Zahir Walla'Ilmari

## Elder, Zahir Walla'Ilmari

Zahir as depicted in Heroforge

Clutches Coven

Zahir is the leader of the unofficial leader of the Arafel Shomer, and the leader of the military coup that resulted in the deaths of dozens of Eero's friends/comarades and his exile. The party is actively suspicious of Zahir and his unnaturally strong influence over the Quedem people. They suspect he is working with the Hags.

## Background

### Early Years

Zahir was born as the heir to the Walla'Ilmari clan and he has two younger sisters. Zahir always wanted to join the Arafel Shomer, even since he was young. He would see them mistwalking and it would fill his heart with hope and admiration for their strength and prestige. His father discouraged him from joining their ranks. As the only son of the Walla'Ilmari clan, if he were to be killed, the clan's leadership would pass to his second cousin, and their specific branch of the bloodline would end. Despite this, however, Zahir was determined to save his people in any way he could, and he always felt he was destined to be the one to find a way to deceat the Gurruptoi, and eventually he convinced his father to let him join the Arafel.

### Arafel

Zahir was not a prodigy. He struggled with many of his people's techniques and despite his intellect, he still managed to only ever achieve mediocre scores on his combat and philosophical tests. He found it difficult to focus on the now and kept looking too far ahead, trying to master advanced techniques without working on the basics. However, despite his medeocre test scores, he was a natural leader. Other arafel who scored higher than him were attracted to his natural confidence and ability to hype others up. Others would often flock under his leadership, even those who outranked him often differed to his judgement. And he did pass every test, if however marginally, and he eventually became a full fledged Arafel scout.

### Gurruptoi

Zahir was not always fascinated by the gurruptoi. At first he saw them as wild barbarians. But as his patrols took him all across Gurruptoi areas, he realised not all gurruptoi were the same. Their different tribes had different races that werent allowed in other tribes. Their tactics varied wildly between tribes. Different tribes even spoke different languages and he became convinced that the way to defeat the Gurruptoi lay in understanding each different tribe as its own unit, rather than seeing them all as a single uniform enemy.

### Leadership

Zahir never planned on becoming a councilmember so early in his life. But in a major offensive, his father, Ondunir Walla'Ilmari was killed in battle, leaving Zahir to ascend to the council at only twenty nine. Zahir was overwhelmed by the responsibility thrust upon him so suddenly, especially when his people were in such turmoil set upon them by undertaking such an offensive. Everyone was looking to him for guidance, but he didn;t know what to do.

One night he fell to his knees by his bed and begged the ancestors to help him. He said he would do anything if they would help him lead his people to victory... He felt no answer, and he fell asleep in deep despair.

But that night, in his dream, a beautiful woman with long black hair and eyes as dark as the night sky appeared to him in his dream. She told him her name was Lezra, wife of Zaquen. She said she had heard his prayer and had come to help him save his people. He was overjoyed and humbly accepted her help. From the night on she would visit him every night, giving him invaluable insight into the different gurruptoi tribes and their tactics. She would tell him how to win each fight and every time he implemented one of her strategies it would work. Even as the most junior member of the council, he quickly gained confidence and respect from his elder councilmembers as his successes and moderate tactics were bringing much more success than Eben Hastumol, the council's leader, was able to bring. Zahir was able to calm Eben's mind and convince him to follow a different set of less agressive tactics, and against all odds, the tide began to turn in the Quedem's favor.

### Cleansing

One night, Lezra appeared to Zahir in his sleep and showed him a magical cleansing ritual he could perform that would allow others to tap into the power of his faith, and through this ritual, she would be able to speak to them in their dreams as well. She warned him that dark forces were at work. The gurruptoi shamen were trying to find ways to block the guidance of the ancestors, and anyone whose faith was too weak would be susceptible to their control. She told him the gurruptoi were planning a coup, and she warned him that anyone who refused the ritual to share his faith was already under the influence of the Gurruptoi shamen.

Zahir tried every tactic he knew to convince the Arafel to undergo the ritual of Faith cleansing. But some elders and arafel refused no matter how hard he tried to convince them to share in his faith. It was unfortunate, but for the good of his people, those under Gurruptoi control had to be killed so the others could survive. Their souls would join their ancestors and become a force for good again. This was the best way to ensure the promise of Zaquen could stay fulfilled. Zahir gathered his most trusted followers and ordered a coup of his own be undertaken before the Gurruptoi could make their own coup. His followers had been told by Lezra in their sleep that this was right, and so, one night, over two hundred and eighty Arafel, village elders, and even some civilians were assassinated for the good of the Quedem people. Roughly 38 of their intended targets survived. He still prays they find their way back into the arms of the ancestors one day.

## Campaign

### Mysteries of the Mist Arc

He met with the party once and told them about the blood grafters of the Gurruptoi. The party did not believe him at first, but this information turned out to be correct later on. The party suspected he knew more than he let on.

Zahir also lead the defense of the city of Aigne when it was attacked by Gurruptoi

More TBA

## Relationships

### Eero

Zahir does not know Eero very well on a personal level. He knows him by reputation and the few interactions he had with him during training and on missions. He was several years Eero's senior, which meant they were rarely training on the same level, so before the campaign their interactions truly were few and far between. Zahir was disappointed when Eero refused to undergo the ritual of purified thought. He could have been an incredible asset to the Quedem people, if only he had chosen to be on the right side of the conflict.

### Edric

Zahir dislikes Edric, more now than he did when they first met. Edric seems a self important noble of a far away land that thinks they know everything about everyone. Zahir wanted to keep things civil and peaceful between the two of them, ordering his men to be polite and as cordual as possible to the outsider. But he suspects the barron has ill intentions towards his people.

### Davian Raziel

Zahir was heartbroken when Davian refused to undergo the ritual of pure thought. Davian was no warrior, but his connection to the ancestors had always been strong and his efforts to improve the people of the Quedem were always genuine. It just went to show that even the best intentioned people can make the wrong decisions.

## Trivia

* Zahir's name was not decided upon until the session he first appeared in, and a different name was used for him during the first arc of the campaign.
* Zahir's age was unspecified, though his place on the council implied him to be to be older. It was decided though to make him Eero's age to make him a better dark reflection of Eero.