azarias is, at his core, generous &&. kindhearted. he is the type of person who wouldn’t hesitate to share a loaf of bread with a beggar on the street or leave out a bowl of milk one night for the neighbourhood cat until he starts coming home to find whole swaths of them waiting by his front door. he would rather help in whatever small way he can rather than turn a blind eye to someone in need.

at the same time, however, there is a limit to azarias’s patience, and when it runs thin, he can be known to be rather sharp and blunt, but rarely is he ever downright mean. one would have to be pretty damn horrible to draw out that side of him. he would sooner give the silent treatment to someone who’s crossed him before he resorted to snapping out obscenities or hurling insults.

azarias should never be mistaken for a pushover. he is more than capable of standing his ground and will not allow others to walk all over him. in the same vein, he’s very adamant about encouraging growth &&. perseverancein others. he’s happy to lend a helping hand when someone needs it, but he’s not in the habit of being taken advantage of or taken for granted. he’ll be sure to give you the tools and resources to stand on your own two feet rather than let you hang on by a thread.

as a skilled sorcerer, azarias is capable of performing a number of spells by way of ritual, incantation, or potion.

after resurrecting, azarias has become particularly attuned to the murmuring of the afterlife.

azarias can read tarot cards to uncover details about a person or situation, sometimes even divining clues of the future.

azarias was born in firent, a theocracy that praised magic users who received their gifts from "god" and spurned those who didn't. anyone who learned magic any other way than through divine worship was considered a blasphemous heretic and called a "sorcerer", as opposed to the well-revered priests.

azarias took pride in being called a sorcerer in spite of the stigma attached to the word. he hated to be called a "witch" or "magician", feeling that those words stripped him of the trials he underwent to come into his magical prowess.

his parents had been blindly devout tot he divine patrons who ruled the nation through the papess. he was too young back then to have had any weight in a discussion about it with them. it was this that drove him toward the study of magic in the first place, desperate to find the meaning behind his parents' worship, but while the priests and priestesses taught him what they could, he never got his spark until he turned away from their god and drew from the magic in the world around him instead.

his parents were far from enthused by his discovery. they insisted that it was still a gift from their god, that it just found him in a unique way, but azarias didn't hold the same convictions. unfortunately, the last meaningful moments they had with each other involved a heated argument over the very same topic just before the red plague reached them.

azarias tried in vain to take them to the island of sirenia where the papess had retreated for safety, but they were denied entry, leaving his parents to rot outside its walls. it was then that azarias had officially, beyond a shadow of a doubt, lost his faith in god.

before they passed, his parents told him of an aunt who lived in vesuvia and would take him in. he still wasn't of age at the time, so he had no choice but to travel to vesuvia when his parents inevitably passed into the afterlife. his aunt eliana taught him everything she knew about magic, raising him into a powerful sorcerer without the help of any gods. when he came of age, he began to travel, partly so that he could acquire rare herbs and the like for his aunt's shop, and partly so that he could broaden his magical horizons and attempt to find a way to stop the red plague that continued to ravage the world around them.

he continued to visit his aunt frequently, delivering ingredients and helping her run her shop and attending a handful of the sepctacular masquerades celebrating the count lucio's birthday. he met many interesting people during his travels to and from vesuvia, even finding love for the first time in a man who gave his wit a run for its money.

however, all good things must come to an end. one day, he returned to vesuvia to find that the red plague had reared its ugly head in none other than his aunt. he had found traces of it elsewhere, tried to no avail to heal its victims with his magic, but he had never anticipated that it would come to vesuvia, let alone hook its claws into the last of his family. he spent her last days by her side, tending to her and making her as comfortable as he could until she drew her last breath.

this was what spurred him to hunt down a cure for the red plague. he wasn't able to save his aunt, but he would be damned if he sat idly by while the voracious disease continued to feast upon the world at large. he set off once more in search of an answer, but found the same thing every other foolish scientist and healer found: nothing. his lover's letters kept coming in waves, begging him to come back home before he inherited his family's fate.

reluctantly, he did return, only to find his partner packing away their belongings. he insisted that they had to flee the city and get ahead of the plague—he mentioned seeking refuge on the island of sirenia, which still stood tall as one of the last bastions against the spread of the disease. azarias made it clear that he refused to take the coward's path when there was still research to be done, discoveries to be made, people to help and to heal. unfortunately, this was one topic they couldn't agree on. they raised their voices at each other until they were both blue in the face, and then his lover left on his own, telling azarias to come find him when he had come to his senses.

they would never see each other again after that on account of azarias's untimely demise. for the next two years, he kept looking for an answer, eventually finding himself under the tutelage of doctor julian devorak. azarias had never much cared for medicine and science since he had always been able to rely on magic, but he quickly learned that there was much more to the practice than the extent to which magic could reach. he studied under julian as one of his apprentices, both equally hellbent on finding a cure.

tragically, it was this single-mindedness that led to azarias's death. he had neglected his health in order to pursue his research. a part of him had known, even then, that it didn't matter whether anyone knew that he was sick or not. the cure was still well out of reach. all that he cared about was contributing what he could in the meantime. this was why he decided not to write to his lover about it; he didn't need to suffer with the knowledge of azarias's unavoidable death after the way they had left things.

and then he died.

...and then, he came back to life.

he had forgotten everything about his former life after his resurrection. he wasn't even aware that he had been resurrected. all he knew now was that he was a sorcerer—someone who could wield otherworldly magicks—and he was responsible for the shop he had inherited from his late aunt...whoever that had been.

he tries not to let the massive hole in his memory get to him. someone had told him that the amnesia was just an unfortunate side effect from his terrible accident. something about having fallen very ill and slipping into a brief coma. it was all very vague; no one seemed to be able to provide many details. it would have helped if someone could at least explain why he was able to see and hear ghosts everywhere he went, but he's too nervous to bring it up. people might start to think he's gone mad.

azarias is a sorcerer living in post-plague vesuvia, completely unaware of the events of his life up until a few months ago. he continues to manage his magic shop, rebuilding his magical abilities, and tries to piece together who he really is.

i won't be assuming any pre-established relationships in this verse. azarias is an apprentice oc, but he can be flexible if canon characters who want to interact with him here already have a pre-established apprentice!

following the events of uncovering the devil's plan and stopping him, azarias was put on death's doorstep and the only way to save him was to give him the devil's heart. now he has taken the place of the major arcana and has undergone a dark transformation.

depending on what point in the timeline in which the interaction takes place, azarias's corruption could range from "slightly unhinged and emotionally detached" to "actively plotting world domination". take your pick.

the world is saved and azarias is left to reckon with the ghosts of his past. now that he has his memories back, he should feel whole again, but instead he just feels...wrong. out of place. struggling to find a purpose in this new life he's been given, he extends an invitation to any and all aspiring sorcerers and magicians out in the world to learn from him.

with the wisdom of the fool to guide his hand, he ushers forth the next generation of magic users with a warning from the past and a wish for the future. he doesn't know what's left for him now, but he can at least pass along what he's learned to anyone who's willing to listen.