Tanis is not a very imposing figure. He's a scrawny thing, a male lamia with sandy-blonde hair that seems unruly even at the best of times, with bright blue inquisitive eyes. He is, perhaps, ten feet long at the most, and dressed in a hand-me-down robe which is two sizes too large for him, the sleeves constantly drooping over to cover his hands. His lower half has the coloration of a common corn snake, his upper half fair-skinned, with a few freckles to hint at his recent embarkation into the life of an adventurer. Other items of note include, of course, a heavy book that he's inclined to keep on his person at all times, and a necklace made of carved bone.
He's young, too, at the tender age of sixteen, having endeavored to venture out into the world in the hopes of learning magic. Unfortunately, the lamia has one thing in particular that holds him back; he has a rather debilitating speech impediment that makes it difficult to enunciate spells, very hard to relate to people, and nearly impossible to make people take him seriously. It is for this reason that he has yet to find a wizard's college or tutor worth noting that will take him in... so he's resolved to try and teach himself, while he searches. And his search has, at last, brought him here.
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Tanis is, yes, a 'wissthard', as in arcane spellcaster. He's only just learning how to make this whole magic thing work, so he is by no means a powerhouse, but he does however have a desire to learn, and can be surprisingly determined on this front.
The book he carries with him is, of course, his spellbook, and though it is protected from most conventional forms of damage, he's still not exactly willing to part with it.
The necklace, too, is a focus for his magic, made of dragon ivory, and like the spellbook, was a possession of a late family member.
It's worth noting, as well, that Tanis is... relatively uninitiated in the ways of predation. He doesn't handle extremes of temperature very well, and while cold is highly unpleasant... High temperatures tend to get him ever so slightly... drunk, and sluggish. Make of that what you will.
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For preferences, see
Logan.