Avrora Vikta's page

This young woman appears wise beyond her years. Her face bears the look of one who has known great suffering, yet she smiles effortlessly and emits a musical laugh that lingers in the air. Her features are fair and, while she is not beautiful, is striking in her own way. Her auburn hair is cut boyishly short and her blue eyes flash fiercely in the light. Her build is strong and athletic, typical of one who is accustomed to plate and shield. Her armor is decorated, but is old and appears pieced together. She gazes at you with grim determination, her hands never roaming far from her weapons.

The Vikta's proudly trace their lineage to a Chelaxian noble house whose name has fallen out of memory. Yet this hasn't stopped the family from garnering a significant amount of prestige here in Kintargo. Ursius Vikta made a small fortune in the banking world of Egorian. It is rumored that his coin is colored by the blood of the mill workers against whose homes he leveraged mortgages (to great personal success). His ladywife Quinta is distantly related to the Leroung family of Korvosa and provided her husband with many connections in his business. They were also active members in the temple of Asmodeus. Just over two decades ago, following some controversy and an attempted assassination, Ursius thought it best to move himself and Quinta to the more provincial Kintargo.

Within a year of their arrival she was with child. The couple eagerly anticipated the birth of their son, who they planned to name Avero. Once the baby was born, it was painfully apparent to them that Avero would become Avrora. Ursius was livid with disappointment. Quinta herself, eager to remain in good favor with her husband, was likewise despondent. While they fulfilled their parental duties to maintain appearances, their hearts were truly not invested in the young girl. Fortunately, the very next year Quinta gave birth to a handsome baby boy, Boros.

So close in age, the two might have been twins, yet a severe incongruity appeared in their upbringing. The Viktas, perhaps unintentionally, showered their son with affection and adoration at the expense of Avrora. While she received the expected formalities of a nobleman's daughter, tutelage in literature, mathematics, philosophies of nature and science, and tenants of the Asmodean faith, she was often pushed aside. Never a very good student, she continually clashed with her tutors. She also resisted proper and traditional notions of etiquette, frustrating her parents further. Both children exhibited strong athletic ability and an intense interest in civic service, yet it was Boros who received an invitation to train as a recruit in the prestigious Kintargo Dottari.

It was through Boros that Avrora was introduced to Edargo, a fellow recruit. Edargo was immediately smitten with Avrora, and the feeling was mutual. She was drawn to his quiet manner and dark features. The two saw each other often, always in the company of the Vikta family. Then, one winter's evening, he obtained permission from Ursius and took her to watch the ships returning to harbor. In the early twilight he made his advance, which she quickly rebuffed. He grew enraged and took her in a filthy alley by the docks.

He left here there, in the cold mist, lying in a fish stall. She remained, in shock, until the morning when she was discovered by its purveyor. She was transported to a nearby monastery of Irori, but refused to speak. Her parents discovered her, days later, after they had enlisted the aid of the Dottari.

When she finally found her voice, she told her mother what had transpired. Her parents were shocked, but not at the prospect of their daughter's rape. Rather, they were terrified of the damage to their reputation if word spread that she had accused a member of the respected Dottari of such an act. They ordered her confined to her room and forbade her to speak to anyone. Desperate, she fled the home and reported the incident. Her parents were livid, but could not stop the machinery of the city's criminal system.

Unfortunately for Avrora, the magistrate reviewing her case was Siviles Grivenner, nephew of none other than high priest Corinstian Grivenner. Siviles was an ambitious man and a well-known supporter of the Dottari. At the hearing, her own brother testified in defense of Edargo and called his sister a liar. Despite her sincerest pleas, she was adjudicated a perjurer, an instigator, and a slanderer of the good name of one of Kintargo's most upright young soldiers. She was sentenced to imprisonment for twelve months.

Her time spent in the Kintargo jail is a blurred memory, even to her. The abuse, degradation, and shame she experienced there paled in comparison to the awful truth that soon emerged--Avrora was pregnant. As the baby grew in that awful environment, so did her desperation. More than once she contemplated aborting her own child, but could not bring herself to do so. Instead, she lay upon the cold floor, night after night, inciting prayers to any deity that would listen, begging for salvation.

The baby lived, but was taken from her mother. When labor struck, an Iroran midwife was summoned. There, in that filthy cell, Avrora gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. She was able to hold her for just a moment, a perfect moment of stillness in that chaotic place.

The baby's eyes opened. They were blue, like her mother's.

Immediately, over Avrora's pleas and screams for help, the guards stole the crying infant away.

Avrora never saw her again.

Upon her release, her parents refused to take her home. The disgrace to their name, particularly among the Asmodean congregation, had wrought an irreparable disdain for their daughter. Instead, they had arranged for her to travel far to the north, to a village outside Korvosa, and to live in exile with one of Quinta's cousins. They refused to discuss the baby in any way.

Despondent, she traveled to Harse, a backwater town on the outskirts of Korvosa, and met her uncle Davian. Davian was a warm man, sympathetic to his niece's plight. An aged widower, he treated Avrora as a daughter, inviting her to live on his farm along with his son, Kalad. A retired member of the Korvosan Guard, Davian quickly noticed her physical endurance and athletic abilities. She took an interest in swordplay, and he and Kalad trained her in the ways of martial combat, even re-purposing his old armor to fit her smaller frame.

Two years passed. She grew to love them both, as a father and a brother. They lived and worked the land together, in some sort of harmony. While Kalad might have hoped for more, Avrora was unable to let herself accept love from another man.

What he was able to give her, though, was Milani. In Harse there existed a small commune to the Everbloom to which he belonged. A loving, compassionate congregation, they welcomed Avrora with open arms. They spoke to her of love and hope, two things she sorely needed in her life. She accepted graciously, and found more family among them.

One day, as she sat in solitude among the wild roses meditating on the goddess, she began to think of her baby. She didn't know where the child was, who cared for her, or even if she lived. Avrora began to cry, her tears falling like jewels onto the grass below. Something stirred. Looking up, she saw that the roses had surrounded her, their crimson petals glowing gloriously. They seemed to mourn with her. As she watched, a particularly flawless bud bloomed before her eyes, a dewdrop falling from its depths, like a tear. "Rose," she whispered. "I would have named you Rose."

Her devotion was complete, her resolve unshakable.

Avrora would return to Kintargo. She would face her parents, her brother, her rapist. She would find her baby, and she would rescue her from the torment of the suffocating regime of the Dottari and the Church. She may not be able to save the city, but she could save Rose.

When she presented the news to Davian and Kalad, they did not deny her, for they suspected this day may come. Kalad, though, disappeared in the night. Avrora was fearful of his fate, but he returned three days later bearing a parting gift. He presented her with a small wooden chest. Inside were treasures that have since become her most prized possessions: a prayer book to Milani and an exquisitely carved wooden rose. The most breathtaking of the gifts, though, was the morningstar. Honed of shining steel, its shaft was engraved with delicate ivy. From its head sprouted numerous sharp spikes, each shaped into a thorn. Knowing that he and Davian must have spent all of their savings on these weapons, she embraced them tearfully. Not long after, with great sadness, she left her home in Harse.

And so she has come back, with no real plan. She knows she cannot face her family directly; she has neither the resources nor the plan to do so. Instead she looks to the dissenters of the city--those that share her desire to overturn the oppressive regime that is draining its lifeblood.

She prays each day to Milani, asking for the power to overcome those who have wronged her. Yet she understands, perhaps better than anyone, that in order to claim the Rose, one must first grasp the thorns.

Despite the challenges she has faced, Avrora maintains a vivacious personality. She has faced great loss, but she has also known genuine love. A true believer, she will not abandon it. She is a whirlwind of good, kindness, love, and yes, retribution. She is motivated most immediately by a desire to learn the fate of her lost daughter and to confront the treachery of her parents Ursius and Quinta, her brother Boros, and her rapist Edargo. Although these motivations are personal to her, they embody broader ideals that correspond to the goals of the Kintargo resistance. For Avrora, like so many in Kintargo, has been mercilessly oppressed. She hates the church that twisted her parents into cruel puppets. She abhors the Dottari and the corrupt government that shelters them and she despises the court and legal system that failed her and many others.

To her friends, she is a leader, a confidant, and a compatriot. To her enemies, she is a firebrand, a disgrace, and threat.

To Protest the Government Avrora has returned to Kintargo on the eve of the Night of Ashes. She wakes that morning as oblivious as anyone else. While her presence at The Tooth and Nail is quite accidental, upon learning of the treachery of Thrune she becomes enthralled in the spirit of liberation gripping the city and joins the citizenry in its protest.

Level 1: Aura (CG); Blessing (minor); Focus Weapon (shield, light); Freedom's Focus; Orisons; Sacred Weapon (1d6, 0); Feat (Two-Weapon Fighting); Racial Bonus Feat (Improved Shield Bash)
Level 2: Fervor (1d6)
Level 3: Bonus Feat (Power Attack); Feat (Toughness)
Level 4: Ability Score; Channel Energy; Channel Liberty; Devilslayer; Sacred Weapon +1
Level 5: Feat; Fervor (2d6)
Level 6: Bonus Feat
Level 7: Feat; Sacred Armor +1; Shield Against Hellspawn
Level 8: Ability Score; Fervor (3d6); Sacred Weapon +2
Level 9: Bonus Feat; Feat
Level 10: Blessing (major); Sacred Armor +2
Level 11: Feat; Fervor (4d6)
Level 12: Ability Score; Bonus Feat; Sacred Weapon +3
Level 13: Feat; Sacred Armor +3
Level 14: Fervor (5d6)
Level 15: Bonus Feat; Feat
Level 16: Ability Score; Sacred Armor +4; Sacred Weapon +4
Level 17: Feat; Fervor (6d6)