Gulzahn Bahkyav - Kuzaarik
The Kuzaarik are noted in Faelon as being craftspeople without peers. Their goods are sold worldwide for exorbitant - and fair - prices because of their quality.
However, even among the Kuzaarik, some are renowned for their skill. These are known as Uvlahd, Master Craftspeople. Only a crafter’s Industrial Union can bestow this title, and only one such title is awarded each year.
Gulzahn Bahkyav is a weapon crafter who has reached the rank of Uvlahd in the Metal Union. His skill in creating warhammers and bane hammers is legendary among the Kuzaarik military. They are not only instruments of war but pieces of art.
Gulzahn also makes zeradrakh. This would seem out of his natural comfort zone, but his blades are bought immediately by the Lightbringers for their warriors. The Lightbringers will also hire Gulzahn to make these blades; issuing them to their greatest warriors or using them as the base weapon to be enchanted or imbued with powerful magic.
The legendary zeradrakh Rimesickle, used to kill the fell Demon Lord Brathnol in the lower pits of Koletehn Utahska, was initially made by Gulzahn Bahkyav. Rimesickle now sits in the halls of the Lightbringers.
Gulzahn is an aged Kuzaarik who once traveled the world plying his immense skills. He has visited or resided in almost every kingdom of the Northern continent, save Kandor.
In his youth, Gulzahn wanted to learn the secrets of the great weapons crafters of the world. He embarked on a journey to learn from every race and faction of Faelon. Sometimes his family would go with him, and sometimes they would stay home in Vinyabah Gorahd.
After seeing much of the world and learning everything he could, Gulzahn grew tired of traveling. He had missed so much of his children’s younger years; they were now adults living their own lives.
At some point, Gulzahn gave up on the notion of learning from others and went back to Vinyabah Gorahd. In the Sky City, he set up his shop and began pushing himself to more incredible feats.
During this time, the restlessness that had hounded his earlier years vanished. Gulzahn learned his most significant competitor was himself; he finally found peace and mastery during this time.
Gulzahn now keeps busy making his weapons and finding a suitable apprentice. He is unbearably picky about his apprentice. He frustrates several potential craftspeople who would give a limb to study under the cantankerous old Kuzaarik.
Gulzahn has chosen and then fired several apprentices, citing a “lack of spirit” as his reason. Gulzahn continues to look for someone as hungry for knowledge and as serious about bettering their trade as he was at their age.
Some of his friends in the Metal Union fear he will not do so before he passes away. It has been causing concern among the leaders of the Metal Union. They fear that the knowledge Gulzahn carries will be forever lost if he does not choose an apprentice soon.
They have thought about forcing an apprentice on him. Still, Gulzahn has never been known to play by the rules of the Union. He pays no attention to political and social pressure that has been brought against him before.
In truth, Gulzahn had never paid attention to the political games his Industrial Union had played. Approached multiple times by the PDC when living abroad, Gulzahn rebuffed their patriotic duty speeches and would not be the spy they wished him to be.
His position was further precarious when he accepted work from the breakaway Lightbringers that still roam the kingdoms south of Kuzaarl. Repairing their weapons raised many a bushy eyebrow among the Metal Union leadership and their masters in the PDC. In truth Gulzahn did not care much about who or what he was doing work for; he merely enjoys the challenge of his work.
Gulzahn might have been tossed from the Union long ago for his refusal to tow the political line of the Long Way if it were not for his craftsmanship. His title of Uvlahd makes him a national treasure and brings immunity from many things.
Gulzahn now calls Myotazkahld or Metalton home. Metalton is the center of the Metal Union’s presence in Kuzaarl, blocks of smoking smelteries and the clanging of blacksmiths’ hammers.
You’ll never see Gulzahn in much except his shop clothing. Some even question whether he owns anything other than the work clothing and leather apron he wears everywhere. His long grey beard matches the hair, which he now braids elaborately and wears metal beads in.
He works constantly. Many Kuzaarik his age abandon their youth’s hard work and cut loose. Gulzahn’s work ethic never wavers, no matter how old he is. He continues to push himself, even if he has to hire assistants to do some of the heavier work he is no longer capable of.
Gulzahn only stops working to dote on his growing number of grandchildren. Having missed most of his children’s formative years, Gulzahn has vowed not to miss the blessings of his grandchildren.
Gulzahn continues to be defiant of the Metal Union and its politics. Many of the materials he needs for his best work are rare and only to be found within the circles of the Metal Union. Not wanting to be beholden to anyone, Gulzahn would hire someone to retrieve certain materials for him rather than risk owing favors to the Metal Union.
Adventurers are constantly coming and going from Gulzahn’s shop in Myotazkahld. Some materials are easier to get and require a single adventurer or perhaps a pair. Others are more difficult to get; Gulzahn is often willing to pay an entire freeband to retrieve these items.
As of late, Gulzahn has been preoccupied by the Kuzaarik city of Shadow Crag. The ruined mining city had always been there, just out of reach by the High Council and King's decree, but constantly nagged him in the back of his mind.
Despite being declared off-limits by the High king, there have been many discreet visitors to Shadow Crag between its demise and now. Although entering the city through its main shaft is tantamount to suicide, there are many little-known ventilation shafts throughout the Blesthethubl Kalbdyra, where fresh air is pumped into the tunnels and mines below the surface.
The mines extended for runs in all directions, and the records of how extensive they were were lost when the city fell. However, many ways have been discovered, and slowly but surely, many different Kuzaarik with various motivations are entering the doomed city.
Some are simply looking to make quick money by taking something out of Shadow Crag and selling it on the black market in Vinyabah Gohrahd, which is extensive. Others are after information about the demise of the city. Still, others are chasing Shadow Crag’s legendary ore, Sky Iron, which, when made into steel in the city’s foundries, shone a beautiful sky blue tint and was known to be more durable than other iron deposits throughout the northern mountains.
Sky Iron was a rumor, a tall tale passed down by blacksmiths in Vinyabah Gohrahd, until just recently. Having heard the stories all of his life, Gulzahn Bahkyav set out to determine once and for all the reality of the ancient iron and, if possible, bring its use back to Kuzaarik culture. Even though he thought it could do nothing but benefit the Kuzaarik, he would still be breaking laws and risking his entire career by pursuing this passion.
He was used to this and decided the possible rewards were well worth the risk. Gulzahn had been working with exotic materials all his life, many of which would not be considered acceptable by some of his peers or the Metal Union. Time and again, he risked his personal and professional life to create works of art out of materials that were exceedingly rare or that had never been used before.
His first task was to commission an Explorer to scout the region of the Blesthethubl Kalbdyra and determine a safe way into the mines that were rumored to yield the ore. Not any Explorer would do, of course, as there was a law keeping all Kuzaarik away from the ruins of the lost cities. Being caught breaking such a law was automatic exile.
Gulzahn had many friends in the Explorer ranks, and interestingly enough, most of them were criminals of one kind or another, people who had been caught doing the kind of things that Gulzahn had been doing for years. One of them, Abruyahl Dahnvor, had worked with Gulzahn before on matters that needed discretion.
Abruyahl stalked around the Blesthethubl Kalbdyra for weeks, looking for entrances into the mines of Shadow Crag without getting too close to the city and the nightmares that were rumored to dwell there.
He was eventually successful and returned to Gulzahn with a chunk of the rumored ore. His suspicions answered, and his curiosity piqued; Gulzahn returned with Abruyahl and began mining the ore himself. He returned to Vinyabah Gohrahd each time with a small amount of the ore but enough to make some significant artifacts.
Gulzahn has had several close calls in the mine shafts of Shadow Crag. The demons still haunt the caves and tunnels of the city, though most of them live in the Chasm, where Faelon and Karelon have blended because of the weakened veil between them.
Still, the rewards outweigh the risks in Gulzahn's eyes, so he continues to visit the haunted tunnels of Shadow Crag for his prized ore. He makes beautiful items from the Sky Ore quietly and sells them with just as much discretion.
