Saturday, September 7, 2013

D&D Character part 1

Welcome back! Today I need to work on a character for a weekly D&D game.

I've been out of this particular game for a few months now, but I know a bit about the world, and I've had some conversations with the DM about some character ideas, and I think I have one that I like, and that I can be happy with. I have some concerns, after all just because you have a character with a particular skill, and a concept that you're happy with, it doesn't necessarily mean that the skills you are developing will be of any particular use in the setting, or that the other members of the group will work with you when trying to employ said skills.

I'm being vague aren't I? Okay then, sorry about that.  My character concept is an Aasimar con man.

Aasimar however are supposed to be notorious do-gooders, so how does that work? Well this particular Aasimar had a very unusual upbringing, and he uses his skills of deceit and trickery to steal from those greedy individuals who would take advantage of the people who live in the north who don't understand the value of what they have, or the concept of capitalism. I'm picturing something like the Native Americans or the Inuits or something, but that's something for the GM to figure out.

But how did he get there?

Well the way I understand it is that a long time ago there was a time when Angels and Demons roamed the lands, in equal force. For each of one, there had to be another of the opposite. But then the gates of Heaven and Hell closed, and whatever forces of good or evil remained were stuck on this plane of existance. Many bloody battles followed, and both sides lost many of their numbers. But finally there came a day when the Angels finished off the last of the Demons (as far as they knew) and restored balance to the lands.

Except...  except that their presence as Angels and the power and force they represented meant that there would never be true balance. But at the same time they couldn't simply vanish, they couldn't go to their home any more, and suicide or mutual murder would be unacceptable. So the only possible option would be to forsake their immortality and live as and among the people. The three that remained decided between them that they ought to never have children. But inevitably something that would never happen to an angel was all to easy for a human.

Kabshiel the angel of grace and favor found a tribe of nomads living in the north, barely making their way in the world, near to starvation, but possessed of a grace he had never seen before among the humans of the world. He decided to stay among them, and teach them, and help them to survive, reasoning that now that he was human this couldn't possibly considered interference. And so he lived with them and taught them how to find better sources of food, how to read the game trails, where to travel during the seasons so that nature would have a chance to replenish itself, even in the desolate wasteland. They wanted him to lead, but he refused, believing that it wasn't his place, and not wanting the temptation of taking advantage of the power that would give him, hoping instead that they would be able to maintain their innocence. Instead he became something of a shaman, guiding them in day to day life, helping them to survive, advising, but never leading. 

Then came the day that Snow fox came of age. 

Kabshiel, now known as Sky Leopard had watch her grow up, but had never taken a lot of interest in her. But on the day that she came of age, and chose her totem, she sang a song of such deep and profound beauty that he couldn't help but take notice. She sang of deep and passionate longing, of a love that could never be sated, and a respect that bordered on reverence. He had no choice but to fall in love with her, though knew he mustn't. 

She persisted. Every day she sang him a new song, and every day he fell in love again. Finally after 3 full moons he could bear it no longer and agreed to marry her. And in the fullness of time she bore his child. Kabshiel felt enormous guilt, and though he could no longer perform the kinds of miracles he once could he had enough divinity to do one thing to ensure that the effect of his betrayal would be minimal. 

He felt that it would be wrong to stop his child from having any children, but he did cause a change that meant that he, and his child, and all their decendants would never have more than one child each. 

And so it was for several generations. 

When Rabbit of the Northern Star was born the demons were already hunting for him. His mother Star Rose knew that she would never be able to protect him and his father had already been killed by the demons six moons before. They never showed themselves overtly only whispered to her in the dark about how her husband died because of his ancestor's betrayal, and that she was lucky to have survived, and that she should join the demons and live a life better than the simple life she had among her simple people, and let them raise her child, and show him his potential, and make him a god among his own people. 

No one believed her. No one except Wind Eagle the hunter, who had always secretly loved her. She begged him to take her child and go far away so he would be safe. He had little choice but to agree, so selflessly did he love her. He begged her to come with them, but she could not. She had to stay and convince the demons that she was still pregnant, and that she would consider being tempted by them in order to allow Wind Eagle to get Rabbit away. Wind Eagle tried to find some other solution, but ultimately he knew that there could be none. With a heavy heart he took Rabbit, and two oxen, and left heading toward the south. 

The oxen were nearly not enough for them to make it far enough south. Wind Eagle saved as much milk as he was able for the child, but soon he had to resort to extraordinary means to feed the baby, such as trapping goats and buffalo and hobbling them to milk, before slaughtering them for their meat. But soon Rabbit was eating more and more, and Wind Eagle was barely able to keep up with the demand, to the point where he had to water down the milk or run out. 

At the end of 3 months Rabbit was dangerously  undernourished, and nearly didn't have the strength to even cry. Wind Eagle despaired, fearing he had failed Rabbit's mother, when as he trudged through the snow, he looked up and saw a verdant forest in the distance ahead. His heart leaped and he made his way forward. When he reached the forest, he saw by chance a cart rolling along. He hailed the driver, who stopped and looked in astonishment, but agreed to take them with him into town. 

When he reached the village, a small but bustling town isolated by mountains Wind Eagle discovered that no one was willing to give him milk for Rabbit without something in trade, and his supplies had run out several days ago. He had dropped everything he couldn't carry, and so had nothing. 

But then providence once again stepped in, and took their fates by the hand. A small brothel existed in the town, and by chance one of the ladies that worked there had just had a child of her own. She agreed to wet-nurse Rabbit in exchange for Wind Eagle's service as a guard. Some customers had been growing restless and violent as of late, and the ladies would need more protection. 

Wary, but seeing no other choice Wind Eagle agreed. He took the name Sammael to allay suspicion, and to help prevent the demons from finding them. He gave Rabbit of the North Star the name Whit, though in the years to come he would still occasionally refer to him as "Little Rabbit." When he was old enough to get the joke Rabbit, or now Whit, started calling Sammael "Old Bird."

Whit grew up among the ladies of the brothel, learning the arts of diplomacy, flattery, desire, control and deception. He learned to read people, how to draw them out, how to talk them into giving you exactly what you would need to give them everything they desired. 

But his real education began when he turned 16, and a Baron's son came to town. He had never been there before. In the nearby pub, one of the ladies Albina, worked her magic on the man and learned, through his boasting that he was there to hunt, that he had heard about an enormous Albino Bear that had been sighted in the forest, enormous and ferocious. As such a rare thing surely it would make the greatest trophy he had ever had. She was rapt, and held his attention as un-noticed by the Baron's Son, but noticed by Whit, a man named Three-Coin Alexo stood up and left the pub, a strange mischevious look on his face. Whit had never understood what Alexo did in the village, so he followed the strange man out of the pub. Alexo strode casually down the street, and Whit followed at what he thought was a discreet distance, but as soon as they were both out off sight of the Pub Alexo casually U-Turned, causing Whit to run straight into him. After a brief exchange of threats Alexo agreed to show Whit what he was doing, and even offered to let Whit help. 

The following day Alexo pretended to be a woodland guide showing the Baron's son to the place where the Albino Bear was rumored to have his den. The Baron's son saw the bear through the trees while Alexo was looking in the other direction, and in his greed and haste, he drew an arrow and shot the great beast. When he and Alexo made it over to the corpse they saw that it wasn't a bear at all, but a young man wearing a white fur cloak, blood covering his face and body, his eyes open and lifeless, and his tongue hanging out. The Baron's son was horrified. He might be able to get away with quite a bit, but cold blooded murder... he would most certainly be hanged! 

He begged Alexo to make it go away, to hide the body, or make up a story so that he would avoid being punished for this crime. Alexo seemed reluctant, his conscience getting the better of him, the Baron's son though pushed bag after bag of coins at him until Alexo finally reluctantly agreed, and the relieved Baron's son ran off back to his father's lands. 

Whit waited till the Baron's son was gone before standing up. He was covered in pigs blood, and holding up the un-tipped arrow, which a few moments before had been tipped with a fragile shaped limestone arrowhead, which had simply crumbled upon impact. 

Alexo laughingly admonished Whit for having his tongue hanging out, which had almost made him laugh when he was supposed to be acting somber and worried. 

And so Whit learned the ins and outs of the confidence games, and how to rig gambling games, and how to take advantage of a "mark's" greed to take him for everything he had. He had also insisted that Whit should learn swordplay, "For those times when you can't talk your way out of trouble."

But it was Sammael who insisted on teaching him swordplay. The old warrior did not approve of the trickery and deception, but agreed that Whit needed to learn to protect himself. 

And so many years passed. Whit found that he had a conscience when it came to conning, and could not bring himself to treat people who had less than himself. Often, much to Alexo's annoyance, he would end up giving up his own money to help. He found this satisfied a deep part of himself, and whenever he pulled a con from that time forward he always made sure that his share went back to those who needed it the most. 



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Welp, it's 1 am, and while it' not exactly complete, this is certainly a good start to my character background.  I still have to get him from here to where the game begins, but I'll save that for later, along with any revisions I might have to make.

Comments and suggestions are welcome as always, and Thanks for reading!

2 comments:

  1. Very interesting,a midevil burn notice/pretender .

    ReplyDelete
  2. Something like that. But remember that you shouldn't know that.

    ReplyDelete