Zephyr

Zephyr smiles at an ally during a fight

Zephyr, given the title "Beastcleaver" by her friend Sangi, is a member of the Gladiators. She is known for being a talented gunslinger and a trusted friend. Much of her past consists of travel and adventuring, as she continues to do with her new companions, Sangi, Micah, and Swiftblade. Throughout the course of the campaign, she not only helps her team in their adventures, she also continues a personal struggle against her past and her missing memories.

## History

### Early Childhood

Zephyr was born in the city of Aeolus to unknown parents. Aeolus is an average size city in the Plane of Air, not too densely populated and not quite too thin. The main part of the population were other Air Genasi, so she grew up around other creatures the same as her. She was left in an orphanage because she was told her father was going to trial for a crime he supposedly did not commit. The owners of the orphanage, sisters named Whirl and Whisper, were kindly, older Genasi who cared for the children there. However, while they were kind, they were also a bit strict. There was a time for play and a time for sleep, and a time to leave the orphanage, but only at a certain age and on a certain day. Zephyr wasn't even allowed to go out for lunch alone during the week until she had turned 17. It was much like a boarding school, except the students did not have homes to go back to over the break. While she understood that they were protective, she was also always a free spirit, and became a bit of a troublemaker in her teenage years, getting her friends involved in her escape plans. Growing up, she was very close friend with a young Fey named Pandora, but Pandora was adopted when Zephyr was 13 years old. Zephyr was friends with a lot of the children there, as almost the likable, mischievous class clown type, that is until she grew out of the troublemaking. However, she had trouble considering any of the children her family, as she was held back by the false promise that her parents would return for her, and of course, they never came.

Whirl and Whisper told Zephyr when she was old enough to understand it that her parents intended to return to take her back once her father had been proven innocent. However, as she got older, she assumed either her parents lied or her father was convicted. They left no names, no descriptions, no address; at times Zephyr wondered if they ever wanted her in the first place. She told people that she wouldn't bother looking for them because it would be impossible without any information in a place like Aeolus where that many creatures lived, but it was secretly more of a fear of finding out. If her parents truly did not want to return to find her, she would be blissfully ignorant without knowing. After spending eighteen years in the orphanage, having no attachments to the city and no information about her parents, she decided to set off. She had lived with the rules of the orphanage for so long that she was ready to leave the day she was old enough.

### Notable Travels

With that, she left Aeolus, spending 25 years of life traveling not only the world, but the planes. She learned about other cultures, each one unique and beautiful in its own ways. She picked up languages and learned how to blend in quickly with locals anywhere, making her a diplomatic and easygoing ally.

#### Al-Khadra

The first place she traveled to was Al-Khadra, where she met a rather intimidating Genasi named Sirocco. He was a blacksmith who worked there, and at first seemed unapproachable and easy to anger. However, Zephyr quickly learned not to judge someone's appearance, as Sirocco stepped in when some troublesome men tried to take advantage of the fact that Zephyr was a lost tourist and steal her gold pieces. Sirocco took her inside the blacksmith's and told her she must learn to stand up for herself, or she'd never survive in a city like Al-Khadra. For a few months, Zephyr apprenticed with him, and through his smithing instruction, he taught her subtle lessons about intimidation and assertion, which she didn't even realize she was learning until later. As it turned out, Sirocco was more of a gentle giant than anything, and people feared him based on his appearance alone. The next time she saw those men, she was surprised to discover she now knew how to handle herself. "See," Sirocco said. "Now they won't be bothering you again."

#### Saturnalia

She next traveled to Saturnalia, a smaller city on its own island. After spending a few days in the center of the city, she decided to explore the outskirts a bit, where she discovered a woman with a bow, shooting target practice in what looked like a section of personal property. She was covered almost head to toe in various battle scars, and she looked a bit strange to Zephyr. She was also an incredible shot, and seemed a bit angry, but Zephyr had already learned from Sirocco that you never can know what a person is like just by looking at them, so she approached her.

The woman refused to say a word for a while, but Zephyr returned each day and tried again. Eventually, the woman finally answered and said her name was Ilea. It took time, but Zephyr was able to get closer to her. Her hope was that Ilea would teach her to be such a good shot with her crossbow as well, which she did. The thing that Zephyr found strange was that Ilea looked like her, except her skin was more of a tan, like a dirt road, and her hair was dark. It turned out Ilea was a human soldier who had been banished to the Plane of Air about 16 years ago. She had no way of returning, and instead had to find her own way to live and survive. Zephyr left Saturnalia having learned about a place called the Material Plane, and having made a new friend who taught her to be a much better fighter.

#### The Silver City

The Silver City is where Zephyr spent the most of her time, and she left the Silver City for a few months at a time to travel to other places. However, a very large and very important part of Zephyr's memory was removed. (See "The 9 Hells")

#### Tava'i

Tava'i is one of the places that Zephyr traveled to after taking trips out of the Silver City. Tava'i is a less populated land with no organized towns or cities, although many people live in the forests. While exploring, Zephyr met a woman named Elina, who rescued her from a group of vapor rats. She let her stay in her hut and recuperate, while also teaching her how to calm animals that were attacking. Zephyr learned to handle creatures that were easily frightened, and also how to calm angry beasts. From then on, she always tried to calm creatures down before resorting to violence, and she would only shoot if she absolutely had to in self-defense.

#### Raqqa

Raqqa was another less populated area where Zephyr met an explorer, another Air Genasi named Whistle. Zephyr had never been in a position before where she could not simply float on the air currents to get around until coming to Raqqa, where the air currents were much more violent and skriaxit roamed about. After failing several times to escape a deep ravine from not being strong enough to fly through the currents, Whistle found her calling for help and came down to assist her. There, they taught her how to climb up and out so that if she were ever in a position where she could not fly, she wouldn't be helpless. After spending time together in the shelter of a cavern and exchanging travel stories, they also gave her a small, serpentine owl statuette, telling her that this small stone had the ability to transform into a much larger creature. In an emergency, the serpentine owl's wingpower would be much stronger and could get her out of a bad situation where, for example, she was injured. Whistle told her that they had another one, so it would be no problem to give Zephyr the extra. She named the owl Amnus, after an old man she met, who loved owls and always said he would become one after he passed away, which he did soon after Zephyr left.

### The 9 Hells

Two of Zephyr's companions, Micah and Louis, their previous teammate, were taken and held captive in the 9 Hells. With them as collateral, Zephyr and Sangi were forced to travel each level of the 9 Hells and steal a magical item from the King of the Hells, Asmodeus. They were both rather pressed for time and desperate to save their friends quickly. In spite of being warned of some sort of cost, they opted to take a shortcut across the River Styx to travel directly from the 2nd level of hell to the 7th. Near the river, they were met by a hag who told them, in order to cross the Styx, they would need to give up either a possession or a memory of value to them. Unfortunately, neither of them had any physical possession that they would be too torn up to give up, and anything Zephyr had she would be able to get another of. Sangi attempted to give away one of his memories, but after discovering that only one of them needed to give up a memory, Zephyr refused to let him proceed. She believed she would be giving up only the memories that included a specific person from her past, however she lost all 11 years of memory from the location in which she met them.

> I would trust you with [my life.] I know I came here for a reason, but I can't remember what that is. It's gone with my missing memories. But you're the closest thing to family I've ever had. I'm sticking with you.
>
> Zephyr to Sangi,

After battling a giant sand worm in the deserts of the Outlands, Zephyr unleashed a very powerful attack (this holds the record for most damage done in a single turn to date within the group of players.) This earned her the title "Beastcleaver," awarded to her by Sangi, who also earned the title "Earthcarver" from his tribe after performing a great feat of strength.

She has 20 years of memory before the gap of memories that were lost and 12 years after (current/ongoing), with bits of months in between. She remembers anything that did not occur in the Silver City, including the periods of time where she left to travel and then returned back. She remembers her travels (for example, Raqqa and Tava'i), but rather than remembering traveling back to the Silver City, she instead remembers journeying to the next destination. So instead of remembering going to Tava'i then back to the Silver City, as far as she knows, she went straight for Tava'i to Raqqa.

While helping her team in their ongoing fight to save the multiverse from Talos, Zephyr is also battling a constant, inward struggle with depression and trauma that she no longer remembers discovering, and the fear within not knowing very much about herself. She has self-harm scars from suicide attempts that she can't recall, so she has reached a state of fearing herself. Her life of traveling resulted in a persistent lack of sense of belonging, so as she fights alongside her companions, she also navigates how she *feels* towards her companions and what that means. She is learning to suppress a desperate fear of losing her newfound family and continue to be a supportive and trustworthy teammate while remaining open and honest with them. It is difficult, but for her it is a journey well worth braving.

## Abilities/Skills

* Skilled gunslinger/sharpshooter, trick shots
* Elemental abilities enhance some skills
* Some spell casting

## Gear

* 3 pistols (one enhanced by Louis)
* Laser rifle
* Shortsword
* Blowgun
* Figure of Wondrous Power (Serpentine Owl)