Asanna Bellerose's page

Asanna is a young woman, probably no more than 18-19 years old in appearance, and comes in at a whopping 5'2" in height. A pretty girl with shoulder length auburn hair, Asanna could almost pass for half-elven if it were not for a few oddities. The first would be the otherworldly color of her eyes, a mixture of yellow, green, and a handful of other shades that defy specification. Second are the leopard-like spots that are scattered up and down her shoulders and back. Lastly, but probably the most visible deformity that confirms her tainted blood is the large lion-ish tail, including a tuft of fur at the end, that sprouts from just above her rump. To disguise her more outlandish features, Asanna wears light, airy garments that cover her from shoulder to feet. In addition, a hooded cloak keeps her tail, which has a mind of its own, and eyes out of casual observation.

All that lies in the past is the Chase and all that may yet come is the Chase. This is the life laid out for the spawn of Ali'murzed ibn al-Raiben, Thirteenth Emir of the Jahannam Wastes and sepid div of Ahriman's unholy legions. In a game set in place long ago for his own amusement, Ali’murzed granted his half-blooded descendants a pledge of lives filled with healthy longevity; lives that might have been deemed long and fruitful if not for the Chase. Once a child of his blood reaches a certain age, which varies from heir to heir, the terrible div begins to track his spawn across the realms of reality in a hunt that is dragged out over years; long horrible years that leave those of his blood sad broken creatures riddled with dread and anxiety by the time he finishes the game and drags their scourged remains back to the depths of Abaddon.

Asanna’s earliest memories were of running; fleeing some unseen tormentor beside her mother. From village to city, country to nation, Asanna has brief flashes of imagery stored in her mind from around the lands of the Inner Sea from exotic Qadira to wild Varisia, free-spirited Andor to the harsh sands of Osirion. Yet the only memory of her mother’s face that remains is that of woman with a face once filled with smile lines that were eroded away by the weary fear that crept over all her features. However, the sound of her mother’s voice is still strong in her mind; the love and worry she shared with her daughter over what was to eventually come, the little time they had together, and that whatever future should play out for them that they would one day be reunited no matter how long it took.

Asanna doesn’t remember how old she was the day the Chase ended, only the brutal finality of it. A day, maybe more, had passed since they disembarked from the ship onto the docks of Katapesh and her mother had yet to find even semi-permanent lodgings for their stay in the city. Asanna remembers the time almost down to the minute, which was two finger-widths from the sun disappearing over the horizon, when the towering cloaked figure on his monstrosity of a steed ran down her mother in a mostly deserted alley. The crunch of bone and painful moans of her mother were drowned out by the hideous bellowing laughter of the figure.

A face that will haunt her nightmares for all eternity grinned down from on high as one massive hand reached down to pick up her mother’s writhing body. The deep voice rose once again as he slung the body across his mount’s rump, “Fear not little grand-daughter. Your mother’s sins have come due today. Worry not for her as she will soon be reunited with her kin in paradise. Go forth and live without trepidation, you shall not see me again.” His words were like rotten honey and even her young ears could detect the lies contained within as the figure turned his mount and vanished as quickly as he came down the alley.

In a single blow, Asanna was made orphan and stranger to a strange city. Still only a child, she wandered the packed streets calling for her mother for hours. It was the pangs of hunger that followed that brought the first terrifying realization of her situation to her young mind. Without coin or anything to barter, Asanna begged the first food vendor for something to fill her rumbling stomach. The following bruises and boxed ears from unsympathetic merchants forced the young girl into more drastic measures. She watched several street urchins practice their craft the next morning, picking up on their tricks for purloining breakfast from a distracted vendor with rapid ease, her growling stomach a strong motivator in promoting the speed of her studies.

What Asanna remembers as weeks or maybe months went by as she lived this life on the streets of Katapesh. She never gave up looking for her mother in those early days, spending two-thirds of the day in such an endeavor before and after tending to more earthly needs. Asanna remembers the trouble her thievery would bring forth with the local gangs of youths. Unaffiliated with all of the groups, the gangs became as much as a danger to the young tiefling as the adults of Katapesh.

Asanna’s savior would come in the form of a young woman named Haleen. Haleen had taken notice of the young girl wandering the streets alone, accosted by both young and old as she asked about the city for a woman with her mother’s appearance. Haleen felt pity for the child, already growing a small troupe of similarly displaced or abandoned children back at her home, and made the first move to entice Asanna to join her for dinner. At first weary of the woman and what could be an attempt to lure the young girl into some slaver’s greasy arms, a fate that Asanna had witnessed several times before with other street children and survived herself two such attempts, Asanna was slowly won over by Haleen’s caring nature and honesty.

Asanna remembers fondly of the years growing up in Haleen’s care. The woman would never replace Asanna’s mother but she fit nicely as a big sister figure to the sibling-less tiefling. She never could fully shake the time spend thieving on the streets and exasperated Haleen with each new bauble she would bring back to the house. She would eventually come more into her own as she started to remember things her mother used to tell her in the quiet moments between fleeing from one place to the next; secret things, powerful things about the workings of the world, things about her heritage and her great-grand-sire’s machinations. While Ali'murzed had been hunting down his spawn over the centuries, his spawn had been searching for methods to foil his plots and perhaps to even one day slay the fiend once and for all so that no more children should have to fear their own futures.