Encore Hellborn
(noun) a repeated or additional performance of an item at the end of a concert, as called for by an audience.
Encore Aster Hellborn has always been a kid with an insurmountable weight on his shoulders, and one look at xem will immediately tell you that. He bounces around, trying to lighten everybody's mood by essentially turning himself into a jester. There's always a good joke or pun up xyr sleeve, and if those don't make someone smile, xe's certain the art xe creates will. While he focuses on his music career as a bard, he's also an adept author and artist, and he's learning how to whittle wood from his adoptive mother. Xe's always looking for something to do.
However, it also appears in far more negative ways. It'll be a freezing day in Hell before Encore learns to think before he speaks or acts. Xyr attempts to make people laugh can come at incredibly insensitive times, and xe sometimes ends up only making people more depressed. His magic and words can also be equally cutting, even if he's trying to tone them in. Altogether, xe feels like a child being put into an adult's body, and it shows.
Backstory
Xe was raised in the nation of Veletor by Valerie and Chris Westerburg. Xe was kept under an iron fist during this time, being raised to impossible standards. About a month after his 15th birthday, his father discovered that he was a trans man. This led to a very intense argument between the two. His father almost killed him, but Encore was able to narrowly escape his old house, and xe has only returned once ever since. (He returned that one time just to give his parents a talking-to.)
Throughout his adventures, he met plenty of people and traveled across the world with seemingly no issue - however, this changed shortly after an encounter with Omen, the Seventh God and the BBEG of his campaign. After this encounter, Encore started to notice some magic that hadn't been there before - necrobotanic magic. Black blossoms rose where he walked, and after some experimentation with his artificer father, they discovered that they could be used in battle to harm someone else. Encore even had a few moments where his magic unexpectedly lashed out, letting him see the effects of it firsthand. But why was this happening...?
It turns out that his new necrotic magic is due to his mother cheating. Chris isn’t his biological father; an archdruid named Pavikos is. Pavikos had an affair with Valerie, and then Chris and Valerie ran off with his kid. This archdruid rules over a cult which worships a goddess-figure of nature called the Harvest Queen, and it was revealed to Encore in a weird not-quite-dream that he was chosen from conception to be a holy warrior for this goddess-figure.
Pavikos promised Encore that as long as he joined the cult and was loyal to the Harvest Queen, he would help him control his powers and use them to an extremely powerful extent. If Encore ever strayed, however, his powers would get more and more unruly, to the point of being unable to live normally in society.
Now, Encore has a choice to make; does he abandon his found family for this cult that promises to help him, or does he stay with his found family and deal with the fatal consequences of his magic?
Since he was first kicked out, he has gained two amazing fathers (King Raphael and Griffin Hellborn), a supportive mother (Rosalyn), a literally angelic aunt (Brianna Dawnshield), and two very chill uncles (Prince Myrddin and Kailius Ravakian).
Xe has also gained an adoptive younger sister (Sophia Westerburg), since xyr biological parents originally adopted her to “replace” xem. (Spoiler alert: this didn't work, and Sophia ran away with Encore. She ended up getting taken in by three firbolgs who promised to protect her while we save the world!)