Torra Voliokerdam's page

Earth Blast with PBS: +10 to attack and 4d6+11 damage
Metal Blast (2 Burn): +10 to attack and 8d6+15 damage

Heal +14, Survival +18

Growing up in the small town of Sandpoint has been difficult for Torra. Like many second-generation immigrants, she knew little of her dwarven roots while at the same time finding it difficult to fit in with the predominantly human children and youths. Being the daughter of the local locksmith, notoriously flamboyant Volioker Briskalberd, was no boon. Occupied with his work and his theatrical pursuits, her father left Torra's upbringing mostly to his long-suffering wife, who applied herself with vigour towards making Torra into a proper dwarf girl. After her unremarkable graduation from the Turandarok Academy, Torra was apprenticed to trade after trade, never staying in one place more than a few months - either because she hated it or because her masters despaired of her ineptitude. She tried smithing, healing, cooking, carpentry, tailoring, glassblowing, jewelry, even had a brief stint in the town guard. Nothing seemed to stick and soon her parents despaired of ever seeing her settled down in a trade. Restless, Torra wandered about town and ventured into the surrounding hinterlands. In the evenings she would prowl around The Rusty Dragon, eavesdropping on the conversations within, sometimes catching a snatch of tale or Ameiko's lovely music. Ahhh, Ameiko, she was something else now. It was no secret she had quarrelled with her father and he had disowned her, and then there was that whole ugly business four years ago with her half-brother. Torra loved her father, and the thought of disobeying him or her mother was not to be contemplated, but at the same time... what did she want to do? What did she want to be?

The drive to find her calling led the dwarf girl into the dusty, leather-scented libraries of Sandpoint. She visited old Brodert Quink, bookish Chask Haladan, her former teacher at the academy, even Veznutt the gnome, methodically reading every travel journal and book about places that weren't Sandpoint. She studied obsessively, eventually working up the courage to ask Ameiko herself about her travels. Surprised by the girl's knowing questions, Ameiko answered what she could, and when she ran out of answers she switched to tales of her adventures. Those were fascinating for Torra, and stoked her desire to see other places for herself and make her way in the world, but still didn't bring an answer to what her path should be. There was one place she hadn't searched, the exclusive library in The House of Blue Stones. There was something about that place and about the woman who tended it, a mystique that daunted her. It felt like a holy place, holier than the Sandpoint cathedral, a place whose peace was best left undisturbed. She may never have worked up the courage to enter, but fortunately for her Sabyl Sorn noticed her lurking and her dithering, and one hot afternoon invited Torra inside for a cup of cool tea.

That evening, Torra returned home in an unusually enthusiastic mood, proclaiming that her parents have to apprentice her to Sabyl Sorn. Such an unusual trade had even her progressive father balking, but Torra's pleading and the reality of the lack of other options eventually made him relent, although his wife was still adamantly opposed to the idea. Although initially only a means of gaining access to the precious scrolls in the House of Blue Stones, apprenticing with Sabyl Sorn eventually proved the key to unlocking Torra's innate abilities. The discipline demanded by the training felt welcome after years of aimlessness and indecision, and the teachings of Irori seemed to fit her like a glove. Most importantly, Sabyl talked about ki - feeling it, directing it, harnessing it. Torra failed to do any of those things, and to her immense disappointment it became clear to her that she would never master the arts that Sabyl was so versed in, but through the countless hours of practice, meditation and exercises she felt something respond to her desperate entreaties. The first time she knocked over a training dummy without touching it she was ecstatic, thinking she had discovered some ancient martial technique, but Sabyl corrected her soon enough - Torra hadn't even mastered the basics, nevermind advanced mystical techniques. Still, with practice and repetition she was able to replicate the feat a second time, and from there it just became easier and easier to do at will, and it became clear that this was a technique that no one in Sandpoint had ever encountered. This only stoked Torra's wanderlust more - she needed to go out there, find other people who could do the things she did and learn from them!

For a while she shadowed Shalelu, ranging with the elf around Sandpoint and learning wilderness lore from her, but that was the problem - the hinterlands had too much wilderness and not enough people! How was she going to learn about her powers with no-one for company beside the taciturn ranger? No, she needed to travel to other cities, or perhaps ancient ruins that might contain a clue about her strange manifestations.

Torra has few interests, but those topics that do catch her attention she pursues with a determination bordering on obsession. Normally a reserved and self-doubting girl, she lights up when she talks about her favourite things. Between the strict upbringing by her mother and the awe for her father, Torra would do many unpleasant things rather than disobey her parents or willingly displease them; however, her hunger to discover herself and her abiding obsession with far places may soon come into conflict with her daughterly duties. Socially, she is straightforward to the point of being blunt, a trait which hasn't earned her many friends, but she simply does not have the patience or the inclination to do anything than speak her mind. Fortunately, she weighs her thoughts and words carefully before speaking, to try and make certain that she does the utmost justice to her interlocutors. While this may make her seem slow at times, she is simply being very thorough and examining all avenues of possibility, potentiality and probability. Unfortunately for her, many find her stream of brusque questions resulting from such an examination quite annoying.

Although new to the faith of Irori, she has taken to it fervently, reading and re-reading the Unbinding of Fetters constantly, practicing the exercises within daily, and hungrily seeking new sources of knowledge. If not for her natural bashfulness and the awareness that she lacks in social graces, she would have started proselytizing in the name of her new faith.

Another thing of note about Torra is that she feels very... un-dwarfish. Aside from her affinity with earth and stone, she feels like almost everything else about being a dwarf feels wrong for her. Part of her friendship with Shalelu is the physical affinity she feels with the elf - her way of moving, her grace, her build. She doesn't dare to say it, but many times she finds herself thinking that she was born in the wrong body.

Shalelu: mentor, they likely bond on being awkward around other people.
Ameiko: admired from afar, a mix of being pulled in by her independent nature and pushed away by fear of behaving awkwardly or inappropriately.
Seishin of the Wheel: likely fascinated by his exotic appearance, known by sight at least from being around Shalelu. Might have/develop a light crush if player consents to such.
Hana Tenko: no relationship to start with.
Hirabashi Yuto: they likely know each other from working at the Glassworks, potentially bonding a little over a shared love of reading.
Teruko Kaijitsu: they likely know each other from Torra's brief stint at the Glassworks. Perhaps they quietly reflected each other's filial piety and shared companionable silence.

Mechanically, going full kineticist, taking air as a secondary element at some point for increased utility. Would like to aim for the Evangelist prestige class, playing off her religious dedication.

Background-wise, I'd like her to gradually lean more into her obsession with elves (or other graceful ancestries), and that is part of the motivation she begins to study air as an element. One of her end goals would be to completely change her body to something that more closely resembles her vision of herself.

- Who are you and how are you doing? - I'm a non-binary game developer living in the Netherlands. Doing okay given the global circumstances, TTRPGs give me life. :)

- How often do you tend to post? - I try to post at least once a day, including in the weekends. Sometimes work is extremely busy and I don't get a chance to post until late in the day, however.

- What kind of tone are you looking for in this game? - I'm fine with either serious or lighthearted, curious to explore this character's personality and relationships with other PCs (and NPCs), and the themes of legacy, destiny and epic journeys.

- What do you expect out of your fellow players? - To be mindful of other players and the GM, to stay true to their characters' goals and motivations, to help the game flow well even if our characters might be at odds sometimes.

- What do you expect out of me (the GM)? - To let us know if you're struggling with anything, game-related, player-related, or time-related. The game is for you to enjoy as well, not just for us.

- What is your comfort zone? Where's the line for you in RP terms? - My comfort zone is pretty broad, given we communicate in advance. I can (and have) RPed conflict, lust, grief, loss. I have a soft limit with graphic violence and torture (but it can be fine if it's handled mindfully and used for a specific purpose rather than shock value or hammering home how villainous a villain is), children being harmed (explicitly or implicitly). I have a hard limit with sexual violence in any form. I frown upon rape jokes, IC or OOC.

- How do you see your character progressing as a character? - See spoiler above.