Category: Fantasy

Fantasy -themed illustrations. Mostly character illustrations.

‘Brothers, keep chanting! It’s working!’

2017-08-26

A black and white illustration of a group of cultists in a forest clearing trying to summon forth a creature from the abyss. This could easily be used as a page element to liven up a written scenario or adventure.

A scene such as this is most suitable for fantasy -themed setting but I suppose it fits equally well a horror -themed setting. Perhaps a group of players is stumbling upon a scene like this accidentally or perhaps they are desperately trying to prevent the members of this sinister cult to achieve a success in their nocturnal activities.

 

Sirlo Shakrav, Cosmologist

2017-08-20

A character illustration for any fantasy -themed role-playing game setting. She is designed to fit my own fantasy -themed setting Cresia.

 

 

Name: Sirlo Shakrav

Race: human

Location: Northern Groam

Sirlo Shakrav spent her childhood in a small and strict monastery. She was essentially abandoned after having showed dangerous signs of unexplained phenomena happening around her before she was even one year of age. Her parents were deeply superstitious and feared they could not handle Sirlo. Although they eventually left her to the monastery, they still retained visitation rights and tried to understand their daughter’s abilities to the best of their limited minds. Sirlo’s early life was simple and restrained; she was essentially denied cultivating her innate natural abilities as a magic user and she was actively discouraged to stifle her talents. The strategy of the monastery failed royally and at the volatile age of ten she was returned to her parents as an abomination the monastery was not able to guide to the path of the righteous. A few years went by and after constant struggling with their daughter, her parents sought help from outside. Eventually they found a suitable mentor for Sirlo – Archmage Chenius who is currently a member of the ruling elite of Myrna. At the time Chenius was conducting unknown experimentations in a private keep some in northern Groam and he had cultivated a reputation among the local populace as a powerful wielder of the ancient magical arts. Chenius took young Sirlo under his wings without testing her in any way; he immediately recognized the uncultivated potential the young girl had.

Sirlo remained in Groam after Chenius returned to his homeland Myrna to regain an active position in the ruling council after an absence of a decade. She  “inherited” Chenius’ lands and property although the archmage’s keep had been reduced to a pile of rubble after a spectacular magical catastrophe that only miraculously didn’t consume any lives. She now lives in a nearby cottage. Archmage Chenius taught Sirlo many wonderful things over the years and instructed Sirlo not to come to Myrna until she has attained a much more fine-grained control of her powers lest the powerful but unpredictable mana currents inherent in Myrna would surely produce catastrophic problems. Sirlo remains in Groam trying to control and master her powers and has become a local figure of importance as she provides assistance for a myriad of problems against a small fee.

Sirlo is a Cosmologist; she controls and changes the physical manifestations of the energies of the universe. Her innate abilities probably would allow her to master other types of magic as well but for unknown reasons the cosmological powers are so powerful within her that she can barely maintain them at bay even at relatively low magic flow areas such as northern Groam. Perhaps if she finds ways to master these powers she could focus her interests to some other magical arts.

Today, Sirlo lives alone in relative seclusion in a cottage nearby the demolished keep of the archmage. She ventures into neighboring villages and towns regularly to perform odd jobs that earn her enough coin to cope. She is in good terms with all the nearby communities although there’s some friction with small local superstitious groups that see her (and others like her) more of a threat than an asset even if she has time and again proven of not harboring any ill will towards the local communities.

 

Baron Egor Malekov

2016-09-25

Name: Baron Egor Malekov
Race: vampire
Location: Tarzhov, Zarnova

One of the ruling vampires of Zarnova, Lord Malekov is also one of the less known and deliberately reclusive of the bunch. He is a member of The Roskov Ring – a ring of ruling lords commanded by the Vampire Queen Anya Voorish. He would rather he wasn’t but his former close alliances with the vampire queen have locked his unlife existence with the fate of her. Lord Malekov seeks no fame and doesn’t really care what history books say about him. He doesn’t share the vampire queens’ thirst for ever more power. He is quite happy living in his remote castle surrounded by restless wild life, untamed sea and fear infused trembling villagers of the nearby villages.

Lord Malekov rarely travels away from his castle near the small town of Tarzhov which is the capital of the barony. And when he does he is most probably going to or from The Castle Roskov where the vampire queen holds meetings for the ruling lords of the land. Lord Malekov holds many enemies – some of his feuds span over centuries and are still active – but his few friends are immensely powerful providing him pretty much free reign in his daily activities. He was a fierce adversary of the country’s former ruler Lich Lord Tomas Vladovych whom Lady Voorish “replaced” and Lord Malekov’s assistance in that coup d’etat was inherently important. However, the former ruler still has a strong following (mainly consisting of a group of his disciples) just watching and waiting for a change at retaliation. Lord Malekov is thus quite uncomfortable while outside the confines of his castle and uses whatever measures required to mask his traveling schedules and identity and always has a few trustworthy aides with him.

Lord Malekov is properly old. He is one of the eldest active vampires in existence and as such possesses amazing powers justifiably feared by the local townsfolk and denizens of nearby villages. His powers easily match and even surpass that of the vampire queen but he has no interest in ruling a country and no desire to attain a position that attracts the attention of foreign nations. In fact, he has an agenda to protect her interests fearing that should she be thrown out of The Castle Roskov, he would be forced to step in.

Many times during the last century the villagers have tried to burn his castle with him inside but somehow he has always been aware of these attempts and subverted them with very rough and brutal punishments to the ones leading the people to these activities. Lord Malekov has always had well paid spies on every village nearby and consider these a clever early warning system against threats both domestic and foreign. He oddly likes to see the villages do well and while of course it is handy to have fresh bodies available to quench the thirst for blood, he also treats the nearby inhabitants much better than he would have to. In fact, by proxies he donates back to the communities some of the taxes he collects and while not all people know of this, many do and those happen to be important individuals with power over the others in their respective communities.

A good strategy to keep human emotions at bay. And he doesn’t actually need the money anyway.

 

Villa Hargassah

2016-08-25

Overview

Villa Hargassah is also erroneously called Castle Dufien as it is currently under the control of the feared criminal boss Marcheval Dufien and serves as his base of operations and domicile. The villa is located 12 kilometers south of the city of Udynaesses and it’s accessible by road from Udynaesses only – albeit the only road leading to the villa is in essence only hard packed ground formed under centuries of use. To locals it represents the closest thing to an actual castle but in truth it’s not at all as well protected as actual castles  – such that are abundant in Groam – traditionally are.

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History

The place has a long and rather dull history dating back to it’s inception almost 400 years ago. Since that time it has burned a few times but besides that there hasn’t been much activity involving the villa and in fact it has been uninhabited a good portion of it’s history. The villa was originally constructed by the famous and rich Cahebian scholar by the name of Mamad who used it as a private teaching facility and center for learning for the close-by wealthy nobility of Udynaesses. It successfully operated in that role for 25 years after which it was abandoned for unknown reasons to be manned again half a century later by a group of merchants wanting to use it as a waypoint. The villa saw many active years at that time and some troublesome years as well until it was yet again abandoned in the wake of the terrible disease that swept the area a hundred years ago and subsequently led to the fall of Udynaesses as the capital city and as a center for culture and civilization. Yet another 50 years later it served as sanctuary for rebels fighting against the invading Groam and infrequently as a base of operations for small groups of outlaws and bandits – to the Groam officials rebels and bandits both are the same. The last 20 years it has been uninhabited until Marcheval Dufien took it over five years ago and made it his home.

2016-08-28

Geography and nature

The surrounding areas are all level desert with some low and persistent sand dunes dotting the landscape. The villa is on the outskirts of the city of Udynaesses and the sandy desert quickly changes to packed earth and rolling plains when moving towards Udynaesses from the villa. There are little vegetation around the villa and most of it is grass adapted to rooting in the sand. There are a few bigger trees here and there and towards Udynaesses their number significantly increases albeit there are no forests nearby. Some palm trees grow in groups of few giving away the locations of underground water sources easily. The entire reason why the villa is where it is and why it is still standing there is that there is a stable fresh water reservoir underneath the area and it is reaching almost to the surface right where the villa is located. The three wells of the villa (two of which are inside the keep) are tapping into the reservoir with shafts of about 20 meters deep. The wells have operated without disruption for hundreds of years but raising the water to ground level does require some effort since the water level is so deep below ground. The sand in the region is rather dense and much easier to move about than the actual desert ten kilometers to the south. The area is really a transitional area between savanna and desert.

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Strategic importance

The villa has never been in a position to offer any strategic importance. It’s location standing at the edge of a desert is remote at best and the only commodity worth protecting over is water – which is abundant in the north anyway. The location of Udynaesses is such that the city is positioned right between the border of Groam and Caheb and the villa and thus the villa has no importance even as an outpost or forward base. However, during the days when Udynaesses was the capital city and trade in the area was booming, the villa enjoyed it’s fair share of fame as a caravan stop for merchants. Better walls and more storage space was built simply to keep beasts of nature and bandits away from the goods and while even parapets were built on top of the walls, their importance as a defensive structure was mainly due to them keeping the wildlife out. Today there’s only one road leading to and from the villa and that road leads to Udynaesses having only a few intersections to connect local farms to Udynaesses. Currently the somewhat more fortified villa is serving as a wanna-be castle for the crime lord Dufien manning it but it’s quite doubtful the villa could stand even a smallish well-planned assault. The capacity of the villa to withstand a siege is also next-to-nothing as there’s limited space to store perishables and the villa imports all it’s food items from Udynaesses anyway.

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Architecture

The villa has a mix of modern and historic architectural features fusing together the more pragmatic, regal and no-nonsense old style of Groam architecture of old and the more elaborate and stylistic yet functional architecture of Caheb. The styles do not clash but rather merge in the structures of the villa and the many builders working on different centuries have done a swell job in maintaining a coherent and even beautiful serenity over the structures. The keep was originally only at ground level but a second story along with three towers were built 200 years ago when the villa was busy with caravans coming and going and needed additional space to accommodate both goods and men. The villa initially only had a sturdy cast iron gate and while the original gate still stands, a second gate and a small set of secondary walls was built at some obscure point in the history to make the gate less vulnerable and perhaps to keep the flying sand away from the courtyard as well.

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Defenses

Since the villa was not originally built as a defensive structure, it’s defenses against assaulting invaders are poor. Originally it was surrounded by an even lower wall than what it is now but about a hundred years ago the walls were rebuilt along with the massive corner towers in order to anticipate an invasion from Groam. At that time the walkways and parapets on top of the walls were built as well as supporting arches that simultaneously created cooler areas to store goods under the walkways and provided space for hammocks. All the villa’s various owners have made their own modifications and improvements but the four corner towers are by far the best defenses the villa has. The towers are built out of much stronger stone than the other structures of the villa. The corner towers are made of stone that comes from a now-forgotten quartz stone quarry on the north side of Udynaesses whereas the other structures are built from a rather low quality limestone (infused with sand and clay) excavated from the site. Grounded, graveled and packed limestone has also been used as the basing material for the corner towers to help with their enormous weight but while the towers seem massive they are not based well enough to withstand neither time nor actual combat because of the soft ground and the water reservoir beneath them making them less than ideal. They are heavy enough to provide protection against small infantry groups but they would probably not be able to take much beating from siege weapons until they would crumble or topple even. However, the surrounding area is rather level and plain and the towers do have an excellent line of sight all around to spot unwelcome visitors.

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Population

The villa can accommodate roughly 100 persons if some of them wouldn’t mind sleeping outdoors in hammocks under the walkways. The interior areas would easily accommodate between 30-40 persons. Currently the villa has 18 permanent residents – 7 of which are women and 3 children. A carpenter and a mason take care of the villa and it’s courtyard, a total of five persons both acquire and preserve foods and prepare them for consumption, three persons manage the stables, six Marcheval Dufien’s men loiter around as “guards” and two are too young to participate in anything meaningful. There are no maids, servants or slaves in the villa but come time for festivities and we can rely on Marcheval hiring additional people from Udynaesses.

 

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Marcheval Dufien “The Beheader”

2016-08-13

Name: Marcheval Dufien
Race: Human
Location: Udynaesses, Groam

The city of Udynaesses located in the border region of Groam and Caheb has been a lawless pit ever since the area was ravaged by a devastating plague and while the region in general has more or less recovered, the city of Udynaesses unfortunately has not. With a long and glorious history as the once capital city of Caheb, Udynaesses was seized by Groam during the period of plague some 80 years ago and is the southernmost population center of Groam. Groam hasn’t had an interest in keeping the place in line though and mostly this is because it’s hard to reach from Groam – one would have to travel through dense jungles, cross snow peaked mountains or risk dehydration if reaching by desert.

The de facto ruler of Udynaesses is now Marcheval Dufien who is known and feared in the region less affectionately as “The Beheader” because beheading his enemies is his signature gesture of power. Marcheval lives in a small fortified desert castle (Villa Hargassah – in reality not a castle but a well fortified villa) just a few kilometers south of Udynaesses. His power in the region is partially backed up by groups of Caheb origin wishing to see the city revert back to Caheb and this goal can possibly be achieved by disrupting the nominal leader of the city – commander Remnor Galant. Galant is appointed and backed up Groam but in truth has little say in the day-to-day affairs of the city.

Marcheval is of mixed descendence himself having a father from Groam and mother from Caheb and he himself initially had no political motivation – he didn’t care which country called the city as it’s own – but things have changed since the day when he saw a possibility,  grabbed it and became the feared ruler of the city by joining a few of the bigger outlaw groups and creating a unified force with him in the lead. Formerly he had made a name for himself by running various small-time crime operations in the region and gradually becoming a prominent crime ring leader. Since effectively taking over the city he has had ample opportunities to further line his pockets with coin and strengthen his presence in the region. He has no official intention of competing with the mighty countries Groam and Caheb – both of which countries haven’t shown much interest in returning rule of law to the city – but lately he has been contemplating with the possibility of forming an independent city-state and also seizing control of the harbor towns of Tash and Calemnor located in the south coast of Dhaira Bay. His plans are known only to a select handful of his most trusted men. Common people see him only as a violent opportunistic brute whose aim in life is to cause misery and pain.

As a man Marcheval is cunning and brutal. He believes that maintaining and attaining political and military power as well as coin actually requires the use of violence and that the brutality of the violence used must exceed that of the opposition – whoever it happens to be. Mercy and forgiveness are not words in his vocabulary. In a relaxed state he is actually quite jovial and friendly even but he rarely shows that side of himself in public; it’s strictly reserved to close friends and manifested within closed quarters.

It has been rumored that Marcheval is somehow linked to the so called Dhaira Cult and one of it’s leaders – the High Priestess Chya. The nature and intimacy of their relationship is subject to speculation, however, but apparently Chya has been spotted at Marcheval’s villa on several occasions when wild (and some witnesses would use the word vile as well) festivities have taken place. Whatever their relationship actually is, some of Marcheval’s backers are less than thrilled about it since Chya’s activities directly threaten many prominent families and the coastal city of Tash in particular. And since the city of Tash is firmly under Caheb control, groups that are friendly with Marcheval against the invading Groam are very wary not to undermine their own country’s power in nearby Caheb -controlled cities.

 

Hart Miklo, a Treasure Hunter

2016-04-24

Name: Hart Miklo
Race: Human
Location: Udynaesses, Groam

The life of a treasure hunter is really not that glamorous as common tavern chatter would have you believe. Then again, only the most extraordinary feats are usually good enough to end up as tales repeated over a tankard of ale. Hart Miklo was once a farm hand and a stable boy making a barely meager living in a small rural town of Maekones just north of the northernmost tip of Dhaira Bay in Groam. On free evenings he marveled at the tales spewed forth by a local veteran treasure hunter by the name of Janos Martol who liked his mug full of ale and a crowd around him centered at him. Janos Martol was full of big fat lies about his travels in search of long lost treasure  from the jungles west of Dhaira Bay. His tales of bravado and untold riches just waiting for their finder were enough to convince young Hart that his place in this world should be somewhere else than in a quiet little farm surrounded by horses, pigs and goats.

20 years later and Hart Miklo’s name is quite well known among the people as a treasure hunter of some fame. He has never struck gold as such but has been part of several successful expeditions that made back their investments a dozen times over. However, gambling, drinking and stupid wagers have been around Miklos’ adulthood as flies are around a dog’s turd and he has pretty much lost every penny he has ever gained. He also buried a sizable amount of money a few years ago while he was extremely drunk and come next day he forgot where he buried it. It’s somewhere in Udynaesses for sure and contains a few kilo’s worth of gold and silver artifacts retrieved from an ancient ruined temple.

Hart is an easy going fella with a witty mouth and fast legs both of which are many times used in conjunction as he has the bad habit of not controlling his verbal output while intoxicated and intoxication is not an uncommon state for him. He is quite funny to be around and while a bit mischievous at times, he is still trustworthy and values a good friendship above else. Hart has been in Udynaesses for a few years and considers this lawless city as his home now. He is always looking for jobs somehow related to treasure hunting and has a rather well rounded skill set for such work.

Lucius Valonia

2010-01-10

Name: Lucius Valonia
Race: Human
Location: Warder Keep, Akron

Warder Keep is a small fort in Akron just south of the Witchlight Strand border, some 100 kilometers North-East of the city of Agale. It originally belonged to Groam but as Akron separated from Groam and became an independent kingdom, the fort was abandoned and fell into disrepair for several decades until purchased by the mercenary leader Artor Gambori who renewed the fort and made it the base of his mercenary group.

Formerly a general of the smallish military forces of the independent city state of Karthis (located at around the border of Groam and Akron in the north) , general Valonia fell into severe arguments with the city-state’s new ruler. The arguments were mainly fueled by Lucius’ insistence to grow Karthis’ military presence in the area. Lucius believes that unstable times are ahead and that Karthians should wake up and stop smelling the roses – he thinks that the time of independent city states is running out. Lucius wanted to enhance Karthis’ military by growing all the aspects of the armed forces, forcing a mandatory military service time to all male Karthians and to set clearly defined borders (including peripheral forts and outposts) that the city-state will defend with vigilance and vigor. The soldiers in Karthis are all skilled and honored professionals, but Lucius thinks there are simply not enough of them to meet the challenges of tomorrow which eventually need these professionals of violence.

Lucius was eventually politically crushed over the course of three years and none of his ideas were taken seriously enough by the civil rulers. The mind-set in the city-state is that the skilled mercenary groups present in the city are enough of a military presence. After a time general Valonia found himself time and time again in bitter arguments and one day after a heated discussion with the leader of the city guardsmen – a man blindly loyal to the civil rulers – he simply announced his retirement, packed his belongings and left Karthis.

He rode straight to the Warder Keep where he met several men who he had both fought against and fought with in the past. And of course he knew their leader Artor Cambori very well too. The Warders were commonly used by Karthis to accomplish several semi-military tasks in and around Karthis. And many times Lucius was the final link in the hiring of these mercenaries.

Artor didn’t just embrace Lucius to be one of his mercenaries. He thought that Lucius had too much political baggage and too much enemies and was too proud to become but one rank’n’file mercenary of The Warders. After a night involving much drunken shenanigans, they ended up drawing their swords in disagreement. Other Warders stopped the men and threw Lucius out of the keep. But Lucius had made up his mind … he was to become one of The Warders. He set up camp about half a mile away from the keep. He then marched to the keep each and every day for a duration of almost 8 months to ask for a chance to become one of the mercenaries. Artor was not always there. After refusing Lucius for 99 times, Artor changed his mind and finally Lucius was accepted.

That was 5 years ago. Since that time Karthis has been needing the services of The Warders in alarmingly growing frequency.

 

 

Chieftain Grom

2010-07-03

Name: Grom
Race: Orc
Location: Bloodspires, Witchlight Strand

One of the foremost leaders of the several restless and bloodthirsty demihuman tribes of Bloodspires (the mountainous wilderness in the North-East corner of Witchlight Strand), Chieftain Grom bows for no-one. There is no formal king among the biggering tribes of orcs, goblins, kobolds, hobgoblins and ogres and what-nots of Bloodspires, but if one would be appointed today, Chieftain Grom would be a strong candidate for such a post. Grom probably does not live to see himself rising as the King of Bloodspires since he is not particularly interested in uniting with anybody that’s not an orc and orcs are no more populous than their rivaling demihuman brethren. The orcs themselves are just a fraction – albeit a strong one – of all the inhabitants of Bloodspires and even the different orc clans have blood feuds and ancient rivalries running through their veins. The area called Bloodspires is practically devoid of humans and while most of the lands technically belong to Akron, the kingdom has long since given up efforts to maintain a strong presence there and has withdrawn their forces and outposts to the more hospitable coastal regions.

Chieftain Grom is ruthless, cunning and intelligent. He would be considered an intelligent person even if he was a human or an elf, but for an orc Grom is definitely exceptionally bright. However his conniving brain is constantly under attack by his impatience and bursting temperament that frequently cloud his judgement in all matters ranging from domestic affairs to warfare. Proof to that is his bastard son with the famed gold digger Hym Grog who seduced him to a six month long romantic affair a few years ago and that ended when Hym Grog got bored and caught herself a nice and rich gnoll warlord Gerom Sharg.

Grom has supporters in all the orc clans inhabiting the Bloodspires and several tribes of goblins and kobolds and other demihuman races, but he has not yet been able to show enough leadership to form a solid and wide ranging supporter base that would allow him to claim a more prominent position. Nevertheless he is not just a chieftain among chieftains anymore and anytime the orc chieftains hold meetings of any kind, when Grom speaks his mind, silence falls and his propositions are met with shy nodding and grunting signalling agreement.

Several authorities in coastal cities of Witchlight Strand have seen Grom’s growing power as alarming and a few unsuccessful assassination attempts against Grom have already been attempted. The Liaglades elves are, however, not at all worried about Grom as such, but the possibility of a united demihuman front is what makes the elves more cautious and even frightful. The elves see Grom as too violent and bloodthirsty to be able to form a cohesive union between the tribes and races, but eventually such a person is bound to rise among the demihuman ranks. The elves hope that as long as Grom stays as the alpha predator, rising usurpers – no matter how much potential they would have in forming a cohesive front – are in mortal danger and hopefully that delays the inevitable by a generation or two.

Humans on the other hand more generally acknowledge Grom’s possibilities in achieving some sort of powerful pact or alliance between the orc clans. If such a pact would form, the power of the orcs would grow considerably and might draw the lesser dominant races of Bloodspires towards them. Whatever the future holds for humans and elves, the orc Clan of Grom is enjoying successes after another under the leadership of Chieftain Grom.

 

 

Afra Kartumal, Desert Mystic

2016-06-04

Name: Afra Kartumal
Race: Human
Location: City of Ada Ruwak, Northern Calishem

When the sun escapes behind the ever-shifting shapes of sand dunes, the desert city of Ada Ruwak located in one of the hottest desert zones in Calishem , springs to life. Life in the city is based of an oasis around which the city spans in concentric circles of mostly clay buildings of simple and rugged design. The daytime in this area is simply too exhausting and because of that the city is mostly still from early noon until the sun sets down being more active at night time when the air cools down a bit and fresh winds sweep away the staying heat of the daylight hours.

One of the city’s luminary figures is the city’s long-time sulinar (which translates roughly as “mayor”) Afra Kartumal whose great-great-grandfather founded the city a long time ago. Afra is a famed mystic in whole of Calishem although he rarely leaves Ada Ruwak. His main abilities are foretelling the future and explaining the events of the past. Some of his divinations have been accurate enough to have affected the lives of thousands of people. Some have been able to avoid disastrous and potentially deadly calamities (such as fatal sand storms or rampant monsters on the desert) and some have been able to stay clear from rogue bandit groups while yet others have added extra provisions of water while journeying the desert because Afra had warned them about dried up oases. The stories of survival are thousand-fold and the common denominator is both getting an appointment with Afra and then taking seriously what he has had to say.

Afra is a truly benevolent ruler of Ada Ruwak and has virtually no opposition in the city. He listens carefully to what the citizens have to say and allows public opinion to greatly affect his decision making process. The city is not without it’s fair share of problems, though. One of the biggest issues is the volatile nature of the region which leads to surges of mystical (and often times violent and erratic) creatures raiding the region. It’s not clear where they come from, where they disappear or why they plague the region around this specific oasis. Whatever the case, abnormally cool or warm weather and waiting stillness of air are signs that alert the people of the city to close their doors and shut their windows and sleep warily because odds are great that something peculiar might happen.

Afra can be spotted pretty much anywhere in the city: he might spent his day trying to cure a dying child, help the citizens to repair damaged buildings, assist in removing excess sand from the main roads after a storm or even take part in the miracle of life as an assisting midwife! He doesn’t have a palace or mansion or anything grandiose like that although his family’s set of well-made stone buildings located right at the shore of the oasis itself is finely crafted and the only buildings of the city reaching three floors from the ground with a few simple spires housing lookout points and defensive positions for archers. A visitor can not make a mistake as to where the sulinar lives.

 

 

 

 

Chya, High Priestess of the Dhaira Cult

2010-10-09

Name: Chya, High Priestess of the Dhaira Cult
Race: human
Location: North-Eastern Caheb (somewhere near Dhaira Bay in a secret nest)

One of the young prodigees of Hight Priest Dry’zan, Chya has mastered the secret black art of Nero Arachnitis – one of Syth’s magical spheres. High Priests of Syth generally master 4-5 of the black arts controlled by Syth and their most prominent apprentices learn directly from their High Priest or Priestess. Chya is one of three Syth’s priests and priestessess that Dry’zan has appointed to lead the new cult of Syth in the region of Dhaira Bay, Caheb. The other two are masters of two different disciplines. In this way Dry’zan can establish a formidable power block – each member of which control one important aspect of what it means to be a cult leader of Syth.

Chya was only 10 when her parents were killed in a massive fire that burnt down most of the village where Chya grew up in the north in Zarnova. Dry’zan and 5 of his disciples were staying in a nearby forest clearing at the time and once they realized the village had pretty much burned to the ground, Chya – shocked, dirty, crying and trembling – pleaded the strangers to help her as she was one of the few survivors wandering through the remnants of the village. He was just about to dismiss the wimpering poor little girl when he spotted a black spider crawling upwards the girl’s long flowing raven-black hair. To Dry’zan that was clearly a sign from Syth himself and Chya soon became an integral part of Dry’zan’s group. Chya was not “in the loop” of Dry’zan’s activities until well into her early adulthood when she was officially appointed a title of Apprenticing Priestess by Dry’zan. Chya owes her life to Dry’zan and also everything she knows about magical arts is from her mentor as well. The young girl was easy to influence to accepting Syth as her deity and is thus now a devout follower of the dark deity. She relocated from Zarnova to Caheb at the brink of her ascension to a Priestess in her early twenties.

Chya is today 28 years old and is quite an attractive young woman – except when vomiting black spiders, of course! Her raven-black hair and sensuously soft voice combined with her beautiful shape and delicate face make her a real head turner. Chya also knows her beauty and uses her looks to seduce men in order to exploit the men’s natural weaknesses. A real femme fatale. She has almost no moral boundaries and is famous for organizing foul and depraved all-night long orgies of violence, sex and intoxicants in which the participants willingly get involved in activities best left to imagination … or nightmares. Such festivities usually entail potent herbal concoctions that enhance the feelings of pleasure, pain and ecstasy.

In Caheb Chya has now formed a spider sect. The sect has 20 members – 5 of whom are Chya’s disciples and the rest are mainly younger local men who have been enthralled by Chya and her wild parties. The sect members are not just any random peasants and instead are all carefully hand-picked from an array of potent families. As such, the members are more victims than they themselves realize. The sect has several immediate goals set by Dry’zan and the most important one is to gain total control of the two rivaling thieves’s guilds in the nearby city of Tash. A work already nearly finished. As for the next goals … only Dry’zan knows for certain.