Let me tell you about Safiya al~Fatin

Started by Caster13, October 12, 2011, 04:13:01 AM

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Caster13

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"Socialite by day, spy by night, and a murderous beast when it gets really, really dark."
-The Preface for Safiya al~Fatin's application[/i]

I've actually wanted to play a lycan for a while now and have submitted a number of apps. Most of the them were declined for not being monstrous ly evil enough. With Safiya, something changed! The kind of monster I really intended to make, however, was that of a cold, heartless individual who would be willing to betray and abandon nearly everyone if given the proper incentive.

Anyhow!

First, here is the character portrait with inspired Safiya's visual style and look. It is, like many of my other recent PC portraits, a work by Charlie Bowater.



I had a rough but solid idea of Safiya's origin backstory. One day, I was bored at work and decided to write it up in detail:

[hide=Safiya al~Fatin's Backstory, Hidden For Length]
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Part One:
Calimport

The earliest memory that Safiya can recall is of her being forced to stand upon a stage in the slave markets of Calimport. The slave auctioneer described her as a three year old of fine stock, made available for sale due to a noble family having gone bankrupt, dismantled, and disolved by its rivals. Within a minute of being put on display, Safiya learned that she was worth a mere four hundred and eight five gold coins--her value was not even rounded up to an even half-thousand.

The buyer was a slave manager who worked for Pasha Kali al-Sidaq, a crimelord of some moderate influence. Within the al-Sidaq estate, Safiya was quickly put to use as a simple house servant girl. For most of Safiya's childhood, life was simple and peaceful. Even at the age of three she quickly learned how best to stay quiet, out of sight, and avoid any mistakes that would irk those she served.

At the same time, Safiya easily made both friends and rivals amongst the other servants whether they were children similar in age or the older adults servants who had more authority. Of particular note, when Safiya was around eight years old, she became close friends with a servant boy of similar age named Tarik el Zaryoush. Both friendships and rivalries, however, often did not last long as Pasha al-Sidaq was a very meticulous and stringent man when it came to his finances and always ensured that his servants was worth the price of feeding and sheltering them. Pasha al-Sidaq's frequently trimming his servant roster meant that Safiya lost many people with whom she had grown accustomed to and this planted the seeds for Safiya's emotionally indifferent and reclusive mindset in regards to personal relationships though Safiya's friendship with Tarik was the one exception.

As Safiya grew into her teens, life for her became more complicated as she began attracting the eyes of the Pasha's guard staff. One unfortunate night, one of the Pasha's guards tried to force himself on her but Safiya resisted noisily, causing a commotion. This attracted the attention of Pasha al-Sidaq who by chance was nearby. For attempting to take property that was not rightfully his, the Pasha ordered the offending guard to lose his hand and be expelled from service. Upon seeing Safiya's nearly completely stripped form, Pasha al-Sidaq "promoted" Safiya to a position on his personal harem.

Being placed within al-Sidaq's harem meant that Safiya could no longer maintain contact with Tarik as only female servants were allowed in the harem wing of the Pasha's estate. Through these other servants, Safiya learned that Tarik's performance as a servant suffered upon the separation between him and Safiya and that he had been swiftly sold off. After a few days of depression, Safiya's emotionally apathetic mindset completely set in and she embraced the luxurious and hedonistic life offered to her in the harem.

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Part Two:
Calimport

Having become indulgent and greedy for earthly pleasures, Safiya quickly established herself amongst the other concubines within al-Sidaq's harem. While she guarded herself from becoming emotionally attached and making any true friends among them, she still manuevered her way through the politics and was sure to align herself with the largest of cliques.

Pasha al-Sidaq frequently hired the services of a priestess of Sharess, Saree el Nazer, to teach his concubines everything they would need to know for their intended duty. At the same time, Saree took the opportunity to proselytize and like all the other concubines in the harem, Safiya found herself commiting more of her prayers to the Dancing Lady.

One night, to celebrate a successful business agreement, Pasha Kali al-Sidaq held a grand feast for all of those involved in his underworld business. The celebration was opulant and luxurious, offering exotic foods and drinks. Placed on display were much of Pasha's al-Sidaq's treasures, whether they were magical artifacts, pieces of art, exotic beasts, or his very own concubines.

During the celebration, agents of one of Pasha al-Sidaq's rivals struck: the exotic beasts ranging from a blindfolded basilisk to a bound rakshasha to a chained werecat were released in a bid to create a distraction from the thefts of the pieces of art and magic. The chaos that ensued resulted in many deaths and even more injuries. Safiya was one of those wounded and she would learn later on that the werecat that had mauled her had afflicted her with lycanthropy. But more importantly, also killed in the chaos was Pasha al-Sidaq himself.

The days following Pasha al-Sidaq's death was a chaotic one. The estate fell into disarray as al-Sidaq's subordinates attempted to grasp control in the metaphorical brawl that ensued. Knowing that she was afflicted with lycanthrophy and as ownership of the estate began to be torn apart parcel by parcel, Safiya decided that she had to leave Calimport lest she change from harem concubine to caged beast. How exactly she would do that, she did not know until one of the contestents for the now deceased Pasha al-Sidaq came to her for information.

Rewarded with coin in exchange for the information, Safiya quickly realized that she was witness to many interesting things within Pasha al-Sidaq's estate: from the location of secret passageways to whispered business dealings. She went to the other figures attempting to claim al-Sidaq's estate as their own and by selling them information, she was able to gather enough coin to fund her escape.

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Part Three:
Calimport

Admittedly, Safiya's escape was not well thought out. She was able to leave Pasha al-Sidaq's estate but had not thought of a thorough way to escape Calimport itself. While it was true that those vying for control of al-Sidaq's estate would be too distracted to search for one single missing concubine, the longer she stayed in Calimport the more likely she would find herself in shackles.

With no where else to go, Safiya sought out the only person which she could think of: Saree el Nazer, the Sharessan priestess. When Safiya found Saree, the priestess was coincidentally preparing for a trip to Athkatla. Without revealing what had happened to her, Safiya asked Saree if she would consider taking Safiya with her. Saree gladly agreed to do so.

The two traveled with a merchant caravan on the road north towards Amn. During the weeks of travel, Saree got closer and closer to Safiya, convincing her to share the details of everything regarding her escape. Saree even delved into Safiya's past, unraveling Safiya's feelings about Tarik and the emotional apathy that followed being separated from him. The only secret Safiya kept safely to herself was her lycanthropic affliction.

One night, when the caravan stopped to camp, Saree took Safiya to a secluded area of a nearby wood. Alone, the two conversed and Saree said encouraging words about abandoning the things lost to the past, such as Tarik. The topic of conversation was enough to bring Safiya to tears and this was when Saree whispered into her ear that if completely forgetting was not viable, than only death would ease the emotional pain. Unbeknownst to Safiya, Saree was really a priestess of Shar, not Sharess, and instills in Safiya thoughts of suicide.

When the caravan was two days worth of travel away from Athkatla, Saree again takes Safiya to a secluded area away from the camped carava. She asks Safiya if a decision has been made and Safiya admits to wishing to end her life. Before she actually does so, however, she reveals a bottle of wine she had stolen from one of the merchants traveling with the caravan.

By this point, it had been weeks since Safiya had tasted wine since before her escape. Upon enjoying her supposedly last drink, Safiya comes to think that life is worth living even if it is just to sate the basest of lusts and so reneges on her intended suicide. Enraged that her plans to claim Safiya's soul for Shar was fouled by a mere bottle of wine, Saree attacks Safiya with the intention of simply killing Safiya herself.

Wounded and nearly killed, Safiya suffers an abrupt, uncontrolled lycanthropic transformation, catching Saree off guard. In her werecat form, Safiya quickly overpowers the surprised Saree and kills her. She tears open Saree's chest and consumes, for the first time, a human heart.

Her bloodlust not sated, Safiya continued on to attack the caravan. She kills nearly everyone, driving a few to flea into the night, and steals anything both easy to carry and valuable, ensuring that she has the resources necessary to start a new life in Athkatla.

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Part Four:
Athkatla

After rummaging through the remains of the caravan, Safiya discovered the records and logs of the many merchants she had killed. Arriving within Athkatla, she capitalized upon the information she had gathered by selling it to rival businesses for an exorberant amount of money.

The first thing she did with the money was to buy enough wine to drink herself silly. This was followed by a spending spree on a fanciful inn room, new clothing, and some proper equipment for, what she decided, would be her new career in information gathering and disemination.

To further amuse herself, Safiya began attending social functions under the pretense of being the daughter of some obscure merchant from Calimport, gathering further information as she did so. Safiya made decent coin selling this information to rival merchants and businesses but the cost of the luxuries she had grown accustomed to eventually began outstripping the coin she made.

After keeping an ear open in the right places and speaking to the right people, Safiya made contact with the Shadows Thieves who was willing to pay more coin for more important information. After being successful in providing the Shadow Thieves with the information they sought, they began offering tasks of more dangerous nature to Safiya. These tasks included burglaries, thefts, poisonings, and outright murder and Safiya proved to be skilled in carrying them out. As her success continued, Safiya began regularly working with three other members of the Shadows Thieves known as Mylock, Severus, and Ignatius. The four formed a makeshift cell that carried out operations focused on the merchant class in Athkatla.

Despite Saree's deception, Safiya continued to hold her faith in Sharess and visited the festhalls organized by the small Sharessan clergy with some minor frequency when her free time allowed her to. By chance, she encountered Mylock at one of these festivals and the two developed a relationship outside of their profession as fest companions though Safiya maintained emotionally guarded and distant.

At the same time, Safiya embraced the bestial sadism that her lycanthrophy allowed her and took the opportunity to secretly maim, murder, and feast upon her victims when her whimsical bloodlust manifested.

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Part Five:
Athkatla

One of Safiya's operations on behalf of the Shadow Thieves resulted in the discovery that Pasha Kali al-Sidaq was targeted by a merchant rival based in Athkatla by the name of Ravek Filbourg. Upon further investigation, Safiya learned that Saree was actually hired by Filbourg and that she was the one who orchestrated the attack that lead to al-Sidaq's death.

Safiya planned to take revenge upon Filbourgh for being responsible for the drastic changes in her life but before a proper plan could be created and executed, Severus and Ignatius warned Safiya that Filbourg had learned of Safiya's connection to al-Sidaq and had hired another group of thieves to kill her, anticipating her reaction.

Word was sent up the ranks of the Shadow Thieves but help was slow and scarce in coming. As the opposing thieves closed in upon Safiya and her cell, the Shadow Thieves showed no sign of providing any support whatsoever and it appeared as if the cell was abandoned to fend for itself. Unbeknownst to Safiya, Mylock, and Ignatius, this was because Severus was a double agent working for another rival guild.

When Filbourg's hired thieves finally entrapped the cell, Mylock was wounded and captured. Filbourg offered to free Mylock in exchange for Safiya but just as the Shadow Thieves abandoned Safiya, she abandoned Mylock. Mylock uttered both a confession of his love for Safiya and a curse for her betrayal as Filbourg killed him.

Safiya fled to a safe house and was forced to sequester herself within it for days, hiding from Filbourg's hired men. Eventually they closed in on her position but just as they sought to strike, the mythallar of Nebezzdos teleported her away from that fate to one that is, perhaps, far more graver.
[/hide]

Also! The name Safiya al~Fatin, according to a few baby name websites, translates into "Sincere friend" and  "the captivating/charming/seductive". One is true, the other not, I'm sure you can guess which!

Since Safiya would be trying her damnedest to keep her lycanthropy a secret, I developed a system for myself to make things both interesting and a challenge:

[hide=Uncontrollable Lycanthrophy Transformations, Hidden for Length]Day - Roll every 2 IG hour.
Night - Roll every 1 IG hour

1-13: nothing happens

14-17: lycanthropic blood stirs, Safiya can choose to transformer into cat/were form if she lets the primal urge consume her. This urge/ability to transform lasts until the next roll.

18-20*: strong lycanthropic transformation attempting to occur, roll another d20

->1-18: experience light uncomfortableness of lycanthropic transformation attempting to occur, can be suppressed. Emote/roleplay feeling ill, nauseated, dizzy, etc.

->19: transform into cat form, occurs within 10 real-time minutes, roll another d20
-> -> 19-20: occurs within 5 real-time minutes instead of 10

->20: transform into were form, occurs within 10 real-time minutes, roll another d20
-> -> 19-20: occurs within 5 real-time minutes instead of 10

Once transformed into cat/were, must stay in cat/were form for at least 1 in-game hour (approx 30 real-time minutes). Can choose to stay in cat/were form indefinitely.[/hide]
I ended up tweaking the numbers (roll every 1 IG hour for both day and night, 18-20 changed to 17-20) and the rules a bit because being unable to transform into animal/hybrid form on a whim made things a little boring. Plus, the numbers for being forced into transformation didn't occur anywhere near as frequently as I had originally expected.

Many of you have quickly learned that I love playing with forum account shenanigans. I used CatScratchFever early on for when I needed to post/send letters as the werecat; Sweetling for Old Stones business; and TheCrowSees for general espionage fun.

Now, some actual screenshots!

:3


There were a few cat-like habits that Safiya developed to hint at her lycanthrophy. For example:

She loathed water.



She frequently groomed herself:


And she suffered dizzy spells or a nasty cough when the d20 rolls indicated she came close to or is about to transform:


Talir gave Safiya an amazing piece of loot. The outfit looked so beautiful I actually loved and appreciated the look of it more than I did the stats.


Safiya, not surprisingly, made a lot of "friends", enemies, and frenemies.

An early enemy was Adari, as Safiya managed to rob/beat him down a few times in the Underwood. Eventually, however, some of the wildlings managed to capture Safiya and they slowly began influencing her (beyond pain of death if she slaughters another deer, that is):


Autumn was a wonderful "friend" and Safiya took an interest in messing with her in many, many ways.




But Autumn also managed to get under Safiya's skin. During a conversation about the Comitals, Autumn mentioned that she would rather kill herself than let the Comitals capture her. Seeing this as a form of suicide/a Sharran mindset, Safiya became invested in trying to change that aspect about Autumn's personality. In the end, Autumn managed to frustrate Safiya in a few ways of her own:


Saul is such a nice guy


Safiya flirted with just about everyone. How shameless!


Zalrathan, friendly, amiable, but rightfully suspicious! Safiya didn't agree with Zalrathan giving the Order their books back, but she didn't blame him at all--admired him, even--for doing what he wanted and damning the consequences!


Safiya and Brynae only met for a few, quick, violent moments, but it was enough to cement a hatred for one another.


Wino, Aberdenn Bannersman. Safiya didn't get to interact with him anywhere near as much as I would've liked unfortunately.


Zalrathan dubbed Safiya the "Spymistress of Mistlocke". A title she earned rather well, I would say:


Even though Safiya was taken in by Imal's charms, survival is more important to her. Thus, she lies, lies, lies.


Rolling with Gaeseric, because she can:


Safiya on womenly secrets:


I spent most of the time playing Safiya either in her human form or her werecat form. Her animal panther form I used when I felt like being playful:


Being chaotic evil, Safiya had a natural dislike of paladins (which was no doubt mutual). Here's Maeve and Safiya talking about those silly do-gooders:


Keeping up appearances was one of the key aspects of Safiya's Modus operandi. So here she is paying the Warlord's War Tax like a good and lawful citizen:


The balefire of Spear Champion Brann of Aberdenn.


Uncle Gadyw Aberdenn. Every family has one of "those" types of uncles and Gadyw was definitely it.


Drake Korbett... Being the paranoid woman that she was, Safiya never trusted him and never would, especially because he was a wizard and especially because he was part of the Conclave.


RwG knows how to say a damn good Fuck You! speech:


Easy was a man that Safiya grew fond of very quickly.


But then things took a turn for the worst. Safiya learned that Easy played a role in the torture and death of a suspected werewolf, having hired the halforc mercenary Ez'kus Kurkus to do the deed. After hearing this rumour, Ez'kus writes Safiya a letter saying that the Red Dragons were hired by Easy to "protect" Safiya. To poor, paranoid Safiya, this couldn't have sounded anymore like "HAHAHA KILLED A WEREWOLF YOUR NEXT CAT!" Thus, this lead to... THE HUNT OF EZ'KUS KURKUS!

Damned halforc stood AFK outside the Conclave for nearly TWO HOURS >_>


All the waiting and patience paid off, however!


Jonathon Delturai was an incredibly charming man who Safiya couldn't help but take a liking to, but what was this man really after...?






One of Safiya's first and best spies was the person known as the Seeker.




As time passed, however, the Seeker's interest in Safiya becomes more than professional. This lead to a dramatic scene where, wanting to change their relationship, the Seeker catches Safiya by surprise and gets a good look at Safiya's face. I don't think Safiya ever showed a more cruel, cold-hearted side than she does here.



The assassination of Nabu Bu'jak, Ruby Spy! This actually began when Nabu came across Safiya during a DM event and tried to evard's tentacle her. This followed with further PvP in the Old Stones. If Safiya was a nice person at all, she would have tried to help Nabu escape from the Comitals. But Safiya's not a nice person at all and has no qualms about killing and then using a man's death to her advantage.




The "trials" that Safiya went through whenever she was accused of lycanthropy was a blast to play through. In almost all of them she got through them with her quick wit and sharp tongue.


She also wasn't afraid to shamelessly flirt during them either!


All secrets never stay secret and eventually Safiya is stabbed by a silver dagger in front of Ealdorman Arthur Aberdenn himself. Her lycanthropy now proven, the cat is out of the bag. And here, Safiya has her own little KHAAAAAAN moment:


One of the greatest aspects of Safiya's story was the one she shared with Abigail. What was the nature of their relationship? Did Safiya really kill Abigail? Why? Some parts of the story I like to selfishly relish all to myself because only a few really know the truth, but here's a few tidbits!

Abigail was one of the few that Safiya got closest to most. She even confesses her lycanthrophy to Abigail... in her sleep...


Safiya had actually managed to get Abigail to reveal that Abigail had whispered many prayers to Shar. Because of Safiya's past, Safiya tries to do something about it but it didn't go so well!


Oh no! A witness to the murder of Abigail!


Hiding in some random cave, Safiya contemplates Abigail's murder. And here, her words reveal that even though Safiya was trying to save Abigail's soul, it was really her own that she was worried about most. Not only was she attempting to save Abigail's soul, but also her own by proxy.


After coming back from a "patrol", Safiya is surprised to find Abigail's remains so quickly within the Aberdenn Hall.


Despite being responsible for Abigail's death, Safiya had to deny, deny, deny, and keep up appearances. Was it all a show or did Safiya feel the emotions she displayed?


Death! I'm not sure what happened here or why, but that's the risk of playing monstrous PCs!


Never having any true friends she completely trusted, never truly giving care or love, Safiya is a doomed soul. Though she tried her best to thwart Shar and her dogma because of what she did in the past, it's more than likely that the Lady of Loss consumed Safiya's False soul as it lingered into obscurity in the Fugue.


[hide=OMG! Super spoiler!]Secrets revealed! Safiya al~Fatin is actually one of the Count's Rubies!
[/hide]

Ladies and gentlemen, that's the end of my screenshots. Feel free to post your own if you have any!

I would have loved to play Safiya some more as she either redeemed herself through team nature or descended into a mad lust for vengeance upon Mistlocke. But EfU is EfU but here our story is never just our story alone.

My many thanks to everyone who played a part, participated, and made it a blast. The cat has ran out of all nine lives, or so the saying goes.

Spiffy Has

An amazing and dynamic PC.

LiAlH4


Arch Rogue

lol brea, embarassing

Pandip

Wish Cillian had more time with her! But this was only a matter of time after everything started falling apart.

Good stuff. I seem to keep meeting PC's just before they meet their demise!

Kinslayer988

Caster Caster your so fine
your so fine you blow my mind
hey Caster, hey hey, hey Caster
<SkillFocuspwn> no property developers among men only brothers

Aethereal

A lovely story. And that super spoiler... most curious.
---
'Even life eternal is not time enough to see, all the folly and despair of poor Humanity.' - To Life - A Shoggoth on the Roof

It is through Art, and through Art only, that we can realise our perfection.

The Boom King

Needless to say I believe this character was the bees knees. Had a blast interacting with her.

TootsieRoll

Simply an awesome job with your character, and you give us all something to shoot for in our own characters developmant and RP.  Hats off to you Caster,  you are amazing.

Ebok

Safiya was a lot of fun to be around. I highly enjoyed the interplay. Looking forward to your next creation.

The_Sacrilegious_Scorn


Vlaid

I was so happy I got the chance to make good on the debt Kreegar owed so I could tell her organically why Kreegar helped her without knowing her.

I hope it tore her up inside XD

Canzah

What a great ride, Caster!

Looking forward to your next one.

Blue41

Lived far longer than most lycans deserve, though you did deserve it. Congrats on keeping up the mask for so long!
 
A character with many facets, many sides, which I told you enough times in our interactions. We had a difficult time determining Saafeiya's nature despite in spite of what we did know, and to me that marks what helps give a PC some true semblance of life. Can't/shouldn't be able to sum up another person in a few words, and that was definitely true for Safiya.
 
Deserved a better end than she got, but such is the lycan life.

Seeker

QuoteMissing you greatly, Sweetling.

You must be relishing those words.

Famous last words....

This is what I utterly loathe about EFU. You don't get to choose when your story ends. A wild ride with you, Caster, I loved every damned minute of it. A true shame we aren't allowed to progress further.

-Seeker