History

Takeda was born and raised in Research Temple Pytheas, but spent much of his adult life abroad as an Acquisitor of Cryptic Artifacts. He is of a rare stripe for a Pythean, being exceptionally and often overwhelmingly gregarious. But it served him well in his travels, as instead of plumbing the depths of space for faint cryptic signals, he plied his personal skills to track down artifacts in bustling markets and other social settings. 

Takeda wasn't quite kicked out of RTP, but he never really fit in due to his talkativeness. He'd return from a voyage and reconnect with the locals, who seemed disappointed that he had come back to talk their ears off about all the amazing things he'd seen. Slowly, he started to see them as insular and hidebound (not to mention ungrateful), and eventually renounced his aspirations in the Temple. 

Now he travels on his own accord as a merchant, accruing his own personal artifact collection. He isn't going to crack the secrets of the artifacts himself, but he is enjoying the freedom and the ability to do good where he can. 

Personality

It's not unusual for native Pytheans to have many obsessions with science and spirituality, but Zaph stands out in his overwhelming excitement and lack of focus. He will generally take several tangents in a conversation, but it's all with a plan to circle back and link it all together - except most people don't have the patience for that. So he has ended up a bit of a loner in his personal life. Maybe he has an animal friend who can tolerate his jabbering.

Zaph is adorned to the extent that he's often mistaken for a Hyperscribe, but he just has a busy and eccentric sense of fashion. If he likes something, he's gonna wear it. His various piercings and accessories give him the look of something between a hippie, a shaman, a punk and a fucking dork.

He speaks with a very slight Pythean (Language) accent, but knows several languages.