Crex

A 15-year-old warforged, built near the end of the war. They did not serve in the war for long, and since then have tried out a few professions. They spent about a year working as a mercenary before deciding that they wanted to create rather than destroying things. During their time as a mercenary, they picked up the habit of eating, drinking, and "sleeping" like other beings in order to fit in, and they haven't stopped. They actually rather enjoy cooking, eating, and drinking, and spent a little while as a bartender while trying to figure out what they wanted to do. While they were a mercenary, they picked up woodcarving as a hobby to pass the time. After a couple of years working as a bartender, they got a job doing detail work for a furniture maker an Ardev, where they have worked ever since.

Crex actually developed some skill at woodworking while they were growing up, using it as a distraction from spy school and problematic family dynamics, as well as something to keep their hands busy in lessons. They got quite good at it in later years when they were with Tasha, and would carve trinkets for her.

A list of personae that Crex created in the moment and used once or twice. These do not really have backstories but could theoretically be reused and built up.

Brucha - dwarf, used in session 1 for infiltrating a ship to retrieve tablet. Interacted with the NPC investigator Ivello d'Medani, as well as with the rest of the party. The party was unaware that Brucha was a version of Bryum/Crex (did not know Bryum was a changeling) and did not get Brucha's name. 

A list of personae associated with Crex's time as a member of the "family business" - a spy for the King's Dark Lanterns. Some are personae that Crex created for themself to act as brief but reusable characters, others are personae that are part of the family and are used by various members of the family when it serves their purposes. Family personae are used for personal/private business; there are distinct personae used for KDL business. Crex does not know the KDL personae, as they were never inducted. The Zygodon family keeps records of all instances in which family personae are used. These records include details of who was interacted with, what the deal was, where it occurred, any objects that changed hands, and other relevant details. This ensures that everyone stays up-to-date on the background of the personae. Crex is still friendly with their family, and updates themself on the persona book whenever they visit their family in Sharn. Their last visit was about 2 months prior to applying to Space boot camp, so their information is currently fairly accurate. 

Pereskia - half-elf escort, a family persona. Somewhat high end escort, she would be used to get information from minor nobles, businessmen, government persons, etc. 

Achnites - A gnome smuggler; a family persona. Achnites is a family persona used when looking for goods and information in less legal areas. Achnites is known to be a respectable dealer who will pay a fair price and respect bargains. He has been in use for 30 years, and does deals with low-level street smugglers and thieves as well as upper class merchants, smugglers, and nobility. 

Elanus is a drow persona created for getting into the Obsidian City. Elanus is a buff female drow whose family moved away from Xendrik before she was born and raised her outside of Sulatar culture. Trying to integrate into Khorvaire better, they didn't raise her speaking Giant. She is now trying to reconnect with her family's background in Xendrik by travelling to the Obsidian City. Originally, it was just going to be Elanus and Baldryn travelling together, since Bladryn actually speaks the language and knows a bit more about the culture. However, their idiot friends seemed to think this was a great vacation idea and came along (Dergul is hoping he can get class credits for it). Elanus figured it would be alight to have some company to travel with, and so accepted their coming along. 

Holidays:

The main big family get togethers are for Boldrei's Feast and Sun's Blessing. For Boldrei's Feast, all the family members who are not on active missions get together in Sharn. For Sun's Blessing, they also have a get together, but it's a tad sarcastic given that the point is making amends with enemies and they're a family of spies. Family members are all expected to go to lectures for Aureon's Crown (though not necessarily all going to the same lectures or getting together). Some more athletic members of the family (or the show-offs) will compete in the Brightblade games, but this was definitely not Crex's thing. They also usually have a group that competes in the Hunt. To all appearances, the same group competes in the Hunt every year. In reality, it's a different group each year taking on the same personas. This is considered a rite of passage for the Zygodon family, usually completed as a teenager. The group consists of a mix of young members completing the rite of passage and older members going along for fun. Crex did this at age 15.  

Crex Zygodon is the birth form of this character, a 35 year old Brelish changeling. They are the black sheep of their family, who are all members of the King's Dark Lanterns. Crex was initially trained as a spy to join the KDL, but left to become an entertainer at age 16. Crex was never inducted into the KDL and never finished the official training. However, they are well aware that their own family would probably be sent to kill them if they reveal any secrets they've learned (and whoever was sent to do the job probably wouldn't hesitate to carry it out). They started by working at kid's party venue Vic P. Velveeta's, a fact which their family will never let them live down. Crex has spent the last 17 years as a Russ Harding impersonator after their early covers of his music coincided with his sudden retirement from public life. In recent years, Crex has started to want to break through as a musician in their own right. This has been made more necessary by the decline in popularity of Russ Harding. Crex has concluded that they need to find inspiration if they are going to write their own music and that the best way to get inspiration is to go on adventures. To this end, they have signed up for space boot camp under the persona of Bryum, a hobgoblin that Crex created to be able to avoid attention when they started to get big as a Russ Harding impersonator.

Crex is trying to work on being more proud of their original form with only more minor variations, as they want to be able to use their abilities openly in their performances. They're not doing a particularly good job at being open about it. They were raised as a spy and so have always been pretty closed off and secretive about their true self. They're well aware that trying to be open about their true self doesn't really fit with the fact that they've taken on a new persona to start space boot camp. They're doing it anyways and justifying it as being reconnaissance for their music writing.

While they are an expert at the musical and performance style of Russ Harding, they haven't quite figured out what their own style is yet. Crex is Chaotic Neutral, though in their persona as Bryum they tend to be lawful. Their prized possessions are their banjo and rapier, the latter of which was a gift from a friend, the human bard Tasha. Crex was in love with Tasha, but she is presumed dead after journeying into the Mournlands in search of her family and never reappearing. Tasha knew Crex in the persona of Bryum, and was not aware that they are a changeling. 

Russ Harding is a 50 year old human banjo player who was formerly extremely popular. 15 years ago, Russ Harding retired while at the height of his popularity. He announced his retirement, claiming that he was tired of living such a public life. He told no one where he was going, moved off the grid, and stopped writing and performing music. The sudden nature of his retirement and his popularity at the time led to a high demand for Russ Harding impersonators. The timing of this event coincided with Crex, a changeling employee of Vic P. Velveeta's, beginning to perform covers of Russ's music. This led to Crex having a profitable career as one of the premier Russ Harding impersonators for the next 15 years. 

During his time in the public eye, it was well known that Russ Harding was self conscious about the small size of his booty. He worked very hard yet entirely unsuccessfully to develop a larger booty. While some impersonators place Russ on a pedestal and ensure a larger booty like he would have wanted, the better impersonators recognize that Russ was beloved for his flaws as well as his strengths and choose to accurately represent his small booty. Crex falls in the latter category. 

"Russ" is a gregarious and outgoing person who goes out of his way to be friendly to his fans. He is always happy to play a tune or two wherever he's staying the night, even if he isn't in the area for a concert. He is exceptionally proud of his colorful boots. While the original Russ Harding had many pairs of identical boots that were carefully maintained by his assistant, Crex as Russ prefers to use shiftweave to imitate the iconic boots. This allows them to change out of the Russ persona on occasion without needing to carry around all the extra clothes and also makes for a less high-maintenance pair of fancy boots. 

Performance proficiency doubled when in this persona.

Bryum is a 35 year old hobgoblin. She grew up on a rural farm along the border of Breland and Darguun but has been working as a travelling bard of no renown for the last 17 years. The farm where she was born was fairly self-sufficient and isolated, with only a small town in the vicinity. She learned to play banjo from her father. At 18, she struck out on her own with little besides her banjo and the clothes on her back, intending to live as a bard. She hoped to become a well-known musician, but failed to ever achieve fame. She can play a mean Russ Harding cover, but lacked the look to ever make it as an impersonator. She mostly traveled around and played in small taverns and inns in exchange for food and lodging. Wen she was desperate, Bryum would  also occasionally do a day or two of farm work or other manual labor for money. When she was 21, she traveled for a year with a mentor, a human bard named Tasha. Tasha taught her how to play instruments other than the banjo (though Bryum was never able to afford to buy them herself), as well as some actual musical theory. Tasha also taught Bryum how to fight with a rapier rather than the cruder and heavier weapons used in her rural homeland. Bryum was a little in love with Tasha and was deeply saddened 10 years ago when she received the news that Tasha had journeyed into the Mournlands two years earlier in search of her lost family and has not reappeared. Tasha is presumed dead, though Bryum maintains hope that she'll one day reemerge from the Mournlands and they will be reunited. 

Bryum has decided to attend space boot camp because she's always been struggling to survive as a bard. She hopes that space boot camp can give her inspiration for more compelling music or at the very least that it'll be a job that pays for a little while. 

Bryum is a persona that Crex has used ever since they first started working as a Russ Harding impersonator. They use Bryum when they don't want the attention that comes with presenting as Russ Harding. They've also used Bryum as a way to perform their own music, to little success. 

Tasha was a real person with whom Crex traveled for a while, though she did not actually teach them most of the things Bryum claims. She is used as an excuse for Bryum's knowledge of techniques that would otherwise be unusual for a former rural farmer. Tasha did actually give Crex her current rapier, she did go into the Mournlands and is presumed dead, and Crex was definitely a little bit in love with her. 

Bryum is Lawful Neutral. Despite 15 years' evidence to the contrary, Bryum believes that her hard work will ultimately pay off and she'll get recognition for her efforts. She hasn't returned to her family in the 15 years she's been gone, because she doesn't want to go back as a failure, especially since she left against their wishes and customs. Bryum maintains hope that one day she'll be able to return to her family and they'll be proud of her accomplishments, and she thinks space boot camp might be the way to make that happen.