Backstory
Akash grew up around the harsh hands of his father, Herak M’ke. Herak was a political straightest, navigating the in’s and outs of operating a trade house. He was cunning in his ability to craft complex plans and remained one step ahead of many of his rivals. House M’ke grew quite a bit under his leadership. Herak rule was one from a place of fear, and he had a clear reputation of brutality. On one occasion, he organized the killing of every noble within a lesser trade house that was attempting to compete with him far too close.
His brutality manifested in many ways, he was harsh with servants and slaves in the M’ke estate and those that operated his various business. He believed that strength is forged under pressure, and he applied this to his parenting. He expected nothing but perfection of his three boys. The eldest, Akash, was set to inherit all that his father had built and to him, he was the most unforgiving. Herak’s favorite way to implement discipline with his children was the same way with his slaves, a whip. Although Herak had a special whip for his children, a small whip of sleek leather. His larger barbed whip he used on slaves would cut gashes into flesh that did not easily heal.
Each of the sons spent time studying the blade from an old elven man named Mayz, the families’ weapon master. Mayz had good rapport with each of the boys and was fairly likable. Although he prepared them for duels with his father. Unless the boys spared to his standards. It would end in a beating. Akash enjoyed this part of his childhood. The competition with his brothers and marveling at the skill of Mayz made him excited to train with the sword. Akash gravitated to the spear. it was the weapon that got him the closest to beating his father.
Herak also believed strongly in education. He wanted his sons not just to be strong, he wanted them to be good leaders, good fighters and good scholars. Akash was set to study the histories of leaders Athas has had throughout the ages, and how each of the sorcery kings maintained rule in their respective cities. This type of study interested Akash very little. His preference was instead some of the slim pieces of poetry that can be found throughout Athas. He would attempt to sneak pieces of poetry from the library. In them, he found great wisdom beyond that of the histories of the Sorcerer kings.
Akash was also entrusted with many tasks around the estate. He found himself leading groups of the slaves in the house in many of their daily activities. He grew close to many of them, especially those with stories of their various homelands and cultures. Although many of the slaves were born slaves and destined to die slaves.
It was here that Akash grew most distinct from his father. He found himself finding more and more friends among the slaves and few among his own family.
Leaving M’ke
The event that finally pushed Akash over the edge was an example his father made. Akash and Herak had a huge tension between them. Akash had been the perfect son in many ways. He was wonderful with the blade, able even to best Herak on many occasions. He managed most of the estate now and did so very efficiently He was also extremely well liked by everyone he met, many of the other dukes and nobles has daughters that they had offered to Herak as a bride to his eldest. But there was one thing about Akash that bothered Herak above all else. He was just too soft. He had never once disciplined a servant. Not only that, but he showed very little brutality in his actions in general, even in a fight he was rarely brutal or angry, he fought elegantly but powerfully with passion. This softness his father feared would lead his house to ruin when he was gone. In order to instill this lesson in his son, he demanded he make an example. Herak pick at random from the slaves Akash managed and tied one to a post, demanding Akash give him 30 lashings. This was an air genasi slave named Whirl Buckland, wife to Askash’s best friend Zephyr Buckland. Akash refused to hold the whip, so Herak decided to give Whirl 100 lashings instead. On his knees, Akash begged for him to stop, until Whirl was but a pulp of what she once was, dead. Herak then ordered Zephyr be tied to the post, but the very thought broke Akash, he seized the whip from his father hands and turned it on him. Akash began beating his father, while the slaves watching attempted to deal with the guards. It wasn’t until the slaves cried for help that Akash got off of his father and helped dispatch of the guards, he grabbed a spear from one of their hands and made short for of them. Akash gave one last look at his father. Bleeding on the ground, stunned but still alive, and ran. Akash and Zephyr fled the complex with 20 other slaves.
Akash and Zephyr’s group traveled for 2 years in the wilderness. Herak sent bounty hunters after them on several occasions. Between that, the beasts of Athas and the harsh elements only 4 of their original party remained. Their goal was Zephyr’s druidic tribe. The group eventually made it only to find ruins. Some men had slaughtered the druids and stolen the air loci that was the center of their worship. a few druids had survived the onslaught and joined Akash and Zephyr to retrieve the loci. They eventually caught up to the group. They were a very well-trained group employed by the great houses. A huge battle took place, booms of thunder and steel and steel whipped through the landscape, there was incredible bloodshed on both sides. Only one remained, Akash. Zephyr had died brutally during the battle. But Akash had also managed to dispatch the very last bandit.
Akash made it to the air loci, and it was there that he heard a voice. Delkhii introduced himself and thanked Akash for protecting a source of his power from a vile purposed. He told Akash that he say great potential in him, and demanded that he asked for something in return. Akash asked that “my friend Zepher would be with me again” Delkhii grabbed the spirit of Zepher and placed him within a small ornate lamp. Zepher’s spirit is only a mistly form within the lamp, but serves as an ambassador between Akash and Delkhii from within the lamp.
This lamp, imbued with Delkhii’s energy, allowed Akash to tap into that power from the elemental plane and cast his first spells. Delkhii Gave Akash this first gift with no catch, as repayment for saving the air loci.
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What Caleb give me
This is a bit haphazard, but I think it’s a good start.
https://www.worldanvil.com/w/the-aether-zhoru/a/house-m-ke-organization https://www.worldanvil.com/w/the-aether-zhoru/a/elementals-article?preview=true
You are pacted to an Elemental Lord by the name of Delkhii. That makes you an “elemental priest” in Athasian terminology, though your bond is far more rigid and official than the relationship of other priests and their elementals (see elemental article).
Delkhii thrives on freedom. He believes in no mercy for slavers, often having his priests wreak as much havoc upon the slavers’ lives as possible, often through mischievous means. He delights in chaos. You are the only priest he has taken, or so he claims. You entered this pact in part because you had incidentally aligned goals in ruining the days of slavers. This caught the attention of Delkhii who initiated the pact after you raided a caravan of slavers (this could be swap from sorcerer to warlock).
Each level of Warlock has come at the cost of some sort of deal with Delkhii. You ask for a power, which is usually granted immediately, then you suffer an unexpected consequence and must complete a task for Delkhii to remove the effect. The two of you enjoy a chaotic jousting of asking for powers in exchange for a temporary hanidcap that you must work to remove. The first few were benign: The ability to ability to kill foes from range (eldritch blast) with the detereiment that any spell cast within 30ft. of another person failed. This negative effect was removed in exchange for killing a slaver ring within House M’ke; The ablity to fly in exhange for wiping out a series of elemental priests from an encroaching elemental lord but until then the wind always was exceptionally strong whenever you flew, often making it impossible.” (You could come up with a boon/penality for each level, or just make a few.) The latest ask has been the most difficult, in exchange for “the ability to see the heart of a man, to know whether he is a slaver and hater of freedom by just a glance”, you were granted such an ability, but your regular sight was removed as a consequence (This would mean mechanically you have blindsight out to a specific range, but can only see living things with it; since this is a decently annoying thing, I am happy to completely change the question/quest as you see fit). Your goal to alleviate this burden is to “convince the Gambler of Destiny to give you her mask”. You have figured out that the Destiny’s Gambler was a title (in Giant) gifted to the foremost skald of the reclusive Kurul Narandor, last noted to inhabit the Isle of Bones, thus your travel to the Kalinday region before its unfortunate demise. Given that that you have been gone for at least 40 years (once your character figures that out), it is likely that this Kurul has migrated to a new region all together.
Truthsight Pact: Until your next pact objective is complete, you can only see truth, not light. You are blind by normal means but have Truthsight out to 90ft. Truthsight allows you to detect and sense other creatures’ inherent tendency to tell the truth, which you sense as heat for truth and chill for deception. You can detect this quality in others with pinprick accuracy, allowing you to target any creature detected with this ability with a spell or attack as if you had sight, given that they are in range. You are still limited though. Spells or abilities that target a point you can see can only target points within a 5ft. radius of a creatue you can see with Truthsight. As an action, you can concentrate your mind on a specific creature within 30ft. as if you were concentrating on a spell. The creature makes a Charisma saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failure, you learn whether each statement said by that creature is true or false for the next minute. The creature is not aware of this effect. On a success, a creature is immune to this effect for the next 24 hours.
Truthsight (90 ft) You can only sense other creatures and a 5ft area around them. attack as if you had sight, given that they are in range. You are still limited though. Spells or abilities that target a point you can see can only target points within a 5ft. radius of a creatue you can see with Truthsight
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