Shanosuke's Souls of Lost Aridia (Inactive)

Game Master Shanosuke

[spoiler=character background]The gambling debt actually wasn't what I really wanted to use as the reason for the attack on the parents. I didn't want to take too much liberty and didn't want to go on forever though. Based on what you told Jen above I feel better about my original idea.

Initially, I had wanted Lyric and his parents to live basically in hiding in a kingdom/area ruled by arcane casters that had outlawed the use of good and neutral divine magic all together and a powerful church of one of the evil gods or a collective of them managed the divine magic on their side very closely. The idea was basically that good divine magic and divine healing was punishable by death.

In this context an Aasimar born to a celestial blooded sorcerer and a cleric of Saranrae would be anathema and thought of as killable on sight. My idea was for the parents to hide their true nature while trying to do good in the local area and protect Lyric from being discovered as Aasimar. So my thinking was that it was the kingdom and the church that had his parents killed and were still trying to hunt him down.

ALL of that said, I would love for you to use the history above or modify/manipulate it anyway you would like to fit with your campaign.

Sounds good to me!

in case you need it: v e r t e x v o r t e x (at) g m a i l (dot) c o m obfuscated so the spam spiders don't have a snack.

Jen was born in a small cluster of hovels, one of a group of villages that formed a "nation" without a name, though known as the "Plains People" by outsiders. It was located several miles outside of the Savarie desert and had land that was barely arable enough for farming. The local midwife, Mother's close friend and confidant, was unable to leave her bed due to a mysterious illness, now called "the Sickness of the Sands." Without anyone else that she really trusted, Mother gave birth alone, inside a small cave outside of the village, that formed part of an even larger cave complex.

It was fortunate that no one was there to witness the birth, because the creature that came out wasn't exactly normal. It had a thin but pointy tail (part of the reason why many Tiefling births are so painful to the mother) and its eyes were piercing, even then. Mother was shocked at the result, despite her knowledge of the possible monstrosity that would result months prior, but accepted Jen as her only companion.

After a thorough examination of Mother's birth canal by the local midwife (which was just a hoax, as she wanted to protect Mother's secret), the only cleric in the entire nation (and a pretty bad one at that) declared that it had been a virgin birth, and that the nation would be truly blessed in the coming harvest seasons.

Jen was frequently bullied as a kid. During games of tag and throwing rocks, her barbed tail sometimes became exposed, becoming a source of ridicule. While the children all knew, they did not think that it was a matter serious enough to bring up with their parents, especially since they were the ones doing the bullying.

During the years of adolescence, all children must undergo training to discover their chosen professions in adulthood. To many people's astonishment, she tested well as a wizard, the first in many generations. With all the books that the nation could muster, Jen packed her small leather bag and began to study. She found that the only place that she could concentrate without curious people bothering her was the cave complex where she was born.

It was her studies in the cave that led to two remarkable discoveries. She was able see well within the caves, though in black and white. Since there was no knowledge of darkvision at the time, her highly developed intelligence concluded that there was a mysterious light source within the caves. Naturally, she lost her way, but met a small white cat, who would later become her familliar. He informed Jen that she was a Tiefling with extraordinary powers and intelligence, and as a result, the lower planes decided to bestow a creature of similar power and intelligence to help guide her, as compensation for the earlier acts to her mother.

When she emerged, many were surprised at her level of advancement in the arcane arts, and she was immediately skipped through the trials of adulthood. With her new powers, she worked as assistant magical healer to the nation, and following the cleric's retirement, the only magical healer. She worked for nearly eight years, until a remarkable set of events drove her out of her nation forever.

The year's harvest had been a dreadful one and everyone was on edge. A swarm of locusts and a particularly powerful sandstorm had destroyed most of the year's crop, leaving only the hardy bitter-root, a potato-like tuber that was loathsome to eat, though highly nutritious. On one of her routine journeys back to her home village, a particularly strong gust of wind unfastened Jen's cloak, exposing her barbed tail. Unfortunately, she was travelling with a group of merchants at the time. She tried to silence them with slumber, but one of the merchants escaped and told the rest of the tribes.

Not only was Jen descended from the lower planes, she was deriving her arcane skill from black magic! In the generation that grew up with her, always jealous of her success, everything clicked. Her witchcraft, her tail, that was the reason for her success! The sandstorm, the locusts, that was the domain of witches as well! One by one, the villagers came forward with terrible stories of their sicknesses. One woman got a bad case of the Pox Postules, while other villagers had been suffering from the Sickness of the Sands. No wonder the midwife contracted the disease; she was handling it at its source!

Jen tried to deny the allegations, for she knew that it was not true, but the crowd was too fervored. She held them off with a few of her spells, before fleeing. While once she was the exalted and talented child of a virgin birth, now she was forced to use her mastery of the arcane arts only to survive. Bandits, famines, angry mobs, she was beset by them all, but she managed to survive due to her mastery and perseverence.

Now she has fled for a year, though not travelling that far, until she has found the caravan and offer to travel to Aridia. Perhaps she could find her tranquility and acceptance there.

Alignment: Neutral-Chaotic Good with some grudges and desires for revenge