Chureboel Zenkai (chur-ee-bo-el zen-kay)

Background: Chureboel Zenkai was born in the Floating City located in Limbo on Kathir 8th, 91 TR. Son to Autboel and Baryomis. Autboel was a soldier in the Githzerai Honored Wall Guard of the Floating City. Baryomis was a monk of the Arsanith Monastery.

Autboel fought many battles against invading githyanki, illithids, and beholders. He became a warrior of note and was selected to become a trainer. He would have a squad of 50 men under him at any time. Whenever invasions would come to the Floating City, his squad was kept away from the front lines as much as possible.

As a child, Chureboel’s hero was his father. During the day, he would sneak away from his mother to go find father at the training grounds to watch him. His father would train the Wall Guard troops. Chureboel would stay hidden at a distance to watch. When his father commanded them to stand in formation, Chureboel would stand like the others. When father commanded their weapons to be used in a certain way, Chureboel would use his piece of limbawood (shaped like his father’s kamas) like they did. Since his mother had been training him in the ways of the monk, Chureboel's moves were precise and more intuitive than practiced. Before he was away too long, he would run back to his mother, pretending to defeat chaos as he ran. His father and mother knew where he was and what he was doing, but they let Chureboel think that he was being sly.

Grazer'nu (limbawood in the Common tongue) only grows in Limbo. In the wild, it would grow in meaningless patterns and spread out like a vine. It is very pliable while it lives, allowing the People to mold it and encourage its growth in any desired pattern. Many beautiful creations were made to adorn the Floating City. Many weapons were made from it as well because when it dies, it becomes as hard as steel, but still very light.

Chureboel's dream was to be like his father someday, defeating the chaos and aberrations of Limbo to protect his People. He dreamed of another place where his People could reside to be away from the chaos so that they would be able to be the People that they were meant to be, in peace and self-reflection. He would fight for that place and destroy any chaos that interfered with his People.

As he grew older, his idolization of his father lessened to respect and his respect for his mother grew when he came to realize just how insightful she was into finding order in chaos and how to make the best decisions for a beneficial future. His attitude towards being forced to train with her every day changed to looking forward to his sessions with her. His aspirations for dealing with chaos and finding a peaceful home for his People grew stronger. While his People have been in Gih for over a decade now, it was a useful haven away from the chaos of Limbo, but it was not the place of solitude that he envisioned.

While his parents met with people at his home, he met Toniatel Cynclar, a fun and beautiful girl. Once he met her, he could not stop wanting to be with her. He would look forward to her visits and ask to visit their family. He would seek her out in the city, at gatherings of the People, and other special events.

When Chureboel was eleven, his mother fell in a depression for several days, he did his best to comfort her, but it seemed to make her more upset. Her depression ended when a major battle began at the walls of the Floating City. A large aberrant army besieged the city. Every warrior was called to the front lines. Tragically, Autboel fell to a beholder’s disintegration ray while protecting a Wall Guard trainee by the name of Wilthal. The invaders were repelled, largely due to the well-trained Wall Guard that Autboel had spent years training. Upon Autboel’s death, Baryomis shed not a single tear; rather she focused on helping to rebuild much of what was destroyed by the invasion.

When Chureboel heard the news, he couldn't believe it. He had to see for himself, but there was nothing but ash and one kama that remained of his father. Chureboel became very angry and wouldn't speak to anyone for days, even his mother and Toniatel. His hatred of the chaos and aberrations climaxed and he swore that he would destroy all aberrations until his dying breath. After a few days, he began to seek out priests to bargain with them to bring his father back. They told him that there was nothing that they could do. He stubbornly continued to seek out anyone or anything that would bring him back. Toniatel tried to comfort him, but he wasn't having it.

During the time of rebuilding the city, many of the Wall Guard and their families bestowed blessings upon Chureboel and his mother. A small division of the Wall Guard crafted patches to wear on their uniforms in honor of Autboel. A patch was also given to Baryomis.

His mother made a difficult decision to leave the Floating City to fill a need in the Zerth'Ad'lun Monastery and to remove Chureboel from a dangerous environment for him in his grief. She was needed as a mentor for the inexperienced on Rune. He was separated from Toniatel, whom he had forgotten in his grief. In Gih, he became depressed. This went on for several days until he came to accept that his father was gone.

He then came to realize where he was and where Toniatel was. Through calm conversations with his mother, they agreed that this was for the best and that his training was of paramount importance. He became razor-focused on this training. He did write letters to Toniatel and she wrote back. They continued to flourish their friendship. He would love nothing more than to be with her, but he wanted to reach his potential first so that he could be the best that he could be for her. He would find a safe haven for his People and for her.

In time, it was discovered that Baryomis had latent oracle abilities and started to spend time with other seers in Zerth'Ad'lun to strengthen this ability. She became able to see beyond a few days; into weeks and soon well beyond.

Life in the Runganium Sphere was different. You didn’t have to concentrate on your movements and staying on the ground all of the time like you did in Limbo. In fact, the forces at work here that caused you to always move towards the earth made things much easier. Chureboel and his friends often went to the rocks and large cliffs nearby and delighted themselves in jumping off of them, testing their ability to stop their motion at the last minute. Chureboel was the most daring, jumping off a cliff blindfolded, falling backwards, with his arms and legs folded only to simply slow to a soft landing at the last possible second. The boys enjoyed making rocks explode as well and causing lizards to pause in their sprints.

Baryomis had been training Chureboel in the martial arts since he was two years of age and showed much promise in the craft. He seemed to be able to predict the enemy’s attacks before they happened, enhancing his reaction time. Chureboel attributed this to his reflexes and intuition, but the masters saw more to it than that. When he was fifteen, he was accepted as a full-fledged monk in the monastery; the youngest ever.

Chureboel became a monastery guard. Because he was so talented, he was set to the task of protecting the areas to the high-ranking monks and mystics. He became close to many of them, but mostly with Balakazel, the arch-mystic. They would talk about philosophy, history, religion, and herbs. Chureboel was fascinated with Balakazel’s intellect while Balakazel was fascinated by Chureboel’s wisdom. Chureboel and Balakazel are fond of herbs and often brought fresh herbs to his friends. He carries many in a pouch with him. One of his favorites is brahmi which sharpens the mind when chewed, although the taste is very bitter. Chureboel brought his friends herbs for teas of varying flavors and others to help cuts and bruises heal faster. His friends grew so fond of some of his herbs that they continued to ask for them and would pay him for his efforts. He would enjoy walking in the lands around Gih to find fresh herbs to collect and add to his own herb garden at home.

As he grew, trained and studied, he continuously looked for martial arts, materials, mental abilities or magic that would help him defeat chaos, aberrations, and to find or create a place for his People. He poured over texts, spoke to priests, monks, mystics and travelers. Something that came up over and over was to seek out items that are aberration bane or axiomatic. He was also encouraged to train against mental attacks or get some items that would enhance protection against them as well as magic. Perhaps a relic could be found that encompasses the power to keep the wielder alive against their attacks long enough to destroy them. His research into finding a safe haven for his People resulted in some notes about creating a demiplane. The power required to do so and to make it permanent would take some powerful magic, so that path would be a long one, but it is still a hopeful one. In the meantime, keeping the places where we live safe would have to do.

He enjoyed visiting the river to meditate. He would spend several minutes and sometimes up to an hour feeling the power of the river, its flows then the deftness of the wind and its flows. He could feel and see the flows of these running through the bushes, trees, animals, and himself. The flows went as they pleased, but after weeks of this meditation, he saw that the flows could be altered ever so slightly. He realized that this could be incorporated into his martial arts, so he went to the other monks to speak to any that would listen to his discovery. There were a few that had this same epiphany and one that had been using it in his arts for several years. They began to train together and taught each other many things. Students came to study with them, but only a few would be able to feel and see the flows which was required to be able alter them.

Many of the monks and mystics would gather in the monastery’s great hall every morning to enter a state of deep meditation. This was a time of peace and quiet in the monastery where those present would clear their minds, set in their mind their tasks, and the spellcasters would memorize their spells. One day, during meditation when Chureboel was twenty-eight, the three most gifted oracles of the monastery (Chureboel’s mother included) started to scream. “There is nothing beyond!” they wailed. The oracles vision of the future had stopped. They could not see what had caused it and did not see any disturbing events prior to this except for a mysterious symbol. It seemed like the end of the world was close at hand.

The oracles and mystics met privately. They were isolated for a day. When they came out, three of the most gifted were selected to investigate this occurrence. The mystics determined that something in the eastern lands is going to cause this. They can't risk sending too many people to explore, in case it's some sort of githyanki trick. Chureboel and two others were selected to go out into the other Runganium lands to look for the meaning of what the cause of the seers’ blindness to the future could be. The seers were able to draw the mysterious symbol for the chosen to use in their hunt to the east. Each of the chosen were instructed to go in different directions, but the general direction was to the east.

Before he departed, Baryomis gave Chureboel the Wall Guard patch to take with him, to show that Chureboel’s actions at this time honor his father and his family. She also gave him the family’s remaining kama that has been passed down through the generations of the Zenkai family. The other was disintegrated along with Chureboel’s father.

The Beginning of the End: I traveled east through the badlands of Gih then through the sunken wastelands then north of the Valley of Bones to a road, which I took to Galif. Finding no information of any use, I traveled south to Fern. Still no useful information to be found there, so I carried on to the south by southeast to Tormar. Tormar had nothing to offer. I then traveled east by northeast through several small towns; nothing that was well developed nor defended. There were gnomish and dwarven towns, but the residents were no help in determining what was happening to magic nor what the mysterious symbol was. I crossed a very large river on a ferry and arrived at Fordside, which was the first well developed and defended town that I had come across. The human residents said that I should visit Helmguard to get the answers that I seek. In my travels amongst humans, the residents had a hard time pronouncing my name, so I shortened it to Chur for them.

That night, while meditating, I was transported to a place like the Astral Plane, but the cords were different. My cord and others were being pulled into a vortex, which felt like destruction. A Time Mage introduced himself as Luminous, revealing that he had brought me to the Elemental Plane of Time. There were several others there as well. He brought me to meet an elf named Tarin. He told Tarin that he must find me and together we must continue the quest. The mage told me that I was interwoven in the quest to stop what appears to be the end of time. He said that something ancient was returning, from before the time of the Nydrians, whoever they were. (My people know of their name, but not who they were or anything else about them.) Luminous estimates that we have less than a year from our perspective before the end of time. He says that every line converging represents a life and that vortex is their doom. The closer we get to the event, the harder it gets for him to tap into our time. He isn't able to move a life away from the vortex that is tied to our world. Perhaps fleeing to another plane would help those few with that power, but magical travel in our realm is already deteriorated. Access to the realm is already difficult for him, and the plane of time touches all. The cause of this is unknown. The magic of the world seems to be dying or warping. It is unstable. It is too dangerous for Luminous to travel ahead. That's why he's come to us. Our timelines are the strongest in this vortex.

In an instant, I am returned to where and when I was before. I then prepare myself to seek out Tarin in Helmguard.