Zariyah Gunn

**Zariyah Gunn** is one of the main protagonists in Synodic Reboot. She has a strong fascination with the paranormal, and dedicates a lot of her time to exploring such matters. She wears a long coat and a skirt.

She was the first adlet introduced, and the second to enter the Medium.

## Biography

### Background

As a Sverb player, she has most likely originally arrived on Nobriel via meteor, but the exact circumstances of her arrival are currently unknown. She grew up with her brother Kristan, only recently moving out at some point before the comic begins.

She once went on a road trip with her friend Alethea to find and retrieve the timeline tracker left for her by her mother, accompanied by Kristan and her other friend at the time, Xzavier. At some point since then, her and Xzavier have become enemies for reasons that have yet to be explored fully.

In her past, she was once an activist who tried to encourage people to better the world, but eventually became disillusioned with the difficulty she faced in making meaningful change. Instead, she eventually turned her attention towards the paranormal, believing that there is some sort of group keeping the status quo in place via some sort of paranormal means, and that if she can figure out the specifics and learn how it works, she can eventually defeat them and fix the world.

Nothing really came of this intent and she eventually phased out of that drive, but she has kept her interest with the paranormal since, and though she hasn't actually figured much out about this speculated group, she has had a fair share of usually-minor experiences with the anomalous in general and has even developed an appreciation for pure fiction based around paranormal concepts, such as a mask she found that can activate any device from a distance.

However, one paranormal entity she has encountered far outshone the rest - the Vengeful Spirit, which has persisted to haunt her (causing her to move out for Kristan's safety), possibly as a result of her taking its gravestone, even continuing to haunt her despite her attempting to return the grave to the site she found it or trying to reason with the spirit. Thankfully, she possesses functional runic seals that successfully block the spirit's entry to any room they're hung up in, including her bedroom.

### Sverb

Zariyah is the first server player of the session, placing the first entry mechanisms into Kristan's house while encouraging him to play around to learn more about this surprisingly reality-altering game. However, her attitude towards the game shifted once she noticed the meteor heading for Kristan, recognizing it as a threat and prioritizing Kristan's safety.

    Before her own entry, she makes a quick trip to a nearby set of ruins to retrieve the rest of a stash of talismans capable of temporarily banishing the Vengeful Spirit, as she predicted it would interfere with her entry trials, along with taking a few pictures of the ruin murals for documentation. Along the way she has a conversation with Alethea, who sets up Xzavier to be her server player, much to Zariyah's dismay.

Begrudgingly working with Xzavier, Zariyah has an intense fight with the spirit while going through the usual entry process, resulting in her ear being violently pierced by the totem lathe, the apparent temporary banishment of the Spirit and prototyping of the aforementioned mechanism-activating mask in her sprite, her gravestone being knocked away from her house, and her instinctive use of what is presumed to be Dusk powers to complete her entry trial - which she does not remember using afterwards. Unbeknownst to her, rather than a meteor, Cheral was headed straight for her house as he fell down from Girin-2, with her house being transferred to the Medium just before his impact.

Upon her arrival to the Land of Glyphs and Mechanisms, Zariyah immediately calls with Kristan after deducting that her Masksprite was incapable of speech, with Xzavier heading off to take care of the pressing matter of his own entry. It's during this conversation that Zariyah and Kristan come to the conclusion that they were on separate planets in the Medium, becoming determined to find a way to reach each other.

After the phonecall, Zariyah takes a bit of a breather to bandage her ear and attempt to give Masksprite a second prototyping, which curiously refuses to accept anything else. She also has a brief conversation with twinjetXanthic, where she sends her the ruin mural photos from Nobriel and tells her about Sverb, while TJ inspires her to be more relaxed and remain true to herself in the face of the game's stress. She also defeats a Mist Imp unarmed during this conversation.

Upon setting out to explore the planet for a way to reach Kristan, Zariyah realized that she had lost her gravestone back on Nobriel as it must have been just out of the entry range, leaving her without a weapon for the time being. After navigating around some of the planet's various lethal traps meant to keep her to her house, Masksprite shifts into Quintinsprite, revealing that the Vengeful Spirit had managed to prototype itself just before Zariyah's entry while it was in its ethereal state. Thankfully for both of them, Quintin has restored awareness and is now capable of conversation as a sprite, seemingly losing his violent tendencies. The two were still at odds, both wary of one another, with Quintin also trying to urge Zariyah to go to the First Gate as the game intended rather than just wandering off aimlessly, advice which she has refused to follow. Zariyah also ends up contacting Rennard to see about him possibly retrieving the gravestone, as Quintin very much didn't appreciate her losing it.

As the two continue navigating the land's dangerous terrain, Zariyah and Quintin gradually begin opening up to one another, with Zariyah discussing her activist past and current fascination with the paranormal, and Quintin discussing the cult he found himself in and the circumstances around his death, likely being killed by the leader, Pandora. However, he is reluctant to go into further detail, and after slightly provoking him by mistake, Zariyah backs off, and reassures Quintin that he'll be safe with her.

It isn't long after this that Zariyah experiences a sudden headache and a vision of the landscape revealing a giant shadow traveling across the ground, followed by noticing a shadowy doppelganger seemingly of herself in the distance once she comes to again. The two come across a moth wandering the landscape, which until now Zariyah has been walking past as she's still primarily driven to reach Kristan, but due to her vision, she urges the moth to follow her and Quintin into a nearby building. The other two are initially confused by this, until the giant shadowy figure she saw looks at them from outside before leaving, as it cannot travel through natural shade.

In this building, Zariyah speaks with the moth while keeping her identity as the Thief of Dusk secret, learning that the giant shadowy figure is an entity known as The Projection, which only first showed up after Alectrona's death had been "tranced," and that the nearby monument is called Alectrona's Grave, related to a nearby construct called the Rigor Machine. She asks the moth if they know any way to reach other planets in the Medium, to which the moth unfortunately answers in the negative, not being versed in that field.

While talking, the three encounter a Fluorite Basilisk. Since its mirror prototyping reflects Quintin's spirit fire, the moth has to hit it through a door, which Quintin then activates to crush it in as it tries to run back. Zariyah notes the moth's apparent unusual strength, which they then explain as being due to the glyphs on their wings - each moth has a random set that they receive at birth, as a "side effect of Alectrona's death," and that they often help the moths build the mechanisms on the land in unique ways.

Zariyah takes a brief break to prattle Braiden, asking about the doppelganger she saw earlier. Braiden talks with Zariyah about his own doppelganger, saying he hasn't seen it in quite a while; he's surprised to hear that Zariyah has apparently picked up one of her own. She then prattles xylemTheologian to ask her if she recognizes the moth's wing glyphs from anywhere, while still keeping the presence of the game world a secret from her for now, as she's not confident in her ability to introduce her to the current events. XT is unfortunately unable to recognize the glyphs presented to her, and the two experience a somewhat tense conversation as XT presses Zariyah about the identity of masqueradingScattershatter and pointing out Zariyah's reluctance to speak to her directly, noting that she's only messaging her because TJ, their usual mediator, is currently busy. Zariyah tries to reassure XT that it's nothing personal and that she'll figure out what's going on soon enough, to mixed results.

After her brief prattling break, the moth mentions another important structure at the top of the building they're in and begins leading them up. While heading up, however, Zariyah experiences a hazy static interference with her consciousness, prompting her to pass out on the floor before long. She then awakens on Derse for the first time, realizing that the static came from a walkie talkie that Rennard was playing in hopes of waking her - which succeeded.

Upon overcoming her initial surprise in waking up in yet another new location in a new body, Zariyah quickly starts poking around her dream room and prodding Rennard for more information about this place, going through the books that contain stream-of-consciousness-esque information on Derse and various other locations in the Incipisphere, and checking out the non-functional dream computer that only displays vague impressions of her subconscious. She also notices Rennard's extra arms and quickly tries out shapeshifting for herself, overbearing Rennard with her extra mouths and tailmaw antics, who flees from her dream room.

She pursues him down to the street, meeting the Exasperated Scribe who has been accompanying Rennard before he woke Zariyah - the Scribe seeming rather unimpressed by him waking her without first consulting him. He seems rather unimpressed by her overbearing personality in general, but the three go on to check on the Seer regardless, part of the Scribe's routine documentation process.

Zariyah and Rennard fly up into Kristan's dream room, discovering that his dreamself has a strange neon mask over his eyes which Rennard explains apparently keeps him in a deeper sleep than usual. It's here that Rennard eventually has enough of Zariyah's overbearing teasing and snaps at her over it. After a brief awkward silence between the two of them, they talk out their feelings, with Rennard explaining his feelings of inadequacy and envy of the way Zariyah can just go with the universe throwing things like this at her without hesitation, and Zariyah apologizing for getting out of hand and not realizing she's upsetting him.

The two now back on lighter terms, they notice an earthquake-like movement before being called back down by the Scribe as he points out a strange entity moving away carving cracks into the street, only able to compare it to the rumor of The Rejected, not knowing what it truly is. After consulting Rennard, the three agree upon heading out and following it, only to lose visual track of it. However, Zariyah manifests two tailmaws, intending to use them to "sniff out" and track down the Rejected.

## Personality and Traits

Zariyah's clearest interest is her fascination with the paranormal, focusing on it a bit more than is ordinary and sometimes pestering her friends in hope of discovering something out of reality's ordinary rules. This fascination extends beyond literal paranormal objects and entities too; though she much prefers the real deal, she still enjoys fictional works centered around the subject, such as stories, movies, or video games. Finding the origins of false rumors via folklore is also a fun concept to her.

She is a bit of a snarky jokester, poking fun at her friends with fun banter under the assumption they can always take it, even though she sometimes can border on the frustrating side. Her demeanor is notably carefree and lazy to an extent, even towards things that others might consider larger threats, such as the Vengeful Spirit. Despite this, she still has her limits as to when things should be appropriately treated as serious threats and will act more down to earth when necessary, even if it sometimes takes her a bit to realize that she should shift gears.

She also seems to have a liking for junk food and has eating habits some might consider odd - refusing to set up an actual dining room and keeping chips under her bed, as examples, though these can be chalked up to the presence of the spirit hindering casual use of a good portion of the house.

## Abilities

Zariyah, despite her laziness and laid-back personality, is quite physically strong, able to lift and swing her weaponized gravestone without much difficulty. She seems to be quite experienced, hence her carefree nature and likely having explored various ruins to acquire her artifacts.

As a player of Sverb, it can also be assumed that she has some sort of ability relating to her title as the Thief of Dusk. During her entry, she instinctively activated some sort of power in which shadowy strands formed around her cruxite artifact to lock it into place so she could activate it, also possibly using this shadow to strengthen her hit. It's possible this is a manifestation of the Dusk aspect, but she does not recall doing so.

Zariyah also has a dreamself on Derse, which is capable of flight and shapeshifting - which she takes full advantage of, often giving herself an extra mouth and a tailmaw or two, sometimes removing her eyes to make herself look as scary as possible.

## Relationships

### Kristan Gunn

Zariyah and Kristan have a close sibling relationship, often bouncing off of each other with jokes and banter while still knowing when to be serious and help each other out. Zariyah is very protective of Kristan, dedicated to finding a way across the Medium's planets to keep him safe, and takes the role of his server player in the game.

### Quintin Trey

Quintin has formerly haunted Zariyah while he was the Vengeful Spirit, which she always resented despite viewing him as more of a passive nuisance than an actual threat, despite its hostility and physical capability. Upon his transformation into a sprite and the accompanying restoration of coherence and loss of instinctive hostility, Zariyah is tentatively beginning to trust him. The two bicker with one another quite a bit, but are gradually opening up with one another.

### Xzavier Rexx

Although once apparently friends, Zariyah and Xzavier now share an antagonistic sort of rivalry. Xzavier enjoys poking fun at and annoying Zariyah for fun, and as a result, Zariyah can hardly stand speaking to him. However, Zariyah is willing to tolerate having him as a server player with no other immediate options available, and Xzavier does ultimately care about her safety.

### Rennard Rush

Zariyah and Rennard are longtime friends, but due to Zariyah's fascination with anything that may be paranormal and Rennard's unusual nightmares, there tends to be a bit of tension between them as Zariyah sometimes pushes the sore subject without seeming to get the hint to stop. However, she does catch herself when she eventually realizes she's upsetting him, and does like to support him when able.

### Braiden

Zariyah and Braiden are good friends, casually discussing paranormal subjects with one another. Braiden's actually even more excitable about some things that unnerve Zariyah and takes things seriously even less of the time, but he's one of the few people who can actually parallel Zariyah's level of interest in this field.

### xylemTheologian

Zariyah and XT often have a bit of tension between them as Zariyah's usually hesitant to speak to XT directly, with twinjetXanthic usually serving as a messenger between the two. Likely due to the fact that, while they're both very interested in supernatural concepts, the two have very different focuses that easily conflict.

### Alethea Luke

Zariyah and Alethea are close friends who look out for each others' well being, providing emotional support to one another when necessary. Alethea has been known to occasionally help Zariyah out with her vague knowledge of the future.

### Mirgonsprite

Zariyah has always viewed the dragon plush as an imaginary friend of sorts throughout her and Kristan's childhood. Though initially skeptical and wary of Mirgon's sprite iteration due to the unfamiliarity of the situation and their surprising attitude towards encouraging Kristan to fight the Jet Imp, she has quickly come around to appreciate them after seeing that their personality does match the dragon they imagined, and they have been very helpful working with her to build Kristan's house up to the First Gate while he slept.

### twinjetXanthic

While retrieving the talismans from the ruins, Zariyah mused upon the mysterious murals on the walls, remarking that TJ would appreciate seeing them and decided to snap pictures for her sake. She later sends the images to her, during the conversation, TJ helps reassure Zariyah to stay true to herself and Zariyah tells TJ about Sverb and advises her to be careful in the meantime.

### Moths

The moths are the consorts of Zariyah's land, which she initially brushed past in her effort to find a way to Kristan, but since speaking to one of them, she gets along pretty well with them, taking a bit of time to enjoy learning about this strange landscape. Most moths are aware of Zariyah's status as the Thief of Dusk, getting quite excited about her presence.

## Trivia

* Zariyah is so far the only character to have a naming gag (except for Cheral in his own way), as names opt to be automatically entered due to the fact that characters in Synodic Reboot start with names that cannot just be guessed.
* Her appearance was slightly retconned at one point in the comic's production, with her sprite being updated in existing panels to increase the quality of art and to give her a more simplified color scheme. Previously, her skirt was red and her coat had several red tassels on it, and her hair's downward curve was less apparent.