Background
Pta Seth was raised in the temple schools of his desert homeland, Nahara. Showing promise in the balanced martial arts taught at the school as well as aptitude for serving as a divine conduit, Pta advanced normally through the training regimen’s long years. When the time came for his Choosing ceremony, he was surprised to discover after 12 days of privations in the waterless Canyon of Choosing that the Scarab-Goddess, Khepekh, appeared to bring him into her fold. This secretive goddess with powers over the deep soil and the transformation from death to life that occurs sent an avatar to escort Pta through the very ground to her deep caverns, where he was indoctrinated into her service.

After his training, Pta expected to be assigned to an underground temple and to serve Khepekh in a life of quiet contemplation of the cycles of decay and rebirth. Instead, he found himself assigned to the capital city of Sandria where he realized to his horror that the god-emperor was seeking to subvert the natural cycles to which Pta was committed. When Pta’s reluctance to turn his link to Khepekh to the service of the god-emperor’s quest to preserve his life indefinitely through chaemickal chicanery and perversions of the Sources of Life became apparent to the Death-Speakers, he was slated for ritual torture in the hopes that his connection to Khepekh’s powers of life from death could be isolated from his traumatized carapace. A priest of the lizard-god, also shocked by the plans of the death-speakers, helped Pta escape the Great Temple and purchased a berth for him on an outward-bound felucca.

Pursued by agents of the death-speakers, Pta reluctantly signed onto a foreign vessel as ship’s nurse and began his long voyage into strange lands. After several years at sea, he has fetched up in Freeport as a result of his captain having lost the Maiden’s Tear to a rival in a game of bones.

Appearance
Pta carries himself with dignity, but those who see him are struck by his extremely gaunt build. He favors fawn-colored light fabrics and wears leather sandals laced up his calves. His face is deeply tanned and lined and his eyes are perpetually squinting as though against blinding sunlight. He wears outlandish armor of his faith–a chitin chestpiece and a scarab mask, although these can be hidden under his cloak when subtlety is required.

Personality
Pta is a fairly serious man who occasionally shows flashes of grave humor. When confronted with the animated dead he is ruthlessly efficient in his efforts at their destruction.

Secrets, Goals and Plans
Pta is scarred from being forced to associate with undeath, and is determined to right the balance. He believes that life should be protected and nurtured when possible, but that death, when inevitable, should be embraced as part of the cycle of life. He has found that others value him for his healing skills, but his true motivation is the seeking out and destruction of undead and other abominations that seek to avoid their destiny of passing through the guts of carrion beetles and in turn fertilizing the next cycle of life.

Game Stats
Race: Human
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d6, Spirit d8, Strength d4, Vigor d6
Skills: Faith d8, Healing d6, Notice d6, Throwing d6, Fighting d6, Knowledge (Religion) d4, Knowledge (Undead) d4, Intimidation d6
Charisma: 0
Pace: 6
Parry: 5
Toughness: 5 [counts +1 for chest hits from Leather Shirt]
Hindrances: Small (Major), All Thumbs (Minor), Delusion (Minor)
Edges: AB (Miracles) [Khepekh: Healing {Healing: Colorful beetles swarm the wound, eating away infection and leaving a clean scar behind them}, Earth {Burrow: Limbs sprout various irridescent chitinous appendages and easily dig into the ground}, Healer, Holy Warrior, Power Points