Jasmine

Jasmine is a rare breed, a mix of demonic feline and good-aligned dragon. Calling the planar city of Sigil her home, she is a freelancer of sorts, a rogue for hire that follows her whims wherever they may lead. Her preferred weapons are a pair of scimitars, a preferance gained after the time she spent among a band of pirates, which were her first taste of freedom after escaping the cube of Acheron she had been born and raised on. While she lacks most of the magic of her rakshasa kin, she gained the physical prowess of dragonkind in exchange, which the physical appearance of her true form makes clear. In personality she is curious, but cynical, and values her freedom above all else after her childhood as a rakshasa ruler's "deformed" and "unwanted" daughter being forced into duties she wanted no part of.

There is one rakshasa she does care for, after a fashion: her on-again, off-again lover, Azrael. A natharune rakshasa, he was considered lower caste, but an incident in the palace introduced them and the rogue's charm won her over. While he is still a cunning demon who ultimately cares only for his own skin, and Jasmine knows to the pits of her soul not to trust him too closely, the two do share something quite like love, in as much as demons can love. But while she loves being his "dangerous treasure," she also will not be the blindly obediant wife that he so plainly desires at times, leaving them in the constant "will they/won't they" dance across the years, until she lost contact with him during her escape.

She is also curious about her dragon kin, or for that matter the ritual that her mother had performed that caused her dragonblood to manifest itself so directly. All she knows is a name: Lux Aeterna, and while she wouldn't trade her current form for anything, she can't help wondering if the ritual had also had other effects on her body and soul...

Jasmine's mother, Zahara, was one of four wives of the ruling Rajah of their cube of Acheron. Jealous of the favored status of one of her sister-wives who had recently given their husband a new heir, she sought out and bred a brass dragon to try to produce a more powerful scion of the Sahif house that she could then leverage to displace her rivals for the rajah's favor. What she expected was a child with the magical might of both rakshasa and dragon. What she got, was Jasmine.

At first, everything seemed to be going according to plan. She gave birth to a seemingly normal-looking rakshasi child, and while not male, she expected the magical power of both bloodlines would give her daughter the power to at least earn her mother a more favorable position among the wives. As they started trying to teach Jasmine how to use the arcane however, she proved totally unable to even light a candle. Thinking it was just a matter of needing more time, Zahara let things run their course, but years passed and the most Jasmine could do was a extremely basic illusion, an ability usually mastered by toddlers even before casting their first true spell.

Beginning to grow desperate, Zahara used her free time to dive into research, trying to discover why this magically potent combination of ancestries was failing so fully to manifest in her daughter. While she found no leads there, she did manage to locate a dusty tome with a strange draconic ritual in it. Half the pages were missing, but what remained described the ritual in detail and claimed it brought forth all the magic within a dragon's lifetime, from both past, present and future, and channeled it through their bodies to awaken an even greater power. With what looked like a immediate solution to her problem, she quickly made the arrangements and performed it on Jasmine the following night.

The ritual had an effect, but not the expected one, perhaps due to jasmine's mixed blood. Brass draconic wings grew from her back, while a draconic tail bearing stripes that matched her fur sprouted from her spine. Not only that, but her very hands reversed themselves, taking on a configuration more like that of her father in his more humanoid forms. The changes tearing through jasmine's body forced her to cry out, and a jet of fire shot form her mouth, scorching the air above her as her body assumed it's new final configuration. Quickly, her mother cast a divination spell, confirming that no shapeshifitng magic was involved, then sat down in shock. Rakshasa are a very proud race - they know they are meant to rule, and consider the forms of "lesser" races ugly, lacking the beauty of their own true forms. And now her daughter now physically appeared to be a half-dragon abomination... in her true form.

Thinking maybe this could be salvaged, she hid Jasmine away for a week or so, having only trusted servants attend to the poor girl while casting various spells to test Jasmine's arcane potential. By all appearances, the ritual had transformed whatever arcane draonic heritage she had gained into the physical. Her mana channels were indeed much larger than before this "Lux Aeterna" thing that Zahara had cast, but they lay empty, as if the magic that had poured through her body had spent itself in this unexpected transformation.

Knowing she could not hide this from her rivals for much longer, given the spies each had among the household staff, she came before the rajah in a private moment and begged for his forgiveness. While he knew full well of what her motives had been, the rajah also knew that she had potentially just cost him a board piece that could have proven useful - even without magic, the lovely daughter that she had been growing into would have made an excellent ambassador among the lesser houses. Now, the best he could hope for was to marry her off for some small political gain. Keeping all that to himself, he instead admonished his wife for siring a bastard daughter with another, and then summoned his wives to discuss the situation.

After a short discussion, they all agreed to keep Jasmine's true nature confined to the household. While each of the other wives relished being able to one-up Zahara for her failed plan, they all also knew that revealing Jasmine could lose them some small bit of influence. Not enough to endanger the rajah's position, but any loss of prestige to a manipulative race of demons such as these was painful. Henceforth, Jasmine would not leave the grounds without either an illusion spell to hide her changes, or she would be forced to shapeshift them away for the duration of her appearances in public.

Over the next several years, Jasmine grew into a beautiful rakshasi, though her "deformities" drew no small amount of disrespect, scorn, and disgust from the few rakshasa she was allowed contact with in her true form. Obedient to her parents' wishes, she would shapeshift her changes away whenever she went out onto the streets on an errand, but while deception comes naturally to her kind, it just deepened her feelings of inadequacy, and she began sneaking out at night, unchanged and lacking any illusions, just so she could so she could find a few moments of freedom from the oppressive walls of her family's estate. With little to do other than study bureaucracy, how rakshasa society works, and that of mortals, she managed to convince the guard's sword instructor to teach her how to fight. Given that rakshasa usually rely on magic for their own self-defense, she needed to find another way to fight back.

Learning the blade and honing her body took a bit of the edge off her ersatz confinement, but it was a certain black-furred rogue that helped her truly recover her self-esteem. One of the rajah's rival houses had gotten word of some strange activities around a daughter of the Sahif house, and hired a lower caste Naztharune rakshasa to infiltrate the compound and find the truth of things. Naztharune are a breed of rakshasa who traded their magical mastery for mastery of the shadows, an Azrael had served them well before as a "deniable asset." So, over the course of weeks, he worked himself in among the servants to try to suss out what secret the Sahifs were trying to hide.

With a stroke of luck, he managed to stumble upon Jasmine in the showers, in the full glory of her true form. Rather than shocking him, however, he found her exotic, her differences enticing to the rogue, and he returned to his own true form - whereupon Jasmine grabbed a nearby mop, breaking it in half over her knee, then proceeded to whallop him with her makeshift pair of "swords", crying an alarm. Bruised, both in ego and in body, he quickly made his escape, then hiding in one of the many nooks he had found during his investigation, considered his situation. He could leave with this information, and the gold would last him a while, indeed... but he could not get Jasmine's image out of his mind, that moment before he had revealed himself. Never had another rakshasa been so desirable to him, and that had caused hi to let down his guard in a way he never had before. Perhaps, a different course of action, then...

That night, he slipped into her chambers, then once she was alone, revealed himself again but quickly holding up his hands to show he meant no harm, while whispering for her to keep quiet. Remembering that he had not fought back in the inident in the showers, Jasmien gave him a moment to make his case. And make it he did - claiming he had been merely looking for some valuables, but the very sight of Jasmine had taken his breath away, and stolen his heart, turning what natural charms he had to the max. At first, Jasmine thought it was merely another trick of one of her half-siblings, as they had mercilessly taunted her about her draconic aspects in a way only demon children are capable of. He did not relent however, and by every measure Jasmine could take of the male rakshasa, he was speaking truth. Truth was not totally unknown among these deceptive felines, merely another tool most times to be wielded as needed alongside the usual lies, but she could sense no deception in his admiration for her. Not only that, but there was something... attrative about him to her as well. Keeping a wary eye on him, she allowed him to remain until dawn, where he regaled her with stories of some of his many missions among the planes. A knock on the door as daylight returned reminded them of their surroundings, and promising to return, he surprised her with a quick kiss, before stepping into a shadow and vanishing entirely, leaving a bemused tiger-dragoness behind as the servant entered with her breakfast.

It took a while at first, but the two found themselves fully falling for each other, first in words, and then in the bed. Azrael had almost completely forgotten about his mission until he received a missive form his impatient patron. With reluctance, he bade her a temporary farewell, then returned to his master's domain, uncertain of what to report. Betrayal was in a rakshasa's blood, but if he gave her up, would he ever see her again? then again, she was a rajah's daughter, and normally in no way would one of his position be able to claim a high ranking rakshasi like her. If her true form was made public however, perhaps the disgrace would free her to allow them to be together in truth, rather than just in the shadows of the night. And so, he reported truthfully, leaving out the matter of his own relationship with his supposed target, and refusing to elaborate on what had taken him so long to return with this news.

If this were a typical mortal society, the news would have been released far and wide, but rakshasa are nothing if not subtle. Carefully, the rival house began to plant rumors and stories of Jasmine's true appearance, detailed enough that those hearing it would know the truth of it, but vague enough to allow for everyone to pretend otherwise. Azrael then secretly returned to Jasmine's side, awaiting the results as the Sahifs considered what to do.

The rajah was no fool - he knew the news would get out eventually, but the time that their subterfuge around Jasmine had bought them had been quite valuable. Political alliances were often sealed by marrying off one's daughters, and there were a couple he had been considering using Jasmine for, rather than one of his other, more valuable daughters from his other wives. He simply needed to step up the timetable.

The arrival of the suitor took both Jasmine and Azrael by surprise - Azrael because he could sense his gambit for his "dangerous treasure" beginning to fall through, and Jasmine because she had been assuming that her condition would mean no others would want her, and in truth, she did desire Az as much as he desired her now. While Azrael remained hidden, Zahara reminded Jasmine of her duty to the house and helped her dress up to meet the waiting rakshasa, where they would be introduced to each other.

Jasmine could practically feel the disgust from this rakshasa prince when he saw her true form, but apart from his eyes, his body language remained neutral as he introduced himself to the draconic rakshasi. He spoke matter-of-factly of their duty as well, both to make this alliance happen, and that his father desired a grandson. While rakshasa don't typically age once they reach adulthood, their power can eventually fade over the centuries, and in the matter of continuing the line rakshasa nobles are no different from mortal ones. As a test, he would stay with them over the next two weeks and sample the wares, so to speak, in how well she could serve him.

While Azrael had been pushy at times in their relationship(and usually received a bop on the nose or cold shoulder for it), this rakshasa suitor was far, far worse. She quickly found he expected her to wait on him, barely a step among a servant, and tend to his needs even before he knew he had them. She could barely find any time away to spend with her own lover, while her supposed suitor's bedplay was perfunctory and emotionless - all about his pleasure, with no regard for her. Within a week, she could not stand this any longer, and made plans to elope with Azrael. She had already been close to abandoning this "family" for years, and there was no way she was going to submit herself to a life as a brood mother for a rakshasan noble who saw her only as a toy for his own needs.

Days later found her scrambling through secret passages and nearly empty hallways, making her way to a portal that Azrael had sworn would get them to Sigil, where he had a small base of operations and where they could lie low for a while. By happenstance however, one of her sisters had been up for a secret night snack, and caught sight of Jasmine heading towards the portal room. She quickly sounded the alarm, sensing something was off when Jasmine didn't respond to her calls. Unable to wait for Azrael to show up and activate the portal, and hearing the footsteps of the guards coming her way, she decide to take a chance and activated the portal without a destination, jumping through just as the first guard stepped through the doorway.

Rather than the towers of Sigil, Jasmine found herself on a cliff above a seaport town, and as best as she could tell, on the Prime Material plane. Assuming a human form, she made her way down to the port. She hadn't brought much with her, as she had been counting on Azrael's support to get her feet under her, so she needed to find food and shelter.

The town was a bit of a shock to her senses, having lived most her life in her family's estate. Rowdy, loud, and smelling like fish, but there was a earnestness to it all that she was already finding a small bit of delight in. Entering the nearby tavern, she secured room and board, but unintentionally took the seat of a regular, who took exception to this. This seemed to be a regular thing to the barkeep, who simply told them to take it outside and then returned to the drink he was mixing. A few minutes later, Jasmine walked back in and resumed her seat, while the brawler who had been so intent on picking a fight with her limped in a minute later, looking fairly worse for wear.

Later that evening she was approached by a minotaur, dressed like most of the sailors in the port. They had lost one of their crew recently to sickness, and could use a good fighter - he'd seen the fight outside the tavern, and been impressed with bow soundly she'd beaten the sailor. With nowhere else to go, and no sign of any portals nearby from what she could tell, Jasmine decide to roll with it. It beat sitting around here until her money ran out, and she refused to even consider hiring herself out as a servant. Even if no one else knew her true nature, she was still a rakshasan noble, as far as she was concerned. When he asked for a name, she thought a moment, before spotting a nearby bed of flowers, then smiled and replied with the name Tigerlily.

The following months helped her to leave behind her former life. Though she kept her true form hidden, she settled in well with the crew, and learned how to operate the rigging - while unable to fly without her wings, clambering among the ropes at that height was no problem for her. While it was not the most luxurious of lifestyles, for once she was free of all her former responsibilities, and could truly just be.

It was here that she acquired her preference for scimitars. When it came time to choose weapons, the shape and weight were almost a perfect match for the practice blades she had first learned to fight with so many years ago, and she quickly claimed a pair for her own use. It came out of her pay, but she also proved a quick study at poker, rummy, and several other games of chance, and quickly made that back and more before they made port once again, laden with the spoils they had "acquired."

Jasmine seemed to have settled into her new life well, until a freak magical storm claimed the ship, and most of her crew, and left the rest adrift in the Astral Sea. Recalling her studies as best she could, Jasmine was able to guide the survivors to a portal that led them so Sigil, though she was forced to reveal her true form in the process. As it turned out, no one was much surprised by it, as all of them had begun to suspect she was something other than human well before that point. Activating the portal landed them in the Ruined Temple, where the Athar took them in temporarily until they could either find a portal back to the Prime, or find their own way elsewhere.

Bidding farewell to her former companions, Jasmine ventured out into Sigil itself. She quickly found her unique form and attunement to Acheron rather than the Nine Hells prevented others from immediately recognizing her as rakshasa, instead assuming she was just some time of planar being they hadn't encountered before. Not a unwise assumption, among the infinite planes, but it allowed her to effectively hide in plain sight, given the diversity of beings walking the streets of Sigil. Publicly sticking with the name Tigerlily for now, she found herself a place to stay for now, and put out a few feelers about both Azrael and the Sahif family. While she had little luck finding her former lover thus far, she did manage to learn that her family had not only managed to keep her disappearance quiet, but also managed to quash the rumors of her draconic appearance, now that she was no longer physically among them to provide proof otherwise. It seemed she was safe enough, for now, but completely on her own. Perhaps she could find some sort of work that played to her talents, with all the cross-trade here in the Cage, and maybe con a few of the more seedy types out of their gold in the meantime. She might be alone for the moment, but she was free, and all the planes of existence awaited her...

Jasmine is one of my oldest active characters, originating in the original Neverwinter Nights game back in 2004, after applying the PRC modpack. Originally, she was meant as a joke, stacking the half-dragon stats(via Red Dragon Disciple) and Rakshasa stat bonuses, but trying to think about how such a being would have come into existence, I actually started thinking of her as an actual character. Then when I went looking for Persistent World servers(think of it as a always running multiplayer world) running the PRC, and she was the first character I made there. I played her for a long while there, getting into the epic levels, but the staff running the server wanted to lean harder into canon and asked those of us with more out-there concepts to dial things back or retire our characters. It was nothing to do with how I RPed her(which I was told was great) but simply trying to get more in line with the actual setting, and bring down the power level a bit(which admittedly I was pushing the high end of). I thought of a storyline to bring her in line with what they wanted without compromising her character or background, but ended up joining the GM staff instead and retiring her, and the server closed down a month or three after that.

I ended up sharing the background I came up with as two separate stories, but didn't do much else with her for a while, in large part because of her power level making her unsuitable for most campaigns. It was during this time, thought, that I came up with the idea of her ending up in Sigil. Her background seemed a perfect match, and it provided a great excuse for her to end up in any campaign world I would want her in. I eventually gave her a visual redesign with her first real image by Sabretoothed Ermine as seen here, as my only previous image was a metaphorical one of her split nature(see Jasmine Yumeryuu below). I then found a couple play-by-post Pathfinder 1E games that had a high enough power level for her to be viable, and tried to join them. Both ended up dying quickly, however, to my disappointment. I almost wrote her into a story about one of my other characters, but that story was ultimately never finished.

A few years later, I decided to go back and reboot her background a bit - at the time I originally conceived of it, I was not that familiar with rakshasa, and now I wanted to have her backstory better reflect that they are a society of lawful evil fiends, though keeping to the same broad strokes. I also folded in the other rakshasa character I had come up with back in my Neverwinter Nights days, a rakshasi princess who did end up in Sigil and went by Tigerlily. Overall, I gave Jasmine a much darker childhood, as well as incorporated her new physical draconic aspects and her lack of magic.

Her inability to cast spells was something that had grown into her concept in the intervening years, originally as an excuse to dial down her power level, given rakshasa are natural sorcerers, but also to explain why she was inclined towards the martial rather than the magical. It also added a fun bit of irony in that two bloodlines so steeped in magic somehow canceled each other out when it came to arcane potential.

As I expanded on her art, I took the opportunity to have her outfit redesigned as well, as I was leaning more into the idea of her as an infiltrator style rogue. The NWN version had honestly been more of a sneaky warrior, despite being a rogue class-wise. Funnily enough, though I didn't realize it at the time, her final outfit ended up very close to her original Neverwinter Nights look, bringing it all full circle.

As luck would have it, I then found out about the Battlezoo Dragon Ancestry books from Roll for Combat, and after getting a copy I discovered that I could actually properly build her in pathfinder 2E with these rules, and cover all the aspects I considered essential without being overpowered. A Discord server I'm in then started looking to put together a West Marches style campaign in 5E, using the 5E version of the Battlezoo rules, and after a much longer session of beating my head against the wall, I finally worked out how to recreate her in 5E as well. I've got the build set aside waiting for that to start, to see if I can finally play her in an actual campaign for the first time in over 20 years.

Jasmine Yumeryuu - In this timeline, her father pretended to be a red dragon to "negotiate" with a small family of minor rakshasa nobles hunting on the Prime Material, and successfully convinced them into leaving his "territory" alone. To complete the deal however, he had to go with them back to their estate, located on a cube in Acheron, to properly work out the details. While there, through the machinations of the elder rakshasa noble, he ended up falling for Aiko Yumeryuu, Jasmine's mother, and vice versa, but he was found out and duty compelled Aiko to kill him. She kept this fact a secret though, telling anyone who asked that he escaped. She then discovered she was pregnant with Jasmine, and decided to raise their child on her own in memory of her lost love..

While she showed no outward signs of her draconic heritage, she was already inclined more towards the physical growing up. She even eventually received training from a drow male, who tutored her in her scimitars as a means to defend herself after saving her from an altercation in the cube's marketplace. Eventually though, her grandfather and mother did try to marry her off for their own reasons. Jasmine took her things and escaped through the estate's portal to the Prime Material, using an untuned exit, which dumped her in the area of Zhentil Keep before the Spellplague. She settled into a smaller city in the area for a bit, honing her skills, and looking for information about her father to no avail(not knowing of his death). She kept her rakshasa nature hidden, but openly spoke of her draconic ancestry to throw off any questions about her unusual resilience. While she did become an extremely sneaky rogue and strong fighter, her draconic nature and her rakshasa nature began to war with each other internally, and she left to seek some ritual to help her find inner harmony once again. Her fate after that point is unknown.