Short (5-4), 140 lbs, olive skin, brown eyes, round chin, thin facial hair, no visible scars. He looks to be in his late 30s, and doesn’t seem to have missed many meals. Wears somewhat exotic robes (he’s obviously foreign) and does not carry any obvious weapons- just a Staff carved with a ‘snakes wrapped around it’ motif that looks more like a walking stick than something you’d bash someone with. Those familiar with the lands of Ammad will recognize it as the sign of a Healer, those unfamiliar may assume whatever they wish.

Stats

ST 10 DX 9 IQ 14/10 HT 11/14 Basic Speed 4 Move 5

Advantages Jin, Move +1, Patron: Order of the Golden Crucible, Magery 3

Disadvantages Lecherousness, Sense of duty (friends), Addiction (tobacco)

Quirks Optimistic, Mooches Ano’s cigars, fastidiously clean, bathes daily (if only a sponge bath out of a bucket), figets with his fingers when bored or frustrated.

Combat skill Staff/10

Non-combat skills

Area Knowledge (Ammad)/14, Carousing/11, Diagnosis/12, Diplomacy/12, Fast-talk/13, First Aid/14, Merchant/13, Occultism/13, Physician/12, Savior-Faire/14, Sex Appeal/10, Streetwise/13, Naturalist/12, Thaumatology/15

Languages Jin (native), Ordic (accented, literate), Karn (accented, illiterate)

Spells: Purify Air, Create Air, Shape Air, *Body of Air, Walk on Air, Sense Foes, Sense Emotion, *Truthsayer, Mind-Reading, Mind-Search (VH), Mind-Sending, Telepathy (VH), Lend Skill, Seek Earth, *Shape Earth, *Ignite Fire, *Body Reading, *Lend Energy, Recover Energy, Lend Vitality, *Awaken, *Stop Bleeding, *Minor Healing, *Major Healing (VH), Restoration (VH), *Seeker, *Trace, History, *Light, *Continual Light, *Infravision, Hawk Vision, *Flash, Counterspell, *Dispel Magic, Detect Magic, *Mage Sight, Lend Spell, Keen Vision, *Fear, Foolishness, Daze, Bravery, *Mental Stun, Forgetfulness, Perm. Forgetfulness, *Loyalty, Emotion Control, Charm, False Memory, Apportation, *Deflect Missile, Death Vision, Summon Spirit, Missile Shield, Sound, *Silence, Seek Water, Purify Water, *Create Water

• indicates spells other PCs have seen him cast.

See also: Apu’s Staff

where was he born, where did he grow up?

Apu was born somewhere in Ammad, which is basically a large undefined area at this point. He grew up there, enjoying a uneventful childhood typical of people who grow up in large undefined areas. While philosophers and historians debate the merits of life in such locales, the evidence on hand indicates that life in large undefined areas is much more pleasant for the average person than it is in areas known as “the Kingdom of the Horned One”, “the Dragon Mountains”, “the Troll Hills”, “Barbarian Lands”, and so on.

Nobody is entirely sure why this is.

Apu is currently residing in Five Fingers.

Parents? alive? still in contact?

Apu has not spoken to his parents since he fled Ammad.

Training?

Apu attended university on a merit scholarship sponsored by the Mage’s Guild.

—- sidebar

Many centuries ago, cults worshipping malign entities began appearing in Ammad. When the mage who led the cult was finally captured and interrogated, it almost invariably turned out that the initial offer made by the demon was training in the mystic arts. As a result of this investigation (as well as the assessment of the damage caused by these cults), the Mage’s Guild of Ammad decided it would be less trouble to give people with magery scholarships instead of having to uproot secret cults of demon-worshippers every few years.

As a way to deny demonic entities powerful servants, it has worked fairly well, although there has been a significant increase in magical thievery and a huge increase in diviners and fortune-tellers for hire. However, the social benefits of having most of the magically adept in the population formally trained in the art are significant- magical healing has stopped several plagues before they got started, weather mages ensure that drought does not lead to famine, and so on- unexciting but important work, much of which is contracted via the Mage’s Guild, which uses the profits to pay for scholarships.

—- /sidebar

Initially, Apu studied elemental magic. His intent was to become a weather mage, until he realized that his options from there were not ones that interested him- while farmer’s daughters are not without appeal, spending weeks casting ‘Rain’ again and again gets old fast, and living aboard a ship and casting ‘current’ or ‘breeze’ all day is almost as dull.

Eventually, he realized that what he wanted was a profession that didn’t involve a lot of travelling, paid well, and would allow him to take some time off- Law! So he changed his major, and began studying Communications & Empathy and Knowledge, with the goal of being able to extract the facts of the matter directy from the minds of the witnesses and use divination to reveal any missing information pertinent to the case.

Apu quickly discovered that reading other people’s minds is a lot less fun than it sounds, and that telepathic connections work both ways. For most people, this is only an inconvenience, but Apu is the kind of person who mentally undresses ~90% of the women he encounters and literally thinks about sex every five minutes. Most of the time, there is no overt indication of what he is thinking about, but when in telepathic contact there is no way to conceal exactly what’s on his mind.

The next major to draw his attention was healing. To the astonishment of most of his friends (and instructors), he actually stuck with it, and graduated as a Doctor in the top tenth of his class. Along the way, Apu also studied various utility magics, such as Movement (a third hand is frequently useful during medical procedures), Light and Darkness (ditto illumination in ‘places the sun doesn’t shine’), and Sound (being able to mute a screaming patient greatly aids concentration).

His downfall came during his postgraduate studies, when it was discovered that two nurses and a teacher’s assistant were simultaneously pregnant by him. This was scandalous, but only in a minor way (Jin marriage customs are very flexible, the stigma is on having more wives and children than one can provide for). Unfortunately, the usual honorable way to resolve the situation was impossible. The Uncle of one of the nurses and the father of the Teacher’s Assistant were both men of status and wealth, as well as bitter adversaries, and both were furious about the possibility of having the other as an in-law.