Zeke and the Sky Willow

Appearance
Zeke Peree is currently a 60 year old human with grey hair and many wrinkles. His light blue eyes show his compassion but his actions are skittish. He is missing both of his legs from the knees down and usually seen in a wheelchair should he ever be seen.
History/Background
Though excessively wealthy in the grand city of Drake Haven, Zeke Peree has been also been extremely unlucky with marriage and children. At a young age he married Issrie, his childhood sweetheart, who bore him three children. The first was stillborn which broke the young couple's hearts, but then they were lucky enough to have twin boys: Harel and Moore. The family lived comfortably for about four years until a revolution broke out, and Zeke and his family were forced to abandon their home. Zeke's legs were badly injured after barely surviving a bomb attack. The family traveled around avoiding the revolutionaries while attempting to live off the desolate land. With Zeke's condition, he was unable to hunt and care for his family. Therefore, Issrie and their four-year olds were the only ones able to forage the land. Eventually, the children died of starvation and Issrie went mad from the loss as well as dealing with her incapacitated husband. Issrie eventually left Zeke behind in a small village of refugees.

Zeke did not understand why his wife left but he was too embittered with his own physical condition to do much about it. Most of the refugees in the village protected their own, but various families took pity on him made sure he had shelter, food, and clothes.

Through the years, Zeke was forced to deal with his condition and worked on a way to make him mobile again. He experimented with cast off metal sheets to make crude sleds and then he eventually was able to build a wheelchair-like object using a wagon. Once the revolutionaries were overthrown and dispatched ten years after it started, Zeke was able to return home and reclaim his manor and title. He built a large workshop in his basement and continued to build mechanical objects that would help his mobility. He also waited for Issrie to return to him. The years came and went and Zeke regained his fortune through his inventions. Although Zeke wasn't one to go out and socialize, he missed his close companionship. The youngest daughter of a merchant, Jesai, then entered his life. Zeke and Jesai married and she was immediately pregnant. The happy couple brought a young daughter into the world that was rebuilding itself. They named her Anmae and Zeke would spoil her rotten. Two years later, Jesai was pregnant again and the couple praised the gods for their good fortune. Near the end of Jesai's pregnancy, a fire raged through Drake Haven that was started by the last of the hidden revolutionaries as a last measure. A manservant was able to safely wheel Zeke out of the manor's basement. However, Zeke's wife, unborn child, and Anmae were not so lucky and were consumed in the fire. Zeke, unable to deal with the loss of a second family, took all his knowledge and money and built a dirigible to get away from Drake Haven and its sorrowful memories. He named it the Sky Willow and had the names of his wives and children scripted in large letters on the bottom as if he wanted to the world to remember their names he flew by. Zeke and his few servants fly around the world, looking for places of sadness to bring a little joy to the children there. He will lower the Sky Willow just enough to be able to safely toss candy, sweetbread and homemade toys to the children that greet him. Children who know the story of the Sky Willow will search the skies for it, and if they see something they think could be it they will chant, "Issrie, Harel, Moore, Jesai, Anmae!" Special Equipment The Sky Willow is Zeke's airship (dirigible) which he rarely vacates. His servants keep the place clean and fully stocked. Roleplaying Notes This NPC certainly is not restricted to an industrial based world. Just change Zeke's "airship" to a simple balloon and we have the same effect. Zeke rarely leaves his airship so the chances of him talking to players for no reason are slim. However, Zeke may ask for a favor from the players to help restock his ship if his servants are unable. Zeke will also help players if they are in an extremely dangerous situation and he's flying by. And don't forget, the players may have some candy or helpful mechanical object thrown at them!