Mazeen

Mazeen's father was a Ranger, and he taught him that nature is brutal and unforgiving. The nature “gods” are not even really gods, in the normal sense, and they do not care especially for humans or any other sentient race. They do not answer prayers, ever. One might as well pray to the tide or to the jaws of a hungry lion. They were here before we were, and they’ll remain long after we’re gone.

Like his father and his father before him—he wants to heal his homeland. Mazeen comes from the desert, but it was not always thus. It was once rich and verdant, many generations ago. But a terrible magical catastrophe turned it into a wasteland. Ever since then, his tribe, the T’an Jakeeb, have devoted themselves to studying the land and learning how to live with it, but all the while, they have searched for what caused this calamity and for a way to reverse it. As you can imagine, he holds a dim view of wizards or sorcerers, and even clerics make him a bit uncomfortable—they all toy with forces way too powerful for their comprehension, if you ask him.

For many years, Mazeen travelled across the desert with the caravans, learning about the outside world. Now it is time for him to venture there, to learn what blighted his land, to understand how life may be coaxed back there again and, if possible, to prevent the same from happening elsewhere. The first step will be to solve the mystery of his father’s disappearance. Sharif's last message, sent from Baldur’s Gate several moons ago, said that he had uncovered clues that there was something of great value to the T’an Jakeeb's work in the hidden city of Sharra.

There has been no word since. If his father still lives, he will find him, even if he has to take company of the most unsavoury and disreputable characters in Sharra...