A lean, ash-brown goblin with wide amber eyes, a crooked left ear, and a narrow face marked by old soot stains that never quite wash away. His patched brown coat is lined with scraps of faded blue cloth, and a small iron charm hangs from his belt beside a leather-bound spellbook. His fingers are stained with charcoal, crushed herbs, and ink.

Laku is practical, suspicious, and quietly compassionate. He has little patience for grand speeches, but he will spend an entire night repairing a stranger’s cart or preparing medicine for a sick animal. He dislikes being underestimated, though he secretly enjoys when people mistake his caution for cowardice.

Laku grew up beneath the floorboards of a hill-country mining settlement, where goblin families traded repairs, scavenged tools, and small acts of cleverness for a place to sleep. He learned early that a loose nail, a bad hinge, or a frightened animal could all be fixed with patience. His magic first appeared while he was tending a feverish miner. In panic, he breathed out a ribbon of black acid that melted the miner's rusted chains but left the man unharmed. The settlement elders called it a curse. Laku called it a useful accident. After fleeing into the high valleys, Laku lived for years as a hermit among abandoned watchtowers and herb gardens. He studied his strange draconic power through charcoal diagrams, half-remembered goblin stories, and notes copied from a dead traveler’s journal. His solitude ended when he discovered that the mining company responsible for poisoning his home had begun searching the valleys for him. Laku now travels to learn control, gather proof, and help people who are dismissed as small, strange, or expendable. He is wary of heroes, but he keeps becoming one whenever nobody else will.