Need 1-2 Additional Players for ~3-year-old Open World Homebrew Game

For this recruitment I'm only interested in the fluff. Give me a character concept you think will be interesting to play within this group, this story, and this world. DO NOT GIVE ME A CHARACTER BUILD. I'm not gonna look at it. Builds will be created after recruitment and with GM input.

Questions you should probably answer (fold these into your write-up or answer them in a questionair, up to you):

Why are you in Keldradt?
Why have you decided to explore the Makon temple?

And of course, you can also think about what might happen after you and the party get done with this particular adventure. What goals do you have in life? Where do you want to go, what do you want to see and do? What connections (friends, family, events, history, etc) do you have elsewhere in the world? Because you don't know much about the world of Eldreon yet, it's okay to be vague ("I have two brothers who still live in <home city on another continent>"). I'm happy for you to adjust and refine as you play and learn about the setting.

For nearly two thousand years, Keldradt has been shorthand for evil. Formerly a rich elven port city set in the steaming jungle, it was destroyed in the war between elves and dwarves - a battle which claimed the lives of every soldier who fought in it as well as every single inhabitant of the once-great city - and then it lay untouched for centuries. And in that neglect, terrible things grew in the ruins. By the time the civilized peoples of Eldreon thought to investigate the city again, it had become wholly infested by evils of all kinds.

Eventually, the Order of Illein, comprised of both elves and dwarves, sought to purge this shameful reminder of their past enmities. Championed by wealthy patrons and the favor of the gods, they embarked on a crusade to cleanse Keldradt. They established the new city of Keldradt, which sits adjacent to the ruins like a flea on the back of a boar. For nearly a hundred years they threw their might against the curse. Countless monsters, undead, and other forms of evil were destroyed - but always Keldradt had more to replace them. The curse was painstakingly scoured from entire swathes of the ruins - but always it returned. The crusade flagged and rekindled several times, but Keldradt was never successfully cleansed. If anything, it is more dangerous now than ever.

In the present day, the Order of Illein is poor in both wealth and membership. The faithful that remain continue to guard over the ruins, doing what they can to keep the vileness within from growing and spreading outward to trouble the good peoples of the world. The city serves as a base for crusaders and fortune-seekers of all kinds, drawn to rumors of the unclaimed wealth that still lie within the ruins, and the glorious victories that might be claimed over the corrupt denizens.

You begin in Keldradt, where you will meet the party. Your reasons for being there are up to you: Are you a treasure hunter? A holy crusader? A criminal hiding in a place no-one will look? It's up to you. All we know is that you're there, and you've been there for at least a little while (at least a couple of months).

Furthermore, whether or not you are or were here for the ruins themselves, recently you've heard about a new opportunity. An ancient human civilization known as the Makon once dominated a large part of this continent, and many of their temples, cities, and holy places remain undiscovered and unspoiled. There are stories of a large Makon temple complex not far to the north of Keldradt. Perhaps, with everyone so focused on the ruins, there are other juicy prizes to be claimed, and other adventures to test yourself against. You resolve to find some companions and take a look.

Personal History Guidelines: You start at level 4 or 5, which is not a hardened veteran nor is it a green amateur. You've been adventuring for a couple/few years, been in some fights, seen some things.

NOTE: Remember, you will NOT be posting a character build in this recruitment thread! The below is simply to let you know what options you might have if you are selected.

You will start as a level 4 character (putting you just barely behind the main party in XP) OR as a level 5 character, putting you a level ahead.

Allowed Races: All Core races except Gnomes, as well as one homebrew race: the Drecna.

Drecna: The drecna were driven from their ancestral homeland centuries ago by the orc tribes that run rampant over northern Liria. There are now three different drecnan nations borne of the three great migratory groups that fled the homeland. Also known by their nickname of “mariner orcs” or “sea orcs” (a misnomer which they despise), the drecna are best known for – you guessed it – sea travel. The most famous drecna are almost universally sailors, pirates, and merchants. Their skin ranges from gray to a very pale yellow/green, and this coupled with prominently sharp teeth led to their confusion with orcs. The drecna, however, are actually bitter enemies of the many orc tribes near their homeland and greatly resent those who voice the comparison.

Allowed classes: Pretty much anything, but I vet and "adjust" a lot of classes as I see fit. I'm not a fan of barbarians (though we can work out ways for you to play a berserker-type fighter if you wish) or monks (and again, we can get the same flavor into another class if you want that).

Magic
Generally speaking, my world has lots of magic but fewer magic items than your average Pathfinder world. All magic item costs are doubled (this will likely be fine-tuned in the future).
I am revamping the item creation rules, but those are not done yet. I'll have them complete by the time any characters in my adventures start to hit level 5 or so (when they become applicable). Scroll creation will remain largely the same.

New Systems: Fate Points and World Weariness
Fate Points are my form of metacurrency and operate similar to other types of the same. They are gained for doing cool s*!$, and can be spent on doing more cool s+%#. Each player starts with 3 Fate Points. Fate Points belong to the player, not a character, and they can be traded between players as desired. Furthermore, they can be used after seeing the success or failure of a roll.

Examples of ways to spend Fate Points:
Max role on any skill check or save – 1 FP (*)
Make any attack an auto-confirmed critical – 1 FP
Stabilize and heal your character to -1 HP – 1 FP (can be used even after a blow that should have killed)
Make an enemy fail a save – 1 FP
Auto-succeed a check for a skill you are trained in, even if technically beyond possibility(**)
Make all targets of a spell or affect fail their saves – 2 FP
Cast any spell you are capable of, regardless of situation (grappled, gagged, no slots left, etc) – 2 FP
Autosucceed a skill check or similar situation, regardless of other factors – 3 FP
Plot Device! Retroactively change something fundamental about your character's situation (discuss with GM) – 5 FP

*Skill checks in my games can occasionally require multiple rolls, this only maximizes one.
**This will auto-succeed even in multiple-roll situations.

World Weariness
Weariness affects characters who receive magical healing. After a long enough time spent getting hacked, slashed, stabbed, burned, beaten, and abused – and then getting healed afterward – a character starts to lose their zest for life. They become listless and despondent as their hope for a life full of more than injury and momentary relief fades away...

Each point of magical healing a character receives also counts as a point of World Weariness. Certain other things can add to or decrease World Weariness as well. Growing levels of World Weariness have the following affects (this is subject to change and expansion). Each level is cumulative:

0-19: No Effect
20-29: -2 to Charisma
30-39: -2 to Wisdom
40-49: -2 to Intelligence
50-59: -2 to Charisma, Wisdom, and Intelligence
60-69: -2 Penalty to Reflex Saves
70-79: -2 Penalty to Fortitude Saves

Only magical healing (spells, scrolls, wands, etc) adds to World Weariness. Hitpoints regained from the use of the Heal skill and other such non-magical sources do not affect World Weariness. Hitpoints regained from magical regeneration effects are (for now) not treated as magical for the purpose of World Weariness gain.

Losing World Weariness

Only three things can reduce world weariness – rest/relaxation, divine action, and GM decree. Obviously, the first one is the most common.

Each full day of R&R your characters get reduces their World Weariness by 5. R&R is generally any activity that doesn't put your characters in danger or apply to overly “serious” pursuits.

To reduce the rate of WW gain, natural healing in Eldreon is a bit better (on average) than in regular Pathfinder. A character that is otherwise in good condition (not fatigued or starving, no diseases or poisons, etc) who gets a good nights rest (8 hours) regains hitpoints equal to 2 for each character level, plus half their CON modifier (round up) times their character level. Thus, a level 3 character with a Constitution of 14 would regain 6 + 3 = 9 hitpoints from a full, unstressed night's sleep. Yes, negative con modifier's would subtract from this (down to a minimum of 1 hp gain).

If the character is under stress (in hostile territory, has to be watchful, etc) they gain half the above (roll and divide by 2, rounding up). This includes nights when the character takes a “watch” or has their sleep interrupted for some reason.

What the hell, GM?

World Weariness is very much an experimental system, and the course of this adventure will no doubt affect how it evolves or if it is simply abandoned. It is intended to encourage “down time” for characters, where they can do other things than hack apart enemies, as well as encourage the use of non-magical healing and help make clerics more than walking bandages. Some players will no doubt feel these encouragements are unnecessary or that this system is too heavy-handed – and they may certainly be correct. Feel free to comment on that below!

I do like like rigid alignment systems except in certain specific cases. The alignment of any character is treated as "Lite" unless otherwise specified below. This means you can call yourself whatever alignment you want and, chances are, I'm not going to care how close you stick to it. Furthermore, this means that spells and abilities that depend on alignment are a lot less reliable.

The exceptions: Divine casters which depend on a deity for magic and other powers must stick more closely to their alignment (and more specifically, their particular deities' morals and rules). They also show up as more strongly aligned when subjected to Detect <Alignment> type spells. Strongly aligned creatures and Outsiders will also more powerfully embody their alignment and be affected by said spells and abilities.

Aaron will be a human fighter type (no magic, as that is cheating) I'm looking at the Aldori archetype and then PrC. Dex based fighter that will be less of a drain on healing support.

If I may make a suggestion, there is a way to make World Weariness effective against everyone equally without crippling healing (which, in pathfinder, already has enough problems don't ya think?)

Instead, I'd suggest a cumulative penalty that comes after each encounter past a certain amount each day. A straight -1 to everything after, say, your third fight/labor/magic heavy thing. Skills, attacks, damage, saves, AC. Not crippling, you can still push forward if it's a desperate enough thing, but a good reminder to rest, or to not drive your characters into holes.

Once you hit that -1, it's no longer every few fights. It's every fight. So after every fight after the -1 you get another -1.

Then your rules for losing said penalty come into affect.

This means that classes that generally rely on healing over other options (Paladins, Oracles, Clerics) don't end up getting crippled for doing what they're good at. At the same time Fighters, Wizards, Rogues, Rangers and the rest of the lot don't end up ignoring the penalties until they're really bad.

The concept I have in mind is a surprisingly charm Dwarf, someone whose at least decently intelligent and diplomatic. He's young, not quite an upstart but definitely not a veteran. Most of his skill comes from training with veterans actually. He is the third or fourth son of a prominent clan of warriors/crusaders, someone who has nothing to lose but everything to gain by making a name for himself.

There's also the fact that he was born and bred to enjoy the challenge. His clan/family have a very typical fantasy dwarf attitude toward problems and adversity. It makes you stronger. That said, they're surprisingly not all about just smashing their heads against rocks. They've got wit, some of them at least, and definitely this young Third Son. He's here to make a living, to kill evil things, to make a fortune, to make a name, to challenge himself, to grow and to do it all at the same time because why should he settle for just one of these?

I'm debating between two specific ideas. Not talking builds here, just directions. One is a guy focused more on intellect then charm. He's an alchemist, someone whose learned that brute strength isn't always enough, and who supports himself with magic. The other is as charming as he thinks he is and then some. A surprisingly diplomatic dwarf, a paladin of both tradition and ambition.

Perhaps he's competing with a Second Sibling for an inheritance, actually? The First Sibling has died, perhaps in this very place, and now the other siblings are all trying to figure out what they can do to become the next head of their clan? Puts a bit more fire beneath his arse I think.

Xan is a wander, and has been since birth. His mother was a wanderer, and so is he.

He is an explorer, and has an interest in plundering temples. He is very much a treasure hunter, and loves magic items.

He will likely use 3 longswords, and his spell combat to deal with most problems.

Name: Roet, the Albine

The character is a charming vagabond. Not exactly thinking about Pathfinder classes, think about a swashbuckler of sorts, a pirate and brawler with a soul for plunder and adventures and a somewhat good heart, despite a life of chaos and small tricks. He'd be, as you guess, a Drecna - saltbeard as they come.

Name: Roet, the Albine

After stealing a ship - which would be kind of bad already - to add insult to injury, the ship was carrying an artifact in the shape of an earring. The character isn't aware of it, but there's an entire legion of people seeking such artifact, which he simply hanged on his left ear and carries around as if it was a simple piece of jewelry.

When he finally sold part of the ship on the northern Liria, to pay for past gambling debts and some exaggerated nights of good rum, he was temporarily "found" by the "previous owners" of the ship (and artifact), but managed to barely flee with his life. Finding a ship transporting archeologists for a mission on the Makon temple, he managed to bluff his way in the mission as an explorer of sorts and now he sees himself in Keldradt.

He's not free from his past (piracy) crimes, and being kind of a hedonistic adrenaline-addicted head-filled-of-rum kind of guy, he more than likely will want to get a new ship, find a crew and hit the seas again seeking more riches and freedom. He doesn't have any family or friends - rather, he has at least two dozen acquaintances who would join him navigating the seas, and probably betray him on the blink on an eye.

Plus, of course... He's still wearing the earring, which is an artifact he has no clue about...

At level 4, an Oracle can heal up to between 6-20 hit points in a single spell. They too will be mentally crippled, losing both Class Features (all of them are tied to charisma) and Spellcasting if they happened to roll high on healing.

By targeting Ability Scores, you're kicking every class who uses those scores down even further, and at levels where Casting isn't that powerful. Paladins are never incredibly powerful unless you have an evil outsider campaign going on. The biggest issues with the execution are very much tired together (both what your targeting and what creates world weariness). I would sooner play an NPC class then a Divine Caster in your campaign with these rules in place.

@Arillius: All good points. As to Lay on Hands specifically, I have in my personal notes on WW the possibility of exempting that special ability or otherwise allowing for the fact that part of the Paladin's schtick is to use combat healing to keep them going (perhaps by exempting their charisma stat from world weariness). Furthermore, I think I'm likely to change the thresholds from hardcoded numbers to a tied-to-level, so it's more like a percentage of max player health and will scale. As you've pointed out, as you get higher in levels 20 hitpoints is not a lot.

However, as Tyrus notes: part of the discouragement effect is, in fact, by design. Divine casters are meant to be more rare in this world than in regular Pathfinder. I'm well aware I might have been too heavy-handed, thus the note about the system being subject to change. I am a GM who is prone to tinkering with the rules. :)

Making exceptions for characters that can channel divine energy, even if it's only to double their threshold or increasing the threshold by level, is a decent idea. These guys aren't as affected because they channel it regularly... but no one is immune.

If the world weariness threshold is increased to something appropriate for levels I think I would go with my paladin concept. I really like the idea of playing a good character who is also ambitious. You don't often see paladins with desires beyond their oaths, but I imagine my character can see quite a bit of good he could do as a Clan Head.

If not, probably the alchemist then. A bit creepier of a character who enjoys dissecting the dangerous creatures in order to learn and even mimic them more and more. And when I say alchemist I mean a full on 'Alchemist'. Though probably not with bombs. That might be the safer route but there is too much flavor in a character that actually gets a bonus from understanding anatomy well.

This seems messy and makes playing a frontline even less appealing than usual. That strikes me as targetting the wrong thing to achieve the stated goal. Here's how I would do the same hint without targetting the fighter for depression.

Give the party a bucket. I'm going to call it stress. Whenever an ally or the party takes more than level*10 damage, add 1 stress. Work out your consequences for being stressed (generic untyped -1 on all rolls for every 3? or every one after 5? stress) and go from there. Every day without stress gain, have some stress decay. Figure out what value of stress reduction revelry is, call it good enough. This tracks damage taken instead of recovery, and it tracks it on a party basis. This won't penalize frontline martial for being frontline martial characters standing near danger, and it doesn't let the party cheat our way out of the stress via ally, but it still lets us throw a low hp summon (less than lvl*10) on the fire without regrets. Players are incentivized to alpha strike even more than usual, but that was true with the other system too. At least this way the crusade might have some crusaders.

As soon as he could hold his own, Zov was baptized in blood. He was thrown against the other reject children and the young captives from other races, battling to the death in a pit of darkness before he was ten. His father was darkness. His mother was hunger. His teacher was pain. There was no kinship, no honor, no tradition or culture or humane interaction. Only his cold cell, his towering jailers, and the ones he was forced to kill in order to survive. The ones who he traded blood with were the only ones he knew. In a perverted sort of way, he cared for them. They understood what is was to be him. What it was to live life in a cage, cold and hungry and in pain, only knowing the touch of another when it was to inflict pain. So he cared for them, even as he bit and strangled them to death, always with a mixture of remorse and jealousy. Remorse that he was not allowed to eat their bodies, and jealousy that they got to escape while he was stuck here.

Zov kept fighting until he was a teen, then a young man. His conditions got worse as the fights got harder, but he became hardened to the life. He rationed the small amount of food he got, hiding it under a broken stone. He learned to sleep light and whenever he had the chance, sometimes even catching a few minutes as he was waiting for a fight to start. He learned what fights he could lose and still survive, and what jailers would do him favors if he threw a fight to make them win a bet. He was still barely scraping by, but he was learning. He learned how to survive in this hell of a life. He learned who not to piss off. He learned how to keep wounds from crippling him. He learned what jailers took what shifts. And one day, he learned which jailer would leave his cell open for a big enough payoff.

Zov made deals through a dozen different people, throwing matches left and right and getting beaten within an inch of his life until he had enough money saved up to bribe the corrupt jailer, Veldrizz. He didn't even know what the world was like outside the bloody fighting pits, but he knew it had to be better than scrambling in the dark to barely survive. He waited with gritted teeth as Veldrizz came down to lock up the cells, knowing his plan could end in death as easily as escape. But Veldrizz simply gave him a small grin as he passed by Zov's cell, pretending to lock it. Zov narrowed his eyes and waited for Veldrizz to pass out of sight, then slipped out into his first breath of freedom.

Zov crept through the darkness, avoiding the other jailers as his heart threatened to beat out of his chest. Discovery meant death. He was seen twice but both times strangled the jailers in a silent but vicious attack. With his last kills in that hell hole behind him, he escaped away from that life forever. He saw the full-blooded drow inside the city near where he escaped and immediately headed the opposite direction, eventually finding a tunnel that lead to the light above. And that was Zov's first true taste of freedom. Crawling out of the dirt in the middle of a desert to face the bright morning sun, blinding him in its brilliance.

Zov's first taste of surface life was harsh. He spent days without food or water as he wandered the blistering desert. As his mind and body began to fail him he finally saw civilization. A small oasis, mostly a stopping point for traveling merchants. Zov wasted no time in staggering into the little oasis town and grabbing food and water from the nearest source; a food stand with a very angry-looking merchant behind it. The man yelled at him in a strange language and reached out to take the food from Zov, quickly earning a swift punch to the face from the half-starved half-drow. The situation degraded quickly as the local muscle piled onto Zov, earning a few lumps as they overpowered him and brought him to the local sheriff. He was dragged along as questions and accusations and threats were thrown at him in the same strange language, his only response growls and snarls.

They dumped Voz in front of the sheriff's office as the sheriff by the name of Ryder Craw stepped out into the sand. He stared down at the beaten half-drow for a moment, then spit and barked something at the thugs. They gave a series of replies and drifted off, leaving the two alone. Ryder went down to a knee in front of Voz, turning his head and asking a question.

When there was no response he narrowed his eyes and tried again in elven. "Elven maybe? You got the ears for it."
Zov jerked up and growled. "Let me go or I'll rip your throat out!"
Ryder arced a brow and shook his head. "That ain't no way to make friends. Listen here boy, you came into my town, stole from one of my people, then punched him for no good reason. Now I try to run a fair sense of law here, so you better have a damn good reason why you did that. Either that or I cut your damn head off. We have an understanding?"
Zov struggled against his bindings, but he was not stupid and knew his situation. "Needed...water...dying...escaped...from drow..."
Ryder raised both his brows, spitting into the sand again. He took a moment looking down at the half-drow savage then nodded. "I think I'm understanding what's going on here. Tell you what. I'll settle your debts to the man and you work for me to pay it off. Somebody once showed me some kindness like this when I needed it, and I think paying it forward's the right thing to do."

And that was how Zov made his first friend. Somebody he knew who didn't want to kill him or torture him, somebody that he didn't want or have to kill. Ryder wasn't exactly a compassionate individual, but compared to his past life the sheriff felt like a nurturing mother. Ryder had him help with some odd jobs, mostly lugging around heavy goods for the local merchants and helping Ryder keep his office clean. It took Zov a few weeks to really grasp the idea of civilization as he was escorted around by Ryder like an ignorant child. The locals didn't like him, but Ryder kept them at a respectful distance as Zov learned how to function in a world that was not ruled by pain and darkness and death.

Over the course of a few years, Zov slowly but surely became a functioning member of society. He learned the intricacies of civilization and culture as well as the common tongue. Once he mastered the language well enough he threw away his slave name, reinventing himself with a new name: Kienyach Vonnarc. He got the name from a merchant who came through town selling weapons who entranced the half-drow with stories of heroes of old. Kienyach eventually grew confident enough in his social abilities that he decided to strike out on his own. His time spent on the surface only intensified his curiosity about the world, so he thanked Ryder for all his help and gathered his meager possessions before striking out on his own.

Kienyach soon learned that the rest of the world was very prejudiced against his drow half. He may have learned to control his temper and go through the basic functions of society, but the racism and hate thrown at him provoked more than one fight. The rest of the world was not so kind without the local law keeper vouching for him. He picked up enough work as hired muscle to survive without resorting to stealing, but it was a dull living that barely had him scraping by. Than one day when he was working a mercenary, he ran into an organized military that routed him and his mercenary allies in a brutal assault. As Kienyach watched how the men in the military worked together with such purpose and vigor, he knew what he wanted to do.

It didn't take long for Kienyach to slip away from the flimsy life he had been attempting to build and find his way into the local military. He didn't fit well at first, especially with the prejudice against him, but the strict training and regulations of the military helped both of these. It gave him a sense of order in the chaotic world he had been born into, and while he never was truly accepted by his fellow soldiers there was a certain level of mutual respect that developed into brotherhood. It was the closest thing to a family Kienyach had ever had. It was also the best time of his life. Things made sense, everybody had a place to be and a job to do, everything had a purpose, and his purpose was to insert a little chaotic violence into the ranks of their enemies.

But Kienyach's luck in life had never been good, and it all had to turn against him eventually. He was out on a mission with his brothers to find and neutralize an alchemist who had been poisoning the water supplies of local towns. They had tracked him down and sent in a small, covert group to arrest or kill the poisoner. They slipped in through the surrounding wilderness and began scaling the old wooden building he alchemist was hiding inside. Kienyach was covering the back exit in case of an escape while the rest of his group ran in, keeping an eye out in the darkness. But as they ran in he smelled the leakage of chemicals, and he saw the sly grin on the alchemist's face. His heart rate doubled and he broke out of the trees, running for the building to save his brothers. But it was too late. A violent explosion ripped out of the building, deafening Kienyach and throwing him back against the treeline as he felt his flesh burn away.

Kienyach awoke some time later in a daze, gasping in pain at his burned arms, chest, and face. He looked up and then yelled in pain and anguish at the sight. The building was in flames, and his brothers were gone along with it. He pushed through the pain of his burns to search the wreckage, but only found corpses. Among them was not the alchemist. The evil bastard escaped.

Kienyach deserted the army, unable to face the failure of that mission and the deaths on his conscience. Every night he is plagued by nightmares, waking up in a cold sweat as visions of the fire come alive in his mind. He has to escape. He has to get away and start again. Somewhere new.

Kien is an vicious-looking grim man of few words. He sees the world as a dark place where the only good comes from what you fight like hell for, an eternal pessimist. He warms up to people slowly and is even slower to trust, but once he does trust somebody he is fiercely loyal and protective of them. Kien has had nothing but harshness in his life and seeks a place that he can call home. Either that or a good way to die.

Thanks to everyone who has been offering opinions, thoughts, concerns, and even alternate ideas. They are all appreciated. World Weariness has come up literally 0 times in the campaign so far due to the party makeup, so I've given it very little thought since coming up with the system. I'm sure that once it actually comes into play things will change. I currently intend to have a version 0.2 draft by the time we have new players added in to address the more prominent concerns.

I think I recall the witch archetype you're referring to. The White-haired Witch? Interesting idea, and we could definitely make it work if you are selected.

Should we have our characters come from one of the landmasses of Eldreon? Would it be rare or unreasonable to have a character come from a less civilized place like Anador?

Rare, yes, unreasonable no. Humans, drecna, halfings, and especially elves could have been born and raised in Anador (technically dwarves too, though far less likely). You can definitely come from wherever you want - you just happen to have ended in up in Keldradt for the time being.

Since this game has clearly gone longer than anticipated, is this goal still true? Is it still open-world style?

Yes! We progressed out of the "initial adventure" a long while ago and now the party is free to go where they want (or try to, at least). I also try to pop up some adventure/quest ideas when things seem to stagnate.

Is XP tracked in this game? Does each character getting a kill matter, or who participates in combat and/or RP situations? Can we murder a bunch of wild animals to level up? :P

Tracked in secret, by me. I do it party-wide and per-encounter (which can also include key social interactions) and making heavy use of roleplaying bonuses when I feel characters do things especially true to character (especially when it comes at a detriment to themselves).

Technically you could go murder some animals to level up, sure. How hard or easy that would be depends on the animal, seeing as most wild animals are not eager to stand toe-to-toe with an adventuring party... though there are exceptions.

So how exactly do we handle languages in that case?

I have the language rules written up somewhere, and I'll try to get them onto the blog (actually I'm transitioning it to a wiki, eventually). Basically, languages tend to be regional/situational (prominent example is the language of Athekorian, spoken in a relatively small region of the world, but ALSO spoken widely by scholars and historians), and there are three levels of proficiency + the ability to read/write.

Where is Keldradt? I don't see it on the world map.

Ah, whoops. It is located around the southeast corner of the continent of Ottrunval, nestled in the jungle. If you look at the map on the blog it has the icon of a ruined city.

Oh that's interesting. Out of curiosity, why is that? Would a brawler be ok?

For the barbarian it's because I think the class idea is too muddled between class/culture. For Monk it's because of the preponderance of cheesy builds. When people want to play these flavor of characters I'm happy to work with them to get the right feel into a difference class. And from what (admittedly little) I know about the brawler it should be fine.

Finally, as to the character concept: There are no drow as such in Eldreon, but that doesn't mean there aren't cruel elves somewhere that could retain much of the flavor of your backstory. I'm sure we can adapt and reinvent where necessary to keep the core intact.

Concept looks good! A dwarf that dislikes the underground is pretty flavorful in Eldreon, where the bulk of dwarven society spends much of its time underground.

As others have done, just doing a "Background" and then an optional summary of your character's personality and appearance is a decent way to go about it. And no need to describe yourself as a player, but it also doesn't hurt. Entirely up to you!

His face tells tales about a long life in the wilderness as does his skin which is old and rucked with a solid amount of scars mixed in. That worn-out appearance of him, makes him appear even older than he already is, which is to say he looks REALLY old.

For clothing he seems to favor wide, practical and warm clothes, despite the general warm climate of the Otteunval, in the colors of nature (green, brown, grey, white). And he don't seem to change his clothing style between adventuring and normal day wear.

He seem to neither wear armor nor obvious weapons. You can probably make out tools for woodworking and hunting straped to his backpack, but neither look ready for a fight.
If the weather is bad he wears an old, heavily used, warm grey coat that covers him completely and seems to be repaired numerous times. If he expects longer walks (more than a few dozen steps) he also never leaves without an old wandering staff made from a solid dark wood unknown in the south with lots of artisan carvings featuring leaf, star, mountain and snowflake motives. On top of the staff sits a unmoving white crab with enormous scissors (compared to its size). At first you might think it as a crafted or stuffed creature but as you look more careful, you notice that its eyes follow your every movement...

He wears a single solid golden ring with a green stone set in the middle on his left hand and a simple medallion made of steel around his neck. The steel has tiny dwarven runes all over its surface and seems to be able to open. (If you ever get a chance to take a look, there is a single green leaf inside.)
If he is reading a longer text he takes on small bronze glasses and bows deeply over the text.
During travels he packs a massive backpack making you fear it will make the dwarf collapse after a few steps. Despite the size and obvious weight, he shoulders it and keeps on going with the same pace he takes on without it. The backpack seems to contain anything that may be useful for a life in the wilderness or on long adventures into unknown territory.

If you can't have it done by then I'll give you a bit more time as you've been active in the thread. Suffice to say that I won't make my final decision until you get your submission in (within reason).

Dante - He's a description in our family ledger (a book we carry that has familial notes) as a person of interest to the current head of <swordlord house>. We have no idea why nor any way to contact the family/swordlord so it's kinda moot.
Tyren - Sold our family a leaky boat with a hull full of rotting corpses, and some gems. Down in the ledger as "odd but potentially useful".
Luca - I can't resist. So let it be said that half our siblings summon dark horrors and play with them like kittens back home so we just don't even see what the big deal is. I guess we'll pick a strange familiar/companion spirit, know a bit about summoning, or just have some knowledge about aberations and the dark tapestry.

I love good RP - one of the major benefits of PbP for me, as it somehow makes staying IC and thus RPing much easier for me than it is in my RL tables.

Reading through the current campaign is just fine. I trust my players to keep meta-knowledge and player knowledge separate, and for things where it might be too risky I simply keep info hidden.

Requested posting rate is at least once a day on weekdays, no posting requirements on weekends.

As per your build ideas, all sounds fine - though I should mention that firearms do not exist in Eldreon (at least at this time, I might change that eventually). However, crossbows are a bit souped-up in damage so you could still pack a punch at range with them.

Looking forward to reading your concept. And thanks for your kind words on Eldreon. The maps were made by sketching landmasses on paper, scanning that, and doing the rest in GIMP. The icons were painstakingly created in GIMP as well (I leveled up my abilities in pixel art to do them...).