Jhinn
Appearance and Equipment
* Long double-braided dark brown hair, light blue eyes, red skin, curved horns, pointed ears, pointed tail, scar over his right eye, 6'4", warrior's build.
* Armored: breastplate and mail hauberk, gauntlets, sabatons, greaves; unarmored, usually wears a blue robe with secondary gray designs, boots.
* Armed with a greatsword, and a short saber as a sidearm.
Skills and Abilities
Swordsman: Having served as a prestigious warrior under a powerful Master, Jhinn has seen much battle, and is an experienced veteran. He prefers the reach and power of a greatsword, and has learned to use it to terrible effect in combat.
Warrior Arts: Jhinn has bent his grasp of the Tief—his magic—toward aiding his swordsmanship: a good defense is a good offense, and in lieu of shields or wards, he instead is adept at casting down enemy spells and arrows; a favored spell is to shatter his greatsword into shards, pierce his foe with a storm of sharp metal, and reforge his sword; and, though not swift enough to have meaningful effect in combat, mending wounds and ailments is also a magic art of which Jhinn finds frequent use.
Practiced Austerity and Toughness: To harden his body as well as his mind, Jhinn in the days of his service frequently deprived himself of sleep, food, or water, as well as endured pains in Malakath's harsh environment and grueling arena duels—all this to make himself a more formidable warrior and a more resilient man.
Personality and Characteristics
Major
* Serious in demeanor, and does not suffer fools easily.
* Realist. Believes in a "thin gray line" between optimism and pessimism, thinking the former foolish and the latter pathetic. Concerned only with facts and with "what is". Matter-of-fact.
* Often taciturn or brusque in his speech, though he would view it as being precise.
* Can be callous or kind, each in equal measure.
* Respectful of those who take full responsibility for themselves, and who do not complain of their circumstances.
* Committed to his word, if and once given. In all other cases, has no issue with lying or deceiving, especially if it will help achieve an end, or keep his given word.
Minor
+ Having executed many people, for crimes both heinous and trivial, can be cold toward death.
+ Easily accepts the brutality and cruelty of the world, seeing it as inherent.
+ Enjoys dreg (a particularly strong tiefling drink).
+ Does not condemn nor condone slavery, yet holds some sympathy for those born into it.
+ Enjoys the beauty of sunsets, and when redness fills the sky.
Biography and Lore
Bladewrack
Bladewrack survived the fall of the Second Potentate by the might and cunning of its Master, Mourne, whom all in Bladewrack, slave or free, served. Jhinn toiled in the farms and in the quarries and elsewhere, as do many who are weak in the Tief, perhaps trading servitude for protection and security, perhaps having been captured in war, perhaps—like Jhinn—being born into it. He never met his father or mother, for common practice dictated the separation of slaveborns from their parents.
Jhinn, however, grew to a prodigious size in maturity, and he endeavored in secret to become stronger in the Tief, for he wished to cast off his bonds and forge a new life.
His chance would quickly come.
Master Mourne
A raid came to Bladewrack from a rival Master, Deimos. Swift and unforeseen did Deimos strike, and he had help from traitors within. Everywhere Bladewrack was imperiled, as the fighting knew no bounds. But in the calamity did Jhinn distinguish himself. He took up a fallen warrior's weapon and slew a score of foes, and displayed his promise with the Tief in the fighting.
When the raid was repelled, Master Mourne came to Jhinn, and spoke to him, and did not demand he discard his weapon. Instead Mourne heaped praise upon him, and offered to free him from slavery, and take him on as one of his own warriors, indeed among his own personal guard. Jhinn had his doubts, as he had it in mind to escape from Bladewrack. But Master Mourne took him to the very gates, and bid them to open, and said to Jhinn that he was free to leave if he so wished. If he stayed and served him, however, Mourne promised due rewards, not the least of which being training in the Tief. Jhinn thought on this for a time, and he would come to accept the offer, and swore then loyalty to Master Mourne.
For many years would this be so, and Jhinn even would ascend to be Mourne's right hand, deep in counsel with him, most trusted of all.
Vasheen
Master Deimos, however, did not forget his enmity and envy of Master Mourne. As it happened, with the awakening of the Great Ones, the old Malakath Portal Stones gained life once more, and strangers from the west came not just to Thagretis or Tirnua, but to Asmidarl lands as well. Mourne harbored a great interest in these strangers, and Deimos plotted to use this fact against him.
Employing his best assassin, Zeuraad, for the purpose, Deimos waited until firm word reached him of Mourne traveling to a Portal Stone. Zeuraad struck with great skill and cunning, and assassinated Mourne. Only in the morning did Jhinn, who had been with Mourne, discover his failure.
He walks now as a vasheen, a masterless warrior, across Malakath, and though Mourne lies dead, still Jhinn has his final commitments to fulfill to his former master, for his word was given.
First, Zeuraad. To hunt him, and to kill him.