Matsrur

Matsrur is a Adw musar Paladin and a player character of the Smugglers of magic campaign. He was played by Jorian.

Story

Matsrur lived life mostly as a typical Adw musar nomad, but from the moment he was born he was seen as 'different' by his tribe. He was born with a birthmark on his wrist resembling the symbol Seba. The symbol is associated with gates and doorways and the concepts of learning and discipline. It was believed that the stars represent the souls of the dead. However when combined with a circle the symbol becomes duat, symbol of the underworld and young Matsrur was born under a full moon. Opinions were split but the elders came to the conclusion he was either an ill omen or already with one leg in his grave.
His dad died young so he got raised by his mother and tribe but times were tough so real guidance was rare. He often had bouts of anger lashing out at the world. His mother discouraged this but some of the men in the tribe saw it as a good thing. Now 14 years old, he had gained a deep respect for his ancestors. How could they survive in such an environment while also having to face even stronger creatures like Dragons? It made him angry to see his tribe hungry or to see them die. He slowly lost his ability to see the beauty in his life and surroundings. At 16 he lost all sense of purpose; he stopped listening to his mom and threw himself into fights not caring for the outcome.
By the time he was around 17 he had developed into a strong young man. During one of his better days he was playing with one of the younger kids in the tribe when a small group of Dragonborn rushed into his camp. He watched as a spear narrowly missed him and instead pierced the chest of the kid behind him. The feeling of rage and sadness hit him like a boulder as he rushed into the fight together with the others in the tribe. After a while his tribe won with few dead. Matsrur was covered in blood, mostly his own when a drake swooped down, likely drawn in by the stench of death. Despite lacking the skill of his ancestors, Matsrur, charged headlong at the drake in his rage when the rest of the tribe fled. He did not care anymore, why did he live and the others not? It was a simple fact that the world was unfair. He wasn't being heroic when he charged that drake, he just didn't care if he died. Before he could hit even once, the drake knocked him away. As if knocked into his senses he sat there watching the drake slowly approach and realised at the most ironic moment in his life that he wanted to live. He’d spent all this time thinking maybe it would be better if he was dead, maybe he was cursed and the world was better off without him. Yet here death was staring him in the face and only then did he realise he did not want it yet. That's when he saw a jackal running full speed at him, it however was no jackal, it was a human body with a black jackal head. It jumped high into the air and launched some sort of spell, Matsrur then passed out.
He woke up with his major injuries healed. In front of him lay the drake on a bloodsoaked battlefield. For a drake to be killed by a single fighter was something Matsrur only heard of in legend. The figure asked if he was alright and explained that they were a priest of Anubis. His tribe was nowhere to be seen, so Matsrur decided it was time for him to stop just surviving and start building a life for himself. He asked the priest if he could join them on their travels. They agreed, saying they had no intention to deny a young man's fate. It was a selfish decision to leave the few people who cared about him believing he was dead. During his travels he got to know the priest as Menefer. Matsrur quickly learned to let Menefer and their khopesh deal with the beasts along the way; he was overwhelmingly outclassed. By travelling with Menefer he started to learn about Anubis and after all that had just happened he found some purchase in anubis’s ideals. No situation is black and white, there was never a wrong till there was a right. At some point he had to accept what happened, He lived so life goes on. It was simply a roadblock in the path of fate that he overcame. Matsrur’s anger was still an issue and often flared up but Menefer would have none of it and would quickly put him in his place. They helped him by teaching him to find a purpose for that anger, to redirect it into something useful. He could become a protector of this world, a guardian to the gates of the underworld.
Matsrur decided to promise himself to never give up on life again, get a grip on his self discipline and become strong enough to protect this world and its fate whatever that may be. Menefer suggested that Matsrur direct this oath to Anubis to gain their support and that of their disciples in this world. And so began his journey as paladin of Anubis.
It took about 14 days of travelling through the deserts to get to Menefer’s destination Bibia. Bibia was a coastal town with some decent trade going on. Our destination was the temple of death and resurrection where Menefer went to discuss the fruits of their travels. It turned out that Menefer was not just a follower of Anubis but a head missionary who had been all over Hamaitan. Here Matstrur learned to fight with actual weapons, and was educated. Among these teachings was also a deeper explanation of the gods and just in case a bit about magic. He ended up staying in Bibia for a few months. Matsrur was still an impulsive and selfish man with anger issues. Despite getting along with some caretakers and diciples he also still got into fights. He was still a broken man not used to societal norms and unbeknownst to him the only reason he was getting taught was Menefers interest in him. Eventually he had a falling out with Menefer, they’d told him they couldn’t explain the meaning of faith nor fate and that he’d have to figure out his own meanings if he wanted to become a paladin. This frustrated him immensely so he yelled that if they couldn't teach me that here then what was the point of staying in this temple. To which Menefer calmly replied that their intention was never to imprison him in a temple and that he was free to go and build a life for himself, they could never teach as well as the lessons that fate was bound to throw his way in life.
So now 18 years old he got onto a boat to Camelot, leaving the temple, Menefer and his home territory behind on Hamaitan. The foreign trade ship he was on got attacked by pirates and Matsrur helped fend them off. He got talking with some of the guards and escorts thanks to that and was told he’d make a fine addition to their escort company “flawless delivery” which would be taking goods out of Camelot. Thus he got a job with the company. The goods that they were to escort belonged to the tailors guild. Apparently it was an easy job and we only got hired as extra security since the daughter of one of the guild managers was leading their first caravan. Since Matsrur was new they put him in the back and told him to just get a feel for the job and don’t talk back to orders from caravan master Maeve. It was the perfect job to him since the crew was a bit rambunctious and could only laugh at his bursts of anger. His first escort went well and he was hired as an actual member of the flawless delivery crew who had nicknamed him Matt.
He spent some year just doing jobs with the crew. He worked on his self discipline and learned from escort leader Marc how to interact with clients so he could compose himself. He got to practise frequently the tailors guil, their main client. He would let the client talk all they wanted, just give short answers and try not to piss them off like Marc taught him. Most of them were insufferably boring and filled with self importance. Meave would lead a caravan sometimes, it turned out she was the same age as him so of course the crew wouldn't stop teasing him. Matt didn't take them serious anyway, he was just a guy getting paid for beating up monsters and she was just a daughter of a guild manager, probably another entitled snob. He’d interacted very little with her until then but he was stationed to protect caravan master Maeve's carriage so he just employed his usual smile and nod. Turns out she wasn’t much of a rich snob and she was interested in asking about Matt, but since he didn't talk much she just resorted trying to prod answers out of him. He tried to stay neutral but over a few months he couldn't help but develop some feelings for her. It looked like she also started to care for him since she would now ask for him personally.
One night he was guarding the door to her carriage while they’d set up camp and she had opened the door so she and Matt could talk when they started hearing screaming. An Ankheg appeared around the corner from, now matt was a competent fighter but he didn't feel he could beat an Ankheg. The wounded beast charged at him but as he took a stance he heard Meave yell. There was a second Ankheg breaking into the carriage, while thinking about what to do he remembered his oath and Menefers talk about finding the meaning of faith. His mind flashed back to his encounter with the drake and the feeling he had as he lay there helpless, if there was ever a meaning in his oath and a meaning for faith then this was it. He didn't want Meave to die and he wasn’t planning on dying himself. So he had to overcome this hurdle and protect Meave. He yelled for Meave to get to safety as the wounded beast reared back preparing to spray its acid. Matt felt something click in his body as he took a stance and thrust his spear. He ignored the beast attacking him and hit the one that broke the hole into the carriage. The beast shrieked as a bright light seemed to explode at the point of the wound cutting off an arm. Acid from the other Ankheg bit into his back but he kept attacking for another five strikes with a now shimmering spear eventually landing a lucky hit in its neck. He’d given Meave the opportunity to run but he didn't have the strength to take out the other Ankheg that was now biting deep into his arm. He started trying to pry its jaw open. As he lay on the floor wrestling the beast with acid and teeth biting into him for what seemed like ages Marc and company showed up and cut down the beast, apparently Meave had called for help.
After the encounter with the Ankhegs Matt and Maeve can't deny their feelings any longer. The 2 of them formed a relationship, to the dismay of Meave her family. Maeve her family had isseus with Matt on every level. He was a warrior, a street-rat, an Adw Musar and generally unciviliced (in their eyes). Matt responds with nothing but a will to fit in despite that. Eventually Maeve would have Matt's child, a boy named Kay. This resulted in the 2 of them quickly being married to avoid scandal. The family slowly did accept him as Matt learned how to deal with the nobles (not unlike the caravan work) and proved he wasn't exploiting the family. Matt had a stable life, charisma and a place in the world.
Once the witch hunts reached Camelot, Matt got worried about the effect on his families safety by being Adw musar and thus targeted by witch hunters as a "magical species". A highborn human with a lowborn Adw musar husband and a half blood child was likely to be targeted, even if they were protected by the guild that would lead to her family being put in danger. After some time, he decided to leave the city and head for Bersail(a city which apperantly had safety), he did not hide that he was leaving from Meave and though she disagreed as the witch-hunts were getting more violent she understood his point. He never said where he was heading nor did he discuss leaving with her parents or the guild. He didn't really want to, rather he gaslit himself into leaving. He quickly turned to underworld jobs since it would be harder to find out where he was that way in case Meave's parents or Meave tried to look for him.
You can see the detailed story of Matsrur during his campaign in the Smugglers of magic session summaries. In short Matsrur became one of the most important leaders of the Smugglers of Magic. First he learned as much as he could from Orlon, and then when he became overthrown, Matsrur took charge. All throughout the campaign however Matsrur slowly went into a darker and darker place personally, being often the first to accept the morally bankrupt strategies like continuing the selling of the people they smuggle and inviting Breaknight(an incredibly fucked up individual Matsrur knowingly brought in). Toward the end of the campaing Matsrur did the only thing he could for himself, which was take a deal offered by Lana Yakovna to be safely able to leave the Bersail underworld. Thus Matsrur left at the end of the campaign
After the campaign Matsrur left back to his family which he left behind. His wife Maeve and his kid. In Camelot he started the bloodspear protection company, the first to join the company were Edild and her companions (which Joined matt in leaving the Bersail underworld).

Character

Personality
Matt is a stoic person who's dealt with some personal isseuss through is life. From his youth he had great isseuss with his anger. He tries to work on his anger knowing its an issue, but often he's just unable to help it. Matt seeks a good life for the people himself and the people he cares for. Matt however often does lack empathy for others, willing to do things for just the benefit of himself and his close ones. He is also reluctant to act without benefit for himself. Matts selfish and reserved nature comes from his worries to backslide back into past problematic behaviour.
Some things Matt likes

• a client that does not whine
• pomegranate
• a fight that goes in his favour

Important people
There are only a couple people important to Matt, those are:

1. Mentor. Matsrur's early life mentor Menefer. Not only was Matt's lived saved by him, he was also the one who helped Matsrur get on a better path for himself.
2. Maeve. Next to his Mentor, Matsrur's wife Meave is the one who helped him become a better person. Its also why when Matt left his wife behind to protect her (during the Holy Cleansings), he started to fall back on old bad habits.
3. Irial. He never had a great relationship with most of the other Smugglers of Magic due to being closed off. Irial and Matt however knew eachother from their work as kinds of mercenaries. The 2 are both queit but shared a kind of appreciative friendship.
4. Kay. Kay is the son of Matsur, and Matt cares for his family

Appearance

The first thing that stands out from Matsrur's appearance is his gold. He has the standard Adm Musar golden freckles, but additionaly there is a scar running across his face which has healed with a yellow-golden shine to it, similar to the freckles. Matt has a darkened skin from his heritage and a early life out in the hot desert sun.

While the clothes he wears are often non-descript, his armor is certainly not. The armor he wears is a mix of red and gold, with the imagery of Anubis along its edges, showcasing a hint at the strong convictions Matsrur has for his beliefs.

Skills

Adm Musar physique
Matsrur is an Adw musar, a sub-species of human with natural magic, which involuntarily filters part of their excess magic energy into physical prowess. As a result of that Matsrur is incredibly tough, fast and strong. Addtionaly Matsrur also trains his body as a warrior resulting in having hones his body and this natural magic as a warrior. Weapons aside, Matsrur's body is built for battle.
Skilled, calculating and brutal combatant
Beyond his head start in combat as a Adw Musar, Matsrur is also a skilled combatant. He has trained his battle sense through his upbringing, training and professional career. He is increbily well trained with the spear and shield and has learned how to use heavy armor to his utmost advantage, causing him to be like a wrecking ball on the field with both mass and speed.
Belief magic
Matsrur has unlocked magic within himself from the belief and conviction in his views on life, fate, death and Anubis. His magic allows him to infuse his attacks with magical energy increasing their impact. Additionaly his magic also allows him to convert energy to heal and grant protective energy around him.

Matsrur around 28

Species

Adw musar

Year of Birth

627 AC 28 Years old

Birthplace

Hamaitan, somewhere in the deserts as a nomad

Pronouns

He/Him

Gender

Man

Eyes

Magenta/red

Hair

Short, unkept, red hair

Height

189 cm

Weight

Probably more than his armor

Aligned Organization

bloodspear protection company

Other Affiliations

• Smugglers of Magic