The Harrow. This week we’ve let it reflect on everything we do,
from figuring out how it works in our games to making our character based off a harrow reading.
Our wise, but not ultra-charismatic, Varisian from Ustalav got not only her
random background rolls but her harrow reading before she was born. Working to
put all that information together was no easy task.
Picking a class was also a bit of a challenge. With a
high wisdom being her only truly defining stat our choices were limited. The
third card in her harrow reading being the carnival and representing illusions
and false dreams screamed oracle. However, the lack of charisma meant she couldn’t even cast
spells as an oracle. Looking through the deities I found Chucaro, the Maiden of
Haze and Whimsy. This deity of dreams and hallucinations I thought fit that
card well and so I went with cleric.
Neela Kevikov
Ardis, once the largest city in all of Ustalav. Although
Neela Kevikov is too young to remember those days of grandeur, her parents were
teens when Ardis made its decline. Once a city of artists, poets, authors, and
the elite of society, all of that began to fall when the Eunuch Prince moved the
capital almost a decade and a half before Neela was born.
The Kevikov’s were not themselves what one would call
inspired artists or elite. Her mother was an adventurer, but not for long when
she settled down in Ardis, pregnant with her now-dead lover’s child. Her
father, in love with her mother since they were kids, married her regardless of
her condition and treated the now fatherless half-elf baby as his own. For his
part, Neela’s father was fine wood worker. His furniture was especially sought
after, but more for its utility than its artistic beauty.
Neela was the last of four children borne by her mother.
Her half-elf brother, and the twins, a boy and a girl, born to Neela’s father
all came before her. Unlike the other children, Neela was born with a
deformity, twisting her body in ways that made her rather unpleasant to the
eyes. Despite this she was shown love and her parents allowed her to foster
whatever skills she wished.
Neela was enamored of the tales of the artists of old.
She made attempts at every art form in which she could find a tutor. Although
not abysmal, her lack of a way with words meant being the next great author,
playwright, or poet was not in her future. Like her father she did have a way
with her hands, though and this translated well to paintings and drawings.
Neela especially had a talent for optical illusions, her pieces often changed
appearances depending on how you looked at them.
The once prosperous region of Ardeal, of which Ardis is
the capital, is currently ruled by the vicious Countess Solismina Venacdahlia.
Many of the other nobles of the area follow in their countesses’ footsteps of
harsh and cruel rule. Although art was once the corner stone of Ardis and this
Ardeal, it is now seen as frivolous. Many hate it because it reminds them of a
better time, but that is not true of all.
Neela’s art, along with her deformity, saw her rejected
and ridiculed time and again. It wasn’t until a young Baron took Neela in and
became her patron that she got to truly discover her art form. The Baron spoke
of the heyday of Ardis that his father and grandfather were alive for; although
he spoke of it more as a fond memory than a distant tale. He sought to bring
some of that back into his own life, and paid for Neela to draw and paint for
him.
In the beginning the arrangement went well. The Baron
would display her works and even take her to parties to show her off. It wasn’t
until years into the patron-artist relationship that Neela learned her
benefactor’s dark secret. He didn’t wish to bring back the artistic values of
his ancestors, he was a vampire who had lived through it and sought to relive
his own past. She would never tell him she knew but she kept producing pieces
for him as her mentor.
When she turned seventeen Neela began having horrible nightmares.
Her paintings showed things that she wished no one to see. To her the illusions
became the reality, and in some cases events she drew began to come to pass.
Her parent’s secreted her away from their home and brought her to a small
monastery in the countryside. The multi-denominational sisters sought communion
with their individual gods before reaching the conclusion that a divine power
was reaching out to the young artist.
Neela lived in the monastery for two years. Although her
mentor treated her well, he was still a being of gluttony that needed to live
of the life force of others. Once she was away from his evil the messages in her
dreams came through much clearer. She was chosen by the Empyreal Lord Chucaro,
who saw in her art a way to lift the mists from the eyes of mortals. He wished
her now to paint for him, and show her work to the world.
Finally at home in her own skin as a cleric of the Maiden
of Haze and Whimsy, Neela looks to strike out into the world. She understands
that being an undead creature makes him a blight, but she
still looks upon her time with her patron fondly. For now, however, there are
dreams to be interpreted and painted onto the canvas of the world.
A cleric of the god of hallucinations and mists, I
present to you Neela Kevikov. What would you have done with these stats? What
class would you have picked? How would you have interpreted each card in the
reading?
Like Neela the CRB seeks to bring you truth from the
illusion. If you’ve broken through the mists and veils and found your gaming
inspiration, 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.
