Shiny

Origin Story
One day, about eighteen years back, a strange looking quasi-tiefling girl suddenly appeared outside the circus campgrounds as if out of thin air. She was young, about 13. Her right half was tiefling while her left was human. She had patchy bronze and reddish skin with a great bush of dark red hair. One large horn spiraled out of her right temple, while her left temple gave rise to a small nub. She had a short, squat tail. But her most noticeable feature was that she had one goat leg and one human leg causing her to walk with a painful, jarring limp. Clutched in her hands was a golden oil lamp.

The girl was plainly terrified and unfamiliar with her surroundings, frantically backing away from Osmo and the other folks from the circus who approached her. Eyes darting, she spoke rapidly in another language utterly unknown to anyone in the camp. Seeing her panic, Fanya, Osmo’s wife, brushed everyone away. Fanya was patient with her, sitting a ways away and speaking softly. It took a few days of constant companionship and skittish feedings before the girl was willing to let Fanya bring her back into the camp. In the weeks that followed, the girl clung to Fanya like a skittish shadow. Osmo was the second one to break past her fear, making her laugh by reached over and pulling a coin out of her ear, saying “look, shiny.” The girl was marveled by the trick, taking the coin and repeating the word “shiny,” and that, being one of the first words she learned in Common, eventually became the name she chose for herself. Shiny has been a fixture of Osmo’s Emporium of Oddities ever since.

When she had learned the words to tell her story, Shiny shared that she was from a distant land called Zakhara. Her parents died when she was young and she was raised by her father’s family in a small desert village. She had no memory of her parents, but had been told that she was the product of an unholy union between a roving tiefling mercenary and her father, a human goatherd of the village. Her life in Zakhara had not been a happy one. Shiny would not share details, but it was clear that she had been reviled and had suffered for both her infernal legacy and her deformed appearance.

That was until the day when she came across an entirely ordinary-looking, dusty oil lamp. She was clearing the grime from it with a rag and wishing with a familiar anguish that she could go far away to a place where she would not be hated for the way she looked. A purple smoke billowed out of the lamp and eventually formed into a majestic and mighty djinni, decked with gold and glittering jewels. He peered down on the shaking tiefling-human hybrid creature before him and was intrigued, seeing something in her. So he made her an offer: agree to become a part of his Collection and he would grant her Wish. Half-afraid and half-enthralled, and completely desperate, she agreed.

Patron: Aazamoon the Peerless
Aazamoon is a noble djinni of the Elemental Plane of Air who displays a much greater interest in mortals than others of his kind. He loves collecting great and powerful treasures as much as the next djinni, but his true passion is in adding mortals to his Collection, the more unique the better. He prides himself on having a true appraiser’s eye and being able to find diamonds in the rough. He gave Shiny a small magic oil lamp as a way toconnect them. Over time, she discovered new abilities associated with the magic lamp such as the ability to go into the map and create smoky links between herself and her friends, which is quite useful for a somewhat short person who tends to fall behind in a crowd. The lamp houses a 20 foot by 20 foot an extradimensional space comfortably appointed with cushions, tapestries, and low tables. Over the years, Shiny has made this place her private room. While Aazamoon has not shown himself to Shiny since the day he Wished her to the Emporium, he has left messages and random knickknacks for her on the inner wall of the magic lamp.

For the most part, Aazamoon has been mostly hands-off with Shiny, giving her some time to grow up into a collectible capable of being valuable. But he senses the time to start polishing her is almost nigh.

Personality
Shiny is shy and thoughtful, preferring to watch others than join in. She is generally quiet until she feels comfortable with you, at which point she reveals a surprising depth of insight. She still lacks understanding of some common mannerisms and mixes up her sayings in a way that mark her as a native of some other lands.

Even after over a decade and a half, Shiny is still quite skittish, never completely shedding the skin of the Zakharan waif that landed on Osmo’s doorstep. She feels safe and secure within the campgrounds, but gets anxious when she has to leave. Osmo, Fayna, and the other folks of the circus have ever tried to protect Shiny, but she has time and time again bore the brunt of strangers’ stares, threats, and even blows, causing her to be extremely insecure and self-conscious about her appearance. As such, she was always drawn to costumes and heavy, extravagant make-up that would hide or disguise her natural features.

When she does leave the campgrounds, she bundles herself up in cloaks to hide as much of her appearance as she can. She will only leave if accompanying someone she trusts. She has a tendency to cling to Lenar Grey or Odysseus.

Osmo
Osmo is as close to a father as she has ever known. Because of him, she sees the circus as a truly magical place. She has internalized his dream and values about the circus as her own.

Fanya of the Fates
Shiny trusts and loves Fanya as a mother and above all others. Fanya is her "safe place."

Lenar Grey
Shiny views Lenar as a favored uncle. Her limp used to be quite painful and jarring, greatly affecting her mobility. However, his healing over time has eliminated all the pain and significantly reduced the impairment on her mobility. One of her favorite activities is to sit and drink tea with Lenar — they have a standing late evening tea meeting. She turns to Lenar for advice and is one of the few people that she feels truly understands her fears and insecurities. She also trusts Lenar with her lamp when she goes into it to sleep.

Odysseus ("Od")
Od is her younger brother. She found him when he was a young child and brought him into the circus after gaining his trust by having her mage hand throw a pie at her. She saw a lot of her own circumstances in Od and tried to do for him what Fanya did for her.