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The Bright Country is a social horror campaign. Trigger warnings for the campaign itself include, but are not limited to:
Mind-control, off-screen infanticide, off-screen infant mutilation, trans erasure, fantasy religious extremism, misogyny, misandry, misanthropy, fantasy racism, kidnapping, and classism. This list will update as the campaign does.
Zelanes Recoty is cursed, according to the clerics. That is why his eyes are so black and deep. He has no horns, no tail, and his brother is an Aasimar, so obviously he isn't a Tiefling. Simply ignore the scars on his hairline, and should you be invited into his bed do not stretch your hand down his lower back. He gets upset at that.
He owns the The Jingled Cleric.
Technically, he also owns Nine.
Zelanes was raised by the The Church of Suignis from the time he was an infant until he left at thirteen. There was no great kerfluffle at him leaving, he simply told them he was going and did.
He wasn't abused as a child, after all it wasn't his fault he was cursed - and Devangi (the leader of the Bright Country) told them he was cursed, so cursed he was - but the Church is an austere place. Zelanes was expected to live as did the men (and *only* men) who serve the Church do.
This meant up at dawn, a breakfast of oats and eggs, prayer on hard wooden benches until lunch (bread and any leftovers from the night before), and physical labor until dinner (boiled meat with boiled vegetables, bread, and a little bit of butter). In deference to the fact that Zelanes was a growing boy, the clergy of Suignis fed him as much of the above as he wanted at any given time, but frankly it was a boring, closed in, oppressive life.
At thirteen he informed them that he couldn't choose their life if he hadn't lived something else, and went on his way. There was a bit of money left over from the pittance that his mother paid to the church for taking her shame away from her, so when he left he had about three gold in copper and silver.
About three hours later, he had severe head trauma, no money, and an aged dwarven man looking over his wounds. A couple of random patrons of the Jingled Cleric had found the boy near their home, and had grabbed Nyco Thetris to carry him to the only place they could all agree on: The Jingled Cleric itself, where the proprietor (one Meztli Prasad Recoty) took care of him.
Meztli had no family, his wife died in childbirth and the child died with her. People said that his heart did, too, but apparently he was just waiting for the right urchin to show up. Zelanes started by scrubbing floors and tables, but eventually worked himself up to tending the bar...and when the old dwarf eventually passed away, the young Tiefling was left with enough gold to cover the man's debts and a bar owned free and clear.
Over the next twenty-ish years he's kept his head down, his bar relatively clean, and his head off the chopping block. He has one of the three entries into the Underdark in his cellar, but he's never actually gone down there. Just accepted the people brought in that way into his bar and helped them as best he can without risking death at the hands of the religious extremists that rule his country.
About three years ago he spent all the money he'd collected in an attempt to get a newer, better bar in a better part of town on a defective Warforged. Nine, you see, had personality. He's paid about 670 of the 770 gold he owes on Nine, and the two of them have moved from "owner" and "object" to "best friends" to "brothers" over the course of their time together. (Note that time as "owner" and "object" was mostly on Nine's part, and didn't last long.) The regulars at tJC are accepting of Zelanes' weirdness about his Warforged, even when he blames a totally personality-free machine for doing things that obviously he told it to do.
Most recently he's had an infestation trio of women showing up.
One he found in the back alley of the Jingled Cleric - a run-away soloist of the church of Lamjek being chased by a guard from his brother. He took her in for two reasons: he's a genuinely good guy, and fuck letting his brother get ahold of another woman.
One showed up from the Underdark - a Dragonborn, as far as he knows, on the search for her kidnapped mother and infant sister. His friends in the Underdark asked him to help her because she was helping them get out of the country. Being from the Underdark is almost as bad as being a Tiefling in the Bright Country.
One just walked through the door. Her sweet demeanor belies a Necromancer's abilities. Zelanes doesn't have any clue why she's in the country, but she decided to help the others so...he's helping her too.
Mind, his help is pretty much; "Yes, you can room here and if Nine wants to help I'm fine with that." He's a Commoner. He has four hit points.
Mind-control, off-screen infanticide, off-screen infant mutilation, trans erasure, fantasy religious extremism, misogyny, misandry, misanthropy, fantasy racism, kidnapping, and classism. This list will update as the campaign does.
Zelanes Recoty is cursed, according to the clerics. That is why his eyes are so black and deep. He has no horns, no tail, and his brother is an Aasimar, so obviously he isn't a Tiefling. Simply ignore the scars on his hairline, and should you be invited into his bed do not stretch your hand down his lower back. He gets upset at that.
He owns the The Jingled Cleric.
Technically, he also owns Nine.
Zelanes was raised by the The Church of Suignis from the time he was an infant until he left at thirteen. There was no great kerfluffle at him leaving, he simply told them he was going and did.
He wasn't abused as a child, after all it wasn't his fault he was cursed - and Devangi (the leader of the Bright Country) told them he was cursed, so cursed he was - but the Church is an austere place. Zelanes was expected to live as did the men (and *only* men) who serve the Church do.
This meant up at dawn, a breakfast of oats and eggs, prayer on hard wooden benches until lunch (bread and any leftovers from the night before), and physical labor until dinner (boiled meat with boiled vegetables, bread, and a little bit of butter). In deference to the fact that Zelanes was a growing boy, the clergy of Suignis fed him as much of the above as he wanted at any given time, but frankly it was a boring, closed in, oppressive life.
At thirteen he informed them that he couldn't choose their life if he hadn't lived something else, and went on his way. There was a bit of money left over from the pittance that his mother paid to the church for taking her shame away from her, so when he left he had about three gold in copper and silver.
About three hours later, he had severe head trauma, no money, and an aged dwarven man looking over his wounds. A couple of random patrons of the Jingled Cleric had found the boy near their home, and had grabbed Nyco Thetris to carry him to the only place they could all agree on: The Jingled Cleric itself, where the proprietor (one Meztli Prasad Recoty) took care of him.
Meztli had no family, his wife died in childbirth and the child died with her. People said that his heart did, too, but apparently he was just waiting for the right urchin to show up. Zelanes started by scrubbing floors and tables, but eventually worked himself up to tending the bar...and when the old dwarf eventually passed away, the young Tiefling was left with enough gold to cover the man's debts and a bar owned free and clear.
Over the next twenty-ish years he's kept his head down, his bar relatively clean, and his head off the chopping block. He has one of the three entries into the Underdark in his cellar, but he's never actually gone down there. Just accepted the people brought in that way into his bar and helped them as best he can without risking death at the hands of the religious extremists that rule his country.
About three years ago he spent all the money he'd collected in an attempt to get a newer, better bar in a better part of town on a defective Warforged. Nine, you see, had personality. He's paid about 670 of the 770 gold he owes on Nine, and the two of them have moved from "owner" and "object" to "best friends" to "brothers" over the course of their time together. (Note that time as "owner" and "object" was mostly on Nine's part, and didn't last long.) The regulars at tJC are accepting of Zelanes' weirdness about his Warforged, even when he blames a totally personality-free machine for doing things that obviously he told it to do.
Most recently he's had a
One he found in the back alley of the Jingled Cleric - a run-away soloist of the church of Lamjek being chased by a guard from his brother. He took her in for two reasons: he's a genuinely good guy, and fuck letting his brother get ahold of another woman.
One showed up from the Underdark - a Dragonborn, as far as he knows, on the search for her kidnapped mother and infant sister. His friends in the Underdark asked him to help her because she was helping them get out of the country. Being from the Underdark is almost as bad as being a Tiefling in the Bright Country.
One just walked through the door. Her sweet demeanor belies a Necromancer's abilities. Zelanes doesn't have any clue why she's in the country, but she decided to help the others so...he's helping her too.
Mind, his help is pretty much; "Yes, you can room here and if Nine wants to help I'm fine with that." He's a Commoner. He has four hit points.