Layla Kheper's page

Coming from a long line of Taldan nobles from the small house of Kheper, Layla received some of the best educations gold can buy. She's the third and youngest of her siblings: she has an oldest brother and sister, fairly close apart in years, and they were quite close while growing up in their ancestral manor in Restov.

Yet, they all followed very different paths. The oldest, her brother Derek, fell in love with their cousin; but despite the fact he was also appreciated, their cousin passed when they were still young, and the trauma pushed Derek towards a fully religious life in the nearby monastery. He became a very kind and wise man, but forever dedicated to the Lady of Graves, and far from the family's noble interests.

Layla's sister was different: she was very much everything a noble family would desire from a daughter. Beautiful, intelligent and absurdly cunning, Farrah Kheper was admired in any court she would step and courted by men everywhere. She ended up agreeing to a very profitable marriage with Edward Surtova, a young and handsome viscount, son of Natala and nephew to Noleski Surtova.

And then... There was Layla. A short and skinny hotheaded tomboy girl, she was never one to care for politics and education. Instead, all she wanted to be was a duelist and become a legendary sword fighter. Needless to say, several times she was caught sparring with the sons of knigths and local soldiers instead of pushing herself to the books or etiquette training as supposed. Her defiance was such that eventually her parents tried to forcefully commit her to the same monastery of Derek, to become a priest or at least some sort of monk.

It never worked - she found herself very comfortable with the dark of the night, and would frequently flee to train, or to find trouble to put her martial skills to test. Many times she hurt other people, but most times she hurt herself - too inexperienced and frail to actually be dangerous. Brought back to the monastery, Derek would look after and nurse her back to health - and didn't mind the fact she would escape again eventually. He was worried, but absolutely happy for her and wished she would pursue her true passion.

As she came of age, refusing to get into any kind or arranged marriage (and, honestly, not truly desired by any useful nobles around), her parents eventually allowed her to join the military ranks... There was nothing else really to do to prevent it from happening. Disgusted, they agreed to see their noble daughter become a lowly soldier in the ranks. They focused on Farrah, and made a true effort to pretend Layla didn't really exist.

As she trained, Layla's true talent quickly appeared: she was fast, nimble, and the years of taking beats made her naturally defensive. She could parry like no other around her, and this attracted the attention of the famous Aldori Swordlords. While initially they were skeptical about the stranded noblewoman on their ranks, she was still allowed to go through the basic tests - and despite showing talent enough that others would have being approved, she was frequently rejected and asked to return on the next season.

She didn't care; she insisted. The noble, proud, traditional ideals of the swordlords weren't hard for her and slowly gained her attention. If, when young, her style was that of trying to feint her movements while fighting, to take advantage of her small stature, eventually she learned to become true threatening. She basically used her cunning for such: hurting the opponents as they fought, appealing to their fear of humiliation, and then finally intimidating them to the point they would concede or lose.

One given day, she received a letter from Derek, and traveled to see her brother. He sounded a lot more concerned than what would be his usual - and it wasn't for nothing. With Farrah's wedding with the young Surtova scheduled six months from now, their sister was still secretly seeing another man: Tarren, another young noble, but from House Rogarvia! They had been meeting in hide in the city of Varnhold for some time, and Derek was Farrah's confident. However... Everybody seemed to have lost contact completely with Varnhold! It was like the town and everybody in it had vanished in thin air, and Derek was now appealing to Layla as the only one which could discreetly find out what happened, and hopefully rescue their sister.

Layla agreed and once again went to see the Aldori. This time, however, taken by an absurdity of confidence and borderline arrogance, she fought like never before. Her style had improved beyond anything the other recruits could do, and she moved through the challenges like they were nothing. There was no way to deny anymore: from that moment on, she swore to the Aldori swordpact, lost her noble birth name and became Layla Aldori - something her parents probably wouldn't oppose to. As she explained her desire to investigate what happened with Varnhold, the Swordlords provided her with a letter with the seal of Jamandi Aldori, and instructed her to take the road to the settlement of Greenwatch.

Different than her sister, Layla is short and more on the ugly side. She's a tomboy of sorts - maybe some "Arya Stark" vibe, to bring out "Game of Thrones" - but more in terms of being militarized and brute. Her hair is dark and long and her eyes are brown; her features are very much those of a Taldan noble, more particularly from the lower families.

Her overall behavior is militaristic and defiant. She's proud to a point of arrogance, but still warm enough and loyal to her companions to be desirable to have around. She clearly went on a route her parents didn't want her to, and while this gave her an absolute martial edge, it also made her almost a sort of pariah within the family. Yet, her talent and effort put with the legendary Aldori Swordlords turned her into a true Duelist.

Layla is a frontline fighter first; focused on defenses, while she's still capable of damaging enemies, her biggest advantage is her training to fight defensively. Her feats and (hopefully future) prestige class are all about this factor, and I plan to keep investing in it.

I wanted her to have some relevance out of combat too, so I gave her more intelligence than the usual and invested in skills that I feel can translate to some RP and help to the party, especially intimidate, bluff and some more uncommon knowledge skills.

For the Kingdom, I'd love to slowly and naturally have her go for the role of Ruler. As an Aldori herself, it'd be natural that the organization interests would be to place her in such position, and her minor noble roots end up helping it.

Layla "Aldori" Kheper
Female human (Taldan) fighter (aldori swordlord (inner sea primer)) 1 (Pathfinder Player Companion: Inner Sea Primer)
NG Medium humanoid (human)
Init +4; Senses Perception +3
--------------------
Defense
--------------------
AC 21, touch 15, flat-footed 16 (+4 armor, +4 Dex, +1 dodge, +2 shield)
hp 11 (1d10+1)
Fort +3, Ref +4, Will +2
--------------------
Offense
--------------------
Speed 30 ft.
Melee aldori dueling sword +6 (1d8+1/19-20) or
. . heavy shield bash +2 (1d4+1) or
. . unarmed strike +5 (1d3+1 nonlethal)
Ranged sling +5 (1d4+1)
--------------------
Statistics
--------------------
Str 13, Dex 18, Con 12, Int 13, Wis 14, Cha 12
Base Atk +1; CMB +2; CMD 17
Feats Dodge, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (aldori dueling sword), Weapon Finesse
Traits sword scion, trustworthy
Skills Acrobatics +3, Bluff +2 (+3 to fool others), Diplomacy +6, Intimidate +5, Perception +3
Languages Common, Sylvan
Other Gear chain shirt, heavy wooden shield, aldori dueling sword[ISWG], sling, sling bullets (10), bedroll, belt pouch, flint and steel, masterwork backpack[APG], mess kit[UE], silk rope (50 ft.), trail rations (5), waterskin, weapon cord[APG], 2 gp, 7 sp, 1 cp
--------------------
Tracked Resources
--------------------
Sling bullets - 0/10
Trail rations - 0/5
--------------------
Special Abilities
--------------------