Syn Pyxis

Growing up in a city that showed disdain towards changelings, Syn spent much of his young life as someone not himself. Instead of running around as a changeling named Syn, he often took the form of a young wood-elf named Tavi. He lived with loving parents, but by the time he was in his late teens, the youngster wanted more than a life stuck in one plac: he wanted to travel, to learn and meet new people.

Under the same guise, Syn ran from home, stowing away on a ship that would take him across the sea, to a land that promised adventure. He, of course, was found: a kindly older tabaxi discovered him and when the rest of the crew wanted to drop him off at the next port, Bird that Sings took him in, promising to teach him about the innate magic he seemed to possess.

They traveled across the seas and Syn found he loved the freedom of the ocean, wanting nothing more than to spend eternity there, on the ship, with the crew he called family (and they were family: From Bird, who taught him to sing and play; the captain and first mate, Eban and Torin, who taught him how to survive on the seas, and the others of the crew, who adopted the 15-year old as one of their own.

The voyage to Faerun, to Waterdeep, was perilous, and days before they reached their destination, disaster struck, and their ship was attacked and in the battle, Bird was killed. As much as Syn loved the family he found on The Skylark, he couldn't bring himself to continue traveling with them, rather going and finding a place for himself in the city of Waterdeep.

Syn's first experience of Waterdeep was a harrowing one: a youngster, newly traveling by themselves in a new place, it was strange to be there. Still as Tavi - no matter how far he traveled, he didn't think he'd ever truly be fully comfortable sharing his true form to strangers - he befriended a Dragonborn healer due to a reckless act on his part, and Axandir took him in, teaching the young bard the basics of healing, both magically and not.

Axandir became his guardian and all was well until the city guard came to call, looking for the young wood-elf. Axandir was injured in the scuffle, and later, once the guards left, lost his life. Refusing to let the healer's memory die, Syn took on their form and mantle.

A year or two passed, and eventually felt like Syn needed to leave. So he packed up the apothecary and things and went elsewhere. Being a healer on the road was helpful, but he wanted something new, and that’s when he found Herr Plasmius’ Phantom Bizarre., a traveling show. He went to a show as an elven woman, Ophelia, and fell in love, and asked if they were looking for performers. She started as a tailor, making costumes - something she could already do - and consistently asked to be trained to use the silks and things like that.

A tiefling named Odd trained her on the silks, and together they built an act, playing off each other in a story of the god of the seas and the goddess of the skies. They became close friends, and Odd was the one to convince Ophelia to get the tattoos on the back of her neck and leg, even designing them for her, for one of their other members to bring to life on her skin, in what would be a remembrance of her time with Herr Plasmius’ Phantom Bizarre.

Six months into her venture, the troupe stopped in Cairval and Ophelia decided to hop ship, promising she’d be back someday. Ophelia became Ryland, a drow he remembered vaguely from childhood. He took over a flower shop that had been slowly dying, and reopened it under new ownership.

Ryland Telyth made a home for himself, a studio, and a place he could be happy, to ignore the world for a little bit to paint. He reopened his little shop, L'salkin Tessai - The Dancing Blossom - and he was happy.

He lived in Cairval until gnolls attacked the village, burning it to the ground. He helped the folks he had come to treat as good friends escape, and in the end, Syn decided to lay Ryland to rest, disappearing, leaving the villagers that knew him well to believe that he had been killed by the gnolls or the flames.

Syn was taken by the gnolls that didn’t die to the flames, amused by his silver hair and skin, and brought to their pack leader, who decided he’d make a pretty addition to their collection. The addition of a heavy gold collar - magic suppressing - and rings in his ears kept Syn by their side until an adventuring party helped him escape.

He traveled with them for some time, their cleric healing what they could, though some things couldn't be healed by magic alone. Tavi, as he'd reverted to when he wasn't himself, had nightmares of his time with the gnolls, ones that kept him awake far into the night. He couldn't talk, weeks of being under the gnolls' care made him wary, nervous, as the gnolls had hurt him when he spoke out of line.

The party never did that, but he always seemed to be waiting for the other shoe to drop. While in one of the larger cities, Misstel, Tavi found a little black cat, a tripod fellow, missing a leg, and he immediately was obsessed. The cleric thought it might help to have a critter like that, and so the little cat, Ezra, joined their group. He still didn't talk, but Tavi held his own on the journey towards Silverymoon, learning basic signs and the like to communicate with the group.

He traveled with them for some time, their cleric healing what they could, though some things couldn't be healed by magic alone. Tavi, as he'd reverted to when he wasn't himself, had nightmares of his time with the gnolls, ones that kept him awake far into the night. He couldn't talk, weeks of being under the gnolls' care made him wary, nervous, as the gnolls had hurt him when he spoke out of line.

When they finally reached Silverymoon, Tavi was introduced to a professor, a friend of the cleric, who was impressed with his musicality and offered him a place at the school's performing center. Tavi learned how to write music, how to weave notes until they portrayed more than what words could ever dream of. It was at this time, he began to speak again, starting with soft songs, tunes, humming and then singing. It took time, but he pushed himself to let go of the past and look to the future.

He later returned to his first home in Faerün: Waterdeep, where he found a place on The Rosalaid's stage, playing to the people - every class, every race - as Antaris Quiven, the red-haired, mischievous, green-eyed half-elf that wove stories with his viol and with his words.

Life was a breeze for Antaris: his days were filled with exploring the city with those he befriended, writing and playing music, and practicing while nights were on stage, beautifully designed silks and cloth draped across his form, the music and magic weaving around him as he shared his stories - and if there were late nights spent in the lower districts, helping those who couldn't help themselves, under the guise of another, well… No one could ever pin it back to the musician, now could they?

He lived in Waterdeep for quite some time, but as fate is want to do, when Antaris was at the height of his career, he found himself at a loss.

Antaris was happy in Waterdeep, but the need to travel overwhelmed him, and famed musician Antaris Quiven vanished without so much a warning.

Syn traveled north as Tavi once more and eventually found himself in Luskar, where he took up odd jobs and the like. Things were easy enough, but being a newcomer in a town like Luskar often gave a target on one’s back, and Tavi found himself being followed one night.

It was a trio of folks, individuals that Syn never got the names of, but they cornered him in an alley and when Tavi claimed that he had nothing for them, they planned to kill him, until a tiefling stepped in: dark-grey, nearly black skin, horns that looked like they had been sawed off, and bright crimson eyes.

Tavi never got their name either, but the tiefling took one of the men down before they wizened up and killed him.

Tavi didn’t know what to do, and he cast the only spell that came to mind: crown of madness, and forced one of them to kill the other before taking the tiefling and dragging them to try and save them. It was, unfortunately, much too late, and Syn blamed himself once more for another’s death.

In an attempt to repay their sacrifice, Syn took their form and thus became Rigel Heliot.

Rigel Heliot was a pirate, he soon discovered, a crew member - a ranking one at that - on a ship by the name of The Fiend’s Howl, captained by a half-elf named Petras Quinton.

Rigel was a gunner, and while Syn didn’t quite know what he was supposed to do, he learned quickly, with the help of a man by the name of Adrian Graves, a quiet sort who seemed to be close to the form that Syn had taken on. He allowed the affection, eventually actually falling for the man.

Mere months into their journey, Rigel was interested to hear mutterings, individuals who were not so pleased with the way Petras was running things, maybe someone else could do better, they whispered, and Rigel - with his sharp grin and watching eyes, took the chance to sway things into his favor. Whenever they took a chance in port, they’d plot and scheme, Rigel going behind Adrian’s back more often than not, to plan for the eventual mutiny that would place Rigel in command and Petras at the bottom of the sea.

He had a close group that would help him take command: Nikita, a tiefling, a swordsman like him, who would become Rigel's first mate and quartermaster. Tatyin, a dragonborn, the surgeon on the Howl, and a tabaxi named Cadence on Water, among others.

He had hoped that Adrian would join them, but the man was fiercely loyal to Petras, Rigel soon discovered.

They went ahead with the plan, attacking at midnight, taking everyone by surprise, and by morning, it was no longer Petras Quinton that was captain, but Rigel Heliot. It took time, but many seemed to enjoy the change in command. Adrian however never saw eye-to-eye with his captain after that, the tensions between the two rising until Adrian tried to get him arrested in port, hailing a navy ship that had been tailing them.

Rigel took that… not well, and he threatened to have Adrian's head, and likely would have, if not for Nikita holding him back, allowing the other man a chance to escape. With Adrian gone, the Howl turned to bigger prizes: other pirates, military ships, even the odd village or town along the coast.

It came to a head when Adrian tried to confront them head on, and it ended in the other man's death, shot through the heart with a smoking gun, tossed off the ship for the sharks. He sank Adrian's ship, killed their men, leaving one to explain to their higher ups who had let them live while the rest were left to rot under the waves.

For a time, things were normal. No navy ships followed The Howl, but there were signs: bounties on his head, and those of his crew, and in response, Rigel became erratic. He believed there was another traitor among his crew, only truly trusting those closest to him: Cadence, Nik and Tatyin. They were the only ones who knew his secret, of course.

Over a few weeks, Rigel collected whatever treasure they had found, split it between the crew and revoked their contracts with the Howl, letting them leave their post. The last to leave was Tatyin, the dragonborn worried for their friend, even when the tiefling insisted that it would be fine. Finally, they left, and Rigel was left - blessedly - alone.

Running The Howl into the rocks was the hardest thing he'd had to do, and while the general populace believed Captain Rigel Heliot do be dead, Syn felt the shame of knowing he hadn't gone down with his ship.

He returned to Luskar under a new name and a new face, a thief named Zephyr. He made his home in an abandoned temple, taking a few younger kids under his wing until merely weeks into his new life, a Lord's guards came to call, and he let the kids escape, at the expense of his own capture. Zephyr - or Syn, as Parish Anselme Savoy seemed to realize he was a changeling and Syn knew it was useless to hide - had two options: prison or helping the man eek out rats among his court.

It was a deal Syn couldn't refuse - room, board, any resources he might need - and he accepted, taking on yet another new face.

Lyric was easy to become: easy going, a friend to any, and willing to lend an ear, even to the troubles of the court. No one would ever guess that he was the Lord of the Houses' spymaster. And that's what made him good. His endless charisma and charm made others let down their guard.

He helped Parish clean house, removing those he found wanted the Lord dead with the ease of a practiced spy. It was easy to give others the change to hang themselves with their gossip and complaints. Things were good, and Lyric had grown close to the other man and his family, almost treating the Savoy house as his own, and it wasn't until someone tried to assassinate Parish that Lyric left the estate.

He was tasked with going undercover in Misstel, a place he hadn't traveled to in some time, searching for the would-be killer among the mercenaries and members of The Crimson Crescent, a well-known guild in Faerun.

Aquiring a letter was easy enough, they didn't really bother to check the validity of it, and Lyric fit himself into the ranks, forming a group and taking on jobs, becoming more trusted as time went on.

He's made friends - even those he felt he could trust with his secret - and has a strong group that he works with most weeks.