Nale Isharius

> *And the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not.*
>
>

## Appearance and Character

Nale looks like a typical Tiefling; the grey skin of his Spitespawn heritage, horns sweeping back, and a lithe tail that is constantly rummaging around in the various pouches that he keeps around his belt, handing Justinian whatever he needs. He keeps his angular face clean shaven, but his hair is much less neatly kept. Brown and long, it is nearly always tousled and tied back to keep it out of his face. He wears traditional Thuvian clothing, open, patterned, and colourful. When he can, anyhow - when outside of the Devil's Nursery, where the law is much looser, Justinian dresses in a long, black, sherwani, a heavy overcoat thrown over, and a wide-brimmed cloth hat, one side pinned up. Still his native style, but not outlandish or garish enough to warrant attention or suspicion. Anymore than he gets for being a Tiefling, anyhow. Thirty three years old, Justinian has dealt with abuse from the city for years.

Nale is a quiet man who mostly keeps to himself; well, he believes he keeps to himself much more than he actually does. A gunslinger, Nale keeps his craft to himself; it wouldn't do to have too many people knowing of the power of the weapons he could create for himself. This need for secrecy paired with his quiet nature leads him to mostly be an introvert, especially after his wife left the city. Justinian concentrates on looking after his daughter, Theodora, and the ancient Tiefling that lives with them, Grandfather. Against his better judgement, Justinian actively assists with both the Cloven Hoof Society, and to a lesser degree, the Rose of Kintargo - inspired to do so by his wife when she still lived in the city. He spends a fair bit of his free time gathering what information he can of the Silver Raven's; he excuses it with it only being due to requests from the Roses, and being a pursuit he has no emotional value in. However, it is all just excuses to distract anyone who wishes to place responsibility on him. Justinian burns for something to change in Kintargo; he's just reluctant to believe he's capable of taking part, and more importantly, of putting his daughter in danger.

There is no major dedication to the Gods in Justinian. However, he shares primary worship between two. Milani, who he prays will give some semblance of freedom for his oppressed people, and Brigh, who he sees as the patron of the wicked weapon he wields.

## Biography

Nale never knew who his father was; his mother, Kusara, was a Thuvian merchant who captained *The Spiteful Lady*, a Spitespawn who sold her wares far afield, north to the dark, shadowy lands of Nidal and Cheliax, and even father east, to the lands of Qadira, Katapesh. Kusara was a good mother to her son; even if they never really settled. They had a home, a good one, in Merab, yet more often than not, Kusara was at sea with her ship and crew. An independent woman, much of Nale's raising was done by the various crew members that served. One especially made a big impact on his life; a mercenary from Alkenstar, who wielded a long tube that blasted fire and death. He was enough to easily protect their voyage for the year, needed half the guards they usually did. Nale was fascinated by the weapon the man called a 'gun', and his insistent pertinence on learning about the weapon eventually gained him a few lessons on what it was, and how to use it. Nale's serious and thoughtful demeanour was enough to convince the gunslinger that we responsible enough for a weapon that did not exist very much outside of the great city at all.

While he didn't give Nale a gun before he left, he did give the basics and cryptic hints, enough for the young Tiefling to start working on his gun in his spare time, tinkering together with a much smaller version of it that the man had termed a pistol.

Unfortunately, life was not going to stay as good as it was; a storm hit the ship on the western coast of Cheliax, damaging it badly. Kusara lost half her crew, and half her cargo, having to heave it over the side to save the ship. The Lady was forced to limp into the closest port, Kintargo, for repairs. Nale was thrilled. Cheliax was famous for the House of Thrune; as Tieflings, it simply made sense they'd have to be treated well. Kusara, however, knew the reality in Cheliax. Years of subpar deals had shown that. The repairs were overpriced, the rest of her cargo sold poorly, and her crew slowly abandoned her. In the end, Kusara had nothing, and was left with only debts. Reduced to begging in the streets, it didn't take long for Justinian's mother to simply fade away, eventually taking her own life. Left alone in the world, there was at least one silver lining for the now orphaned Nale; the Cloven Hoof Society found the starving and broken teenager, taking him in and saving his life. They put him in a house with another Tiefling that the Society looked after, an ancient man who simply went by 'Grandfather'.

Filled with teenage pride, Justinian hated living on charity, however. The young boy adapted to the skills he'd taken on learning under the gunslinger he had known for that short amount of time, as well as shadowing his mother through cities all across the Inner Sea. Watchful, serious, and an eye for detail,it wasn't hard for Nale to find odd jobs here and there, mostly bodyguard work and bounty hunting. While Nale was never very physically intimidating, by this point he had cobbled together a battered pistol, and knew how to make the ammunition to use it. Such a rare weapon didn't even need to be used; the reputation the Gunslinger had, of the weapon that fired black death that punched through armour with ease, was more than enough to make his work successful.

Through a friend in the Cloven Hoof Society, Justinian was dragged into the Roses of Kintargo. Foolishly, in his mind, expressing a respect for Milani and her fight for their people, the Roses practically jumped to get him as a member. While reluctant to ever take part in missions or the like, Justinian found acting as a watchman for many of their missions, keen eyes missing little. It was at this time. in that waiting period that these missions mostly were for him, that Justinian started to note the belfry. He'd always had an odd little obsession with patterns and the like, and the seemingly randomly timed tolling practiclly drove him crazy. In such an ordered country as Cheliax, in the Temple of Asmodeus, surely there had to be a reason for it?

It was through these Justinian fell in love; another Tiefling, a brash and wickedly smart Grimspawn named Morrigan. The pair found themselves falling for each other in a slow process, past an initial irritation. Like fire and ice, the Morrigan and Nale were completely different to one another. Her, brave and brilliant, and him, quieter and cautious. With the dangers both their lives had, they married swiftly after they both realised how in love they actually were. Even quicker, Morrigan found herself with child, giving birth to a girl they named Theodora when Nale was only twenty.

The marriage did not last; it didn't take long for Justinian to get frustrated at the risks Nale took, while she got frustrated over his lack of effort in helping their people. Wanting to do more, and placing their people's freedom over her own self-perceived selfish want to stay with her husband and daughter, Nale left in the night when Theodora was only two years old, disappearing from the city.

Nale was crushed, finding himself withdrawing from the life he had once lived. After he had given himself time to greive, however, Justinian forced himself back. He needed to do work, to bring money in, be social, so Theodora had a good home. His live revolved around ensuring his daughter, the only thing in the world that mattered to him anymore, had a good as life as was possible in their position.

His reticence to fully throw himself into the organisations he flirted with paid off in the end. Justinian had grown wary and paranoid at the crackdowns that were heard about across Cheliax, and the Glorious Reclamation worried him rather than gave hope, as it did everyone else. His fears were confirmed in the night when Barzillai Thrune struck. Nale was left alive and unhurt when it passed, the agents obviously not knowing to go after him as well. Stunned, with so many of his friends disappeared or dead, Nale has forced himself to attend the upcoming protest, no matter the risks. Having tentatively reached out to find others he knew who had survived the purge, for once, Justinian is determined to actually do something, and take the risk that entails.

## Family

### Theodora Isharius

Justinian's twelve year old daughter, Theodora is the spitting image of her mother - a fact that still hurts Justinian when he looks at her. An extremely sweet, yet bold girl, Theodora has found herself rebelling more and more at her father's paranoid control. The light of Justinian's life, he will do anything for her.

### Grandfather

An ancient, blind, Tiefling, no one is sure how old Grandfather is, or who he even is exactly. Having helped Justinian when he had no one, Justinian repays the debt completely. Grandfather is family in all but name, and his ever so slightly mocking wisdom is a great help in keeping Justinian grounded, as well as encouraging him to do good in the world.

TheodoraGrandfather