Tza-reena Windstrider

female tiefling lawful neutral war wizard

Tza-reena Windstrider was a sailor and adventurer who grew to great renown throughout and well beyond Azocar. She was an eminently accomplished ship's captain, spellcaster, explorer, hero, and innovator. Her greatest contribution to her world was her role in bringing inter-world travel to Azocar by way of the technology known as "spelljamming".

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Early Life

Tza-reena Windstrider childhood memories all involved life at sea. She was raised on a ship by its captain, her father Ravick, an accomplished and successful sailor. Even as a child, she had no recollection of her mother. Her father told her that Zarra had died in a shipwreck when the she was just a child.
By the time Tza-reena reached adolescence, she had become quite an adept sailor herself. Ravick had taught her everything he knew, including the limited amount of spellcasting acumen he possessed. So, when he suddenly took ill and died when his daughter was just fourteen years old, she was ready and quite capable of taking over as his ship, the Dragon Wing's new captain. It also helped greatly that her father's closest friend, the aptly named ship's cook "Cookie" served as a capable enforcer of the line of succession.
Following Ravick's death, Tza-reena strived to keep things much as they were when he was around. Most important was a personal vow to keep the Wing an independent/unaffiliated merchant vessel. She was largely successful in this goal, with the lone exception being the period of the Horde Wars.

The Horde Wars

During the Wars, Tza-reena was first conscripted by Horde commanders to work for their side. She had always been fiercely independent and she had little love for the authority of the nations of the Triune so the coercion to work against them didn't bother her much. It did bother her friend Cookie but he let the young captain make her own mind about the situation. And, before too long, Tza-reena came to realize the Hordes could not be allowed to succeed. She deserted and joined the allies in their defense against the Horde aggressors.
Much of Tza-reena's more than three years' in opposition of the Hordes was served on dry land. Her heritage and the fact that so many of her ilk aligned with the enemy made her a logical candidate for espionage. Her experience as a leader and growing skills as a mage meant that she might become an excellent spy and that she did. Much of her activity early in the Wars was had in southeastern Eldessar, by way of counterintelligence operations in attempts to break the siege of Eldesrand.
It was during this time that Tza-reena met three very important people in her life. Two would be fundamental in her growth into being the person she became. The third would eventually become an integral part of her life for the rest of her days. Krog "the Merry" Morngloom, an orc-kin warrior was a co-defector from the Hordes. He served alongside her during many missions during that time.
The second person that helped mold the young adult Tza-reena was Mis Draxella Solaran, a noblewoman form Eldesrand. Draxella was a wizard of some renown and she recognized in her a very high competency with the arcane. The younger woman was advanced enough to become a full apprentice of the more experienced mage but that didn't mean the Lady couldn't teach her a few things.
The third person to first enter Tza-reena's life during the years of the Wars was Draxella's actual apprentice at the time, a young nobleman and distant cousin of hers, Kasarath Tallander. However, Tza-reena and Kasarath only met in passing a handful of times and, ironically, it's likely they probably didn't even remember these meetings when they became reacquainted with each other later in life.
These relationships may have started as practical and professional but two of them did not stay that way for too long. Krog and Draxella both developed romantic feelings for Tza-reena and neither made any attempt to hide these. The attention at first embarrassed her but it quickly became a sore point with Tza-reena. She was appreciative of it and had feelings of her own for both individuals but it made her, indeed all their work much harder. The situation came to a head both the fellow spy and the mentor asked her to choose. Tza-reene picked neither, a decision Krog accepted ruefully. Draxella however, became indignant and that was the end of their relationship as anything more than collaborators of convenience towards a shared goal.

Dawn of the Current Age

Captain Windstrider was happy to see the Wars come to an end. For many reasons, the most important of which was that she could finally return to what she loved to do most. The Dragon's Wing once again took to the seas. Cookie returned to his old post as well and the Wing's new crew featured another familiar face. Krog and the captain had reconciled as friends before the end of the Wars. He asked and Tza-reena gladly welcomed him into her crew. In the years that followed, their romantic feelings were rekindled and, by the time he rose to the rank of her second in command, they had already been lovers for some time.
This was not to say that the Captain played favorites. Krog's fearless defenses of the ship and crew when trouble came their way as well as his stern but friendly command of the lower ranking crew were both reasons for the Dragon Wing's success. For a period more than a decade, Tza-reena guided her ship and crew on a tireless series of missions transporting cargo and passengers all around the Seas of Frost and Flame. Her most common ports of call were Suzerain on the Zamar Coast and Eldesrand in the north but they went everywhere.
During the decade following the end of the Wars, another interest revealed itself to Tza-reena came from the realm of the arcane. Even she eventually forgot where they first started but rumors of magical devices that could allow her ship to escape the bounds of gravity and take to the skies came to Tza-reena. She made it her ultimate goal to acquire such a device or, lacking that, the supplies and wherewithal to have one constructed. In the summer of CA 12, she finally attained the last component needed to do the latter. And, by then, she had also secured an agreement with someone who could help her build it.

Powers and Spelljamming

Coincidentally, it was in the 12th year of the Current Age that Tza-reena and the Dragon's Wing first made the acquaintances of the group of adventurers known as the Powers Company. Early that year, the Wing was set to carry a load of cargo from Eldesrand to Suzerain and it had room for a load of passengers as well. The adventurers were looking for passage out of the Eldessarn capital and weren't all that interested to where.
The journey started with a bang, with the adventurers literally chased out to the harbor and docks by thugs trying to stop them. Tza-reena gave them a tongue-lashing once they were all away safely but only half-heartedly. Truth be told, she didn't mind the excitement. And the group proved themselves valuable during the long journey and unloading the cargo once they arrived at their destination. The groups parted ways amicably and not for long.
When the Dragon's Wing returned to Suzerain weeks later, the adventurers were again looking for passage, this time much further north. As fate would have it, Tza-reena's next destination was the same place, the Atalassian island of Talanas and its eponymously-named largest port.
Captain Windstrider's business in Talanas was the acquisition of the final component and the construction of the spelljamming or "astral" helm. For the next few weeks, Tza-reena worked with the captain and helmsman of another ship, a ship she had come to learn years earlier was from another world. They constructed an astral helm on the Dragon's Wing and the foreigners instructed their eager pupil on its use.
The enthusiasm of accomplishing something that had only been done on Azocar a handful of times, if at all, was not shared by all those involved. Krog's disposition changed almost overnight once the Wing took to the skies. Belying his nickname, he became somewhat surly and detached. But Tza-reena was too wrapped up in her new reality to notice.
It can be said that a highly unexpected surprise or two was a matter of coincidence. But when the coincidences piled up, then greater forces were probably at play. When, on her maiden voyage into Wildspace, the Dragon's Wing encountered members of the Powers Company floating haplessly in space not far from Azocar, it could only have been a matter of faith.
The Wing rescued the folks overboard. After some explanations and pleading, Tza-reena agreed to help them get back together with the rest of their number and continue in pursuit the ones that marooned them to begin with. The other members were found and brought aboard by magical means. Facilitating this was someone Tza-reena hadn't seen in years; Draxella Solaran.
The reunion was tense and frigid but the two women put past issues behind them to deal with the task at hand. The reality that they were back in each other's lives was not lost on either of them though. Once the members of the Powers Company reconvened, the Wing's maiden astral voyage went from being a test run to a full-on adventure.
For many weeks to follow, Captain Windstrider and her crew guided their ship and its passengers deeper and deeper into space. They encountered strange creatures and beings along the way. The adventurers even salvaged an abandoned and damaged ship. With the help of the Wing and her crew, the other ship was repaired and re-branded "the Fortunate Fool" and the one-ship journey became a convoy.
The small fleet journeyed together for some time more but then parted ways. Captain Windstrider and her crew were eager to return home. So, when the convoy came to the first "extraterrestrial", a huge city sitting atop a floating mountain called the Rock of Bral, they decided they would part ways there. After picking up supplies and exotic goods they hoped to sell, the Dragon's Wing set "sail" for Azocar.
The Wing's return journey was uneventful but their arrival life-changing. it took some time to find markets for their strange cargo but, once they did, they made a windfall. Tza-reena secured requests for special orders of more of the same and the Wing repeated her journey to and from Bral several times in the next year. The Dragon's Wing and her crew went from being a profitable venture to a wildly successful and wealthy one.
Their growth and the nature of spelljamming meant the Wing needed to take on another helmsman. So it was during this time that an old acquaintance found her way back into Tza-reena's life. The Captain sought out a former ally from Horde Wars, a fellow spell-caster named Raiza Summarine and offered her the job. The young elf-kin woman was immediately intrigued by the opportunity and quickly agreed.
Things were not all good, however. During one of their stays back on their world, the situation with Krog came to a head. Neither of them talked openly about the circumstances but their comrades assumed that which made most sense. Krog's desire to slow down professional pursuits and start a family was well known. And it was clear that Tza-reena was not going to walk away from the newfound and fantastic life as a spelljammer. Their romantic relationship was over and it seemed only a matter of time before Krog would leave the Wing permanently.

Return of the Aramago

Tza-reena's sense of irony must have been quite developed by this time because it was during the same interlude between journeys that she was visited once more by Draxella. The master wizardess came her former pupil with personal concerns but not involving either of them. She confided that her former apprentice, Kasarath had "disappeared" from her ability to find him. His comrades in the Powers Company were also nowhere to be found.
Draxella further revealed the nature of the Powers Company's ongoing quest and the growing threat of the potential return of the Aramago. Finally, she challenged Tza-reena with the charge that, when the time came, she and her crew would be a great asset in the fight against Ba'Lial and his allies. The younger woman agreed to help, not because it was Draxella who was asking but because it was the right thing to do.
Before long, a couple of members of the adventuring group surfaced. Coincidentally, they were the two with familial ties to the far reaches of wildspace, Malako and Meline. Draxella called upon Tza-reena to shepherd them back into deep space along with a gathering of other heroes to confront one great evil, the Voidbringers in hope of gaining the knowledge and tools to help deal with the other back on Azocar.
The journey and mission wound up being the most dangerous time during Tza-reena's whole life to date. In a cataclysmic battle at a gateway to the extraplanar realm simply known as "the Void", the Wing was all but destroyed and Tza-reena was killed. Her death proved short-lived, however, as the powerful agents of the Voidsbane himself, Malako's father Malbar aided the survivors in resurrecting her and as many of the other dead as possible.
Once she was revived, Tza-reena's first task was to adjudicate responsibility for her and her ship's demise. It had been Raiza's decision to retreat in the face of defeat in the previous battle, thereby leaving the Wing and her crew to die. Raiza pleaded her case, however, that if she had not taken that decision, they would have all died. Tza-reena considered this and rather than imprisoning Raiza pending future punishment, she dismissed her from the Wing's crew.
When this dirty business was done, with the Voidsbane's help, the Dragon's Wing and its cohort returned to the void gate for another fight. This time, they were victorious. Meline and Malako gathered the knowledge they needed to aid in their further quests and were returned to Azocar aboard the Wing.
In the months of the year CA 15, the Powers Company's stand against the Night King and his forces came to a head. The Dragon's Wing Captain and crew were there to help. Whether it was ferrying forces to strategic deployments in the military war or aiding the adventurers as they drew closer to Ba'Lial and his closest allies, Tza-reena was there to help.
During this time, the potential of opening her heart to another emerged once more. Kasarath and Tza-reena had long since developed a sense of admiration for each other. She admired his seemingly limitless capacity to wield raw power by way of the arcane arts. And he was appreciative of how Tza-reena used magic in practical ways to get what she wanted out of life and living. During the months of the War of the Night King, mutual admiration grew into something more.

Later Years

Following the defeat of the Night King, Ba'Lial, and the end of his war, the Powers Company disbanded. As fate would have it, so did the executive crew of the Dragon's Wing. Krog informed the Captain that he was going to strike out on his own; acquire his own ship to do with as he pleased. Cookie also indicated he would be leaving his current life behind him. The war and all the other events of the previous years had rekindled his desire to return to his ancestral homeland on the Crescent.
With Raiza long gone as well, Tza-reena was alone. Fortunately, her future goals of exploration of the cosmos aligned completely with those of Kasarath. And their growing feelings for each other meant the Wing still had a captain and second. The two of them spent the next few months building up a new crew and getting to the business of going places they'd only imagined before.
For the rest of her days, Tza-reena explored the multiverse by Kasarath's side. The two became lovers and life-long mates. Though they didn't have any children of their own, together they raised Kas's niece Sistinas, whom he took on as a ward the year following the war with the Aramago.

Gender Identity

Tza-reena was born and considered herself female

Sexuality

Tza-reena was bisexual

Education

Tza-reena received no formal education, she was the beneficiary of having numerous learned individuals as important relationships throughout different parts of her life. Her father Ravick was himself a spellcaster and he taught his daughter to read and write and gave her the same measure of arcane instruction.
Draxella Solaran further expanded Tza-reena's arcane knowledge. She also opened opportunities for the younger woman to access the troves of knowledge of Eldesrand's university and both prominent arcane guilds therein, Esper Escrivar and later, the Cerulean Spire.
Her own explorations of Azocar and the cosmos beyond it garnered her many opportunities to acquire knowledge from highly disparate sources. And then there was Kasarath, who himself was a virtual library and combined with her to establish an unprecedented level of access to literary sources throughout the universe.

Employment

From the age of fourteen when her father, Ravick died, Tza-reena always made her own way as captain and commander of the Dragon's Wing.

Social

Contacts & Relations

Though her two longest romantic relationships were with men, Tza-reena identified herself as bisexual. She was known to have a handful of shorter relationships with members of the same sex, including a brief interlude with the Dragon's Wing's assistant helmsman for a time, Raiza Summarine. And, while neither woman ever revealed whether or not they Draxella and Tza-reena consummated their own relationship, it would not come as a surprise if they did.

Mannerisms

Tza-reena had a fiery disposition but she always did as much as she could to control her temper. As the captain of her beloved ship, she knew that she couldn't just fly off the handle whenever she lost her cool. Still, the fellsworn woman didn't suffer fools or foolishness very well. Much less so from those that threatened her, her home, or her crew. When she did engage in battle, she was a sight to behold. She used the abilities of her magical rings and her own spellcasting abilities to rain fire and destruction down on her enemies. At rest, Tza-reena was usually genial with everyone she met so long as they hadn't annoyed her yet. However, she was only really completely open and trusting of those she loved and these people she could count on one hand.

Hobbies & Pets

A black cat named Bathsheba was Tza-reena's constant companion from the moment she learned to cast the spell used to summon a familiar.

Alignment

lawful neutral

Current Status

Exploring the 'verse with her beau

Date of Birth

18th Frosts, 27 bCA

Year of Birth

27

Birthplace

Eldessarn

Parents

Ravick Windstrider

Zarra Bannallar

Pronouns

she / her

Gender

female

Eyes

violet

Hair

charcoal but greying hair with purple, ridged horns

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

pink but bordering on lavender

Height

5' 4"

Weight

90 lbs

Belief/Deity

nominal worshipper of Settah

Aligned Organization

Dragon's Wing Company

Other Affiliations

• Powers Company