Katara Zelgiaz Montoya 1

*"I thought that I'd have everything by amassing wealth. Instead, I lost everything but the gold I so desperately craved..."*
*~Katara Zelgiaz Montoya 1~*

Katara Zelgiaz Montoya 1, often referred to by her middle name Zelgiaz, is a formidable and greedy Serenghe assassin whose primary goal in life is to accrue wealth. While she often tries to have good intentions, she slips back into her vices of murdering for money, or otherwise resorting to often illegal or illicit acts to rake in a few extra gold pieces.

## History

### Early Life

Katara was born the 4th of 5 children to a very poor family of smugglers and criminals who spent their day begging, smuggling, or stealing for their daily bread. Some of them also picked up dangerous lines of work as mercenaries, where they exceeded considering the Serenghe's collective reputation as formidable fighters and mercenaries. Katara, who formed an alias out of her middle name, delved into even more dangerous lines of work and became an assassin. Her fist mark was when she was 14 years of age, and she felt no remorse. The gold she received for completing her contract was the beginning of several decades of greed.

### Adulthood and Career

By the time Zelgiaz came of age, her father and three of her siblings had died pauper's deaths, and by the time she had children of her own, she was the last member of her family to still draw breath. After the birth of her 2nd child, whom she gave her name to, she received an invitation to the notorious Red Shadows assassin guild. She was originally hesitant, but her mind was easily swayed by the sizable bag of gold she was presented with in return. She is creditted for bringing the group back into notoriety, although how true these claims are remains to be seen.

As her children entered their adolescent years, she attempted to give them a better life than the one she had had, and even managed to swear off her murdering and gold-mongering ways for a time. However, after a member of the Stenjor Order threatened her and her children, it did not take long before someone put a contract out for the head of this group's leader, and Zelgiaz was on the job immediately. The remainder of her life thus far has been a battle with her addiction to gold, as the rest of her life crumbles away all around her.

She and her daughter have briefly teamed up a few other times during their rocky adulthoods, particularly after a Kumenza of Katara 2 was discovered. For a long time, Zelgiaz tried putting this character out of her mind, as did her daughter, but gradually, this nefarious individual began proving she was dangerous as she began performing assassinations with the same skill as a Red Shadow, while refusing to affiliate with the organization. It was after this that Zelgiaz began a fairly relentless pursuit of this Eka-Katara, and while she was assisted by her daughter in this endeavour, the efforts were ultimately fruitless. Fortunately (perhaps for both parties involved), Eka-Katara shows no interest in this rivalry, and so it remains one-sided as she cleverly continues to evade capture or apprehension.

## Trivia

* Were Katara not a Zaderei, her eyes would have been electric blue.