Zinnia is a stout rock gnome with wild, copper-colored hair pulled into dozens of small braids, each tied with a different metal washer or nut. She wears heavy, soot-stained leather armor reinforced with articulated steel joints and an apron overflowing with wrenches and vials. Her eyes are large and inquisitive, often shielded by a massive pair of four-lensed magnifying goggles.

I have an insatiable curiosity about how things work, often taking apart items without asking if I can put them back together. I talk fast, especially when discussing metallurgy or enchantments, and I have very little patience for people who do not appreciate the value of a well-maintained tool.

Zinnia was raised in the great foundry city of Highforge, where she spent her youth apprentice to the Grand Mechanists. While her peers were content building better locks and kitchen timers, Zinnia was obsessed with the fusion of life and iron. This obsession led her to create 'Cogwheel,' her steel defender mastiff, after a tragic accident at the forge left her without a companion. She was eventually expelled from the guild for 'unauthorized experimentation on high-grade arcana,' though she suspects it was just jealousy over her superior alloy designs. Now, she travels the world as a freelance artificer, proving that her inventions are the key to the next age of civilization. She views every dungeon as a collection of puzzles to be solved and every monster as a chance to stress-test her latest upgrades. Her goal is to eventually open a shop that builds prosthetic limbs and mechanical helpers for the common folk, though she currently funds this dream through the dangerous life of an adventurer.