Cephas

**Cephas** was a genasi and a skilled fighter. He was the long-lost heir to Pasha Marod el Arhapan, the leader of Calimport.

## Description

As an Earthsoul, Cephas had dark, reddish skin and was heavily muscled. In his Windsoul manifestation, he was slighter in build and had silver skin.

## Possessions

Cephas wielded a great two-headed flail given to him by Azad the Free. He wore assorted pieces of scale armor.

## History

### Childhood

Cephas' mother, Valandra, was an Earthsoul genasi who manifested into a windsoul. The Pasha fell in love with her and she bore him a son. Valandra ran afoul of the Pasha and he made her a slave and tricked his champion gladiator, Azad the Free, into killing her in the arena. After his mother's death, Cephas was raised by a minotaur nanny. Azad later led a slave revolt and abducted young Cephas from the castle and took him into eastern Tethyr.

### Island of the Free

Azad found an earthmote over a canyon near the Omlarandin Mountains and built a small settlement known as the Island of the Free on the mote. Azad's wife, Sheneerah, trained Cephas to fight as a gladiator in the arena Azad built on the mote. Cephas used Azad's legendary double-headed flail in his fights, most of which he won. The arena was rigged with a canvas floor so that Cephas was never able to come into contact with the ground and thus was unable to use his earthsoul powers. When not in the arena or training, he was confined to a small chamber. He was forced to wear thick sandals and walk only on wooden walkways so that his feet never touched the earth.

### Circus of Wonders

A Kenku assassin named Corvus Nightfeather found out Cephas' lineage and concocted a plan to rescue him from the Island of the Free. Corvus' allies the ranger Mattias Farseer and the twin halfling rangers Shan and Cynda participated in the raid to free Cephas. Once he was freed, he agreed to travel with Corvus and the circus he ran. Cephas was given the role of strongman so that the current strongman, a goliath named Tobin, could realize his dream of playing a clown. The circus travelled to the Earthsoul genasi settlement of Argentor where they gave a performance. Corvus was working as agent for both the Weavepasha of Almraiven and Shahrokh, the djinn lord of Calimport. He informed both his masters that he had Cephas in his possession and Shahrokh sent a company of elite minotaur warriors to capture Cephas. They attacked the circus at Argentor, inflicting heavy casualties on the villagers and circus members although they were ultimately defeated and driven off.

### Almraiven

In the aftermath of the minotaur attack, Corvus opened a gate to Almraiven that Cephas and other key members of Corvus' troop travelled through. The Weavepasha knew of Cephas' heritage and wanted to enspell him with death magic that would kill the Pasha when Cephas came into the Pasha's presence. In Almraiven, Cephas met the Windsoul genasi Ariella Kulmina who taught him to manifest as a windsoul. Cynda and Tobin were captured by renegade members of the Firestorm Cabal and transported to Calimport where they were readied for the arena. Guessing that Tobin and Cynda had been teleported to Calimport, Corvus and crew fled Almraiven and travelled through the Plain of Stone Spiders toward the Calim Desert and Calmiport. The vizar of Almraiven, Munaa yr Oma el Jhotos, enlisted the aid of a bound demon known as the Spider that Waits to track Corvus' party. The demon caught up to the group near the Shining Sea and Mattias remained behind to fight the demon and sacrifice himself so that Corvus and Cephas could escape.

### Calimport

Cephas and friends travelled into the Calim Desert where they were intercepted by Shahrokh and his djinn allies. The group travelled to Calimport in a magical ship made of sand that Shahrokh conjured. In Calimport, Cephas and Ariella were taken to the Pasha's lavish floating palace and given a large suite of rooms. Upon reuniting with his father, neither father nor son showed much affection for each other. Corvus was stripped of his magic items by Shahrokh and made a slave and Shan was taken to the gladiator stables. Corvus made contact with a resistance group who helped him to locate Tobin, Cynda and Shan. Cephas learned the location of the magical stone that kept the palace airborn. He killed his father and then removed the magic stone. The palace began to descend rapidly toward the packed arena below. In the ensuing panic Corvus, Cynda, Shan and Tobin were able to escape the arena and rejoined Cephas and Ariella. They travelled back to the Island of the Free where Cephas confronted, but did not kill, Azad the Free who explained how he was tricked into killing Cephas' mother.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Christopher Rowe (March 2011). *Sandstorm*. (Wizards of the Coast). ISBN 978-0786957422.