Ameliya Arvanxi's page

Additional Traits: ou gain two character traits of your choice (see Chapter 8). These traits must be chosen from different lists, and cannot be chosen from lists from which you have already selected a character trait. You must meet any additional qualifications for the character traits you choose.
Spell Focus (Enchantment): Add +1 to the Difficulty Class for all saving throws against spells from the school of magic you select.

Chelish Noble: You gain a +1 trait bonus on Knowledge (nobility) checks, and Knowledge (nobility) is a class skill for you. In addition, you gain a +1 trait bonus on Charismabased checks against other members of the Chelish aristocracy. The Noble Scion feat does not have a Charisma prerequisite for you. Lastly, you start play with a noble’s outfit, a signet ring, and a single additional nonmagical item worth no more than 200 gp.
Extremely Fashionable: Whenever you are wearing clothing and/or jewelry worth at least 150 gp (and not otherwise covered in gore, sewage, or other things that mar your overall look), you gain a +1 trait bonus on Bluff, Diplomacy, and Intimidate checks. One of these skills (your choice) is a class skill for you.
Overwhelming Beauty: The DC of your mind-affecting effects increases by 1 against creatures that have at least one of the same subtypes as you.
Rich Parents: You were born into a rich family, perhaps even the nobility, and even though you turned to a life of adventure, you enjoy a one-time benefit to your initial finances—your starting wealth increases to 900 gp.

+2 to One Ability Score: Human characters get a +2 bonus to one ability score of their choice at creation to represent their varied nature.
Medium: Humans are Medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
Normal Speed: Humans have a base speed of 30 feet.
Bonus Feat: Humans select one extra feat at 1st level.
Skilled: Humans gain 1 additional skill rank at 1st level and 1 additional rank whenever they gain a level.
Languages: Humans begin play speaking Common and their ethnic language. Humans with high Intelligence scores can choose any languages they want (except secret languages, such as Druidic).

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A psychic is proficient with all simple weapons, but not with any type of armor or shield.

Emotional Bond (Su): You can create an empathic link between yourself and your allies, allowing you to monitor their emotional states. Setting up the link requires 10 minutes of uninterrupted concentration from you and all subjects, who must remain within 10 feet of you. You can link with a number of allies equal to your Charisma modifier. This bond lasts until the next time you regain your spells, or until you go unconscious or voluntarily end the bond as a free action. If the bond ends, you can establish a new bond at will with another 10 minutes of mutual concentration. This link allows you to monitor emotions, detecting when allies become angry, surprised, confused, fearful, or the like, but doesn’t allow them to communicate specific details. You can also easily tell whether a subject is unconscious. If a subject die or moves to a different plane than you, your bond with that creature is severed. The distance between you and the subjects doesn’t affect the bond as long as you’re on the same plane of existence. At 4th level, the bond also gives you the benefits of the status spell with all subjects of the emotional bond.

Emotional Push (Su): You can draw upon the intense power of your own emotions in desperate situations, and your allies can call upon you through your emotional link to protect themselves. When you or a subject of your emotional bond must attempt a saving throw, the person attempting the save can gain a bonus equal to your Charisma bonus on the save as an immediate action. This ability can be used once per day, plus one additional time per day for every 4 psychic levels you possess. Allies using this ability don’t need your permission, since the emotional connection is so direct, though you know when one of the uses has been expended. If the ally’s saving throw is successful, you regain 1 point in your phrenic pool.

Phrenic Pool (Su): A psychic has a pool of supernatural mental energy that she can draw upon to manipulate psychic spells as she casts them. The maximum number of points in a psychic’s phrenic pool is equal to 1/2 her psychic level + her Wisdom or Charisma modifier, as determined by her psychic discipline. The phrenic pool is replenished each morning after 8 hours of rest or meditation; these hours don’t need to be consecutive. The psychic might be able to recharge points in her phrenic pool in additional circumstances dictated by her psychic discipline. Points gained in excess of the pool’s maximum are lost.

Phrenic Amplifications: A psychic develops particular techniques to empower her spellcasting, called phrenic amplifications. The psychic can activate a phrenic amplification only while casting a spell using psychic magic, and the amplification modifies either the spell’s effects or the process of casting it. The spell being cast is called the linked spell. The psychic can activate only one amplification each time she casts a spell and doing so is part of the action used to cast the spell. She can use any amplification she knows with any psychic spell, unless the amplification’s description states that it can be linked only to certain types of spells. A psychic learns one phrenic amplification at 1st level, selected from the list below. At 3rd level and every 4 levels thereafter, the psychic learns a new phrenic amplification. A phrenic amplification can’t be selected more than once. Once a phrenic amplification has been selected, it can’t be changed. Phrenic amplifications require the psychic to expend 1 or more points from her phrenic pool to function:

Psychic Defense: Reading small, invisible cues allows the psychic to take advantage of social circumstances and subtly influence her target. Casting a linked spell during a social encounter and spending 1 point from her phrenic pool allows the psychic to add a +4 bonus on her next Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, or Sense Motive check.

Detect Thoughts (Sp): At 2nd level, a psychic can use detect thoughts as a spell-like ability once per day. She can also expend any unused spell slot of 1st level or higher to cast detect thoughts. If she does so, she uses the level of the spell slot expended to determine the Will save DC. When a psychic gains this ability, if she knows detect thoughts, she can learn a different 1st-level spell in place of detect thoughts, losing the old spell in exchange for the new one.

Starting Wealth: 900 GP 0 SP 0 CP
Potion of Cure Light Wounds (3): -150
Scroll of Color Spray: -25 GP
Scroll of Disguise Self: -25 GP
Scroll of Enlarge Person: -25 GP
Scroll of Murderous Command: -25 GP
Masterwork Light Crossbow: -335 GP
Crossbow Bolts (20): -2 GP
Belt Pouch: -1 GP
Jewelry: Free (Trait/Chelish Noble)
Mirror: -10 GP
Noble’s Outfit: Free (Trait/Chelish Noble)
Prismatic Crystal: -30 GP
Scroll Case: -1 GP
Signet Ring: -5 GP
Sleeves of Many Garment: -200 GP
From Tannery Job: +100 GP
From Church Square Job: +200 GP
From Rules Square Job: +150 GP
Current Wealth: 516 GP 0 SP 0 CP

Born in 4690 AR to two ambitious if still minor aristocrats in the city of Westcrown, Ameliya Arvanxi was never meant for greatness nor infamy. The plain-faced second daughter of Caeto and Liciana of House Arvanxi, Ameliya was but another political chip in her parents’ hands, and even than she was a secondary one. Her elder sister, the future infamous queen of Korvosa, was always the more favored of the two. Whether it was in terms of beauty, poise or etiquette, Ileosa always outshined Ameliya’s accomplishments, a fact that IIeosa was never shy of rubbing in. Backhanded compliments and outright bullying were frequent, with comments and jabs like, “Ameliya the Ugly Duckling fails to impress again,” and “Maybe if you keep trying Mother and Father will finally notice you,” becoming a constant fixture in Ameliya’s childhood. Accordingly, Ameliya grew to hate her own sister even as she secretly wished that she could be her.

Her relationship with her parents was little better. When it became obvious to Ameliya that she could not compete with her sister when it came to social graces, she tried to gain her parent’s attention another way. An exceptionally bright child with a gift for mathematics, law and various other academic subjects, Ameliya would constantly try to show cleverness and its usefulness. But it would always be for naught, instead becoming a sad exercise in futility that lasted the entirety of her childhood as her ever-critical and scathing parents would either ignore her talents or condemn them as frivolous and unladylike. The fact of the matter was that Ameliya the secondborn, a spare child and a living fallback, her very existence and worth being predicated on ensuring that House Arvanxi would still have someone to marry off to an important House in the event Ileosa was to die unexpectantly.

Ameliya knew all this but still tried to gain their love all the same, her determination and drive to succeed never wavering even as her jealously and bitterness grew with time. Though the emotional pain of her marginalization was damaging enough, it came with the added bonus of physical agony as well. As Ameliya made the transition from childhood to adolescence she pushed herself further and further when it came to her studies, rarely sleeping or socializing with the small pool of people that she could call her friends. As a consequence, her mind grew increasingly fatigued, so much so that she eventually began to experience excoriating headaches and auditory delusions. For a time, she tried to keep this ailment a secret, knowing that her family would not sympathize with such “weakness,” but it would eventually become so severe that secrecy became impossible.

In a cruel twist of fate this secret would be revealed at possibly the worst venue possible. It would at massive and expansive soiree that her parents had thrown that Ameliya would suffer an especially painful headache, one that felt like a hundred voices were simultaneously screaming in her head with such cacophony that she couldn’t help but openly scream out in writhing pain. Of course, Ameliya’s parents didn’t care about their daughter’s health or her worsening condition. They were far more concerned that she had “embarrassed” them in front of nearly half the Wiscrani nobility. After a long night of verbally and physically chastising their daughter for bringing such dishonor to them and their House, they made the decision to have Ameliya sent to a faraway and isolated boarding school in the Menador Mountains.

To Ameliya’s later shame and disgust, she unabashedly cried and begged when she was forcibly dragged away from her family’s estate the next day.

St. Lilitha’s Academy For Misfit Girls was more a prison for the unwanted daughters of the Chelish nobility than a true boarding school. Accordingly, strict adherence to the academy’s rules of proper conduct was enforced by the ever-present threat of corporal punishment. Ameliya tried to survive her new environment the best she could, enduring the verbal thrashings and beatings that she suffered at the hands of St. Lilitha’s sbullies while desperately holding onto hope that her parents would eventually come for her. But as the years went by and her family continued to not send so much as a letter her way, Ameliya’s childish hopes slowly gave way to a hateful desire for retribution against everyone who had ever wronged her. With her parents safely in Westcrown, she directed her anger at her tormentors at St. Lilitha. While she wasn’t capable of physically dominating them, Ameliya was clever and found other ways to get her revenge. Soon girls would find themselves losing mementos that had to be ransomed back to them, getting blackmailed by their own embarrassing secrets, and suffering suspect accidents that left them some of them maimed.

It would be during this time that Ameliya would realize that her headaches and madness were not signs of a disorder but instead a boon! What she believed to be delusions were, in fact, her actually hearing the inner thoughts of those around her. In no time at all Ameliya started to cultivate this power, using it to gain even greater control of St. Lilitha’s student body as a knower of everyone’s deepest, darkest secrets. Ironically, it would turn out that the matrons of St. Lilitha had dark secrets of their own as well. Sensing Ameliya’s growing power, the instructors of the academy grabbed a flailing and defiant Ameliya one night and brought her to a secret basement underneath the academy. It was there that Ameliya learned the truth. St. Lilitha was more than just a miserable boarding school. In reality, it was a front and recruitment ground for a cult sworn to Ardad Lili, one of the hellish Queens of the Night. The diabolic cultists of The End of Innocence offered Ameliya the chance to not only learn how to hone her psychic powers but also the seductive ways of The End of Innocence. While knowing that she would die if she didn’t join them certainly made her more willing to say yes, the fact was that Ameliya was not only eager to gain more power but also enthralled by the idea of finally becoming beautiful and finally desired. And so, she accepted, and in doing shred what little innocence still lay within her. In the years to come Ameliya would undergo a transformation of both mind and body, becoming well-versed in the limitless potential of the psionic arts and the subtle power that lay within coy words, sensuous body language, and various other methods of seduction and intrigue.

When her parents finally sent word about how Ileosa had abandoned the family to marry some Varisian king and that they needed her to return to Westcrown to fulfil a marriage arrangement, a remade Ameliya smiled as she was finally able to set her long-awaited plans of revenge into motion.

Her wedding was spectacular affair, with several thousand gold pieces having been spent on making it as lovely as possible for its noble attendants. But even still, the most striking and beautiful thing at the event may have been Ameliya herself. Gone was the meek, plump and plain-faced girl that they remembered from years ago. In her place was a woman of hypnotic beauty whose charming smile and honeyed words won over everyone attending. Seeing their daughter walk down the aisle as radiant as she was, Ameliya’s parents said words that she had craved to hear throughout her entire childhood. “We are so proud of you.”

It would be an hour or so after they said those words that they would die choking on their own spittle.

Not to soon after the ceremony guests began to feel lethargic then short of breath and then finally outright started to suffocate as their throats began close even as they tried to drink more wine in a foolish bid to clear their throats. Everyone at the wedding who had drunk from the poisoned wine had been afflicted but not all would die. Ameliya would survive while her mother, father and wedded husband would die gruesomely. An investigation on the poisoning was made and eventually the Westcrown’s dottari came into a most fortuitous lead that pointed them in the direction of a rival Wiscrani noble House that House Arvanix had been feuding with for some time. Ameliya was in the clear, and in the eyes of the polite society, was a lucky survivor of a cowardly act of mass murder. Though now the inheritor of her parent’s fortune and her husband’s dowry, Ameliya was unwilling to settle for the meagre urban holdings that her parents possessed and promptly sold off her family home and left Westcrown.

Her connection to family now truly good and severed, Ameliya would spend several years honing her powers and serving her new “family” in the cult of Ardad Lili before finally establishing herself in the world as a truly free and wealthy young woman. Using her inhertiance as seed money, she would travel across Cheliax in search of the perfect location for her desired business. She would eventually find it in the sleepy town of Longacre. It would be there that Ameliya would set up the Sweet Caress, a brothel that would serve as the first of many more local businesses that she planned on either building herself or taking over, her goal being the eventual ownership of the entire community. Of course, in the year that she’s been in Longacre a problem has arisen. Many of the other business leaders there have no intention of selling their livelihoods to some mysterious noblewoman from the big city, especially one that’s also a madame. Fortunately for Ameliya, she’s been in contact with a townie thug that plans on damaging her biggest rival’s tannery for some mysterious patron. While Ameliya would prefer to handle Louslik through more “refined” means like blackmail, seduction or poisoning, she is unwilling to let such a possibility pass her by.

She will own Longacre. No matter the cost. The town being the first step in even grander ambitions.

While she puts on a courteous and charming face for the outside world, Ameliya is in her heart a cold manipulator and brilliant thinker who strives to be in control of every situation she is in. She is also a proud woman, make no mistake, one that doesn’t not easily suffer fools who make gross assumptions about her capabilities. As such, Ameliya is driven to use her prowess (be it in business, guile or magic) to show the world her individual worth, talent, and genius.

Passionate and domineering, Ameliya strives to make her mark in the world on her own terms. To achieve such a grandiose goal, she places few limits on her actions. In her view, deception and seduction are acceptable tools in a world filled with unscrupulous people willing to do anything for power, her upbringing and religion having taught little in the way of altruism. That said, wanton acts of violence and slaughter do revolt her. Not because of any real disgust with murder or slaughter per say, but because she finds such “indulgences” to be the mark of a stunted and savage mind.

Past all the intrigue and ambition though, Ameliya is a woman with passions and interests outside of finance and the cumulation of power. The study of the psionic arts has not only been a powerful tool but also an intellectual pursuit that she strives to master for the sear academic challenge. Blessed with a gift for numbers even as a child, Amelia is a polymath that marries her head for numbers with her knowledge for finance and people, creating a trifecta that has served her well over the years. In the regard to her faith, Ameliya breaks with most of her Chelish countrymen by being a follower of Ardad Lili instead of Asmodeus, the End of Innocence 's guile and rise to power deeply resonating with her.

Image

Ameliya is a tall, stunningly attractive young woman with enchanting grey-blue eyes, lustrous red hair, and a flawless pale complexion. She has a thin waist, large hips, and is voluptuous in figure. Ameliya speaks in a breathy, sultry voice, one that can just as easily coyly promise pleasure as well as witheringly ridicule the ignoble. When out in public or travelling she will dress in tasteful gowns and women's suits that befit her noble station and role as a businesswoman. During more "intimate" occasions she clades herself in diaphanous garments or corsets that leave little to the imagination and flaunt her ample assets and curves.

Age: 25 | Height: 5' 9" | Weight: 130 lbs. | Hair: Red | Eyes: Blue | Build: Slender

1. What is your character's connection to Longacre? Why is she here?
Ameliya has been living in Longacre for nearly a year now and is proud owner of the Sweet Caress brothel. She chose to migrate to the town after learning of the relative cheapness of land and the local nobility's laissez-faire attitude to the governance there. She intends to expand and purchase more businesses in town until she can effectively own it as a personal fiefdom and launching point for even further expansion in the Heartlands.

2. Who is one NPC your character thinks of as a friend or ally? (Can be made up and not from AP or official source material.)
Ameliya is still steadfastly loyal to the Cult of Ardad Lili, seeing the cult as her true family. Similarly, sees her employees at the Sweet Caress as sisters and views them as her most trustworthy allies in Longacre. In regard to more prominent members of the town, she makes use of the corrupt dockmaster Ingoe Zoags. With coin and flattery, Ameliya has been able to persuade Zoags to "lose" vital cargo belonging to her business rivals in town.

3. What is one goal for your PC other than the one provided in your campaign trait?
While the fanatics of the Glorious Reclamation concern her, Ameliya still sees the rebellion as a manageable threat that will be beaten by the forces of House Throne. As such, she is more focused on her own long-term plans: Clandestinely undermining the other businesses in town so she can eventually buy them all out. While not a cleric of Ardad Lili, Ameliya still sees the expansion of The End of Innocence's influence in Cheliax as an important secondary long-term goal.

4. If your character is anything other than a human Chelaxian, explain how she fits in to Longacre.
Ameliya is, for better or worse, Chelaxian to the bone. She is entirely human, which is not surprising given the severe exclusivity that the Chelish nobility enforces when it comes to "acceptable breeding stock."

1. Write 5 background and concept elements that you feel are important to your image of the character. These can be a concept overview, a list of important life events, a physical description, a personality profile...whatever you need to get an image in your mind. 5 is just a minimum...more elements are encouraged!
1) Ameliya is an ambitious young woman who yearns and strives to make her fortune in her own right.
2) She is a Machiavellian figure that has little in the way of scruples but does at least believe in a code of reciprocity and shared respect for those she finds worthy. She also loves and takes care of her sex workers.
3) Ameliya puts on a veneer of noblesse oblige and professional politeness, but in reality, she finds most people to be contemptible and below her.
4) Beyond her beautiful surface vestige is an incredibly intelligent woman knowledgeable in law, finance, economics, psychology, and theology. She is also quite learned in more esoteric sciences like the psychic arts.
5) Her greatest fear is that she will fail in her ambitions and be forced to rely on her beauty instead of her mind. She despises the idea of her own weakness and vulnerability.

2. List at least two goals for the character. At least one of these goals should be one that the character has, while another should be one that you, as a player, want to see developed over the course of the game.
1) Ameliya’s ultimate desire is to create a far-reaching business empire, one that’s power and wealth eclipses that of House Arvanxi.
2) Ameliya desires an opportunity to prove her devotion to Ardad Lili and gain her goddess’s’ attention and favor.

3. List at least two secrets about your character. One is a secret the character knows, one is a secret that involves him but that he is not actually aware of yet. This will help me in creating plots that center around your character. I will also be creating a third secret which you as a player will not be aware of, so expect some surprises!
1) Ameliya is one behind the infamous “Blue Wedding,” a mass poisoning in Westcrown that killed several members of House Arvanxi, including her own parents. Her new sisters in the Cult of Ardad Lili assisted Ameliya in orchestrating this tragedy.
2) Ameliya’s cousin Markus has kept tabs on her and plans on having her killed if he can’t find evidence that proves her role in the death of his parents. He is in contact with the Hellknights of the Scourge, though, they are skeptical of claims and doubt his sanity.

4. Describe at least three people that are tied to the character. Two of them are friendly to the character, one is hostile. If you like, you can include an enemy of yours here as well, so I have an instant NPC nemesis to throw at you.
1) Mentor: Phillipa Helebron is the headmistress of an infamous girl’s academy in the Menador Mountains. She is also secretly a high priestess of Ardad Lili. Given her role in not only teaching Ameliya how to use her psychic powers, but also in facilitating her “emancipation” from her family, Ameliya feels indebted to Phillipa and will assist her and her cult whenever they are in need.
2) Ally: Joana Ventra is Ameliya’s lover, confidant and partner in the running of the Sweet Caress. The two met at St. Lilitha’s and relied on each to fend off the school’s bullies. Their relationship grew and Joana eventually became Ameliya’s first and only love. Theirs’s is pretty much the closest thing Ameliya has to a healthy, and non-exploitative romantic relationship.
3) Enemy: Markus Arvanxi is Ameliya’s cousin and former childhood friend. While everyone else in House believes Ameliya’s deception, Markus is convinced that she was behind the mass poisoning that killed his parents. He is determined to see her face justice and does not care if that justice comes from the courts or by an assassin’s blade.

5. Describe three memories, mannerisms, or quirks that your character has. They don't have to be elaborate, but they should provide some context and flavor.
1) Memories: Being severely beaten by her parents for embarrassing them at a party. The night she was inducted into the Cult of Ardad Lili. Seeing the blue faces of her dying parents as they choked to death.
2) Mannerisms: Constantly refers to people as darling and is unfailingly polite. Will play with her jewelry whenever she’s having a boring conversation. Will sometimes coyly pepper in sexual innuendo into her conversations for her own amusement and/or to seduce someone.
3) Quirks: Hates getting dirty and tries to always be immaculately dressed. Is a huge economics nerd that loves discussing complicated economic theories and current trade relations with people that understand them. Is a bisexual woman who leans more towards women on the Kinsey Scale.