ZUN [Human Monk 6, Psychic Warrior 2, Lucid Cenobite 6]
Orphaned at an early age, the child known only as Zun was assigned to the monastery at Krietha'alan. The Black Rock Monastery, as it was known, was a magnet for orphans and those outside the system. The monks there taught students toughness, resilience, self-reliance, and assertiveness in the face of oppression. Though outwardly, the monastery was a place of higher learning and ascetic pursuit of knowledge, it was secretly a breeding ground for those who might one day rise up against those who had spurned the monastery founders in the distant past, the followers of the Mad Prophet.
Once Zun had passed his initial training, and was deemed ready, the elders sent Zun into the wastes, to prove himself. This was common among those monks applying for ranks higher than initiate. From the Black Rock Monastery, Zun traveled into the wastes, wandering far, passing the Eternal Spine Mountains, crossing the Valley of Tombs, and eventually reaching Sohr Sakahl, the Tower of the Mad Prophet.
At Sohr Sakahl, Zun planned to challenge the Mad Prophet, as it was written in the histories of the Black Rock Monastery that the Mad Prophet was the one who had spurned the monastery's founders and caused them to forsake civilization forever. Despite Zun's efforts, the Mad Prophet did not emerge from the tower. After many weeks, Zun entered the tower, searching for his quarry. During his exploration, Zun learned much that disputed the histories of the Black Rock Monastery, and Zun began to question the truths he had held true for his entire life. Within the libraries of Sohr Sakahl, Zun studied scrolls and texts. This study opened Zun's mind to a myriad of possibilities, and to a world beyond that of narrow-minded vengeance.
It was at the moment that Zun had studied all he could, and was about to return to Black Rock Monastery to confront the elders that the Mad Prophet (or whom he believed was the Mad Prophet) appeared to Zun, in the courtyard of Sohr Sakahl. The Mad Prophet offered to take Zun as his apprentice, to expand the young monk's mind beyond the simple asceticism of Black Rock Monastery, to the greater union of body, mind, and spirit, humanity's ultimate destiny.
Zun agreed, and stayed within Sohr Sakahl for many years, honing his body, expanding his mind and his latent psychic abilities, and preparing to become the Mad Prophet's new representative in the world. The Mad Prophet's final task for his new apprentice, however, would prove to be daunting, and sidetrack Zun for quite a long time.
The Mad Prophet sent Zun back into the wastes to seek out the Tomb of Nahal'agmun, the Mad Prophet's prior avatar, who had strayed from the Mad Prophet's teachings and become an influential and powerful noble. Nahal'agmun, revered in the Acedia, was buried somewhere in the Su'u'an, a stretch of accursed badlands between the Acedia and the Jutland. Finding the Tomb of Nahal'agmun proved perilous and seemingly beyond Zun's reach. Though the monk spent many years searching for the Tomb, Zun has yet to find it.
While Zun has not given up finding the Tomb, nor has he given up his quest to become the Mad Prophet's avatar, Zun has come to the realization that it is time to try another tact. He has joined a small tribe of nomads who travel the wastes in the hopes that one among the tribe knows something that might help Zun find the object of his quest. He has pinned what seems to be his last hope on a group of strangers, but a group of interesting and unique strangers to say the least.
* Forgive the place names; if they are not appropriate, let me know and I will change them to something more suitable.
