Kathan is a Tiefling adventurer.
Description[]
Kathan is 5'10" and gaunt, likely from not knowing when or where his next meal might come from. He is draped from nose to toe in wool and silk with only his fingerless gloves exposing three only digits as the exception. What few features are visible show a mottled gray fur and a blue tinted leathery skin.
Personality[]
Kathan appears to be the regular Tiefing with a chip on his shoulder. He doesn't hide his allegiance to the Fated either. He knows charity isn't forthcoming and so he takes his fate into his own hands. Nevertheless, he struggles with the memories of the kindness shown to him by his defunct circus troupe.
Spellbook[]
Armor Cantrip Chill Touch Detect Magic Read Magic Spook
History[]
10 Minute background: Step 1: 5 background elements important for the character: 1) Spent his youth learning to juggle and eventually became a knife thrower with a traveling circus troupe. 2) Joined the Fated after arriving in Sigil several weeks ago. 3) He is hunted by the servants of his fiendish family. 4) He is the descendant of a long line of wizards. 5) His soul is forfeit and he seeks any manner possible to avoid the terrible fate that awaits him in the afterlife.
Step 2: Goals 1) In the near term, he is looking to join a group of cutters for both protection and to amass enough knowledge or power to defeat Canisseroth. 2) I'd like to see Kathan have to confront his family's past, perhaps even going to their original home world on the prime.
Step 3: Secrets 1) Kathan keeps his spellcasting secret to gain an upper hand on others that might under estimate him. 2) He may have cousins out in the multiverse that also hope to escape their shared fate.
Step 4: Describe at least three people that are tied to the character. 1) Canisseroth, Kathan's 5 time great-grandfather, an arcanoloth. Kathan's soul belongs to the fiend upon his death. 2) Elkor Imrissian, a human factor amongst the Fated, and the one that recruited Kathan into the Fated. 3) Izia Felressz, a tiefling fence in magical goods that Kathan seeks to impress in hopes of obtaining some magical items, spells, or perhaps something more.
Step 5: 3 memories, quirks or mannerisms 1) Kathan covers up most of his body to avoid harming others needlessly with his cold touch. 2) He prefers the taste and smell of raw meat stemming from living off the land in the wilds of the Outlands as part of the circus troupe. 3) Leather clothing (including armour) chafes against his skin.
Nine generations ago on a backwater prime material world, a wizard summoned a fiend, an arcanoloth, to achieve world domination. The two beings reached a deal, in exchange for the power to defeat his rivals, lay waste to those who would oppose him, and conquer the land, the descendants of the wizard and the yugoloth would be intertwined:
As is wont for the planes, the rule of 3 was sealed in blood. The first three generations would be served by the arcanoloth as an adviser and ally. Canisseroth, the fiend in question, easily circumvented the pact, making certain the would-be emperors were toppled quickly within their reigns while still managing to achieve its own fiendish designs of conquest.
The next three generations were to serve the fiend until their deaths. The greater fiend cultivated the powers of this lot after sharing its blood with the last of the generation of conquerors. Strong with fiendish blood, most members of this family survive to this day, although several had to resort to the necromantic arts and transformation into sentient undead to prolong their lives. They continue to serve their fiendish ancestor in its plots on the planes and in the administration and rule of their homeworld as it is slowly drawn into the Gray Wastes.
The final three generations' souls were forfeit. It is so that Kathan's grand parent, uncles and aunts and extended cousins souls' were culled after temptation led them to damnation to serve the legions of Hell in one of many of Canisseroth's trades with a Pit Fiend. A similar, yet different fate awaited his own parents and their kin; as creatures fallen to the chaos of the Abyssal hordes.
Kathan is the last of his line. The line of wizardry still runs true after 8 generations since his progenitors made their pact. Yet his mother, a planar, absconded with the child from their doomed father and hid on the Outlands for a time as part of a traveling circus. There he learned among the circus folk the tools of the trade and often served as a knife thrower. He studied sorcery in secret from forgotten tomes handed down through relatives. Their secrets were trifling compared to the powers at the command of their ancestors and so had escaped notice from the otherwise vigilant Yugoloth.
But one cannot hide forever from the sight of a fiend of such power whose very blood, albeit diluted, still flows in your veins. It was Kathan's great-grandfather who came wielding powerful magics to reap the conclusion of the pact. The troupe had come to accept the tiefling as one of their own in a strange familial way and so did their best to delay the undead spellcaster long enough for their charge to slip away.
Ever since, Kathan has had to travel the planes constantly looking behind his back for signs of pursuit. Eventually, his portal hopping led to Sigil. Keeping to the streets, he eventually made himself known to the Fated. Their philosophy appealed to him. In the last 5 years, he had been on the run and had to survive on wits alone as he was no longer shielded from the typical prejudices against his race. His 7 times great-grand-sire had taken away his destiny long before he was born. He seeks any way to reclaim it.