Bajaharaad

Bajaharaad was a tiefling barbarian in Group C.

"*Bajaharaad's human mother was a slave in the city of El Shaddah, on the eastern edge of the Jarkhem Desert. El Shaddah has long been isolated from the rest of the world thanks to the constant sandstorms stirred up by hostile djinni, making the Jarkhem desert nigh uncrossable. Longing for her freedom, Bajaharaad's mother found it unbearable living under her cruel master, Bashtun, and managed to escape into the desert one night. She didn't make it far before she became lost in a sandstorm. She covered herself in her cloak and sheltered from the wind at the base of a sand dune. When she awoke the next morning, she dug herself out from under the layer of sand that had accumulated around her and saw the glint of something green at the base of the dune. It was a copper jar, sealed shut, with unreadable ancient inscriptions etched beneath the crusty patina. Unable to resist her curiosity, and hoping there might be water inside, she opened the jar, and a plume of purple smoke erupted out of it. It was a djinni, named Fuwahagan. The djinni granted her three wishes in return for her releasing him from his prison. She wished for freedom from her master, to be granted a child, and for her child to be blessed. The djinni grinned a devilish grin, and blasted her with bolts of lightning from his fingertips.*

*When she awoke, she was back in captivity in her master's estate. Bashtun was furious that she had run away, and to punish her, vowed to put her to death as an example to the other slaves. Thus, her first wish was to be granted, with a cruel twist. However, upon dragging her from her slave's quarters into the sun, he discovered that she appeared to be in the late stages of pregnancy, confirming that her second wish had also been granted. He was forced to wait until the baby was delivered before carrying out her punishment. A month later, the baby was born. It was a horned half-djinn, with purple skin and red eyes. Rather than a blessing, she thought, the djinn had bestowed upon her son a curse. She was put to death, and the child, named Bajaharaad, meaning devil-child in the local tongue, was raised as a slave.*

*Many years passed and the boy grew into a man. He was shunned by nearly everyone, free or slave, but he was always kind and had a sharp mind. Bashtun was a greedy merchant who was always on the lookout for ways to increase his wealth. He had heard a rumor in the bazaar that far to the west, beyond the sandstorms, was an ancient structure called Khalesh Rago, where vast riches were hidden.*

*"Bajaharaad is the son of one of those Djinni devils! Perhaps I can use him to gain safe passage across the desert," Bashtun schemed. As a test, Bashtun chained Bajaharaad to his camel and had him walk ahead of him into the desert, where a sandstorm was stirring up. Sure enough, the sands parted wherever Bajaharaad walked. Bashtun prepared a caravan and set out across the desert in search of treasure, with Bajaharaad at the front. As they made their way through the storms, word spread amongst the djinn until it reached Fuwahagan. The caravan had almost made it to the other side, when Fuwahagan confronted them.*

*"Bajaharaad!" Bashtun cried, "Save us from this fiend!"*

*"Baja-ha-raad? Son of a devil?" Fuwahagan chuckled menacingly. "Foolish mortals. He is not a son of a raad! He is baja-ha-djinn! Haha! And not just any djinn, but the son of Me! Fuwahagan! But what's this?" he asked, noticing the chains around Bajaharaad's wrists. "Thou art a prisoner my son?"*

*"I am no prisoner," Bajaharaad, answered, trembling. "I am the humble slave of Bashtun."*

*"My son, a slave to mortal man? Verily, as I was once freed from my bondage, I shall free thee from thine!" And at that, great purple stormclouds began thundering above their heads. The djinn rose up into the clouds, and at once, lightning crashed all around them, scorching the sand, and killing everyone but Bajaharaad, who dropped to his knees in shock.*

*"Now, I hereby grant thee thy mother's final wish: A blessing upon thee, from a father to his son!" Fuwahagan blasted Bajaharaad's chains with energy from his fingertips, splitting them in two. The demonic energy traveled up the chains, over his arms, and into his eyes, as Bajaharaad screamed in agony.*

*When Bajaharaad next opened his eyes, he was being dragged in a stretcher behind a red camel. Some Kray'ta nomads had found his unconscious body and were taking him to their seaside camp on the outskirts of Krayt. They kindly cared for him until he regained his strength, and when he saw the ocean for the first time, he was brought to tears by its beauty. He knew then what he wanted to do. He set off, gaining passage on a fishing boat, seeking to flee across the placid ocean as far away from this cursed land as he possibly could."*