Zedalia

## Zedalia- The Empathic Exile

Zedalia was born to a small, highly religious town in the wilds. Unwanted, but irremovable, the town's strong religious beliefs dictated that they could not simply kill or abandon the girl before she became of age, and while they did not care for tieflings as horrific entities that were a curse to merely be around, they did at least understand the concept of what a Tiefling was enough to know that it would be decades they would be stuck with her as a result. However, based on the village's somewhat conglomerate of beliefs built up primarily of Sarenrae, Desna, Shelyn, and Milani, they also refused to simply "do away" with her due to her inconvenience. For roughly 60 years, she toiled as something similar to a slave in the village, working for the roof over her head and food they gave her. She was never treated fairly, but as she grew, she also developed a keen sense of others. It was hard for her to speak out against them, because she could feel the fear and insecurity she caused in them, which caused her to develop a sense of anxiety about speaking or acting around others. As soon as she grew of age to leave, the other villagers rushed her out of the village as quickly as they could- they were well and thoroughly done with her.

## Patronage and Witch-dom

Zedalia is not a "normal" witch. During her years alongside the village, she developed her powers as an empath. This made it hard for her to justify harming others, often avoiding conflict and trying to soothe wounds or help people instead. Her familiar came upon her after a particularly rough treatment from one of the villagers she had been brought on to help. While none of the villagers necessarily got physical with her normally, there was an occasion where their abuses did become physical, and in spite of herself, she never sought to direct any form of retribution on them. She grew adept at trying to use words to soothe their angers, but sometimes this angered them more- not because the words would not have worked, but because of who they were coming from: Zedalia, the curse of the village. On a rare occasion, this did lead to physical violence. Her familiar came to her at such a point when she was crying and licking her wounds in the forest nearby, a small fox that joined her in licking her wounds, and nuzzled into her. In her mind, she could 'feel' the concept of healing magic flowing into her. Naming the fox Mathira, she found ways of communing with this Familiar to learn more of her powers, but hid this from the village, knowing that if they found out, they would only view this as dark arts and have more reason to hate her. For now, her newfound power went unfostered in anything more than learning to occasionally use a pot over a fire to quickly brew up a small stash of healing potions for the days when she was beaten again, as a way of quickly picking herself back up and continuing on.

## Exodus

Shortly before she left for good, the village found her stash of potions. One of the guards found where she was brewing them, and this lead to a heated exchange between some of the village elders. She was barred from leaving the town, and her final year of time in the village grew even more difficult. They now believed she had been learning to create such potions in order to find some way of going against them, and began to grow further hatred toward the girl. When the time came for her to leave, she was given no more than the clothes on her back and a pittance of coin, and told to leave and never come back. If they ever saw her in the village again, she would be seen as an attacker, and dealt with like any other beast. Ducking her head and retreating quietly, she fled into the Wilds. A young girl like her was unlikely to survive such a retreat, until she encountered an unlikely ally.

A traveling warpriest of Gorum found the tired, hungry, and scared Zedalia during their wanderings. Her fox had been the only company she had until now, and assuming this warpriest to be just another person who would hate her, Zedalia tried to avoid him. As fate would have it, he managed to fairly easily spot her, and instead of show hatred or disdain like all others she had met so far, the man in the scary black-spiked armor showed her some amount of tenderness, calling for her to join him. Kazamir, as he would later introduce himself, wished to travel, and wanted to help others grow in power to be the best they could. Zedalia left the wilds with him, and with his help, started gathering what she would need for her potions once more. It was the one thing she knew how to do for sure, and only marketable skill she had. She only hoped that others could see past what she was long enough to at least pay for a potion or two.

## Wishful Drinking

For nearly a year, Zedalia and Kazamir would travel through the magical kingdoms and the wilds, selling Zedalia's potions where they could. This gave Kazamir the ability to travel and search for his calling, while granting Zedalia the ability to keep moving and sell her potions, and accrue some form of living wage. Within the year, she had gotten enough money for an actual alchemy kit, some actual supplies, and eventually even an ox and wagon! Excitedly, she dubbed this success as the "start of her new business!" Dubbing the new traveling potion shop "Wishful Drinking" as an homage to her hopes, and a bit of a pun, this gave the two of them not only a place to do business, but an easier way to travel, and shelter from the elements as they did so. The next objective for them was Tel'Anaram- a city of free trade. Hoping that now that she had a form of actual store and way of travel she might be able to find people who at least cared more about proper trade than who they traded with. In any case, the tales she heard of the city ranged from them being deranged psychopaths who would take anyone in, to a city of inquiry that focused on logic and fact over superstition. Hoping for the latter, she charted course for the new country, hoping to find a new start.

## Appearance

Zedalia is clearly a tiefling by appearance. Her horns curve and wrap around, and due to her cloven hooves, she has a nearly goat-like appearance as a result. A very light layer of fur covers her body that is very soft and smooth to the touch, feeling amazing to run one's hands through should she allow them, however simultaneously being deceptively thick, making it a bit harder to precisely strike her. The most notable aspect about her is her seemingly-glowing red eyes and horns, which also seem to have a very faint glow to them. Neither of which actually emits light to any notable standard, but instead simply refract light in such a way as to give the appearance of such. She wears a large, floppy hat that she seems to have taken up the habit of using to cover her face with the hem of whenever she grows anxious or embarrassed, but otherwise wears somewhat simple robes that are easy to move in.

She also seems to almost always be preternaturally thin, almost disturbingly so, but her anatomy doesn't quite match up to that of a normal human's. Her torso is equally thin to her waist, but in such a way that shouldn't quite be natural. It's a very minor discrepancy, however, and one that would require some level of actual investigation to truly notice. She also seems to never gain weight, regardless of how much she eats. This may, perhaps, be some aspect of her fiendish heritage?

## Personality

Zedalia is very anxious around others. While she is innately not a particularly easily scared person by most means, she has a distinct disdain of harming others, but knowledge that they can easily harm her. As such, when speaking with others, she is often so careful with her words that her voice usually barely comes out to a whisper at best. She has a gentle nature, and a strong desire to help those around her. In part, this is in a hope to carve out a small place for herself in the world, with people who care about her in turn. She innately is incapable of truly hating others. Due to her latent empathy, it is actually very difficult for her to grow any form of actual distain or hatred, even against people who actively act to hurt her. There's always a small part of her that tries to detect the reasoning or perspective of the individual, and even if she cannot find it, tends to provide them the benefit of the doubt that even if they appear to be acting purely out of selfishness or greed, there is some underlying reason behind this.

Coupled with her somewhat slow, languid behavior, it's easy for her to come across as easy-going on the surface. Really, however, with how great her anxiety around others actually is, this is anything but the truth. Fear is an ever-present aspect of her life, even if she is a somewhat brave person. She is fully willing to suffer in order to see to it that her place in life is not harmed, and has no fear of pain if it means helping those in need, or helping those she cares about... But at the same time, people individually terrify her.

She is also not a particularly vengeful person or vindictive, and is quick to accept apologies or the like for even the most heinous of slights. And she holds to them, especially when it is shown they are actively trying to change. She is the sort to believe that even the worst of people can have some light in them, and wants to trust that if given enough chances that light will eventually come out. Sometimes, when particularly pressed by a hard to deal with individual, one might even hear her whisper under her breath, almost like a mantra, "All beings are deserving of love."

## Loves

Zedalia has a deep emotional care for others around her, but those who seem to enter her personal circle and treat her well quickly reserves a special place in her heart. Even if she does not necessarily harbor a romantic love for them, she quickly builds deep regards for these individuals. Aside from this, however, she has a bit of a materialistic love. She very much is the sort of person who enjoys certain things. Collecting beautiful crystals, eating delicious foods... Especially sweets. Zedalia has an immense sweet tooth that is notable, often choosing her foods first and foremost for what is sweet before anything else. Oddly, in spite of her somewhat languid behavior, she seems to never put on weight, since her food choices would normally build up such effects when combined with her usual slow approach to life.

## Fears

Zedalia's fear of other people is almost palpable when interacting with her. Unless she has the chance to get comfortable with someone, she has a tendency of worrying about every little thing. It's part of why her speech is so low and soft. She has an innate worry of even a single word she says being seen as a reason to assault her, and is afraid of people's reactions. Especially due to her lack of ability- and in some ways desire- to defend herself if it means harming others, it leads to a very troublesome issue that makes conversing with others difficult at best. she is preternaturally worried about her every word, and worried about the intentions of those around her to a very strong degree.

## Hobbies

Aside from potion-making, Zedalia has a few little quirks to her that have very little to do with her magical or mercantile capacities. She loves to collect shiny or comfortable things. Precious gemstones, comfortable furniture... Little luxuries that she could never have had before. To her, these small upgrades to her quality of life, and small displays of wealth are things that indicate to her that her life is going somewhere positive. She doesn't maintain these things as a way of bragging to others- rather, she is somewhat worried that if others she does not innately trust were to find out about these things, they would surely find a way of taking them from her, such as by stealing them from her or worse... telling some guards she stole them.

She also has a vast enjoyment of listening to others speak. People-watching, so to speak. When simply idling and brewing her potions, she likes to observe the activities and investments of others, and enjoy the way they act in life. While others might find this 'creepy'' it's anything but to her. People enjoying their lives, and living in such a way as to be happy and enjoy each moment is something she holds dear, and loves to see as a part of life.

## Friends

As of now, Zedalia has two "friends" that she really trusts to any degree. Kazamir, for having found her when she was sent away from home, and helped her to get to where she is today, and her familiar Mathira, who she treasures for showing her her latent powers, and helping her draw the most out of herself. To a certain degree, this is a truth of both of her "friends" seeing as they helped her to come out and be more of who she is. While she is still very insecure, and not entirely sure if she can present that to other people she does not know, she feels heavily indebted to both.

## Enemies

As previously stated, Zedalia does not quite have "enemies" in and of herself. She truly and honestly believes that all people are deserving of love, and that people deserve chances to change their ways. The problem is, as a result of this, she sometimes is willing to give too much ground, and often needs her allies to back her up. The closest she has to "enemies" is likely in this respect.

## Family

Her family were villagers living in the wilds. When she was born, her mother was dismayed, and father distrustful. This opened a rend in her house, with her father believing her mother unfaithful, and her mother... didn't know what to think. She had no clue how Zedalia came to be. In truth, her father was the one with some fiendish heritage hidden away in the lineage, and it happened to come out very strongly in Zedalia. Her parents separated, her father leaving the village entirely. Her mother blamed Zedalia for the collapse of the family, and harbored a deep resentment for the horrific daughter she had birthed until the end of her days. Zedalia does not know the fate of her father, however she tended to her mother as she grew old and eventually passed, enduring the spite and hatred of the woman even as she cared for her and saw to her final end. To the last, she never could hate her mother, for she could feel that the grief and pain, the torment and suspicion that Zedalia brought into her life, had created a rift between her mother and all of her mother's friends and connections in the village. The woman almost spontaneously ended up with nothing in the life she had built for herself, and the only reason for that was Zedalia. Zedalia does not blame herself for any of it- she did, but her familiar forced that out of her and cut that off immediately, appealing to Zedalia's sense of logic- however she does still hurt for all the vitriol and spite her mother poured on her even with her dying breath. It's an emotional scar she bears that will probably never truly heal.