CRIMSON JAGUAR was born Suadi Ilmadre, the son of a shoemaker and a fortune-teller, one of the scattered Izhalvi peoples of Harborhead. He was the first and only child born to his parents before they were both slain by bandits on their way to Kirighast. The attackers thought to put him out of his misery, but the tattoos on his mothers hands marked her as a witch- it was bad enough luck to have murdered her without taking her child as well.

Only six years old, he might have died in those great plains, but he was found by a much more well equipped merchant caravan of the Shayanti. The wealthy leader of the caravan kept him as a slave and gopher, free to give him hazardous objectives without the guilt of endangering a child of his own people. The young Suadi, or Little Dog as he was then called, was not a gifted thief - but as he returned time after time from bungled and dangerous assignments, bruised, bleeding but still furiously alive, the merchant began to recognize his natural talent as a fighter. As he grew older, he learned the hunting skills of his people in the urban jungle of Kirighast; He made his first kill at the age of twelve. The merchant grew fond of his little assassin, whom no-one suspected capable of taking so many lives, who was so good at finding the secrets of his quarry that made them easy prey.

That fondness ended when Suadi presented evidence collected over many years of the merchant's corruption to the Capital Army, bringing down his benefactor with a thrown knife to the calf as he tried to escape. With no-where else to go, he signed up with the 47th Legion to continue his training. He knew that his father has been too weak to protect him, and resolved to dedicate his life to the aquisition of martial power, the only kind of freedom he knew.

Suadi quickly rose through the ranks, performing his duties with single-minded dedication. As a platoon commander, he led devastating sting operations against the bandit groups around Kirighast. He would often take point on these missions, not trusting his cohorts to match his discretion - only after he had silently disposed of the bandit leaders and spread panic among the rest would the men under his command rush to his aid, finding their leader showered with blood and surrounded by corpses. It was during this time that he was given the name of Crimson Jaguar.

His military career brought him respect, a living wage, and after a time a wife and a son of his own. It also brought a debilitating ennui and depression. It seemed to him that no matter how strong and skilled he became, he still lived and died at the behest of another. Worse, he was a servant of the Realm, whose exploitation and corruption became more apparent as he grew in years. Disinterested in gambling and the company of women, he turned to solitary alcoholism and drug abuse, experimenting with a wide variety of substances in search for a way out of his own psyche.

Such was his prowess that his chronic consumption didn't slow down his rise to power. His skilful investigation into an unusually insular cult of Alhat revealed the corrupting influence of the Yozis, and after a fierce duel with the cult's demon-blooded leader - whose claws carved the triple-scar across his face - he was recognized by one of the agents of the local Wyld hunt. It seemed that he had a new purpose - instead of hunting his fellow men, he would be part of an elite group dedicated to purging the enemies of humanity from the world. It seemed like a new day was dawning..

NOTES ON SUADI'S FUTURE

The Crimson Jaguar is not a leader. Foremost, he is a hunter and a killer. In an ideal world, he would work as part of a perfect Circle of Solars, allowing the Zenith to be the inspirational leader and figurehead. However, his growing dissatisfaction with his life of serving unworthy masters, coupled with the new sense of purpose gifted by his Solar exaltation, means that if he cannot find a leader he feels he can put his sword behind, he may feel called to assume the mantle of leadership. He is not well inclined towards leadership, as reflected by his relatively low social abilities and lack of favored social abilities. Investing his experience here will be inefficient, and he will assume such a role with reluctance; however, if this is the best way to serve his people, then so be it.

Suadi's drug habit has not been cleaned away by his Exaltation. It is prone to act on him in his most vulnerable moments, of which it is often the cause; a night terror will leave him sweating, shaking and reaching for the medicine bag. Worse, he will sometimes be assailed by hallucinations during his waking hours, causing him to make critical errors of judgment or confusing him at a crucial moment. He is privately ashamed of his drug use, and extremely defensive about it. In his heart of hearts though, he believes that freeing himself from this burden is essential for him to realize his destiny.