Itza "Z" Nošticov

"YOU ARE A FORCE OF NATURE" "YOU'RE DAMN FUCKING RIGHT"

Appearance
Itza “Z” Nosticov is a 5’3’’ moon elf of slender but muscular frame with wide hips and slant shoulders. Her cornflower blue skin is freckled white dots that resemble stars and splotches of purples and greens that resemble nebulas along her shoulders, cheeks, and forearms. Z’s silver hair, with it’s traces of lavender dye at the tips, is worn up in a tight bun with a large strand of hair swept to the left when she impersonates her deceased sibling; however, in the safety of knowledgeable company she wears in down allowing the naturally wavy hair fall in a bob. She has high cheekbones and a prominent Roman nose along with long, wide, and curved elven ears that are pierced with jade earrings. Two large, deep-set, black eyes, with yellow irises and slit pupils, hide behind circular, golden framed, cracked glasses. her full lips are often curled into a sneer or grimace and small smile lines can be seen near the edges of her mouth.

After the events of Academic Dishonesty, Itza has had a change in outfit. She now wears a white cotton huipil (mayan short-sleeved blouse) that extends into long sleeves made from white lace with cornflower stitching. Her shirt is worn poorly tucked into chocolate breeches that are rolled up to her knees, revealing a faded tattoo of a black feathered serpent tattoo curled around her right leg. Over her huipil, Z wears a pied vest (turquoise blue on the left and plum purple) with mulberry and gold baroque style inlay and trim, as well as, a long oxford blue cloak with golden inlay that looks like a ring of feathers around the neck and the scales of a dragon. With it's hood pulled up, the hood's inlay depicts the face of a feathered dragon. On her waist, a stark white waist-band restricts and shapes her form over her pants and vest and on her feet, she wears simple wooden sandals. On her neck, she wears a golden clockwork amulet inscribed with arcane runes, which pairs with the two leather braces inset with three golden ridges on her forearms. Hooked to her waistband, she has quiver full of quetzal feather arrows and across her back sits a pine bo staff reinforced with copper, carved with a coiling coatl from tip to tip and wrapped with string connected to owl feathers and large, decayed, rabbit's foot and a sweetgum short-bow engraved with concentric rings around a simple amethyst gem on the riser and pale leather straps around the grip and limbs.

Personality
Due to her long stretch of impersonating Z is an incredibly secretive but outspoken individual, simultaneously favoring to spend most of her time away from the other crew members, as well as seemingly enjoying butting in to conversation to try and sway the outcome to her favor or maybe just to sew chaos (it's not known why she does this). She is also very confident in her abilities and ideologies, often seeming brash, prideful, and/or rude. This has caused her to get into more than a couple tussles with her crew members, some literal. It is not clear how much of this aloofness and brashness is Z's real personality, or an outcome of her impersonation of Ahtziri. Z really hates rivers.

Backstory
Z grew up a noble child of the ruling family of Cha'Haak with her twin sibling, Ahtziri, and two older siblings. her parents were traditionalists and so did not approve of her transition abusing her physically and mentally, as well as disowning her which likely lead to her winding up as a pirate on the Saltscrew. On top of the pressure of social norms, as claimed in The Ladle, Itza and Ahtziri were the subject of the prophecy of the Hero Twins, that claimed they would bring their city into greatness and prosperity Z blames this prophecy being shoved down her throats for the sour states them and her sister have wound up in (something confrimed by Ahtziri's ghost in A Look in the Mirror), being forced to conform to even more specific guidelines than usual.

At some point, during their life, Ahtziri and Itza had a falling out because of Z's insistence to be as different from her parents' expectations as possible. Itza, as Ahtziri, expressed guilt over this but it's unclear if the real Ahtziri felt the same. After the falling out, the two reconnected and Itza offered to help her twin in their dissertation work, providing free transportation and board on her ship, the Ghost. This partnership ended sooner than expected when the two ventured into the Slate Circle and became shipwrecked tragically killing everyone except Itza. In her grief, Itza refused to let Ahtziri die with a tarnished reputation and so upon reaching land, assumed her dead twins identity to continue their research into the Firstwater Civilization.

Campaign Arc One: Siren's Song
Ever since boarding the ship as the crew's barrelman, Z has been a notable presence, often speaking her mind even when it is neither her place nor time to do so. They were a constant presence towards the sideline of the group attempting to steer the group away from violence; however rarely practicing what she preaches. As their expedition progressed, Z attempted to stick with smaller groups in order to be around as few people as possible. She'd become accustomed to working with Mireille and Ducat ever since her mission to the pirate's cove in Black Bay, however during the mutiny that trust was lost. Most notably, while Z began pro-Gore, in an attempt to just stick through this and make cash, she became increasingly dissatisfied with Captain Gore's leadership. In Fragile Tempers, Z interrogated Gore of his true reasons to the Mistral's mission, resigning afterwards. On the Sapphire Isles, EFAIN and Z's mutiny plan boiled over with the crew questioning Captain Gore after a violent encounter with an Umber Hulk. While some members appeared to have been calmed by Gore's scant answers and promises, Z appeared unimpressed and whenever Fry's full mutiny began, she took advantage of the chaos to assert her own agenda and her defacto claim of captain. After some immediate backlash, Z gave up the captains chair, asserting that the crew should stick together to accomplish their various goals. Now, Z is the first mate and pilot of the Mistral, however, her social relationships appear to have degraded back to square one.

Campaign Arc Two: Reunions
After being appointed, somewhat of her own volitions, to the role of first mate of the Mistral, Z and the rest of the crew were captured by a false-flagging Cruel Cutlass. In exchange for their lives, Z helped negotiate that her comrades and her would delve into the mythic Antiquary to retrieve the Frozen Crown. While there was the pressing incarceration and murder that motivated this, Itza has truly motivated by and ultimately persuaded her crewmates because of the scroll of True Resurrection, which would allow her to bring back her dead sibling and atoning for her past sins. Once arriving in the city of Eldershore, she and her new untrusted compatriot, Spider Scuttle, lead the charge to find the legendary vault. She became especially frustrated by the constant distractions that the other crew were engaged in; including, the complications with Tara, Mirari's plan to reconnect with the Earl Gray, and Ducat's new found job (although she did partake in her won series of distractions). Eventually, with the help of some criminals and a spacey half-elf, the crew was able to locate the Antiquary, although it took some amount of effort to gain access by reuniting Laithe with their spectral father. Once getting to the Antiquary, Z was met with reveal that the Curator, the mysterous murderer/guardian to the vault, was Alta Keenseeker, a local academic Z had interviewed for information. Keenseeker demanded the Codex from Z, making jibes at her true identity. While Z attempted civility, it wasn't long before she returned to her feral ways and combat ensued, almost killing her in the process. In the desperation of battle, Itza revealed herself to the party as the previously believed to be dead twin.

Campaign Arc Four
After Mireille was almost kidnapped by a ninja, Itza had a confrontation with the individual on the deck of the Mistral and brokered a deal. The individual agreed to give Mireille until she was a legal adult to live out her childhood, at which point they would return to take and train her. To secure the deal, Itza went with them in Mireille's stead, since she had been the previous Hero Twin.

Mirari Arossa
Over the course of her expedition, she has made few true friends, but has made a decisive enemy of Mirari Arossa. Z began disliking Mirari ever since they learned of Mirari's capitalist tendencies and strong belief in fate and destiny (ideas antithetical to Z's whole deal); however, Mirari's quick thinking and healing in the Black Hollow ruins seemed to warm Z up to him just a little. Mirari was able to extort this sense of reciprocity to rope Z into the investigations into Mayor Lemalu. During this investigation, the group was forced to confront a pirate captain, in which, Mirari was boiling over due to previous run-ins and Z was forced to calm the situation down by revealing her past piracy, tarnishing whatever trust had been built. her relationship further deteriorated since, resulting in a hand-to-hand combat in which Z kicked Mirari's ass.

With the mutiny of Roland Gore, Z and Mirari's relationship came to a head with each one asserting that the other would make a better captain. During this heated debate, Z became vulnerable and grew angry with Mirari's self-deprecating assertions of his own inability. Although Z appears to still dislike Mirari strongly, Z appears to understand him and be trying her best to tolerate him and maybe that's all she can ask of the capitalist.

Ducat Bucket
After the events of the Mutiny, Z is unsure of Ducat's real motives and thinks their kindness may be their greatest folly but Ducat has proven more than capable on and off the high seas. Ducat is kind, intelligent, and often quiet, which Z seems to find charming. Maybe they'll bond over their research and maybe she can learn something from an actual scholar.

Mireille ????
Z has offered to help/teach Mireille on numerous occasions, after overhearing her possibly running away from home due to traditionalist parents, after learning she can not swim, and she was the first crewmate Z offered to travel with after her resignation from Gore's crew. After the events of A Look in the Mirror, Z realized that Mireille is likely the inheritor of whatever power connected her to the Hero Twins. Despite this, Z remains easily infuriated by the overly righteous teenager, especially whenever their conflicting moral compasses butt heads.

EFAIN

EFAIN has routinely demonstrated that they will do anything they need to remain safe and secure. While Z wasn't sure of EFAIN's motives (let alone, purpose) at first, their self-preservation instinct seems to match Z's in ferocity. Z knows she can't really trust EFAIN, but in an odd way, she is more comfortable with that than the seemingly more trusting Ducat and Mireille. Maybe EFAIN isn't a friend, but to Z, they are an important and known ally.