Samech

Samech A'er-Koreth
Status	Active
Race	River Elf
Gender	Male
Guild	Warrior Mage
Instance	Prime

Appearance

You see Samech A'er-Koreth, Waterweaver, an Elf.
He has pointed ears and crystal green eyes. His auburn hair is shoulder length and wavy, and is worn loose, tucked behind his ears. He has tanned skin.
He is an adult.
He is clean shaven.

He is holding a barbed diacan fishtail spear with a hewn cedar haft bound in jadeleaf moss.
He is wearing a woven straw takbahn, a cascading mantle of vapor-grey madun interlaced with carved sanrisi triskeles, a lithe mariner's repeating arbalest fashioned from contoured greenheart, a copper-plated hauberk woven in herringbone with ochre kokona reed, a grey madun philosopher's bag hung with mossy belzune and cambrinth triskeles, a thornweave researcher's belt sewn with various soil-smudged pockets, a moss-covered thornweave medicine pouch lined in mottled jadeleaf, some viridian thornweave pants, and a pair of iroko sandals with black madun straps.

Biography

Samech A’er-Koreth was born on the 6th day of the 7th month of Moliko the Balance in the year of the Iron Toad, 298 years after the victory of Lanival the Redeemer. As a boy from a rural River Elf village on an oxbow of the Segoltha in far southwestern Zoluren, Samech’s parents encouraged him to learn the great river and work toward becoming a boatswain and piloting his own trade skiff. While spending his youth in the nearby bordertown of Ilaiya Taipa, Samech worked the skiffs to ferry merchants, scholars, magic researchers, and other travelers across the river, where he learned bits of lore and magic theory in the shadow of Ain Ghazal. He developed a talent for the manipulation of water and air currents during his time on the skiffs, and he soon left the bustling trade economy of Ilaya Taipa to settle on the Segoltha riverside as a fisher and raindancer, a shamanistic elementalist performing increasingly advanced experiments in what could be considered fluid dynamics on the frontier.

After his youth, Samech traveled further afield to explore Leth Deriel and the other major towns and cities of southern Zoluren, Ilithi and Forfedhdar. Appropriate to his adolescence spent working in the provincial borderlands, Samech feels no loyalty to a provincial authority, instead counting himself loyal to the frontier locale of his upbringing. Likewise, as he later traveled to Shard, Chyolvea Tayeu'a, Hibarnividar, and the Crossing for institutional training in the Warrior Mage Guild, Samech found himself over time in a tense relationship with the structures and strictures of the guildhalls and their leadership. True to his home, his knack for controlling currents of water and air, and the history he picked up on the skiffs, Samech completely eschews fire magic, suspicious of its tendency to tempt elemental mages toward greater (and more corrupt) magical power.

Timeline

298 BL: Born near the town of Ilaya Taipa.
346 BL: Joins the Warrior Mage guild.

Familiar

a tufted fisher owl with mottled feathers that evoke lichen on river stone

Disguised by its distinct grey patterning and tufted texture, the fisher owl looks primed to seize prey from any river it soars over. Two unaffected pale eyes seem to swirl as vaporous orbs set deeply in overgrown plumage around its head, independently scanning their surroundings. A wet, black beak curls out from beneath them like a diacan blade. Under its billowing mantle of feathers, the fisher owl shifts its wiry, restless limbs. You find the creature to be a magnificent specimen. There is a soft aura about it and you notice the eyes stare back with a nature which hints at intelligence.

Noted Equipment

a barbed diacan fishtail spear with a hewn cedar haft bound in jadeleaf moss

The spearhead's watery, aphotic edge displays a fishtail shape, lined with brittle hooks that evoke curled dorsal spines as it flares. An azure rivertear interrupts a fluid pattern of triskeles etched around the muracite band that affixes it to the haft. Embroidered with vedda bark fibers, the jadeleaf binding depicts various geometric forms denoting the elemental Planes of Water, Air, and Electricity below a brief mantra. You notice some barbed black fishhooks on the surface of the spear. Read: "Trace the flow of matter and form."

a carved darkspine partisan with a tripartite blade dangling a jadeleaf tassel

Two wings emerge from the base of a curving diacan blade like divergent rivers, the atramentous metal contrasting with a hewn belzune and rivertear amulet set in the spearhead's socket. Strips of jadeleaf cloth tied beneath the blade form a tassel, while the carved haft displays a long string of abstract geometries in sanrisi intarsia that transform into wave-like triskeles. The pattern is broken only by woven kokona reed grips and where a diacan cap etched with a single word covers the butt end. Read: "Suwudaz" (Waterfall)

an attenuate darkspine pilum fixed with a wavelike diacan head

Though designed for throwing, the reinforced diacan shank of this weapon remains strong enough to parry effectively. A distinct riverine pattern of triskeles shimmers along inky black langets down the pale shaft, which terminate at two mistglass fixtures carved with elemental hexads. Curling sanrisi intarsia decorates the pilum's remaining length. Ilithic script is carved into the base of the weapon just beneath a patch of moss that has gathered there. Read: "Esten erreca" (Narrow stream)

a diacan cusped falchion hilted with knotworked pozumshi wood

The inky black blade curves gracefully to a fullered point that produces a watery shimmer whenever light strikes its surface. Made from a pozumshi tree with its branches hewn off, the hilt is protected by geometric madun knotwork down to the azure rivertear bound within the tree's carefully preserved roots. Etched into the blade is a single phrase in stylized Ilithic script. Read: "Geshemen ilaya" (Frozen River)

a long wooden staff marked by an algae-green waterline at half its length

The staff is slender and overlong, faded above a waterline tinted green with algae, as if once used as a river skiff push pole. Yet prismatic mineral veins gleam through the discoloration, signaling its sturdy diamondwood construction appropriate for use as a weapon. A fishtail-shaped diacan blade flares out from the pole's base to provide grip and protect the wood from damage by stones along the river bottom -- both fins etched with the elemental symbol for electricity.

a kertig felling hatchet strung with albatross feathers from a latticework haft

A wavelike lattice pattern curls up the throat of the cambered haft, warm mineral veins woven crosswise through the hewn copperwood in contrast with a deep jadeleaf grip. Despite its adornment, the handle ends in a simple fawnfoot knob, where the mistsilk-bound quills of two pale feathers cover a phrase rendered in copper tracery. Vitreous black diacan swirls through the bearded kertig bit in a circular motif, marked by heptagonal inclusions that pit the glassy surface. Read: "Husol Isiljen" (Silent Whirlpool)

a finely carved tonfa washed in a warm darkspine seed oil finish

Pale felwood contours to the forearm in a subtle curve when held, extending past the elbow and hand for protection, while each end is hewn flat to act as a blunt surface for striking. A strip of unadorned black madun fabric binds the joint in a crosswise pattern to secure the handle. Carved into the ruddy oil-stained surface, geodesic lines rolling down the shaft represent the structure and mechanics of fluids in motion. Read: "Arinen Erreca" (Swift Stream)

a darkspine ritual buckler painted with an ochre triskele under diacan bands

The triskele's wave-like arms radiate from the buckler's hexagonal diacan boss, painted in dark ochre across a russet darkspine face that is beset by lichens. Added for reinforcement, riveted black diacan bands shimmer beneath water stains, electrical burns, and other signs of elemental praxis. On the reverse side, Ilithic script is etched into the bracing. Read: "Integrity in balance and motion."

a balanced tamboti crossbow fitted with a fluid diacan spanning mechanism

Against moss-green madun wrapped tightly around the midsection of the tiller, inky-black gearing exhibiting a watery iridescence has been positioned to mimic the churning of river rapids when turned. Laminated mistwood limbs strung with braided steelsilk join the tiller at the bridle where a lone albatross feather hangs. The exposed sections of the stock have been polished with silt to reveal a ruddy woodgrain subduing the Ilithic script and wave-like triskele symbols carved upon it. Read: "Sora ilaya aglo eicetisai." (From the river come the rapids.)

a lithe mariner’s arbalest fashioned from contoured greenheart

Compact and designed to be used in the hand rather than mounted to the gunwale at a ship’s bow, the narrow arbalest boasts a tiller carefully shaped from fine greenheart wood and carved with abstract images of water and stone. The inky black hue of its diacan lathe and mechanisms conceals their clockwork complexity. On the underside, the diacan trigger flares at the end and curves back and forth in a horizontal wave, mimicking the motion of a fish.

a hewn tamboti slingshot with a handle bound in mossy thornweave

Cut from a single limb of tamboti, the slingshot's reddish woodgrain contrasts with the silvery storm bull sinew and mistsilk pouch that complete the rustic weapon. Strips of green thornweave wrapped tightly around the handle and wrist brace provide comfort when held, in addition to muting the noise of use while hunting. The spicy fragrance of the tamboti wood serves as a reminder of its riverside growth conditions, where freshwater and saltwater mix in a turbulent balance.

a ponderous darkspine book of experimental methods lined in mistsilk

The book's pale russet cover and mistsilk lining belie its immense weight when held in the hand, thanks to a heavy diacan lock designed to protect its contents, which consist of many pages of experimental notes added as appendices to the volume. A series of six sigils carved into the darkspine in hexagonal arrangement denote the book's chapters, while the title is etched in bold lettering along the black diacan spine. There appears to be something written on it. Read: "Esoteric Methods in Matter and Energy Transfer"

a copperwood-hafted throwing axe honed to an undulating edge

The bearded ka'hurst edge of the weapon wavers to a long point, resembling mineral deposited by subterranean rivulets over thousands of years. It bears the look of a black stalactite hung from a cavern ceiling -- ancient but perilous. The sheen of the black metal complements patches of green lichen inlaid along the warm copperwood haft, which has been hewn and carved with interlocking triskeles. Read: "Gowac we ilaya." (Cave and river.)

a simple silversteel hewing axe fitted with a darkspine haft

Gleaming through streaks of mud, the silversteel axehead is fixed to its darkspine haft by way of a simple but elegant teardrop-shaped eye and then reinforced with dyed vedda bark fibers. Elemental figures appear to be scrawled along the haft in shallow burns, as if its owner took permanent notes in haste. Read: “Suwudaz we...” (A waterfall and...)

a knobby blackthorn shillelagh strewn with patches of pale lichen

Contrasting the inky black surface of the wood, a rustic briar pattern stylized as triskeles winds around the walking stick in vedda bark intarsia, obscured here and there by pale grey lichen. Inset in the bulbous head, a heavy belzune stone carved with the elemental symbol for water provides enough heft to make the weapon deceptively dangerous. An incised Ilithic phrase curls below the spiraling symbol. Read: "Sozilaya emantu sari we olum." (River words give life and death.)

a mossy belzune stone cradled in hexagonal vedda bark latticework

Protective as it is decorative, the dark lattice allows the stone to be handled without being touched. A creeping patch of moss partially obscures gold flecks and a wave-like pattern of triskeles carved around the stone's circumference. A single rivertear clasp, devoid of any markings, secures the bark framework.

a river stone fetish bundled with vedda twigs

Bound in an odd arrangement with a long scrap of jadeleaf, reddish vedda twigs of various lengths frame a dark river stone at the center, to give the object the look of a brooch or a nest. Odd geometric figures have been stitched along the vibrant green strip of fabric.

a copper-plated hauberk woven in herringbone with ochre kokona reed

Laid over a dark thornweave gambeson, the hauberk bears a herringbone pattern of interlaced kokona reeds, lending the mail a thatched texture. Somber grey fabric highlights the coppery rings and ochre kokona to produce a variegated motif like Segoltha river clay, while a broad hem accentuates the armor's edges. Patches of lichen have gathered on the shoulders and upper arms, obscuring a rich green verdigris that presents whenever sunlight hits the surface.

a cascading mantle of vapor-grey madun interlaced with carved sanrisi triskeles

Variations in hue lend the fabric the appearance of bands of mist, steam, ash, and smoke wending their way through a repeating arrangement of sanrisi triskele tokens, each carved to symbolize core elements. The dark sheen underlying the low relief patterns is interrupted only by a mosiac of wooden whorls that drape loosely from the shoulder where the garment is fastened with a stormfire topaz etched in intaglio. The back of the clasp is deeply engraved. There appears to be something written on it. Read: "Integrity in balance and motion."

a thornweave researcher’s belt sewn with various soil-smudged pockets

Fitted with pockets for storing diverse experimental implements, vials, and materials, this multi-use belt has been modified with frogs to accommodate larger tools for use in the field. The back of the belt has been braced with woven kokona reed to provide extra structure and strength for this very use. A pattern of stitched triskeles runs in black thread along interior jadeleaf lining.

a grey madun philosopher's bag hung with mossy belzune and cambrinth triskeles

Designed with pockets in a variety of sizes to suit a number of implements or materials, this spacious bag is cord-drawn with wavelike triskele medallions carved from cambrinth and belzune stones, each set with an azure rivertear. The dark madun is visible between damp patches of celadon lichen and strips of vedda bark stitched to the fabric, which display geometric notation on esoteric planar structures in faint scratches.

a moss-covered thornweave medicine pouch lined in mottled jadeleaf

Hung with carved sanrisi triskeles representing the fluid elements, this overlarge soil-streaked pouch is set with a variety of pockets for holding implements of wildly different sizes. The jadeleaf interior of each pocket provides extra protection for glass jars and vials, while the pouch's flap of grey thornweave shields its contents from the wind and rain. An esoteric phrase is stitched on the interior of the flap in vedda bark fibers. Read: "Integrity in balance and motion."

a tapered darkspine scabbard bound with mist-grey madun and a diacan buckle

Hewn from a single length of polished darkspine, the timeworn scabbard now bears diagonal water stains and jagged burns across layers of mist-grey madun extending from the inky diacan buckle to the matching chape. Wavelike geometric forms are hand-stitched with white wooden fibers into the brocade wrapping, denoting traditional elemental forms on the visible face of the scabbard and hylomorphic planar structures against the thigh.

a buckled harness of storm-grey thornweave laced with strips of kokona reed

Stitched from thornweave fabric the color of an encroaching storm, this cross-body harness displays a series of gold-flecked belzune frogs to store a variety of implements at hand. Undyed strips of kokona reed have been laced through the thornweave to provide extra stability, while dark stitching across the front depicts geometric shapes that denote the fluid planar structures. A sanrisi triskele set with an azure rivertear buckles the harness at the shoulder.