Pepper

## Synopsis

Pepper is the orphaned son of Djinni, and pseudo-adoptive child of Jack. He was born with innate elemental magic that he inherited from his mother, but is unable to control it. He serves as a source of elemental magic from with Jack draws, using his powers as a conduit.

## History

Pepper was born as a bastard child to Djinni, the result of an act of bribery by Djinni to retain her place in her clan. From a very young age, Pepper exhibited many of the same signs of uncontrollable innate magic that Djinni did, including destructive explosions of elemental energy.

Since Djinni's death, Pepper has been traveling with Jack, as he works as a sellsword and smuggler. Due to his uncontrollable magic, Pepper must be kept hidden most of the time. Jack has emphasized secrecy above all else to Pepper, often requiring him to stay hidden within a secret compartment within a large trunk or a barrel when traveling near other people.

## Relationship With Jack

Pepper is well-adapted to his bizarre life. He is old enough to understand and emotionally process what happened to Djinni, but is also old enough to understand the importance of secrecy and discretion in order to survive within the Alviren Empire. Despite being a little quiet, Pepper has a hopeful, optimistic outlook on life - especially compared to Jack’s often distrustful and cynical personality.

Conveniently, Pepper is fairly flexible, pretty small for an adolescent gnoll, pretty good at being sneaky and quiet, and easily enraptured by reading - especially fiction, adventure stories, puzzle books, and murder mysteries. All of these traits combined make Pepper’s long stints hidden away in a trunk or barrel less terrible than they would be for someone claustrophobic or easily bored.

All the same, Jack tries not to keep him cooped up any longer than is necessary, and tries to feed him a regular supply of new books to read while traveling. Pepper also likes to draw in the margins of his books, even while cramped up on the road. Sometimes, he draws bizarre monsters, locations, or other peculiar things that he says he “sees” in visions and dreams. Other times, he just draws cool shit because it’s cool.

Pepper understands the symbiotic relationship he has with Jack: that he is an elemental power supply, and that Jack is able to channel that magic from him safely. In very safe and private environments, Jack has tried a few times to help Pepper learn how to channel his own magic, but he has not yet been able to do so successfully. Pepper would like to some day be able to use magic to defend himself, but in the meantime, is happy to work with Jack as a secret power source to defend both of them.

Pepper views Jack as a courageous, heartbroken father figure taking him on a whirlwind adventure in search of a new home and possible revenge, rather than a terrified young man just trying to survive and keep his head above water. Although he is a little too timid to vocalize his feelings, Pepper sometimes calls Jack his dad, and wants desperately to be accepted by Jack as his son. In the absence of his mom’s support and acceptance, Pepper often feels that he has no family to love, and it’s especially frustrating for him to process that Jack, who has effectively served as his father for his entire life, is now reluctant to fill that void.

Meanwhile, Jack believes and accepts that Pepper *is* an unfortunate child with no family to love him. He sympathizes strongly with Pepper, and recognizes the tragedy of the situation, but is also terrified of the notion of treating Pepper as his own son (or letting Pepper treat him as a father) for several different reasons.

## Magical Nature

Pepper is effectively a wild magic sorcerer, although he has no ability to channel his innate magic. Due to the awakening of the Weave, his magic does not remain dormant, instead manifesting itself in chaotic bursts of elemental energy.

Pepper owes his innate magic to his mother, who was born with the same magical nature. Djinni's magic resulted not from heritage, but from proximity to powerful elemental artifact, the Chaos Core, at the time of her conception.

Pepper occasionally has dreams that show him clear and memorable visions of bizarre and unfamiliar imagery. Unbeknownst to him, these dreams are one of the ways his innate magic manifests, and the visions include such things as the Chaos Core, the elemental rifts, etc.