Appearance

Physical Description

Barakas is strong and muscular but is far from cut. His unhealthy eating habits are responsible the softness of his midsection and his lack of muscle definition. His face retains the sharp-edged features of Tieflings, his love of roast meats hasn't dulled those.

Body Features

Barakas is a Tiefling, but a rare one. His Infernal bloodline runs so close to the surface, he has more than once been mistaken for a Cambion. Allow me to demonstrate.

Unlike his luckier fellows, he has an inhuman coloration to his skin. The bulk of his skin is a bright and fierce red the color of arterial blood, but his scars deepen rather than lighten. His body is crisscrossed with slightly raised lines of a deep, dusky ember red. His horns are naturally a mottled blend of the red and crimson of blood, and his finger-and-toenails naturally grow to a point.

He has sharp, pointed teeth like a predator that put people on edge. When he speaks, he reveals his long and sinuous forked tongue behind them as he shows off those shark-like "baby-eating" teeth. Word of advice, never threaten to 'eat' someone close to a farmer when they call you racist names like the bigots they are. They take it wrong, even if you flick your forked tongue out suggestively at the girl.

His long(ish) horns sweep back from his bony brow ridge over his hair to jut out at the back of his skull in an inverse V-shape. Obviously, he has to commission very particular hair care tools, as no regular brush will fit between those horns and his skull. He also has trouble with non-magical helms because of his horns, as the helms have to be custom-fitted and that's expensive as few blacksmiths will work with him.

In complement to his disturbingly devilish look and facial features, he has a lean, whip-like forked tail with a mind of its own (figuratively speaking), and once had strong bat-like wings that protruded from his back. Sadly, he was maimed while young and his wings were mangled and ripped from him. The scarring has damaged the muscles in his back, desensitizing the nerves.

Thankfully, though he was born otherwise human and lacked the spellcasting familiarity of his fellow Tieflings, the Lord of the Nine Hells has blessed him with his Devil's Tongue. Instead of the spells available to many other Tieflings, his voice is granted magical ability. And he is still capable of the Darkvision and the Hellish Resistance of his fellow Tieflings.

Facial Features

Facially, Barakas is all sharp edges, ridges and lines. When confronted with something that breaks through his nonchalant demeanor, his intensity is terrifying to behold.

Barakas' nose is aquiline and proportional to his slightly long face. His brow ridge is pronounced, because of his horns on his forehead, and have a scaly, hairless appearance. His eyes are a light blue, entirely dissimilar to his devilish appearance and convey sincerity and honesty so thoroughly it is hard to dismiss his words if one can look past the outer appearances. His mouth is often little more than a hard line or sardonic smile, making his laughter and merriment somewhat disconcerting. His broad jaw and dimpled chin have a distinct bone ridge beneath the skin, with a slight scaling to skin, which has made more than one man regret an ill-thought punch.

Identifying Characteristics

Are you kidding me? Barakas is a mass of identifying features!

Apparel & Accessories

Barakas dresses like he's common when he's anything but. His clothes are worn, oft-mended, hand-me-downs he buys off widows and the like. He wears patched and mended clothes, never new or ostentatious. His travel clothes are deeply worn and patched, and not always well.

He maintains four outfits, no more or less, one to wear and one to launder of travel and common clothes. Always dressed in demure colors like off-white and khaki, he is decidedly simple. A basic set of pants, thick wool stockings, and a belt, and he replaces those items only when he has to, and only from those individuals that could use the money - never from a shop. He only deals with three shops, ever.

His shirts and jackets are tailored to fit his wings and be easy to wear for him. This means he must have the clothes specially made just for him. He has four made each year from a single shop in Waterdeep. The owner has never treated him poorly and as such Barakas has made a point to pay a year in advance and have them tailored and fitted when he arrives each year to get them on his birthday. It's a bit of a juxtaposition, but between the shirts, jackets, and boots, it's not a great expense.

His boots are well crafted by a cobbler in Neverwinter. He goes back only to them for repairs and replacements and has become something of a nitpicker about boot quality. He travels to Neverwinter each year around winter and gets a new pair.

Mentality

Personal history

Once upon a time, Barakas had a family, a home, a lovely little life. Then something happened, but Barakas cannot remember what. His father told him to flee and run as far as he could.

Barakas was a child of four when he wandered into Baldur's gate. A horned, winged, tiefling toddler with fangs in his mouth and tears in his big blue eyes. The red skin, devil-heritage, and impish appearance didn't endear him to anyone and Barakas grew up in abject squalor on the streets. Strangers who wouldn't look at him would drop things near him, never recognizing his existence. Scraps of food, clothes, a small knife, bits and bops he needed. The other urchins wouldn't help him, they beat him regularly, and he'd crawl into his empty, broken crate and cry until nightfall.

Then the Voice would sing in Infernal, songs that stirred his heart and healed his body. He'd sleep and wake up the next dawn like new. Then the Voice perched on his crate and sang to him of what he had to do. He stole, was caught and beaten, and learned how to be quiet and stealthy. He ran packages across rooftops and back alleys, fell and broke bones, and learned how to run, climb, swim, and jump. He picked pockets and got his hand branded and learned to steal better next time. With each terrible lesson, came a night with the Voice and her songs that healed his body and stirred something in his heart.

In time he learned the songs and sang along, in Infernal. His ancestral language became the only tongue he'd speak in. That caused fights and brawls and duels, and slowly Barakas learned to fight. A ragged sword and worn shield were dropped near his crate, and Barakas took them and began to shadow the adventurers in town, watching as they fought. Every fight brought blood and pain and a night with the Voice. But Barakas exceled at violence.

Then the Voice came and sang the songs in Common - she sang loudly for the city to hear - of the god Asmodeus and all his deeds. Songs that were illegal to sing in worship of a god whose religion was outlawed. The voice was arrested, and though Barakas fought, he was near death in the alleyway when the Voice spoke her last Infernal word to him: Live! Barakas slowly healed and stumbled to the execution just days later. Barakas was the only one who wept and wailed as the Voice was beheaded. When he charged the stage, many men and women silently and stilly blocked his path and hemmed him in, never recognizing his existence.

That was his introduction to the Cult of Asmodeus Incarnate. It was a small operation in Baldur's Gate. The Voice he had grown so attached to had been the lowest ranked of their cultists and had died to make room for him to join. For some reason, The Cult only ever had seven tiers of seven members. And now he was the forty-ninth. The Voice had given her life to give him a place where he belonged.

For six years Barakas was a champion of the Cult, rising high enough to choose when he left the Cult. Most of that time was spent cleaning up messes made when these infernalists would summon an Imp to do menial work and the Imp would get free and cause havoc. He also slew low level demons and devils with the help of the Guard and gained a reputation for it. When the Order of the Watchers came to recruit him, he swore his oath and convinced the cult members to back his idea. He talked to the Cult and convinced them that improper Infernal worship was what caused their persecution, and if things were going to change then they had to change all over the Sword Coast. The High Priest ordered him to spread their way, the way he had taught them, and to rid the world of false loyalists.

Barakas left the city of Baldur's Gate at 22, in 1487, eighteen years after he stumbled into it. He swore his Oaths slightly differently than his fellow Watchers, but they accept him anyway for his zeal and strength of will. When the Watchers were done with him, he began to trek north, not knowing his destination but feeling his path would lead him where he needs to go.

Now Barakas is a sort of entrepreneur. Whenever there's trouble, he meets some like-minded folks at the local tavern or inn or what-have-you and drinks like a sailor, eats like he's half-starved, and pays with plenty of coin for tips.

Personality

Social

Birthplace

Baldur's Gate

Current Residence

Nomadic

Contacts & Relations

Barakas is an integral part of the Ashmadai, the Cult of Asmodeus. Unfortunately, the Cult of Asmodeus has many factions, each dedicated to their own goals in addition to their shared goal of propagating worship of Asmodeus. Barakas is the only Paladin, possibly in the world, that is both good, lawful, and dedicated to Asmodeus. Stranger still, Barakas is a Blessed Warrior, granted Cleric Spells normally reserved for those who worship a god and draw from their power.

Barakas was raised in the Cult of Asmodeus Incarnate in Baldur's Gate. While he has little to nothing to do with them now, the tie is still there and is occasionally coming up, usually at less-than-opportune moments. The Cult there works to summon Devils to make this world better for themselves. Barakas couldn't stop or change it, so he escaped it.

There is a tiny Cult of Asmodeus Eternal in Candlekeep. Barakas is usually granted admission based on the rational, logical, but inexplicable and puzzling nature of his journals and multiple theses on Asmodeus and the nature of gods. His first journal bought him entry where he met Irony and a few others that met his lessons on why Asmodeus is not evil with skepticism but an open mind. The Cult now views Asmodeus as an integral part of the balancing forces of good and evil and push the view that Asmodeus must be in power, or the forces of Hell would be unbound.

The Cult of Asmodeus the Bargainer in Waterdeep is a strange one. They weren't started by Barakas, and man oh man is he grateful for that. A noble family leads the cult, and they have a skewed view of who Asmodeus is. Unfortunately, Barakas' efforts there to right the view of these heretics was stymied by the temporal power the nobles held.

The Cult of Asmodeus in Neverwinter was led by Favria after Mordai Vell's death, but it has been deeply reduced by Barakas after his rather wrathful visit there. Turning people into shells for devils is unlawful and evil in the extreme, and Barakas brought down the righteous wrath of the Order of the Watchers. Then he rebuilt the Cult in the way of Asmodeus Eternal, encouraging a more balanced and less self-serving way of serving Asmodeus.

Aside from Barakas' influence in the Cults, he really only knows and keeps contact with a few people from each city and town he's passed through.

Wealth & Financial state

Barakas keeps his coin close and doesn't trust moneylenders and bankers. As such he carries his small hoard of coinage in his Bag of Holding. Since he left after his "training" ended and the cult declared him "ready to spread his bidding" Barakas has gathered a small supply of simple items that he keeps sheltered away in his bag.

Barakas has a Bag of Holding crafted by a Fire Genasi tradesman in the Cult of Asmodeus in Baldur's Gate. It was given as payment for Barakas' works there for the cult. The same work that spurred him to flee the city. It wasn't made for Barakus, though, merely the easiest reward they could give him. It had been used by the cult to store religious artifacts between services. The flames were embroidered in magical threads onto the bag and have strangely arcane properties. It never gets dirty and, somehow, they make the clasp hot, causing a tinge of slight burning pain whenever it's opened.

Barakas also has a magical longsword called a Moonblade, that he earned on his way up the coast. Crafted by the Fey, the sword was once wielded by a Hero of some repute. It's a broad, leaf-bladed double-edged mithril sword that glows with an icy radiance in moonlight. But in places of darkness, it truly shines like a beacon at his command as all Moonblades do. What makes this gleaming mithril sword different is more than its distinctly warlike design, because it is a Wicked blade. Somehow, at some point, that long lost Hero did something terrible and the darkest fey creatures from their myths did something to the sword. It now encourages wicked and malevolent behaviors. Barakas keeps the sword to prevent it from spreading evil and trusts in his will and his god to keep the sword from influencing him.

In Waterdeep, Barakas was given a gift from a different Cult of Asmodeus as a reward for his works on their behalf. The gift was an infernally crafted gleaming breastplate of black iron, inscribed with infernal runes that shift and scroll and tell of the bearer's deeds. The armor was a symbol of power in the ranks of Hell, where none but the worthiest would dare wear such a thing. The breastplate is unbreakable, so far, and can amplify Barakas voice at his command. Once, it muttered curses on any who touched it, but the deeds of Barakas somehow changed the very nature of the item! Now it bolsters Barakas' confidence and makes him feel more self-assured.