Just starting RotRL and one of my players, a half-orc sorcerer, has written an elaborate backstory. Here is some of it:
"The Sakhra is an isolated tribe of half-orc descent who have lived virtually disconnected from the outside world since the age of darkness circa -5000 AR along the border of the Mushfens and the Fenwall Mountains in southern most Varisia. The Shakhra number just under 40 according to recent reports but it is possible that many more could remain hidden, perhaps quite intentionally. They are a hunter/gatherer society who live a strict lifestyle of physical training, intense periods of meditation and unfamiliar religious ritual. For sometime it was believed the Sakhra were a somewhat existential and atheistic community but other evidence suggests they worship the ancient Thassilonian goddess Lissala under the name 'Nisi' and the original Seven Virtue Rule is a significant aspect of their social and religious structure."
I love the time he's put into the story, but I have two potential problems I'd like some advice on.
1) Is it plausible that a half-orc tribe could have developed in this way. I'm inclined to allow it because I think it's an interesting and original idea.
2) Will allowing this player to worship Lissala pose problems for our Adventure Path, given that he will have probably access to knowledge about ancient Thassilon, the runelords, etc. based on his faith.
This is also the first time I'm GMing so any advice is appreciated!
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1) Yes. The good thing about Golarion, is there is room for just about any concept, with a little bit of work for some of the more exotic PCs.
2) Lissala was a good god, with the seven virtues of rule, being her tenants of worship. Later, she was perverted, and her tenants were twisted into the seven mortal sins by the Runelords.
You will likely find the PC's worship of the original god, a good source of immersion into the adventure.
You can limit what the character is allowed to know. Worship of an ancient, mostly-forgotten deity doesn't necessitate knowledge of other entities that were her contemporaries.
I'd think this could turn out pretty cool, actually. The in-character reveal could be entertaining.
"What's a runelord?"
"They did WHAT?!?"
1) Is it plausible that a half-orc tribe could have developed in this way. I'm inclined to allow it because I think it's an interesting and original idea.
Sorta. I don't want to get all science-y in a Pathfinder discussion, but I do not believe it's really viable for a tribe of 40 to have sustained itself over that length of time. There simply aren't enough individuals to sustain genetic diversity and survive various environmental hazards.
To be honest I'm not sure what such a tiny number gets him, story-wise. Even a thousand is a tiny number of people, all things being equal. There were more students at my high school. :p
The "many more may remain hidden" part is the key to how this tribe could persist. Obviously there are many other tribes like them, and they find mates in those other tribes. His small tribe may have some customs that set them apart from the other tribes, but for breeding purposes they have to be part of a much larger population.
The "many more may remain hidden" part is the key to how this tribe could persist. Obviously there are many other tribes like them, and they find mates in those other tribes. His small tribe may have some customs that set them apart from the other tribes, but for breeding purposes they have to be part of a much larger population.
This scenario works for me.
Dot for later, got some ideas
Check your PMs!
The only thing potentially problematic is that he could know things based on his worship. Which isn't really a problem. He only knows as much as you want him to. Which could be nothing. An isolated tribe may have learned nothing about the outside world and the changes that occured in their god even. Unless the character is a cleric/inquisitor/paladin, they can't talk to their god to even be certain about anything that may have been handed down through stories and traditions. It's even possible that as Lissala was corrupted another god took over in her place by picking representing the same things should stood for (though I'm not actually familiar with this part of the Mythos).
Were there even orcs on the surface during the time of Thassilon? I thought the Quest for the Sky came later. I don't have my books at the moment, so I can't really check.
Actually thats a good point. I don't think so.
Edit: The Orcs surfaced during the age of Darkness between -5293 and -4294. I can't find when Thassilon was present on Golarion exactly, but it was pre-Earthfall. Earthfall being the event that caused the Age of Darkness as well as the destruction of Thassilon and Azlant.
So by strict campaign setting it's not possible.
Your game.
I like this idea, and if you like it too, you should use it.
Genetically speaking, if orcs and humans can interbreed then such a subspecies should be possible. Sometimes hybrid pairings that usually result in sterile offspring can in fact produce fertile offspring. Maybe it's a female-male paring that started the tribe instead of a male-female pairing.
In any case, a campaign is a collection of ideas that the GM and players think are cool. Those ideas should never, ever be axed just because of some game world canon. Change the game world, not your ideas.
Who says they were half-orcs the entire time? It could very well be a group of humans who went back to the "old faith" feeling Starfall was due to the corruption of the faith. Later on the orcs came in... and bred into the tribe. Eventually the half-orc lineage became predominant and their legends adjusted so they were ALWAYS half-orc. No one remembers having been human, so why'd they know better?
And they may very well have an oral history, so all they know is that in the Before Times there were the Twisted Ones who brought about the Great Darkness but the Divine Followers of Nisi led the Chosen away before the Darkness Fell... and allowed them to survive. They know nothing about the Runelords... but the character may hear about Thassilon and slowly start piecing things together and may even realize the Big K is one of the Twisted Ones who is responsible for the Darkness.
Thus now it becomes a holy quest to prevent K's return. ;)
As a general thing it looks like there is alot to work with, and nothing wrong with groups of half-orcs banding together to form tribes. there asre some issues with his timeline tho. However you can solve this a bit with. "This is what his character believes". So the tribe could have formed 600 years ago even they just /think/ they have been isolated for 5000 years.
This adresses Two issues. 1) his timeline basically has the Tribe forming pretty much right when the Orcs are exiting onto the surface during the dwarves quest for the sky. The general write up for this period impies all out warfare. I think one of the write ups on gorum implies he came into existance during this period when men and orcs first clashed.
Basically, the probility of orcs ariving on the surface, creating half-orcs and then that generation forming its own tribe.. is low.
However, the idea of half orcs forming an isolated tribe and creating their own mythology which the following gnerations belives is great :)
2) If you follow the Pc's origonal timeline how do Isolationist half-orcs during this period come to worship a thasilonian god? I actually think a PC worshiping her is /awesome/ it probly allows for introduction of some backstory stuff that my group was oblivious to
Anyhow my suggestion is this, Some half-orc idealist with alot of potential gathers his own group forms the tribe and creates his ideal society after geting a vision from the goddess. You can then insert them in the timeline at a time period that fits golarion better.
The PC believes the origonal histories, and the player gets the sort of charctr he wants.
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+/- 200 years is an insignificant amount of time when you think about it... Easiest way to hand wave this is that your PC's peoples forgot to carry the 1 when they started their own calendar way back when...
As a GM I'd take this backstory and run with it - looking for the most opportune way(s) to incorporate it into the AP.
In fact I try and do something for each of my PC's who bothers to write a backstory!
Wow. All excellent advice - this has given me a lot to think about. Thanks so much!
We agreed on a small bonus in knowledge/history checks on ancient Thassilon (as a custom character trait), subject to whatever information I think might have seeped through over the centuries. I love the idea of this tribe having originally been a band of humans -- that helps resolves the timeline issues, but also adds a great twist for the PC to discover as they advance.