Character 95 - Keeler Frot

I really enjoyed writing this week’s character. This is one of those times when the random bits really just coalesced into something right from the get-go. The only problem was that I had half of this background written and I still couldn’t figure out what class to choose. Although the character’s intelligence was extremely high none of the actual casting classes made sense. He also had a high enough wisdom to be a divine caster but nothing there sung to me either. Eventually I found just the archetype that I was looking for in the investigator class, the majordomo.

Keeler Frot

Lord Hugrin Firebelly was a good and honorable man who chose to live the life of a full-time crusader. As the tenets of Angradd say, “passivity gives evil a chance to thrive and spread” and so the dwarven lord left his lands in the hands of his sons and set out to find evil to thwart.

He didn’t go alone, however. Being a lord he still had a certain life he felt he deserved to live, and on the road with him came squires and servants of all kinds. His retinue included more than just dwarves and among his servants was an orc man and his human wife. These two had made a home on the dwarf’s lands when no one else would have them, and when he left on his personal crusades they opted to head off with him.

Keeler was the duo’s first and only child. He was born on the road when the lord was traveling to the front in Lastwall. He was born rather sickly but the clerics on in the lord’s retinue saw him survive the rough childbirth. The young half-orc grew up to be big, although not strong, and a bit flabby around the middle.

The young boy’s heritage and immensity saw him teased and bullied a lot as a child. It didn’t help that he didn’t know how to communicate the way others did. He missed social cues that caused him even more trouble. This drove him to a life buried in books. The tomes never talked back or teased him.

His mother died when Keeler was only eight. She contracted an illness and although the clerics were able to cure the disease once they discovered it, it had eaten away at her body from the inside. She passed not long after the sickness was actually cured but nobody resurrects a peasant even if they had the ability to.

Keeler’s life always seemed to be in disarray. Chaos came from all the traveling and he began to keep his life as ordered as he possibly could; everything in its place and a place for everything. After the death of his mother, this habit became even more pronounced and he had a hard time dealing with anything that was out of order. Whereas this organization was helpful in many situations it tended to grate on the others around him.

In Ustalav there was a battle against a cult of Urgathoa worshipers. Members of the church of Angradd had alerted the lord to the evil afoot and he went without delay. The cultists were crafty and had no problems with civilian casualties in their reach for undeath, and although the group was eventually routed, Keeler’s father fell when he jumped in front of a poisoned arrow meant for Lord Firebelly. And so at age twelve the young half-orc was without any family.

Because Keeler’s father was so dedicated to the Lord – having gone as far to give his life for him – he took the now almost grown man under his wing. Lord Firebelly tutored the boy in the ways of his patron, Angradd. Keeler took well to the idea of tactics, as it seemed very orderly to him, but the battlefield appeared to destroy all that order. The half-orc took up the worship of his liege’s deity but he would never make a good paladin.

What Lord Firebelly did discover was the Keeler had a way with the organization of his schedule and apartment, so he tested a theory and saw that his pupil also could get his household staff to move things along. Although he had a tendency to ruffle their feathers when giving orders, the lord took him on his chief steward.

Things around the camp got done faster and with more precision, but in the first few months he lost a lot of staff who couldn’t put up with Keeler’s seemingly uncaring attitude. Lord Firebelly wished to keep his staff but craved efficiency, so he gave Keeler an assistant: a young dwarf lass with a gift for gab who was the daughter of one of his knights. Keeler would come up with the plans and she would give the orders.

Lord Firebelly’s retinue has settled in Mendev where Keeler’s liege believes the greatest battle for Golarion will be waged. The half-orc now has a proper household to attend as well as briefings on tactics for his lord’s forays into The Worldwound. Life on the front isn’t so bad now that Keeler has found his place.

How did your half-orc turn out? What class did the random rolls suggest? Where did he grow up if not one specific town? Who was the liege lord that mentored him? How does a half-orc worship a dwarven deity?

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Character 82 - Torin (Altorielal) Illiskata

Illustration by Luis Perez

When I was looking at the stats for this week’s random rolls all I could see was an elf that didn’t care. What little is known about the Deamon Harbinger Ahriman show that he is a true nihilist and so are his followers. The character’s lack of charisma and high intelligence I saw as being cold and calculating. His lack of wisdom comes off to me as not having an emotional understanding of anything. So I went looking for some classes to reflect that.

Since he was going to be thoroughly evil but curious, when I saw the interrogator archetype for alchemist I knew that was where I wanted to go. But then I saw the empiricist archetype for investigator and I knew I wanted that too. Lastly I took a look at the vivisectionist archetype for alchemist and I knew exactly where I was going with the character. However, because I needed to multiclass to get the full scope, this character is not actually written up as first level, as my usual characters are.

Torin (Altorielal) Illiskatal

Torin was born within the confines of the elvish homeland of Kyonin. His parents were servants to one of the noble families that lived in this small enclave. As a child his life was not easy, the children of the noble families would pick on him relentlessly. They would do so, not only because he was beneath them in station, but because he was odd.

The young elf didn’t understand people; he would trap himself with whatever books he could sneak out of the noble family’s library. He found interest in the strangest things, dead things. He was constantly bringing small creatures he found to show his parents, although he never understood why they would look at him so strangely when he did.

No one applauded his interest in the internal workings of things. Nobody wanted to know why things worked the way he did. And so as he grew older he learned to stop sharing with people, even his own parents and sisters. Even though he stopped being openly so weird he still met with malice from the other elven children around him.

Torin’s curiosity turned from morbid to downright violent. There were times when he couldn’t find corpses to poke and prod and so he would make his own. People’s pets began to go missing but, despite suspicions, no one could place these deeds on Torin. Although he hadn’t learned to understand why people found his musings creepy he recognized that they did and made sure to hide his curiosity and his misdeeds from them.

Eventually Torin would head off to school like all elves. Even the lower class children attended classes. Torin was an excellent student. He voraciously devoured any forms of knowledge and was especially keen on those things having to do with anatomy. He was top of his classes which saw even more derision from his peers, many of whom felt their status meant they should be better at everything than him.

During his time in school he had one rival, only one person who was as smart – and occasionally smarter – than he was. The two were always in competition, but the race for academic supremacy spurred them both to greater heights. Torin’s heights also included becoming more vicious and spiteful.

Illustration by Luis Perez

One of the things Thorin had become good at was convincing others to do things. He wouldn’t appeal to their emotions, he would assault them with unerring logic. In many cases he could convince others that the ideas he was pushing weren’t his but the logical next steps in their own thinking. During one particularly tough assignment he wanted to beat his rival so badly that he convinced one of the local pixies to destroy the student’s project. Driven by his own malice he turned a creature of almost pure good into an instrument of chaos.

Thorin’s misdeeds would eventually catch up to him as he took further and further risks to slake his curiosity. Although he had yet to make his first kill he came across a body. A man died in the woods, by the look of it from an animal attack. Thorin took the corpse back to his secret ‘workshop’ and began the arduous task of taking it apart bit by bit. But the experimenter’s lair was not so secret –at least not to his rival – and the guard came upon him up to his elbows in blood and gore.

After being found out he became a pariah, an outcast. Thornin fled Kyonin over the border into the human occupied land of Galt. The constant revolution usually saw people fleeing from Galt and not to it, but even the nation of anarchists has a place where criminals and dissidents go to lay low. Thorin made his home in the town of Woodsedge at the northern tip of the Verduran Forest.

Because Woodsedge was a place where everyone kept to themselves and people came and went as they pleased, Thorin found it the perfect place to continue his studies. He had long since exhausted most of the study he could do on the dead and sought to test the limits of the living. His intellectual endeavors in Kyonin had included some alchemical study during his academic tenure but he began to explore that in earnest in Woodsedge.

The general temperament of the populace of Woodedge meant it was also a place that organizations went to recruit those with special talents; talents that may be looked upon unfavorably by the populace at large. Thorin was scouted and approached by not one but two such groups who believed they could make use of his unique skills.

The group known as the Grey Gardeners had – through informants – come to understand that Thorin had developed new techniques for interrogation. They approached the elf to join their ranks and help them root out those who would bring dissent to the land of Galt. They did so by first attempting to threaten Thorin, but his emotionless nature was unmoved by their posturing. He was, however, interested when they offered him an endless supply of test subjects.

The second group that sought him out was a small cult of a mostly unknown Daemonic being. The Usij, although mostly active in Katapesh, had come to Galt hoping to help the nation, which is hanging on the brink of destruction by a thread, sever that last connection to civilization. Promises of revenge against the elves of Kyonin and a link to the resources he needed to further his alchemical studies, without hunting down the rare ingredients himself, saw Thorin dedicate himself to this religious organization.

Thorin has come a long way from being derided by his peers. He now has the backing of two organizations and all the tools he needs to continue his experiments. How long he will remain among the Grey Gardeners or the Usij is unknown, but he knows that as long as they need him they will be of some use.

How did your elf’s background manifest? What class did he choose? When did he begin his worship of Ahriman? How did he corrupt a non-humanoid monster? And what did he have it do? Why was he bullied?

Bringing these characters to life is a second full-time job. A pledge of as little as one dollar a month on Patreon or a one-time donation to my paypal can help keep the lights on while I concentrate on producing new content for you.

The CRB has been growing as a community on social media; please join us on Facebook,  Google+, Tumblr, and Twitter. My inbox is open on all forums for questions, comments, and discussion. If you don’t want to miss a beat make sure you sign up to have the CRB pushed directly to your e-reading device with Kindle Subscriptions through Amazon.

The character illustration was created by the fine artist Luis Perez. You can find him on Twitter, Tumblr, and on Instagram at luisperezart. 

Character Exploration 73 - Quraish Brokenbough

This week’s random rolls showed us a bright, intuitive, and lithe young half-elf. Born in the crusader state of Mendev, his human blood came to that land from the far off Keleshite Empire. We had to link together at least one parent that was an entertainer, a betrayal, and the worship of Bharnarol among other things. So how did I do it and what class did I choose?

I really liked the technological aspect of Bharnarol, and with a craftsmen as a mentor it seemed to fit together. I wasn’t going to use any 3pp classes so I needed an archetype of a class that had a technical flavor. It stated that Bharnarol’s followers and sometimes the Empyreal Lord himself hunt down those who invent dangerous things. So I needed a technologist who could ferret out an evil inventor. After a very brief search I found the scavenger archetype for the investigator class.

Quraish Brokenbough

Mendev sees people of all races and ethnicities make their way to the frontlines of the battle against chaos. Some of these crusaders and their hangers-on return to their homes, worlds away. Some remain, making a new home for themselves in a land constantly at war. The small town of Krega is one such location, with a diverse population of humans and non-humans.

Krega is situated on the outskirts of the Estrovian Forest. Although the forest itself is considered haunted, for the most part by monstrous beings known as herne, the places close to towns like Krega and Dubrov tend to house those more comfortable living among the trees like elves and gnomes. In one of these small woodland enclaves is where Quarish was born.

Quraish’s father was a crusader from Kyonin who retired to work the land. The boy’s mother came with an enclave of Kelishite warriors seeking glory in battle. Although all of the crusaders died in combat, their retinues lived and either went home or spread across Mendev looking for work. The two met and fell in love in Krega, where his mother sang at a local tavern. She eventually moved out to his father’s forest home, although she would return to the town from time to time to perform.

The woodland enclave was most self-sufficient. Elves, gnomes, and more rural minded humans all pitched in to make it work. The werebear-kin that patrolled the forest would stop in from time to time when rumor of one of the herne surfaced. Each member of the small community had their say and their contribution. Quraish himself was always fond of Yurtok the Numerian craftsman.

Yurtok never talked about his past, although his ease around weird mechanical devices suggested he had some truck with the Technic League. Quraish was always trying to figure out the little doodads and gadgets the old man would create. The boy became a constant in Yurtok’s workshop, so the Kellid eventually took him on as an apprentice.

Living in the wilds usually meant one did what one needed to survive, but never at the expense of those who relied on you. Quraish’s father lived a hard life as a crusader but he instilled in his son the difference between law and justice. He always told his son that you do what is right, regardless of what is expected. These lessons would hold with Quraish his entire life.

Although his father was a worshiper of Erastil, the tenets of Old Deadeye didn’t sing to Quraish’s soul. The young half-elf once again turned to his mentor. The craftsman held a special place in his heart for Bharnarol, the Empyreal Lord of creativity. Although he would speak of what he was before, he says that the agathion saved him from himself. Feeling a call to creation, Quraish chose Bharnarol as his own patron.

One of the reasons his father left Kyonin to become a crusader was that his wife had died. Although she was already an adult, his flight to Mendev also left behind his daughter from his first marriage. When the elven maiden came calling, it was a shock to her father and his new family. Although he had failed to speak of her in the past Quraish and his mother welcomed her as part of the family.

His half-sister was on the run and had nowhere else to turn. She too came to Mendev to fight the demon horde, but she had a falling out with her commander. She felt he was leading her unit to their certain death and she mutinied against him. It saved the lives of many of her fellows – including her commander – but it left her in a precarious position having usurped command. So she ran.

Her father promised to hide her, but his love for his daughter was not held by all. Another former crusader, who still numbered friends among the armies of Kyonin, had heard of her desertion. And even though he and Quraish’s father had been friends for years, he still turned the girl in. The soldiers came and took her away to Krega to await trial.

Quraish, who wasn’t home at the time, managed to follow them back to town. Using a number of his mentor’s inventions he managed free his half-sister. He knew he had broken the law but what is just and right, isn’t always what is the law. Although it could never be proven, everyone assumed he freed her. To this day he has never said where she headed.

The half-elf, now a man, sought to find his own place in the world. His mentor had explained that he originally came to Mendev as a sort of crusader of his own. His patron sought to stop those who would create to destroy and had sent him to fight against the followers of the Demon Lord Haagenti. If the boy wanted his own quest he offered the mission he could no longer undertake.

With his growing mastery of the mechanical arts, as well as an ability to ferret out those who would use invention for evil, Quraish would head out into the world. He would refuse to officially join the armies of the crusaders but he would often work with them when their objectives and his coincided. The worshipers of Haagenti had better beware.

Now that you’ve seen what I came up with, what was your interpretation of these rolls? What class did your half-elf choose? Who were his parents? Who was his influence? Who has he betrayed? When did he start worshiping Bharnarol?

Bringing these characters to life is a second full-time job. A pledge of as little as one dollar a month on Patreon or a one-time donation to my paypal can help keep the lights on while I concentrate on producing new content for you.

The CRB has been growing as a community on social media; please join us on Facebook, Google+, Tumblr, and Twitter. My inbox is open on all forums for questions, comments, and discussion. If you don’t want to miss a beat make sure you sign up to have the CRB pushed directly to your e-reading device with Kindle Subscriptions through Amazon.

Character Exploration 60 - Neeter

Random rolls sixty brings us our second ratfolk and another one I really enjoyed making. The pieces seemed simple enough, nothing over the top like the divine touch from last week’s character. Everything except charisma being decent, with a good intelligence left a lot of choices. But what character I should make is always the tough question.

Picking a class is the hardest part. I didn’t want to go straight up arcane caster. The last ratfolk was a wizard and I wanted to move away from that. Looking at ratfolk characteristics, they get a bonus to craft (alchemy), Perception, and use magic device so that gave me an idea. Investigator is a class I really love and I thought fit the stats of the character well. The next question was how to tie it altogether. The answer was like this:

Neeter

Illustration by Luis Perez

Although Winterbreak is the only city on Acuben Isle it is not the only settlement. A number of small fishing villages dot the coast of the forty-five mile long island. One of these villages was where young Neeter was born. The bastard son of his father and some woman in Port Ice, his dad took him to live with the rest of the family, which at the time included two older sisters.

Although most of the village lived off of fishing and crabbing, Neeter’s father was a salvage and repair specialist. The young ratfolk grew up around ships and the docks that housed them. Sadly his home, the boats, and many of the people he knew were demolished when he only five. A particularly harsh winter brought storms across the Lake of Mists and Veils and hurricane force winds destroyed everything in sight, killing over three quarters of the small settlement. The family of ratfolk was saved only by the cunning use of some of his father’s inventions.

Many of the former townsfolk, including Neeter’s family, made their way to the large city of Winterbreak, the center of power for House Ludovka. The much larger city already had a thriving port with many established repair facilities. Finding work was difficult for his dad and that left Neeter on his own a lot of the time. Somehow, despite his mangy look and a lack of social ability, he soon made a friend.

Burkin Hiefender was a half-elf who seemed to know just about everyone in town. Where Neeter had  problems with everyday conversation, often coming off as rude or disinterested even when he wasn’t, Burkin had a knack with people; from the former pirate captain who now owned a dockside tavern to even some of the Ludovka children. If you needed something, anything, Burkin could find it for you.

With his father’s fourth child on the way, Neeter asked Burkin to help him find his father some steady work. It came down to dealing with some of the less reputable folk dockside, but to Neeter’s family was very important. As was typical of the socially inept ratfolk, the meeting didn’t go well. Feeling cornered, Neeter attempt to manipulate one of the crime bosses, a mistake he tries to forget although the scars on his face won’t allow him to.

Dockside became his home even after his father found work with one of the repair companies. The piers, taverns, fish markets, and hoists and pulleys all felt like a part of him. Like many of the fisherfolk of the small village Neeter paid homage to Ylimancha and these coastal waters were all he needed to feel alive. But the docks weren’t all fun and games. In the shadows, hidden from the sight of man, bad things happened.

As he grew older Neeter became protective of Dockside. The facts his family lived there added to his need to keep it safe. Even the the guards of the Ludovka family kept commerce moving they didn’t always keep people safe. Humans had a hard time seeing into the darkness but ratfolk could see just fine. When the city guard left dockside at night, that’s when Neeter took over.

Even if he couldn’t talk his way out of a fishnet, Neeter had a remarkable intellect. He could piece a puzzle together quicker than most. His reflexes were about as quick as his mind as well. Combine all of that with his ability to read people - even if he had a hard time talking to them - and Neeter started solving more crime than the guard ever did. Sometimes known as “The Dockside Detective”, many of the locals would come to him if they had a problem. He was their light, and he would drag the bad things from the darkness for them.

From the darkness there is light and that light is Neeter. But is this the character you would have made? What class would you have chosen? What disaster would your character have survived? Would you have chosen Winterbreak or Port Ice as his home? How was he a bastard? It’s never too late to let us know in the comments.

Just like Neeter, I seek to bring more light to your gaming experience.  Contributions to my Patreon or Paypal help me be able to invest more of that time into creation instead of worrying about keeping the lights on. If you’d like to support your favorite content provider – come on, that’s me, admit it – please consider contributing. If you’re enjoying the blog, why not join the rest of the fans of the CRB on our social media hangouts? Facebook, Google +, Tumblr, and Twitter all have a CRB presence and my inbox is open on all forums for questions, comments, and discussion.

The opening illustration was created by the fine artist Luis Perez. You can find him on Twitter, Tumblr, and on Instagram at luisperezart. 

Character 51 - Brogurtt Thunderstomp

Our smart and dexterous hobgoblin was a bit of a challenge. He almost cried out to be a full int caster but when reading about hobgoblins I learned something. On Golarion hobgoblins were engineered to fight elves. Even now they still hate them because of the magical programming. Because they hate elves they also hate arcane magic. I decided to work with this information and go a different direction.

Card One: Where the character game from. In this case I’m going to use The Carnival card to represent imprudent plans. When mixed with the signifier card of The Crows which can represent shocking loss, and the fact both this characters parents were in the military I see him being an early orphan. His parents dead because of a poorly thought through plan of a commanding officer.

Card Two: The Cricket represents a quick mind and a quick body both of which this character has in spades. The peach pit upon which the grig on the card is perched usually means a treasure. Again combined with the signifier card which can represent  theft, and the Magical Gift major childhood event, I see the important event represented by this card as the cunning theft of this magical item.

Card Three: The third position card represents a talent. The Inquisitors represents someone who searches for and accepts nothing but the truth. As a special ability it can mean someone who is not easily lied to or swayed. I see this as the character having a very high sense motive and probably quite a few knowledge skills.

Card Four: The Joke represents something that must be overcome not by physical force. This shows that sometime in his future this character must use his wits and skill to overcome some great obstacle or monster. Combined with the talent represented in card three and the stats, and the portfolio of the Daemon Harbinger he follows I’m going to read this as representing his class. I see our Hobgoblin being an Investigator, with the Steel Hound archetype

Brogurtt Thunderstomp

Life in a hobgoblin company is harsh and strictly regimented, everyone serves under someone else’s boot unless you are the high commander. Every member of the company is a soldier, whether that means you are the company cook or an infantry lineman doesn’t matter. The hobgoblins purpose is to war, preferably against the hated elves.

Brogrutt’s parents were foot soldiers, always on the frontlines of battle. In Numeria battle usually meant war against the various Kellid tribes, or fighting for one’s territory against the mutant fauna and strange automatons of the wastes. Occasionally the Technic League would hire units of hobgoblins for one mission or another. As long as they were paid in the high-tech weapons and armor the League loved they didn’t care. Anything to further the needs of the company

Soon after his sister was born Brogurtt’s parents died. One of the company’s commanders planned to take territory from one of the smaller Kellid tribes. So set on his victory and making a name for himself the commander didn’t realize this was a cousin to the Black Sovereign himself. Reinforcements were swift and the commander’s lack of reconnaissance led to his troops being massacred. The commander returned home, demoted, but Brogurtt was left to fend for himself, and his sister. He promised his sister he would find his revenge and never leave her like their parents did.

The hobgoblin tendency to blindly follow orders didn’t sit well with Brogurrt after that. He spent much of his early years seeking vengeance for the death of his parents. Using every means at his disposal he sought aid even outside the tribe. The orcs spoke of a seer, one who lost his vision from the poisonous metals he ingested to gain his visions. For years Bromgutt would seek the oracles council until it led him to the lightning stone.

Supposedly a gift from the Daemon Harbinger Cixyron, the lightning stone was used by the technic league to power some of their technological devices. Although like many hobgoblins Bromgutt loathed magic as a tool of the elves, If it meant his revenge he would stoop to its use. The young hobgoblin snuck into the facility and lifted the lightning stone, along with a few other choice objects

The plan was always revenge.  Bromgurtt hated his parent’s murderer with a passion. The lightning stone was his chance to enact his vengeance. But things don’t always work out as planned. The stone was useful and it killed, it just didn't kill his parent’s former commander. Hobgoblins kill to move up the ranks all the time. Failure, however brings exile. In his hatred and anger Bromgurtt broke his one promise. He was cast out and left his sister alone just like their parents did.

With the lightning stone spent and his only possessions a few things he stole from the technic league Bromgurtt began searching for more advanced toys. Advancement brought power, he knew that by seeing the leagues influence. He began to dip into the realm of alchemy. One of the devices he took was a small pistol. It took him a while to figure it out but eventually is keen mind got it working.

Still seeking revenge, and power, Bromgutt looks to one day join the League. For now he explores the ruins of the things that crashed in Numeria ages ago. He hopes that some discovery will bring him entrance to the technomancer’s society. Hopefully Ciixyon well guide his hand after years of dedication.

For some hobgblins, military conformity is not the way. What would you have done with these stats? What class would you have picked? How would you have interpreted each card in the reading?

Bromgurtt looks for inspiration in technology hopefully you find your inspiration here. If you do please consider becoming a contributor to my Patreon. If you’d like to see what else the CRB is up to, join me on Facebook, Google+, Tumblr, and Twitter. My inbox is open on all venues.

Character Exploration 30 - Juolui

Merfolk have very little written about them, so this was a challenge. For the stats for this week’s background, you can check here, and for information on the merfolk of Golarion you can go here. As for what I choose to go with, some said Rogue, another wizard, but I went with Investigator. I specifically choose the Empiricist archetype for our learned dweller of the deeps.

Juolui

The merfolk of Jehyseel are as Xenophobic as all others of their race, hiding behind their forest of deadly stinging sea anemones. However worship of Irori has found its way into the city from the Vudrani of the nearby island of Jalneray. Now the merfolk almost all seek to reach perfection, and to that end they have adopted ritual contests to determine who has perfected different aspects of themselves. Despite its common acceptance, some elders say that human culture is an infection on the undersea life of the merfolk of the Obari Ocean.

Juolui was one of eight brothers and sisters born to a struggling family of serfs who worked the kelp farms that fed the city. Juolui was a boy whose mind wandered. While two older brothers worked the kelp fields with his father, he spent his time considering possibilities. His parents, especially his father, said his daydreaming was useless but that never stopped the turning gears of thought. When his father died the boy stopped his daydreaming and went to the fields leaving behind the life of the learned.

A life of backbreaking labor was all the young boy knew until his older sister, who recalled the boy’s fanciful thoughts, enrolled him in the Contest of the Mind. She saw the Irorian contest of self-perfection as the one chance for someone in the family to make their way above their current station. His other siblings, however, saw it as a waste of time. Juolui’s mother was silent but secretly hoped her son would to do well. And well he did, winning that year’s Contest of the Mind.

Juolui was taken from his family and sent to some of the greatest minds in the city. Wizards, mystics, tacticians, scholars, and anyone else who could challenge the young man’s intellect. Juolui had no aptitude for magic although he very much enjoyed speaking with those who did. One such man, a psychic named K’Lee’Pie, took the boy under his wing as his education continued, using his own powers to guide the boy toward his true purpose. Logic seemed to be Juolui’s forte and his natural deductive reasoning exceeded anyone the council had seen before.

One of the reasons the council of Jehyseel allows the contests to continue is that it lets them find those with gifts that can aid the city. They care a little for the worship of Irori, but ignore it if it brings them citizens who can keep the city safe and further their own personal goals. What the council didn’t realize was that sooner or later someone would figure out their machinations. Juolui, however, saw his place in the intrigues quite clearly and he hated it.

As one of the new investigators in service to the council he was sent to help contain a criminal, but Juolui knew better. In the course of his own investigation he found that this “criminal” had been set up and his only crime was that of dissent. When the time came the accused ‘escaped’ and Juolui failed his first mission, a fault that brought a stain upon him and his family. He was discharged from service to Jehyseel and although he was expelled, he never regretted his choice for a moment.

Now Juolui looks to the future, obsessively some might say. Not sure where to go or what to do, for the first time his mind is his own. In his attempt to root out the dissident, he found that the criminal had contact with the outside world and this weighed heavily on his mind. Does he move forward as a disgraced servant of the people, or does he look for more? And why was the council so set against people have contact with beings beyond the walls of Jehyseel? What else could they be hiding?

Much like an Empiricist I have found the logic in the rolls and made them into Juolui. Hopefully, if you enjoy the fruits of my imagination, you’ll see some small logic in supporting the CRB. Patrons and donations enables bloggers put out the content you’ve come to enjoy. Consider supporting me on Patreon. Don’t forget to check out the CRB on both Tumblr and Twitter for more daily doses of my joy of gaming. If you crave instant gratification try kindlesubscriptions and get the CRB pushed straight to your device as soon as it posts.