Adao Rego

*Hounded by the subtle smell of brimstone.*

## History

Over a century ago, the Rocha family was formed when a founding couple of serfs were brought together by sacred union. By any other circumstance they would never have been of apparent note. The first Rocha child was born half-fiend and half-man. At that moment, the taint of fiendish blood or a cruel and twisted curse, became both obvious and the only thing that mattered about their line. The history of that family is lost to time and death, Adao's mother being the last according to her.

The woman herself was a particularly lucky tiefling who seemed human in every way. Even then Edite, his mother, was aware of her fiendish heritage. According to second-hand information she sought a normal life, and in the process of living came to have a child that was Adao Rego. A boy whose birth kept her from any kind of normalcy. Whatever hamlet she had managed to integrate herself in made it impossible to stay, and the same was true wherever Edite went. Only through providence did she find a place to rest, somewhere new to call home, someone else to love.

The only parent Adao could remember. Burdened with a curse not unlike the Rocha's, Kavon was born a lycanthrope. The man welcomed the family of two into a worn-down house under the safety of a forest canopy not far from a minuscule outpost. It was safe and distant, but at the same time lonely and isolated. Kavon was a hermit alchemist studying his unique condition and how certain reagents and compositions would affect it. No way was he equipped, ready, or able to do anything when Edite fell ill shortly after their unofficial marriage. Over the course of a few years she would eventually wither away, all she knew passed on to Kavon who passed it on to Adao.

As a kid, he had the company of himself, a forest, and a reclusive old man. He had freedom in droves and used as much of it as he could often. His mornings and noons spent roaming shady woods while his evenings were consumed in education, as much as Kavon could offer. He was offered many stories of the world beyond his tiny patch of land, and every tale seemed like its own miracle (no matter how mundane it was). When he grew older, enough that he could take care of himself no matter where he was, he was aware he could leave, as was his father. The old man lightly pressed him to be free from the burden of elders but Adao stayed under Kavon's roof. He spent his adolescence caring for the aging lycan, safely securing his notes and research under the aging home he'd grown up in and would outlast. He was there as his father grew older, a witness to time. Adao Rego watched as the man that raised him died under his care, and buried him next to his mother.

While the experience was sobering, he felt little attachment to that land. He was free of all worry and attachment for the first time in his life and at the ripe age of eighty set out to travel and see that which enthralled him like legend when he was a child. Stepping not with excitement, but purpose. Always made solemn by his memories yet driven by his instinct to carry on.

## Appearance

Adao is a slim and lanky, dull-bluish grey skinned, tiefling with long thin black hair on the edge of greasy.

His fiendish, or demonic, blood is easily apparent from more than just his skin alone. He has two stubby horns that pierce a small way past the inky strands of hair clinging to his skull. Though those tend to be covered by a simple brown leather hat with a respectably long brim that is cracked and worn. He has a tail pointing out of the base of his spine that looks more like a jet-black sea krait had permanently dug into his body. His feet are completely inhuman, appearing more like an incomplete transition from human legs to the anisodactyl structure shared by many birds, with three long fleshy toes protruding forward from a small heel. His legs and tail tend to be hidden away by baggy trousers that scrape along the ground, not effectively hiding the strange way he walks.

There are some fiendish features Adao does not hide by coincedence. The more difficult to realize being the fact his fingers and toes have no nails, capped by nothing but flesh. The easier to see being his angular and slightly too square face which bears a profane red mark in the shape of a jackal's skull that begins at his left temple and ends on his left cheek. His clothes tend to be plain and pragmatic, using simple unassuming colors.

Adao Rego's form changes significantly when he uses his alchemical mutagen. As a result of that mutagen he will nearly eight inches taller, with his horns growing out of their proportion to a new conspicuous length. His fingertips will calcify, each seemingly growing their own hoof. His legs, instead of being covered in a very normal skin, will become scaly and hard. That happening as a fourth toe juts out from behind his heel making him properly anisodactyl. His tail will grow thicker and longer, filling out with his new height.

There is also the matter of scent, which isn't to say he smells bad. As a consequence of his heritage Adao is hounded by the subtle smell of brimstone. A noticeable presence that is in no way overwhelming or difficult to ignore. To counteract this inconvenient aspect of his nature the tiefling will often wear a sweet perfume to be mindful of others. The mutagen he uses will also empower that scent of brimstone that follows him, making it sharper but still nothing of consequence.

## Personality

Adao Rego is aloof and free-spirited. His life has left him both solemn and happy, a subdued joy that fills him nearly always. In fact, he often embodies words like "laid-back" and "nonchalant," nothing seemingly able to get more than a small reaction out of him. With a first impression that might lead you to believe he is jade, which he isn't. It is nearly the opposite, he is able to find joy where others can't and more where they can. Nothing feels meaningless, out of place, or unworthy of praise to him. Adao is not complicated, just a fair bit different than most. Speaking as someone subdued but well-versed and living like someone who forgot how to be sad.

## Enemies

None, it is not the way of the free to be burdened by grudges.

## Aspirations

Adao has already accomplished what he knew he always wanted. To be free.