Karrigan'Xalda
Daughter of the Karishzar
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: Sub the leader of the Daughters of the Destroyer cult. Further flesh out Sio's retinue.
Image Credit: Here.
Role: Champion and High Priestess of the Daughters of the Destroyer. This makes her the head of the cult Xalda belongs to. Also serves an adviser to Siobhan.
Permissions: Can use Firemane stuff because I own the company. Blanket permission for anything made by Val here.
Links: Twilight of the Goddess, Daughters of the Destroyer, Xioquo, Seekers of the Sky, Liavondra, Vashyada, Qadiri, Karrigan'Xalda, Order of Fire, Kaylah Danton, Dominion of Light, Into Darkness, After Darkness, Teaching Resilience, Tylania, Elpsis Kerrigan, Firemane, Tlaxqui, Tygara, Karrigan'Lalax, Shrine of the Karishzar and Her Blessed Daughters.
PHYSICAL INFORMATION
Age: 89.
Force Sensitivity: Master
Species: Xioquo
Appearance: Xioquo female with the dark grey skin that is typical for her people, pointed ears and white hair. She usually wears her hair long and straight, and has shaved part of her skull. Her gaze is intense and her eyes have a very piercing stare. She is of average height and build for Xioquo. Her body is marred by many scars and burn marks. Numerous scars mark her back and legs. There is also scar tissue on her chest and stomach. The most prominent are those that are a product of the torment inflicted on her during her time in captivity. Others are the result of her own actions because she has actively exposed herself to the sun, bright lights and fire to become more resistant to the bane of the Xioquo. Living in darkness beneath the earth has made the sun and other bright lights painful for her kind.
But she has a thing about achieving self-mastery. She may be somewhat masochistic. She usually dresses in robes of some sort, though they commonly incorporate armour. She has a phoenix tattoo across her back, a sign of her rebirth in fire. It also emphasises her connection to Siobhan, for a rising phoenix is the symbol of House Kerrigan. During her captivity, the Inquisitors branded her forehead to mark her as a heretic. She received surgery and had replacement tissue grown to cover the area, but it still looks off and scarring remains. She has another tattoo on her left side, a circle with downward facing triangle piercing the sky, and a sword one on her forearm.
SOCIAL INFORMATION
Name: Quas'Ziru. In Xioquo culture, the clan name comes first. So Ziru is in fact her given name.
Loyalties: Daughters of the Destroyer, Siobhan Kerrigan, Xioquo, House Kerrigan, Benefactors of the Karishzar's Mercy, Elpsis Kerrigan, Karrigan'Xalda.
Wealth: Moderate.
Notable Possessions:
- Force imbued Quarterstaff and Blade.
- Cloak of Hate.
- Healing Amulet.
- Shield Talisman.
- A link from a broken chain, symbolising their liberation. Common curio of the Daughters.
- A pet Jester.
- Siobhan has given her a Holdout Bolter as a gift
- Force Drain
- Force Sight
- Force Horror
- Consume Essence
- Control Pain
- Telekinesis
- Force Vision
- Pyromancy
- Dominate Mind
- Tutaminis
- Sith Magic
On a more idiosyncratic note, Ziru is a bit of a tinkerer, a skilled musician and artist. She has a pleasant singing voice and her nimble fingers are good for playing the lyre. Moreover, she is into pottery. She bakes her own pots using her fire skills. Said fire abilities are also useful for cooking without an oven. She's quite good at baking in general, especially cookies. Ziru is capable of piloting shuttles and freighters, but not a combat pilot.
Languages: Her mother tongue is Xio, the language of the Xioquo people. She has learned Basic, but speaks it with an accent. Her manner of speaking it is a bit overly formal and stilted due to her lack of familiarity with it. However, she is erudite and well-spoken. She picked up some Zandri, which is the main Qadiri language, from interacting with Qadiri slaves, but only speaks a few words.
Personality: Driven, ruthless, zealous. Ziru is the product of a vicious environment. Xioquo culture was built upon the bedrock of cruelty and deception. Their society was - and to a significant degree still is - steeped in the dark side, similar to that of the ancient Sith. Combined with the trials she endured, this has shaped her into a cunning, but somewhat unhinged woman. To her, life is struggle. Once she had been a cleric of Mystra, the primeval Xioquo the drows regard as their creator. However, she was betrayed and enslaved after running afoul of one of the perennial power plays that characterised the totalitarian régime.
She would have been ritually sacrificed if Siobhan Kerrigan and her allies had not slain the awakened Mystra. Being tormented by Xioquo inquisitors left Ziru deeply scarred and more than a little unhinged. However, she was saved from getting her own heart torn out when Siobhan Kerrigan slew Mystra. Ziru witnessed the dark one's destruction. This moment changed her life forever. To her it was no simple liberation. It was a divine revelation. Utterly disillusioned with Xio society and wanting revenge, she celebrated Siobhan's cleansing purge and came to see her as a worthier queen. Someone who deserved worship and appreciated it. She became the leader of a cult called the Daughters of the Destroyer. The cultists worship Siobhan as the Karishzar. This is the Xio word for Destroyer, which was originally bestowed upon Siobhan for her campaign against them.
Ziru is a woman capable of acts of cruelty and ruthless, but not mindless. She has vengeful, vindictive streak, and never forgets a slight. One could probably characterise her as Lawful Evil. She desires order, albeit in a darker fashion than most. The sorceress is organised, consistent, and rule-abiding and, in her own limited way, trustworthy. She is capable of being charming in her own way and appears to have an uncanny understanding of other people and their motivations.
Yet in spite of her calm, serene behaviour, she often inspires unease in others. Perhaps it is partly because she is so intense. Ziru came from nothing and clawed her way up. It comes as no surprise that she is extremely strong-willed. Come heaven or high water, she is determined to succeed in whatever goal she sets herself. Ziru is someone who has suffered, risen high, only to fall, then rise again. She is extremely determined, no matter the odds. This has forced even detractors to develop a grudging respect, no matter how abhorrent they find her otherwise.
Tranquil fury is a good way of describing her when she is in a rage. She does not foam at the mouth, randomly destroy equipment or choke underlings. She looks down on people who cannot maintain self-control. When she lets loose with her anger, it is quite a sight to behold. Of all the Eldorai races, the Xioquo are the most sexist - and that's saying something. Ziru is no exception and still follows the matriarchal beliefs common among her people.
While a zealot, Ziru is ambitious. Both for herself and her people. The Xioquo must break their chains, reach for the stars and claim their rightful place. However, she is not so narrow-minded to believe that this can be attained through brute force. She regards herself as a warrior-priestess, but stresses the importance of education, and believes this extends beyond simply learning about military innovations. Of all the three Tygaran native races, the Xioquo were the most advanced and thus she believes that it is only natural for them to embrace the modern sciences. Thus she encourages her cult members to familiarise themselves with modern technology, including medicine, starships, droids and cybernetics.
With a view towards playing an important role in the maintenance of the space habitats, she encourages her followers to pursue technical vocations such as engineering. She is quite eager to discuss matters with scientists, machinists and so on to broaden her own knowledge. She shows a curious, even jovial and humble side, during dialogue with them. She sees no contradiction between science and religion. Indeed, she maintains that one reinforces the other. She often visits Xioquo communities, stressing the importance of strength, learning and faith.
Of course, the Daughters' efforts to educate their fellow Xioquo about the outside world, including spreading literacy, also serve a practical purpose because it increases their influence. Ziru displays a softer side in the presence of her closest acolytes, manifesting traits that can be described as maternal. She can be a rather inspirational speaker, motivating her students to excel and push themselves hard. While her personality has manifold dark traits, Ziru is no coward who hides behind rhetoric and platitudes but runs when in danger. In battle she is brave and more than willing to put her life on the line.
Ziru is a devout follower of her mistress, but not an automaton or a toady. She is loyal and idolises the 'Destroyer' to a degree many Firemane employees find disturbing. But like many servants of autocrats, she has become adept in interpreting her idol's edicts in a manner that tallies with her own interests and goals. The Karishzar is powerful and wise, but even she requires servants and Ziru is quite adamant in her belief that the Daughters should be very important ones. In return for their devotion, the Karishzar is obligated to raise up the Xioquo to the place they deserve. This also means that Ziru is willing to do extreme things in the name of her icon. To put it plainly, she is a lot more interested in the ends than the means. In many ways Ziru is closer to the old Xioquo way of life than she would care to admit and follows Siobhan because she sees her as the culmination of it.
Recently, she has taken an interest in Elpsis Kerrigan, the 'Offspring of the Destroyer', who is clearly destined to be the next Karishzar when the present one abandons her corporeal shell and ascends. Elpsis is adopted, but that's no barrier to Ziru because the Xioquo see no difference between biological and adopted children. A child is yours if you acknowledge it as yours, no matter who gave birth to it. Coincidentally, Elpsis strives to lead the Order of Fire one day. Ironically, Elpsis is not fond of Ziru and finds the Xioquo cultists disturbing. She gets on better with the Sistren of the Eternal Flame, Qadiri fire cultists who are vassals of Siobhan, but do not worship her. Ziru has a good relationship with Karrigan'Xalda and has assumed a mentoring role.
COMBAT INFORMATION
Weapon of Choice: The Force, Force Imbued Blade or Quarterstaff.
Combat Function: Ziru is a Master level Dark Side Force-user with a strong connection to the darker, more destructive aspects of the Force. If one were to try and fit her into a class system, the best comparison would probably be the Sith Inquisitor class. She relies heavily on the Force in combat. Most unusually for a Xioquo, she has strong elemental fire abilities, enabling her to burn, blast or blind opponents. She can also use it to heat objects and manipulate heat in general. Moreover, she is very gifted in the use of Force Drain and in inducing fear, terror and paranoia into her targets. She has a very high pain tolerance.
Like all Xioquo she has keen senses and can see much further in the dark than Eldorai or humans. Ziru is a very powerful mentalist, who is adept at swaying and terrifying her enemies or cause them to descend into a state of madness. She is also fond of Consume Essence, an ability that allows her to feed on the fear, hatred, or other negative emotions of others to make herself stronger. Ironically, this can make her weaker against droids because machines do not feel emotions and thus there is nothing for her to feed on.
Ziru is skilled in the use of dark sorcery, especially of Summon Fear. This is a very powerful ability, but also extremely complex and takes time to occur, requiring focus and concentration on her part. Thus she cannot cast the spell on a whim without being able to devote full focus to it. Like all Xioquo, sunlight is painful for her and her skin can blister if left exposed. However, her intense training makes her more resistant than most of her race.
While faster than a human, she is on average physically weaker, relying more on finesse and skill than brute strength in melee. Ziru only has limited skill with ranged weapons. She is a decent duellist, but an unexceptional one and tends to fight defensively when in melee, until an opportunity to strike presents itself. Her agility helps her evade attacks, but she is more vulnerable when cornered. In protracted duels she would also face the risk of tiring herself out.
Ysalamiri and Voidstone are a notable problem for her because she is very reliant on the Force. Thus they would rob her of her greatest advantange or, in the case of Voidstone, noticeably weaken it. Ziru is capable of piloting small craft, but is not skilled as a combat pilot. She does not own a lightsabre and has not been trained in the use of this weapon. Thus if she found one on a battlefield and tried to use it, she would be very clumsy and awkward, until someone taught her how. Given how strongly she is attached to the Dark Side, she is vulnerable to Light-based offensive powers and feels weakened in areas strong in the Light, such as a Light Side nexus. Her sensitive hearing is a double-edged sword, as it also leaves her more vulnerable to hitch-pitch frequencies such as those emitted by sonic weapons.
Force Abilities (Force Users Only):
- Force Drain
- Force Sight
- Force Horror
- Consume Essence
- Control Pain
- Telekinesis
- Force Vision
- Pyromancy
- Dominate Mind
- Tutaminis
- Sith Magic
- Zixasa is a Master of the Force, a pyromancer and a dark sorceress. Thus she is a potent force on the battlefield.
- Ziru is a commanding, inspirational presence. She exudes an aura of authority, invoking fear and awe from followers and enemies alike. Her name commands respect among her acolytes and strengthens their morale, inspiring them to give it their all.
- Reliant on the Force. Being deprived of her preternatural powers or having them weakened means losing her greatest advantage. This can put her at a significant disadvantage against enemies who use ysalamiri or Voidstone tech.
- Not trained in the use of a lightsabre or as a combat pilot.
- While decent, her duelling skills are unexceptional. She is no blademistress. Lacking brute strength, she must rely on her agility, dexterity and finesse.
Growing up amongst the Xioquo has never been pleasant. Especially not for those who were raised as members of the under classes. Ziru was not born in the lap of luxury. Her mother was not a priestess or noblewoman. Instead she was raised at the very bottom of society. Her father was a Xioquo nobleman called Zaka'Hizau, while her mother was a slave. Xioquo society was - and still is - extremely sexist. Men were expected to be subservient to their mistresses and enter marriages beneficial to their houses. So it was regarded as a cause of shame for House Zaka when one of their sons got a common slave pregnant instead of doing his duty.
Naturally, the fate of her mother was even worse, for a common slave held little value. Of all the Tygaran races, the Xioquo were the most wedded to slavery. It was the bedrock of their society. Abuse was not just tolerated, but encouraged and those mistresses who treated their slaves kindly were regarded as weak. Ziru only remembers her mother dimly. Her mistresses told her that she was a slave whore who abandoned her. Raised in the filth and squalour of the slave pens, Ziru was put to work in the fields at an early age.
By the time she was of age, many of the slaves she had grown up alongside with had perished from starvation, exhaustion, being ritually sacrificed or otherwise killed. However, she survived, against all odds. Strong-willed, she was subjected to many beatings. Her father's wife and one of his daughters considered her very existence a personal slight, and often subjected her to to physical and emotional abuse. But her strong will helped her survive the years she spent labouring as an agricultural worker. Because she was often not fed enough, she had to steal food in order to survive.
When she was old enough, she was sold to the Myzarn family, a minor noble house. She was put to work as a soldier after displaying martial aptitude. This put her above the common slaves who quarried, digged and harvested for their mistresses, but she was still not a free woman. Discipline was iron and beatings were common. She was beaten with hot rods of iron for being uppity. However, she proved herself a brave, tenacious fighter when she and some other slave-soldiers were dispatched to clear a mine of vermin. The vermin in question happened to be wild beasts that had been created by Xioquo alchemists but proved difficult to control.
Given barely any equipment or protection against the sun, she wa sent to fight the avowed foes of the Xioquo, the Qadiri. Both races had warred for dominance of Tygara for centuries, each of them demonising the other as the incarnation of evil. The target of the raid was the Qadiri city of Krolis. This city had a high degree of signiifance for all Qadiri because it was the residence of the Saoshyant, the high priestess of Kashara, the supreme goddess of the Qadiri pantheon. It seemed like the perfect moment to strike, for the Amikarese Empire, the most powerful Qadiri state, was distracted by a succession crisis. Moreover, the Saoshyant had antagonised many Qadiri rulers by insisting that she alone possessed the right to invest clerics of Kashara. House Myzarn wished to raise its status among the Xioquo noble families and so it joined the assault, committing a large number of troops.
This battle was a defeat for the Xioquo, for though the walls were breached, the Qadiri rallied to repulse the invaders, spurred on by the bravery of the Saoshyant. Xioquo sorceresses used dark magicks to blot out the sun, but Qadiri priestesses were able to overturn this, burning many of the invaders. Moreover, they dropped liquid napalm fire. However, for Ziru it was a life-changing event. For it was the day she first manifested Force abilities, which became her ticket to freedom. All the rage she had buried deep inside her, all her anger about the abuse she had suffered, exploded in an outburst of violence. Her Force Rage gave her strength and she cut down Qadiri soldiers. The sun rose and her poorly protected skin blistered, but she persevered, drawing strength from her pain to fuel herself.
She ended up facing an adept of the Sistren of the Eternal Flame, a Qadiri fire cult in mortal combat. Despite her inexperience, she was able to beat the Fire Sister. Bleeding and marked with burns, she was outmanoeuvred in melee combat due to her lack of training with the blade. But this triggered the rage inside her and she unleashed a mental assault on instinct, viciously invading the mind of her attacker. Then she cut her down with the Force imbued blade of a dead Xioquo officer. In the end she was forced to retreat along with the rest of the routed Xioquo force, but she showed bravery while fighting in the rear guard, helping some of her comrades escape. It was her baptism of fire and blood.
The ferocity she had displayed during the fight did not escape the eyes of her mistresses. The same applied to the fact that she appeared to be Force-Sensitive. To be born Force-Sensitive was perhaps the only way for a slave to improve their lot in Xioquo society. Force-Sensitive slaves were taken away to be trained in the most brutal ways possible. The survivors formed a sort of Jannissary corps for their house. These slaves were better housed and treated, and could occasionally earn their freedom if they performed. Those who survived long enough, at any rate.
Thus Ziru was inducted into the House's special corps. To say her training was cruel would be an understatement. The slave-soldiers were supposed to learn how to use the powers of the Dark Side, but also remain under the thumb of their mistresses. Sadistic training methods were par for the course. One could compare it to an excessively cruel boot camp,but with extra flogging, live targets to make sure she could kill, and 'character building' by having them interrogated to be within an inch of unconsciousness to make sure she was loyal.
Her trainers made it feel like a real abduction. For her first test, she was given a rifle and a bayonet and told to kill a Qadiri slave. The rifle was empty though. This was the first part of her test. For the second part she had to go and bayonet the helpless slave to death. As her trainer said, "it's her or you, worm. Choose quickly - and wisely." Ziru chose herself. She had made the decision to survive and become a free woman, at any cost. Naturally twenty mile forced marches in full kit were also part of training. Those who collapsed or did not move fast enough were beaten.
She and her comrades were not given enough food to survive, so they needed sto steal, but if they were caught they were tortured as an example to others. One of her friends was caught and hung up for hours in the sun. When Ziru, unable to watch her friend, suffer in the sun, tried to at least get her some water, she was not only exposed to the sun as well, her mistress Force drained her until she begged for mercy. This, ironically, triggered her own affinity for the power.
She gained some solace when she was given a small animal, a lizard to raise. The creature was weak but Ziru cared for and nurtured it. It grew into a friend. Then she was forced to kill it. Close to the end of their training, the recruits were forced to face off against candidates who had been rejected as weak. Ziru was paired against an old friend, someone who had been with her since her slave years and fought alongside her in Krolis. Only one of them could leave the arena. Both fought. Though injured by a poisoned blade, Ziru prevailed.
It did not take long for her to see action. She and her surviving comrades were deployed to fight rebellious slaves. Slave revolts were a perennial problem for the Xioquo. Unlike among the Qadiri, there was almost no chance for a slave in the Underealm to earn their freedom, for manumission was illegal. The only exception were Force-Sensitive slaves, and most of them did not make it that far.
It began as a rebellion of slave-soldiers who had been found guilty of 'cowardice' and 'heresy' and were supposed to be decimated, but soon spread to slave labourers in the mines and elsewhere. While isolated to one house at first, it soon became a serious problem, forcing the noble families to close ranks instead of intriguing against one another. The revolt unleashed a frenzy of violence on both sides. It was exacerbated by the fact that famine had broken out. Thus many low caste members, fearing starvation when soldiers requisitioned what little they had, took up arms.
If her life had taken a different turn, if she had not been inducted into the corps, Ziru might have been one of the slaves broke their chains and struck down their hated oppressors. However, now she was one of the elite soldiers of House Myzarn. So she fought. She let her anger and hatred fuel her. It was here that she first displayed her qualities as a leader, leading a small unit of her fellow warriors into battle. She wanted to survive and become a free woman. Nothing and no one would stop her. Not even former comrades in misery. Government reprisals against rebellious slaves were ferocious. There were decimations, among other things. But Ziru proved herself, leading a small unit at one of the crucial battles to disable the artillery the slaves had managed to seize from an army base. Most of the slaves fought to the death, for they knew that if they fell into the hands of their oppressors, their fate would be a lot worse than being killed.
Ziru's zeal and dedication did not go unnoticed. She caught the eye of Myzarn'Naquiz, an ambitious scion of House Myzarn who had recently risen to the position of heiress presumptive after her older sister had, unfortunately, been murdered by a rebellious slave. She was a cruel, but industrious and ambitious matriarch. Recognising Ziru's skill, Naquiz appointed the young Xioquo as her personal bodyguard. Xioquo society was an extremely cutthroat one. A noblewoman not only had her own slaves to fear, but the ambitions of other nobles, especially her own family.
When Ziru, her new patron and some of her staff went on a tour on a primitive flying machine, a kind of Xioquo gyrocopter, it transpired that the aircraft had been tampered with. The pair was able to survive the crash but was lost in the wilderness. Ziru protected her mistress while they were harassed by wild beasts, saving her life from assassins. Under interrogation, one of the assassins confessed that she had been hired by one of Naquiz' cousins. The pair managed to return to Tlaxqui in secret, covertly rallying supporters. Then they surprised Naquiz' cousin during a family gathering, ambushing her. The cousin's fate was a ghastly one: She was executed by having molten silver poured into her eyes and ears. Naquiz eventually came to rightly suspect that the usurper had been a cat's paw of her mother, who feared her daughter's ambition. This might have influenced her decision to poison her.
Ziru was rewarded for her dedication by being given two slaves of her own. One of them was a Xioquo, the other a Qadiri. Ziru was not a kind, gentle mistress. She remembered all too well that this would be seen as weakness. But though stern, she refrained from sadistic cruelty. They were her property, but she had been a slave once and would not strike them to sate sadistic urges. Her Qadiri slave provided a window to the outside world, teaching her a bit about their culture and language. Realising the value of information and perhaps feeling some sympathy for the slaves, Ziru protected them.
Ziru did her mistress' bidding, kept her secrets and disposed of her enemies. After taking control of House Myzarn, her Lady set her free. Thus Ziru became a free woman at last, though her new status was still dependent on her mistress and was thus on very shaky ground. At the same time, she was promoted from bodyguard to priestess. Xioquo priesthood was different from say that of the Vashyada or Eldorai, but similar to the practices in some Qadiri states. A Xioquo Priestess was simply a Force-Sensitive who used her power to honour, spread the word of and obey a Goddess. Priestesses were not cloistered or removed from the chain of succession in a house. They were simply Xioquo females who had an additional spiritual mandate, too. One might say that it was more of a job than a vocation. Thus Ziru became a Priestess of Mystra, whom the Xioquo regarded as their Creator.
Once she had walked among them, leading them on a grand campaign to conquer all of Tygara. The Qadiri had bent the knee to her and the Vashyada had been well on the way towards subjugation. The Vashyada Paragon Tylania and Mystra had clashed in a dramatc duel, with the latter seeming to prevail before Tylania managed to dispel the unnatural storm her enemy had summoned and let the sun shine down. Pained and blinded by the light, the Xioquo had fled. Mystra had been wounded by a powerful weapon of the Light Side and escaped. The Xioquo had gone north, finally coming to rest by the Black Cave which led to the Underealm. There they found a place to hide from the sun and nurse their hatred. Time passed, and the Xioquo had to adapt to the subterranean realm under the mountains. Monsters struck from the shadows, food was hard to come by, and Mystra was dying. Finally, the Paragon retired to her chamber and sealed the door, never again to emerge.
When Ziru was initiated as a Priestess, the Xioquo regarded Mystra with a mixture of awe and dread. She was their Creator, their Queen and their Goddess. The prophecies said that one day she would awaken from her slumber and lead her people to final victory. However, she was also seen as...dangerous. She had made the Xioquo in her image and theirs was not a gentle or compassionate culture. Moreover, the same prophecies that promised a glorious ascent also warned that she would judge her people and destroy those she found wanting.
To appease and sustain her, the Xioquo performed blood sacrifices. They prayed that their Goddess should return...but not too soon. As a new priestess, it fell to Ziru to organise and carry out the sacrificial rite, under the supervision of a more experienced cleric of the House. Xioquo justified these blood sacrifices by saying that Mystra had sacrificed herself to give birth to them, make them strong and nourish them. The Force was her gift to her children. Thus they had to sacrifice in return to sustain her.
Otherwise the cosmic order would collapse and their world would fall apart. Blood sacrifice was in this sense the highest level of an entire panoply of offerings through which the Xioquo sought to repay their debt to the Dark Mother. The rites involved a good deal of bloodletting and heart-ripping. To show her dedication, a Priestess such as Ziru was also expected to bleed herself. The life force of the sacrificial victim was consumed by Mystra. The rituals were accompanied by music, dances and celebrations. While some of the victims were volunteers, many were slaves, prisoners of war or 'enemies of the state'. This was a convenient way to get rid of people who had become awkward.
Ziru rose in rank after she unmasked a heretic among the clergy. It was an extremely dangerous deviant; an enemy of the goddess-given order. The heretical cleric's crime was following the Light Side. Under torture, she confessed her blasphemous crimes and named her co-conspirators. The heretic was not long of this world after she had made an appearance at a show trial, thanking her interrogators for having made her see the error in her ways. Some of the priestesses she had named were able to escape into the catacombs. There they became part of the dissident groups that opposed the ancien régime.
As gruesome as the deeds Ziru perpetrated were, this was the closest thing to normalcy in her life. For the first time she felt in control of her destiny. While still beholden to her Lady, she was reasonably free, relatively well-off and even owned property. To a degree she was able to settle down, marrying a Xioquo male from a minor family. For her people, gender was an extension of power, and it was the females who possessed it. They were misandrist to a degree that even conservative Eldorai considered extreme. Absolute enactic succession was the law of the land, which meant only females could inherit. Legally, only females could own property or represent themselves in courts before their head of house or at a religious court.
High class Xioquo noblewomen had a tendency to outsource the rigours of pregnancy by giving their husbands slaves to impregnate and claiming the resulting children as their own. Ziru, who was still far from the peak of society, preferred to attend to matters herself. It did not take long for her to give birth to a girl. A son followed a few years later. Her daughter would inherit, while her boy would one day marry a female from a good house. Ziru was a strict mother, but attentive and devoted. While stern, she was not cruel. She drove them to excel, but praised and rewarded their accomplishments. Ziru had experienced little love in her life and was determined that her children would not be deprived of it. expected her husband to be subservient to her and keep himself 'pure' while she had other lovers, but gave him some important responsibilities, such as taking care of her house's finances. Indeed, she placed an unusual amount of trust in him.
However, things were not meant to last. The arrival of the sky people turned Ziru's life upside down. The Xioquo had heard rumours of the outsiders. But they made first contact with them when they launched a raid on the Qadiri city of Mansura. It was unexpectedly repulsed. Among the defenders were strange aliens who used weapons far in advance of anything the Xioquo - or the Qadiri - possessed. The Xioquo soon learned that these outsiders called themselves Firemane. They were joined by a group of people called the Eldorai, who resembled the Vashyada in appearance, but were far more advanced. They quickly began to establish settlements on one of Tygara's continents. At first the Xioquo fought mere skirmishes against the intruders, but it soon turned into all-out warfare.
As the matriarch of a noble family, Myzarn'Naquiz was obligated to contribute forces to the crusade. As her vassal, Ziru had to do her part as well. Thus she accompanied soldiers into battle, serving as a warrior-priestess. The Xioquo were able to achieve some tactical successes, using cunning and their knowledge of the land to raid Firemane and Eldorai forts and ambush their troops. They scored a great victory when the ambitious Qadiri Mirza of Lakish led an impetuous assault on the Underealm. Here, the Xioquo unleashed their war engines, routing the Qadiri. Firemane intervention kept the invaders from being wiped out. But it was a great victory the Xioquo had cause to celebrate. However, they were losing the larger war. In public, Ziru put up a brave front, acting as if final victory was imminent. But in private she had doubts. She wanted to believe that the Xioquo would prevail, but she had fought on the frontlines and knew they could not win a protracted war.
The outsiders had superior technology, better leadership and far greater numbers. Serving in a role similar to that of a Political Commissar, Ziru at first fell back on tried and tested methods. Harsh reprisals were enacted against deserters, 'defeatists' and 'cowards'. But she soon had to realise that this was insufficient, if not self-defeating. Willpower alone could not overcome the gross disparity in numbers and materiel. During a suicidal charge on an enemy position, she overrode the orders of the commanding Xioquo officer and ordered a retreat, preferring to harass the invaders with guerrilla tactics. This saved the lives of soldiers who would have otherwise been thrown away needlessly, but also gained her enemies back home. She refused to carry out a decimation.
After seeing the destructive power of the outsiders' war machines first hand, some matriarchs counselled caution, suggesting that the Xioquo should seek accommodation with their enemies while they were still in a strong position. Their spies had reported that the alliance between the outsiders and the Qadiri was a fragile one. With clever diplomacy, perhaps it could be broken up if they reached out to the Lady Kerrigan, who was known to the Xioquo as the Karishzar. Naquiz was one of these matriarchs.
However, this was regarded as treasonous defeatism. It was unthinkable that the children of Mystra would go cap in hand to the invaders and beg for peace. Naquiz had made her share of enemies during her rise to power, and they used her lack of faith in final victory as a pretext to strike. The Xioquo matriarch and her confederates were arrested. Ziru and her family were seized by the secret police. Subjected to horrific torture, she signed a confession in a vain attempt to save the lives of her children, but it was futile. They were regarded as tainted and thus put to death.
By the time a coalition of Firemane, Eldorai and Qadiri forces stormed the Underealm, Ziru was a mental and physical wreck. Mystra was awakened, but turned out to be a mad goddess who cared nothing for her people and fed on them just as eagerly as she did on the invaders. Held captive by loyalists, Ziru was one of the Xioquo who were supposed to be sacrificed to her. However, she was spared such a fate when Siobhan Kerrigan and her allies slew Mystra. Ziru witnessed the last stand of her goddess and saw Siobhan deliver the final blow. She was undoubtedly far from stable at this point. But it marked a turning point in her life. She had a new goddess now - a better one.
Ziru was one of many freed, malnourished prisoners who were fed, clothed and cared for by the Firemane-led liberation force in the aftermath of the fall of the Underealm. Unlike many of them, she took her gratitude to extreme lengths. She was probably not in the stablest frame of mind. Either way, she began preaching what she considered to be the word of the Karishzar. Her first followers were found among freed slaves. Firemane's assault on the Underealm had triggered a revolt in the slave pens, with the slaves taking revenge on the guards and mistresses. As it became clear the battle could not be won, many slave-soldiers had laid down their arms and surrendered to the invaders. Ziru and her followers called themselves the Daughters of the Destroyer, or Karish'zar Qis'khar'i'z in Xio. She exacted brutal vengeance on the Xioquo who had murdered her family. Their deaths were slow and painful.
At first, the occupation authorities were wary of the cult. Religious zealotry could easily turn into a source of unrest. The cult was rather willing to help the occupation, provide mutual aid to former slaves and combat crime. But it had a tendency towards taking the law into its own hands. Many of its members had been wronged by the old order and this was a convenient time to settle scores. However, new administration needed the cooperation of the surviving matriarchs. If they were alienated and saw no place for themselves in the new order, there would be a bloody insurgency. This caused tension when cultists turned to vigilante justice, which resulted in a number of them being detained. Other cultists tried to turn the site of Mystra's last stand into a place of pilgrimage, which proved problematic because the dark side energies that permeated it had a very detrimental effect on the sanity of sentient beings.
Finally, when it seemed like things would come to head, Ziru was unexpectedly granted a private audience with Siobhan Kerrigan. Tegaea was present at the audience, and became extremely uncomfortable when Ziru started prostrating herself before Siobhan and worshipping her. However, Siobhan saw value in her cult. It undoubtedly stroked her ego to be worshipped as the 'Destroyer'. However, she laid down the law. The wild, extrajudicial killings had to cease.
She needed disciplined followers, not lawless vigilantes whose actions produced instability. She had cast down Mystra and, unlike her, she would turn her promises into a reality. Zisu and her acolytes could spread her word and be her sword. Ziru spent a day or two in the residence of her idol, then returned home to put the cult in order. The process was not bloodless, but she managed to forge it into a disciplined organisation. Siobhan took a personal interest in Ziru's progression. Under her tutelage, the Xioquo completed her training. Her mistress did not just teach her about the Dark Side, but also gave her lessons in leadership. She also learned how to pilot.
Meanwhile, the cult grew. For a while, the Ziru had to institute a cap on new members, for she was concerned about the Daughters being inundated with opportunists and fair-weather friends. Aristocrats were excluded from membership. Leading the Daughters compelled Ziru to evolve as a leader. She did not return to the senseless cruelty of the old days. She had understood the value of patience and even, to a degree, of empathy. It made her recognise that fear alone could not unite a people. It was a useful tool, but overreliance on it would sow the seeds of resentment and hatred. Her people needed to be united in loyalty, passion and faith, not a mindless, maniacal drive to get to the top by climbing over the bodies of their own people. However, she expected her authority to be absolute and retained her belief that Force-Sensitives were superior to Force blind.
The cult began to pursue an educational mission, trying to learn as much about outsider technology as possible so that they could educate their people and thus improve their lives. Ziru had only received a proper education after becoming a priestess. She was naturally curious about the wonders the outsiders took for granted and read voraciusly. Naturally, many Daughters also pursued martial vocations.
She led them into battle against Xioquo insurgents and Kraal raiders. When the Blood Wraiths, a cult of necromancers, tried to resurrect Mystra through mass sacrifices, Ziru took her place in the phalanx. She even agreed to cooperate with the Light Xioquo to ensure that the mad goddess could not rise again. While rooting traitors and insurgents among the Xioquo, she arrested a man who turned out to her own father, Zaka'Hizau. He had collaborated with Firemane, but made the mistake of conducting espionage and being caught. She realised who he was when she looked into his mind, but a bond of blood could not sway her.
During this time, Ziru took a Xioquo warrior called Karrigan'Xalda, a fervent follower of the Karishzar, under her wing. Like her, young Xalda had once been a slave-soldier. She also adopted a young Xioquo orphan as her daughter, filling the void created by the murder of her biological children. When the leaders of the Eldorai and the native races decided to move into space, the Daughters decided that they would see the stars as well. They were assigned space to build a temple on the Arx, and Fireman gave them a frigate to serve as their mobile. Ziru supported Siobhan during the Krolis War, acting as an advisor and leading Xioquo witches into battle.
When Firemane found itself at war with the Dominion of Light, Ziru dispatched a group of warriors and her protege Karrigan'Xalda to assist in the battle against the 'Yedi' warriors. The Xioquo acquitted themselves well, displaying fanatical fervour, and Xalda received the Phoenix Cross, a prestigious Firemane medal, for her bravery. Time has not diminished the fire that burns inside Ziru. She is certain that the hour of the Karish'zar Qis'khar'i'z will come. In addition to her spiritual and martial role, Ziru also serves as an advisor to Siobhan, especially on Xioquo matters, and has provided training to some acolytes of the Order of Fire.
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