Florence Corvina's page

Step 1: Write 5 background and concept elements that you feel are important to your image of the character. These can be a concept overview, a list of important life events, a physical description, a personality profile...whatever you need to get an image in your mind. 5 is just a minimum...more elements are encouraged!

(Key Concept #1) - In the setting of the game, Florence is a foreigner who has been resurrected by an Ancient Osirion deity - Isis, the Queen of Miracles.

(Key Concept #2) - A large part of Florence's journey is to determine exactly why she was the recipient of such a miracle and not an Osirion native - and where to go/what to do next. Unbeknownst to her, the events that are being set into motion at the beginning of the AP are why she has been called.

(Key Concept #3) - A 'priestess' that isn't a cleric or an oracle. In order to aid her in the days to come Florence has been granted power as a part of her resurrection - she becomes a witch and Binx becomes her familiar. Her natural talents for herbalism as well as her and her family's service to their community in the past aligns well with Isis' domains (Good, Healing, Community) but since she is still an outlander with basically no knowledge of Osirion, its gods, or its people Isis chose to give her a different sort of power rather than trust her enough to make her a true priestess (like a cleric) right off the bat.

(Key Concept #4) - Although Bynx has always been Florence's pet/friend, he too has been touched by Isis. Now linked to Florence as her familiar, it's his job to help guide her towards her destiny and to try and keep her on the path of light.

(Key Concept #5) - Ultimately, Florence's story is the story of an outsider with a heavy burden to bear and how she handles that burden as well as how she affects the stories of others (fellow PCs) that she crosses paths with and how they affect hers.

Step 2: List at least two goals for the character. At least one of these goals should be one that the character has, while another should be one that you, as a player, want to see developed over the course of the game.

(1) Florence's main goal at the beginning of the tale is to repay the Queen of Miracles for saving her life as well as Bynx's by proving herself worthy of having been saved in the first place. Of course she's a little uncertain on how to go about doing that, but the one thing she's certain of is that traveling to Wati is the first step.

(2) Although her primary goal has shifted to repaying a debt, Florence is still a kind person at heart and has no plans to cease using her talents as an herbalist to help the sick. True, it's a little harder to manage without a dedicated base of operations but she's still determined to help who she can as she walks this new path.

(3) Though she isn't consciously aware of it (yet) Florence is also seeking a new life and a new beginning for herself. With the chapter of her old life in Taldor finished, Osirion might hold the hope of a new start for her. Whether that new start involves new friends, a new home, love, or all three....remains to be seen.

Step 3: List at least two secrets about your character. One is a secret the character knows, one is a secret that involves him but that he is not actually aware of yet.

(1) Florence is rather guarded about the experience of her death and the scars (physical and mental) that remain and is very hesitant to reveal more than she needs to until she feels that she can trust someone with her secrets. To date, her friend Marius is the only one that she's shared the full story of her experience with.

(2) Though they weren't of noble blood or name, Florence and her family actually do have some very distant Osiriani ancestry that they are not aware of. This dates back to the days that Osirion was under Keleshite rule, wherein said ancestor traveled from Osirion to Qadira and eventually into the empire of Taldor. This is how and why Isis was able to reach Florence from such a distance.

Step 4: Describe at least three people that are tied to the character. Two of them are friendly to the character, one is hostile.

Marius Vulso (Taldan Male, Friendly) - Marius is a childhood friend and playmate of Florence, their families having lived on the same street for years. After her death and sudden rebirth, she knew that she couldn't return to what remained of her home and family and so she went to him instead. He was the one who sheltered her until her health returned and she was able to set out on her journey to Osirion. Although she wanted him to forget about her he made her promise that she would write. Might have some romantic feelings for her.

Peony Jems (Gnome Female, Wizard, Friendly) - A young gnome that Florence met on the sea journey from Absalom to the port city of Totra. Met after Peony mistakenly thought Bynx was a stray cat aboard the ship and was about to claim him as her own familiar. After they'd talked for a bit they discovered that they were both heading to Wati and resolved to make the rest of the journey together both for safety reasons and because a journey is always nicer with company. Insatiably curious, it didn't take Peony long to realize that Florence held a secret or two and she's been determined to find out what they are ever since. For her part, Florence enjoys Peony's easygoing demeanor and childlike exuberance. Bynx may or may not have forgiven for her for trying to abduct him.

Tesfani (Garundi Female, Unfriendly) - Small-time thief and scammer, Tesfani crossed paths with Florence and Peony in the city Sothis. Taking the pair for a couple of idiot foreigners and tourists, she tried to rob them - and was extremely surprised and displeased when she lost that particular fight. Though they tried to be merciful and let her go with a warning rather than report her to the city guard, all this act of kindness did was earn them Tesfani's ire. She may or may not have trailed the pair to Wati...

Step 5: Describe three memories, mannerisms, or quirks that your character has. They don't have to be elaborate, but they should provide some context and flavor.

(1) Florence bears physical and mental trauma from her death. The fire that destroyed The Cure left her with burn scars on her legs, back, and one arm that pain her to this day - particularly when she finds herself in close proximity to open flames, such as from a fireplace. She also experiences pyrophobia and refuses to have anything to do with fire magic.

(2) Due to having grown up living along the Sellen River, Florence learned to swim at an early age and still enjoys swimming as a leisure activity to this day. When in the water she can often be seen floating on her back and gazing up at the sky.

(3) Possessed of a silly and whimsical streak that occasionally rears its head and enables her to easily engage with children.

Florence was born to the Corvina family of Cassomir, the second-largest city of the declining Taldan empire. The Corvinas had long been skilled at alchemy and herbalism, owning a shop simply called The Cure in the Abbey Green district of the city. Each generation received training in each skill and though none were expected or mandated to remain and carry on the family business, many of them did and Florence was no different. Once deemed old enough, she began to learn the craft by first helping her mother Casia grind herbs and other small tasks around the shop. As she grew older and more skilled her given tasks increased in complexity and by her 15th year she was even deemed capable of running and operating the shop herself for short periods of time.

It was a good life and Florence enjoyed her work; she genuinely loved seeing the faces of customers light up when she was able to direct them to the perfect remedy for whatever might ail them. Although her older brother Agrio and younger sister Lucina had also been trained in the family craft, it was generally understood that Florence would likely be the one to take over running The Cure once their parents became too old to do it themselves. But that all changed on the night of the fire.

To this day, Florence's memory of the events that preceded her death is hazy. She remembered that she had been working late down in the shop that night with only her pet cat Bynx for company and that she'd been having trouble staying awake; an illness had been working through the neighborhood in recent days and most of her family had come down with it. Although not fatal, it was severe enough that the afflicted couldn't do much more than rise from their beds long enough to relieve themselves before returning, exhausted. And so it had fallen to Florence to keep the shop running as best as she could. The demand for their wares had been high due to the illness and between work and caring for her own family she herself had slowly become exhausted. And so she had fallen asleep at some point with one of the burners still going; that was the only thing she could think of. It wasn't until Bynx's frightened yowling woke her that she became aware of the flames and smoke that were rapidly spreading through the shop - with both of them cornered in the workroom in the back. As the flames approached, the last things Florence remembered were the sounds of Lucina calling for her and the smell of smoke......and then, she heard a voice - speaking as though from a great distance.

"Return...return to the living, wayward daughter. Return to the land of the burning sun. Return to the city that that sits where the Riddler and the Serpent meet. Put things right again; do this in remembrance of the old ways and go with the blessing of the Queen of Miracles."

Before she could even attempt to give voice to the many questions racing through her mind or to even truly understand the speaker's words the voice and the darkness she'd been in were gone, replaced by searing agony and a feeling of being smothered. She sat bolt upright, coughing and coughing even though each cough sent horrific pain shooting through her legs, back, and one arm. She looked around and was horrified to discover that she had been lying on a cold stone slab, covered by nothing but a sheet. Confused and frightened, the sudden sound of approaching footsteps galvanized her into action and jumping up from the table she fled - fled past the startled Pharasmin priests who'd been coming to prepare her for burial and out of the temple into the darkened streets of Cassomir, clad only in a sheet and fighting against the screams that threatened to erupt.

Out of instinct, her feet first carried her back to her home and her family's shop but when she arrived she was horrified to find only a burnt husk of a building, the ruins still radiating a faint heat. As if in response to her arrival, she heard a desperate, urgent meowing - turning towards the source of the noise she discovered her cat Bynx, fur badly singed and seemingly in pain. With her wits now returning somewhat she scooped him into her arms and staggered through the streets to the only other place she could think of to go - her friend Marius' home. Though he had quite a shock at seeing his childhood friend show up on his doorstep in the middle of the night wrapped only in a sheet and with a crazed look in her eyes, he took her in and did his best to calm her down - but his answers to her own questions left her anything but. Her shop and home had burnt two nights ago. Her brother and sister had managed to escape from the second floor where their home had been only through the sheer luck of having awoken before being overcome by the smoke. Unfortunately her parents Casia and Trian hadn't been so lucky and neither had she; a trembling Marius said that he had seen all three of them carried away from the ruins once the flames had finally burnt themselves out. Bynx had been nowhere to be found but had been presumed to have either perished as well or fled in terror.

Florence was in shock - surely she hadn't died? But as the adrenaline of her earlier fright wore off she was once more subjected to terrible pain and upon inspection was horrified to discover that a significant portion of her flesh had withered in the fire. Ultimately it was the burns and the pain they brought that made her realize that her experience had been real. Haltingly, she told Marius about the strange voice and what it had said.

"And...what do I do now?" she asked miserably, once she had finished. "I...can't go home. I can't. Agrio and Lucina, they'd never believe that it's really me. They've suffered enough...I don't want to hurt them any more than I already have. Do I do what the voice said?" She laughed but there was a harsh tone to it that Marius had never heard before. "I don't even have the means to go anywhere whether I want to or not!"

"I think...I think I can help you a little with that," Marius finally replied after a long silence. "But not now. You need to heal and regain your strength - then we'll talk further about what you should do."

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And so it was that after some weeks had passed with Marius secretly housing and caring for Florence and Bynx, she eventually proved to have healed enough from her burns to undertake a journey. During that time Marius had researched the clues hidden in the words Florence had heard and determined that the voice had spoken of the city of Wati, located in the desert land of Osirion. Upon learning this Florence was as startled as Marius was, but she didn't question it.

"Then I guess Wati is my...our, destination," she said simply as she gave Bynx a scratch behind the ears.

Before she knew it she was on her way with what gear and money Marius could spare for her - first on a ship from Cassomir to Absalom, then from Absalom to the Osirion city of Totra. From there it was a matter of traveling along the coast to Sothis and then taking a riverboat from there down the River Sphinx to Wati. During her journey she had plenty of time to reflect on all that had happened, as well as prepare. She'd managed to snag an old, ratty language book from the market in Cassomir and spent much of her free time working on learning the Osiriani language as well as planning her route. She also began to realize that she had changed in other ways since her death and rebirth, as had Bynx. For one, the two of them now seemed to share something of a link - as long as he remained relatively close she could sense his mood and he, hers. She was also almost certain that Bynx had somehow grown much smarter than the average cat, evident in how he began responding to her actions and comments in ways that seemed almost human at times. And drastically of all, she discovered that she'd somehow gained magical capability the day she accidentally enlarged a roach that she found scuttling about in her cabin.

Is this the blessing the Queen of Miracles talked about? I...I'm grateful, but I wish I had someone to tell me more about how to handle it. I'm no wizard, I never had any sort of arcane training...but I'd better figure it out and fast, before I enlarge something worse than a bug.

Thankfully, she'd made friendly acquaintances with a fellow traveler on the sea journey from Absalom to Totra; a young gnome wizard who had offered to help her learn more about her strange arcane powers. It turned out that Peony was also heading for Wati and the two agreed that it would be safer and less lonely to travel the rest of the way together. From there, their journey to Wati was largely uneventful save an encounter with a mugger in Sothis who thought the two foreigners would be easy pickings and discovered otherwise. Luckily for her, they'd decided to let her go with a warning rather than turn her over to the city guards.

As they neared Wati, the pair gradually began hearing rumors and tales of the lottery to be held in Wati and of the myriad of adventurers, scholars, and thrill-seekers who were traveling there in hopes of finding their fortune. Surely it couldn't be coincidence, could it? Somehow, Florence didn't think that it was. But she was no archaeologist or scholar or fortune-seeker - was this why she'd been called to Osirion? Was there a place for her among such talented and driven individuals? She didn't know...but expected that she would find out, one way or the other.

In Cassomir and more specifically in the Abbey Green district of the city, Florence was primarily known in connection with her family name. The Corvinas had lived in the city for generations and their skill as herbalists was well-known. To the casual customer or passerby, she was simply the nice girl at the counter. To repeat and more local customers, she was Florence - happy to chat about this and that as she helped them find whatever they needed. More than a few people agreed that her friend Marius was surely sweet on her and expected it would only be a matter of time before he joined the Corvina family as a son.

To anyone who met or heard of her now, they'd simply know of her as a strange young woman with an amazing talent for concocting herbal remedies and an orange cat as her companion. Some might notice that she occasionally seems to suffer from some sort of pain or discomfort, especially in the Osirion heat.

Before her death, Florence was a relatively normal young woman, cheerful and outgoing...and sometimes a bit flighty and childish. Her death and resurrection has seen her disposition shift to a more somber one, though bits of her old cheer still shine through from time to time. Now in a world largely unfamiliar to her, her steps are cautious and hesitant.

A young human woman in her early 20s stands before you, dressed in a simple traveling outfit made for hot weather. Her long brown hair is held up out of the way by a pair of pins and her green eyes hold uncertainty as she takes in her surroundings. Despite being dressed in local fashion her lighter skin tone and accent clearly mark her as foreign, likely of Taldan descent. She shifts uncomfortably in the heat, her right hand absently clutching at her left arm out what seems like nervous reflex...or discomfort. A small orange cat, barely more than a kitten, sits calmly at her feet.

Florence is planned to be a support witch in the form of useful buffs, useful hexes (such as Fortune), utility spells, and the ability to handle bad status juju. Though she'll gladly pick up damaging spells where she can (as long as they're not fire-based) she won't be trying to be a blaster. Since I feel that Florence is interesting enough to stand on her own merits and since I actually enjoy and play more support builds than anything else, I'm not particularly worried about growing bored with the character and what she can do!