Character 47 - Kelis Shadowbough

Vanara was a new and interesting race for me to try and this week’s random rolls gave me a lot to think about. Like every character, even given a lot of information, you choose a few things to work with. The idea of being from a forest on a plane other than the prime material really sang to me. After much searching I chose the First World. This also helped me focus on another aspect of the background rolls, his desire to seek out pleasure.

Choosing a class was also difficult. The pleasure seeker and nobility aspects were tough to reconcile without a decent charisma score. However, placing her home in the First World, among the fey, allowed me to expand on the idea of nobility. Being from a primal forest, one of the nature based classes seemed like the best idea. With that in mind I choose the Hunter class, specifically the Primal Companion Hunter archetype.

Kelis Shadowbough

Although the primary inhabitants of the First World are the fey, they are not the only beings that exist within the world. Some come to the first world willingly, looking for something beyond the realms of man. Some come unwillingly, and many is the tale of kidnapped children being taken by faeries. Regardless of how one came to reside in the First World, the Eldest still rule and everyone follows their dictums.

In the lands known as the Evergrove, the Eldest Magh reigns supreme. She spends much of her time pouring over her prophecies and leaves the day-to-day dealings of her land to the ever fluctuating fey nobles. Each noble has their own court and their own realm has its own nobility on down to the gentry. In some courts not all the gentry are fey and the Shadowbough family of vanara are one such non-fey aristocrats.

Lord Varius and his wife Neela, along with their two children Kelis and Baracca, dwell in the court of Duke Avealis. Varius and Neela came to the fey worlds before either of the children were born, quite by accident, when fleeing their burning home in the Mwangi jungle. They quickly made a name of themselves and have gained status among the fey despite being quite mortal.

Life for the Shadowbough children was as ordinary as can be when you’re nobility in fey lands. The children were taught at home and learned the intricate, if bizarre, etiquette of the fey. Living in the largest primordial forest in existence, they also learned how to hunt and survive in their wooded home. Kelis especially took to the lessons out among the trees.

Many of the fey worshiped the eldest as gods but the Shadowbough family had a long family history of devotion to the Empyreal Lord Seramaydiel. Although their connection to their patron seemed muted in the First World, their adherence to her faith and tenets is how they excelled at both music and discourse. These traits are what elevated Lord Varius to his noble status, although Kelis did not seem to excel at them as her father did.

Instead of going to her father when she wanted advice Kelis took to seeking out Jie, a faun. The young vanara’s desires to seek out all the little pleasures meant the gentle prodding from her fey mentor was a welcome relief from her father’s insistence that she learn to act as her station required. From food and drink, to the freedom of the trees, to more carnal pleasures, Kelis looked to experience every bit of life.

Even though she reveled in her excess, Kelis’s life was not all chaos and disorder. The young vanara had a sense of justice, even if her methods of enforcing it were more in line with the fey whose lands she inhabited. What is right is right and what is wrong needs to be punished.

When a wizard from Golarion came to treat with Avealis he was allowed free reign of the forest within certain limits. The willworker, however, did not treat all of the denizens of the forest with the grace the fey usually do. When he destroyed the home of the primal simians who were just examining him with interest, this incensed Kelis. Fey justice is, if anything, overly literal and since the wizard destroyed what the simians owned, Kelis stole his spellbook and staff and destroyed it in turn.

As is wont of the fey realm, Kelis’s actions had their own twist. The youngest of the primal apes saw the deed the vanara performed and began to follow her around. The two eventually became inseparable. When Kelis decided it was time to leave home to make her own way, this new companion left with her. Stepping through the fey portal on to the world of Golarion, the creature looked for all to see like a normal ape, but Kelis knew there was still a primal being inside. Now the two look to make a life of their own, if they can figure out where they are.

Our random rolls have become Kelis the fey trained woodswoman. Is this what you would have done? Which forested plane would you have had her be from? What class would you have chosen? Who would her mentor have been? How would she seek out her pleasures?

If the CRB has inspired your next character, or even the manner in which you create your next character, consider becoming a contributor. Check out my Patreon for a special video message. If you’d like to become a part of the CRB community you can join me on Facebook, Google+, Tumblr, and Twitter. My inbox is open on all venues for questions and comments.