[Characters] The King's Legion

[The Ellimist]

Here's the thread for you guys to post final characters (and sheets when you finish them). 1 post per person please, you guys can go ahead and keep talking in the pre-game thread we've had up if you've still got kinks to iron out in your concepts.

I'll edit this to post the final creation rules soon.

[Outcast]

Character: Vole

 

Full Name: Elisaveta Galityin
Race: Human
Sex: Female
Age: Eighteen
Build: 5'9", Athletic
Hair: Black
Eyes: Blue
"Actress:" Rhona Mitra

 

Class: Cleric
Deity: Hanspur the Water Rat
Domains: Travel and Water
Feats: Cosmopolitan, Selective Channeling
Traits: Brigand ("Freedom Fighter") and Sacred Touch

 

Origin: Noble-born
House: Galityin - petty / fallen nobility, claiming descent from one of the great lineages defeated by Choral the Conqueror, but reduced to minor holdings in the River Kingdoms. They could be seen as somewhat less successful versions of the Aldori of Mivon, perhaps.
Summary: Born into rural gentility, only to have it shattered while still a child. Rescued from the downfall of the fief by a group of retainers, who took her (and what they could salvage) Southwards, further into the River Kingdoms. She finished growing up there, thoroughly steeped in the eclectic nature of the region, dreaming of restoring her family's name, and immersed in the unusual morality and ideals of the area. The eventual forcible break-up of her band of associates only reinforced her commitment to the ideals of Hanspur - though it also forced her to flee Northwards in search of any surviving kinfolk she might have. Managing to track down her cousin Villem, she forged an alliance with him - intending to have another go at restoring the fortunes of the House.

 

Timeline:
~More than a generation ago (40 years?): The primary lineal claimants to the title of House Galityin establish a small domain in the Stolen Lands, naming it Novograd(?).
~30 years ago: Galityin holds a very small but moderately secure area within the River Kingdoms. The initial problems of setting up a holding have been overcome, and prosperity seems an achievable goal, with a focus upon a river ferry and the shipping by water of forest-fed pigs. Ruling over a small village from a newly-built (if somewhat haphazard) manor house, the Galityins can see the prospect of their dreams becoming reality.
~10-12 years ago: raiders (or perhaps agents of a significant power not wanting a rival group to emerge) hit the holding, scattering survivors and killing virtually all the family. Vole is taken away Southwards by a group of former tenants; Villem (and presumably a few others) flee North, eventually reaching Brevoy.
~For about ten years: Villem makes a quiet living as a hunter and trapper in rural Brevoy, contenting himself with small things in the belief that his family and its dreams are utterly gone. He gradually inclines further towards worship of Erastil. Meanwhile, Vole is raised as a "freedom fighter" in the River Kingdoms, winding up as a devotee of Hanspur.
~1-2 years ago: In the wake of the "encouraged retirement" of Vole's honest-we're-not-bandits group, the young priest opts to pursue a rumour (of survivors of the Galityin holdings having fled into Brevoy), and sets off Northwards.
~1 year ago: Vole finds Villem, and a joyous family reunion is effected. Both of them find the discovery that they're not alone to be rather inspiring, and complete their development as a cleric and a ranger respectively (presumably improving from adept and expert, in effect). Vole loses the "orphaned and alone in the world" chip on the shoulder, while Villem sees Erastil's community as something he can be part of rather than just help others to enjoy....
~Now: having worked hard, saved up, and pooled resources, they manage to secure a commission to venture forth and explore a portion of the Stolen Lands...

[clharmon]

Placeholder!

[HenryLockwood]

This is Villem, at the age of eight. He is in a high room in the manor house, but from his desk he cannot see anything out of the windows except the expanse of sky. His teacher drones on, explaining the responsibilities he will take on as he becomes an adult, exhorting the boy to pay attention. Villem does not want to pay attention; he would rather be running in the fields or, better yet, in the forest that he would be able to see from the casement.

The manor house is barely worthy of the name; it is built of insufficiently-seasoned timber and each winter repairs are necessary where the wood is warping. The Galityin lands stretch as far as the eye can see, in name, but only to the edge of the forest does Villem's father have any control. A strong man can shoot an arrow from the manor's turrets to the forest on three sides. These lands, the Stolen Lands, belong to no man, yet it is here that the Galityin holdings lie. Here, because an old family fallen from power in Brevoy has no other place to be. Here, where life is hard, but at least it is free.

-=-

Here we see Villem at twelve; he is a stocky boy with unruly hair. He is listening raptly as Paet, the woodsman, explains how to set a snare for a rabbit. The old man's fingers look as hard and inflexible as the oak, but they move suprisingly deftly and it takes all of Villem's attention to follow the movements. Later that day they will head into the forest, and Paet will show Villem how to identify the tracks the rabbits use, and where to place the snares.

Villem is supposed to be at his riding lessons now. A nobleman's son, the eldest most of all, is expected to ride and is expected to fight from the saddle. Villem is prepared to learn swordplay, for no man who cannot fight can expect to live long in the Stolen Lands, but he would rather stalk and hunt in the forest with Paet than listen to dry, dusty Ander the master-at-arms.

-=-

Two years later, and Villem waits with the rest of the household as his father's sister is confined. Late that evening, the midwife emerges and announces the birth of a daughter, and the men relax. A small cask of brandy is opened, and Villem is allowed to partake. He treats the occasion seriously, as he should, though he is as yet too young to understand. There is surely enough of the family to be content; Father and Mother, plus Teodor and Katerina (Father's brother and sister), Katerina's husband Marek, Villem and his brothers (Anton and Jaroslaw), and Teodor's daughter Miriana. Teodor is a widower, his wife having died in childbirth, and he dotes on Miriana. Villem views the girl, two years his senior, as an annoyance at best - she is not accustomed to being contradicted, and insists on lecturing Villem about his duties. There is talk of a marriage contract, but Villem hopes it is talk alone.

-=-

The years pass. Villem grows suddenly from a stocky boy into a stocky man; he will never be tall, but no-one will look at him and see a weakling or a scholar. His brothers treat him with a mixture of amusement and deference, as he tries to settle in to the role of heir; Miriana is married off to a nearby noble's son and Villem has a place of honour in her escort. He'd grown to like her more than he did as a boy, and while she will never be pretty she was radiant with joy at her wedding. Teodor managed to find a match with affection and attraction, as well as political necessity, for his daughter.

Katerina's eldest, Feodora, is now six years old, and something of a tomboy. Her mother despairs; Father tells Villem not to encourage the child; Marek looks on amused at least for now; and Villem and his brothers take what chance they can to tell her stories about the wild things in the woods and on the rivers. The forests are further from the manor-house now than when Villem was young, and their edges are less wild, but the struggle to keep the land tamed does not end.

-=-

It happened in the autumn, as the leaves were gradually turning to gold and fire. Out of the dawn they came, screaming and howling out of the forest, and the manor burned. Villem can still see that day: he sees some of the servants fleeing south, into the Lost Lands, while he stands at Father's right hand and tries to hold off the attackers. His brothers are there as well, frightened but determined, firing arrows as fast as they can until the range is too close and they switch to swords and axes. Mother runs out of the burning building with Katerina, and the raiders are closing in. They ride shaggy horses, screaming an ululating war cry, and the little shield-wall is soon surrounded. Teodor falls, sighing quietly as a spear takes him through the chest, then Anton, and when Jaroslaw is also slain Father screams defiance and rushes forward. The women draw their knives, standing back-to-back, and the family falls in the dawn of smoke and blood.

-=-

Villem awakes, his head and side aching. He's a mass of bruises, and blood has dried on the side of his head where the blow that felled him did less damage than the attackers thought. A man is standing over him, and Villem's first action is to reach for his absent sword. It's Paet, though, and the old woodsman is holding a waterskin not a weapon. Villem drinks thirstily, and allows himself to be led into the forest away from the ruin of his life.

-=-

It has been ten years since the Galityin holdings fell, and Villem settled in southern Brevoy. So long as he does not use his name, the nobility will not notice him, and so long as he stays as a hunter and trapper, the villagers will not mind him. He lives peaceably with them, though he keeps his father's sword under the bed. He maintains the front room of his long hut as a shrine to Erastil, Old Deadeye, and the villagers do not care where he came from now he is part of their community. It is a quiet life, but Villem has lost his will to strive. Paet died three winters ago, an old man gone to an old man's end, and Villem suspects he is the last of the survivors.

-=-

Into the village rides a young woman, alone and bedraggled, asking for Villem by name. He sees her, does not recognise her until she speaks, and reminds him of the stories he used to tell. "... and in the hollow tree, down by the stream, there's a mad old priest who feeds children to a wolf and tangles their bones in his beard." Feodora has grown up, starving half the time and stealing to survive, raised by former tenants of her uncle's lands. She follows Hanspur, god of the waterways, and goes by the name Vole ("After all, that's what I am now. Just a water rat.")

Villem's sleepy existence has been disrupted; he and his cousin have determined to re-establish the family lands, and when Brevoy charters adventurers to carve out a holding in the Stolen Lands this is their chance.

-=-

 

Villem is a human ranger, specialising in ranged combat. His primary goal is to re-establish a settlement; he is likely to expect to lead whatever expedition he joins, but only by default rather than out of a desire for power or control. Beyond that, he would like to reclaim the land his family once held, though the manor will be long gone and the forest back over its site by now.