Born to a Dunmer and a Redguard in Windhelm’s Grey Quarter, Sheherazeth was exposed to racism at a young age, and quickly became very anti-authority.
As a child, his mother - a redguard - was murdered and the man who did it dressed the scene up to look like she was a skooma addict who had OD’d. Instead of investigating the murder properly, the guards just saw the skooma bottles and turned the other cheek, prompting Sheherazeth to contact the Dark Brotherhood. Without a name for the murderer however, the contract could not be fulfilled. His father - a dunmer - decided to try to investigate what had happened so that Sheherazeth would have a name to give the Dark Brotherhood, but he was attacked and beaten in the street by Rolff Stone-Fist, leaving him with injuries that disabled him. Sheherazeth cared for his father instead of pursuing his education as a mage until his father eventually died. Once more, the guards turned a blind eye when he demanded that Rolff Stone-Fist be held accountable, and did not even bother sending him to an orphanage because he was ‘too old’ to be adopted.
Furious, Sheherazeth began teaching himself the art of destruction magic and the way of the spellsword, and began making himself known as a troublemaker in Windhelm for arson attacks on guard barracks and getting into fistfights. He was arrested at least seven times before he reached adulthood.
When he did mature, he once again took matters into his own hands and beat the shit out of Rolff Stone-Fist when the Nord was drunk and walking through the Grey Quarter late at night, later following him home, robbing him and then setting fire to his house, earning him yet another lengthy jail sentence. He spent most of his young adult life protecting other dunmer, the argonians in the docks, and the Khajiit outside the city, as well as the working class and beggars.
He was still dead set on finding his mother’s killer, so when he got out of jail, as the murders in Windhelm began happening to Nord women - causing the guards to actually take notice - he stepped in. When he found the killer, it wasn’t pretty: Sheherazeth tied Calixto down to his own bed and repeatedly force fed him almost lethal doses of skooma for days until the man pleaded for death, at which point, Sheherazeth slit his throat and once more set fire to the house.
This time, when he was jailed, he escaped and left Windhelm altogether, but not before agreeing to ‘clean up the filth’ for Aventus Aretino, who reminded him of himself as a child, promising him that he would find and kill Grelod the Kind.
After seeing tavern wenches being kidnapped and mistreated by vampires on the road, Sheherazeth devoted himself to Meridia, and began killing the undead.
When he was turned into a vampire by one of them, his soul was split in two - the Wrath and the Dawn; Molag Bal and Meridia - causing Meridia to punish him violently. This was the reward for his loyalty. This sparked an intense and seething hatred for the daedra, and he began hatching a plan to weaken and commit treason against all of them; no gods, no masters.
He began seeking each of the daedra out, becoming champion to all of them, splitting his soul in order to cause them to fight each other over who should claim him. He’s weakening them all by depriving them of any new champions, taking their artefacts for himself, and decreasing their thrall over their followers by drawing attention to himself.
He turns the other Daedra against Meridia. Then starts turning them on each other. Eventually, he brings the priestess of Azura to Boethiah’s shrine and slaughters her there.
Boethiah, however, cannot punish Sheherazeth for what he has done, even though he has turned Azura against them and killed their own priest for Molag Bal, because treachery is their domain, and the treason he has committed is on a deific scale; the highest level of treason possible.
Boethiah has the greatest stake on Sheherazeth’s soul, and claims it quietly, so as to prolong the fighting amongst their fellow Daedra. They know it is a game with immensely high stakes, but there is something just too delicious about having a champion that despises you so viciously that they embody your entire aspect. To Boethiah, Sheherazeth is their very own viper; fun to observe, but best kept at arm’s length or behind glass. He is the ultimate traitor.
So it is then, when he begins targeting authority figures through the Dark Brotherhood, who pick him up after he fulfils his promise to Aventus, and Astrid betrays him… he goes absolutely nuclear and kills her brutally.
As a vampire, he only feeds on the corrupt and the powerful, and the one thing he takes from also being the champion of Namira? Eat the Rich.
First and foremost, Sheherazeth is a protector. He protects women, children, beggars, the working class, the marginalised and the abused. He does not tolerate rapists, racists, sexists, abusers, corruption, authority or the needlessly wealthy. He will find them and he will kill them.
He’s charitable in nature, and anything he loots or has of significant monetary value he gives to those who need it. He donates whatever gold he has to beggars and orphans, clothes them, feeds them, and makes sure they have a place to at least rest their heads at night. He chaperones travelling wenches and makes sure that sex workers are treated fairly and have access to relevant potions.
He makes sure that temples to the Aedra are accessible and free of indoctrination and that no faith is being forced upon others (bye, Heimskr).
Aaaand though he’s friends with Delvin Mallory and thinks that thieving from the wealthy is good, Maven Blackbriar’s got a huge target over her head when it comes to him.
He and Nazir had a rather explosive argument about the contract on Narfi in Ivarstead after Sheherazeth weeded out whoever had put the contract out and murked them instead. It’s also the only time he and Cicero have quarrelled - Cicero is his partner (in more than just crime).
I took heavy inspiration from the 1001 Nights and the story of Scheherazade; a woman who married a sultan and told 1001 tales to prevent her execution and the executions of any more women.
Sheherazeth mirrors parts of this story, where he ‘marries’ the daedra and spins a thousand betrayals in order to deprive them of power.
His surname, ‘Drul’ is the Tibetan word for ‘Snake’ or ‘Viper’; I wanted him to have a distinctive South/Central Asian vibe.
In his features and appearance, I’m specifically taking inspiration from Tibet, Nepal and India. He’s a handsome dude. Rather tall, too.
🌼 He wears a yellow mountain flower very clearly in the front of his armour to communicate to people that they can approach him if they feel unsafe or need help.
