CE female tiefling high-priest

Appearance

Captain Xendros appears strikingly young for her age, with smooth crimson skin, golden eyes, and dark hair long hair. Small, curling horns rise from her brow, marking her infernal heritage. Her clothing, practical leather vest and sailor attire. Though her expression is calm and composed, there is something unsettling in her steady gaze, as if she weighs every word and soul she encounters.

Role

Public Role:
Xendros serves as the official merchant-captain and emissary of Iuz, overseeing the trade compact between Keoland and the northern empire. She manages shipping manifests, negotiates contracts, and coordinates directly with Captain Eliander Fireborn to ensure lawful compliance and peace along the west bank. To the council and merchants, she is a disciplined, fair, and efficient trader, always paying in gold, always on time, and rarely showing temper.

Secret Role:
Behind this diplomatic mask, Xendros acts as a high priest and covert agent of Iuz, expanding her master’s influence through trade, conversion, and manipulation. (See “Secrets of Captain Xendros.”)

Personality

Captain Xendros is calm, composed, and deliberate. She speaks politely but with authority, choosing her words carefully and revealing little emotion. Her discipline and self-control make her seem distant, though she is rarely unkind.

Beneath her diplomatic exterior, she is a devoted priest of Iuz, patient, intelligent, and utterly loyal to her god’s designs. Xendros believes that influence is earned through knowledge and persuasion, not brute force. She studies those around her closely, learning their weaknesses and ambitions before deciding how to use them.

In private, she enjoys quiet reflection, fine rum, and solitude by the fire. She admires loyalty and precision, but has little tolerance for chaos or incompetence. When angered, her temper is cold and precise.

Background

Born an orphan in the northern territories, Xendros was raised by the Cult of the Old One, a zealous order devoted to Iuz’s dark theology. Gifted in persuasion and ritual, she rose swiftly through their ranks and was anointed as one of Iuz’s missionary priests. Over the decades, she has traveled widely, posing as merchant, envoy, and scholar, planting the seeds of faith in hidden corners of the world.

Her current post in Saltmarsh is her most critical mission to date. Hand-selected by Iuz himself, she was sent south to secure a foothold within Keoland’s borders under the guise of a legitimate trade emissary. To most, she is simply the courteous, calculating captain of a foreign delegation. But those who look too long into her golden eyes often sense the weight of something far older and far more dangerous, watching back.

Beneath her calm diplomacy and mercantile charm, Captain Xendros serves not merely as a trader, but as a priest and agent of Iuz, pursuing her master’s will under the guise of commerce. Every shipment, bargain, and whispered conversation expands the reach of the Old One into Keoland’s southern coast.

If her true role as a high-priest were known, Keoland would likely demand her removal, no crown would tolerate a high priest of Iuz within its borders. To all appearances, she is merely a capable merchant-captain representing a foreign power.

Her Staff

Two local smugglers, Rutkus (beserker) and Voss (spy), have been quietly brought into her service. Their employment is public knowledge; they are often seen unloading goods at the Quartermaster’s compound.

What none suspect is that both men have been indoctrinated into the faith of Iuz, their loyalty sealed through subtle enchantments and manipulation. They act as Xendros’s spies and enforcers, monitoring garrison movements, tracking cargo through the Empty Net, and reporting Loyalist activity.

If discovered, they will defend her to the death, crying praises to the Old One.

Xendros’s presence in Saltmarsh serves three divine directives, delivered through infernal vision and sealed parchment.

1. Forge an Alliance with the Sea Princes

   • Establish covert trade through Port Torvin, securing an Iuzian foothold in the southern seas.

   • Iuz covets access to the slave trade, which the Sea Princes control across the Pomarj Peninsula.

   • Keoland forbids slavery, if this connection were exposed, it would shatter the current treaty.

2. Spread the Faith

   • Recruit and convert the poor, orphans, and bridgefolk of Saltmarsh into the worship of Iuz.

   • Her smugglers serve as recruiters, offering food, coin, and belonging to the desperate.

   • A small hidden congregation now meets in secret within the Oratory of Iuz.

3. Recover the Apparatus of Kwalish

   • Locate the legendary Apparatus of Kwalish, rumored lost in Javan Bay Region.

     (See Quest for Kwalish.)

The Scarlet Brotherhood

• Suspects Xendros’s deeper motives and seeks to exploit or expose her to destabilize the region.

• Their agent Cyrus at the Empty Net watches her movements closely, waiting for leverage.

Gellan Primewater

• Profits immensely from her trade while concealing his own smuggling operation.

• Xendros suspects his involvement; if confirmed, she may blackmail or bargain with him to secure power.

Captain Eliander Fireborn

• Remains unaware of her true allegiance. If she exposes Gellan or the Scarlet Brotherhood, she could earn his trust.

• However, if he uncovers her religious conversions or Sea Princes negotiations, he will move swiftly to expose her to the Crown, risking possible war with Iuz.