This is my current Character, a Paladin of a Godess named Numara.
It is a long read.
Mara Caervon
Personality;
As a child Mara was a spirited lass with a curiosity for exploration. She also enjoyed storytelling and music. More interested in playing with the boys her own age, or holder, especially her elder brothers, she was often seen on the training grounds were they practiced sword fighting, archery and riding.
As she grew older her passion for exploration and storytelling grew. Making up grand plans to travel around the world with her own theatre, telling stories and fascinate entire crowds with heroic deeds of heroic characters in the long forgotten past.
All these plans became a distant dream after a life altering accident which would forever change her and her course in life.
She still finds comedy, theatre and stories immensely entertaining though.
Background;
Many, if not most would scoff at you if you ever said that Growing up as nobility was hard.
But actually, it was.
Endless hours of learning to read and write, the study of numbers, and all the tests that followed was not a practice Mara really mastered, nor enjoyed. There were off course exceptions. History, Heraldry and religion were subjects she loved.
But what annoyed her the most was how her parents involved her in their politics.
The seemingly endless hours of practicing how to eat and greet proper, lessons in etiquette, and plans of marriage. The last one infuriated her.
She didn’t want to marry some stupid boy of their choosing.
Every time the subject of marriage was brought up, Mara would rebel.
Though harmless in her rebellion she nonetheless became the thorn in her family’s facade.
She wanted to be outside, see the city, meet new friends and explore rather than bowing to her family’s demands. And this is how she met her first true friend who would later change her life and straighten her path towards true goodness.
Tobias was his name.
An orphaned boy at her own age of 12, a child growing up at an orphanage, living without any of the privileges Mara enjoyed.
One of the good things he had was his caretaker named Bianca.
She was a kind and benevolent woman who did what she could to take care of the children.
Mara used to sneak out with food and sweets, stolen from her kitchen and bring this to Tobias in the afternoon after she was done with her study and chores.
Over time their friendship grew, but would soon take a turn none of them expected.
One evening Tobias had managed to sneak away with some flint and tinder. An exciting thing to play with, but a toy that came with dire consequences.
By accident they lit the orphanage on fire. Chaos ensued and in minutes the orphanage was consumed in an inferno. Luckily all of the children survived but Bianca, the caretaker got badly burned and died hours later from the wounds she suffered while saving the children.
While the other kids, including Tobias was taken away by the city guard, Mara remained.
Bianca, seeing Mara there at her side, clearly consumed by regret, grief and sorrow lifted her hand and touched Mara’s cheek while saying;
“Do not let this burden you. There is nothing to forgive! Remember this, when things get rough and you are weighted by sadness and despair, clutch this, my pendant of Numara, hold it tight to your chest and she will comfort you as she took care of me and the other children. And remember, that even though this tragedy happened, you were a beacon of hope and light in Tobias’s heart, and you gave both me and him hope. You showed us that there are individuals among the nobility that do not care about family names or riches. You saw the truth. No matter name or rank, every individual has value. I may not be your mother, but it would bring me great pride if you were my daughter.
They shared some more words before Bianca finally passed away.
Mara was never able to completely forgive herself, vowing instead that for as long as she draws breath, she will be the beacon of hope for all children growing up without parents or is unfortunate in other ways.
Realizing that given a slight chance every child has tremendous potential for good and prosperity. They, like everyone else just need support and care to flourish.
She never saw Tobias again, and this continued to be an empty part of her heart which she never was able to truly fill.
She continued to venture into the city, giving away toys, food and clothes she no longer needed to the unfortunate children in orphanages.
As the years passed she became more and more at odds with her family. Their constant disdain for her preference for the poor rather than the rich and pompous provoked them endlessly.
Mara, having made up her mind years ago did not relent from her chosen path.
At the age of 18 she joined the city guard. Signing a binding contract for three years of service, feeling that she would be more in tune the common folk, and able to really help rather than eating luxurious dinners and listening to hopeless politics and bickering.
It was during the first year of service that her divine gifts started to manifest.
One late evening standing watch, she and couple of other guards stopped a merchant caravan for routine inspection before they would be allowed to leave the city.
Mara, feeling that something was off with the merchant continued to prod and question. Something made the hair on her neck rise. Something didn’t seem right. After a while of questioning he finally stumbled in his lies and was caught smuggling children and stolen goods out the city.
She had some more success sniffing out untrustworthy people, and as this power grew, visible physical changes appeared on Mara. The color of her eyes changed from green to sparkly blue.
Her family, clearly disturbed by this change hired scholars to research her strange change in eye color, but no one knew the exact reason.
Some concluded that Numara, Mara’s goddess, a young deity still searching for her true place among the pantheons is growing, goes through phases and changes, and so I turn does Mara.
Only time will tell where this divine bond eventually will take her.
After a while, her officer, impressed with her apparent ability for sniff out evildoers promoted her to the rank of sergeant, a title really uncommon among woman. These acts of good brought renown and a measure of pride to her family. Maybe there was hope for Mara after all.
Present;
To strengthen the community and good, Mara realized early on that the first step you need to take is to welcome everyone. Make them feel at home and relaxed and over time they will by themselves see the benefit of including others into the warmth.
Now, still employed in the city guard, but no longer bound by contract Mara can in the afternoon often be found at different taverns where she and her colleagues enjoy their free time with cards, darts, song, stories and laughter. Everyone is welcome and everyone is included if they decide to tag along on the fun.
Even though she outranks most of her close colleagues she still maintains a humble demeanor and commands through friendship and loyalty rather than pure authority.
At times, she still brings freshly baked bread and sweets away from home to her work.
She loves how it brings pure joy and content to those who do not sleep in a castle, but in a barracks.
Today, most of her salary is donated to orphanages around in the city.
The income she had while under contract was spent on buying back the property were on which she met her first true friend. Now, thanks to her, a new promising orphanage has been built on top of the ashes of the old one.
If you knew who you were looking for, she would be easy to spot. A young beautiful woman in her early 20’s, around 5.7ft, outgoing, boisterous and an energetic demeanor.
She has a pair of glistening blue eyes and a big smile is often seen plastered on her face. She would be hard to miss.
The story so far In-game.
Mara is currently Lvl 2 and has just been dragged into a huge case of corruption and crime inside the City guard. She is working tirelessly in coordination with other instances of law in the city in order to find the source of mental manipulation that may be the cause of this catastrophe.
(Guards were running around the marketplace beating up merchants and stealing their stuff, and when these tradesmen lay bloodied in the mud they were carried off and put in jail for no apparent reason.)
A close friend of Mara, a younger man named Locke Amarand(played by a friend, a character sworn by oath to be loyal to mine) was also partially in on this whole clusterf#&%, but through careful mental manipulation by Caran (my fiancé) he no longer remembers who was with him. (yup, this is rough)
Through testimony from the victims I got a perfect description of Locke and had to arrest him.
For the moment she does not know that the source of all this is her own fiancé, Caran.
Caran is the only son of a family closely allied with Mara’s. This is a political marriage set in motion to strengthen both families politically.
He, apparently out of curiosity wanted to see how he could really screw me and the city guard over. He actually instigated this whole ordeal, and they are to be married in 14 months. Mara's Fiancé, Caran is played by another friend of mine. (yeh, I know, he is probably evil as FF, but I have no chance of knowing this yet since we are only lvl 2.)
As mentioned above, Locke has now been Caught and found partially guilty through clever wording of questions with a "Zone truth" spell cast on him by a Priestess of a god representing law and justice.
He is only atm partially guilty because his mind and memories have clearly been tampered with.
His case will worsen If we manage to restore his memories though, because he was in on this and stole things while the guards beat the merchants up.
Mara is currently wracked with disappointment over her friends actions. It was she that got him the job as a city guard, it was her words that got him hired, and it was she who trained him. Locke tried to excuse his actions, saying that he was afraid the guards would beat him up, but he knows that no guard would dare lay a finger on him. He is after all nobility.
