#founders:intro

[zavr-fara]

——— the Basics.

Full name: Zavr Fara Age: 347 (appears 33) Pronouns: He/him Race: Djinn (elemental; fire affinity) House: Contracted to house Savarem, under Typhon. Bound object: A refined shard of blue sandstone, carved from the desert ruins he once called home.

——— the Story Thus Far.

Djinn are notorious for being headstrong and impulsive, and when you couple that with a centuries-long lifespan, mistakes will eventually be made.

Born to a long and proud lineage, Zavr Fara grew up well-loved and surrounded by family. He's lost count of his siblings and cousins at this point; the Fara branch of the family is close-knit but independent, sometimes going decades without contact only to come back together like no time had passed at all. The turning of seasons and passage of years mean little to beings who easily surpass a thousand, and Zavr was no exception. Mercurial and curious — not to mention powerful, with little sense of or concern for danger — Zavr set out to explore the world at a relatively young age, weaving a wandering path across the globe to see everything there was to see and meet every other species there was to meet.

He should have heeded his family's warnings about the humans, particularly those with dragons' blood and an affinity for war.

Still young and impetuous, the concept of a binding contract meant little to Zavr. What was a hundred, two hundred years of his centuries-long existence when humans' own lives were so brief? Tying himself to a house heir with promises of action and glory was an enticing prospect, and one that seemed to boast few downsides for the djinn eager to make his mark on the world. Ignoring the fine print that would bind him to an entire bloodline over a single discrete lifespan, Zavr pledged himself to House Savarem and altered the course of their shared history for decades to come.

Gifted to the family Savarem's newborn heir, Mallick, Zavr watched the boy grow from a fiery child to a well-respected and expertly trained man — and after no time at all the two rode into battle, shoulder to shoulder, to fight the wars of other houses. Zavr cared little for politics but much for Mallick, willing to follow him to the ends of the earth with or without the power of the djinn contract hanging over him. Their partnership became a thing of legend, dragon rider and djinn, and elevated house Savarem to high esteem in the eyes of house Typhon and the greater continent.

But nothing so glorious was built to last.

Mallick's brief lifespan passed all too quickly for Zavr, particularly as an heir born for battle above all else. Fortunately the dragon rider left behind heirs of his own, a handful of worthy children eager to live up to their father's legendary name, and Zavr respected Mallick's memory enough to be happy to serve them each in turn. Again and again he went to battle for the Western Isles, and again and again he watched the heirs to the Savarem family fall. But humans are resilient and house Savarem was prolific, so even as the decades wore on and Zavr wondered from time to time if the entire family wouldn't be wiped out, they continued to persevere.

Unfortunately, as the decades wore on, house Savarem also began to take their glory and their family's prized weapon for granted. Generations diluted their purpose and honor, and the house Zavr was once proud to serve and be associated with became steeped in politics and corruption. Zavr grew tired of war just as he grew tired of subterfuge and posturing, and the more the family began to treat him as a tool rather than a partner, he found he grew tired of his contract. The final blow to his pride came with his most recent assignment: a family heir born human, with none of the proud dragons' blood in his veins or any of its fire in his heart. In a time of relative peace Zavr was given the position of bodyguard and glorified babysitter, contracted to serve the man-child with grit teeth and suffer abuses he was magically bound not to retaliate against. He watched the family's other heir, Kaya, grow up bold and rebellious and with much more of the family's old spirit that Zavr wished they would reclaim.

So when Kaya came to him one night, as her half-brother was indisposed at the bottom of some bottle or between someone else's sheets, Zavr didn't hesitate to agree to abandon the family and run away with her.

Contracts can be flexible if you know which loopholes to thread, and as long as Zavr serves a Savarem, his vow remains unbroken. He may be incapable of raising a hand against the family until his 200 years' servitude is up, but that doesn't stop him from joining Kaya in plotting future vengeance — as well as pursuing ways to undo the djinn's now-unwilling captivity.

With only a couple weeks of relative freedom under his belt, Zavr is taking to the mundanity surprisingly well. War-tired and sick of violence, he’s free to appreciate the simpler things the village of Elissa has to offer. Extensive knowledge of arms and metalwork made employment with the local blacksmith the obvious choice, though it’s often that the djinn has to remind himself to keep his fire abilities tucked away until he’s working alone. For now, the quiet life suits him — until his impulsiveness or fugitive status make ‘quiet’ an impossibility.

@kaya-savarem