About Maeve the ScarredMaeve the Scarred
Background:
Greetings! Celeador here ready to submit my concept for your Striding Into the Gates of Hell: A Wrath of the Righteous Campaign. First a little bit about me. I am currently sitting at a little over 3,300 posts. I am a consistent poster. I also currently run two very role play heavy campaigns on the forums: Zeitgeist: The Gears of Revolution
I also take a lot of pride in my characters. I put quite a bit of time into each one, trying to make them unique and interesting. I focus less on min/maxing and more on creating a balanced character with excellent roleplay hooks. Some examples include: Mineko Yamauchi
I tell you this because I want you to understand what type of player I am. I post less then some, but I try to ensure that each post is flavorful and detailed. I enjoy roleplay opportunities and player interaction. I would rather post once every two days with a detailed post then three or four times during the same period with just a sentence or two. I also enjoy taking common tropes and flipping them around or slanting them to something different.
Betrayal. That’s the first thing I feel, which is ludicrous. For there to be betrayal, there would have had to been trust first.”
Anger is just anger. It isn't good. It isn't bad. It just is. What you do with it is what matters. It's like anything else. You can use it to build or to destroy. You just have to make the choice." Constructive anger," the demon said, her voice dripping sarcasm. Also known as passion," I said quietly. "Passion has overthrown tyrants and freed prisoners and slaves. Passion has brought justice where there was savagery. Passion has created freedom where there was nothing but fear. Passion has helped souls rise from the ashes of their horrible lives and build something better, stronger, more beautiful.”
Then when Maeve was eight, something miraculous happened. During an inspection, she along with her sister was selected to act as slaves for the Witch-Queens holdfast. She had no idea that this was part of her great grandmothers plan to slowly bring her blood into the fold. At the time, if Maeve had known she might not have cared. The promise of working in the holdfast would provide clean clothes, a larger meal and a warm place to sleep at nights. When death loomed over you, and your only choice was the slave pens, arenas, hard labor, pleasure tents or the holdfast, you were glad for such a position.
It could take pages to describe the misery that the young women endured. They waited on the coven retinue each and every day. Sleep was fleeting and pain was a constant reminder of their failing. Like all of the acolyte slaves, Maeve was taught of the Lord of the Locust Host, Deskari, of Orcus the Prince of Undeath and Our Lady in Shadow, Noctula and many more. Each was encouraged to seek out their patron. Those that were blessed by their patrons were given more freedom. Those who rejected their teachings were given death. Unlike her sister who quickly took to the training, Maeve consigned herself to death. She hated the overlords and the witches. Each prayer was a wish to see them all die. To watch one day as the crusaders would raze the town to the ground and set free those who had been born to captivity. And yet, in her despair, her cries for vengeance were heard for there was another lord, who raged at the other demonic lords for eons of slights, who had yet to take a greater role in the events of Maeve's world, Demogorgon, Lord of All That Swims in Darkness. It was on the night before her eighteenth name day that she slept in the stone room upon a pallet of straw. She had failed her tests. In the morning she would die. Sleep was uneasy for the woman. It was all going to end. That night as she slept the voice came to her for the first time. The sibilant voice whispered promises of power and vengeance. It asked for nothing, only a willingness to see the woman turn away from the demon lords and bring strife upon them. In her dream, Maeve stood upon the edge of an endless black obsidian cliff. The wind whipped around her hair and the woman acquiesced. When she awoke, she saw lying next to her a dark wooden mask with blank features that bore a seam running between its eyes, as if it would sheer apart into two halves. She also felt blood running down her face. An identical wound had formed during her dreams. She had been marked. When the guards arrived they found the normally meek woman holding the mask to her chest, the blood from her face dripped upon the wooden effigy and seemed to drink up the crimson droplets. There was a power in the woman’s eyes... a presence. Her execution was spared. It can be said that a little hope can be a dangerous thing. For the first time in Maeve's life she had hope. As one of the anointed she has been risen up above other lesser slaves. A clean bed, real food, education. These were priceless things to a woman like Maeve who had only seen them from a distance. Still, such things were not to last. The politics of the Worldwound are an odd thing. It is ruled over by the worst that the Abyss can vomit forth. The infighting between demonic overlords cause nearly as much death as the constant battles with the endless crusades led by the other nations. The Demon Lords also love their bloodsport and nothing is more pleasing to them than watching humans falter and fail under their mistreatment. Three months ago, the Demon Witch of Undarin was slighted by the Khorramzadeh, the Storm King and ruler of Iz. Rather than turn their armies against one another it was decided that each would be allowed to select one of the others minions to serve as their proxy in a murderous test of challenges, carefully prepared to show who had the true claim in the disagreement. It was a bloodsport of the worst kind. Like rats the two humans would be forced to negotiate trap filled passages, lightless depths and the predations of natural beasts. Again, little did Maeve know that even then her patron was working through the Storm King to maneuver his pawn towards his goals. To the young witches surprise, she was selected by the Storm King to act as his proxy for the event. She could not understand the reasoning behind it, however Vorlesh watched with suspicion. She assumed that either the Balor knew of her blood link to the young woman, and Maeves death would deny her the prize of ascension to full demon-hood or the woman would survive and in turn force the ruling in the balors favor. In fact she was wrong on both accounts. There was only one rule to the event, survive. And so began the race. For two weeks, Maeve walked through tunnels, across chasms and though the ruins of battlescarred cities. Each night she prayed to her protector to see her through and ultimately he did so. When a clutch of dretches mysteriously turned away from her hiding spot at the last moment, it was his doing. When her food ran out and she became sick from the rancid water, it was by his will that she survived. She knew none of this. All of this was part of a carefully choreographed escape that she had no idea of. All she knew what that this was her only chance to make it out alive. On the fourteenth day, a patrol of knights from a nearby Keep found a woman stumbling out of the Worldwound, she was covered in half healed scars and barely alive. But she had survived. Wary of the tricks of demons the woman was placed in shackles, but also healed. An elderly cleric of Sarenrae, far from his home to the south carefully tended to the woman. He called upon the blessings of the Fiery Lady and could find no evil present nor words of untruth. The woman was all that she said she was. An escaped slave who was forced to undergo bloodsport at the hands of Demonic Overlords. A woman who hated the evil that had consumed the lands, who had been forced to do terrible things in order to survive and someone who wanted to see the other slaves held in captivity freed. It was everything that her patron had planned for all along. (Killer Game Master), (All or Nothing) and (Blood Sport) PERSONALITY:
In fact her sister is now quite evil and I would like to see her twin have become another follower of Demogorgon. According to D&D 4th the following is stated about Demogorgon: Arcana DC 22: Demogorgon’s two heads are named Aameul and Hethradiah. Aameul prefers deception, and Hethradiah favors destruction. Originally, Demogorgon had one head and one mind. A mighty blow from the deity Amoth split him nearly in two before Demogorgon killed Amoth. After he healed, Demogorgon’s head remained split. The two heads often disagree with one another but turn disagreement to their mutual advantage. For instance, one head struck an alliance with a powerful lich queen of the deep Shadowfell, and the other killed her to steal her powers. Arcana DC 37: Twins born to cultists or kidnapped and indoctrinated at a young age lead Demogorgon’s mightiest cults. Each twin serves one of Demogorgon’s two personalities. Invariably, such a cult falls to infighting as one high priest turns against the other, hindering many a foul plot. What I envision is that Maeve's sister Sorkana has fully embraced the role of Aameul, preferring deception while Maeve has subconsciously assumed the role of Hethradiah and favors destruction. Aside from this personal stake, I would like Maeve eventually learn who her patron is during a dramatic moment, and then have her wrestle with this. Eventually I want to reject her patron and find some sort of redemption and gain a new patron in an Empyreal Lord. If your notice, my character is Chaotic Neutral. That is by dint of what she had to undergo during her time as a slave. I want to lean her more towards Chaotic Good, but right now during this stage in her life she is still recovering from the mental scars of living in the hellish landscape. #1: The Choleric: Maeve is a very passionate person. She has a strong goal and she wants to see it through to the end. Despite her scars she is also charismatic. Because of how important saving her people are to her, she is willing to go to almost any lengths to achieve it. She has a large independent streak. This is caused by her time as a slave. She never wants to go back to that life again and taking orders bothers her. #2: Moods Swings: In a way, Maeve is at war within herself. Internally she wants to reject her history and her patron. She can't deny that he has helped he each step along her way, but she worries what hidden hooks might be there. This is also coupled with the fact that she is deeply troubled by the trials that she had to go through as a child and a young woman. Its hard for her to be happy. Why should she be when so many people that she know are dying every day? She takes insults personally and inappropriate comments made about how women should act rub her the wrong way. She can be very loyal to those she trusts, but trusting in and of itself is very foreign to her. It would not be uncommon for Maeve to go from happy to glum to angry all in the space of a few minutes. #3: Tough Girl: Maeve is a tough woman. She won't allow a man to tell her what she can and cannot do. She has been through more and survived it during her nineteen years than most ever have. The scars on her body are are a testament to her stubbornness. She hates relying on servants, such things smack dangerously of slavery or indentured servitude. She's not the strongest, but she is willing to get dirty same as everyone else and she will work longer and harder then most men. #1: Lady of Black Magic: Maeve fills the role of a lady of black magic. Many of the spells I have selected for her, as well as her class and archetype carry the hint of darkness. That is not to say that she is evil, but such things as curses, mind control the planting of thoughts and creating fire tend toward the darker side of magic. #2: Imaginary Enemy: In its most primal form, her patron who she only knows of as the Whisper in the Night and the Lord of Shadows is an Imaginary Enemy. He has a long term plan for her and has set events in motion that can have disastrous effects if she doesn't eventually learn his agenda. I plan to start out his effects as dream scenes. Then eventually they will become voices as the campaign goes on. Later he will appear in the form of a two headed shadow on a wall. To a lesser degree I may roleplay the effects of *him* casting spells rather than her. I might use silent image and force Maeve to roll a will save to see if she can see through things. Or perhaps he might use sow thought to guide her towards a particular action. If I was selected I would like to work with you VoV to play that up. #3: Every Scar as a Story: In the case of Maeve this trope is particularly true. As I will mention in the "Channel Divinity" section Maeve will practice a form of Ritual of Scarification as listed in the "Pathfinder Setting - Chronicles of the Righteous" The scars that Maeve have will tie into her archetype "Scarred Witch" and as she gains spells they will appear on her body as well. In particular the symbol of her patron is displayed as a long scar that runs from her forehead to her chin, bisecting her face. (Chosen due to the dual nature of Demogorgon)
#1: Hope is Scary: Hope is scary to a woman like Maeve. For most of her life she was a slave. She watched as others were killed or subjected to the cruel whims of their demonic overlords. She lost her mother and father at a young age. When she thought she was being risen up to become a servant slave she instead found herself indoctrinated into the worship of the Demon Lords, and then when she did find a patron she found the station she had reached ripped away from her and she was forced to undergo series of trials that could only end in one victor. The fact is that Maeve is scared of hope. Each time something better has happened it has been ripped away from her. It will be incredibly tragic the first time she sees her sister again only to realize that the woman she wanted to save has instead become her enemy. APPEARANCE:
Uncovered and from a distance Maeve appears to be a woman of medium height with pale skin indicative of Kellid heritage and black hair. As you move closer you're able to see that she holds herself with a gracefulness at odds with her horrific scars that cover her face, arms and hands. She stares at you from behind a mop of black hair with piercing grey eyes. They look like storm clouds on the horizon.
::Maeve stood in front of the recruiters tent. The man was skinny and he seemed tired. The ground below her feet was muddy and the area smelled of horses. The fierce but slight woman glanced down at the man and then coughed. Yes, can I help you? The man asked in a reedy voice while holding a quill not looking up. Maeve scowled, she was here to help and this man seemed like he couldn't care. She wondered how many people might have been turned away just because of the laxity of the scribe. She hoped that this man wasn't an indication of the quality of recruits found within the crusade. It was disheartening. Yes, I was told this was here I needed to apply at? The man nodded and glances up before his mouth opened in shock. See something interesting? Maeve asked, the heat from her voice carrying with it a tinge of anger. Shaking his head slightly the man reddened and turned his gaze away. That was a common enough reaction Maeve supposed. Scars were an uncomfortable thing to see. It reminded a person of mortality. It also reminded Maeve of the price she had paid to escape. I want to sign up, The witch said at last. I know the ground and I'm a native of the area. I escaped from the slave pens in Undarin. I know about the fortifications and layout and how we can save the people trapped inside. I'm decent with a crossbow and have some magic. I'm not afraid of roughing it and I can take a hit. And... The woman paused considering her next words carefully. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to save those people.:: Traits:
Drawback:
Terendelev’s Scale:
Paralysis: Three times per day as a standard action, a scale can be used to cast Hold person. This ony functions when targeting evil humanoids and provides a +2 to the DC vs tieflings. |
