Soldier
Specialty: infrantry
Feature: military rank
Personality trait: I'm full of inspiring and cautionary tales from my military experience relevant to almost every combat situation.
Ideals: Our lot is to lay down our lives in defense of others. Ideals aren't worth killing over or going to war for.
Bond: I fight for those who cannot fight for themselves.
Flaw: I am slow to use violence against those who have not proven themselves a threat to the innocent.
Zeb was part of the Amnian infantry in his youth. His unit was sent to push back an orcish invasion on the border with Muranndin but there the orcs had established a defensive network of tunnels. He and his fellow footsoldiers were sent to clear the tunnels. The fighting was brutal and horrible with massive casualties on both sides. Orcs moved silently through the darkness, surprising clusters of men with savage ferocity. While the rest of his unit used shortswords in the tight quarters, Zeb learned that if he wielded his halberd strategically, he could block an entire tunnel alone, giving his companions time to regroup and drive the orcs back.
With great loss of life, they drove the orcs further and further back into Muranndin. As they neared Muranndin, the enemy ambushes started to contain more and more female orcs, who fought with a ferocity of ax and tusk unmatched by the males. One female, in particular, fought Zeb with the fury of a demon and the two rolled around the tunnel locked in a deadly grip. Zeb finally managed to slip his dagger from his belt and finish the orc off. He then proceeded into the chamber she had been guarding and found a small, green child wrapped in cloths.
His commander Alric commanded Zeb to finish "the little monster." Seeing the humanity of his enemies for the first time, Zeb refused the order. "He's no threat to anyone", Zeb replied. With a harrumph, Alric spat and said "Aye but he'll grow to be one." But Zeb stood firm. "We've no right to kill a harmless child based on a guess." Alric commanded several soldiers to take the child by force but Zeb spread his feet in the tunnel and gripped his halberd in both hands. "Me and the babe will be living together or dying together." The men of his company hesitated, recognizing Zeb's deadly stance and the cold fire in his grey eyes. When Alric ordered them forward, they fell back several steps, fearing their respected comrade and wishing him no harm. When they had made their intentions clear, Zeb strapped the squirming orcling to his back and headed into the dark tunnels towards Muranndin. Evading the haphazard orc patrols through sheer good fortune, Zeb left the child on the path outside a small orc village.
He returned to his unit but the men never saw him the same way again. Alric, in particular, never forgave Zeb's insubordination. When the fighting died down, Zeb mustered out of the military, unwilling to rigidly follow orders that violated his conscience. He had learned to drive a wagon in his time in the army so he began driving in some of the trading caravans so commonly moving in and out of Amn. Zeb loved working in the beautiful outdoors and traveling to new landscapes. But just in case, he kept his halberd in the wagon. It came in handy several times against bandits and beasts. But over the years his travels brought too much injustice and suffering before Zeb's eyes. The wagoner couldn't stand it any longer and picked up his halberd and left.
He began wandering through the small villages, taking any opportunity to protect the weak. Bandits, beasts, or oppressive "constables." Zeb overlooked none but fought to protect the villagers. Zeb fell even further in love with the beauty of nature. One day while resting in a glade near twilight, Zeb was startled to hear the oak he leaned against speaking to him. It was Silvanus, the Forest Father. He had seen Zeb's care for the innocent and beautiful and he endowed Zeb with strength and charged him to protect beauty, hope, and innocence. He then ordered Zeb to head to Chult, merely stating that the wild island needed protecting.
There in Chult, Zeb encountered Syndra Silvane, who told him of how the Soul Monger was plaguing the land. Zeb shouldered his halberd and said "If there's anything an old soldier can do to stop this plague, my steel will be there."
