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"Let Yahal make his journey short," 001. Appearance Date of Birth: Summer 22nd, 484 A.V. Race: Benshira Gender: Male Profession: Combat Instructor Fluent: Shiber Poor: Arumenic Basic: Common Named for his strong physique, Hirem stands as one of the tallest and bulkiest Benshira one is likely to meet. He is 6'4", 220 pounds, and extremely broad in the shoulders. While his muscle is not refined, he looks fit nonetheless and carries plenty of strength in his heavy bones. His bright chocolate eyes suggest a liveliness present to all normal Benshirans... although his heavy walk, aching pains, and leathery skin suggest a different story. His charcoal hair has been allowed to grow freely from his scalp and jaw, leaving him with a bedraggled, wild look. Injuries & Changes to Appearance :
"... and the road safe." 002. Personality Likes: Virtue, honesty, the sun, the sea, romance, adventure, sweets, dancing Dislikes: Cruelty, deceit, darkness, the forest, vulgarity, tedium, alcohol Ethics: Firmly believes in the righteousness of the Benshira lifestyle. Attempts to live a holy life to a fault. Hirem is a man that has survived extreme misfortune and terrible mistakes. His past is coloured by the sins of his own making, sins the colour of blood that have been etched deep into his skin. His hands have wrought suffering to the innocent and slaughtered the weak. He struggles, always struggles, to be a good man and live up to the virtuous examples set by his people, and while he is slowly turning his life around, he will never be able to forget the nightmares that lay behind in his wake. This is also thanks to the post-traumatic stress that continues to plague him, rooted in the painful memories of his time in Ahnatep and Hai. Hirem would dearly love to forget his history if he could, but is forced daily to relive it and is often unable to divorce his present from the past. He constantly suffers nightmares and can slip into sudden emotional upheavals based on encountering 'triggers', including but not limited to: darkness, claustrophobia, blood, Eyhparians, Zith, lepers, and a general sense of lost hope. Hirem is constantly trying to overcome his crippling disease, and is slowly stumbling upon what many would consider to be a normal life. The most important thing in life, in Hirem's opinion, is family, and he is fiercely devoted, and at the same time intimidated, by his newly-found son Timothy Mered. Having been absent for the last twelve years of the boy's life, Hirem has sworn himself to Timothy's betterment, and is pushing himself to become a father as a result. The Benshira is also tied to the adopted family he has found in Riverfall, and will stand by his friends to the bitter end. This is partly a result of him trying to desperately hold onto his emotional attachments out of fear, but also keenly tied to Hirem's core personality. He may be disloyal towards the gods, but never to his fellow man. "So shall I pray." 003. History Hirem, from the tents of Alachi, of the sons of Rapa, grew up as a shepherd. Even though he was a young child, his dutiful personality and impressive strength allowed him to aid his father and the rest of their Tent in attending to the flocks and protecting them from danger. He also proved to be very loyal to Yahal, devouring the religious stories told by his mother with eager eyes and a willingness to hear even more. But for everything he accomplished in shepherding and education, however, he failed at much more during the weekly Mashas his Tent would conduct. As night fell, the migrating community would join around the campfire and sing, dance, be merry to their heart's content; old men would tell old stories and young boys would woo young girls. But Hirem was always alone during the Masha, curled up by his mother's side and staring dimly at the distant fire. He had no energy for play, for romance, for fun... something else was always distracting him. At 17, Hirem decided that the nomadic life was not enough to satisfy him, and moved to his ancestral home of Yahebah along with his parents. There, he studied at the Seat of the Sons, learning the lessons of his ancestors in martial combat, religious studies, and history. It was history that most keenly enraptured the young man, his heart flaring at the stories of ages past and the injustices of previous eras. In particular, the era of Eypharian enslavement struck a chord within Hirem's heart, as he was completely repulsed by the idea of someone's freedom being stripped away from them. When he was 21, Hirem abruptly abandoned his studies and set off into the Burning Lands, leaving his parents and friends behind. On his 24th birthday, he came back to Yahebah, covered in gore and blood, with a rusted sword in his hand. He told them what he had done; while wandering in the desert, he had found, hunted, and killed a group of Eypharians. (Summed up by Hirem here.) The whole community shocked at this development, Hirem found that he had no choice but to forsake his people and flee into the desert. He never gave up his crusade, however. After getting into contact with other impressionable Benshirans throughout Eyktol, Hirem slowly gathered a small warband together with the intent to slaughter all Eypharians. At the start of Winter, 509 A.V., a Rapa named Netanel found Hirem's band of warriors and tried to dissuade the young Benshiran from his task. He told Hirem of a horrific omen he had received, one that spelled doom for the warriors, but Hirem did not listen. However, his companions were not so resolute, and abandoned him to his fate. Hirem knew that he could not assault the city of the Eypharians by himself. Instead, he decided on a more covert attack; assassination. He made his way into the city, and found a job at the Garden of the Concubines as a Gardener, a protector of the Concubine maids. This goal was achieved thanks to the persuasion of the Gardener Zulo by the Benshiran woman Liviya, who had taken an interest in Hirem. The Festival of Dira proved an eventful day in Hirem's life, one that would shatter his concept of a Eypharian free future. Near the end of the festival, Hirem tried to assassinate Jibade Osahar, a popular politician in the Pressorah's court. He was unsuccessful in his attempt, and learned - to his horror - that Osahar was marked with a Gnosis mark of Yahal. As Hirem and his unwitting accomplice Liviya were dragged into prison, Hirem was thrown into a serious crisis of faith that he would never recover from. The prison of Ahnatep would not hold Hirem forever, though, and soon enough the Benshiran was bound for a death sentence - imprisonment in Hai. En route to the prison, Hirem was miraculously saved by the very man he had tried to kill: Jibade Osahar. Though Osahar managed to save his would-be assassin, Hirem returned to Ahnatep with vengeance in his heart, this time hoping to find Liviya in the city. But he would never get another shot at killing Eypharian nobility. Recognized by the city guard and hunted at every turn, Hirem was eventually forced to escape Ahnatep again. Finding refuge with a tribe of Chaktawe, the Benshiran nursed his wounds and came to terms with the fact that he had seriously, completely, irrevocably erred in condemning the Eypharians for the crimes of ages past. Reduced to becoming an aimless wanderer yet again, Hirem eventually found his way into a caravan bound for Yahebah, where he managed to reconnect with his mother and loved ones. His father, however, was missing; Raim had ventured to Hai after Hirem had been imprisoned, and was presumed dead. Guilt tore the poor man apart, and when an opportunity came to venture into the prison - presented by an old mage seeking to restore the magical wards buried within the city - Hirem seized upon it gladly. It was not a reunion with his father that he sought. What Hirem hoped for, what Hirem longed for, was death and a chance at redemption. But Hai would not be so accommodating. The adventure in the prison broke Hirem completely, shattered his faith in everything but his god. Though he walked away from the broken city with his life and a new Gnosis mark of Yahal, he also walked away with a heart full of torment and a mind crippled by insight. Returning to Yahebah in the winter, Hirem discovered that not only had his father, in truth, passed away peacefully while on the journey to Hai, but that his mother had taken ill with a fever after he had left and died shortly thereafter. Finding that there was nothing left for him in Yahebah, Hirem took only his parent's Penita scrolls with him on his next, possibly last, journey into the Burning Lands... And thereafter he has wandered. Broken, somber, and alone. |