This NPC is free for anybody to make use of if they happen to find themselves in a spot of trouble on the seedy hooker street in front of the downtown barracks. It's not likely he'll be wandering anywhere else though, so try to keep him in character.




Name: Talysus Roe


Title: Shade Assassin, claims ownership of the street in front of the Central Downtown Barracks.


Age: 104


Appearance: Nearly seven feet tall, thin and wraithlike, he wraps himself in a shiny leather cloak from head to toe. He is bald, with burning, yellowish, black-rimmed eyes, a hook nose, and pale, brackish skin. His lips are small and white, and his neck is just short of being freakishly long.


Family: Older brother of the disgraced and deceased Elhia Roe Ckalier, estranged son of Ziun Roe, who bore the Scriptures of Ichor to Verre Zon, uncle/grand uncle to the estranged Abaida dulSirie Roe Ckalier, and uncle to Sheiln Ckalier.


History: Talysus was born the son of a human slave on the Azertzi dominated Deep Continent, deep in the gulleys of the inescapable Ice Jungle. His father, Ziun Roe, wished a better life for his child, and sought actively to escape the clutches of the warlike Sisterhood's citadels with his wife and son. This is where his abilities came into play.

The men of the Roe family have always carried a special talent that have made them sought after by the royal courts of many nations: Absolute silence. They can choose to speak, but that is the only sound their bodies will make. Their clothes will not rustle, the ground beneath their feet will not crunch, and that which they touch will be silent. This talent is caused by an aura of sonic damping that grows with the body from birth to adulthood, from a mere few millimeters up to two feet away from the skin.

He was very careful to keep this genetic gift a secret from his Azertzi owners, as was his father, and his grandfather, and so it was that, one evening, an opportunity was afforded him. He managed to shimmy up a great Ice Oak without drawing the attention of the guards, and slip into the north citadel that sat upon the cusp of the great ice plateaus. First, he sneaked into the magical libraries and stole as much lore as he could get his hands on, then he disarmed the Zous that guarded the panoramic glacial fields and returned to the gulley to collect his family. There, he took them with him to the edge of the gulley and, with great difficulty, helped them to reach the top of the cliff edge.

They were spotted by the guards of the North Citadel, who manned their Zous and began firing, but the bolts flew wide. The man and wife with their child ran for their lives as the Ichor warriors of the Azertzi Minotaurs gave chase, but they let the three escape after a few hundred yards, thinking them lost, and resting assured in the knowledge that they would never make it across the great ice floes and down to the coast. They were wrong.

Once upon the coast, they managed to clean themselves up and sneak themselves in with the large entourage of a Frank diplomat. In this way, they gained passage upon one of the great floating cities, the Goalheim, and found themselves on the main continent. There, they were taken in by a traveling Almainy family, and brought to their village in the Western heartlands.

Young Talysus led a good childhood, but in his teens, was led astray by the old proprietor of the town apothecary, who practised the darker arts in secret, and saw in Talysus a knack for said crafts. He became a stranger to his family, and by the age of fifteen, ran away with his new mentor to the Shatterlands and delved deeply into the necromantic arts of the Azertzi that his father forbade him from learning. He trained to be a Ghouler and an assassin, and by the age of twenty, was under the employ of darker hands than those of the old potions master. He had built himself a reputation as a feared mercenary of the eastern edges of the Shatterlands, and traveled from village to village, carrying out the ambitions of one Garvayne deVuci.

One such village happened to suffer a raid at the hands of the Dwailiech Minotaur Brood known as Ioch while he was passing through. He was taken as a slave, but purchased his freedom by raising one of the Brood's Elders, Baas, from death. They released him, and he vowed to leave the Shatterlands behind in return.

It was then that he found himself in Verre Zon. He spent many years there in the continued employ of Garvayne deVuci, who saw his most powerful servant's exile as a new opportunity. With the establishment in the Verre Zon area of nobles, merchantmen and cartels of increasingly noble repute, the detestable mastermind was quick to establish himself in the city's underworld as founder of Verre Zon's first Assassin's Guild. He tailored his subversive organization "The Severed Band", and its members were all scarred upon initiation with an elaborate series of knife wounds across the small of the back, depicting a frayed rope with a snake curled around it.

Talysus, as deVuci's second in command, was the first to receive this initiation, and later, was trusted with performing it on the new recruits. While serving in the Severed Band, Talysus learned to knife fight, sneak about, blend in with polite society, lie fluently, and assassinate even more fluently. He studied necromantic lore, tactics of war and subterfuge, and political infrastructure. He trained daily, and was feared by all. But this was about to change.

Unknown to him, his father and mother had sired a daughter during his years in the Shatterlands, and this daughter had also, reaching the age of twenty, made her way to Verre Zon as Talysus neared his fortieth birthday. She was young and fair, and quickly found herself a husband in the promising blacksmith, Fourick Ckalier. It did not take the aging assassin long to find her, and he realised when he looked upon her that he would not be able to defend her for many years longer. His shame over the path his life had taken prevented him from introducing himself to her, but he vowed to watch over her from that day forth.

So he became a Shade, that his body might not age further. He chose for his Shackle his assassin's blade, for he always kept it with him, and held its deadly body dear to his heart. With it he commited suicide, plunging the blade into his gut, and he lived on as a Shade.

He chose for his territory the street upon which many prostitutes plied their trade, for it was here that his dear sister made her coin. From this time forward, through the birth and upbringing of her son Sheiln Ckalier, and up to her untimely death at her son's hands, Talysus walked the street in front of the Central Downtown Barracks and guarded her. He was, to his great distress, not present for her murder, and could do nothing to prevent it.

He set out for revenge, vowing to destroy her murderer, but had no luck in discovering who it was. Then, one day, about ten years ago, he met a fledgling Shade by the name of Sceadwian, or Helia Beryl, as she was known in her past life. She had assumed the territory of the hospital wing of the central barracks, adjacent to his own territory, and they became friends. Through her art of Realignment, Helia caused Talysus to change his ways, and let the past die.

He gave up the art of necromancy, swearing an oath never to raise the dead again, and devoted his time to watching over all the prostitutes that walked his street. He no longer actively seeks his sister's killer, but would definitely welcome any information regarding the event. He is, however, aware of the existence of his niece, the young Abaida dulSirie, and tries to keep track of her movements and life.


Strengths:

Knife skill: His knife is long and cruel, curved at the tip, and he is a master at employing it to perform killing moves. His usual style is dependent on the element of surprise that so many assassins rely on. If he can get within three or four feet of his intended victim's back, there is little chance of failure. (This is, of course, assuming the intended victim doesn't have some aces up their sleeve.) He is also a capable (and rather dirty) fighter when bereft of the advantage of first strike, and has held his own in many knife fights over the years.

Silent Aura: His silent aura extends two feet from his body, and makes him virtually undetectable to the ear unless he chooses to speak. His clothes do not rustle, his feet make no sound, nothing he hits cries out or resonates. Everything within the Aura's influence is completely muted. When he does speak, he can even narrow the field his voice travels in, nearly to a pinpoint, so that he can shout to a person's ear from across the room, and nobody else will hear him.