Behold One of My Other Projects...

My little brother is doing a Spelljammer based DnD 5e campaign and after I created my character, I decided to illustrate them. So, behold my fun and dastardly yuan-ti eloquence bard, Sher'shah.

It took me a while, to create the image in CLIP Studios, but I think it came out pretty well.

Here is also a little backstory I wrote up for him. Please note that since the campaign hasn't started yet, the story might change, but at the time posting this is Sher'shah's backstory.

Sher'shah

Backstory
Growing up as an urchin on the asteroid station called the Beholder's Eye, Sher'shah only had his wit and his silver tongue to keep him alive. Using his cunning Sher'shah was able to sell trash as costly heirlooms and made claims of fortune telling and foresight. 

As he lived on the street, Sher'shah made friends with a few of the other urchins living on the street, Rowdy a young half-orc boy and Jenna a cute half-orc girl. Oftentimes the three of them would work together with Sher'shah serving as a distraction as Jenna either picked somebody's pockets or in Rowdy's case beat someone up. As they hide away in the back alleys the three of them would share stories to hold the night at bay. Hearing Shah's stories, both Rowdy and Jenna suggested that he try to grow up to be a writer, however at the time Shah shrugged it off due to his limited reading skills.

One day, Sher'shah was digging through a trash pile when he came across an old concertina that seemed to still be in good condition.

While Sher'shah caught the attention of a clever drow woman named Laith who decided to take the young lad under her wing. After teaching Shah how to read and write, Laith began to tutor him in the ways of a true con-artist, improving his skills so that they could both trick the richer folks out of their questionably acquired riches. At some point during his training, Shah took up playing some instruments including the concertina. During this time Sher'shah and Laith developed romantic feelings for one another. 

Upon reaching adulthood, Sher'shah decided to try to live a more upright path. This resulted in an argument between Shah and his master/lover, Laith. Despite this, Sher’shah continued with his plans. 

Traveling to the nearby planetoid of Urb, Sher'shah was able to squirm his way into a college, where he studied under two great teachers, Kresha and Alfreguth. Kresha was a female tabaxi who taught music and speechcraft, while Alfreguth was a male, black dragonborn whose lessons focused more on the written word. It was these teachings that would further Sher'shah's interest in music and writing as well as the magical arts associated with them. When Shah graduated, Kresha gave him an enchanted Concertina as a departing gift.

After establishing himself in society, Sher'shah started writing books under the pen name of S.S. Truthtongue. Such stories included, the Mystery of the Black Stone and the Case of the Missing Hand, both of which were mystery novels as well as the story the Maiden and the Serpent, which was Shah's first attempt at writing a romance novel about a young half elf maid who fell in love with her serpentine master. Strangely enough this saucy tale was Shah's most popular novel.

As Sher'shah was working on his Ink Venom series, which was based off of his childhood, Shah returned to the Beholder's Eye and managed to bump into his old friends, Rowdy and Jenna. Surprised to see their old friend, Rowdy and Jenna invite Shah for a private meeting at a tavern, during which they tell him that they’ve been recruited by Laith for a job and ask if he would be interested. Having missed his friends, Sher’shah decided to give it a shot and a meeting was arranged with Laith. 

Meeting with Laith, the Drow was pleased to see Shah and gladly worked him into their little scheme. Laith was hiring the group to sneak into the lair of a Beholder crime boss named Aithezar, to steal his pet starfish in the efforts to start a gang war between a few local factions. After exchanging some words and arranging a decent price for Sher’shah, he accepted the offer.

After some careful arrangements Sher’shah, Rowdy and Jenna had a night on the town. After having more than a few drinks, the three of them wandered on the step before noticing some sort of tattoo shop on the side of the road. In their drunken state it wasn’t too difficult for Rowdy and Jenna to convince Sher’shah to go inside for a tattoo. Stepping inside the parlor, Shah was greeted by a cloaked figure who smelled strangely of both ash and lavender. 

The next day, Sher’shah awoke in his loft, with no memory of what had happened in the parlor and a tattoo on his left arm. It was a black tattoo of a serpent, but with the tail splitting off into numerous tentacles and its entire body covered with eyes. The white scales around the tattoo were purple and yellow, almost as if the flesh had been horribly bruised. 

When the day came for their mission, Shah and the gang were able to infiltrate Aithezar’s lair and with some careful maneuvering, were able to enter the beholder’s bedchambers and retrieve his pet starfish. As they were about to leave, the group was forced to hide as Aithezar and another beholder (whom through dialogue was revealed to been the result of one of Aithezar’s dreams) entered the chamber. While the second beholder seemed on edge, Aithezar said he would be willing to spare the younger beholder as long as he fulfilled one of Aithezar’s wishes. 

As they were negotiating, Aithezar noticed something was off, before realizing that his pet was missing. Seeing this opportunity, the younger beholder turned on his progenitor and managed to slay him. With Aithezar dead, the new beholder took over the crime organization and took on the name of Tilizar and he claimed that someone else was responsible for Aithezar’s death. As Sher’shah and his friends tried to escape, they were discovered and had to fight their way out of the lair. During this Jenna received a fatal blow and died in Rowdy’s arms sometime after they managed to escape. 

Meeting up with Laith, the drow was ticked off as not only was the starfish now useless and a new beholder was in control of the criminal organization, but as far as everyone knew some group had been hired to kill Aithezar, thus potentially linking everything back to Laith. After calming down, Laith instructed both Rowdy and Sher’shah to go clean up. 

When the two of them returned, Laith took Sher’shah off to the side as one of her guards killed Rowdy, before she stabbed Shah in the stomach with a dagger. As Sher’shah lay dying on the floor, Laith leaned over and said, “Sorry, it’s just business my dear,” before leaning over and giving him one final kiss. 

However, there was no afterlife waiting for Sher'shah after his last breath, instead he found himself in an inky void, with tendrils of ink caressing his body and strange feminine whispers echoing through his mind. Gradually the black fluid pulled away to reveal numerous serpentine eyes gazing upon him.

Sher’shah awoke with a start, finding himself in an alleyway, alive and covered in trash. As he examined his body, he noticed that not only was his wound gone but that his tattoo had shifted and was in a different position and for a moment he could have sworn it had blinked at him. 

Knowing that Laith would come after him if she knew he was alive, Sher’shah took a Jammer and fled the Beholder’s Eye to the Black Watch asteroid station. Some stories speak of a white yuan-ti wandering from station to station, however the nature of these tales remain unclear. While he has managed to keep under the radar, Sher’shah has drawn the attention of a half-elf guard named Zera. The relationship between the two is… an odd one.

As for Shah's alias as S.S. Truthtongue, while no one on Urb knows what happened to the actual author, due to the fourth book in the Ink Venom series not being publish, rumors are starting to surface that S.S Truthtongue.

Characters

Rowdy
A male half-orc that Sher’shah grew up with. Growing up Rowdy became a skilled brawler and developed feelings for his friend Jenna. While he isn’t the smartest, Rowdy is a hearty fellow who always strives to protect his friends. His favorite drink is dwarven ale. 

Jenna
A female half-elf with blonde hair, who grew up on the streets with Rowdy and Sher’shah. Her slippery fingers made her an excellent thief and pickpocket. Jenna loves humor, teasing her friends and telling jokes as long as no one is hurt. Jenna was skilled with a blade as well as a hand crossbow, up until she died.

Zera
A tan skinned half-elf who serves as one of the station guards at the Black Watch asteroid station, protecting the station from outlaws and troublemakers, the latter of which Sher’shah falls under from time to time and as a result, Zera often ends up arresting him from time to time. Despite this, Sher’shah usually manages to escape, oftentimes resulting in Zera being handcuffed to her bed with her own cuffs and Sher’shah leaving with a satisfied smile on his face. While he won't admit it, Shah does actually have genuine feelings for Zera, something that he hasn't experienced since he was betrayed by his lover, Laith. 

Laith
Once Sher'shah's mentor/lover, Laith is a drow con-artist and fixer. After Laith "killed" him, Shah has done everything to avoid coming across her or leaving any indication that he is alive to her. While a part of Sher'shah wants to punish her for betraying him, a part of him also still loves her. If Shah was to meet Laith again, he isn't sure if he'd have the mental fortitude to face her, let alone kill her. 

Books Written by S.S. Truthtongue (Sher'shah):

• The Mystery of the Black Stone
• The Case of the Missing Hand
• The Maiden and the Serpent

• The Ink Venom series (hasn't been completed)

  • The Coin Snatcher Gang
  • The Dread Heist 
  • The Poisoned Artifact
  • 4th Book has yet to be released...

If I had to list the characters I used for inspiration, I'd say imagine both Dr. Facilier from the Princess and the Frog and Deishuu Kaiki from the Monogatari series, if they were both chaotic neutral and more interested in manipulating others to... tell a good story.

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One thought I had was that if I were to start writing non-mlp stories, that I might write some based around him, though I might try to create my own setting instead of using the base DnD setting. Maybe something closer to Sunless Skies, for the fantasy in space feel.

Well, there you have it.

I hope you all are having a wonderful day.