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At this rate, since I like a lot of what I'm seeing, I will probably close recruitment and make my final decision on Sunday (August 29).
I'm not sure if you mean that you closed recruitment when you posted this, or if you're still accepting them until tomorrow. In the hopes that you are still accepting ideas, here's a background for a gnomish exile from Skygaarde.
It was not long after reaching manhood that the gnome came to a disturbing conclusion, the works put out by his family, and indeed, most residents of Skygaarde, would inevitably lead to another Reclamation… this could not be allowed to happen, so he set himself to spreading the word of the dire fate that awaited should the people of his home not turn away from their technological wonders. Unsurprisingly, this message was not well-received, and Emmentian was dismissed as a backwards kook at best, or a raving lunatic at worst.
Finally, after being publicly mocked for his beliefs one time too many, he decided that he could no longer watch as his homeland threw itself headfirst into its doom. Taking the opportunity provided by the next Crossing, Emmentian travelled south through the rough terrain of the Reclamation Wall and into the dense forests of Verdan. Unfortunately for the young gnome, he had little experience of life beyond the cliffs of his sky-bound home, and in his eagerness to be away from his old life, he soon found himself to be completely lost within the dark woodlands.
After wandering for days through the tangle, not knowing what was safe to eat, and avoiding the attention of dangerous predators by chance alone, Emmentian was close to starvation. It was then that a minor Wild of the crawling beasts, having watched the gnome as he wandered lost into her territory and looked into his heart to see the truth of his faith, took pity upon him and sent one of her servants, a mottled viper, to guide him.
At first, he was alarmed by the snake’s approach, but the Wild spoke to him through her servant, and eased his panic. Over the following months, he slowly learned how to survive in the forests without the aid of civilisation, and his belief in the evils of technology became even more solidly cemented by his experience of its absence. The time of the next Crossing came all too soon however, and with it came his brother, Vaughnstenn, hoping to bring him home.
Vaughnstenn urged him to give up his ‘crazy ideas’ to come back to the family and ‘put his mind to a useful cause’ rather than continue with his ‘childish beliefs’. Emmentian, enraged by his brother’s patronising attempt to win him over, lashed out in a moment of anger. It was only intended to be a shove, to encourage him to back down, but Vaughnstenn tripped over a root as he stumbled away from the assault, and cracked his head on a protruding stone.
Emmentian rushed to aid his injured brother, but it was too late. Faced with the terrible truth of his actions, Emmentian was left with a choice; either return with his brother’s remains to Nimbus and face the consequences, or flee. In a decision that has haunted him ever since, he chose the latter, and from that fateful day on, he has been running away from the memory of his deed – and any consequences that might arise, should the truth ever be discovered – travelling as far from that place as he could, until he eventually reached the distant shores of Oceania…
From a mechanics perspective, I'm thinking of a serpent shaman (druid) from the APG.
Emmentian is a great concept. And no, I will not make my final decision as to the PCs until sometime tomorrow morning (US Central time).
At that time, I will also post a series of instructions for the PCs such as posting format, record keeping, character wish lists, etc. I will probably give everyone about 2 days to get on the same page, and then launch the campaign in earnest on Tuesday (btw, Tuesdays and Thursdays are my days off, so expect a lot of larger posts to occur on those days.
I want to remind everyone that they are not limited to submitting just one concept. Feel free to post as many as you want. Sometimes I will enjoy a person's writing style, or be impressed with their detailed character background, but their particular character just isn't a good fit for the campaign/party. Having multiple concepts to pick from gives me more reasons to include you in the campaign and still have a balanced party.
I'm REALLY excited to kick this thing off and I know that no matter who's participating, it will be the adventure of a lifetime :)
and I shall present, Marox Thalarian, witch: the shadow bender
6, 10, 10, 20, 14, 14
In a local inn, a sorcererr had passed by this small village and used his charm to get one of the village young beauties to spend night with him.
Marox was born to this same woman in her 20´es. Giving birth was hard since there wasn´t any means of getting local cleric to the cottage outside of village. Her mother also had... bad reputation among village people and giving birth to Marox was not making it any better at least (since who would know, which one of those men was his father...)
Years passed and the baby had grown to small boy. His mother loved him from bottom of her hearth, but life was hard since she could not find honest work anywhere and this resulted her to work in less "appropriated" job, which made others villagers give bad eye to the woman and her child. Nevertheless, because of this connection to "clients", Marox mother was able to provide interesting stories to him and give books of places, planets and other books, which were in the end maybe not so interesting, but he read all of them.
Why? He didn´t really have any friends due to mother reputation but also because other kids saw her as a bookworm and weak child. Indeed, since he was most of time spending inside in dark or always in shadows watching others and not taking part to plays. Other kids started to bully him and this made him more careful towards others. Thanks to forest next to village and thickness of it, it was easy to hide and watch others trying to find him, he sneaked around to find position for himself. Sometimes he preferred places with no light at all, just darkness around since it calmed him for somoe odd reason
On his 18 birthday, he was quite normal teen, now to be adult. He had no job, no experience with things (girls, parties, friends) and he was aloof person. Something happened that day. He knew that he had always been quite silent one and spend time in shadows but... now those same shadows were moving in different way to him. He could see little bit better and more... warm, while in darkness. Unsure of what it was, he ignored it. Time passed but he started to notice more and more how light was flickering around and playing with shadows and darkness. Before shadowy alleys, dark places which had been little bit creepy also for him, now seemed to be place of calmness, warmth, calling him to surround him self against them and let them protect him.
Once day, he was again sitting on rock, under the big tree. Now adult, his "bullies" were again looking for him, and ironically, some of those "bastards" were training to become warriors.. hahah, Marox laughed. Reading book, he concentrated on it until suddenly he felt a gaze. He look all around but could not see anything... until shadow came out of darkness... a bat! it look at him for a while, spread it wings, screeched and sprung to air. Darkness was covering him and he could not see anything. Starting to panick, he felt something landing on his shoulder and whispering in odd screech voice :"At last! AT LAST! Young master... you can see me" and darkness disappeared!... The voice explained slowly about everything "I have been watching young master.. I have always been there, You are doing wonderfully. The shadows, they serve you, the shadows, they want to be friends with you. Shadows sense your warmth, your uneasiness, your desire. They want to grace you and give you what you want. I was chosen to guide you and teach you necessarities. oh master, I have waited for this time since when you rescued me."
Images are spurring and he remembers. He was child and was alone at home when he felt something. It was dark but outside was flickering smoething.. unknown to him, shades were moving around and reflecting to him, trying to atract his attention with success, but child still not knowing what was actual reason for this. He stepped outside and wandered without destination... unsure what he was doing. Night is dangerous time outside, especially near jungle areas where beasts are moving at night, but shadows and shades guarded him, fooling those beasts around or greating more threatening images. Boy soon found out a small animal, rat-like lying in ground. It was just small... but he felt pity for he knew, how it was. He picked it up... but after while thinking, raised his hands up to air, small animal lying in his palm. Something woosh over him with fast speed and the weight disappeared. Only deep screeching was echoeing all around. Unsure what that was and now getting vary, boy left to his home, unknown how important the meeting at that moment was and how it would change his life.
Hope its not too late but here's a submission for a character designed with your world in mind.
Obviously if there aren't any societies that fit the character background concept I'm happy to change race etc. to fit with the world.
I'll work up stats and mechanics if i'm chosen.
Race: Gnome (savage)
Class: Nature Oracle
Curse: Blind
1st Mystery: Natural Divination
The girl-child who would become known as Gaienara was born to a gnome of the Oerdan tribe, in the region of Verdan. Her mother, a hunter died during the difficult birth that led to Gaienara herself being born blind. As was the custom of the gnomes of this region, the bawling child was exposed to the elemements due to her deformity – a gift for The Wilds.
The cries of the child kept all the villagers awake, and to the their surprise The Wilds had not claimed her. Not knowing what to do, the villiagers left Gainara exposed through the day, and over the next night. However, despite not having any food, and being exposed to the attention of wild beasts and the cold of the night, the babe was still alive at the end of the second night.
The villagers debated what to do and, unable to come to a decision on their own, sent for the druid Kathernen from the forest. Kathernen heard the story and told the villiagers to continue to expose the after the child for seven days and nights. If she still remained alive at the end of this time she should be given to him to raise.
At the end of the alloted time Gaienara was still breathing and, as agreed, the villagers turned her over to the old druid. For the next few years Gainenara was tutored in the ways of nature by Kathernen, learining about the forest, the cycles of life and death, and the ways of The Wilds. Gaienara had no friends through this whole period. - Kathernen was a distant figure, coming and going from their tree-top home, sometimes gone for months at a time, trusting that Gaienara would be more than capable of looking after herself.
As she came into her adulthood, Gainara would more and more frequently fall in to trances, staring at the flights of birds and coming to know of envents that were yet to come. Kathernen told her that these feelings were insights into the will of The Wilds.
This state of affairs continued for many seasons, and Gainara developed into a young gnomish woman. Her life however, would soon be turned upside down. Gainara was awooken one night by the call of an owl and, looking into the sky saw a flight of nightbirds. Taken by the the urge to walk into the forest Gainara set off walking with no tools, no clothes and no weapons. Either by chance, or by the will of The Wilds Gainara stumbled across the body of Kathernen. Standing over the body was a huge forest wolf – however the animal had not eaten him. Looking at the body, Gaienara suddenly saw patterns in his entrails and was overcome by the conviction that she should travel to the land of cities. The Wilds had a task for her....
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Here's a character sheet for Emmentian, minus a full equipment list and the stats for his viper animal companion.
Male Gnome
Druid 1 (Serpent Shaman)
Chaotic Neutral Small Humanoid
Init +1; Senses Perception +11 (Low-Light Vision)
Speed 20'
DEFENSE
AC 16, touch 12, flat-footed 15 (+2 Armour, +2 Shield, +1 Size, +1 Dex)
CMD 10
HP 11,
Energy Resistance electricity 1,
Fort +5, Ref +1, Will +5
Concentration: +4
OFFENCE
Melee club +0 (1d4, x2)
Ranged (, )
STATISTICS
Str 10 (-), Dex 12 (+1), Con 16 (+3), Int 10 (-), Wis 16 (+3), Cha 13 (+1)
Base Atk +0; CMB/b] -1; [b]CMD 10
Feats Spell Focus (Conjuration)
Skills Acrobatics +3 (+2 Trait, +1 Dex), Handle Animal +5 (+1 Rank, +3 Class, +1 Cha), Knowledge(Nature) +6 (+1 Rank, +3 Class, +2 Nature Bond), Perception +11 (+1 Rank, +3 Class, +2 Racial, +2 Trait, +3 Wis), Survival +9 (+1 Rank, +3 Class, +2 Nature Bond, +3 Wis).
Class Features Nature Bond(small viper), Nature Sense, Orisons, Wild Empathy (+2, +6 for reptiles)
Languages Common, Gnomish, Sylvan.
Favored Class Druid
TRAITS
Child of Air*: +2 to Perception and Acrobatics, they are class skills. Ignore 5' of falling.
Naturally Gifted: 1 extra use of gnomish magic per day.
leather armour
heavy wooden shield
club
SPELLs
Cantrips: (3)
1st: (2/2)
*I'm not sure if this would be the right trait, since he grew up in Skygaarde, but he never really fit in there.
Calix: child of Earth is fine for your concept.
Ok, it was very difficult to decide, due to the great imagination and forethought that went into all of your concepts. However, after much deliberation, I have decided on the following PCs to make up the party for this campaign:
Deston - Human Swashbuckler
Emmentian - Gnome Druid
Lynnara - Human Oracle
Qarxan - Gnome Wizard
Samisel - Elven Cavalier
Talic - Halfling Rogue
For those that I have selected, please head over to this thread for a few instructions on how to get your character set up.
For those that weren't chosen, thank you for your creativity and your patience! I hope that several of you will follow along with us, and if for some reason we lose a player early, you will be the first people I contact to fill the spot.
Keep on adventuring!
Samisel, we're still waiting for you to check in.
