The results of this week’s random rolls: A charismatic,
wise, and durable fetchling from the land of Nidal. He is the youngest son of
noble-born knights who now live in the frontier of their shadowy land. Working
through the stats and random bits of information as well as the harrow reading,
we piece together the life of our new character. What class shall he be? How
did he become who he is? Today we answer those questions.
Harrow
Interpretation
Signifier Card:
The Marriage, which represents the character himself, shows the progeny of the
salamander and the water weird. It can represent a new power brought by both
parties or it can show ruin. In this case I see it representing both. On the
one hand the characters parents brought him into the world, but on the other
his birth is what caused them to be banished to the frontier.
Card One: The
Rabbit Prince often represents younger members of royalty or other powerful
households. It can also show how combat isn’t always pretty. Since this
represents where the character comes from both meanings are true. He is both
the youngest son of noble knights and his parents probably trained him in the
art of combat. This most likely means he would become some kind of combat class,
although possibly underhanded combat.
Card Two: For
the card that represents an event that affects the character, we have The
Eclipse. It represents both self-doubt and a possible loss of faith. Although
this character has a patron deity, I can see it as a loss of faith in the state
religion. This also adds to his attempts to blackmail the clergy. He lost his
way but has since found it in his new patron. This also goes into his
influential associate, a pariah. I see this as someone from outside the church,
a heretic perhaps.
Card Three:
The character’s power or talent is shown to us by The Foreign Trader. This card
represents a spy or peddler, people who can trade in information and make
bargains, to which he usually ends up on the better end of. Both a combatant and a deal maker, I think
this helps guide what kind of class the character might take.
Card Four: The
Peacock shows astonishing beauty frozen like a cockatrice’s statue, but instead
of beauty I see this as representing this character’s drawback, a desire for
reputation of fame. He wishes to be immortalized by his own reputation. And the
cockatrice itself I take more literally and it cements the idea of a combat
class from card one by being a cavalier of the order of the cockatrice. In this case continuing with the idea
different or underhanded combat I’m going to go with both the luring cavalier
and the musketeer archetypes.
Janzin Uth
Pentracest
Janzin’s family has always served the Umbral Court as
caretakers of the lands to the south of the Usk Wood. His father is himself the
youngest son one of the current Shade Barons of the region. With his older
brother set to become next Shade Baron, Janzin’s father became a warrior of the
court, a shadow knight.
Before Janzin was conceived his family lived well. His
father married a daughter to another minor fetchling noble. The family was also
blessed with two children, a son and a daughter, before the birth of Janzin.
But Janzin’s conception was seen as a bad omen, for what reason he’s never
learned. Regardless he was born and in allowing this his parents were banished
to the realm of the horse farmers.
In Atteran Ranches, Janzin and his family lived on a
small estate mostly keeping to themselves. The farmers had for generations been
allowed to police themselves. His although his older brother would follow in
their father’s footsteps and become a shadow knight, Janzin too was trained in
the art of combat. Unlike the honorable knights of other realms, the Nidalese
warriors were taught to win by any means necessary. He was trained not only with sword and lance,
but also to slide a dagger into an opponent’s back.
Life in Atteran Ranches changed over time. Rumors of a
cult of Desna worshipers spread and once more the knights of house Uth Pentracrest
were called to service. The farmers still looked to face this threat on their
own, not wanting the Umbral Court’s overseers involved. But when Janzin was
stolen away in the Desnan’s failed attempt to ‘free’ him from the wicked life
of his Zon-Kuthon worshiping parents, there was nothing to stop his family from
getting involved.
Although his rescue came swiftly, a posse of farmers
actually returning him to his parent’s home, Janzin himself began to have
doubts. A life of worship of Zon-Kuthon seemed dreary and dour, and the young
fetchling wished for something more. Being the youngest son of a youngest son
he feared his life would end in obscurity and Janzin hoped to be something
bigger.
One of the things that led to Janzin’s crisis of faith
was that he felt it was the state—and thus the church’s—fault that his
parents had to live out in the boondocks. However there was never much he could
do about his feelings until he on a trip home with his parents and he found
evidence of his grandfather embezzling money from the church of Zon-Kuthon. The
Kuthonites don’t take kindly to these sort of things and his grandfather had no
choice but to deal.
If nothing else Janzin excelled at bartering and for his
silence his grandfather would let his family return home. The deal, however,
said that Janzin could not return with them. The patriarch of the family
thought he had won a victory here, but in truth the young fetchling had no wish
to return to the fold of the Kuthonites in his home city.
Janzin did feel oddly about having to deal with his
family so harshly, another reason he knew the faith of the Midnight Lord was
not for him. As an act of contrition he told his father what he had done and
admitted his acts against the family. The elder fetchling just smiled. The
edicts of Zon Kuthon might not have been solace for his son but now the father
had the ammunition he needed against his own progenitor.
Alone in the world with no family, no faith, and not yet
any fame Janzin struck out across Nidal toward the lands of their ally Cheliax.
Along the way he found a man travelling the roads alone too. The man claimed to
be an outcast knight seeking fame and fortune. Janzin, seeking the same,
attached himself to the warrior. From him he was inducted into the order of the
Cockatrice, a group of warriors who seek to leave their mark on the world.
The ways of the order were not the only lessons Janzin
learned from this masterless knight. Worship of the archdevil Zaebos proved
something the fetchling also took a liking to. Although he steered away from
the truly evil, Janzin’s own noble birth and growing ego meant many of the
structures of his hellish patron rung true in his heart.
Janzin eventually left his mentor’s side. He now roams
the lands of Cheliax, Nidal, and Varisia in an effort to increase his
notoriety; leaving in his wake battles won and women bedded. Maybe one day he will return home, but that
day is not today.
From jumbled bits of background I have lured forth the
tale of Janzin Uth Pentracest. But mine is not the only story that could be
molded here. What class would you have chosen for this character? Why does this
does this fetchling choose to worship Zaebos? How did you interpret the harrow
reading?
As Janzin comes from the shadows and tries to bring his
name to light, so too does the CRB illuminate the world of gaming. If these
characters shed some light on the dark recesses of your imagination, please
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