 About Petru MarkhuPETRU MARKHU CR 1/2
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Backstory and Questions Petru was born in the city of Ravenmoor in central Varisia. He was born exactly one year to the day after his only sibling: his elder brother Lucian. While Lucian was a strong and hearty lad, Petru was rather sickly and barely survived his birth. The midwife at the time had, in fact, thought that Petru didn’t survive; having thought the baby to be stillborn (it was a startlingly long time before Petru drew in his first ragged breath). Despite being sickly and prone to illness, the two brothers got along very well and were the best of friends. Things changed when Petru turned 5, making Lucian 6. At this time, Petru’s health began to improve at an astonishing rate. Conversely, Lucian contracted a horrible skin affliction that resisted all cures, was very painful and often gave him nightmares. By the time another year had passed, Petru was the picture of health while Lucian was now a disfigured invalid. Despite there being no obvious connection between the two events, the coincidental suddenness of it caused more than a few whispers around town. It was also at this time that the large birthmark on the back of Petru’s left hand (which had always looked like little more than a colored blob) had now taken on the rather ominous shape of a partially skeletal raven. The fact that the mark had an unhealthy habit of lightly glowing a sickly green at the worst times drove Petru to wear gloves at almost all times, even while sleeping. Over the years, things did not improve. By the time he was 15, his sorcerous abilities started to manifest in slight ways; typically in full view of others in the worst possible situations. People began to avoid Petru altogether. It didn’t help that Lucian rarely woke up anymore and that much of his sleep was spent crying out strange and horrible things; some in languages no one had ever heard before but chilled the blood nonetheless. It was about a year later that it all came crashing down. Lucian’s condition had not improved, and with all his screaming it was impossible to keep this secret from the neighbors and, by extension, everyone else (his parents had already arranged to have Lucian moved, at a rather large expense, to a college where various arcane and divine types would try to unravel the mystery of the boys condition). Pertu was behind the house fetching a tool next to the barnyard when he accidently knocked a scythe off its hook. The tool fell; slashed Petru’s shoulder and plunged into a pig killing it. Petru fell down on the pig in pain. Some of the pig’s blood got on Petru’s lips and, suddenly, the pain lessened just a little bit. Startled and confused, he did nothing for a moment and then, without really thinking about it, he licked some of the pig’s blood off his hand; the pain lessened again. Horrified by this, Petru wasn’t sure what to do. However, that decision was taken away from him as this entire incident had not gone unobserved. Also, Lucian had one of his worst bouts of screaming ever at the time this took place. The accusations were swift, condemning and, in many cases, rather ridiculous. But as Petru had no idea what was going on, he was unable to defend himself. Even his parents were starting to give him unwelcome looks. Genuinely afraid for his life, he grabbed some money and ran. He would never see nor hear from his family again. Fleeing mostly on instinct, he traveled southeast long enough to wind up in Nirmathas. There he took shelter in a Temple to Shelyn. There were many wounded refugees at the time. As he walked among them, he passed a priestess who had been administering to an old man but pronounded that there was no hope; he would soon die. One of the man’s arms had swung down and was dangling off the table. Petru grabbed the arm to put it back on the man’s chest but as soon as he touched the old fellow, he birthmark blazed so that it was visible even through his glove. But it wasn’t a skeletal raven; this time, the birthmark appeared as a beautiful bird (Petru would eventually be told that this bird was the symbol of Shelyn). The moment passed, the old man was no longer dying, the birthmark had reverted back to its usual ugly form and a dumbfounded priestess and Petru could only stare at each other in shock. After some trial and error with the help of the temple, it was found that Petru could prevent dying people from dying just by touching them (though this didn’t heal them). And every time he did so, his birthmark would shine, even through his glove, not as an ugly skeletal raven, but the beautiful bird symbol of Shelyn. Petru felt a strange kinship with this goddess who had also had a brother succumb to madness. Unfortunately, the temple was unable to help him any further nor provide any insight into what had happened. Eventually, he found himself in Rahadoum where he purchased a small apartment style dwelling in the City of Manaket. It was at the Occularium that Petru was fortunate enough to listen to a lecture by a scholar called Petros Lorrimor. The lecture was fascinating and Petru grabbed the chance to talk to the Professor after the lecture. Though he hadn’t originally meant to, he found himself telling the story of his life. Petros was enthralled by the tale but couldn’t provide any immediate answers. But the story was fascinating and, though the Professor had to leave that evening, he promised to return and see if they could solve this interesting mystery. As Petru was going to visit a nearby village, he chanced upon the crashed carriage of Professor Lorrimor. The driver was already dead but Petru was able to save Petros’ life thanks to his unique gift and rushed him to receive medical treatment. When he had recovered, Lorrimor was profuse in his thanks; promising to help Petru in whatever way he could. Over the next few years, the two exchanged many letters and the good Professor even managed to drop by once or twice. Lorrimor had wanted to take a look at Lucian but Petru didn’t know where he had been sent and his parents, if they got his letters, never replied to them. The two had become good friends and spent much time on things other than Petru’s bizarre condition. The last letter he received from Petros indicated that he had some amazing new information and would be visiting as soon as possible. The next bit of news he received was the worst possible: Professor Petros Lorrimor was dead. *Petru is less afraid of his abilities now that he’s learned to control them but being able to heal himself by drinking the blood of the recently deceased still horrifies him. His birthmark still glows a sickly green but now only when he casts spells. He still wears gloves at all times and the Symbol of Shelyn still shines through them whenever he uses the Sacred Touch ability. *Petru is shocked and angry about the Professor’s death. Their friendship and his faith in shelyn (even though he isn’t very religious) have been the two brightest spots in his life. *It’s unlikely that Petru would have ever gone to Ustalov under any other conditions. He’ll feel strangely at home there however which will not only mystify him, but will be somewhat alarming as well. *I imagine the citizens of Ustalov don’t look kindly on any arcane user; least of all a sorcerer. What they’d do if they found out what his bloodline was is probably…well, it’s best they don’t find out. *Petru will actually feel glad to combat whatever menace lies in store as it will help him feel like he’s fighting the darkness inside him (though to be honest, Petru has no dark feelings or nightmares, it’s simply that certain aspects of his powers horrify him and he doesn’t know why he has them but nevertheless, combating undead will satisfy his mind greatly). *He’ll stay sorcerer. From a story perspective, I’m not sure it’s even possible for Petru to multiclass. *He lacks good defensive spells and he knows it. He’ll rely on his natural ruggedness to help him stay alive until he learns more spells. He’ll also use Bluff and Intimidate, his two best skills, to good effect as well. *All but one of his stat increases will go to Charisma. The other will go to Intelligence but I’m not sure when I’ll do the Int boost; either first or second. *Petru is 25 but looks older. |
