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| - The Zahir is ancestral lord of Castle Darkwater and was the last master of the group of rivergoing mercenaries known as Darkwater Deepers. He has been over the Aegis wall three times, served as Imperial Watermaster, been engaged to Mirabelle Vozhd-Kahar and Sahna Nillu at various times but married neither, taken the mark of a Mage of Fastheld, nearly died at the hands of Wildlings and human foes alike ... and somehow survived it all. As the snow ceased to fall in 628 ATA, Thayndor disappeared one day. One afternoon he was at Darkwater Keep, and the next -- gone.
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| abstract
| - The Zahir is ancestral lord of Castle Darkwater and was the last master of the group of rivergoing mercenaries known as Darkwater Deepers. He has been over the Aegis wall three times, served as Imperial Watermaster, been engaged to Mirabelle Vozhd-Kahar and Sahna Nillu at various times but married neither, taken the mark of a Mage of Fastheld, nearly died at the hands of Wildlings and human foes alike ... and somehow survived it all. The name Thayndor Zahir and title Lord of Darkwater are well-known throughout the realm. Thayndor's father raised him at Castle Darkwater in the midst of the rowdy but loyal Deepers. Noble and Freelander alike were his tutors, although the Zahir learned well his father's lessons of noblesse oblige and the limitations of the Freelander class. His mother died in childbirth. He was raised by his father to be a leader. At the age of eighteen - in 621 ATA - he rebelled from his heritage, forsaking the martial life for leisure and women. He was sent from Darkwater to stay with distant cousin Tomassa Zahir at Bramblestone Keep and relearn some semblance of discipline while making connections with the Forest District Zahirs. Discipline came to Thayndor in 623, in the form of a brutal duel with Demetrius Da Voe, a much older Freelander claiming noble birth. The loss of the duel wounded Thayndor's pride; a renewed interest and proficiency in the martial arts was the scar tissue that now protects his ego. When Moldor Zahir died later the same year, Thayndor Zahir inherited the Castle, the Deepers and all the responsibility coming with it. The death of his father forced Thayndor to revisit all the old lessons crafty Moldor Zahir had taught him; all the wise words and advice both accepted and ignored; and, most importantly, the realization that for all his faults Moldor Zahir had lived well and died happily of old age. In death, Moldor Zahir gained much higher esteem from his son than he held in life. In 627 ATA rumors began to circulate that Thayndor Zahir was Shadow-Touched. The rumors explained much: the strange absences and long periods out of contact that some say cost him his Imperial Council position, his willingness to travel beyond the Aegis and to risk contact with the Shadow, his apparently complete comfort in all but the most extreme weather conditions. As the snow ceased to fall in 628 ATA, Thayndor disappeared one day. One afternoon he was at Darkwater Keep, and the next -- gone. Three months later he returned at Eventide Keep, to Voreyn Zahir, in the form of a massive beast. He had lost control of his Shadow powers and come, inexplicably, to Voreyn. He was chased off the Keep grounds with arrows, outlawed from Zahir territory, and later turned himself in for violating the Syladris Amendment. After serving one month in royal prison, he was released on the recommendation of the Imperial Cult to Night's Edge, where he was to complete the task of regaining control of his powers. It was a controversial decision, and the furthest extension of the Cult's tenuous new belief that one can walk with the Shadow without falling to it. House Zahir welcomed him back into its fold, taking his lands but promising him a return to title should he complete his sentence. He later completed his sentence and has fulfilled his duty to Royal Law. But not, or perhaps never, to public opinion.
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