About "Doctor N"Backstory:
Nordim was born into the swamps of the River Kingdoms along the edge of the Sellen River amongst the Silveregg of Solis Swamp, one of many grippli tribes. Her tribe's name came from a giant shiny silver egg in the center of the chief's hut. This egg was covered in strange lights and spewed strange noises. Because it was always warm to the touch, the tribe had taken it to be some kind of Great Being that would hatch and lead the tribe to endless prosperity. Nordim never believed any of it. From an early age, she demonstrated an uncanny facility for engineering and construction, taking everything from toys to huts apart and rebuilding them better than before (most of the time). Countless hours staring at the “egg” and studying it via sketches, she could only characterize it as something constructed and engineered by intellects greater than any she had seen. She hated the hunter-gatherer existence of her people, seeing the massive cities and ships and complex devices that the humans had built. She would try to do anything she could to stay out of hunts, eventually frustrating her tribe enough that they threw her at the shaman as an apprentice. The mysticism and healing knowledge of the shaman helped to keep her satiated for a time, but she still yearned for ever more. She planned for months for her eventual journey. Her tribe lived a safe, quiet existence, and she knew they didn't need her. Boats came past all the time, sailing for someplace called “Chesed” upriver, where this mysterious “technology” lived with its silver sheen and many lights. One day, she left a kind note on her cot, and--packed down with her possessions--he climbed onto the side of a ship passing by and rode it al l the way up to her destination. Chesed was loud and angry and dirty, and nobody wanted to see a grippli unless it was bringing them fish to sell. She ironically found herself doing the very thing she had left Solis to get away from: hunting and gathering. In what few moments she had that weren't spent earning a living, finding food, or finding a place to sleep, she dove the river for treasures. Most of it was junk, but she managed to find enough scrap to begin working on the long-term project of rebuilding a weapon she found (she had seen people call similar devices “pistols”). One day, while delivering a full net of fish to the market, a well-dressed man covered in technological doodads grabbed for her gun, saying it was too dangerous to be in her hands. ”Rebuilt it, so much safer in my hands than yours.” The man scoffed at her, but she disassembled it in moments before him, pointing out what she had learned about the function of each part. The man stood wide-eyed. Nordim thought he was going to shoot her. Her offered her a job. Uneducated on the social mores of Numeria, Nordim just saw the Technic League as a group of experts that were trying to keep the secrets of dangerous technology out of the hands of the common folk. She was smart enough to pick up on the darker tinges of the League—a fact that would cause endless guilt later—but between her excitement at finally getting to learn more about this astounding Technology and the sober recognition that nobody else would give a grippli bumpkin the time of day, Nordim stuffed away all those thoughts as deep as she could. She was a second-class member of the Technic League from the beginning, a curiosity that only avoiding the slag heap through quick wit and enthusiasm and her natural knack for restoring and retrofitting technological weaponary. Still, she picked up whatever she could, taking an old “inferior” battered Alkenstar pistol no one else would touch and jury-rigging it to work as her weapon-of-choice. Whenever she could find an opportunity, she would copy down a spell or two from a technomancer's spellbook, practicing them whenever she could find a few moments to herself. It was not the exciting life of scientific discovery that she had hoped for, but she had given up expecting any better. She was called to go on a short expedition with a team of picked men. One of the League's explorer teams had discovered the location of a statis pod out in the swamps outside the edge of League territory, and they wanted someone with knowledge of swamp navigation to help them track it down to its precise location. She was so excited to finally have her first field mission that she did not even think to pay close enough attention to notice that the pod was in the River Kingdoms, along the edges of the Sellen River. She told herself that the thought never crossed her mind, that it could never be the same place, the same silver shiny egg. Sometimes she believed it. She found the pod in the Silverfin village, just as she was asked. As the League men moved into position, waiting for a signal from their Captain to open fire, Nordim loaded her pistol. With a crack heard for miles, she blew a hole in the back of the Captain's head. The tribe heard the thunderous shot and took to arms, but their small bows offered little resistance to the League's lasers and zero pistols. Nordim killed three more League men and wounded two more. She tried drawing them away into the swamp, and for a time she thought she succeeded. She waited huddled in the swamp for hours after all had quieted. When she finally found the courage to return to the village, she found it slaughtered, and the “egg” gone. She went back the only way she knew to go, taking the Captain's map, now that he had no need of it. She was not sure whether it was a desire for vengeance or a selfish need to go back to Numeria's technology—most likely both—but she never considered going anywhere else. Nordim had heard Technic League members speak in sneers of the good-hearted mage Khonnir Baine in Torch. Knowing that the League's presence was not as heavy there, it was the obvious choice. The only choice. She went straight to Baine upon arriving, revealing her situation and asking for his help in keeping her hidden while she decided what she was supposed to do with herself now. She has mainly kept to herself in Torch, calling upon her gun and the mild healing skills she once learned from her tribe's shaman to eke out a simple existence as a “helper,” as she calls it. She occasionally makes herself more visible than safety demands, her desire for self-preservation quickly losing ground to her need for atonement. In her free time, she distracts herself by reading whatever she can, even the more philosophical and dramatic texts she once decried as “soft.” She finds entertainment in comedic Taldan operas think Gilbert and Sullivan and solace in the heady political theory of Dubanich. She still loves a good raygun to disect, but she'll take a gothic romance now, too. ”Believe in helping people. Sometimes heal with medicine. Sometimes kill dangerous people.” *deep breath* ”Either way helps.”
Stat Block:
Nordim Solis
Grippli Wizard (spellslinger)/4 Gunslinger/1 NG Small humanoid (grippli) Init +3 Senses: Darkvision 60ft, Perception +6 -------------------- Defense -------------------- AC 14, touch 14, flat-footed 11 (+3 dex, +1 size) HP 38 (4d6+1d10+14) Current HP: 38 Fort +6, Ref +7, Will +7 -------------------- Offense -------------------- Speed 30 ft, Climb 20 ft Melee Quarterstaff +3 (1d6-1/x2) Ranged +1 Pistol +8 (1d6+1/x4), +1 Inferno Pistol +8 (1d6+1 fire/x2) or Acid Flask +7 (1d6/x2) Wizard Spells Prepared (CL 5th; concentration +8): 2nd--Acid Arrow, Burst of Radiance (DC 15), Bullet Shield 1st—Mage Armor, Snowball (DC 14), Burning Hands (DC 14) Technomancy Wizard School: School of the Gun Opposition Schools: Enchantment, Divination, Illusion, Necromancy -------------------- Statistics -------------------- Str 8, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 17, Wis 14, Cha 8 Base Atk +3; CMB +1; CMD 14 Feats Point Blank Shot, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (firearms) (b), Gunsmithing (b), Rapid Reload, Technologist (b), Precise Shot Traits Magical Knack (wizard), Student of Philosophy, Local Ties Alternate Racial Abilities Jumper (replaces camouflage) Glider (replaces swamp stride) Skills Acrobatics +7 Appraise +3 Bluff -1 (+3 to fool) Climb +11 (climb speed) Craft (alchemy) +7 Diplomacy -1 (+3 for all but gather info) Disable Device +10 Disguise -1 Escape Artist +3 Heal +6 Intimidate -1 Knowledge (arcana) +7 Knowledge (dungeoneering) +7 Knowledge (engineering) +10 Knowledge (geography) +7 Knowledge (history) +7 Knowledge (local) +7 Knowledge (nature) +7 Knowledge (nobility) +7 Knowledge (planes) +7 Knowledge (religion) +7 Linguistics +7 Perception +6 Perform -1 Sense Motive +2 Spellcraft +11 Survival +6 Swim +3 Languages Taldane, Grippli, Hallit, Aklo, Orc, Androffan SQ Mage Bullets, Deeds (Deadeye, Gunslinger's Dodge, Quick Clear), Grit (2) Combat Gear +1 Pistol (was battered pistol), +1 Inferno Pistol, 2 powder horns, 64 doses of black powder, 27 bullets, 1 adamantine bullets, 25 paper cartridges, 6 adamantine paper cartridges, 5 flare cartridges, Spell Component Pouch, Small Quarterstaff, Small Mwk Daggers x2, Cloak of Resistance +1 Other Gear Explorer's Outfit, Collected Works of Jarl Dubanich, Collected Plays of Colbert and Donovan, Notepad, Pencil x5, Mwk Thieves' Tools, Acid Flask x3, 23 gp, 1 sp, 7 cp Spellbook:
2nd Level Acid Arrow Aggressive Thundercloud Burst of Radiance Bullet Shield 1st Level Shield Snowball Mage Armor Magic Missile Burning Hands Gravity Bow Technomancy Ear-Piercing Scream Detect Magic Read Magic Scrolls:
Mage Armor x1 Protection from Evil x1 Comprehend Languages x1 |
