Character: Zami Yahya Ahmad ibn Suliman al-Sinhaji, aka "Z"
Character Sheet (Zami Yahya Ahmad ibn Suliman al-Sinhaji, aka "Z")
Combat Value: 7
You are Zami Yahya Ahmad ibn Suliman al-Sinhaji. Really, it isn't that hard a name to anyone who speaks a civilized language. But after so many years among the infidels, you've gotten used to simply introducing yourself as "Z". It is the way a child would learn your name -- your private joke, which even the Baron has never noticed.It wasn't always like this: you were born in the Persian lands ruled by your father, the Iron Sheik. Since the time of the Jumps, he has ruled fairly and well, and your family does not deserve to be treated with such disrespect. But he has always taught you the need to be politically realistic, and the reality is that you need to be used as a pawn for the time being.
The line of al-Sinhaji is an ancient one, and your ancestors have ruled their region almost since the time of the Prophet himself. For centuries, they were simply one ruling family among many, but that all changed when the Jumps began. Even today, the full details are unclear: no one survives to attest some of them. But you know the tale as it was told to you by your father, who was deeply involved.
It began some 80 years ago, with the mad Afghan Spark Hussein al-Hami. Legend has it that he was that most dangerous of rarities: the fundamentalist Spark. Oh, you consider yourself a religious man, as have all your line, but that religion is tempered by the realities of life. You have no illusions that Allah alone will keep the people and Constructs fed. And most Sparks have little time for God, being always self-absorbed by their own supposed brilliance. (Or, worse, fall into insanities like trying to conquer or control God.) But al-Hami, for reasons of his own, dedicated his genius (and there is no doubt that he was a genius) to his own distinctly messianic interpretation of Allah's will.
Many claim that he had his own selfish motives, but you prefer to convict him by his own words, in the confession he gave before his execution. He felt that Islam was being poisoned by contact with the Western world, and that it would be steadily more corrupted. (The lack of faith in his own people is typical of this sort of fanatic, you've found.) He was sure that the West would eventually collapse into chaos, and would drag al-Islam down with it. So he resolved to remove the danger, by removing his people from the danger. Islam would be able to preach to the infidel, but could not have enough contact to be corrupted themselves.
And so, he caused the Jumps -- what has become known in the West as "the Brigadoon Effect", from the Irish town where the effect had first been naturally observed. He somehow damaged the nature of Time itself, placing the heart of al-Islam inside a giant bubble of time, jumping forward again and again and again. He would simply skip the true people forward until the Western empires had all collapsed. Then he would stop the effect, those of good faith would emerge and convert the rest of the world. As with so many ideas of the more arrogant Sparks, the idea might have made sense in isolation, but failed to reckon with the people it affected.
There was little outward sign of what had happened. Those who were awake, that midnight 80 years ago as the outside world reckoned it, say that there was a brief shimmer in the skies, but most saw little else. Those nearer the borderlands woke to frightening change, however. Trees had grown impossibly, rivers had rerouted in perfect lines away from their towns, and neighboring villages had vanished overnight, as if they had given up on trading. And a few found new fortresses in place, set up by fearful neighbors.
It took scarcely two days for the truth to emerge: an enormous territory, covering not only all of the Afghan lands but all of Persia and much of India, had "jumped" forward in time ten years. After calming tensions with the nearby forts, they found that, as far as the outside world was concerned, all of these lands had been encased in a giant dome for the past decade. It had shimmered silver for that entire time, reflecting the light as if it was a perfect mirror. Nothing could penetrate it, and much had been tried -- starting with battering rams and gradually moving into the most powerful explosives and the mightiest Clanks. The surface simply spilled away anything that touched it. The trading posts had moved away, having no one to trade with, and guard posts had been set up in case something came out. Eventually, most people simply chalked it up as a Great Mystery and forgot about, treating it largely as a thousand-mile-wide tourist attraction.
But now the barrier was down, and people began to talk and trade again. At this point, no one knew what had happened, and few paid attention to the insane Afghan cleric who was telling the people around him that they must begin to convert the heathens, or another Jump would happen. They were just glad that the effect had ended, and tried to rebuild their ties. All of which went well for one month. And then, at the end of 30 days, it happened again.
This time, people were less willing to simply thank Allah for the end of the effect and move on with their lives. They began to panic, and the result was not pretty. The populace demanded that their leaders find out what was going on, and stop it. The leaders, of course, had no more idea of the cause than anyone else, but they felt the pressure -- your family as strongly as anyone. Your grandfather was the ruler of the family lands at the time -- your father was a young but brilliant Spark with a particular talent for building giant Clank armors. Everyone had assumed that it would be twenty years before he would assume the throne, but in the troubles that followed the second Jump, your grandfather was overthrown and killed. The chaos that al-Hami had predicted would envelop the West was instead sweeping through al-Islam.
The third jump didn't realize surprise most people, but the panic was destabilizing regimes across the region. And finally, people began to notice al-Hami, who had mostly been preaching without anyone listening to him. The local rulers got word of what he had been saying, and brought him in for questioning. When asked if he had been causing the effect, he not only confessed, but bragged about it. He would bring about a Golden Age of Islam, and had no sympathy for the rulers of the Caliphate: if they could not rule the people during this time of change, they did not deserve to have Allah's grace upon them. This made their decision easier -- if he was causing the effect, they reasoned, then getting rid of him would solve the problem. It seems that this had never occurred to him, and he did not even begin to beg for his life until moments before the headsman's axe began to fall. He protested that his death would not end the Jumps, but it was too late: moments later, he was dead. And a bit under a month later, the fourth Jump happened.
By this point, your father had secured his own lands. He was showing the particular knack that would soon make him great. On the one hand, he had the charisma that is the blessing of the truly powerful Spark, which helped him calm the people. On the other, he had a Spark talent that helped ensure their security -- there is nothing better for quieting a riot than the sight of an eighty-foot-tall Clank. By focusing on troublemakers, while being careful not to harm the common people, he became something of a hero to them: it was at this point that talk of "The Iron Sheik" began to spread. People in nearby lands, plagued by chaos, began to beg for him to come in and save them. And as he did so, a sort of uneasy optimism began to spread.
By the time of The Final Jump, landing 30 years ago, he was prepared. Mere minutes after the Jump, he and his Great Armor left the lands, heading out into the West, seeking a solution. The month that followed has become the stuff of legend, the basis of the Heterodyne play "The Race to the West Pole". He encountered the famous Heterodyne Boys, Bill and Barry, rising young heroes of the day. They fought at first (the Heterodynes having been understandably unsettled by the emergence of a giant Clank from the "Brigadoon Effect"), and then began working together. They knew they had only one month to find a solution, or your father would be cut off from his people for the next ten years.
They decided that their best bet was to follow the legends of the Great Spark Amagog, who centuries ago had probed the mysteries of time and space. It was said that he had left a mysterious gem behind at the West Pole: the tip of the Rock of Gibraltar. His family was said to safeguard the jewel, in the midst of its own odd time distortion. Set against them was Professor Mongfish and his daughter Lucrezia -- romantically linked to Bill Heterodyne but not yet married to him -- who were seeking the gem for their own malign purposes. Allied with them was the ageless Black Knight known as Ember, who was something of a mystery. Your father had known him before the Jumps began, as an adventurer traveling the world and seeing what he could see. And here he was, apparently no older despite the five Jumps intervening.
(You've met him once yourself. About fifteen years or so ago, when you were a child, you were introduced to a funny little man named Embi, and told that he was the Ember of the stories. It seemed quite reasonable at the time, but you've always wondered since then. How could this tiny man, scarcely taller than you as a child, be the famous adventurer who had been wandering for at least 70 years? It still plagues you occasionally. You hope to meet this ageless mystery again sometime, and learn more about him.)
In the end, your father and the Heterodynes made it to the West Pole, defeating the Mongfishes, and making their way through the confusions of the time distortions surrounding it. There, they found the descendents of Amagog, who had been protected by the Time Ruby for almost two hundred years. They were reluctant to give up their guardian device, but agreed that the needs of millions of people outweighed their own. So they surrended the Ruby, allowing their own time field to fall. The time was tight, though, with only two days left before the next jump, so as a symbol of their good will they provided your father with a Construct they had kept for many years: a giant Roc. He abandoned his great armor, and he and the Heterodynes flew day and night for two days, just barely making their way to the heart of al-Islam before the next Jump would occur. And as your father had prayed, the two time fields cancelled each other out: the Jumps had ended, and your people were free to live their lives again.
Your family's fortunes were forever changed, though. The Iron Sheik had already become almost mythic before his great adventure; now he was hailed as the saviour of the people. They all but demanded that he extend his protection across all of Persia, and the other leaders had little choice but to follow that lead. Suddenly, he had gone from being a well-regarded but minor leader to the most powerful man in al-Islam. Which is why Wulfenbach knew he had to take you as a hostage.
Your father had many skills, but child-siring was not highest among them. He was so distracted by his new responsibilities that it was over five years before he found time to marry, and five more yet before you, his son, was born. Your three sisters cannot inherit the throne, so much rests on your shoulders. From the moment of your birth, you have been groomed as the successor to the Iron Sheik. It was assumed that you too would be a powerful Spark (in fact, you recognize that your own Spark is only moderate), and he taught you much during your youth, about the need to protect the people, and guard them against the outside forces that would harm them.
After the disappearance of his dear friends the Heterodynes, your father watched with some trepidation as Baron Klaus von Wulfenbach began to conquer Europa. He knew Wulfenbach from his own adventures with the Heterodynes, and knew him to be a well-intentioned man. Indeed, Wulfenbach's approach of providing security to the people somewhat mirrored his own. But Wulfenbach's methods were harsher than his own: he was less loved by the people than feared by them. And the Baron left no choice to the nobles whose lands he was conquering -- they were to surrender their sovereignty in the name of peace, or it would simply be taken.
Your father knew that it was only a matter of time before Wulfenbach presented him with an ultimatum, and that came as expected eleven years ago. Wulfenbach wanted peace, but peace with guarantees. Which was where you came in. There would be peace between Europa Wulfenbach and Persia, and the price would be the freedom of the Iron Sheik's only son.
To be fair, the Baron has been as good as his word. He has treated you well as you grew up in his care, and he has taught you well. He knows well that fostering a young fool would serve his purposes poorly: he needs Persia to be ruled by someone with enough power to maintain control and keep the peace. So he followed the syllabus provided by your father, teaching it not only to you but to your fellows, raising all of you to be the next generation of leaders, allied with Europa Wulfenbach.
It was lonely at first -- of course, none of the other children on board the great airship Castle Wulfenbach spoke any Persian. But you quickly learned their tongue, and began to befriend them. One, Theopholous DuMedd (the nephew of the infamous Lucrezia Mongfish), had been there his entire life, and he served as the de facto leader of your little group. You and several others joined him over the course of a few years. There was young Gilgamesh, who never spoke of his past: a smart lad and powerful Spark, who often served as ringleader when you were getting into trouble. There was Sleipnir O'Hara, a rather immodest (but, you must admit, delightful) young woman from Ireland with a talent for machinery. And there was Princess Zulenna Luzhakna, heir to the Duchy of Holfung-Borzoi -- a bit of an annoying prig, but one you've grown to understand better over the years.
The group of you were raised by many servants, but the principal one has always been Von Pinn. To this day, you still don't know exactly what she is. Some sort of Construct, obviously: she is impossibly strong, fiercer than a Jaegermonster, and her teeth are as sharp as those of any predator. When she is angry, she can be terrifying -- the Baron can only wish he was half as intimidating as she is. But despite her horrific demeanor, it slowly became clear how much she cared about the lot of you. She protected you from every threat that might arise, and arise they did: there was more than one attempt to kidnap or kill the famous children on board the Castle. You never came to quite view her as a mother-substitute as Theo did, but you respect how much she cares for her charges.
You've been joined by others over the years; indeed, the lot of you are starting to feel downright old next to all the eight year olds who have been coming in recently. But you remained a tight-knit group as you grew up together. That is, until about four years ago, when Gil got sent away to Paris for finishing school. It was then that he finally revealed who he really was: Baron Wulfenbach's own son. You have to admit some quiet admiration of the Baron's clever ploy here. By raising him with you, he developed a bond of real friendship among the next generation. And it gave him a man on the "inside", if you should all try plotting something. (Of course, he probably didn't think of the notion that Gil would be the biggest troublemaker of all.) That said, he didn't reckon with the fact that you all resented Gil getting his freedom, when that was still a distant hope for you, the real hostages to your parents' good will and obedience to Wulfenbach's will.
Things remained pretty constant, though, until about four months ago, when everything began to change. That was when Agatha "Clay" came into all of your lives. She seemed unimportant at first (if unusually beautiful and a bit shameless): she had been brought onto the Castle as a companion to her supposed lover Moloch von Zinzer, a newly-discovered Spark. And for a month, that illusion held, although it became clear that she was not an ordinary person. But then, a month later, all of you finally discovered who she really was: Agatha Heterodyne, daughter of Bill Heterodyne and Lucrezia Mongfish, sole heir to the two most powerful Spark lineages of them all. If you were a powerful political pawn, she was the one who had suddenly been promoted to a queen.
All hell broke loose as she escaped the Castle. The rest of you helped, except for Gil -- he was clearly falling in love with the girl, but was still too much his father's son to assist overtly. Theo aided Agatha directly in getting away, and Zulenna proved herself every bit as courageous as you aspire to be, single-handedly facing off against both Von Pinn and that creature DuPree.
(DuPree is the one person who intimidates you even more than Von Pinn. Her native lands in Bangladesh are off at the edge of the Jumps, and still subject to them: the Time Ruby is powerful, but it does not cover quite all of the area of the original effect. She's never said anything overtly threatening, but you've always been nervous about that: you would make a terribly useful bargaining chip for her to hold over your father, if she so chose.)
And you? You stood there as stupidly as an extra in a Heterodyne play -- far from your proudest moment. Afterwards, you swore that it was time to stop playing the supporting role: the heir to the Iron Sheik should be a leader.
In the chaos, Theo escaped from the Castle shortly after Agatha did; Sleipnir tried to do as much, but got caught even while Theo was getting away. They wanted you to join them, but you simply couldn't. Zulenna had been killed by DuPree, and while the Baron was going to bring her back, you couldn't stand the idea of her waking up alone after that. She may be a pain, but she deserves her friends to stand by her, especially after she proved herself in battle like that. Theo put freedom above friendship; you had to go the other way.
In the wake of the escapes, the Baron sent away the minor hostages, leaving just you, Sleipnir and Zulenna, as the latter slowly recovered. And she did recover fully -- the Baron may be a ruthless man, but his skill at the biological arts is unsurpassed -- but her troubles did not end. News of her death had gotten to her home, and her father had had a heart attack. It was time for her to go home.
This time, you insisted upon standing by your friend: if she was heading into a difficult time, it was your right and duty to be with her to help. Sleipnir joined in with this demand, and Von Pinn demanded to accompany the lot of you, to make sure you encountered no danger while traveling. So you made your way out to Holfung-Borzoi. You made a strange bunch coming to a noble land: Sleipnir insisting on her traditional trousers (she is a dear friend, but has no sense of modesty or propriety), and Von Pinn making a bizarre mix of her traditional leather garb with a proper high-society dress. You must admit that that sight was worth the trip all by itself.
You had expected your reception there to be honorable, even heroic: after all, this was the heir to the throne returning to her native land after a decade in captivity, and you were her friends. Nothing of the sort happened, though. You had known that Zulenna resented the Sparks -- she was one of the few non-Spark hostages, which had always fed her arrogant elevation of the nobility. It turns out that attitude was entirely inherited: her family had made its name in protecting the populace against the Sparks. In their eyes, there were only two kinds of Sparks: powerful ones to be feared and guarded against, and weak ones to be used. Either way, you and Sleipnir were not welcomed.
Even more surprising, neither was Zulenna. The nobility turn out to dislike revivals almost as much as they do Sparks. The reasoning is a bit convoluted, but you gather that this is to prevent the effect seen in England, where the same Queen has ruled for centuries. If a noble can be revived, then there is nothing preventing them from simply maintaining the throne, producing a sort of cultural inbreeding. So they treat revivals such as Zulenna as a sort of walking corpse, receiving no more respect than a Construct. In their eyes, Zulenna was no longer the heir, just a some what unwelcome servant.
And so, they gave her the most humiliating task possible: to seek out her own replacement. She had a cousin named Marie, child of the cadet line of the family. For her own reasons, Marie had run off to join a circus years before; so long as she was merely a cadet, the family allowed that. But now she was their new choice for the true heir to the throne, and it was up to Zulenna to find her and bring her home. Of course, you, Sleipnir and Von Pinn joined her in this unwelcome task. Since then, you've been tracking down "Master Payne's Circus of Adventure": all reports say that Marie has been running it in recent years. You've now found the circus, and it is time for the painful confrontation to occur.
And after that? It really isn't clear what comes next. Zulenna is probably free, but free for what? A noble born and raised, plunged into a life of servitude -- that sounds like a poor outcome for her. Nor are you sure that it would be right for her people. This law against revivals makes some sense, but taken to such an extreme it is merely foolish. You've seen Zulenna's heart, and you have seen a warrior: fierce, proud and passionate in her care for her people. She understands the idea that defending those people from all that threatens them is the primary task of a ruler. You know she would make a fine Duchess. You may need to convince her of that, though -- deep down, she seems to have accepted that she is merely a creature now, and doesn't deserve the throne. As a fellow ruler in training who can recognize his own -- and as a friend -- you owe her that.
You're pretty sure that Sleipnir is looking for an opportunity to run away, and you can sympathize with that. But does it make any sense? Wulfenbach would not take it kindly if you escaped, and it might redound badly on your homelands. Much though you wish freedom, responsibility may demand otherwise, for all of you. Perhaps it is time for you to confront Gil and his father, and tell them that the time for child hostages has passed. It is time for them to treat the group of you more appropriately: as friends and equals to be treated with respect.
Public Info
Personality
You are what your father shaped you to be: the future ruler of Persia, always the greatest empire of the world, even when it isn't the most powerful. The ruler is serious about what truly matters, but not so much as to forbid him enjoying the life that Allah gives him. He is calm at most times, but passionate in the defense of his people and his friends.At heart, it all comes down to right and wrong. Father taught you that you should always be clear about which is which. So long as you are always sincere in your pursuit of right, and practical about how to achieve it, you can be the man you are supposed to be. Your only guilt is when weakness distracts you from that true path.
Some People You Know (Zami Yahya Ahmad ibn Suliman al-Sinhaji, aka "Z")
The Iron Sheik: Your father, saviour of al-Islam, ruler of Persia, etc. A good teacher who cares for his people. The only complaint you can muster about him is that he loves you just as much as the rest of his people, neither more nor less.
Baron Klaus von Wulfenbach: The ruler of lands even greater than your father's. You still can't decide whether he is a good ruler, or a tyrant. Perhaps they aren't contradictions.
Agatha Heterodyne: Almost the hope of a new generation, you were sure that she was going to go on to great things. But after her escape, she was killed so easily -- according to Gil, she was fried by a wandering Clank in the Wilderness, not exactly the end of a heroine. It is a sad thing, and not what she deserved.
Moloch von Zinzer: Agatha's supposed lover, who turned out to be nothing of the sort -- just a poor soldier caught up in the madness that always seems to surround the powerful Sparks. Last you saw, he had been sent off to a fate worse than death in Castle Heterodyne.
Gilgamesh von Wulfenbach: Heir to Europa, your sometime close friend. Now -- well, you don't know. There was a part of you that envied and resented him, but now? Ever since Agatha's death, he has been torn up beyond anything you've ever imagined. He may well care too much about individuals to make a good ruler of the people.
Wooster: Gil's butler, who accompanied him back from Paris. A bit prim and proper even for your tastes, but surely one of the best servants you've seen in these lands: a man who understands his place and responsibilities, and performs them impeccably. You have begun to grow suspicious of him lately, though. One of your duties as part of the Baron's "school" is its accounting -- tracking the money and items that go through it day by day. Just before you left to go with Zulenna, you noticed an oddity: a year or so ago, Wooster had ordered several odd items sent to the school, and then immediately after requisitioned away again. You took that file with you, and while it is short on details, it is clear that something shady was going on here. You will need to look into this further.
Zulenna Luzhakna: Princess of Holfung-Borzoi, or at least she was until they cast her down for the unforgiveable sin of being revived from the brink of death. Another person who deserved better. But unlike Agatha, she isn't truly dead. She just needs to be reminded of that steel that you have seen in her. You haven't treated her as well as you might wish in the past, and you can't deny that she's earned your ire more than a few times with her excessive snobbishness. But you're starting to recognize that true friendship goes beyond childish barbs.
Countess Marie: Zulenna's cousin, now the designated heir of Holfung-Borzoi. You haven't met her, but you can't have much respect for someone who throws away their family responsibilities to join a circus.
Sleipnir O'Hara: Another "sister" of yours, one of the truest infidels you know -- shameless, irreverent, and delightful. You suppose that she is the sort of person who al-Hami wanted to shelter the true people from, but she is a dear friend nonetheless.
Theopholous DuMedd: The orphaned last scion of the Mongfish line, raised from infancy by Baron Wulfenbach. A good man, and more of a natural leader than he yet recognizes. You wonder what has become of him since his escape, and pray that he has fared better than poor Agatha did.
Von Pinn: Your strange teacher, chaperone and bodyguard. She has spent half your life teaching you to fear her (and you can't deny that you do), but she can't disguise how much she truly cares about the bunch of you as well.
Krosp: Agatha's pet cat. As she was making her escape, you discovered that it could talk. Someone needs to do a study sometime, and see if strangeness really did simply follow the Heterodynes around.
Bangladesh DuPree: The Baron's pet killer. You've always found her a bit disturbing, even when Sleipnir thought her a good teacher of mischief. Now, after her casual murder of Zulenna, you simply find her distasteful. Her constant good nature masks something not quite human, you think. Yet however much you fear her, you can sympathize with her plight: her people are still trapped by the curse that yours barely escaped. You sometimes think you should help her find a way to save them, which might get DuPree away from the lot of you.
Jenka: The Baron's other pet -- the smartest and most dangerous of the Jaegermonsters. You've only seen her a few times, since she spends most of her time out on extended missions, but she always struck you as quite different from the other Jaegers: smarter, more focused, certainly more dangerous.
Embi: The odd little man who seems untouched by time. He doesn't look like any sort of great hero, but your father certainly makes him out to be one.
Othar Tryggvassen: The more local Great Hero, a legend almost as large as the Heterodyne Boys. You haven't met him, but Theo did, briefly, and mentioned that before he escaped. You find yourself curious what a Western hero is like. Is he a creature of courage and modesty like your father, or is he as odd as so much else here is?
Male Spark (from Comic) (Status: In Game)
Plots:
Runaway Students (Runaways)
The Brigadoon Effect (Brigadoon Effect)
The Succession of Holfung-Borzoi (Succession)
People of the Mirror-World (Mirror-World)
Items
School Accounts (School Accounts) -- This is a sheaf of papers, giving the accounts of Von Pinn's "school" on board Castle Wulfenbach from about 15 months ago. Several pages have entries circled in red. They show that several small high-precision pressure pumps, a bio-growth monitor, and a micro-alarm system were transferred down to the school's stores; all of these entries are signed "Ard. W.". Other sheets show that the same items were then shipped out on Castle transport vessels within a week later, with no additional notations.
A Letter (Letter From The Sheik) -- In the name of Allah, most powerful and most wise, I send Greetings to you, my son, and my gladness to hear that you are healthy and well.
Your most recent letter, telling of the attack on Princess Zulenna by Bangladesh DuPree, concerns me as much as it does you. I have spoken with the Baron about it, though, and he is adamant that DuPree is a valued servant of his, and he will brook no interference in her.
But I suggest another stratagem, that may prove a practical way to deal with this problem. DuPree is from eastern India, where the Jumps are still taking place; my intelligence suggests that the only thing keeping her with Wulfenbach is an old promise from him to help her stop them. But he has not done so, and by my calculations her time is drawing short – the next Jump window should open soon.
Ensuring your safety and that of your friends is my highest priority, and it appears that the Baron will not tolerate harming her. So I suggest instead helping her. If she finds a way to stop the Jumps in her lands, she may return to them, and blight our lives no more.
Father
Historical Background
The following were notes while the character was evolving. They do not necessarily represent the way it came out.
One of the hostages on board the Castle. In some respects the most grown-up of the bunch. Rather frank.
Z's father is [the Iron Sheik], famous for his mechanical camel in the mostly-true story The Heterodyne Boys and the Race to the West Pole.
Amount of Character Potential: Fair (I like the possible interplay between Z and Embi. Has ties. Needs plot.)