Ash
Speaker of Asu-shu-namir
Ash is a Scholar with the soul of a museum curator and a mind like a freight train. When a task presents itself, the rest of the world melts away, and they twist and turn the cogs of a problem until it is solved. Ash carries the role of artifactor and defender of Eindothlon, the roaming Scholarly outpost on the Northwestern Pacific Rim.
Ash joined the Alliance of the Wandering Scholars young. Their relationship with their community was difficult, especially the more they learned about their own identity. They spent about a year homeless following their eighteenth birthday. They spent time in natural history museums to stay dry, and pulled books from the library to learn the languages in inscriptions on old artifacts. Ash spent so much time studying one Yuan era tapestry that the trapped magic within it awoke. They crossed paths with the Alliance then, and were pulled into a world of magic and intrigue where they remain today.
About two years into their work, Ash came across an artifact that imbued them with the-- curse? blessing?-- gift of a Babylonian entity called Asu-shu-namir. They have an intense aversion to cthonic artifacts, a strange sense of danger as it comes, and an aura of unease that drives strangers to loathe and fear them.
Physical Description
Body Features
Ash is small and heavyset, with broad shoulders and a round face. Their legs are not reliably useful. Their hands are the most delicate part of their body, with high dexterity and a great deal of sensitivity to touch.
Facial Features
Ash's face is round, with soft cheeks and a tendency to glow in warm places. Their eyes are deep gray and narrow, well set into their face.
Specialized Equipment
Out on missions, Ash carries a long spear, and some basic adventuring supplies like rope and a compass. Ash also carries the pair's laptop to research their archives or write reports.
Mental characteristics
Gender Identity
Genderqueer
Education
Ash graduated from high school a decent student, though their personal life kept them from paying much attention in many classes. After joining the Alliance of Wandering Scholars, their year of training was ostensibly focused on artifacts that commonly enter the area, mostly east Asian and Native works. Their training also spent a great deal of time letting them work through their emotions and spear-fight with local ghosts.
Mental Trauma
Ash's relationship with their family and childhood is complicated, to say the least. Their family was fairly strict, and fairly interested in external measures of family, love, and success. Following their coming out, their relationship with their family soured. Their parents alternated between punishments and attempts to affection them out of being genderqueer. One affection was the gift of a museum membership to 'keep their connection to history and tradition alive' once they grew up. Following their eighteenth birthday, they were also homeless for a time, and the only support their family offered was in the form of taking them to traditional events, buying them traditional clothing, and giving them traditionalist books.
Ash carries their past and the difficulties of Scholar life with them every day. They tend to be guarded around strangers (reasonably, considering their curse), and will snap at people if they're upset. Appeals to family or overtures of unwanted "help" bring up strong negative emotions that they can't quite place. Since their work dealing with their emotions as a Scholar, they don't tend to have tremors or dramatic outbursts, but they do shaking breakdowns following high stakes confrontation and fairly frequent nightmares.
Intellectual Characteristics
Ash is a clockwork thinker. Every piece added to the puzzle creates a cascade of effects to be followed to their conclusion. They need to see exactly what happens when a lever is turned, danger or no, and can be deeply single-minded when an engaging task pops up. They have a fair intellect, but more than that they carry a knowledge of near everything they've ever read and pattern-match situations very well.
Morality & Philosophy
Ash loathes being told they ought to have loyalty to their family, their people, or their country, especially as they are torn between and rejected by different groups. They spent a long time being loyal solely to themself and avoiding the call they felt to helping other people. Given the opportunity to care about their closest allies, Ash will do anything to protect them. Outside of those priorities, Ash has a deep desire to make the world a fairer and more just place. They will work towards those goals if they don't conflict with helping their two priority people.
Alignment
Chaotic Good
Current Location
Conditions
Year of Birth
1990
29 Years old
Spouses
Siblings
Children
Eyes
Deep gray
Hair
Dark forest green, shaved across the right and a layered bob on the left
Height
5'1"
Weight
180 lbs
Owned Vehicles
Aligned Organization
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