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Usfura Munir - Character Bios *Work In Progress*
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Hello everyone! I have been working on fleshing out my character for when Ashes of Creation comes out! I just want to let everyone know that all information about "lore" is all fictional and may not be correct! If there are things that have come out in regards to lore that are not correct here please feel free to comment and let me know! Keep in mind that any discussion about this as well as AoC is welcome! See you guys on the other side of the portal!
Character Name: Usfura Munir
Age: 22
Gender: Male
Race: Vaelune
Chapter 1: Introduction
Growing up among the Kaelar, a proud race whom ruled a vast empire. Whom sought power and wealth for their own greed. Thus, leaving region after region in chaos after blood was poured into the land. After the battles had waged and the Kaelar governed their new land, gangs formed looking to feed on the helpless and to earn whatever wealth they could. They sold drugs, abandoned weapons and even sold to the Kaelar themselves. Thanks to the war that raged on around the land orphans of warriors and of previous governing found themselves among the hustle and bustle of the large cities that were once their home. Helpless and unable to fend for themselves the orphans either died or were taken in by these gangs, knowing full well that no one wanted them and that most likely any relatives had perished. The gangs used young children as messengers and deliverers, no one suspected young children of carrying drugs and daggers.
These gangs typically only found in large metropolises, these large cities contained small alleyways and for those who inhabited them before the Kaelar knew these areas like the back of their hand and were perfect for gang activity. One such metropolis inhabited by the Vaelune is where our story begins. The Vaelune empire held large regions of inhabitable land surrounded by mountains and vast desert. The people that lived there lived hard lives with water and food being constant unnerving resources that went as fast as it came. Thus, where these people lived were typically overcrowded and large cities near underground springs. The architecture made of chiseled sandstone and brick, from the distance these cities looked like mountains of rocky pikes that extended towards the clouds above.
As the Vaelune population continued to grow they constantly looked for habitable land wherever they could find it even if it was close to the borders of other empires such as the Kaelar whom did not take this migration of people lightly. Soon after, this small village turned into a city as hundreds of thousands of Vaelune moved to the city to try to escape the already over populated ones. The Kaelar whom had already started a war with another race started to have resource issues, specifically when it came to arming their troops for the fight. The Kaelar saw this new city as an intrusion of what they had deemed their land, but in reality, wanted to mine the mountainous terrain for its vast amounts of hematite, limonite, and goethite all valuable ores in which are required to make iron. Eventually, this new metropolis unable to fully protect itself found Kaelarian spears and arrows pointed directly at its gates.
Chapter 2: The Boy They Called “Usfura”
Usfura was among the children ranks of a gang called “The Tanāzu” (wordplay recognized for settling disputes)”, left alone in the arms of the dying woman whom he would have one day called "mother", Usfura was taken in by the gang as an infant and grew up living in cramped barracks with other children, living off gruel and tattered blankets for warmth. Not knowing where he came from or what his name was. Usfura was a thin boy with unusual light skin for a Vaelune, his hair long, vermilion-red, and his face angular with feminine features. Teased by other orphaned boys he was given a name meaning “female sparrow” because like a female sparrow who looked smaller, more angular (feminine), and having red hair like that of a female sparrows more red appearance to a male sparrow.
As he grew up, the young orphaned children that Usfura grew up with turned into violent thugs. The gang teaching the young children how to pickpocket, steal, how to defend yourself and use weapons like short swords and daggers. The gang wanted to turn these children into dogs that worked for the gang. The older gang members would take advantage of these children and spar with them with the sole purpose to beat them up and no one lifted a finger to stop them. Due to his looks, Usfura was made into a target. Day in and day out, the older boys would fight Usfura beating him until he couldn’t stand. Thus, Usfura spent many sleepless nights bruised and beaten. However, because of these fights Usfura developed much faster than other children his age. His hate for those who picked on those who were weaker grew causing a flame inside him that would eventually change his life. His skills started to show as he learned to use his opponents weight to his own advantage and eventually the older boys start to fight him less and less as Usfura started to become too much of a match for them. This, however, only made other children the targets of their beatings.
Usfura, once was too weak to fight back, now stronger than the older boys couldn’t stand back and watch others get beaten like others had done to him so little ago. Usfura started to fight other children’s battles protecting them. He hoped that if he stepped in the older members would stop beating others. This hope, however was never realized. Eventually, the older members of the gang started to group up together and saw Usfura as an enemy; someone who stood in the way of their “fun”. If he stepped in to help the older members would gang up on him and even as skilled as he was he could not fight off the numbers. The members would not stop with just that, the children that were protected under his wings were either beaten to death in front of him or would simply disappear without anyone knowing what had happened to them. Eventually, the younger children turned away from Usfura begging him not to help them and accepted the beatings instead of death.
Chapter 3: The Yatim Troop
Unlike the other gang members who only wanted to deepen their pockets and cause harm to others. Usfura hated this gang lifestyle and the people he was surrounded by day after day. He looked at the proud Kaelar people who walked the streets; noble & honest. He wanted to be a free man someone who controlled their own destiny and someone people could respect instead of fear, however in order to live he had to endure. Even though most of the gang members despised him he did have a few close friends whom he trusted and teamed up to complete the tasks given to them by the head of the gang; Butros. Butros (Vaelune for rock) was a large 6’8” (203cm) tall stocky young man in his mid-twenties. He had been given the name after he alone had killed three heavily armed Kaelar guards with nothing but his fists and a conveniently placed large rock. Unlike most of the other gang members Butros was well dressed wearing traditional Vaelune garments typically made of linen and a little baggy to allow for breathability in the hot desert climate. A linen veil with buffed copper trim covered his medium shaggy black hair and the back of his neck. Butros was not known for his smarts but he was known for his strength and the fear that he put into the townsfolk. Due to this even the Kaelar guards never bothered to stop him from doing what he pleased; that and because Butros supplied the town militia with cheap weapons, and armor. If he did find himself in a pinch with the local guards he had plenty of coin lining his pockets to pay them off.
Butros assigned weekly tasks to everyone in the gang most of the time he gave out the easiest but highest reward tasks to those who treated him like a god who worshipped the ground he stood on. Since Usfura was such an outcast Butros always gave some of the hardest tasks to him and his small band of misfit members mostly comprised of skinny, shy and afraid boys and boys that were too young to be helpful. Typically, only five members went out on the tasks while the other younger boys stayed behind. Usfura was accompanied by four others, two of which were twins; Dabir & Farran. Both were small and skinny like him but not strong in any way. Dabir (meaning teacher in Vaelune) however was very smart for his age and easily out witted most of the other gang members which allowed him to be very useful to them and thus was never beaten because they didn’t want to “spoil his brains” from being hit in the head too many times. He also helped teach the younger kids street smarts making him quite the asset to Butros’ gang. Farran (meaning baker in Vaelune) was one of the best cooks in all the gang he could somehow turn stale bread and lizard into edible and somehow pleasant dishes with so little. The two followed Usfura because like him they hated Butros and his gang. Unlike most of the other children who were orphans Dabir & Farran were taken at a very young age from their widowed mother who was in-debited to Butros who eventually killed her because she couldn’t pay. Though they were old enough to have names the gang stripped you of whatever you had and gave you new names usually befitting what you were good at.
Then there was Mudawar (Vaelune for round) & Omar (Vaelune for long living). Mudawar was a stocky average heighted boy who was wider than he seemed tall. Big boned and strong he was a war orphan taken in by the gang for their use. When they took him, he was heavy set and thus they named him Mudawar or round. Even with the small amount of gruel or stale bread that was given to the children Mudawar never seemed to get smaller. Most wouldn’t guess it but Mudawar was great at stealing from merchants in the town square, he was patient and because he wasn’t fast he would wait for the perfect time to strike. However, due to his huge appetite his stomach usually guided his hand. Stealing bread, sweets, and fruit he somehow always managed to keep his mouth filled with something.
Lastly, Omar probably the last person you’d expect to accompany Usfura and his yatim (orphan) troop. Omar was an older fellow in his mid-twenties, he was rough and boisterous, he fit perfectly with the rest of the gang and he enjoyed it. The thrill of stealing from others, sneaking in drugs or weapons past the guards and evening killing. Omar had a reason behind his accompanying of Usfura and no one blamed him. Omar loved taking on the hardest tasks and he knew that Botrus would give them to Usfura and thus he joined him on every task. He loved spewing out his stories and adventures around the fires of the alleyways at night to the rest of the gang. Many members as well as Botrus respected Omar and with Omar accompanying Usfura, Botrus knew that the tasks would be completed because Omar would drag the orphan’s dead bodies all the way through if he had to.
Chapter 4: The Rose-Colored Brigand
Steal, smuggle, kill, barely eat enough to fill the stomach, sleep, repeat. This was how Usfura’s days continued for many years. The only things that changed were the people that he was told to target and the orphans around him that perished but only seemed to get replaced by some other unfortunate child. Somehow, through it all Usfura and his close yatim troop managed to stay alive. There were many close calls, wounds that seemed like it would end his life but managed to heal and scar as a constant reminder for each person he was thankful to not have killed. Omar made sure that if it was possible that anyone who stood in the way of their task would vanish from this world, forcing the orphaned troops hands to return the unlucky soul to the world beyond.
Through it all, Usfura started to earn a reputation around the city thanks to Butros. Forcing Usfura’s troop to tackle the hardest tasks meant that there would be failures from time to time. Survivors who happen to witness the events and recall physical details of the Tanāzu brigands. All Tanāzu members when out on tasks made sure to cover their face the best they could with the limited clothing they had. This usually meant using traditional linen headwraps to cover their hair, and long strips of old cloaks they used as kerchiefs to hide their noses and mouths. However, when someone is trying to murder you because you are either stealing from them, smuggling contraband behind guards or straight assassinating someone it is hard to make sure these didn’t come undone. More than a dozen times these survivors saw the Usfura’s glaring vermillion red hair. Very unusual for a Vaelune and even uncommon for Kaelar. Thanks again to Usfura’s unique appearance he would be nicknamed “Al Warda Allusus”; The Rose-Colored Brigand.
Usfura’s nickname was not the only name bouncing off the walls of the gang’s alleyways. Haris, the current marshal and head of the guardsman of the city was aging. These past few months have really taken their toll on his as Tanāzu’s activity rose sharply along with a few of the other gangs trying to use this opportunity to not only gain more city territory but to one day place someone from their own ranks in the position of marshal. Butros believed that there can only be one person tough enough and qualified enough to take it; himself. With Butros’ ambition rising everyday just like the rising sun. The Tanāzu called an all-out war on the marshal and his loyal guardsman. Unbeknownst to the gang, a new fearsome opponent had just arrived into the city.
Chapter 5: Opportunity & The Pseudo Alliance
Usfura walked down the unkept cobblestone alley the moon’s light shining down guiding his way. Passing by several old, & beaten doors, he looks at each one eyeing each carefully until in the corner of his eye he sees what he is looking for. On an old wooden door in the top left corner were two large cuts in the wood in the shape of an upside down “V”. Looking both ways down the alley way making sure that no one was around Usfura knocked on the door. Just moments later the door creeks leaving a dark slit that seemed to lead directly into shadow. Suddenly through the crack Usfura sees an eye with a grey bushy brow. The eye looks over Usfura evaluating him trying to identify him. Not that it would work as Usfura had covered his hair in a traditional white linen wrap and his mouth and nose in a kerchief made of similar material.
In a soft, muffled voice Usfura whispered “sharpened steel cuts through rock”. The eye between the door responds in a crackled strained voice “steel can never cut rock; the rock is too concrete” and with it the door opens revealing an old man dressed in baggy robes and a similar head wrap as the man motions Usfura to come inside. With a nod he walks into the dark hovel the old man closing the door behind him and then jabs at Usfura’s shoulder getting his attention as he points to a softly lit room with one of his bony fingers. Following behind the old man Usfura’s footsteps creek against the old wooden floor, entering the room he notices that the only thing inside was a small lantern. It’s glow illuminating the rough fired clay walls as well as the old man. The light gives them both a better look at each other and with that Usfura realizes who he is finally talking to.
The old man’s name is Qaseem, Qaseem is one of
the oldest crime lords of the city, Tahrib (Contraband), his gang was more
about smuggling and selling goods since it was so lucrative. For this reason,
the Tahrib never challenged other gangs into fights or even went against the
guards. Usually, they would just bribe the guards to keep their mouths shut
which worked well for everyone. However, times have changed and just like
Butros, Qaseem saw the weak even older Haris as a target. Qaseem wanted to use
Haris’ position for himself so that way he didn’t have to spend money bribing
the guards anymore allowing him to further increase his position within the
wealthy of the city. Even though both gangs and their leaders had their own
ambitions and were fighting for the same goal both knew that they couldn’t do
it alone. Somehow, with the weakening Haris at the helm of the guardsmen the
guardsmen were more active at catching criminals, given better equipment and
everyday it got worse. Perhaps, the city major didn’t want to show that the
guardsmen were being affected by this? Even at the local city halls and major’s
mansion the security was tighter than it had ever been before. What could have
changed?
Comments
New update! Chapter 2!
- Name Change "Usfura Munir" - Usfura (Female Sparrow), Munir (Light, Shining, Luminous).
- Gang Name Change "The Tanāzu" - (The Disputes).
- Grammar fixes.
- Broke up large lengths of text to make it easier to read.
- Most changes are due to fix continuity; using middle eastern vocabulary to fit with the Vaelune description given by Intrepid Studios.
Expect new chapters very soon!Continue expecting new chapters sooner, as our story gets closer and closer to its end. Until the portals open up that is!