Taliesin's Way of the Wicked

Game Master Merddyn

Human (Ulfen) spiritualist 1
Init +2

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DEFENSE
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AC: 10/10/10
HP: 15
Fort +5, Ref +0, Will +4/+6
Defensive abilities: +4 vs mind-affecting effects, 1/day mitigate any mind-affecting effect

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OFFENSE
-------------------
Speed 30 ft.
Melee: unarmed strike +4, 1d4+4 (+1 when flanking)
Ranged: telekinetic projectile +0, 1d6 bludgeoning

Spells known:
0th (DC 12) - guidance, mage hand, open/close, telekinetic projectile
1st (2/day, DC 13) - cure light wounds, mage armor

Special:
Shared Consciousness (Su): At 1st level, while a phantom is confined in a spiritualist’s consciousness (but not while it’s fully manifested or banished to the Ethereal Plane), it grants the spiritualist the Skill Focus feat in two skills determined by the phantom’s emotional focus, unless the spiritualist already has Skill Focus in those skills. It also grants a +4 bonus on saving throws against all mind-affecting effects; at 12th level, this bonus increases to +8. Lastly, once per day, when the spiritualist fails a saving throw against a mind-affecting effect, as an immediate action she can shunt that effect into the phantom’s section of her consciousness instead. When she does so, she is not affected by the mind-affecting effect, but for the normal duration of that effect, the spiritualist loses the bonuses on saving throws against mind-affecting effects and the Skill Focus effects granted by her phantom, and can’t use this ability to shunt a mind-affecting effect into the phantom’s consciousness or manifest her phantom in any way. When a mind-affecting effect is shunted into the phantom’s consciousness, spells such as dispel magic and break enchantment can be cast on the spiritualist to end the effect’s duration as if the spiritualist were affected by the mind-affecting effect.

Etheric Tether (Su): At 1st level, a spiritualist can force the phantom to manifest in an area around her by pushing the phantom’s consciousness though the veil of ethereal essence, allowing it to fully manifest in either ectoplasmic or incorporeal form. Whenever her manifested phantom takes enough damage to send it back to the Ethereal Plane, as a reaction to the damage, the spiritualist can sacrifice any number of her hit points without using an action. Each hit point sacrificed in this way prevents 1 point of damage dealt to the phantom. This can prevent the phantom from being sent back to the Ethereal Plane.
This tether is limited. When the phantom is fully manifested, it and the spiritualist must remain within 50 feet of one another for the phantom’s manifestation to stay stable with little to no concentration on the part of the spiritualist. The spiritualist can stretch the limited tether, but only when the phantom is in ectoplasmic form. When a spiritualist starts her turn and her ectoplasmic phantom is more than 50 feet away from her (but closer than 100 feet), the spiritualist must concentrate on the link as a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity or the ectoplasmic phantom immediately returns to the Ethereal Plane and cannot be summoned from that plane for 24 hours. This concentration can be interrupted as if it were a spell. Treat this effect’s spell level as equal to 1 + 1 per 10 feet farther than 50 feet that the phantom is from the spiritualist (maximum spell level 6th). If the tether is interrupted or the check fails, the phantom immediately snaps back into the consciousness of its spiritualist master.
If the ectoplasmic phantom is ever more than 100 feet away from its spiritualist, or the incorporeal phantom is ever 50 feet away from the spiritualist or outside of line of effect from the spiritualist for more than 1 round per spiritualist level the spiritualist possesses, the tether is automatically broken; the phantom immediately returns to the Ethereal Plane and can’t be summoned from that plane for 24 hours.

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STATISTICS
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Base Atk +0
Feats: Toughness, Improved Unarmed Strike, Iron Will [phantom], Skill Focus (Diplomacy) [phantom], Skill Focus (Sense Motive) [phantom]
Traits: Murder, Reactionary
Skills (total armor check penalty: -0):
Heal +6
Knowledge (arcana, local) +4
Perception +3
Sense Motive +6/+9

They didn't think it was her. They kept calling her by her brother's name, Quade. She didn't understand why at first. The last thing she remembered was carefully drawing out the magical diagram on the floor in her room. Neither she nor her brother had ever cast a spell before, and the prospect was exciting. They finished the diagram, stood inside it, and spoke the words they had read. It was supposed to grant them some kind of power.

She didn't remember what happened next. When she woke up, her own body was lying next to her on the floor, pale, dead. Her body felt strange but she didn't understand why. Her brother was nowhere to be seen. She knew, just knew, that something terrible had happened to him. The sight of her own dead body, and the sudden disappearance of her brother, was too much for her. They had made a terrible mistake. She broke down and began to cry.

They found her there several minutes later. She was brought before a witch hunter named Sir Balin of Karfeld, who'd received a tip that Lisette and her brother were attempting unsanctioned spellcraft. He, too, called her by her brother's name and charged Quade with murder. Suddenly, Lisette realized-- she had somehow taken over Quade's body. What had happened to him she didn't know; she couldn't sense his presence in their now-shared body. Her mind numb with grief, as though she was trying to think through molasses, she formed words with a tongue that wasn't hers and explained to Sir Balin that she was, in fact, Lisette. She didn't mean to kill her brother, she said, she only wanted magical powers. He watched her with piercing, skeptical eyes, and declared that in the end it didn't matter who stood before him. A dead body was found, along with the forbidden magical diagram, and by Lisette's own admission only one of the pair of them remained. He charged her with murder and sentenced her to death.

Abilities Str 15, Dex 12, Con 13, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 18
Traits Unscathed, High Treason
Background Skills Knowledge (Nobility), Handle Animal
Resistances Fire - 3

One day when returning from a particularly rough day on the water, Duncan returned to his family's estate to find it swarming with soldiers of House Darius. He stepped in a bit of loose mud only to realize that it was from blood that had dampened the soil. The blood was that of Uther, his father's most trusted and skilled warrior as well as Duncan's mentor, friend and trainer. All Duncan could hear was his own heartbeat pounding in his ears. A head priest of Mitra pointed at him and athough he couldn't hear the words he could read his lips commanding the guards to "Sieze him!". Duncan's parents were both on their knees bound and gagged in the center of the courtyard. Tears were streaming down his mother's face her head lowering as she saw her son enter his fate sealed. Duncan was placed beside his parents and gagged, he saw no sign of his beloved sisters. The head priest ordered several guards to gather towns folk outside of the estate. Duncan and his parent's were brought out in front of their estate where a crowd had gathered. The head Priest cleared his throat then yelled for everyone to hear "The Umber Family has been found guilty of High Treason against King Markadian V. They have plotted against his majesty and shall therefore pay the ultimate price. Arthur Umber was tied to a make shift stake that had been planted securely in the ground. The priest drew a small and wickedly curved blade and handed it to a hooded executioner. The executioner moved towards Aurthur and without hesitation slit his stomach open letting his intestines and organs fall to the ground. Duncan was forced to watch as his father's body was removed, beheaded and cut to pieces in front of himself and his mother. The only thing worse was having to watch his mother suffer the same fate. "Let this be a lesson to all of you!" The priest shouted. "The Shining lord has spoken and delivered swift justice to those that would betray your King!". Duncan's head hung low, his body in complete shock after witnessing the horror that befell his parents. The Priest approached Duncan. "Take this one to Branderscar; let him live with those images for a few days before he suffers the same fate."

As Duncan was taken to Branderscar the reality of what had happened sunk in. An anger and hatred he never known stirred inside of him. He cursed Mitra for abandoning him and his family, vowing never to serve the so called Shinning Lord again. Duncan found himself praying to the darker lords he had learned about in his studies. Asmodeus had always stood out to him as a vile and wicked lord. Duncan prayed to Asmodeus vowing to serve him if the devil helped him find and slay every last Priest of Mitra and bring about the destruction of House Darius. If only he could find a way out of this horrid prison.

When the fall started and the Mitrans were tearing down everything that made Talingarde great, replacing it with the chaotic messy system that exists today, Limna and Thostrompularn could see the writing on the wall well ahead of time. The sent Terna, then still just in her teens barely able to understand the situation, with their trusted human stewart Frandorlo to hide her away in obscurity somewhere near Farholde. Should the uprising be put down Terna could return when it was safe, but if things continued as it seemed likely they would, at least they would have spared the life of their beloved daughter so that she could carry on their legacy and maybe even someday avenge them.

Frandorlo raised Terna the best he could, though her new life was nothing like the one she had been torn away from in Daveryn. He made sure that Terna learned her family history, the politics of the past and the present, her rightful powers and responsibilities and the teachings of Asmodeus. He taught her everything he knew about languages and contracts, how to use them with precision and how to influence people into doing what she wanted them to do regardless of where their own interests might lie. Most importantly, he taught her that it was her destiny to return this land to the order that had been so unceremoniously stripped from it.

As Franoldo aged, he made a new family in the village that was their seat of exile. A family who would be Terna’s only servants for most of her life. They did their best to serve her, and she appreciated their efforts, rewarding them as she could, but because they must do so in secret, the effects were often far more limited than they should be. Franoldo died in his sixties, carrying out a mission of vengeance for Terna over a slight from a nearby baron, Lord Blustov, and Terna mourned the passing of a most useful tool.

The past decade Terna has started to feel that the time to act must be near if she’s going to be able to gain any benefit from a return to order herself. As such she spent the better part of those ten years building up a loyal following of the humans in the village around her to overthrow Lord Blustov as the very first steps of the campaign to take back Talingarde. She had begun to reach out to others who shared similar interests in other parts of the country, slowly and carefully so that a concerted act could be in many places at once.

Sadly, it seems that Terna did not act carefully enough, and at least one of her attempts to contact potential allies got the attention of those loyal to King Markadian. Terna doesn’t know who, but someone tipped of Lord Blustov that Terna’s loyal villagers were starting to dig tunnels under the walls of his castle in anticipation of the strike which would be coming sometime in the future. When they confessed what they were doing, why they were doing it, and who they worked for, Terna didn’t even have time to consider flight before the guards had her in chains and she was on a wagon bound for Branderscar. When she arrived, her conviction for the act of Sedition was handed down with impressive speed, and now she finds herself on the verge of literally losing her head.

So if he's joining an organization that intends to tear down the kingdom in Talingarde and replace it with a new order (that's what I imagine it to be), then he would decide that throwing his efforts behind that organization would probably be the best thing to do, even if his experiments have to be postponed for a time.

Human (Ulfen) spiritualist 1
Init +2

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DEFENSE
-------------------
AC: 10/10/10
HP: 15
Fort +5, Ref +0, Will +4/+6
Defensive abilities: +4 vs mind-affecting effects, 1/day mitigate any mind-affecting effect

-------------------
OFFENSE
-------------------
Speed 30 ft.
Melee: unarmed strike +4, 1d4+4 (+1 when flanking)
Ranged: telekinetic projectile +0, 1d6 bludgeoning

Spells known:
0th (DC 12) - guidance, mage hand, open/close, telekinetic projectile
1st (2/day, DC 13) - cure light wounds, mage armor

Special:
Shared Consciousness (Su): At 1st level, while a phantom is confined in a spiritualist’s consciousness (but not while it’s fully manifested or banished to the Ethereal Plane), it grants the spiritualist the Skill Focus feat in two skills determined by the phantom’s emotional focus, unless the spiritualist already has Skill Focus in those skills. It also grants a +4 bonus on saving throws against all mind-affecting effects; at 12th level, this bonus increases to +8. Lastly, once per day, when the spiritualist fails a saving throw against a mind-affecting effect, as an immediate action she can shunt that effect into the phantom’s section of her consciousness instead. When she does so, she is not affected by the mind-affecting effect, but for the normal duration of that effect, the spiritualist loses the bonuses on saving throws against mind-affecting effects and the Skill Focus effects granted by her phantom, and can’t use this ability to shunt a mind-affecting effect into the phantom’s consciousness or manifest her phantom in any way. When a mind-affecting effect is shunted into the phantom’s consciousness, spells such as dispel magic and break enchantment can be cast on the spiritualist to end the effect’s duration as if the spiritualist were affected by the mind-affecting effect.

Etheric Tether (Su): At 1st level, a spiritualist can force the phantom to manifest in an area around her by pushing the phantom’s consciousness though the veil of ethereal essence, allowing it to fully manifest in either ectoplasmic or incorporeal form. Whenever her manifested phantom takes enough damage to send it back to the Ethereal Plane, as a reaction to the damage, the spiritualist can sacrifice any number of her hit points without using an action. Each hit point sacrificed in this way prevents 1 point of damage dealt to the phantom. This can prevent the phantom from being sent back to the Ethereal Plane.
This tether is limited. When the phantom is fully manifested, it and the spiritualist must remain within 50 feet of one another for the phantom’s manifestation to stay stable with little to no concentration on the part of the spiritualist. The spiritualist can stretch the limited tether, but only when the phantom is in ectoplasmic form. When a spiritualist starts her turn and her ectoplasmic phantom is more than 50 feet away from her (but closer than 100 feet), the spiritualist must concentrate on the link as a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity or the ectoplasmic phantom immediately returns to the Ethereal Plane and cannot be summoned from that plane for 24 hours. This concentration can be interrupted as if it were a spell. Treat this effect’s spell level as equal to 1 + 1 per 10 feet farther than 50 feet that the phantom is from the spiritualist (maximum spell level 6th). If the tether is interrupted or the check fails, the phantom immediately snaps back into the consciousness of its spiritualist master.
If the ectoplasmic phantom is ever more than 100 feet away from its spiritualist, or the incorporeal phantom is ever 50 feet away from the spiritualist or outside of line of effect from the spiritualist for more than 1 round per spiritualist level the spiritualist possesses, the tether is automatically broken; the phantom immediately returns to the Ethereal Plane and can’t be summoned from that plane for 24 hours.

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STATISTICS
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Base Atk +0
Feats: Toughness, Improved Unarmed Strike, Iron Will [phantom], Skill Focus (Diplomacy) [phantom], Skill Focus (Sense Motive) [phantom]
Traits: Murder, Reactionary
Skills (total armor check penalty: -0):
Artistry (literature) +4 <background>
Heal +6
Knowledge (arcana, local) +4
Knowledge (engineering) +4 <background>
Perception +3
Sense Motive +6/+9

She has some feelings for her father, the fact that he is her father is the main reason she will not want to kill him on sight.

She has her own aspirations, and she sees him as a tool to be used. If give the oppurtinity, she would try to bring him back to that dark place and use him.

If it came to fighting him, she would hold back just enough to try and turn him. Failing that, he is no longer useful and becomes an obstical to be eliminated.

Secretly, she would mourn him, but no let it overcome her.

I'm also mulling the idea of taking the Haunted archetype, allowing Lisette to increase her own power at the expense of Quade's, to emphasize that her love for him isn't really what it should be. The archetype doesn't kick in until level 3, so I'd have some time to consider.

Given that Terna was taught that her duty is to her family as much as herself, she would be relieved that her parents were alive and honor them, though she'd also be leary of them trying to take from her any of the power that she's managed to amass without them unless they can demonstrate their capability and competence make them better suited as the ones who hold the power.

As a side note, I've altered Terna's backstory on the character sheet slightly from what I posted in thread so that the local noble Franoldo died seeking vengeance upon is now dead as well, and his grandson is the one that Terna had sent her followers to undermine when they got caught. It seems like a more likely time line given the longevity of humans and gnomes.

Anger seethed inside of him as thoughts of his mothers execution tormented him. If I have to torture every last priest of Mitra I can find or every member of House Darius I will get answers! Duncan finally fell asleep envisioning leading a large army to overthrow King Markadian V to extract his revenge.
.

Life with the mentor was disciplined and expectations were high (I almost took the Oppressive Expectations drawback because of this); Sartur learned quickly that the mentor's word was law and failure was met with harsh punishment. Though their relationship changed as Sartur grew out of adolescence, there is still a very strong father/son dynamic, and Sartur does not want to disappoint the mentor.

Having done so, Sartur fears the mentor's wrath and is depressed that he failed. There is no hate toward the mentor, only sadness.

Commander Farr's inability to lead was aggravating during training, but really came to a head on a week-long excursion to root out an organization of bandits. Talia knew she and the rest were doomed from the get-go and therefore, resolved to avoid death by (Wendell's) stupidity, began plotting a way to escape. Sure enough, the bandits had easily caught wind of their unit as Farr forged an aimlessly winding path through their territory, and had subsequently executed a successful ambush that left her entire unit utterly eviscerated - save for Talia, who had escaped in the midst of the fighting. She traversed the wilds of Talingarde for two days alone, judiciously avoiding both patrolling monsters and deadly hazards. When she finally, blessedly made it back to the garrison, she gave a silent thanks to Mitra - and was subsequently charged with desertion and taken in chains. She'd concocted an alibi during her return, and trusted that, barring any other witnesses, it would set her free and clear her name. However, Wendell's father had stormed in an emotional rage around the magistrate's office, decrying "the lies of a tiefling who cost him his son," and her own explanation thereafter seemed feeble and excusatory in comparison. The trial did not last long, and did not end in her favor.

She'd listened to Smiley Tawd, a fellow incarcerated tiefling and political prisoner incarcerated for trying to convince others of the wisdom of a new, more fair and representative government; he had been arrested for merely outlining a method by which tieflings and others might find fairer restitution and justice in Talingarde, but had been shouted down by the "good" citizens who had later kicked him and pelted him with food as the guards dragged him off. But even then, she was still holding on to some semblance of faith the morning that she'd heard - though had not been permitted to see - Tawd forcibly taken out of his cell and brought to the headsman's block. And though he'd tearfully begged for mercy and shouted for real justice, she'd somehow still made out the whisper of the heavy axe falling heedlessly, and in the sudden silence that followed, a piece of Talia's soul broke off. In that moment, all the stress and rage and fear welled up and reached a tipping point. She swore an oath of retributive vengeance against the monarchical and ecclesiastical regime, should she ever escape the prison.

They said Evan was cursed since birth.

Born a member of Talingarde's somewhat higher society in a time of peace, life should have been relatively easy. There was just one major problem: he was born with a holy symbol of Asmodeus on the back of his right hand. In ages past, this might not have been as much of an issue. But now, following the inquisitorial purges of king Mercadian IV, much had changed. In this age, knowledge of the mark spreading would surely have meant the end of him, if not of the house altogether.

Perhaps both options were the same in the end, as the house had no heirs other than Evan. Thus, they couldn't afford to lose him. Perhaps his mother, his father, or both were infertile and a deal was struck with whatever diety could provide an offspring. Perhaps less noble rival families in the horsetrading business had made even made them so, resorting to poisons, magic or 'jousting accidents below the belt' to achieve such a feat, indirectly removing the Cordants as competitors in the long run. Or perhaps there was something darker at work, and what was happening now was simply a result of a curse or deal made long ago. At least the boy didn't appear evil, when his mother used magic to check for it, nor did he apear much different from an ordinary human.

Evan himself doesn't know the truth and neither his parents nor the servants speak of it. Cutting off the skin beneath the symbol didn't work, as it simply grew back. So him simply accepted he'd have to hide this and make the best of it. As a member of a fairly well-off horse-breeding family, he learned the basics of animal handling and numerous other topics from the tutors he had access to. He even learned archery and basic melee skills from an old Ranger tutor, to better defend himself if the need ever arised. But all throughout it all, it felt... wrong, and empty. As if this wasn't truly his place, or fate.
Perhaps he'd have had an uneventful life after reaching maturity, settling down with a servant girl named Lauren he once dated, before his family found out and broke off this engagement, hoping for a better match.

But then he saw the princess. She was on a tour through the country, learning of her people for when it was her time to rule. Her voice was enchanting, her speech inspiring, and her beauty divine. Evan knew what he felt for her was stronger than anything he'd had experienced so far, and now he truly wanted something: her.

He knew it wouldn't be easy, but he couldn't resist. Day in, day out he practiced the songs of the great bards, trying to compose a ballad or plea that would give him a chance of earning her favor. Or perhaps he could sturdy harder and become a court Wizard, aiding the court in that wat. But as he read and studied, he knew that either of those alone would not be enough. After all, even if he succeeded at making the princess like him, he simply lacked the peerage. Being part of a well-off family that bred and traded horses would not be enough to become part of the royal family. He would be up against every son of the noble families competing for the same hand, and many would offer much more than he could. He'd either need to become extremely wealthy or a hero of some kind, broadly liked and supported by the people.

The second option was out. He knew that, at some point, he’d be exposed as marked by Asmodeus and then probably killed without even as much as a trial. The safer option was to build a fortune from a distance.

So he studied, looking for loopholes in the law concerning trade, contracts that could legally be exploited in some way for his gain. In this, he became increasingly successful, constantly and legally growing hif family’s fortune at the cost of some others who to grasp contract implications. When it became obvious he was skilled in this, his parents gave him the power needed to act on his plans. So long as it didn’t damage their family in some way and gained them more wealth, they agreed.

Once, he tricked two of his largest competitors into signing an agreement that indirectly forbade them to trade with the knights of Alerion and the local farmers respectively, leading to a large increase of his own sales. While his fortune steadily increased, such moderate successes were too slow. He knew that the princess was already 20 and would be married before long.

So, he devised a plan for the play that would be his undoing. The idea was solid enough. He would use all his obtained wealth to hire men that would approach the farmers of multiple provinces and offer them a larger sum of money for the grain than they normally received. Afterwards, he would stockpile the grain and sell it further to the normal traders and suppliers for an even higher rate. He would buy just enough to prevent it being a monopoly, making it a then completely legal move, as far as he could tell. Then, he would use this money to further invest into trade companies and swiftly work further towards his fortune.

However, the knights of Alerion, having no real love for this businessman, arrested him when this became clear. To make things worse, it was then that they discovered the mark of Asmodeus, lord of silver tongues and law. After being thoroughly abused, and in his opinion, denied a fair trial, the court ruled that this was a form of market manipulation that was dangerous to the general public, and the law was then amended to account for these cases going forward. His actions were condemned as grand fraud, and the sentence was swift: a life forever in the salt mines.

Now, what Evan wants above all is revenge. In his mind, he had beaten the system and had been *that close* to achieving his goal, when the rules were changed on him at the last moment. Why? Because the moral call that what he did was ‘evil’ gave them free reign to ignore their own laws and do as they see fit.

…though, some part of him still cannot let go of the idea of having the princess as a wife, one way or another.

*alternate summary: I originally had the idea of going the other route, trying to gain favor through joining the knights of Alerion, then facing a large amount of discrimination inside from having the mark and/or being a Tiefling. In turn , he becomes bitter for never truly being accepted, eventually resulting in him killing a more discriminative knight ("prepare to die, demon") in a tournament by the accidental use of ‘smite good’, the tiefling alternate racial ability, possibly also shooting an arrow at the king in a fit of anger. I could instead go with this and murder instead of fraud as a crime. This alternate version would then obviously be locked into tiefling while this one is open to any race.

Evan is currently a bitter human or near-human (tiefling, half-elf, elf) following the recent events of the trial. Normally, he is a more pragmatic and reasoning-based person who prefers to craft plans and let others do the actual dirty/dangerous work.

Regarding asmodeus, Evan never really thought of himself as ‘evil’ but currently does hate at least the knights (the ones that arrested him especially) and the court system (whom he views as biased and hypocritical), so he is probably much more willing to go along with any plans the diety might have. He still doesn’t know why he was marked and for what purpose. I’m sure there are a lot of NPC’s in the published modules who could be knights who arrested Evan or the judge who condemned him, but if not I can make up names for them to be inserted somewhere, of course.

Evan’s flaw is that he, despite everything, is still smitten with the princess and will try to court her and make her his, even if it should clearly be a bad idea. He also has some ties to his parents or former love interest that could be used against him.

Regarding his parents, I intentionally left open how 'evil' they themselves are and their views towards the fraud crime that eventually got their son captured, as if they supported him in that or not. Maybe this can fit in with the established adventure, somewhere.

Evan, LE/LN human, elf or tiefling wizard (arcane trickster build)
Stats: 8 str, 19 dex, 14 con, 20 int, 13 wis, 12 cha. (basic tiefling template, potentially smite good alternative race trait instead of darkness 1x/day)

Stats (elf template): 8 str, 19 dex, 12 con, 20 int, 14 wis, 13 cha.

Stats (human or half-elf template): 8 str, 17 dex, 14 con, 20 int, 14 wis, 13 cha.

Feat: precise shot, accomplished sneak attacker (level 3)
From here, 1 rogue level, then 2 wizard levels, then arcane trickster to 10.

Skills: knowledge/spellcraft and rogue skills as needed.

Or

LE/LN Arrowsong minstel/bard build:
14 str, 19 dex, 13 con, 16 int, 8 wis, 16 cha. (basic tiefling template)
14 str, 18 dex, 13 con, 14 int, 8 wis, 19 cha (basic human template)

Feat: precise shot. From here: takes lingering inspiration and archery feats when available.
(straight progression of bard to wherever the campaign ends, no dips, no multiclass).
Skills: Coombination of knowledge skills, rogue skills and social skills as needed.

Note: an be build as a basic bard for more skills but less damage as party needs.

Now, though, she has lost faith that Talingarde's current leadership and structures are capable and interested in defending everyone. She believes (rightly or wrongly) that she and others have received unfair treatment, and it has shaken her trust in the system to her core. In effect, her worldview has been partially shattered, and she is scrabbling at the pieces to construct a new one where she can be treated justly. In that sense, she is both very vulnerable and very dangerous - which makes her susceptible to a wider range of actions and beliefs than she might otherwise have been.

To answer your questions directly, Talia is going to first view anyone without authority or significant power as "innocent," at least so long as they are not interfering with her. I suspect that as time goes on, however, her view of "innocent" might tend towards only those most like herself (possibly socially, possibly racially - unsure as of yet) mirroring her own perceived martyrdom and injustices. Anyone opposing her to protect the institutions of Talingarde is just another "corrupt soul."

I don't know yet how this will play out with her family - if it comes into direct conflict with her goals, what will she do? I'm sure redemption is off the table with this adventure path, but I have several ideas. Will she attempt to coerce them? Force them? Or just flat-out kill them? That depends on their dynamic, the situation, etc. I'm not sure, but I want you to know that I've been thinking about it.

How serious is Evan about trying to marry the princess? What (if any) plans does he have to move towards this should he escape?

He is serious about trying to marry the princess. He has a deep crush on her, if not being in love from a distance, a love at first sight kind of thing that he cannot get out of his mind. It would perhaps be a fun twist to find out at the end that he himself was placed under some compulsion effect to be attracted to her to fulfill some part of entity x's plan in overthrowing Talingarde, but for now I'll assume his feelings for her are genuine. There is also bit of a flaw in his idea in that he only superficially knows her from public events and speeches, so maybe her actual personality will be a huge turn-off? But let's say she is an awesome person worth persuing.

Evan is smart enough to realise this goal of courting/marrying her is going to get a lot harder now that he has been convicted of market manipulation, or fraud, even though he himself thinks it wasn't justified.

In my mind, the dilemma in this court case is that while there might not have been a specific ruling preventing this kind of manipulation, the court ruled that it increased bread prices by such an amount that it would be harmful to the public at large and thus he was arrested. He himself was planning to invest his earnings back into larger trading network and give some of it back that way, and finds these concerns unwarrented and his conviction unlawful. In his experience of preceedings, he was also discriminated against for being A. a tiefling (though with human appearance) and B. carrying a mark of a heretic god, even if he insisted that it wasn't of his own will. In his mind, the court in this ruling placed itself, or a moral sense of 'goodness', above its own law, which he believes is unacceptable.

That aside, the idea behind his actions were to build himself up to someone with enough importance to have the kind of peerage necessary to have a chance to court the princess. He tried this by trade, and now that it failed he will have to find ways to adept. I could see this play out in two ways, assuming he managed to make an escape from the prison or the salt mines.

First, he might contact some of his old trading partners or a bit of remnant gold to secure passage off the island and try to rebuild his fortune somewhere away from Talingarde, with the intent of coming back later, maybe even buying a new identity or magic to remove this brand, and trying again later. I am assuming the campaign does not allow for this option. Also, it would really stall the revenge and thus wouldn't be preferable. But without prior knowledge of forces powerful enough to directly oppose Talingarde it might be the most realistic option he is currently aware of.

The second option (which is perfectly in line with the described campaign from the player's guide) is to find an organisation powerful enough (or with enough potential) to oppose the goverment and work himself up to be a bigger figure there, while also doing his best to increase the power of this organisation, up to where it has to be taken seriously. His position in such an organisation could then be used as a stand-in for adequate peerage/fortune/fame despite his runic criminal brand.

This will most likely place him in direct confrontation with the king's military forces, hurting which he doesn't particularly care about following his arrest and imprisonment, though he would be mindful on how the princess would judge him.

The idea then, after working himself up enough, is to start challenging the princess' beliefs and convincing her she is on the wrong side in this conflict. If she didn't come to believe this herself, any love for him would be false. It will probably involve trying to sell the idea that her father is essentially running a dictatorship with, among others, a flawed system of law and no religious freedom, forcing his values on his subjects in a way that might not be a benevolent as it first appears. Is a person born into an environment pushing or judging him/her to be evil truly deserving of the punishment for whatever crime that person eventually commits? If the princess has been born with an Asmodeus brand and had been in his position, what would she have done? Would the families her own had disposed of during their rise to power consider her family just? Those kinds of questions/examples.

I would have to think on the exact way this plays out later or how exactly he would push this, but he will essentially be building a case against Talingarde hypocrisy and adding to it during the entire campaign. He will try and actively work towards recruiting allies to this cause as well, using the most sensible arguments in a more schemer type of way and not overtly resorting to violence whenever possible, to protect their public image as well as he can. Conveniently, if he succeeds at converting the princes to the other side I could see this a very bad for Talingarde's internal stability, so in that regard his goal also perfectly aligns with the order of Asmodeus.

I imagine he will try and and have the princess come around slowly to these new points of view and accept that this might take time and not succeed on the first few tries. If he has the idea that she is repeatedly completely unopen to any of these ideas, I'm not sure what Evan would do then. Perhaps he would get frustrated, blame everything bad that has happened on her and resort to using magic like Geas, if he gets the chance. But that would be a very long ways into the campaign, I imagine, and it's a bit hard to say how things would stand then.