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The Guardian of the Stone...

Name: Esfandiar Kian

Species: Shadhavar (anthropomorphic); a species of carnivorous unicorn based in Persian mythology.

Gender: Male

Age: 41 years

Personality: Esfandiar is quiet yet canny, keeping a keen eye on everything that happens around him. He's no gossip, but he has a well-placed social network that ensures he knows most things that happen in Tesfandir. As a former story-teller, Esfandiar is naturally poetic and elegant in his speech and movement, a trait somewhat at odds with his powerful physical build. He greatly enjoys ritual pleasantries and traditions, for the most part, but that doesn't mean he's stuck in said traditions and unwilling to change. Indeed, he scorns those that do hold too tightly to traditions and the past to see the logic within change. Going too far down that conversation path results in a cranky, bitter and snappish shadhavar. He will only tell stories now if he's in the mood, and will only take requests from his lover or from the very young. Esfandiar is also a powerful believer in personal honor - which is not, it should be noted, the same as morality. He will respect those who respect him.

Esfandiar is more than willing and capable of defending his lover and his inn, and he has a powerful loyalty to the City that took him in after his exile. He does not particularly like traveling outside the City unless it's to other worlds, to minimize the risk of running into anyone from his herd of birth. The only exception to this is the City of Souls, the half-buried necropolis located two hours' ride from Tesfaldir, which is taboo to shadhavar; thus, the chances of meeting other shadhavar is extremely low, and the City is profitable enough to make it worth the risk.


History: Esfandiar is an exile from his people. When he was a teenager, he committed some type of great wrong according to the law of his herd - he's never been specific on exactly what happened, not even to Asterion - and was not only exiled, but had his horn filled. A shadhavar's primary horn is naturally hollow and pocked delicately with holes; when the shadhavar waves his head or stands in the wind, the horn creates delicate flutelike sounds that are used to entrance prey and for other forms of magic. With his horn filled, Esfandiar can no longer lure or entrance, and he cannot he perform his duties as a story-teller. He is rather bitter about this, and has been known to get physically violent to anyone who won't drop the subject once he's declared it to be closed.

In an effort to distance himself further from his own people, this time by his own choice, Esfandiar decided to settle in Tesfaldir - an unusual move for a shadhavar, as their herds are typically nomadic. Over the subsequent 20+ years, he found Asterion and became both a respected citizen and owner of the Inn of the Silver Fountain.





... and his Closest Companion.

Name: Asterion

Species: Minotaur

Gender: Male

Age: 29 years

Personality: Asterion is stern, blunt, and somewhat taciturn, though he will soften for Esfandiar and those he sees as weaker and in need of protection or care. He may be blunt, but he is always polite in his words; he has a quick temper and knows it, so he puts extra effort in to ensure he doesn't lose his temper and bring consequences down on himself, the Inn, or Esfandiar. Asterion is also naturally inclined to violence, so he tempered that by learning solely defensive and immobilizing combat arts. He isn't a pacifist, but he'd rather not get himself thrown in jail or jeopardize the Inn because of his monster blood. Still, his nature isn't entirely negative - he has a particularly clever turn of mind for mazes, a natural skill for minotaurs.

Asterion is ferociously loyal, but finds it difficult to trust others and tends to regard most people with suspicion until they prove otherwise. At the moment, he seems to be a one-person minotaur, that person being Esfandiar.


History: Asterion is directly descended from Asterion of Minos, the minotaur of legend. Asterion's proper name actually bears several long strings of numbers after it, indicating his length of descent from the original, but it's long and complicated and he doesn't care enough to remember it.

Before moving in with Esfandiar, Asterion hired his brawn out as a mercenary. He came to Tesfaldir as a hired guard on a desert caravan. However, he lost his temper in a bar fight and ended up in the Padishah's dungeons. When he finished his six-month sentence, the caravan was long gone and nobody else would hire him because of his reputation. Discouraged, Asterion did odd jobs around the city for a while until Esfandiar took pity on him and offered him a position at the Inn of the Silver Fountain. They soon grew close, first as friends, and ultimately as lovers, and Asterion has been with Esfandiar ever since.

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Elohir, the World...

Elohir is a small and largely desert world with a distinctly 'Arabian Nights' flavor. It is watered by deep underground rivers that must be deliberately accessed by boring or other means. There is only one surface river, which hosts lush farmland and Elohir's cradle of civilization, including its capital city. Other than the deep rivers, the only other sources of water are oases scattered here and there through the vast desert.

Elohir is ruled by a network of sultans and padishahs who hold court from their city strongholds. Presently, the world is at peace, at least as far as the Padishah of Tesvaldir knows. There are also numerous nomad tribes in the desert, who roam, rule and war amongst themselves.

Elohir's sentient species are varied, and include many beings and creatures from folklore, everything from shadhavar (Persian unicorns) to djinni and eefriti.




Tesfaldir, the City...

Tesfaldir is a good-sized city located about six days' ride across the desert from the Cradle. It is built on an underground river that supplies it with water, and it is a pivotal stop on several trading routes - both on- and off-world. Tesfaldir is prosperous and busy. It is ruled by a Padishah.

The city is built primarily of white marble and limestone in a style much like the Moorish of Earth, displaying its prosperous heritage. A veritable labyrinth of streets and plazas tangles from each gate to the three landmarks at the center of the city: the Padishah's palace, the Mihnar (temple), and the Tower of the Fifty-Five Gates. The Fifty-Five Gates are vital to the city's prosperity. The tall, pale tower is eleven stories high, and hosts five portals, each the size of a man, on each level. While the Gates are not built for mass transit, they do brisk business in small-scale trading. Dozens of people pass through each day, though visitors to Elohir from other worlds are closely monitored and not permitted to leave the Gate District (or leave through a Gate other than the one they arrived in) without special dispensation from the Padishah.


Recently, however, the rivers across all Elohir have begun to slow to trickles. The wells of Tesfaldir have all but dried up, and the oases nearby cannot handle the demands of the city. Bringing water pail by pail through the Fifty-Five Gates is prohibitively difficult, far too much work for too little overall result. If the river that feeds Tesfaldir fails, as the Seers in the Padishah's court say will happen within a year, then it is likely that the city will die.

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Esfandiar says: A strange stone that Athan asked me to take care of, in exchange for the Seastone. It seems an odd bargain, but the mineral doesn't seem too troublesome. Still, the bargain seems so heavily in my own favor that I don't entirely trust it...
Pyrite says: ...?

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Wisp: 4 Solo entires, 1 RP. Excludes awakening of Shadow if done via RP. No quest.

Solo: [x] [x] [x] [x] ....... RP: [x]

Child: 8 Solos, 3 RPs. Quest.

Solo: [x] [x] [] [] [] [] [] []
RP: [x] [x] [x]

Teen: 10 Solos, 4RPs. Quest.

Solo: [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] []
RP: [] [] [] []

Adult: 15 Solos, 6RPs. Quest.

Solo: [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] []
RP: [] [] [] [] [] []

Ancient: Final form. Continued activity will allow you to obtain more artwork. Artwork may be updated once every 6 months. Required activity: 3 Solos, 1 RP within 6 months.

Exchange rate: 1 RP Entry = 2 Solo Journal Entries

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