Helshan Zide
Helshan Zide (CE rogue 14), leader of the guild of assassins and spies known as the Gray Cloaks, is a despicable man whose homicidal tendencies and love of murder drive him to erratic and psychotic behavior. A native of Zha-nehzmish, he was a
promising young merchant of the Vezdor clan, University trained, and a favored pupil of Shinter Wol himself.
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
Helshan Zide would be an attractive man if it were not for his too intense eyes and the ever-present crazed smile on his face.
Identifying Characteristics
His dark brown skin features tattoos over his entire body, mostly in whorls and vines, and with a large skull tattooed at the back of his neck.
Apparel & Accessories
He wears the typical gray cloak of his guild with darker clothing beneath. Around his neck, he wears a locket that some say carries Leshan’s portrait.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
At 16, he returned from his studies to relax and enjoy the companionship of his family and to compose letters of love to his paramour, Leshan of the Zhasorozh clan, a rival merchant family. The two adolescents met in secret and swapped letters for two years, and he intended to make her his wife. What he did not know was that another young lord had an interest in Leshan as well.
This lord, Suvarasa, was of another merchant clan, who were also zurenas. Suvarasa was better established and a more attractive suitor for the Zhasorozh clan. Even though Leshan had some say in her future husband and her heart was indeed with the young Helshan, Suvarasa threatened to destroy her house if she did not agree to his proposal. Placing her family above her own interests, she accepted Suvarasa and turned young Helshan away.
Helshan was always an unstable youth, prone to fits of depression and violent outbursts. His family did what they could to hide his dark side, but with Leshan’s rejection, he lost control and became overwhelmed by hate. Helshan, under the cover of
darkness, infiltrated Suvarasa’s estate, cut out his tongue and tortured him for hours. Taking the severed head, he crept into Leshan’s home, murdering her siblings, parents, guards and everyone else in the house save Leshan. He entered her chambers and left the grisly trophy of her suitor at the foot of her bed.
Helshan fled into the underworld, but he heard rumors of Leshan’s madness and eventual suicide. Hunted by the zurenas, he hid among the worst of the worst: killers, thugs and slavers.
He made a name for himself for his bloodthirstiness and his willingness to do any job. Three years later, he killed the head of the Gray Cloaks and seized control of the guild. With Helshan as their leader, the Gray Cloaks emerged unscathed
from the Purging and more powerful than ever before. Now, the guild concerns themselves with selling Ahznomahnii information, assassination and worse. Helshan Zide is still the most wanted man in all of Ahznomahn, but his ability to escape
capture has made him something of a legend.
Ethnicity
Children