Zirkal Sanjar's page

Zirkal, was always an outcast. As a child he ran on the streets of Korvosa, effortlessly moving through the unofficial paths, twists, bridges and ropes of the Shingles, using his agility to snatch a purse and lose the former owner.
Until he tried to rob the wrong man.
The old man appeared frail, but as Zirkal lifted his purse and escaped through the narrow streets he found that he was being pursued. Turning into an alley he climbed a fence and swinging from a rope ladder went into the elevated paths of the shingles. The older man chased him relentlessly.
Looking over his shoulder he could not believe what he saw. The old man not only ran as fast as he, but he seemed to flow between the various obstacles of the dangerous and rickety structure. Distracted, the half-elf boy stepped on a rotten board that creaked and gave way, and plummeted towards the street. His pursuer jumped over thirty feet, grabbed the boy and hit the nearest wall feet first, sliding down the vertical wall three stories to the hard cobbled streets below using only a bare hand and feet.
After recovering his purse, the dark skinned old man introduced himself as Sanjar Yantur Rajtid, a Vudran exile. He saw potential in young Zirkal and offered to teach him martial arts.
Two years, the boy grew fast into a wiry young man, with curly black hair and slightly pointed ears. His discipline and balance also grew, learnt at the feet of the old monk. But then tragedy struck. A horrid plague, called the Blood Veil, killed a great percentage of Korvosa’s population, including Zirkal’s Master.
On his deathbed, the old monk regretted leaving his life of adventure. He told his young pupil that learning goes on and on forever, that he should be pursuing martial perfection at every moment. More enlightened monks would have been able to shrug off even deadly diseases, their ki burning like a purifying flame through their bodies, but he lacked the experience to have such inner strength.
With tears in his eyes, the pyre where his master’s boy was burned still smoking, the young martial artist set off to travel the world, enrolling as a sailor on a House Arkona’s commercial ship he reached the great city of Absalom, always in search of a challenge to hone his skills and further his master’s legacy.