Zetaruul

source: lilgreenfox

Fanri & Junie

Rhyn

OMINOUS BUILDINGS REQUIRE THOROUGH INVESTIGATION

Sun Titan

Fickle Fettle

Pest Control

Curse(less)

Home Sweet Home

Salt in the Wound

A Thri-kreen native to the deserts of the Badlands, **Zetaruul** is a member of the Brigade who gained membership after assisting Kris Nifeton and Phelyx with an assortment of dangerous individuals while they traveled through the wind-swept dunes. As a psion, he is able to communicate with others in ways normally impossible for his kind, and is one of the few Thri-kreen that is not directly plugged into one of the race's many overarching hive minds.

## History & Activity

Since his hatchling days, Zetaruul was always one of the largest of the hive, and the hive wasted little time putting his bulky frame to use. Assigned the role of a Builder, the hive mind's original plan for Zetaruul had been that of a drone that would carve out the winding mazes of underground tunnels the Thri-kreen used in almost every task. To an outside observer, Zetaruul would have looked happy with his new lot in life, but the truth was more subtle than that. Stripped of any will by the hive mind, he never knew a life besides that of a Builder. In truth, he did not feel happiness, nor sadness, nor any emotion save perhaps satisfaction at a job well done. There was simply the hive, the work, and his people.

### Awakening

The event that brought clarity to Zetaruul's consciousness and shattered the hive mind's grip on his form is unknown to him even to this very day, but when it occurred, the change was swift and disorienting. Several months after the start of his fourth year of life, he had been working on carving out a tunnel from the rest of the hive alongside several others when a shockwave of mental force struck him, snapping him from the hive mind's control. Confused at the sudden void left by his constant overseer's absence, Zetaruul reached out to his fellow Builders with his mind, trying to gain some understanding as to what was going on. This act immediately alerted the hive mind to the presence of what it now saw as a foreign invader in its walls, and the Builders who had moments ago been his allies turned on Zetaruul. He nearly died inside that tunnel, but his psionic abilities manifested fully as other Thri-kreen clawed and beat at him, allowing him to teleport past them and sprint deeper into the winding tunnels he had known all his life. Eventually Zetaruul managed to escape, armed with a stolen gythka and several chatka, but nothing else.

### Kissander Fortress and the Brigade

*See also: Blood Party*

Still fleeing the hunters the hive mind had sent after him, an exhausted and wounded Zetaruul made contact with a foraging party from Kissander Fortress, very nearly provoking them into attacking him before he spoke telepathically to them and gave them pause. Normally, Thri-kreen were seen as vermin and raiders in the Battlefield and the Badlands, but upon communicating with him the foragers decided to take a chance. As they prepared to move once more, the hunters that had been tracking Zetaruul leapt upon the group, and both he and several of the other foragers fought back against the thri-kreen, killing them. After the battle was over, Zetaruul took one of the forager's daggers and carved what would be the first of many marks into his carapace, making sure to use it as a distinguishing mark for his allies should they encounter any other hostile thri-kreen.

Returning to Kissander Fortress, Zetaruul was welcomed with apprehension at first but once the foragers told his story,

### Counter-Espionage

*See also: OMINOUS BUILDINGS REQUIRE THOROUGH INVESTIGATION*

## Items of Note

* Sheriff's Claws
* Psystaff
* Sunblade
* Red Carnation
* Stryfe's Signet Ring

## Gallery

A bust shot of Zet. LilgreenfoxA headshot. Crabmalique.