Maraas

"'I am no longer a tool to be used. I am the Storm.'"Maraas, or Asaaranda, is a member of the Silver Griffons Adventurer's Company.

Appearance
At 6’5” and 253 lbs. Asaaranda is average height for a qunari male but towers over members of every other species, a fact he uses to his advantage when intimidating people. He maintains as stern an expression and posture as he can to instill a sense of fear in the smaller people while also to make it seem that he is more than capable of dealing any problems they need to hire him to do. Asaaranda also works hard to maintain his physical fitness, despite the fact that he doesn’t use his physical strength in fights he still believes it is important to maintain a strong body to match his strong magical abilities.

Asaaranda has long free-flowing locks of white hair that reach down to the base of his neck, and he keeps it braided back so that it does not fall into his eye-line while he is in the middle of a fight. Asaaranda has only a single pair of jet-black horns which extend diagonally out of the back of the skull, and he decorates them with a small number of golden bands which wrap around each horn. For attire, Asaaranda wears typical Tal-Vashoth armour combined with Fereldan furs to assume an appearance more welcoming to native Fereldans, and for this reason he also avoids wearing the vitaar that qunari warriors are infamous for. Combined with carrying a sword and shield with him at all times, Asaaranda also maintains the pretense that he is not a mage by avoiding any clothes similar to the robes that mages from Fereldan’s circle would wear.

Armament

 * Saartoh-Bas Asaara Iss - Matching his name, Asaaranda uses a lightning staff given to him by his mentor, Akad. It is a stave with a wrought iron head, an ebony staff, with an enchanted leather grip and a steel battlemage staff blade. The staff blade allows Asaaranda to fight in close-quarters if a fight ever becomes desperate enough.
 * Fereldan Sword and Shield - Asaaranda carries a simple sword and shield with him when dealing with regular people in order to disguise his true nature as a mage which, when found out, normally results in the Templars being called to investigate. The weapons are never used by Asaaranda in combat, he instead relies on his magical abilities.

Abilities

 * Arc Lightning - The very first spell he manifested and the one which gave him his name, Asaaranda sends a surge of lightning across the battlefield to stop the hearts of many unprepared foes.
 * Energy Barrage - Channeling the power of his staff, Asaaranda acts as magical artillery by unleashing its full power into a single target.
 * Lightning Bolt - Draining a large portion of mana from himself, Asaaranda unleashes a powerful bolt of lightning into a single target he feels is deserving of his full might.

Combat

 * Magic

Crafting

 * Trap Making
 * Cooking
 * Survival

Knowledge

 * Amateur Medicine
 * History (Qunari)

Communication

 * Intimidation

Biography
Asaaranda was born to a group of Tal-Vashoth mercenaries operating in and around the Coastlands in Fereldan. When he was born, Asaaranda was named Maraas by his parents and was raised as a regular Tal-Vashoth foot soldier. He learnt how to survive in the wilderness and about the history of his people and their separation from the Qun, with alteration to portray the Qun in as negative a light as possible. Through his childhood growing up, Asaaranda had a close relationship with his father who had the time to look after him nearly every day, while he maintained a distant relationship with his mother which at such a long age he did not fully understand the reasoning behind.

When Asaaranda was 10 years, the group had been celebrating after a particularly difficult but highly rewarding job to rob one Fereldan bann on behalf of another. The adults had returned to the camp a few days after they had set off and drank throughout the night as celebration for a job well done. Midway through the night however, the bann they had robbed sent a small group of scout troops to follow after the qunari, and while the entire camp was reveling the soldiers attacked. With almost of all the qunari being deeply drunk and with the element of surprise on the Bann’s men, nearly all of the qunari were cut down in seconds. As one of the humans advanced towards Asaaranda with sword in hand, Asaaranda felt a power grow inside of him as his terror grew and the unfamiliar feeling terrified him even more. Bursting into tears, Asaaranda could only hold his hand out in front of him in an attempt to stop the sword which was swinging towards his head, seemingly in slow motion.

Without even realising what had happened, a burst of light flew out of Asaaranda’s hand and slammed into the man who crumpled to the ground in seconds. Looking from the corpse of the man who had been about to kill him to the corpses of people he had grown up with his whole, Asaaranda screamed in both pain and distress and as he did more lightning surged from his hands and arced through the closest soldiers, killing nearly all of them, leaving the rest to flee in terror.

The following morning, no-one spoke of the incident as the prepare to flee from the site before the bann sent more soldiers to finish off the qunari. As the remains of the camp was packed up and the corpses of friends and foes were disposed of, no-one spoke to Asaaranda or even looked at him. As he sat by himself, terrified and crying of this unknown power he suddenly had and the whispers in his head that seemed to come from nowhere, promising a release from this burden, a hand reached down and grasped his shoulder.

Looking up, Asaaranda saw a man dressed in clothes covered in chains and recognised him as the saarebas that had joined the Tal-Vashoth before Asaaranda was born. The man brought Asaaranda aside from the main camp to where he lived in his own tent and explained that the power Asaaranda had was called magic and that the voices he could hear were those of demons residing in the Fade who wanted to possess his body and use his body as their own. Akad, as Asaaranda later learned the saarebas was called, became Asaaranda’s mentor and taught him how to control the gifts he now had and how to resist the call of the demons.

For weeks Asaaranda lived only with the mage away from the rest of Tal-Vashoth while still moving alongside them, but when Asaaranda eventually returned to the main camp, it was not to the relieved faces that he had expected, but instead to turned heads and whispers that were barely even attempted to be kept hidden; “Saarebas”, “Asaaranda”, “Bas”. Asaaranda knew what each of them meant and that everyone he had once called friends now saw him as something to not be trusted. Even his father distanced himself from Asaaranda, scared of the power that his son held, while instead his mother became more interested in his skills. She commanded Asaaranda to learn how to use his magic in combat from Akad and to study with the mage until he was fully confident with his abilities.

For the next 7 years Asaaranda lived apart from the rest of the group under the tutelage of Akad who became more of a father figure for him than Jarat, the man who had abandoned him. Asaaranda’s powers only continued to increase but so did the whispers from the Tal-Vashoth while his mother and the other commanders continued to groom Asaaranda to become a tool for success in future contracts. Once he turned 17, Asaaranda was deemed skilled enough to join the other warriors on a contract and for the first time in years people talked to him and involve him as if he was an equal. The job was to clear a fort occupied by a particularly large group of bandits and Asaaranda worked alongside the warriors in almost perfect synch. When the soldiers baited the bandits out of the fort, Asaaranda and Akad rained down magical artillery upon the targets, decimating a large chunk of their forces and sending the rest into disarray making the mop-up for the infantry an easy job. Asaaranda felt proud of himself for contributing such a vital role to the operation and made his way back to the main camp to join the others in celebration but once again found himself shunned.

The feelings of elation Asaaranda had felt at being a part of the group dissolved almost immediately, and instead anger rose within him. In an act of defiance, Asaaranda decided he would become exactly what they feared, the Thunderstorm. He vowed to remain his own person and not just be a tool to be used by his mother and the other commanders to then be pushed away as soon as his job was finished. It was a number of months before Asaaranda was next called to join on a contract, this time to rescue prisoners taken by bandits, but unlike before Asaaranda was determined not to be ignored as soon as this job was finished. His role in the operation was to create a distraction and lure the bandits away from where they were holding the prisoners so that other qunari could sneak round and rescue everyone while the bandits were gone. Asaaranda however wanted to stand out and get the glory, so instead attacked the bandits head on without bothering to draw them away. His initial attack caused confusion in his target’s ranks but they quickly re-organised themselves and counter-attacked. Without backup Asaaranda would have been overwhelmed quickly but the other warriors joined the fight alongside him and a long, drawn out fight started. With Asaaranda’s and Akad’s combined magical attacks, the qunari managed to emerge from the fight victorious but not without casualties. It was only once the battle was over that the group realised that the bandits had killed their prisoners as soon as Asaaranda had attacked them.

The job had been a complete failure and many Tal-Vashoth had lost their lives during the fight compared to the none that would have been lost in the original fight. But Asaaranda was pleased. He had not been disregarded once the contract was over, and he didn’t care about the loss of lives. His mother however, was furious with his actions and so cast him out of the Tal-Vashoth. Asaaranda knew this was no longer his place to fit in and so left quickly, saying only goodbye to Akad before never looking back.

Cast out into the world on his own with nothing more than the stave Akad had crafted for him and a small amount of coin, Asaaranda had no idea what to do with his life and so continued with the only thing he was good at and had ever gotten praise for; mercenary work. Unlike before, this time Asaaranda acted independently without the aid of any Tal-Vashoth groups and searched for all his own work himself. To distance himself from the life he had left behind, Asaaranda quickly left the Coastlands and headed further inland towards the Bannorn and Lake Calenhad.

He began searching for work among the villages in this region but the persona of ‘The Storm’ that he had created for himself as well as the obvious mage staff he carried always drove potential clients away and even resulted in templars being called numerous times to detain him. Eventually realising that common people would not trust a mage wandering the world by themselves and would certainly not hire such a mage for a job no matter how skilled they are, and so searched for a way to allow him to be more easily accepted by people as someone they’d want to hire. Heading into Lothering, the largest village of his immediate area, Asaaranda bought a study looking shield and matching sword with the little money that he had left from his Tal-Vashoth life. Asaaranda headed out into the world again looking for more work, this time presenting himself as a warrior instead of a mage and due to try to keep up this disguise, Asaaranda never took jobs that would require him to fight in-front of someone that he was not supposed to kill especially bodyguard jobs or rescue missions.

With people having heard about the incredible strength of the grey-skinned ‘Ox-Men’, and with evidence of that fact before them, Asaaranda began to find it far easier to get contracts once he hid his nature as a mage. However, the new persona he had created did not leave once he had left the Tal-Vashoth but instead remained and caused issues with some of the jobs he accepted. One such issue arose while he was hired to protect a merchant and his cargo as they travelled from his village to Denerim. Half-way along the journey they were attacked by bandits, as the merchant had expected, so Asaaranda fought to hold the group off while the merchant fled, luckily before he witnessed Asaaranda casting any magic. Not expecting to have to fight a mage, the bandits were routed quickly but Asaaranda was consumed by anger and gave chase to what were now his targets. He hunted every single one of the men down and only once the last one died did Asaaranda turn to follow after the merchant. He was too late however and only came across the man’s corpse, with a gash across his chest, and the empty remains of his cart; a second group of bandits had attacked the merchant while Asaaranda was hunting down the first group.

Despite having failed this contract, Asaaranda did not let him affect him and instead move on to find other jobs, uncaring about the consequences of his failure. Word of his attitude and his botched jobs while he instead sought personal glory began to spread and people were becoming more and more reluctant to hire him. Knowing that he could not continue to operate like this before he would run out of money, Asaaranda happened to stumble across a notice informing people about the formation of the Crusader’s Guild, a guild to allow a variety of mercenary work and the promise of a hero’s glory and an eternal legacy. Knowing that this was everything he wanted and needed in his life now, Asaaranda quickly left for Redcliffe to sign himself up.

Friendships

 * Akad - Akad was a former Saarebas that fled from the Qun to join the Tal-Vashoth. When Asaaranda’s magic manifested for the first time, he was sent to Akad to learn train to become a mage and to resist the temptations of demons. Akad was one of the few people within the group who would continue to be kind and talk to Asaaranda as a normal person instead of someone to be feared. Akad even went far enough to craft Asaaranda his own staff of considerable quality, which Asaaranda continues to carry with him to this day as memory of the one man who considered him an equal.

Romance

 * N/A - During his time with the Tal-Vashoth, Asaaranda’s status as a mage meant that very few people would talk to Asaaranda beyond orders for an upcoming battle. This meant Asaaranda had no chance of forming relationships, romantic or otherwise. Once he left the Tal-Vashoth to become an independent mercenary, Asaaranda never stayed in one place for long enough to form any relationships.

Family

 * Jarat - Asaaranda’s father held the role of karasaad in the Tal-Vashoth mercenary group, so outside of contracts Jarat had plenty of time to focus on training Asaaranda, who was called Maraas at the time. Jarat taught his son the necessities for surviving in the Fereldan wilderness, including foraging and cooking, as well as what it meant to be Tal-Vashoth. However, that all changed when Maraas’ magic manifested. Jarat was scared of the power that his son now commanded but also of the potential for him to become possessed and turn into an abomination. This fear caused him to distance himself from his son and only talk to him during necessary moments, which greatly upset both Jarat and Maraas. The final trigger for Jarat to lose almost all connection to his son was when Maraas’ was changed to Asaaranda to reflect his new role in the group. Deep down, Jarat still loved his son but his fear of magic was too much for him to fight past. After leaving the Tal-Vashoth, Asaaranda has had no contact with his father, and has cut all ties with him.


 * Kardaz - While Asaaranda’s father was a simple foot soldier, his mother held the role of karasten. This meant that Kardaz was nearly always too occupied to be with her son, instead dealing with the many military matters that were required of a mercenary group’s commander. When Kardaz did manage to find the time to come back to her family she was usually far more distant than Jarat, barely speaking about matters other than official ones. When Asaaranda’s magic emerged however, she began to talk to her son far more than she had in years. This was not out of support and comfort for his new abilities however, but instead to include him as a new useful tool in upcoming contracts. This only drove Asaaranda further away from his mother since he wished to be recognised and treated as a normal person, and so upon his departure from the Tal-Vashoth, Asaaranda ceased all contact with his mother.

Allies

 * N/A - Since leaving the Tal-Vashoth, Asaaranda has lost contact with the only group of people that could have been considered allies to him. As an independent mercenary, Asaaranda has not cooperated with anyone enough, due to his new nomadic nature, to form lasting alliances.

Rivals

 * Qunari - Living as a Tal-Vashoth, Asaaranda was an enemy of the Qun of the moment he was born, especially with his parents operating as known Tal-Vashoth. While operating inside the mercenary group, Asaaranda came into minor conflict with arvaards and ben-hassrath that were hunting groups like his all across Thedas. Since leaving the Tal-Vashoth however, Asaaranda has become far less concerned with fighting the Qun and avoiding it’s agents, instead focusing himself and his own issues, and it seems without him being part of a large, famous mercenary group that the Qunari have left him alone too.

Personality
Asaaranda key goal is life is to make sure that people know that he is his own person. After being treated as nothing more than a weapon by the Tal-Vashoth, he wants to prove that he is more than that by making himself known to people, instead of fading into a lack of individuality. This however, can cause issues with authority and orders, as he wants to make himself stand out. If an order is seen as too common or simple for him, he may disregard the order and instead choose to do something that brings more presence to himself.

After having lived with both qunari and humans, Asaaranda is used to be feared due to his nature as a mage. He voluntarily chose to accept the name of Asaaranda after hearing groups of Tal-Vashoth call him that in both fear and wonder, and so he now personifies Asaaranda, ‘Thunderstorm’, in an act of defiance. The Tal-Vashoth wanted him to be a storm to kill their foes and nothing more, so instead of fighting against it he embraced the title and used it to create an aura of fear in the group around himself. Over time he slipped into the persona even further and matched the name in personality, becoming unruly and difficult to control both in and out of combat as well as being quick to anger and violent when he is.

After leaving the Tal-Vashoth, Asaaranda’s personality remained nearly the same. Despite the fact that he had to worry less now about not being an individual, he still maintained the persona of the storm and used it as a factor to aid in procuring jobs for himself. However, he quickly learnt that presenting himself as a dangerous mage to people got the Templars called down on him, causing him to have to flee and to lose the job. So Asaaranda quickly stole common Fereldan weapons from a group of bandits that tried to rob him and now, during sensitive diplomacy, presents himself as a warrior instead of a mage. The storm inside him however is never gone, and finds itself manifesting in combat with an array of lightning magic.