Kasimyr "Kas Crimson" Varias's page

- studded leather

- Enchanted +1 Ring of Protection
- Enchanted Elk Staff of Cure Light Wounds (50 ch.)
- quarterstaff
- sling
- 6 sling bullets
- glaive
- dagger

- explorer's outfit
- Varisian crimson scarf
- hat (red w/ feather)
- patchwork cloak
- wooden holy symbol of Shelyn
- wrist sheath
- hip flask
- tin tankard

- spell component pouch

- belt pouch
- set of dice
- flint and steel

- masterwork backpack
- blanket
- musical instrument - drum
- fortune-teller's deck
- grooming kit
- mess kit
- whetstone
- candle lamp
- 10 candles
- 3 chalk sticks
- 1 ball of string
- 1 sunrod

- waterproof bag
- artisan's tools (painting)
- 1 vial of black ink
- inkpen
- traveling journal
- Reyna's reed flute
Encumbrance: Medium Load (65.0 lbs, limits 38/76/115 lbs.)

"Gerdie" Light Horse (HP 15, AC 11, Fort +6, Ref +5, Will +1)
- bit and bridle
- riding saddle
- saddle blanket

- saddlebags
- bedroll
- waterskin
- cleric's vestments of Shelyn
- cooking pot
- teapot
- hemp rope (50 ft.)
- hammer
- 2 pitons
- 1 soap bar
- 5 days feed
- 3 trail rations

Height: 5′11″, Weight: 140 lbs., Hair: Brown & Grey, Eyes: Blue

Kasimyr is a lean but hardy man of middling age, appearing in his forties with brown hair now greying at the temples and well-kept beard. His eyes are blue from a mother that died young, and his skin is tanned from years as a former farmer and current traveler of the trade routes. Never very strong or fast, even in his youth, Kas has the weathered hands and wiry frame of a man used to hardship and lengthy toil in the fields or gardens, prone to eat and drink with frugality. He has an easy smile, however, and his laugh is both bold and joyous to hear; though his singing is not profound he likes to hum tunes; his voice is strong and good for storytelling, able to be heard by larger crowds if necessary. When traveling he walks briskly with a vigorous gait, though he prefers a walking staff to aid him in rougher terrain, something he leans upon when putting on an affectation of age to suit his purposes. Unlike many of his brethren of the faith, Kas dresses in the plain colors of the common folk without embroidery or adornment, with the noted exceptions of his Varisian-style crimson scarf, his gnomish red-felt feathered hat and his troubadour’s multi-colored patchwork cloak. His holy symbol of the long-tailed songbird is sculpted from polished birch wood from the Embeth Forest and on a leather cord, though he often keeps it under his shirt and does not display it openly unless necessary.

Pleasant and friendly to most he comes across, Kasimyr personifies kindness, patience, humor and wisdom in his various dealings with people. His peasant farmer roots make him humble with little ego to bruise, but he is now emboldened with outgoing assurance as a man with unshakable faith and resolve can be. Kas wields a strong sense of humor in most things and enjoys both entendre and innuendo, though his humor is rarely sarcastic and never wry or cruelly cutting. He is a showman without vanity, self-effacing and joyous in his storytelling. Kas is an avid lover of the wilds and of nature, always respectful of Erastil and the bonds of community from his former village life, but now with a curiosity befitting a Desna-inspired wanderer. He is fond of young children and dotes upon those he knows with sweets or handmade toys, with many of his stories catering to youth in the form of fables and tales with meaning. For those youth he has a chance to guide or teach for a time, he prefers to take the path of a guiding uncle rather than a stern father figure.

Kasimyr cannot help but feel the occasional deep sadness of his lost family, and honors them with his observances of the sunset and the occasional playing of his wife’s reed flute. Yet he is optimistic he may find love once again in some form one day, though at this stage in his life he is content to foster selfless love in others. With all that he is seen and learned since the rejuvenation of his life, Kas finds himself often distracted in his thoughts, songs and stories while traveling, though it never turns to brooding or deep melancholy. Kas is known to hum a tune while he walks, loves to paint and sketch wherever he travels, honors the sunset in remembrance of his family whenever he can, and performs his prayers & obediences at the dawn in devotion to The Eternal Rose.

Kasimyr Varias was born and raised by his mother’s uncle and grandparents in the village of Rimaly, located on the outskirts of the Grozni Forest and House Medyved lands near a lesser stream feeding into Lake Reykal. Kas farmed, labored, lived and loved there in relative idyllic peace as a Brevic peasant, having no aspirations outside of his low station beyond a deep curiosity of stories and peddlers whenever they came around. As such, Kasimyr never possessed the insular and xenophobic qualities that were common in so many of his peers and elders. At the time Kasimyr revered Erastil as most did in Rimaly, as it was the dominant faith of his uncle, his village and the one most supported by House Medyved. He married his childhood love, Reyna, and had two children by her: a girl of eight named Flori and an infant boy named Felix. Reyna inspired in Kasimyr a love for music, she herself having a talent for singing and playing the reed flute, with Kas poorly but avidly taking up the drum to accompany her at festival times and marriage celebrations.

It was around the time of his son’s birth that House Rogarvia utterly disappeared, throwing its land holdings into chaos until House Surtova eventually gained primacy. The village’s baronet and other southern border knights in nominal service to House Medyved rallied their forces to seize choice holdings of former Rogarvia lands across the river, even as banner knights and petty gentry of former House Rogarvia scrambled to do the same, with Aldori mercenary captains from Restov serving all sides and taking their own opportunities to raid and plunder all across the Rostland Plains. In this turmoil, Kas and the male villagers found themselves conscripted to serve their petty noble masters, to fight and die mostly as fodder for their betters. Though Kas spent much of his time digging trenches and hauling supplies, he participated in the first-hand brutal killing of similar peasants with either spear or sling, men who were conscripted to fight just as he was. The fighting season passed from spring to early fall that year, seeing only a third of the village men returning to Rimaly after dismal failures by their liege lord to take a palisaded fort covering a key supply route for former Rogarvian petty lords. When they returned, they found the village had been raided and sacked by an unknown Aldori mercenary company, with many villagers killed (including his uncle and elder family kin), with the majority of their homes, livestock and croplands destroyed.

Reyna and the children had fled into the nearby woods and survived the raid, but the village had been devastated: most of the crops destroyed and precious little time to prepare for the winter’s snows, their Erastilian fathers all slain in their futile attempt to defend the village from attack. The winter was early that year marking Rogarvia’s fall, and the people of Rimaly suffered. Though they withstood the bitter cold for a time, famine put Rimaly into a deadly vice: Kasimyr and Reyna watched their infant son Felix die from hunger, they themselves down to only foraged roots, rotted forest acorns and boiled leather from their own shoes and belts. A month later disease swept through the area, killing most of the weakened rest that barely clung on. Kasimyr survived the fever and jaundiced affliction, but his beloved wife Reyna and daughter Flori did not. Before snow’s thaw was even close at hand the village of Rimaly had been utterly eradicated, with the few families that tried to find refuge at their liege lord’s manor turned away, frozen to death at the walls or cut down where they tried to breach the gates.

It was here that Kas, alone in his grief and abject misery, could have given up and passed on to the Lady of Graves’ judgement. Or given in to grief and madness – indeed some of the survivors had turned to cannibalism of their dead family and neighbors, succumbing to the urges and depredations of The Pallid Princess. Starving and nearly mad from fever himself, Kas dragged the bodies of his wife and children away into the woods so they would not be defiled by maddened neighbors, intending to bury them by a small rocky outcropping near a stream where he and Reyna once kissed and talked about future dreams. The ground was frozen hard but Kas somehow managed to partially bury them and set a crude cairn for both, his hands frostbitten and bloody from his last labor of love. With his last ebb of life fading from the cold, Kas clambered up the rocky outcropping to watch the sunset across the frozen stream one last time before his end, thinking of his profound love and grief for his lost family, but relinquishing hate and accepting his fate. The sunset broke through the overcast horizon in brilliant colors, filling him with sad wonderment as he prepared to die there. Yet he did not die, for a sudden warmth came over him that shielded him from the bitter cold, the sunset somehow bringing forth a majestic angelic woman with white rainbow-tipped wings and luminescent eyes who called him by name. Kasimyr was cured of his fever and healed of his wounds, her words to him filled with love and hope renewed. A servant of The Eternal Rose she said she was, compelled to find him with his last act of lovely sacrifice and utter devotion. She asked him to live on and not fall to the despair of Naderi, encouraging him to live and travel south beyond Brevoy to a place where he could learn to serve Shelyn, to find his renewed calling and spread it to those that desperately needed it. In this Kasimyr accepted the angel’s offer and was bestowed her boons to leave Rimaly forever behind him, taking only his wife’s reed flute as a token of his past. With the periodic guidance of a songbird he foraged successfully and found shelter when needed, passing through the frozen, conflict-torn Rostland Plains to Restov in a fortnight. There, he found refuge at a shrine to Shelyn and its troupes of troubadour patrons that catered to the Aldori revels, where he began to learn about Shelyn’s teachings with the troupe while regaining his strength and waiting out the winter.

Upon snow’s thaw Kas found caravan passage south around the long wayward route to Mivon, and from there to the Embeth Forest near the strange town of Uringen. A rustic but lively temple of Shelyn thrived there in peace and shelter under the broad canopies of the Embeth, and it is there that Kasimyr devoted himself utterly to The Eternal Rose and her teachings.

Kasimyr spent seven years in the Embeth, becoming a true priest for The Eternal Rose. For the first year he simply resided as a devoted follower and caretaker of the temple’s bountiful gardens, becoming literate and learning the lore that was denied to the peasantry of Brevoy. Over the next three years he served as an acolyte of the temple itself, then another three years as a traveling aspirant priest, working to complete his labors of love and beauty required for full priesthood. During his time as an aspirant, Kas forged friendships with many in the various Embeth Camps surrounding Uringen: his favorite was a gnomish encampment that truly espoused wonderment and joy, helping to teach him the ways of the fey and the wilder beauty of the untamed forest. He learned the language of the gnomes and that of the sylvan tongue during his time with them, and first gained his nickname ‘Kas Crimson’ for the crimson sash and feathered red hat he acquired from gnomish artisans. Having a gift for oratory and newfound love for lore, Kas found a reputation for storytelling and peddling small wares was useful in his travels to meet strangers and move through new settlements without drawing ire. To this end he started embellishing the patchwork cloak of a wandering bard, and though his skills with the drum and flute were paltry by most standards, his blend of storytelling, friendly charm and minor magics were enough to get by.

On the eighth year since he left Rimaly (the ninth since the disappearance of House Rogarvia), Kasimyr completed his labors of love and beauty, becoming truly anointed as a priest of The Eternal Rose. A divine vision concerning Kas by the high priestess urged her to have him travel back to the lands of his former life, to spread the love and light of Shelyn to the “lost peoples” and wild places where free folk could “create wonders of beauty from the land that has only known sorrow, but could one day soar to the heavens.” Kas was eager for the challenge. Though reticent to return to Brevoy, he knew he had to do so at least once to keep the memory of his former family pure and whole. So he left the Embeth Forest late that spring, traveling up the East Sellen to Mivon, and from there taking the long route around and back to Restov, all the while perfecting his role as a minor troubadour and petty peddler from the River Kingdoms.

Most of the troubadours of Restov that had sheltered Kas had gone, but a couple still remained that rejoiced in his transformation and made introductions to the current devotees of Shelyn there, helping him to learn Restov and make reliable inroads there for the remainder of the spring. The summer saw Kas return to the Rostland proper, whereupon he first visited Rimaly in secret, the village rebuilt and repopulated by peasants that the old baronet had reacquired. The return was painful, yet Kas found the nearby burial site of his wife and children intact and marvelously grown over as a grassy mound with wild roses growing upon it, the sight reinforcing his love and dedication to The Eternal Rose. He would leave the fringes of House Medyved lands and not journey to the Grozni as he once thought he might, for something stirred within him that he should look elsewhere.

For the remainder of the summer he traveled along the common routes to New Stetven and its wonders he had only ever dreamed about as a peasant, then on to Lebeda lands and Silverhall for a time. The uneasy peace of Surtova and the politics with the other major houses gave Kas pause, as merchants and caravaners talked often of possible civil war brewing under the icy calm demeanor of Brevoy at every market and wayside inn, with the Aldori swordlords of Restov blamed for stoking those fires wherever possible. Kasimyr continued to be drawn to the southern borderlands, and by the fall was cautiously making his way along the less-traveled paths and tiny hamlets of the southern Rostland Plains near the so-called Stolen Lands and the Greenbelt. Though certainly more dangerous than the settled routes and villages to the north, in those rugged places Kas found an affinity for the hard-working Rostlanders there, eager to carve out even a meager existence in the spirit more akin to the River Kingdoms than to Brevoy. It was there that he acquired his horse Gerdie, after spending a week at a remote farmstead in need of his true talents as a healing priest. Bandits plying the old trails south, as well as rumors of dark fey and other predatory beasts kept Kas from attempting to delve deeper into the Stolen Lands that fall, returning back to Restov before the winter’s snows began in earnest. In his prayers and feelings however, Kasimyr believed he had found the source of his calling, and was determined to explore it further that next year.

List at least two goals for the character.
* To serve The Eternal Rose and fulfill a divine calling that he can bring love and joyous life to a “lost” land afflicted by misery and chaos. Kasimyr has decided this land he has been looking for are the Stolen Lands.
* To found a school that would teach children otherwise denied learning and education due to their station – one that would include literacy and lore but also music and artistic expression.
* To one day find a deep and lasting love once again in his own life, whether with another woman or in adoption of children.

List at least two secrets about your character.
* Kasimyr knows the intervention of Shelyn’s angel, Lady Breenelle, was in part due to the possibility of him becoming a powerful agent of the faith during a time of strife and contest in the near future. This possibility is what ultimately drove him to leave the peace and tranquility of the Embeth Forest back to his former homeland.
* What Kasimyr does not know is that each direct intervention by the gods or their divine servants has a mandatory consequence – in this case the rise of a different mortal to rise in service of mad Zon-Kuthon. It is unknown, however, whether the two mortals will ever cross paths as agents of their respective gods.

Describe at least three people that are tied to the character.
* Master Amauri Arvosi and Lady Senna, Troubadours of Restov: Amauri and Senna are a married troubadour couple in Restov that help to maintain the shrine and obediences to Shelyn, in addition to their normal affairs. They were there when Kasimyr first came to Restov in the deep winter, helping him to recover and giving him a small taste for the flair of performance. They were still there when Kasimyr returned to Restov eight years later, and are now some of his closest friends in the service to Shelyn. Amauri and Senna are close to Kasimyr’s age and much more accomplished in dancing, singing, comedy and the play of instruments that Kas is, and as such he considers them worthy mentors to ask advice of.
* Doro Dimtupple, Gnomish Mentor of the Embeth Encampment: Doro is one of Kasimyr’s best friends outside of the temple, a gnome craftsman and tinker who showed Kas the wonderment of the wilder sylvan world of the Embeth Forest. Kas learned both gnomish and sylvan from Doro during his long stays with him and his people. Kasimyr’s trademark hat and patchwork cloak – as well as the nickname ‘Kas Crimson’ – come from Doro, who helped Kas realize the comings and goings of a peddler and storyteller could greatly help in his travels. Doro has said he might visit Kas one day in the north, and to keep good wine and good dice handy in case he ever does so.
* Olas Nikas, Varisian Wanderer and Priest of Desna: Olas Nikas is a Varisian and free-spirited wanderer in the service of Desna, first meeting Kasimyr on the long route around from Restov to Mivon. He struck up an instant liking to Kas, and helped him adjust to the caravan travel, telling him all sorts of tales that Kas would later use in his own storytelling. Olas gave him a fortune-teller’s deck after showing him how to pretend to tell fortunes, as well as the precious
Varisian-style crimson scarf after learning his story and newfound faith in Shelyn – both items are still kept by Kas years later. In a twist of fate, Kasimyr met Olas Nikas on the East Sellen years later on his journey back to Restov, renewing and enhancing a bond of strong friendship. The wily and whimsical Olas Nikas was prone to getting Kasimyr into more mischief than the Shelynite expected, the pair having several close calls with dour merchants and lawmen of the various wayposts up to Restov, as well as in Restov itself (see Voros Domonkos). The pair of men said farewell in the recent winter’s thaw, with Olas Nikas deciding to see “what all the spectacle was about” in Chesed and the Crusader’s Road to Mendev. Kas is certain Olas will turn up again one day to see him, bringing fresh tales for him to learn and spin.
* Lady Breenelle and Fir: Lady Breenelle is an angelic (choral angel) servant of Shelyn, who overheard the last rites of Kasimyr with his final act of love and devotion, and subsequently had a vision of the mortal being in great service to The Eternal Rose. She intervened with her powers to save his life, despite the risks of doing so, and encouraged him to travel to the Embeth Forest and dedicate his life in the service of Shelyn. This he did, and to aid him in his dire travels south through the deep winter, Lady Breenelle enlisted the services of her angelic companion Fir (cassisian angel), who guided Kas to food and shelter in the form of a songbird. Since then, Kasimyr has seen neither Breenelle nor Fir, but hopes one day to do so if he proves worthy enough.

* Jasic Tschermak, former Trapper of Rimaly: Jasic was an unmarried trapper and furrier of Rimaly, dour and unpleasant to the likes of Kasimyr and those he associated with in the village. Jasic survived the sacking of Rimaly and survived the terrible winter which killed the rest of the villagers – after succumbing to madness from disease and hunger he pled his service to The Pallid Princess, and was the first to resort to cannibalism of the dead villagers that were his family and neighbors. Kasimyr avoided Jasic and his foul solutions to famine, and in part it was the fear of Jasic that he took his dead family out into the woods to bury them and die away from the village. Years later when he returned in secret to Rimaly, Kas heard stories that Jasic had survived the winter and became a hunter of flesh in the service of Urgathoa, but had gone deep into the Grozny Forest to evade the baronet’s discovery of his misdeed and order of execution.
* Voros Domonkos, Junior Banker of Abadar in Restov: Voros is the third son of the Domonkos family in Restov, a minor house who historically had been strong in the Aldori traditions and had a former swordlord patriarch on the ruling council. Voros was not a swordlord by any means, but became a clerk in the service of Abadar and eventually rose in the ranks to become a Junior Banker to the Bank of Abadar there. Stern and devoid of compassion as many Abadarians are, Voros was responsible for the marriage match of his younger sister, Kata Domonkos, to a fat and despicable merchant who had business dealings with the Bank. Kata was friends with Olas Nikas, and had pleaded with him to help her escape the loveless union and flee Restov with her real love, a talented young stablehand named Remy. In this effort Olas Nikas turned to Kasimyr for help, who after meeting the young couple could not say no to their love and chance for a real life. Olas staged a diversion while Kas helped smuggle the couple away on a wagon into Lebeda lands during the summer and ultimately married them, but details became known to Junior Banker Domonkos who vowed retaliation for the embarrassment and insult to his family. Though the Desnan Nikas was the prime target for the Junior Banker’s ire, the name of “Kas Crimson” is also known to Voros and not soon forgotten by him.

Describe three memories, mannerisms, or quirks that your character has.
* Kas is known to hum a tune while he walks, and occasionally enjoys whistling and mimicking calls of birds.
* Kas loves to paint and sketch wherever he travels, keeping a journal for his daily entries, as well as a full kit of paints and canvas for longer periods.
* Kas honors the sunset in remembrance of his family, though he prays and performs his obediences to Shelyn at the dawn.
* Kas walks briskly with a walking staff, leaning on it at times to deceptively accentuate his age.
* Kas always wears his gnomish-crafted red felt feathered hat, as well as his Varisian crimson scarf upon his person. His patchwork cloak is often worn when he travels as “Kas Crimson” the storyteller and peddler.
* Kas likes games of chance, having dice handy for those that would engage him in a game. He is also fond of simple card games.
* Kas keeps a fortune-teller’s deck and enjoys giving “readings” as shown him by his Varisian friend, Olas Nikas. He’s pretty bad at the readings however, and does not treat them as anything beyond entertainment.