Your Nickname: Sparky
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Are you over thirteen? Yes
How did you find us and decide to write with us? RPG Directory
If you have written other characters here: Yes
If Yes, list them all: Jonas Trevelyan, Raizel Cohen, Noriko Wakahisa, Kurby Bagnold, and Terry Katsaros.
Is this a Primary or Secondary Character?: Primary
Full Character Name: Atash Hendurabi
Character Birthday & Age: July 28, 1975 / 34
City & Country of Birth: Shiraz, Iran
Blood Purity: Pureblood
Alma Mater: Gondhishapur (located in Khuzestan, Iran)
Job/Position: Durmstrang Professor of Spellworks
Wand: 9 1/2 inches, white saxaul, zu talon. Inflexible with a decorated shaft.
Physical Description: Atash stands just on the tall side of average, wiry with a runner's build. His hair is dark enough to be nearly black; it grows quickly, and so keeping it trimmed is a constant battle. His dark eyes are set slightly apart under heavy eyebrows, and his skin is a tawny beige. He usually has some semblance of a beard, and though he often smiles, it is almost always a faint, polite expression rather than one that carries any meaning.
Atash tends to dress sharply, even for a wizard; warm cloaks and capes are often the norm, and he always wears long sleeves and long pants. Although he clearly prides himself on his sense of fashion, one who looks closely may be able to tell that he is not entirely familiar with Muggle modes of dress. He stands straight, and speaks deliberately and with purpose.
Personality Description: It takes a lot to fluster Atash Hendurabi. Polite, calm, and well-spoken, Atash is a master of cordiality and understatement. To those who do not know him well, it often seems as though he is participating in a completely different conversation than the rest of the room, one in which both parties are being entirely polite and desire only the best for each other. Verbal sparring is, after all, an art form, and the best sorts of victories are the ones where one's opponent is left wondering if there was something that he missed.
Despite his carefully maintained manners, there is little doubt that Professor Hendurabi is a man in control of both himself and his environment. Little slips past him in class; though he is not one to carelessly demote a student to the dregs, he expects students to stay in line, and will respond quickly if they fail to meet his expectations. Few of his colleagues get past his polite outer shell. Atash will socialize as necessary, but he keeps most people at an arm's length. Social engagements always end at seven, and he rarely -- if ever -- drinks. Teaching is obviously one of his few loves in life; the rare times that he relaxes are usually inside a classroom.
But there are brief flickers of fire to the mage as well. Beyond his calm, well-mannered exterior, he is deliberate and prideful; his temper may be well concealed, but it still lurks underneath. Flashes of sarcasm occasionally show through, but usually only when he is among those that he knows best. Although he is sometimes wary to make judgements, Atash is very aware of the lengths to which he is wiling to go when something is important to him. He can be both selfish and selfless as he weighs advantages and disadvantages, and though he'll quietly insist that loyalty is very flexible, he has a hard time turning his back on long-established bonds.
Atash is very interested in both interesting people and interesting things -- he collects stories as if it were a hobby, and has a bad habit of relating too closely to parables, though he tries not to show it.
History: It was a long, hot day when Atash Hendurabi came into the world. The oldest child born to the youngest son in a well-respected Persian magical family, his birth was much anticipated by his parents. But scant few years later, the lives of the Hendurabis shifted drastically. The late 1970s saw many changes in Iran, and the magical world was revolutionized alongside the mundane. It soon became too dangerous for mages to live side by side with Muggles in the cities, and so the entire Hendurabi clan picked up and left Shiraz for Persepolis.
Persepolis was the capital of the magical community in Persia, hidden from Muggle tourists by enchantments set amongst the ruins. What Atash could remember of his childhood there was a wash of color, sand, rocks, and adventure. As a boy, he was a well-behaved, respectful child, though he lived in a world of imagination. Every day, he'd lurk outside the gate of his family's complex with his cousins, waiting impatiently for his uncles and grandfather to come home from the brand new Ministry that they were helping to build. Every evening, he'd race home behind them, and spend hours sitting at their feet to listen to tales of dragons and monsters, heroes and princesses. Late every night, he'd fall asleep dreaming of the days when he too could partake in great battles and have his own stories to tell.
The myths and legends that they fed him were far more fulfilling and exciting than the life of a young boy, but even reality had some allure to it. Atash's grandfather, who was his special favorite, had played a key role in the overthrow of the old magical ruler, and many of his uncles were integral in the new government that had formed in its wake. As he got older, Atash drank up the stories about their work as eagerly as he had tales from Shahnameh; he yearned to one day lead as exciting a life as his uncles and grandfather.
But not everyone in his family was quite so exciting. Atash's father had played no part in history. When his brothers had moved to Persepolis to become leaders of the community, Farbod Hendurabi had chosen to take up the family's old trade as a metalworker. Though he was too good of a son to want to admit it, Atash was secretly ashamed of his father. He longed to discover that Farbod had hidden away a secret past: perhaps he'd been a prince once, or he had rescued their mother from some horrific monster, or perhaps he had performed a deed so legendary that no one dared to speak of it, or they'd all been put under a curse and forbidden to ever mention it again. For more than a year, it became his secret riddle; Atash worried at it daily, intent on finding something remarkable about his father. It wasn't until he was much older and had seen far more that he finally concluded in defeat that some people simply let life pass them by.
When he was 11, it was made clear that Atash was to attend Gondhishapur alongside his cousins. The legendary Persian magical institution was hidden away in the rolling mountains of Khuzestan province, protected by enchantment to keep Muggles and prying eyes away. The teachers there were stern, with a strict code of rules; boys and girls were taught separately, and there was little allowance for misbehavior. Atash soon proved himself to be a serious, determined student, and he quickly rose to the top of his class. Though he excelled at dueling and spell-casting, he never quite let go of his love for the old legends. When he completed his formal schooling at the age of eighteen, he chose to stay on as a graduate and continue to study ancient magical techniques under a favorite teacher.
Studies like that meant travel abroad. Once he'd started, it didn't take long for Atash to discover that even more than stories, he had a thirst for the unknown. The most powerful magics seemed to have been lost to Persia's illustrious past, but there were other types of powerful magic practiced in all corners of the globe. Atash's link to Gondhishapur quickly grew tenuous, and he began to stay abroad for longer and longer. All told, he spent three years traveling throughout the world, until a shock brought it all to an end. In 1996, somewhere deep in the heart of Asia, Atash received word that his beloved grandfather had died. For the first time in years, he came home.
He was back for nearly a month before his next departure, though it came under slightly different terms. During his time home for the funeral, one of his uncles had approached him; he had offered that the family would pay for Atash's travels and studies in return for the occasional service rendered. Not thinking twice, the young man willingly agreed.
It took years for him to truly regret his decision. The intervening time was a long, slow slide beyond limits that he had never dreamed that he could cross. Knowledge was exhilarating; power was intoxicating; and his loyalty to his family meant that poor decisions were easy to justify. The stretches between official errands were spent exploring darker and darker places. After several long years abroad, he began to actively look for a way out. It was his old school and his family connections that finally offered him an escape: he used the leverage to win a teaching position there, and began to gradually pull back from the abyss.
He had never intended for the position at Gondhishapur to be anything more than temporary, and so Atash was as surprised as anyone to discover that he truly loved teaching. All of the stories and parables that he'd loved as a child came racing back with new meaning. Crafting lessons, sternly guiding students on their way to discover something new -- that was as much of a thrill as searching for his own new knowledge had been. And besides that, working as faculty at a magical school lent credibility and meaning to his own studies, as he was still fascinated by powerful, ancient magic. Doors that he'd once had to use shadows to get around opened far more readily once he had a respectable profession.
Even so, living anywhere in Iran was still a bit too close to home, and so Atash began to quietly keep an ear out for something else. In 2008, word came that a last-minute Spellworks position had opened at Durmstrang after a previous professor had left for another job. Though the school was located far in the north, the offer was too tempting: Durmstrang was one of the most prestigious European schools, and it likely hosted its own share of secrets that he had not even begun to explore. Atash applied for the position, and -- perhaps owing to his own strong background in curses and defensive magics, or perhaps simply because the Headmaster was intrigued by the idea of introducing a foreign element to his homegrown staff -- he soon received word that he would be hired.
The adjustment to Durmstrang was not quite as much of a difficulty as one might have expected. The teaching environment was fairly similar to the strict expectations at Gondhishapur; the main differences were the language, the strata, and the mixed gender classes. Midway through his first year, Professor Hendurabi had clearly settled in. Now as he starts his second full year, he is in somewhat of a stable position, though the Tetrawizard Tournament and the faculty exchange are sure to offer new challenges.
Describe your job duties and how you go about them: As a professor at Durmstrang, Professor Hendurabi teaches several different classes within the Spellworks track: defensive casting, foreign magic, and for a select few Oberteil students, special studies in the Dark Arts.
Professor Hendurabi believes that students are at the center of their own learning -- those who are driven, have talent, and want to learn will go far, and those who do not will foil themselves. His lessons vary between typical wrote learning and controlled, facilitated exploration. Bad use of parables is also a common theme.
Elaborate on your expertise in your field: - Several years traveling and studying a variety of exotic magics
- Five years teaching at Gondhishapur, a Persian magical school
- Auberon Eisenberg's sense of humor
Writing Sample:
Sum up your character in one paragraph: Polite, well-mannered, and always in control, Atash Hendurabi practices careful self-discipline. Though he rarely lets his guard down, he is still fascinated with old stories, and even more intrigued still by the idea of ancient, untamed magic.
Atash Hendurabi: Durmstrang Professor of Spellworks