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Topic subjectCharacter Challenge - The Setup
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2975, Character Challenge - The Setup
Posted by Rahsael on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
Now that the last Challenge character has deleted, here are the characters and the basic plot:

Strange lights appeared in the sky and seers and soothsayers were stricken with terrible headaches and an inability to see beyond themselves. Even the gods were affected.

Only one foreign seer remained unaffected by this debilitating disease: Argothus the Sickly.

The Hamsah Merchant’s Guild hired Argothus to give it an edge in its dealings. But after traveling from far away to Hamsah Mu’tazz, he chose to disregard the contract, as he would serve only Fate.

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

At the same time, several strange people surfaced:

* Dorlangan *
Dorlangan was a failed mage. He obsessed over his studies, but simply wasn’t good at it. He was deadly serious about his work, spent immense amounts of time at it, and was utterly convinced he was very good at what he did. In fact, he was utterly incompetent.

It wasn’t that he was dangerous. It’s just that he was a drain on time and resources at the High Tower of Sorcery, where he had received an apprenticeship due to family connections (gem business). After numerous attempts at remediation, he was expelled for being so mediocre. They told him it was as much for his good as the Tower’s.

He conducted experiments on his own, convinced that he would change everything and maybe even create a new school of magic. He felt it in his bones, and he felt it in the earth. He became psychologically addicted to magic and eventually destitute. He had a psychotic break and returned to the High Tower, attempting to steal magical items and perhaps do harm to those who had wronged him.

As cruel, ironic fate would have it, an instructor caught Dorlangan and turned him into an experiment. The instructor, who knew Dorlangan well, performed a dampening ritual on the svirfneblin, removing his ability to perform magic, and shifting his brainwaves to a frequency incompatible with magical objects. As an unintended consequence, Dorlangan very much enjoys being around magical objects - he gets a sort of high out of it.

One day, as he wandered the mountains near Udgaard, friendless and alone, he came across an unconscious dwarf.

“What’s your name?” he asked the dwarf.

“Nossos,” the dwarf mumbled, over and over again.

“I guess that’s what we’ll call you,” Dorlangan said.

The dwarf is an amnesiac who remembers very little and has circular scars covering his body.

Dorlangan followed Nossos to the Battlerager’s village. He really likes Nossos. Vast amounts of magical treasure make their way through the Village (albeit to be destroyed). Additionally, this is a chance to get back at that High Tower for taking away what he loved most. Of course, there’s the small matter of hiding your past and true motivations...

Dorlangan might try to trick others into giving him magical objects to destroy… so he can hide them and fawn over them, without actually destroying them. He might occasionally bungle the murder of a mage on purpose, if he thinks he can make it look like an excusable accident.

* Nossos *
Nossos awoke in the mountains of Udgaard as he was being dragged to civilization by a svirfneblin named Dorlangan. He does not remember much of anything; he has vague memories of a farm and a mine and a small village, but faces are muddy and names are nonexistent. He will not recognize Akan or any other city in Thera, though some might seem almost familiar, maybe in spirit, but not in actual substance. He suspects that he may have a family somewhere, and a trade; he might find himself particularly adept at one trade or another, to be chosen by you, based on whatever medieval or dwarven-type trade you’d like to do some Googling about. “Nossos” might not be his name, but it was the word he was mumbling, over and over, when Dorlangan found him. Now, people call him that. He has strange, circular scars all over his body that look almost like injuries sustained from an octopus attack.
He becomes physically upset, angry, and ill upon coming in contact with magic. He is revolted by it and resistant to it, beyond many of his kin.

He will be drawn to the Battleragers and feel a strong sense of belonging there. Additionally, he will want to find out who he is and where he is from. He suspects he may have had a family.

* Idmund and Admund *
Two mysterious children who wandered for an uncertain amount of time in a dark and decaying forest full of monsters before making a deal to escape with a shadowy beast. The beast let them out of the wood on the condition that they find two souls to replace theirs. Idmund was a bit more serious and angry. Admund was a bit happier and more gentle. The memories of their home seemed distant to them, and they only remembered fragments at first - their mother and father.

To outsiders, they were creepy. They always said “we” instead of “I” and called each other “brother” or “sister,” and use that word often.

* Imogrezio *
Imogrezio was raised by his human mother on the road. His mother was a singer and storyteller, whose tales were big and elaborate and beautiful. They traveled from town to town with her tales of heroism, of evils banished, of star-cross’d lovers, of stuffy scholars tricked by lovable scoundrels, of love and the common man winning. He would sing songs between her tales, often recounting the story she just told. Imagine how heartbroken Imogrezio was when he grew a little bit older and discovered none of those tales were true. One of the cruelest things about life as a half-drow is that the parents often die while the children are still children. Such was the case with Imogrezio and his mother. (She never shared with him the story of his father; she instead told a tall tale involving a spider and a butterfly fighting, and both dying, that seemed far too bizarre to be true.) Imogrezio thought about carrying on with the family business, going from town to town concocting and telling tales about nonexistent heroes. It seemed a horrid existence to him. No. If those stories were not true, he would MAKE them true! He would vanquish the great evils and love beautiful women. He would swindle the arrogant and charge into combat, freer than the wind and with a voice twice as lovely. The Inn of the Eternal Star would give him a place to call home, and the connections he would need to make these stories become reality.

* Muzabbak *
Muzabbak El Azahr is the child of an extremely wealthy merchant family from Hamsah Mu’tazz. He made the common, and serious, error of mistaking wealth and privilege for intelligence and talent. He never respected the teachers brought to him from all over the world, and constantly demeaned those of lower social status. When his father, the family patriarch, died, he was forced to take over the family business - which he was simply not cut out for. He began studying the forbidden art of conjuration in secret, attempting to teach himself how to bargain with couriers due to the Sultan’s strict regulations. But conjuration is a tricky art, and, by random chance, the spell opened the door for a terrible demon lord who used magic to bind the foolish and weak-willed Muzzabak.

Now, Muzzabak is an agent of a demon whose name he does not know. He only understands that whatever it is is incredibly ancient and has some unfinished business on this plane that dates back to the dawn of time. He wanders, trembling with growing power, but in a state of constant terror, dreading the moment when his master will return with a new command for him. Muzzabak wants to gain enough power to keep his demon lord happy, hoping one day to turn on the powerful being and win his freedom back. He is a bit of a glutton who enjoys the finer things. He wants comfort and luxury. On the other hand, he is constantly terrified of invoking the wrath of his demon lord, who has not revealed its face or name to Muzzabak. He also fantasizes about keeping his family’s business afloat. He may try to sell things using his family name, but his transactions are sloppy, unreliable, and disjointed. He may over-rely on couriers.He refuses to praise any god in any way, for fear of upsetting the demon lord. He gets giddy - thrilled - when he encounters luxury. He might slip into his old arrogant, condescending ways when in comfortable and opulent environments. He occasionally vomits dead bees. He does not eat bees. He feels insects crawling inside his skin; they may or may not be real

* Lyrentia *
Lyrentia D’Nakht was a Necromancer of the ancient Armies of Order, spoken of in Theran lore. She was a rank-and-file researcher, assigned to the creation of the anti-magic forces that would later become the Battleragers. She performed her work in a laboratory, through which volunteer soldiers (and, toward the end, questionably acquired townspeople, primarily of nonhuman races) were locked in cages and tanks and bombarded with magical energies and potions in attempts to foster resistance to sorcery. She was given a share of the remains, which she used for her own side experiments. Her body bears the signs of a pregnancy and childbirth, but her memories of a baby are muddled. Her husband was a distant and serious Order Mage who played a relatively small role in her life beyond giving her a child. (You can expand on the family drama as much as you’d like. Give the man and child names, etc. as you please) Lyrentia fought off Chaos Mages during a battle near the laboratory one night. Several Chaos Mages cornered her in a graveyard near the laboratory, and she wove spells furiously, nearly killing them all. But they channeled a dispersal spell together against her and her undead, sending her not only through space, but through time. She arrived on a recent day, and the first thing she saw was the sun rising and flashing a thousand eerie colors. Her magical talents remain intact, but her memories of the incantations were scrambled by the trauma of extreme time-travel. The present-day gods are foreign to her. She knew only of the Lord of Order and magic, Rahvin, and Derit, the god of Shadows. She sees Scion as a mating of the two, and Empire as a place that reminds her of her former station. Motivations: Lyrentia has a deep dislike for Entropy and a sense of both pity and disgust for the Battleragers, which she sees as the result of the Order Mages’ failures on the lab and their ensuing departure from order by accepting help from demons without the proper precautions in place. She wants to find out how things went wrong for her late comrades. She wants to find out what happened to her baby, and whether her family line still continues today. She wants to destroy the chaos mages, and find a solution to the Battlerager problem. And she wants to find a new place from which to begin experimentation. She has a need to create.She might be too orderly at times. Hypercritical. Excessively tidy and neat, and in need of a plan. You might want to pick some sayings, “A place for everything and everything in its place” etc. When she goes underground, she occasionally hears the ancient dead speaking to her.

* Lorente *
The son of a Barovian vampire hunter, famous across the Eastern Continent for his adventurousness and chastity (he slew a harem of female vampires and resisted their charms). He saw his father become corrupted by gold and fame, and watched the virtue that initially drove him to do his work fade. Lorente grew up around silver weapons and other weapons tailored toward undead-slaying. Though he never accompanied his father on his missions, the man would come home drenched in blood, wake Lorente, and force the boy to pray with him. The Vampire Slayer spoke of an ancient weapon that had the power to end undeath forever, and he vowed to seek it. But then a woman and her half-drow son began showing up to talk about his exploits. The woman was a storyteller, and she spread his story. With fame came wealth; he began to enjoy celebrity and the luxury that accompanied it, and his crusades ended. He instead accepted money to tell his stories for entertainment. Lorente’s father gave in to hiring prostitutes and drinking wine. Lorente found his father dead one night. He conquered undead horrors, but not his own alcoholism. Lorente blames the storyteller and her half-drow son (he doesn’t remember their names) for making his father famous, leading to his demise. The young man forsook the wealth and the luxury, and took to a life of solitude in nature, seeking to find what truly enlivens his soul. Lorente’s mother left when he was five years old. He only has faint memories of her. She seemed troubled, but loving. His father told him that she died, but refused to otherwise discuss her. Her name was Soreina Lydwich. YOUR CHOICE: Sphere Passion Padwei follower or Sphere Spirit Ergush follower. Motivations: To fully understand what went wrong with his father To finish his father’s work of destroying undead abominations To find the mysterious ancient weapon that would end undeath forever To find and expose the woman with the half-drow son who ruined his father To learn more about his mother Description Guidelines: He’s a young hermit who has forsaken all wealth. Quirks: Really disturbed by the undead. Really irritated by people who purport to be heroes Really irritated by gloryhounds

* Theorendus *
Theorendus was born in a place where the sun never rose.

It was a colorless place, ruled by things unseen. It was a miracle that he lived to adulthood - a miracle attributable to the members of his tribe there. It was desolate and oppressive, but beautiful, in a way. Ruins and ancient contraptions littered the vast and barren expanses - ruins that made Theorendus’ imagination go wild. He wanted to fix them. To live in them. To use them as they were meant to be used by those who had built them.

But this was not the way, said those of his tribe. This life was all he knew, until he discovered there might be more. As the young centaur hunted in the darkest woods of this primordial place, he came across two dark-haired children who stood on two feet and huddled together close. He stalked them close; it was not clear if they would be good food. He saw them speak to something in the dark - what it was, he could not make out. And then, he saw brush part, and they stepped through. He followed them, and came upon a strange void.

When he found his way out, Theorendus was terrified. Rich colors and light flooded his senses. After some time adjusting, he discovered the cities of Thera and was enchanted - most unusual for a centaur.

To see the cities, he took work running errands for the Hamsah Mu’tazz-based El Azahr Trading Company until the patriarch died and the inept son took over, ran it into the ground and went mad. A group of former coworkers began working as bounty hunters and invited Theorendus to join them.

He was pleased to be part of this great, living contraption, where every part served some purpose to keep it all going. Then came Soreina Lidwych.

The bounty was high, all things considered. Theorendus tracked her down to apprehend her. She tried to run. He drew his weapon. She was dead. He felt some sorrow; it was the first woman he had killed. It was only after he turned in her scalp that Theorendus learned her abusive husband had issued the contract, claiming she had stolen a ring - her wedding ring.

This put Theorendus in an unexpectedly dark place. He considered ending his life, but, thinking the place that he came from was Hell, feared he would be sent back to the darkness. He decided to devote his life instead to discerning the difference between guilt and innocence, goodness and wickedness,through worship of Einoh. He would never go back to the dark.

Motivations:
- Make up for his past sins
- Protect the innocent
- Strive to define goodness and contemplate restraint and reason in a set of moral writings throughout his life
- Preach order as a virtue
- Stay out of hell

He becomes genuinely upset at violence, even if it is to protect those of the Light. He will fight valiantly, but accept no honor for it. He is likely to sternly lecture anyone who congratulates another on violence, for it is not violence that should be celebrated, but the privilege of living to enjoy another day, and help others do the same.

He believes Order is a virtue.
He sees a city as a single, giant organism, and sees the beauty of nature within it.

* Cedlizurn *
A racist descendant of the D’Nakht family, cast out for being half-drow. He agrees with most of what his family believes, but makes an exception for the drow. All other races are inferior, and he is rather passionate about this. He routinely sabotaged non-human and non-drow students at the High Tower of Sorcery, including a svirfneblin who was stripped of magical powers as a result. After Lyrentia’s death, he started hearing her ghost speaking to him…

...but this never amounted to much.

2980, Character Challenge - The Finale (or "Daddy Issues")
Posted by Rahsael on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
Our forums don't handle long, long logs well, so here's a link to an unofficial logbin.

Here's the setup: A monstrous, magical spider golem was rampaging through the mountains of Udgaard, leading our heroes to a new passage recently uncovered in an old mine following an earthquake.

If you intend to read the whole thing, keep a box of tissues handy.

PART I: Son Meets Father: http://www.qhcf.net/premium/logbin/5f3c16755b090

PART II: Father Meets Son: http://www.qhcf.net/premium/logbin/5f3c1d5bd8cdd

Comment below!
2981, RE: Character Challenge - The Finale (or
Posted by Idmund on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
1. That's just an awesome story.
2. I'm sad I missed the finale.
3. Why does everything have to end in violence? :)

I'm looking forward to the next challenge, they're always a load of fun. Thanks again for the work that went into it.
2979, Character Challenge - The Theme
Posted by Rahsael on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
A very summarized summary of the idea behind the challenge:

The story was fundamentally about sins across generations.

Thera's "original sin" was the creation of the Battleragers as a weapon of war and their betrayal - a series of terrible events that have shaped most events since. (See HELP STORY)

The idea was to introduce a buried "weapon that could destroy civilizations" as something characters in the challenge could strive to find. In terms of the story and theme, this would give them an opportunity to repeat the sins of the first people.

When the weapon was unearthed, it turned out to be an Order Mage laboratory that played a role in creating the Battleragers. The final sequence showed the terrible personal toll of their creation. Nossos, for instance, lost his whole family and was tortured himself -- Test Subject No.5505, NOSSOS.

History has a way of sanitizing things. So this sought to bring at least one aspect of the creation of the Battleragers to life, to show how brutal and awful and horrific the actions of the order mages were to justify such a lasting hatred of magic.

Each character's storyline included an element to reinforce the overarching theme of sins across generations. Their fathers and mothers killed one another or hurt one another or passed down questionable legacies, leaving their children to make sense of it all and decide whether they would repeat the sin or rebel against it.

There are tons of details and plot points, and each character handled the challenge differently, but that's kind of the seed of this whole thing.

I invite individual characters to post here, summing up their journey. Or you could check out the roles of those whose PBFs were published:

Lyrentia: http://forums.carrionfields.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=31&topic_id=65209&mesg_id=65209&listing_type=search

Admund: http://forums.carrionfields.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=31&topic_id=66356&mesg_id=66356&listing_type=search

Idmund: http://forums.carrionfields.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=31&topic_id=66389&mesg_id=66389&listing_type=search

Nossos: http://forums.carrionfields.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=31&topic_id=65845&mesg_id=65845&listing_type=search

Dorlangan: http://forums.carrionfields.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=31&topic_id=65845&mesg_id=65845&listing_type=search

Theorendus: http://forums.carrionfields.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=31&topic_id=66479&mesg_id=66479&listing_type=search

Lorente: http://forums.carrionfields.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=31&topic_id=66183&mesg_id=66183&listing_type=search
2978, wow you're a great writer
Posted by Dallevian on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
i'll play again on the next go round. simply awesome
2977, Idmund's Character sheet
Posted by Idmund on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
Thank you for the character challenge, it was truly enjoyable and I look forward to the next!

Idmund
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Class: Ranger or Druid
Ethos/Align: Chaotic Neutral
Cabal: OUTLANDER
Sphere: Deception
Religion: Nalasul

Role Guidelines: Idmund and his younger brother, Admund, grew up in a village whose name they do not recall. It was maybe ten years ago, or maybe a thousand, or maybe more. Who really knows?

They wandered too far from home one day and could not find their way back. And so they lived in a dark, ancient forest, hiding from unspeakably grotesque predators and subsisting on disgusting bugs and rotting vegetation.

This went on for a very long time, and their fear of the forest turned into love for it. The forest provides.

One day, they were caught by a shadowy beast with shining eyes. He offered them a bargain:
They could leave the dark, marshy forest, but they would have to bring back two souls to take their place. If they failed, the beast would claim them forever. Upon agreeing, the two brothers found themselves in the Void, and they stepped out into the Holy Grove to begin their search.

Idmund takes some joy in this - a secret mission, a deeper purpose. He relishes thinking about how he will trick someone into taking his place with the beast in that dark forest one day.

If ranger, terrain must be forester or marshdweller. Expertise must not be animist.

Motivations: Idmund feels uncomfortable in cities. But he is always looking for someone to replace him and his brother in the shadowy place.

He has great love for and attachment to his brother. He will do anything to ensure his brother is safe, and vice versa.

He and his brother are both essentially wild animals, and will fight to defend the wilds. The Outlanders of Thar-Eris seem a natural fit for them; they revere the wilds and will use them to accomplish their goals.

Description Guidelines: Strangely pale. Dark hair, dark eyes. Generally innocent-looking, but something hungry and a little savage about him. Dirty. Unwholesome.

Quirks: ALWAYS says “we” instead of “I,” usually in reference to himself and his brother - even when his brother is not present.

He does not call his brother by name; he calls Admund simply, “Brother.” He will immediately come to his brother if called.

Sayings:
“The forest provides.”
“The marsh provides.”
“We don’t want to get eaten, do we?”
“Are we well, Brother?”
“Our stomach is empty, Brother. Our throat is dry.”

Has also some sayings he quotes from Mommy and Daddy.
Daddy: “Do we tell tales? No, not unless we wish for red rumps!”
Daddy: “Measure twice and cut once.”
Mommy: “We always eat our meaties.”
Mommy: “We do not waste.”

(You can make up other sayings and attribute them to Mommy or Daddy - just try to tell new ones to your Brother IC, so you can both use them)
2976, Small update for Theorendus
Posted by Torak on Wed 31-Dec-69 07:00 PM
That was the original version before we decided on being a centaur. Here was the last version I got before character creation (which tied me to the twins). It'd be real interesting to see how this would have turned out had I gone Tribunal (which would have alienated my friends in the Tree but the war wouldn't have been such a big deal for opening the Plane).

Theorendus
Race: Centaur
Gender: Male
Class: Shaman
Ethos/Align: Orderly Good
Cabal: Fortress or Tribunal
Sphere: Reason
Religion: Einoh
Role Guidelines:

Theorendus was born in a place where the sun never rose.

It was a colorless place, ruled by things unseen. It was a miracle that he lived to adulthood - a miracle attributable to the members of his tribe there. It was desolate and oppressive, but beautiful, in a way. Ruins and ancient contraptions littered the vast and barren expanses - ruins that made Theorendus’ imagination go wild. He wanted to fix them. To live in them. To use them as they were meant to be used by those who had built them.

But this was not the way, said those of his tribe. This life was all he knew, until he discovered there might be more. As the young centaur hunted in the darkest woods of this primordial place, he came across two dark-haired children who stood on two feet and huddled together close. He stalked them close; it was not clear if they would be good food. He saw them speak to something in the dark - what it was, he could not make out. And then, he saw brush part, and they stepped through. He followed them, and came upon a strange void.

When he found his way out, Theorendus was terrified. Rich colors and light flooded his senses. After some time adjusting, he discovered the cities of Thera and was enchanted - most unusual for a centaur.

To see the cities, he took work running errands for the Hamsah Mu’tazz-based El Azahr Trading Company until the patriarch died and the inept son took over, ran it into the ground and went mad. A group of former coworkers began working as bounty hunters and invited Theorendus to join them.

He was pleased to be part of this great, living contraption, where every part served some purpose to keep it all going. Then came Soreina Lidwych.

The bounty was high, all things considered. Theorendo tracked her down to apprehend her. She tried to run. He drew his weapon. She was dead. He felt some sorrow; it was the first woman he had killed. It was only after he turned in her scalp that Theorendo learned her abusive husband had issued the contract, claiming she had stolen a ring - her wedding ring.

This put Theorendo in an unexpectedly dark place. He considered ending his life, but, thinking the place that he came from was Hell, feared he would be sent back to the darkness. He decided to devote his life instead to discerning the difference between guilt and innocence, goodness and wickedness,through worship of Einoh. He would never go back to the dark.

Motivations:
- Make up for his past sins
- Protect the innocent
- Strive to define goodness and contemplate restraint and reason in a set of moral writings throughout his life
- Preach order as a virtue
- Stay out of hell

Description Guidelines: Scarred, serious and morose.

Quirks:
He becomes genuinely upset at violence, even if it is to protect those of the Light. He will fight valiantly, but accept no honor for it. He is likely to sternly lecture anyone who congratulates another on violence, for it is not violence that should be celebrated, but the privilege of living to enjoy another day, and help others do the same.

He believes Order is a virtue.
He sees a city as a single, giant organism, and sees the beauty of nature within it.