Appearance

Physical Description

Cepha has the build of the average scrawny gnome, though their flesh is made of completely alien material.

Body Features

Cepha, being a member of the Ceremorph race, is mauve colored and permanently slick, their flesh strangely blubbery despite their scrawny build.

Facial Features

Cepha has slitted yellow eyes, no nose, and four tentacles that hide their maw of a mouth and form a sort of beard.

Identifying Characteristics

Cepha's main identifying features include their octopus face, small stature, magic laser pistol, and cowboy attire.

Apparel & Accessories

Cepha's main accessories include their gun, hat, and spellbook

Mentality

Personal history

My earliest memory is grasping at a golden thread, beautiful and delicate, but overwhelmingly powerful. As I grew up I would see countless numbers of those threads, most of which attached to people, though I couldn’t manage to touch them. Finding out that no one else could see those threads prompted me to try to research them as much as I could, which was fairly difficult, as I lived in a small village hidden by a mystical storm in the middle of a vast forest. The village, Petrichor, was made up of primarily elves, gnomes, and halflings, who were fearful after something called “the mist” vanished. Those who established the village decided to create their own mist in the form of the storm that hid us.
Because we were so isolated, materials to quench my curiosity only came about when traders from the Underdark came to exchange goods for the bounty of the forest as well as commissions for art, alcohol, and gadgets from Petrichor’s occupants. From these few materials, as well as some guidance from some of the more magically inclined amongst the villagers, I discovered what the threads were: the threads of fate. I became fascinated with the elusive threads, and wanted to learn all I could about them, with little success. At some point, the threads became but a fact of life, a strange illusion only I could see, so I gave up and started learning the craft of my mothers, gadgetry. I managed to become fairly proficient in creating magical devices and small machines. Even though it was a boring life in which my curiosity was left unsatisfied, it was peaceful and calm. I had friends and family that I loved dearly, and I was generally accepted despite my quirks. I was Willard A. Gildarts, an average gnome, if not a bit eccentric sometimes.
This is what I remember of before it happened. These vague memories, the names and faces of my friends were gone, whether I had siblings, whether I had ever fallen in love, or made a breakthrough with the threads, it’s all, how ironically, like staring through a mist, with the only echo being the names Wilma and Dorothy, my mothers.
 
I remember waking up in a cold, stone chamber and looking down to see a body completely alien to me, though not remembering what would have been correct. My hands were long and felt like they had the wrong number of fingers, my skin was a different color and texture, and was constantly slick, and my head was heavy as the lower half of my face extended far too long. Soon thereafter, I met the thing that had changed me, a 7½-foot tall being with the same general physiology as me, but dried out, devoid of moisture and life, and with an explosion of threads centering on them. It called itself Uzurumi. Uzurumi was a magical scholar in the field of chimeric experimentation and psionoarcane application. It had made a countless number of beings, most of which were tied to the race of illithid, what it apparently once was. I was his newest and most exciting experiment, as I was the first in a long time with sentience, albeit unstable for the time being. I had also apparently retained most of my personality, which at the time wasn’t that strange to me, but has since become my greatest blessing.
Uzurumi originally was going to put me through many painful and probably fatal experiments until it discovered that I could see the threads. As soon as it heard that, it took me as its apprentice and assistant. It taught me about spellcraft and helped me hone in on my natural specialty, chronomancy. I learned, ever so slightly, how to manipulate the thread. It even let me build in my spare time. Eventually, Uruzumi had me go through an experiment to push my ability past its limits, to try and not only see and tweak the threads, but to control and warp them to my will. For the first time I managed to touch the thread, and time stopped. I felt a pain like no other pierce my skull, and I saw the very flow of time itself. The threads lost their form and became liquid in my hands. My memories all hit me at once, though I could barely keep up with them. When time resumed, I fell to unconsciousness for a long while, but when I woke up, I remembered what Uzurumi took from me. Even if I didn’t know the faces of my parents or the name of my best friend, I knew he had come to the village in search of test subjects, and I just happened to be one of the unlucky few.
Once I woke up, seeing that Uzurumi was gone, probably to check on some of its other creations, the first thing I did was go to finish the project I had been working on. With my newfound ability to manipulate the golden ink of time, I managed to create runes that I did not remember and summoned a being that wouldn’t exist until eons later. With the runes, I granted my project, a rudimentary robot called the S.I.R.K mk.I, mobility, and gave Kris, my new companion, the job of piloting the machine, as it had not been given autonomous programming yet.
With little time to prepare and no way to do any damage to the powerful Uzurami, I set up a series of small explosions to hopefully destroy some of Uzurami’s work, then ejected myself into the astral sea on a Wasp Ship.
It was long enough that I started to go a bit crazy, what with my new memories, being alone in an endless void, and the lack of fresh brains (my delightful new diet that I had to come to terms with), before I was found, and by pirates no less I had lost most of my power after leaving Uzurami’s demiplane and starving for who knows how long, but I managed to use my mind blast to stun one of the crew members long enough to eat, choosing one whose thread looked like it was attracted to mine. And with that, I happened across a major stroke of luck. The man whose brain was now missing had been an embezzling mutineer. I somehow managed to convince the crew to spare me in exchange for the ship, and offered Kris’ and my services as an arcanist and bodyguard. Having lost a vital member of the crew and also seeing some sort of value in my presence, they allowed me aboard. When my name was asked I claimed that I had forgotten, and quickly gained the moniker “Cepha’Lopo” from a crew member with an unfortunately thick accent.
From there, I spent time as part of a group of wildspacer pirates, who shortly thereafter got obliterated by another group while pit-stopped on a strange settlement located on a celestial carcass. I spent my time hopping from group to group, though it was difficult as most were wary of illithid, though eventually, I managed to obtain a decent position in a fairly non-discriminatory if not completely insane wildspacer group.
While this was all happening, I spent much of my time meditating, trying to regain my memories, though at some point no more came, and I realized it would probably be more painful if I did remember. I also worked on my arcane arts and collected a decent number of useful spells. Kris became my best friend even though he couldn’t speak, and decided to stick by me even though he had no obligation to.

Education

Cepha had mid-level mechanical education from their original village, but extensive arcane and psionic teaching while under the "care" of Uzurami.

Employment

Cepha is a mercenary and tinkerer, though their preferred job description is "freelancer", as they are willing to do most things for currency or resources.

Known Languages

Cepha speaks and reads Common, Deep Speech, Gnomish, and Qualith.

Personality

Social