About Emberar "Sunstruck" LealtusBackstory:
Corentyn, in southwestern Cheliax, is a city of ruins, so you can understand how those ruins might fascinate a young boy. So in his years growing up along the ocean, running through the city's wide streets and crawling over its crumbling ruins, Emberar Lealtus developed a healthy fascination with the old, the forgotten, and the romantically beautiful. Emberar grew up as an only child, the son of a successful spice merchant named Brenadine Lealtus. Who the boy's father might be was a mystery, although Emberar's ears, build, and facial features all pointed toward at least some elven heritage--and he first appeared, after all, as an infant after his mother took a long and successful trading voyage up through Isger and Druma to Kyonin. Although some of her neighbors were quietly scandalized at Brenadine's single-parent status (and the more so because she refused to talk about her son's father in any way), Brenadine was a successful enough merchant to afford a good house in Easttown, and Emberar led an early life of quiet ease. Although some of Corentyn's ruins are rumored to be haunted, plagued, or otherwise unhealthy, most are no more dangerous than any other decrepit building, and Emberar used the streets as his playground. After exploring a tumbledown old temple, dwelling place, or one of the many fortifications for which Corentyn is known, he'd inevitably find his way to the Museum of History to beg Zefiro Ballinger, the curator there, for information about the place he'd been. Zefiro could sometimes give him answers, and sometimes not (for reasons both practical and legal), and in school the boy was never more than an average pupil, but as he grew older Emberar sought out a particularly robust education in the history of Cheliax and Corentyn, which broadened into a fascination with tales of great deeds and wondrous places across the globe. His obsession with fantastic stories was both historical and geographical; he loved accounts of distant lands as much or more than stories of ancient heroes. As soon as he was old enough to be trusted in such situations, he began to take journeys as far afield as he could, accompanying his mother on her business travels from puberty and, in his late teens, occasionally venturing on his day off across the Straits of Aroden to that not-too-distant, but still exotic, patch of Cheliax that borders Rahadoum in Kharijite. When he came of age, he reported (reluctantly) for his mandatory two-year stint in the Corentyn navy, and spent the required time manning lines and accosting ships entering the Arch of Aroden for taxes. Although he found the work as a member of the military distasteful, Emberar became a competent sailor, and after he finished his required service he immediately went to work for his mother, sailing on a long voyage up the coast to Magnimar and working as a deckhand while also keeping an eye on her property. The journey to Magnimar took longer than had been expected, and was cut off in the worst way possible: Emberar was summoned home by a sudden sending that let him know that his mother, not yet a truly old woman, had been injured in a warehouse accident and was likely to succumb. Emberar rushed home as quickly as he could, but it was too late: his mother died, leaving him bereft and directionless. Although he had enjoyed his work, it became quickly clear to Emberar in the following months that he had enjoyed the travel and the physical labor, not the counting of coin, in his mother's trade. He soon chafed at the necessities that merchant work imposed on him, and after just three months of trying to manage his mother's company, he sold the business to an acquaintance in the trade and used the proceeds to fund his own trip back to the place he'd last been happy: Magnimar. There, he wandered the city--so aware of its history, like his hometown, but not allowing it to crumble as Corentyn did--and one day found himself staring in awe at the sun setting on the Irespan. As he watched, heart swelling with joy, a kestrel alighted on a small shrine nearby, and Emberar discovered the faith of Keltheald, the Sunset Spires. Inspired, Emberar vowed to travel the world as much as he could, learning from the people there and seeing the great sights--both natural and man-made--that it had to offer. In the seven years since he's traveled widely and seen much: the Cyphergate of Riddleport, the Mordant Spire of the Steaming Sea, the wide plains of the Atteran Ranches in Nidal, and more. In each place he takes copious notes and compiles the results into attempts at books; these travelogues he then sends back to Cheliax, or (more recently) Andoran for publication. He's attained a small but loyal following in Andoran, Absalom, and other places with intelligentsia interested in history and vivid descriptions of distant people and places, although he sees very little actual money from his work. Most recently, a trip along the northern coast of Garund ended with his spontaneously traveling down to Senghor, which he'd hoped to see for a great deal of time, where he spent several months researching the city's history. As happens often to Emberar, one thing led to another, and he has become obsessed now with the history of lost Ghol-Gan. Always eager to feed his obsessions, Emberar has made his way north into the Shackles, where he's begun to survey and investigate every Ghol-Gani ruin he can find. He's recently heard that a group of pirates have seized a ruin for themselves and begun to turn it into a stronghold, and his worked his way toward this group, serving as a deckhand from ship to ship in pursuit of his prize... Appearance:
Emberar, also known as Sunstruck, Lealtus gets his name in part from his boundless enthusiasm for new places and new people, and in part from his combination of sun-bronzed skin and dark blond hair that hangs down to his shoulders. Rarely seen without a cheerful grin on his face, Emberar is unusually stocky for a half-elf, although he tends more toward the broad-shouldered than the barrel-chested. He wears comfortable, loose clothing that allows him to move around a town or a ship with ease, often in bright colors (particularly red and orange), and straps his breastplate on over a lightly padded shirt when he has reason to expect trouble. His long cloak is a deep red color, and he has a (bad) habit of using the shaft of his halberd like a walking stick when out in the countryside. His boots are always comfortable-looking, and always very well-worn. Emberar Lealtus
TRAIT
CLASS
FEAT
SPELLS PREPARED [ ] = Domain Spell
Generic Spell Lists for Quickly Passing Days!:
SAILING: Orisons (DC 13): Detect Magic, Guidance, Grasp, Light 1st Level (DC 14): [Longstrider], Ant Haul, Shield of Faith, Suspend Drowning, Waterproof 2nd Level (DC 15): [Align Weapon], Augury, Bear's Endurance, [open], [open] 3rd Level (DC 16): [Fly], Water Walk, [open], [open] ISLAND EXPLORATION/COMBAT
Build Plan:
I'm not married to every aspect of this build, but I do like the idea of the cleric/horizon walker combination. Horizon Walker will boost Emberar's attack bonus, hit points, and skill ranks, all of which are helpful given the need for particular skills that you mentioned. It also will give him some pretty handy water-based abilities. I'm happy to swap some of his skill ranks around if there are some areas that would be redundant and could be tweaked to better fit the party, though K (Geography) is required for the build and K (History) makes so much sense I'd probably want to keep it. I'm not sure exactly how far I'll go in the Horizon Walker prestige class, but the idea is basically to scale up both classes some throughout--keeping access to spells of roughly the right level, just slightly delayed. I'm also torn on his second domain; Travel was an easy choice, but Keltheald's Sun domain is mostly helpful for fighting undead, and the Good and Chaos ones are...very alignment-oriented. Right now Chaos seems the best choice to complement the rest of the party, but if another build seems more helpful, I'd be happy to look at that. |
