Bumdeyada is a Raktavarna, Rakshasa who are made up of smoke, blood and gold. Raktavarna are the least of the Rakshasa - they are born not from humanoids, but from the souls of rakshasas who failed utterly in their previous incarnation and who are thus reborn from a serpent’s egg.

Raktavarna can become any small item at will, and hold the shape indefinitely. These terrors drift through society, passing from hand to hand as weapons or strange tokens from foreign lands, curiosities brought home by traders and emissaries and given to leaders as tribute. In this manner the raktavarnas gain entry into corridors of power throughout the world, and what they see, their foul masters know. A raktavarna’s servitude to a master ends only when its master decrees, or (more commonly) upon the master’s death. Little disconcerts raktavarnas more than having no master, and when they are cast adrift in this manner, they seek a replacement as soon as they can.

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Yada, as we have come to call him, was orphaned as a child, and left with the Church of Desna. From that point on his life was filled with hardships that we haven't yet learned the full breadth of. When he was first delivered to Anizhar's villa, and after he launched a poorly thought out, and even more poorly executed assassination attempt on the old Rakshasa, he took the shape of a starknife. Once everyone had calmed down, we sat down for drinks and started to talk.

The story, as far as we know, goes that he was born a serpent, and grew up in the care of the Church of Desna. The church took good care of him, praising the boy and always speaking of how he would one day grow into a great Lillend. As time went on, and he didn't grow any larger than an average snake, and never grew any wings, the church began to suspect he was not what he seemed. When they discovered that he was likely a Raktavarna they attempted to burn him to death. He only escaped by turning into a simulacra of his own skeleton - a harrowing way to escape a horrid situation.

From that point his life is a mystery. Presumably he drifted from master to master like a common tool, and through his general demeanor and self esteem, was something of a serial failure, causing the death of however many masters didn't simply get rid of him. His most recent master, before Anizhar, was a Rakshasa called simply "Drajhit's Claw", who had filled the boy's mind with fantasies of revenge. He had told Yada that Anizhar was his mother's killer, and sent him to Anizhar's villa to enact his vengeance. Either Bumdeyada would be the perfect tool to end Anizhar's life, or Bumdeyada would trouble him no more - a win for Drajhit's claw either way.

Yada arrived in the form of a weathered old Starknife, the only thing he had to remember his mother by. Anizhar had recognized the shape of that Starknife, its intricate ingravings and numberous scars and blemishes, and had in fact brought out the very starknife that Yada had been impersonating, immaculate and well cared for. When Yada asked if Anizhar had killed his mother, he was taken aback. He couldn't have killed her. She was the most important thing in his life. As Anizhar explained himself they both came to a realization - Yada was Anizhar's son.

As Yada told his father about his mistreatment at the hands of the Temple of Desna a deep protective instinct, and a deep paternal shame filled the Rakshasa as he cradled his distraught son - strange as it may have seemed. He and Teddi had trusted the Temple of Desna, and their trust had been misplaced. A fire burned deep inside of him, and the hateful voice in the back of his mind screamed at him to burn down their temples and make them suffer as they had made his son... But a louder voice told him that protecting his son, as much as Karma had deemed him a failure, and do whatever he could to right the wrongs he had unknowingly put him through.

So begins the new life of Bumdeyada Amitrajesh.

Color by  Magnus

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