#˗ˏˋ ʚ🩷ɞ ˎˊ˗⠀character study.

[a-zif]

maybe i'll add this to my rules but for simplicity sake i'll share here

in the timeline of bg3 azif is around 60 years old. which is why she's solidly level 20, she has been adventuring for half of her life at this point.

because she's an aasimar, her appearance is somewhat deceiving. she definitely doesn't look very young per se. her angelic features make her look more alien than "young" (i.e the iridescent sheen, her odd mannerisms) so that definitely adds to the difficulty in trying to age her just by look. she just looks ambiguously adult, like she could be anywhere between 30 and 50.

[a-zif]

Curious how many kids does Azif have exactly? I don't think I've seen it mentioned before ^^

unofficially the limit does not exist. the temple she's part of has an orphanage (this is where she herself grew up) so she and her husband have fostered many children.

but officially she has four kids (so far*), they are: 1. zuriel (tiefling, redemption paladin) 2. oberon (half orc, zealot barbarian) 3. zarja (tiefling, wildfire druid) 4. to be named aasimar boy. no class, he's still just a baby at this point!

[a-zif]

[a-zif]

priestess attire concept.

[a-zif]

how do y'all pronounce zif's name? just realized people probably read it like saying "as-if" but it's "ah-zeef", the f sound is close to v actually, phonetically it would be "zîyv". does that make sense ?

[a-zif]

little fun fact, in my original concept for azif she had a hairless cat familiar but ultimately the cat didn't make the cut because i didn't know how to incorporate it in a way that would make sense... today we fixed that with an origin story for it:

obviously zif names it garlic (garlicus?) and sews tiny hats and outfits for it.

i'm thinking the kitty may be fae? (yes i'm stealing this from critical role)

anyways that is all i have. in conclusion, zif has an ugli cute alien kitty:

[a-zif]

What hurt the most when returning to Archenbridge? Was Al Azif close to any of the corrupt clergy members?

i've been meaning to write down a more detailed explanation of the temple structure and politics that lead to azif running away originally and eventually returning to reclaim her home. unfortunately i haven't had the braincells to come up with names and stuff lmao

but the long story short is that she wasn't close to any of the clergy people who were corrupt. she was, however, close to the elder members who were considered too old to run the business and bureaucratic sides of the temple (which to be fair, are inevitable parts of existing in a trading hub like archendale). they were the closest she ever had to a family and was trained by them, but most of them had passed away by the time she was a late teens / young adult.

so in the period of time between her childhood and becoming an adult, most of those top leading spots were filled in by people coming in from other locations (so new to the temple, but not new to clerical work) so she wasn't close or well acquainted with them.

i described them as "a group of corrupt clergy members" for the sake of brevity but i do realize that it's giving cartoon mustache twirling villain (though from azif's pov that's what they are) when in reality it's just people who saw a temple with an aging leadership positioned in the capital of a very wealthy and well defended dale and saw an opportunity to join and rank advance and maybe have a more important role than what they had wherever other temple they lived in before.

which would be an okay approach and attitude if we were talking about corporate jobs in the real world, but it's not so having people mostly interested in serving their own interests and inevitably getting greedy and drunk with the financial gain they could get from these new positions felt very villainous to azif and like her home was corrupted. and in many tangible ways, it was effectively corrupted. think allowing less people to take in shelter because it "costs too much money" or only bothering to host the cultural events temples of lathander are known for unless they found a way to make money off them.

tl:dr: capitalism ruins everything.

[a-zif]

someday i'm going to have to explain zif's garlic collection and i don't know how or why but that is a canon thing

[a-zif]

someday i need to sit down and write about how zif loves sewing. she loves making clothes for her family. and when the young acolytes she's training officially join the clergy she'll make nice robes with gold embroidery of lathander motifs as a graduation gift for her ducklings 🩷

[a-zif]

zif's agoraphobia making her v quiet and anxious always clinging to her husband

vs

zif's strong urge to start singing and dancing at random times just because even in front of people

[a-zif]

azif has gold scars, except she barely has scars so it's mostly just stretch marks from having kids🥺

[a-zif]

while zif's eyes are usually pupil-less white, when she's angry or really upset they turn fully black.

[a-zif]

today i have woken up thinking about the no family / family died trope for pcs in dnd and how it's tragic and sad, but for zif that at least would be closure.

she does technically have a family, she even has siblings. but she doesn't know any of them. she has seen her parents and siblings around in town, but she's not part of the family because she was given up to the temple as a newborn and it left her with a mix of resentment and asking "why me?"

why wasn't she good enough of a child to keep in the family, why did her siblings all get normal human names while she has a title (āl azif meaning 'the radiance') with no surname.

and the worst part is that she knows why. she knows her parents thought they were doing the "right thing" giving her up to a temple because they saw her as a beacon sent by their god due to her celestial ancestry, but in doing that they set her up for a lifetime of being kept on display like an object rather than being seen as a person.

[a-zif]

i won't elaborate on why or how but this has zif energy

[a-zif]

character outline.

flaws.

moody | short-tempered | emotionally unstable | whiny | controlling | conceited | possessive | paranoid | liar | impatient | cowardly | bitter | selfish | power-hungry | greedy | lazy | judgmental | forgetful | impulsive | spiteful | stubborn | sadistic | petty | unlucky | absent-minded | abusive | addict | aggressive | childish | callous | clingy | delusional | cocky | competitive | corrupt | cynical | cruel | depressed | deranged | egotistical | envious | insecure | insensitive | lustful | delinquent | guilt complex | reclusive | reckless | nervous | oversensitive

strengths.

honest | trustworthy | thoughtful | caring | brave | patient | selfless | ambitious | tolerant | lucky | intelligent | confident| focused | humble | generous | merciful | observant | wise | clever | charming | cheerful | optimistic | decisive | adaptive | calm | protective | proud | diligent | considerate | compassionate | good sportsmanship | friendly | empathetic | passionate | reliable | resourceful | sensible | sincere | witty | funny

skills & hobbies.

art | acting | astronomy | animals | archery | sports | belly dancing | bird watching | blacksmithing | boating | calligraphy | camping | candle making | casino gambling | ceramics | racing | chess | music | cooking | crochet | weaving | exercise | swordplay | fishing | gardening | ghost hunting | ice skating | magic | engineering | building | inventing | leather-working | martial arts | meditation | origami | parkour | people watching | swimming | puppetry | pyrotechnics | quilting | reading | collecting | sewing | shopping | socializing | storytelling | writing | traveling | dancing | singing

[a-zif]

the thing about zif being an aasimar is that she kind of forgets about it. like, obviously she is constantly aware that she has a strong connection to the divine plane but she has also dedicated her whole life to worship and communion with her god and celestial guide, so the connection and powers that come along with it are more so a result of that rather than she inherently has because of her ancestry (although realistically her ancestry at the very least facilated the connection to begin with). in her mind, azif thinks she's just human. again, she knows logically that she's a little different than most humans but she doesn't see herself as an entirely different species the way elves or other humanoid species are. she's not special, she's not unique or powerful. to her, she's just human and just wants human things.