Amezi Goldenscale

Amezi wasn’t born “Amezi”. They were born an orphan-child—an unfortunate commonality in the mostly half-elven community of Loudwater. Even among the downtrodden, Amezi found themselves an outlier: there was nobody else like they of golden-scale and rattle-tail. Their hatching seemed, to the people of Loudwater, like a bad omen. Wretched creatures, snakes—and what a cursed existence it must’ve been to be stuck somewhere between human and animal.

Amezi was quick to pick up the tricks of the street. They were naturally charming and blessed with a pretty face. Their early life was spent suffering in squalor (for Loudwater’s beauty cast such terrible shadows on those it did not deem worthy), yet Amezi dreamed of more. They ogled beautiful clothes, elaborate jewelry, and the mansions of the rich. Amezi made a promise to themselves that they would someday live the same indulgent lifestyle as the people who so often passed them by: the universe owed it to them as retribution.

What started off as petty theft for survival devolved into plundering the rich. Amezi only stole from the wealthy—from people they knew didn’t deserve such luxuries. Despite being stealthy during heists, Amezi was far from subtle, and they’d regularly flaunt the goods they’d stolen. This earned them some minor infamy. They wound up catching the eye of Malar Starsite, a ringleader for the Zhentarim, who were encroaching onto Loudwater in hopes of taking its underbelly for themselves. Malar came to Amezi and offered them a position in the organization, which Amezi readily took.

Most of the work for the Zhentarim involved thieving, which Amezi was an expert in. It also involved a great deal of schmoozing: Amezi would be put in contact with young, rich nobles, who they’d charm into revealing vital political information their clients needed (and if they happened to fall asleep early and allow Amezi the chance to plunder some jewelry, all the better). Amezi was a beautiful oddity, and they came up with many stories to explain their appearance: they were a prince from a far-off-land, a son of a wealthy merchant-king, etc. Amezi didn’t work on too many high-profile cases, though—Malar seemed intent on keeping them contained to simple assignments. Every time Amezi sought a more challenging task, Malar would deny their request. He claimed he was worried about them, but Amezi had doubts.

Amezi spent seven years in the guild, traveling from city to city to perform petty tasks. Even so, they and Malar remained close. While it wasn’t an official “relationship” (though they did certainly sleep together), Malar was possessive of, even cruel at times towards Amezi—and they realized, one day, that was the reason they weren’t ascending in power. Amezi wasn’t a true Zhent, but Malar’s personal treasure: his pet. Amezi was betrayed, crushed, and disgusted with themselves for letting him control them for so long. When they called Malar out on this, he attempted to cast a spell on Amezi to convince them to stay with him and forget about their worries, but the magic resistance of the yuan-ti helped to fend off the charm. Frightened for their freedom, they fled into the night, hoping to start a new life for themselves.

Now wandering the countryside with three decades of life-experience and not much to show in the way of actual experience, Amezi thinks back to the promise they made to themselves when they were young: they were owed the life of luxury. They refuse to waste away with nothing to their name. They’re going to make it big and prove that they are worth every penny.

Get Rich Quick. Amezi loves shinies and pretties, but they hate doing hard work. They will try to avoid/talk their way out of anything too difficult, but at the end of the day, gold can convince them to do some crazy things.

Crazy Ex. Amezi blames Malar for almost all of their issues. Malar wasn’t a great person, often stepping on weaker people to achieve his goals—not to mention gaslighting and abusing Amezi into staying subservient. Amezi wants to garner enough power to dethrone him, making up for the evil he was a part of along the way.

Mystery Orphan. Amezi is an orphan who doesn’t know their heritage and would like to learn where they came from. (They’re likely from Anauroch, the big desert to the east.)

Element of Generosity. Amezi will never steal from the poor. They can be selfish, but they have a soft heart and will give up their luxuries to make sure others are provided for.

Screw the Rules, I Don’t Have Money. Amezi hates the rich, nobility, and most gods. They don’t think they should play by their rules, since Amezi can’t respect a system that lets children starve on the street. Wants a revolution. (Has yet to make the realization that craving excess is part of the problem.) Always blames The System for their issues, rather than take any responsibility for their laziness.

Look What I Can Do. Amezi craves attention. They feel a need to upstage people when they can, and they get mopey when people prefer others to them. They want to be ogled, and their ego is gigantic. This plays into their fighting style: they’re an evasion-tank, seeking aggro to try to get people to pursue them (usually into some sort of trap).

All You Need is Love. Amezi needs friends who’ll smack some sense into them.

Amezi is extremely flamboyant. They love gaudy, expensive things, and they’re always looking for more treasures to add to their collection. Not only do they love luxury, but they love art; if Amezi thinks it’s beautiful, they want it. They fancy themselves an artist: in another life, they think they could’ve made it big as a fashion designer. “Fashion designer” is still on the dream list, but killing baddies comes first.

Amezi doesn’t care what others think about them. They will speak their opinion and dress however they like, even if it’s generally a better idea to lie low. They have a massive ego and think that they deserve more than anyone else. Why? Because they’re charming, likable, pretty, and Amezi. If somebody doesn’t like how Amezi acts, that’s not Amezi’s fault. They’re brazen, often speaking without thinking. They flaunt themselves as excellent in everything that they do, even though their roguing skills are subpar at best. They also love playing characters and lying about who they are: they will never tell the same story twice about where they came from. They are confident in themselves, but a lot of “themselves” is fake—right down to the accent. Amezi is confident in Amezi, that being the hotshot character they invented in their fantasies. The real Amezi (going by all sorts of names: “Snake”, “Scales”, “Treasure”) is spineless. Oftentimes, Amezi will chicken out of promises because they psych themselves out and convince themselves they aren’t the swashbuckling rapscallion they’ve made themselves out to be.

In addition, Amezi can be selfish and weak-willed. They have trouble resisting temptation of any kind. They can also be catty, competitive, as well as cowardly: they don’t want to die with so many loose ends unwrapped, and they will do anything to save their own skin. At their core, though, Amezi has a good heart: they recognize the unfairness of the world and have a desire to fix it. They simply think that things will be easier to fix when they’re rich.

Amezi’s experience with being fawned over has fuzzied their common sense, and they frequently misread the intentions of others. They seriously need glasses, but will never admit it. They have a weak stomach, and any food that’s not raw meat makes them queasy. Their favorite color is pink, they enjoy playing the lute, they’re pansexual, and they’re terrified of actual snakes. They feel conflicted about their snake/human heritage, and they sometimes have to fight some snakey urges (craving raw meat, turning off emotions, wanting to sunbathe). They wonder if the reason they can’t form meaningful relationships is because of their reptilian brain’s inability to do so. But, at the same time, they act too human to ever pass for a yuan-ti raised in the culture. They exist as something in-between—a freak that doesn’t fit quite anywhere.