And so begins the playtest. This is open to anyone that wants to participate; I’m not requiring any long-term commitment at this point.
We’re going to start creating characters. For the first few iterations we’re not going to proceed as far as generating any game statistics (that will come later), but generate the character stories and connections.
The players create their characters as a group. Rather than the old cliché of “You meet up in a bar”, this establishes connections between the characters before play starts. It’s a good idea to throw around a few ideas before character generation starts in earnest, especially if some players have a clear idea what sort of characters they want to play.
While some games can insist on a narrower campaign frame, with all characters members of the same clan or guild, I’m going to make this one completely open – you can be anything that’s not out of place for the setting.
Once we’re ready. we’ll start the first of four phases of character generation.
Phase One – Where You Came From
This establishes the character’s background and childhood experiences, and answers some important questions. Are you kandar, human, or something else? Did you grow up in the city, out in the sticks, in poverty, or in wealth. You will want a name at this point. Look though the first few templates to give you an idea of the sort of backgrounds that make sense in the setting.
Each player writes a paragraph on two detailing this phase in the character’s life story, and posts in the comments.
Since we’re not sitting round a physical table, and may well be in completely different time zones, we don’t have to post in any set order. But in each phase, you must reference at least one other character, either as a friend, foe, mentor, or whatever. This may be another character you introduce, who will become an NPC (a supporting character) in the game. Or it may be another player’s character, or an NPC another player has introduced. You may not introduce more than two NPCs over the course of the four phases, which means you’ll be forced to reference at least two other characters introduced by other people. This will result in a web of connections biding all the characters together.
Obviously whoever decides to go first must create an NPC. Whoever goes second may choose either the first player’s NPC, the first player’s character, or create a second NPC. The third player has more choices, and so on.
Once everyone’s posted their paragraph, we’ll move on to phase two.
Phase One:
Andlak (sometimes called Andlak the Dark) grew up as a human from a
poor end of town. His grandfather had come to Filgeth from his tribe in
the Far West (as a caravan guide), discovered alcohol and married a
local girl. They had seven children and five made it to adulthood, all
girls, so Andlak has several aunts. He only has one sibling, a
half-sister several years younger. He spent most of his childhood
running wild on the streets as his mom worked a variety of low-end
jobs, settling in to a fairly steady job in a tavern as he hit his
early teens and started getting into more serious trouble, sometimes
petty theft, sometimes slightly less petty violence.
One of the incidents of theft brought him to the attention of the
Makers Guild and a guild member named Reneth. Rather than just beating
or imprisoning Andlak, Reneth forced him to work until he’d paid off
the damages.
Chuk has set the ball rolling. Whoever goes next has a choice for the character referenced as part of their story – it can be either Reneth, Andlak, or another new character.
Nyesh had always been a quiet, studious child, older than his years, always at the edge of any gathering. Children growing up in the ramshackle, chaotic household of a minor merchant clan in Calbeyn, with its constant comings and goings – aunts, uncles and cousins moving regularly between the clan’s bases in different cities, and occasionally (as happened to his mother when he was five) disappearing en route – usually learnt from an early age to assert themselves forcefully and to establish a place in the sub-adult hierarchy. Nyesh held himself back from any such confrontation, preferring to read quietly in a corner or simply to observe.
Far from disadvantaging him in the struggle for recognition, this caught the eye of just a few adults, both relatives and visitors, even as the majority – including, most of the time, his father – entirely failed to notice him. One uncle took him regularly on trading visits to Goraz, and even on one occasion to Filbeth, where he soaked in new sights and experiences like a sponge; an aunt shared her love of ancient history and archaic poetry, and he immersed himself in his imagination in the past; and when he was twelve, Dreyrath, head of the company and one of the richest merchants in Calbeyn, a confidant of Lenata Tyr herself, brought him into his own household as a study companion for his daughter. Depending on one’s perspective, this was not an unqualified success, as the girl had no interest at all in learning and took full advantage of Nyesh’s silent infatuation to get him to write her exercises as well as his own – but over the next six years he benefitted from double the practice and the full attention of the tutors, who were delighted to have at least one diligent pupil. Whether he actually enjoyed this, or hated every minute, remained hidden behind that watchful, expressionless face.
Assume the significant NPC is Dreyrath rather than than his (unnamed) daughter?
Yes, if that’s okay.
Childhood was vastly different than his adult life. William Brighton was born in San Francisco on the Barbary Coast on Earth. He grew up working the docks both labor and grifting the new arrivals from all over the world. He was sometimes a guide, other times a procurer of services or merchandise, and lastly sometimes a thief.
It was October 31, 1901 that everything changed. He met a very strange man in an alley. This man offered him limitless adventure and real gold. Having preformed cons in the past, Will was reluctant to believe the man. But he was no fool, he took the offered gold. That was his mistake. The nugget had a sharp point which pricked his left hand. As the world began to spin and the teenager fell to his knees, the man said something in a strange language and a glowing portal opened.
That was his last memory of where he had been. Now his life was different. He was here, a place they called Kalyr. He had awoken aboard a slave ship and well, he was a slave. He was brought to a port city, a name he didn’t learn immediately and put to work under the arena cleaning up those who lost.
Life was hard but he knew how to survive. He began to train when he wasn’t working, which was very, very rarely. However the gladiators by in large were slaves as well, and they took time to teach him basic skills. They knew even if he didn’t that one day he would end up in the arena just as they did.
It was here that he met his first friend. Rutgar champion and mad man. A slave gladiator and human, Rutgar came from the outlying lands where he had been captured. He had grown up in the arena life and watched out for the young man. He also was a repeat champion though he had not been given his freedom yet, one excuse after another. Soon Rutgar would say, soon he would be free. Will doubted it. Who would let a money maker go?
Rutgar is NPC #3
Ziryon is a human born to freemen who worked in one of the outlying plantations of Filgeth. His family was first generation freemen, hard working and grateful for the privilege. As he grew up, the plantation workshop foreman took a liking to him and let him learn the ways of his trade. One day, the plantation was raided, while the main plantation was well defended, the hamlet where many of the laborers lived was ransacked. Ziryon was in the shop, but his parents and brother and sister were killed in the raid. With no other freemen family his future was uncertain.
But Abilyr, the journeyman of the Academy of Knowledge who covered the area was at the plantation at the time. And from previous visits he knew the human child who had an aptitude for mechanics, and offered Ziryon a choice. A choice that the workshop foreman encouraged him to take. And Ziryon became an apprentice of the Academy of Knowledge.
“Ziryon, walk!” Amid the cheers of his fellow apprentices, Ziryon got up and walked to a waiting seat at the Journeyman tables. “And that is the last of our new journeymen, we expect that they will uphold the traditions and responsibilities of the Academy of Knowledge as they serve Kalyr. Enjoy your meal, and come to see me afterwards for your assignments.” “Ziryon, you remember Master Abilyr from when you came? He remembers you. You will be working in his area.” “You had a good apprenticeship, but now it is time to see more of the world. You will be assisting me with a Calbeyn based merchant who has regular business here. The head of the company goes by Dreyrath.”
Mirlark lived with his mother in the wilderness near one of the plantations on the outskrits of Filgeth.
If you ask him of his race he will think a bit and then say “Human”, but it’s not a question he’s every really thought about. His mother must have been much older than she looked though, and she never mentioned his father.
They both have a strong afinity with plants. The cabin he grew up in was almost woven out of branches rather than made of logs worked with tools.
There was an understanding of sorts between his mother and the plantation owner. Every so often she would stroll through his fields and then spend an eveining just talking with the owner about the state of his crops.
But while the workers on the plantation knew of her, they generally kept clear, uncomforatble due to some strange “otherness” about her. Except when they needed a medcine. She could brew strange ellixiers from various herbs for all sorts of problems.
Mirlark has grown up watching her do this and has a similar feel for plants and what they might be good for. He has no idea that other people do not feel plants the same way. Actually he has little idea how other people feel at all. As they all grew older, the children from the plantation started to keep his company less and less.
He became an outsider. He gathered obscure plants and fungii in the wilderness and traded them at the plantation. Not that he needed much – the wilderness provided almost everything he needed, though life was a little easier with some simple metal tools, a lad called Ziryon was a good bet if he needed something metalic crafted just so, and more comfortable with fabrics other than linens.
He never traded for meat, not actually liking it much, and found a little alcohol went a very long way.
Then the plantation was raided. The raiders set fire to the fields and it spread to their coppice. Mirlack knew it was comming though – he felt the agony of the buring plants as the fire approached.
In a matter of moments their home was gone. Well, when he stopped to think about it, it was his home that was gone. His mother had never really lived in the cabin. She had never actually slept in it.
Looking round at the now baren landscape he realised his mother was not there. Well, not totally absent, but not as there as she should be. He felt rootless, like a seed which now had to move on where the winds take it.
He had all his kit in his pack, and decided that he had to seek advice from those he had traded with at the plantation. But the folk he knew there had either perrished or fled.
Secure in the knowledge that he could find shelter in any hedgerow or park of sufficent size, he set off looking for somewhere he could feel at home.