Vezz

Generally very stand-offish, Vezz has styled himself into a cold, unrepentant jerk, largely to keep other people at arm’s length. He’s brash, arrogant, egotistical, and condescending at the best of times, his rough temper and “all for me” attitude make him difficult to travel with. Bits of his better nature do shine through at times, however. He’s very good with kids, and one may even go so far as to call him “gentle” or “kind.” This even applies to human and norn children, and charr cubs. Threaten to hurt a youngster and he will absolutely end you. Should someone manage to get through the walls he’s built, they would make a steadfast and loyal friend. It’s simply hard to gain his trust.

Things fell apart for Vezz when despite his good relationship with the krewe he’d joined up with after his graduation, he was courted by the Inquest, tempted by a mesmer named Zaige who promised the notorious genius the opportunity to work without boundaries. It was a disaster from the word “go,” but despite constant hints that something was not quite right beneath the surface, he continued to look the other way. He was too busy, after all, to bother looking deeper into what could have potentially been a disastrous slew of facts. As for him, he never experimented on anything more sapient than a skritt.

It was late one evening nearly two years into his time with the Inquest that the line he’d drawn in the sand was crossed. Zaige came in to request his help with the project he’d been working on since long before Vezz joined, dragging a small, terrified progeny behind him. The girl was eight year old Kinna, the daughter of two members of his old krewe, and Zaige outlined what he wanted: he had been experimenting on particularly brilliant non-Inquest progeny to figure out how to create smarter golems. As this crossed over with Vezz’s own research, he thought the necromancer would be a like mind… and Kinna was both the next experiment and the final test of Vezz’s loyalty.

Vezz was outraged. He refused, tearing the complex to ruin in a rage and adrenaline fueled rush of combat. Zaige was the last to fall, killed in something between an act of self preservation and punishment, sacrificed to keep Vezz’s dead leg functional. Upon the end of the fight, he desperately searched to find where Zaige had hidden her, and once he found her, he fled hte facility as quick as he could move.

He returned Kinna home to Pheazza, departing to go into hiding shortly after. Treated with distrust due to his actions, he stayed far from Rata Sum, using his departure as a chance to contemplate the Eternal Alchemy and find a way to make amends for past misdeeds. He still wears the colors of the Inquest as a reminder of past mistakes… a personal vow to never make those same mistakes again.

After some time, he was approached by Zojja and, in exchange for protection from the Inquest and a way to make right for his past, he was offered a choice: be conscripted to help her with whatever she needed in her coming projects. This turned out to be a daunting task, but it led Vezz to joining the guild Artistic Integrity and eventually coming to the Order of Whispers. He made friends and alliances where he thought he never would, and ended up meeting Rissia, the sister of one of his former krewemates and a fellow necromancer. Though she was wary of him for quite some time, after they had assisted in the defeat of Zhaitan and traveled together to Dry Top, they grew quite close. It wasn’t until the fight against Balthazar that they realized their feelings fully, when Vezz was felled by Balthazar and spent several hours with his spirit trapped in the Domain of the Lost. When he fought his way back to life, the two confirmed their affections. They were married in the Lily of Elon before the final fight.

(more to come)