PLAYED BY: Tyler S. Dubey
CHARACTER NAME: Zhao Cao Bi
GENDER: Eunuch
CLASS: Mage
AGE: 41
RACE: Human
HAIR: bald
EYES: One brown, the other horribly damaged by poison and mana.
OCCUPATION: Alchemist, Potion/Draft maker, “Solution” brewer
KNOWN SKILLS: Arcane 1, Lore: Anatomy, Lore:Arcane Magic, Meditation, Poison Resistance, Profession Alchemist, Trade: Alchemist, Mana Reserve
BIRTHPLACE: ? (Knows he was found in Vandregon)
APPEARANCE: Wears an eye patch to cover a horribly damaged eye that can only see in shades of grey.
NOTABLE TRAITS: Shady, Hard to Read, Smells of Odd Spices and Herbs, a superb sense of taste.
Bio:
Poison… There is such an interesting fear around the word… A drop of liquid, a puff of smoke, a plume of dust; all of these can inspire fear… Which makes sense, any of those that I mentioned could kill anyone from a farmer to an emperor. Which may explain my childhood, a childhood routed in death, torture, and that sweet mysterious word that brings fear to entire countries…
I was born, not to any family, I was simply born, and abandoned, left to live in squalor in the streets of the capital’s shadow. It wasn’t till I was about five that the other street waste and myself were rounded up and herded to a building in the countryside.
‘You all have been given a glorious chance to serve the Royal Family! If you decide to agree, you will be given food, a home, and even a job!’ Said the officials.
They were not lying, but they for sure never told us what we would be doing… For the next eight years would have been nothing but horror to a normal being. We were used as test subjects for poison, addiction, magical torture, healing, and the study of disease. In the first year, out of the thousand that were brought in, 749 died a painful agonizing death. Those of us who remained, we continued our pitiful station as mere playthings for the Alchemists who worked for the Vandregonian Royal Family…
After three more years, only fifty of us remained. By this time, I had started to develop a resistance to the poisons they were issuing to me. But there was another talent, a talent I kept hidden for the better part of a year. I could taste it, the different ingredients. Yes, the flavors became so familiar to me over the years that I could tell what was different and what was similar. This secret became public when they looked in my chamber carefully, they found that I was recording the poison’s I was subjected to. Of course they were not happy at first, and I was punished to the point of physical impairment. My left eye became so damaged by the magical poison’s that all it can see out of it is now in shades of grey. To top this pain off, they made sure I would never forget hiding such information from them again. They tore away my identity as a male and turned me into a Eunuch.
After this event, I began to show potential to handle arcane magic. Maybe it was due to the trauma, maybe it was always within me, I may never know the truth of its origin. I am however thankful for the change in my body for it got me out of the bowels of that experiment. In return I was seated with a rather respected alchemist and mage that helped out the guards of the Royal Family. It is during that time that I was really able to begin to hone my skills for the art of alchemy. I finally was able to put names to the ingredients that I could taste in each concoction that he showed and allowed me to sample. The feelings of joy during those days were countless. The learning, the experimenting on solutions, mixtures, antidotes, poisons; all of it precious to me.
At one point, I believe I was about nearing twenty, we got word of some terrible news… We had to evacuate and run to the port. However on our way to the port, my master and myself got separated from the flow of the crowd by a swarm of undead. The horror, the terror, the beauty; I never seen something so interesting and mystifying. We had to run, and we ran for sometime before we got to safety, the safety of Aldoria.
During the frequent travels from village to village, my master finally gave into both exhaustion and old age. I did him the favor and burned him after his death, not before I took all of his notes and journals that he kept hoarding. I finally made my way to an Aldorian boat and snuck onto it, knowing it was heading to this “new place” that people kept trying to go to.
I then found myself in the colonies, a place of hopeless people having to fight to survive… I didn’t do much during this time other than sell some potions from time to time. But when the war ended, that changed. I began to set up shop in some gods forsaken alleyway in New Hope. It is here that I ply my trade and study my passions. My passions of alchemy, particularly poison being the fruits of my hard labor.
Yes, that funny and fearful word that brought me such pain is now my obsession and my most profitable item. People would come from all over the city and sometimes from the other colonies for my products. All of those people came for different reasons, some to save others, some to save themselves, others to make other suffer, sometimes even kill them. I gladly provided them what they needed, and do so to this very day.
So that is why I am here my good patron… So… What can Zhao Cao Bi do to make your dreams come true….
(Please note that the above may or may not be true… Zhao Cao Bi tends to be a liar )
Update:
Zhao has seemingly vanished into thin air. No one really knows where he has gone or what he has been up to. It is known that he took a gift from the Dark Deity of the Mordok known as The Mother. Some share whispers that they have seen him about at night by the docks of Newhope.