Appearance

Physical Description

A soldier and sailor, Iafar is built to run, climb and charge into battle.

Body Features

The most noticeable aspect of Iafar beyond his general physique is his hair. It shifts with the colors of a burning flame, turning from reds and oranges into golds and yellows. This hair gives off harmless sparks of flame, corresponding to his mood. It can, on occasion, smoke instead, although this is rare.

Special abilities

Trained in combat, Iafar is skilled with a blade, the bow and the rifle. Combining all three as need calls, he is skilled in combat near or far and delights in both. He can augment these skills by his grasp of combat magics, either enhancing his own abilities or charging his attacks with magic for more effective assaults. 
 
He and Kanmi share a special bond, a gift that can be found between two united Gaini. This ability, called ‘majnūn jannah’ or more simply ‘Jannah’ provides a pair of Gaini to recreate the legendary wish-granting powers of their djinni forebears. Once every seven days, they may grant a wish, though there are limits on how this may be done and how ‘great’ the wish may be:
 

• The Jannah cannot be used to grant a wish to either of the participants nor to any other Gaini nor to any djinn.


• The Jannah must be used for the benefit of another and at their request.


• The Jannah will respond to word, not intent, whether this would cause harm to the one being granted the wish or not.


• The Jannah will occur only when the two Gaini are making physical contact.

Mentality

Personal history

Iafar was born to a family that lacked any of the defining features that would tell the world they were gaini. Both his mother and father were shocked, then, when their second son was born with ember-dark eyes and hair that sparked and shifted as an open flame. His siblings—one older and two younger—never developed any such signs, leaving him ‘alone’ out of the bunch.
 
His parents did not have long to think on these strange tidings; his father lost his life after being mugged in the street after a days work and his mother, left with little in the way of options, turned to her brother for aid.
 
Her brother, a minor noble within the Republic and Vizier to the Pasha of the region, decided to permit them to live within his opulent estate which included a vast pairidaeza and adjoining hunting park, employing the children as minor laborers to ensure they ‘earned their keep’.
While he had time to make some friends from among the children of the servants, the bulk of his time was spent working.
 
When he turned seven, he was sent off to join the military service of the Sultan. This was done so the Pasha could avoid sending his own son. At the time, it weighed on Iafar, knowing even then from stories the other children told him that he would probably never see his family again.
 
In fact, this was a blessing in disguise. While he completed his education, learning military science, the art of combat magic and the arts, his hometown saw an eventual upheaval and revolt against the reigning Pasha. The unrest ended in tragedy as violence broke out in the streets, culminating in a terrible fire that destroyed the entirety of the town.
 
Assigned to aid in the Corsairs, the named Privateers of the Sultans and the Republic, Iafar took to sailing—despite his fiery heritage. Spending equal time on both sea and land, he became adept at both, leading troops and sailors to victories in equal measure during the War of the Mountains, a long-standing conflict between the Grand Diocese of Teodorgrad and the Republic.
 
During a smuggling run, he was nearly caught and had to flee the area. The ship he was on was run aground and the crew were snapped up by a red Dragon which had been laying in wait for ships to pass by its lair. Iafar was spared and taken prisoner due to his unique nature as a genasi, something the dragon had never seen before. Kept as a prisoner for four months, he was eventually saved when the dragon was slain by a group of adventurers—this was how he met his husband. He joined the adventurers for a time as they traveled back to the empire.
 
By the time he returned, he had been listed as ‘killed in the line of duty’. Upon his return and explanation for his absence, the Sultan handed down to him the honor of retirement with pension, Iafar having already served twenty years and found to have been more than commendable in conduct and deed. With this money and status, he was married soon after. He and his husband continue to adventure to this day.

Education

Taken from his home at a young age to be trained into the personal guard of the sultanate, he was given a thorough education in math, arts and military sciences. While he showed promise and could have continued on to attain the rank of a vizier, he enjoyed the excitement of wartime pursuits instead.

Employment

Beginning his career as a Yannisary, he moved from that role into the work of a Corsair. Circumstances of his routing, capture and eventual rescue brought him to an early retirement with pension which he now uses to enjoy adventuring for the glory of himself, his husband and his homeland.

Accomplishments & Achievements

Iafar has achieved many military accolades over his career, earning respect from his fellow soldiers and throughout the Republic’s many military branches on land and sea. While not ‘legendary’, his exploits of daring in and out of wartime bring him acclaim and notoriety. These include:

• Meeting and escaping the lair of a true Dragon.


• Leading the sacking of the Fortress of Phos and crippling the naval units there.


• Instigating reform within the ranks of the Corsairs for better pensions.

Failures & Embarrassments

While he would never admit to it, one of his greatest humiliations comes from his routing after what was meant to be a routine raid against the Grand Diocese and its holdings in Graeos. The rout cost the lives of a number of his men, and those that had survived were devoured by a Dragon not long after.
 
Iafar was spared only by virtue of his novelty to the creature, and kept for a quarter of a year before needing to be rescued by a forward scouting party on their way to lay paths for a tunnel. 
 
This rescue, while embarrassing, did lead him to meeting his husband—and giving the Republic a remarkable ‘resurrection’ of a hero thought lost when he finally returned.

Intellectual Characteristics

‘Measure twice and cut once’ is something that happens to other people, so far as Iafar is concerned. He prefers to cut and make do with what he has on hand. Improvisation is his bread-and-butter, and living by luck and happenstance that seems to work out for him most times has only fueled his cavalier attitude.

Morality & Philosophy

Like all Yannisary, Iafar was taught and believes to this day that there are two types of people in the world—the Sultans and those that serve the Sultans. The goodness of a person depends on how well that fulfill their role. While he doesn’t offer blind faith to whichever Sultan is in charge, nor does he believe that enemies of the Republic are necessarily ‘evil’ he does believe that they need to be corrected.
 
Like the bulk of his fellows, he’d rather see non-violent additions made to the Republic as opposed to violent ones and supports the freedom of those foreign cities to do as they please…provided they do as they are told when it comes to serving the Sultans and the Republic.

person.sexuality

Iafar has always been interested in men, though he has been known to flirt with both sexes freely.

Taboos

Iafar will not send men into a battle he himself would not go into, nor will he pass the opportunity to join them. In the few times where several skirmishes were taking place, he would always go with what was perceived to be the most dangerous option.
 
He will always be the last out of the field of battle and would rather die than permit himself to do otherwise.

Personality

Motivation

Iafar desires nothing more than heaping glory upon the Republic, its people and its Sultans—nothing, that is, except the adventure that comes with going out into the world to take these things. If there is a great and lost treasure whose discovery would bring glory to the Republic, he will go out to find it—if there is a battle that is dangerous, with little chance of survival and it will achieve a goal for his homeland, he will engage in it.
 
Parallel to this is his love for his husband. He will do anything for Kanmi (apart from be careful) and will fight to remain at his side in all things. He has been known to make forays into danger as often for getting something Kanmi as he does the Republic.

Quotes & Catchphrases

• “Wish well, be good!”


• “I intend to protect my sparrow’s nest [sic. Marriage] until my last breath.”

Savvies & Ineptitudes

Iafar has an inordinate amount of luck which he takes advantage of on a regular basis. He has a keen eye for improvisation in intense situations which many attribute to luck (even himself).
This causes problems for him—because of his belief his luck will see him through, he’s allowed his skills of discernment to wane and he often makes choices based on his gut without giving it much forethought.

Social

Birthplace

The Republic of Ufori

Honorary & Occupational Titles

Retired Yennis (Officer with merit)

Wealth & Financial state

Retired with honors for his time serving first as a sanctioned pirate and then as a Yennis, he collects a steady pension and maintains some small portion of land.

Social Aptitude

Laid-back and able to adapt to situations easily, he moves through social interactions with ease.

Mannerisms

Stretches and cracks his knuckles before ‘getting down to work’. Cleans and tends to his weapons more than is necessary when he is agitated or uneasy.