Szrael

Szrael Q'zhalata
Status
Race	S'Kra Mur
Gender	Female
Guild	Empath
Instance	Prime

Description

You see Defender Szrael Q'zhalata, Amazon of Velaka, a S'Kra Mur Empath.
Szrael has slitted sullenly glowing flame-hued eyes and a pointed snout, red-gold scales and a long tail.
She is young for a S'Kra Mur.
She has a tattoo of spiraling bands of iridescent green-blue underscales outlined in gold on her tail.
She is in good shape.

She is wearing a gold and fire opal por'nidrel, some flowing nightsilk robes, a braided spidersilk haversack, a gold and fire opal ring, a polished leather belt with a S'Kra scimitar hanging from it and a pair of soft soled leather sandals.

Tid Bits

• Believes her healing gifts are not to be used frivolously, and mostly only heals the dead or the dying, then often grudgingly.
  
• Will sometimes heal those not gravely injured if they are willing to barter, but will not accept "tips," only agreed-upon payment.
  
• Dislikes her Empathic vocation, sometimes viewing it as a curse. She constantly seeks ways to regain the ability to do harm without giving up her ability to heal herself.
  
• Professes to worship Hav'roth but also makes offerings to Ushnish and Dergati.
  
• Constantly hones her combat abilities, spending the bulk of her time hunting on M'riss.
  
• Often hosts tournaments in which the particpants brutally slay one another. Most of her southern acquaintance was made in this manner. She has also befriended a few like-minded Empaths, among them Inauri, Zaeylor and Sarkranis. Szrael tends to dislike other empaths, viewing them to be simpering, weak and disgraceful.
  
• Triage coordinator of the Flying Company. Hosts triage meetings, tournaments and group hunts on behalf of this group.

History

Szrael was born to a family of silk merchants in the trade city of Muspar'i. She lived there in relative peace until she came of age, picking up keen bartering skills, an acerbic wit, and a deep distrust of outsiders along the way.

Upon the discovery of her Empathic abilities, Szrael was sent to the city of Crossing to learn the Empath's trade among the southerners. Szrael went south as she was commanded, but failed to join the Empath guild. For several years, Szrael lived the life of a commoner, learning the ways of combat in direct contradiction to her family's wishes.

She eventually joined the Empath guild, under great pressure from her family's formidable matriarch, but even now strives to live the life of a warrior in spite of her Empathic limitations. She has lived on M'riss (known to S'Kra Mur as the "isle of the damned") for several years, perhaps because the hunting is good, perhaps because she wishes to be free of her family's influence.

Szrael is often criticized as needlessly cruel, or even evil. This characterization fails to consider S'Kra Mur concepts of ru'at and q'alrin, however. According to The Ways of the S'Kra Mur, "A S'Kra Mur gives his ru'at (circle of family, friends, and allies) complete trust and complete honesty, and expects the same from them. However, the privileges of trust and honesty are not conferred on q'alrin (those outside one's ru'at) unless they are earned; nor are such things expected from them. There is absolutely nothing dishonorable about lying to, stealing from, or cheating an outsider, assuming it profits the S'Kra more than it harms the outsider." Thus, while Szrael's behavior is often unacceptable to other races, her code of ethics is perfectly acceptable among S'Kra Mur.