Shazear

Art by Dan Smith from Rage Across Russia

Shazear is one of the seven Zmei from Russia. He is able to shapeshift and assume human form.

Biography

Shazear was brought into the world by a sorceress named Baba Yaga when she invoked the Great Zmei in an attempt to kill the Nosferatu Antediluvian.

After the great battle with the ancient Absimiliard, the first thing Shazear saw was a nomadic camp of humans. He immediately became fascinated with the little creatures. He took their form to get a better look and lived among them ever since. While his brothers and sisters settle down and terrorized the lands of Russia until they were magically imprisoned by the Silver Fangs, Shazear escaped the werewolves hunt completely because they didn't even know that he existed.

Shazear has come to love the ways of the "little people". Of all Zmei he is the most likely to be turned from the path of the Wyrm and back to the path of the Wyld. Due to his long sabbatical amongst humans, he is no longer susceptible to Rustarin's commands through her stare. Gregornous found him after Baba Yaga awakened form her torpor, but Shazear has convinced him that he has only been awake for a few years. If the other Zmei were to know that he wandered for so long without trying to free them, he might not survive their anger.

Baba Yaga, though, is the only being that he truly fears. He serves her, but he wants out (and this isn't for ethical reasons, he just can't stand leashes anymore). He defeated the Silver Fangs in 1917, partially due to poor advice from the Children of Gaia (which created antipathy between the two tribes in Russia).

Shazear is only 40 feet long in his dragon form, the smallest, but also the most clever and resourceful of the Great Zmei. His reflective scales look like crystals from a shadowy gray color and his eyes glisten and move with intelligence and cunning. He is by nature curious and insightful. As a human, he appears as a very good looking young man in his late twenties, with black hair, medium build and gray eyes.

Stats

Attributes: Strength 9, Dexterity 6, Stamina 9, Charisma 3, Manipulation 5, Appearance 0 (3), Perception 5, Intelligence 5, Wits 6
Abilities: Alertness 6, Athletics 4, Brawl 4, Dodge 3 (4), Empathy 4, Intimidation 5, Streetwise 3, Subterfuge 5, Drive 3, Melee 4, Stealth 3, Computer 2, Enigmas 5, Linguistics 3, Occult 4, Science 1, Area Knowledge (Moscow) 2, Area Knowledge (Russia) 3
Rage 5, Gnosis 6, Willpower 10
Powers: Fear, Regeneration, Rend Reality, Flight, Attacks (Fang, Claws and Tail Lash), Shapeshift (Shazear is able to assume human form. He appears as a very good looking young man in his late twenties. He has black hair, a medium build and gray eyes. The attributes in parentheses above for Shazear in his human form. Shazear also does not incite fear in human form, nor can he fly.)
Health: ok/ok/ok/ok/ok/-1/-1/-1/-3/-3/-3/-5/-5/Incapacitated

References

• WTA: Rage Across Russia, p. 87-88