Zander Kilgas
| Zander Kilgas | |
|---|---|
| Zaan-dare Kill-gaas | |
| Created by | Andrew |
| Information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Asha'man of the Green Ajah |
| Affiliation | The Grey Tower |
| Nationality | Andoran |
| Attributes | |
| Talents |
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| Weapon Skills |
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| Masteries | |
| OP Strength | 7.2 |
| Affinities | Spirit, Earth, Water, Fire, Air |
Zander Kilgas is an Andoran Green Oathsworn Asha'man of the Grey Tower.
Description
Zander is about 5 ft 11 inches tall with long, hazel hair that shines when the sun hits it at the right angle. His hair is tied back in a long plait that is held between two ordinary leather thongs, one at the base of the neck and the other at the tip of his hair. His eyes, dark brown fringed with a lighter, woody-brown at the edge of the iris, always seem to be searching with a fierce piercing gaze. You can tell from their depths that he has been through a lot and seen things that he wished he could forget. They hold a deep sadness at his situation in life. His frame is far from weak, but a slight boniness at the shoulders tells you that he has room for more muscle development. His hands, with long, delicate fingers suggest a quickness of movement that is above average and the way they move suggests a fluid sleight of hand that is well practiced. His hands never stray from his weapons and suggestions, which shows his distrust of strangers and of humanity in general. He has a charming smile when he chooses to use it, which is rare for a man of the Age of 22. His usual set of face shines out like a beacon his cynical view of the world, from which stems his sarcastically ironic sense of humor. His nose is not overly large, but the way it points, like a beak is the first obvious feature of his face most people see.
Biography
Zander grew up in Baerlon and has fond memories of the many times he had kissed the girls and played pranks on his neighbors and any other adults that he had felt deserved taking down a rung or two. At the age of fourteen, his father's business in selling his crops to passing peddlers and merchants flourished alarmingly due to the fact that all of his competitors had bad harvests. Why Zander's family had been the only ones to grow more than an armful of crop had not been apparent at the time, but towards the end of the fall season it had been discovered that it had been a combination of wild animals eating the seeds before they could shoot and bad weather for the other farmers. To this day Zander marvels at his family's great fortune that year. His father, Jastun, managed to make a tidy profit and set up a small merchant business of his very own. This had been Zander's and his father's dream for many years and now, thanks to a bit of luck, it had finally come true. They had moved a little closer to the capital of Andor, to an area around Four Kings, where through much work and more luck they had extended their business influence and wealth ten-fold. There had been no apparent reason for this as there had been in Baerlon, but Zander hadn't cared much. To him the Wheel had just seemed to weave wealth into his life.
To escape the resentment of his rivals, his father had decided to move into Caemlyn, the capital itself. Zander was at a height in his life and things had become more magical when his baby sister Jenny had been born. But their fortune had seemed to end in bitter disaster. His household had been stricken with plague, along with many others. His father and mother succumbed after merely two weeks, and his sister battled against the disease for a further four days before a miraculous recovery. Zander had then fallen ill himself, though he had not known what illness it had been, only that it was not plague. Zander recovered quite quickly, but not quickly enough. His sister had been taken whilst begging for aid for him. He never found out what had become of her, and he often dreaded what she had gone through in her life if she still lived. He should have counted himself lucky to have had his health. His father's business was now his and he was alive, but he did not. The Wheel had now weaved into his life the payment required for the previous years of fortune. The Wheel could be cruel at times.
Zander hadn't had the heart to carry on with the business that he and his father had built. So he sold it to a rival merchant named Fin. He took all of his possessions that he considered worthy of keeping and enlisted as a guard of the city. He never really agreed with the station and for insubordination he was forced to leave after three weeks. The Wheel still weaved misfortune for him he decided, especially after he had been held at knife point the day he had left the guard. He had then only possessed the clothes on his back and the few weapons and sentimental possessions he had managed to keep from the thieves.
Zander had fallen in with a rough crowd from then onwards. He had met a few men that had belonged to a gang of thieves and smugglers at an inn called The Harp and decided to get deeper into the dark side of city life. After all, all he had ever lived for was gone, and he needed the money and safety. He stole, killed and spied on rival gangs and rich targets for the Black Walkers for a further year before he found a purpose in life again.
Strangely, his moment of realization wasn't special in any way. It was just an ordinary day in his life. Running from another gang, the Chaos Stalkers, he had run headlong into a trap. Surrounded by six of their men he had realized he was going to die that day. Funnily enough he had thought that he didn't want to die. He had felt a strong need to survive, but he hadn't understood why seeing as he hadn't considered his life worth living anymore. But the Wheel had already weaved his survival. That was when he touched Saidin for the first time. It had felt like molten iron in his veins and in his desperation he had burned his would-be killers in their tracks. Not one had survived.
He had finally found something to live for again. That feeling had transcended any other moment in his life before then. He had truly felt alive. He ran for his life and went into hiding for fear of the reactions of his associates. He had heard stories of what had happened to men like him before. When in hiding he had caught wind of a place where he could learn his talent freely and without trouble. He had been sitting beside the fireplace of an inn just over a days travel from Caemlyn when he had overheard rumors of a Tower where men could channel. From what he had gathered of the short conversation between the rumor carrier and the innkeeper he had reasoned that he should find this place, if it existed, and forge a new life there. He sat up and asked where the Tower was rumored to be and he had been told that it could be found near the Mountains of Mist. This had made Zander curse inwardly; as he knew it would have taken him months to search that area. The traveller had also claimed that there was another Tower for male challengers in the region of Caemlyn, though no one knew explicitly where that Tower was located either.
Zander had considered the choice for an hour or two, sipping gently on weak ale as his thoughts had rolled around in his head. He had eventually decided to journey to the Tower near the Mountains of Mist for several reasons. Firstly, his memories of Caemlyn and the surrounding areas had been tainted with bitterness and his actions would haunt him forever he had no doubt. Being closer to his true, first home could not have changed anything, but he found a sense of security in the idea. He thought that perhaps the good memories could at least alleviate much of the bad he had experienced in his short life. Another point that had influenced his decision was that the travelers descriptions of the closer Tower's tactics had not agreed with his morals, tattered though they already were. He preferred the thought of at least a semi-peaceful place to start his new life than starting a new life in the shadow of something sinister and maybe even brutal. He had experienced enough brutality to last him the rest of his life, such as it may be.
Luckily for Zander, he hadn't had to travel that far, as Whitebridge was the end of his search. Once there he had collapsed in the middle of the street, burning and shivering at the same time, and had been carried to a nearby residence by a kindly couple. In his delirium time had passed at changing speeds. All he could think of was his weakness and half-remembered occasions when he had experienced similar occurrences. Towards the last days of his sickness a man in dark black clothing had come to visit him.
Introducing himself as Jondin Morley Asha'man, he had asked him various questions about his past and his experiences. He had paid particularly close interest to his family’s surprising and lucky successes, and even more to his sister's sudden and complete recovery followed by Zander's own illness. He had been friendly, if a little reserved and had never pressed Zander to speak of what he did not want to. After hearing what Zander had said, he had told him of the many precursors that can be used to judge if a man could channel. These, he had informed, often included miraculous Healing of close friends or family. He had also presumed that the luck his family had experienced was probably also down to Zander. He had told Zander that such things were considered common among those who were inborn with the spark. Zander hadn't fully understood, but had taken the man's words as truth. Morley Asha'man had then concluded with what he said was a small test. Zander had not noticed anything out of the ordinary for the duration of it, but when it had finished Morley Asha'man had smiled and told Zander that he could be taught to channel if he so wished. He also advised that he should, for the safety of others as well as Zander's own.
Zander had told him that he did want to be taught, and had spent the next two days resting under his observation. When he had finally recovered he was taken through a shimmering doorway in the air and had found himself standing in the middle of a huge complex of stone.
He had looked around in amazement and laughed with relief. He had finally arrived at where he now belonged, and he was willing to follow through with it. His new life lay before him, even if he had no idea what it would contain at that point in time, and to have a purpose once more was uplifting to his weary heart.
And now several years had passed, almost a decade in fact since that beginning. So much had changed within the fraction of the turning of the Wheel that it seemed as if his old life were a dream that ha never occurred anywhere outside of his own mind. He had children now, two of them. A caring an fiery Gaidar for a wife and Bondmate whom served to make every day an adventure. A host of people he could call friends or allies surrounded him also, providing him with a sense of solace and belonging he had not experienced for some time.
He had held positions of relative power within the grey Tower too – serving as Keeper of the Archives twice, the Warder-Channeller Representative and the M’Hael once. Not to mention being Captain General for a time, the leader of the Green Ajah. Yet he had all but retired from such positions, setting down his responsibilities to focus upon himself and his family. He had needed to secure their safety from the Shadow and a desire to experience the early times had led him to retreat from public life. He still had kept his network of shadows and informant’s, had further cultivated it in fact. But to all intents and purposes he was a specter to the majority, something to be remembered rather than known.
However, now had come the time to break out if his self-imposed hermitage. He felt the desire to take steps into the world unknown once more, a need to become more than just a memory in the minds and hearts of others. He would lurk in the background no longer. An so he took his first real steps back into the convoluted power struggles of the grey Tower once more, hoping that this time he might fare just as well - or better - than he had done before and that non-use had not dulled and atrophied his skills.
Career History
- Soldier
- Dedicated (23 May 2008)
- Council of Youth (16 September 2008)
- Asha'man of the Green Ajah (27 November 2008)
- Keeper of the Archives (31 January 2009)
- Warder-Channeller Representative (17 July 2009)
- Keeper of the Archives (2 September 2009)
- M'Hael (22 November 2009)
- Captain-General of the Green Ajah (30 November 2010)
