Shaarabahn of Al Dijar

*“When I am out there, in time, I am inverted, changed into a desperate version of myself. I become a thief, a vagrant, an animal who runs and hides. I startle old women and amaze children. I am a trick, an illusion of the highest order, so incredible that I am actually true.”*

-Shaarabahn of Al Dijar

## Early History

Shaarabahn had been born in Al Dijar, where he learned a hundred different trades, and stole books on all matters arcane to teach himself alchemy and the chronomantic arts. He travelled to Al Basazar when he had read all the books Al Dijar had to offer, intending to travel onwards to Akkhe. He ended up bogged down in Al Basazar, where he met Rose. The two became close friends, and drew from the Deck of Many Things. The two were present for the wedding between Sylviane and Sabahattin, and met briefly at that time. It was then that Shaarabahn’s infatuation for Sylviane began to take root.

The six heroes formed properly as a group when Diana, a warrior-woman from Naus Mau, came into civilized lands on the trail of Grayndeon the Dark, the last Black Dragon of Namerya. The dragon had made its lair in the swamps near the Great River, and preyed upon merchant caravans, making himself fantastically wealthy in the process. Diana needed allies in her hunt for the dragon, and found them in the five men and women currently in Al Basazar. Sabahattin wanted proof that he had a purpose in the Maker’s plan; that he would be guided through trial and tribulation but emerge unscathed. Both Angon and Shaarabahn wanted the arcane components that could be scavenged from a dragon’s corpse, Angon so that he could use them, Shaarabahn so that he could sell them. Rose wanted to protect Al Basazar from the nearby menace, and Sylviane’s fate was bound to Sabahattin’s - where he went, she would follow. Upon their triumph, their fame was cemented, as was their bonds - and their rivalries.

Shaarabahn also lived in Varas, where he got a job working in the Alchemical Laboratory in Varas. Brilliant and willing to do to any lengths to achieve his goals, he rose quickly, becoming Deputy-Director under Vaajar. It was in Varas that Angon and Shaarabahn got to know each other, becoming good friends, although they never quite trusted each other.

When Angon’s term as Consul came to an end, this coincided with Vaajar’s request that Shaarabahn travel to Abu Hasan to research and bring back several esoteric tomes he did not have access to. Angon went with him, eager to leave the political world behind and resume his arcane research. During this year, the great hero Faelan founded the X Most Dangerous, inviting Shaarabahn to take the second spot, and Rose to take the sixth. This briefly took Shaarabahn to Al Basazar, for the group’s founding, and away several more times from Abu Hasan on mysterious missions. Though Angon would often ask where he went, Shaarabahn never revealed the answer.

The six heroes would once more two years later, when Tel Kibair was threatened by an ancient and corrupted phoenix, Solaris Eternus. This time, it was Sabahattin who called them together, for he considered the fallen creature’s immortality to be blasphemous. They accomplished the task to little fanfare, and returned to their ordinary lives.

Shaarabahn returned to Varas to work at the Laboratory, through he would travel to Al Basazar as often as he could, ostensibly to visit Rose, but in reality to have an opportunity to see Sylviane. During this time, Shaarabahn had the most contact he ever would with Sabahattin, often dining at his residence at Ta-al Kayji, and listening to his sermons, something he put up with as a necessary evil. Sabahattin was well aware that Shaarabahn fancied his wife, but let it slide. He tested her faithfulness by travelling for an extended period while Shaarabahn was staying in their residence, and commanded one of his followers to covertly observe his wife. Though Shaarabahn made no attempt to sully her honor, he did pick up on the fact that Sylviane was being spied upon, and informed her of this fact. Whatever she felt, she made nothing off it, and Sabahattin returned vindicated in the trust he placed in her. Back in Varas, Vaajar observed that Shaarabahn was becoming distracted, and kept a tighter rein on him, bringing his visits to Al Basazar to few and far between.

During this time, Diana returned briefly from her hunts, meeting Angon in Abu Hasan first. She learned little of value from him, and went next to Al Basazar, where she was wined and dined by Sabahattin. Sylviane told her what she knew, which included fragments of what was going in the Laboratory of Varas. Diana went on a fact-finding expedition to Varas, but found Shaarabahn to be reticent and evasive, and Vaajar actively stonewalled her investigations. Disturbed and suspicious, she would have continued her scrutiny, but her efforts were interrupted by the return of Laz Yap, the deposed Dictator of Namerya. Determined to seize immortality before he succumbed to old age, the exiled tyrant made an attempt to capture the Fountain of Eternal Youth. Knowing that Namerya would be plagued by Laz Yap forever if he succeeded in his task, Diana enlisted Shaarabahn’s aid in stopping him. While she went to Al Basazar to find Sabahattin, Sylviane, and Rose, Shaarabahn went to find Angon in Abu Hasan. As with Grayndeon, each of them had a reason to kill Laz Yap. To Sabahattin, he was a godless tyrant who would subvert god’s law by seeking eternal life, and where he went, Sylviane would follow. Angon, once Consul, hated Laz Yap for the harm he had done to the country, and Shaarabahn went at Vaajar’s behalf, to take vital ingredients from the fountain itself. Rose knew that if Laz Yap ever returned to power, Al Basazar’s freedom would be in grave danger, and possibly the front line for another pointless war. The six heroes fought Laz Yap and his followers in the shadow of the fountain, and emerged triumphant, killing the exiled dictator, though Rose took a mortal blow in the battle. An argument was had over whether to save her or not, with Angon and Shaarabahn arguing to give her water from the Fountain of Youth. The former did not think it was right to waste her life of Al Basazar’s protector, while the latter did not want to see his friend die. Nor did he want to leave without seeing the properties of the Fountain. Sabahattin and Sylviane argued to let her succumb to her wounds. Sabahattin maintained that immortality was against the natural order, a blasphemy against the Maker, and that he could not in good conscience inflict such a state upon a friend. For her part, Sylviane argued that Rose would not want the curse and burden of immortality, and that it would be better to let her die in peace, and that she would have been proud to perish in battle this way. Diana proved the tiebreaker vote, arguing to save Rose, and admonishing her friends for bickering over petty matters as she lay dying. In the aftermath, Angon would take the responsibility and the blame for her resuscitation, as it was he who administered the water from the Fountain, he who proposed the idea, and he who was its loudest proponent.

Shaarabahn returned to Varas to work in the Laboratory, where he was joined by Sabahattin and Sylviane. Shaarabahn had initially been delighted by the prospect of Sylviane living in Varas, but his life was darkened when he learned Sabahattin would be joining the project to create the Philosopher’s Stone. Until that point, Shaarabahn had convinced himself that the research was purely theoretical. The revelation that Sabahattin wanted to create a Philosopher’s Stone with the express purpose of a genocide - rather then seeing it as a necessary sacrifice - sickened him. He nearly left the project, but was convinced by to stay Sabahattin and Vaajar, both of them charismatic men who knew him well and had great sway over him. Shaarabahn was sent forth from Varas to create a nationwide transmutation circle, a task he set himself to with grim energy.

Tragedy stuck when Faelan, the leader of the X Most Dangerous, died in mysterious circumstances. There was briefly talk of giving Diana the first position, and she was called to Al Basazar to discuss the possibility. She had refused membership when initially offered it by Faelan, and she turned it down again, displaying great contempt for the celebrity status the position would afford her. In addition, she stated that she would be interested to see Shaarabahn take leadership of the organization, for she wanted to see if he could be trusted with power. Shaarabahn, who was working on the nationwide transmutation circle, made a brief stop to Al Basazar, where he accepted leadership position, but refused the first place, maintaining that he would never be Faelan’s equal. He departed with equal haste, leaving Rose disquieted and Diana suspicious.

During the couple of years that followed, Shaarabahn finished the transmutation circle and returned to Varas. There, he assisted Vaajar with the creation of the Philosopher’s Stone, initiating a nationwide apocalypse that drained the life from Namerya, turning the land into a desert and annihilating the majority of the population.

Shaarabahn had deeply mixed feelings about his future in the new world. Vaajar would forestall any plans he had, insisting that he stay behind and assist with the new project - namely, the creation of homunculi.

Diana would emerge during the darkest stage of the war. She had originally bided her time, hunting monstrosities originally kept away by civilization, but returned to Varas to resume her investigation into the workings of the Laboratory. Enraged by the her prying, Vaajar sent Shaarabahn to kill her, and the two fought in the atrium of the Laboratory. Shaarabahn was badly wounded and beaten nearly to unconsciousness, the Second Most Dangerous failing to defend his title. He was far more a specialist then a warrior, and crippled by a hesitation to fight a fellow hero. Most of all, he was well known by virtue of his status, whereas Diana, who shunned fame, was an unknown quantity. Nonetheless, he refused to say what he was working on in the Laboratory. Diana considered killing him, but held back.

During Sabahattin’s first two years of his reign, Rose and Shaarabahn stayed away from the new government. Rose did not leave Al Basazar, save to attend Sabahattin’s coronation, and for his part, Sabahattin was content to ignore her. Shaarabahn was as busy as ever with his work in the Laboratory. He had come too far to go back, and was filled with a grim energy and sense of purpose. He took advantage of Sabahattin’s increasing absence to spend as much time as he could with Sylviane, even appearing with her in public in the place of the Padishah. These pretensions were ignored at first in the light of his heroic reputation and personal friendship with the Prophet, but after one too many complaints reached Angon’s ears, the Grand Vizier ordered Shaarabahn to back off. He did, to an extent, but Sylviane, though she did not return his affections, enjoyed toying with him, and found his company preferable to the fawning courtiers and nobility or the dour and mordant Angon. For much of this time, she was pregnant with Sabahattin’s son, Halim, which restricted some of her freedom and movement.

It was during one of his rare returns to Varas that Sabahattin met his end. He had long since relinquished the Philosopher’s Stone to Vaajar, having no more need of it. After two horrific failures, Vaajar and the Laboratory had produced Experiment #216, a perfect human Homunculus with the body and memories of Sabahattin. All it needed was the Prophet’s soul as a final component, and Shaarabahn invited him to the Laboratory, ostensibly to show him a new project. Using the Philosopher’s Stone, Vaajar sealed Sabahattin in a pre-prepared transmutation circle, in which his soul was offered at the Gate of Truth in return for his rebirth as a Homunculus, bypassing equivalent exchange entirely. Shaarabahn watched him die, feeling neither regret nor remorse, thinking only Diana and Sylviane. From this most forbidden of Alchemy was borne Experiment #216, the False Prophet, a Homunculus with the form, memories, and powers of Sabahattin. Controlled by Vaajar through the Philosopher’s Stone, the being took the throne of Aglazdere without anyone noticing that anything had changed.

The next great catastrophe came five years later, when Shaarabahn’s conscience finally caught up to him. Vaajar’s plan was to replace the greatest warriors and statesman of Aglazdere with Homunculi, before turning his mad gaze upon the rest of mankind. There were to be twenty such individuals total, but Vaajar’s immediate targets were the remainder of the six heroes. Diana’s pod had been ruined, and Shaarabahn himself was needed for his alchemic skill, leaving Angon and Rose as the next targets. Shaarabahn might have remained with the project if it had only been Angon, but the thought of turning Rose into a Homunculi sickened and horrified him. In addition, Vaajar was determined to enact an experiment he had long mused on - whether or not a perfect Homunculus could produce a human child, and whether or not that child would have a soul. With the marriage of Experiment #216 to Sylviane, he had the perfect opportunity to enact this idea of his. This was where Shaarabahn drew the line. He fled the Laboratory of Varas, going to the only place he could think of: Al Basazar. Knowing he could not return, yet not daring to tell Rose anything, he begged her to trust him, and demanded to take several more draws from the Deck of Many Things. Putting her faith in him, Rose gave him three more draws - he had originally only dared to draw once - a wildly risky act that imparted him with total psychological liberation, Sylviane’s undying love, and a glimmer of absolute truth. Empowered as an agent of fate, Shaarabahn made haste to Varas, and told Sylviane the truth of everything that happened in the Laboratory. He urged her to steal the Philosopher’s Stone and flee, promising to follow her. This she did, taking the Stone and fading away into the night. Fate proved to be a double edged sword for Shaarabahn, for Sylviane, now able to return his love, knew it would ruin him if he followed her. She fled to the only place he could never reach her, to Naus Mau. Years ago, Diana had given her a token that would grant her safe passage there, should she ever need a safe haven. Deep in the wastes, in the shadow of the great city, Sylviane realized that she would only bring war and death to Naus Mau if she hid there. Risking everything, she attempted to destroy the Philosopher’s Stone, triggering a catastrophic rebound. It would have annihilated her, had not the Stone accepted her soul, and in an act of exchange, gave her life once more. The rebound turned into a cycle, creating a turbulent arcane storm with her at the center, trapped in a state between life and death. Resonating with the souls sacrifice for its creation, with the cataclysm of its creation, the Stone at the heart of the storm began to push the borders of the waste, a slow advance that would wreak devastation and threaten the rest of Aglazdere with annihilation, in time.

Back in Varas, the disappearance of the Philosopher’s Stone liberated the Homunculi from Vaajar’s control. Experiment #216, in particular, came to the conclusion that as Padishah, to ensure the survival of his mankind, he could not allow them to be turned into Homunculi. He entered the Laboratory, and freed the Chimeras from their cages and the Homunculi from their cells, battering Vaajar aside with ease when he tried to stop his creation. No amount of shards of the Philosopher’s Stone could aid against its living incarnation. The horrors of the Laboratory of Varas went on a rampage, tearing machery apart and lighting the place of fire, trapping its research team inside. Only Shaarabahn, who was absent, escaped the conflagration. Experiment #216 itself disappeared into the wastes, determined to understand the meaning of its existence - through a contemplation of god, an observation of man, and finally, by reclaiming the Philosopher’s Stone that gave him life.

Upon hearing word of the chaos, Angon immediately returned to Varas. He sent summons to Rose as well, knowing he would need her help in containing the horrors of the Laboratory, and in restoring order to Aglazdere. She came, and along with Shaarabahn and members of the Army of the Whirlwind, they killed the chimera and Homunculi that had escaped, and sealed the Laboratory. Angon initially blamed Shaarabahn for the catastrophe, and his rage was only exacerbated when Shaarabahn refused to tell him what had happened. They would have come to blows of Rose did not place herself between them, a decision that was fortunate both for Angon and for all of Aglazdere. Had they fought, Shaarabahn would have almost certainly slain the Grand Vizier, leaving Aglazdere without a leader. Necessity forced them to turn their attention to other matters, namely, who was to rule Aglazdere. Angon was adamant about maintaining the monarchy, with some in the nobility suggesting that he crown himself Padishah. Rose suggested a one year interregnum, where Angon and Shaarabahn would serve as Consuls, during which time the matter could be decided with care. Both men refused, Shaarabahn on the grounds that he did not want to lead Aglazdere, and Angon on the grounds that haste was necessary. There was talk of reviving the office of Dictator and giving it to Angon, a proposal that all three heroes refused, remembering their battle against Laz Yap. In the end, Angon grew frustrated with the meddling of his friends, and agreed with the nobility to crown Sabahattin’s young son, Halim, with Angon serving as Grand Vizier and Regent. Both Shaarabahn and Rose disapproved of the decision, but Angon refused to compromise, and thus Halim was crowned Halim I, second Padishah of Aglazdere. Shaarabahn and Rose returned to Al Basazar, and Angon remained in Varas to rule the new nation.

Back in Al Basazar, Shaarabahn set about searching his Sylviane, who he had expected to hear from. The few sparse leads he found were to no avail, and Rose refused to help him, telling him that he had made his choice. Shaarabahn persisted, and reluctantly, they decided to go to Varas and ask Angon to scry on her for them. Shaarabahn had not asked before, for the Grand Vizier’s wrath had been boiling over, and he did not want to raise any probing questions. When they did meet with him, Angon proved to be calmer then they expected, telling them he had he already looked, and found nothing. In fact, Angon was not telling the truth, for he had seen her deep in the Waste - she had not yet reached Naus Mau at that time - and had already sent a search party after her. Shaarabahn saw through the lie, and lashed out at the Grand Vizier. The mage attempted to defend himself, but Shaarabahn was quicker, and had him at swordpoint, demanding to observe the scrying process. Reluctantly, Angon obeyed. By this point, Sylviane had tried to destroy the Philosopher’s Stone, and trapped within the arcane storm as she was, did not appear in Angon’s crystal ball. Shaarabahn was still mistrustful, but Rose talked him down, saying that whatever the Grand Vizier’s motives, they could not deny the fact that Sylviane was dead or beyond their reach. The two of them returned to Al Basazar, leaving Angon seething and disquieted.

Back in Al Basazar again, Shaarabahn demanded to draw three more times from the Deck of Many Things, saying only that he was responsible for many recent events, and felt it necessary to take the risk. Rose refused, citing what had happened the last time she had let him draw, and accusing him of being secretive and manipulative. Shaarabahn did not deny that, and admitted that it was more complicated then whether or not Sylviane was dead or not. He had the Philosopher’s Stone in mind, and knew that even if she was dead, he could use it to bring her back. Moreover, he needed to find Experiment #216, the only person that knew more about the events of the Laboratory then he did. Rose demanded the truth from him, and Shaarabahn conditionally agreed. He wrote down three things - the instructions for creating the Philosopher’s Stone, the genetic sequence of Experiment #216, and Sylviane’s final note to him, written in Elvish, a language Rose did not speak. He told her that if there came a time that she no longer trusted him, she could bring them to Angon. Rose did not understand the content of the messages, but she picked up on their importance, and aquessed to Shaarabahn’s request. Fate was yet unfinished with him, and imparted him with the Blade of Echoes and the Mirror of Generations - twin artifacts wielded by the Aspect of Time. Shaarabahn departed, disappearing into the wastes and the mists of time.

Sightings of Shaarabahn were reported a few times every generation, but it was not until two hundred years after the Cataclysm that he re-emerged. The hero of Al Dijar was almost unrecognizable, a mysterious figure in a black mask, peddling archaic and arcane wares from a donkey’s back, more snake oil salesman then alchemist. And yet, he was more dangerous then ever before, armed with the Blade of Echoes and the experience of travelling the inhospitable wastes. He sought out Angon, and informed him of the discoveries he had made during his travels. The waste could be beaten; terraformed and transformed into arable land once again. Intrigued, Angon invited Shaarabahn to aid him in what he would later call Project Revival - Re=l for short. The two of them unsealed the Great Laboratory, and transported valuable research to the border of the waste at Al Dijar. For the next forty years, they pursued Project Revival, albeit with many interruptions. Angon often had to return to Varas, and Shaarabahn would disappear in mysterious journeys through time. Together, they managed to learn a great deal about the Waste, although Shaarabahn, the better informed of the two, withheld some information. They created a hydroponics facility, developed groundbreaking agricultural methods, revived lost formed of alchemy, and performed initial field testing that yielded hopeful results.

During one of his journeys, Shaarabahn visited Al Basazar during its celebration of the four hundredth year since the city’s founding. There, visited Rose for the first time since the Cataclysm. She was performing in Highdark Hall, and the two of them met the Grand Guildmaster.

After returning to Al Dijar, Shaarabahn began pursuing a side project. He had transported Vaajar’s clone of Sylviane - intended to be used during Project Hero’s Journey - to Al Dijar, and taken a shard of the Philosopher’s Stone with him. Using his own memory and Vaajar’s notes, he began the painstaking process of creating a Homunculus. Immediately, he ran into difficulties, as he lacked the true Philosopher’s Stone, as had no access to the majority of Sylviane’s memories. To the second end, he substituted some of his own, creating a patchwork but reasonably believable life’s story for his creation. Using the Philosopher’s Stone as the Homunculi’s heart, he performed human transmutation, and was brought before the Gate of Truth. The Maker took his memories of Sylviane from him, leaving only faint impressions behind, as ephemeral as smoke.

Angon had previously turned a blind eye to the project, but could not help but take an interest when Shaarabahn succeeded in creating a nearly perfect human Homunculus. Named Re=l, she was Sylviane, and yet she was not. She did not have all the Vixen’s memories, and with a shard of the Philosopher’s Stone at her heart, she manifested a host of strange arcane powers. Shaarabahn worked to establish her sense of identity, and tried to give her a place and purpose by having her as his companion during his work on Project Revival. Despite his best intentions and efforts, he could not stave off Re=l’s gnawing fear that her memories were false, and that her life was the creation of artifice. Eventually, he could not keep lying to her, and admitted the truth. Re=l went into a state of madness, releasing power she scarcely knew and could not control. Deep in the waste, Sylviane’s soul resonated, empowering the true Philosopher’s Stone and drawing ever more life out of the land. A terrifying storm of heat and swirling sand, reminiscent of the Cataclysm, tore through Al Dijar, killing life on the surface and burying half the city beneath the sand. Only Angon, Shaarabahn, and the others in the underground laboratories survived.

Re=l was beyond anyone’s control, swinging wildly between rage, contrition, and a nearly catatonic state. Unwilling to kill her yet aware of the danger she posed, Shaarabahn set his mind to a new creation, a maze to entrap his beloved creation. Using alchemy and magic, he and Angon made his design a reality - the Labyrinth of Al Dijar. Nearly impossible to navigate, and filled with monsters, illusions, and other traps for the unwary, the Labyrinth served as a prison and fortress for its only inmate. With a heavy heart, Shaarabahn sealed the maze and left his now destroyed homeland.

Having contained the threat, Angon turned on Shaarabahn in a wild fury, blaming him for the failure of Project Revival and for allowing his guilt and longing to cloud his judgement. He banished Shaarabahn from Aglazdere upon pain of death, and for his part, Shaarabahn wanted nothing more then to leave. They would not meet for over two centuries.

## Aglazdere Civil War

In his youth in Namerya, Shaarabahn had befriended a young mage named Yera McDonald, who was estranged from his parents. Knowing that the boy would be of some use in the future, Shaarabahn sent him forward five hundred years, instructing him to peruse research into arcane storms. Shaarabahn would make contact with Yera five hundred years later, discovering to his satisfaction that the mage had become an adventurer; the companion of the individuals who would become Padishah Rick and Grand Vizier Annakiya. Once Yera and his companions had learned enough on their own, Shaarabahn would reach out to his old friend Angon, making a pact to save Aglazdere from the ruin of the wastes. They would encounter Yera in the Laboratory of Varas, and hatched a plan to make him the next Grand Vizier. Shaarabahn would go on to accompany Yera and his allies to the Labyrinth of Al Dijar, although he himself refused to enter, allowing the adventurers to dispatch Re=L in his place. With the advent of the civil war, Shaarabahn, Yera, Rick, and Annakiya would volunteer to fight in the Great Sky Ship Battle. Battling side by side with his old friend Rose, Shaarabahn would see her death, and go on to break into the capital ship Day of Wrath, and destroy its forge-core. He would go on to accompany Yera and company to Naus Mau, where he would come upon the arcane storm that contained Sylviane and the Philosopher's Stone. Knowing from Yera's research that he, as a time thief, could briefly enter the arcane storm and end it at the cost of his life, he sacrificed himself to do so. He left behind a last will, which dictated that the Philosopher's Stone be given to Angon, that his Mirror of Generations be destroyed, and that his Blade of Echoes be given to "the worthy". Through his death, Aglazdere would be freed from its slow destruction at the hands of the wastes, and he would be acclaimed a hero by the future Padishah, Rick I. Though his soul was thought to be destroyed, there were some scholars and theorists who mused about what would be borne from the co-mingling of his ashes with those of Sylviane's. They would never perceive the ramifications of their line of thought.

## Personality

A supremely self-confident, fickle, brilliant, and courageous man, Shaarabahn was gripped by passions he did not understand into too late. He had a mischievous streak that never left him, and often stuck by the first impressions he made of people, trusting some people irrationally and despising others arbitrarily. He placed great stock in his talents, which were considerable, but overestimated his ability to understand and control events. He believed in Vaajar's utopian vision unreservedly, making one moral compromise after another with surprisingly little introspection on his part. His psyche and self-conception was left badly damaged by the Cataclysm, eroding his trust in others and leaving him burdened with a great deal of guilt, as well as an all-consuming desire to fix the wrongs he had wrought, preferably through martyring himself. In a remarkably beneficent twist of fate, Shaarabahn was given a chance to do just that, and was deeply grateful for it.