Iason was born in a small village in the middle of the Quaking Jungle, run by priests of the Snake Cult. At an early age, he was singled out to be an acolyte, and taken from his parents and sisters to live and train with the priests.

Iason's was introduced in Sylith's story, 'The Slaughter in the Fane'. Here, we learn that Iason's mentor Fiajin had seduced and kidnapped Sylith only to bring her to Iason's village to be sacrificed to a demon, Iason fell for Sylith's beauty, and saw the evil cult for what it was. Unable to act directly, he managed to disrupt the ritual enough that Sylith was able to free herself--but only after the demon had entered her. He watched in horror and awe from the shadows as the beautiful woman who was to have been the victim turned on her captors and slaughtered them with her bare hands. Her power and rage waned near the end, and the few remaining cultists advanced on her with spears, ready to slay her. Iason was torn--turn on his former friends who he only now saw to be evil, or watch as the woman he tried to rescue was slain? Fortunately, before he had to decide, a foreigner with a huge sword (Lord Everard) rushed into the clearing, slew the few remaining cultists, and carried the fainting Sylith away.

Unable to face Fiajin (who was safe in a longhouse on the far side of the village, preparing for the second part of the now-unfinished ritual), Iason fled. He lived for a while in the lands of the barbarians, making his way by performing minor works of healing. He rejected Degei the Snake God, but found solace in Shalim and Usan, the Gods of Dusk.

Then one day (begins the tale of Iason vs. the Volcano God), when scrying in secret to see his family, he saw the village attacked by Magma Men! He watched in horror as his mother stumbled while fleeing, right under the raised fists of a Magma Man... when Fiajin's iron staff stopped the monster, saving his mother.

Iason knew he had to try to help--the Magma Men would surely attack again, and he could not count on Fiajin to keep them safe forever. Fortunately, Iason knew that night Warel was dark, and Amwal was to be eclipsed. He prepared the ritual and prayed to Shalim and Usan, begging to be taken to where he could most help his family. As he finished the ritual, he watched in wonder as his surroundings melted away... and he found himself face to face with [description of Joden], on his way to rescue a companion kidnapped by beastmen who wanted to awaken a volcano god. Quickly determining that they faced a common foe, they make their way together to Mount Adagdak, where they found in the very caldera of the volcano a group of cultists, in the middle of a ritual to raise the volcano god! Iason could tell that the ritual was almost finished, and even if they disrupted it, the volcano would erupt and surely kill them all. But the alternative was that his family would be destroyed. He didn't hesitate.

Fortunately, one of the cultists turned out to be an infiltrator (Lojban) who turned on his comrades at the last minute, then summoned giant eagles to fly himself, Joden, and Iason [and Joden's companion?] out of the caldera.

Iason traveled with his newfound companions for a time, seeking out adventure and living off the land. One day, Lojban told the two of them his tale of The Demon Beast of Yucca Flats, a tale of a demon-possessed maiden whose demon was excised by a fair-headed foreigner with a mighty sword. Recognizing the characters in the tale, Iason asked the fate of Sylith, and was told she was left with a kindly woman in a city not far away. Cursing ignorance in all its forms, Iason left his new companions (though he vowed to return), knowing that the taint of the demon would not let Sylith rest, and would drive her to seek out destruction.

He picked up Sylith's trail, but soon found that the destruction she had been led to could not be ignored. In "Cain and the Ashen Curse", he followed Sylith's trail to where she had released Cain from his bondage. Recognizing the signs of a Corruption Ritual, and fearing where it might lead, he left Sylith's trail and instead followed Cain's, hoping to stop what he knew was in store.

He was almost too late. For many, he *was* too late, for Cain had already slaughtered every member of the Blackleg tribe, and was about to slay the changeling child, which would finalize his corruption. Leaping between the two, he stopped the death strike mere inches away from the changeling's heart.

An epic battle between Cain and Iason followed, with Iason trying to convince Cain of his path to corruption, and with Cain having none of it. As Iason's strength wore down, he realized Cain's confusion in the thrall of the ritual could be turned. Muttering arcane phrases and fighting with a pinch of yarrow blossom in his fists, he insinuated that it was he that wanted the blood of the changeling, and that Cain was in fact trying to defend it. Suddenly breaking from the fight, Cain scooped up the changeling and ran. After a second of blinking, stunned his gambit had worked, Iason gave chase, and turning a corner, found the changeling reverted to its true demonic form, fighting an even more confused Cain. Joining the fray once again, he this time fought side by side with Cain, and together, the two slew the beast.

He stayed with Cain for two months, making sure the mighty warrior did not kill himself with grief at the loss of his tribe, before leaving once again to follow Sylith. She's out there somewhere, and he's sure she needs his help.

Skills:

• Superb: Mysteries
• Great: Fists, Stealth
• Good: Art, Sleight of Hand, Athletics
• Fair: Alertness, Survival, Intimidation, Endurance
• Average: [Five more]

Aspects:

• Secrets of the Snake Cult
• woods/swimming/something jungle-related
• Mind like a steel trap
• I interned with Evil.
• Secret Crush on Sylith
• Fly on the Wall
• Damn the Consequences!
• Not on my watch!
• Knows how Cain fights
• [Something else from Cain story]

Stunts:

• Mystic Saboteur [Mysteries]: When using Mysteries when performing a Block action vs. demonic activity (human or demon initiated), you get a +2 to the roll. The block, once established, may be sustained as a Supplemental Action (-1 to primary action).
• Mystic Subversion [Mysteries] (requires Mystic Saboteur): When performing a Mysteries maneuver, if you tag an existing Aspect, your maneuver may simultaneously remove that Aspect and replace it with a different one, instead of taking two actions to do this. The difficulty of doing this may be modified by the similarity of the removed aspect and the replacement one--you may get a bonus for very similar Aspects, or suffer a penalty if they have nothing to do with one another. You get an additional +1 on subsequent tags of the new aspect. (Note: modeled vaguely on the 'Martial Arts' Fists stunt, p 152)
• In Plain Sight (?)
• Master of Shadows (?)
• Hush (?)

Additional guidelines for Iason's use of 'Mysteries':

Assessment: 'Mysteries' is used like 'Alertness' to discover if a Mystic Aspect is active in a scene (see 'Sixth Sense', p 104). In addition, 'Mysteries' may be used as 'Investigation' (p. 83) when studying mystic preparations (like a ritual), or like Rapport (p 106) when interacting with a person under mystic influences.

Maneuvers: Iason has been known to use Mysteries to add and remove temporary and sticky Aspects to rituals and people in the throes of mystical influence.

Declaring Minor Details: Just as Academics may be used to fill in the gaps of the world with truths that act as aspects (p 87), Mysteries may be used the same way.