Zabeia

**Family**

**Zabeia Azamaras**, also known by her by-name **Isabella** (4818-) is a Dashari soldier and sailor under the banner of the Sultanate navy as the captain of the small yet world-renowned Lances of the Sun amphibious corps. She was born in Alcyon, Dashari to Irene Greenwalker, a prominent lumber mogul from Ashevale, Occa and Kamsin Azamaras, vice-chair of a Dashari medium minerals company and younger brother to Merlena the Ambitious, the sitting Sultana. Born a mixed child at a time of rapid change in Dashari and even more so throughout the world, she came to hold radically progressive social beliefs and often eschew tradition in pursuit of her own path, encouraging others - especially her crew -to do the same. Even so, she proudly defends her country and its people, and on one occasion even saved all of Aquila as part of a secret band of heroes.

## Appearance

Zabeia is a woman of well above-average build, standing at 73 inches (1.85m) and weighing about 205lbs (93kg). Her skin has a slight natural tan, being a mixture of her mother's Occan white and her father's Dashari brown. She also inherited her mother's piercing green eyes and hair color, both exceedingly rare in her natal sultanate. Physically, she is especially fit as are all military women in Dashari.

Her light skin and hair, as well as her relatively short stature, were the subject of much internal tension during her school years, as heterogeneity in Dashari was only beginning to bloom.

## Personality

The captain's personality is a not-always harmonious mixture of the influences of many countries and time periods. Having been born at a time of change and even humiliation to Dashari, she *does* serve her country faithfully. However, she lacks the devotion and zeal to religion and the planet her countrywomen are known for. Instead, her creed is one of liberty of choice, and she believes one should only be guided slightly by the past and surroundings rather than controlled. She believes in fundamental equality between men and women, believing they should both be completely free to dictate their futures, and acts on this creed within her crew.

Zabeia is brave to a fault, claiming a spot on the front lines of battle since her induction into the navy. She physically and vocally defends the weak while also encouraging them to strengthen themselves. While she is a captain, she does not concern herself with the finer points of tactics and instead a rallying figure. According to her, a good plan right now beats a perfect plan next week. She is therefore quick to act, but a bit reckless - something that shows no signs of changing. This once made her an injury-prone child, especially as she continued to stand up to bullies even when they began to grow larger than her.

In her social life, Zabeia is direct and outspoken, sometimes so much that she embarrasses herself. While she is sharp in the ways of battle, she can be clunky socially, especially in the areas of networking and romance. She enjoys hobbies that are "unwomanly" by Dashari standards, primarily cooking; her meals are said to keep her crew loyal through a thunderstorm, whirlpool, and daemonic attack combined. Despite her ways of being, she actually enjoys a close bond with her family, including her aunt, aided in no small part by her valiance and great feats.

She is secretly afraid of the dark and echoing sounds. Her favorite food is sauteed Kalimori shrimp.

## Biography

Zabeia was born to Kamsin and Irene Kazamaras (nee Greenwalker) in Alcyon, Dashari as the third of three children and the only girl. Even before life, her genealogy was rare; an Occan businesswoman mother and a Dashari father from a line of military women, both from the business world. The sultanate proper was wary of much of the world until the following decade, opening itself only a bit in its easternmost ports. Even there, interracial marriages were mostly between Dashari women and visiting men. Her physique was mostly the color of people a world away, though she was Dashari in build.

This mix brought her tension and isolation during her school years; while the "exotic" and more demure appearances of her brothers brought them fortune with women, but it made her appear weak and "unwomanly", for which she was looked at as a stranger and with some scorn. She did not understand why, and especially not the explanation that involved foreign nationalities and human nature. After all, she enjoyed the same things they did - why could she not find a place beside them?

She was an average student, understanding the material well enough to pass her classes without a problem. She did have an inclination for history and some languages, the latter being emphasized only in the eastern ports at the time. However, her true strength was in sports and physical exercise, encouraged especially by her father and aunt. In middle school, Zabeia was a track star and was also talented in swimming, developing an unshakeable stamina and speed that is with her today. As she grew physically, she became even more interested in martial and contact sports, trying her hand at Alamutian-style boxing and aquatic polo before eventually exploring wrestling and *Knypku* (a Dashari martial art focused on grappling and immobilization), both of which she competed in at a national level.

To make up for her size, Zabeia became an expert at shifting and throwing her weight around to dominate clunkier opponents, and developed a speed to match her stamina that is exceptionally high for a human of her size. Her physical prowess eventually landed her an invitation to compete in a unique contact sport known as *Stonebrawling*, based on the ancient game of cactice, in which two opponents attempt to launch themselves off an excessively polished and greased smooth sandstone platform onto cushions below using their hands, weight, and a wooden stick with a layer of foam covering. Around the platform are also stone pillars which burden players with penalties should it break their fall down below or should they use it as support accidentally.

Zabeia graduated and was conscripted four years after the end of the Dune War and three after her aunt's ascension to the Sultanate throne. Despite having offers from numerous universities to enroll and continue her studies as an athlete while in the armed forces, she chose instead to join the rapidly growing and essentially newborn *Fydanvunlas* - the Dashari navy - partially to learn more about the faraway countries who'd dominated her social life as a child. At her own request, and with her years of athletic experience as support, she was also inducted into the much more selective amphibious corps, a respected yet dangerous position as the Dashari conflicts overseas intensified. Her first assignment saw her stationed at the western reaches of the Sultanate, in a mission to remove the Bakadaja pirates from the shores, caves, and waters around as part of her aunt's expansion campaign. For the better part of two years she fought in dark caves, on the shores, and on boarded ships on the front lines against the pirates close to him. According to a small legend, she even fought off a group of four pirates while swimming in the dark as part of a stealth attack.

After her conscription period was over, Zabeia chose to remain in the amphibious corps. After the resounding success of the Bakadaja expulsion campaign, she was stationed variably between the northern beltway islands as Dashari strengthened its holdings offshore, and later campaigned against piracy in the Gulf of Mes Raina as well as the seas south of Voshe, as the Sultanate nurtured its ties with the Oceanic Republic. Her time overseas would show her sights she'd never imagined she'd see, from the lush green shores of Kalimor to the religious forts near Krak. As she traveled and fought more, she built up a reputation both at home and abroad, earning the byname "Isabella". Just five years after her entry into the naval forces, she would be rewarded with her own small corps, the Lances of the Sun, tasked with tracking down and extinguishing strongholds of piracy all around the southern half of Aquila, and given relative freedom in its secondary operations.

It was around the time of her promotion that a palpable tension befell the entirety of Aphelion as acts of terrorism and the existence of fringe groups and cults rose sharply. This murky time is known in retrospect as the Aphelian Troubles, beginning with the assassination of the Mayor of Windforth as well as several high-ranking members of the Dreiton Exchange Mandate by a variety of means. Zabeia observed also the rapidly increasing strength of pirates abroad, who seemed exceedingly well-funded. Some were even beginning to tap into the dark arts, exacting increasingly heavier tolls on national resources around Aquila. Through it all, a country far from Dashari - Khotan - was believed to have been pulling the strings.

On a fateful day in 4842, Zabeia was approached in neutral Windforth by Lord Commander of the Knights of Dreiton Octavian and his paroled prisoner Roselle Feng, herself a pirate from Khotan seeking to clear her name. Octavian came under no pretenses and directly asked the help of the Lances of the Sun in exterminating terrorist cells abroad, believing her to be the only capable force outside Dreiton because of her experience and freedom of operation. He explained the situation; two parallel terrorist organizations, FALANX and the Brothers of the Long Night, were seeking to return the world to a factionalist norm, rejecting all forms of globalism. The former was an armed organization actively involved in assassination of pro-globalism figures, and were covertly aided by Anathema, a Khotani spy cell. The latter were practitioners of the dark art who sought to usher an apocalyptic time of darkness and plague that would destroy all international relations. Zabeia was finally convinced upon hearing that the leaders of FALANX, known only as Vuraki and Kyum, were former Exchange Mandate paramilitary who sought to undermine the stability of Dashari.

Pledging one ship and some of her crew to the service of Octavian's party, Zabeia left Windforth and fought in battles all over Aphelion with the goal of extinguishing the terrorist activity. The published story is that with the cooperation between two countries, FALANX and the Brotherhood's leaders were slain, Anathema was driven to disappear, and the organizations crumbled apart with no charismatic leaders left.

The reality was far more sinister; the leaders of both cells had been indoctrinated by a deity not of this dimension, and were acting to weaken Aquila as if it were prey to be eaten. Upon the defeat of the Brotherhood on the Isle of Another World, Zabeia and the rest of Octavian's party were absorbed into the unknowably gargantuan spirit plane of Kymygo Dunahasa, within which they battled the phantoms of past heroes and eventually reached the ethereal core to do battle with the eldritch being. They returned home victorious, all of them going their own separate ways with a vow to never speak of the events again for the good of the public consciousness, with Zabeia resuming her position as captain of the Lances of the Sun. In reality, the entire adventure was orchestrated by Emmanuel Drodd, the final member of their party and trusted family friend and mentor of Octavian, who had felt the influence of the dark being on Aquila for years and created Anathema as a means of infiltrating the ranks of his human servants. It is believed none of the party ever met again, but the cooperation between the Knights of Dreiton and the Dashari navy remains a stepping stone in relations between the two nations.

Following her adventure, Zabeia and her crew continued their anti-piracy campaigns until the outbreak of the War of the Sunflower, during which it was enlisted to fight amphibiously in Ertdor and protect trade through the Starfall Sea and Alshain Ocean. At the war's conclusion, Zabeia is a famous figure and veteran in Dashari and known abroad, still protecting the seas near and far from home.

## Skills and Equipment

Captain Zabeia Azamaras is first and foremost a domineering close-quarters melee fighter, brandishing her greatsword to cut down fearsome foes small and gigantic. Accompanying her unmatched strength and endurance are a decent speed, strong reflexes, and bravery that empowers her to step into the epicenter of battle to defend her allies.

### Stats and Class Abilities

 Firm Stance
 Will Unyielding
 Strike True
 Retaliate
 Last Stand
 Charge Will

### Additional Abilities

* **Sailing** - The knowledge of a ship's composition and how to sail it, man it, and repair it in all aquatic terrain.
* **Cooking** - The art of using base materials to create sustenance, for necessity or enjoyment, using knowledge of ingredients and experimentation with their quantities and modes of combination i.e freezing, heating, stirring.
* **Charisma** - The art of influencing others through your own words or actions.
* **Swimming**
* **Climbing**
* **Weightlifting**
* **Stamina Control**