Tsia Troian Malynova's page

1st-
0 -

Combat Gear (MW) Silken ceremonial armour, armoured kilt, composite longbow (+1 Str) and 20 arrows, rapier, dagger, cold iron travelling kettle; Alchemical tricks ; Other Gear Backpack, scholar’s outfit, belt pouch, spellbook, spell component pouch, cheat sheath, bedroll, mess kit, iron pot, 5 days' trail rations, flint and steel, whetstone, soap, scroll case, potion vial, 1 oz. ink and pen, 3 pieces of chalk, 5 sheets parchment, waterskin, 10 torches, rope (50 ft.), (MW) thieves' tools, (MW) artisan’s (embroiderer’s/dressmaker's) tools, 10 sewing needles, 2 gp, 9 sp, 5 cp (round off to 20 gp pocket change)
Treasure Her implements (shoulder, eyes, feet, hands slots): finest muslin veil, with leafy border, boots with additional decoration inside reversible lace-up flap, embellishments to her usual dress and armour, black gloves absolutely covered with multicolour stylized florals (less realist than her veil), courtier's outfit (blue silk with silver embroidery), signet ring, tourmaline ring (20 gp), silver and labradorite necklace (30 gp), small snowy owl plush

Resonant Power: Casting Focus (Su): Can add implement as an additional focus component to any conjuration spell with duration in rounds/level. For purposes of duration (add after any other effects), adds 1 to CL for every 2 points of mental focus stored in the implement (to a max equal to occultist level).
Servitor (Sp): As standard action, expend 1 point of mental focus to summon a servitor, as summon monster I, but only a single creature, for 1 minute. At 4th level and every 3 levels thereafter, level increases by 1, to a maximum of summon monster VII at 19th level. Only one servitor at a time. Can expend 1 point of mental focus as a free action to extend the duration of an active servitor by 1 minute.

Resonant Power: Third Eye (Su): Implement grants a +1 insight bonus on Perception checks per 2 points of mental focus stored in it, to max. of occultist’s level. At 3rd + level, and 3+ focus in it, also lowlight vision; at 5th+ level and 6+ focus, also darkvision 60’; at 7th+ level and 9+ focus also see invisibility, at 13th+ level and 12+ focus, also blindsense 60’, . at 19th+ level and 15+ focus, also blindsight 30’.
Sudden Insight (Sp): Can expend 1 point of mental focus as a free action before any ability check, attack roll, or skill check to gain an insight bonus equal to 1/2 occultist level (min. +1). Only once per turn, and if it’s not used by the end of turn, lose benefit.

Resonant Power: Intense Focus (Su): Can add the implement as an additional focus component for damaging instantaneous evocation spells or focus powers. Spell or focus power deals 1 additional point of damage of the same type to each creature for every 2 points of mental focus invested in the implement, to a maximum of 1 + 1 for every 2 occultist levels.
Energy Ray (Sp): As standard action (provokes AoO), expend 1 point of mental focus for an energy ray as a ranged touch attack. Range of 30’, deals damage of 1d6 + 1d6 points / 2 occultist levels you possess beyond 1st. Choose from: acid, cold, electricity, or fire.
Shape Mastery (Su): As part of casting an evocation spell with an area of effect, expend mental focus points up to Int mod to exclude equal number of squares from the area.

Resonant Power: Physical Enhancement (Su): Select a physical ability score. Implement grants a +2 temp enhancement bonus for every 3 points of mental focus invested in the implement (to a max of +2 at 1st level, plus an additional 2 / 6 occultist levels).
Legacy Weapon (Su): As a standard action, expend 1 point of mental focus, touch a weapon to grant it an enhancement bonus equal to 1 + 1 / 6 occultist levels (to a max of +4 at 18th level). Stacks with those of the weapon, to a max of +5. Can also imbue any one weapon special ability with an equivalent enhancement bonus up to max bonus by reducing proportionate amount. (Item must have an enhancement bonus of at least +1.) These bonuses last for 1 minute.

5 key concept elements:
Embroiderer and dressmaker: Tsia is never without at least one project somewhere about her person, and almost always has one in hand when one sees her, so her dedication shows in her work: seeing what she’s able to do with her needle rather clarifies why some bards talk about spell-binding, or weaving a dweomer, or other textile metaphors for magic. She is happy to talk about both for hours, and if she ever meets a mage with as much enthusiasm for the craft, hapless non-initiates might need to turn to one another for conversation. Fortunately, she does have other interests, and she tries not to bore anyone with her personal obsessions.
Disarmingly demure: In fact, Tsia is remarkably unobtrusive for a very tall elf with a taste for finery and a gentlewoman’s confidence (her family is of knightly rank) in her own worth. Maybe it’s her preference for dark colours and ability to work quietly for long stretches of time, but then again, the next day she might opt for an ensemble worked in an eye-catching array of brilliant silks, or keep another part of her mind occupied while at her stitching by singing, so the truth is probably closer to a carefully cultivated talent for not intruding on anyone’s attention.
Fashionista: If one does notice the elven lady, for whatever reason, not only will she be impeccably dressed, but she will never be, for example, simply sitting correctly. Tsia doesn’t so much strike an attitude so much as drapes herself elegantly wherever she settles, as if to quietly announce how one might best live in a given space.
Dangerously sharp: Occasionally the mask slips, and Tsia will comment on a discussion in her vicinity that reveals the depth of her reflection on the subject, if it’s one that interests her, and more than one careless historian or pompous wizard has been nonplussed by a mild, timely observation from the young woman happily stitching away in the corner. She doesn’t see it herself, since she’s a dilettante by her people’s standards when it comes to magic. So far is she from stressing her talents in that vein, that, unless one asks her about it directly, or catches her casting a spell or tapping into the powers of the mysterious artifacts that somehow keep finding their way to her, it is possible to dismiss them as the sort of rumour that tends to follow elves generally.
Hidden depths: It doesn’t help that Tsia isn’t the sort of elf that one often sees around the Inner Sea, but an ilverani, from the elven lands within Iobaria, no less, at the far south of the snowcaster elves’ range. How she came to investigate the Stolen Lands is a long story only partially explained by her interest not only in the history of non-elven cultures in the troubled neighbourhood of her homeland as far back as the Age of Darkness and beyond, but across Avistan too. There’s also a less edifying tale of a series of misunderstandings about the value of an embroiderer’s work, or how Tsia comes from a place where haggling, or just outright naming a price for her labour rather than acknowledging an obligation of patronal support, would be terribly gauche. It hasn’t always been easy to maintain the standards she does, and she manages by intelligence, creativity, and a potentially alarming capacity to consider the limits of respectable magic.

Important people:
Belenis Charanna: Strictly speaking, Lady Belenis is Tsia’s liege, on the next level up in court society among the elves of the Fangard forest, but they are quite close in age and magical interests, so they became closer to friends than a lady and her servant or underling in her circle. Unfailingly kind and very clever, Belenis has very much shaped what Tsia thinks an elven lady should be.
Lexa Crovefa: Tsia has a few exes, but Lexa is the one with whom things ended the most badly, with the latter’s exile. They were never a particularly good match, but when things were beginning to unravel, Tsia badly let her down, and in the mess that followed, Tsia wasn’t able to recognize that Lexa was falling into the clutches of the lunatics haunting the ruins of Hvorsuli. Since she wasn’t exactly blameless, Tsia doesn’t like to think about how it all ended, but it does cross her mind occasionally. It has certainly shaped her attitude to cults, and the dangers of mind-affecting magic.

Goals:
(IC): Learn as much as she can about the elven presence in Telvurin before Earthfall, for safekeeping what precious remains there may be, the sake of her art, and her own curiosity. In particular, some of the areas within the River Kingdoms that have seen less interference by frenetic, mayfly species seem promising, like Thousand Voices, or the Forest of Breath. If no one else will, she might as well take charge of it for elvenkind once more, to prevent such spoliation as so many other regions have seen, including in her native Iobaria, especially with Brevoy getting restive again, only two hundred years or so after that unpleasantness with the warlord with the dragons. Conqueror, indeed!
(IC): Continue to develop her skill with magic, as well as the mundane arts. She’ll never be a wizard, but what can she learn?
(OOC): Get her as much magic that can more easily be imagined as fitting the theme of needlework while pushing the limits of the occultist as possible, even while figuring out how they work. (It’s my first time playing one.)
(OOC): On a related note, get her hands on the fanciest (naturally) ring of spell knowledge as soon as possible, and possibly a custom staff for some higher-level spells thereafter. First, as many spellbooks as come her way would be welcome. Ditto, some more elf-y gear, once she can acquire proficiency.
Secrets:
1) To an extent that even she isn’t fully aware of, Tsia hasn’t quite gotten over the fact that she’s not a full mage, partly by inclination and partly by unintended social pressure: she’s just a hanger-on to folks like the true nobility, so why would she think she has it in her to do real magic? This is not a helpful attitude, and it might lead her to some messy experiments.
2) Something she definitely isn’t aware of is that her liege Belenis is carrying a torch for her, having seen her at her worst as well as her best and not been put off. That said, Belenis hasn’t quite worked out how to approach courting her vassal while making sure that there isn’t even the faintest fear of the abuse of power. As matters turned out, opportunities came up to effectively release Tsia from her duties for the foreseeable as she gallivants beyond the Icerime Peaks and Hills of Nomen, but eventually, once things settle down and they resume more regular correspondence… (Cue some angst, not least because ilverani seem really not keen on relationships with outsiders, and Tsia is very far from home, possibly for years.)
3) Likewise, but also conversely, someone has really taken a disliking to Tsia. Her accented Taldane and foreign garb mislead some into thinking she’s an easy mark. Who is this outlandish foreigner, with her fine airs and strange habits, and her fancy and frivolous stitchery? they might ask. Maybe this enemy is the reprobate that robbed her cubby at the bathhouse in Restov, whom she repaid with a vicious satire when no leads panned out, or someone else who has been on the receiving end of her withering irony. (We don’t talk about what happened in Pitax.) Perhaps, even more unsettlingly, it’s something else that took notice of her gathering herbs for dyes in the woods, with who knows what wicked intent on the young spell-weaver.
4) Tsia hasn’t yet had many opportunities to explore much of the Stolen Lands in depth, but one of the places that she’s passed by that are active enough – both magically and otherwise – for her to notice is Lake Silverstep, which she visited on her way to Restov. Strong leys run by the lake, and they attract many curious characters, each with their own agendas, with some of whom Tsia has exchanged polite greetings and mutual silent assessments. She gathers there are rumours of a lost dragon hoard in the area, including a marvellous sword which several parties are most anxious to find. It doesn’t sound very much like her sort of thing, so she doesn’t mind sharing most of the gossipy leads she’s heard, but she’s fairly sure that at least two of the adventurers she met in the area – a rather cool huntress, and a friendlier, but alarmingly sly harpist – are fey, a fact she keeps to herself out of respect for their reticence on the matter, and because she hasn’t quite been able to decide what sort of faeries they might be. Neither of them knows that she’s met both, which is probably for the best, since they are agents of greater fey at cross-purposes, and would probably want her to choose a side in a quarrel in which she has no stake.
Quirks:
Morbid: Maybe it’s growing up somewhere regularly harrowed by devastating plagues and full of the remains of old kingdoms, but Tsia has a decided morbid streak to her, even if she hides it fairly well. Mostly it comes out in the prominence of ruins in her pictorial work, but it might come out in darker ways if she’s put under a lot of pressure. (Necromancy, for example.)
Maximalist: Tsia’s taste is impeccable, but it is also elaborate. Part of her understanding of her efforts to be a good person is contributing to keeping everyone healthy and decent, as far as garments go, but she is constitutionally incapable of just sewing something practical and leaving it at that. Unless stopped by the ruthless demands of time, she’ll put in at least a bit of decoration gratis, even if her client can’t afford to commission her most intricate work.
Multiple warrants: Since not everyone respects her work, Tsia has had a few adventures that ultimately led her to signing up for this new survey of the Stolen Lands. This has been compounded by southerners’ unfamiliarity with the ilverani belief that it is ill-omened and thus rude not to offer one’s own name before asking another’s, such that she has acquired a collection of soubriquets, all of which she will answer to. That’s most often “Silver,” an erroneous abbreviation presumably from the idea that it’s a nickname derived from her hair, while with friendlier, even more informal acquaintances, “Needleberry” is common, whereas “Bittertree” … well, has emerged in the contexts one might expect. (And for all that, Troian is Tsia’s family name. Ilverani customs, not least in Iobaria, are different from those of the aiudeen.)

Tsia is remarkably tall, even for an elf, and lean: her general aspect is rather like that of a northern dryad glimpsed across a darkling glade, though without vegetal features. Instead, she is pale as alabaster, with the radiant white hair common to her people, and eyes as midnight blue as the depths beneath the transparent ice of a lake frozen in the dead of the northern winter. She dresses her hair simply, usually loose, though sometimes with the addition of a few long braids for variety. She is pretty, but self-effacing enough that most people only briefly notice her face before their attention moves on.
As one might expect from an embroiderer and seamstress, Tsia dresses beautifully and thoughtfully as an absolute rule, in clothes of her own design and construction that show her every inch a knight’s daughter, richly embroidered in the traditional motifs of her people, but with twists that innovate while keeping true to the roots that denote true artistry. In particular, her designs work not only between realism and abstraction, but also between the fanciful and practical in simply breathtaking ways. Accordingly, dripping in jewels and precious metals is unnecessary, though she’ll take any silk and precious wire that comes her way gratefully, and would hardly object if some rich gems did so as well. She prefers dark colours, and some of her favourite pieces go beyond the ilverani’s favoured blues to midnight black brightened somewhat unexpectedly by fiery embroidery in reds and – tastefully – a hint of gold here and there. She would be all too happy to discuss individual design elements in lavish detail with anyone interested, and to swap ideas.
She has absolutely not been trained to get stuck into the press of battle, but her ingenuity has managed to put together some very light armour, drawing metal wire and scattering tiny studs in protective density over a set of silk robes. The results are more decorative than they are strictly protective.