Vahid's Session Zero
This is the second of the Session Zero deep dives, this time about our Seeker, Vahid. Here’s a recap of the character questions, including the one that is specific to the Seeker Playbook:
Introduce yourself by name, pronouns, background, origin, and appearance.
Describe your special possessions.
Tell us about your Major and Minor Arcana.
Answer a question about the NPCs in Stonetop.
Pose a question to the other PCs about your character.
Describe your home and place it on the village map.
As with the previous deep dive on Padrig, you can see all the other options we’re not exploring by preordering Stonetop on Kickstarter.
Introduce yourself.
Vahid ebn Sulaim is a scholar from the city-state of Lygos. He studied at the Lycaeum there, learning to read and write many languages, as well as many philosophies — mathematics, history, alchemy, engineering. Despite his attainment, he is curiously young — in his early 20s. He is lean and lanky, dark-skinned and short-haired, and always has ink-stains on his fingers.
Describe your special possessions.
In his humble accommodations at the public house, Vahid has set up a low, carved wooden writing desk on a woven rug. There are his scribes tools and ink of the Lycaeum’s two allowed colors — black and blue — as well as a concealed vial of red ink, which only masters of the Lycaeum are permitted to use. He also has the tools of an engineer’s trade, which he has occasionally plied on his way from Lygos to Stonetop — tripods, carefully marked measuring tapes, rules, plumb-bobs, and designs for various tools and simple machines.
Tell us about your Major Arcana and Minor Arcana.
Major Arcana
Vahid bears the Azure Hand, a thick metal staff topped with the sigil of an open hand, wrought in Aethereum, a strange metal with a bluish tinge to it. The palm is embossed with a cloud and a lightning bolt.
He acquired it from a Lygosi merchant, who didn’t quite know what he had. Vahid has resisted a few attempts to purchase it back and escaped a few attempts to steal it back. It was one of these attempts that convinced him that his research was best continued elsewhere.
On the road to Stonetop, Vahid and the Azure Hand made quite an impression on a band of Hillfolk who attempted to rob him in the dead of night. Vahid commanded the hand to draw the fire from their torches and cast it back at them, panicking their horses and driving them off. Unbeknownst to Vahid, this tale has been told around the Steppe, and now a Hillfolk sorcerer named Cirl seeks the staff.
Vahid sought out Stonetop because of the tales he had heard about the Stone and its properties. If he wants to discover the extent of the Azure Hand’s power to command the elements, the Stone, with its affinity to lightning, seems a rational place to do so. Once before, Vahid has stood in the storm at the foot of the obelisk, bearing the Hand and calling upon its power. He was elated when successfully contained some of the force of a lightning strike, but if a villager saw him, they could start a dangerous rumor about his witchcraft.
Minor Arcana
The first of Vahid’s minor arcana is an artifact from the heyday of the Makers -- a gleaming white… thing. Its form is indescribable (it is difficult to even hold it in one’s gaze for too long), though the few who have seen it can agree that it is a key. To look upon it brings a sensation of painful opening, and of frailty and impermanence. Recently, Vahid used its power to unlock his third eye, allowing him to manifest a shining mote of light upon his forehead and perceive the minds and auras of thinking beings in luminous detail.
The second of Vahid’s minor arcana is a richly embroidered cloak, dyed a pale blue-gray and embroidered with stylized clouds. He knows that he must decipher the Maker’s runes, stitched in Aetherium wire around the cloak’s edge, and his third eye has shown him that a living, thinking spirit resides within, but it will not respond to any spirit-name that Vahid knows.
The third of Vahid’s minor Arcana is a rumor, only. In the Whitefang Mountains to the North, there is a cavern sealed by ancient, Maker-hewn bricks. A traveler Vahid met in Marshedge told him the tale for a handful of silver and gave him a map purporting to show the location of this place.
Answer a question about an NPC in Stonetop.
Vahid chose to answer two questions, the first is “Who is your closest kin?”
Vahid has no kin in Stonetop, but he has grown close to Garet, the publican, and Judge of the law-god Aratis. Garet is the official settler of disputes in Stonetop, and the keeper of the village’s chronicle. As a fellow man of letters, he and Vahid are collegial, and Vahid has helped transcribe some parts of the Stonetop chronicle as well as devising a counting system for harvests and for the rainwater cistern. He currently lives in one of the travelers’ rooms in the public house.
The second question is “Who do you secretly watch over, and why?”
Blodwen, a young woman of the village, has the Forest Eyes. Having studied the Stonetop Chronicle, Vahid knows that the vivid green eyes are a sign of connection to the now-missing Forest Folk, and could be part of the key to understanding the Stone and the history of the village.
Pose a question to the other PCs about your character.
The question Vahid chose to ask is “Which of you led me to a major discovery?”
Padrig answers: Vahid discovered the power of his third eye when he was quietly meditating while Garet questioned Padrig about his return to Stonetop. This was the first time Vahid successfully opened his third eye, and it granted him a vision of Padrig’s thoughts. The insight granted to him by the Maker artifact’s magic let him see that Padrig was deceiving Garet about the history of The Companions, though he has not revealed that to anyone yet.
Describe your home and place it on the village map.
Vahid sleeps in the common room of the Public House. He has a small corner of the room walled off with threadbare Lygosi rugs, hung from the ceiling, where he has set up a humble study for his books and scribe’s desk.
Character Sheet Highlights
Vahid’s Instinct
For Vahid’s instinct, we have Curiosity. This is what drove him to leave the Lycaeum, what brought him to Stonetop, and why he is traipsing about the wilderness at this very moment. Of the three PCs, Vahid is the most likely to become a bit more antagonistic with the rest of the group, if his pursuit of knowledge begins to put the village at risk. If that happens, his drive could transition to something like Cunning or Hubris, depending on how it unfolds. We’ll play to find out.
The Azure Hand
Here are the basics of the Azure Hand — it’s an unwieldy staff that senses the flow of ‘energy,’ which is loosely defined by design, and allows the wielder to manipulate elemental energy specifically. For the purposes of this campaign, we’ll interpret “elemental” energies as the natural, non-living forces of the earth — things like fire, earth, water, and wind, as well as lightning, thunder, and maybe even things like magnetism, should it arise. It can’t manipulate ‘life energy,’ which could be important as we interact with the works of the Green Lords.
The Azure Hand also has some more extensive abilities that are revealed as Vahid masters its power. We’ll get into those when (and if) they arise.
The Eye, Opened
Above, we talked about the luminous white ‘key’ that Vahid used to unlock his third eye. Here are the details of how it works in the context of the game.
It’s important to note that this ability is not instantaneous — Vahid can’t read minds at will. Nor is it subtle — when he opens the eye, it appears as a shining mote on his forehead, so he can’t surreptitiously scan people unless he’s well hidden. We know that both Padrig and Garet have seen him use this ability before, but they don’t know exactly how it works.
We’ll discuss the mechanics of Vahid’s other two minor Arcana as they become more relevant.
Vahid’s Moves
This move gets Vahid more detail when he uses the Know Things move, which he makes extensive use of already.
This move allows Vahid to decipher writings and symbols with ease.
Next Time
Next up we have more of Session 1, where we venture into the Green Lords’ ruins and see what secrets Vahid can uncover. Until next time!
I like how your frame things like "If that happens, his drive could transition to something like Cunning or Hubris, depending on how it unfolds. We’ll play to find out." It's a great tease, even if it never comes to pass.