Leliel
2008-06-02, 12:53 PM
Anyway, this thread is where you can critique the backstory and modus operandi of one of my 4E all-lycanthrope (the PCs, not the bad guys) campaign villains, the voodoo-slinging pirate-mage, Jacob Bok. Basically he's a loyal servant of the campaign's main BBEG, Erebin Pullusia, and like him, is more of an antihero than a truly evil creature-although like his boss, he isn't afraid to get his hands dirty in order to establish his particular brand of utopia.
Please note that I'm making up his backstory as I go along: Although I have it down pat in my head, I haven't put it in words yet.
Jacob Whateley Bok the Sea-Warlock.
Class: Sorcerer, though he has a few levels of Rouge as well-Can't have a pirate without rouge levels.
Appearance: A mulatto (black man with Caucasian genes in his blood), Jacob Bok is who you would call able to "pass for white" originally, but his cavorting with dark powers (he's a Ravenloftian native, ha ha) has made him part fey, so his mixed heritage has given him an unnatural bronze sheen. As for the face, his is mostly unremarkable, what with the small nose and round eyes, except for the eyes themselves, which are violet. And not just a normal shade of violet either, but a pure, seemingly amethyst hue. Like most of Jacob's body, this is a result of supernatural influence-a result of his family's "curse".
Story: Jacob's story actually begins a few generations before his birth, in the Ravenloft domain of Sourgane, with a woman named Julie. A servant to the rich Whateley plantation, her master and her grew smitten with each other, but were kept from marriage by social class and Sourgane's inherent racism. Not to be deterred by this, Julie petitioned the loa spirits of her religion to help her, wishing for them to give her "power beyond mere class and race". The loa heard her, mixing their blood with hers and giving her arcane magic in the process. Seeing this obvious blessing of their gods, the voodun priests reluctantly agreed to wed Julie and her master, who went on to live happily together by all accounts. But like many things in the Land of Mists, this power came at a cost: As Julie and Whateley had grown addicted to the taste of each others affections, so too would their descendants grow addicted to the power that enabled their union-the loa's gift of arcane magic.
And so, the Whateley's tragedy was born, before it's result was even conceived...
Time passed. Although the Whateley family was never truly poor, they lost much of their estate and wealth to their thirst for occult knowledge. This also had a detrimental effect on the families themselves-when Jacob himself was born, his parents were so obsessed with the lore of arcana that they neglected him, leaving his raising to a string of nannies who were more inclined to their pay then to caring for the yong sorcerer and his sister. As a result, Jacob withdrew into himself, focusing on his studies of academia and magic then finding actual friends among his swampy home. In his spare time, he would read the long-negleted collection of his parents books, and it was their that he became enthralled by the tales of pirates and naval adventurers. To his young mind, these were men that were their own masters, in need of no one, in search of no one. Needless to say, he joined a naval academy of Paridon after coming of age, finding the old city and it's costantlly spinning plots and endless secrets to his liking. He became known as a cunning and deadly privateer, a getleman pirate of trade routes who stole for his chosen nation, and it's hunger for resourses. He came back to Sourgane a weathy and famous man, expecting a hearty welcome from his family, having been restored to prominence by their son.
Instead, he found only betrayal, and with it, the bodies of his loved ones...
(More to come...)
Please note that I'm making up his backstory as I go along: Although I have it down pat in my head, I haven't put it in words yet.
Jacob Whateley Bok the Sea-Warlock.
Class: Sorcerer, though he has a few levels of Rouge as well-Can't have a pirate without rouge levels.
Appearance: A mulatto (black man with Caucasian genes in his blood), Jacob Bok is who you would call able to "pass for white" originally, but his cavorting with dark powers (he's a Ravenloftian native, ha ha) has made him part fey, so his mixed heritage has given him an unnatural bronze sheen. As for the face, his is mostly unremarkable, what with the small nose and round eyes, except for the eyes themselves, which are violet. And not just a normal shade of violet either, but a pure, seemingly amethyst hue. Like most of Jacob's body, this is a result of supernatural influence-a result of his family's "curse".
Story: Jacob's story actually begins a few generations before his birth, in the Ravenloft domain of Sourgane, with a woman named Julie. A servant to the rich Whateley plantation, her master and her grew smitten with each other, but were kept from marriage by social class and Sourgane's inherent racism. Not to be deterred by this, Julie petitioned the loa spirits of her religion to help her, wishing for them to give her "power beyond mere class and race". The loa heard her, mixing their blood with hers and giving her arcane magic in the process. Seeing this obvious blessing of their gods, the voodun priests reluctantly agreed to wed Julie and her master, who went on to live happily together by all accounts. But like many things in the Land of Mists, this power came at a cost: As Julie and Whateley had grown addicted to the taste of each others affections, so too would their descendants grow addicted to the power that enabled their union-the loa's gift of arcane magic.
And so, the Whateley's tragedy was born, before it's result was even conceived...
Time passed. Although the Whateley family was never truly poor, they lost much of their estate and wealth to their thirst for occult knowledge. This also had a detrimental effect on the families themselves-when Jacob himself was born, his parents were so obsessed with the lore of arcana that they neglected him, leaving his raising to a string of nannies who were more inclined to their pay then to caring for the yong sorcerer and his sister. As a result, Jacob withdrew into himself, focusing on his studies of academia and magic then finding actual friends among his swampy home. In his spare time, he would read the long-negleted collection of his parents books, and it was their that he became enthralled by the tales of pirates and naval adventurers. To his young mind, these were men that were their own masters, in need of no one, in search of no one. Needless to say, he joined a naval academy of Paridon after coming of age, finding the old city and it's costantlly spinning plots and endless secrets to his liking. He became known as a cunning and deadly privateer, a getleman pirate of trade routes who stole for his chosen nation, and it's hunger for resourses. He came back to Sourgane a weathy and famous man, expecting a hearty welcome from his family, having been restored to prominence by their son.
Instead, he found only betrayal, and with it, the bodies of his loved ones...
(More to come...)