Ruby

## Ruby, the trickster

*"I didn't do nothing wrong."*

## History

### **Childhood**

*​* In the Kingdom of Amaria, there is a powerful and influential Duke, a very strict and exigent man who was
known to be cruel and merciless against those who disappoint him. Feared and
respected, his domain was probably one of the biggest of all in the whole Kingdom.

It is from his union with a heir of a rich merchant that Ruby was born. The
first daughter of the duke, heir of his wealth and power.
Since her birth, Ruby was treated like a princess. She never lacked anything,
food, clothes, luxurious activities or expensive toys... everything she
desired, she had it. Her mother was a kind lady, she loved her from the bottom
of her heart and they were very close.

Promised to a bright and peaceful
future, there was nothing to bother the adorable child's life, spending these
happy days in her mansion, with her mother and servants.

### **The curse**

But one day, few after she
turned 9 years old, something started changing in her. In the matter of a day
her skin turned crimson red, her spine grew at the bottom of her back to form a
long and flexible tail, two little horns were emerging out of her forehead and
her feet transformed into goat-like hooves.

Terrorized about what was happening to her, this is how Ruby learned she was in
fact a tiefling, and these changes occurring in her were from her lineage that
finally manifested. But another problem was going to cut short to the fear of
her body becoming all fiendish. Her tainted blood could only come from one
cause, the association of her ancestors with Daemons...

​This was a catastrophe for the Duke, his own daughter's transformation was the
irrefutable proof of his ancestor's daemonic pacts that led his dynasty into
becoming one of the most well-known and powerful family of the entire kingdom.

​To prevent any information spreading about this terrible truth, the Duke
announced he would send his daughter abroad in a convent to isolate her, on the
pretext that she had contracted a terrible illness. On the same night, Ruby had
to leave her beloved house in a small chariot, wrapped up in covering clothes,
with only a few toys and her favorite necklace. The few servants that had seen
her in her new form strangely missing.

### **The attack**

It happened during the second
night of travel. Ruby couldn't sleep. She was sitting on one of the benches of the
carriage, sadly wondering if she will ever again see her mansion, her bedroom, her mother...

When suddenly the groom received an arrow in the chest. The man just had the time to make a short scream before falling, dead. The horses panicked and went crazy, running at full speed on the road for dozens of
meters.
Ruby was unable to understand what was happening. But what was left of her reasoning part made it clear she was in danger. She gathered her courage,
opened the chariot's door and jumped out of it.

​She took a nosedive as she landed directly inside of a little hole
surrounded by brambles, behind a brush. She was shaking, fear almost outshining the pain from her landing and the dozens of thorns that pierced through her clothes and teared up her skin.

After a moment, she heard the criminals responsible of this attack approach
the carriage. They were searching for something. This is only when Ruby started
hearing them speak that she understood the terrible truth behind their
attack...
​- Damn it! Where is she? The Duke told us she would be in this chariot! yelled
one of them
​- Find her out, quick! we need to kill her to finish the job, or else the duke
will do the same thing to us ! continued another.
This hit her like a hammer. With horror, she learned that her father, her very own father, just sent her to her death. He sent these men to kill her, and soon, they would find her small shelter... and finish their job.

​Ruby was shivering, terrorized, awaiting silently her fate, tears of fears coming
out of her eyes while they were looking everywhere...

​But they never found her, and after an hour, they simply piled up the corpses
of the horses and groom to put them on fire, as well as the carriage. They then
headed back upstream from the road, believing she may have left her transport
earlier to hide.

​Ruby took long minutes wriggling free from the tiny hole that saved her life.
Covered in cuts and thorns, she was slowly realizing the situation she was in.

She was alone, abandoned.

​She had nowhere to go and nothing to eat. And she'll never be able to come
back to her mansion... or see her mother. Her eyes red of tears and her whole body in pain, the pitiful little tiefling started wandering on the road. Trying
to reach whatever was ahead. Realizing step after step what she had lost, what
had been taken from her. Moving forward painfully as despair was taking over her.

After a few hours walking she finally reached a village. Managing to sell her
shoes, useless for her now that she no longer had feet, for a few gold pieces. After eating, she took a cart for the closest city.

The large and dangerous City of Luperion.

### **Luperion**

Ruby arrived in Luperion on a rainy day. Still terribly affected by the recent turn her life had taken, she didn't even know where to start. Her provisions were already finished, she was starving and didn't have a single coin, with no idea on what to do.

She tried to get herself recruited for some miserable work or easy to do jobs to get a
few incomes, at least enough to survive. ​But she early understood what it meant to be a fiendish blooded in the City of Wolves...

No one would hire her. No one would open their door to her or even give her the slightest charity. Those who wouldn't just tell her to get lost would spit on her, hit her, sometime threatening her with knifes or other instruments of torture.

​She stopped trying to find help after dealing with a certain group of blacksmith. She asked them if she could keep the fires of their forge lit in exchange for a place to sleep and some food. They surrounded her and took turns
beating her up, yelling at her that she was a demon scum. They finished by throwing her in the cold mud of the street, half dead, after branding her back
with a hot red fire poker.

Accepting the fact that nobody would ever want her here, she started stealing.
Survival in this city was harsh, and on top of being a tiefling, stealing was one of the most reprehensible crime that existed here.

This led her existence from being hated by the mass, to a criminal wanted by the authorities.

​Despite the danger of this life, she quickly found out she was talented in thievery. Being as discreet as a cat and swift as a snake, she had no problem relieving the local commoners from their pouches, coins and keys. Getting rarely caught, and always managing to escape if she failed. She managed to live out of her stealing alone.

​Stealthily taking the gold or food out of the pockets of the people who first
rejected her. Unfortunately for her, the dangers of such life are real and deadly. The guards, nor the citizens of Luperion have any pity for the thieves, especially if they are fiend blooded.

​During the first years, Ruby lived with this damocles sword above her neck. Getting hunted down, and sometime caught by the guards and their dogs. When this happened, she was on board for a hellish moment...

A dog managing to jump on her in the night and catching one of her legs with
his maw. The sensation of pain and drop. The pointy teeth still anchored in her
flesh as the other hounds rush toward her to bite each of her limbs. Her skin
getting torn apart and her tears and cries getting covered by the growling and barking of the trained hounds, feasting on violence while their guard masters are watching, shadily smiling. Sometime laughing as she struggles against them. Waiting for the small tiefling girl to be rendered helpless on the
ground, covered in blood.

​But as they are guiding her half dead body through the night street in
direction of the prison to be executed later, she would find an opportune
moment as they walk in front of a tiny sewer access, or the small window of an abandoned cellar. She would bite the fingers of her torturer, and using this
momentum to rush to that saving hole. Escaping from death, all wounded and exhausted, but alive.

### **A new beginning**

Ruby managed to survive and grow up to become a young woman. At the age of 20 she was an accomplished rogue and wasn't living badly. Tricking and stealing around her to get herself some wealth and comfort. Life wasn't a daily struggle anymore. Her skills allowing her a decent living on the marge of society.

A shadow in the streets, taking whatever she wants, whenever she wants, and squatting different hideout that nobody would ever find.

These years however, had marked her mind permanently. And from the poor and
innocent child, Ruby became crazy and eccentric. Doing everything to have fun
while driving the other people around her mad. Doing pranks, mocking, stealing
for fun... nothing was too much to entertain her. Having developed a severe kleptomania, she couldn't help herself but stealing the locals, even if she didn't needed to.

Becoming independent and auto sufficient helped her develop hobbies outside of thievery and mischieving. So she became passionate with dancing. Like the folkloric and energetic dances of the artists that performed in the streets or the marketplace. She also found herself drawn into cooking, because stealing food was nice, but sometime making it yourself was even better.

Eventually, she got bored of this city and decided it was time to move on. She wanted to see the world, and travel to adventure in more exciting places. Now a very capable person, she left, along with her acquired skills, and her memories.

## Appearance

Ruby is a young 20 years old girl. But even if she mostly look like a human, she has a red skin, a 4 foot prehensile tail, a pair of horns above her forehead and goat-like hooves. In short, a tiefling.

She has two malicious eyes color honey, her ears are pretty elven-looking and very flexible. Blessed with a naturally good-looking face, and a fit and advantageous body.

She usually wears practical clothes, fitting of a thief. But in the areas where she knows she won't get any trouble, her choices go more for ones that will help her get attention, especially from the male audience. Her tail is giving her a hard time with normal clothes so she wears custom pants and tongs to feel at ease.

She usually wears some silver jewelry that she attach on her ears, horns... As well as a necklace that is the only souvenir she has from her previous life, a pretty mithral necklace with an encased amethyst.

She bathes everyday, even sometime multiple times per day, and enjoys spending time in front of the mirror. Considering her appearance as a weapon just as much as a source of pride. Having embraced her fiendish features over the years.

## Personality

Hard to find someone more mischievous and silly than Ruby. She is impulsive, playful, manipulative and a first class prankster. She never looses an occasion to mischief.

She rejects all kinds of laws that could be implemented on her. She likes to be free as the wind and anyone trying to impose its will on her will find in her an enemy.

She is addicted to cakes, candies, chocolates, milkshakes and basically anything that is sweet and sugared. She carries a box that contains her precious most expensive sweets in her bag. The perfect tool for a small snack in the wilderness of adventuring.

She loves dancing, as well as cooking. These two activities fill the majority of her free time when she has nothing else to do.

Ruby is not easily impressed or stepped on. Despite her childish behavior, this silliness of hers hides in fact a very cunning intelligence. It is in no way a good idea to underestimate her, or to steal her box, cause it's hers.

She has a tiny problem with other people's possession. During her life in Luperion, she developed a deep kleptomania, and cannot restrain herself from stealing. The excitement of the act is just too much for her to resist. And the more risky it is, the better it feels. Her favorite technique is to draw someone's attention elsewhere while she relieves them from their purse or pocket watch with her agile tail.

Her only weakness is a deep fear of dogs and in some extent, wolves as well. This cynophobia grew when the guards were training and using a lot of them to track down criminals and delinquents alike. Every time she sees one, the places where she got bit in the past by the hounds that chased her down start burning and panic takes over her.

## Nero

After a while learning magic, Ruby took the services of a familiar to help her better herself in the arcanes, as well as her item creation habits.

Unfortunately for her, Nero was the one whom she got associated with, not really by choice.

This mischievous magpie has quite the personality. Saddled with a terrible temper and a very vulgar mouth, the talking bird is giving the tiefling a hard time.

His cunning intelligence and his habit of taking unattended shiny objects however makes him a very suitable companion for Ruby. Even if she has troubles admitting it. The two of them actually make an excellent duo, as long as they do not argue with each other, which invariably leads to yelling and the cocky bird beaking her nose.

Nero even takes a guilty pleasure spreading silly rumors about the tiefling, or revealing some shameful secrets he knows about her to her entourage. When it's not just telling anyone the color of her underwears.

For these reasons, Ruby rarely brings him with her and usually prefers to leave him at home unless she absolutely needs him in a mission.

## Friends

#### **Ishiyama Kenji:**

Met in Haven years ago, Kenji's first impression of the tiefling girl wasn't particularly very good. He spotted her stealing one of his customers in his own blacksmith shop. But things didn't end poorly, since half an hour later, he asked her for dinner, even handing her money to buy a dress.

Ruby never really believed in the Prince charming, but this man is the closest that will ever get to be hers. He is a talented sword-maker and a master of swordsmanship. He has a good heart and doesn't hesitate to make sacrifices for the well being of others.

He even purposely blinded himself for his people. A choice that Ruby had always questioned, as she doesn't have the same altruism as him, and misses looking in his eyes as he looks in hers.

They both live together in a house in Ginkuto. Kenji's own estate. But even if Ruby finds the city beautiful, she also finds it boring and usually escapes to other cities where she can have all the fun she wants.

#### **Haris Mahzaata:**

One of the first friend Ruby ever made. This master of magic really helped her building her powers and arcane affinity.

A loyal friend and a good advisor, both Ruby and Haris share a taste for mischief and trickery. Liking to prank and surprise each other on every occasion, to then presenting her with a cake of his own making. Despite the mage always being ahead of her in term of knowledge and power.

Haris always seemed to have eyes on the tiefling. And if not for Kenji, he would probably try everything to get her in his bed.

He overhaul is one of the most precious friendships Ruby has, but unfortunately, he has disappeared in a plane out of her reach for now, and she can only wait, powerless, until he returns.

#### **Crystal the Centaur:**

Crystal is a beefy, simple-minded, kind-hearted and carrot loving centaur, which Ruby met in Prospero's outskirt.

Feeling for the centaur's internal struggle between her paladin's duties and her romantic life, she proposed to help her get back to her city to settle things with Brunhilde. But what she didn't know is that the kingdom of Wrathia had been cut away from its ley line, making all magic within a huge area impossible.

This is how, from what she thought would be a simple teleport in and out, Ruby had to spend two entire days, with nothing to wear in the cold snow of the North in Crystal's company. With no magic to protect her or allowing her to escape.

This began a solid friendship between the two girls, as it allowed them to bound during their travel and stay in the city.

Now Ruby hangs out with the centaur as much as she can, going dancing and baking her cakes, while also messing around with her with tricks and illusions.

#### **Ashelia Saint Claire:**

Ashelia is a powerful and influential person, that Ruby met long ago in the old world. Despite her seriousness and fearsome intelligence, she is always keen to have fun with the tiefling.

She is the ruler of Prospero and as such, has many responsibilities. But Ruby tries to not loose her to politics and usually visits the city to meet with her. And the two of them can exchange a good laughter.

Ashe is always ahead of her, which sometimes frustrates Ruby, as she does not quite understand how there is such a difference between them. Nonetheless, she always admire her beauty and elegance, feats that she knows she has much less than the almost divine looking woman.

#### **Quill Paiyori:**

Probably Ruby's weirdest friend. An awkward man with a double personality. He can be kind and caring, always craving for her approval and appreciation, but the

second after he can be legit creepy.

Ruby never minded his switches in personality, nor does she fear him despite his uneasiness. But she always keeps an eye on him, due to his unpredictability. This makes their encounter always jovial, but a bit warry.

He is a mage as well, and as such, is a good advisor and colleague on the subjects of the arcanes. And both of them like to compete with each other. But somehow Quill is being drawn by a darker path that Ruby doesn't know about yet...

#### **Rafael Aldi:**

Even if they are quite opposite, one being a lawful warrior with a sense of duty, and the other a magic trickster who couldn't care less about law, the two of them managed to befriend the other.

Rafael is a loyal and dedicated paladin, always in the service of the light. He would protect Ruby, and most people anyway, with his life. But it is his kind heart and good sense of humor that made the tiefling found of this powerful fighter.

She helped him many times, notably when he rediscovered his fey heritage. Finding back his mother and helping him save her.

Although he went on a long training journey, Ruby awaits with impatience his return.

## Enemies and Rivals

Less enemies than annoyance, Ruby has a few people she dislikes.

#### **Hikari Shiro:**

Bold, idiotic and stubborn, Hikari could potentially have been friend with the tiefling, that is if he was not a giant pain in the ass.

The main issue she has with this dragonrider is that when she outsmarts her opponents and make her plans work, Hikari would invariably ruin them. It is especially true when she uses her skills in wall making. The damn warrior would use his rod of disintegrate against her creation just so he can smash more.

This pisses Ruby off to no end, and she swore that if he was to use it one more time against her, she would do everything in her power to destroy this rod (and stick the remains in his butt).

#### **Brunhilde:**

Born for war, Brunhilde was once a proud warrior and a really appreciable teammate in adversity. She saved Ruby's life once, and for that, she will be forever thankful to her.

But as years past, terrible things happened to her, and when Ruby met her again in Wrathia, what she found was bitter lady who was stubborn as a rock. She destroyed the ley line of her kingdom, and created her own strict paladin's order in her ascension for godhood.

It saddens Ruby deeply to see her becoming like that and she really wants to kick some sense in the white haired woman. Unfortunately, with her power level, she is incapable of doing such thing, and she can only witness doing wrong and hurting her friend Crystal.

## Aspirations

Ruby enjoys spending time for herself and enjoying life. She has multiple hobbies and envies. She is a very skilled cook and baker. Even owning her own bakery in Haven, called the "Sinful Delicious". She likes to bake and usually bring delicacies made by herself to her friends when she visits.

She also have an unnatural talent for dancing. After making herself her own dancing outfit, she went on many scenes and representations. Offering her skills and passion to the crowd. Her favorite styles are folk dance and belly dance.

She has a huge addiction to stealing. And unlike many addictions, she doesn't try to fight or even refrain her desires. but instead, embraces this part of herself and finds much enjoyment in it. Getting better at it even thrilling her with satisfaction and excitement. An expert in outsider could emit the hypothesis that all tieflings are subject to destructive pulsions. And while some may contain theirs, or on the other hand let it all out in murderous manners, Ruby probably canalises them into stealing.

But apart from these mundane activities, Ruby is in priority a mage. She dedicates a lot of her time trying to learn and exploit new spells and ways to use magic.

As a self taught person, she ended up creating a unique and very versatile style of utilization of magic. Some mages may deem even superior as the more traditional arts of wizardry. As she is capable of deeds and capable of spell combination that most wizards can only dream off.

But as a forever unsatisfied person, Ruby always tries to break her limits, and creates her own style of combat, using both magic and her excellent physical abilities. Because for her, even the sky is not a limit, and never will she have enough tricks up her sleeves.

## SIDE STORY: The cake is not a lie

The sun was going down on the poor district of Luperion. Ruby was sitting on the roof of a dilapidated house in the poor districts. Several families were living on the three floors this ruin had to offer, but nobody was using the old attic, only accessible by the window 25 feet above the street but with a pile of junk to help the ascension. The little tiefling could squat this place without getting into troubles. It was quite warm and acceptably clean. There was even an cracked mattress and a broken mirror.

The 13 years old girl was watching the city. With a concerned look on her face. Her birthday was in two days, and she wanted to celebrate it, no matter what. She remembered the ones she had when she was at her mansion. Her mother was blindfolding her and leading her to the living room where a giant colorful cake was waiting for her with a pile of presents and all the servants smiling, singing a happy birthday song. She imagined her face, mouth opened, admiring the marvelous creation the baker had prepared. She opened her eyes, ending her flashbacks, the sun was gone, and the cold night was starting to set on the city. Yeah... now she was all alone. A lonely shadow despised by everyone. No friend, no family, no affiliation...

She shook her head violently. She mustn't let herself get dragged into despair. She needed to focus on her plan for tomorrow night. The moon was already high in the sky right now and she had to sleep. She came back to her window, closed it and wrapped herself into a blanket.

A shadow was moving through the city. The little tiefling was wrapped in a huge brown coat, perfect to cover her red skin and hide her hooves. But also, it was the perfect tool for someone who wants to go unnoticed. Her goal was already decided. She wanted to get a cake for her birthday. But not a mere average cake. She would steal one from "Garby's Bakery", the most prestigious in town, and probably also the entire continent. She asked several folks where this bakery was, she only heard of it before. A merchant finally showed her the way. Ruby grimaced, it was near the entrance of the palace, at the exact opposite of the town. Retrieving the cake from here to her squat won't be easy.

When she arrived to the bakery, her heart pumped up as she was admiring the spectacle in front of her. The bakery was a huge shop built on two floors. The walls were painted in pink, white and orange. There were cakes, mountains of biscuits and even chocolates lying behind the shop windows. The smell was already filling her mouth with saliva and she wasn't even in the shop yet. A delicious smell was surrounding the area. Ruby entered the bakery, her mind completely blown by what she was seeing. The little girl couldn't even breeze. There were cakes and candies everywhere. It was like in a dream. Tables were filled with brownies, cupcakes, croissants and hundreds of other delicacies she couldn't even name. Her body was moving on its own, and without her noticing, her right hand was starting to get to a cherry tartlet...

The young tiefling came back to her mind in time and put her hand away. That was not the time to steal something. She first needed to analyze the building. Gathering information about the ways out, the security, and most importantly, what was the cake she would steal. After a few minutes she finally met it, he one cake that would please her special day. It was a white and pink cake, a true piece of art. Weighing at least 2 pounds, filled with cream, assorted with candied fruits. Little musicians were sculpted on its top with almond paste, mimicking a concert. Ruby spent at least ten minutes admiring it under her hood. But one of the employees told her to move because she was in the way of the other costumers.

The young girl left the bakery. Now was time to check the best route to get home, and if the shop would be guarded. She will operate at night...

After nightfall, she was ready. The lights were decreasing everywhere as people were going to sleep. It was around 11pm, and it was time to rob this cake. Still wrapped in her coat, Ruby was heading to the bakery. She unlocked the backdoor with her knife and an iron lockpick. She entered. Proud of herself, she moved like a ghost to the first floor, where the cake was waiting for her. "Easy as a piece of cake" she thought with a smile. She grabbed it and left the room. The cake was huge. Without its plate, the tiny tiefling wouldn't be able to carry it proberly.

As she was reaching the door, she heard a voice. Someone was coming. "Ah ! Damn this new apprentice, he forgot to lock this door again before leaving ! Well anyway, let's go to the cellar, I got an old bottle of wine that'll make bring your palate to heaven." The manager of the shop was coming with another man. Ruby retained a swearword started to find a place to hid. She had the huge cake in her hands and no place to hide on the ground, only being surrounded by empty shelves. She jumped as high as she could and climbed with great agility. Maintaining her body with her only legs between the shelves, she was out of sight and the two men passed under her without noticing anything at the weak light of their candles. "All right I got this", she thought. But e few seconds later, she heard a crackle, and in an instant, the shelf she was using as a support for her hoove broke under her weight. The little tiefling girl fell on the floor and cut deeply her elbow. The wooden plate survived but almost half of the cake got crushed by one of the fallen shelves. Hearing this loud noise, the two men were quickly coming back on their feet to see what happened.

Ruby took the plate, containing what was remaining of the cake and flee as fast as she could. Her arm was making her suffer and blood was flowing out of her wound. She run several districts and finally stopped to catch her breath. She was furious against herself, she should have thought about this eventuality, and have a back-up plan. Now the cake was in a bad state and almost half of it was gone, plus she had nothing to heal her wounds. She continued to walk, both hands holding the plate, through the sleeping city. But as she was reaching river side, she started to hear voices behind her. The voices were getting more and more audible, she was getting followed, how ?

The tiefling stopped dead, realizing what was happening. Her blood ! They were following the tracks of her blood. She turned her head and saw two guards, accompanied with a dog. They also noticed her and shouted at her to stand still. As they started to walk toward her, Ruby run away at full speed. The 2 men, surprised, proceeded to chase at her, and the dog was running faster than her.

The little tiefling knew there was only one solution, the dog was about to reach her. She gathered her courage and jumped into the water. Disappearing completely in the dark.

She did all she could to maintain the cake on the plate, but the water was penetrating it, crumbling it and flushing all the decorations. After more than an hour she finally reached her shelter. The poor girl was cold, all wet and weak with her arm still badly cut from her fall, but she was safe now. She puts the cake in the center of her room and started to light fourteen little candles on the plate. When she finished, she watches with a sad look the poor remains of the pastry that used to be a masterpiece. The cake was all crumbled up, not even half of it was left and there merely was a piece of fruit or almond paste still on it.

Ruby was watching the candles burning. She put a finger on the cake, taking some cream out of it and brought it in her mouth. Tears came to her eyes... it was delicious.

"Happy birthday to me..." she mutters in a small voice.

The light of the attic fades away as she blow on the candle.