ISFET

Physical Appearance: A handsome human woman of about 25
or 30, with tanned skin, blue eyes and blond hair (though she can
disguise this last fairly easily). She is very physically fit,
though more in the sense of being nimble and precise in her movement
rather than in raw strength (as an athlete she'd be more of a
gymnast than a wrestler). She also possesses a certain charisma
and `animal charm', which give her an aura of `nobility'; one can
tell immediately that this is a woman of breeding.

Another form she has is her `draconic' form: a draconic
humanoid that roughly resembles a gargoyle. Her eyes are still
blue, though reptilian rather than human in aspect, and she is
sheathed in blue-black and green-black scales about as tough as
chainmail.

In either form, she prefers red clothing (partly to hide
stains from her `work', and partly because she likes the color) and
gold jewelry (something expensive, but tasteful). This clothing
tends to be close fitting (so as not to get caught on anything or be
easily grabbed by an opponent) as does her jewelry (she especially
doesn't use big earrings), but is also cut for freedom of movement.
In combat, she will also carry her magic quarterstaff with her.

Personality: Think of a cross between the Gargoyles
characters Hyena and Fox, with the former's bloodthirstiness and
viciousness, tempered by the latter's refinement and grace. For
example, Isfet is completely in control of her baser instincts –
while she is more than capable of gleefully (though efficiently)
slaying a room full of people, she is just as capable of mixing with
them without arousing suspicion of her more violent side's existence
(one reason she is able to hire others as distractions). She is
also very methodical and calculating when in combat, choosing her
moves and picking her moments with care (even when it doesn't look
like it). Even so, she does enjoy a good fight every now and again.

Her grace and style show through in the very few social
settings she engages in. There she can easily show (or hide) a
sense of animal grace and charm, and acts and looks like royalty
(which she technically is). Even in combat, Isfet's movements are
precise and coordinated with the skill of a prima donna ballet
dancer (for those of you who watch Batman Beyond, think of the
character Curare to get an idea of what I'm talking about).

Personal survival is paramount to her; though she has
learned to temper and control it somewhat, ultimately she will worry
about herself first, and everyone else later (if ever). This makes
her extremely pragmatic in nature as well – she is perfectly willing
and able to cut a deal with a dire enemy if it will help her out in
the longer term, or in the interests of immediate survival.
Unfortunately, it also means that any attempts to try and get her to
focus on a `higher objective' (morally) is doomed to failure; she is
who she is, and will never be anything else.

Isfet also has an odd quirk regarding her status as a
half-dragon. While she fully understands and accepts what she is
(she is actually proud to have their blood running in her veins),
she also `understands' that she is patently inferior to any dragon.
Therefore, she tends to be submissive in front of them (except for
Apep in private moments) and she always refers to dragons in the
third person `they'; she never refers to dragons with a `we' or
an `I'.

Abilities: To begin with, Isfet has a limited shape-
shifting power; she can morph at will between a purely human form,
and a dragon-humanoid creature that resembles a gargoyle. Her
draconic blood also gives Isfet some mild quantities of the
attributes normally associated with dragons – charisma,
attractiveness, and an affinity with life (this last manifests
itself in Isfet's natural longevity, as well as mild regenerative
powers, which have helped save her skin a few times). She also has
a small amount of intuitive ability with magic, and perhaps knows
how to cast a spell or two, though she is no sorceress; to cast any
sort of complex spell, however, would require her to find
an `instruction manual' for it.

Isfet's greatest skills, however, are in the arenas of
stealth and assassination; these are her livelihood, and she has
literally had thousands of years to perfect her technique. She is
capable of sneaking up on even the most alert foe, silently slaying
them, and then leaving the area before anyone realizes something is
wrong. Her skills are at the point, in fact, that Isfet could win a
battle against even minor fey (such as Puck).

Her favored weapons are bolas, which she uses to ensnare
opponents and bring down flying targets, and a quarterstaff shod at
both ends with a sort of magical `mimetic' metal that can shape
itself into whatever form Isfet wills. Therefore, the weapon could
effectively become any kind of polearm ever made.

History: In the days before the war between the dragons
and the fey, the dragons had much the same position their rivals now
hold: they were the teachers and guides of humanity, occupying the
humans' myths and receiving their worship. In many cities, the
dragons held positions of great power, where they didn't rule
outright, and the people made regular offerings and supplications in
return for the power and knowledge of the winged ones.

It was in one such city, somewhere in what is now
central Asia, that the woman who would become Isfet was born. The
child of the high priestess of the local dragon cult and one of the
dragons themselves (even Isfet doesn't know who her father really
is, and she's long since stopped caring), Isfet was seen in much the
same way as `demigods' would be millennia later. She was provided
with everything her heart could desire, and wanted for nothing; as a
result, she became spoiled and decadent, spending her time in
debauchery. She was being groomed to one day rule her people, and
she was treated and acted accordingly, though it was also clear that
she would likely destroy herself with her activities.

The Dragon-Fey War changed all that. When the fey
defeated the dragons and exiled Apep to the astral realm, they
pressed their advantage and made to obliterate any and all signs of
their enemies' power and influence. With Avallach unable to truly
restrain them, the methods the chaotic beings used in this endeavor
were often `excessive'. Isfet's city was one example: the fay who
conquered the place slaughtered the inhabitants and burned the city
to the ground; they also laid the region waste so utterly that even
today the land is inhospitable to human life. Isfet herself was
used as `amusement' by the conquerors and then left, broken and
alone in her burning palace.

She doesn't know how long she spent unconscious, or how
she managed to make it out of the city, only that she eventually
found herself wandering a land that was now a desert, and forced to
survive using only her own innate (and very rusty) skills.
Surviving long enough to reach civilization taxed her heavily, and
it also wrought a great change in her psyche. Whereas before she
was a cruel, decadent, and dissipated woman, she was now cruel,
focused, and iron-willed. She pledged herself to a new existence,
one of trying to eradicate the fay, and revenge herself on her
former tormentors.

To this end, she began training herself as an assassin;
she knew that a head-on fight with the fay and their servitors would
be suicide, but slaying them in secret was a far more manageable
task. She also set herself to finding as many of the survivors of
the War as possible and learning as much about her enemy (including
those who had torn her city apart) as she could. Over the
centuries, her skill and abilities grew, and she gained possession
of her staff, and she learned much about the fey. The dragons, on
the other hand, were a disappointment; abandoned by humanity in
favor of the fay, as well as few in number, the dragons had simply
decided to retreat and hide. Only Apep himself still seemed fixated
on the same goals as Isfet, and so she made herself available to
him, in the hopes of obtaining his freedom.

Her efforts ultimately culminated in the events of "The
Sun and the Serpent", where for a brief time Apep was freed from his
imprisonment. Unfortunately, he was soon slain by the power of the
artifact known as the Aten disk, and his spirit sent to the astral
realm. The only positive thing to come out of the events (from
Isfet's point of view) was the `recruitment' of a young gargoyle
named Harthoth to `the cause'.

The next several millennia were long ones, as Isfet
wandered the earth honing her skills and working with Harthoth to
try and bring about Apep's resurrection. There were brief
interludes of `personal business' (such as an escapade in the late
20th century to go after the fay who had wronged her so many years
before), but for the most part Isfet found herself chained to a task
that began to look more and more ridiculous as she looked at it.
The dragons were either dead or unwilling to try and renew the war
against the fey, and the fey had absolute supremacy over the minds
and hearts of humans; she eventually came to the conclusion that she
was fighting for a lost cause, and even though she dutifully
performed her part, her heart eventually came to `not be in it'.

The resurrection of Apep in the mid-22nd century more or
less sealed the belief; Apep was clearly insane, and there was
little hope of doing anything more than annihilating the fey and
humans together. Though she still continues to do her part in this
time, she is also looking for a way out; Harthoth's `rebellion'
looks to be the perfect distraction while she takes the time to
abandon this sinking ship…

Goals: Ultimately, Isfet would like to see the
resurgence of the dragons and their place as the `power behind
mankind' (much the same as the fay are now), and she would like to
see `Oberon's Children) gruesomely exterminated. Over the
millennia, though, she has begun to understand subconsciously that
neither of these is likely to happen; survival and the occasional
bit of revenge are her main daily goals in life now. Even after
Apep is freed in the 22nd century, Isfet has come to realize that
anything more that she might have had in mind is long since gone or
rendered impossible by current circumstances. This does mean that
after Apep's final fall, she is still more than capable of going on,
letting her old modes of survival and revenge carry her on.