Arasmes ibn Fadlan's page

Arasmes is a handsome Keleshite man with smooth, bronzed skin and rich brown almond-shaped eyes, the curly black hair on his head and chin cropped sensibly short. Although he dresses in the simple garb of a traveler, Arasmes still manages to exude a certain air of opulence through his carefully groomed appearance, cultivated posture and stride, and easy, self-confident smile.

When he speaks, he does so softly and in a flowing accent foreign to these northern climes, approaching each new encounter as diplomatically as possible. Only the immaculately maintained light crossbow that he wears holstered across his back gives any indication of his very real capacity for violence.

A middle son in a large family of Katapeshi traders and seamen, Arasmes had seen more of the Inner Sea region by the time he learned to read than most do in their entire lifetime. Never in line to inherit much of the family business or fortune, as a boy he chose instead to focus on religious studies. His family were more than happy to support his education in the faith of Abadar; after all, it behooves any mercantile house to have a strong working relationship with the god of cities and trade.

Arasmes first visited distant and exotic Varisia during a voyage of economic exploration captained by his eldest sister, Atossa. During a stopover in Magnimar, he grew enchanted by the mystery of the city's great ruins, and even moreso by the tales of untold wealth (and terrible danger) lying hidden within similar structures further from the civilized coast. Arasmes saw at once in this rough frontier the perfect means to honor his god and his family by by protecting and fostering the spread of civilization and making a fortune of his own, and he soon began making plans to return.

Unfortunately, Atossa was far less impressed with the wealth of Magnimar and the other Varisian cities, deeming them not to be worth the long voyage from Garund. Futhermore, Arasmes' parents proved reluctant to aid their son in seeking out such a dangerous line of work as ruin-raiding, and encouraged him instead to settle down in one of the cities of the Inner Sea coast and dedicate his life to working his way up through the byzantine hierarchy of Abadar's priesthood.

Arasmes, however, was undeterred. Seeing his ambitious dreams as a divine inspiration from Abadar himself, he began looking into other ways that he might find financial backing for an expedition to Varisia. So it was that, after completing his training as a neophyte at the great bank of Abadar in Absalom, he immediately turned around and applied for membership in the world-reknowned Pathfinder Society.

After three long years of training and tests, Arasmes is, at last, a member of the Society. Moreover, though it took a little cajoling and a lot of persistance, he has managed to get himself sent back to Magnimar to assist the pathfinders of Heidmarch Manor in a matter of some urgency...