Sarvin, tiefling witch's page

APPEARANCE
Sarvin is slight of build, barely 5’5” and tending toward the skinny side. His head is slightly too large for his body, with a prominent forehead with two slender horns. His pointed ears, even large for an elf, together with his white pupils leave no doubt that he is a tiefling. His gaunt face is bereft of facial hair and his skin has an unhealthy, coppery tint.

Sarvin dresses in fashionable clothing, at least in his mind, with long overcoats, ruffled shirts, and high-heeled boots to add stature to himself. If possible, the tiefling wears garish jewelry and other markers of wealth and culture.

BACKGROUND
Sarvin was born in a small town east of Egorian. His parents were devout worshippers of Iomedae and the small town, being far away from Cheliax cultural centers, enjoyed relative freedom of religion. After all, freedom of religion was never frowned upon by the Thrune government as long as it did not interfere with being good citizens. And the particular Iomedaen cleric responsible for the congregation made sure that never happened. He stressed the values of lawfulness of Iomedae and that kept the official state-sponsored religion of Asmodeus off his back.

But the cleric, Gerano, was a zealot who really wanted to control his flock and sowed fear into them. When Sarvin was born, he was taken to the church to be baptized, which is when Gerano noticed the small lumps on his forehead, precursors to Sarvin’s horns. He decried foul play and said that his family had been consorting with devils. He roused the entire congregation to a frenzy, he was man possessed.

Sarvin’s father was killed, stoned to death by the roused Iomedaens and Sarvin barely escaped with his mother. They wondered the countryside for a while, his mother taking menial jobs to feed them. The tiefling’s secondary characteristics developed over the next few years and Sarvin chewed his lip seeing and finally understanding what he was putting his mother through. He saw how his mother had to prostitute herself just to make ends meat given the prejudice they were the target of on cause of his heritage. When he was barely a teen, Sarvin saw his mother beat to death by drunken patron, a hypocrite who professed his love of Iomedae.

The tiefling ran but swore to avenge his father and his mother. He would take what life had given him, this fiendish heritage and use to his advantage. He did what he had to do to survive and got himself to the Remesiana, at the mouth of the River Iseld. There, being too frail and weak for the hard labor required around the docks and ships, he took a job in fishing plant. He hated the work. He went back to the streets smelling like rotten fish every day. But every day, he swore he would do better. He just needed a break.

His work made him miserable. He was bullied by just about everyone, including his boss, on account of just because they could. His only friend, an escaped halfling slave, was almost beaten to death when his master finally arrived to claim him. Alone and hurt in more ways than he could count, Sarvin seriously contemplated ending his wretched life. But a fleeing rat broke his reverie. The rat was being chased by three of the fat cats that hanged around the fish plant, living off scraps of rotten fish. A live rat seemed like a succulent treat.

The rat’s desperation was felt clearly by the tiefling; he took pity on the rat and chased off the cats. He rolled up into ball and tried to catch some sleep but he dreamed of the rat. He awoke to new powers and a finally got his break. He soon got his thoughts together and left the fish plant after breaking in the boss’ office and taking his pay. Well, he took more than his pay. He took what they should have paid him for all these months of hard work and abuse.

He fled north and found himself in the town of Longacres where he’s trying to figure out how to best use his new talents to make himself rich and to avenge his parents.

PERSONALITY
Sarvin is a man who has known despair and hopelessness all his life. He saw his mother do anything and everything to survive while others in better situations took advantage of her. He saw how he himself was scorned for something that was beyond his control. He saw how supposedly good beings had turned out to be bigots and zealots, killed his father, and chased him and his mother out of town.

All of this has made him bitter and have a dog-eat-dog approach to life. No one is going to give you anything and you’ll have to fight to gain and keep whatever you get.

You also have to enjoy it as much as possible because life is short and brutal. Others have to make their own breaks and suffer along the way, just like Sarvin suffered.

His life experiences made Sarvin a very practical man and one who enjoys the moment. He cares little for others, just like none have ever cared for him and his family. He is a resentful man and will hold a grudge if you ever crossed him. He is patient but never forgets.