About Lyria ErellionBackstory:
Lyria was born to the reclusive Ilverani elves of the Spine of the World, as a result of a dalliance between a Twillight Speaker from a respected family of Snow Elves and an Erutaki representative from the nearby human fisherman settlements. While the twilight speakers were the order of priests, diplomats and spies the Ilverani specifically used to interact with the rest of the world, siring non-full elven children was normally seen as a sign that a Speaker had grown too attached to things other than the tribe – and exile the logical result. However, partly by the earlier prestige of her mother’s family of diplomats, this fate was spared to the two of them. The other reason was that she had potential too: as a half-blood, she both more resilient than most elves, much faster to raise and -most importantly- much more expendable. Thus, she was the perfect agent to indoctrinate into tribal loyalty and then send off to the most remote regions of the world to do the most risky and seemingly pointless missions, such as tracking down vague rumors of a coming apocalypse on the other end of the world with no support. Or, in other words, a mission a pureblooded elf’s valuable time and health would never be risked on. The worst that could happen is that she died or deserted, in which case the tribe was rid of her impurity, so it was a win-win situation as far as they were concerned. For her own family, the worst case would instead be if she’d repeat her mother’s mistake and became too attached to any part of the outside world herself, but sentiment was that she should indeed prove her worth and aid in restoring the slight on their legacy. Thus, when rumors of a supposed ‘Age of Worms’ brought by swarms of powerful undead reached the Ilverani through their network of Twillight Speakers and their connections, Lyria was dispatched to investigate. Dressed in her family’s traditional blue outfit and their white, face-covering masks, she set out. To her surprise, her mother met her at the edge of the territory, lending her the family’s inverse coldiron glaive, Ethindor, to safeguard her on her journey. Then, something even stranger happened. Looking back on it, despite knowing that the trip would have taken many months, if not a full year, the more she thought on it, the more Lyria realized that she could only recall generic memories of the lands she’d seen on the way. Nor could she remember how she’d reached Varisia seemingly without incident, and without finding any worthwhile information prior to this point. Even her diary was mostly empty and contained only mundane travelling information. However, the priests of the local temple had assured her that nothing was wrong with her head, and that she was probably simply exhausted from the long journey. Aware that something was wrong, but unwilling to abandon her mission, her training as a Speaker made her tough and resourceful enough to eventually make it all the way to the ancient Druid Nogwier of the Lodge near Diamond Lake. He was by far her most promising lead, known for his ravings on the end of the world by powerful undead, which he literally called the Age of Worms. Surely there was no better source of information! …Unfortunately, he was also a dick, because he refused to share any information with anyone who wasn’t of the green faith or the Elder gods. Kind of like the Ilverani, actually. They normally didn’t share anything with outsiders either. But that was different, of course! Regardless, forced into a waiting game, unwilling to just give up, she decided to stay in the nearby town and see if there were other sources of good information until she could convince Nogwier to talk. Eventually, she was drawn to the local wizard both out of respect for his knowledge and a lingering hope that perhaps he could figure out if there was something wrong with her memory. To her good fortune, he did prove to be a much more agreeable person, and such began her temporary apprenticeship. Which went on to last longer and longer… (Note on the backstory and why I chose this class: I’ve wanted to play a Skald for a while, and twilight speakers seemed the ones with the coolest lore. Though they come from literally across the world, it’s their job to investigate possible calamities such as this one. I admit the backstory past the lore on Twillight Speakers might be a bit bland, but I had a cool idea for how they dress and act on their journeys. A bit like a medieval version of Tali from Mass Effect, a friendly and staunch ally whose appearance is always hidden behind a suit, adding a perpetual aire of mystery to her.) Secrets and plot hooks:
-Lyria suspects that her memory of the past year has somehow been tampered with. While she set out to investigate the Age of Worms and related information, not finding *anything* on it before making it halfway across the world to Varisia feels suspicious to her, not to mention that she can’t recall much details from it at all. Part of her wants to stay in Diamond Lake simply because she’s afraid to look and find out exactly what she did and why someone, or something, felt the need to remove information from her mind. Essentially, she can be backstabbed by the plot at any dramatic moment with no warning or defense whatsoever. -As might be expected, Lyria’s main weapon, Ethindor, is an Ilverani relic of some renown, smuggled rather than borrowd from Ilverani encampments by her mother. Being an effectively stolen historic weapon of a highly traditionalist people, it might well be sought to be reclaimed at some point by their spy network. -She’s recently secretly started worshipping Irori as an outsider god of knowledge and perfection next to Findeladlara, the elven goddess of art and architexture. This is something that might be considered treason by her people back home. appearance:
As an openly travelling Twilight Speaker, Lyria wears a full body-covering blue robe over which the rest of her gear is worn. The robe ends in and is attached to a helm which is fronted by a white metallic mask. In turn, this mask displays an artful depiction of the holy symbol of Findeladlara, an Elvish hand pointing at a bright star admist a glowing constellation of golden stars. Her amber-coloured eyes regard the outside world from between those stars, being the only truly visible part of her face. The basic idea of such traditional clothing was that it revealed as little of her as possible, so that it was harder for anyone to get too attracted or attached to her, and thus easier for her to remain focused on her mission. There had often been debates over whether this tactic worked or not and if it didn’t just reinforce the allure of mystery , but tradition was tradition among the Ilverani. Still, despite being almost fully withdrawn from view, there was only so much the armor and robe could do to hide a slim yet athletic figure, and from having a wicked looking black glaive-like weapon (a Fauchard) attached to her back, one could infer she had significant martial prowess and could probably defend herself well.
Personality:
Essentially a polite learner, gathering information from new cultures and on topics of interest for her people. She reveals little about herself at first and probably comes across as mysterious to others until her trust is won. Perhaps spurred by her background, she has a desire to prove herself beyond just to her own people, which is liable to get her into more trouble helping people than is probably wise. On the flipside of this, she has little patience or tolerance for fools and believes experiencing failure form their own mess is their best medicine to grow. party role and progression going forward, short:
Twillight Speakers are a social-focused variant of the Skald. They give up knowledges for bonusses to social skills. Their main bard buff is a scaling bonus to attack rolls and all saving throws for the party, and eventually it adds some rage powers to recipients like a normal Skald. She fights with a reach weapon and is intended to be a competent melee combatant. Her focuses as a Skald are otherwise as their par: melee combat and buffing allies with bard spells, but with hopefully cool added flavor. She could branch into archery as well since she has martial weapon proficiency and not a particular set path of feats past level 3. Plus it does seem to thematically fit a (half-)elf! Perhaps she would make an interesting switch-hitter eventually? Stat Block:
Lyria Erellion F Half-elf skald 1 (Twillight Seeker) CG Medium humanoid (elf, human) Init +3; Senses low-light vision; Perception +6 *Alternate racial traits: Fey thoughts (Stealth and fly are class skills, replaces multitalented), ancestral arms (Exotic weapon proficiency: Fauchard, replaces adaptability). --------------------
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Ranged
Special Attacks raging song 5 rounds/day (inspired rage)
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Base Atk +0; CMB +3; CMD 15 Feats Scribe Scroll, Exptic Weapon proficiency (Fauchard), Combat Reflexes. Traits: Wizard’s Apprentice, Ancestral weapon (Ethindor). Skills Acrobatics -3 (-7 to jump), Diplomacy +7, Knowledge (arcana) +6, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +2, Knowledge (engineering) +2, Knowledge (geography) +2, Knowledge (history) +6, Knowledge (local) +2, Knowledge (nature) +2, Knowledge (nobility) +2, Knowledge (planes) +2, Knowledge (religion) +6, Perception +6, Perform (percussion instruments) +6, Perform (oratory) +6, Sense Motive +5; Racial Modifiers +2 Perception Languages Common, Dwarven, Elven, Skald SQ Twillight envoy +1 (+1/2 level to diplomacy, sense motive and intimidate), elf blood Other Gear four-mirror[UC], dagger, spiked gauntlet, scroll of cure light wounds x 2, 18 GP. Travelling gear (added later)
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Devout
Twilight Envoy
Raging Song (Su)
Inspired Devotion (Su)
Song of Understanding (Su)
Song of Secrecy (Su)
This replaces inspired rage, song of strength, and dirge of doom. Community Domain
Twilight’s Blessing (Su)
This ability replaces lore master. Twilight’s Hand
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