 About Emrys KorvynEmrys Korvyn
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CHARACTER TRAITS: Child of the Temple You have long served at a temple in a city, and not only did you pick up on many of the nobility’s customs, you spent much time in the temple libraries studying your faith. You gain a +1 trait bonus on Knowledge (nobility) and Knowledge (religion) checks, and Knowledge (nobility) is always a class skill for you.
Threatening Defender You know how to avoid a blow while still maintaining your offensive posture. When you use Combat Expertise, reduce the number you subtract from your melee attack rolls by 1. SKILL MODIFIERS:
Bluff +5 Ranks 1, +3 trained, +1 Cha Climb +4 Ranks 1, +3 trained, +2 Str, -4 AC Penalty, +2 climber's kit Diplomacy +5 Ranks 1, +3 trained, +1 Cha Intimidate +6 Ranks 1, +3 trained, +1 Cha, +1 morale (stern gaze) Knowledge (nobility) +7 Ranks 1, +3 trained, +2 Int, +1 Trait Knowledge (religion) +7 Ranks 1, +3 trained, +2 Int, +1 Trait Perception +6 Ranks 1, +3 trained, +2 Wis Profession (gambler) +6 Ranks 1, +3 trained, +2 Wis Sense Motive +7 Ranks 1, +3 trained, +2 Wis, +1 morale (stern gaze) Survival +6 Ranks 1, +3 trained, +3 Wis Description Emrys Korvyn carries himself with an air of self-confidence that few ever encounter outside of Taldor's ruling class. He stands at roughly six feet in height and possesses a lean, athletic build. His skin is the natural bronze common to the Taldan people, but his typically disheveled shoulder-length hair is lighter than most and usually sun bleached. His face has a firm outline with strong cheek bones and jaw, but is ultimately softened by his deep green eyes. He's recently decided to grow a beard, feeling that it makes him look more worldly, but has yet to decide on a style in which to groom it; every few days he'll trim his whiskers in a different style, based on what's in fashion in the empire as well as the cuts worn by people he sees entering Taldor from abroad. He prefers simple, practical clothes with minor embellishments, such as leather tanned to a soft gold in color. He also wears a white scarf with gold embroidery, which he uses to cover scars that extend from his back and halfway up his neck, the result of repeated lashings as a child. The scarf is pinned in place with a silver holy symbol of Abadar. Emrys is devoted to the teachings of Abadar, but feels the blind obedience embraced by many of the Judge's clergy too easily leads to corruption. Instead he walks a path of service to his deity of his own design; Emrys tithes, but no temple ever receives a copper from the man. Instead he seeks out prominent members of a community and convinces them to gamble with him, preferably joining him for several games of Golem. He converses with his opponents and purposely loses to those he feels will use the coin to better the region, while at the same time taking those he feels would squander their money for all he can. Emrys' behavior is crude from the perspective of most that revere Abadar; he drinks and flirts freely, and prays to other deities as the situation dictates with little hesitation; he purposely acts in a manner opposite of that a member of Abadar's clergy is expected to. It's in this way that he tests his devotion, and ultimately strengthens his faith further. Key to Emrys' faith is the belief that merchants and tradesmen are the backbone that supports civilization, and as such they should be protected above all else. He pursues those that would hinder or exploit these people, and their efforts, relentlessly. Emrys also possesses a soft spot for children, and often allows himself to be distracted when he sees them at play; he regrets not being able to experience the things he should have during his own childhood, as a result of being raised in an Abadarian temple, and will go out of his way to ensure they are afforded the opportunities that he missed out on. When he has nothing else to do and nowhere else to be, Emrys can usually be found surrounded by a group of children, teaching them while allowing several to braid his hair. Background The son of Eoin Korvyn, a priest of Abadar, Emrys spent the majority of his childhood growing up in a temple in the city of Oppara; the boy's father traveled throughout Taldor, serving both his deity and his empire as a scribe and clerk. Emrys' mother had succumbed to disease when he was very young, and when his father was away on business the youth was treated as a ward of the church. It was to be expected, then, that when Emrys came of age he entered training to one day join the church as a member of Abadar's clergy. Emrys found his training tedious, his mind constantly wandering, searching for anything to keep it occupied. As if to further complicate his place in life, the youth had been gifted with a sharp tongue and quick wit; when unable to find something to hold his attention he would often find himself in trouble with the priests, due to a comment or criticism, or for gambling with those visiting the vaults beneath the temple. One member of the temple's clergy, Banker Carson Wrynn, took particular offense at Emrys' antics. When the boy's father was away, Wrynn would take it upon himself to teach the youth proper manners. The bishop's favorite instructional tool was the crack of his whip, and away from the eyes of the other members of the clergy Emrys was lashed regularly. Despite the harsh treatment he received at the hands of Banker Wrynn, Emrys' faith seemed to grow as he did. He kept his beatings secret from his father, and the rest of the temple's clergymen, fearing that if he told anyone about Wrynn's actions he would be forced to leave. However, that changed in the spring of his sixteenth year. While receiving a series of lashings from the Banker, he recognized a jeweled ring the man wore on his finger. It had belonged to a merchant originally from Riddleport that frequently visited the vaults to deposit his earnings, making a point each trip to play at least one hand of Golem with Emrys. During one such game the merchant told the youth that it was a family heirloom, one of his most prized possessions. His trips to the vaults had ceased roughly a month prior, and a week after that word had reached Emrys that the merchant had been murdered in a town a short distance from the city, his body stripped of valuables and left in a basement by an unknown attacker. Fearing the worst, Emrys approached his father and the temple's Archbanker, telling them of the ring and that he felt Wrynn may have had a hand in the merchant's death. Neither payed much attention to the youth, stating that the ring had probably been nothing more than a payment received for services performed. Unwilling to drop the issue, however, Emrys began looking for the truth on his own. He contacted a former mortician in the town where the merchant's body had been discovered, a man that now specializing in the investigation of crimes and had examined the corpse. He told Emrys that the merchant had been beaten to death, his body covered in a series of blows from a uniquely-patterned weapon of some sort. A sketching of the patterns confirmed the youth's fears; he instantly recognized them as ornamental etchings from Banker Wrynn's favorite weapon, an elven-crafted heavy flail made of mithril. Emrys was infuriated, not only because his suspicions had been confirmed, but because the members of the priesthood he had been striving to enter hadn't considered those suspicions worthy of consideration in the first place. After making a brief trip to purchase a sickle, he stormed to Wrynn's home and confronted the Banker. Emrys told Wrynn he knew the truth of the murder, that he had evidence the Banker had committed the act. Wrynn responded by bringing his whip to bear, never imagining that the many lashings he had given the youth had trained Emrys' muscles to perceive the blows before they struck; the young man easily avoided the whip, taking Wyrnn's own flail from its place above the fireplace and using it to subdue the older man. Using the sickle he had purchased, Emrys reclaimed the stolen ring, along with the finger it was being worn on. Tossing the mithril flail to the ground next to Wrynn, he told the man to leave Oppara and never return. Wrynn left shortly after, claiming he was being called by Abadar to serve as a priest traveling the countryside. Emrys returned to the temple, but only long enough to pack his belongings and ensure the ring would be returned to the merchant's family along with a hastily scrawled note: He has been beaten. Emrys' faith in Abadar remains strong, but any faith in the path of the Judge's clergy has been shattered. He's since set forth to define his own path in service to his deity; most recently this path has led him to the city of Cassomir, where rumors have indicated an Abadarian priest may be stealing funds intended to ensure the operation of a lighthouse known as Treacherous Jack. |
