Zahir

[Demeter]

Character Name: Zahir Saab
Age: 32
Birthday: 8/23/2012
Gender: Male
Sexuality: Straight
Species: Alati

The Supernatural Bit
Alati
Deity: Poseidon – Greek God of the Sea
Role: King of Atlantis
House: Unda
Faction: Ibrida
Ethereal Form: When in his aquatic form, Zahir resembles a merman but sports the tail and lower body of an orca whale. When in his land-based form, he gains a pair of black and white scaled wings. No matter the form he is using, sea-based, land-based or his glamour for the mortal world, an combination of the DeLorme and Saab crests on his right bicep.

Appearance
Hair Color: Black
Hair Style: Shoulder length and normally kept in a low tail at the nape of his neck but it’s always comes loose when swimming or working.
Eyes: Deep blue
Complexion: Smooth, even and very tanned
Teeth: Straight, thanks to years of braces, and white
Height: 6’2”
Weight: 240 pds
Fitness Level: Very fit from training, swimming and roughhousing with his cousins.
Clothing Style: When required to wear clothing, Zahir wears board shorts and muscle tanks. He often wears no shoes, not even flip-flops, and always has a pair of sunglasses available. He’ll wear the garments of his station but prefers to get out of those robes as soon as possible.
Tattoos: In addition to his family crest, Zahir has a trident and dolphin design on the back of his left calf.
Piercings: None
Scars: A few from childhood and some from ocean life.

Personality
Zahir is an easy going, carefree kind of guy. He’s content just to sit on the beach all day but, when things need to be done, he throws himself into the process. Zahir is big on loyalty and his trust, once lost, isn’t easy to win back. Family and friends are important to him but he won’t turn his back on those in need of help.

Basic History
Parents: Nerissa and Zahid Saab
Siblings: Ziya (Half), Amir (Half), Amani (Half), Ghaliya (Half) and Amirah (Full)
Close Friends: Rowan, Sebastian, Gareth, Lani, Brielle, Zach, and Regina
Significant Other: Charlotte (Eventually)
Children: None yet
Interests/Hobbies: Surfing, volleyball, sailing, fishing, diving, pretty much another that involves water or the beach, really
Education: Attended Cedar Valley Schools for the Gifted grades K - 12
College: Has obtained several degrees
-B.S. in science from Cedar Valley University
-M.S. in Marine Biology from University of Washington
-PhD in Marine Biology from University of Washington
Intelligence: Acts like a beach bum but very intelligent
Occupation: Ruler of Atlantis and Free-lance researcher for whatever program wants his service.
Place of Residence: Main island/Palace of Atlantis and a house in Somerset Village, Bermuda.

History
Zahir’s conception and birth is the stuff of fairy tales. His parents met on a research vessel and it was pretty much love at first sight for Nerissa and Zahid. He turned his back on his family’s wishes in order to be with her. She let go of her need for independence and her career to be wife and mother to his children. They married on that research; the captain, none other than Poseidon himself, conducted the ceremony and they left to live happily ever after.

For a while, they did live happily on the shores of the Red Sea. The only downer to their fairytale was that his family refused to accept Nerissa, an Ibrida Alati and a foreign one at that, as his wife. Even after she gave birth to Zahir, a fine, strong son, many refused to acknowledge her. Nerissa and Zahid didn’t let that bother them, though, because they had Zahir and each other.

Except it was Zahir’s birth that caused the first fracture. Morwan, Zahid’s uncle and leader of the clan’s desert sect, feared the boy. His diviners said that the boy would grow into a great power and that his existence threatened all Morwan had worked for. Like he had many centuries ago with Zahid’s first child, Morwan plotted to remove Zahir except Nerissa, unlike Zahid’s first wife, wasn’t going to let her child be harmed. Nerissa, the daughter of a Custos lord and a high ranking officer in his army, fought back.

Though most of his family was horrified at her skills in combat, Zahid was most impressed with his wife. And he was very pleased when Nerissa told his clan to man up and stop living in fear of Morwan. After declaring who she was descended from, Nerissa borrowed her father’s mounted troops and led a charge against Morwan. She was not about to let a threat to her child live.

In the aftermath, it was discovered that Zahid’s first wife, Cosette, still lived. As did Ziya, the son he’d shared with Cosette. And Cosette, despite the four daughters she’d given Morwan, still considered herself to be Zahid’s wife. The women were complete opposites. Cosette wad delicate and fair where Nerissa was strong and dark. To make matters worse, the clan accepted Cosette as Zahid’s wife. She may have been a weak foreigner but at least she was a full-blooded Custos Alati with a grown, if somewhat sickly, son.

Zahid remained with Nerissa and things mostly continued as before but Cosette’s calculating mind was working in overtime. She drugged Zahid and lured him into her bed at just the right time. She came up pregnant and Nerissa moved out of the room she shared with Zahid. It was the pregnancy but the fact that Zahid hadn’t told her what had happened that caused the separation between them. After the birth of the baby, another son, Nerissa couldn’t take the fawning the entire clan placed on the new baby. And she couldn’t stand the amount of attention her husband paid to the baby’s mother. When Zahid took mother and baby on a vacation, to get them away from the stress of the family, Nerissa packed her things and left, taking Zahir with her. She left her contact information with Zahid’s mother in case he bothered to come get her.

Zahid never came for her.

Zahir grew up in Cedar Valley. He lived in his grandfather’s house, followed his mother on summer vacations in the world’s oceans and seas, and saw his father on holidays and birthdays. Throughout his childhood and early teens, not having his father around was normal and he never questioned it. After his sixteenth birthday, when he father managed to get his mother pregnant, Zahir learned the truth about their separation. And why his mother finally asked for a divorce while pregnant.

After learning that Zahid had not only remained legally married Cosette but fathered another two children on her, Zahir refused to speak to his father. He returned gifts and sent back letters. He was angry that his father would hurt his mother like that. And so, Zahir spent the next fourteen years ignoring his father. He went through school, working towards his PhD in Marine Biology. He also pledged himself to Poseidon during this time and did his god’s bidding. After earning his degree, Zahir settled in the Caribbean to study marine life, search for treasure and sit on the beach. His mother and sister joined him in the Caribbean, settling in for a life of sun and relaxation.

Not long after moving into the house in Somerset Village, something began to call to Zahir. This song, similar to that of a whale, nagged at him until he couldn’t stand it anymore. So, Zahir set out to find the source of this irritating song. His journey lasted six months and took him across the world to the Mariana Trench. Once there, with the song unbelievably loud, Zahir dived deep into the trench, struggling to find the bottom. On reaching the bottom, though thoroughly exhausted, he started digging at the ooze. The song was screaming in his head.

He finally uncovered Sea Song, the trident forged by Hephaestus and imbued with the power of Poseidon. After uncovering Sea Song, Zahir promptly passed out but his grip remained strong on the trident. When he awoke, he was back in the Caribbean but in a strange house with strange people staring at him. It was Poseidon who’d rescued him from the trench and it was that god who told him that he was now chief among his servants because he’d pulled Sea Song from the sludge and returned her to the light.

Besides being chief among Poseidon aquatic devotees, Zahir was also the new king of Atlantis for he was the first since that city had sunk into the sea to wield Sea Song. Zahir accepted the job and the problems that came with it. Now, he’s trying to rebuild Atlantis, come to terms with all of his family, as his god had commanded it, and deal with everyone who had their own ideas for Atlantis.