Zafiil Paidiiza Qodii

Third messiah of the Faulfenza. "You will be the FireBorn who knows that for good to matter, it must be chosen over error. And that error is not always easy to resist.”

Appearance and Personality

Was born with the "classic" coloration and build: powerfully muscled but lean, with black fur (glossy, blue highlights), scarlet fire surfaces and white smoke surfaces. Blue-violet eyes. Long hair, with waves.

After her apotheosis, she had a crimson coat like the previous Fireborns: "Not Qufal's scarlet, and not Faullaizaf's deeper ember-red... but her own crimson, like the heart of an engine, driving a ship toward the Promise." Afterwards, Faulza "strengthened the MindFire" in her, and allowed her to strengthen it in others; from this point forward, the Faulfenza can walk through fire without harm.

Biography

Life Prior to Ministry

She was born on Quapendai, the Seeker's Side of the double planet Qufiil, in the small area Paidiiza by the sea, on the side of the planet facing its sister (and thus subject to the strange lighting and tidal conditions). At the age of 32, she was sent to foster on Quafiirla, in the village of Qodii, where she spent thirty years before heading to the Hearth to undergo the training to qualify as a Faulfiirla, one of the leaders who captain ships on their quest to find the Others (aliens) and the Lost Kin, sundered from them when they left their first planet, Quzen. She succeeded in that training, served two decades as Qodii's Favored Dancer to fulfill her service requirements, and became Faulfiirla of the ship Laizafzafiir.

In the Alliance

Zafiil's ship discovered the Alliance on the border between the Alliance and the Chatcaava, in the solar system of Akana Ris. Her ship was destroyed by pirates, and she was rescued by FIA's Hold 9, and taken to an abandoned Chatcaavan station (inhabited now by the Alliance and used by Fleet) for medical care. Afterwards, she and Hold 9 searched the planet for survivors, and found none, as they had been taken captive or killed by the pirates. After recovering the bodies, FIA remanded them to Zafiil, who took them home on a gifted ship, the Slipstream, to Qufiil.

As the Fireborn

She lived roughly 370 years before dying, young; her presumed cause of death was joint-olding combined with the effects of visiting lighter gravity worlds, but was mostly due to the effects of the slide journeys.

Prior to her death, she returned to Scrolls-keeping and there recorded several prophecies, and wrote messages for future Faulfenza to read. "...planned a private letter for the next FireBorn, one that would be as shocking for that individual to receive as Faullaizaf's had been for her. Letters for Jan and Luna; letters for other future Faulfenza, whose names she woke up knowing though they hadn't yet been born, and letters for them to distribute."

She left instructions as well, for a box to be opened by Daqan when "he says it's time. [...] And he'll tell you who is to read it." This box was originally set aside for her by the second FireBorn.

Miracles

Renii said to her: "You renewed the God's Promise. Now you are renewing His gift to Qudii."

• The miracle of the mute made whole (her foster father, Neden)
• The miracle of the cliff, also sometimes called the miracle of the shuttle crash
• The miracle of the fire renewed (in which Qudii's gift was enhanced)
• The calming of the quake
• The fusing of stone (for the cliff at the memorial site)

The first healing at Liiza's overnight house is often part of the list. Other healings are reported, but not separately cited as evidence.

Some scholars conflate the miracle of the cliff with the miracle of the renewed fire; others claim that the survival of the Faulfenza at the crash is a separate miracle from the changes to the MindFire.

Prophecies

• The Coming of the FireBorn (danced at Luna's womb blessing)
• The Promise Renewed (first Danced in Qodii)

Family

• Parents: Mother Qazen (marine biologist) and father Paden (architect)
• Siblings: Brother Zepiiqua (also a space explorer) and baby sister Liizen.
• Foster Parents: Baila and Neden of Qodii

Timeline

• Chronologically, Zafiil was born between the time Liolesa was born and the time the Pelted left Earth, somewhere between 2341 and 2361. (The Alliance was founded in 2471, which would have been marked as 1 BA). Putting it at 2351. This makes her around 120ish years old when the Alliance was formed.
• Zafiil was fostered at the age of 32. She spent ten years being schooled at the Hearth, and 20 years in service afterwards, at the village of Qodii as their Favored Dancer.
• Zafiil's work as Emissary lasted "decades," long enough for the crew of the Laizafzafiir to become as family.
• Zafiil's explorations of the Alliance (beginning with Akana Ris) probably fell around 175 BA, about sixteen years after the truce was signed with the Chatcaava in 159 BA. She is about 300 years old at this point (a young adult!)
• The Rapprochement (140 BA, probably? 141?) had happened only 19 years prior to her discovery of Akana Ris.
• Zafiil was born during Maraesa's reign and died after Liolesa took the throne (and about seventy years after the incident with Fasianyl and Sellelvi). At the time Zafiil discovers the Alliance, the Alliance has only been aware of and allied with the Eldritch for 98 years (about).
• While Zafiil was on Qufiil, growing up, being fostered, and then moving to the Hearth to learn her trade and captain a few missions, the Pelted were engineered, fled Earth in the Exodus; Earth had its Mars/Terra war; the Pelted discovered Well technology, founded the Alliance, settled its first planets, engineered its third generation races, allied with the Eldritch and discovered the Chatcaava. It is notable that all these immensely important events happened within her lifetime, and not even a large chunk of it. The Alliance is very young, compared to the Faulfenzair civilization.
• Technology-wise, Well-driven vessels are less than 200 years old when Zafiil discovers the Alliance. (174 years, about, with repeaters a little older at 176ish years).
• Died (untimely) around 250 BA, with over half of her life left (she would have been just about 370).

Quotes

• "I think if you want something enough, you must accept that you will have to risk something for it."
• "I have such good news, for you and all Faulfenza. The God’s promises weren’t lies. The path we need to walk is shrouded in darkness, but only because we travel toward a supernal peak, where the light will never fail. This is the fulfillment of Faullaizaf’s prophecies, the ones you and I swore to explore the galaxy in search of. The time is now...!"
• "The God did not give us the ability to reason so that we would let it gather dust. You may ask all the questions of me you wish. But some questions can't be answered by reason... only faith. And you must decide, yourself, whether you are ready to have faith in Him. I can't make you."
• "I’m not sure we were the ones who dealt Quzen’s final blow. And I’m not sure it will stay destroyed."
• "I am the Faulfenza’s messiah, not the Others’. That will be someone else’s task."

Images

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  First Concept Sketch, 1994
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  Portrait, 1995
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  Young Zafiil and Jeqezii
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  Zafiil in Liiza
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  Zafiil and Amakitia Fox
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  Iiden confronts Zafiil
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  FireBorn ministry
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  Zafiil portrait, 2020