Syrah 42, the Riftsplitter. Human, Cambion Male ![Syrah 42](http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/123/a/8/a8b7d95d968af2678a632dfeadc6ce86.jpg "I was just catching up on my reading... Did you need something?") Backstory: Syrah, or rather “42” as he was referred by before he adopted the name, was one of the 66 magi bred into the world. As men breed dogs for function in the fields or hunt, so too did they breed mages for their magical abilities. By careful pedigree, magical bloodlines tracing for centuries back would flow down from each generation, each father passing on the powers of great magi past. Amongst his 66 half-brothers, 42 was bred for supreme magical affinity, the magical blood of seventeen generations of magi ran in his veins as he was conceived among the masses of surrogate by the intermediary incubus. Of the 100 children born that night: his half-sisters were sent away to become oracles and enchanters in Orindon, while he and his half-brothers were whisked to become sorcerers and wizards in Avalad. They never told any of the boys their relation to each other, as they studied the mystic arts and gleaned an arcane education. Like an esoteric boarding school, each student was raised steeping in the magical arts, coaxing them to demonstrate their abilities as they advanced through their years. By their 16th year, each would be tested and then placed into their respective areas of advanced studies. Or such was the plan for never did a boy frustrate their instructors as much as 42. 42 was inept at destructive magics, incapable of illusionary arts, barely capable of summoning and hardly fitting as necromancer. While the others found their particular niche and specialty, his magical blood was deemed wasted. On the day of their 16th birthdays, during the grand exam, he had failed to impress the council and perhaps even his unknown father who may have sat amongst them. As such, he was decreed to be unfit to contribute to the next generation of magi, as he had been unable to display the magnificent arcane powers within his veins as his other siblings had. That night 42 went to sleep as a failure, and the morning after, 42 awoke a eunuch. But by that same afternoon he escaped. Tearing a rift through the warded walls and guarded corridors, 42 unleashed his sorcerery throughout the cosmos as space bended and warped before him. Fueled by desire and despair, his bloodline was finally unlocked as his veins glowed hues of stellar blues and radiated their untapped potential through his body vessel. He tunneled though the other side, and saw it: a world beyond the books he knew. The market was alive, filled with people and obscure objects. Strange visions of the city as voiceless merchants shouted their wares and buyers haggled over prices. This was magical, another realm beyond those he had learned of. By the time the alarms were activated, 42 had seen enough and walked into the first portal he had created. Unfortunately, being the first portal he had created, 42 had created one high above the market tents where it went unnoticed for minutes, until stepped through to fall upon a merchant’s stall completely ruining his inventory of wine as the barrels broke his fall. While the merchant was furious at his loss by this rapscallion, dressed in his academic robes, 42 was not like any other street tramp which had occasionally attempted to ruin him. Maybe he was a wizard’s apprentice, and those wizards had money to go around wearing their fancy robes and reading their fancy books right? “What is your name, boy?” “Forty-two sir.” “Do you take me for a fool, boy? That is no name for a streetrat who ruined my stock of Syrah!” Taking him by the collar, the merchant intended to have the tramp’s master pay for the lost stock. Yet, what neither of them knew was this was merely the beginning of the partnership. Years later, 42, or Syrah as he goes by now, works for the new Merchant-King of Avalad. The old merchant gained an asset, and the boy gained a father figure. It was quite convenient to have a sorcerer wrapt around one’s fingers, especially one who could open a portal from one city to the next. Far-flung goods from around the lands were secured within minutes as portals to various cities were opened for shipments, allowing the Merchant-King to control stock and inventory at a ease without worry of troublesome bandits, time or tolls. With his portal mage, business was good, but when a group of mercenaries arrived seeking the assistance of portal mage, business was better. A service charge of 3% per job, of which 1.5% would be paid in advance, and a flat fee of 1% applied on top of the 3% to cover his mage’s own expenses and finally a 2.5% deposit for the safe return of his mage in “good condition.” These were the terms laid out to the mercenaries, which were accepted. “Syrah my boy, go make your old man some money so I can retire.” “So it appears, Father: I shall go, and I will wear the black band.” Skills- Keenly trained logistics, and learned in the arcane arts. Resourceful in creating novel uses for magics and versed in theoretical spellcraft. A linguist by travel of trade, fluent in just about any common trade language, including reading and writing the more esoteric scripts which he often uses to inscribe his spellbooks to privy his thoughts from the less learned. Magic/magical abilities- Portal Magic: While lacking in perhaps more conventional magic, Syrah tears asunder wormholes through space within moments. Lesser magisters could scarcely dream of forgoing the incantations and reagents needed to create a portal with a scant wave of a hand or snap of their fingers let alone direct the spatial tunnel as quickly as he may burrow them. Thus, with an unparalleled ability to quickly cast and create dimensional distortions, Syrah is quite the mobile spellcaster. The limit to his portal magic of course is determined largely by the distance between the two points of travel, as such, while local dimensional rendering may be instantaneous, creating fairly stabilize portals between cities may take a minute. The second caution when dealing with portal magics is the duality of the portal, which allows travel in both directions as long as they remain stable. Another caution to note is, in the event an object traveling through the dimensions should find itself caught within a destabilizing portal, such an object would either be sliced between the planes, or crushed between them depending on the length of collapsing precipice tubule and the position of the object. The creation of a more permanent portal is possible however, but doing so would require a physical anchor which counteracts the physical spatial collapse and an energy source to maintain the portal breached. Equipment- An enchanted spellbook which serves as a spell focus, also useful for hitting people on the head with in case of need for physical combat. Other: