Issad Harman

Issad Windrider
Scourge of the Desert Skies and Tyrant of the Skywall

You would be forgiven for thinking a common thief nobler than a swindler and a smuggler, a distributor of mushrooms and many-coloured dreams, but I think that you would be hard-pressed to deny that Issad Harman was anything but an honourable man who did what he had to in order to survive and care for the people that he loved most. But then again, I admit, I might be biased. For you see, if not for him, I would have died to the desert, just another lost soul in a sea of others torn apart by the parched earth and the merciless sun.
As happens with many folks who affect the lives of others in ways both good and bad, Issad managed to cultivate for himself something of a reputation for brutality. It would be easy to take a look at the record of his known deeds and decide that yes, indeed, there is merit to the claim; Issad Harman is a monster, and that's the end of it. But the truth is seldom so simple or convenient, and as much as his detractors contend that he is a monster, they cannot deny that in his time he did a lot of good.
Set aside the fact that he rescued an a'drekh child wandering the deserts, having lost his flight and run away from the one that adopted him, without needing to do such a thing. Issad Harman was a far kinder man than the stories about Issad Windrider would let on. I was privileged to have know him and never have I seen anyone so desirous of peace and harmony that he would go so far as to punish, with his own hands, the subordinates who cause trouble — not because they're bad for business but because in our line of work trouble can mean the ruin of an innocent's life — none, that is, besides his adopted daughter, Izha.
For better or for worse, she is his legacy, and she is a testament to the profound effect that Issad Harman had on the lives of those around him. She is symbolic of the way that he impressed his values on the people that he considered his family, of how he made sure that personal responsibility and personal accountability was never forgotten, of how he made it known that it is okay to bend the rules in the service of something "greater," as long as one did not make any attempts to avoid the consequences of their actions.
So yes. Call me biased. But by no means is Issad Harman's legacy a broken criminal empire.

— Taaka Sunstrider
The Chronicle of a Common Thief

Issad Windrider, Scourge of the Desert Skies, Tyrant of the Skywall, was a historical figure who lived between third and fifth centuries NL. He was a prominent figure within the criminal organization known as the Hooded Eye, and the leader of one of the more traditionalist sub-factions in the group. Although possessed of a larger-than-life reputation by design, Issad Windrider was not nearly as violent a man as the stories spread about him might let on, a fact that is constantly hammered home by his biography, The Chronicle of a Common Thief, written by Taaka Sunspinner, his a'drekh lover shortly after his passing.
If not for Issad Windrider, the geopolitical landscape of the Pāll-tanír would look very different in comparison to what it is in the modern day. Without his efforts, for instance, a strip of towns, villages, and cities all along the spine of the Skywall Range would all be devastated or abandoned. If not for Issad's intervention, the Hooded Eye would have collapsed on itself following the resolution of the Stormcaller Crisis. And finally, without his help, Aestrin Qirienos's dreams of seeing the centhiri rejoin the world stage as a united race would have died out before having a chance at fulfillment.

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

Issad is well-toned, exhibiting definition in his muscles but not so much that they appear exaggerated. He is physically fit and regularly takes time out of his day to either exercise or spar with Taaka, keeping on top of his training and his skills as a fighter. With his lithe physique, he is able to move faster than most, which he employs to great effect in combat, dashing in and out of his enemy's range, leaving them little opportunity to strike back.

Body Features

Standing at roughly 5'9" or 175.25 cm, Issad isn't a short man by any stretch of the imagination, but the topic of his height relative to Taaka has always been a sore spot. In keeping with his shorter stature, his body is proportionately less bulky than most men. He is well-defined, but qualifies more as lithe rather than muscled.
He retains a semblance of the unearthly beauty of his elledyn'ni heritage, as well as hair like golden thread. He has inherited the bronzed complexion of the elledŷnnë as well, but the time he spends bare-chested in the sun masks the natural colour of his skin, making him appear a fair amount darker than he would otherwise be.

Facial Features

Issad is conventionally handsome in the Arventiri sense of the word. His mellow brown eyes, strong eyebrows, and sharp cheekbones make however, make him Un-Ideal in the eyes of the elledŷnnë, but his slender nose, thin lips, and slightly tapered ears swing him back in the direction of the Ideal, but not enough to be considered "beautiful" by the standards of the elledŷnnë.

Identifying Characteristics

Issad has a faint scar from the base of his right jaw down along the side of his neck to his collarbone on the same side.

Physical quirks

Issad is right-handed and has been said to have the graceful lope of a cat when he walks. He carries himself with confidence, maintaining good posture at all times, ready to spring into a battle stance as soon as possible.
Issad has a number of tics, his tendency to scratch the top of the scar under his right jaw, for instance, when he is thinking, but there are a number that few people notice. Taaka mentions in The Chronicle of a Common Thief that Issad rubs the pad of his thumb across the second knuckle of his index finger whenever he is nervous, and that every time he is genuinely happy, Issad half-smiles for a moment and then presses his lips together before smiling as though he isn't sure how to properly express happiness.

Apparel & Accessories

Wearing a glass ring on the middle finger of his left hand that surrounds him with a protective enchantment against the worst of the desert heat as well as the sun's radiance, Issad likes to walk around with only a pair of standard breeches and no shirt. However, when propriety demands it, the wears a leather vest, only putting on proper leather armor when he expects to fight.

Specialized Equipment

Issad possesses a pair of enchanted shoes that allow him to keep sure footing on any surface, even vertical walls, as long as he keeps moving. In addition, he bears a ring that protects him from the harsh environment of the desert continent. As far as weapons go, Issad has only two: longtooth and longclaw, two foot-long curved daggers that are constantly slathered with poison.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Early Life

Born in the Exiled Realm on Di'Termalttë, to an elledyn'ni woman and her human lover, the story of Issad Harman is one known only to a privileged few. Though a rather open person with regard to most other aspects of his life, Issad was very private when it came to the topic of his formative years, leading many to believe that Issad suffered considerable trauma during that period of his life.
However, contrary to this notion, the early years of Issad Harman's life were normal enough. Though life was difficult in the Exiled Realm, it wasn't tortured. Despite his circumstances, Issad was able to enjoy a decent youth, learning how to interact with others and taking up the way of the sword, in the quick and snappy style that his father preferred.
For most of his childhood, a shadow loomed over Issad's head despite his otherwise healthy youth. His mother contracted a disease: di'ridhalna, the stonecurse, a terrible incurable disease that resulted in a person's flesh turning hard and inflexible over time. The disease progressed slowly, as it always did, spreading across his mother's body at a snail's pace. It gave Issad enough time to reconcile with the fact that his mother was going to die someday and that there was nothing he could do about it. He understood that her death was going to be slow and agonizing.

Struggles with Death

At the tender age of fifteen, Issad was present when his mother begged his father to do her a mercy and end her life before she became a burden to the both of them. Issad couldn't understand why his father refused to do something that his gut told him was correct. He sought out advice for his situation and found solace in a temple to the Nine. His own feelings about the ordeal aside, since he didn't want his mother to die, Issad felt that he couldn't begrudge his mother the ability to choose the terms of her own death.
Although he never understands the faith of the Nine, or any faith, for that matter, Issad had the unique experience of communing with the Stranger himself as a child. As the god that mediates the veil between life and death, the Stranger reassured Issad that there was nothing wrong with the way that he viewed the world and that in the face of a life that did not have any way to go but in the direction of worse, choosing the circumstances of one's death would be the most courageous and most honourable way to go.

Doing the Unthinkable

One night, a few weeks after his father's obstinate refusal to grant his mother's request, Issad, having gone through the necessary counselling from the clergy of the Nine, and understanding the ramifications of what he was about to do, was able to obtain a poison that would kill quickly and painlessly. He went to his mother while his father was out on business and he told her that he would do what she wanted if his father wouldn't.
She seemed conflicted. One the one hand, she did not want to die a vegetable and a burden to her family, but on the other, she did not want to put blood on her only son's hands. Issad reassured her that he had come to terms with all of it, that he had spoken with the clergy of the Nine, and that the Stranger himself had told him that this was one of the most courageous things that she could do in life. Seeing the conviction in her son's eyes, Issad's mother reluctantly agreed.

Nevermind how uncompromising Issad Harman might seem when he has his mind set on something, it wasn't until he told me about his mother that I truly recognized the strength of character that Issad possessed. He had been fifteen at the time, not much younger than me the first time that they taught me how to butcher a lizard. I had retched and gagged at killing the defenseless thing, and yet he didn't so much as flinch when he gave his mother that poison. Even while he was telling the story, I could see that he truly thought it was the right thing to do, that it was the necessary thing to do.
But beyond all of that, I could still see the pain. Because a child doesn't do something like that without suffering for it. He was okay by the time he told me the story, things had happened long enough ago that he had reconciled himself with them, but I knew that he probably still bore scars from his agony over that decision, scars that he had never let anyone else see. But even then I looked at him, and I saw that he didn't regret anything.
I know it's probably a bit naïve to think that Issad never blamed anyone for what had happened to his mother, but I know that he did not. Issad has a way of speaking with contempt and yet without contempt for the people he despises. He never spoke ill of his father, or even of the Stranger for giving him a reason to go through with something so unthinkable. It's hard to imagine, but I think even at the age of fifteen, Issad understood, somehow, that sometimes difficult decisions had to be made, and that he would be hated for them, even if they were necessary, and even if they were the right thing to do.

— Taaka Sunspinner
The Chronicle of a Common Thief

The Hooded Eye

The tale of how Issad came to be on the Pāll-tanír, and how he first came into contact with the Hooded Eye remains unknown. Even in the work published by Taaka Sunspinner, The Chronicle of a Common Thief, the story is unsaid. It can only be speculated that either the story was too private to share, or Issad simply didn't think it a story worth sharing. What is known, however, is that Issad departed from his home shortly after the death of his mother, able to wither but unwilling to tolerate the looks that his father shot in his direction, eventually coming to the shores of the Pāll-tanír by unspecified means where he is eventually contacted by the Hooded Eye and becomes involved in the criminal syndicate.
Always eager and quick to learn, it is known that Issad had a meteoric rise into prominence within the organization, earning his wings as a Windrider faster than anyone else in the organization's history, but a little-known fact that is described only once, in The Chronicle of a Common Thief is that contrary to popular belief that Issad's galerider partner Rhakkor was his first, Issad in fact caught a stormrider as his first mount but took pity on the beast and released it into the wild, but not before giving it the name Symri, meaning "blue" in Elledyn'ni.

Izha Mostana

At some undetermined point in time, under relatively unknown circumstances, Issad became the adoptive father of a tussari centhiri known as Izha Mostana. He inducted her into the Hooded Eye and trained her in much the same way that he had been trained in the distant past, but emphasizing the values and codes of morals that had helped him survive in such a cutthroat world. She would make him proud as, taking over the Windriders for him, she was able to use her power responsibly to not only help the tussari centhiri return to the world and adjust, but also help in his efforts to build a better, brighter future for the Hooded Eye as a whole.

The Stormcaller Crisis

In the year 329.30 NL, the Pāll-tanír became the hotbed for a political conspiracy that spanned the entire continent, which drew the Hooded Eye into the conflict and sparked a civil war within the hitherto united criminal organization that, over the years, had been infiltrated by sympathizers of the old Mulrakhan empire. Issad found himself leading the faction that held to the fundamental beliefs and values of the Hooded Eye against the faction that was swayed to the side of the entity known as the Stormcaller by the promise of wealth and power.
Before any direct conflict could erupt between the two sides, however, the freeing and subsequent rise of the Necromancer Shiera Alcarnis in the northeast provided exactly the kind of chaotic catalyst that the Stormcaller needed to put his plans in motion and in so doing he awakened the slumbering elemental spirits of the desert, empowering the already-destructive Arventir with a viciousness that hadn't been seen since the days of Mulrakh.
As a direct result, Issad had to devote his not-inconsiderable resources to keeping stability in the region, ensuring that aid reached the afflicted, and that supplies and trade continued to flow as was necessary to prevent a breakdown of law and order. Issad conducted this business from the Windrider stronghold in the city of Khabrel while the Dominion mustered its forces to contend with Necromancer as well as help in the relief efforts. It is for his actions during this time that despite his reputation, Issad is hailed a hero among the people who reside in the territory of his Windriders.

Issad and I had been aware of the civil war brewing in the Hooded Eye for some time by that point, and we had known that there was a conspiracy afoot to murder both the Caliphs of Madras and Tan'Ayya, but we hadn't counted on the group of adventurers that were waylaid by Kalros' men to prove so effective at throwing everything into chaos.
When Kalros made the mistake of not only harrying these adventurers but stealing their objective from right out under their noses and having the temerity to fight about it, it was not at all surprising to see him vanquished. But it was something that neither Issad nor I could take lightly. We had to respond, in some way, or we would be seen as weak, which we could not afford given the delicate situation at the time. So we spoke with the adventurers outside the town of Dorost, with a bit of help from my magic.
We let them go on the condition that they help us unravel the plot that would lead to the destabilization of the entire region. We sent them on their way and thought nothing of it. We imagined that if they could help us, it would be great, but if they couldn't, then it would be no great loss on our part. Little did we know that a few days later they would accidentally unleash an ancient evil and spark the wildfire that consumed the entire continent soon after.

— Taaka Sunspinner
The Chronicle of a Common Thief

Issad Harman, Hierarch

Following the resolution of the Stormcaller crisis at the hands of Aestrin Qirienos, at the time posing as Sahim ar'Sattaab, Voice of the Caliph of Tan'Ayya, the civil war in the Hooded Eye lost steam as the faction that backed the Stormcaller reeled from the loss of their leader. Issad and Taaka took the opportunity to muster support and make a play for the Hierarchy of the Hooded Eye, which had also recently lost one of its Hierarchs, Haqo'ob ar'Sabbin.
Successful in their coup, Issad and Taaka began the long process of rebuilding the Hooded Eye from the ground up, setting their sights on Issad's dream of turning the organization into more of a legitimate economic power rather than simply a criminal syndicate.

Sexuality

Issad Harman is known to have had a string of casual male lovers and his homosexuality was well-known among the members of his particular faction of the Hooded Eye, the Windriders.

Taaka Sunspinner

Although Issad Harman's reputation suggests otherwise, and even the seminal work on his life, The Chronicle of a Common Thief, does not explicitly lay it out, Issad Harman is known to have only ever had one serious lover in his long life, an a'drekh by the name of Taaka Sunspinner who wrote Issad's biography and is the primary source for most of our knowledge about this man. In fact, many sources contemporary to these two figures attest that the two never acknowledged having feelings for one another until they sort of just... fell into a peaceful domesticity.

Education

Apart from a brief stint in a general education program in the Exiled Realm, Issad Harman never had a formalized education by Dominion standards. However, he is very well-learned when it comes to the art of fighting, particularly a form of combat that employs quick movements, dashing in and out of range of his opponents. In addition, he had a comprehensive education in the history, values, and customs of the Hooded Eye as part of his becoming a member of the organization, lessons that he took to heart and used to help shape the vision that he had of the Hooded Eye's future.

Employment

Though unconfirmed, it is widely thought that Issad worked a variety of jobs during his time as a youth, before he entered the service of the Hooded Eye, as it is otherwise unknown how he would have been able to secure passage on a ship from Di'Termalttë to the Pāll-tanír, and he vehemently denies ever being a stowaway.

Intellectual Characteristics

"Issad was very much a visual learner," Taaka Sunspinner writes in his The Chronicle of a Common Thief, "when it came to the movements of our people, he would shut down anyone who tried to talk him through any of it and would ask them to point things out on a map. If there wasn't one available, he would draw it himself."
Despite what may have come across as an unconcerned, brash personality, Issad was, in fact, a well-spoken and eloquent man, with a quick wit and an even sharper tongue. He was very discerning, able to tell whether a person was lying with a fairly high rate of success. But what made him truly dangerous was his ability to suss out what made people tick, the vulnerabilities that they kept hidden in their hearts of hearts. It was what made him such an effective interrogator and orator, as he could effortlessly capture the attention of anyone who listened to him.
Issad, despite his impressive oratorical skills, was more a man of action than of words. He did not like sitting still and could not abide the thought doing nothing. He at least had the presence of mind to know when patience was necessary, and the willpower to stop himself from doing something stupid, but waiting for long periods of time was always an ordeal for him. In a way, he was thankful for all the chaos surrounding the Stormcaller crisis as it left him with a lot to do and too little time to do most of it.

Morality & Philosophy

Issad had a very strong code of ethics that he followed all throughout his life. It boiled down to three concepts:

• Principles are malleable; you will not break if you bend a little to do what is right
• Sometimes the right answer lies at the end of the wrong path; do not be afraid to take the wrong path
• Avoid violence if unnecessary but use the least amount, in the most effective manner otherwise.

Taboos

Issad Harman had a number of taboos but exploiting the unfortunate, the young, the sick, and the old was first and foremost among these. He was known to hand out almost-excessive punishment for disobeying this one rule, and anyone who joins his faction of the Hooded Eye quickly learns not to violate Issad's taboo.

Gender

Male

Eyes

Mellow Brown

Hair

Short golden-blond

Height

5'9" or 175.25cm

Weight

115 lbs or 52 kg

Known Languages

Issad Windrider is well versed in Tretalleri, Elledyn'ni, Dominean, Khathari, Veldrani, and Arventiri.

Glossary of Terms

A'Drekh

The dragonborn

Alossi Centhiri

The "Lowborn." Lizardfolk who are considered lesser than the tussari for not possessing serpentine bodies

Arventir

Powerful, magically-charged sandstorms that tear through the landscape of the Pāll-tanír accompanied by extremely powerful static electric discharges

Centhiri

A reptilian race split into two "castes," the alossi and the tussari

Di'Ridhalna

The Stonecurse. Incurable disease that leads to the slow ossification of the body.

Di'Termalttë

Heartland of the Dominion. Home to the Exiled Realm, the Silvered Realm, and the Dominion

Dominion, the

Greatest empire in the history of the world, ruled by the tretâllë

Elledŷnnë

The High Elves, ancient enemies of the Dominion

Elledyn'ni

Of or relating to the elledŷnnë. Also, the language of the elledŷnnë

Exiled Realm, the

Tract of land between the Dominion and the Silvered Realm, home for the disenfranchised that belong to neither empire

Stranger, the

God of the veil between life and death and patron god of the Dominion

Tretâllë

The Bone Elves, leaders of the Dominion

Tretalleri

Of or relating to the tretâllë. Also, the language of the tretâllë

Tussari Centhiri

The "Highborn." Yuan-ti in traditional D&D. Believe themselves superior to the alossi because of their serpentine forms