Xan

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Xan

(Person)

Alignment

Neutral

Ancestry/Species

Vanth

Gender

Male

Homeland

Boneyard

Deity

Pharasma

Source: The Twilight Child, pg(s). 60

Xan is an ingenious ruthless vanth psychopomp, experienced in the dealings on the Universe.

Appearance

Xan is a relatively bulky and tall vanth. His black wings are permanently stained red from protean ichor; although this colour has slowly been fading, Xan's colouration remains garish compared to other vanths. He wears a tight-fitting vulture mask which allows his wings to protrude out. His preferred humanoid form is a bald, burly, middle-aged Taldan human with large, dark, expressive eyebrows clad in red and grey, including a ragged cloak and a tight-fitting red leather bird mask with a short beak.

Background

Long ago, when the Boneyard was infiltrated by proteans, Xan was the first psychopomp to discover them. He ordered a lesser psychopomp to raise the alarm, dismissed his scythe (which would identify him as a vanth), turned invisible, and slipped into the midst of the proteans. He overheard of their plan to destroy the soul of a hero on the way to becoming a great inevitable.

Xan then revealed himself to the proteans and lied to them that he was a turncoat. He successfully deceived them into thinking that during the hero's trials, Xan's testimony of his crimes had been ignored, and that he deserved justice. The gullible proteans were then led into an ambush and overwhelmed by legions of psychopomps.

After the protean survivors fled the Boneyard, Xan was celebrated for his innovation and insight. Pharasma awarded him some freedom in his job, earning Xan the ire of his fellow vanths who were obedient and group minded even by psychopomp standards, so he found himself spending more and more time on Golarion. Xan came to learn about the living and to admire their eccentricities and innovations even as he hates their strange, short, selfish lives, as well as himself for this affection.

Recently, Xan was assigned to track the disappearance of a shade from Nirvana—Carrius II—and tracked him to Golarion. In the Astral Plane, he discovered strangely mutilated shadows and assumed that mortals had learnt of how to create souls, but lacked the good judgement to never use this power (which is not far from the truth). However, he also came to believe the misconception of the Cult of the Twilight Child: that Carrius resurrected himself by his will alone, and Xan seeks to drag his soul before Pharasma to be tried for this crime.