Caleb Shzym, Formerly: Javad Bin-Al Kodat

"He Granted me the next day, Though I never wanted it..."

As seen in

The Great Tree: Soft and Subtle Wind

Colonel, Judiciary Javad Bin-Al Kodat

Mental characteristics

Personal history

The young and foolish

---

Javad was born in the City Song of Bhal, where he was raised by his Father Hassan who was a local artisan and blacksmith under the Ilori Caliphate. His Mother Delara who also worked for the Ilori Caliphate as a runewright. They were ecstatic to know that their only child was to be a boy, and was dotted on by his parents until their deaths.

His father was well connected in the military of the Caliphate, and was able to teach his son his craft without hardship. Teaching him the craft of working metal and its various iterations. His mother was bent on him learning rune structures at a young age. Much to their pleasure of knowing, Javad was also gifted with a Greater Talent. His talents lay in the Earth and Fire, making him especially suited to become an artificer.

His childhood was a carefree one, where he wanted for nothing. His parents were a well to do family with an established business thriving in the needs of the Caliphate. Well read in history, politics and artistry. He would often assist his mother with her projects inscribing runes into the objects his father made. A few of his favorite pieces are still on display in the Song of Bhal's Palace chambers. A sword that never lost its edge, a stained glass window fixed into the wall of the Sultan's chambers that amplified the light showing its colors more vibrantly.

Javad was generally well received within the city and quite popular among the Citizens. While many would claim the young man to be only the son of rich business owners, he was quite friendly with anyone who happened by. Having a penchant for chatting with customers as they tried to do business with his Father. Earning the establishment a certain charm that brought many back time and time again.

In his early teens he took an interest in the Ilori Military and signed up to become a soldier. His mother and Father were supportive of the idea, and encouraged him to do so. At the time the Caliphate was at peace, with no sign of conflict on the horizon. This was not to remain the case forever, as the nature of the Caliphates ultimately led it to changes in the Governments with a certain predictable frequency.

Now, the military of any nation is a certain type of proving ground. The Ilori iteration being no different, his training began as everyone did. A brutal regiment of sword work, command and conquer, to be broken down and to be built anew in the fires of war. The military was not concerned with his upbringing or his existing talents. He was taught like any soldier, in the words of the Faith they followed. The voice of Bhal became his world, and he forged his personality around their messages.

He was an efficient soldier, more of a marksman with the crossbow than he was proficient with a blade. He earned himself higher and higher ranks as he proved his merit. He solidified himself as a Colonel when he started inscribing runes into his crossbow. The military took an interest in his work, commissioning his talents as an artificer finally. He was to inscribe his runes for accuracy and air resistance on each of the weapons.

After all said and done, he was given command of a small group of soldiers on the Western Border of the Ilori. At the time Huron and the Caliphate were at peace and amicably conducted themselves along The Slash. Here he would frequent a small village in the area on the Caliphate side of the Border.

A few years stationed in the far off outpost away from the Song of Bhal, his squad of soldiers were generally kept out of the loop of the goings on in the city. At this time, the military had sent a Priest of Bhal to his squad to continue their teachings in the Faith. Not unusual to them, as they were required to attend the sermons on a twice daily basis while inside the Capitol. Unbeknownst to them, there was turmoil in the City.

The Ramacian sect of the Cult of Bhal had begun its takeover of the Ilori Caliphate. In the Year 1186 The Ramac Caliphate was officially established as the new Governing body. Javad being only 22 at the time, was naive to the change this was to become. Though his squad and him had noticed the much more aggressive messages the Priest was teaching.

They all had their families back home, and feared retribution by the Military if they spoke out against the Priest. This would not have served much of a purpose in hindsight, the Ramac were the ones who sent the Priest to them. They wanted their soldiers to be more in line with the Ramacian teachings. They were solely focused on the glory of Bhal and very little else.

Over time the soldiers as well as Javad himself, grew to believe the words of the Priest. Seeing themselves as an extension to the arms of their god, sword and all. The dogma that had filled their ears permeated their minds, as the orders came down from on high. They were given a task that would change Javad's outlook on life.

This was to exterminate a group of Lamia Citizens of the Bhthic Area. The Lamia had many benefits under the Ilori Caliphate and were causing issues back in the Capitol, riots, political dissension, and civil unrest being primary issues as their rights under the Ilori were stripped from them. The Ramac did not want a classist system where the Lamia were quite near the top.

Javad had led his soldiers to the village, intent on fulfilling his orders. While he has fulfilled his duties, his dreams are plagued with the nightmares of his actions.

"I still smell the blood and smoke, hear the cries of their women and children. My mind still feels the recoil of the crossbow as I shot down their defenders. The sight of that young one, lying dead on the ground, his eyes staring back at me... Ilgor, I don't want to talk about this anymore..."

Javad could no longer reconcile his faith anymore. While he knew that Bhal would ask them to wage war in his name, for his glory. He was unprepared to do so. He returned to the Song of Bhal, seeking to resign from his position. The Caliphate misunderstood what he had come back to the Capitol for.

The General, stationed in the city had promoted him to a new title Judiciary, where he was given more troops to command for his quick work on the Lamia in the west. They never gave him the chance to speak at the time of the Ceremony they had in his honor. The next day, he returned to the office of the General to resign.

This was not taken very well. He was dismissed on the spot, stripped of rank and title. He returned home to his family, joining back into their business. Though, the long discussions he had with his mother and father left their relationships strained. Neither of them approved of his actions with the Lamia, saying he was blinded by the dogma the military poured down his throat.

He continued to assist with the various projects his father and mother were working on, though his usual conversational demeanor was gone. This was also being noticed by the customers who remembered him, a much more sullen and quiet man. He tried to pick up life where he had left it those few years ago, while he could.

Attempting to pick up the broken pieces of his mind, he tried to wash away the blood on his hands by creating increasingly more utilitarian and altruistic pieces for his parents. While this worked for a time, it wouldn't last long. He had been one of the first soldiers and ranked officers of the New Caliphate to resign in opposition to the change in leadership.

Just a few weeks after he was stripped of rank, the Military returned to his parents place of business looking for him specifically. Here, his father refused to tell them anything, being a staunch supporter of the Ilori Caliphate. In a tragedy that had colored the Ramac with its infamous brutality to the rest of the world, they executed his father on his doorstep for treason.

Javad in a fury, reached for the unfinished sword his father had been crafting, yelling for his mother to hide. Javad fought the officers, killing six of the seven. The remaining officer escaped as Javad's magic went wild. His Greater talents for earth and fire had never been an issue for him before, as he was trained from his youth to control it. In his grief stricken mind, he caused the earth to split before him, swallowing the street where his parents home had been.

The earth opened its great maw, devouring the buildings and the workshop whole. While Javad was spared, he awoke many hours later. Sirens in the air, the cloud of fine dust clearing to show him that nothing was left. In one day he had lost everything, his chance at a new life, his mother and father, the workshop. Fearing the government, he fled the city, trying to reach the border to Huron.

The Monster or the Man

---

Javad had fled to the City of Huron where he struggled with what he had done. Knowing he couldn't turn back, he couldn't return to the Caliphate, he stayed and languished in the city. As a drifter, without home, not a coin to his name, he ranted and raved, furied and despaired at his god Bhal.

"You Granted me this new day, I never wanted it! Why, why tear my world down around me!"

For the next few years he lived in poverty on the outskirts of the city. As many of the Citizens of the Caliphate fled the country under the Theocratic fist of the Sect, his presence as a Bhthic region citizen was largely unnoticed. Subsisting off begging and scraps, he soldiered on.

During this time he had begun taking an interest in the Sorority of Azu as a Priestess would pass by his hovel nearly everyday as she would tend to the wildflowers near the harbor. Eventually he would begin speaking with this priestess, asking about her faith. While he was a little off put at their emphasis on love and beauty, he thought that perhaps he needed that change of pace.

He had entered the cathedral with the intent of just listening to them preach, though he noticed an issue in the back gardens of the cathedral. There was an elderly man struggling to refit a frame to one of the stained glass windows. He quickly offered to help, taking up his hammer and helping fit it with an expert eye. The old man, impressed with the quality of the work, asked Javad what his name was.

He quickly ran a few scenarios in his head before answering. He didn't know if his name was well known, afterall he had erased a town off the map just a few years prior. He answered that his name was Caleb, though not giving out his family name. He had thought that the name would be common in Huron, and he was right. The old man had commented that Caleb seemed like a skilled craftsman to be able to work with the frame and glass like that.

He told the man that he had grown up in an artisan's household. The old man said his name was Alfonso, and that he was looking for an apprentice to help him with various projects. Asking about what Caleb could do, Alfonso was impressed with what he heard, hiring him.

Caleb quickly accepted his new self given name, assisting Alfonso with all his work. Though he demonstrated his talents a few different times by adding runes to various things without thinking 

much about it. Alfonso directed him to continue doing so after finding the small runes on hinges and window frames to increase their durability. It wasn't long before the old man had decided Caleb was too skilled to be an apprentice, and offered to make him a partner in his workshop.

He gratefully accepted, thinking back to his life and how it had changed in his short time in the City. Well, short in terms of his life. He had begun making a name for himself in the city as his works were of flawless quality, fine construction and well recepted by the citizens. The Sorority of Azu eventually contacted Caleb and Alfonso to assist with some repair work on the cathedral, again.

While he and the old master worked to fix the issues with the Cathedral, another young herbalist was brought in to assist with the garden projects going on. The Sorority had wanted to convert their gardens from ornamental to something that would benefit the city with a looming war with the Caliphate on the horizon. They wanted a garden full of medicinal plants that anyone could contact the Faith about, and receive what they needed.

Caleb overheard the discussion between the Priestess and the Herbalist, and took an interest in the work. Though, he took more of an interest in a specific individual. A young woman, whom Caleb had learned her name was Neave Shyzm. Sparking a conversation with her, they quickly grew into a comfortable friendship. Spending many days after working in the Cathedral together.

Over time the two grew closer together, speaking of their pasts. While Caleb wouldn't yet reveal much of his military history, he did speak often of his past parents. Much of Caleb's meanderings often lead to holes in his story that Neave would ask about. Though she would always pout when he wouldn't elaborate.

She would spend more and more time with him as she got to know him better. One particular day when the two were walking through the fields just outside the city, she finally asked him why he never said he was from the Caliphate. To which, he nervously asked how she knew that. Calling him on it, she told him "It doesn't really matter to me where you come from, I've known you long enough to know you are a good man. So, why don't you just open up to me about the things that haunt your dreams. You always look tired Caleb, whatever is weighing on your mind, you can tell me."

He thought for a very long time, while they made their way down to the water, he told her everything. His former faith in Bhal, his military involvement with the pogroms going on in the Ramac, how he was the reason his parents were dead. She listened, making no comment until he finished. She turned to him asking him a single question "So who are you, the monster or the man?"

A Brighter Future

---

Caleb after revealing his past fully to Neave felt a much deeper connection to her. He decided that he needed to act on his feelings for the woman, who despite everything she had learned, still chose to spend her time with him. He knew she was a heartfelt follower of Azu since her childhood, and she repeated the mentras of the goddess to him. There is no light without dark, there is no beauty without ugly. You cannot have perfection, it isn't possible.

With a hesitation he never knew he could feel, Caleb had asked Neave to marry him.

"I felt my heart in my throat. Barely able to speak, I remember stammering something out to her. Her sweet smile as she laughed softly. The sunlight illuminating her bright green eyes, she took my breath away."

She accepted his proposal, soon afterward they were off looking for a place to call home together. Alfonso had gifted Caleb with an entire workshop worth of tools to start his venture's with his wife. While Neave's family took some convincing to accept the union, they eventually did. Not until Caleb had fully converted into the Sorority of Azu, was he ingratiate into their family.

He had found that he much preferred to view the world with a lens of love and beauty than one of war and glory. He had seen with his own eyes that glory and love were one and the same thing. A hard fought leap of faith that took either the stones to do it, or a mere fool's errand. Not since he had married Neave had he had nightmares about his crimes in the Caliphate.

He was steadfast in his conviction to prove to her that he was truly the man and not the monster he thought he was. A foolish young man, who made decisions that he never thought of the long term consequences to. He wished desperately to prove to her, to everyone, that his hands covered in the blood of the innocent, are not beyond redemption.
They had found a place to settle down on the southern shores of Huron in a small town called Ithrica. Where Caleb got to work setting up his workshop, and assisting his now pregnant wife, in planting a wide array of medicinal plants. Her favorite aspect of the gardens was that in later years, the poppy flowers that had spilled out of their beds would slowly take over the surrounding area. Cloaking the hillsides in flowing crimson and gold in the peak of summer.

The nightmares of his youth, fading away with time. He built a home for his wife and newborn son, Hassan. Whom he named in honor of his grandfather, Caleb had instantly known what he wanted to name his son when he was born. Neave being the kind and understanding soul she was, knew how much it meant to him.

Neave and he raised their child much in the same way that Caleb was raised as. Spending a painstaking amount of time teaching the growing boy artisanal skills and medicine. Neave spent quite a bit of time teaching him about Azu and her love for all the beauty in the world. Deepening their faith in the goddess over time as Caleb pursued his talent for metal working, he wanted to make more ornamental things.

Huronian merchants would occasionally seek out the master smith in the backwater town seeking treasures to purchase from the man. Though, many were dazzled by the vast array of flowers and trees that had been planted by Neave and Hassan. Ritualistically upkept by Caleb and his unceasing ministrations of the massive gardens. He had become locally known as the sower of life, Neave and him having come into the town like a storm.

Then for them to plant such a thing, to start a family, and to bring an increase of trade to them off his reputation in the Capital. He had made a home, finally understanding the full breadth of what Neave had been trying to teach him for so long. Beauty exists in everything, all it needs is love to flourish. In his mind, Neave was the one who pulled him out of his darkest days.

The boy, growing fast, learned that his father was once a soldier. He wanted to learn how to fight, though Caleb refused to sun and back. Vowing to never let his child walk the same path he did, Caleb continued to teach him to work the forge and make art from the fire. Though, it was never an issue Hassan would give up. Eventually Caleb broke down and taught him to fence in the Ilori style he was taught by the military.

Though, both Neave and Caleb forbade him from joining the military in any capacity. While they were able to convince him that the army would be no place for him, his skill in swordsmanship was noticed by a few dueling rings in Huron. At the age of 20 Hassan left his home to train and fight inside the city. Though his mother would never admit to him, she was proud of his choice to do so. He pursued something important to him, and still (mostly) followed the advice his father tried so hard to drill into his mind.

The end of an era

---

Years went by with little to no contact from Hassan to his parents. Neave had begun growing ill, a plague had swept through the eastern territories of Huron. Neave had contracted Hurons Plague in the year 1209. As her mind slowly eroded away, Caleb could only watch as her remedies she had made over the years did very little except slow the disease down. He abandoned his workshop to care for her, and only her. To his mind, this only prolonged her suffering. But, despite it all, he spent all his time trying to treat her, planting more and more flowers so she could see them bloom in the coming spring.

"Javad" She whispered softly from the bed.
She hadn't called me that in years, rushing over to her side, holding her frail hand "Is there something you need, Darling?"
"I remember a song from when we first met. This path we walked, was it dirt or paved in gold? I think it was gold."
I felt her hand slip from mine, her eyes still smiling up at me.

Caleb had sent letters to his son over the course of Neave's illness, though he never got an answer back. Caleb had come to the conclusion that for whatever reason, his son wasn't coming back. This wasn't the case though, Hassan was in the middle of fighting with the Caliphate as a volunteer force with his dueling ring. The letters had always made it to the city, there was just no one at the guildhall anymore.

Hassan had risen to the challenge of this new world. Proving himself as a competent fighter, becoming a master of the sword techniques his father had taught him. Eventually becoming the instructor to the guild proper, only a single step down from being its master. He had been asked to assist in the war effort by the Galus Military. The Huronian forces were spread thin, the kingdom of Galus setting up a Federation to push back the Caliphate and their expansion onward.

Hassan had agreed to help, though the words of his father echoing in the back of his mind, he told the Military he would only do so in defense of the city. In the year 1211 the Battle of Huron took place in which Caleb's son participated as an honorary General in defense of the city due to his rank in the fighting circuits.

He fought valiantly alongside the Parapets of the wall, striking down the Ramacian invaders. His guild, the premier soldiers protecting the main gates. He was spared in the fury that Sage Emily had wrought on the battlefield. Though a few of his guild members weren't so lucky, not moving fast enough to escape the icy hellstorm she brought forth with the wrath of a god.

As the Ramacian army retreated back to the besieged from within Song of Bhal, Hassan returned to the guild hall. Finding the many letters from his father. Heart broken, he told the guild he needed to head back home. Hassan found the workshop burned down, the wildflowers growing with reckless abandon inside the building foundation. The home he had grown up in, in disrepair. The flower fields, unkempt and overgrown.

He found his father at an incredibly carved gravestone. The detail and workmanship beyond anything Hassan had seen anywhere inside the guildhall or even the Palace keep of Huron. A portrait of his mother carved in such detail he could have sworn he saw it breath. Runes of protection and endurance covering every available surface. Placing a hand on his father's shoulder, saying nothing.

He knew he wasn't there. While his father had told him much of his past, he knew he left quite a bit out. He knew he was in the wrong, not asking for forgiveness from Caleb. He would stay with his father for the next few weeks, noticing that Caleb barely spoke at all. The canyons deep in his aged face, he offered to help rebuild the workshop, repair the house, but Caleb was still too grief stricken to speak much.

Hassan offered him a home in the City of Huron, inside the guild hall where he could begin to teach a new generation of Artificers and craftsmen. His father refused. Hassan needed to return to guild hall, he had been receiving letters asking when he would return. Though he explained to them that his father needed him, he couldn't ignore his duties to the guild forever.

He told his father he would be back in a few weeks, then they would begin rebuilding the workshop. Hassan had spent his time with his father fixing the house, praying softly to Azu with him. Reliving all the wonderful times they had when Neave was alive. Hassan, despite it all, had desperately tried to keep his father from focusing on what he had lost, and focus on what they had built together.

When Hassan returned to his home, his father was gone. A letter, sealed on the table, told him that Caleb couldn't stay in the country any longer, it brought him too much grief. He told Hassan if he wanted to join him to find him in Galus. He was hoping to go work under the tutelage of the The Forgemaster, You Khamere. Where he hoped he could learn to live again through the works he made.

Galus and unintended Consequences

---

The months long journey Caleb took on his way to Galus was an uneventful one. Though the travelers he spoke to warned him not to venture into the woods south of Glaion, he was likely to be attacked by the goblins. Luckier to survive alive. He kept this in mind as he boarded a ship out of Ithrica to go to Estile. Where he would try and find work.

When he reached Casa Del Tabk, he was pleased by the atmosphere and welcome he had received. He didn't feel this was the place to stop, much of the city was not interested in an artificer, and there were plenty of smiths already. He enjoyed his short stay in the city, though left without so much as a preamble.

He reached Port De Renard, though he only passed through the city. He was now set on his journey to meet with the Forgemaster. He didn't understand what the fuss was about the goblins, however. He never even saw them as he passed by Willowbrook and into the Outerfields of Glaion. He assumed the stories were trumped up and overblown. Despite that, he was happy he was never accosted by the bandits.

However, unbeknownst to Caleb, his past would return to haunt him. As one of the informers of the Matron of Gables Great Barroom had noticed an Easterner enter the city. Salandrahth, took an interest. Seeking to gain some form of political maneuverability if some Zybtine noble had come knocking at the city gates. She had the informant lead her to the last place he was seen at.

Though Caleb was nowhere to be seen, they did learn that he was heading to the Forgehouse in the eastern market district of the city. As Salandrahth neared the Forgehouse, she spotted the old man from the east and recognized him. Even through his age, she recognized the Colonel who burned and razed her town to the ground. The same one who ordered her family to be slain, in the name of the bastard god.

The commotion she made in the Forgehouse got Khamere's attention as she nearly assaulted the old man. The guard quickly showed up to break up the altercation. Caleb was asked by the guard to leave the city for a few days, and allow them to speak with the Matron, explaining the tradition of Glaion and their Pomerium. Where all differences were to be set aside, and civility was demanded inside the city limits.

Caleb didn't refuse, seeing as he was now probably going to be ousted from the city altogether once the Gorgon woman told the Guard who he was. He set up his cart and materials in a cleared section of the forest just outside the city. Locking it tight, he waited the next few days, setting up a makeshift forge to keep himself preoccupied. On the third day a small group of Kobolds had found him. Amused he traded a few things with them, a new hatchet for some nodules of raw copper they had found.

He returned to the city the next day to see if he couldn't speak with Khamere again. When he spoke to the guard, they asked him to follow them, escorting him to the Forgehouse personally. Khamere was happy to speak to Caleb, though unfortunately, he wouldn't be allowed to work at the Forgehouse. Caleb knew where this was going, he asked around who the gorgon woman was as he left the city the first time. Finding out she was an influential person, and to try and gain entry into an esteemed workshop like the Forgehouse. He didn't even listen to the kind lie Khamere told him.

He returned to the cart, feeling like he had nowhere else to go, he continued to trade with the Kobolds when they showed up. Continuing to work on his forge, he heard a twig snap at his entrance to his makeshift fence. To see what he thought was a green child at first, until she spoke. He recognized her as a goblin from the descriptions he listened to along his way.

"Wait, wait wait. I don't have anything to steal here! I have some food put away, you can have it if it means you'll leave m'alone." He squirreled out.
"Now, you know, goblins don't steal all the time. Besides, I'm the only one who knows you here. I saw that Kobold tribe trade with you. I wanted to know what you are doing out here?" I asked him.
He paused for a long time, he had a confused look about him. "You're not going to rob me? Kill me if I refuse? Beyond that, since when did goblins speak common?"
"No, and now."

This was the beginning to something Caleb had never expected. He found the goblins to be exceptionally amicable to him. Polite and willing to learn anything he had to teach. Over time he found himself opening up to the young female goblin. Ilgor of the Skullbrood Clan being an exceptional student of his, understanding of his stories as he talked, never pushing for him to speak more if he felt it to be too much.

She eventually offered him a place in the goblin family. A hand for him to feel wanted, not alone. She offered him exactly what he had wanted again, not a new workshop (though they did help build one), not new students, not a fresh start for the second time in his life. She made him feel alive and wanted again.

Education

He was raised in a classical mindset of learning Runestructures. Gaining a full education of the magic of artiface by his Mother. Whom, herself was reknowned praticitioner of the school of magic. He recieved a full education in magic down to the metaphysical philosophising of the Sage of Huron. 

He also recieved a full education in glass work, metal work, and steam engines. His father had spend this youth teaching him all he knew, earning him a steady sense for both buisness and banter.

Failures & Embarrassments

He cannot forget the crimes he commited against the lamia. He still sees the fires that burned the town down in his mind if he doesn't pay attention. He will not forgive himself for being so blinded by his faith in Bhal, that he would commit such an atrocity for the glory of any god. 

He also doesn't forgive himself for letting his son pursue a career in swordplay. Thinking he should have tried harder to have him become something of a more peaceful variety. Though his son is truly a skilled swordsman, he see's his old way too much in his son.

Social

Religious Views

He holds true to the tennets of his wife's faith. He seeks to know that there is beauty in everything as a follower of Azu. Despite all the world has done to him, all the self inflicted wounds and hardship he has faced. The Goddess he follows shows to him that the world is a strange place, though a wonderful place if you choose to make it so.

Current Location

Kingdom Of Galus

Age

67

Current Residence

Skullbrood Clan Territory

Sex

Male

Presentation

Morose and Meloncholic

Eyes

Grey, very feint green around his Pupils

Hair

Chest long salt and pepper beard, Short cropped fading brown hair

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Olive Skinned, rough and calloused hands, arms and shoulders

Height

6'1" when he's not hunched over

Weight

260lbs

Belief/Deity

Former follower of the Cult of Bhal, Ardent member of The Sorority of Azu