King Ad Rock
Abednego
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THE END OF ALL THINGS
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Please only post your character sheets here once you have gotten full approval from myself.
Please only post your character sheets here once you have gotten full approval from myself.
Age: 30
Race: Nomasda-Kilderlander (Kilderlander Father, Nomasda Mother)
Weapon of Choice: A long, serrated spear with a heavy steel counterweight at the base of its Corl wooden haft, which ensures perfect balance and serves as a blunt tool for non-lethal combat. This mass also allows Ziek to hurl the weapon with deadly precision and force. His former mentor, Syler Hazule, had the unique piece forged as a gift during the War of Royalty.
Personality
Those who meet Ziek do not forget him quickly. A loud, sarcastic, and self-perceived smooth talker, he always has a witty response, or at least what he considers to be one, for any precarious situation regardless of appropriateness. His abrasive, foul mouth and cocky demeanor have, on more than one occasion, landed him in visible trouble at a time in his life when he should be keeping a low profile. A combat veteran, Ziek suffers from what is known as “Soldier’s Shakes.” To combat the sleeplessness, nightmares, anxiety, and depression that come with this, he spends his time drowning himself in liquor, imbanje, women, and false bravado. While traveling from city to city in Southern Seldwa, he participates in any reckless behavior he believes will help him forget the dead and the past.
Physical Description
Unless standing beside a towering T’Odis, Ziek is notably tall at six-foot-three. His lithe, muscular build suggests both speed and power; however, it remains largely concealed beneath loose clothing. Both exposed arms are riddled with scars from past conflicts; his right is covered from shoulder to forearm in the black ink of a hawk’s talon. A deep bronze complexion and messy, dark curls make his mixed heritage obvious. Dark circles and heavy-lidded squints reveal a chronic lack of rest, his emerald green eyes remain perpetually narrowed. A permanent half-smirk is plastered across his mouth, signaling a mischievous streak. Piercings in his ears and left eyebrow are habits he adopted during a youth spent traveling with pirates. He spares a few moments every few weeks to shave, refusing to grow a full beard. On his right wrist, he wears an old Nomasda slave chain as a memento of someone from his past.
Background
Ziek was born in a small smithing village on the outskirts of Iorn, Kilderland, to a Kilderlander father and a Nomasda mother. His mother died of illness when he was only five; the loss took a heavy emotional toll on his father, the famed smith Archkan Sidane. Sinking into an alcoholic depression, Archkan largely left Ziek to his own devices to fend for himself. This environment fostered a sense of self-reliance and independence in the boy from a very early age.
Ziek lost his father at the age of eleven when a group of marauders raided and burned down the quiet village he called home; they had come specifically for his father’s steel. Hidden behind a suit of armor, Ziek could only watch helplessly as his father was cut down with his own blades. He escaped both the flames and the killers, running aimlessly into the Kilderland plains. It was there that he met Syler Hazule, a bald, meditative Nomasda man who had just entered the country. Fighting back tears, the boy told the strange man what had happened, hoping to warn him of the danger. Ziek watched in both bewilderment and awe as Syler wordlessly stood and walked toward the burning village with nothing but a cane. He contemplated leaving; however, with nowhere to go and no coin in his pockets, the young Ziek decided to follow the old man out of pure curiosity. From the nearby hills, Ziek watched Syler stroll over to several boorish bandits who were looting a small home on the outskirts of town. It appeared as if one of the bandits was about to speak; before he could get a word out, Syler thrust the tip of his steel-tipped cane deep into the eye socket of the leather-clad criminal. The other two bandits dropped their ill-gotten gains and rapidly drew their blades in panic.
What followed was a work of art. Ziek gazed, almost in a trance, as Syler danced among the flames. Every step and movement was perfectly calculated. The outlaws swung their weapons with every bit of their strength, but they never managed to nick him, not even once. Using only the cane, Syler Hazule ended the life of every bandit who participated in the raid, fighting well into the morning hours. After Syler yanked his cane from the throat of his last victim with a sickening noise, he turned and wordlessly strolled back to his camp as if nothing had happened. Ziek witnessed every action, breathing it in as if it were life-saving air. The tragedy of losing his father, the sight of the massacre, and the cold Kilderland winds left Ziek shaking from head to toe as he slowly approached the now-seated Syler. The trembling young man asked the elder warrior if he would take him to the city of Ozryn, where he had family. Syler agreed; however, they never reached the city, instead deciding to travel together through Seldwa looking for odd jobs.
Along the way, and at Ziek’s behest, Syler began to subject his youthful traveling companion to rigorous, psychotic, and seemingly abusive combat training. Every morning, afternoon, and evening were spent learning to handle a sword and shield. There was sparring with two swords in one hand for weight training as soon as he was strong enough to hold them. For months at a time, he was rarely given a break. Running miles, lifting heavy loads, and climbing hundreds of feet became daily and even hourly activities. When his sword fighting became strong enough, nighttime was designated for reading and study. Syler would pull books, almost as if out of nowhere, and demand that Ziek read them within short windows of time; he was given texts on fencing, hand-to-hand combat, military strategy, herbology, fictional ballads, and poetry. Even a cookbook was once thrown at him while Syler was in a drunken stupor, with a demand that the recipes be memorized. Then, with no warning whatsoever, Ziek would find himself put through bizarre tests and trials formulated by the strange, booze-soaked mind of the mysterious Syler. Alongside the traditional sword training came these intense feats:
- At thirteen, Ziek was abandoned deep in the unsettled Swazi rainforest of Tungwa to survive for two months with only a fishing net and a small dagger.
- He was forced to hunt daily for both Syler and himself, regardless of whether they had coin for a proper meal.
- To teach him horsemanship, Syler tied Ziek’s legs securely to a mount and set the animal loose across the Kilderland countryside.
- For days at a time, Ziek was forced to stand on one leg atop narrow stumps in the pouring rain or snow; Syler would throw pebbles at him and laugh while Ziek struggled to maintain his balance.
- Syler sold him to pirates during his fourteenth year after losing a round of Pa Xhuumese dice to Pirate-King Chavi. Ziek had his left pinky severed when he was caught cheating the King; six months later, Syler bought him back and acted as if the boy had never been gone. Ziek, however, had learned to sail in the interim.
- At fifteen, he was locked in a Tungwa library for a month until he could articulately request his release in Pa Xhuumese, Staal-Spech, T’Odis, and Ancient Nomasda.
- Once Ziek learned tracking, he would frequently wake to find Syler had abandoned camp, leaving only a note (often in a foreign tongue) instructing the boy to catch up.
- While Ziek bathed, Syler would move his clothes to precarious heights, tying them to treetops or cliff edges; Ziek was then forced to reclaim them in the buff.
- He was left in the Desert of Swords in Umushilika for a month with only a few water gourds and a short sword. Syler commanded him never to run if he encountered an Imbulu, claiming he would somehow know if the boy faltered.
- Syler forced Ziek to fence blindfolded once he grew proficient with a blade; every misstep or failed parry earned a sharp crack from the old man's cane against the top of Ziek’s head.
- During part of his sixteenth year, Ziek was left in the North Mountains of T’Odis for two months with nothing but furs and a rickety longbow. Syler stayed comfortably at a Laorn inn; Ziek was forbidden from showing his face there until he returned with a severed Baork’s head.
Syler forced him to take his first life at sixteen while hunting a bounty they had taken in Northern Kilderland. The man, accused of kidnapping, murder, and slavery, pleaded for his life; Syler’s only words were, “Be merciful. Make it quick and painless, young one.”
During these travels across Seldwa, the pair amassed a following of like-minded and nearly as skilled companions. They recruited everyone from expert swordsmen to deadly marksmen of all races. From these associates, Ziek continued to learn. He was taught to properly handle a spear by a famed Pa Xhuumese warrior named Channarong Kaouthai, a weapon he quickly grew fond of. This core group eventually became known as the Black Talon Mercenaries, gaining notoriety for executing any mission handed to them. This reputation earned them a place in Queen Elowen's Mercenary Army at the start of the War of Royalty in the Year ***. Ziek had killed several times since that first hunt, mostly taking crime bounties, but open conflict was different. He proved a fearsome and proficient warrior on the battlefield at only seventeen; however, his adolescent mind struggled to cope with the grim realities of warfare.
After several successful battles where the young mercenary collected an almost unbelievable number of kills and slew numerous high-ranking officers in the Kilderland Royal Army, tales of his speed, ferocity, and tenacity earned him the titles "Syler's Butcher Boy" and "Nomasda Blood Child." These monikers were used by both the royal forces and those fighting alongside him. Something changed deep inside Ziek at one point during the war; he began to freeze in the midst of battle. As his nerves failed him, his blood would rush and his heartbeat would increase until he felt he might lose consciousness. Numerous times toward the end of the conflict, Ziek endangered himself and those around him with his hesitant behavior on the battlefield. These symptoms are known to veterans as “Soldier’s Shakes”; luckily for Ziek, the fighting was nearing its end. Prince Unger’s forces were defeated at the Battle of Boar’s Den, and the allied mercenary forces returned to the capital for their expected nobility.
Things took a turn for the worse for the Black Talons. Only Syler, Ziek, and Queen Elowen herself know exactly what happened that evening; for reasons unknown, Syler Hazule was accused of attacking the monarch. Upon learning this, and with the Queen’s permission, the noble lords decreed that every Black Talon be executed without question. What followed is now known as “The Slaying of the Talons,” as the royal guard surrounded and attacked every mercenary in Kein. They fought bravely and the streets ran red with blood; however, the group was eventually overwhelmed and slain one by one.
Only Ziek and Syler managed to escape the chaos. Once the pair had made it safely from Kein and could rest, Ziek confronted Syler with bitter truths. Their heated exchange ended in a physical altercation between mentor and protégé. Finding that Ziek had become his match, Syler let him go. The men parted ways, and they have not crossed paths since.
Nearly a decade has passed since that day; Ziek now wanders through Seldwa without direction, drinking whatever he can get his hands on to help him sleep and drown out the past. His journey has brought him to a small village called Jakka’s Crossing, nestled in the jungles along the border of Kilderland and Tungwa. In this remote settlement, he has taken up residence at a local tavern to cause a ruckus, much to the frustration of the owner and staff.
