{
  "character": {
    "id": "355774aa-f613-470a-8a31-faf383cbfaf1",
    "slug": "zurkaled-ethomit",
    "name": "Zurkaled Ethomit",
    "race": "Human",
    "character_class": "Paladin",
    "jan_favorite": false,
    "is_ff_portrait": false,
    "profile_url": "https://framedfantasy.com/pages/hero?h=zurkaled-ethomit",
    "character_url": "https://hall-library.framedfantasy.com/characters/zurkaled-ethomit",
    "character_json_url": "https://hall-library.framedfantasy.com/characters/zurkaled-ethomit.json",
    "character_markdown_url": "https://hall-library.framedfantasy.com/characters/zurkaled-ethomit.md",
    "original_image_url": "https://obadckrukccwkjgpbsxa.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/portraits/1777189068973_ayjqwf.webp",
    "image_url": "https://hall-library.framedfantasy.com/images/zurkaled-ethomit",
    "thumbnail_url": "https://obadckrukccwkjgpbsxa.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/portraits/1777189068973_ayjqwf_thumb.webp",
    "crop": {
      "x": 50,
      "y": 50,
      "zoom": 100
    },
    "story_excerpt": "Zurkaled was raised in the amber glow of The Silver Ladle, a merchant-quarter pub where the air smelled of hops and woodsmoke. His father, a man who traded a heavy Templar’s mantle for a humble leather apron, taught him that life and death are practiced over a boiling pot. Behind the counter, Zurkal",
    "story": "Zurkaled was raised in the amber glow of The Silver Ladle, a merchant-quarter pub where the air smelled of hops and woodsmoke. His father, a man who traded a heavy Templar’s mantle for a humble leather apron, taught him that life and death are practiced over a boiling pot. Behind the counter, Zurkaled became a silent observer of the human condition. He watched how a man’s grip on a mug loosened with a secret, and how the 'Evil' of the world often wore the fine silks of a merchant-guild master. He grew up learning from the clientele, practicing combat from bar brawls, soldier scuffles and drunken spellcasters. He studied the folklore of the common folk—the old herbal remedies and survival tricks passed down by weary patrons. He wasn't just a bar-hand; he was a student of the 'Hearth,' learning to discern the weight of a soul by the way a person treated those who served them and what they gave back after feeding the soul. Zurkaled was born into the steam of The Silver Ladle, a merchant-quarter sanctuary run by a man who once broke his Templar vows to feed a starving city. His father traded a silvered blade for a heavy iron ladle, teaching Zurkaled that a Paladin’s true duty isn't found in a cathedral, but at the hearth. He was raised on the Psychology of the Counter: the art of reading a man’s soul by the way he holds his mug and the weight of his coin.\nBehind the bar, Zurkaled became an expert in the \"Unsung Sciences.\" He didn't study scrolls; he studied patrons. He learned Persuasion by settling tavern brawls and Insight by spotting the \"soul-rot\" in dishonest traders. From the whispers of weary travelers, he gathered a library of Folklore, mastering Survival and Medicine through the traditional remedies and woodsman’s tricks passed across the wood-stained counter. When a magical blight—the Shadow-Cough—was used by the ruling guilds to \"cull\" the poor, Zurkaled’s hidden fire ignited. He spent his nights in the wild harvesting forbidden roots and his days in the kitchen brewing cleansing tonics. He worked as a ghost, mending the neighborhood while the authorities stayed behind locked doors. It was in this darkness he met Elara, an herbalist whose quiet zealotry matched his own. Their romance was forged in the rhythm of shared mercy, a bond of \"Hearth and Herb\" that remains his North Star. Zurkaled now walks the world as a Hidden Zealot. He wears his armor under a soot-stained merchant's apron and carries a mallet that looks like a butcher's tool but strikes with the heat of a forge. He seeks no glory and sings no hymns; he simply moves toward the cold places of the world to ensure the \"Common Hearth\" never goes out."
  }
}