Congrats on those who got in and shared misery for those who missed the cut. :)
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It is like waiting for Christmas on this thread. You keep staring at the present and really want to open it, but know you have to wait just a bit longer before you can. :)
Review mine last please! Having a houseful of two year olds wiped us out. I am cutting and pasting all the crunch now. :)
Besides prepping for my daughter's birthday party, the competition in the combat support group has kept me from doing the crunch, as I know that the numbers are easy to plug in, but the group dynamic is what the DM has to determine. I will do it tonight, as I know you have to review both to see the finished product, but I will be lurking if I don't make it in case you need an alternate to be on stand-by should RL rear its ugly head.
I will work on the crunchy bits of Ferus tonight, but I do not envy your selection process with all the great concepts that have been submitted so far.
Here is the working background for Ferus Swiftpaw. I will hold for now on doing the crunchy bits until I get the proceed or waive off from your side on how you feel he may fit with the party. I am taking some dramatic liberties with making up positions of Scouts/Wardens for Trunau, as the player's guide didn't mention a standing militia. It did say that they relied heavily on their hunters and trappers for food, so Ferus would also augment that role as well. Background: Cut to save space:
"You want to hear why I am joining the others in preparing for the Hopeknife Festival? While your eyes do not deceive you, as there is not another of my kind for hundreds of miles, Trunau is my home and has been since the thrice damned red wyrm killed those I loved." "What's that? You think I am telling you this because it makes me special? Not at all, look around you and you will see a town full of people who have had something they love stolen from them by this land. It is a cost that I have come to accept, as have all those who call Trunau their home. Outsiders come and go, sometimes they even go without paying the Reaper's coppers, but some find that the land calls to them, the way it does to us and they accept the cost the land demands." "You are correct, I wear the badge of a Scout and were it not for the desire to see some of my nephews and nieces be presented with their Hopeknife, I would not be in town right now. The Scouts and the Wardens are a close community and their children are as dear to me as any I could have sired, but as we have established, there are none of my kind here to offer the pleasures, and dangers, of a hearth and home." "After the ceremony I will depart and resume my patrol. The orcs are always testing to see if our guard is down and one day they will figure out the importance of this ceremony, as they are not as stupid as they would have us believe. This land does not allow fools to survive long, but dark thoughts have no business on festive days." "Do I carry a Hopeknife? Why yes, I do but let me assure you that no orc would seek to keep me alive if they captured me. They would seek to wear my skull and fur like a trophy and a live Scout does not a trophy make." "Enjoy the festival traveler and who knows, maybe this land will call to you as well. If she does, remember there will be a price to be paid. There is always a price." Traits
Other trait: TBD
Just a quick dot with the new alias, but background to be coming tomorrow.
Reading the campaign log and saw the part that all people will be trained up in time, so perhaps it isn't as necessary to start off with knowing all the nuances of being a classically trained warrior. In a way, that makes my concept work even better: Gabriel's Backstory: Gabriel Talbert, nephew of Sir Augustus Talbert and son of Sir Henric Talber, never wanted to follow in his family's footsteps of serving as one of the Knights of Ozem. While he respected all the soldiers did and what they represented, he also saw the strain it put on his mother and older sisters when her father would go on a campaign and how it almost killed her when he returned wrapped in the white clothes of a burial shroud.
Vowing to throw himself fully into academics, Gabriel's future changed when his Uncle Augustus came to visit and to his shock and surprise requested that Gabriel serve as his squire. He did not care that a mortar and pestle were Gabriel's preferred weapons, nor did he entertain the protest that his father's armor was far too large and heavy for him to wear. In the end, Gabriel's protests were silenced when his mother handed him his father's blade and told him to "Serve as he served and always protect those in need." They rode out at dawn the next morning. Gabriel's uncle surprised him by encouraging him to study and expand his knowledge of the sciences, while teaching him the basics of the blade saying that there was never a thing as too much knowledge. The year of his sixteenth birthday, his third year of traveling with his Uncle Augustus, Gabriel was told that he would be entered into the ranks of those seeking to become a Knight. It was an honor and a privilege to get this chance and his Uncle knew he would do great. "Be true lad and nothing else matters." The newest lot of scrubs, the affectionate name used by those who had completed the grueling training, was being accepted and Sir Augustus and three other knights, would escort him there after leaving Kassen in Nirmathas with a secretive cargo entrusted to the knights, a secret Gabriel was dieing to learn, as they went north to Vigil. On the night of the full moon, the caravan was ambushed by a swarm of lycanthropes and Gabriel was certain that he would be joining his father soon in the afterlife and his mother would lose another loved one due to her love of country and honor. Gabriel could feel the heat of the lycan's breath as it loomed over him, biting the air as it worked itself up for the killing strike and then he felt a burst of hot sticky fluid as his Uncle drove his sword through its skull with the last of his strength. "Take word to Vigil. Tell them they took the bait. Tell them the plan worked." Gathering the remnants of supplies from the shattered wagons and fashioning a burial cart for his Uncle Augustus and the other fallen Knights, Gabriel arrived long after the selection process had taken place. It was decided that he would be allowed to join Cohort One when a position became available, but they refused to speak of the secret mission which had taken the life of his Uncle. Battered and bruised, Gabriel thought about how easy it would be to walk away now, knowing that none would blame him, but surprisingly a burst of anger scattered those thoughts to the winds. He would find a way to earn his spot and earn the respect of his peers using both his crafts and his blade. The road would not be easy, but Gabriel did not care. It was time to join the ranks of the scrubs and earn the title of a Knight of Ozem. |