Nephrite

**Nephrite** is a Tiefling Cleric of Signi, and a former member of The Hidden.

## Description

### Appearance

Nephrite is a short, petite, gray-skinned Tiefling with bright gray eyes that contrast her darker gray skin. She wears her stark white hair in a bob that falls around her ram-style horns; the horns are white at the base, darkening around the curve to black at the tips.

She wears sturdy leather armor that is now mostly a worn brown and black, but was once bright white and gold; in some places that coloring still shows through. The armor has many straps that crisscross, two of which are embossed with Celestial runes in gold and white -- which can be infused to house protective or offensive spells by an Artificer or Enchanter. She wears a dark crimson hooded cloak (usually with the hood down) and a small brown leather crossbody priests’ satchel.

Left-handed, Nephrite appears in battle wielding a one-handed mace (slightly oversized for her, betraying her deceptive strength) and a white heater shield -- the latter has an eternal knot (her holy symbol, forged from black iron) bolted upon it. When not in battle, the heater is worn on her back, with the mace under the shield.

### Personality

She is relatively quiet and friendly. She tends to be non-confrontational. She often tries to mediate conflict between others, sometimes inserting herself into situations she has no part of.

Occasionally her demonic blood may take hold, especially when in combat or if someone questions her motives.

## Biography

Nephrite's earliest memory is of waking up in Tzeda’s training houses for the Guardians, a force of warriors that serve as protectors both of the city of Tzeda and the greater world of Tasche. She awoke on the holiday of Yom Rishon (26 Tzonen 3151) and counts this as her birthday; Nephrite and Ikora Rey -- a member of the Guardians’ Vanguard and Nephrite’s mentor -- believed her to be about 10 years old at the time. According to Ikora, she was brought to her training house by Cayde Shin, another member of the Vanguard, who said he found her body on the side of the road outside Tzeda; this is the only knowledge of whatever life she had prior to the morning she awoke.

With no one and nowhere to turn, Nephrite spent her formative years training as a cleric of the Guardians and worshiping Signi. By 16, she had completed her training and became a member of The Hidden -- an order of clerics led by Ikora that often work as deep-infiltration scouts, gathering intelligence on any possible enemies of the Great City.

After a few short years of exemplary fieldwork, Nephrite was assigned to a small temple of Signi located in Suleimat as a Watcher (a station chief of sorts) and made responsible for running all operations of The Hidden in the southern quarter of Yabeshet. During her tenure there, she began investigating what she believed to be a slave trafficking ring that spanned much of the great continent. Further investigation revealed that both Ikora Rey and The Hidden were also involved with this.

Disgusted by the prospect of serving corrupt masters, Nephrite left her post in search of clarity and her place in the world.

### Before Her Awakening

Nephrite is not a naturally-born Tiefling.

Created on Draecht (the feast day of Magic), Nephrite is actually one of two magically-created simulacra of Thava Beltrent. Thava is an incredibly powerful warlock and the beloved half-sister of Edvard Beltrent, the leader of the Beltrent Enclave and demigod son of Eid. Like her half-brother and his father, Thava is aware of the true nature of Tasche and how it fits into the larger multiverse of realms.

In his plotting to escape Tasche, Eid had come to believe that any offspring of Thava would thwart his plans and force him to remain trapped in Tasche for as long as it remained. With what little information he had about the future, Eid came to believe that Thava's future beloved (who would cause the failure of his plans) was an offspring of a family called Shin. To cover his bases, Eid cursed all living members of House Shin as sentient mechanical automatons that were unable to produce offspring. Their similarity in look to mechanical beings that had been created during the Divine War led to them sharing their name: Warforged.

Against all odds (or perhaps simply *because* of Eid's actions), Thava would find her destined (now warforged) lover anyways: Zayon Shin. Zayon is a skilled ranger like his brother Cayde, who is a leader of the Tzeda Vanguard.

Thava and Zayon's love was deep a true and when she learned of Eid's treachery and the prophetic beliefs he had, she made it her mission to bring Eid's fears to fruition. She implored her patron, Xymor (actually Bahamut, the Platinum Dragon) to assist her. Xymor gifted her with the best she could do in the place of biological offspring: two simulacra of a younger age, to raise like her children.

Thava and Zayon loved the "twins" immediately and unconditionally. But they also knew that the children would be in grave danger as soon as Eid realized what had happened. To protect them, they separated them from themselves and each other and left them in the care of two powerful orders in the hopes the divine magics (and the eternal, bonded magic of their deities) would protect the twins.

While Nephrite was left in Tzeda (under the watchful eye of her uncle, Cayde), Iljia was left in Vaesghaar under the eye of her mother's long-time friend, confidant, and protector, Wilhelm Holzknecht (and his best friend, Viktoria Darkfoot). There she became a paladin of Asfrid and apprenticed with Wilhelm.

Only days after the children were spirited away to their new homes, Thava and Zayon mysteriously disappeared.

## Notes

* Thava is a Warlock with a patron with a truly otherworldly patron. Her powers follow the patron of the Great Old One, but the patron is actually the Bahamut, Platinum Dragon, from outside Tasche.
* If the party makes it out of Tasche, Nephrite would likely change her faith to that of Bahamut. I would be OK allowing her to remain Fate Domain, though she could change to Life or War if she prefer at that point.

## Links

Nephrite 20 Questions doc

D&D Beyond Character Sheet