Character Exploration 59 - Kuni Ogo

A Kitsune in Taldor, an interesting prospect indeed. This week’s random roll left me a lot of options, except for anything involving a high intelligence score. The touch of divine energy at birth meant I could go one of two ways: Give into the divine and accept his place early on, or go against the obvious will of a divine power. A decent strength and dexterity mean a combat role was not out of the question. Although the middling charisma means he wouldn’t make the best paladin. So what to do?

To be honest I had no clue so at first. I tried to pick a place for him to be from in Taldor and I found the Monastery of the Seven Forms, a Tian monastery in Taldor. It was a sign. I immediately decided that he would be an unarmed fighter of some kind. I also decided to have him eventually embrace his divine touch, so in the end I chose the Warpriest class with the Sacred Fist archetype.

Kuni Ogo

Illustration by Luis Perez

Originally born in Tian Xia Kuni, Ogo was the second to last child born to two clerics of the Empyreal Lord Damerrich. Her worship was seen as little more than a cult among the people of the Dragon Empire, but her followers were dutiful so they were welcome in the cities of Tian. In many places followers of The Weighted Swing acted as executioners; they took on this duty so that others would not have to. They considered the condemned their charges and gave even the most hardened criminal an honorable death.

Kuni was always considered chosen by Damerrich, the touch of her divine energy flowed through his mother upon his birth. This exposure to the divine may have infused the young Kitsune, but it damaged his mother. It was said she would never conceive again. She did, but the scars of Kuni’s passing killed her in childbirth with his younger sister.

The death of his mother was hard on both him and his father. Although Kuni’s father never mentioned anything, Kuni blamed himself for his mother’s death. The Ogo family, looking to leave behind their heartbreak, moved from Tian and settled  in Taldor. Looking for a place to find some amount of peace, Kuni’s father choose the settlement known as The Monastery of the Seven Forms, an ancient Tian monastery that had an underground city spring up around it.

A new home was an easy place for Kuni to forget his troubles, or at least pretend to forget. He longed to move away from the idea that he was somehow the chosen of Damerrich. He went out of his way to live a lifestyle quite the opposite of The Weighted Swings precepts, instead shirking responsibility and living a life of carelessness. This, of course, saw him fall in with other street kids.

Kuni took to being almost a stereotype of what people believed Kitsune to be; He became a trickster and thief.  His naturally nimble fingers and his ability to read people and tell them what they wanted to hear convincingly helped out. But like most petty criminals he eventually got caught from time to time.

In his neighborhood was a Taldan guardsman, a former fortune seeker set to protecting the city these days. The man was a follower of Abadar but had a soft spot for kids and was constantly trying to get Kuni to reform. The pleas to live a better life fell on the deaf ears of the rebellious boy, but he continued to try whenever he could.

With little he could do to control his son, he gave the boy over to the hands of the monks who still studied in the monastery. The normally lengthy waiting period for admission was waived as one of the boy’s targets was one of the monks. The keeper of the library caught the boy trying to pilfer his coin purse, but had taken a liking to the boy after thwarting his petit crime.

The Order of the Stalwart Fist teaches a fighting style that is a mix of Tian and Qadiran combat techniques and the boy took to it like a fish to water. Although he was never the quickest learner the librarian became his mentor and he relished watching his teacher’s lust for knowledge even if he himself couldn’t understand all aspects. The librarian apparently didn’t like anyone, except for Kuni.

Over the course of his education among the brothers his outlook once again turned back to the ways of his parent’s patron deity.  The everyday study of martial arts as well as his teacher’s insistence on dedication to a task – even if it was difficult to achieve – made him the perfect conduit for the will of Damerrich who again touched him, releasing the power instilled in him at birth and giving him the ability to be a stalwart defender of his god’s will.

With his life turned around Kuni felt a sense of sorrow. All this time the guardsman who sought to help him was right, but it took till now to see that. Kuni hunted down the man to make his apologies but found that a year earlier he had been killed. As a form of penance he sought out the Abadarian’s killer.

After a lengthy search Kuni cornered the guardsman's murder. The villain turned out to be one of the street rats he ran with as a kid who had graduated from theft to murder. He had the man dead to rights and he could have killed him right there. But even though his deity was the lord of justice executions, this was not his place. The Abadarian would want the criminal to stand trial. And so Kuni brought in the murderer.

Now graduated from the monastery, a journeyman of the Stalwart Fist style, Kuni seeks to find his place in the world and in the eyes of his god. What he is meant to do with his powers and his combat ability is unknown to him but the answer is out there somewhere. If he can just face it with patience and determination he should do well in the world.

And there you have it, Kuni Ogo, student of the Stalwart Fist, chosen of The Weighted Swing. But is this the character you would have made? What class would you have chosen? How would you have his divine touch? It’s never too late to let us know in the comments.

Creating content takes time and effort, just like learning the style of the Stalwart Fist.  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, content, 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 Eleven: Vandas Ilisthian

In case you forgot, here are the random rolls for this character.

Vandas Ilisthian born poor to the servitors of House Vexidyre in the city of Zirnakaynin. Abused and beaten by his older sister, she even drowned him once when he was six. An event he barely survived after claiming to have visited the pits of the abyss. The experience wiped all fear from the heart of the young drow. Sadly the lack of oxygen to his brain also caused permanent brain damage in the young boy. As he grew the constant depredations of his sister forced him to grow bigger and and strong until he could finally ward her off on his own.

House Vexidyre was a harsh mistress, keeping its citizens in line through the sadistic and cruel tortures of the followers of Lord Shax. One of the few escapes for peasants was to give service to the Blood Marquis' chosen. But only the most depraved of drow could not only stand up to the tortures but also dish them out as well. Even though commoners could make their way into the ranks of the faithful, mostly the honor went to younger members of lesser lines of House Vexidyre itself.

Vandas wanted out, the life of a peasant was not for him. He craved power and he craved blood. In his way stood all the other hopefuls but his worst competition was Keldrinth Naragas, the lesser cousin of the House. Even among the other cousins Keldrinth was considered a lock to get the one open spot as servitor of Shax. And true to his "destiny" Keldrinth won out against all others.

Vandas however was not to be denied. Furious at the priests for not choosing him. Seeing it as politics over skill and devotion. Vandas stormed into the priests quarters when he was indoctrinating Keldrinth Naragas. He took the scared knife off the wall and murdered the priest, he followed up by killing Keldrinth and his eager hangers on. And when they found him he was soaked in blood tearing out the insides of his victims. The priests went to move against him but they couldn't for Shax himself was pleased. He bade that Vandas be a tool of the church to be sent against all that opposed Lord Shax.

Final Notes

Vandas Ilisthian is a Warpriest of Shax with the Champion of the Faith archetype. He only gets one skill point a level due to his int and that goes into Sense Motive everytime. You cannot turn away the wrath of Lord Shax with your twisted tongue.

Character Two: Brannar Truefist - Dwarf

Before we get into it, here are the random rolls in case you forgot.

After much debate with myself I decided to go with Warpriest, also in the ACG like the class chosen for the previous character. I went with the Sacred Fist archetype. As noted in the background he is a follower of the dwarven god Kols and has the blessing of Law and Nobility.

Born Brannar Minesweeper to a poor family in Five Kings Mountains, young Brannar learned very quickly the harsh realities of poverty. The older of two brothers he saw his family live hand to mouth in the slums around the keep of one of the lesser dwarven lords. His father toiled in the mines but was always chipper regardless of how little they had, a trait that young Brannar never understood. All of this led Brannar to grow up bitter for his place in life.

In his early adolescence he fell in with a bad crowd. A gang of other young dwarves who figured the only way to make it was to take what they wanted. They didn't see that the people they hurt the most were other poor dwarves who were the victims of their extortion and theft. The gang of hoodlums would occasionally find bigger prey when wealthier merchants would get lost finding their way to the keep. One such merchant, a tall mongrelman from one of their nearby settlements fell victim to the gang having his good ransacked. Brannar felt badly up until he had extra helpings of food on the table for his two younger brothers.

Seeing his slow slide into the darkness of crime his father sought aid from within the family to help with his unruly child. His father's uncle, an elder dwarf came to speak with the boy, and speak he did. An adherent of Kols his great uncle spoke to Brannar about duty to one’s family, and honor for ones ancestors. He showed his great nephew what had become of some of his victims, other poor dwarves who suffered at the hands of the gangs in the slums. Finally he spoke to him of promises, and promised to show him a way out of his life of crime and into something more important.

Brannar spent the next few years training with his great uncle. Listening to the voice of Kols and becoming one with his deity’s vision. Brannars kin was no paladin or cleric, he walked a path as a weapon of his god, training in hand to hand combat, using his body to bring honor to all dwarves. Returning home Brannar, now known as Brannar Truefist, looks to right his wrongs and bring nobility to those not born of noble birth, in deed if not in status. He seeks to show the lawless that with law and honor their home and their families can be raised above their lowly conditions, for now he understands his father’s happiness in coming home to his family knowing he lived his life that day with honor and dignity.