...Enadar does? Or at least he finds it palatable. I thought I was clear on that?
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Spinach is palatable.
The less we talk about Broccoli on the other hand, the better.
Quiches are for bacon, cheese, leeks, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, and just about anything else besides spinach and broccoli.
Sauteed spinach is delicious in a quiches or frittata. Also baked spinach balls with spicy mayo sauce is equally delicious
That just reminded me of AristoCats, one of the feline secondary characters admits to enjoying broccoli. Weird...(!)
Cream of broccoli soup isn't bad too if you take the time to prepare it right.
EDIT: Just realised... why did I reply to you on matters of broccoli when you were only referring to spinach?! <__>
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...Well...time to go a little roundabout with the Face I made for Shadowrun.
Game: Shadowrun
Runner Name: Zaccone
Real Name: Logan Williams
Race: Elf
Class: Face (Disguise, Infiltration, Con Man)
Game: Shadowrun
Runner Name: Zaccone
Real Name: Logan Williams
Race: Elf
Class: Face (Disguise, Infiltration, Con Man)
Last Seen: Montreal, Québec. Escaped from police custody shortly after arrest.
Known Associates: Zoe Williams (Missing. Presumed deceased), Jack Snipe (Missing), Mason White (Missing), Sarah Smith (Missing), Jayden Leung (Missing), Charlotte Bell (Missing), Ethan Bennett (Missing), Frank Chaney (Missing)
Profession: Security Specialist, Co-Founder of Keyhole Security
Specialization: Social Engineering
Current Status: Wanted for one count of arson, one count of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder, five counts of felony murder, and escape after arrest. All counts date back 3 years (on March 23). Crime and rough physical description are on file, compiled primarily from witness testimony (Records predating Mr. Williams’ disappearance vanished shortly after he did).
Mr. Williams stands accused of killing his wife (first degree murder) and two witnesses (second degree murder), presumably due to his neighbors - both close friends of his wife – walking in on the scene of the crime. He is further accused of a count of arson in what appears to have been an attempt to hide the evidence by incinerating his house. The fire spread to adjacent buildings, which killed another five people (Felony Murder).
Known Associates: Zoe Williams (Missing. Presumed deceased), Jack Snipe (Missing), Mason White (Missing), Sarah Smith (Missing), Jayden Leung (Missing), Charlotte Bell (Missing), Ethan Bennett (Missing), Frank Chaney (Missing)
Profession: Security Specialist, Co-Founder of Keyhole Security
Specialization: Social Engineering
Current Status: Wanted for one count of arson, one count of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder, five counts of felony murder, and escape after arrest. All counts date back 3 years (on March 23). Crime and rough physical description are on file, compiled primarily from witness testimony (Records predating Mr. Williams’ disappearance vanished shortly after he did).
Mr. Williams stands accused of killing his wife (first degree murder) and two witnesses (second degree murder), presumably due to his neighbors - both close friends of his wife – walking in on the scene of the crime. He is further accused of a count of arson in what appears to have been an attempt to hide the evidence by incinerating his house. The fire spread to adjacent buildings, which killed another five people (Felony Murder).
Aliases: Matt Hagan, Ethan Bennett, Eli Selig, Eugene Dolan, Frank Chaney, Bernard Fallon, Zaccone
(Logan's quite fond of older media and regularly invokes old characters/actors as an in-joke and low-key flex about how well he can sell an identity)
Relevant Alias info:
* Ethan Bennett and Frank Chaney are known associates of Keyhole Security. Wanted for Questioning
* The names Matt Hagan, Eli Selig, and Eugene Dolan have popping up in relation to Zaccone.
Nothing conclusive, but police assume them to be intermediaries
In reality, Logan is innocent of the charges against him (other than escape after arrest). In truth, he’d come home to find his house ransacked, his wife being dragged away and several men preparing to destroy the home to eliminate the leads. He was quickly subdued and left unconscious (no restraints. He’d have been recognized as a victim rather than the likely culprit if he died while tied up) within the house as it was set ablaze. He escaped, but not without injury. All the same, the circumstantial evidence and a few anonymous and undisclosed testimonies ensured that he was viewed as the prime suspect for the incident, a suspicion that seemed to be confirmed when he started running. He is determined to find his wife and make those responsible pay.
(Logan's quite fond of older media and regularly invokes old characters/actors as an in-joke and low-key flex about how well he can sell an identity)
Relevant Alias info:
* Ethan Bennett and Frank Chaney are known associates of Keyhole Security. Wanted for Questioning
* The names Matt Hagan, Eli Selig, and Eugene Dolan have popping up in relation to Zaccone.
Nothing conclusive, but police assume them to be intermediaries
In reality, Logan is innocent of the charges against him (other than escape after arrest). In truth, he’d come home to find his house ransacked, his wife being dragged away and several men preparing to destroy the home to eliminate the leads. He was quickly subdued and left unconscious (no restraints. He’d have been recognized as a victim rather than the likely culprit if he died while tied up) within the house as it was set ablaze. He escaped, but not without injury. All the same, the circumstantial evidence and a few anonymous and undisclosed testimonies ensured that he was viewed as the prime suspect for the incident, a suspicion that seemed to be confirmed when he started running. He is determined to find his wife and make those responsible pay.
Before his disappearance, Williams was the co-founder of a company known as “Keyhole Security”, and a core member of its first (and ultimately only) Tiger Team, designed to expose flaws in security protocols and offer advice to fix those flaws. Former clients of the company indicate that Williams’ specialty was exploiting personnel protocol holes to insert himself into the client’s company as an impromptu inside man. These same clients indicate that he could blend in well enough that the first hint he had been among the staff was a tarot card they would find after he left (The Tower card, which one client revealed to have stemmed from a joke between Williams and Smith).
Keyhole Security was the brainchild of long-time friends Logan Williams and Jack Snipe, famously conceived over drinks after hearing about a failed break-in at a local Renraku office. They’d quipped back and forth about what the perps had done wrong and concluded that they probably could have done it better. Unusually, they still decided to work off that idea after they’d sobered up (Albeit with a slightly different direction than their inebriated selves had joked about), realizing that they could make money by offering security advice to various companies.
Lacking prestige or resources to speak of, Snipe immediately realized that their first priority needed to be establishing their competence. To this end he arranged to do several Pro-bono jobs for small businesses. These jobs typically involved Snipe studying the client’s security protocols and identifying their flaws, which Williams would then exploit as a demonstration. The two would then outline ways to improve upon the systems in place. These first few jobs – while free of monetary charge– came with the understanding that so long as the client was satisfied with the results they would recommend the budding “Keyhole Security” to their associates, with the understanding that Keyhole’s services would not always be free at later dates. Before long their name had spread enough that Snipe felt comfortable charging for services rendered, after which point they soon became a proper business which could afford to start hiring. Their first recruit was Mason White, a SINless dwarf with a knack for making keycards. Next was a hacker by the name of Zoe Brown, then the conjurer Sarah Smith for recon, Charlotte Bell as a second hacker, and finally Jayden Leung as a Spook/Grease man. Naturally, as their collective abilities increased, so too did the rates they could charge and the prestige of their clients. In the span of a year, the duo had become a seven person Tiger Team.
It is perhaps notable that despite offering a legitimate service, Keyhole wasn’t terribly concerned with whether or not their employees were SINners (Despite the fact that it’s usually taken as a given that you need a SIN to get a legal job). Point of fact, their employees could often be found looking around the slums for new talent. Officially, any SINless who were hired were encouraged to register for a SIN (With the understanding that the company would foot the bill), but unofficially this was apparently not enforced (Testimony from former clients indicate that Keyhole regularly supplied information on flaws that the SINless in particular could exploit, a detail which would logically be harder to verify without SINless employees).
While it never reached the prestige of larger security companies like Lone Star, Knight Errant, Hard Corps or other major companies, and offered far more limited services (they only ever offered to test and improve upon existing systems rather than providing direct support or infrastructure (outside of protocols)), Keyhole Security grew rapidly and was regarded as an surprisingly capable upstart company in those areas where it did business. Less than four years after its founding, Snipe was searching for talent to establish a second team to expand the company’s influence even further.
Snipe’s plans, however, came crashing down with the apparent murder of Zoe Williams (Formerly Zoe Brown) by her husband Logan Williams, and Logan’s subsequent disappearance. Shortly afterwards, Bell went missing, and Smith followed mere days after that. After that, the rest of the team dropped off the map, their records wiped as if they had never existed, save for a group photo that had hung on the wall, and a hard copy of a wedding invitation hanging on the wall of Snipe’s former home identifying him as Logan’s best man for his marriage to Zoe Brown. As of this time, Mrs. Williams is the only member of Keystone whose data still remains fully intact (save for holes which presumably described her fellow employees). All other Dossiers comprise what can be gleaned of Keyhole’s employees from interviews with their former clients and personal contacts, and what little information had hard copies before the wipe.
Lacking prestige or resources to speak of, Snipe immediately realized that their first priority needed to be establishing their competence. To this end he arranged to do several Pro-bono jobs for small businesses. These jobs typically involved Snipe studying the client’s security protocols and identifying their flaws, which Williams would then exploit as a demonstration. The two would then outline ways to improve upon the systems in place. These first few jobs – while free of monetary charge– came with the understanding that so long as the client was satisfied with the results they would recommend the budding “Keyhole Security” to their associates, with the understanding that Keyhole’s services would not always be free at later dates. Before long their name had spread enough that Snipe felt comfortable charging for services rendered, after which point they soon became a proper business which could afford to start hiring. Their first recruit was Mason White, a SINless dwarf with a knack for making keycards. Next was a hacker by the name of Zoe Brown, then the conjurer Sarah Smith for recon, Charlotte Bell as a second hacker, and finally Jayden Leung as a Spook/Grease man. Naturally, as their collective abilities increased, so too did the rates they could charge and the prestige of their clients. In the span of a year, the duo had become a seven person Tiger Team.
It is perhaps notable that despite offering a legitimate service, Keyhole wasn’t terribly concerned with whether or not their employees were SINners (Despite the fact that it’s usually taken as a given that you need a SIN to get a legal job). Point of fact, their employees could often be found looking around the slums for new talent. Officially, any SINless who were hired were encouraged to register for a SIN (With the understanding that the company would foot the bill), but unofficially this was apparently not enforced (Testimony from former clients indicate that Keyhole regularly supplied information on flaws that the SINless in particular could exploit, a detail which would logically be harder to verify without SINless employees).
While it never reached the prestige of larger security companies like Lone Star, Knight Errant, Hard Corps or other major companies, and offered far more limited services (they only ever offered to test and improve upon existing systems rather than providing direct support or infrastructure (outside of protocols)), Keyhole Security grew rapidly and was regarded as an surprisingly capable upstart company in those areas where it did business. Less than four years after its founding, Snipe was searching for talent to establish a second team to expand the company’s influence even further.
Snipe’s plans, however, came crashing down with the apparent murder of Zoe Williams (Formerly Zoe Brown) by her husband Logan Williams, and Logan’s subsequent disappearance. Shortly afterwards, Bell went missing, and Smith followed mere days after that. After that, the rest of the team dropped off the map, their records wiped as if they had never existed, save for a group photo that had hung on the wall, and a hard copy of a wedding invitation hanging on the wall of Snipe’s former home identifying him as Logan’s best man for his marriage to Zoe Brown. As of this time, Mrs. Williams is the only member of Keystone whose data still remains fully intact (save for holes which presumably described her fellow employees). All other Dossiers comprise what can be gleaned of Keyhole’s employees from interviews with their former clients and personal contacts, and what little information had hard copies before the wipe.
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So we've been thinking about migrating from D&D 3.5 to 5E, starting back from lv1 to get acquanted with the new rules. I first considered maybe playing a martial, but compared to the fun builds you can make with the Tome of Battle classes, it seems like 5E made martials super boring beatsticks again. So caster it is. I'm looking into maybe going Bard. Never played one before and the 5E version looks like a very versatile class. I have a character idea in mind, but not sure whether it's maybe too gimmicky
Name: Aelvys
Race: Half-Elf
Class: Bard
Ok, so the concept is that he's Elvis Presley. Literally. He never died but got isekai'd into our homebrew setting and incarnated into a half-elf body. Like the real Elvis, he'd be a thoughtful, kind and generous guy with a bit of a shy streak and prone to substance abuse. That's what I got so far, got more details to work out.
Name: Aelvys
Race: Half-Elf
Class: Bard
Ok, so the concept is that he's Elvis Presley. Literally. He never died but got isekai'd into our homebrew setting and incarnated into a half-elf body. Like the real Elvis, he'd be a thoughtful, kind and generous guy with a bit of a shy streak and prone to substance abuse. That's what I got so far, got more details to work out.
Much shorter one this time, for very practical reasons: It's a Call of Cthulhu character. I wanted enough to work with, but not so much that I'd be frustrated at the wasted effort if when he died (as you do in that game).
Game: Call of Cthulhu
Name: David Moretti
Race: Human
Occupation: Doctor, Criminal (Mafia)
Birthplace: Detroit
Member of the Moretti crime family. On the surface he is polite, soft spoken and honorable, but this masks a cold ruthlessness that will not hesitate to gun down the enemies of the Moretti family the very moment the order is given. Having been born into that life, he’s well familiar with his family’s dealings and how best to protect them. He’s a smooth talker, a sharp shooter and knows his way around the criminal underworld. Currently, he is searching for his cousin Enzo Moretti, son of the Moretti patriarch Rafael Moretti. Enzo had started acting strangely sometime prior, and had disappeared with a cryptic message, which the family contacts insist tie the boy to a local cult somehow. Whether this means his young cousin has turned on the Morettis or is being threatened by them, David doesn’t know, but he fully intends to find out.
Despite his ruthlessness and criminal connections, David does have a softer, more compassionate side, which is what led him to study medicine. While he's more back-alley than official, David is a fully competent and licensed doctor. As a point of principle, he refuses to use his skills to prolong torture victims' suffering, but on the flip side he has few qualms about smothering patients the Morettis find 'inconvenient'
Game: Call of Cthulhu
Name: David Moretti
Race: Human
Occupation: Doctor, Criminal (Mafia)
Birthplace: Detroit
Member of the Moretti crime family. On the surface he is polite, soft spoken and honorable, but this masks a cold ruthlessness that will not hesitate to gun down the enemies of the Moretti family the very moment the order is given. Having been born into that life, he’s well familiar with his family’s dealings and how best to protect them. He’s a smooth talker, a sharp shooter and knows his way around the criminal underworld. Currently, he is searching for his cousin Enzo Moretti, son of the Moretti patriarch Rafael Moretti. Enzo had started acting strangely sometime prior, and had disappeared with a cryptic message, which the family contacts insist tie the boy to a local cult somehow. Whether this means his young cousin has turned on the Morettis or is being threatened by them, David doesn’t know, but he fully intends to find out.
Despite his ruthlessness and criminal connections, David does have a softer, more compassionate side, which is what led him to study medicine. While he's more back-alley than official, David is a fully competent and licensed doctor. As a point of principle, he refuses to use his skills to prolong torture victims' suffering, but on the flip side he has few qualms about smothering patients the Morettis find 'inconvenient'
Regular spinach leaves are no different than lettuce really, they are fine. That weird thing Popeye eats? No clue, never tried that stuff
OT: This is more about a friend of mine's character, possibly the most fun I've had playing with him, and the most in-character he's ever been.
So, my friend, is incredibly introverted. He's never been diagnosed, but he has speculated that he might be slightly autistic, or possibly have asperger's syndrome, given how he acts in social settings and other things. He's definitely and odd bird. I used to room with him for years, and he was always awkward about social stuff. Anyway, we were playing...I think it was the Legend of the 5 Rings setting? But he decided to make a character very against his usual playstyle, and made basically a halfling barbarian. I forget the name of the race, but they were that settings "halfling" equivalent, and he made him a barbarian, who used a longsword as a two handed weapon, because for him it was one size category above his one handed. Gyomen Fek was his name, and he was glorious.
My friend's basic roleplay rule for him, was to not think, and just do. Given his above mentioned social/mental issues, he tends to spiral into a never ending mental analysis mode when gaming, and we have to kind of snap him out of it, or we would sit there all night waiting for him to suss out things to his satisfaction. It usually meant he was always like 10 minutes behind mentally, because he was still mulling over what we had just talked about, but we've already moved on. So, his solution with Fek? Don't think. Fek no think, Fek DO! So he would actively stop himself from analyzing, and just have Fek do something impulsively. Because Fek was a tiny little drunk of a barbarian, who constantly got into trouble, and it was amazing to behold. My reclusive, soft spoken, always slightly "off" friend, just fucking rolling with it, and improvising on an impulsive level, made for some of the most insane situations that we ever had as a group. We all loved Fek, Fek was amazing.
Another character my friend suggested once, but never actually played, was for the game setting Scion, by White Wolf, or whatever they are called now, the new Scion system that was published a year or so ago. Anyway, basic premise of the game, it's like American Gods, or Percy Jackson. You play the actual children of the gods, of whatever pantheon you want, and you have powers, and you get into mythical level adventures, but in a modern setting. The God of War video games are also another good example of the kind of things you can expect to do in a Scion game. Fighting literal Titans, that are building size, having strength to hurl buildings, and just tons of crazy mythical stuff.
He had an idea, for playing a Bollywood action star, who was a child of...I think it was Vishnu? One of the Hindu pantheon. Basically he was inspired by the fact that we had recently seen the first Singham movie. And the opening scene, I commented how it felt like they were implying that Singham was literally summoned from the celestial realm to protect the people. This clip here specifically was what made me think this.
First off, god those fucking drums in that song!! Love that shit! Anyway, that very first bit, REALLY felt like a literal summoning ritual. Now I'm not an expert on Bollywood, if that was actually the intended idea, or they just love that big over the top imagery in their movies. Singham is the only one I've ever scene. But that kind of thing, is exactly the kind of thing that might happen in Scion. And tons of other things in the film just scream Scion based character. And I was like "damn, I feel like I just watched the Scion of a Hindu god being summoned by his followers, using the Boon that lets you actually do that kind of thing. A Scion of Justice/Law/Guardian, summoned to be a cop in this one area, because it's become too lawless. " And my friend sort of spun it a bit, and had the idea for "What if he's actually an actor, but is also a Scion? So he kind of uses the over the top insanity that is Bollywood storytelling, to be his cover as he's running around doing godly shit?' And I lost my mind for that. I was SOOOO on board for that. To have him play another just sort of insane Face character, and do some of the crazy things in Bollywood, but ACTUALLY have them happen.
Because Scion is ALL about Go Big or Go Home. The level of stuff you are expected to do as you grow into your godly power, is just nuts. To other game settings, the act of driving your magically imbued motorcycle off a cliff, to get you above a giant titanspawn, and then leaping off to skydive down at the beast, brandishing your dual blades of the sun to smite the beast as you dive bomb it's throat, while your allies summon tornadoes and lightning storms to fight it, while another ally transforms into a giant, metal clad champion to punch it in the face, miiiiiight seem excessive. But in Scion, and Bollywood....
So I was ALL IN for that kind of character. Sadly he declined to play it, and we never ran the setting. But it was a glorious idea while it lasted.
Well, considering my cleric in my main D&D group is probably going to die soon, allow me to introduce my next character.
Yes, its a joke charecter. Shenenigans will happen...alot.
Shen Shuon:
Like all Kenku, Shen wishes to fly. Also like all Kenku, he has more than a few problems with this as his ability to communice with others is often hampered by what he can mimic, and a complete lack of origional thought.
This his reacuring strategy is something he saw an palice official do once: strap alot of rockets to a chair and lite the fuse. He went skyward, then landed in the next continent.
There he became a local hero by ending a water shortage of the province. It involved accidentaly blowing up the damn built and operated by an evil overloard (it involved a chair and lots of rockets attached to it, and an explotion).
He also ended the food shortage of the area. It involved a chair with alot of rockets attached to it, and an explotion on the evil overlord's armory. The explotion then took out the guard barreks that guarded the food store houses, and convinently the front gate.
With the overlord forced to abandon his lands, as its hard to hold on to them without an army, Shen was hailed as a hero instead of going in the oven. He was then sent to a Monestary to learn ballence, controle, while doing the most important thing of all: Keeping him away from explosives.
Yes, its a joke charecter. Shenenigans will happen...alot.
Shen Shuon:
Like all Kenku, Shen wishes to fly. Also like all Kenku, he has more than a few problems with this as his ability to communice with others is often hampered by what he can mimic, and a complete lack of origional thought.
This his reacuring strategy is something he saw an palice official do once: strap alot of rockets to a chair and lite the fuse. He went skyward, then landed in the next continent.
There he became a local hero by ending a water shortage of the province. It involved accidentaly blowing up the damn built and operated by an evil overloard (it involved a chair and lots of rockets attached to it, and an explotion).
He also ended the food shortage of the area. It involved a chair with alot of rockets attached to it, and an explotion on the evil overlord's armory. The explotion then took out the guard barreks that guarded the food store houses, and convinently the front gate.
With the overlord forced to abandon his lands, as its hard to hold on to them without an army, Shen was hailed as a hero instead of going in the oven. He was then sent to a Monestary to learn ballence, controle, while doing the most important thing of all: Keeping him away from explosives.
Well, here's my all-time favorite PC from any TTRPG, which I played for years:
Vampire: the Masquerade (Transylvania Chronicles)
Claudius bani Tremere
Omnicidal Maniac
Vampire: the Masquerade (Transylvania Chronicles)
Claudius bani Tremere
Omnicidal Maniac
Claudius was something of an anomaly among most VtM "new" PC's, actually being 700 years old at the time of the chronicle's beginning. Because he was a grizzled, salty bastard of an Hermetic master of House Tremere, introduced into the order shortly after its and a loyal war-mage for centuries. When he discovered his house had been overtaken by vampires, he was about to turn coat and join House Flambeau when he was ganked and Embraced.
At 11th generation. By one of his former students. Whom Claudius loathed in particular for being a lazy do-nothing who did nothing for House but foster political connections. As punishment for killing a crapload of Tremere neonates on his attempted way out the door. Then he was sent to the front lines of the Omen War, to ensure he died quickly and painfully and wouldn't pose any more of a threat to the clan than necessary.
Except Claudius had a couple aces in the hole. First, was the more obvious one: he was really, really good at thaumaturgy, specifically the paths and rituals on the more "mass murder"-y side of the spectrum. Second was the one the Tremere really didn't need to know about: an ally in Myca Vykos. Because despite being a Tzimisce, Vykos was a Tremere in life, Claudius was one of his instructors, and they both hated the Tremere. Arrangements were made, and well...Claudius had a knack for avoiding Tzimisce attacks, Vykos had a knack for avoiding Tremere attacks, and golly gosh gee, Claudius' enemies in his own clan and Vykos' enemies in his just kept dying by each other's hands.
Made that first Transylvania Chronicles story when Vykos actually shows up real interesting. The ST was over the damn moon I wrote a backstory for the character that involved deep dives into both clans, their interconnectivity, and involved the metaplot in such a way he could actually plan for the character in really cool and interesting ways. Then he green lit my character knowing Enochian, because Enochian is commonly-known among Tremere, especially Dark Ages Tremere and those with a more spirit magic bent (which my character was)...and my ST spent the first half of the chronicle kicking himself for it.
Brief primer for those who don't know much about WoD, VtM, or Transylvania Chronicles. Enochian is the first language, and the language of spirits. Knowing Enochian allows for communication and direct control over spirits. It also happens to be the language a series of scripts and prophecies, written by Saulot, about the end of the world PC's are intended to find and decode over the course of centuries. Transylvania Chronicles' chief plot thread is about a powerful demon and its host, bound to Transylvania and the Tzimisce clan, whose meddling along with Saulot's are what led to the Tremere becoming a clan of vampires in the first place let alone Saulot's planned diablerie at Saulot's hands.
So my character got his hands on these writings and prophecies written in a language player characters aren't supposed to know about an Antediluvian and a demon player characters aren't supposed to be able to commune with, and rather than the centuries' worth of information drip-feed that's supposed to happen, Claudius was able to translate them and figured damn near everything out immediately. Claudius was old and smart enough to know the only thing more dangerous than being an ignorant Tremere, was being a Tremere who knew too much, so he had to set plans in motion immediately to ensure his own survival long enough to accrue enough power to resist the influence of his own clan.
He had to keep his mouth shut and his head down long enough, to con his way into learning the Tremere ritual for breaking the blood bond -- and the ritual for enforcing the Tremere communal blood bond on himself. Then he had this arcane, incredibly obscure, ridiculously convoluted, process of hiding the knowledge he learned, having his own memory wiped of it every few years, and laying a series of bread crumbs and dead drops for himself only he could find, so that once his memory was erased he would find his way back to the real secrets of the clan on his own predetermined terms. Except every time, once he picked up his own bread crumb trail he would break his blood bonds, then when he learned it all over again he would reinstate the Tremere blood bond then have his memory wiped again.
Basically, Memento with fangs, except it lasted for 300 years and it was a whole lot mass murder-y. Meanwhile, Claudius was playing the good little Tremere, doing his clan's bidding and eating his way up the food chain. Literally. He ate his piece of crap do-nothing sire on false accusations of infernalism that actually turned out to be true, his grandsire for having failed the clan on some trivial matter, his great-grandsire, and so forth until he was 7th generation. Eating his way to 6th and 5th generation could come later and he actually had to go out of clan for that, and it did, but by that point the character had snowballed and little short of a ST-mandated Methuselah plot device smackdown was going to stop him.
Three things of note happened in the 1300's for Claudius. First, Fun Times with Vykos came to an end, which is what happens when one plays an integral role binding the aforementioned demon which happened to be a significant source of the Tzimisce's supernatural might, kneecapping them in the face of a clan of sorcerers. That wasn't a "Claudius" thing, that was a "the metaplot demands it" thing. Second, was one of the Tremere's leaders, a vampire by the name of Goratrix, became no longer useful to Saulot and was maneuvered into a scenario which led to disgrace and turning traitor to the clan; so, Claudius went Team Goratrix on the sly, staying inside the clan until he felt the time was right to make a decisive move. Third, a bloodline of sorcerers known as the "Giovanni" appeared on the radar, and Claudius was more than happy to extend a hand of friendship among these Italian up-and-comers, even trading off some Thaumaturgy secrets in exchange for Necromancy.
But honestly? Replacing Vykos for Ambrogino (one of the most powerful Giovanni, period) on the ol' Allies list is a hell of a bargain. Especially when that came with a side dish of clan friendship and getting Augustus frickin' Giovanni (the colossal A-hole who would become the Giovanni Antediluvian) on the Contacts list. With that in his back pocket, around the late 1600's came time time for ol' Claudius to flip his own clan the double-bird.
Which he did by burning literally every Tremere chantry (i.e. headquarters) in Transylvania. At once. Being able to hop in and out of the Shadowlands (ghost realm) at will, and teleport, is a hell of a power. Same for being old enough to remember the formula for Greek fire, and an alchemist to boot. And a spirit mage capable of conjuring ghosts, and earth and fire spirits, for an extra heaping of earthquakes, magma, and fire to really twist that knife in deeper.
My ST was pissed. He was like "you know the Tremere are going to come at you with everything they have right?". I said, "bring it". He said "they can use your True name just to kill you"; I said, "I used Necromancy to change my True Name". He said "they can use your blood phylactery to track and kill you"; I said, "remember when the clan moved from Ceoris to Vienna, I helped, and I said at the time I was swapping my blood phylactery for some random neonate's?". He said "they can scry for you, find you, and just blow you up"; I said, "can they scry into the Shadowlands where I live now?".
He said "they know your true form and can just summon you"; I said, "remember when my character bathed in the River Styx, that changed my true form, and I was extra careful to make sure no Tremere has seen me since? It was part of the ritual to change my True Name. It's why I have Horrific Visage (0 appearance and the vampire looks like an ambulatory shriveled corpse) and Methuselah's Thirst (can only feed from vampires) now".
Finally, he said "fine. The Tremere can't actually do anything to you right now, but they're still putting you on the Red List". I thought to myself, "sweet, I don't have to go hunting any more, the food hunts for me". Not gonna lie, the next couple centuries sucked. Being Vampire bin Laden has its drawbacks, chiefly hiding in Maelstroms watching basically every Background other than Generation degenerate to zero, only being able to sneak out to catch up on news with various Giovanni and the other PC's, and making the occasional snack of a Sabbat pack.
Things actually got a little easier at the end of the chronicle, once the Harbingers of Skulls show up. Claudius looked like one of them, had their disciplines, and had made buddies of a few during his extended stay as deep in the Shadowlands as he could go, so he was able to pass himself off as one and move freely.
At the point the chronicle ended, Claudius had gotten his hands on the True Vessel (the last remaining drops of the Cappadocian Antediluvian's blood, to which the part of his soul not consumed by Augustus was bound) and was banging out this completely whackadoodle scheme to use the True Vessel and resurrect his Avatar (the supernatural spark of "divinity" that gives mortal mages their power, it dies when a mage is Embraced) that almost certainly wouldn't have worked, but it was worth a shot.
Funny thing is, the ST thought I was trying to open the True Vessel, consume the last bits of Cappadocius, and become an Antediluvian.
At 11th generation. By one of his former students. Whom Claudius loathed in particular for being a lazy do-nothing who did nothing for House but foster political connections. As punishment for killing a crapload of Tremere neonates on his attempted way out the door. Then he was sent to the front lines of the Omen War, to ensure he died quickly and painfully and wouldn't pose any more of a threat to the clan than necessary.
Except Claudius had a couple aces in the hole. First, was the more obvious one: he was really, really good at thaumaturgy, specifically the paths and rituals on the more "mass murder"-y side of the spectrum. Second was the one the Tremere really didn't need to know about: an ally in Myca Vykos. Because despite being a Tzimisce, Vykos was a Tremere in life, Claudius was one of his instructors, and they both hated the Tremere. Arrangements were made, and well...Claudius had a knack for avoiding Tzimisce attacks, Vykos had a knack for avoiding Tremere attacks, and golly gosh gee, Claudius' enemies in his own clan and Vykos' enemies in his just kept dying by each other's hands.
Made that first Transylvania Chronicles story when Vykos actually shows up real interesting. The ST was over the damn moon I wrote a backstory for the character that involved deep dives into both clans, their interconnectivity, and involved the metaplot in such a way he could actually plan for the character in really cool and interesting ways. Then he green lit my character knowing Enochian, because Enochian is commonly-known among Tremere, especially Dark Ages Tremere and those with a more spirit magic bent (which my character was)...and my ST spent the first half of the chronicle kicking himself for it.
Brief primer for those who don't know much about WoD, VtM, or Transylvania Chronicles. Enochian is the first language, and the language of spirits. Knowing Enochian allows for communication and direct control over spirits. It also happens to be the language a series of scripts and prophecies, written by Saulot, about the end of the world PC's are intended to find and decode over the course of centuries. Transylvania Chronicles' chief plot thread is about a powerful demon and its host, bound to Transylvania and the Tzimisce clan, whose meddling along with Saulot's are what led to the Tremere becoming a clan of vampires in the first place let alone Saulot's planned diablerie at Saulot's hands.
So my character got his hands on these writings and prophecies written in a language player characters aren't supposed to know about an Antediluvian and a demon player characters aren't supposed to be able to commune with, and rather than the centuries' worth of information drip-feed that's supposed to happen, Claudius was able to translate them and figured damn near everything out immediately. Claudius was old and smart enough to know the only thing more dangerous than being an ignorant Tremere, was being a Tremere who knew too much, so he had to set plans in motion immediately to ensure his own survival long enough to accrue enough power to resist the influence of his own clan.
He had to keep his mouth shut and his head down long enough, to con his way into learning the Tremere ritual for breaking the blood bond -- and the ritual for enforcing the Tremere communal blood bond on himself. Then he had this arcane, incredibly obscure, ridiculously convoluted, process of hiding the knowledge he learned, having his own memory wiped of it every few years, and laying a series of bread crumbs and dead drops for himself only he could find, so that once his memory was erased he would find his way back to the real secrets of the clan on his own predetermined terms. Except every time, once he picked up his own bread crumb trail he would break his blood bonds, then when he learned it all over again he would reinstate the Tremere blood bond then have his memory wiped again.
Basically, Memento with fangs, except it lasted for 300 years and it was a whole lot mass murder-y. Meanwhile, Claudius was playing the good little Tremere, doing his clan's bidding and eating his way up the food chain. Literally. He ate his piece of crap do-nothing sire on false accusations of infernalism that actually turned out to be true, his grandsire for having failed the clan on some trivial matter, his great-grandsire, and so forth until he was 7th generation. Eating his way to 6th and 5th generation could come later and he actually had to go out of clan for that, and it did, but by that point the character had snowballed and little short of a ST-mandated Methuselah plot device smackdown was going to stop him.
Three things of note happened in the 1300's for Claudius. First, Fun Times with Vykos came to an end, which is what happens when one plays an integral role binding the aforementioned demon which happened to be a significant source of the Tzimisce's supernatural might, kneecapping them in the face of a clan of sorcerers. That wasn't a "Claudius" thing, that was a "the metaplot demands it" thing. Second, was one of the Tremere's leaders, a vampire by the name of Goratrix, became no longer useful to Saulot and was maneuvered into a scenario which led to disgrace and turning traitor to the clan; so, Claudius went Team Goratrix on the sly, staying inside the clan until he felt the time was right to make a decisive move. Third, a bloodline of sorcerers known as the "Giovanni" appeared on the radar, and Claudius was more than happy to extend a hand of friendship among these Italian up-and-comers, even trading off some Thaumaturgy secrets in exchange for Necromancy.
But honestly? Replacing Vykos for Ambrogino (one of the most powerful Giovanni, period) on the ol' Allies list is a hell of a bargain. Especially when that came with a side dish of clan friendship and getting Augustus frickin' Giovanni (the colossal A-hole who would become the Giovanni Antediluvian) on the Contacts list. With that in his back pocket, around the late 1600's came time time for ol' Claudius to flip his own clan the double-bird.
Which he did by burning literally every Tremere chantry (i.e. headquarters) in Transylvania. At once. Being able to hop in and out of the Shadowlands (ghost realm) at will, and teleport, is a hell of a power. Same for being old enough to remember the formula for Greek fire, and an alchemist to boot. And a spirit mage capable of conjuring ghosts, and earth and fire spirits, for an extra heaping of earthquakes, magma, and fire to really twist that knife in deeper.
My ST was pissed. He was like "you know the Tremere are going to come at you with everything they have right?". I said, "bring it". He said "they can use your True name just to kill you"; I said, "I used Necromancy to change my True Name". He said "they can use your blood phylactery to track and kill you"; I said, "remember when the clan moved from Ceoris to Vienna, I helped, and I said at the time I was swapping my blood phylactery for some random neonate's?". He said "they can scry for you, find you, and just blow you up"; I said, "can they scry into the Shadowlands where I live now?".
He said "they know your true form and can just summon you"; I said, "remember when my character bathed in the River Styx, that changed my true form, and I was extra careful to make sure no Tremere has seen me since? It was part of the ritual to change my True Name. It's why I have Horrific Visage (0 appearance and the vampire looks like an ambulatory shriveled corpse) and Methuselah's Thirst (can only feed from vampires) now".
Finally, he said "fine. The Tremere can't actually do anything to you right now, but they're still putting you on the Red List". I thought to myself, "sweet, I don't have to go hunting any more, the food hunts for me". Not gonna lie, the next couple centuries sucked. Being Vampire bin Laden has its drawbacks, chiefly hiding in Maelstroms watching basically every Background other than Generation degenerate to zero, only being able to sneak out to catch up on news with various Giovanni and the other PC's, and making the occasional snack of a Sabbat pack.
Things actually got a little easier at the end of the chronicle, once the Harbingers of Skulls show up. Claudius looked like one of them, had their disciplines, and had made buddies of a few during his extended stay as deep in the Shadowlands as he could go, so he was able to pass himself off as one and move freely.
At the point the chronicle ended, Claudius had gotten his hands on the True Vessel (the last remaining drops of the Cappadocian Antediluvian's blood, to which the part of his soul not consumed by Augustus was bound) and was banging out this completely whackadoodle scheme to use the True Vessel and resurrect his Avatar (the supernatural spark of "divinity" that gives mortal mages their power, it dies when a mage is Embraced) that almost certainly wouldn't have worked, but it was worth a shot.
Funny thing is, the ST thought I was trying to open the True Vessel, consume the last bits of Cappadocius, and become an Antediluvian.
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Concept: Ex-Solider turned Security Contractor turned edgerunner that is the "mom" of the group with living parents, siblings and nieces and nephews (specifically avoiding "orphan" and "fridging" tropes)
Game: Identeco
Name: Diana Wong
Occupation: "Property Manager" (i.e. Edgerunner)
Class: Merc
Game: Identeco
Name: Diana Wong
Occupation: "Property Manager" (i.e. Edgerunner)
Class: Merc
Diana was the black sheep of the family. Born to parents that turned the family bakery into a local artisan brand with a several shops and a presence in markets in the city, she and her younger sisters took very different paths. While the middle child sister Sarah went whole into the family business ("the Daybreak Bakery"), becoming a skilled baker and businesswoman, and the youngest Lola went into corporate accounting, Diana joined the UN Peacekeepers during secondary school, serving fourteen years as special forces with multiple deployments before transitioning out to a private sector security job for a small firm that specialized in having plausible deniability for their clients, usually due to encroaching on someone else's turf in some form or another. Twelve years of mostly successful operations made an abrupt end when due to some financial scandal involving the CEO, the firm was dissolved. Most of her team, nicknamed "the old guard" on account of most of them at or around 40 years of age, ended up either being hired as security heads for various small and medium corporations or starting security firms of their own after buying up some of the company's hardware on the cheep. Diana, however, wanted to return home, and came back to the family bakery.
By then, the business was booming, and after an emotional homecoming, she rejoined the family business. At that point, ownership of the business had passed to the siblings, with Diana and Lola having silent ownership while Sarah was the main owner and face of the bakery. Diana settled in as the property manager for all the warehouses and shops, usually taking in maintenance requests, conducting inspections, hiring out contractors for the repairs and routine maintenance and developing the security procedures for each shop and warehouse. They let Diana use a vacant warehouse that backed up to one of their smaller industrial bakeries to set up a fairly large workshop and, using an accounting loophole found by Lola, created an LLC (Sunshine Management Services LLC) for her to technically be a vendor to the main business who, in turn, paid rent on the property. She converted some of the office-space into a small apartment and mostly kept to her work and family gatherings. She kept in shape and maintained her gear from her security days, but life was good if a bit dull.
Mostly, she adored her sisters' kids. "Aunt Di" had spent so much time away that she had become a legend in some of their eyes and when she came home, she spoiled the now-teens and young adults with affection and bonding. She was the one they could go to with questions they were too embarrassed to ask their parents or vent when they were upset. A few went to college. Some went into the family business. But one little hellraiser of a niece named Sophie became a contractor; not the security contractor or property manager like Diana, but instead a talented freelance coder and, as she would eventually confess to Diana, a hacker for hire. While Diana was not thrilled with Sophie's line of work, the kid had a talent and drive and Diana didn't want to stand in her way, teaching her some basic defenses and sidearm training so she could do a bit more than string some code. She would eventually tell Sarah, Sophie's mother, what her daughter had gotten herself into over some evening drinks, Sarah mostly confirming that she knew much of it already even if Sophie hid it from her. But neither were going to stop her. It was the world and they knew that she was practically born to thrive in the shadows.
At least until the last job. Sophia came to Diana excited about a big, long term job, something that could give her the cash to potentially buy a downtown penthouse and be able to live in it for decades. She said her contacts were solid and the job was safe. Diana was skeptical, but told Sophie to call her if she ever got in over her head. That was their last conversation. Weeks turned to months and Sarah eventually asked Diana if she had heard from Sophie at all since she left after eight months. When Diana confirmed she hadn't and told her the broad strokes of what Sophie told her, Sarah got worried. Sophie never went more than a month without family contact of some kind and, after hearing from Diana, wanted to see if there was any way to at least make sure she was okay. She asked Diana to find Sophie so that they could be sure she was okay. Diana agreed to it.
Finding Sophie wasn't going to just be a GLO-trace; she was too good a hacker to be found that way or to leave a trail that bright for others to follow and Sarah was probably better with tech than Diana. But she did have one advantage. You see, maintenance contractors often have side businesses or at least know others who do. She would use these contacts to build a team that could find her and, if need be, extract her out of whatever situation she found herself in. They would need to run several jobs beforehand to make sure they had the skills and resources to do the job. One thing was for certain: Aunt Di is coming.
By then, the business was booming, and after an emotional homecoming, she rejoined the family business. At that point, ownership of the business had passed to the siblings, with Diana and Lola having silent ownership while Sarah was the main owner and face of the bakery. Diana settled in as the property manager for all the warehouses and shops, usually taking in maintenance requests, conducting inspections, hiring out contractors for the repairs and routine maintenance and developing the security procedures for each shop and warehouse. They let Diana use a vacant warehouse that backed up to one of their smaller industrial bakeries to set up a fairly large workshop and, using an accounting loophole found by Lola, created an LLC (Sunshine Management Services LLC) for her to technically be a vendor to the main business who, in turn, paid rent on the property. She converted some of the office-space into a small apartment and mostly kept to her work and family gatherings. She kept in shape and maintained her gear from her security days, but life was good if a bit dull.
Mostly, she adored her sisters' kids. "Aunt Di" had spent so much time away that she had become a legend in some of their eyes and when she came home, she spoiled the now-teens and young adults with affection and bonding. She was the one they could go to with questions they were too embarrassed to ask their parents or vent when they were upset. A few went to college. Some went into the family business. But one little hellraiser of a niece named Sophie became a contractor; not the security contractor or property manager like Diana, but instead a talented freelance coder and, as she would eventually confess to Diana, a hacker for hire. While Diana was not thrilled with Sophie's line of work, the kid had a talent and drive and Diana didn't want to stand in her way, teaching her some basic defenses and sidearm training so she could do a bit more than string some code. She would eventually tell Sarah, Sophie's mother, what her daughter had gotten herself into over some evening drinks, Sarah mostly confirming that she knew much of it already even if Sophie hid it from her. But neither were going to stop her. It was the world and they knew that she was practically born to thrive in the shadows.
At least until the last job. Sophia came to Diana excited about a big, long term job, something that could give her the cash to potentially buy a downtown penthouse and be able to live in it for decades. She said her contacts were solid and the job was safe. Diana was skeptical, but told Sophie to call her if she ever got in over her head. That was their last conversation. Weeks turned to months and Sarah eventually asked Diana if she had heard from Sophie at all since she left after eight months. When Diana confirmed she hadn't and told her the broad strokes of what Sophie told her, Sarah got worried. Sophie never went more than a month without family contact of some kind and, after hearing from Diana, wanted to see if there was any way to at least make sure she was okay. She asked Diana to find Sophie so that they could be sure she was okay. Diana agreed to it.
Finding Sophie wasn't going to just be a GLO-trace; she was too good a hacker to be found that way or to leave a trail that bright for others to follow and Sarah was probably better with tech than Diana. But she did have one advantage. You see, maintenance contractors often have side businesses or at least know others who do. She would use these contacts to build a team that could find her and, if need be, extract her out of whatever situation she found herself in. They would need to run several jobs beforehand to make sure they had the skills and resources to do the job. One thing was for certain: Aunt Di is coming.
Game: DnD
Name: Olexander van Riedell
Race: Human
Class: Fighter/Barbarian
This was my first TTRPG character, and a brooding human fighter with a backstory of vengeance was (unknown to me at the time) the single most cliché character one could create. The concept had been in my head long before I ever played DnD, and had been inspired by Bloodborne. In Bloodborne there's a small sidequest in the beginning that, no matter what you do, can only end tragically, horribly tragically, or sickeningly tragically. Amidst all the horror of the game, that small sidequest still remains the most horrifying element in the entire game to me. So I thought that what if a Hunter had survived all the horrors the plague of beasts had created, but this small encounter was the one that pushed him over the edge.
The refinement of that concept created this character: a noble born in a rich mining city, with aspirations of joining the city guard. He was a prodigy with the blade, and ended up in the position of the weapons and training master. But when nearby conflicts started interrupting trade and the city, the city's repressed underclass took up arms and led a bloody revolt. Over time the city transformed into a war zone. Many fled, but many also stayed, seeking to grab the city's rich mine reserves for themselves once the dust had settled. Olexander, who'd been led to believe all his life that his position was the righteous one, stayed unflinchingly loyal to the city even as it fell further to ruin around him. Finally he couldn't take it anymore and sought to resign and leave the city. Only then did he start to realize the true extent of the events: the soldiers he'd trained had been operating essentially without supervision, transforming the city into a nightmare. The realization and guilt over his ignorance drove him to a breaking point, and he essentially went mad. He started hunting down all the people responsible, many of whom had fled the city. This would be the reason why he became an adventurer.
So it's a backstory more in line with ASOIAF than the high fantasy of DnD. When I got to play him at a higher level, I played a version of him who'd essentially achieved his vengeance, and tried to end his own life. Somehow he'd ended up getting a Wish spell, and wished for his world to be rid of him. In a monkey's paw scenario he ended up on the world of Athas, aka the Dark Sun setting, where the game I played in was set at the time.
Name: Olexander van Riedell
Race: Human
Class: Fighter/Barbarian
This was my first TTRPG character, and a brooding human fighter with a backstory of vengeance was (unknown to me at the time) the single most cliché character one could create. The concept had been in my head long before I ever played DnD, and had been inspired by Bloodborne. In Bloodborne there's a small sidequest in the beginning that, no matter what you do, can only end tragically, horribly tragically, or sickeningly tragically. Amidst all the horror of the game, that small sidequest still remains the most horrifying element in the entire game to me. So I thought that what if a Hunter had survived all the horrors the plague of beasts had created, but this small encounter was the one that pushed him over the edge.
The refinement of that concept created this character: a noble born in a rich mining city, with aspirations of joining the city guard. He was a prodigy with the blade, and ended up in the position of the weapons and training master. But when nearby conflicts started interrupting trade and the city, the city's repressed underclass took up arms and led a bloody revolt. Over time the city transformed into a war zone. Many fled, but many also stayed, seeking to grab the city's rich mine reserves for themselves once the dust had settled. Olexander, who'd been led to believe all his life that his position was the righteous one, stayed unflinchingly loyal to the city even as it fell further to ruin around him. Finally he couldn't take it anymore and sought to resign and leave the city. Only then did he start to realize the true extent of the events: the soldiers he'd trained had been operating essentially without supervision, transforming the city into a nightmare. The realization and guilt over his ignorance drove him to a breaking point, and he essentially went mad. He started hunting down all the people responsible, many of whom had fled the city. This would be the reason why he became an adventurer.
So it's a backstory more in line with ASOIAF than the high fantasy of DnD. When I got to play him at a higher level, I played a version of him who'd essentially achieved his vengeance, and tried to end his own life. Somehow he'd ended up getting a Wish spell, and wished for his world to be rid of him. In a monkey's paw scenario he ended up on the world of Athas, aka the Dark Sun setting, where the game I played in was set at the time.
I made a Scion of Thor in the game Scion, for an online chat based campaign back in the day. I basically built him to be Eddie from Brutal Legend. He would eventually become a god of "thunder" , in this case, sweet metal guitar licks, and "lightning" the pyrotechnics and lighting on the stage. He was short lived, but I did have fun fleshing him out, and imagining his eventual elevation to godhood, with those things as his purviews.
Strangely enough, I had a scion of Loki in a local Scion game that ran for 2-3 episodes. Had a ton of fun with that character, who was kind of a Bret Maverick-type, high stakes gambler/petty con-man. His guide was Sinatra's ghost, and one of his relics was a poker chip that would always disappear at inappropriate times, but always show back up when needed. Was kind of a pisser, because it was his relic for the Chaos and Magic purviews, and those were were most of his boons were.
Never stopped being funny, because his whole shtick was pretending to be one of the bad guys (because duh, scion of Loki) and Bavarian fire drilling his way into their schemes, then proceeding to wreck shit from inside. Once conned a bunch of fire giants into doing good deeds because "that's the last thing the do-gooders would suspect" then managed to get the hell out of dodge before their boss showed up, looking for answers why they weren't doing a bunch of evil shit instead. Also the same game session I managed to annoy the other characters, because they put my character in charge of procuring survival and wilderness gear, and he showed up with a couple Yeti coolers full of Miller Lites instead (because lol, Epic Stamina).
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Yeah I had an idea for a game, where someone would end up with a guide that was Elvis' ghost, but he would only appear in reflections. If you've ever seen True Romance, I found that little tidbit of Slater's character really interesting. And you only ever saw him in bathrooms, which was pretty funny.
I thought about going with Elvis' ghost and talked about it with the ST, who thought it would be absolutely freaking hilarious to have his guide be the ghost of an Elvis impersonator. We went with Sinatra instead, because he could provide guidance on social shit (which was my character's thing) but in some of the least useful ways possible, which fit the whole Loki thing.
Was part of an Exalted game for a while. Started a twilight character and the storyteller wanted us to write up a backstory to give to him so he could set things up. This was my attempt at making an interesting backstory (whether or not I succeeded, I'll leave up to others. I thought it was at least passable.)
Where to begin? I suppose I must start in the days when I was but a child. My family was large and poor. Too large and too poor to take care of us all, the last of us were sold away from the family. My father’s farm was too small to feed us all and he made his choice. I was one of the youngest, the seventh son of my house, and when father decided to sell those children who could not help care for the farm; it was obvious I was going to be one of those sent away.
I think my two sisters were sold to a brothel in the city, but I’m not certain. My youngest brother was sold to the local blacksmith, who needed an apprentice. As for me, I was too withdrawn, too weak and too sickly to be of much interest to anyone in the village. I think my father was on the verge of just driving me away when the scholar came to our hamlet. He was interested in me for some reason. Perhaps it was the fact that I could read, unlike the rest of my family. Perhaps he just saw someone he could use as a servant for his work. He has never told me what he saw in me when he negotiated with my father, but I do distinctly remember seeing him perk up when he was told of my family’s heritage. I do not understand why my teacher thought it was so important that I was the seventh son of my father, just as my father was the seventh son of his father.
Regardless, the scholar and my father agreed upon a price, and I went to work for my new master in the library of the monastery where he studied. It was a good life, and my master became my teacher, my mentor, and my friend. He taught me more of language than just the few scraps I had picked up at home. He taught me the value of the books and the knowledge they contained. He even deigned to teach me about the Essence that courses through the world and shapes Creation.
It was a good life, but like all things it could not last forever. It was only a few years ago that the bandits came. They had already sacked two local villages before they came to the monastery. They wanted valuables, women, or drink; anything that they could take. I remember clearly when the monks told them that they had nothing of value and tried to send them away. I remember the bandits laughing at the monks and their leader taunting us.
“I will be the one to say if you have anything of value, Monk!” he yelled. “Maybe you have nothing, but maybe you do. Who knows, maybe listening to you scream is what we want!” Still laughing, he said to his men, “Bah! Piss-poor monks aren’t worth it. Let’s find some better pickings in the next village!”
My master pulled me into the library and hid the most precious of his books. He told me that he knew what sort of men the bandits were. He told me they would be back that night, and in force.
He was right.
I wish I could forget that night. I wish I didn’t see the fires and hear the screams in my dreams. Most of all, I wish the bandits had never broken into the library. My master was wounded and there was nothing I could do about it. The monks had taught me some basic defenses, but my world was the library and the books. I could only hide as the lesser works were ripped and burned. I could only watch as my master lay bleeding on the floor and I could do nothing.
When they left, I crawled out of hiding, begging my master’s forgiveness for my cowardice. He told me it was alright, that the wound wasn’t serious. Besides, the important books were still safely hidden.
That night was the longest night of my life. I watched my teacher fall into a fever and delirium. Again, I was helpless and could do nothing for him. I spent the night praying for him and the wounded monks. I spent the next day shaking in helplessness as my master’s fever worsened. I never felt so powerless in my whole life and it made me angry. I prayed the whole day for answers, for strength, for my master and for justice! I prayed more than I had ever before and I wanted . . . no, I needed to make this right.
I prayed. . . .And someone answered.
I saw the sun setting when it happened. I felt it more than anything else. There was no voice, no vision, and no extravagant sight to set into legend. There was only that feeling. I felt strength. I felt that there was a way to get what I had desired. I suddenly understood how to make things right.
I spent the night preparing everything I would need. Food, clothes, and other items were little more than an afterthought. What I needed was in the secret places of the library. My master had hidden one book very well, so well that he didn’t even realize that I knew he had it, much less where it was hidden. The white book was the key I needed.
It took two days to catch up with them. They had moved onto the next village and were drunk from the local’s corn whiskey. Half of them were already passed out when I found them. The rest were well on their way to joining them.
I suppose I could have been merciful. I could have just waited for a while and let the rest of them pass out, and then just kill them in their drunken sleep. But if I did that, they would not know why they had to die. They wouldn’t know who had finished this; who had punished them for their crimes. They had wounded my master. They had burned the books. No, mercy was not going to set things right. They had to know why they were dying. They had to know what they had done.
Tying them up was easy. Surprisingly, waiting for them all to wake up was just as easy. At first they threatened my life and told me to untie them if I knew what was good for me.
I ignored them. Their yelling meant nothing. They had no threats left that concerned me. I only cared about one thing: making them pay for what they had done. I think that my being unmoved disturbed them. By the time I was almost done, they had stopped threatening. They had started to beg, to make promises of wealth, of women, of anything if I would just let them go.
It was surprisingly easy. The book told me what to do. That feeling had told me that I would need the book if I truly wanted justice.
It was all there, spelled out step by step. Write the proper symbols on their chests and foreheads, it instructed. Say the proper words as you move from one to the next. Make certain they all stayed conscious through the movement. Make certain they were laid out in the proper pattern. Make certain to intone to the Unconquered Sun the proper requests for justice. Make certain to make no demands, just give the guilty over to Him.
I still do not know what the ritual did. May master won’t tell me. I just watched everything unfold as the last symbol was drawn on the leader’s forehead. I watched them burn just like the books had burned. They didn’t sear like meat on a spit. The ropes they were tied with didn’t burn, didn’t even char. But the bandit’s flesh went up like dry tinder, like paper.
I don’t know why, but I felt nothing as they burned. I felt nothing as they screamed. No, I did feel something: fatigue. Whatever I had done had drained me like no physical work had ever done.
When I returned to the monastery, my master’s fever had broken. He was weak, but he would live. Over the next few days, as I cared for him, I told him what had happened. I told him how I had used the special book and what I had done when I caught up with the bandits. I told him about the prayers and the feeling. I begged his forgiveness for being too weak to save him or the books. I told him everything.
My master forgave me. He spent a long time teaching me special things while the monastery was rebuilt. He showed me the special books he had hidden during the raid. He taught me that I must not use the one book again, that the only reason I was allowed to use it on the bandits was that my prayers for justice had been answered by the Unconquered Sun.
There is so much that I don’t yet know. There is so much I have yet to understand. But now I have the means to seek out that knowledge. Thanks to what happened to me that day my prayers were answered, I am no longer as weak or sickly as I once was. I have the strength and the beginnings of the understanding I will need. I have a destiny now and the means to find my way to the end of that path, though it may take me a thousand years to get there.
But first I have something I need to do. I must find books to replace the ones my master lost to the bandits. I can’t do that within the monastery’s walls and so my world has widened once again. I will go forth to find books, knowledge and understanding. I will return them to my mentor.
I will find what I seek.
I will find my destiny.
I think my two sisters were sold to a brothel in the city, but I’m not certain. My youngest brother was sold to the local blacksmith, who needed an apprentice. As for me, I was too withdrawn, too weak and too sickly to be of much interest to anyone in the village. I think my father was on the verge of just driving me away when the scholar came to our hamlet. He was interested in me for some reason. Perhaps it was the fact that I could read, unlike the rest of my family. Perhaps he just saw someone he could use as a servant for his work. He has never told me what he saw in me when he negotiated with my father, but I do distinctly remember seeing him perk up when he was told of my family’s heritage. I do not understand why my teacher thought it was so important that I was the seventh son of my father, just as my father was the seventh son of his father.
Regardless, the scholar and my father agreed upon a price, and I went to work for my new master in the library of the monastery where he studied. It was a good life, and my master became my teacher, my mentor, and my friend. He taught me more of language than just the few scraps I had picked up at home. He taught me the value of the books and the knowledge they contained. He even deigned to teach me about the Essence that courses through the world and shapes Creation.
It was a good life, but like all things it could not last forever. It was only a few years ago that the bandits came. They had already sacked two local villages before they came to the monastery. They wanted valuables, women, or drink; anything that they could take. I remember clearly when the monks told them that they had nothing of value and tried to send them away. I remember the bandits laughing at the monks and their leader taunting us.
“I will be the one to say if you have anything of value, Monk!” he yelled. “Maybe you have nothing, but maybe you do. Who knows, maybe listening to you scream is what we want!” Still laughing, he said to his men, “Bah! Piss-poor monks aren’t worth it. Let’s find some better pickings in the next village!”
My master pulled me into the library and hid the most precious of his books. He told me that he knew what sort of men the bandits were. He told me they would be back that night, and in force.
He was right.
I wish I could forget that night. I wish I didn’t see the fires and hear the screams in my dreams. Most of all, I wish the bandits had never broken into the library. My master was wounded and there was nothing I could do about it. The monks had taught me some basic defenses, but my world was the library and the books. I could only hide as the lesser works were ripped and burned. I could only watch as my master lay bleeding on the floor and I could do nothing.
When they left, I crawled out of hiding, begging my master’s forgiveness for my cowardice. He told me it was alright, that the wound wasn’t serious. Besides, the important books were still safely hidden.
That night was the longest night of my life. I watched my teacher fall into a fever and delirium. Again, I was helpless and could do nothing for him. I spent the night praying for him and the wounded monks. I spent the next day shaking in helplessness as my master’s fever worsened. I never felt so powerless in my whole life and it made me angry. I prayed the whole day for answers, for strength, for my master and for justice! I prayed more than I had ever before and I wanted . . . no, I needed to make this right.
I prayed. . . .And someone answered.
I saw the sun setting when it happened. I felt it more than anything else. There was no voice, no vision, and no extravagant sight to set into legend. There was only that feeling. I felt strength. I felt that there was a way to get what I had desired. I suddenly understood how to make things right.
I spent the night preparing everything I would need. Food, clothes, and other items were little more than an afterthought. What I needed was in the secret places of the library. My master had hidden one book very well, so well that he didn’t even realize that I knew he had it, much less where it was hidden. The white book was the key I needed.
It took two days to catch up with them. They had moved onto the next village and were drunk from the local’s corn whiskey. Half of them were already passed out when I found them. The rest were well on their way to joining them.
I suppose I could have been merciful. I could have just waited for a while and let the rest of them pass out, and then just kill them in their drunken sleep. But if I did that, they would not know why they had to die. They wouldn’t know who had finished this; who had punished them for their crimes. They had wounded my master. They had burned the books. No, mercy was not going to set things right. They had to know why they were dying. They had to know what they had done.
Tying them up was easy. Surprisingly, waiting for them all to wake up was just as easy. At first they threatened my life and told me to untie them if I knew what was good for me.
I ignored them. Their yelling meant nothing. They had no threats left that concerned me. I only cared about one thing: making them pay for what they had done. I think that my being unmoved disturbed them. By the time I was almost done, they had stopped threatening. They had started to beg, to make promises of wealth, of women, of anything if I would just let them go.
It was surprisingly easy. The book told me what to do. That feeling had told me that I would need the book if I truly wanted justice.
It was all there, spelled out step by step. Write the proper symbols on their chests and foreheads, it instructed. Say the proper words as you move from one to the next. Make certain they all stayed conscious through the movement. Make certain they were laid out in the proper pattern. Make certain to intone to the Unconquered Sun the proper requests for justice. Make certain to make no demands, just give the guilty over to Him.
I still do not know what the ritual did. May master won’t tell me. I just watched everything unfold as the last symbol was drawn on the leader’s forehead. I watched them burn just like the books had burned. They didn’t sear like meat on a spit. The ropes they were tied with didn’t burn, didn’t even char. But the bandit’s flesh went up like dry tinder, like paper.
I don’t know why, but I felt nothing as they burned. I felt nothing as they screamed. No, I did feel something: fatigue. Whatever I had done had drained me like no physical work had ever done.
When I returned to the monastery, my master’s fever had broken. He was weak, but he would live. Over the next few days, as I cared for him, I told him what had happened. I told him how I had used the special book and what I had done when I caught up with the bandits. I told him about the prayers and the feeling. I begged his forgiveness for being too weak to save him or the books. I told him everything.
My master forgave me. He spent a long time teaching me special things while the monastery was rebuilt. He showed me the special books he had hidden during the raid. He taught me that I must not use the one book again, that the only reason I was allowed to use it on the bandits was that my prayers for justice had been answered by the Unconquered Sun.
There is so much that I don’t yet know. There is so much I have yet to understand. But now I have the means to seek out that knowledge. Thanks to what happened to me that day my prayers were answered, I am no longer as weak or sickly as I once was. I have the strength and the beginnings of the understanding I will need. I have a destiny now and the means to find my way to the end of that path, though it may take me a thousand years to get there.
But first I have something I need to do. I must find books to replace the ones my master lost to the bandits. I can’t do that within the monastery’s walls and so my world has widened once again. I will go forth to find books, knowledge and understanding. I will return them to my mentor.
I will find what I seek.
I will find my destiny.
Currently playing a 5e DnD using the Midgard module, albeit a WHF campaign book, and I... took the unprecedented step (surprised everyone in my group with the decision) of building what amounts to a Skaven Warlock Master (Lore of Chaos Ratman Wizard, but we'll go with mine(!)). Since the setting isn't actually the Old World, I'm not totally out of place, but I'm playing the Skaven card to the hilt, and it's good silly fun.