Zyrda Icewoven (zee-yer-dah igh-ss-woh-ven)
Zyrda Icewoven (a.k.a. Zyr, Zy)
Calm, quiet, and caring, Zyrda dislikes conflict and only wants to offer aid and healing to the injured, infirm, and ill. A perpetual air of ancient sorrow and loneliness permeates him, what pride he has barely there at all.
He has a difficult time sleeping when alone, and what sleep he does get is frequently plagued with nightmares. Though slowly beginning to recover from the ancient trauma with the aid of friends, Zyrda still lacks the heart to stand up for himself, and is easily bowed into submission.
To him, anything is better than the loneliness of death.
---
It was really the loneliness that had gotten to him in the end. Not the hate or hostility, efforts thrown in his face, or insults slung his way when all he wanted was to heal. No, it was the complete lack of interaction, the absolute silence, the sense of no one there... that was what got to him. Worry and fear became melancholy, became a listless sadness that seemed to encompass his consciousness.
In the afterlife, he could not sleep, nor could he go dormant unless the god who claimed his soul decided to allow him to. Such was his punishment, an eternity of nothing, for not having the heart to let others suffer.
Even the aching of aging bones was better than this.
Physical Description
Identifying Characteristics
Albino.
Zyrda has a five-foot-long tail with two curved, thin blade-like spikes near the tip, which also has a series of smaller, blade-like spikes along the spine. His horns had their nubs cauterized with acid, and so his horns will not grow, making his forehead smooth.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Born to an isolated mountain village above the treeline, Zyrda was nearly abandoned from the beginning. A tiefling born in a population not exactly renown for being open-minded, his then-bladeless tail would have ensured his death...except that he was albino, which the village considered to be blessed folk. His parents hid his tail, forcing him to conceal it under heavy clothing whenever he went out in public. Then at the age of four, his horns began to grow in. When his parents noticed the horn nubs, they took a bottle of acid normally used to stunt the growth of goat horns, and used it on their very young son to both remove his new horns, and to prevent them from ever growing again.
As he grew up, Zyrda was taught the ways of the local village healer, both divine, alchemical, and herbal. It was at this point that Zyrda demonstrated a talent for divine magic beyond that of most clerics, revealing his status as a favoured soul. Whichever deity favoured him was unimportant. Treated decently despite the slight off-putting effect of his aura due to his tiefling nature, Zyrda grew up well-cared for, but desperately wanting his parents' love and approval - something all too rare from his distant father and harried mother.
In addition, concealing what he was from everyone continued to take its toll on his mind as he began to understand more and more its necessity. Puberty, would not make his life any easier. With adolescence came changes, changes that he could not easily hide - his tail grew much longer, to the point where it was highly uncomfortable or even painful to keep coiled up in cramped clothing, and it also grew blades that were sharp enough to tear into and rend the wool fabric. His pupils changed in time with his ears, and his canines, which were already a bit too long for normal teeth, quickly grew into fangs.
Once he was unable to hide the fact he was a tiefling from the village any longer, Zyrda hid in his home for almost a week before one of the few friends he'd made finally barged into his room. Freaked out by the changes in his friend, the other boy ran to the village healer to see if there was anything that could be done about Zyrda's 'condition.' Some painful rituals later proved that Zyrda was what he was, and that would not be changed. The village, angry at being deceived about having such a creature in their mist, would have turned on him had his mentor not reminded them of the sacredness of albinos. They could not kill Zyrda or cast him out, without calling woe onto their lands.
Or so they believed.
Hated for what he was, but allowed to stay because there was no other option, Zyrda continued his education under the village healer. He lost most of his friends, and gained no more, but the one he did manage to keep he held close. Alas, it was not to be forever. After over a decade of acting as one of the village's healers, a group of four men came into the town one late morning, and once more turned Zyrda's world upside down. They promised to the villagers, the elder, the older healer, that they knew of a way to 'cure' Zyrda's 'affliction' and make him 'human again.' Zyrda did not trust them, but with the near-unanimous vote of the village, he had no choice but to go with.
Giving his goodbyes to the few who cared enough to watch him go, Zyrda left with the strangers - something he would come to regard as both a terrible mistake, and a blessing in disguise. Knocked out by an unexpected blow to the head, he woke to find himself in an ironwood cage, being moved with a few other albinos - all of them human - down the mountain and into the forest below. Once brought to camp, he soon learned what the real purpose of these men was - the capture and experimentation of albinos, and to chop them up for parts to sell to the more superstitious folk who considered such to have inherent properties useful to potions and rituals.
Gender Identity
Masculine
Sexuality
Heterosexual
Relationships
Alignment
Neutral Good
Current Status
Complicated
Current Location
Species
Conditions
Ethnicity
Other Ethnicities/Cultures
Age
35
Date of Birth
Fríaséva 6th, Mage Year 13,394
Birthplace
Diaçon Peaks
Spouses
Siblings
Children
Current Residence
Wanderer
Pronouns
He/him
Gender
Male
Eyes
Icy blue
Hair
White, straight, below-shoulder length
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Very pale
Height
5'09''
Other Affiliations
