All About Zane
Profile Entry. Subject to additions.
The backstory is the same one I posted in the backstories thread on Facebook, so if you've read that, you don't need to click through the cut at the end of the post. It is the same story.
Full Given Name: Zane Ryll
Currently Used or Alias: Zane Ryll Thraxyll
Common Pet or Nicknames: None...yet
APPEARANCE
Zane's true appearance
Zane in human guise
Species: Tiefling
Age: 19
Gender: Male
Nationality: Surfacedweller
Hair: Black
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 145
Skin tone: Fair
Eyes: Flame
Typical Attire: Kyton armor (I.E. black chain shirt), usually with dark-coloured pants.
PERSONALITY
Sexual Orientation: Bisexual
Fears:
Religious Beliefs: Follower of Astarael and the spirits.
Political Beliefs: Now hates big government. Greatly supports smaller tribal systems.
Moral Beliefs: He's a little torn here, due to the rather differing moralities of his parents. He believes it is wrong to kill for the sake of killing, but has no qualms about destroying anything threatening him or what he cares about. Alignment currently best described as True Neutral to Chaotic Neutral.
Traits: Calculating, loyal, curious, easily annoyed,
Basic Desc of Personality: Zane is bright and very alert, but slightly nearsighted - a fact he tries to hide when at all possible. He hates showing weakness of any kind. Aside from that, he has an uncommon amount of common sense for a nineteen-year-old, and when he stops to think about things, will usually make intelligent choices. He also appreciates common sense in other people and isn't quite sure what to do around people who don't seem to have any whatsoever. Social in a quiet way - would usually rather hang out and play a game with a small group of friends than party with a big crowd.
HISTORY, past & present
Mother: Kalyke
Father: Sarth
Siblings: Half-brother Arcturus.
Other Relatives and Friends: His home tribe, Rory the fabulich, Kittburr, most of the rest of the old party, Adonis, Ryll,
Skills: Good with his hands, especially when carving things. Very talented at fighting with chains.
Education: Taught by his parents and other members of his tribe, mostly in the oral tradition. Also got to know Rory pretty well. Knows a lot about the natural world and the occult; don't ask him to do your taxes.
Languages: Common/English, Infernal, Sylvan, Elven, Draconic,
Hobbies: Carving, gymnastic-y tricks, sneaking around listening in on stuff.
Basic Backstory:
Zane was born in my last campaign world, to Kalyke and Sarth, a short time after the world was saved and the surface was made to suck less.
Unlike the 'standard' D&D tiefling, Zane's upbringing was perfectly loving and accepting - considering how weird some surface dwellers look, no one was remotely bothered by his horns or flame-colored eyes. Least of all his mother, who was absolutely thrilled she'd been able to conceive. He grew up mainly on the surface in his home village, which, with the advent of Orannis' defeat, quickly grew from a cluster of mud huts to a nice little place integrating wood and stonework (Once the surface was hospitable to plant life, it didn't take the druids much time at all to start planting forests and tree farms, where they could use their plant growth spells to create enough wood for building in a manner of weeks).
As a child, he got to hear many stories of the group of heroes that had cleansed the surface - he even knew a few of them, since he and a couple of his friends were their children. He was taught to respect the earth and the spirits by his mother, while his father introduced him to the dealings of devils and the ranks of the undead. Since Sarth occasionally went to the underdark to visit the hellgate or chat with his friends in the undead enclave, Zane would occasionally accompany him. There were a few adventurous undead who would occasionally visit the village as well, including Herr Baldér and a mage called Ryll. Ryll became a pretty good friend of the family, and Zane’s second name is Ryll in his honor.
Although neither of his parents were overly fond of the drow (especially Sarth), Zane was rather fascinated by them. As he got older, he would ask more often to be included on trips to the underdark whenever someone in the village went down. While this would have been a bit dangerous for most youngsters, as Sarth’s son, the magistrate wasn’t about to let anything happen to him, so he practically had free range of the city - unbeknownst to him, drow guards would shadow him everywhere to make sure he was safe. Zane ended up making a few friends down there, mostly among guardsman - few nobles were interested in befriending a non-drow. He also had his first sexual encounter in the underdark, which turned out rather awkwardly. This may be why he hasn’t had much for relationships.
As you can probably tell, Zane grew up rather privileged, being the son of a hero and the shaman of his village. One might even go so far as to say spoiled. Luckily, although Kalyke absolutely doted on her son, she was also insistent that he learn to be a valuable member of the tribe, just as any of the children. Culturally, the surface tribes raise their children to make the most out of whatever traits they are born with, since the mutation factor historically gave each person unique traits. Because of this, Zane was taught to make the most of his infernal heritage, and in addition to a strong knack for fighting with chains, he learned to call on the powers of fire and shadow to make his attacks and defenses more effective.
As he was also very good with his hands, he ended up learning to carve and sculpt in his spare time. From flutes to tableware to fetishes and totems, Zane found making things from wood and bone very relaxing.
When he was 18, his mother began showing him greater ways to interact with the spirits, including her ability to Spirit Walk - travel via the plane of spirits. She took him out on a trip into the wilderness to practice. Zane, a bit overconfident in his abilities, managed to shift planes with his mother’s help - but ended up in entirely the wrong plane. Falling through the astral plane in a panic, the tiefling managed to cross back onto a material plane. Unfortunately, that plane was Needle.
He likely ended up on Needle because of the planet’s weakening field. It probably made it possible for the inexperienced tiefling to shift through to it so quickly. Once he was on the planet, however, he found himself stranded, since all outgoing planer travel was through the church of Bast… and was no longer functional in any case. (He of course didn’t know it was due to a lockdown.)
Lost, scared and confused, Zane was pretty swiftly assimilated by Needle’s system. Disgusted by the intense regulation of the society, he clashed more than once with the authorities and those who dealt with career assignments before they browbeat him into submission and stuck him with a janitorial job.
Zane spent ten months - and his nineteenth birthday - as a janitor on Needle. For a boy who’d grown up in near-wilderness, surrounded by a tribe of family and friends for a support system, being totally alone on Needle was a hell of a shock. He kept mostly to himself the entire time, less inclined to make friends than to lash out at anyone who tried to interact with him. He spent most of his time trying to plane shift back home, which was of course futile, since only the clerics of Bast have access to that ability on Needle. He also did a lot of carving when he could get materials, since he’d had a set of carving tools his mother had given him in his pack when he landed on Needle.
Now that he’s been sent off with the party, Zane is excited by the possibility of getting home. At the very least, he’s off of Needle.
When it comes to the party itself, Zane is sort of torn. Subconsciously he very much wants to be part of a ‘tribe’ again, but his ten months on Needle have made him very suspicious of strangers.
The backstory is the same one I posted in the backstories thread on Facebook, so if you've read that, you don't need to click through the cut at the end of the post. It is the same story.
Full Given Name: Zane Ryll
Currently Used or Alias: Zane Ryll Thraxyll
Common Pet or Nicknames: None...yet
APPEARANCE
Zane's true appearance
Zane in human guise
Species: Tiefling
Age: 19
Gender: Male
Nationality: Surfacedweller
Hair: Black
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 145
Skin tone: Fair
Eyes: Flame
Typical Attire: Kyton armor (I.E. black chain shirt), usually with dark-coloured pants.
PERSONALITY
Sexual Orientation: Bisexual
Fears:
Religious Beliefs: Follower of Astarael and the spirits.
Political Beliefs: Now hates big government. Greatly supports smaller tribal systems.
Moral Beliefs: He's a little torn here, due to the rather differing moralities of his parents. He believes it is wrong to kill for the sake of killing, but has no qualms about destroying anything threatening him or what he cares about. Alignment currently best described as True Neutral to Chaotic Neutral.
Traits: Calculating, loyal, curious, easily annoyed,
Basic Desc of Personality: Zane is bright and very alert, but slightly nearsighted - a fact he tries to hide when at all possible. He hates showing weakness of any kind. Aside from that, he has an uncommon amount of common sense for a nineteen-year-old, and when he stops to think about things, will usually make intelligent choices. He also appreciates common sense in other people and isn't quite sure what to do around people who don't seem to have any whatsoever. Social in a quiet way - would usually rather hang out and play a game with a small group of friends than party with a big crowd.
HISTORY, past & present
Mother: Kalyke
Father: Sarth
Siblings: Half-brother Arcturus.
Other Relatives and Friends: His home tribe, Rory the fabulich, Kittburr, most of the rest of the old party, Adonis, Ryll,
Skills: Good with his hands, especially when carving things. Very talented at fighting with chains.
Education: Taught by his parents and other members of his tribe, mostly in the oral tradition. Also got to know Rory pretty well. Knows a lot about the natural world and the occult; don't ask him to do your taxes.
Languages: Common/English, Infernal, Sylvan, Elven, Draconic,
Hobbies: Carving, gymnastic-y tricks, sneaking around listening in on stuff.
Basic Backstory:
Zane was born in my last campaign world, to Kalyke and Sarth, a short time after the world was saved and the surface was made to suck less.
Unlike the 'standard' D&D tiefling, Zane's upbringing was perfectly loving and accepting - considering how weird some surface dwellers look, no one was remotely bothered by his horns or flame-colored eyes. Least of all his mother, who was absolutely thrilled she'd been able to conceive. He grew up mainly on the surface in his home village, which, with the advent of Orannis' defeat, quickly grew from a cluster of mud huts to a nice little place integrating wood and stonework (Once the surface was hospitable to plant life, it didn't take the druids much time at all to start planting forests and tree farms, where they could use their plant growth spells to create enough wood for building in a manner of weeks).
As a child, he got to hear many stories of the group of heroes that had cleansed the surface - he even knew a few of them, since he and a couple of his friends were their children. He was taught to respect the earth and the spirits by his mother, while his father introduced him to the dealings of devils and the ranks of the undead. Since Sarth occasionally went to the underdark to visit the hellgate or chat with his friends in the undead enclave, Zane would occasionally accompany him. There were a few adventurous undead who would occasionally visit the village as well, including Herr Baldér and a mage called Ryll. Ryll became a pretty good friend of the family, and Zane’s second name is Ryll in his honor.
Although neither of his parents were overly fond of the drow (especially Sarth), Zane was rather fascinated by them. As he got older, he would ask more often to be included on trips to the underdark whenever someone in the village went down. While this would have been a bit dangerous for most youngsters, as Sarth’s son, the magistrate wasn’t about to let anything happen to him, so he practically had free range of the city - unbeknownst to him, drow guards would shadow him everywhere to make sure he was safe. Zane ended up making a few friends down there, mostly among guardsman - few nobles were interested in befriending a non-drow. He also had his first sexual encounter in the underdark, which turned out rather awkwardly. This may be why he hasn’t had much for relationships.
As you can probably tell, Zane grew up rather privileged, being the son of a hero and the shaman of his village. One might even go so far as to say spoiled. Luckily, although Kalyke absolutely doted on her son, she was also insistent that he learn to be a valuable member of the tribe, just as any of the children. Culturally, the surface tribes raise their children to make the most out of whatever traits they are born with, since the mutation factor historically gave each person unique traits. Because of this, Zane was taught to make the most of his infernal heritage, and in addition to a strong knack for fighting with chains, he learned to call on the powers of fire and shadow to make his attacks and defenses more effective.
As he was also very good with his hands, he ended up learning to carve and sculpt in his spare time. From flutes to tableware to fetishes and totems, Zane found making things from wood and bone very relaxing.
When he was 18, his mother began showing him greater ways to interact with the spirits, including her ability to Spirit Walk - travel via the plane of spirits. She took him out on a trip into the wilderness to practice. Zane, a bit overconfident in his abilities, managed to shift planes with his mother’s help - but ended up in entirely the wrong plane. Falling through the astral plane in a panic, the tiefling managed to cross back onto a material plane. Unfortunately, that plane was Needle.
He likely ended up on Needle because of the planet’s weakening field. It probably made it possible for the inexperienced tiefling to shift through to it so quickly. Once he was on the planet, however, he found himself stranded, since all outgoing planer travel was through the church of Bast… and was no longer functional in any case. (He of course didn’t know it was due to a lockdown.)
Lost, scared and confused, Zane was pretty swiftly assimilated by Needle’s system. Disgusted by the intense regulation of the society, he clashed more than once with the authorities and those who dealt with career assignments before they browbeat him into submission and stuck him with a janitorial job.
Zane spent ten months - and his nineteenth birthday - as a janitor on Needle. For a boy who’d grown up in near-wilderness, surrounded by a tribe of family and friends for a support system, being totally alone on Needle was a hell of a shock. He kept mostly to himself the entire time, less inclined to make friends than to lash out at anyone who tried to interact with him. He spent most of his time trying to plane shift back home, which was of course futile, since only the clerics of Bast have access to that ability on Needle. He also did a lot of carving when he could get materials, since he’d had a set of carving tools his mother had given him in his pack when he landed on Needle.
Now that he’s been sent off with the party, Zane is excited by the possibility of getting home. At the very least, he’s off of Needle.
When it comes to the party itself, Zane is sort of torn. Subconsciously he very much wants to be part of a ‘tribe’ again, but his ten months on Needle have made him very suspicious of strangers.