Zel Sunsmitten

# The Sunsmitten
The Sunsmitten tribe, a tight-knit farming community outside of Fort Ashbreak, is known for their rich tradition of passing stories down through the generations, often accompanied by music. They frequently enjoy sharing stories with the younger generation as they sit around a fire, late into the night. The children love hearing these stories, some about the tribe itself and others about the world at large.
There are many stories in this community that deal with the cycle of life. This cycle is sacred in the tribe, and they believe that anything that disrupts it is unholy, and should be avoided or removed. The community also follows a cycle in their travels. They tend to live in one place for about a decade or two, and then they pick up and wander until they find a new place, believing that one can thrive through living life in harmony with cycles, both physically and spiritually. They are always sure to avoid going too close to the blight, as they have a strong belief that the undead, living outside of this natural life cycle, bring bad luck and even curses with them.
One such story with a cyclic nature was that of the Blessed Twins. Every two or three generations, a pair of twins have been born into the tribe that are believed to be blessed by the gods. These twins make prophecies, guided by the gods themselves. They represent the necessary balance and opposition of life to the Sunsmitten, along with the belief that the gods are blessing them in their travels and traditions. This balance always manifests in different ways. Zel is darker skinned and has been surprisingly resilient to any effects of the Bleaching, while Zal is very fair skinned and has had to deal with its effects most of her life. Their intermitent prophecies provide everything from direction in their farming and shepherding, even up to foundational beliefs that have carried on for generations.

# The Blessed Twins
These twins are known as the Sunsmitten, or Blessed Twins, thus the name of the community. The community believes that the power of the twins is rooted in an ancient artifact, a mysterious decorated metallic sphere, that they found long ago. The current pair is Zel and Zal. The last Sunsmitten twins passed on over a generation ago. As is tradition in the tribe, these twins became the children of the tribe, and as such were not to know who they're birth parents were. Sometimes the parents are even banished from the community if they attempt to disobey this rule. So, Zel and Zal grew up under the tutilage of the elders, and only knew themselves as Zel and Zal Sunsmitten. They have provided what are known as the twin's prophecies to the tribe in order to guide them, and they have learned about the history and traditions of their tribe. Almost no stories are held back, as they believe that the more they know, the more useful the prophecies can be. The exception to this are the stories of the Oracle's curse.
Zal was the "older" sibling, and Zel looked up to her as she seemed to mature more quickly, and excelled in her various roles. They were inseparable, as most Sunsmitten twins were, and were beloved by all in the community. Zal became skilled at her fortune telling, often using trinkets, cards, and the like to guide the tribe in their various dealings. Zel had a much harder time with this type of fortune telling, but he was always drawn to nature, and would sometimes become entranced by the natural movement of the forest around him, the flickering of a fire, or observing the cycle of life in the wildlife nearby. At seemingly random times, uncontrolled by him, he would spout out prophecy as he was entranced like this, but he never learned how to do it at will.
One day, Zal became very sick from the Bleaching. She started growing weaker than she had ever been, and over time it seemed that she would not recover. This upset the balance that the twins represented, and ancient stories of the curse of the Oracle started to be whispered by the elders. The last set of twins had perished together, in their sleep on the same night. These old stories told that the death of one twin would thrust unholy power onto the surviver, cursing them and the community. Rumors started spreading, and distrust was running rampant through the tribe. Zel was at Zal's bedside one night when she told Zel that she had a prophecy earlier that day, and had seen some elders of the community discussing in private that they wanted to murder Zel at the time of Zal's death, to maintain the balance and avoid the curse. She pleaded with Zel to run away before that could happen. He was shocked and confused, but he eventually agreed to leave.
Zel headed for Sterlingstead, because he knew those of the community preferred only to enter smaller cities and towns. A couple days into his journey, as he was traveling along a river in some woods, he suddenly felt a sharp pain behind his eyes. He had to stop, and he felt quite sick. He took a rest as it subsided. As he recovered, he suddenly realized that the trees and plants around him seemed to be pulsating with energy, and he felt as if a small piece of his own life force was feeding the plants around him. He felt connected to nature like never before, but at the cost of his own energy. He knew that his sister must have passed on, and he now bore the curse of the oracle.
Zel continued to Sterlingstead where he was taken aback by the grandeur of the city, having never experienced anything like it. He was lost, without his sister and betrayed by his tribal family. In this state, a nobleman from the Glaimond family found him and took him in. However, this was not a selfless act by (nobleman's name) to help Zel. Unaccustomed to modern society, Zel was tricked and he now found himself among the servants and staff of the Glaimonds. He found himself trapped, unable to leave due to the sheer number of guards that kept watch on the grounds. Over time, he was at least able to learn about the local customs, and a bit about how it was to live as a noble family. Though this was purely through observation, as he was forced to work most of the day every day.
Eventually, Zel was able to escape this situation, and he was able to get away with his new understanding of the city and surrounding areas. (maybe escapes with the help of someone on staff, etc.)
He headed for Bouldercrest to try to seek freedom. Upon entering the city, he was captured by some city guards. He feared that he was already found and he would shortly return to his life as a servant...
# Personality and Motives
Zel's current motive is simply to escape his life as a servant and begin a new life where he is in control. His secondary motive comes from his tribal traditions as well as his recent curse. He feels very connected to life around him, and he seeks to uphold the natural cycle of living things, including protecting those that can't defend their own life, healing and comforting those in need, and destroying anything that is outside of this natural cycle.
He is generally polite with those around him, unless they are inconsiderate of his faith and world-view. He has a working knowledge of life inside a noble family, and of course his farming community life, but he does not have "street smarts", or general knowledge of a commoner in the city, and this definitely shows at times. However, he tries to conceal this when he can, and he is kindly appologetic about it when it does come up. He is also quite depressed from the loss of his sister, but he tends to hide it as much as he can with the classic joviality of gnomes.

I like the idea of him having sort of a limit to how "positive" he can be during a day. if he has done it too long or it has been too stressful or depressing, he runs out of energy to do so and is much more morose
Over time, he may have more and more negative thoughts and start to act on some. He's not evil, per se, but has some dark tendencies as time passes

Alignment

Chaotic Good

Current Location

Sterlingstead

Species

Gnome

Ethnicity

Arkanmeran

Age

120

Date of Birth

10th of First Rain

Date of Death

Living

Circumstances of Birth

Fulfilling of the Blessed Twins Cycle Prophecy

Pronouns

He/Him

Sex

Male

Gender

Man

Presentation

Androgynous

Eyes

Purple

Hair

Long and flow, purple/black

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Fair skin, but well worn from working in the farming community and spending a lot of time in the sun

Height

3'1"

Weight

70

Belief/Deity

Investigating different religions, and studying religion in general, having left/been kicked out of his community with ancient non deific beliefs