Description

Personality

Prone to wry humor and sarcastic wit, Zade maintains an air of proud confidence, as one needs on a stage (which, until about a year ago, is where she spent quite a bit of time). Her banter with any audience was almost as well-known to those who had heard of her troupe as the antics of her friend's half-wit bird. Life in Gamma District wasn't the easiest, but though Zade had very, very bitter moments about it, she rarely let them show. Something of an emotional firecracker, she's as quick to laugh as she is to anger, and enjoys the company of people she finds in some way interesting. Her friendship is an easy thing to gain, her trust almost impossible.

Like a certain number of lower-district residents, Zade is in fact the bastard child of a nobleman. She doesn't tell anyone who, but the fact that she met the man but once has made her rather resentful of the nobility in general, and she generally clams up if anyone brings up the subject, at least if she chooses not to say something snide. Her mother was a prostitute, one of the slightly better-regarded Gamma ones, though still a member of one of Ishtar's brothels. Normally, pregnancies among the women are infrequent, but it does happen sometimes, and Zade was a 'sometimes.' She has no doubt it was her mother's unusual appearance that heralded her existence, though the red hair is not from that side of the family. Her overall manner is brisk and a bit on the cynical side.

She once worked as a hired thief for anyone who knew the outer districts well enough to get someone else to tell them that she did. The fact was a pretty well-guarded secret, actually, but that didn't mean she had no reputation. On the contrary, since she lacked affiliation with the Guild, she was a popular choice for the rebellion. She stole only from those living in Alpha or Beta, and refused to take lives. That, in her firm opinion, is a job for someone other than herself, and a resolution she maintains to this day.

In her spare time, she usually fiddles around with new ways to enhance her weapons (she tends to light them on fire since that was her act once upon a time), ranging from homemade cosmetics (and hopefully they don't cause her eyes to swell again, because that was painful) to new flammable solutions for her various tools of the trade, so to speak. By no means does she have the theoretical knowledge of a scientist, but she has a practical working vocabulary and understanding of the things she needs to know, and quite the active imagination.

Equipment

Zade has some proficiency with a number of odd weapons, but has for the purposes of training more intensely on combat, generally reverted to using crossbows, her rope-dart, and a large, bladed steel hoop. This is affixed to her back, usually, and the rope-dart around her waist like some kind of sash. She also carries wicking and a small wand designed for lighting candles, plus a pouch of sand for dousing fires.

History

Zade was born the daughter of a prostitute and a nobleman, whose name she knows but refuses to share. She spent the first few years of her life in her mother's company, but after the woman died of the all-too-common lung disease, she was forced to find a way to care for herself. Luckily for the child, the troupe picked her up soon after, and she spent the times when the group wasn't together in the company of one or another of its members until she really was old enough to be walking around on her own. She learned her skills with fire from one of those people, and when the man retired from the business, she took his spot as a performer.

She took up thieving a few years ago, not to supplement her income, which while not fantastic was better than most people in her line of work, but to vent her frustrations with the nobility. A petty motive, perhaps, but one with benefits for anyone who chose to hire her. Not so much for those with valuable items in their possession, but Zade didn't care much. Even so, stealing is was secondary thing for her, and she truly loved being onstage with her troupe, who she considered generally to be an extended sort of family.

She had contacts with the rebellion, as the people there were some of the steadiest employers her 'other profession' had, and though she was never particularly committed to their cause, her presence explained the strangely large amounts of money Aram carried around with him. It is hardly surprising to her the amounts of money nobles are willing to pay for things that obviously once belonged to other nobles. She's neutral towards everyone else, though tends to think of Assassins as aristocratic lapdogs.

The events of the past year have forced her to reconsider many things. Loki, who she knew as Eris, another street performer who threw and juggled knives, turned out to be the Princess of Revelation. She witnessed the murderer of Adam Goldwater fleeing from the scene, and was thus present at the time of the meeting that was attacked by Gilgamesh's hirelings. Amon Gregory saved her life, but she knew it would be impossible to return to the life she'd had, and she wasn't feeling too fond of Azazel anyway, because he'd ordered the hit. The Princess offered her amnesty for her thefts in exchange for a year's service as her personal bodyguard, and Zade agreed, receiving training from the Guildmaster himself so as to be up to the task. She's technically free of her obligation in a few days, but sees no real reason to leave at this point.