Argal

Argal grew up in a poor family in Vetuza's outer ring, in the grey area between peasant and Vagabond. Her parents were descended from refugees from Stildane who settled in Vetuza to make a life as artisans. The family didn't flourish and fell into poverty, slowly assimilating into Maradian culture and losing their starspawn traits.   Argal was unlucky enough to inherit her predecessor's mutations: lizardlike eyes that blink sideways, patches of white-translucent scales on her skin, crocodile teeth bluge from her humanlike mouth in a way that appears outright fiendish to many, and her lips are sharp and carapace-like. She wasn't the only Starspawn in the outer ring; another starspawn, an Elf named Keselio, did try and befriend her for a time. But Keselio was socially accepted and kept trying to pressure Argal into making herself more "beautiful" as a path to acceptance. And Argal's mutations were simply too radical to be easily "fixed". When Argal eventually entered a deep depression, the friendship soured and the two parted ways.   Argal's mutations came with magical gifts that could be a path out of poverty for her. For a time, it seemed that she might be able to secure a better social position if she just disguised herself magically for her introductions. People in Vetuza could recognize her as useful even if they considered her deformed and sick by default. She tried this briefly, but found that the pressure was too much. Magically sick people, like people with Dhampirism, were often confined to "sanitoriums" and "reform monasteries" and made to perform labor for the state in confined conditions. The threat of this combined with a sense of increased scrutiny and social pressure led to Argal quickly burning out entirely. She entered a terrible depression, lost her job, lost her few friends, was thrown out by her parents, and resigned herself to drink and death.   That is when the Truthspeakers found her. This cult of the Martyr were more welcoming than any group prior. They still pitied her for her body and her health problems (related to her body) but didn't treat her as sick, immoral, disgusting, or dangerous. And the more zealous she appeared, the more people piled on positive attention. It was her first time being popular and admired. It was intoxicating to her even as she quietly hoped that people would treat her as an actual person. And that is when God Squad found her. They befriended her and encouraged her to reject the Truthspeakers as self-destructive and conformist. They made a path for her to leave the lower city with them, though her way beyond that is unknown.