[Name:] Jeylan Pol, "The Serpent"
[Occupation:] Assassin
[Apperance & Clothing:] Jeylan is about 5'11" in height. He has dark hair with an almost bluish hue under certain light conditions combed back so it doesn't hang over his forehead much and cut short. His eyes are gray and have a somewhat cold, penetrating look. His face is handsome, but not bishonen, with rigid cut features. His body is wiry but muscular, just not overly so.
Jeylan's clothing consists of dark black pants tucked into well-worn boots with metal plates attached over the in-steps. He wears a loose unbuttoned shirt over a soft kind of studded leather armor that has buckles running over his abdomen area. Over all this he has a dark gray traveller's cloak.
[Personality:] Jeylan is somewhat aloof. It's hard to know what he's thinking as his face can be unreadable. Although usually calm and collected, when things start to get out of his control (as they certainly do in life), he becomes more irrational and definitely less level-headed.
Jeylan is wary of strangers because of what he does. He tends not to trust people, at first, and opening up is one of the last few things he will do. Opening up to someone means letting your guard down and allowing yourself to be judged by that person, whether it be praise or criticism.
Jeylan has especially a mistrust for magic users. This will be explained in the background section.
Jeylan has no qualms about killing people, which makes him a good assassin. Whether or not killing sustains him emotionally or perhaps even spiritually, he has not come to terms with that. He knows that he does not find a perverse enjoyment from it. Money is not a big motivator for him. Jeylan knows having it is important to sustain himself but he doesn't go out of his way to hoard as much as he can.
Morally, Jeylan walks a fine line along that fence. He has killed people who deserved to die (like corrupt officials) and innocents caught in the middle of something bigger than themselves -- a merchant's death to make an example to the rest of a small community for extortion and protection money. None of it seems to bother him. However, if there is one thing Jeylan does not like is torture. He tries his hardest to make sure his targets die quickly and efficiently.
[Weapons & Powers:] Strapped to his back is a short sword he calls Justice. The sword has a rune-etched gem in the hilt and the blade is remarkably solid and has not been known to chip, yet. There is nothing otherwise special about the sword, it can't cut through rocks or do anything powerful. The sword hangs diagonally so that Jeylan can reach back with his right hand instead over his shoulder. (Similar to the way Lina Inverse carries the small sword behind her back, or like Taki's ninjatou daggers from Soul Calibur)
In his right boot is a dagger called Vengeance. The blade is wide and somewhat triangular in shape. The grip of the dagger has a snake coiled around the hilt. Like Justice, Vengeance has no special powers. The dagger is not balanced for throwing and Jeylan is about average when throwing things.
Jeylan is very good at fighting with Vengeance and Justice, although he doesn't usually wield both at the same time. The dagger is good for close combat fighting and especially useful for finishing off his targets. The short sword handles well in general combat especially on defense. Jeylan will hold the sword reverse so the blade hangs downwards and can parry/block well like that.
Jeylan is pretty quick on his feet as would be expected for someone who kills people for a living. His strength and speed are honed from training but are not enhanced magically. Jeylan tries to eliminate his target as quickly and cleanly as possible. Although he can fight fairly well against most people, the longer he stays in a fight, the better the chances he could make a mistake.
[Background:] Jeylan Pol grew up in a remote village on the farthest borders of Narada. Their village was isolated by most other cities and considered wild-country by many of the kingdoms, so no one bothered to claim them. Jeylan's people lived a fairly simple life farming and relying on themselves. However, they are somewhat superstitious and fearful of magic.
When it was found out that Jeylan's mother, Prinna, was capable of magic through telekinesis, the village became afraid of her. Deemed to be a danger to all those around her, the council ordered her killed. Jeylan was only four years old at the time but he remembered how they came and dragged his mother away to die. That left him in the care of his older brother, Qiann, who was eleven at the time. Their father died in an accident just after Jeylan was born.
Qiann became resentful at the village for killing his mother. Jeylan, however, grew resentful at his mother for leaving them. He didn't really understand what was going on despite his brother's claims that it was the village who took Prinna away. Jeylan believed that if his mother hadn't known magic, she would have remained alive to care for them.
About six years passed. Jeylan was now ten and his brother, Qiann, was seventeen. Qiann started to experience the same magical talents that their mother had. He tried to keep it a secret as much as possible, practising an uncrafted gift at night. But sometimes his control over his powers would slip and strange things would happen. Once again the villagers became suspicious. Jeylan begged his brother to stop using them but Qiann ignored him and kept practising anyway.
One day, Qiann had drunk too much and stormed the Council's Court, swearing revenge for what had been done to his mother. With his powers, he levelled half the building and killed three people. He was taken down by a simple arrow and they burned his body, denying a proper respectful burial. Then, their eyes turned to Jeylan for fear he would turn out just like Qiann and his mother, too. However, instead of killing him outright, they threw him in a wooden box and tossed it over a cliff into a river nearby, hoping the waters below would drown him.
Jeylan was able to make it out of the box somehow and was carried downstream before he was washed ashore. He was nearly dead but recovered from the trauma. He hated his mother for being magically-gifted and abandoning them. He hated his brother for losing control over his powers and over himself.
Jeylan wandered into a city nearby and lived by stealing. He was quick and smart to stay out of the authorities' hands. Over the years, he grew and associated himself with various people, learned how to fight and use a sword. He started out as a mercenary and sword-for-hire but he eventually caught the attention of a powerful assassin's guild known as The Knife Hand. They sent a pair of assassins to deal with Jeylan and by almost sheer luck, he managed to kill them. The next encounter with The Knife Hand was an offer for employment.
Jeylan has never met The Knife Hand directly. His orders have always come by parchment with a seal of a hand with a knife stabbed through it (hence the name). Jeylan trusts the authenticity and does not question the jobs he is asked to do. He knows people loyal to The Knife Hand are watching him because they assigned him the nickname, "The Serpent". Jeylan believes it is his snake-coiled dagger that has marked him.
Throughout his adult life, Jeylan has not seen any manifestations of the magic powers that were present in his mother and his older brother. He fervently hopes it remains that way.
His latest assignment has Jeylan to kill a certain girl with potential magical powers.
[Potential Development:] I'm hoping Jeylan will encounter some of the other major player-characters in Narada and it will be his initial mission to kill one of them, possibly one of the Chosen's. But when he meets them, there is something that prevents him from doing so. It is more like hesitation on his part and it troubles him. So instead of killing them outright, he eventually travels with them to see what it is that is blocking him from his goal.
As he travels with these characters, I'm hoping he'll start to change. He'll possibly learn the importance of their task to prevent Kedmar's plans to destroy the world. He might also begin to trust magic-users and open himself a little more. The complete reversal would be if Jeylan were to become a guardian perhaps and use his talents to protect someone instead of killing.
The magic aspect will probably never happen with Jeylan, unliks his mother and brother, he should not have any abilities. It's possible he might develop very latent and limited abilities but he'll have no desire to develop them further or use them. Any latent powers might attribute to his quick instincts but nothing more.
There might be a backstory for one of Jeylan's weapons, probably Justice. The rune on the gem may have some importance, the sword itself will probably not be magical. The dagger Vengeance has no magic at all and is just a simple, well-made dagger that Jeylan took a liking to. I have no ideas about the rune at this moment but I want to keep it open for possible development later on. I assure everyone that it will not be some kind of super-item with a shortcut to amazing powers. (well, not for Jeylan anyway)
The Knife Hand will start to develop more as Jeylan does and I hope to insert them into Narada's world as possible points of conflict.
This character is ©2002 by
Dare.