Xar'naeth Taniel Maerdalis,
portrait pack (extract to NWN/portraits)
(yes, inspired a bit by a certain tiefling from BG 2!
)
A noble aristocrat, mage of some reputation, lighted the last of the black candles surrounding the symbol on the floor. Eerie shadows danced the basement walls and conjuring chants echoed throughout the hallways. No flicker of life was left in the mansion, save the summoning mage; All the servants had long been dismissed, as no interruption could be afforded with the delicate ritual.
”Alla Xul”, the candle flames crew higher, the room became darker and the shadows gained depth.
”Gigim Xul”, smoke erupted from the middle of the circle, filling the room with stench of brimstone and fire.
The mage covered his face, gasses making his eyes wet, and a silent whisper of seducting voice was heard; In the middle, a naked creature with red leather wings, horns and sharp canines stood. A succubus! The plan had worked, thought the noble man.
Chapter II – Life and misery of the Alu-fiend and of demon blood:Succubus are a curious breed. Their lives are only for seduction, lust and destruction of mortals. Confident of his magical protections and wardings, the noble man was certain of being in control. Likewise, was the now pregnant succubus, who was certain the mortal man was under her control. The time for the childbirth came, result what is known as an Alu-fiend, the female spawn of mortal man and succubus.
Years passed in uncomforable peace, where neither of the two parents were aware of the ambitions or freedom of will of the another. Eventually, when the alu-fiend was eleven and capable of travel of her own, the true ambitions showed; And erupted as a battle; Which for years continued through the Planes, as the succubus escaped the mage with her child. Countless times changed the half-fiend owner, the parents being close to even matched in strength of Arcane.
Eventually a third person took a step in. A Sigillian archmage, one of intimidating power. His ambitions, once again, were his own. He killed the mortal noble and sent the succubus screaming down back to Abyss. The alu-fiend was taken a prisoner to the archmage's tower in Sigil, where she was captured and used for a wide variety of magical experimentations. One of the experimentations, even if of less arcane kind, was to produce an offspring. For the archmage's goals, a demon-bred child fully under his control was ideal. However, the alu-fiend decided her life was to be her own and in the early steps of her pregnancy, she fled the City of Doors, chased by the angered archmage. Again, the chase took over many Planes. The alu-fiend was capable to keep herself hidden for months at most; During a month in one of the shallow sanctuaries in Outlands of Sigil, she gave birth to the child, a tiefling. Amused by the tragic upbringing and family history of the tiefling child, was a member of Doomguard, who saw this as a marvelous reference to the growing decay and entropy of the multiverses.
He adopted the child to keep him safe from the archmage's wrath, and this child was to become a wandering bard of Sigil, whose tragic history hardly strained neither his human nor demon part.
Chapter III - Xar'naeth's last play in Sigil:Hurry up and get dressed the last of you, we're starting in a minute, the shout of the director is magically enchanted to carry over the small-talk of ready actors. Xar'naeth finds himself in the dressing room, with his close friend Sanetha.
You know, Xar'naeth.. It's increasingly clear to me, that these loops are inescapable. I don't know.. But maybe.. It feels closest to like a constant déjà vu. Accelerating déjà vu, Sanetha smiles, though there's saddness to her smile. Unsure what to say to it, Xar'naeth tells a short story of a man who never forgot who he was when he ended up in Nine Hells after death, returned later to Prime, and repeated the course, again and again, but in the end broke free of the chains. Sanetha's smile gets a bit more honest for a moment, and then the play starts..
In the middle of the illusions that formed the odd landscape of Ysgard on the stage, a small fire is noticed - A fire more real than the rest of the mere magical setup! It grows fast, spreading on the stage and the bouncers quickly start to empty the theatre. With his natural resistance to fire, Xar'naeth refuses to leave, for he hasn't seen Sanetha in the groups fleeing the fire. And so his last sight before forced to escape the flames is a woman in middle of the flames, smiling, and staring into Xar'naeth's eyes, her lips forming the quiet words:
And this is my escape, dear, and on the spot, Xar'naeth answers with a small poem built together from his time with Sanetha.
A step in the house of old,
Hoping it shall still hold on,
Eternal flames breath beneath,
A world shakingly built on the heath
With each meaningless sin,
The wheel's in a new spin,
Made of what I could think,
To be everything: It goes on
Dims and grows the flicker,
And the wax is gone quicker,
Each new day plays the song,
Louder and louder for lifelongWeeks later, as much annoyed as he is puzzled and saddened - yet, as usual, seemingly in lack of deep emotion - Xar'naeth leaves Sigil to see the Outer Planes.
Physical traits:Xar'naeth bears offwordly beauty, though an aura of distrust and chaos effectively offsets much of his charisma. Rings of exotic coloring - Turqoise, violet, purple - and of more conventional - gold, silver - line his pointed ears, that would be a common sight to one of partially elven heritage. However, even though Xar's body is thin, it is still larger than what most half-elves hold. His dark hair might on occasion flash in light, as if it some of the hair was metallic.
If he's seen gloveless, one may spot tattoo-like deep stripes, that appear like peeled off skin, dance down his forearms and entwingle together on the back of his palms. The same red stripes cover most of his body, leaving only neck and face clear. He has somewhat long and sharp fangs as well as abnormally long tongue, though these he has for most part learned to effectively hide, only showing them off on purpose. Where horns used to be, two bony bumps are located under his hair.
When his blood is spilled, it appears as slightly warmer, darker and thicker than the average - Though the difference is very minor and hardly noticeable in midsts of combat.
