Krgliak (kerg-lee-ack) is something of an anomaly of her kind. In a tribe of sycophants and thieves, liars and schemers, the small kobold found herself unable to take pleasure of the pain of others, the way her brethren did. Her family and peers took great pride in their craftiness, their cunning; their ability to always have the upper hand in the line of the True Dragons.

To the whole tribe, she was known as "Krgliak the Craven" because she would not lie or steal. She would always make an excuse so she wouldn't have to take part in the hunt for more prosperity. She hated herself for it. No matter what, she was just too weak to do what came naturally to everyone else she knew.

One night, all of this came to a head. As she wandered the woods, she heard a snap and a high-pitched scream of terror and pain. Running to the source of the pain, she found a young human child. He'd suffered an accident while carrying a basket of food and his leg was injured and bleeding. She drew her club. This would be the perfect time to prove herself. This was the easiest quarry imaginable, and any kobold worth their scales would leap at the opportunity to steal from a human, or even better, kill the human and show how strong they were! She stepped out. The boy didn't see her. She lifted the club further. Further...

Her hands started to shake. She grimaced and lifted the club even higher. Now her whole body shook. And finally, she dropped to her knees hopelessly, dropping her club onto the ground just as the boy turned and marked her with fear and helplessness.

It was true. She was too weak to even kill an injured human child. She couldn't even steal his food. What was worse, she tore cloth from her tunic (it was too big for her anyway) and tossed it to the lad, who looked on in confusion. She grabbed her club and gave him that, too.

"Fix it," she said in Common. Her voice had a shaky, raspy tone. "Fix leg."

Their eyes locked a moment longer, but just as the boy seemed about to ask something, Krgliak darted away, tearing through the woods at top speed. She would go home where she didn't have to look at this scene of shame and confusion any longer. She knew that once she was home, she would go back to her normal life and it would be okay.

She was wrong.

Her betrayal had been witnessed and reported the rest of her tribe. When she returned home, she was bound and gagged and forced to stand trial in a kangaroo court in which she was unable to offer a word of defense (literally; she was still gagged). The trial was incredibly short, and afterwards, she was forcibly ousted; driven off from her land in abject shame and thrust into the wilderness as an exile while being labelled a sniveling weakling. As far as her tribe was concerned, she was unfit for a proud and glorious band such as their own. Mercy was weakness. Kindness was cowardice. This was their way. She was a broken, insane, cowardly worm in their eyes, and in this, her excommunication was complete.

She wandered through the wilderness for days, growing hungrier and more thirsty. Starvation and dehydration were finally overcoming her when she heard a rustling behind her. She was near to fainting with hunger and felt utterly broken and ashamed, so she was neither physically nor mentally able to defend herself from this new presence.

"Are you sure it was her?" she heard this in the Common speak that was used by the more shady humans her tribe often served (for a price), and was able to make out the very simple words.

"Yes, Friar. She was the one," said a higher-pitched voice. "I'd recognize her ANYWHERE." They then spoke some more words in an exchange too quick for her limited understanding of Common to grasp.

She slid backward in fear, holding up an arm to fend off the people who had found her, but nothing happened. Opening her eyes and adjusting her blurry vision, she saw an old man in tan robes digging through his pack. He pulled out a small chunk of bread and a bit of meat and threw it at her feet.

Krgliak's hunger overcame her and she pounced on the offering, devouring it in an instant with caution thrown to the wind. Just as she began to fear her throat wouldn't be able to swallow the bounty, a small skin of water was placed at her feet. She gulped it down and once the meal was eaten, she was finally aware once again of the humans who were nearby. Looking up fearfully, she saw the friar had not moved.

"Why?" she asked, hoping she was able to speak well enough. "Why give food? Krgliak weak. Couldn't be strong for tribe. Krgliak is coward. Why give?"

"Simple," the old man replied. "Because mercy deserves mercy."

From behind him, a familiar young child stepped into view. It was the human child she'd been too cowardly to kill. Now with a proper bandage over his leg and looking much more fit than he had days ago.

"Child... not hurt anymore. Child better," she said in a whisper. Then she lowered her head in shame. "Krgliak weak. Cannot kill child."

"To the contrary," the old man said, looking very seriously at her. "Killing someone who is innocent and helpless is the ultimate sign of weakness, and sparing them is true strength."

"Krgliak... NOT weak?" she asked, deeply confused. She was raised her whole life to believe that strength was a measure of how much pain you could inflict or profit you could raise. This seemed like utter madness. And yet, it resonated with her somehow. Like someone was telling her what she'd wanted to hear her whole life.

The old man pulled out a dull knife from the pack and sat down. "Look at this knife, Krgliak," he said firmly. "I COULD use this knife to stab someone and kill them. This knife could be used to commit murder. Though it's dull and both it and me have lost our edge over the years, we're both still more than capable of inflicting pain and death."

She nodded. This was the truth she had grown up around. Maybe she would die after all.

The friar pulled out another loaf of bread. "But then what? The world is one living, thinking being short of what it used to be. And loss isn't strength. It's weakness. If I instead use the knife this way..." and he sliced to loaf of bread in half and handed her the other half. She gobbled it down in an instant. "I can offer new life and the world is better for it. Even if I die for my kindness, I know that it was not wasted. Do you understand?"

Thoughts of the other half-loaf of bread and more water begged for her attention, but the strange teachings of this man satisfied her even more than food could hope to sate or water could hope to quench. "Me understand. Old person say 'We all strong together, because we all weak alone.' Old person say 'If have kindness, we share strength. If have mercy, we share life.'"

"I couldn't have put it better myself," the old man laughed, and tossed the other half-loaf to Krgliak, who gobbled it happily. He stood up with a groan and turned to leave.

Krgliak was horrified. "Wait! Old person! You go home?"

"Yes, it's getting late and I need my rest."

"Can Krgliak have one more of mercy? Krgliak has no home. Tribe HATE Krgliak. Krgliak hate TRIBE. Krgliak wants more kindness-strong and not killing-strong." She looked up hopefully, getting to he knees. "So please can Krgliak have one more of mercy and go to old person home?"

The friar looked at the boy, then they both looked at her. "You'll need to earn your keep if you want to learn from me. Is that okay?"

Krgliak nodded so eagerly, getting to her feet. "Krgliak will be best kindness-maker! Old person see."

"I prefer to go by Thomas, if you please," the friar smiled.

"That's exciting name!" Krgliak cheered in delight. "Krgliak wishes she had pretty name! Krgliak ugly name."

"You can own any name you like," Thomas said.

"Krgliak want special name! Nice name! Happy name!"

"How about Sapphire?" the boy asked quietly.

"Sapphire?" Krgliak asked, puzzled.

"Sure! You're all blue and shiny, like a sapphire! It's a shiny jewel!"

"Sapphire... Sapphire!" the kobold leapt in glee. "Sapphire is the best name! Sapphire like her name!"

"If that's the name you choose, then that's what your name shall be," Friar Thomas said with a smile. With that, they returned to his home, a secluded cabin in the greenest part of the woods.

Time passed. Sapphire learned from Friar Thomas about language and about the clergy. She studied eagerly, lapping up all the information she could with natural ease and dedicating herself to her teachings for a long time to come.

Finally, one fateful day came when she returned home from wandering the woods to find both Friar Thomas and Brother Johann deathly ill. She couldn't for the life of her understand what had overcome them. Try as she might, she couldn't heal them and they slowly began to die over the next two days.

She deeply mourned the loss of her two friends. She had tried her best with all that she had learned, but she couldn't understand the disease that had claimed them so suddenly.

That was until she saw a patch of poisoned berries near her home, dropped haphazardly on the ground. Nearby were several small footprints like hers, but of a different size.

Her family hadn't been ill. They'd been poisoned.

This was the work of her old tribe.

She didn't know if this was because they had somehow found her after all these years or if it was a random act of violence. Perhaps it was even an assassination. She simply had no way of telling.

But she DID know two things. First, she knew it was no longer safe for her here. She needed to go north, toward human civilization, and hope that she could find more of the good humans like the Friar and Brother Johann had been. The other thing she knew, once and for all, was that the way of her old tribe was the way of loss and pain. She would never forgive them for harming the innocent, and she would follow the path of the man who had shown her the power of kindness and the life that is granted through mercy.

She had no illusions about human civilization. Her tribe had dealt with the likes of bandits and thugs in the human world. She knew that humans could be cruel and cowardly and hate-filled, just like kobolds. But if she even found one more Friar Thomas in the world; if she was able to save the life of one more Brother Johann... then it will all have been worth it. Packing her books and vowing to study all there was to learn in the clergy, Sapphire headed north toward her new life.

---

(First thing's first: I know I already had a character named Sapphire years ago. But it's a pretty name and I like it, so hush. =P )

So, what is this? Well basically, I was invited to take part in a new Dungeons & Dragons Pathfinder campaign. It's been a long time since I've done tabletop RPGs, but the DM has been incredibly inviting and open.

I knew from the start I wanted to be a cleric, but I wasn't quite sure what race I wanted to be. Somehow in talking to DM, we ended up talking about various races and kobolds came up.

For those that don't know, kobolds are D&D monsters that are very typically Evil in alignment. (You can learn more here: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/other.....ces/arg-kobold ) So the idea of using one (who is Neutral Good, no less) in a heroic campaign is an exciting and unique prospect! And, well... long story short, it's gotten me EXTREMELY inspired.

This was originally going to just be a write-up for the DM of the basic character I envisioned, but as I rewrote it, I began to picture more and more of her backstory and her personality. Soon, this simple backstory became a much more detailed one and before I knew it I needed to... positively NEEDED to make a character design for her.

Lastly, the slightly sinister-seeming grin WAS intentional! Though she is good and pure-hearted in nature, she IS a kobold, and they tend to look vaguely threatening at a glance, particularly when confident or prideful. She is brimming with happiness in this picture; but NOT malice.

In a week we'll be doing our first gaming session and words can't express how excited I am for it. No matter how it goes, though... I'm finding myself more and more in love with this character, so don't be surprised if you guys see more of her one way or another in the future. Anyway, I hope you guys like it!