About Kurt Knurrenappearance:
Kurt is BIG. 6’5”, but rawhide lean at 180lbs - 50 lbs less then when he was captured. His eyes are huge, and deep set. His jaw is enormous, with teeth that only fit due to the ones that have been knocked out. His skin has patterns of intricate tattoos over much of it. Tribal tattoos carefully and painfully applied, with ink made from demons. 10 minute background:
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! 1. Covered in tattoos and grisly ornaments rather than armour. 2. Wizardry - but not normal wizardry. 3. Tougher than iron. 4. Serves his tribal Patron, who serves Magdh. No “airy fairy” goddess, he’s met Knurri and she’s met Magdh. 5. Magic is more powerful than technology. 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. Inscribe his first magical tattoo - a rite of passage that shows he has become a master of magic. 2. Find a new home for his people, away from the horrors of the Worldwound. 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. This will help me in creating plots that center around your character. I will also be creating a third secret which you as a player will not be aware of, so expect some surprises! 1. Kurt was weakening the ship - he intended to take it down with him. He was trying to curse it, and doing what he could to anger the spirits of storm and sea. More pragmaticaly at night he was quietly freezing water in cracks in the ship’s hull next to his rowing bench. 2. The Fey are alien, but not spirits. The Huldra Kurt worships is not actually a divine spirit. Step 4: Describe at least three people that are tied to the character. Two of them are friendly to the character, one is hostile. If you like, you can include an enemy of yours here as well, so I have an instant NPC nemesis to throw at you. 1. Kurreni: Kurt is one of his patron’s favourites. They’ve slept together (rare but not unheard of). Kurt doesn’t know Kurreni is pregnant. 2. Jorn. Kurt’s brother was aboard the ship when it went down. Less cosmopolitan than Kurt, Jorn was locked in the brig for biting. Jorn has been fighting an abyssal taint since he was born. 3. [officer] Ivan. Ivan was responsible for overseeing the rowers. He saw Kurt trying to break free as the ship started to founder. Ivan is Ustalavian. 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. Seeing his father dying to a soul-poison from a wasp-like demon no bigger than his thumb. 2. Seeing his younger sister die to the Ustlavian ambush that saw Kurt caught. 3. Religious bribery; always trying to make deals with things. 4. Doesn't like the word "Worldwound" personality:
The world is divided into “us” and “them”. Once people become “us” they are tribe. Tribe is all. Ustalav is without redeeming qualities. Ustals are a garbage people. Home is “Fantasy Australia”. Everything is a high CR danger. By comparison anywhere else is a picinic in the park. “Psh. Oh, I mean they say this snake is poisonous, but if it bit you you’d take hours to die. Plenty of time to make a will, say goodbye…” background:
Kurt grew up in the Eastern Shudderwood. Inside the Worldwound, between the border with the Hold of Belkzen, the Sarkorian Steppes, and Ustalav. Kurt’s tribe was comprised of Sarkorian survivors of the Demonskin War. Their Patron Spirit was Kurreni, a Huldra Priestess of Magdh who had taken in some of those Sarkorian refugees who survived the Ustalavian purges. She had sufficient power to keep a Grove free of both demons, werewolves and the mad Fey of the northern Shudderwood. Over time most of the tribe died, and new survivors - including half-orc refugees from across the Tusk Mountains - joined. Kurt was trained in a mishmash of forbidden Sarkorian wizardry masquerading as druidism, orcish shamanism and the fey knowledge of Magdh - the threefold goddess of Fate. The resultant magical tradition is best described as “Wizardry”, though most of the wizards of the inner sea would have conniptions at the terminology. Kurt’s “spellbook” is a Kellid Runestone larger than he is, and he has been known to cast spells more divine than arcane. Spell Sage Kurt’s tribe hunt demons. They know the Shudderwood, where the haunts are, and have truces with the relatively sane Fey and Werewolves. This lets them cross into the Worldwound proper in raiding parties. They kill demons and scavenge bones, blood, flesh and poison. There is a market in the soft southern lands for such things, and in a land where normal animals have been driven extinct the only real thing to trade is the very demons that corrupt the land. A year ago Kurt’s party took a trading run through the Shudderwood into Ustalav. The Ust’s they dealt with knew the authorities were on their trail so rather than deal fairly they stole the goods and enslaved the party. They don’t realise Kurt is a spellcaster - his spells were expended in the chaotic melee of the capture - and have kept him while they shop for a buyer willing to pay the premium a slave like Kurt commands. Equipment:
15 Manacles (manacled to an oar at start) 00 Loincloth 00 “Spellbook” (currently stored using Secluded Grimoire) 340 Masterwork Cold Iron Greataxe 20 Camouflage netting 12 Campsite kit 21 Wizard’s Kit 4 Cold Iron Dagger 10 Small tent 50 Masterwork survival kit 55 Masterwork Tools (component) 55 Masterwork Tools (tattoo) 55 Masterwork Tools (weapon) 55 Masterwork Tools (leather) 55 Masterwork Tools (stone) 55 Masterwork Tools (component) 50 Masterwork backpack 30 +2 1st level spells 60 +1 2nd level spell 2K Muleback Cords Tattoo (as Muleback cords, but as a magical tattoo) Discussion; I’d like him to have at least one magical tattoo, and muleback cords seems reasonable (extra carrying) and not broken. If this is abusive I’m happy to look at toning it down. In terms of what he’ll actually start off with, I’m envisioning him washing up still chained to his rowing bench. N Medium Humanoid (human, orc)
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