Nima Askari
thegreatbeargod
- Created
- 2 years, 6 months ago
- Creator
- thegreatbeargod
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Profile
And I'll show up on the front lines with a purpose.
Nima Askari
About
air genasi . war magic wizard . neutral good
Nima is quiet and decidedly chilly towards strangers. He tries to keep to himself, opening up only to those who have proven, at least to some degree, that he can trust them. He can tend to be short with people, even those he cares about at times.
In private, though, Nima is largely gentle and kind, always looking out for those who are important to him. When he feels safe enough to, he enjoys painting and writing poetry, and he knows the symbolism of most flowers native to his home world.
Likes
- painting
- writing poetry
- flowers
- quiet
Dislikes
- elitists
- being underappreciated
- crowds
- his father, probably
Backstory
This section contains spoilers! Fellow Endless Carnival players, please don't click on spoiler sections!
The Florist's Son
Nima had not been a part of Soraya’s plans, and she didn’t know when he would be taken from her by his father, but even so, she loved him with all her heart and swore to do everything she could to give him a happy childhood.
She taught him many things. To be kind and to care for others. To stand up for himself when people would take advantage or be unkind. To hide their true religion from the other members of the community who were not always understanding. To garden and to cook and to write pretty words.
Their little home was always safe, always warm, always full of love. But as Nima grew, he became more and more aware of the ways his mother struggled for his sake, and while he helped around the house as much as she would let him, it never felt like enough.
The Scholar
At eighteen, he grew restless and decided he wanted to hone the little magic he was able to cast. He managed to secure a scholarship to a prestigious magic school and, though he knew he would miss home, he took his first steps into the world beyond Selvadina, with high hopes for where he would go from here, and how this opportunity would give him the chance to give back to his mother.
Shortly before leaving, Nima gathered up his group of friends and they snuck into a carnival that was in town. Though it seemed like a good idea at the time, Nima’s sight in his left eye suddenly began to fade over the course of the night, and by the time he woke up the next morning, he was completely blind in that eye.
Having only one good eye made things difficult, but he still went to college fully optimistic. A lack of depth perception made for some close calls while practicing, but he managed alright. Not long after he had started school, though, he accidentally bumped into an upperclassman who happened to specialize in magical items. When Nima apologized and explained about his vision, the older student excitedly offered to give him a magical tattoo that, while it wouldn’t return his eyesight, would at least help him to judge distances.
With his lack of vision causing significantly less problems, now, Nima thought that college would go wonderfully. Here, he thought he would have the freedom to worship his goddess, Aubrille, the Whispering Tempest, one of the Old Elven gods, openly. He had misjudged, though, and a few months after he had started school, a group of other students who had learned he didn’t follow the Saints cornered and attacked him. One of them wielded a dagger and left Nima with a bad cut over his thankfully already blind left eye. Luckily, before the group could do any worse damage, another student, a tall, brown-haired woman with freckles, shooed them away, threatening to kill them if they didn’t leave him alone.
This was how Nima met Mali, who took him back to his dorm and cleaned him up, who bonded with him over not following the Saints and who took him under her wing. They quickly became inseparable, and soon Mal was the only person at school who Nima was himself around. Toward everyone else, he was quiet and gruff and irritable, but with Mal he could be soft and kind like his Mama had taught him to be.
Throughout the rest of their time in college, Nima and Mal stuck together, and even after they graduated and went down separate paths, they kept in touch as much as possible, visiting whenever they got the chance.
The Soldier and the Sailor
After four years of constant work, Nima graduated college with plenty of opportunities for work. Though several were much more appealing, the job that would earn him the most money to send back to his Mama and that best suited his magical specialties was in the navy.
With his training, he started as an ensign, and one of a small handful of war mages on his ship’s crew. It wasn’t a job he enjoyed, but at least he was helping his mother, after all she had done for him.
The Feytouched
Nearing the end of Nima’s fourth year serving in the navy, he received a letter from his mother. It said that she had fallen ill, that it wasn’t serious and he shouldn’t upend his life because of it, that she didn’t need help. Nima took leave and went home anyway, concerned. Soraya hadn’t lied, she would be okay without his help, but he could tell she struggled with her work, and he was glad to be there to help her.
About a week after he had returned home, the carnival he had snuck into years prior returned to town and Nima gathered up a few old friends to go back and reminisce, this time actually purchasing tickets. But while watching performances in one of the tents, Nima nodded off, waking up to an empty—or nearly empty—tent, dark and quiet.
Here, Nima met the people who would end up being his companions while trying to find a way out of the Endless Carnival, a constantly expanding, fey-controlled demiplane made up almost entirely of circus tents. Xyriel Malfyire, the bright and curious blue gem dragonborn paladin. Roscoe Evangeline, an enigma of a bugbear artificer with his strange lights and screens and noises. And Vaast Aspenfall, the infuriatingly gorgeous water genasi druid with iridescent hair that shone like an oil slick.
The four of them were quickly met by a member of the Merry Meet, the least selective of the several factions of people stuck here. After being taken in by the group, the four of them began to take on whatever jobs they could, getting more powerful and gaining more knowledge of the demiplane.
During one such job, Nima, while being continuously charmed by shadow creatures, suddenly had time slow and a voice pop into his head, telling him to make a wish. Immediately, Nima wished for his mother to recover from her illness. The voice told him that, if she still had the power to do so “when this is all over", she would grant his wish, then offered a deal to him. She would make him immune to the shadows’ charming effects for the time being, in exchange for a later favor.
This was not the last time Nima heard from her. In fact, she became a regular sight in his dreams. He soon discovered that it was none other than the Ringmistress, the fey apparently responsible for this demiplane. Eventually, she made the terms of their deal a little more clear: “When the time comes, do what’s right." And she continued to be vocal in his mind, even in his waking hours.
Slowly, Nima became more and more comfortable with his party members, though he and Vaast often butted heads at first. Nima soon found, though, that he was quite fond of the druid, and the two quickly bonded when they put aside their differences for a moment, becoming friends with benefits and finding themselves a little more panicked than they had anticipated being when the other got hurt in a fight.
Now, the four of them are journeying closer to the center of the Endless Carnival, where greater threats await them and the Ringmistress holds the secrets that they seek.
Relationships
"When you move / I'm put to mind of all that I wanna be / When you move / I could never define all that you are to me"
"If I'm as crooked as the shoreline and jagged as these rocks / I've kept my heart locked inside that old wooden box / that I built from pieces of my shipwreck at sea / Knowing all you know, why do you still love me?"
"I've heard the words, they finally ring / and I'm sure my worth isn't balanced on one thing / it is earned by learning from the songs my mother sings / and she sings / Love you child, you're my own / Damn those standards, you're not those"
"I'm rehearsing what to say when the truth comes out (of my very own mouth) / I've been working on a unified theory / If I make it through tonight, everybody's gonna hear me out"
"Loathe the way they light candles in Rome / but love the sweet air of the votives / Hurt and grieve but don't suffer alone / Engage with the pain as a motive"
"My wit's not good for much but thinking up useless stuff to say / like 'My hopes are sleeping quietly in bed / 'cause you told me not to get them up dreamin' one day you'd commit.'"
"Funny how it all works out in the end / You're playing with fire, living in sin / Nothing's ever free, no, nothing's ever free / is it now, is it?"
