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Also, I know the Chaotic Neutral alignment might be concerning. I see her as borderline between Neutral and Good. She's definitely capable of self-sacrifice for the people she cares about, but she can be ruthless enough that I didn't think the CG alignment quite fit. However one of her primary character traits is loyalty. She's loyal to her self-made family, she's loyal to Martella Lotheed, and if selected I'd give her reasons to be loyal to the party. She is not a 'WHEEEE, I do whatever I want regardless of how it affects anyone else' type of character.

(If it helps to visualize, on this expanded alignment chart she'd be Lawless Moral.)

As for your spoilered question, Tsuto's claim that Lonjiku murdered Atusii took root and at the time Teruko secretly wondered if it was true. She spent the next five years convincing herself it wasn't. If it was true, then she'd lost both parents that night. Lonjiku may have been cruel, but he was still her father. She didn't want to believe the man she respected, feared, and loved could be capable of such a thing.

Atsuii's murder is written into the backstory for RotR, but I don't think it was ever made public knowledge. That's the interpretation I've gone with anyway, unless you feel strongly that Teruko should know for sure. It's always possible that Lonjiku's spirit could accidentally spill the beans at [insert dramatic moment here].

2. What prompted the RNC to recruit you, or, if you applied, why did they accept your application?
A slight smile crosses the battered face. ”I applied. As for why they accepted, dunno. Maybe they just didn’t want to turn down a vet. Or maybe they thought I could do some good, out there in the city. Never occurred to me to ask.”

3. Why did you accept/apply? (Note: Candidates submit to extensive magical mind reading before they are accepted. The RNC has never been infiltrated by a spy, so no double agents allowed. Your loyalty to Risur is beyond reproach.)
”They like givin’ us veterans cushy desk jobs. Serves the dual purpose of keeping us busy and keeping us close at hand whenever they want to trot us out like props. It wasn’t too bad at first, but I wasn’t actually doing any work there. Eventually I started to feel less like a man and more like a tin soldier. Every so often they’d take me off the shelf, but mostly they just wanted me to stay quiet and hidden away. Least I get to do things now, and mostly it’s useful things.”

4. Brief character sketch. (You can even just describe your character in terms of other fictional characters, or just in terms of your ability score descriptions.)
Erwin tilts his head, clearly thinking hard. ”What kind of character am I? Weird way to phrase that, but I’ll play along. I like to think of myself as a guy who gets things done. I like moving, you know? Doing stuff with my muscles, taking advantage of all this.” (He gestures, broadly encompassing his 6’8” height and muscular frame.) "Ain’t so good with people, most of the time. Unless I’m trying to scare ‘em. I’m real good at that."

"I like to think of myself as a patriot. Kind of have to be, you know? Otherwise the whole war was pointless. Have to admit though,” (his voice lowers), ”I’m not too happy with the military these days. The War went a lot worse than they like to admit. My big heroic tale? The one where I rescued a few of my crewmates? What they don’t tell you is that we weren’t in any kind of glorious naval battle. Gossip had it that we were testing some sort of fancy new cannon, so maybe that's how we blew ourselves up without an enemy ship in sight. They don’t like to mention that part. Or just how much territory we lost. Makes me worry about what’ll happen if there’s ever a Fifth Yerasol War.”

He looks a little ashamed. ”And, uh, don’t mention this to anyone, but ever since the explosion I’ve been a bit nervous around alchemists. I mean, I work with several of ‘em and they’re good people, but it’s just...how can you control something like that? If one of my swings go wide maybe I hit the wrong person. If one of those bombs goes off at the wrong time...I get why we’re so focused on technology these days. We’ll need it if we end up fighting Danor again. But it just ain’t natural.”

High STR: Erwin is most well-known for a feat he performed during the war. When his ship was ripped apart in an explosion, he repeatedly swam between the wreckage and the shore. In total he rescued fourteen people before collapsing. At the RNC it’s well-known that Erwin is the one to call if you need any heavy lifting done, and he’s happy to oblige.

Low CHA: Erwin avoids talking to crime victims whenever he can, knowing that his huge frame, scarred face, and pessimistic outlook are more likely to scare than comfort. Fellow officers sometimes joke that the easiest way to make Erwin panic is to shove a crying child at him.

Melee

Ranged

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STATISTICS
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Str 18, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 8
Base Atk +1; CMB +5; CMD 17

Feats
Display of Heroism (Theme): Once per combat you may assist an ally who is imperiled. As a move action, you may move your speed to an ally. This movement doesn’t provoke attacks of opportunity. You can lift the ally to his feet if he is prone. If he was dying, your presence stabilizes him and allows him to become disabled instead of unconscious. You and that ally gain a +2 circumstance bonus to AC and saves until the end of your next turn.
If you choose Yerasol Veteran as your character’s theme, the party’s Prestige with Risur starts at 2 instead of 1.
Toughness (Campaign Bonus): +3 hit points, +1 per Hit Die beyond 3
Skill Focus - Intimidation (Human Bonus): +3 bonus on one skill (+6 at 10 ranks)
Enforcer (Level 1): Demoralize opponent as free action when you inflict nonlethal damage.

Skills (6 class, 1 human, 2 background)
*Climb +8 (3 class skill, 4 STR, 1 rank)
K. Geography + 4 (3 class skill, 0 INT, 1 rank)
K. Local + 4 (3 class skill, 0 INT, 1 rank)
Intimidate + 6 (3 class skill, -1 CHA, 3 feat, 1 rank)
Perception + 5 (3 class skill, 1 WIS, 1 rank)
Profession (Sailor) + 5 (3 class skill, 1 WIS, 1 rank)
Sense Motive + 5 (3 class skill, 1 WIS, 1 rank)
Survival + 5 (3 class skill, 1 WIS, 1 rank)
*Swim +8 (3 class skill, 4 STR, 1 rank)

*ACP applies to these skills

Languages Common, Primordial

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A slayer is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, as well as with light armor, medium armor, and shields (except tower shields).

Studied Target (Ex): A slayer can study an opponent he can see as a move action. The slayer then gains a +1 bonus on Bluff, Knowledge, Perception, Sense Motive, and Survival checks attempted against that opponent, and a +1 bonus on weapon attack and damage rolls against it. The DCs of slayer class abilities against that opponent increase by 1. A slayer can only maintain these bonuses against one opponent at a time; these bonuses remain in effect until either the opponent is dead or the slayer studies a new target.

If a slayer deals sneak attack damage to a target, he can study that target as an immediate action, allowing him to apply his studied target bonuses against that target (including to the normal weapon damage roll).

At 5th, 10th, 15th, and 20th levels, the bonuses on weapon attack, damage rolls, and skill checks and to slayer DCs against a studied target increase by 1. In addition, at each such interval, the slayer is able to maintain these bonuses against an additional studied target at the same time. The slayer may discard this connection to a studied target as a free action, allowing him to study another target in its place.

At 7th level, a slayer can study an opponent as a move or swift action.

Track (Ex): A slayer adds 1/2 his level (minimum 1) to Survival skill checks made to follow tracks.

FCB (Slayer)
Level 1: ⅙ of a new slayer talent

My father did not hear the whispers. Oh, he respected the power of the Harrow, as every good Varisian man should. (Particularly when one’s own mother is the fortune-teller.) But the cards never spoke to him. Nor did they speak to my mother, a stern-faced woman with a will of steel. Only my grandmother truly understood, and did her best to help me interpret the whispers. To see them as a gift, rather than a curse.

(”What’s this one, Nana?”

“The Mountain Man. A force you cannot control, cannot stop. Be careful, child. When giants walk through the world, those of us who are smaller must move out of the way...or be crushed.”)

I remember the cards warning me of my mother’s death. But, as is common with such a delicate form of divination, they did not do so clearly enough for me to properly interpret the signs. Or perhaps I am reading too much into a childhood memory, and they never spoke to me on the matter at all. I do not know. That is one of many mysteries the cards have never answered.

(”Ooh, I know this one! It’s the Big Sky. Right?”

“Right you are, my darling. A time of momentous change. A symbol of casting off old shackles and being reborn into a new way of life.”)

My father was never the same after that. He tried, do not get me wrong, but my mother’s death broke something in him. There is something in us Varisians that craves the horizon, the clear night sky that city folk can never properly see. After she died that part of him was lost. He began to dream of settling down, making steadfast friends, having a home that did not move. No one was surprised when he announced his decision to leave the caravan. Why Heldren? I doubt even he knows. Perhaps it was simply the closest town at the time he decided he could take no more. At the venerable age of ten I was allowed to make my choice. To stay with him, or to leave with my grandmother. I love my father. But he never heard the whispers. He could not explain to me what they meant. So I gave him a hug goodbye and set out again for the open road.

(”That man looks funny!”

“Perhaps, but you should not laugh. The Hidden Truth is a good omen when properly aligned. However, see how he points at the book? You will never find your truth unless you seek it.”)

I missed my parents. Of course I did. My mother, taken from me too young by an accident. My father, lost to me amid the hustle and bustle of village life. (As well as, eventually, a new wife. A new family.) Nevertheless I was happy, for my grandmother also heard the whispers. She understood them. She taught me how to look inside myself for the answers the Harrow offered. When I was wrong, (and I often was), it was not the fault of the cards. They did their best. It was simply that my fragile human mind could not always understand them properly. But as I grew, I learned how to open myself to the Truths they represented.

(”I don’t like this card Nana…”

“Understandably. The Empty Throne is not a card to be liked. A card of loss and grief, that one. But there is hope nonetheless. See how the ghost reaches for him? Those who leave us are never truly gone, not as long as we still remember them. We must honor their memories. If we reach out to them, they can reach us in return.”)

My grandmother’s death was even harder on me than my mother’s had been. No freak accident, this. No sudden snatching. Only months and months of slowly declining health. Pneumonia, the caravan’s doctor said. Something a younger woman might have overcome, but deadly for the old. My grandmother’s coughing increased in frequency and severity with every passing day, until she could do little more than lay on her cot and gasp for breath. One day she reached out with what seemed to be a herculean effort and gently tapped my chest. ”Trust the cards,” she said, “but trust this more.” The next day she was gone.

(”Ugh, is she eating that eye?!”

“That would be wasteful, and the Mute Hag is never wasteful. She holds her secrets close to her chest, or to her mouth in this case, but she does not destroy them. That does not mean she is to be trusted, particularly when properly aligned. Her secrets are treacherous. They can destroy the unwary. Be very careful child, when the Hag comes calling.”)

I returned to Heldren after my grandmother’s death. My father deserved to know, of course, and selfishly I also wished to cling to the only family I had left. He welcomed me into his new home. My stepmother was kind. I had heard stories of wicked stepmothers, those who hated the reminders that their husband had once had a life before them, but she was not one of those. She felt for my sorrow and wished to ease it in whatever manner she could. She may not have been my mother, but she loved me as if I were her daughter in truth. My little half-brother welcomed me also. He adored having a big sister to show him around, and I adored him in turn.

(”What’s this one, Nana?”

“The Juggler, child. See how it fits into the spread? A card of destiny, this one. Perhaps even yours.”)

I have lived in Heldren for nigh on a year, now. Helping my stepmother around the house, performing readings in the local inn for a few coppers. But I grow restless. The cards were quiet for a long time, but they have begun to whisper to me again. I was not surprised, when the snow began to fall in summer. When the bodyguard appeared, speaking of strange creatures dragging his charge into the wood. The cards tell me that it is time. That the hidden truths I seek are there to be found, if only I reach out my hand and grasp them. I do not know this Lady Malassene, but I believe finding her may be the first step in discovering what secrets lie within the Border Wood.

”Is it time to leave?”

”Soon, child. Soon.”

Titia doesn’t pause as she continues scrubbing the floor. ”What is it now, Adrian?”

“That damned mercenary, is what it is. Sure, he couldn’t save the woman he was being paid to protect, but surely a bunch of untrained locals can do the job!” He spits, and Titia glares in response to the affront on her nearly-clean floor. ”The Border Wood is bad news right now. Any hunter knows that, and most are staying far away. But talk of rescuing a Lady probably already dead and suddenly half the town thinks they’re trained fighters! Fools, the whole damned lot of them.”

In the corner, Ylena looks up from where she’d been entertaining her brother. Victor might not hear the whispers, but he thought the pretty pictures on the cards were fascinating. ”They’re forming a search party?”

”A death party is more like it.” He looks as if he wishes to spit again, but he doesn’t want to risk Titia’s wrath. Instead he clears his throat. ”If what the man said was true, going into the Wood is practically suicide. If it’s not, and the Lady just got dragged off by some wolves or something, then she’s already dead. No point in risking lives just to retrieve a corpse.”

Ylena hums thoughtfully as she pulls another card for Victor, only to stop and stare at it. The Survivor. Of course, there are only 54 cards in the deck, and she had not been intentionally performing a reading. Nevertheless, it seems auspicious.

”Hey Victor, would you like to see me perform a full reading?”

Adrian looks up suspiciously, already having an idea of where this is going. ”No no no, don’t tell me you’re-”

”I just want to see what the cards say.” Ylena smiles beatifically as she starts shuffling. ”Not a bad idea, when times are this strange. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Adrian might have left the caravan years ago, but he’s still a Varisian man. He is not going to deny the power of the Harrow. He gives Ylena a strong look of disapproval, but doesn’t try to stop her.

The choosing is the most important part of the reading, in many ways. Fortunately Ylena has a much simpler question than normal. Is Lady Malassene still alive?

Shields for the choosing. She pulls out the Mountain Man and grimaces. Not, perhaps, the best omen. It was the card she most clearly remembered seeing before her mother’s death.

But the choosing isn’t the reading. It says something about her, and the card must be interpreted if it appears, but it does not answer the question.

Nine cards are carefully dealt and flipped over. She dismisses most of them out of hand. Unaligned, (not misaligned, which is a completely separate matter), or partial matches that simply don’t speak to her. But when she listens carefully, four of them are whispering.

Past. The Inquisitor, truly matched. In this spread she sees it as a warning. Not a malicious card, but not a beneficial one either. The Inquisitor is concerned only with the truth. With aligning one’s self to see what is, not what one wishes would be. A reminder to not lose oneself in fantasies and daydreams, something Ylena is uncomfortably aware she has a tendency to do.

Present. No ambiguity here. Once again the Survivor stares back at her. Given the circumstances of her question and the true alignment of the card, the answer is clear. Lady Malassene is indeed still alive. Battered and bruised perhaps, but not broken. This card is in the present column however, not the future. While she most certainly lives now, that may not last.

Future. Two cards speak to her here, both misaligned. In the Tangled Briar’s case that is a blessing. It speaks of pain, yes, but misaligned means the focus is more on the treasure hidden within. She just has to be brave enough to risk the thorns. The Hidden Truth however...she has rarely seen this card misaligned. Misaligned implies that the truth she seeks is being actively hidden from her by an outside force. That someone, or something, is working against her.

She points out the meaning of the cards to Victor, who is too young still to truly understand. Her father is not.

”Ylena.” His face is pale. ”Please tell me you don’t plan on going. Even if Lady Malassene lives…that is not your responsibility.” He points towards the Hidden Truth. ”If something is working against you, is that not all the more reason not to go? There are others-”

“The cards do not whisper to the others.” Ylena is calm as she reshuffles the deck. ”Father. You knew my mother, and my grandmother. You know me. The cards have spoken. Would you see me ignore their call?”

Adrian is silent for a long moment. Meanwhile Titia ceases her scrubbing long enough to come over to Ylena and hug her. ”I would not see you come to harm, daughter of my heart. But if you feel you must go, know that you do so with my support. And love.”

Ylena blinks away tears. ”Thank you. Know that I love you too. However far I travel, I will come back to you. To you all. I swear it.”

Adrian comes over to join in the hug. (As does Victor, young as he is. He senses that something of import is happening.) ”Be safe, Ylena. I am counting on you to keep your promise.” He points to the Juggler, a card unmatched and subsequently uninterpreted in the spread. ”This may well be your destiny, but do not forgot. Sometimes the fates are unkind. They play with us mortals and are as likely to drop us as to send us high into the air. Be careful, my daughter.” For a moment he sounds almost exactly like Tsurana, and Ylena can practically hear her voice in the wind.

Be careful, child. When giants walk through the world, those of us who are smaller must move out of the way...or be crushed.”

Also, as long as Barzillai Thrune is a threat to the city Vera will have no issue working with a rebel group to take him down. She's lawful good, not lawful stupid.