Atazai
| Atazai Coffins | |
|---|---|
| Status | Active |
| Race | Elothean |
| Gender | Female |
| Guild | Moon Mage |
| Instance | Prime |
| Relatives | Knows she has siblings but has never looked for them. |
Description
You are Atazai Coffins, Ecologist of Hara'Jaal, an Elothean.
You have tilted almond-shaped emerald eyes. Your deep purple-streaked black hair is long and thick, and is worn in a youthful style with a length of woven seagrass twined with ocean-hued selmor roses wound around the head to secure it. You have tanned skin.
You are tall for an Elothean.
You are an adult.
You have a tattoo of a flailing adventurer desperately struggling to escape a whirlpool on your ankle.
You are in perfect deep water diving and swimming shape.
You are wearing a red jungle lily lei, a living shroud of seaweed strands, a waterproof bag, a misty grey backtube, a figure-hugging sunset orange silk sarong embroidered with Eluned's glory blossoms, a lumpy bundle, a collection of muracite turtles interspersed with dried sea urchin spines, a delicate kelp anklet and some sea grass sandals with braided laces.
Hallow's Eve Costume
You are Witch Atazai Coffins, Occultist of Therengia, an Elothean.
You have luminescent green orbs for eyes, shifting darkness in place of hair, and shadowy skin.
You are in good shape.
You are wearing a tiny wizened skull fetish amulet strung on a knotted jute cord, a shadowy dark red rose, a waterproof bag, a misty grey backtube, a gravestone-grey shirt embroidered with "I'm a Necromancer", a lumpy bundle, an ebony skirt and a pair of steelsilk-webbed leather boots studded with onyx spiders.
- Costume effectiveness: You are also fairly sure that the people are convinced you are a necromancer.
Early Life
Zai was born somewhere near Steelclaw Clan, north of Shard. Upon seeing her pale, almost translucent eyes and deep black hair the Midwife called for the baby to be killed immediately. Her parents agreed but could not find the will to kill the infant outright, instead abandoning it deep in the fallow fields east of Shard.
Her own memories start when she was four and believed the couple raising her in the Middens were her parents. Her 'mother' was a custodian to a minor Rivercrossing importer while her 'father' cleaned horse stalls for a prominent Horse Care company. These two professions put her in contact with a wide array of people and influences, chief among which was a Gor'tog thief named Uskul who became a patron of hers. Uskul visited Crossing at least once a month to buy and sell horses and to relay information on caravan schedules, manifests, rosters, and routes to his guild.
Uskul funded the private education of a number of Middens children in an attempt to cull future leaders of the district. By age thirteen Zai figured out her 'parents' weren't her real parents but felt no need to search for them. She ran away from home and began running interference for a few gangs, always trying to play the middle and come out on top. Her refusal to either be guilded or join a criminal organization led to the Thieves Guild deporting her to the island of Surlaenis.
This forced move was the major turning point in her life. Within fifteen roisaen on the island she had to knife a man who attempted to jump her, and fifteen rois later she was offered a shore gig for a pirate outfit based on Hara'jaal. The offer was interrupted by two Tribunal Dragoons who recognized one of the pirates and she was escorted to the safety of the Sentinels.
The Moon Mages of the Sentinels took her in and gave her legitimate work yet she was drawn to the underbelly of that tropical paradise. She did personal work for a time, crawling through mountains and jungle to map out as many illegal still and crop locations as possible. She gathered information on who ran the operations and who smuggled the goods off the island before setting up her own meetings with prominent local criminals.
At the age of fifteen Zai assissted a mediator in action and territory disputes between the four main criminal elements based on Surlaenis. The talks were a success to all four parties and to the local government and the mediator trickled small credit down to Zai. Just before her sixteenth birthday she was offered an off the book off the record position with the Surlaenis Moon Mage guild to gather information and carry out small tasks they could not be associated with.
Within a year she petitioned to become a Guilded Moon Mage, and though her superiors agreed she should be accepted they asked that she travel to the mainland to join, where there was more access to training for a young warrior. She didn't need any funding, but when they offered she took it, finding this a perfect chance to cut out on Surlaenis before she got pulled into its affairs any deeper.
Atazai the Lunar Magician
Zai was accepted into the Moon Mage guild by Guildleader Tiv in 392 AV after a long discussion over the various paths a lunar magician can take in life. Tiv gave Zai the names of a few Moon Mages he felt would be good influences for her spirit.
While on Surlaenis she had become accoustomed to periods of extremely bad luck; once in the guild she began exploring writings and theories of luck and Fate. These studies helped lead to the strong faith in Luck, and thus in the Aspect Zachriedek, that she developed.
Though first centered around Riverhaven she soon began exploring the wilds nearby. After being swept down the Faldesu almost to Throne City and the inlet she began spending considerable amounts of time swimming. Before she gained her twentieth circle in the guild she was able to swim the Faldesu River and, with help, the Jantspyre River.
She spent most of her early career traveling the mainland persuing magical and academic studies. During this period she maintained a good reputation in the guild as a straight flyer, having left her criminal ways behind. This lull in her spirit was ended when she met Latathi, a wizard of a somewhat ill-repute for murder and anarchy. After spending a brief time in Mer'Kresh under his direction she came back to the mainland and began vigorously working her combat skills.
Atazai the Warrior
With no immediate desire to live in Crossing again she accepted a room from Guildleader Tiv and resisted joining the Crystal Hand. When her combat training was beginning to lag she then resisted the move to Reshalia her contemporaries were taking, instead traveling during war-time to Hibarnhvidar where she did what she could to assist the city against the armies of Lyras.
After the war Zai stuck around the western province renting a room at Momma's Bed and Breakfast by the month and working with local Officials to maintain outbreaks of bucca, imps, and cave trolls. Months passed and the Coon in her guided her to the valley of Vela'tohr and His altar there. At the time there was a problem with the flora and fauna of the area, all affected by a sickly curse, so she honed her battle skills further defoliating blood-vines and maiden's tresses and obliterating cursed dryads and nyads.
During the winter of 395 a cursed clan of ogres descended on Vela'tohr intent on slaughtering everyone they could find. The onslaught was fierce and a strange infection began to spread among the defenders. The main body of defenders had come from Hibarnhvidar to aid but soon fell back to the city fearing the new disease. A small group led by the Dwarven Cleric Vecuto, which included Zai and the Empath Marssi, gained stealthy access to the depths of the ogre caves and met battle with a Bone Elf, his S'kra Mur apprentice, and their risen.
Though the Elf was defeated it took a great toll on Vecuto, and they found the apprentice to be a much tougher challenge than the master. Eventually the group took the S'kra woman as prisoner and set off to take her back to Vecuto's Guild in the valley. Marssi had healed the party of all physical ailments and Vecuto had cleared them of ill spiritual affects, yet on the way back to the Guild four members of the group grew fell and set upon the rest slaying half the party in an incensed rage and freeing the tempermental S'kra alchemist who spat curses fled into the wilderness.
Atazai the Unknown Criminal
Some months passed as she roamed the western province and when the dreams of the ocean began she felt the time came to leave. A stay in Shard did not comfort her so she made it very brief before travelling north to Crossing. As it is to many adventurers, the city was a bad influence on her.
While keeping rogue Forest Geni and atik'et populations under control she fell back into the violence and chaos of the street life. Zai joined the Magen Road Gang (an applicant alongside her trusted friend Marssi Darssi who became the Face of the Gang) filling the role of Moderator when there were workable disputes in town, keeping herself out of the illegal side of Gang operations. This gig didn't last too long; the Gang parted ways after House Magen came under scrutiny for various financial misnomers that surfaced in tax records. No connections to House Magen and the Magen Street Gang were ever verified, though the Gang seemed to have unlimited funds during their run and many of their criminal members escaped sentencing on charges of murder, racketeering, extortion, and bribery.
The Gang split up, most of the higher profile members moving south of the Segoltha River while the more common thugs integrated themselves into other Crossing criminal organizations. Atazai decided instead to move back to Qi'Reshalia. Her dreams of the ocean had gotten intense, real intense, and the mainland side of the Reshal Sea was not cutting it.
She arrived back on Surlaenis for the first time in three years, renting a bungalow on the sea cliffs over looking the Reshal. Finally her dreams settled and she found peace of mind again. The island held part of her past, so she soon found all manner of people coming to her recalling debts and favors from her teenage years. The pestering was fine at first but she was soon waking in foul moods and refusing to leave the remote cliffs. Release from these annoyances came in the form of a formal invitation to meet with certain members of the Council of Mer'kresh.
Atazai the Known Criminal
It is assumed she accepted the Council's invitation, as she hired a caretaker for her bungalow and vanished from Surlaenis. For a few months she was absent from any news of adventure or politics or criminal activity.
The next record of her comes in records of a citizenship change to M'riss and the purchase of a shack on Fever Point. This was followed by official announcements that Zai was on the Council's payroll as a tour guide and dive master, leading tourists on excursions across Torbis Sanhalas Bay and Belarritaco Bay showcasing the abundant marine and coral life and leading safaris through the jungles of M'riss.
Along with her mundane jobs under the Council she was also voted onto the Board of the Fever Point Home Owner's Association which, though it has known ties to the Council seems to work as an independent criminal outfit that takes up where the Council would (publicly) rather not. Basing herself there on the Point, she made to reconnect with her old mentor Latathi but found he had been afflicted with a strange mental malady, so severe he seemed like a different person. It was fortunate, as she turned to the Warlock Asrion, a former member of the Goose Family Crime Syndicate for moon mage matters.
A year and a half passed without much incident. Zai kept a low and legal profile, though there were rumors that she and Asrion were asked by the Council to cease an experiment in the Dunes of Despair that reports indicate "may have caused massive explosions in the desert that hurled a number of Armadillo as far as the jungles around the Altanen River". No evidence was accumulated against the two, though the occurrence of several Armadillo rampaging through the Caracal and Lun'Shele Trekhalo jungles is well documented.
Her seat on the FPHOA Board gave Zai an opportunity to improve her reputation with the Council of Mer'kresh without being enmeshed in their inner squabbles and to increase the role Fever Point played in the Qi smuggling trade and led to the Council offering her a position with the Kresh Portage. She accepted and began work as a Face for the Portage.
Zai held this position for over a year and her employment consisted primarily of supervising the loading and unloading of legitimate ships, dealing with ship captains, and overseeing cargo checks by the respective Portages. Within that year she began taking off-island contracts in the same capacity, primarily in Rivercrossing, Riverhaven, and Ratha. Periodically she would be arrested and taken into custody and fed generic questions about smuggling, errors in ledgers and manifests, suspicions of bribery, and details of Reshal Sea pirate movements.
Sometime in 406 AV she was on duty in Rivercrossing when two crates containing contraband liquor and herbs were discovered. After an anlas of questioning she was jailed for two weeks before being deported to Mer'kresh. After a small, private hearing with the Council she was placed on paid suspension and asked to keep a low profile when visiting the mainland.
While on suspension from Council employ Zai took a contract with the Enclave as a Tourism Agent and began travelling the mainland in an attempt to bring visitors to enjoy the tropical paradise of Hara'jaal. At first she was given a room in Var'Quel Manor which locked only from the outside and was completely warded from magic use. After proving herself a decently ruthless and reasonably shameless criminal she was allowed to rent a treehouse outside of the Enclave walls.
In the 10th month of Nissa the Maiden, 406 AV, the suspension was lifted and the Council reinstated her as a Face and shipping Inspector while commending her handling of the incident.
Atazai: Out of Work
The latter half of year 406 AV was a trying time for Atazai. In Mer'kresh the Allvar family began to apply pressure to get her to side with them in Council matters. The Council itself was constantly calling on her to accept higher roles and more responsibility. But of these situations she resisted, and thus garnered disapproval from the Allvars.
Meanwhile, Baron Var'Quel sought to turn her completely away from M'riss and bring her into the Black Sash fleet. He threatened to seize her tree-house and her scroll stash in her room at his Manor. She renounced her Rissan citizenship and broke her last contract with the Rissan Council, and it was enough to appease the Baron for a time.
She decided she needed to simplify her life and get back to her roots; exploration of land and sea. The next four years were spent in constant camping and travel. Without citizenship, and always with a way back to Hara'jaal, Atazai fell out of public visibility once more.
Atazai Coffins: Of Coons and Reefs
In the year 410, After Victory, Atazai made minor news by purchasing the surname Coffins. The purchase created a minor stir on the mainland, as the name was purchased from the family's patriarch Hackett Coffins, husband of the infamous Gravelord Zerreck Arkarm of the Arkarm Crime Family. Details of the price paid have not been released but it has been rumored to have included a number of items or artifacts Zai recovered from the ocean waters near M'riss and Hara'Jaal.
Shortly after she acquired her new surname word began spreading that she had offered herself up as a sacrifice to Zachriedek, God of ill-fortune and bad luck. It wasn't long before she began mingling again with the normal populations on the mainland, especially in the town of Riverhaven, and made the claim that she was a Chosen Prophet of Zachriedek. Her claims have been accepted by numerous Clerics and Paladins.
The full extent of her relationship with the Var'Quel's, the Black Sash, and Hara'Jaal are still matters of some speculation, but it has become well known that she acts as an unofficial ecologist. In this capacity Zai monitors and protects the inshore waters, the beaches and near-shore waters and reefs, and the reefs along the deep water boundary where the continental shelf falls away to the oceanic abyss.
Atazai: Still a Moon Magess
Atazai was chosen to be the official Representative of the Progeny of Tezirah for the Moon Mage Conclaves of 412. She participated in the group prediction that resulted in dark visions and an attack of shadow creatures that included an as yet unknown Shadowy Umbral Colossus. She survived the Conclave and the attack.
Experiences at that Conclave effected a change in her personal philosophies and she soon announced that she was retiring from petty spars, scraps, skirmishes, and tussles to focus on her environmental and cosmological research. The shadows and secrets in and around her life, up til then, had been explored and cataloged. She had reached Guild Transcendence. She had braided the vines and piled the rocks. It had come time to figure out the natures of things.
Reshal Wedding
Some time in the winter of 412-413 Atazai began feeling compulsions to swim out into the Reshal Sea, miles from land, and just... drift.
Her first trip began in Tyvager Bay on a slack high tide. Corsairs of the Enclave reported that they saw her lay backside-down, closed her eyes, and ride the Reshal tide out to sea. Once more she vanished from Kermorian records and accounts, save for a story told by the captain and crew of a House Dne merchant ship off the south coast of Surlaenis'a that tells of the body of an Elothean woman clad in vestments of the sea and encircled by clouds of microscopic bio-luminescent creatures floating nearby on a windless night. A dinghy was deployed to collect the body but as the sailors rowed close they claim the woman's head, crowned in coral and seaweed, turn to them and smiled before sinking slowly into the depths with a lingering glow.
Her Terrifying Visage of Terror (Atazai at Home) by Crayzeke Arkarm
