Arthur+Zimmall

=Deacon Arthur Zimmall, Senior Partner, NZZN=

Arthur Zimmall was born 21 Barrakas 747 YK, near **Eston** in Cyre. His extended family reportedly included a few Halflings, but Arthur himself grew as tall as any average Human. Early on he felt the call to join the priesthood of Boldrei, Goddess of Hearth and Home, and began studies at a Sovereign Host seminary in Eston.

His life changed forever when he manifested a Dragonmark in 764. Not one of the Human marks (Making, Sentinel, Passage, Handling or Finding), but the Mark of Healing, long known to be the exclusive province of the Halflings of House Jorasco. After a cursory verification that what young Arthur had was neither an aberrant nor a so-called "mixed" mark, the Jorasco elders took the drastic step of excoriating Zimmall without him ever becoming a member of the House. The Church of Boldrei, which for generations has served as a "rite-of-passage" calling for young House Jorasco scions wishing to use their Dragonmarks in public service, chose to expel Zimmall rather than alienate their longtime friends.

Doubly rejected, Zimmall turned to adventuring, falling in with a small band of similar outcasts, including an Aereni Elf, a Dwarf from the lost Clan Noldrun, and a Talenta Halfling whose tribe had been killed by reptilian raiders from the Blade Desert. Still feeling the call of divine magic, he turned to The Traveler, the most enigmatic member of the Dark Six.

Over the next ten years or so (~766-776), the foursome adventured in the Shadow Marches, the Byeshk Mountains and the Cogs underneath Sharn, gaining a reputation for efficiency, ruthlessness and a high turnover of associates and would-be partners. They were granted a Galifaran Adventuring Charter in 772 under the name "NZZN" (the initials of the four members). After this they had their greatest success, traveling to Xen'drik to join in an expedition from Stormreach to previously-uncharted Giant ruins, where they made "friendly" contact with the Sulatar Drow -- meaning they killed several Sulatar to prove they were worth talking to as equals.

[There they heard an odd legend, of a mighty Giant-made //eldritch machine// that the Sulatar had guarded for millennia -- until orange-skinned brigands, organized, well-armed and commanded by a small, green-skinned female of incredible power -- drove them off, stole the //machine// and left. The legend claimed the device was hundreds of feet tall, which was deemed a failure in translation. Though this had happened nearly eight thousand years ago, the Drow elders still felt shame at the loss, and demanded the NZZN team find the device when they returned to Khorvaire. This seemed an easy enough promise, given the alternative was fighting a hundred or more angry Sulatar, so Arthur and the others swore sacred oaths believing there was no chance they'd ever be bound by them.]

Their adventures made Zimmall and his comrades extremely wealthy, but instead of splitting up and retiring the foursome decided to reinvest their fortunes in a partnership. In 776 they converted the NZZN Charter into a true corporation, also called NZZN. The corporation was initially dedicated to helping adventurers or other clients with various needs get access to resources. Over time, however, their focus changed to becoming a "boutique" firm catering to the wealthy -- Galifar nobles, Dragonmarked heirs, and the like -- finding and delivering the exotic or unattainable in exchange for influence.

Officially, Arthur Zimmall died in the month of Sypheros, 804 YK, shortly after commissioning a portrait of himself. Shortly after, a young man presented himself to the others, claiming to be Zimmall's son and bearing a Lesser Mark of Healing -- larger than the Least mark the elder Zimmall had manifested. For reasons not recorded, he was accepted as a partner, and stayed with the company until his apparent death in the 870s. The process repeated itself three more times, with the current Senior Partner claiming to be the great-great-grandson of the Founding Partner. Like his ancestors, Arthur Zimmall V is a powerful cleric of The Traveler. Unlike them, the current Arthur has the Greater Dragonmark of Healing.

Arthur Zimmall has taken an interest in Pastor Dashiell Kaplan, a young Human priest of Boldrei who manifested the Least Mark of Healing in 995 YK. Unlike the hostile response Zimmall's "ancestor" received //(though there is no record of any contact between Jorasco and Arthurs II through V)//, House Jorasco accepted Kaplan as a scion, and the Church of Boldrei in Sharn allowed him to complete his seminary studies.

[In 997 YK, the surviving NZZN partners were contacted by agents and minions of an unknown, but wealthy, benefactor -- which led to them learning the existence of a gigantic //eldritch machine// in western Darguun. The same device they'd sworn oaths to find. Long-dormant binding magics activated, compelling Arthur's cooperation with the growing conspiracy, which he avoided by locking himself in his quarters, sealed with the Cerulean Sign to ward off aberrations. Joining this conspiracy meant cutting ties with longtime clients and ending their Blademarks security contract, and in just a few months NZZN had fallen -- its operatives killed and assets seized.]

In Therendor 998 YK, after the fall of NZZN and freed from his self-imposed confinement, Zimmall confronted the adventuring party as it traveled towards New Cyre, having been dropped from a mysterious airship before it sped off. Combat was avoided, and some suspect Zimmall had somehow been compelled to act.

A month later, Zimmall secretly visited Kaplan at the construction site in Fallen District, Sharn, where the Sovereign Temple is being restored with Kaplan assigned as the site manager.