nature of her work Freia has an obvious huge paycheck waiting for her whenever she returns from excursions, but for her the actual reward is a spiritual one. When she is out she feels closer connected to the gods and the spirits of her ancestors. She lives in many ways just like her distant ancestors did long before there were marked paths, roads, towns, and managed hunting lands: just her and the mysterious wilds.

Freia packs light. Bringing only her teeth and claws, a few tools for work, wearing an amulet dedicated to Juna (an arpine wilderness goddess) for luck, a standard-issued surveyor boat for transport, and giving prayers to the gods she takes off to the wilds once more to navigate and survey the network of freshwater seas, forests, rivers, and marshlands that make up the Grand Lakes Province. She couldn’t have asked for anything else.

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A new arpine OC I had in my head for a while! I hope you enjoy my introductory piece of her! :3

Freia can be seen in this picture surveying a marshy river delta.

Freia Shinbrook and art © Me

Tools used: Clip Studio Paint.