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Description
To most of the ancient civilized world, back when "civilized" really just meant Greek, anyone who lived outside of their tiny little world was gross and icky, stupid and barbarous. Oh how things change. The tribal Scythians, a nomadic Iranian people who inhabited the Steppe north of the Black Sea, were some of the worst offenders to your average Athenian who otherwise tried so hard to convince people they were totally open minded. However, there was one man from the Scythian ranks often upheld by Greek authors as a sort of "noble savage", who despite that rather derogatory title the Greeks held in high regard. This was Anacharsis, the princely son of a Scythian chieftain located in the vicinity of Pontic Olbia. Supposedly born to a Greek mother, Anacharsis set out from his homeland near the beginning of the 6th century BCE seeking the knowledge and wisdom of his mother's people. Though his travels were extensive, he was reportedly just an absolute misery to travel with, complaining about everything that could and did go wrong on the ships and caravans he hitched a ride on. Damned tourists.

Around 589 BCE, Anacharsis's travels brought him to the gleaming marble city of Athens, where he is said to have just strut right up to the abode of their ruler, Solon. The Scythian announced he came all this way just to befriend Solon. Solon, understandably a bit off put by this random fan boy drop in, is said to have quipped that it is "better to make friends at home." Anacharsis recovered from this awkward situation by quipping back, "then it is necessary for you, being at home, to make friends with me." Evidently, this was enough of a come back to please Solon, who invited the Scythian into his home. From there, Anacharsis is said to have traveled throughout Greece, earning a reputation of having absolutely no filter when it came to calling out the more confusing hypocrisies he observed in Greek culture. Thankfully, the Greeks took this more as wit than him just being a jackass, and some heralded him as one of the Seven Sages of Greece.

Anacharsis became especially enthralled in the cult of Cybele, a religion he tried to bring back to his people once he finally returned to his homeland. And as is probably to be expected when you try to force a creepy mystery cult onto a hyper aggressive warrior society, they killed him for heresy and witchcraft. He is said to have been shot in the back with an arrow by his own brother, King Saulius, though some reports claim he actually escaped and fled to Sparta. Though even Herodotus admits that this was more the ancient Greek equivalent of seeing Elvis still alive on a random street corner somewhere. And if Herodotus of all people is skeptical, we probably should be too.

Design notes, there's three pieces of artwork of Anacharsis that I based this design on. For his mugshot, I referenced an 18th century carving supposedly based on a piece of Italian Italian jewelry. His outfit is based primarily on a 17th century sculpture by Pierre Le Gros the Elder. I also threw a scarf over his shoulders based on a little doodle of him in the Nuremberg Chronicle, which also inspired the colors. Obviously none of these are contemporary, and focus more on Greek style clothing than Scythian, but I think this actually works for Anacharsis given his backstory.

Anacharsis was an NPC who traveled with my party in the D&D game I ran. Obviously Anacharsis flourished primarily in the early 6th century BCE based on our accounts, but thankfully ancient sources can be pretty lax when it comes to giving exact times between events. There's technically nothing saying that Anacharsis didn't live until 526 BCE, so hey I decided I could stretch it enough in order to give my party a healer and translator. In the game, I had it that Anacharsis was taken prisoner by Tomyris after returning to spread the word of Cybele, and his brother Saulius was on his way to collect and execute him for his heresy. Thankfully for him, we have that little bit of doubt in the historical record what with the aforementioned conspiracy that he escaped and hid in Sparta. The party escaped and took him with them into the Achaemenid Empire as their translator, though, accurate to history, he spent most of his time around them complaining that they keep dragging him into all these absurd battles against ghosts and demons that want to kill them, and that he's getting to old for this and just wants to go home. Suck it up, my dude.

Description
To most of the ancient civilized world, back when "civilized" really just meant Greek, anyone who lived outside of their tiny little world was gross and icky, stupid and barbarous. Oh how things change. The tribal Scythians, a nomadic Iranian people who inhabited the Steppe north of the Black Sea, were some of the worst offenders to your average Athenian who otherwise tried so hard to convince people they were totally open minded. However, there was one man from the Scythian ranks often upheld by Greek authors as a sort of "noble savage", who despite that rather derogatory title the Greeks held in high regard. This was Anacharsis, the princely son of a Scythian chieftain located in the vicinity of Pontic Olbia. Supposedly born to a Greek mother, Anacharsis set out from his homeland near the beginning of the 6th century BCE seeking the knowledge and wisdom of his mother's people. Though his travels were extensive, he was reportedly just an absolute misery to travel with, complaining about everything that could and did go wrong on the ships and caravans he hitched a ride on. Damned tourists.

Around 589 BCE, Anacharsis's travels brought him to the gleaming marble city of Athens, where he is said to have just strut right up to the abode of their ruler, Solon. The Scythian announced he came all this way just to befriend Solon. Solon, understandably a bit off put by this random fan boy drop in, is said to have quipped that it is "better to make friends at home." Anacharsis recovered from this awkward situation by quipping back, "then it is necessary for you, being at home, to make friends with me." Evidently, this was enough of a come back to please Solon, who invited the Scythian into his home. From there, Anacharsis is said to have traveled throughout Greece, earning a reputation of having absolutely no filter when it came to calling out the more confusing hypocrisies he observed in Greek culture. Thankfully, the Greeks took this more as wit than him just being a jackass, and some heralded him as one of the Seven Sages of Greece.

Anacharsis became especially enthralled in the cult of Cybele, a religion he tried to bring back to his people once he finally returned to his homeland. And as is probably to be expected when you try to force a creepy mystery cult onto a hyper aggressive warrior society, they killed him for heresy and witchcraft. He is said to have been shot in the back with an arrow by his own brother, King Saulius, though some reports claim he actually escaped and fled to Sparta. Though even Herodotus admits that this was more the ancient Greek equivalent of seeing Elvis still alive on a random street corner somewhere. And if Herodotus of all people is skeptical, we probably should be too.

Design notes, there's three pieces of artwork of Anacharsis that I based this design on. For his mugshot, I referenced an 18th century carving supposedly based on a piece of Italian Italian jewelry. His outfit is based primarily on a 17th century sculpture by Pierre Le Gros the Elder. I also threw a scarf over his shoulders based on a little doodle of him in the Nuremberg Chronicle, which also inspired the colors. Obviously none of these are contemporary, and focus more on Greek style clothing than Scythian, but I think this actually works for Anacharsis given his backstory.

Anacharsis was an NPC who traveled with my party in the D&D game I ran. Obviously Anacharsis flourished primarily in the early 6th century BCE based on our accounts, but thankfully ancient sources can be pretty lax when it comes to giving exact times between events. There's technically nothing saying that Anacharsis didn't live until 526 BCE, so hey I decided I could stretch it enough in order to give my party a healer and translator. In the game, I had it that Anacharsis was taken prisoner by Tomyris after returning to spread the word of Cybele, and his brother Saulius was on his way to collect and execute him for his heresy. Thankfully for him, we have that little bit of doubt in the historical record what with the aforementioned conspiracy that he escaped and hid in Sparta. The party escaped and took him with them into the Achaemenid Empire as their translator, though, accurate to history, he spent most of his time around them complaining that they keep dragging him into all these absurd battles against ghosts and demons that want to kill them, and that he's getting to old for this and just wants to go home. Suck it up, my dude.