Hafsa Sarah Shadiya Tabassum Alfarsi

Hafsa Sarah Shadiya Tabassum Alfarsi

Female Djinni

Player: Ven The Jen

General Information
Full Name:	Hafsa Sarah Shadiya Tabassum Alfarsi
Nicknames:	Sarah, Genie, Hafasa
Age:
Deity:	Celestian
Alignment:	LG LN LE NG TN NE CG CN CE
Occupation:	Anarchist
Faction/Rank:	Independent
Place of Birth:	Unknown
Physical Attributes
Height:	49'7"
Weight:	60.81lb at 0°C, not including debris
Eyes:	Mirror-metallic
Hair:	Azure
Complexion:	Ciel
Physical Build:	Nebulous
Physical Features:	A vortex that rotates anti-clockwise
Skills
Adversity, Intimidation, Creation, Ethereal Visage, Mega Fun Time, Telepathy, Invisibility, Persistent Illusion, Planar Survival, Planeshift, Scramble and Rip Portal, See Invisibility.
Equipment and Items
Tempest Mote, Horn of Silence, Silver Ring, Swift Guardian, Potion of Immortality, Mechanical Key, Rod of Wonder, Stone of Controlling Earth Elementals, Everfull Flask of Pure Element.

One billion free minds,

So few who divine.

Changes are coming.

You'll soon know your side.

The Names

"Hafsa Sarah Shadiya Tabassum Alfarsi; Twice-Bound Yet No More; A True Traveller of the Astral Plane; Daughter of the Third Cloud; Fulfilling Freedom's Niche; Traitor Sentinel of Ice and Steel; Crusader of Smoke and Mirrors; A Mortal's Last Breath; Queen of Cotyttia."

"UL TANITTUM NABU INA EREŠ.KI.GAL INA INANIN.TI MA INA NINMULMULLA."

"Aefzs Foorss er au Ooerrsauoor; Zsrrrssemraauo oor zsre Rauke; Oormssemem."

"Nelphelh Fiyruoy A Vaolel; Yrel Vahasiyz; Yrel Vnavx Ic Yrel Vhuvx."

"Kte Giie Ktid Riee Ki Kte Tean Il Aaqa."

"Bound in Black Stone."

Out of Touch

The Court of Ice and Steel is a continent, a rich palace carved from glacial rock that forever hurtles through the Elemental Air. It is the centre of the Djinn territory volumes and is dominated by the Commander of the Four Winds, Ruler of all Djinn, Defender of the Heavens, Prince of Birds, Storm of the Righteous, and Master of the Air.

Its arcane passages are always open to the tornado passage of air. Here converge the four sacred winds of the people of the air: Boreas, Eurus, Notus and Zephyrus. Notus, the south wind, was associated with violent equinoctial storms and was praised as both the ripen-er of crops and feared as their potential destroyer. Zephyrus, the west wind, was associated with the welcome breezes of midsummer, wines and love; stories of Hellenistic deities carry on the westward streams. Eurus, the unlucky east wind, carried the association of death - a true taboo amongst the immortal society of the Djinn, so that it went rarely mentioned. Boreas, the north wind, was associated with winter rainstorms. It was also known as The Devouring One and was said to have a leadership over the other winds, the first born of a primal storm god.

The four sacred winds were offset by the Anemoi Thuelli - the sailing winds, so called for upstart mortals used them to travel through the Elemental Air. They were Kakias, Apeliotes, Lips and Skiron. The north eastern Kaikias was feared for its dark, violent hailstorms whilst the north western Skiron was known to unleash winter winds and rain. The south eastern Apeliotes had more positive associations, as the bringer of vital rains during the spring and was the preferred sailing wind of the most advanced nations that ventured through the infinite sky. South westerly Lips was also seen as benign, safely escorting merchant ships to their home ports.

The many-breached chambers and the piazzas of the Court of Ice and Steel were wind roses created through absolute art and design. It was said that, as the eight winds combined, there was a chance however slight that a Djinni might come to be. No hall, no rose, was as grand as that of the Master of Air. The howl of wind only ceased when every portal to his hall was closed fast.

The Ruler of all Djinn lived in perfection. His people had little need for the creatures of the 'verse. They could simply create all of life's necessities and the lesser Djinn, the bound Djinn, were put to work eternally creating luxuries and pleasing the noble caste.

It was said that The Defender of Heaven had not been required to live up to his name in millennia. Still, despite the opulence of the empire and decadence of its people, the volumes that the Djinn ruled were beset by constant strife. They were very much a part of the oldest war in the multi-verse, if far from the most destructive, the elemental chaos. The Great Enemy was the consumer, the fire, and the Genie people of the Efreet. Long had they savaged the Djinn peoples, marauding and enslaving for sport. So vast and connected to the other worlds, it was almost impossible to completely defend their aerial empire. Though, vast sky armies constantly vied for victory skirmish after skirmish.

The Education

It was with some surprise that Shareef Boutros 'Ismat Husam Alfarsi, Merchant Malik of Ice, discovered that one of his servants had an aptitude for the game of Life. A fashion of the time, Life was a magical diversion played in an enchanted void. The players manipulated an illusionary series of boards and pieces to change the manifest destiny of the distant figures that were represented in the game - occasionally malicious and often capricious, with no clear goal beyond the players' desire.

The servant, the attendant, had not yet warranted a name. But that was to change. Unexceptional in ability but a novelty, the bound Djinni that could play the sport of the nobles was given her place in the recreation halls of the Court of Ice and Steel. Hafsa Sarah Shadiya Tabassum Alfarsi, Bound, Tasked Artist, soon became acknowledged for her unique style of play. She formed narratives around the struggle for independence and inter-planar freedom only a few Djinn, noble or bound, could appreciate.

Hafsa Sarah Shadiya Tabassum Alfarsi, Bound, Tasked Artist had her time amongst the influential and the famous. She studied Life, studied art amongst those with the time to live such things, and in a few short centuries was privy to the experience of the imperial culture. The Bound Djinni watched as the winds came and went. She was there when the Djinni Martina Tacita Porcia Faustina, the First Sword of Stars, outmanoeuvred the Dao Sa'id Sulayman Wasim Ihab Abdulrashid to stop the portal war. It was diplomacy in excess - two ideologies put into practice on an unimportant prime world. A royal family was divided. Their people spread out into the multiverse. In the end, neither the Djinn nor the Dao way of life was superior. So an uneasy peace came, as both sides calculated what came next.

Smoke and Mirrors

"I greet you again mortal scholar."

"Hafsa... Sarah Shadiya Tabassum Alfarsi, may we continue where we finished yesterday?"

"But of course! Once, a long time ago, I was duty bound in the service of the Commander of the Four Winds, Ruler of all Djinn, Defender of the Heavens, Prince of Birds, Storm of the Righteous, and the Master of the Air. My people live in comfort, you understand, but there are those who threaten us..."

Indeed, for thousands of years the Djinn that went by the name of Hafsa Sarah Shadiya Tabassum Alfarsi served the great Caliph of the Djinn in the Court of Ice and Steel. She watched as her superiors were provided with all the necessities and luxuries of life. She saw the haughty cruelty of the noble Djinn for their visitors, outsiders and mortals. She was content; nothing was left for want in her life.

"Disaster struck, yes. I heard before that there was a great rift?"

"That is correct. Yes. There was a rift. It was not as great as certain stories remember. Write that down."

Messengers reached the Court of Ice and Steel. They spoke of Efreet war bands mustering at the far reaches of the Djinn territories. Parts of the great armies were summoned and sent forth. Many, many genie-folk and elemental battle-servants were sent far from their stronghold homes to meet the widespread threat. Hafsa Sarah Shadiya Tabassum Alfarsi, Twice Bound, Tasked Artist, Tasked Sentinel was among their number. She had begged to join the armed forces to see the great gulfs of the Plane of Air, to travel far from the Court. Her mind was romantic - accustomed to great tales of valour and heroism, to seeing war at a remove in the great game of Life. The Djinni had lived a life of plenty, protected, and she never truly understood the threat that the elemental wars presented.

Hafsa Sarah Shadiya Tabassum Alfarsi, Twice Bound, Tasked Artist, Tasked Sentinel carried no weapons. A Djinni is unique from mortal counterparts in its ability to become a great destructive whirlwind. Terrible damage has been wrought by furious genie-folk. The war party took the form of a wild wind, blasting at unfathomable speed through the tremendous currents of the Plane of Air. Some Djinn also brought with them great bound servants capable but thoughtless and able to inflict terrible harm. Others had warriors in their service, natives of the Plane of Air. Hafsa Sarah Shadiya Tabassum Alfarsi, Twice Bound, Tasked Artist, Tasked Sentinel travelled alone amongst them. There was no stopping. The Djinni people do not require food or drink for sustenance and, for the first time in her living memory, she went without fine edibles. Even comforts as basic as a pillow were not afforded for her. The creation would take too long and lives were said to be in danger.

The war party drifted then from stronghold to stronghold, querying Sheik, Sharif and Malik for direction towards the threat. Eventually the great evil was revealed as a series of new and inconspicuous portals. Each had a very remote destination but all seemed linked to the para-elemental Plane of Smoke. Yet there was no opposing war band. Words with the natives showed that the warnings that had reached the Court of Ice and Steel were greatly exaggerated in the retelling of a dozen different messengers. Efreet slavers were merely snatching beings near the vicinity of the portals - no Djinni had actually been harmed. Half of the Djinn forces subsequently departed, as little glory remained in the coming battles. The remaining genie-folk were a bloodthirsty bunch, driven by a variety of causes: Vengeance towards their elemental adversaries and the desire to steal the Efreet spiritual energy. Ultimately there would be battle. Hafsa Sarah Shadiya Tabassum Alfarsi, Twice Bound, Tasked Artist, Tasked Sentinel learned first hand the conflict of the elemental powers.

"Was it a terrible battle you fought in?"

"No. I actually battled no Efreet, myself, at that time. What was so terrible came after."

Hafsa Sarah Shadiya Tabassum Alfarsi, Twice Bound, Tasked Artist, Tasked Sentinel was not truly prepared for battle but she followed admirably. The Djinni shifted through a planar rift and into the swirling vapours of the Plane of Smoke. They descended through static-charged whorls of soot down to a floating world of ash and charred matter. Lightning arced and blasted about their number. Thunder heralded the whirlwind battle, fire against the storm. Efreet vanished quickly, outnumbered and plane shifting, leaving their one time allies and servants to fend for themselves. The battle, if the short exchange could be called such, was over as quickly as it begun. As Air Elementals thundered with Efreet only briefly, opposing Fire Elementals were subsequently overwhelmed and quenched.

When Hafsa Sarah Shadiya Tabassum Alfarsi, Twice Bound, Tasked Artist, Tasked Sentinel descended and threw aside her veil of invisibility, powerful hands were already smothering the throat and mouth of a Fire Mephit - ruining it. Foul servant of the enemy! Other Mephits scattered, fleeing the range of any potential whirlwind that she may summon. The diminutive Outsider's struggle failed. She carefully, purposefully broke its neck and cast it aside. Regret, the Djinni remembered the thought to this very day: It was cruelty. Slaughter wasn't necessary. The Efreet and their servants would have fled before their numbers, if only they had made themselves known.

To the victors went the spoils. Meagre treasures both mundane and magical were recovered. Evidently the planar nexus spilled over to various points in the Prime Material Plane, as well as the Astral. Hafsa Sarah Shadiya Tabassum Alfarsi, Twice Bound, Tasked Artist, Tasked Sentinel was picking over a collection of magical artefacts even as her Djinn allies returned to their home volumes. It was then that she came across an electrum banded cell. Within its locked, enchanted confines were mortals. They were Humans, in fact, and one Gith.

"I still remember my first words to those friends."

"What did you say?"

"'Who dares hold allegiance to the Efreet menace?'"

Hafsa Sarah Shadiya Tabassum Alfarsi, Twice Bound, Tasked Artist, Tasked Sentinel learned that they were on a pilgrimage, of sorts, when they were snatched from the Astral Plane. She also learned that the Gith was in fact a Githzerai (some sort of unimportant distinction in their society that had occurred since the last time that the Djinni had left the court) and a servant of an intermediate Power. She released the true travellers and showed them the way back to their Plane of origin. They queried the treasure horde. The Djinn was disinterested and gifted it all to them.

"You gave them all the riches?"

"To my people, the value of such material riches is entirely the sum of the act of its surrender. We gained its value in power when we liberated it from the Efreet. The remaining items were not important to us."

"Still, that seems very generous of you, Hafsa."

"I have a name. It is Hafsa Sarah Shadiya Tabassum Alfarsi."

"Yes. Of course it is, Hafsa Sarah Shadiya Tabassum Alfarsi."

The Djinni slowly made her way back to the Court of Ice and Steel. She was a warrior now, bound in the service as a Sentinel, a watcher, a guardian and when the time came: A slayer.

In truth, Hafsa Sarah Shadiya Tabassum Alfarsi, Twice Bound, Tasked Artist, Tasked Sentinel expected to be released from service the moment that she returned. However, there was an upheaval between those who had vacated the flight to war and those who stayed to fight. The Commander of the Four Winds, Ruler of all Djinn, Defender of the Heavens, Prince of Birds, Storm of the Righteous, and Master of the Air in his infinite wisdom assigned her to his central court as a guardian. He was already familiar with her service, saw that she could be trusted to complete a task that he set and, oddly enough, now bound this Artist to the permanent role of a watcher and a defender.

Hafsa Sarah Shadiya Tabassum Alfarsi, Twice Bound, Tasked Artist, Tasked Sentinel kept her doubts to herself, as any good Bound Djinni must. For so long, she served without question. Honour demanded that, as a volunteer, she would work until her services were no longer required or until a greater debt of service was incurred. She did not count the planar cycles that passed, or the number of visitors to the whirlwind central court. She met eyes with ambassadors, Kings and Queens of races beyond her imagination. She never spoke a word.

"Then, you mentioned before, the Githzerai came to court."

One Last Practice Match

The Human's heart thundered in his throat. Legs pumped, leaped down a narrow stairway and clattered hard on stone. Pain - he recovered with a gasp and lurched down an adjacent alleyway. There was fear, alongside the brief delusion that he was being cunning. Few knew how to make a getaway like he did. The streets of the Cage were a maze, however. Following him was a terror itself, an arcanist cacodemon. The gambit had failed. The endless city spilled underneath his feet. There were only two outcomes now: Escape or die. Precious few meters from portal freedom, so close and yet so far, the Human never even knew the end result. He entered a shadow and, with a whisper, he disintegrated, gone. Game over.

The Torus twisted and morphed. Time changed all things.

"Oh my dear Hafsa Sarah Shadiya Tabassum Alfarsi, Sentinel of Ice and Steel, was that one your's? Another one down. Time for my next big move."

Seven dwarves perilously dungeoneered down and into the darkness. Work completed by torchlight, the only sound was hushed whispers and pickaxes breaking through a thin dirt wall. Deep under the infinite elemental earth, they crept into a sparkling gem mine. Infinite riches were there for the taking. One dwarf raised a diamond as big as his head to appraise by the light of his torch. When death approached it was instantaneous, unstoppable. Swimming through the earth and rock like water, elemental monoliths crushed the dwarven adventurers to a fine pulp, gel left to soak into the ground, food for fungus.

The tunnels crumbled. Carcasses rotted, reduced, faded to dust, indistinguishable from the muck.

Hafsa finally tore her attention from a side board. She looked out across the central boards and smiled to her competition - three Genies. Two other Djinn lounged upon voluminous clouds and a Marid balanced effortlessly atop a whorl of water. Her good Djinni friend Gaiane Theodosia Gaiana Charmion, Attendant Complement of the Prince's Court, drifted closer.

"Hafsa Sarah Shadiya Tabassum Alfarsi, Sentinel of Ice and Steel, welcome back. I can see that got your attention. Gwrtheyrn Máedóc Donndubhán Teutorigos, Storm of the Thousand Burgs, has just completed all of his moves. The boards are open. Your turn, again."

"Thanks. Just looking now. War? I do not see any moves from the Marid."

"Gwrtheyrn certainly seems to have declared war. You lost everything on the main boards."

"Yes. I can see that," Hafsa's eyes scanned the main boards.

"Fedelmid Fedlimid Feidlimid Error, Emperor Gentleman-King Sovereign-Sultan of Awesome, must be keeping to side boards. What side boards do you have? Perhaps we can discern where he is not, together."

"The Astral and the Material boards."

"Again? There is too great of a risk. You cannot always expect me to fend for us both every time. Slow down. Convert some to your cause. I am already losing my pieces to Gwrtheyrn."

Gaiane was gone following her sharp reprimand, back atop her infinite cloud, distant. No matter. Hafsa had enough pieces to finish her plan. Her eyes flicked this way and that, taking in the deluge of information below. The surfaces flickered and it all seemed to rotate beneath her gaze, shifting, changing. The aim of the game is simple and yet infinitely opens itself to discussion. You have to win.

Did you win by domination or cooperation?

Good question.

The game was played on an array of illusionary boards, each representing a major plane of existence. The boards consisted of variable, semi-random tiles that changed as the game progressed. From the first moment that a player accessed the board it was statistically inevitable that the boards slowly became more dangerous, raising more numerous hazards and creating more powerful monsters that sought out the player's pieces. For some the challenge was to be the last player with pieces. For others the challenge was to overcome the trials and tribulations of each board, together or alone.

A board containing more than one player's pieces was a main board. It was central and everyone could see it. A side board was obfuscated from view, either with no occupants or with one player's pieces. Hafsa flitted between the side boards Astral and Material. She found her followers, just as illusionary as the boards that they rested upon. Each piece was nameless to her, a Gith priest on the Astral board and a Bronze Dragon on the Material board. They would have had a unique history each. However, that was not how Hafsa played. She did not care to look. To her each piece was expendable - she would flit through as many planes as possible, activating as many hazards as she could, before hiding away and letting the escalating danger doom her opponents.

Gaiane would be defending a large portion of the board Air. She always played that way, slowly converting Djinn to become her pieces. The way that an individual played was usually very close to their own held beliefs and mindset. Gaiane was politic, manipulative, and traditional. She was reliable. Hafsa had never been given a reason to doubt her yet. In the glory days of the game, they had played together many times. Hafsa always sought retreat into Gaiane's stronghold and they survived together.

"What's that there?" A voice over Hafsa's shoulder. She raised her hands, recoiled, trying to block view of the side boards. It was pointless. They would have been quite imperceptible to the intrusive Marid. She turned, glowering towards Fedelmid.

"Fedelmid Fedlimid Feidlimid Error, Emperor Gentleman-King Sovereign-Sultan of Awesome, I trust that you are enjoying this competition, which you have requested."

"Yes. I am. Will you call me that every time you speak to me?"

"It is the title which you have instructed us that you hold." The Djinni primly pointed out.

"Ha! Yes. Do Djinn play this little game often?" The Marid was all smiles as he looked back towards the main boards.

"It is an old fashioned little game that was first conceived millennia ago." Hafsa still remembered the first time it was played.

"Old fashioned," Fedelmid repeated.

"I play it. But I must be honest; less people do, less people less often. There are no great players any-more."

"And this game predicts the future? These pieces are distant peoples."

"Only when it is right," Hafsa allowed herself sarcasm.

"That is a bit cold. How do the Djinn justify this?"

"The Djinn do not need to justify themselves." Hafsa objected but, eventually, conceded. "I can see what you mean."

"You are an odd Djinni, kept like an ornament at court. You do not play like a pet though."

"You do not sound like a visitor with only a passing interest in this game."

"Perceptive. However, I just came to tell you to hurry up." The Marid was gone. Hafsa was again drifting alone. She had moves to make now, largely guess work as to which boards went unused. It was going to be a long game. Time changed all things. The boards crumbled. The last time that Hafsa played Life in court ended with her exile from the Citadel of Ice and Steel.