Jhixal

Jhixal might as easily be termed a wandering encounter as an adventurer. Surely not the hostile sort- but to the outside eye, he insinuates himself into many places with no clear motive or causality. While he may seem as any other unmotivated coincidence, this serendipitous arrival is in fact seen as his sacred duty! To explore the world, to arrive where he is needed, to give of himself unto others- Jhixal seeks to epitomize these values, with no ulterior motive.

Should one happen across him, one (usually) need fear no malice from this bizarre amalgamation of kobold and aberrant growth. Jhixal, as a rule, is extremely benevolent and outgoing, or benign if he dislikes someone. While by no means a pacifist, he's not the sort to meet anything less than a threat to his life or a sustained insult to his 'god' with violence!

## Appearance

Jhixal is largely average for a kobold. His original tribe's decades of interbreeding eventually produced a range of colors between red and green, his dull orange scales being one of those intermediates. With his hood up and a careful gait, he's hard to discern from any other member of his species. With it down, as it usually is, a large ooze-like purple growth is clear along the left side of his skull, tendrils spidering up his left horn and around his left eye in somewhat fractal-like patterns. While this growth is in full view, a mild psionic effect makes it difficult to hold certainty of Jhixal's exact height (even if you measure him; you'll get the feeling your measurement was slightly off).

This growth is honestly more memorable than the kobold that wears it, at a glance. Displaying properties of both a slime mold and an ooze, the purple stuff ripples and shifts across his scales, occasionally spiking up like ferrofluid or growing eyes, pseudopods, or other structures- such as bright-orange, slightly luminescent 'spore stalks' that resemble peach fuzz with a tiny round bulb at the end of some of the 'hairs'.

## Personality

*"Jhixal- .. I! I swear not to use it for evil! Jhixal needs the headband to help him discern which magical things are safe to eat, and which are not. No other plans!"*

Jhixal presents as a special brand of mad- the harrowing kind, one might say. Every action he takes follows one of a handful of consistent streams of logic, chosen based on the context of the situation and his lucidity for the day. His personality has been somewhat fragmented since the accident that led him to join with his Halkiir growth, ranging from cheerful, immature, and airheaded to decisive and philosophical. One can quite often roughly predict his actions based on his state of mind, if familiar with him- in fact, disconcertingly, even his most abstract behaviors eventually start to seem rational and well-thought-out if one lets him explain long enough. During these explanations, however, one would easily come to the realization that much of his odd diction stems from dissociative episodes rather than a poor grasp of language- he's otherwise extensively fluent in a number of tongues with the barest accent of Aklo.

Aside from the madness that most idle acquaintances take as his hallmark, however, Jhixal's core personality is unchanged. The ideals he epitomizes above all are friendship, love, and freedom; ever the optimist, his wanderlust is primarily driven by the desire to experience not just new places, but new people. Anyone who does him a favor, anyone who pays him or Halkiir a complement, anyone who so much as commits an act he finds laudable will find themselves besieged by praise, gifts, and assertions of friendship everlasting. Perhaps more unusual for a kobold, these are sincere- he seeks nothing in return, but is merely delighted by the existence of a 'great person', even if he doesn't limit such delight to the traditional definition of 'people'.

## Religion

With his history lost to a serious head injury, and only vague snippets to build a sense of self around, Jhixal's religion is more than simply a faith in something greater. It's an expression of his own ethos, an explanation of his confusing experiences, and an attempt to help others understand the sheer joy of experiencing the world as he does. His faith has many insights into the world some would label odd, but its focus on freedom and individuality means only three tenets are truly seen as mandates, while the rest could always be subject to whimsy.

-Embrace the Alien: Learn about the lifestyles and experiences of those different from you. The more different, the better! Jhixal's belief is that Halkiir's nightmarish visions of the Dark Tapestry aren't just warnings, but encouragement. As Halkiir was able to save his life and draw out power from his forgotten heritage to make him a different, greater being than he was born, Jhixal has come to the understanding that partnerships with those different from oneself can be the most beneficial of all.

-Celebrate Change, Protect Diversity: Every creature, sapient and non, has a place in the world. There is no ‘natural’ or ‘unnatural’. No act or state of being is implicitly evil. Jhixal's faith finds it abhorrent to label an entire group of things 'good' or 'bad', and this often leads him to clash with the ideologies of Druids or Paladins in particular. While he's utterly benign toward these groups, acting solely on their perceived bigotry is seen as grounds for violent reprisal.

-To Give is to Receive: Jhixal preaches that giving a gift is the highest form of spiritual enlightenment. It’s a symbolic sealing of a new friendship, and a sacred act of sharing. Jhixal’s habit of lacing such gifts with Halkiir’s fungus is not out of desire to spread Halkiir, but because of the symbolic value of offering someone a gift wrapped in his ‘God’s literal embrace. Because of Halkiir's symbiotic nature, the fact that this fungus is from his own colony also carries connotations of 'giving of oneself'.

## History

Jhixal's past is lost to him. His early life was spent in a kobold warren built around mining.. Some sort of starmetal, he believes! This life was not for him- especially not the craven nature of his warren-mates. He struck out and became a courier of the exotic, and a 'Fetcher' of enigmatic artifacts most professionals were uninterested in touching. The meteorite that carried Halkiir was one such enigma. Offered a bounty to retrieve it, Jhixal was accosted by an owlbear on his return trip and chased into a ravine. A nasty fall resulted in both the meteorite and his skull being cracked wide! Halkiir, seeking a native host to help it adapt to the local atmosphere, was presented with Jhixal's open wound. Though distress was yet alien to the entity, its efforts to save the kobold were motivated by nothing but a desire to keep this strange, wonderful alien creature alive- and it succeeded! By physically sealing his wound with its aberrant body and drawing out Jhixal's distant celestial heritage, the kobold's life was preserved, enhanced. Though he's a bit less canny and a sight less dexterous than he was born, Jhixal would argue it's simply wonderful to be alive and that he has gained so much more from the changes and Halkiir's presence...