Byanka Rran
Description
An exotic angel and striking demon, Byanka Rran’s true form is that of a horrific, bipedal toad-woman – a slaad sorceress. But at second glance, it becomes clear that she’s more than that. Her amphibious flesh is dappled gray with deeper black motes, and she’s quite hairless. Her broad, flat features are dominated by that pair of abysmally black eyes, yet within those eyes burns tiny flames of volcanic and unpredictable fury. She stands 5’10”, weighing 135 pounds with much wiry muscle backing her taloned fingers. Indeed, as gray slaadi go, she appears far mightier and fiercer. This is due, of course, to her draconian parentage. Both smoke dragon and slaad gave birth to Byanka, gifting her with amazing powers and an innate drive to survive and thrive. Drifting smoke wafts up from her fanged mouth, smelling of brimstone – the churning heart of the earth, not some mimicking hellhole.
Byanka’s age seems indeterminable, although an air of confidence and mysterious and mystical prowess surrounds Byanka. That suggests she’s had decades if not centuries to grow quite skilled at her otherworldly trade. If she opts for arms, Byanka often carries a long shaft of steel mounted with a pike’s head and an axe-like blade extending sideways – a fine make of a halberd. She wears no armor – her scaly flesh seems impenetratable enough – except for a pair of bronze bracers etched with wild sigils stringing into one another. A simple toga of scarlet hue is wound about her form. Byanka might also wield a brass, polished rod mounted with a fist-sized faceted crystal head, or a more slender onyx shaft with a smaller crystal afixed. She may even carry a shrewd composite long bow of alien manufacture – bone-like wood, strung with the treated intestinal tract of a cruel devil.
But as Byanka wanders Cael, she conceals her true form behind the potent illusions her slaadi nature commands. She masquerades then as a human woman in her early 30s, beautiful beyond compare with short-bobbed ravenesque hair and pale, flawless skin. Her hazel-gray gaze pierces most hearts and quails many more: the fire smoldering within indicates the arcane powers at her disposal. She still wears no mail, but dons instead a flowing robe parted along the legs for easier range of motion. A golden cord binds the robe to her shapely body. She will more regularly carry the weapons aforementioned, lacking the fangs and claws her true form affords.
History
About 2,248 years ago, a gray slaad sorceress encountered a ferocious smoke dragon exploring the chaotic realm of Limbo. The two clashed, but their battle soon simmered down and changed abruptly into strange passion. Through their magic, they were able to mate: Byanka Rran was the first result. The dragon went on its way after siring one more child, and Byanka (and her younger sister) was raised as a slaad – exposed to love and hatred, cruelty and tenderness – and she quickly grew stronger. She had to either survive or perish.
It was in the Black Sphere, one of the few relatively steady realms of the Limbo, that Byanka received her upbringing and instruction in the shadow arts of slaadi magic. She met many other slaadi, and few could compete with her draconian advantages. She quickly grew to rule the roost, growing stronger than ever her mother, who vanished in time anyway. Centuries became millennia and Byanka became a master of herself in that wild plane. Few could overcome her cunning and magical might, and rumors already abounded that she would take up the path of the death slaadi. But that was not her goal: instead, she sought to claim all the arcane power she could, the better to reshape her environment to suit her reality. Byanka left the Limbo without intention to return for a long while. She had made only spontaneous visits to the material plane of Cael in the past. Now she intended to linger for as long as it took for her to master the secrets of wizardry, choosing to study first in the exotic land of Wutao. With the elements at her fingertips, and with false and evil arts cast aside, it seemed clear that one day indeed she would be peerless, death slaad or no.
Personality
Byanka is merciless when it comes to her enemies. But she is not a vicious monster hell-bent on slaying anyone in her path. She would only bend her deadly powers against those who intend on trying to stop her ambitious drive for all forms of magical mysteries. Mortal laws mean nothing to her, and she ignores them all blithely. She has few questions about her draconian heritage, and is far more interested in using its granted powers to her advantage. Of course, that blood may explain her affinity for the elements of the universe, especially fire!
Goals
Byanka will pursue the wizard class to mastery (20th level) before taking up a prestige class: probably archmage.
Character Sheet