Name:
Najila, “The Desert Rose”Race: Variant Human
Class: Warlock (Patron: The Noble Genie, Djinn)
Mechanical Background: Entertainer
Backstory: Najila was born in the Sansea as the eldest child in her family. As far as she can recall, her family was not one of nobility. At least not initially. One day her father came back home with news of their sudden riches. They had become nobility practically overnight! Najila was more confused then anything else at the news, but if it made her family happy, then she was happy. The family languished in their quickly earned gains and status for a year. However, a year later, her father’s demeanor changed.
He grew anxious and was constantly mumbling to himself. There were even times when he would explode with anger for the smallest thing. One night, he took a mannequin of a young girl, dressed it in Najila’s clothes, and left in the dark of night. He came back the next morning, despondent and the doll nowhere to be seen.
Najila would learn the truth the next night. Her father woke her up, told her to get dressed in her finest, brought her out into the desert with him. Najila asked about waking her mother and little brother, and where they were going, only to be silenced. Soon they reached the middle of the Great Desert, the middle of nowhere, and the father seemed to chant an incantation.
The winds picked up and a djinn appeared before him. The both of them spoke in Common, and Najila learned that her father was giving her to the djinn in return for the riches her family gained. While screaming, crying, and begging her father, the djinn magicked her and himself to the Elemental Plane of Air, where she would live a large majority of her life. She was 6 years old then.
As she grew up, she remained in the care of the Djinn. She learned many things about the world under his tutelage and she certainly wasn’t any worse off than before. If anything, she was lucky that she was with a djinn, instead of the genies of Fire and earth. The djinn became a second father, a mentor to her. Apparently they would have treated her worse than the djinn would.
But it was lonely and boring in this plane, and she couldn’t really explore any place outside of the djinn’s palace. The djinn tried to cure the loneliness by bringing in other mortals. But more often than not, it was against their will, and Najila always ended up hurt in some way.
So, at the age of 22, Najila asked the djinn to send her back to the material plane. He would, under one condition. He wanted her to make a pact with him. He would let her go back, and give her some form of protection against the various dangers, but only if she fulfilled his requests, tell him with her stories when they speak again, and returned to the Elemental Plane of Air when he calls her to come back.
Najila agreed and the pact was forged. Her first few days in the mortal world was rough, but she was eventually able to find her living in performing at taverns and inns, and adventuring throughout the world. For her performances, she was quickly named, “The Desert Rose”. Just as she was traversing through the desert, she felt weak and fell unconscious.