Appearance

Physical Description

Vas looks in a lot of ways just like a normal high elf, including their build and skin tone to the point where Vas even considers themself an elf and not a genasi.
They are build as someone who has spend most of their life in a cloister and prefers to stay out of the heat of the battle would be.
They do however still manage to stay in shape, since most of their travels have been on foot.

Body Features

Vas is at first glance of traditionally masculine build, but upon closer inspection they also seem to have a certain androgynous quality about them.

Facial Features

Vas has dark blue, almost black, eyes, a small, slightly blunt nose and a strong jawline.
They've got long, thick, light green hair reaching down to their shoulders. When wet it even look a bit like seaweed.

Identifying Characteristics

Their eyes are marginally larger and rounder than what is normal of elves

Physical quirks

Their skin can often feel a bit moist and they sweat saltwater. Besides that they also have small patches of fish-like scales all over their body

Apparel & Accessories

Vas normally fashions very extravagant and colourful clothing, usually pairing it up with one or two broches.
They also almost always carry a copper bracelet, depicting a snake wreathing around their underarm.

Special abilities

In most cases their physiology is on par with a normal high elf, but their skin, however, contains a unique property of being more resistant towards varying kind of acid and other eroding substances.

Mentality

Personal history

Vas grew up in one of the poorer parts of Coastfire, having been adopted by a childless couple after washing up on the beach a few miles outside of the city. Their alien nature made it hard for them to fit in, and spend most of their childhood estranged to the other children around them.
While the other kids had played in the streets, Vas had managed to sneak inside the college grounds and had in rare cases even been able to listen in on some of the lessons being taught. This had become their happy place where they dreamt of one day being a student as well, mastering the almighty arcane.
When only a few years old their mother passed away to disease, which lead her father to dangerous vices that ended up getting him killed as well just a few years later, when they were 13.
 
With their parents gone, they kept on living in the same house, but were quickly kicked out after being unable to pay rent. So now they went to there safe place again, just to feel some sort of comfort or solace there.
 
When they tried to sneak inside, however, they stumbled and alerted a guard walking along. Vas didn't get up in time and were caught. Vas had expected to be thrown back out on the cold hard brick-laid street, but were before the guard could drag them there, they were stopped a tall women, with long brown hair, and a bored snare.
She looked at Vas and introduced herself as Kendall Smokewhisp, one of the teacher at the college.
She ordered the guard to hand Vas over, and led them into an office of some sort. There she told them about how they were special and had great magical potential because of their nature.
 
Without skipping a heartbeat, Vas accepted the proposal and became one of Kendall's few personal student. Just a few hours later they had already gotten a room, some books and some clean new robes, with the crest of Coastfire College on them.
Already the next day Vas had their first class with Kendall. The class consisted of only seven other student and Vas cherished every moment they got to socialise with them, since Kendall took away a lot of their day with her strict, yet efficient learning method.
One of these student were Litta, the only other high elf in the class and Vas had therefore from the beginning taken a special liking to her. While Vas were the smartest student in the class, Litta had a lot of great ideas, some more or less nice towards there fellow students and she had the charisma to get away with it.
 
This duo lasted for the next many years, and they even had periods, some brief and some lasting years were they were in a relationship. The biggest issue with this relationship were that Kendall had already after just a few months of them gotten enough of them. She believed it halted both of there education and caused a lot of trouble for everyone else.
One time when they were both in their twenties, they had managed to get into the forbidden part of the library. In there they found a lot of different and powerful magic that they probably shouldn't even know existed, but oh well. Some of the books that seemed particular interesting were the ones about the forces of life and death, but to not freak out Litta about their new morbid curiosity they decided to let it be for now.
A few nights later they came back alone, to find out more about this so-called "necromancy". It were one of those topics they had heard some of the more experienced students and teachers talk about, but didn't really have anything more than a surface level understanding of it. They were quickly intrigued by the amount of powers so called "necromancers" wielded, but also understood quite well why it were considered "forbidden magic". Nonetheless they studied it more and more, to the point where they almost nightly snuck into the library to read about it, and became fairly proficient in it, to the extent of manipulating simple life forces of random critters like a rats or mice that they found.
 
Vas had even started to sneak some of the books into their room, sometimes only narrowly managing to put them out of side from either a fellow classmate or Litta. They had many times feared what would happen if someone were to find out about their inhumane interest.
Of course Vas feared that Litta would not view them in the same light anymore, but even worse, they feared if Kendall or some other teacher were to find out. Through their studies they had read about how necromancers in some parts of Milles were violently executed for desecrating a corpse and breaking the cycle of nature.
 
Despite their best effort Litta, however, still managed to find out. It had been late at night and Vas had stumbled upon a book in the library, that they hadn't seen before. It was covered with weird engravings and small crystals dotted around on it. Then suddenly Litta was standing right in front of them. Either they had been too entranced by the book to notice her or she snuck up on them by using her magic.
She of course were very curious about the mysterious book and while Vas tried to come up with a convincing lie, Litta was just too cunning to trick. Then after a short argument, they finally gave in and explained about this new powerful magic that they had learned.
As Vas had foreseen Litta was disgusted, but promised to keep it a secret. Their argument had been somewhat loud and had apparently alerted a still awake Kendall, who instantly recognised the book and were furious. Kendall dragged Litta with her out of Vas' room and locked it thereafter.
They spend the next many days in house arrest like this, only getting served food once a day and not even enough to fully sate them, only enough to both keep them from starving and still being hungry.
 
After being locked away for about a week, they were visited by Kendall who proposed an offer. It would be a waste to execute someone as talented as Vas, but at the same time it would not be right to let them go freely.
Vas would become a "pilgrim", a special offer for people associated with Coastfire College, who weren't an official part of the college and who didn't get to relish in most of the colleges services, but still could come to them seeking aid in dire situations. This offer were given to those that had violated the rules of either the college or the laws of magic all together, but who were still useful to have around rather than stripping them of their magic or executing them.
In return pilgrims were to go out into the world and gather knowledge for the college.
Since the normal punishment for most transgressions of arcane laws were as explained either execution or losing ones magic abilities, pilgrims were forced to keep it a secret, since the whole institution in way defied those laws.
 
 
Vas accepted the offer having no other choice, other than death. After that, they were allowed to go, but when they asked about Litta, the only answer they got was that she weren't "available". Vas was rushed out and just the next day, they began their travels as a Pilgrim of the College of Coastfire.

Education

When Vas weren't fooling around with Litta or studying necromancy, they learned about water based magic which they of course were naturally proficient with.
They especially took a liking to ice-based offensive magic and other spells that manipulate the elements around them.

Employment

Vas has no job other than occasionally sending some of their findings to Coastfire and the random odd-jobs they pick up while on the road.

Mental Trauma

Vas' biggest fear is failure.
By growing up most of their life being told of their great magical potential, they have developed a form of performance anxiety, and a fear of never reaching their own full potential.
 
They also have frequent dreams where they relive the library, as if something is keeping a bit of them back in Coastfire.

Morality & Philosophy

Vas values knowledge above all else and believes that by furthering ones understanding of both the physical and the spiritual world, one becomes stronger. They do all of this to be able to take control of their life, something that only the fewest people are able to, and protect those around them.
Vas tends to try not to think to much about morality, because at the end of the day, they know that their methods are wrong.

person.sexuality

Vas is exclusively attracted to women.
While studying under Kendall, Vas developed a motherly love for her, having only briefly known their adopted mother and never knowing where they came from.
Later in life this motherly love evolved into genuine attraction towards her, and Vas now both feels crushed that they had to be separated in the way that they did, yet still fighting on, hoping to one day be like her.

person.gender_identity

Vas' unique physiology has left them quite puzzled about what their actual gender is. They aren't really completely sure how there sex works, and in extension of that, no way to ever classify their gender either.
Usually they just mix and match and flip-flop between masculinity and femininity.

Taboos

Vas views contentedness and lack of ambition as either a sign of weakness or stupidity.

Known Languages

Vas speaks an almost fluent common, but even though they never grew up with anyone speaking it, they are also completely fluent in aquan, the primordial dialect associated with the Elemental Plane of Water. This can usually be heard by their guttural or slurry pronunciation of some words, especially in common.
Besides that they also speak elven since it's both a rather common language and scripture when writing about or practicing magic. Even though they try to keep it to themself, they also talk a very good abyssal from their extensive study of necromancy.

Personality

Savvies & Ineptitudes

While studying magic (and specially necromancy) Vas also read a lot about both nature and religion and is therefore quite well versed in both of those subjects. They also studied the fundamentals of the arcane and how magic influences the world around us indirectly.

Hygiene

Vas is somehow able to stay mostly clean and smelling faintly of the sea. At the same time, however, their skin is almost always slightly wet or moist, which of course is a bit harder to deal with.

Social

Birthplace

Unknown

Current Residence

Vagabond