Zaida Lynjian
There is a whisper among sailors that the wind itself is fickle, bound only to the whims of fate and fortune. But those who have sailed under Zaida Lynjian know better. The wind is neither wild nor untamed—it is woven, commanded, and sculpted by those with the talent to shape it.
Zaida is one of the rarest and most sought-after mages on the Glass Sea, a Windwright, a master of binding the sky to the will of a ship. Every captain dreams of securing a Windwright for their vessel, but few ever succeed—fewer still can claim to have one as formidable as Zaida.
Born in Shaewrend, Zaida was raised among wealth and ambition, the daughter of a merchant lord who sought to mold her into a tool of his empire. From a young age, she showed a gift for manipulating wind and weather, an ability that should have been nurtured—but in a world where Windwrights are too valuable to be free, her talent became her prison.
Her father sought to auction her abilities to the highest bidder, treating her not as a daughter but as an investment, meant to be married off to a noble fleet commander or bound to the service of the Viranuean navy. But Zaida was not meant to be owned. One storm-lashed night, she unleashed the very winds she had been trained to control, breaking free from the gilded chains of her childhood and vanishing into the depths of the world.
For years, she drifted from ship to ship, selling her talents to those who could afford them, learning the ways of the sea, and honing her craft in the heart of tempests. But a Windwright without a crew is a leaf caught in the breeze—and Zaida was tired of being a tool for others, a prize to be fought over. She longed for something more: a ship that was truly hers, a cause that was worthy of her winds.
That ship was the Crimson Outcast.
Zaida’s meeting with Captain Asreel was as tempestuous as the magic she wielded—two forces of nature testing one another, neither willing to be commanded. But Asreel did not seek to own her; she sought a partner, an ally, a Windwright who could take the Outcast beyond the reach of slavers, beyond the hands of kings, beyond the chains of fate itself. And in that offer, Zaida saw freedom unlike any she had ever known.
Now, she stands upon the deck of the Crimson Outcast, her long dark hair whipping in the winds of her own making, her exotic jewelry clinking like wind chimes in the salt air, her flowing garments blending elegance with the hard pragmatism of the sea. Her hands shape the sky, weaving unseen currents, calling forth gales to fill the sails, bending the ocean’s breath to her will.
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