Shinter Wol

One of the more famous institutions in Zha-nehzmish is the University of Zha, an educational facility without peer in all of Svimohzia. Ensuring the continuance of the school and its funding is Headmaster Shinter Wol (N aristocrat 4/expert 11). Shinter is the son of a lesser aristocrat. In his youth, he exhibited a quick mind and an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. Young Shinter quickly devoured his father’s meager library, and then became listless and depressed with nothing left to learn. His father lacked the resources for private tutors, however, as he had lost most of his funds with the fall of the nobility in Zhanehzmish. Therefore, he turned to the University to educate his son. He indentured his 8-year-old son to the Mizani Merchant House (related to the same Mizani in Anowhizh) for four years to pay for the school. The service to a merchant proved an ill fit for young Shinter. He disdained the drudgery it entailed. The master of the house required him to perform inventories, forcing the boy to count endless crates of stinking herbs and oils the family gained from dealers in the Vohven Jungle. Despite his hatred for this task, he performed adequately, if not superbly, and the Merchant soon employed the youth in more and more varied tasks, including accounting, appraisal, and more of the business practices. Shinter never really embraced the life of a merchant and left the House at age 12 to go to University. As soon as he enrolled, he realized his destiny was at hand. He studied whatever subjects were available, from Pel Brolenese history to the Planar Suppositions. The faculty recognized his genius, and he began teaching classes by age 16. By age 18, he received a full professorship and by 20, he advanced to a tenured position. Five years later, after a brilliant and winning debate against the existing Headmaster, he took over the principal position in the school and has enjoyed the post ever since. During his tenure, he has spent nearly all of his resources to improve the school, to secure more governmental and private resources, and to acquire manuscripts, tomes and other subjects of learning and study. With all of his expenditures, no one suspects he has fleeced the school of thousands of Anvims to build his own library of rare books. He keeps them in a private room beneath the school. Shinter is a slight man in his early 50s with weathered black skin and a smooth scalp. His pinched features and his frail frame suggest something avian, perhaps predatory, which seems to reflect his personality. He dresses in black scholar’s robes and wears a small gray cap. He is distant and detached, unless courting a merchant prince for funds, supplies or some other needed resource for the school. In these instances, he talks and gestures often, with a ready smile and shining eyes.