Character Fourteen: Eris Terrik, The Flame Tailed Fox

I decided to do something a little different here and wanted to see what I could make by stacking as many archetypes as I could. The base was fighter and I’m using the Eldritch Guardian archetype garnering her a familiar. Also the Mutagenic Mauler archetype gaining her the Mutagens. And finally the Martial Master archetype allowing her martial flexibility, the ability to acquire feats she needs a few times a day, like the brawler. The question now was how to write all these things in.

The orphanage in Abasalom was not such a bad place to grow up. Even if you were an unwanted child, the other kids never looked down on you. But fending for yourself on the streets of the city of the starstone was no easy task. Eris Terrik new that better than anyone, but she got by because she had family.

Eris never knew about her brothers and sisters growing up, she was a bastard child whose peasant mother fell for a dashing rake who promised her the world. When her mother died and she was sent to the orphanage she was dead set on finding her deadbeat father. But the only thing her search found were other children he left behind.

After leaving her mother pregnant he flitted through a few other women. A young noble woman bore him a son, but the bastard was also sent off to an orphanage. Eris’ father’s line must have many stories to tell as she came out with fire elemental blood running through her veins, and a set of twins also put up for adoption by their bigoted mother came out with a bit of elf blood in them.

Eris being the eldest and biggest of her siblings saw herself as their protector. When there was trouble the four would stick together and Eris always stood right out in front. Sometimes her fire nature would get the better of her but she always made sure never to let it affect her brothers and sister.

Even in Absalom there are those who seek to do harm to others. Gangs are a fact of life, especially in the dark corners. When one of the gangs decided that Eris brother who had a way with mechanical devices, needed to run with them, Eris was furious. In a fit of rage she attacked the headquarters of the gang, beating those still there to within an inch of their lives and burning the building to the ground.

When she as around 15 years old a woman came to the orphanage asking around about her. The mystery woman turned out to be her aunt on her mother’s side. As a member of the Pathfinder Society she had been travelling the world and only recently found that her sister had a child. A box of belongings her mother had stored in the old attic which included a letter had been found by recent tenants and shipped off to her aunt who came looking for her.

Eris new found relative spent many hours talking with her that first day. But as a Pathfinder she couldn’t stay, and Eris couldn’t leave her brothers and sister. Her aunt introduced her to the local Pathfinder lodge and promised any letters she wanted to send would find their way to her if brought there. Her aunt also gifted Eris with a pet, a small red fox that had become attached to her in her travels. She told her the fox always seemed special, destined even and maybe that destiny belonged with Eris.

With the fox her Aunt also brought her tales of other lands, in particular of the homeland from where her mother came. The far off land Tian Xia. One of the things that struck Eris were the tales of the Kitsune and the Daikitsu. When her aunt once again returned from her travels Eris began to take in all she could about the people she never knew. In the small community of Tian living in Absalom she found little temples and began the worship of Daikitsu, to whom she dedicated herself only slightly less then her dedication to her siblings.

Eris’ attachment to her family and her temple, her staunch defense of all those around her, brought her a further gift from Daikitsu. The fox given to her by her aunt became more than just a pet. It started with flashes of perception; seeing things she normally would have missed, reacting quicker than she ever had. And then she began to feel the fox, instinctively knowing where it was and how it was feeling. She had been blessed lady of foxes as a guardian.

In her years she had gone from bastard child set adrift after her mother’s death, to a big sister with a family and a fierce fighter against the gangs of Absalom. Now she had become a servitor of Daikatsu. A life of hardship faced with love and determination has seen Eris and her family through. And now all that lies ahead is their entire future.

Remember the first person to post a race (Core or featured), that will be the race I use for my next randomly rolled character.