A half-elf whose defining ability is
his insane toughness was a tough call. Not strong enough to be a great melee
fighter, not dexterous enough to excel as an archer, lacking the wisdom or
intelligence to be a great caster. Just incredibly hard to keep down and a
force of personality to back it up. The rest of the background information,
seen here, left little clue to his possible life path. His choice of
worship, the inscrutable fey lord, Count Ranalc of the Eldest, spoke of
betrayal—possibly exile.
I did finally pick a
class after much deliberation and finishing a good deal of the background of
his early years. I went with cavalier. Specifically the huntmaster archetype
and the Order of the Green. In an attempt to codify why his life would lead him
here, I rolled on the cavalier background table and the result helped clear
things up.
Tragedy and Loss: In
your formative years, you experienced a significant tragedy that forged you
into the person you've become. You gain access to the Grief-Filled social
trait.
Krunder Hound-Speaker
In the time before
Starfall the elves inhabited many of the great forests across the face of
Golarion. When the elves fled not all left with them. Some fled into the
darklands and became the drow, others moved into the lands of humans and became
the forlorn, but other still stood their ground to protect their forest homes.
In the Fangwood forest that spans between what is now Nirmathas and Lastwall
one such elven enclave exists.
Feeling betrayed by
their people, forgotten and living in near exile from their kin in Kyonin,
these elves have taken up what they consider their fey roots. Many revere the
Eldest called Count Ranalc, seeing his dominion over those who have been
betrayed and cast aside as their only means of survival. They seek to protect
their primeval home allying with the fey of the wood. Over the course of
centuries, however, Northern Fangwood has been the roosting ground of a great
green dragon and much later tribes of orcs who worship him. More recently
Southern Fangwood has seen a rot with the corruption of a dryad and her tree
bringing a great blight.
All in all the elves
of Northern Fangwood tend to be less whimsical than the other elves of
Golarion, and for this reason it comes as no surprise when the odd child tries
to make an escape into the humans lands. Usually the runaway elf is captured
before he or she can even make the edge of the forest, but Allissitiare was the
daughter of the enclave’s best tracker and she had been keeping ahead of the other
hunters since she was only fifty. Once past the border of the forest, she made
it to Vellumis and then a boat to the lands of Razmiran.
Allissitiare’s intent
was to make for the River Kingdoms, where everyone was hiding from something,
but as is often the case love got in the way. A whirlwind romance with a kellid
trader found the young elf maiden in the unlikeliest of places, Numeria. Kord
lived apart from his tribe but traded their goods on trips to Ustalav,
Razmiran, and the River Kingdoms. His return with an elven lover set him even
further afield, even after she proved she was just as good a hunter as any of
them. Even with his people’s disfavor they eventually bore a child and then
another.
Krunder was the eldest
and he showed the blood of both his parents with slightly pointed ears and his
mother’s purple eyes, as well as his father’s thick build and ruddy skin tone.
Haram was the younger brother by two years and took only after his father, his
mother’s elven blood did not pass on, leaving him wholly human. Regardless of
their appearance they were a family and loved each other as such.
The lands of Numeria
are known for their many dangers, and sadly while traveling back to Razmiran to
trade Kord was felled by an irradiated ankheg. With his tribe never really
caring for her, Allissitiare left the barrens of Numeria and headed home with
her sons, now ten and eight. Although she feared going back to the Fangwood,
Lastwall was home and she crossed Lake Encarthan once more and settled into the
lakeside town she passed through once before, Vellumis.
The thing about elves
is they have a long memory, and the elves of the Fangwood keep constant vigil
for those who might spread tales of their existence. When Allissitiare made her
return to the shores of Lastwall it was not very long before she was met by
representatives of her former home. Cornered and threatened the elves of
Fangwood wrested Krunder from his mother’s grasp. They informed her of their
intention to keep her eldest child. If she never came for him and kept the
secret of the elves of Fangwood then she and both of her sons could live.
In the shadow painted
depths of Northern Fangwood Krunder was brought before his grandfather, still
head of the Fangwood enclave’s defenders. The young half-elf was placed with
his cousin and her husband, who had no children of their own. Both were soldiers as were most of the elves
of Fangwood and Krunder learned to live a very strict and regimented life.
When he was of age he
was enrolled in the academy where all youngsters were trained in the fighting
arts. Krunder was tough and could take a beating better than any of the other
students, but he had no aptitude for the blade and was little better with the
bow. He also lacked any talent with magic, natural or otherwise. What the
half-elf did have was an affinity for animals, specifically canines. Krunder
was apprenticed with the master of the kennel who in his day was a great
huntsman and a member of the Order of the Green.
After graduating the
academy Krunder was given the name Hound-Speaker. The elders also tried to give
him a more elven name but he refused to be called anything but that which his
father named him. For decades Krunder served as one of the enclave’s troops.
Hunting orcs with his faithful hound Feruss but this life, this strict order,
this exile from his true family ate at his heart. Eventually, like his mother,
he ran, and like his mother he left behind the darkness and despair of his
people as he tore through the border of Northern Fangwood.
The first place he
made for was Vellumis to find his mother, but neither she nor his brother could
be found there. Very few remembered the elf woman with the human son, and even
those who did couldn’t say when she left or where she’d gone. Although free of
the Fangwood he was still an exile from his loved ones. The one thing that
stuck with him was the worship of Count Ranalc as the voice of the exile and
those who have been betrayed. And now Krunder searches for his family with no
hint of where to start.
The shadows of
Fangwood (and the random rolls) have birthed Krunder Hound-Speaker, but this
may not be the character you envisioned. What character did the disparate
pieces of information call on you to make? Why would he follow Count Ranalc?
From where did his parents come from? Who is the man he would become?
Have you been inspired
to make your own random characters, or use one of these as an NPC in your game?
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