Shadi
The Songbird
The Songbird
Shadi
Player: Fox Lee
Personal Data
Full Name: Shadi
Species: Hylian
Gender: Male, but rather effeminate
Age: Around 19
Height: 160cm/5'3"
Weight: 58kg/128lbs
Hair Colour: Dark purple
Eye Colour: Soft brown
Skin Tone: Well-tanned
Biographical Data
Occupation: Singer, former slave
Affiliations: None
Residence: Wanders
Birthplace: Probably Castle Town
Marital Status: Actively seeking
Known Relatives: Parents deceased, no siblings
Weapon(s)
None
Magic
Fire magic - lots of damage, lots of area effects.
Skills
Vocal prowess, extreme intelligence, wide book-learning.
Items/Equipment
Lots and lots of jewellery.
Notes: Gayer than Gay Jack McGay.

Shadi is a sassy, somewhat egotistical fire mage who used to be a slave to his Gerudo mistress. Now liberated, he's looking for adventure. And a boyfriend.

Appearance

Slender and girly; Shadi is a slim and shapely young man with narrow shoulders and long limbs. He isn't as curvy as an adult woman, but looks very much like a slightly scrawny girl - except, of course, for a deliciously flat chest. He wears his rich purple hair cropped to just below the shoulders, and tied in a high ponytail, with the fringe parted to his right. The cut is very even, giving it a strong flat edge that's striking if you're trying to look exotic amongst Gerudo.

Distinguishing Features

Shadi is a real beauty, enough that it's remarkable for most people. His combination of Gerudo style and Hylian phenotype also make his appearance unusual.

Preferred Clothing

Loose, flowing white harem-style pants, worn low on the hips and belted with a rich maroon sash, over soft maroon slippers. This is complemented by a open vest, maroon trimmed with gold, and loosely tied with silver cords trailing very small bells.

Despite hating his slave lifestyle, Shadi does have a fondness for the jewellery he was given to wear, and still sports multiple silver earrings, bracelets, ankelets and armbands. He usually wears a particular necklace with a heart-like design over his throat and a silver band around his forehead, both featuring with bright green jewels, and a decorated silver clasp around his ponytail.

Personality

Shadi has a bold, outgoing personality and loves being the centre of attention. He's also flamboyant, dramatic, and overt about his desires, often giving the impression that he's a bit vapid or shallow. Although there is a core of truth in this, the image is mostly a deliberate affectation, intended to deflect suspicion as he spent his years secretly studying his Mistress' extensive library. Highly intelligent by nature, Shadi has fashioned himself into a font of knowledge, and is more than a little smug about it.

Although he may seem to prefer a cushy lifestyle, Shadi really values freedom more than anything else, and is willing to endure almost any hardship if it means he can do as he likes. His playful exterior hides an iron will, and the determination (and stubbornness) to persevere through nigh-impossible odds.

Likes

Jewellery, books and information, magic, studying, showing off. Also, sexy guys. Shadi is interested in knowledge of any sort, but he is borderline obsessed with magic - he will go to ridiculous lengths to uncover a mystical secret or learn a new spell. He also enjoys music, one of his slave duties being to perform songs.

Dislikes

Shadi has a strong aversion to women; he can deal with being in their company, but he is very pointedly disinterested in them when it comes to romance, and in general will always give his attention to other guys if possible. He also dislikes ignorant or stupid people, slavery, rules in general, and extensive physical activity that isn't - ahem - in private.

Quirks

When he's on stage, Shadi tends to refer to himself by name, in cutesy "third-person" style.

Background

Shadi was, as he says, "accidentally kidnapped" by a Gerudo raiding party when he was very young. His parents were merchants travelling with a caravan which was attacked by the desert-dwellers; although the raid was not intended to include killing, some of the group tried to fight back and the holdup turned bad in short order. Shadi himself has only vague memories of the event, being too young to really understand what was going on.

Shadi himself, hidden in the wagons of trade goods, was not discovered until well after the raiding party arrived home. After a brief debate about what to do with the child, one of the women took responsibility for him, on the condition that he would act as her servant when he was old enough to work. Thus he was given his current name, and grew up performing a variety of household duties - and, in secret, studying the vast library his Mistress had collected.

As he grew up - and became a dark-eyed, dark-haired beauty of a boy who stood out like an exotic artwork in the desert valley - his domestic tasks quickly took a backseat to other duties. Most frequently this meant entertaining his Mistress' guests with his voice and appearance, but he was also called upon for less innocent tasks. In return he was afforded a rather pampered lifestyle - he could not escape, so there was no need to treat him badly.

A gilded cage is still a cage, however, and Shadi hated this new turn even more than he had hated his childhood. Fortunately, he did have even more free time - as long as he kept himself in good health and looking immaculate, he was mostly left alone. This meant even more opportunity to study, and develop his growing talent for magic to the point where he could make a serious attempt at escape…

Affiliations

None yet.

Allies

Has positive relationships with Kumar and Aravind, though he is exceedingly annoyed that they are "mutually unavailable".

Enemies

His former Mistress.
He has somewhat negative relationships with Peya and Rajivo, after a bad day and a rather passionate argument.

Combat

Shadi is very powerful mage, though his effectiveness in combat is offset by his fragility. Overall he is a mid-range combatant, but when he can rely on his specialty he is upgraded to a real heavy-hitter.

Style

Shadi is a true "glass cannon", a squishy wizard who nukes targets - preferably lots of them at once - and does everything he can to stay out of his opponent's reach.

Advantages

Shadi's magic allows him to generate obscene amounts of damage, over a wide area, at considerable range. He is a mage of great skill - or rather tremendous skill, given that he is entirely self-taught. He has a natural affinity for fire magic, to the exclusion of most other techniques, and that means sheer buckets of destructive power. When it comes to blasting stuff with magic, he can match spells with the best of them.

Outside of his magic, Shadi's saleable qualities consist of blistering intelligence, impressive book-smarts, and a performance-quality singing voice.

Weaknesses and Limitations

Shadi is heeeavily offence-biased, and takes hits like a little girl. He basically has to avoid attacks in order to stay in the game. Also, if something prevents him from using his magic, he's pretty screwed. As a fire specialist, his ability to deal with things that resist fire is limited, at best.

Other Notes

Okay, Shadi was supposed to be very pale in contrast to the Gerudo, but I caved when I saw how sexy he was with a tan. I am weak. He has, however, become possibly my only character ever to have brown eyes.

Roleplay Notes

Shadi is probably my single most portable character - he can easily transplant to any iteration of the Zeldaverse, as long as he has either Gerudo, or something like their culture. In short, he's a free man! :)

Trivia

  • Shadi's theme song is Androgyny by Garbage
  • In an ideal world, Shadi would be voiced by Ishida Akira, for a history of seductive pretty boys like Nagisa Kaworu (Evangelion) and Hiwatari Satoshi (DNAngel).
  • Shadi's name is a real name meaning, in fact, 'Songbird' (it's Arabian IIRC). I just thought it was super-pretty, so I had to save it for somebody.
  • Shadi's name is pronounced: Sha as in shard, di as in sardine. Stress on the "di".
  • Shadi's title/tagline comes jointly from his name's real-world meaning, and from references to Songbird (Eva Cassidy, though she was covering it) and Stairway to Heaven. In the original version of SotA, most of the plot related to lines from this song, though the effect wore off as the number of plot threads expanded.
Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License