Iarmid

Directly across the street from the Great Gymnasium — headquarters of the Transcendent Order and mecca for those seeking enlightenment, relaxation, or neutral ground — stands a domed, white marble building known as The Other Place. It was built to be a lush welcoming and reception area for guests before they went into the Gym proper. Problem was, no one wanted to cool his heels there for long. Not with the big enticing Gym right across the street.

The welcoming hall soon closed. ‘Course, every Cipher and his brother had a hot idea for what might work better in the building (they're big on ideas). The best was a temple to an ex-factol of the Ciphers; the worst ranged from All Things Slaad to Xax's Big Bag of Beans. But none were successful. Then an aasimar named larmid moved in.

Tarmid was a master masseur at the Great Gym who watched day in and day out as eager non-Ciphers lost their appointments to faction members. Sure, they booked their rubdowns, salt baths, and martial arts classes weeks in advance, but, often as not, a Cipher came along at the last minute and just took the slot — one of the perks of faction membership, larmid figured that his comrades were missing out on a lot of jink just because they couldn't get past serving themselves first.