Zythos

[khaevil]

Name: Zythos

Appearance: Light build with nice features, but usually unkempt. He doesn't put in the effort to look good without reason. When he does, he cleans up remarkably well and augments his appearance with minor illusions.
Race: human
Age: 25
Height 186 cm
Weight: 77 kg
Eyes: light blue
Hair: dark brown
Facial Hair Style: Shaves his face clean, when he gets around to it.

Personality Profile:
Highly rational. Unobservant. Disinterested in anything, or anyone, he considers boring.
General Health: Very healthy, a constitution fortified by years of enduring the effects of experimental potions.
Deity: Oghma
Initial Alignment: neutral
Profession: arcanist and alchemist
Base Class & Proposed Development: wizard, arcane scholar, master alchemist
Habits/Hobbies: Always studying, who has time for hobbies?
Languages: arcane, draconic, illuskan, chondathan, elven, and dwarven
Weapon of Choice: spells

Background: wizard's apprentice
Goals: Start his own lab somewhere. Figure out where he went wrong on the rejuvenation potion. Make significant contribution to alchemical knowledge.
Possible Plot-Hook Ideas and Misc Facts: He discovered a formula for potions of longevity, but believes it causes aging in humans. His familiar sabotaged many of his colleagues she perceived as possible rivals, though he is unaware. She also murdered his mentor.

Apprentice

Empty, she moved on. Perhaps the next refuse can would contain a morsel to quiet her stomach. The last house on this block wasn't worth checking. She'd done so many times before, and never a scrap was found. In her haste, she nearly missed it. It beckoned her, the bowl conspicuously positioned on the patio. As always, she approached with caution. Such a lure was often accompanied by an angry dog or a swift kick. Sensing no threat, she quickly drank the milk, lest some other lay claim, then fled.

A boy watched through a window as she partook of his offering. He had no name — his old name was to be forgotten. That was the name of a peasant farmer, given by his peasant parents, for whom a name doesn't matter. He would be a wizard soon, and a wizard needs an exotic name. A name people will remember, one to build a reputation on. His new master would give him a better one.

He was very lucky to be here, such opportunity was rare for children of peasants. The owner of his father's farm saw something in him, and presented him for testing. On the journey here, he'd been told the questions would be difficult — they were not. Sufficiently impressed, the wizard had accepted him for an apprentice.

It was very lonely for him. On the farm he had playmates, but not here. He was the product of low breeding, scorned by the highborn apprentices. He collected the empty bowl. He'd leave more tomorrow, that cat came around the same time each day. The others had familiars of great lineage, like themselves. His master had offered to purchase one and add the cost to his debt, but he saw strength in the feral animal. She wasn't born to privilege, life had tested her and found her worthy.

He returned to his studies. The other apprentices were reading arcane tomes by his age, but he arrived illiterate and was still catching up. His books were filled with tales of great deeds, performed by noble heroes in faraway lands. Books on the art would come later.

Assistant

The years passed, and all who once mocked him had gone. She ensured any rivals to her wizard blundered, and badly. Their brews were unreliable, often with dire consequences. The master had no patience for incompetent apprentices, not now that he had such a capable assistant.

Assistant, yes, but it was clear to her where the real talent lay. That aged wizard would be nothing on his own. All his brilliant insights had come from her wizard, while his master claimed all the credit. Her wizard was a fool — brilliant, but a fool nonetheless. He was being exploited. But he possessed misguided loyalty to the old wizard, born of excessive gratitude for sparing him from a life of menial labor. She must act, and save her wizard from eternal servitude.

Their latest pursuit was particularly problematic. They had already succeeded. Neither she, nor they, had any doubt. It had taken years to confirm. What started with testing on flies had moved on to longer-lived subjects. Those that consumed the elixir stayed young, while the others withered away. It had worked on rodents, fish, birds — surely it would work on humans.

Time was short. The master's health deteriorated. This was the batch he would use, she was sure of it. But still, they would test it first to be certain it was safe. This called for careful sabotage, with effects that wouldn't be noticed for days. While nobody was watching, she knocked a shaving of licorice root into the cauldron.

Tragedy

He was heartbroken. His master raised him, educated him — he was more of a parent than those farmers he could barely recall. Everything he knew, he owed to the man he'd helped to an early grave. The potion was meant to reverse aging. But, for some reason, it had the opposite effect.

His master, so confident he needn't face mortality, had left no instructions. The estate passed to the master's nephew, an incompetent former assistant. He was cast out of his home, unquestionably personal property was all he retained: his clothes, texts in his indecipherable shorthand, and his familiar, Amylase.

Name: Amylase

Appearance: Medium-sized female. Well groomed and well fed.
Race: cat
Age: 20
Height 23 cm at the shoulder
Weight: 3 kg
Eyes: green
Hair: black

Personality Profile:
Arrogant. Manipulative. Perceptive.
General Health: exceptionally healthy, due to her bond as a wizard's familiar
Deity: Beshaba
Initial Alignment: chaotic evil
Profession: alchemist's assistant
Habits/Hobbies: "random" mischief
Languages: animal (cat) and common (listening only)
Weapon of Choice: touch spells

Background: feral
Goals: Elevate her wizard and herself. He should be king of the world, with her in his lap.
Possible Plot-Hook Ideas and Misc Facts: Her actions appear like the random mischief of a typical house cat, yet they are carefully planned.