User Tools

Site Tools


gaeleth:people:kozak

Kozak

Character concept by Daniel Clark, all rights reserved.

Shadow Guardian

Date of Birth: Unknown.

Current Status: Summer, 1331 Avard. Kozak is rarely far from his common-law wife, Sarah, whom in turn is rarely far from the wild mage known as Jandor Firelight. Jandor runs Spider Werks, a mage training facility on Blatton Island, Rakore.

Appearance

Kozak wears white robes over close-fitting black leather armor, with a white hood. In bright light or during the day, he wears a white gauze over his eyes to protect them. He walks with a bow staff of light wood, which can quickly be strung into a longbow. On his back, he wears a very small black backpack with a quiver of arrows slung underneath it. His pale white skin, coupled with his gaunt appearance, give him an almost skeletal appearance. When the blindfold is taken away, his eyes are revealed as blood red. Hidden beneath the folds of his robes are two scimitars, one of marbled green pritanium, and one of exceptional quality. His boots are of black leather, with several dagger handles protruding; as well, several daggers are hidden about his body. In one ear, he wears two silver rings.

He carries very little with him. If the light is bright enough, even under his balandrana's hood, he'll put on pair of dwarven-made, silver framed, polished obsidian sunglasses. Around his neck, he wears a necklace made of aurum bauxite with platinum plating; the depiction is of a dragon, the animal totem of Arpelos, his god. On his left wrist, he wears a specially crafted bracelet of black silk, containing a heavy-duty glass vial and hard-stuck stopper for emergency doseages. He also carries the pritanium scimitar known as 'Jade', and 50' of black silk rope.

Background

Kaztith was probably born somewhere in the northern forests of Halganath. His adoptive parents, an enclave of drow druids, found the toddler curled up against the body of his mother, whom had been killed by a rabid bear. Taking pity on the youngling, the druids took him with them on their journey to a new home to the west, away from the Inquisitors and the Seekers. All of the drow had taken to druidism in the aftermath of their struggles during the Storm Wars as fighters and mages for the Nathelians. “Kaz” as he was named, grew up with the night-growing plants the drow loved, and the rare and strange species the drow brought into their reserved valley hidden in the Rakanus mountains. Kaz often went in to trade with the dwarves of Mount Lavanor, learning their languages and customs. Upon returning from one such excursion, he found his adoptive family dead, and the valley burned to smoldering stumps. Kaz, and his trained panther Koto, managed to track the culprits down, though his vengeance was denied. Traveling briefly with several members of Firestorm, tracking down undead in the aftermath of the War of the Undead, brought some relief to his unquenched fire of revenge. The Hall of Mirrors on North Heiro Island was his downfall; his antithesis slew him.

With no memory of his past, and marooned in the harsh mountain islands of the Alekdan Principalities, he found the only way to keep from being an elven slave to human masters: he became a powerful warrior to the ruthless Prince Kravikor. The raven-haired, bronze-skinned elf went by the name of Kaztith, assassinating anyone that got in his way, and rewarding well those that served him well. For close to a year, he built a strong power base with the aid of a faithful henchman named Tharneg. Together, the two were quickly on their way to resting control of the principality for themselves. Before he could make his move, magical constructs that mirrored both Zaktith and Tharneg rose from the very bowels of the earth, and proceeded to battle their way in a straight line of blood and destruction for the elven lord. Zaktith's troops battled well enough for the coin he gave them, but it was not enough – two constructs, one elf and the other human, managed to slay close to a score of men. The Tharneg construct shimmered and disappeared when it was finally destroyed, though the loyal henchman was mortally wounded. The battle between Zaktith and his mirrored construct went on for some marks, before both landed Takdalatan blows simultaneously upon the other. The Zaktith construct shimmered, and then the elf passed out.

When he woke, he found he had been buried alive in a mass grave, for himself and all his troops. Crawling up from the damp soil, he found that his once bronzed skin was as white as bleached bone, and his once black hair was just as pale. The green color of his eyes had been burned away by a fire from deep within, and had taken on a hellish red color. Over the next several days, a catharsis went on within the elf. Zaktith's mirror construct had shown more courage and more fury than he had thought himself capable. His house healer, a priest of Whalin bonded in slavery, had sacrificed his life to defend his master. A year's worth of ghosts haunted him, and the elf buried Zaktith as his prince had buried his body. Kozath rose from the night, seeking answers and absolution for his sins. Strangely, in the darkest recesses of his mind, he knew how to make reparations for the evil of his past. Journeying first to Kur Maeth, and then to Rakore, he sought the young priestess of Whalin known as Sarah – carrying with him the dark secret of her past.

Character

Kozak has a tortured past, and a pristine mission. His catharsis transformed the scheming Zak into a tool against evil that uses care, and the knowledge of evil's ways. No stranger to manipulation, slavery, and subjugation, he takes instead the path of respect and patience. However, his dark past sometimes slips through, and his temper can flare like a star's heart. Bound in a geas that he sometimes does not understand, he follows Whalin's will of his own volition, but again and again finds himself bound to the wishes of Arpelos for reasons he does not understand, battling undead though he appears as one himself. More frightening and frustrating, he sometimes finds himself in possession of knowledge of another's life, one that is not his own.

He speaks Common, Elven, and Dwarven.

2E Stats

5th-Level Elven Night Ranger
STR 17, DEX 19, CON 14, INT 12, WIS 14, CHA 14
AC -1, THAC0 16, HP 39
Alignment NG
Magic Resistance: 90% resistance to charms
Weapon Proficiencies: Expertise in scimitars, Alekdan style in scimitars, longbows, Banocbae style in longbows, Takdalatan style in scimitars.
Nonweapon Proficienies: Ghostfighting (secondary skill), ambidexterity (ranger skill), tracking (ranger skill), animal lore (ranger skill), herbalism, reading/writing: Common, leatherworking.
Special Attacks: A powerful fighter, he studied under the best and brightest of the warrior-slaves and assassins in the Alekdan principalities. A deadly assassin, he began to learn other styles that would make him even deadlier, one of which was Takdalatan style. He could spin through a torturous whirlwind attack that would deliver three times normal damage in one strike (six times normal on a natural twenty), though a second attempt within a day would strain his body to the point of tearing tendons and ripping apart cartilage.
Special Defenses: His extreme dexterity and acrobatic style have given him the ability to dodge attacks and recoil from danger. With enough warning, he can move aside or flip away, lowering his Armor Class by four.
Ranger Skills: During the night, in his element, Kozak has the ability to blend into the darkness and slide through the shadows with an uncanny ability. His base Move Silently and Hide in Shadows is 40% and 31%, respectively. His Dexterity raises this to +15% and +10%, and his elven heritage adds +5% and +10% more. When the shadow armor is active, an additional +5% and 10% is added to his abilities. With the shadow armor inactive, his Move Silently is 60%, and his Hide in Shadows is 51%. When active, Kozak's Move Silently is 65%, and his Hide in Shadows might be 61%, though he effectively is 70% invisible in near-darkness.

gaeleth/people/kozak.txt · Last modified: 2021/09/28 15:49 (external edit)