Sorcha Lyrin-Medvyed's page

A naturalist druid that worships Abadar seems contradictory, but to Sorcha it makes perfect sense. Nature and civilization are both struggling for survival, and both inspire community, cooperation, and safety, you just have to know the context. Sorcha is determined to see her dream of "a city that doesn't harm nature" through to completion. The natural world is her home and she will kill to defend it, but the idealism of urban life has planted a seed she can't, and won't, shake.

Sorcha has brown hair, brown eyes, skin as white as birch, and a comely shape and face. She speaks well, and even without any formal education, always seems to know the stakes of the proverbial game. Her teeth are sharpened, which can be off putting. She wears a bandanna over her mouth to cover them, which (she has been told) lends her some mystique. She has two styles of clothing when possible. When she visits the city she wears whatever is both fashionable and affordable. Anywhere else she prefers the browns and grays of her druidic circle.

Sorcha's home village is small, no more than 300 people. They live in the forests controlled by House Medvyed. Many of them are lumberjacks or hunters, and the community has a well ingrained regard for the forests and dramatic climate of Brevoy. Medvyed sponsors a druidic circle in the Gronzi forest that guides the village in how to go about their jobs without harming the local forest. Occasionally members of House Medvyed would visit the village, partly to continue ensuring their loyalty, and partly for religious ceremonies to gain nature's blessings for their family.

About nine months after one such visit on Neth 23, 4629AR, Sorcha Lyrin was born. Her father returned to his Noble House, so Sorcha was raised by her mother for a time. Sadly, Sorcha's mother was ill equipped for mothering, and Sorcha was largely led to fend for herself. She did so rather well. Her senses were keen, and her determination was vicious. Sorcha often went for walks in the woods despite the village's voiced concerns and admonishments. She picked berries and sat by the East Sellen River to watch the water flow and the fish jump upstream. She did this for the solitude, as she always felt something was different between her and the village. They were very kind to her, but she still felt wants and needs too... primal for her to be comfortable around people. She didn't have anyone to explain it to her, so she struggled on, alone, but cared for.

On the autumn of her fifteenth year she crept up to the bank of the river after hearing something unfamiliar. She peeked through a bush and saw a family of bears in a shallow part fishing. Sorcha saw that the animals worked together, herding the fish to a few individuals who were the primary catchers. Cooperation, community, mutual gain. Sorcha had an epiphinac surge of appreciation for the townsfolk who helped her and her mother when they could. Sometimes they would even invite Sorcha to dinner with them.

The winter that year was harsh and ominous. The druids did what they could to shelter the village, but winter is capricious, and strikes in many ways. Sorcha was bringing back some firewood to her home when she saw it wouldn't be necessary. Her whole house was aflame, and nobody had seen her mother outside of the home. Her mom had never been terribly good to her and everyone knew that, but they were still surprised when Sorcha didn't shed a tear. The druids eventually put the flames out, and thankfully it hadn't spread. Sorcha picked through the remains but could not find anything. Including her mother's body.

She left me. She burned the house and left me. The fool. She won't last a day in this cold.

She walked to the druid next to her and said "Teach me."

[spoiler=Education]The druids were remarkably helpful to Sorcha. They gave her the understanding she desperately needed, both about herself, and about the world around her. They taught her to accept her untamed spirit, that it was a pure manifestation of the will of the wild. She was taught to commune with nature, to understand its subtlety and the interconnectedness of all things. When the time came to choose between following the spirit or the beast there was little hesitation.

"I have been without a pack of my own, subsisting off of the generosity of others my whole life. It is time I led the hunt."

When she communed with the woodlands the next dawn a proud wolf emerged from the trees and lay at her feet, exposing its belly as a sign of fealty. Sorcha lept upon the wolf, radiating joy and smiling for the first time in years. She and the wolf wrestled for a while to affirm their friendship, and now they're virtually inseparable. She named it Howl, not just because it is a wolf, but because they enjoy howling together.

The druid leaders decided to give Sorcha a demonstration of the purity of the natural world through contrast, and so they brought her to New Stetven, bustling trade Capital of Brevoy one summer. They showed her the factories, the slums, and the dead wood of the buildings and the resident's souls. What Sorcha saw was people, hundreds and hundreds of people working together. It took a score of men to run the factory, hundreds of families struggled and cooperated to survive in the slums, and though the residents had lost touch with the bounty of nature, they still found happiness, and it was thanks to towns like hers supplying the lumber that made it possible.

On their way back to their camp outside the city walls, Sorcha chanced to hear a priest of Abadar giving a sermon in a public area of the city. She told her companions to return to the camp and that she'd meet them later. She listened to the man preach for two hours. He spoke of the wonders of the cities and the protection they offered from the chaos of the outside world. He spoke of industry, and capital, and the ability for every man woman and child to play their part. Although some of what he said disagreed with Sorcha's wild spirit, she did feel a resonance with the feeling of cooperation and work ethic the man exuded. Though she knows little of Abadar, she believes he has the right idea, and with a little tempering by one of nature's servants, perhaps the two ideas were not so polarized as she'd been led to believe.

She began thinking then, of how to build a city without harming nature. There are tales of elves who build their homes in the trees, maybe it could be something like that. If the bounty of the earth kept up with the city healthily, than maybe the ravages inflicted by industry could be eliminated, or at least reduced.

That would not be her last visit to New Stetven, though her druidic duties kept her busy, every year or so she'd find a way to go there. On one of these visits she saw a fat, ugly half-elf child kicking a puppy. He was saying awful things, and despite the puppy giving all it had to surrendering, the child continued to kick it. Sorcha walked over and stopped the boy's leg with the side of her staff.

"Listen here whelp. You'd best learn to respect your betters, it wouldn't do well for you to grow up into the same person you are now. Take a bath and go home."

The boy was confused and angry until conjured water fell on him from above, drenching him and his clothes. He ran away then, crying for his mother and that he'd met a Chellish diabolist or some such nonsense. Sorcha picked up the puppy. The poor thing was whimpering and shivering. Sorcha cooed to it softly and carried it gingerly to the local church of Abadar. She paid the coin to have the puppy healed and brought it back with her.

When she returned to her camp outside the city walls, she introduced the healed, but still weak puppy to Howl. Howl sniffed it. Howl stared at it. Howl licked it. Sorcha put the puppy down, and Howl nuzzled it. That night Howl and the puppy, now called Abby, slept together, with Abby nestled firmly in Howl's fur.

Sorcha and her two hound pack do what they can for the village. Abby lets people tie messages to her collar and she'll deliver them. Howl helps Sorcha hunt, but isn't as sociable as Abby. Sorcha just recently paid a visit to New Stetven, where she saw a notice calling for hardy settlers to found a new kingdom. Her long term dream of urban and natural harmony could finally be realized! She is staying with her village only temporarily so she can say her goodbyes and prepare for what's to come.