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Quinlan Mannix, the wizard trouble-stabber:

Even if Quinlan, who most often appears to be in his early thirties, is neither overtly muscular nor particularly endurable, he often claims to be in good shape for his age, a claim which one must consider correct if the fact is taken into account that he is actually 97.

A highly-skilled wizard, Quinlan has devoted his wizardry pursuits towards more “hands-on” sorts of spells, primarily of the kind that offers more or less temporary enhances of his own body or mind (his ageing, for instance, was last halted by a powerful spell of his own creation, well over a quarter of a decade ago).

Despite being technically attached to the Academy of Arcane Arts, Quinlan does very little to interact with other magicians. In fact, most of the junior and even quite a few of the Academy’s senior members have no idea of what Quinlan looks like, as his visits there during the last fifty years amount to less than half a dozen.

This is a sign of the suspicion with which Quinlan views other wizards, sorcerers and magicians, to a level that makes even other practitioners of his field of knowledge seem naïve and gullible in comparison.

In fact, Quinlan doesn’t even like the vast majority of his colleagues, a fact demonstrated by the fact that he is a man capable of changing his appearance to almost anything within reason (he can assume the physical characteristics of a muscular youngster from far to the south, but not those of a chair) he consistently refuses to take on an appearance that is “wizard-like”.

Further, his manners and general behaviour is more like those of a cynical borderline-drunkard than those of a gentleman highly skilled in the field of the arcane.

His collection of spells, both those that he have designed on his own or learned from others, is something which he keeps well-hidden from everyone else, particularly the spells such as his powerful youth-ritual, which is virtually unique in Tharros as well as in the rest of the world.

All of this is explained by Quinlan’s background. Born as the third son of a leading noble in Boudice, one of the kingdoms located on the large island to the Northwest of Zoracia, Quinlan was sent to Tharros in his mid-teens, after his father the duke had grown tired of his son’s anti-authoritarian behaviour and his lewd indiscretions, indiscretions which were more appropriate to a bandit king in one of the islands’ northern kingdoms, but not in Boudice, where the nobles were doing their best to adapt to the more “sophisticated” ways of Zoracia.

It was the duke’s hope that the combination of the education from the Academy of Arcane Arts and Tharros’ extravagant nightlife, which was already then something that was well-renowned throughout Erodoria, would serve to quell young Quinlan’s outrageous behaviour.

But of course it didn’t.

Upon graduating from the Academy with his professor labelling him as “Brilliant, but intolerable”, Quinlan returned to Boudice, arriving there just weeks after his father had passed away in another of the wars that was fought between the kingdoms with depressing frequency.

After congratulating his oldest brother on being invested as the new duke, Quinlan said goodbye to his family and returned to Tharros, to the pleasure and relief of the entire family.

Once in Tharros again, Quinlan accepted the post as a special investigator with the Academy, and has remained as such for the last seventy-five years.

As an investigator with a reputation that borders on legend, Quinlan is semi-independent from the Academy, only having to carry out his role half a dozen times a year, when the Dean decides that a case in of such a complicated nature that none of the more ordinary investigators can deal with it.

When he hasn’t manipulated his appearance, Quinlan is a relatively fit man in his early thirties, with no excess fat but no bulging muscles, with curls of charcoal-coloured hair and a deeply tanned skin. His eyes are pale blue and he is relatively tall, especially for a 97-year old wizard.

Zair, the eunuch that grew himself a pair:
As is often the case, Jadhi as a political and cultural entity didn’t come about in a vacuum. If anything, it was the revolt against the King of Malawa that unified the different peoples into an alliance that eventually developed into the Empire of Jadhi.

The kingdom of Malawa lost the war against the rebels, and much of its power, with the king and his followers retreating to the arid but easily defensible area known as Hattin Mountains, and it’s still around in the present, holding on to customs which are as old as some of them are barbaric.

One of the more barbaric customs is that of maintaining an elite cadre of castrated warriors, the eunuchs, whose members are slaves captured in the ongoing conflict between Malawa and Jadhi. The boys are treated well enough, and have all been trained and prepared to lay down their lives in the fight to restore Malawa to its former might.

One of the finest of the eunuchs’ as far back as anyone can remember was Zair, a man who outshone his comrades when it came to physical as well as mental capabilities, rising to a high rank despite having several years left until his 30th birthday.

Zair is not an evil man, but rather a good man loyal to a cause which most outsiders can only view as despicable. Possessing a code of honour and the integrity to follow it at all times, Zair led his men by example first and foremost, never allowing himself the risks which they were exposed to.

And in a display of cosmic justice, the agents of Jadhi which were sent out to deal with Zair refrained from simply assassinating him.

Instead their leader, a very competent female sorceress, cast a spell which restored Zair’s lost manhood, and then teleported both herself and him out into the wilderness.

After seducing the shocked and baffled Zair and spending a night showing him the vast pleasures of lovemaking, the sorceress then cast another teleportation spell, one which sent Zair to Tharros, were he has just arrived, still only hours after being made a whole man again.

A giant of a man, Zair stands well over six and a half feet tall, with bulging muscles and a rich, dark complexion. His black hair has been kept short-cropped, and his emerald-coloured eyes reflect his strong intellect with their strong glow.

As he was cast out from his homeland right after his first experience of coitus, and even of arousal itself, Zair is horny, confused and completely void of any possessions, having arrived in an alley in Tharros unarmed and unclothed.

Kahil Sami:
Born in Tharros, Kahil was the second son of a Jadhi nobleman, who had been exiled for heresy and extortion. While his father spent the rest of his life bitterly claiming that he was innocent, and his older brother dreamed of restoring the family honour and reclaiming his father’s position in the old country, Kahil was more interested in creating a future for himself in Tharros. However, as his father’s fall from grace had resulted in Kahil missing out on the education fitting to a nobleman’s son, he had to find more direct ways of rising up through society. For Kahil, a strong man with above-average intelligence, this resulted in him becoming a fixer; something between an investigator, a bodyguard and a mercenary. While the job was often dirty and bloody, a successful fixer could be hired by one of the noble houses of Tharros, ensuring plenty of gold and a good social position.

Despite still being young, Kahil has managed to make himself known as a competent and discrete fixer, even if he is still far from reaching his goal of becoming employed by one of the noble houses.

With raven black hair and brown eyes, Kahil is roughly six and a half feet tall, and is stronger than most men of his size. Highly skilled with the bow and more than able to defend himself in a swordfight, Kahil is a dangerous adversary.