Keltza Proditor's page

Keltza was made an orphan at a very young age, a common occurrence for half-orcs within Trunau. With her mother dying due to complications in childbirth within the town, and her father a full-blooded orc from the city of Urglin, she was left in the care of those priests within Sanctuary, the makeshift temple of Iomedae within town. Growing up in such a holy environment, Keltza took after the Paladins and Clerics who lived there, doing her best to try and study the religion and its practices, hoping to become a priest herself one day. Alas, it was not meant to be, and despite learning a variety of languages in the care of those at Sanctuary, she was simply unable to grasp the knowledge of Iomedae's religion to become an acolyte. Not deterred, she stayed in Sanctuary up to the age of fourteen, continuously fascinated by the stories of not only The Inheritor, but Ragathiel -The General of Vengeance- as well. Interestingly enough, even with this new god in mind, she never truly understood the tenets behind his faith, even though she had long since convinced herself that she had a complete understanding of the religion.

Though stories of the gods were not the only ones that fascinated her. She also grew up with stories about two separate yet equally intriguing topics: her grandmother, the giantslayer, and the savage orcs who lived outside of Trunau. The first set of stories seemed to go on and on; tales of the heroics performed by Keltza's seemingly undefeated ancestor. Time and time again, she begged the town elders to tell her another, even attempting to sneak out of martial training at times to do so. The second set of stories on the other hand, frightened her. Tales of the savage, unkempt, brutes known as orcs terrified her and most other children, and slowly began a cycle of both hatred towards them and self-loathing for sharing their blood. Her green skin was a daily reminder that she was related to those monsters who stalked the outskirts of Trunau and inhabited the entirety of Belkzen.

But over the years she shook those thoughts from her mind. After all, she had never once met an orc; perhaps the stories were meant as a means to keep the children within the town, never willing to explore the world outside of Trunau. Both human brigands as well as orcish ones seemed to attack the town with the same frequency, so why should she believe that all orcs were monstrosities? Content with her new ideas, yet not willing to share them for fear of becoming an outcast or labeled an “orc-lover”, Keltza simply continued on with her life, continuing her daily training, and eventually becoming close friends with Kurst Grath.

Her relationship with Kurst was similar to all teenage romances. Adorable, filled with doe-eyes, and sure to fail at some point. But Keltza did not think of such things at the time and was convinced she was in love with the younger twin and he swore by the same feelings. The two, and the group of their companions (led by the older Grath twin) often went on patrols together with his mother often in the patrol as well, seemingly approving of her son’s choice in partner.

Their relationship changed, however, the day their patrol was ambushed by orc raiders. They came suddenly and with all the ferocity of wild beasts, driving arrows into the heart of Kurst’s mother and wounding a few others on patrol. When the carnage was seemingly over, and Keltza had dropped her guard for one second, that is when the second wave of the attack started. Almost immediately, felt a thud and crashing against her chest, and surprise shifted into horror in mere seconds as she realized she had been the target of an alchemist’s fire. As her arms were covered in the liquid, they went up in flames and soon enough, she passed out from the seemingly neverending pain. She woke up a few hours later, in Sanctuary for the first time in at least a year, with Kurst by her side. With a solemn look, he let her know that his mother had already been added to the Flame of the Fallen.

As if the situation seemingly could not get worse, she found that her arms were absolutely blackened and shriveled. Paid a visit by Tyari Varvatos herself, Keltza was told that the clerics could seemingly not cure her burns, despite the use of channeled energy and divine spells. The next few weeks passed by as if they were an eternity. Endlessly examined by the priests in Sanctuary, she could not find a purpose for the magic not working on her wounds. Eventually, the elf Silvermane paid her a visit and examined the burns himself, coming and going without a word. Within a day of the druid’s, she was told by the priests that her blackened arms was likely a curse bestowed upon her by a god, and there was nothing that could be done for her. Fear and self loathing returned to Keltza’s mind as she simultaneously felt rage at orckind for effectively crippling her as well as a desire to understand why they had done this to her.

As her relationship with Kurst rapidly deteriorated, Keltza spent more and more time with the clerics at Sanctuary. In time, she found that she had some minor skill in divine magic and with each passing day, she seemed to become more and more proficient with minor spells, eventually learning the most basic of cure spells, and even seemed to have some control over the power of fire. Though still terrified of the element that crippled her, she learned to accept the magic as a gift, and became convinced that the fire was a gift from Ragathiel himself. After all, his mother was from the Plane of Fire; this could be a well deserved gift, and a sign that she ought to spread his word.

Then came the fateful day she and her companions decided to go drinking with Chief Defender Halgra. After a long night of merriment, the youths decided to travel off away from Trunau, in search of a life outside the town and perhaps the meaning of what it meant to live a full life. In her drunken stupor, Keltza went off that very night, with nothing more than a horse, her hopeknife and wild dreams. She figured that this could be her opportunity to finally understand the orcs who had shaped her childhood stories and changed her life so rapidly. As a half-orc herself, she figured that she would blend right in if she were to find a city filled with the creatures.

What she found Urglin. With nothing more than conjecture that she may be able to learn about the orcs by living among them, she went off in search of work. Instead, she found that the brutes would not let an outsider, especially one with “pinkskin” blood participate in any of the cities functions. After weeks of searching, and occasionally being forced to steal a loaf of bread to survive, she finally found a position in a bar. Intrigued by orc society, she did not mind the awful conditions or lowly position, instead, preferring to focus on the good. After accidently setting one patron ablaze after he attempted to touch her in an inappropriate manner, she quickly found herself left alone for the most part, though did not make any friends.

This changed one night when a group of orc bandits walked in the bar one night, boasting of their recent exploits. Trying her best to ignore the lot, she simply served them more and more until they spoke of their pasts ‘conquests’. As she was ready to send them on their way, one of them mentioned her mother by name, laughing as he described that particular ‘conquest’. Startled, deeply disturbed, and astounded at how unabashedly these orcs spoke of the evil they committed, Keltza found herself questioning everything she may have thought of orc society. True, she knew them to be barbaric brutes, and she remembered the horror stories from her childhood well, but never had she heard such a declaration of the love of evil for evil’s sake.

Waiting until the orc raiders had passed out from their alcohol, she unraveled her hopeknife from her belt for the first time since she left Trunau. Contemplating for a moment about its original purpose, she decided that tradition be damned, she would get Vengeance for her mother. Slaughtering the sleeping orcs, Keltza fled from the orcish city, fearing for discovery.

The next months were spent lost in thought. She had killed before, but never in an instance other than self-defense. Still, she knew that what she had done was the right thing. Evil, after all, could not go unpunished. Those were Ragatheil’s tenents, and she was not about to abandon them. In this time she decided that those stories she once dismissed as folly, describing the brutality and savagery of the orcs were indeed true, and that the race was a scourge upon Golarion. The only way to stop the overflow of evil in Belkzen was to eliminate the race entirely. Over the following years, Keltza acted as a shadow, a terror amongst the orcs of Belkzen. Ambushing roaming bands indiscriminately, she took to using her fire to make a sacrifice of her victims and leaving a single survivor to spread the word that Ragathiel’s servant had come as a scourge against their kind. Eventually, her genocidal thoughts became more and more depraved, and she stopped differentiating between orc man, woman, or child. They simply all had to be eliminated.

In those five years of terror, she earned a reputation as “The Betrayer” and “The Blood Traitor”. As time went on, though, she realized more and more than a solitary lifestyle would one day lead to her demise. There was no point in dying needlessly, especially when she could do so much more. Thinking back to her drunken promise in Trunau, she realized that instead of simply using surprise attacks to destroy bands of orcs, she could do more good by protecting her home and its people, acting as both a sword and a shield for Trunau. Marching back home, she found that she had made it, coincidently, just in time for the fifth year anniversary of that night.

Ragathiel be praised, she would finally be home again.

For the most part, Keltza is a very amiable sort, especially with those from the town of Trunau. Always quick to make friends, she realizes the importance of allying herself with others to defend her home and so makes almost no discrimination against those she feels might have questionable character, even if she may personally object to their ethics. On the other hand, she shows no such kindness to those of full orcish descent. Taking an almost elitist attitude towards the idea of orcs not being allowed in the city, she would personally advocate the wholesale execution of full-blooded orcs (whom she considers filth at best and outright monstrous at worst) if she could find a sympathetic ear. Being a half-orc, however, she feels a sense of pity for those in her position. She feels no such hatred for her own race and knows when to draw a line. That being said, her extreme racism can be quelled, as she realizes that there is a time and a place for expressing such thoughts: usually areas in which she needs to use diplomacy or subterfuge.

Interestingly enough, she worships Ragathiel, holding the Five Winged Angel in high esteem for leading the battle against the forces of evil. This is likely due to a misunderstanding on her part as to what the god entitles. Despite Ragathiel being the god of Chivalry and Honor along with Vengeance, Keltza has only taken the last bit of the portfolio to heart. Having had no honor in her killings of the orc tribes, she has shifted into the very depths of evil that she so despises, like a misguided Paladin. If she were to discover her actions had left her in such a pitiful state, however, (through means such as a Paladin’s detect evil ability), she would be appropriately horrified enough to warrant a deep desire to atone for her deeds.

Standing at around five feet tall, and weighing 130 lbs. Keltza is not the biggest half-orc to grace Golarion, but she is an imposing figure within herself. Though not bulky, her lean frame is made completely of muscle from her time outside of Trunau. Her clothing is no less impressive than her form; she is often bound in a colorful red and black cloak symbolizing the colors of Ragathiel, and her chainmail bears the holy symbol of her god as well. As a half-orc, her skin is tinged green, but thankfully her mouth is less ‘deformed’ than most of her kind which is especially helpful as she has no tusks to get in the way of her singing. Her arms are constantly wrapped in bandages, due to severe burning she suffered during her time in orc captivity.