Harpe Nyxsia-Ruthel
The enigmatic wandering scrivener. Responsible for a lot of adventurers codex's that many who wander outside of safe territory carry with them.
Physical Description
Body Features
From the neck up, they share similarities to a human apart from the long mouth that can unhinge and open like a snake, however at the shoulders and below their body is littered with scars that open up into more mouths.
Special abilities
Aside from a body slightly more resilient than a standard humans, should Harpe be fed enough for a week or begin to lose their form from a lack of protein their mouths can shift places on their body along with the flesh below their shoulders to form the vague shapes of other animals, giving them a grotesque feral form.
Apparel & Accessories
They carry the same winter coat that Jerel stitched up for them that they found discarded on a street. For protection they usually rely on their own claws but carry a cold iron flamberge for special cases.
Specialized Equipment
Because of their study into magical implements they carry around particular magic relics they found on their travels. Specifically a bell on their hip that when rung has the uncanny ability to disrupt enemies. They also carry a lantern plundered from an old ruin that is able to light unseen things, and the cold iron flamberge they crafted themselves to help them should they get into melee combat.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Harpe's life began as a barely sentient mass of flesh created by the famed Dr. Ruthel, constantly being fed poor adventurers who tried to break into his labs and treated as nothing more than a guard dog. They don't remember much of this life, their brain too underdeveloped to even know they existed. But over time, with more poor adventurers devoured, the aberration evolved and grew and became somewhat sentient. Dr. Ruthel took notice of this and in his pursuit of trying to perfect life and remove the fear of death from mortals, he experimented on this newly evolved being.
The doctor took the newly sentient mass into his workspace and with a new batch of Ironmouth's, began working. He moulded a new body for the aberration and this creature became the first of its kind, a Fleshwarp who was not a modified human, nor one who needed a suit of armor to keep its form. With a body near identical to a human when observed from afar, it was a step in the right direction.
Harpe, however, was left traumatized on the doctors table, as a thousand muttering voices were all stripped away and they were given full sentience, sapience, thoughts and emotions. Every voice they have been hearing all went silent in moments and left one singular voice and series of thoughts, the voice that was now the being known as Harpe.
Dr. Ruthel kept his new creation in a lab deep in the mountains of Sciadan along with a select few from Ruthel's "discarded" batch, named Cornett and Haegeum, all from this batch named after instruments as to Dr. Ruthel, they were nothing more than experiments to be labelled with easy to file codenames.
Harpe, or at the time, Harp, was kept in confinement with nobody but their two brothers. The trio regularly spoke of what the world outside must have been like, took trips around the deep tunnels of Dr. Ruthel's lab and were experimented on further by the doctor.
Harpe was kept like this for years until one day, Dr. Ruthel left the three alone in the lab, completely abandoning them and any other experiment of his deep in the mountain range. They scoured the lab for supplies, freeing whatever experiment they could and then slowly and carefully made their way out into the open world.
They made their way to a nearby settlement but were quickly thrown out, their strange monstrous kind not exactly welcome amongst the regular folk. They wandered around the less populated parts of Sciadan until, due to arguments or simply a difference in perspective from the three, split and went their own separate ways. Cornett was found and picked up by the king of the time, due to his body being the discarded armor of the Sciadan Royal Guard. Haegeum was picked up a high priest from the Cult of Lord Chaffinch, training him to be a terrible destroyer.
Harpe however, was lost, they didn't exactly have the clearest vision of what they wanted to do or where they wanted to go, so they wandered and scavenged for food to keep their humanoid body from melting and falling apart, picking up discarded winter clothing and patching it up as much as they could so they could exist in human settlements.
They did this for about three years before they were found by one of the largest thieves guilds in Sciadan while they were making a stop in Wharfsvelte. The guild promised them housing and work, along with safety and food. Harpe accepted and went with them, unknowing to the fact the Thieves Guild just wanted a monstrosity of thier own to use for their nefarious deeds.
For countless years Harpe was kept like an animal for the Thieves Guild, nothing but an enforcer for them, not allowed to exist as a person, only a weapon. They spent dozens of years working for the Thieves Guild before one night, on a mission to kill someone for the Thieves Guild, a poor folk who didn't pay them back on time, Harpe broke down crying in front of him when they had him cornered. The man, confused, slowly approached Harpe and offered a hand.
He took Harpe to a nearby shelter, a man he knew would protect both him and the aberration he took under his wing, a local bartender by the name of Uncle Jerel, or Jerel Kirk by another name. He housed the both of them in the spare room up in the top of his tavern until the petty thief who Harpe cornered had to leave, leaving just Jerel and Harpe.
Jerel housed Harpe like one of his own children, like he had done for many before, and taught Harpe what it meant to be human. He even offered to patch up the winter clothing they scrounged so it was more covering and looked less like rags from a dumpster, the same coat they still maintain and carry to this day. Jerel regularly gave Harpe things to do around the smaller town of Tarmsworth, just to keep them busy until the Thieves Guild that was hunting for their "pet" stopped their search.
A couple of years went by and the Thieves Guild stopped searching, Harpe yearned for more of a purpose in the world after having been denied the ability to human for so many years, so they, with the help of Jerel, went north towards the capital of Sciadan to try and enlist Harpe in some proper work, all the while keeping them bundled up and appearing human.
Time after time however, whether due to their extra mouths and limbs acting up or their human form melting and becoming misshapen, they failed to get work at the adventurers guild, nearby bookstores, and countless other places. Always heading back to Tarmsworth to help Jerel and taking the time themselves to take up a hobby, learning how to be a bard.
During one of their errand runs to Larc they had a run in with a loud, boisterious bard in red and silver armor who refused to stop talking, and he took interest in Harpe. The Dean of the Ainur Institute who was out shopping with another man, the immortal known as Athanasia. Harpe stopped to talk with them because Yesxidor immediately saw through Harpe's human disguise and yet, like others, didn't immediately discriminate due to their monstrous form.
Instead, Yesxidor saw potential in them, along with a few other strange individuals who he had been picking up off the streets like a vacuum. So he invited Harpe to try and enter the Ainur Institute, one of the most prestigious schools in the world.
Harpe attended the entry exams with a group that Yesxidor himself picked out, and they noticed something about the group. All of them were off, misfits, even another humanoid Fleshwarp like Harpe was in the batch. The entry exams were difficult, but all of the batch prevailed, whether due to Yesxidor rigging it to be in their favor or simply a difference in skill.
Harpe attended the school for the average time, four years, studying as mainly a bard but taking up an interest in the study of magical implements and how different magically attuned individuals express their magic.
After their graduation they went back to working for Jerel for a couple of years, along with the adventurers guild in Sciadan, reuniting with their brother Cornett who had managed to find himself a cushy job acting as a close advisor for the royal family. They took this peaceful period to travel the world, taking in sights they couldn't while trapped in a decaying old lab, and writing books for adventurers to take with them should they need the advice.
One night, while they were out in the expanse of woods south of Sciadan known as Black Creek, they met a strange extraplanar adventurer, a half octopus who was dropped out from the Shadow Plane, a lost soul who was a bit too far from home. It wasn't anything new to Harpe, they housed many adventurers who were in over their heads out in this stretch of woods. So Harpe offered to escort this adventurer, the cephalopod known as Pistacia, to safety.
The adventurer stayed with Harpe for a while as the towns up north became safer and opened up due to having been closed because of the Shadow Plane Incursions and helped out around Tarmsworth and the nearby area due to some meddling by Lord Chaffinch.
And what ensued was a several month long, agonizingingly slow burn between the two.
All ended well however, the two ended up married afterwards and Harpe went on to work as a professor in the Ainur Institute to further their studies and an outlet to spread some of their journals. All in an effort to lower the amount of stupid adventurer deaths in the world.
The doctor took the newly sentient mass into his workspace and with a new batch of Ironmouth's, began working. He moulded a new body for the aberration and this creature became the first of its kind, a Fleshwarp who was not a modified human, nor one who needed a suit of armor to keep its form. With a body near identical to a human when observed from afar, it was a step in the right direction.
Harpe, however, was left traumatized on the doctors table, as a thousand muttering voices were all stripped away and they were given full sentience, sapience, thoughts and emotions. Every voice they have been hearing all went silent in moments and left one singular voice and series of thoughts, the voice that was now the being known as Harpe.
Dr. Ruthel kept his new creation in a lab deep in the mountains of Sciadan along with a select few from Ruthel's "discarded" batch, named Cornett and Haegeum, all from this batch named after instruments as to Dr. Ruthel, they were nothing more than experiments to be labelled with easy to file codenames.
Harpe, or at the time, Harp, was kept in confinement with nobody but their two brothers. The trio regularly spoke of what the world outside must have been like, took trips around the deep tunnels of Dr. Ruthel's lab and were experimented on further by the doctor.
Harpe was kept like this for years until one day, Dr. Ruthel left the three alone in the lab, completely abandoning them and any other experiment of his deep in the mountain range. They scoured the lab for supplies, freeing whatever experiment they could and then slowly and carefully made their way out into the open world.
They made their way to a nearby settlement but were quickly thrown out, their strange monstrous kind not exactly welcome amongst the regular folk. They wandered around the less populated parts of Sciadan until, due to arguments or simply a difference in perspective from the three, split and went their own separate ways. Cornett was found and picked up by the king of the time, due to his body being the discarded armor of the Sciadan Royal Guard. Haegeum was picked up a high priest from the Cult of Lord Chaffinch, training him to be a terrible destroyer.
Harpe however, was lost, they didn't exactly have the clearest vision of what they wanted to do or where they wanted to go, so they wandered and scavenged for food to keep their humanoid body from melting and falling apart, picking up discarded winter clothing and patching it up as much as they could so they could exist in human settlements.
They did this for about three years before they were found by one of the largest thieves guilds in Sciadan while they were making a stop in Wharfsvelte. The guild promised them housing and work, along with safety and food. Harpe accepted and went with them, unknowing to the fact the Thieves Guild just wanted a monstrosity of thier own to use for their nefarious deeds.
For countless years Harpe was kept like an animal for the Thieves Guild, nothing but an enforcer for them, not allowed to exist as a person, only a weapon. They spent dozens of years working for the Thieves Guild before one night, on a mission to kill someone for the Thieves Guild, a poor folk who didn't pay them back on time, Harpe broke down crying in front of him when they had him cornered. The man, confused, slowly approached Harpe and offered a hand.
He took Harpe to a nearby shelter, a man he knew would protect both him and the aberration he took under his wing, a local bartender by the name of Uncle Jerel, or Jerel Kirk by another name. He housed the both of them in the spare room up in the top of his tavern until the petty thief who Harpe cornered had to leave, leaving just Jerel and Harpe.
Jerel housed Harpe like one of his own children, like he had done for many before, and taught Harpe what it meant to be human. He even offered to patch up the winter clothing they scrounged so it was more covering and looked less like rags from a dumpster, the same coat they still maintain and carry to this day. Jerel regularly gave Harpe things to do around the smaller town of Tarmsworth, just to keep them busy until the Thieves Guild that was hunting for their "pet" stopped their search.
A couple of years went by and the Thieves Guild stopped searching, Harpe yearned for more of a purpose in the world after having been denied the ability to human for so many years, so they, with the help of Jerel, went north towards the capital of Sciadan to try and enlist Harpe in some proper work, all the while keeping them bundled up and appearing human.
Time after time however, whether due to their extra mouths and limbs acting up or their human form melting and becoming misshapen, they failed to get work at the adventurers guild, nearby bookstores, and countless other places. Always heading back to Tarmsworth to help Jerel and taking the time themselves to take up a hobby, learning how to be a bard.
During one of their errand runs to Larc they had a run in with a loud, boisterious bard in red and silver armor who refused to stop talking, and he took interest in Harpe. The Dean of the Ainur Institute who was out shopping with another man, the immortal known as Athanasia. Harpe stopped to talk with them because Yesxidor immediately saw through Harpe's human disguise and yet, like others, didn't immediately discriminate due to their monstrous form.
Instead, Yesxidor saw potential in them, along with a few other strange individuals who he had been picking up off the streets like a vacuum. So he invited Harpe to try and enter the Ainur Institute, one of the most prestigious schools in the world.
Harpe attended the entry exams with a group that Yesxidor himself picked out, and they noticed something about the group. All of them were off, misfits, even another humanoid Fleshwarp like Harpe was in the batch. The entry exams were difficult, but all of the batch prevailed, whether due to Yesxidor rigging it to be in their favor or simply a difference in skill.
Harpe attended the school for the average time, four years, studying as mainly a bard but taking up an interest in the study of magical implements and how different magically attuned individuals express their magic.
After their graduation they went back to working for Jerel for a couple of years, along with the adventurers guild in Sciadan, reuniting with their brother Cornett who had managed to find himself a cushy job acting as a close advisor for the royal family. They took this peaceful period to travel the world, taking in sights they couldn't while trapped in a decaying old lab, and writing books for adventurers to take with them should they need the advice.
One night, while they were out in the expanse of woods south of Sciadan known as Black Creek, they met a strange extraplanar adventurer, a half octopus who was dropped out from the Shadow Plane, a lost soul who was a bit too far from home. It wasn't anything new to Harpe, they housed many adventurers who were in over their heads out in this stretch of woods. So Harpe offered to escort this adventurer, the cephalopod known as Pistacia, to safety.
The adventurer stayed with Harpe for a while as the towns up north became safer and opened up due to having been closed because of the Shadow Plane Incursions and helped out around Tarmsworth and the nearby area due to some meddling by Lord Chaffinch.
And what ensued was a several month long, agonizingingly slow burn between the two.
All ended well however, the two ended up married afterwards and Harpe went on to work as a professor in the Ainur Institute to further their studies and an outlet to spread some of their journals. All in an effort to lower the amount of stupid adventurer deaths in the world.
Gender Identity
They do not have a typical view of gender identity, at least not on a personal level, as they're made up of a variety of humanoid parts that they're essentially a chimera, they are functionally non-binary in multiple aspects.
Education
A high performing graduate from the Ainur Institute of the Arcane, went back to become a professor and continue their studies.
Additionally learned many secrets of the trade from the Thieves Guild during their time "working" for them.
Additionally learned many secrets of the trade from the Thieves Guild during their time "working" for them.
Mental Trauma
Regularly has night terrors that shake them to wake up in the middle of the night, nightmares that recall their time being experimented on by Dr. Ruthel.
Personality Characteristics
Motivation
Study the world, meet new people, and make Sciadan a better place than it already is.
Current Status
Head of Magical Implements and Literature at the Ainur Institute
Current Location
Species
Age
375
Circumstances of Birth
Created as an experiment
Birthplace
Stowed away lab in the Sciadan Mountain Range
Children
Pronouns
they/them
Sex
N/A
Gender
Nonbinary
Presentation
Androgynous
Hair
scruffy, long, brown
Height
6'0
Aligned Organization
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