Akari Taiss was a Tavashi performer, investigator, and intermittent member of the Brass Blades. Her own travels were shaped by the execution of her parents when she was a child and, later, by the disappearance of her brother Saajid Taiss into the Cult of the Stars.
Early Life
When Akari was nine, her parents were accused of using forbidden dark magic and sentenced to death. Akari believed the accusations were false. She was raised afterward by her grandmother, who taught her to turn grief, fear, and anger into performance rather than allowing them to consume her.
After her grandmother died, Akari continued traveling from settlement to settlement as an entertainer. Beneath that public life, she remained intent on discovering what had really happened to her parents and why they had been condemned. Her search for a complete explanation continued beyond the events that first brought her into the Brass Blades’ orbit.
The Brass Blades
Akari became associated with a clandestine network operating beneath Elgaard and connected to Herzeiros. During the Brass Blades’ campaign against Luther Mortanas in 8752 SE, she was recalled from work in the east and crossed paths with the company through that network. She traveled with the Blades for a period before later pursuing other work away from the group.
Her time with the company placed her among people already entangled with ancient Qhalleessean ruins, Zhaken Amberheart, and threats connected to the Nascent Expanse. Those problems eventually followed the Blades far beyond Elgaard.
The Cult of the Stars
Akari reunited with the Brass Blades in Huraz when her brother Saajid became involved with the Cult of the Stars. The Cult had gained enough influence in Qaranth to help push the Confederation toward war with Tadrium. With Akari’s guidance and assistance from Dardzada Tariq, the Blades traced its leadership to a pyramid east of the capital.
Inside, they found Zhaken directing a ritual involving the Rift Spar and the Nascent Expanse. Saajid was sacrificed during the working, which created a relationship that Othrazhul was able to exploit. The Blades disrupted the ritual but could not prevent the larger intrusion that followed.
Saajid was later resurrected. He returned to Akari for care while recovering from the Cult’s influence and undergoing the difficult process of separating himself from what its leaders had taught and imposed upon him.