Scatter the Pieces [OOC]

[Ajadea]

Hello, and welcome.

Fair warning beforehand-I, as Ajadea the DM want you to have fun and win some awesome victories. As the various antagonists in your way, I want you to be crushed into a pulp and stewed for supper. These are not mutually exclusive.

Original Pitch

Spoiler

It's almost an unspoken rule of warfare: you don't march on someone in winter. There are no resources around, the snow gets everywhere, and no one shorter than a titan can properly march in three-foot drifts of snow. In winter, everyone ends up sitting around a fire, eating hot beef stew and waiting for spring thaw to come.

You never fight on All Saints Day. It is a day of peace, and in winter anyways. During All Saints Day, one cannot raise arms against another for any reason. No declarations of war, not even a bar brawl. It's illegal, and wrong, to fight on a day so blessed. There are stories of entire sieges, on which the fate of a kingdom hangs, stopping for this one festival.

Sunpeak Spire is-or rather, was the northern capital of Erlise. Bitter cold year round, halfway up a mountain in the middle of nowhere. A thousand year old tower rising straight out of the rocks, over a mile wide and ten times that in height. It is said it was crafted by fey magic, and when the wind raged through the peaks, it sounded almost like a divine flute. Scholars flocked to Sunpeak Spire to study the runes there, carved into every inch of the wall. The carvings were worn smooth and shallow by time, by the pilgrims that came just to see them. It was a beacon to travelers against the Northern Lights. If you could see the Spire, you knew where you were. You knew you were safe.

And last night, it fell. Literally. Someone broke the rules, the rules that no one mentions and everyone obeys without question. Frost giants marched through the pass, and tore the Spire down during the Festival of Lights, the last celebration of All Saints Day. The ancient tower now lies in pieces in the kingsroad valley below. Above, there are still paper lanterns, drifting away to the southeast.

You were there. You saw the giants, mad with bloodlust as they destroyed a thousand years of history. It doesn't make sense. Even the giants knew of the holiday, they celebrated it too. They walk in the light of the Spire, and they worship the same gods as the humans and dwarves.

But you can't argue with the blood that stains the Sunpeak, and the chunks of time-worn stone in the valley below.

No one else is left. Survival is all that matters now. And where to go now. You can't stay here. South, there is safety in Erlise. Food, shelter, and a big imperial army to hide behind. Maybe in the south, you can start anew.

North, there may be answers. There are a few tiny villages north of Sunpeak Spire. The giants have their halls and homes north of the Spire. The giants are supposed to be allies of the Erlisan people. Maybe you can find out what changed.

Map

Spoiler

World Info NEW: More Saints, More Deities Last Updated: 8/12/11

Spoiler

Race	Adulthood	Rogue, etc	Bard, etc	Wizard, etc	Middle Age	Old	Venerable	Max. Age
Elf	50	+2d20	+6d10	+12d10	220	370	550	+5d%
Goblin	12	+1d3	+1d4	+1d8	25	38	50	+1d20

For such a tiny amount of land, it is rather surprising that it manages to have 5 calendars in common use by its inhabitants. The elves use Cycle Count/Astrological Date [CC/AD] and Imperial Date [ID], beginning when the Hunter's Bow became the Northern Pole Star (did you know elves are really old?) and the day when their monarch took the throne respectively, the Erlisans measure time from the date they first came ashore [Landing], the Hartali measure time from the day when the corrupt King of Hartha fell, his brood were slain, and Al Ejtaia was swallowed by the sands [DLB], and the Kammesh people mark time from the day the Four Pillars supposedly ascended to godhood [PA].

For conversion: 12493 CC = 6625 PA = 2082 ID = 491 DLB = 0 Landing

Timeline (from the Landing, since you're all in Erlise)

Spoiler

• -12493: The Hunter's Bow became the Northern Pole Star
• -8317: A star in the Crown becomes the Northern Pole Star
• -6522: According to legend, Nordri is born.
• -6546: According to legend, Ausrit and Suori are born.
• -6599: According to legend, Vestri is born.
• -6625: The Four Pillars ascend to godhood.
• -2855: According to magical scans, Sunpeak Spire was constructed around this time through very strong magical means (margin of error: ~1 century).
• -2361: The Traveler's Heart became the Northern Pole Star.
• -2082: Wennlai Brenamias unites the warring elves and becomes the first queen of Vaellath Kana.
• -491: The last king of Hartha falls, a council of aristocrats is raised to rule in his place.
• -50: Of Gods and Mortals, Volume IV was written by Celyni Niarhys, a likely relation of Celyni Aedlara, in this time period.
• 0: Erlisan ships land near the location that would become Starcliff Hold.
• 68: Starcliff Hold is constructed. At this time, it is not much more than a crude fort on a cliff.
• 100: Starcliff Hold is declared capital of Erlise.
• 162: Nidas falls.
• 193: Sunpeak Spire is discovered by the Erlisans, and declared their Northern Capital
• 2??: Apparently the second volume of Of Heaven and Earth concerns this time period.
• 231: Maeliad Boros, a powerful cleric of Nauhasae and one of the Kammesh diarchs, is defeated by Asaer Xiloje, a noted Harthan archer. He refuses to release his position into the hands of an outsider.
• 231-234: War sweeps Kammesh. On one side is Boros and many Kammesh patriots, against Xiloge, traditionalists, and even Gemmabri Wyrdwalk, the other Kammesh diarch. Boros is easily defeated. Hartha turns on Kammesh, swallowing up the lower third of it.
• 288-289: A surge of runaway, rebellious, and generally disobedient slaves causes thousands to be put to death in Hartha, on charges of 'Encouraging Slave Insurrection'.
• 429: The dwarves sign a truce with the Erlisan people, this later develops into a full-fledged alliance.
• 552: Slavery is officially outlawed in Kammesh.
• 646: The giants make peace with the Erlisan people.
• 917-920: Nidassan War.
• 989, All Saints Day: Yesterday.

Cultural Notes

Spoiler

Erlise is a feudal monarchy. The society is matrilinear in nature: that is, lineage is traced through the mother, and it is the male that takes the female name. Material possessions other than land tend to be passed down based on birth order over gender; that is, a male born before a female may inherit a substantial portion of the family wealth, though if he has a sister, he will not inherit the family lands. Thus, inheritance of wealth or items is generally ignored, as trying to figure out exactly which bloodline some particular sword or whatever came from can be a lot more work than anyone is interested in doing.

The Erlisans came from over the sea only a few centuries ago, and drove most of the elves east. Most of Erlise is elven land, and the rest is from Nidas, a now completely defunct country. at the location which is formally called Merling Bay but is more commonly known as King Rodrick's Gambit (or just the Gambit) due to the events of a key battle in the civil war, known as the Nidassan War due to the amount of Nidassans who fought for the losing side. The population of Erlise is almost entirely human, but there are some elven familes as well. The elves are an odd presence in Erlise, unwilling to adopt much of Erlisan culture and unable to cross lines with the much more prolific humans. Human and elven biology is known to be incompatible: there is no such thing as a half-elf in this world.

Hartha is an aristocratic oligarchy to the south of Erlise and Vaellath Kana, ruled by a council of rich, powerful, families. It is the largest country of the four here, and the oldest as well. When the elves founded Vaellath Kana, Hartali culture was already much the way it is now-highly patriarchal, slavery allowed, and a lot of open-air things. The population is primarily human and gnome, with orcs being the largest minority group. Only humans and gnomes have seats on the council however. Of the five countries, it is one of only two that legally allows one to own slaves, the other being Vaellath Kana, the elven lands.

Kammesh is a primarily dwarven country governed by a dictatorship and diarchy: two people who have almost unlimited power within Kammesh, and can only be contested by each other. If one of the members of the diarchy is defeated by one outside of it (one of them defeating the other is fine), that member must step down and let the person who defeated him/her take his/her place in the diarchy. Kammesh is the farthest east of the five countries: beyond the eastern border of Kammesh, it is said only uncivilized tribes of goblinoids and orcs roam.

The free population of Vaellath Kana is almost entirely elves. There are a few whisper gnomes, and the rare halfling or human, but the majority of non-elves in Vaellath Kana are slaves. Elven morality sees little reason to empathize or sympathize with the shorter-lived races and those they deem 'grotesques', or too physically dissimilar to elves to be considered people-fangs, overly-differing skin colors, comparitively deformed shapes, etc. Elves are, in general, reclusive. Their bloodlines, unlike those of the other races, seem incapable of mixing with any other races, even the notoriously prolific dragons, and they are considered arrogant by many. Their power is rivaled by few, however, and most are glad they stay, for the most part, hidden in their immense evergreen forests.

Erlise and Kammesh have significant tension with both Hartha to the south and Vaellath Kana to the east, as they dislike the slave trade that occurs in those countries.

List of Deities (in progress) [NEW: Mirija, Telias Ashne]

Spoiler

Azlehm is a Hartali god (TN Intermediate Deity, domains Knowledge, Magic, Nobility [SRD], Rune [SRD].). His existence is not surprising given the cultural importance of bloodlines and birthright to them. He is said to grant power unto the worthy-and if the father is worthy, the children will be as well. Or at least, that is what his priests claim. Regardless of the truth of his scriptures, an inordinate amount of magi in Hartha are also noble, and the power does indeed seem to pass down from parent to child much of the time.

Worshippers of Azlehm seek to do great deeds and prove themselves worthy, in hopes that their deeds will let them or their descendants gain the power they believe that they rightfully deserve.

Azlehm's holy symbol is a drop of fresh blood that glows bright blue. His favored weapon is the dagger.

Casvadd Quelade is one of the more obscure elven gods, said to see all that is and know all that was (TN Intermediate Deity Deity, domains Dream [CD], Knowledge, Mind [SRD], Oracle [CD]). Scholars of all races respect him, and people (mostly elves) pray to him in times when they are uncertain or confused. He is a sedentary god and a passive one, contacting mortals through their dreams, if he speaks at all. For this reason, dreams that are percieved as tasks sent by Casvadd Quelade are never taken lightly.

Casvadd Quelade has no favored weapon, and his holy symbol is an eye, pupil split horizontally and iris split vertically.

Dothran Deephammer is a dwarven mountain god and god of the forge (LN Lesser Deity, domains Artifice [SRD], Law, Fire, Earth). He tends to be cursed more often than he is prayed to, mostly by blacksmiths who have made an error in their work. Few non-dwarves know of Dothran Deephammer, but many dwarven crafters begin the day with a swift prayer to him, to avoid bringing his wrath down upon them.

The holy symbol of Dothran Deephammer is an anvil in front of a mountain. His favored weapon is the warhammer.

The Green Lady is a harvest goddess and protector of small children (LG Greater Deity, domains Animal, Community [CD], Good, Healing, Plant, Protection). She was originally a Nidassan god. However, lack of that particular ethnicity in Erlise has not stopped them from worshipping her. Indeed, she is called on more frequently than almost any other god in Erlise, at least among peasants and other such smallfolk.

While few dedicate themselves to the Green Lady, many pray to her at least once in their lives. Farmers who need a bit more food, parents worried for their child, women who wish to have a daughter, midwives preparing for a birth, all look to her for assistance when needed. She preaches hospitality and generosity, so she is also a favored god of halflings and travelers, though she is not herself associated with travel.

The Green Lady's holy symbol is a cornucopia. Her favored weapon is the sickle.

Iriphe is an elven goddess of bad luck, cruelty, and hatred (LE Demigod, Domains Death, Law, Evil, Madness [SRD], Pact [CD]), and a member of the Wild Hunt. She is depicted as a fanged, horned, and translucent fey with broken wings and glowing red eyes, and is often featured in fables. She is said to curse those who are praised and well-loved, in her mad jealousy, and in stories, she offers dark gifts in exchange for the 'heart', the eyes, or something else valuable from the simpleton who accepts.

Her holy symbol is a pentacle within another pentacle, and her favored weapon is the javelin.

Kairru, the Black Stag (NG Greater God, Domains Animal, Celerity (CD), Good, Healing, Plant, Protection) is a symbol of the moon, of bounty, and of good fortune. He appears as a pitch-black stag with silver horns and eyes that reflect the phases of the moon. His hooves are said to be solid silver. He is chased by the Wild Hunt as the symbol of the most difficult and therefore most worthy prey. A prong off his antlers can cure all ailments, and consuming a single ounce of his flesh grants one thousand years of youth and power. This is how the Wild Hunt remains eternal, unlike the other courts.

Kairru's holy symbol is two antlers draped with flowering vines, and his favored weapon is the gore/heavy pick.

Mirija the Bloody One (TN Lesser God, domains Destruction, Death, Glory, Madness, Strength, War) is a complex god. He is the Harthan god of war and death as well as triumph and glory. More than any other divine force save perhaps the saint Laheri, he is a god of passion and emotion. His priests are warriors as hardy as any you've ever seen. They wear plain blood-red and steel-gray clothes on the few occasions when they must perform some holy duty and cannot wear their armor.

Mirija will allow a crested helm to be his holy symbol should a weapon that has taken the life of another not be available. He considers all weapons to be holy, and the taking of life to be at once sacred and savage.

Nauhasae (CG Greater God, domains Animal, Chaos, Glory [SRD], Liberation [SRD], Luck, Sun) is the Kammesh sun goddess. She represents life, and her believers learn to respect life. Every breath you take, every new thing you see, every new person you meet, every choice you make, these are things to be respected. Life is fleeting, savor every minute of it. And her worshippers do, often uttering a quick prayer every time they see something new and interesting, taking the time to relish the moment and pushing aside the very notion of boredom. Most of her festivals can only be considered 'wild' by most western standards, and often involve a lot of wine and dancing.

Nauhasae's holy symbol is a dancer in silhouette against the sun, and her favored weapon is the scimitar.

Nelja Valru, the Four Pillars (TN Intermediate deity, domains Air, Protection, Travel, Strength) is a giant deity with four faces-Nordri the Chief, Suori the Warrior, Ausrit the Shadow, and Vestri the Healer. The giants worship Nelja Valru as a protector of travelers, and believe that he holds up the sky. According to myth, Jormanu, a sleeping wyrm, encircles the world (her image is depicted in the stars as the constellation of the Dragon). One day, Jormanu shall awaken and devour Nelja Valru, and that day shall be the beginning of Ragnarok-the end of the world. Nelja Valru favors the Quarterstaff, and his holy symbol is a head with four faces.

The dwarves worship each aspect of Nelja Valru as a separate god (or goddess, as the case may be). In dwarven myth, the Nelja Valru are four dwarven siblings, who chose to give their lives to prevent the firmament from crashing down on the world. For their sacrifice of their bodies, the other gods chose to let the siblings' spirits ascend to godhood.

Nordri (LN Demigod, domains Air, Law, Nobility, Strength, favored weapon Heavy Mace) is the first among them, their leader, commander, and superior.
Suori (CN Demigod, domains Chaos, Fire, Strength, War, favored weapon Greataxe) is a warrior unequaled by any other mortal. He is said to fight Jormanu the World Serpent in the cracks between the planes, keeping her from strangling the world in her coils.
Ausrit (NE Demigod, domains Evil, Travel, Trickery, Water, favored weapon Spiked Chain) is weaker than his siblings, because in his selfishness, he refused to make the sacrifice that his siblings did until the last moment. He is a thief, a lier, and barely tolerated by the other three. But as the most practical and pragmatic of the Nelja Valru, he is respected by many dwarves despite his dishonorable qualities.
Vestri (NG Demigod, domains Good, Earth, Protection, Strength, no favored weapon) is female in dwarven myth, still little more than a child when she gave her life for the good of the world. For this sacrifice, she has been given the most-she alone of the four can walk the earth, and after she ascended, she returned to live out her life as a mortal. It is said that her descendants still possess great power to protect others-but in their utter innocence, they never learn how to protect themselves.

Shayantha, King of the Fey, is an elven god and leader of the mythical Fiachha Gwyllte, the Wild Hunt of elven legend (CG Greater Deity, domains Animal, Celerity [CD], Competition [CD], Nobility [SRD], Strength, Sun). He is said to be as strong as a giant and as swift as the wind, leading his court through the woods in an eternal hunt for Kairru, the Black Stag of legend. Sometimes they catch him, and then there is a feast, and a celebration.

If a mortal eats or drinks at the feast, then the first bite they take will turn them into a fey, and they will be granted all the power that comes with that honor. But if one comes to the feast without invite and vengeful Iriphe finds them...let's just say Shayantha's hounds get a particularly good meal.

But come dawn, and Kairru is reborn. And so the hunt continues.

Shayantha's holy symbol is three arrows crossed over a crown of holly. His favored weapon is the longbow.

The Snow Maiden (NE Intermediate Deity, domains Cold [CD], Death, Domination [CD], Evil, Weather [SRD]) is an Erlisan goddess of the north who is said to cause avalanches and who is generally blamed whenever someone is lost in a snowstorm. She is rarely worshipped, but her priests are feared across the north as bringers of death and undead. Some giants pray that she will test them with the storm, so that they can prove themselves strong. This is generally viewed as a highly foolish practice, but it continues nonetheless.

The Snow Maiden's holy symbol is a heart that has been frozen solid. Her favored weapon is the shortspear.

Telias Ashne (LN Demigod, domains Destruction, Law, Magic, Repose [SRD], War) is the elven goddess of battle and duty. She expects the living to respect the dead-as such, her clergy actively hunt down all undead created against their will (so, almost all of them). She is one of the few elven deities who views self-sacrifice as a positive trait, and believes those who choose to freely relenquish their centuries of life deserve extra respect. Telias Ashne is also the elven goddess of death, and she is seen as a guide and an arbitrator, not a murderer or a queen. She takes you when your time is up, not a moment before or after.

List of Saints [NEW: Laheri, Neryssa, Rinmarn]

Spoiler

Akirika, patron saint of sailors and the only Myrain saint.
Boccob, patron saint of magic.
Cuthbert, patron saint of judges.
Derassian, patron saint of song.
Galdestra, patron saint of the zodiac. Her form is said to be the constellation of the Mother. Which is also why it's such a big constellation-Galdestra was a giant.
Inasan, patron saint of myths and fables. One of the myths surrounding this popular Hartali saint is that he won (or stole, depending on the variant) stories from the gods.
Kord, patron saint of competition.
Laheri, patron saint of love and beauty. Laheri has been portrayed as pretty much any being the artist thinks is attractive, male or female.
Fharlanghn, patron saint of wanderers.
Heironeous, patron saint of warriors. A popular myth tells how his image was put into the sky as the constellation of the hero.
Minlasym, patron saint of actors. Sometimes portrayed as a goblin instead of a gnome, but either way, she was supposedly a consumate liar.
Neryssa, patron saint of sailors. Many ships have at least one adept of Neryssa on board, for she is one of the most fickle saints and her favor can mean the difference between safe passage and drowning.
Olidammara, patron saint of all those who spend a lot of time evading the law.
Rinmarn, patron saint of gates, doors, and other entrances and exits. There are a few sects, known as the Rinmarnites who think Rinmarn is in fact a greater deity and can see all the choices that have been made and could be made. Most everyone who's not a Rinmarnite thinks that the Rinmarnites are insane.
Vry'echakta, patron saint of vengeance. A goblin folk hero, who reputedly avenged his entire clan single-handedly armored in only a deerskin and wielding only a bone knife, and then lived to raise his own clan from approximately nil.

Questionnaire

Spoiler

System: D&D 3.5
Player Count: 4-6, alternates maybe.
Style of Play: Roleplay > Puzzles, Combat
Allowed Content:

• by WotC:
• Core (PHB, DMG, MM)
• Complete Adventurer
• Complete Arcane
• Complete Divine
• Complete Mage
• Complete Scoundrel
• Complete Warrior
• Dungeonscape
• Expanded Psionics Handbook
• Player's Handbook 2
• Races of (the Wild/the Dragon/Stone/Destiny)

by the Playground:

• TJ Oskar's Project Heretica Paladin (replaces Core Paladin)
• jiriku's Monk Fix (replaces Core Monk)
• The Giant's Champion

Character Creation:

• Backstory: I like backstories. They don't need to be super-long, but I've read 5-page backstories before and enjoyed them immensely. That one quote about the skirt doesn't exactly apply here: keep it under 8 pages or so and I'll still read it. I'm a bit crazy like that.
• Experience: 0! Enjoy.
• Wealth: Average for character class
• Ability Scores: 32 Point Buy
• Hitpoints/Health: Full at 1st level, average after (d4: 2.5, d6: 3.5, d8: 4.5, d10: 5.5, d12: 6.5)
• Alignment: Any non-evil, in accordance with SPoD's request.
  

Other Notes:
Skill Changes:

• Diplomacy functions as in The Giant's Diplomacy Fix.
• Disable Device and Open Lock are rolled into Disable Device.

I laugh at the concept of 'Common'. There are four humanoid languages currently in common use: Erlisan, Hartane, Kammesh, and Gulgai. Erlisan is spoken in the north, Hartane in the east, Kammesh in the south. Gulgai is sort of a regional goblinoid/orc/giant language, replacing Goblin and Orc. Replace all references to Common with one of Erlisan, Hartane, and Kammesh: all three of these languages may be selected as bonus languages for all races. They use the same Basic script and share certain similarities in grammer, but that doesn't mean they can read what's going on in the other countries.

Allowed Races
Human
Elf
Dwarf
Orc
Half-Orc
Halfling
Goblin
Whisper Gnome

Sheets

Player	Character	Backstory	Classes
Eleanor Rigby	Magdi Adok	Here	Bard 1
Starwulf	Samuel Kenwyck	Here	Warmage 1
Reb46	Soveros Nailo		Cleric 1
BluesEclipse	Kerath		Soulknife 1

Former Party Members:

Player	Character	Backstory	Classes
PollyOliver	Sorra Mistborn	Here	Monk 1
SPod	Eztra ej Arrakeej	Here	Warlock 1

Recruitment
IC

[SPoD]

Eztra ej Arrakeej
Female human warlock, age 17
Speech color: Purple

Character Sheet

Backstory:

Spoiler

"She's beautiful," the man said. He was poor, but happy, as was his wife and his baby daughter--the latter of which was only a few minutes in this world. He cleaned her off as his wife clutched her. "Look, she has a full head of hair already!"

"That must be from your side," the exhausted woman teased, "I was as bald as a kobold when I was born."

They heard movement at the end of the tiny one-room house, which served them both as their living quarters and the warehouse for the man's fabric peddling supplies. "That must be the cleric," the man said, relieved. "I'm sure he'll pronounce the child healthy."

But it was not any cleric that either of them had ever seen. It was a dark, gaunt figure, wearing a cloak that left his face in shadows. "TELL ME," the man said in a language neither had ever heard but both understood, "WAS YOUR WHELP BORN ELVEN MINUTES AND 23 SECONDS AGO?"

The man wanted to protest, to ask the stranger why he had trespassed on their hovel, but he felt instead compelled to answer, "Yes."

"YOUR DAUGHTER IS BLESSED, THEN," the stranger replied. "AT THE MOMENT OF HER BIRTH, THE MOON AND PLANETS ALIGNED IN THE CONSTELLATION OF THE FOUNTAIN. SHE IS DESTINED FOR GREATNESS."

Both the man and the woman seemed stunned by this revelation, and the creature (for it was no man, nor woman) continued. "TO THIS BLESSING, WE ADD OUR OWN. LONG HAVE WE WAITED FOR HER. SHE WILL SHINE WITH THE LIGHT OF THE STARS AND SPEAK WITH OUR VOICE." It touched the child on her forehead, leaving a silvery mark that soon faded. "SHE WILL HOLD POWER AND SHE WILL BROOK NO BINDINGS."

The creature then vanished in a shadowy mist, leaving only questions in its wake.

----------------

"...leaving only questions in its wake," Eztra finished. She smiled up at the nobility watching her, each with a half-finished koklava in their manicured hand, then curtsied exactly as her mother had instructed her. She had not made a single mistake in the delivery of the tale--but then, it was the fourth time in three days she had recited it. The Arrakeej's fortunes were looking up, and that meant more parties and more performances.

The assembled aristocracy applauded, as expected. "She's an absolute doll," crooned the middle-aged woman in the glittering jewelry standing next to Eztra's mom, "And that really happened?"

"Every word of it," her mother responded, shifting the weight of Eztrs' new baby sister, Irshara, to her other hip. Eztra ran up and clutched her mother's skirt, looking for approval of a job well-done. Mother absent-mindedly touched her shoulder without taking her attention off of the woman.

"Well, it's an amazing story. And I'm sure your little Esra—"

"Eztra," Eztra corrected, with petulance that only a four-year-old can muster. "My name is Eztra. With a 'Z.'"

The woman was not accustomed to being either interrupted or corrected. "Yes, well, Ezzzztra, with a Z. I was just telling your Mommy what an amazing story that was."

"Thank you," Eztra smiled, as if she had personally arranged for the events to transpire while inside the womb.

"And I must say, these cloths your husband peddles, they are delightful," the woman continued, "So rustic! Just between you and me, I wouldn't normally buy from a lower class merchant—"

Eztra's mother stiffened almost imperceptibly.

"—but they are just fantastic. And it doesn't hurt if a little of that grand destiny rubs off on me with this economy, am I right?"

Eztra's mother laughed along with the woman. "I know, the Help Tax alone!" She had learned that more than anything, what the wealthy bonded over was their shared hatred of actually spending any of their vast amounts of money, and that just mentioning the Help Tax was enough to craft the illusion that she was one of them. Eztra didn't know what the Help Tax was for many years, not until her parents had been paying it themselves for some time.

She knew this conversation almost as well as she knew her recitation. It bored her, so she wandered off to find somewhere to play. Her mother didn't come look for her until it was time to leave.

-------

"You are not going to the University, and that is final, young lady," Eztra's father said.

"Yes, I am!" she retorted, immediately wishing that she had crafted a more compelling counterpoint.

"Eztra, dear, you're 15 years old. You're done with school, you should be thinking about getting married." This was not actually how her mother felt; her mother felt that she should have dropped out of school two years ago to get married. But her husband had said that she was too headstrong to make a good wife, and in the end, she had agreed. Better to hold off on an alliance with another merchant house than to rush one and have it crumble due to her daugher's immaturity. Still, when she dined with her husband's friends' wives, she spent more time deflecting questions about when her eldest was going to finally settle down then actually improving her family's position among them.

"I don't want to get married! I want to learn."

"Well, you could learn how to be a good cook, for starters," said her mother archly, "Your hasperat recipe needs a lot of work still."

Eztra scowled. "Why do I need to learn how to cook, Mom? Aren't you going to get me married into a house with plenty of Help?"

"Leave your mother be, Eztra," interrupted her father, perhaps as a result of the blanch that came over his wife's face. "This is about you, not her."

"Yeah, it is, Dad. It's about me, and my life. I'm the one with a grand destiny, right? Isn't that why you trotted me out to every party, every banquet, every social gathering of any sort for my entire childhood?"

"You've already achieved your destiny, Eztra. You've brought our family to greatness from squalor."

"Oh, so, you're done with me, then? Time to pass me off on some other family, is that it?" In the air around her, tiny motes of white light began orbiting her, winking in and out of existence like tiny meteorites. "Hey, better get the marriage done quietly, Dad. You don't want to have to pay the Help Tax for transferring me to another house, am I right?"

"That is enough!" her father bellowed, slamming his fist down on the table. The crockware cups rattled; two fell over, spilling goat's milk on the table and falling to the floor with a shattering crack. "I will not sit here and listen to you attack the very institutions that have given you this comfortable life."

Almost as if to illustrate his point, one of the Help scurried out of the kitchen, rag and pan in hand, to clean up the shards of the pottery and wipe the milk away. She was only a few years older than Eztra herself, but she had lived a life of slavey. Marks from her father's cane could be seen on her shoulders, peeking over the top of her threadbare dress.

The motes of light surrounding Eztra grew brighter. "THEN DON'T SIT," she said, her voice echoing the tone of the stranger that had marked her so many years before. Beneath his buttocks, long fattened by years of luxury, the chair splintered and cracked into as many pieces as the pottery. Her father fell, his tailbone hitting the tile floor with force. Her mother gasped and stood. Eztra drew a letter from inside her blouse. "But I've already been accepted. With a scholarship, no less. And I'm going."

She flipped the letter onto the table and stormed out, the blinking lights hurrying to keep up with her determined gait. Her mother tried to help her father up, only for him to slip and land back on the floor. He cursed loudly before saying, "She's still too headstrong by half. No man will have her like that."

Her mother was forced to agree. "Maybe...maybe we should let her go. There are professors up there, professors who know many things about...you know." They didn't like to discuss Eztra's strange powers openly. They thought it would bring them bad luck. She whispered when next she spoke: "Maybe they'll know how to keep her under control."

And so it was that Eztra left for University the following week.

---------

Eztra heard the door to the cell block open. The inquisitor was speaking, a thin man of noble bearings, the sort for which she once performed her story. "...and I knew that you wouldn't want this to get around. You know how tongues wag."

"Of course, thank you," Eztra's mother said. Fantastic. They had sent for her parents. This week could not get any worse.

Her father came into sight on the other side of the prison bars. "So, this is what you're doing all the time up in that school of yours, is it?"

She didn't answer. She knew her appearance alone would shock her mother. Dressed in commoner clothes, dirty and scuffed from head to toe. It would be the invalidation of everything for which she had worked her entire life.

"What, aren't you going to break out of here?" her father mocked. "Come on, break the bars!"

The inquisitor explained. "Her and three boys her age were caught releasing a chain gang of 15 sla—uh, Help." He stumbled over the word slaves, knowing that the upper crust frowned on the term. "The good news is, as near as we can tell, she was simply the lookout. That means she's only being charged with the lesser crime of Aiding a Runaway, rather than Unfettering.

Her father took a step toward her. "Oh, oh, I see. That's why these bars are in one piece. If they knew what you can do, then they'd know that you weren't any damn lookout!"

Her mother put her hand on his shoulder to calm him. "Who were these boys that lead you astray, Eztra?"

"They were my lovers, Mom," she spat, breaking her silence, "All three of them." This was patently untrue; Panerl and Treituj preferred each other's company to that of a woman, and Logar had a girlfriend back home in the West. But it provoked the desired gasp from her mother.

"I suppose that was your grand destiny, then? To be the town camel for a bunch of spoonfed college students?" her father sneered. "Stay in jail, then! Don't ever darken our doorstep again. Your sister is married now, to a fine merchant family." The implication left barely unstated being that they didn't need her anymore, therefore.

The inquisitor spoke up again. "Sir, if I may be so bold...a crime like this sells a lot of newspapers. I think it would be best if her name wasn't in them, don't you?"

"I don't give a damn if she's exposed for the abolitionist whore that she is," he barks.

"Honey!" her mother gasps. Not in shock at what he says, but to remind him that they made their money on Eztra's back, and with her fortune, so goes theirs.

He relents, and the bribes are paid. It costs them a year's profit for Eztra to slink out of the prison unseen by anyone. Her father did not speak to her once she was free, and within days, her mother presented her with the following plan. She would be sent to the Sunspeak Spire with an instructor to study the stars and Northern Lights, particularly with how it related to her grand destiny. Her mother made it clear, however, that this was simply the cover story that would be spread around the city. In reality, she was being sent away. Just away. She would be assigned a bodyguard, who was going to make sure she stayed put and did not cause any trouble. During her exile, Eztra was meant to think about what she had done. She was welcome back when she was ready to apologize and get married.

-------------

A week earlier, Eztra had never seen snow before. Until today, she had never seen pink snow before, but that was all that was to be seen surrounding the Spire.

Her instructor lay in it, face down but feet pointed to the sky. Her bodyguard had gone to fight the giants, and fared the same.

This wasn't how it was supposed to happen. It was All Saints Day. It was a holiday. Why did this happen? Why??

She vomited into the snow, sick with panic and stress. She fell to her knees and cried. She had no love for either her teacher or her keeper, but she never seen anyone die before.

After a few minutes, she stood again. What now? Return home? She didn't know the way, even if she was welcome. Which she knew she was not. She dried her tears. There had to be a reason for this. Her astrology teachers had taught her that the stars controlled everything, even the gods (though they were loathe to admit it). So this, all of this...there had to be a reason.

Motion in the corner of her eye caught her attention. She had thought herself the only one alive, but here was a farm girl, sickle in hand, marching toward the spire.

"Hello?" Eztra called, "HELLO?"

Astrology:

Spoiler

Originally Posted by Ajadea

You're free to invent it, though I have established the zodiac and two other major constellations. 13 of them correspond to 13 lunar months (from Winter Solstice to Winter Solstice: Horse(Erlise)/Lamb(Kammesh)/Hound (Hartha)/Deer(Vaellath Kana) [many ways to interpret a four-legged creature], Dragon (Erlise)/Snake(Hartha)/Road(Kammesh)/River(Vaellath Kana) [just as many ways for a wiggly line], Lovers, Shield/Home (Vaellath Kana), Dancer, Fountain, Second Sun, Scythe/Bow (Vaellath Kana, Hartha), Fish, Mage/Priest (Erlise), Hero, Scales, World Tree).

The 14th is the Traveler's Hand: 9 stars in 5 lines pointing inwards to a 10th red star: the Traveler's Heart, their current northern Pole Star. The 15th is known as the Dead Man in Hartha, the Traitor in Erlise, the Mooncryer in Kammesh, and the Hunter by the Elves. To the humans, it is highly unlucky when it aligns with the moon. To the dwarves, it's a perfect time to have a festival-there are always a lot of babies born the year after . The elves think it's an omen of battle.

Originally Posted by Ajadea

4 planets, and a moon. The planets are known by their Elven names in astrology:

Gwaelde (the Warrior, the Southern Pillar, the Eternal Flame)
Cayllon (the Maiden, the Western Pillar, the Coin)
Risheol (the King, the Northern Pillar, the Shining One)
Fyrdom (the Twin, the Eastern Pillar, the Shadow)

All Saints Day occurs during the month of the Priest, fittingly enough.

Gwaelde and/or the Moon in the Dead Man is a recipe for trouble of varyingly epic proportions.

Originally Posted by Ajadea

The Dead Man never really shows up during All Saints Day-if Eztra was reading it as bright, she probably was doing something wrong.

However, Gwaelde may have been bright in the Priest, and that could be read as a portent of war. However, Gwaelde is associated with all emotions in general, not just hostility and warfare-without going into outside constellations, Gwaelde+Priest boils down to changes related to emotions.

On Nations and the Hartali:

Spoiler

Originally Posted by Ajadea

Erlise is a feudal monarchy. The society is matrilinear in nature: that is, lineage is traced through the mother, and it is the male that takes the female name. Material possessions other than land tend to be passed down based on birth order over gender; that is, a male born before a female may inherit a substantial portion of the family wealth, though if he has a sister, he will not inherit the family lands. Thus, inheritance of wealth or items is generally ignored, as trying to figure out exactly which bloodline some particular sword or whatever came from can be a lot more work than anyone is interested in doing.

The Erlisans came from over the sea only a few centuries ago, and drove most of the elves east. Most of Erlise is elven land, and the rest is from Nidas, a now completely defunct country. at the location which is formally called Merling Bay but is more commonly known as King Rodrick's Gambit (or just the Gambit) due to the events of a key battle in the civil war, known as the Nidassan War due to the amount of Nidassans who fought for the losing side. The population of Erlise is almost entirely human, but there are some elven familes as well. The elves are an odd presence in Erlise, unwilling to adopt much of Erlisan culture and unable to cross lines with the much more prolific humans. Human and elven biology is known to be incompatible: there is no such thing as a half-elf in this world.

Hartha is an aristocratic oligarchy to the south of Erlise and Vaellath Kana, ruled by a council of rich, powerful, families. It is the largest country of the four here, and the oldest as well. When the elves founded Vaellath Kana, Hartali culture was already much the way it is now-highly patriarchal, slavery allowed, and a lot of open-air things. The population is primarily human and gnome, with orcs being the largest minority group. Only humans and gnomes have seats on the council however. Of the five countries, it is one of only two that legally allows one to own slaves, the other being Vaellath Kana, the elven lands.

Kammesh is a primarily dwarven country governed by a dictatorship and diarchy: two people who have almost unlimited power within Kammesh, and can only be contested by each other. If one of the members of the diarchy is defeated by one outside of it (one of them defeating the other is fine), that member must step down and let the person who defeated him/her take his/her place in the diarchy. Kammesh is the farthest east of the five countries: beyond the eastern border of Kammesh, it is said only uncivilized tribes of goblinoids and orcs roam.

The free population of Vaellath Kana is almost entirely elves. There are a few whisper gnomes, and the rare halfling or human, but the majority of non-elves in Vaellath Kana are slaves. Elven morality sees little reason to empathize or sympathize with the shorter-lived races and those they deem 'grotesques', or too physically dissimilar to elves to be considered people-fangs, overly-differing skin colors, comparitively deformed shapes, etc. Elves are, in general, reclusive. Their bloodlines, unlike those of the other races, seem incapable of mixing with any other races, even the notoriously prolific dragons, and they are considered arrogant by many. Their power is rivaled by few, however, and most are glad they stay, for the most part, hidden in their immense evergreen forests.

Erlise and Kammesh have significant tension with both Hartha to the south and Vaellath Kana to the east, as they dislike the slave trade that occurs in those countries.

Originally Posted by Ajadea

Hartali people tend towards brownish or olive skin, brown or grey eyes, dark hair that is at least wavy. Height-wise, an aristocrat is likely to be taller than the average but a member of the lower classes is going to be shorter, and similar with weight. They also have access to more spices, bright dyes, and overall variety than most, because Hartha is a big place and the nobles can afford to get that stuff transported from elsewhere.

Originally Posted by Ajadea

Azlehm is a Hartali god. His existence is not surprising given the cultural importance of bloodlines and birthright to them. He is said to grant power unto the worthy-and if the father is worthy, the children will be as well. Or at least, that is what his priests claim.

Regardless of the truth of his scriptures, an inordinate amount of magi in Hartha are also noble, and the power does indeed seem to pass down from parent to child much of the time.

Worshippers of Azlehm seek to do great deeds and prove themselves worthy, in hopes that their deeds will let them or their descendants gain the power they believe that they rightfully deserve.

[Eleanor_Rigby]

Magdi Adok
Female Goblin Bard, age 36
Speech Colour: Dark Orange

Character Sheet

Backstory:

Spoiler

Originally Posted by Eleanor_Rigby

Eldritch Adok was something of a fixture in Sunspeak Spire – every community has one; that slightly unsightly but generally benevolent oddball that seems to have been around forever and for always. Except, of course, Auld Adok was younger than a good number of the young whippersnappers she used to preach to on street corners. Her excuse had always been that she was a goblin and for a goblin, 36 was a ripe old age as far as mortality rates go. Adok had wandered the streets, holed up in the inns and slept in the doorways for 29 years – longer than many of her people had been alive, she’d often point out when being tossed out from somewhere. She’d survived for 29 years by no particular means: she could catch and kill small beasts when she felt so inclined, but she had a bad habit of loosing her tools and weapons – or rather, the tools and weapons she had borrowed from a “friend” and for a member of a proud warrior race she was unusually uncomfortable with killing. She seemed happier picking at the leftovers of others and the people she scavenged were never quite sure if this was borne more out of pacifism or from idleness, though most suspected the later. She knew roughly which plants were palatable and had a fair idea of the ones that were poisonous or difficult to digest but flora wasn’t exactly abundant within the walls of the Spire itself and Magdi knew only too well that beggars couldn’t be choosers. Sometimes she greeted travellers at the Spire’s great gates, when the acting guards allowed it, proffering her findings for the newcomers to sample, she didn’t usually ask for gold for her troubles, but her services almost never came for free.

Hywellen, her last and most frequent principal employer and the proprietor of The Gilded Steeple found that she was usually reasonably good value as far as staff members went: guests who came up for All Saints Day often had a vague recollection of her from previous visits or had heard some of the stories that surrounded the little woman and so she was an object of interest if nothing else. Unfortunately visiting pilgrims and adventurers also often got the wrong measure of Magdi and she’d vanish from the public sphere for days, sometimes weeks, depending on the seriousness of the slight and the length of the guest’s stay. Hywellen had watched over Magdi out of the corner of one eye or the other since the night she’d arrived at the city gates – one of nine weary, war torn travellers, soon to be one of seven, later to be one of four, not long after one of three, then finally the one and only. Their relationship had raised a few of the eyebrows of The Gilded Steeple’s clientele over the years: Magdi was, by all accounts, an ugly little thing, and it was well known that Hywellen was an elf of the East by birth. When questioned on the subject, both elf and goblin tended to deflect the conversation to a different topic, both quite aware that neither should appreciate the company of the other. She was small and dark and creviced and jagged with thin hair that flew in every direction in the wind and came off occasionally on the furniture, and he was and he tall (for his race) and fair and smooth and cursive with gleaming chestnut locks that were never a hair out of place. But the nature of their meeting had endeared her to him, and him to her, or so the rumours went – theirs was a practical relationship, and not one without upsets, if it hadn’t been then maybe Magdi would have been heir to the Gilded Steeple, or at least a permanent resident (Hywellen was bound to outlive Magdi by many decades, despite her being the younger of the two), and not the occasional help.


Magdi’s clan had fled their village in the South after land disputes between the neighbouring Human (of Riverwatch) and Orc (of the Unclaimed Territories) communities had taken a turn towards the very volatile and the goblins who lived in the no man’s land between and served as mercenaries for whichever camp gave the most impressive offer had been all but wiped out as a result of their duplicity. Six of the eight who fled to Sunpeaks Spire had been “of the weaker sex” and four had not yet reached adulthood. The males in the party had been Magdi’s older brother Kander and her great uncle, Terpik. One too young to fight and one too old. The females were Magdi; her mother Topra; Magdi’s father’s mother who Magdi only remembered as "ParMoor"; two sisters, Merkl and Hlendreerahde (the elder married to Uncle Terpik) and Magdi’s most attractive niece, Tunde. The women among them were free to leave so that the tribe’s genes might live on. Kander and Terpik were spared so that ParMoor, Magdi and the pregnant Merkl would not slow the refugees to the point that their escape was in vain. ParMoor and Magdi were brought along at Topra’s behest, Topra having lost Magdi’s three younger siblings and her own mother to previous conflicts within a five month period and being unwilling to abandon her surviving compatriots to similar fates.They flew under cover of darkness, under strict instructions to seek out new lands in the North where their clan could rebuild and grow with limited competition. Terpik died on the voyage, felled by a marksman after the group had raided an abandoned campsite which hadn’t been as abandoned as they’d hoped. His infant son died during the first night in Sunspeak Spire along with a badly wounded ParMoor. The cleric Hywellen had found had done his best – indeed he’d undoubtedly saved the others’ lives – but ParMoor and the baby had been past saving. As far as Magdi knew, everyone who survived that first night survived the rest of their stay at Sunspeak Spire in relative peace. Many of them complained it was an unpleasant place to stay year round but none of them met with immediate, life threatening danger there. Topra, in fact, lived out the rest of her days there and died, impressively, of natural causes at the stupendous age of 53, two years ago. But everyone else and their relatives, or most of them in any event, abandoned Sunspeak Spire once they’d got what they wanted out of it.
Kander, Tunde and The Goblin of Vaellath Kanna left together once they were confident Hlendreehade, Merkl, Topra and Magdi would stay safe where they’d left them under Hywellen’s watchfull eye. The Goblin of Vaellath Kanna had told great stories of the colony in the outskirts of the great Eastern woods, Kander would assess their suitability, and if the colony was truly as clement as their friend promised, Magdi and the others would be sent for. Kander would only bring one of his charges for the journey as experience had taught him that caring for any more while traversing strange lands could pollute his concentration. Tunde was the best representative the womenfolk could have hoped for. Not long later, suitors arrived and took the sisters away. Magdi and Topra were happy in Sunspeak Spire. The clan were missed, but there was much in Sunspeak for a goblin to distract herself with, contrary to their relatives opinions.
Admittedly it wasn’t perfect and the goblin population was limited… very limited… usually it was just Magdi and Topra until Topra died and then it was usually just Magdi. The two of them sent messages out every now and then to their goblin comrades in the outer world, once in a blue moon they’d even hear news back – of deaths, of births, of marriages, of positions to be occupied – they’d even had goblin visitors drop in to see them whilst passing through the spire, to rest and to oggle before continuing their search of greater, finer things. Supposedly the capital wasn’t really a place for goblins, not in the long term. Magdi had been told numerous times that the city was really for clerics and mages and scholars. She tried remedying this by becoming a cleric or a mage or a scholar but word had it to do a decent job of being one of those you had to decide rather earlier on which one you wanted to be. . Furthermore a cleric needed to revere the gods, a mage should have blood coursing with rare and terrific power – or at least pockets lined with gold, and scholars had to be learnéd, which goblins never were. She might have liked helping people, and have been able to pick up a few can-trips from patient intellectuals and entertainers she’d somehow entertained, but Magdi obviously didn’t have the commitment or the talent to become anything noteable. It was a pity she stayed there, fooling herself, really guests and observers had often noted Magdi and Topra would be better off amongst her own kind and out of the way, but the goblin lodgers payed such advice little heed. Sunspeak Spire had been good to them and that didn’t look set to change any time soon.

36 year old Magdi Adok had certainly never expected Sunspeak Spire to be stormed by giants. It had never occurred to her All Saint’s Day could bring anything of that nature upon them. And despite the stories mother used to tell about death and war waiting round every corner outside of Sunspeak’s gates, she had never imagined that such havoc would find its way into them, much less obliterate them.
She’d been riding a little brown pack pony up to the gates to pick up some new arrivals and take their baggages up to the Gilded Steeple when the giants struck. A neon explosion hit the eastern pillar and the pony got spooked and pulled her down into the slush in its panic and in the heat of the moment she didn’t think to release her grip from its tether before it had dragged her halfway down the slope. She’d sat up laughing once the rope burns had gotten the best of her and she’d had to let the pony fly, leaving its pack behind it, held limply in her other hand. The explosion had obviously been a firework display for All Saints. Such a loud and fiery one had obviously been grossly unsuitable but it was nothing to fret about. And she may have been soaked through and temporarily lacking a perfectly serviceable pony but at least the display had warmed her up a bit. Once she’d caught her breath sufficiently she straightened a little to test her old legs before seeing if there was any chance of regaining the pony. She was hot with exhaustion from her little tumble. She elected to take one last look back at her fair city before inching down the slope like a fool.
What she saw simply didn’t make any sense.
To see the only place she’d ever known ground down and strewn around crumb-like wasn’t tangible. No longer caring for the pony or her stiff legs she pelted uphill with as much vigour as she could muster. The screams and the cries and the pleas and the dust and the ice and the blood and the bones and the futility had overridden her tiny thought processes and she was forced underground, back where goblins belonged. There were no more people to live off of in the city anymore – unless she’d been willing to pick the bones of the corpses of the giants’ victims, the corpses of people she’d known and worked and lived for. Even to do that she would have had to go back, out of her little hole. And Magdi Adok wouldn’t do that ever again unless she had exceptionally good reason.

Related Characters

Spoiler

Magdi's backstory namedrops quite a few different people. A quick guide to these...

Magdi's fellow travellers:

Spoiler

-Topra: Topra Adok was Magdi's mother. The two were very close and Magdi sort of looked after her mum between her teenage years and Topra's eventual death due to natural causes. Magdi was very loyal to and protective of Topra because they went through a lot together, before and after arriving at Sunspeak Spire and they also had quite a lot in common. By the All Saints' Day that the giants arrived on, Topra had been dead for about two years and Magdi had essentially come to terms with this by that point.
-Uncle Terpik: Terpik was Magdi's great uncle, one of eight goblins (including Magdi and Topra) who formed an expeditionary group of refugees fleeing to the north. Terpik was at least in his thirties when he fled the goblin settlement with Magdi and the others. As one of the two menfolk in this group he was supposed to defend the female goblins from any dangers they may encounter but he ended up getting shot by an archer in the wake of a relatively minor conflict and died almost instantly, leaving Kander as the only surviving male of the group.
-ParMoor: ParMoor wasn't this goblin woman's name but it's the only term Magdi remembers being attached to her. Parmoor was brought into the escape party by Topra, her daughter-in-law because Topra had already lost her own mother to inter-culture violence and didn't want the same thing to happen to Magdi's other grandmother. Parmoor would have been at least in her late forties at the time of the escape. She was wounded in an incident during the journey sometime after Terpik's death and she died of her injuries upon arriving at Sunspeak.
-Kander: Kander was Magdi's elder brother although she had at least one other sibling older than Kander, for whatever reason Kander was the only sibling of Magdi's to escape the goblin village. At the time of the escape, Kander was maybe about ten years old to Magdi's six-ish. After Terpik was killed Kander took on responsibility as the group defender and he took this unofficial position very seriously. Kander survived the journey to Sunspeak Spire and if he's still alive today he'd be close to 40. He left Sunspeak for a goblin settlement on the border of Vaelleth Kana long before the death of his and Magdi's mother, taking his niece, Tunde, with him.
-Tunde: Tunde was Magdi and Kander's niece by an elder sibling who did not travel with them to Sunspeak Spire. Tunde was around eight years old during the journey and had been picked by the surviving goblins of Magdi's clan because she was a "looker" and they thought she'd serve the family line very nicely. Tunde made the journey to Sunspeak Spire relatively safetly and left not long after with her Uncle Kander in search of a goblin settlement in the east a little ways south of Sunspeak.
-Merkl: Merkl was Terpik's significantly younger wife. When they set out on the escape journey Merkl was probably around fifteen and was carrying Terpik's child. The baby was born on the journey but died during the first night at Sunspeak Spire where a hired cleric was unable to mend his wounds. Merkl stayed on in Sunspeak for a while after the death of her son before meeting a second suitor and eventually leaving with him.
-Hleendrehade: Hleendrehade was Merkl's younger sister. She stayed in Sunspeak with her sister after the deaths of her brother-in-law and nephew and like her sister she eventually found a suitor in Sunspeak and left with him. It's presumed that Merkl, Hleendrehade and their respective partners all ended up in the same settlement as the sisters were pretty close.
-The Goblin of Vaellath Kana: This adult male goblin joined Magdi and her clan-members on the last leg of their journey to Sunspeak, after the death of Terpik and the incident that ParMoor was wounded in. Kander defferred to him and the goblin travelled with their party acting as an extra protector. Shortly after the group arrived in Sunspeak this goblin asked Kander and the others to join him on his way back to his settlement on the outskirts of Vaellath Kana, a place where he insisted they had no real competitors for land or resources which they could use as a reliable base with a healthy number of other goblins. The group held off from agreeing to join him on this journey to start with in the wake of the loss of two of their number but eventually Kander agreed to come with him to check the site's suitability. Tunde also went on this first visit. Kander didn't return to Sunspeak but Magdi and Topra both sent messages out to him and to Tunde a few times over the years.

Magdi's Sunspeak Spire Acquaintences

Spoiler

-Hywellen: Hywellen is/was the elven proprietor of The Gilded Steeple inn and Magdi's most consistent companion and source of (technically unpaid) employment in Sunspeak. He was essentially the first person the goblin travellers encountered upon their arrival at the city, the first willing to come to their aid at least. Hywellen was quite a private person and could get prickly when questioned. He gave Magdi and her mother many tokenistic jobs over the years and often provided one or both with accommodation of some description but he didn't believe in charity in a purely altruistic sense and helped to instill in Magdi a strongly held belief that if you wanted something in life you had to work for it. It is unknown whether Hywellen survived the giants' attack on Sunspeak although there is no particular reason to believe that he did.
-Blodwyn: Blodwyn was the name of the pack pony Magdi was leading when the giants arrived in Sunspeak. She was a quite unremarkable beast but due to her presence at the time of that life changing disaster the pony will probably remain in Magdi's thoughts for a long time. Blodwyn belonged to, and was most likely named by, Hywellen although care of Blodwyn fell squarely on people lower on the chain of command at the inn. Magdi had signed up for apprenticeship as a farrier at The Gilded Steeple's stables shortly before the disaster but didn't actually begin it before the giants arrived.
-Sorra Mistborn: Magdi didn't really know Sorra prior to the giant attack on Sunspeak Spire but the two did meet around ten months beforehand. They had a brief conversation in which Sorra told Magdi a little about her younger siblings and Magdi taught Sorra a basic lullaby to use on the youngest, her brother Tomas who woud have been about two months old at the time.
-Nohar Casli: The gnomic librarian of the Spire wasn't a close aquaintence of Magdi's but he was a figure she admired and respected a great deal.

Other

Spoiler

-Eizre: A female goblin who lived in Magdi's village. Her betrothed was killed in the same skirmish as two of Magdi's elder brothers: Benedek and Andris.

Magdi's languages

Spoiler

Magdi's multilingual and doesn't mind other people knowing it. Her principal languages are Erlissan and Gulgai - the language of her homeland and the language of her people - followed by Elven which Hywellen insisted on speaking unless working with guests and colleagues who were unable to use the language. She also knows Halfling, Giant and Kammesh but uses these much less, particularly Giant and Halfling.
Magdi uses her languages for a number of different purposes: she generally performs the verbal part of spells in Gulgai both to sound more mysterious (Sunpeak has few native Gulgai speakers as it's the language of goblins and orcs) and as a mark of respect to her family from whom she believes her casting powers originated. Magdi also tends to slip into Gulgai in moments of great emotional stress. Despite the respect she has for her family Magdi's also has a tendency to speak in Elven if she wants to sound sophisticated or more appealing.

Magdi's speech in Erlissan is marked by quotation marks:
"Can I help you?"
Her speech in Gulgai is indicated like this:
<-Can I help you?->
Her speech in Elven is indicated like this:
/Can I help you?/
And her speech in Halfling is indicated like this:
^Can I help you?^

NB: I'm quite likely to edit this post again a few times as we go along, just to add stuff that helps me keep track of what we're doing. Hope that's alright.

Grey text indicates a flashback in IC posts. In flashbacks Magdi's speech is sandy brown. Other characters don't get coloured speech in her flashbacks. She's egocentric that way, I guess.

[PollyOliver]

Sorra "Mistborn"
Female Human Monk, age 17
Speech Color: Royal blue

Character Sheet

Backstory:

Spoiler

Sorra was born on the night of a terrible storm that wracked the Sunpeak from base to tip. Thatch roofs were stripped off farmhouses even far south of the Spire, and on the heights great stone blocks were flung loose from the battlements to scatter in the valleys below.

The storm died in the gray hours just before dawn, and Sorra was born. Mistborn, her father called her, for the cold gray fog that crept through their little patch of farmland on the slopes of the Sunpeak, blotting out the entire world below.

Sorra Mistborn had an older brother, and in time a younger sister as well. She was a hard worker, and while not as strong as her older brother, just as dedicated to the farm she hoped she would one day own. She had an insatiable thirst for new skills and new knowledge. She worked the farm from sunup until the chores were done each day before climbing the long path to the Spire—first staggering up it by the time she reached the top, then walking it with ease, then sprinting and tumbling from boulder to boulder like a mountain cat—where she worked still longer in exchange for an evening lesson. From the clerics of Ausrit she learned to move dark and silent as a shadow, from the man who ran the bizarrely prosperous-seeming inn—despite its seeming lack of regular customers—on High Street, she learned to spring locks and find hidden traps, and from the man who sat barefoot in a worn robe every day near the shrine of St. Cuthbert she learned to move like the wind.

When she was sixteen, her youngest brother, Tomas, was born, and her mother died. She hated the child for perhaps a week, but in the end found herself taking up the place of her mother. She wore him strapped to her back while she worked in the fields and carried him four or more times a day down the road to the next farm over, to a family where the mother of a newborn had milk to spare. As he got older, she even sprinted up the mountain path with him and laughed as he looked on in awe at her strange lessons.

That was, until All Saints’ Day, just over one year later.

They had been in the city that night, to celebrate. Sorra had been dancing with a tailor’s son, Mycah, who had quick feet and gentle hands and kind green eyes, when a great boulder tore the roof off the building. Mycah was struck in the head, with what she didn’t know, and fell across her, green eyes fixed and staring. Sorra scrambled free, and despite her utter confusion found herself holding her skinning knife in one hand and the baby in the other, shouting her little sister’s name.

When they stumbled out into the streets, there was wreckage everywhere. Mad-eyed giants stalked the streets with rocks in hand as big as horses. She doesn’t remember ever having seen her father. But she heard his voice, clear as rain, shouting for her to take the children and run, and she did not need to be told twice. She sheathed the knife and took her little sister’s hand, and ran.

She saw her older brother only once more, coming toward them, asking for her to pass him Tomas so she could run faster. A splintered piece of rock the size of her fist struck him in the head as a building shattered, and she could not drag him and hold the baby both. So they ran.

Her sister’s hand was torn from her grasp somewhere before they reached the gates, and when she looked back there was only chaos. She clutched the baby even closer and kept up her mad dash, dodging between pools of blood gone icy slick and legs that towered above her head like trees. She managed to make the gates, how she didn’t know, but when she did they were held tight by the invaders. Sorra spun and ran again, breath fogging in the icy air, looking for somewhere, anywhere to hide. Finally she crawled into a cracked section of the city wall, clutching Tomas close to keep him from the cold, and sat waiting in silent prayer.

They could have made it. They should have made it. But it was bitter cold, and sometime minutes or hours later, she could not tell, the baby began to cry, and that was that.

Her fingers had frozen stiff and nerveless, and when they snatched him from her arms and crushed him she could only scream with rage. She was picked up by the back of her Saints’ Day dress, kicking and biting and screaming, and brought eye-level with the largest face she had ever seen. Mad with rage, she slammed her forehead into it.

She fell. She ran at the creature’s knees, slashing with her nails, but something in her knew that it was hopeless even through the anger, and again she ran. With her arms free, even though her hands were icy, she could climb the wall. She took the path she ran every day at a flat-out sprint, dodging between rocks and pitfalls and patches of ice.

The farm was flattened, but there was nothing left in her to care. She crawled into a pocket of the wreckage to keep the wind off, and she collapsed.

She woke even colder than before, to the sound of night birds. High above, the Spire seemed quiet. Shaking, she worked her way through the wreckage of the farm. She found her good fur-lined boots, her winter cloak, all the warm clothes she had not been wearing because it had been All Saints’ Day. The stores had been smashed open, and animals had gotten in, but she salvaged a string of onions and some bread and even a little dried meat from them. Her bow was snapped in half, so instead she took the handscythe she used for cutting weeds in the field.

With little more than a day’s food and the clothes on her back, Sorra started the long trek up the mountain once more, scythe clutched in her fingers as if it could replace everything—and everyone—else. Grimly, resolving that there would be no more running, she worked her way up the mountain path. There would be answers, and then there would be blood.

Kidnapped the above formatting.

[Starwulf]

Sorry for the delay, for the first time in over 6 months, I actually got more then 4 hours sleep. Went to bed at 4 a.m. and went to sleep right away(normally lay in bed till 8 a.m. or so). I think I was just exhausted from stress yesterday. We were under Tornado Warnings from 5pm till 10pm last night, and at one point I watched a Tornado form directly overhead, so I had to grab my wife and daughters and rush them out into the well-house. It dissipated before it touched down, though not before dropping a ton of golf ball sized hail on us and scaring the crap out of my oldest daughter. Anyways, here is Samuels backstory once again^^

Samuel Kenwyck
Human Warmage, age 22
Speech Color: Dark Slate Gray

Spoiler

Samuel Kenwyck was born into the minor Noble Kenwyck family of Hartane, mid-day, exactly 22 years before the fall of Sunpeak Spire, or as he likes to say now, about 5 years to late to save it. Shortly after he was born, his family knew there was something special about him. Neither his mother or father, nor grandparents or even great-grandparents had any magical ability, yet every-time baby Samuel cried, he pulsated with a bright blue light that radiated magical energy. The family was initially ecstatic over this event, positive that this was the catalyst that would catapult them into the ranks of the more powerful Noble families of Hartane. For the first 2 years of his life, Samuel was treated with great respect, though also with much carefulness, as any time he got angry and cried, his innate magical power would affect things around him, freezing solid buckets of water, setting aflame linen, literally melting baby toys, even occasionally giving semi-minor electric shocks to his parents or nanny that tried to comfort and calm him.

Unfortunately, the Kenwyck family was driven from Hartane several months before Samuels 3rd birthday. Both afraid and jealous of the raw power that Samuel exhibited, the more powerful Noble families concocted a wicked lie that claimed the Kenwyck family had made deals with Devils and Evil gods, promising them much blood sacrifices in return for power for their child. The rest of the Noble families quickly rallied behind this lie, and alongside the common citizens of Hartane who were terrified of such dark dealings, the Kenwyck family was forced to flee, abandoning many of their possessions and their ancestral home. Realizing that the only place with a numerous population of humans was Erlise, they traveled North in the hopes of starting again.

Arriving in Navek a small dwarven village in the norther part of Erlise, the Kenwycks were faced with adversity from the start. They had little money, no friends, no jobs, and most importantly, no food left. Samuels father, Reginald, was forced to take a job as an Blacksmiths assistant, carrying out the waste products left over from the smelting and forging of new weapons and armor, as well as other menial tasks the Blacksmith assigned him. His mother, Carolyn, managed to get a job as a serving wench in a local tavern, making a small daily wage plus whatever tips were given to her. Samuel was left alone for an hour every day as his parents job overlapped each other slightly. It was during one of these overlaps that he was discovered by a local Magi, an older, though still robust man named Sirlaith "Ravenwand" Winters. Sirlaith was out on his daily walk when he sensed an immense magical power. Tracking the source, he quickly determined it was emanating from a small shack on the edge of town. Racking his memory, he remembered it was currently owned by a poor family that had recently moved to Navek. Being a naturally curious man, Sirlaith decided to investigate. He cautiously approached the front door and listened. Inside he could hear a young child screaming for it's parents. Concerned that something might be attacking the youth, Sirlaith burst down the door, magical wand in hand, ready to blast any foul creature. What he found was far more amazing then anything he had anticipated. The child was literally aglow with magical energy! Sirlaith cast a minor spell to calm the child, and immediately the glow disappeared. Confused, and wanting to know more, Sirlaith took the child in his arms and examined him, but finding nothing out of the ordinary. Growing ever more curious, he decided to wait for one of the child’s parents to arrive.

When his father, Reginald arrived home, he was stunned to find an older man sitting in the center of the main room, holding his child. Furious, he drew out his dagger, ready to defend his sons life with his own. As he stalked forward, he found his movements slowed down, then completely stopped, as though he were walking through mud that had solidified around him. Shouting with rage, he screamed at the man to let his son go, to take his life instead. Then, sounds stopped coming from his mouth as well. It was then that the man spoke. "I’m sorry for the intrusion upon your household, and I apologize further for having to silence your words and stop your movements, but you attacked before I could even begin to explain myself. I am Sirlaith Winters, a mage of some renown in this town." Sirlaith then proceeded to explain everything that had happened while he was out on his daily walk today, then finished with "I will release you from the spells I cast, in return, would you explain to me about your son". With that, he dispelled the enchantments on Reginald and fell silent, hoping he wouldn't be attacked again. Reginald, for his part, had calmed down considerably, especially upon learning the man in his home was a mage who could likely kill him with little effort. Walking to a cupboard, he withdrew a small bottle of wine he had saved from his families previous life, uncorked it, and poured two small glasses, handing one to Sirlaith. "My son was gifted with magic by the god Azlehm at birth. We are originally from Hartane, but were driven out when the other Noble families

Spoiler

decided Samuel's power was one to be feared rather then cherished and used and concocted a terrible lie about us. It's been hard on all of us, but it will be hardest on Samuel when he grows older. With no one to teach him how to control his power, he'll have to give up on them and become a regular person, forever denied the gift given to him.

Understanding and saddened by the families plight, Sirlaith put forth an idea. When the boy turned 8 years old, he would come and apprentice with Sirlaith. It wouldn't cost the family a thing, but the boy would be worked hard, both in studies and in doing chores around the mages house. Sensing a chance for a better future for his son, but not wanting to make the decision without his wife’s consent, Reginald asked Sirlaith to come back the following day at the same time. Quickly agreeing, the mage departed. Night came and Carolyn arrived home to see a look of happiness and joy on her husbands face. After Reginald explained the days events, they talked long into the night. The next day arrived and, as promised, Sirlaith was again waiting for Reginald inside the shack. Reginald informed him that they agreed to his idea, and that they would train the boy to be a hard-worker for the remaining 6 years they had him.

As the years passed, Samuels parents lived up to their promise, finding plenty of chores for him to perform every day, encouraging him to plant, water, and maintain a small garden next to their house, even bringing him along to their jobs once he got older. Samuel especially enjoyed going to work with his father, for when he had the time, he would sit and watch the Blacksmith turn lumps of ore into beautiful suits of armor and sharp blades and axes. This fascination with the creation of weapons never left him, even when he was older, though he now fantasizes about creating magical suits of armor and powerfully enchanted blades. Samuel didn't make many friends during this time, being close to his parents and working hard all the time left him with little time to socialize. He also realized he was different, both from things that occurred around him when his emotions ran high, and from the knowledge his parents shared with him, making him scared of opening himself up to others.

On his 8th birthday, Reginald and Carolyn dressed Samuel in the cleanest clothes he had, packed the rest in a small backpack, and led him to Sirlaiths house. Arriving there, they said their farewells, promising to visit him as much as allowed, thanked the mage for his kindness, and then left. "Welcome young one" said Sirlaith, "The following 10 years will be difficult for you, both mind and body. I am not going to be easy on you, I will require strict discipline and the hardest work ethic you can imagine. I demand this of you because of the great power I sense inside, and I realize the control you will need to be able to master it instead of it mastering you. In return, I will teach you all that I know, I will feed you, and even provide you with clothes as you grow. Do you agree to these terms?" Samuel, without a moments hesitation, for he long knew he was destined for greatness, spoke "Yes, I agree to these terms. I will do everything you ask of me and more. I want to become a Warmage of Sunpeak Spire someday!"

The years passed, with Samuel working hard and studying even harder, always finishing the day exhausted. He had only 1 day a week off to himself, and for the first several years he spent them reading the various books about history, nature, politics, and even a few Heroic Sage fictions that Sirlaith kept around his house. It wasn't until he was around 12 or 13 that he started exploring the town around the mages house. At first he kept himself confined to eye distance of the house, but as he got braver he started to explore more and more of Navek. His favorite place was the market place. So many different goods from different lands, both mundane and even magical at times. Exotic foods and spices tingled the inside of his nose, and he often spent the few coin his parents gave him on various treats found there. He still had few friends, preferring to remain fully committed to his studies. The few friends he did have, however, were good ones, loyal and trust-worthy, and adventurous to boot. He was never romantically inclined though, unable to give so much of himself to anything or anyone, other then his magic.

Shortly after his 16th birthday, Samuel was sat down by his mentor. "I have something to tell you Samuel, something you will not want to hear" Sirlaith began "Your parents died last night in a terrible fire at the Tavern your mom worked at. Your father tried to rush into the building to save her, but succumbed to the smoke before he could, and they both perished. I'm sorry to have to tell you this". Samuel rushed from the
room, blinded by tears. He fled to his bedroom and shut and locked the door, then threw himself on his bed, weeping. Several hours passed until he fell asleep, no energy left in his body. In it, he dreamed of his

Spoiler

parents, healthy and whole still, and full of love. He asked them why they were no longer with him, why he had to be alone in the world. They replied, in unison "You'll never be alone son, as long as you carry our
memories inside your heart, we will live on inside of you forever. Then his father looked at him and spoke "Son, our house Signet Ring is buried in the yard, 3 paces away from the tree we planted together before you left. Take it, and remember your heritage and family with pride. Upon waking, Samuel was amazed at the vividness of his dream, barely able to believe it wasn't reality. He went and spoke with Sirlaith about
it, explaining in full detail what happened. Sirlaith suggested that maybe it wasn't a dream, that perhaps his parents souls had reached out to Samuel from the other-world to put him at ease. With that in mind, Samuel asked to be given an hour or two so he could visit his parents small house(a shack no longer after years of hard work) to take what was his and to give honor to his parents one final time. Upon arriving, Samuel immediately went to the spot his father instructed, knelt down and dug into the dirt with his hands. About two feet down there was a small box, wrapped in a red ribbon. Opening the box, Samuel discovered, to his surprise and immediate joy, that there was indeed a Signet Ring and also 10 gold coins. He put both back into the box, then walked inside the house, said a prayer to Azlehm to take care of his parents souls,
locked the door, and shut it behind him.

On his 18th birthday, Samuel was woken to the sight of Sirlaith standing by his bed, leaning over him. "Congratulations my boy, you have done it! You have successfully accomplished every task I have set out in front of you, passed every test I could give you, and even faced adversity with dignity and pride, and most importantly of all, strength. Today you are my student no longer, instead, you are a peer, and a friend." Sirlaith's face glowed with pride as he said all of that. After a moment, he continued "I know it has always been your dream to become a Warmage of Sunpeak Spire, the Northern Capital of our land of Erlise. Well, I have many friends up there, including the leader of the Order of Mages, Arcidius Valkore.
I have been in contact with him for the last year, discussing you, telling him everything about you. He is very intrigued by your talent and would like you to journey there so he can meet and interview you. If he likes what he sees and hears, he has agreed to immediately let you enter the Order as an initiate". Samuel leaped out of bed, unable to believe what he was hearing "Do you really mean it Sirlaith? I might be able to join the Order and become a real Warmage of Sunpeak Spire? Truly master?" Samuel practically yelled as he bounced back and forth on his feet. "Remember, I'm not your master anymore Samuel. You may address me by my first name now. As a matter of fact, I rather insist, and yes, I am serious. I have some coin for you to go and purchase supplies, as Sunpeak Spire is at least a 3 day journey from here, maybe more depending on the speed of your journey, and considering you've never been out of this town, I would suggest taking your time and seeing all that you can along the way. If you become an initiate in the Order, you'll be working even harder then you did here for the next 3 years". With that said, Sirlaith produced a coin pouch and tossed it to Samuel. "That contains 10 gold coin, enough to buy yourself a backpack and food and a bedroll for the journey, with maybe a little left over for one of those exotic treats you seem to like so much" he said with a sly grin.

After buying supplies and saying farewell to his few friends, Samuel walked to the edge of Navek with Sirlaith beside him, both excited for what lay ahead of him, and saddened by leaving the only person he truly trusted behind. Sensing this, Sirlaith turned and said "This is a wondrous opportunity for you Samuel. You have the chance to do what so few people in this world ever get, and that is to make your dream come true. Seize this chance and never let it go, for yourself and for your parents". Somber, Samuel stared at the path ahead before speaking "Yes, you're right, of course you are. This is for me, for my parents, for all the years you spent teaching me. I'm just a bit nervous I guess. I've never been outside of Navek, not even a little. Is it dangerous?" "It is. There are many creatures that roam the wilds in between Navek and Sunpeak Spire, some that will stay away from you, others that might want to make a meal of you, and still more that just want to rob you of your coin and belongings. Always stay on your guard and alert. If you are attacked, make the best use of the spells I've taught you. Remember, it's not always the best idea to cast spells directly on your opponents. Sometimes it can be more beneficial to cast them on object near your foes and cause greater damage to them that way. Now, we've said our goodbyes already. It's time for you to leave. Good luck and may Azlehm watch over you, as he has since your birth". Samuel looked to his one-time teacher, still a mentor, and now friend, nodded, squared his shoulders, and started down the path to Sunpeak Spire.

Spoiler

All was going well on his journey for the first 2 days. He had passed by several travelers on their way to Navek, all of whom assured him the road was clear and that no trouble had been encountered. His pace was slow but steady, trying to absorb as much of his surroundings as he possibly could. It was then when he was ambushed by 3 goblins. Two jumped out from behind a rock, and when he turned to run the other way, there was already another goblin there with a spear. Scared, but keeping his wits about him, Samuel assessed the battlefield situation, keeping in mind Sirlaiths favorite saying "It's not the spells you cast, but how you use them that's important". Spying a large tree branch hanging over top the heads of the two goblins in front of him, he quickly cast a spell of acid onto it where Branch meets trunk, dissolving through the wood and causing the branch to fall and land on top of the two goblins heads, killing them instantly. Running and jumping over the mess, he quickly turned around, whipping out a dagger and yelling at the other goblin. Seeing it's companions dead in an instant, the cowardly creature quickly threw down it's spear and fled for it's life.

The rest of the trip was uneventful, and Samuel arrived at Sunpeak Spire just after 4 1/2 days of travel. He stood at the entrance to the city, staring at it in awe, having never seen such a large and beautiful city in his life, made even more amazing by the large Tower in the center of the city, climbing gloriously towards the mid-day sun hanging in the sky. At a loss on how to navigate the city, Samuel approached a guard and asked him how to get to the Order of Mages. The guard instructed him where to go and Samuel set off on his way, careful to not get lost. When he arrived, he informed the guard at the gate of his appointment with Arcidius, and gave him his name. He was led into a vast entry room, decorated with beautiful works of arts, and covered in soft carpets. He took a seat and waited, excited and hoping he would make a good impression on the powerful mage. When a man came out to get him, Samuel knew at once that it must be Arcidius himself. Tall, with a lean but strong frame, with a look of intelligence on his face, the stranger introduced himself. "I am Arcidius Valkore, master of the Order of Mages, and long-time friend of Sirlaith, the old scoundrel. How is he faring these days young man?" Caught off guard by the mans friendly nature Samuel stuttered before replying "H-H-He's fine sir, I left him just a few days ago and he was in great health. He asked me to send you his greetings and to tell you to not be such a stranger. He says he misses the long talks you two used to have". With that, Samuel fell silent, waiting for Arcidius to reply. "Well then young man, would you like a tour of the building before we start your interview?" Arcidius asked.
"Yes, yes I would sir, it's always been my dream to become a Warmage of Sunpeak Spire, ever since I was just a child. Just to be so close to those who protect the city with their magic, to see where they live and study and train, that would be an honor beyond imagining." spouted Samuel, a blissful look on his face. "Well then, lets get started, shall we?" and with that Arcidius strode down a corridor, with a glance behind to make sure Samuel was following him.

The tour lasted an hour, with Arcidius showing him where the regular members of The Order slept, where they trained, and where they relaxed. He showed Samuel where the library was, pointing out that the library had over 10,000 books, many of them about magic, but a large amount also about other topics." It always pays to have knowledge beyond that of your field of study boy, remember that. The more you know, the better off in life you'll be, be it here or anywhere else, in any other job". They resumed their tour of the building, with Arcidius showing him where the few Initiates they had slept, telling him what was expected of them, what chores they were required to do to earn their keep, where they studied/trained and where they ate their meals. "We only have a few initiates at any given time. We aren't a school, we aren't here to teach you how to learn magic. You come here after you know how to cast spells. We teach you how to use those spells to their best effect, how to use them properly on a battlefield, how to aid companions and soldiers
with them. In other words, we teach you the practical, every day application of Magic, especially pertaining to being a defender of this beautiful city we live in. The training is difficult, and not everyone makes it through it. That's just the training, Initiates are also expected to keep the entire place clean, to cut fire-wood in the winter-time, and to maintain the gardens we grow. Knowing all that, are you still interested in becoming a member?" "Yes sir, I'm no stranger to hard work, and this is my life’s dream. Nothing can keep me from it, and I promise you, if you allow me, I will be the hardest working student this place has ever had!" Samuel said in a rush. "Well then, let me formerly welcome you. There is no need for an interview, any questions I would ask have already been answered by your demeanor, your eagerness, and in the fight you had with those goblins on the road here." with that last bit, Samuel looked at Arcidius in wonder, trying to figure out how he know about that. "Yes, I know of your fight with the goblins. Your teacher, Sirlaith

Spoiler

sent me a magical message informing me of your departure from Navek. I decided to monitor your progress when I could with a spell of far-seeing, and I just so happened to see your encounter. Your use of that acid spell was brilliant, and exactly what I would expect from someone taught by Sirlaith. So, let's get you squared away, then after that, you'll have the rest of the day to look around the city. I would suggest getting to bed early though as tomorrow your training begins, and it will be hard." Samuel couldn't contain his glee, and he shouted "Thank you, Thank you so much sir, this means the world to me! I won't let you down, I swear it on my life!"

Thus began Samuels training within the Order of Mages of Sunpeak Spire. It was grueling work, hours and hours of long study each day, followed by just as tiring hours of knowledge application, casting spells in specific environments, in certain situations with different distractions every-time. On top of that, there were the chores. They started 2 hours before training, and lasted for another 2 after training every day. By a single days end, any Initiate would have been awake, and on their feet, busy, for 18 hours. Through it all Samuel perservered, living up to his promise. He was the top student the Order had, even counting the oldest students that had already been there for a year and a half before him. He made no friends with the other students, though he didn't make enemies of them either. Really, none of the students had time for friendship. They trained, worked, ate, and slept for the three years they were Initiates. They all realized friendships would come later, after they mastered the skills and knowledge being taught to them.

Finally, it was graduation day. Only 3 of the 5 students that Samuel started with had made it through the entire training process, one dying from an illness in the winter, the other dropping out, unable to deal with the stress of all that was required of them. Of the three remaining, Samuel was known to be the best of them all. Each were dressed in robes of The Order that had been given to them the day before. They were presented to the rest of The Order in a ceremony, and each were given a Staff of Power to mark their ascension from Initiate to full-fledged member, as well as a spell pouch to carry components in, and a silver necklace with the emblem of The Order hanging from it. Arcidius himself gave each of them their new belongings. He stopped in front of Samuel "You have done what you said you would. You've made your teacher proud, you've made me proud. Enjoy your life among us, study, grow strong, and someday you just might become the Master of The Order". Samuel could only nod at those words, tearing up at the realization that he had accomplished his dream, knowing that somewhere, his parents were watching him and just as proud as he was.

Samuel spent the next two years studying, getting to know his fellow mages, and exploring the city of Sunpeak Spire. He spent many an afternoon wandering aimlessly through the streets, observing the many different people and how they interacted with each other. He discovered the marketplace here was every
bit as nice, if not better as the one in Navek. He spent much of his coin there on various foods, always enjoying both eating and sharing the different foods with his friends. He discovered a small church of Azlehm, and he went there twice a week to pray to Azlehm and thank him for the power he had been blessed with from birth. He frequently asked the god to continue to show his favor to him, to help him perform great deeds in his name. Eventually Samuel even found a woman that he was fond of, Navara Goll, a beautiful young woman who also happened to be a priestess at the church of Azlehm. They spent many evenings talking about their past, the city, how fortunate they were to live in such an age of peace and prosperity. Soon their conversations turned down other avenues. What kind of life they wanted to live, what kind of person they wanted to spend it with. A year after their first meeting, they started dating. Each time they went somewhere together, it was as if all the stars in the universe had aligned. They knew they were meant for each other, that life had brought them together for a reason. They agreed it was best to wait a while longer before they went further in their relationship, but it would only be a small wait, just until they both saved enough money to buy a house together in the city.

It was all crushed in an instant. The night before his 22nd birthday, the last day of Celebration of All-Saints day, Giants attacked the city while it's inhabitants slept off the after-effects of the festivities. Samuel awoke to the sounds of screaming, and the sound of buildings crumbling. He rushed to the antechamber of The Order, and saw several other members already assembled there, including Arcidius. "Sunpeak Spire is under attack! We must aid in the defense of it. We may not be able to win this fight I fear, but we at least have to give the citizens enough time to flee from here, to carry word of the attack to other cities in Erlise." With that, Arcidius sounded the internal alarm, instructed another member to stay and inform the others of what was going on, then bade everyone else to follow him. They rushed outside and, using whatever magic they could to enhance traveling, moved in the direction of the attacks. Upon arrival they saw the cause of the attacks: Giants, and hundreds of them. It was unthinkable that the Giants would attack on such a sacred holiday as All-Saints day, yet they were. Arcidius and the other mages took up positions on the walls and started casting spells at them, trying to give the soldiers as much time to regroup as possible. It seemed as though they were holding, until a thrown boulder took out part of the wall that two mages were standing on. Once that collapsed, the giants raced into the gap, heedless of the spells and arrows being thrown at them. Samuel was clipped by a boulder and thrown from the wall, landing on the ground. He tried to get up, only to have a portion of rubble fall on top of him, knocking him unconscious. When he awoke several hours later, all was quiet. Clearing the rubble off of him, he got to his feet and looked around. Devastation was
all he could see. Burning buildings, what few were left standing, dead bodies everywhere he looked. The giants were gone, their dark deed finished. Sunpeak Spire had been completely, utterly destroyed. Samuel wept, crying for the deaths of so many good people. He prayed to Azlehm that at least some of the people he knew had survived and managed to flee, especially Navara. Picking himself up off the ground, he made his way back to The Orders building. It was one of the few still standing, though it had sustained serious damage. He made his way to his room through the strewn rubble, found his stash of gold coins, his signet ring, necklace, and a blanket. From there, he left the city, determined to travel until he found another city and tell the story of Sunpeak Spire's destruction.

[Reb46]

Soveros Nailo
Male Elf Cleric, age 118
Speech Color: Navy


Backstory:

Spoiler

Soveros was born in a small elf village near Vaellath Ailyas, one of those places where everyone knows one another and without slavery. As a child he was raised by his parents in peace and happiness. During his childhood he was taken as an apprentice by the local cleric, Dorthonion, who taught him about the other peoples living in this continent and their religion.

At the equivalent of teenage in human terms he understood religions were his favorite subject and decided he would become a cleric, so he started working as Dorthonion's assistant, during which he completed his studies about religions while helping his community in everyday tasks such as growing vegetables, defending from the occasional attacks by wild creatures and the like.

Once he reached his 100th year of life, being his entry in adulthood by elves standard, Soveros started worshipping Olidammara, a chaotic god that favors trickery, cunning and freedom. At this time there wasn't anything left for him to learn in town so he took the hard choice of moving to Vaellath Ailyas. His parents had been the first to live in the village and so had some equipment they used to survive left at home: a studded leather armor with a traditional leaf motif, a longsword and the bow they used to hunt during hard times; Dorthonion also had a farewell gift for him: an holy symbol of Olidammara crafted with his own hands. After thanking everyone and bidding farewell, he left for the town.

He found the metropolis full of human slaves. This fact was such a big blow to his beliefs he stayed a single hour in the metropolis as the situation was almost nauseating to him. It was against everything he had been taught and believed in, so he prayed Olidammara to gain his help for freeing the world from slavery. Soveros was forced to leave the city by the guards who almost attacked him when he helped an old human slave to stand up after falling.

Luckily, his being open minded, caring and friendly allowed him to make friends wherever he stayed. Soveros then started travelling in the elven lands towards Diugwe Machleu in order to know how much was slavery spread; after arriving there, he had visited all the elven cities on the way for at least a month each and in all of them he found the same situation. So he decided to leave his homeland hoping he would find better philosophies.

His first destination was Navek where he found out people could live together with no need for slavery. During those few uneventful days in Navek he got to know humans better, being quite puzzled trying to understand such a different mentality from his own, being used to the elves'. He decided it must be their short lives that made them behave in such a reckless and slapdash manner. "Yet, their morality is far better than our own, probably showing my fellow people the human lifestyle they would change for the better..." He thought. But it was still too early to go back, furthermore he didn't want to go back at all.

[BluesEclipse]

And here's mine:

Kerath
Male LN Goblin Soulknife, Level 1, Init +6, HP 12/12, Speed 30
AC 19, Touch 13, Flat-footed 17, Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +1, Base Attack Bonus 0, Power Points 2/2
Overcomes DR/Magic Mind Blade(Short Sword) +5 (1d4+3, 19-20/x2)
Chain Shirt, Heavy Wooden Shield (+4 Armor, +2 Shield, +2 Dex, +1 Size)
Abilities Str 16, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 8, Cha 6
Condition None

Background:

Spoiler

Kerath was born in Riahast, a small goblin village in Hartha, near the Erlisan border. His family kept to the community there, and he rarely had opportunities to see individuals of other races. He was, initially, trained as a warrior, expected to serve as one of Riahast's defenders in case of attack. However, he begain displaying his unique mental abilities at age three, and it was at first believed that he had magical talent.

Kerath learned techniques from the few spellcasters within the village to help him focus his mind, concentrating his power. However, despite his efforts, he found himself incapable of casting even the simplest of spells. As such, it struck his teachers entirely by surprise when his focus caused a blade of pure energy to spring forth from his hand - only to disappear due to Kerath's shock at the occurence. Kerath learned, over time, to replicate this, and it was determined that his power was purely mental in nature, an unusual psychic ability rather than magic.

Returning to his study as a warrior, he learned to maintain and wield his psychic blade, and was recognized as an elite among the small militia of Riahast. His skills were a point of pride for his family, and it was expected that he would become a leader among the village due to his talent and unique power.

When he was 11, however, his life changed. A group of Harthan soldiers set upon the village, stating that those within the village were to be placed under arrest for raids against the larger towns nearby. The soldiers ignored the protests that nobody in the village attacked anyone, and when one of the warriors of Riahast attempted to fight back against the soldier that was moving to shackle him, the soldiers proceeded to attack. Many of the goblins were killed, and those that weren't were captured, led away from the village in chains as the soldiers set it ablaze.

Though the soldiers took precautions against the few spellcasters from the village, Kerath was taken for an ordinary warrior. This oversight allowed him to escape, using his mind blade to cut his bonds, and fleeing when they stopped for the first night. Heading north, into Erlise, Kerath tried to understand what had happened. He came across a fairly large goblin camp - with roughly fifty people there - just inside the Erlisan border, which welcomed him to stay with them, telling him they would be travelling north.

He travelled with them for a couple of days, helping with the basic chores, and sparring with the warriors within the group. He thought it a bid odd that they had a large number of fighters among them - more than half their number - but never said anything. On the third day, he was told that they would be gathering supplies from the nearby town, and he was to go with them. Seeing that all of the fighters within the group were going, and were geared for battle, he came to the realization that this was the group of raiders that were attacking the villages in Hartha. Knowing that he couldn't fight them himself, he accompanied them to the nearby town of Alendale, and when they started attacking, he turned and struck at the attackers. The shock of his sudden defection allowed the town's defenders to mobilize, and they drove the raiders off, though Kerath was taken captive.

After telling them his story, about the destruction of his village and the capture of his people, the guards released him, even going so far as to offer him a position with the small militia that Alendale maintianed. Kerath refused, but offered to help finish off the raider force in the hopes that his people would be freed with the real raiders eliminated. The village aided him, knowing that the raiders could still be a threat, and successfully captured them.

Kerath remained in Alendale while a messenger took word to Hartha, but was dismayed to find that the Harthans refused to release the people of Riahast, and that those goblins from his village that weren't executed had been enslaved. Swearing to find a way to free his people, Kerath travelled, keeping to Erlise and Kammesh, in hopes of receiving aid from them in his goal. Several times, in several cities, he asked for help in freeing his people, only to be denied because of what he was - the humans of Erlise and the dwarves of Kammesh, as much as they claimed to dislike slavery, were unwilling to go to war for a goblin.

Kerath continued travelling on his own, honing his skills and his mind, still holding the burning desire to free his people, and strike back against the Harthan government that attacked them without warning or proof. His travels have taken him through the free lands of Kammesh, and he has, at times, returned to Hartha in hopes of finding news of his family and friends, before bringing him back to Erlise, and to Sunpeak Spire, in hopes of finding some way to get aid for his family, and his people. He arrived on All Saint's Day, and joined the festivities there, in hopes of finding someone to help him.

Then came the attack. Giants - allies of Erlise for ages - attacked the city, bringing devastating force to bear. Kerath knew that the humans would be unprepared for such a battle. After all, there are no wars, no battles in the snows of winter, let alone on All Saint's Day - and certainly not from so-called allies! His psychic blade allowed him to fight, but he was no fool - the most he could do is serve as a distraction. And the other races had long proven unwilling to help him and his village... yet something pushed him to fight. The memory of his own people fighting, and dying, to the soldiers of Hartha. The image of Riahast, burning to the ground. The knowledge that his people were capable of fighting back - these humans likely won't even have that chance, the hope of fighting to keep their homes and families. So, Kerath joined the battle, doing his best to distract the giants from others. Simply striking once or twice while their backs were turned, and running when the hulking brutes turned their attention to him, drawing their ire so that others could escape. Eventually, he found himself fleeing to the outskirts of the village, hiding from the giants, watching from a distance as the village fell, hearing in his mind the screams of goblins fighting and dying. And he told himself, when the dawn came, he would go and offer what help he could - perhaps if they understand what he's been through, they would be more inclined to aid him in his own quest...

Speech color, if needed: Light Blue

[Ajadea]

Originally Posted by Starwulf

Sorry for the delay, for the first time in over 6 months, I actually got more then 4 hours sleep. Went to bed at 4 a.m. and went to sleep right away(normally lay in bed till 8 a.m. or so). I think I was just exhausted from stress yesterday. We were under Tornado Warnings from 5pm till 10pm last night, and at one point I watched a Tornado form directly overhead, so I had to grab my wife and daughters and rush them out into the well-house. It dissipated before it touched down, though not before dropping a ton of golf ball sized hail on us and scaring the crap out of my oldest daughter. -snip-

A tornado? Directly overhead? Seriously. Wow...I'm glad you're OK, Starwulf!

[BluesEclipse]

Originally Posted by Starwulf

Sorry for the delay, for the first time in over 6 months, I actually got more then 4 hours sleep. Went to bed at 4 a.m. and went to sleep right away(normally lay in bed till 8 a.m. or so). I think I was just exhausted from stress yesterday. We were under Tornado Warnings from 5pm till 10pm last night, and at one point I watched a Tornado form directly overhead, so I had to grab my wife and daughters and rush them out into the well-house. It dissipated before it touched down, though not before dropping a ton of golf ball sized hail on us and scaring the crap out of my oldest daughter. Anyways, here is Samuels backstory once again^^

All I can say is

I'm glad you're okay, though.

[Eleanor_Rigby]

Originally Posted by BluesEclipse

All I can say is

I'm glad you're okay, though.

Ditto on this and similar "eek" and "phew" type messages.
We've had some disruption here in Scotland from gale force winds but honest to goodness I'm glad I live where I do sometimes because stuff like this would just freak me out (understandably, I'll wager). Geographically I'm pretty lucky. Still, glad y'all made it to the safehouse type-place. Hope it passes soon.

[SPoD]

Glad you're OK, Starwulf.

Don't worry, I hear Oz is overrated anyway.

[Eleanor_Rigby]

Downloaded a new art programme today and drew the following to figure out how it worked:


Can anybody spot a bewildered goblin in amongst all the sketch marks? (Don't worry, I'm not fishing for art critiques, I just like pictures is all)

Slightly clearer version

Spoiler

[Ajadea]

Very nice. I saw the goblin in the original sketch-poor Magdi. She's hiding during the fall of Sunpeak Spire, right?

Also, IC is up, just forgot to post the link earlier. oops

[Eleanor_Rigby]

Originally Posted by Ajadea

Very nice. I saw the goblin in the original sketch-poor Magdi. She's hiding during the fall of Sunpeak Spire, right?

Also, IC is up, just forgot to post the link earlier. oops

The original sketch is actually the paler one in the spoiler as it happens, but yes, yes she is hiding during the fall of Sunspeak Spire.

I'm off to peek at the IC thread now!

ETA: Awk! On first reading I missed the bit about the butcher's shop and thought the meat smell was coming from the former citizens.

I suspect Magdi will probably hang back until she hears the others talking so I'll leave off posting for a few hours and check in again in the morning.

[Starwulf]

Originally Posted by Ajadea

A tornado? Directly overhead? Seriously. Wow...I'm glad you're OK, Starwulf!

Yeah, it was a pretty scary experience. Thankfully, I live on top of a mountain that's part of a mountain range, so any Tornado's that form tend to break up when they HIT the mountain. Course, that doesn't do anything when one is forming overhead. Just wish I had had my wifes Digital Camera on hand so we could have taken a picture of it, though naturally, we had other things on our mind at the time.

Thank you to the others for the kind words, I'm glad we are ok too! My oldest daughter was fairly stressed out over it afterwards, she woke up several times throughout the night complaining of her stomach hurting her, which I attributed to being so scared. She was much happier after school today though, they had a field trip that took them to an Ice-cream shop among other places :)

I'll be heading to the IC thread shortly and posting :)

[PollyOliver]

Originally Posted by Starwulf

Yeah, it was a pretty scary experience. Thankfully, I live on top of a mountain that's part of a mountain range, so any Tornado's that form tend to break up when they HIT the mountain. Course, that doesn't do anything when one is forming overhead. Just wish I had had my wifes Digital Camera on hand so we could have taken a picture of it, though naturally, we had other things on our mind at the time.

Thank you to the others for the kind words, I'm glad we are ok too! My oldest daughter was fairly stressed out over it afterwards, she woke up several times throughout the night complaining of her stomach hurting her, which I attributed to being so scared. She was much happier after school today though, they had a field trip that took them to an Ice-cream shop among other places :)

I'll be heading to the IC thread shortly and posting :)

Ice cream always makes things better.

Very glad everyone is okay.

[Starwulf]

Yes, Ice-cream can work wonders for the soul, among Adults and children alike ^^.

On another note, I may have to change my text color, Dark Slate Grey blends in way to much with regular text color unfortunately. If it's ok with Ajadea, from here on out, I will be posting in Pale Green

[Ajadea]

Um...Dark Slate Gray was fine, and I can't see Pale Green against the white.

I suggest using quotation tags (these: "") It makes text stand out even when you use things like "Indigo"

[Starwulf]

Yeah, I'm going to have to agree, the Pale green is even harder to read. I'll switch back to ye olde slate gray immediately ><

edit: If you don't mind, I'm going to edit my last IC post, I left it at what I now realize to be a bit odd of a spot. LOL. Just going to finish my characters sobs basically.

[Eleanor_Rigby]

I've posted in the IC

Magdi's not really lived underground since she arrived in the city and rubble's a little tricky so I don't know if there's anything I have to roll for like climbing or something to get her out of there. It'll be a pretty boring campaign for her if she can't climb out of her crawl space but I just wondered if there was anything I ought to roll for to check she doesn't cause a minor avalanche on her way out.

The sobber is meant to be Samuel, hopefully that was clear enough. She's facing the wrong direction and is possibly too low down etc. to actually be able to see him or Sorra. I think she was probably still dozing when he was introducing himself and she's quite close to the city gates still I guess so I don't know if she was nearby enough to hear Sorra's replies - I got the impression Sorra would have been harder to hear as she said less and she was being pretty guarded an all. Since Eztra's backstory ends with Eztra seeing Sorra I thought it'd also make sense to wait for SPoD to post before Magdi met up with the others.

[SPoD]

IC post incoming, I just woke up.

EDIT: OK, first IC post in place. I started with the end of my backstory and just went from there.

[Eleanor_Rigby]

Originally Posted by SPoD

IC post incoming, I just woke up.

EDIT: OK, first IC post in place. I started with the end of my backstory and just went from there.

Aww, that was sweet.
I suspect Magdi's opening gambit to the others might have been similar! Poor Samuel, everyone's going to remember him as the one who was crying... I can't say I'd blame him, of course.
I'm going out now so I'll maybe wait and see how Samuel and Sorra react to Eztra before Magdi gets to the rest of the group. We shall see...

[Ajadea]

Originally Posted by Eleanor_Rigby

I've posted in the IC

Magdi's not really lived underground since she arrived in the city and rubble's a little tricky so I don't know if there's anything I have to roll for like climbing or something to get her out of there. It'll be a pretty boring campaign for her if she can't climb out of her crawl space but I just wondered if there was anything I ought to roll for to check she doesn't cause a minor avalanche on her way out.

Nah, it's still something she could do with a take 10, though there is no way she'd be getting back into the crawlspace.

[Eleanor_Rigby]

Originally Posted by Ajadea

Nah, it's still something she could do with a take 10, though there is no way she'd be getting back into the crawlspace.

[does a search for "take ten" on the SRD]

aaah, so that's what that means...

OK. Operation: goblin out of the hole, will commence shortly.

ETA: Well now everyone's said something! I won't post again IC until Starwulf's back. I held back on the descriptions of the other characters as the thought occurred that Magdi may have seen at least Samuel or Eztra before, or they might have seen her as she wanders about quite a bit. It's a big place though so I thought I'd leave that up to their respective players.

[SPoD]

I hope no one minds me quoting other peoples' speech before I respond to it. I find it helps me keep it clear to whom my character is talking. In this case, it also lets me "back up" and respond to Sorra before Magdi comes out.

[SPoD]

I just went ahead and assumed we're all speaking Erlisan, since we're in Erlise. Eztra would have automatically assumed that was the best language to call for help in, and I don't think Sorra or Magdi speak Hartane anyway.

[Eleanor_Rigby]

Originally Posted by SPoD

I hope no one minds me quoting other peoples' speech before I respond to it. I find it helps me keep it clear to whom my character is talking. In this case, it also lets me "back up" and respond to Sorra before Magdi comes out.

Nope, I thought that was a good idea and I intend to copy you on that one.
Also I deliberately didn't include any dialogue from other characters so that you guys could decide if you'd heard me or not and whereabouts in the conversation Magdi appeared. I'm going to write a response in the in character thread now...

ETA: Oop. I took so long formatting that that PollyOliver ninja'd me. I'll try making changes if I can figure out what to change stuff to. Or maybe Magdi didn't hear what Sorra said if she was still facing the wrong way, looking down the slope? I'd be happy enough to write it off as Magdi not catching Sorra's reply, they're all pretty shaken after all, but I'll make changes if that makes more sense.

[Starwulf]

I am around ^^ I see we have a lot of early day posters ^^ You guys started posting literally 20 minutes after I went to bed, lol

[PollyOliver]

Eleanor Rigby--either is cool, whatever you think works best. Just FYI, though not really important, one of Sorra's brothers was older than her. Tomas was the baby and Ama, the other younger one, ten-ish, was a girl. The oldest was named Maser, though I don't think I ever mentioned it, even in the backstory.

[Eleanor_Rigby]

Originally Posted by PollyOliver

Eleanor Rigby--either is cool, whatever you think works best. Just FYI, though not really important, one of Sorra's brothers was older than her. Tomas was the baby and Ama, the other younger one, ten-ish, was a girl. The oldest was named Maser, though I don't think I ever mentioned it, even in the backstory.

In that case I think I'll edit the post - I thought she might have had three siblings but I only saw two mentioned in the thread and I'll admit not going back to check. I take it that the trip to the city itself for All Saints' Day wasn't her first visit? Just wondering so we could establish a time frame for when Magdi had taught Sorra the song - or was it the other way round?

Also I'd say it's fairly safe to assume they're all speaking Erlisan for the reasons SPoD states. Magdi doesn't speak Hartane although it's not unlikely that she's heard some but she wouldn't understand it beyond perhaps some of the most used phrases or some of the words and phrases that only exist in Hartane form.

ETA: dear me, I am rather slow...