Above is my one of my Pathfinder characters, the female noble drow slayer, Azazel Rilynar. She has a pretty hefty backstory that I’ll post below.
Backstory:
Azazel was born onto the noble drow family of House Rilynar (drow for House of Poison). Her family line was aptly named for not only the amazingly lethal secret poisons that they mixed but for being revered assassins. The mere mention of the family name or any members were often only spoken in hushed whispers. Azazel’s mother, Talae, was the head of the family. Her other immediate relatives included her father, Felyndrol, her two older sisters, Shriolin and Intana, and lastly her younger brother Nal’tyrr.
While the Rilynars were the most respected and well known assassins in their section of the Underdark, there where two other families that specialized in assassination. One was House Du’arden (Walkers of Darkness) who mainly dealt in thievery as well as death. The Rilynars often worked along with Do’urdens to sabotage and kill the rivals of the upper ruling class. From its members Azazel learned apt sleight of hand and disable skills. The second was the rival House Zaumor (Children of the Abyss) of who the Rilynars regarded as enemies due to stolen assassination contracts and attempted public slander. Though the two houses hated each other, both houses were too numerous and powerful for the other to devote the time resources to wiping them out on their own.
One “night” Azazel awoke to the sounds struggle, blades, and yells throughout her families estate. Grabbing her blades she left her room and slid into the shadows of the hall. Around the corner she came across two family guards losing a fight against four shrouded figures. She could just make out the insignias of House Zaumor and of another unknown clan. Outnumbered, Azazel fled in the other direction. She entered the main balcony area and looked down onto the fray. There she saw house guards and relatives alike fighting a mass of cloaked figures leaping from the darkness. She could see that they were being overwhelmed from the surprise attack. Her sister, Shriolin, was laying in a pool of blood. From the corner of her eye she spotted two shadows move behind her. She spun about and threw a dagger into the gut of one of the intruders. The other came at her with a blade that she blocked with her own. They went back and forth and Azazel just managed to disarm and finish off her attacker. The scuffle had brought unwanted attention to her position and once again she fled into the maze of halls that made up her home. She managed to loose her pursuers and climbed out the nearest window she could. As she fled the estate she looked back only once to see it go up in flames.
The next few months Azazel travelled to another drow city and took on a new persona. She attempted to find any rumor of Rilynar survivors but was unable to find any good information. The fire had burned the bodies too well to know who had died and who had made it out alive. Despite her disguise skills, coming from a noble family had left her too recognizable. More assassination attempts followed and Azazel knew she would have to leave the Underdark completely if she wanted to retain her head. She called upon some help from the Du’ardens (who weren’t regarded as a threat in the eyes of House Zaumor) to aid her in travelling the dangerous, twisting paths until she arrived on the surface. There she disguised herself as a normal elf and never stayed in one town for too long. A couple years passed with no more assassination attempts. She even started using her first name again to have some token of home. As time passed she grew more fond of the surface. While she missed her nice possessions and the respect of being a noble, she didn’t miss the constant danger that was living among other drow in the Underdark. Her aspirations changed from avenging her family to making her own legacy on the surface. From then on started scouting for adventuring parties, hoping to strike it rich enough to buy her own land and start a new family of wealth and prestige.
