Welcome to Gaia! ::

Profile and Description

The Quick and Dirty Version

• Name: Sadye Ayende
  
• Age: 64, but as she is part demon her aging is slow, so she's still in her adult prime (aka mid 20's)
  
• Race: Tanar'ling (a humanoid who can trace their heritage back to a demon, aka a tiefling or planetouched) with at least some dretch blood in her bloodline
  
• Homeplane: The Outlands, specifically Sigil, City of Doors
  
• Eye type/color: Completely yellow (whites and all) with the iris and pupil almost indistinguishable from the rest (you have to be extremely close to see her pupil and iris)
  
• Skin color: A smooth, pale chalky gray
  
• Body build: Slender and frail build, but has hips that are slightly wide for her body and sway naturally when she walks
  
• Hair color/length/style: Sadye's hair is mid-length stopping around or above her shoulders with long bangs framing her face. The color is a darker shade of auburn (reddish-brown) struck through with locks of hair of all different natural colors from blonde to brown, black to white (or silver), and varying shades of red too. All colors are natural and permeate to the root.
  
• Unusual Features: * Horns: Spiral horns as a Kudu
  -Example
  * Eyes: Golden-yellow from edge to edge, no iris
  * Ears: Long horizontally pointed ears (like goat ears, but long and tapered like an elf's ears)
  * Mouth: All teeth pointed
  * Face: Very long eyelashes, small insignificant nose practically just two slits in her face
  -Facial look based off of the Ferai from Squaresoft's game Primal except her skin is smooth and chalky gray, she doesn't have those spiky protrusions on her cheeks, and her ears and horns are different as noted above and below.
  * Hands: Unusually colored fingernails of a dark, stormy gray; only four fingers on each hand (three and an opposable thumb), each finger slightly elongated and clawed
  * Other: Low body temperature, hates heat; sweet odor that can be so overwhelmingly sweet at first that it's sickly sweet.
  
• Tattoos/Markings: She has a tribal rose and rosevine curled around a dagger tattooed on her left shoulder
  
• Clothing: A straight necked top in stormy gray-black trimmed in lace around the top edge and from the wrists, and simple coal-colored leather breeches that have decorative belts up the side from knee to ankle where they lay over like-made boots
  
• Armor: Light leather if any
  
• Weapons: Sadye weilds a longsword of cold iron with the crossguard forged into a goat-like face with the long spiraling horns and long sideways ears (much like her own face)and carries a silvered dagger as a back-up
  
• Jewelry: Sadye wears a pendant of a dagger with a rose and rosevine curled about it
  
• Missing (or extra) appendages: She has a prehensile tail with a pointed fluke-tipped end as well as a pair of vestigial (i.e. not fully formed, they almost appear as chibi wings compared to her and she can't use them) bat-like wings of a dark, stormy gray colour.
  
• Character Personality: Non-judgemental (the type that can get along with anybody they want to), sly/crafty, street-wise
  
• Class: Urban Ranger (somewhat rogueish in nature, but knows the ins and outs of the city like a wilderness ranger knows the woodlands)
  
• Pose Ideas: Sadye is very casual in most things she does, but always with an underlying hint of caution as well, which comes from the years of living in Sigil, a place where anything can show up at any time from celestials to demons and everything in between.
  
• Backstory/Other: Sadye is a tanar'ling who found herself ousted to the Cage as a babe by her fearful, mortal mother. She was raised in the Lower Wards of the City of Doors by a planewalker who was just too kind for his own good and couldn't kill a child, demonic blood or not. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately for him...teenage tanar'lings are a handful after all), he wasn't so kind as to not leave her on her own once she was old enough to take care of herself in his eyes. Nevertheless, Sadye found herself right at home in the Cage, knowing the ins and outs of the place, and found this a useful trait with all the Clueless Primes who blitzed through the portals regularly. Primes who would pay good money for a guide around unfamiliar territory.
  
  A short blurb to give an idea of Sadye's nature (in the artist's comments) as well as her RPG Chat description (the deviation itself): http://www.deviantart.com/view/22650045/

Reference Pictures:

Best Reference Overall:

by Spatterdash
From the hands to the wings to the sardonic cager's smile, Spatter painted the perfect picture of just who Sadye is.

Lines by Ace-ix, Colors by Katherdante
I was totally blown away by this rendition of Sadye. The only flaw is that she has 5 fingers instead of only 4 like she should, but it's a minor detail compared to how well the rest of it was done!
Best Face/Hair Reference:

by Rabscuttle
Rab really nailed the idea for the how the hair looks as well as the shape and size of the nose and how the eyes would look up close. Great ref for her face! I couldn't have asked for better.

Best Outfit and Body Shape Reference:

by ChimeraNell
Chim really wowed me with this picture from the horns to way her hair lays to how her hips are a bit wider than normal. Absolutely gorgeous reference and would've been the best overall had it been fullbody. She really captured Sadye's appearance perfectly though!


by Rvaya
This was a RL commission from Rvaya. The turn around was quick, the quality is superb, and she really captured Sadye fantastically! I especially love the serious expression and the hands are absolutely perfect! Exactly how I imagined them.

All other References







Artists from Left to Right:[+Katch+], Tato, ChimeraNell, Bhryn, GoGoZombie, Anetra_Pendragon
Row 2: Kimaya, WoefulInfinity, [ . Mirage . ], EmperorZensekai, Rabscuttle
Row 3: Mouselet, Rabscuttle, -| AngelSnow |-, iStoleYurVamps
Row 4: Rabscuttle, [.Sedda.], ChimeraNell, [.Sedda.], Anetra_Pendragon, Rabscuttle,
Row 5: MyArtMyStyle (DA), Blua, Shinobi-fi, AliceLOVESyou, Woefulinfinity
Row 6: WoefulInfinity, Blua, Tolueno, Rindi

Collabs:

by N.A.L., Colored by Jalil

by SunFireDemon, Colored by ChimeraNell


Lines by Blua, Colored by Maxxyne

Closest Gaia Avy:


Avi Edits:

by Katherdante

Section One: Background

It’s late in the evening when you arrive through a portal. Where it came from is unimportant, but where it leads? A city metropolis teeming with everything and anything your mind could imagine. Exotic beasts, horrors from the abyss, humanoids from all walks and shades of life, and more. It’s not long before you’re greeted by an odd looking gray-skinned creature with horns, small wings, a tail, and a very sharp smile…literally.

Welcome to Sigil, planar metropolis of the Outlands.

--

”Lady’s Grace an’ welcome to the City o’ Doors, cutter. Ya look a bit lost, but we can fix that…so long as you got the jink.”

”…wha’dya mean “Why do I have t’ pay”? Do I look like I’m rollin’ in jink? Alright, alright, lesson one, basher. Ya want anything ‘round here worth havin’, ya better be able t’ garnish the right bloods an’ hope yer enemies can’t garnish em better. Lesson two, an’ this is the last one on the house. This place ain’t yer Prime. This is the center of th’ soddin’ multiverse, and you’ll do well to keep that at the top o’ yer brain-box. There’s coney-catchers around every corner just waitin’ for some clueless like you t’ come around an’ they’ll bleed you dry quicker than a musty leech. Ya wanna survive? You need a tout. A guide as you primes like t’ call em. Luckily it’s yer lucky day – I happen t’ be one.”

-01- •» Does your character have an embarrassing or annoying habit, routine, or secret? If not, describe an embarrassing moment from their past.

”Alright basher, I know ya paid to have all yer questions answered, but really…what kind o’ addle-coved question is that? D’ya ask every body you meet on the street that mibix?” She shakes her head. “Well, I’ve been told by some primes that my eatin’ habits make em narky.

”What’dya mean that ain’t what you meant, berk? Well quit talkin’ in circles then! Hmph, oh that. Fine…if ya gotta know… Y’see, I’m a planetouched…a tiefling, tanar’ling, fiendblooded, demonkin…however ya wanna call it. Oh keep yer shirt on. If I wanted t’ peel ya d’ya think I’d been tellin’ ya this chant?

”Anyways, most tanar‘lings are born from succubi, an’ most o’ those that ain’t come from more powerful, nasty fiends – the abyss only breeds the best, so they say. Me on the other hand? Ever heard of a dretch? No? Then let me shed the dark. Dretches are the lowest of low. Any soul sent to th’ Abyss that’s unfortunate enough t’ become a demon usually starts out as a dretch, a pitiable sod of a demon that’s normally only good for cannon fodder in th’ War. Now wrap your brain-box around this careful-like. If fiends sneer at dretches and bully half-bloods, wha’dya think they’d do to someone who was both? See the problem? And trust me, basher. This ain’t some dark I just go wigwaggin’ t’ any quipper that’ll listen, but fiends know, and they get a right kick outta it…much t’ my soddin’ dismay…”

-02- •» What (if anything) does your character do to relax?

”Ah that’s an easy one, cutter. Ya see there’s this one place…well actually, I think ya have t’ just see this’un for yerself.”

The skies of Sigil were just darkening to a nighttime black as Sadye made her way down the alley to where the Cage rested. It was an odd little dive in a rougher part of the Lower Ward – which was saying something since there weren’t any parts of the Lower Ward that weren’t rough. For Sadye, though, it was like a second home. She walked inside through the light haze of smoke that hung on the air, her boots clinking off the metal grating that had been put in place for a floor. If she paused to listen, she could hear the slight oozing sound of some liquid blex winding along just below the grating, but any wise cutter didn’t dwell on that fact for too long. Instead she settled onto one of the ragged bar stools wondering for the thousandth time how in the world the thing hadn’t collapsed, and scrunched down a bit before getting the barkeep’s attention.

Shiv, better known by the regulars as Shiny due to his obsessive need to polish his metal surface, was a tall and imposing figure and served as the bar’s keep and bouncer. Sadye thought he was rather narky for a construct, and overly obsessed with his looks for sure, but Shiny was one of the best sources for chant that Sadye had found that didn’t require extensive garnishing and wouldn’t send an assassin after you once they’d spilled the dark. The catch? Shiny was..eccentric, and touchy to boot. A wise basher never asked for a clean glass and only an addle-cove would try to figure out what kind of mibix was in the stew. Only an addle-cove would eat the stew, for that matter. Still, the brandy was decent and a lucky body could make a few coins betting on the latest fight to break out, too. In fact, that was where the place had gotten its name, from the cage in the corner where blades flashed, blood flowed, and everyone looked the other way if a corpse turned up. Sadye was wise enough to know not to step in the cage herself, but she would bet on a fight any day.

Sadye ordered her snifter of brandy from Shiny and settled back on the barstool. The Cage might not have been the coziest place in the multiverse, but after a long day of dealing with clueless primes, she found it was a great way to wind down the evening.

-03- •» What sort of upbringing did your character have?

”Boy the screed just gets better an’ better with you. Alright, I’ll humour ya.

”Whoever my real parents are, they’re still out there somewhere probably, but they don’t even likely know I exist – which is alright by me. The blood that raised me was an old mage, canny as a fiend if a litt’l on the soft side. He told me he found me in the Bazaar an’ for whatever reason, the old codger couldn’t leave a kid there, much less a babe, fiend or not. I tell ya though, he prob’ly wished he hadn’t caved in some days. Hah! I’ll be th’ first t’ tell ya I was a handful. Now really, imagine some little tyke about, oh, five years old but smart as an average prime adult, curious as the proverbial prime cat, and driven in that curiosity by fiendish blood. Cutter, I got into everything ya could possibly imagine! And th’ poor old bloke didn’t know how t’ handle it. He figured I was a kid even if I was a fiend, that it had to be easier than all that hardball bargainin’ with the fiends in th' Bazaar. Now that was interestin’. I was never one for the dazzle he was fond of, but to watch the old man out talk a fiend? Taught me a lot, and taught me ‘bout the fiends themselves too, mostly that they’re the first bloods who’ll try t’ peel ya. It’s just in our nature.

”Ah, don’ look at me like that cutter…

”Anyhow, once I could fend for myself, the old basher left. I’ve heard all sorts of dark on where and why – he went back home t’ die, he got boxed by a fiend he’d wronged, he jus’ got tired of Sigil. Personally, I don’t think he could handle a teenage tanar’ling. You think you primes are bad growing up? Hah! A growing tanar’ling on a good day could make any prime kid look like a halo. Ya have t’ remember, that fiend blood drives us and feeds a fiendish perspective into everything we do. What seems bad to ya might be normal for a tanar’ling. What seems unspeakable? Might seem bad if yer lucky. I did learn one good thing from that old codger ‘fore he left, though. He’d always have these sayin’s from his home plane. The one that stuck with me was ‘We are what we are, but we choose who we are.’

”Enough about that, though. There’s gotta be somethin’ else ya wanna know.”



Section Two: Relationships

-04- •» Your character has just attained something material they have been working towards for a long time - for example, a large sum of money, tickets to a concert, or a magic sword - but someone important to your character also wants this item. What is the item? Who is the 'someone important'? Finally, what does your character do in this situation?

”….that…ain’t what I had in mind. By the Lady’s shadow, did you pay me to be your tout? Or t’ hear my soddin’ life story?

“Fine, fine. Let me put it at ya this way, basher. Lesson three of the Cage. The only important person? Is you. You worry ‘bout keepin’ YOUR skin in one piece ‘cause I can guarantee ya that no one else is gonna when push comes t’ shove. Oh they might help here an’ there, but only ‘cause it helps them. That’s the multiverse, and that’s the truth you better tumble to quick if ya wanna survive in Sigil. I’ve yet to meet a prime that didn’t call me selfish for it, but cutter I’d rather be selfish and alive than t’ be a tanar’ri martyr, eh?”

-05- •» Your character has learned a lover, kin or someone else very close to them has betrayed them to an enemy or a hated person. Who was the betrayer and who was the close person? What happened? What is their reaction to both (or either) the betrayer and the enemy?

”Ah, betrayal,” she says, and then gives a snort“It’s a sweet poison, any fiend knows that. It’s in our blood to betray..and for the love o’ the gods stop lookin at me like that! I’m here t’ tell ya who will peel ya, not peel ya myself. S’bad for business, y’know?

”Anyways, back t’ what I was sayin’, and fiend knows betrayal. Either that or they’re the barmiest clueless sod I ever met. I’ll be square, turnin’ stag is the worst pain a basher can endure, ‘specially when it’s someone ya trust. The answer is to not trust anyone then, right?

”Wrong. Ya gotta be peery, don’t get me wrong, but a basher who trusts nobody is just as bad as a basher who trusts anybody. So what’s a basher t’do when betrayed? Well, y’can kill the berk who backstabbed ya – providin’ that you’re still alive to do it, or y’can mope around and drown yerself in bub, but the ‘woe is me’ screed doesn’t catch too many ears here. Whatever y’do, you better make sure that the berk don’t bark on ya again.”

”Trust me, basher, I’ve been on both sides. It’s never pretty, but if yer gonna survive here, then you’d do well to regard your closest companion as the next berk who’ll turn stag. The closer you get, the easier it is for them to chiv ya in the back. It’s a sad way to look at life, but if ya wanna survive it’s the only way. I learned that the hard way.”


Section Three: Inner Reflection

-06- •» What would your character do if they permanently lost their powers or their greatest strength?

”Alright, I give up…ya just ain’t gonna give up on this are ya! Well, might as well. Maybe I can get somethin’ useful into that brain-box o’ yours in all this…

”Alright then, here’s the rub. Power is a double edged sword of the sharpest kind. A body’s strength is also their greatest weakness. No really, it’s true! Hear me out. Look at the paladin. All day he rides forth fighting evil, preservin’ all that’s good an’ right and all that good stuff. People expect him t’ care and know he will, but the more people he cares for the more he sees how corrupt it all is. Not only that, but his enemies know how to use this against him and what can he do to stop them? Or take another example, the spellslinger with all their supernatural dazzle. Can decimate half an army with a few words and a flick of their fingers…and yet any unseen sneak or a basher who can fire an arrow off straight can pop em into the dead book without blinking.

”Now despite that…sure power is a double edged sword just like I said, but cutter better to be armed and cut yerself than to be left defenseless! Let’s just say for a moment that I suddenly became the most addle-coved sod in the multiverse, couldn’t tell left from right to save my life, right? I’d go barmy! If a body can only trust themselves and suddenly ya can’t even trust THAT, then what? Sure there might be some benefits, I mean everything these days seems to be a mix of blessin’ and curses, but would they really outweigh the loss?

”I can think of a real good example, too. Goin on this question ya posed, let’s suppose for a moment I became totally human. Great, right? No more odd stares, no more pitchfork mobs, no more offworld berks mistakin’ me for some fiend they conjured…except that I wouldn’t be me. It aint just the powers or the talents and strengths that ya lose, it’s a piece of who you are! You'd be barmy if you didn't do everything in your power to get that back.”

-07- •» How would your character deal with the situation if they failed in a major undertaking?

”In my dealings, there’s not usually a chance to ‘deal with the situation’ if you fail in something major. Mistakes leave you too open to gettin’ peeled, or worse. You can believe one thing though. I ain’t failed until I’m dead. The only way ya survive is t’ learn from your mistakes so ya don’t make the same ones next time. Ya get knocked down? Pick yerself back up and keep goin’. Otherwise ya get trampled into the dirt, eh?”




Section Four: Philosophy

-08- •» What does your character think of the society around him and his place in it? Do they feel they deserve their station, do they seek better? Do they support the society or do they seek to change it?

”Well yer definitely makin’ me earn this jink tonight, cutter. Alright, let me tell ya a little about Sigil’s society. First off ya got the Factions. They’re the bodies that run the daily grind ‘round Sigil. There’s at least fifteen of em, but the ones ya absolutely need to know are the Hardheads, the Guvners, and the Red Death. Think of ‘em as the judge, the jury, and the crow feeders, what you primes call executioners, ‘cause between the three of ‘em they cover all that an’ then some. So who keeps those lot in line, ya might ask? ‘Specially seein’ as Sigil is visited by planebourne, elementals, and all sorts of canny and powerful planewalkers from the Primes.”

She lowers her voice a bit, as if this were something that she feared being overheard telling, or perhaps it was a touch of reverence and fear. ”That, my dear clueless friend, would be Our Serene Lady of Pain. She’s the uncontested ruler of Sigil an’ has somehow managed to even keep the Powers, the ones you call gods, and their proxies out of Sigil – mainly cause any one of em barmy enough to waltz in finds themselves no more powerful than a mortal. How d’ya like that? You can see that she’s a cutter that you’re wise to avoid. Get the Lady torqued and she’ll flay you with her shadow, or worse she’ll box you in a maze you can’t get out of. Neither option is better than the other, trust me, so if ya wanna keep yer hide on and yer brain in one sane piece, steer clear of the Lady. Oh, and don’t worship her either…just don’t, trust me.

”Now, that said, I think you’ll understand why Sigil is fine as it is. Sure, no one likes the Hardheads, everyone fears the Mercykillers, and the Guvners need to get their heads outta their law-makin’ arses, but ya see even a chaotic place like Sigil’s gotta have some kind of laws an’ such I guess. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a Free Leaguer for a reason, but if there weren’t someone here keepin’ things in check, then there’d be no Sigil. Do you have any idea how much of a prize it’d be if some fiend or even some halo somewhere got their hands on Sigil? It’s the center of the soddin’ multiverse! They’d have a bleedin’ field day, especially bein’ able t’ control all those portals and such. THAT’S why the Lady is here. She protects Sigil and makes sure it stays a neutral ground, and she controls the doors of the city. Without that, this’d just be another Blood War battleground or worse.

“As for me, I’ve earned my spot here teachin’ you clueless the ins and outs of it all. Sure I could work to be some high-class tout in the Lady’s Ward or what have you, but all the dark is down here in the Hive and the Bazaar so why would I? For right now I’m right where I wanna be.”

-09- •» During your travels you have picked up a protege along the way. As a mentor, what do you consider most important to teach them? How will you teach them this, and why is this so important?

”The most important thing to teach em? That should be easy for you t' figure out by now, cutter. They gotta tumble to the darks of Sigil, and that means learnin' to survive!

”In this place that’s the first and last thing you should learn! Maybe I ain’t quite made myself clear, basher. Look around yerself. Ya see that handsome face with the sneer? That’s a pit fiend waiting fer the chance t’ bargain yer soul away from ya. And that pretty young girl by the stall? She’s a celestial with a bloody halo waitin’ fer the chance t’ ‘redeem ya from the darkness’, whatever it takes t’ do so, and I mean whatever it takes. An that basher over there beggin’ fer jink? Take yer eye off him for just one split second and you’ll be lucky if he only cuts yer purse. So yah, the first thing any body that wants to be a tout has gotta know is who’s square and who ain’t. In other words, who ya can trust a little and who’s just a pretty face hidin’ a succubus’ kiss. Sigil is a deadly place, don’t let these people fool ya cutter. There’s very few honest bloods around here, and even some of them are TOO honest for their own good and’ll bark on ya given half a chance.

”Now as fer how they’ll learn? That’s easy, trial an’ error. That’s only way any cutter learns to take care o’ themselves. They get bobbed and peeled a time or two and they learn better for next time!

”What’dya mean ‘That sounds a bit harsh’? Of course it is! But basher, if they can’t learn from their mistakes and get it through their bone-box how to avoid it next time then they ain’t gonna make it here. That’s Sigil. You either get wise or get boxed. Like I said before, this ain’t some walk in the sixes.”

-10- •» What are your character's views, beliefs or explanation for the existence of self, life and death? -or- Describe your character's moral point of view... For example: Does your character believe that the 'Ends always justify the Means'? Do they see things in 'black and white'? Do they believe in 'the good in everyone' etc?

”Listen up an’ listen wise, cutter ‘cause I’ll only explain this once. There’s only one person in th’ multiverse that can take care of you and guess what? You’re it. If you don’t take care o’ yerself, who will? The cony-catcher around the corner? The Hardheads? That paladin preachin’ goodness an’ light? Hah! Yer gonna get peeled real easy if ya rely on them. The Powers? Look around ya, this is a place where the Powers are powerless! Cutter, you gotta look out for you. Now, that ain’t t’ say that you trust no one and get some flim-flam idea that you’re your own god. That’s the Godsmen’s type of screed, nothin’ that a canny basher should wrap their brain-box around. What I’m talkin’ about is knowin’ yerself, being empowered by yerself and believin’ in yerself. You gotta be strong and tough t’ survive, and when the time comes that you DO need someone else, as inevitably it will, you better make sure you can handle things on yer own when they aren’t there. That ain’t t’ say you won’t ever fear anything either, but when you fear somethin’ ya damn well better learn to overcome it and get stronger from the experience. You’re the only person you can really truly 100% count on. If you don’t strive to be strong, you’ll always be walked on. Make sense cutter? Good, now you keep that in that brain-box of yers ‘cause your gonna need it.”

---

”Well, I think that’s about it, eh cutter? Now remember what I told ya. It’ll keep you from getting’ peeled out there.

”What? You want the tour now? Well you better start digging in those pockets then, basher. That’s gonna cost extra…”