An illustration of a fantasy character for any fantasy-themed role-playing game settings. She works at the Drunken Wizard Tavern as a barmaid and a general helping hand.
Category: Cresia
Shamira, Witch of the Black Arts
A character illustration of a dark witch character for any fantasy-themed role-playing game setting.
Castle Guard
A simple illustration of a fantasy -themed role-playing game character.
Here is also a number of top down tokens (to be used on virtual tabletop gaming software) of this archetype character.
Baz Sigmor, Barbarian
An illustration of a fantasy -themed barbarian character for any fantasy -themed role-playing game settings.
Jorge Gel, Ship Captain
A fantasy -themed character illustration.
Name: Jorge Gel
Race: human
Location: Wherever his ship ‘Raimelho‘ happens to be; port of call is Cuervo Garrac in Ferria
Jorge Gel was born in the port city of Cuervo Garrac in Ferria to a family full of sailors – some being accomplished veteran seafarers and others less so but pretty much all of his family members has a long history on the seas. He spent his early childhood aboard his uncle’s small cog and already at the age of ten he was baptized in combat against pirates trying to hijack the ship; luckily no lives were lost at that time although the cargo was. It was a defining moment in Jorge’s life as he then and there realized his entire future would be aboard sailing ships until his demise and he gladly accepted it.
As an adult Jorge spent many years on and off many merchant ships traveling the coastal regions of Ferria and Calishem mainly and saving any and all earnings he got in order to some day get a ship of his own. Finally at the age of 29 he bought the wrecked cog Raimelho from an old merchant Tirrana Welmius who called it quits and retired after defying one storm too many. Welmius did not have enough money to get his ship repaired and instead offered it to the Gel family – who were a known family of seafarers – and managed to convince Jorge that Raimelho would have many decades ahead of it after some simple repairs. As it happens, repairing the damaged ship cost far less than what the old merchant had assumed leaving the new owner with some excess capital to start his own business.
Now at the age of 42 Jorge is a veteran captain. His ship has served him well and is still in a fine condition thanks to Jorge’s interest in both maintaining it and understanding it’s limitations as well as his own. He has amassed a respectable fortune during his years as a merchant captain although there has been darker times involving lost cargo and lost crew members. He probably would have enough to get him a bigger ship but he is quite happy and satisfied with his current one.
As a person Captain Gel is stern and just with a twist of quickly cooling temperament and a quirky sense of humor. He considers himself a reasonable and upright man and takes great pride in having achieved a reputation as a fair and trustworthy merchant in all the ports he frequents. Captain Gel has also frequently paid his crew bonuses for runs that go well. When on land, Captain Gel resides in the heart of the Cuervo Garrac city on a mansion (named Gelanto with a long and important history in the city) owned by his family. He spends a total of 3-4 months a year in Cuervo Garrac between merchant runs getting new deals agreed upon and spending time to maintain the ship.
Sirlo Shakrav, Cosmologist
A character illustration for any fantasy -themed role-playing game setting. She is designed to fit my own fantasy -themed setting Cresia.
Name: Sirlo Shakrav
Race: human
Location: Northern Groam
Sirlo Shakrav spent her childhood in a small and strict monastery. She was essentially abandoned after having showed dangerous signs of unexplained phenomena happening around her before she was even one year of age. Her parents were deeply superstitious and feared they could not handle Sirlo. Although they eventually left her to the monastery, they still retained visitation rights and tried to understand their daughter’s abilities to the best of their limited minds. Sirlo’s early life was simple and restrained; she was essentially denied cultivating her innate natural abilities as a magic user and she was actively discouraged to stifle her talents. The strategy of the monastery failed royally and at the volatile age of ten she was returned to her parents as an abomination the monastery was not able to guide to the path of the righteous. A few years went by and after constant struggling with their daughter, her parents sought help from outside. Eventually they found a suitable mentor for Sirlo – Archmage Chenius who is currently a member of the ruling elite of Myrna. At the time Chenius was conducting unknown experimentations in a private keep some in northern Groam and he had cultivated a reputation among the local populace as a powerful wielder of the ancient magical arts. Chenius took young Sirlo under his wings without testing her in any way; he immediately recognized the uncultivated potential the young girl had.
Sirlo remained in Groam after Chenius returned to his homeland Myrna to regain an active position in the ruling council after an absence of a decade. She “inherited” Chenius’ lands and property although the archmage’s keep had been reduced to a pile of rubble after a spectacular magical catastrophe that only miraculously didn’t consume any lives. She now lives in a nearby cottage. Archmage Chenius taught Sirlo many wonderful things over the years and instructed Sirlo not to come to Myrna until she has attained a much more fine-grained control of her powers lest the powerful but unpredictable mana currents inherent in Myrna would surely produce catastrophic problems. Sirlo remains in Groam trying to control and master her powers and has become a local figure of importance as she provides assistance for a myriad of problems against a small fee.
Sirlo is a Cosmologist; she controls and changes the physical manifestations of the energies of the universe. Her innate abilities probably would allow her to master other types of magic as well but for unknown reasons the cosmological powers are so powerful within her that she can barely maintain them at bay even at relatively low magic flow areas such as northern Groam. Perhaps if she finds ways to master these powers she could focus her interests to some other magical arts.
Today, Sirlo lives alone in relative seclusion in a cottage nearby the demolished keep of the archmage. She ventures into neighboring villages and towns regularly to perform odd jobs that earn her enough coin to cope. She is in good terms with all the nearby communities although there’s some friction with small local superstitious groups that see her (and others like her) more of a threat than an asset even if she has time and again proven of not harboring any ill will towards the local communities.
Baron Egor Malekov
Name: Baron Egor Malekov
Race: vampire
Location: Tarzhov, Zarnova
One of the ruling vampires of Zarnova, Lord Malekov is also one of the less known and deliberately reclusive of the bunch. He is a member of The Roskov Ring – a ring of ruling lords commanded by the Vampire Queen Anya Voorish. He would rather he wasn’t but his former close alliances with the vampire queen have locked his unlife existence with the fate of her. Lord Malekov seeks no fame and doesn’t really care what history books say about him. He doesn’t share the vampire queens’ thirst for ever more power. He is quite happy living in his remote castle surrounded by restless wild life, untamed sea and fear infused trembling villagers of the nearby villages.
Lord Malekov rarely travels away from his castle near the small town of Tarzhov which is the capital of the barony. And when he does he is most probably going to or from The Castle Roskov where the vampire queen holds meetings for the ruling lords of the land. Lord Malekov holds many enemies – some of his feuds span over centuries and are still active – but his few friends are immensely powerful providing him pretty much free reign in his daily activities. He was a fierce adversary of the country’s former ruler Lich Lord Tomas Vladovych whom Lady Voorish “replaced” and Lord Malekov’s assistance in that coup d’etat was inherently important. However, the former ruler still has a strong following (mainly consisting of a group of his disciples) just watching and waiting for a change at retaliation. Lord Malekov is thus quite uncomfortable while outside the confines of his castle and uses whatever measures required to mask his traveling schedules and identity and always has a few trustworthy aides with him.
Lord Malekov is properly old. He is one of the eldest active vampires in existence and as such possesses amazing powers justifiably feared by the local townsfolk and denizens of nearby villages. His powers easily match and even surpass that of the vampire queen but he has no interest in ruling a country and no desire to attain a position that attracts the attention of foreign nations. In fact, he has an agenda to protect her interests fearing that should she be thrown out of The Castle Roskov, he would be forced to step in.
Many times during the last century the villagers have tried to burn his castle with him inside but somehow he has always been aware of these attempts and subverted them with very rough and brutal punishments to the ones leading the people to these activities. Lord Malekov has always had well paid spies on every village nearby and consider these a clever early warning system against threats both domestic and foreign. He oddly likes to see the villages do well and while of course it is handy to have fresh bodies available to quench the thirst for blood, he also treats the nearby inhabitants much better than he would have to. In fact, by proxies he donates back to the communities some of the taxes he collects and while not all people know of this, many do and those happen to be important individuals with power over the others in their respective communities.
A good strategy to keep human emotions at bay. And he doesn’t actually need the money anyway.
Villa Hargassah
Overview
Villa Hargassah is also erroneously called Castle Dufien as it is currently under the control of the feared criminal boss Marcheval Dufien and serves as his base of operations and domicile. The villa is located 12 kilometers south of the city of Udynaesses and it’s accessible by road from Udynaesses only – albeit the only road leading to the villa is in essence only hard packed ground formed under centuries of use. To locals it represents the closest thing to an actual castle but in truth it’s not at all as well protected as actual castles – such that are abundant in Groam – traditionally are.
History
The place has a long and rather dull history dating back to it’s inception almost 400 years ago. Since that time it has burned a few times but besides that there hasn’t been much activity involving the villa and in fact it has been uninhabited a good portion of it’s history. The villa was originally constructed by the famous and rich Cahebian scholar by the name of Mamad who used it as a private teaching facility and center for learning for the close-by wealthy nobility of Udynaesses. It successfully operated in that role for 25 years after which it was abandoned for unknown reasons to be manned again half a century later by a group of merchants wanting to use it as a waypoint. The villa saw many active years at that time and some troublesome years as well until it was yet again abandoned in the wake of the terrible disease that swept the area a hundred years ago and subsequently led to the fall of Udynaesses as the capital city and as a center for culture and civilization. Yet another 50 years later it served as sanctuary for rebels fighting against the invading Groam and infrequently as a base of operations for small groups of outlaws and bandits – to the Groam officials rebels and bandits both are the same. The last 20 years it has been uninhabited until Marcheval Dufien took it over five years ago and made it his home.
Geography and nature
The surrounding areas are all level desert with some low and persistent sand dunes dotting the landscape. The villa is on the outskirts of the city of Udynaesses and the sandy desert quickly changes to packed earth and rolling plains when moving towards Udynaesses from the villa. There are little vegetation around the villa and most of it is grass adapted to rooting in the sand. There are a few bigger trees here and there and towards Udynaesses their number significantly increases albeit there are no forests nearby. Some palm trees grow in groups of few giving away the locations of underground water sources easily. The entire reason why the villa is where it is and why it is still standing there is that there is a stable fresh water reservoir underneath the area and it is reaching almost to the surface right where the villa is located. The three wells of the villa (two of which are inside the keep) are tapping into the reservoir with shafts of about 20 meters deep. The wells have operated without disruption for hundreds of years but raising the water to ground level does require some effort since the water level is so deep below ground. The sand in the region is rather dense and much easier to move about than the actual desert ten kilometers to the south. The area is really a transitional area between savanna and desert.
Strategic importance
The villa has never been in a position to offer any strategic importance. It’s location standing at the edge of a desert is remote at best and the only commodity worth protecting over is water – which is abundant in the north anyway. The location of Udynaesses is such that the city is positioned right between the border of Groam and Caheb and the villa and thus the villa has no importance even as an outpost or forward base. However, during the days when Udynaesses was the capital city and trade in the area was booming, the villa enjoyed it’s fair share of fame as a caravan stop for merchants. Better walls and more storage space was built simply to keep beasts of nature and bandits away from the goods and while even parapets were built on top of the walls, their importance as a defensive structure was mainly due to them keeping the wildlife out. Today there’s only one road leading to and from the villa and that road leads to Udynaesses having only a few intersections to connect local farms to Udynaesses. Currently the somewhat more fortified villa is serving as a wanna-be castle for the crime lord Dufien manning it but it’s quite doubtful the villa could stand even a smallish well-planned assault. The capacity of the villa to withstand a siege is also next-to-nothing as there’s limited space to store perishables and the villa imports all it’s food items from Udynaesses anyway.
Architecture
The villa has a mix of modern and historic architectural features fusing together the more pragmatic, regal and no-nonsense old style of Groam architecture of old and the more elaborate and stylistic yet functional architecture of Caheb. The styles do not clash but rather merge in the structures of the villa and the many builders working on different centuries have done a swell job in maintaining a coherent and even beautiful serenity over the structures. The keep was originally only at ground level but a second story along with three towers were built 200 years ago when the villa was busy with caravans coming and going and needed additional space to accommodate both goods and men. The villa initially only had a sturdy cast iron gate and while the original gate still stands, a second gate and a small set of secondary walls was built at some obscure point in the history to make the gate less vulnerable and perhaps to keep the flying sand away from the courtyard as well.
Defenses
Since the villa was not originally built as a defensive structure, it’s defenses against assaulting invaders are poor. Originally it was surrounded by an even lower wall than what it is now but about a hundred years ago the walls were rebuilt along with the massive corner towers in order to anticipate an invasion from Groam. At that time the walkways and parapets on top of the walls were built as well as supporting arches that simultaneously created cooler areas to store goods under the walkways and provided space for hammocks. All the villa’s various owners have made their own modifications and improvements but the four corner towers are by far the best defenses the villa has. The towers are built out of much stronger stone than the other structures of the villa. The corner towers are made of stone that comes from a now-forgotten quartz stone quarry on the north side of Udynaesses whereas the other structures are built from a rather low quality limestone (infused with sand and clay) excavated from the site. Grounded, graveled and packed limestone has also been used as the basing material for the corner towers to help with their enormous weight but while the towers seem massive they are not based well enough to withstand neither time nor actual combat because of the soft ground and the water reservoir beneath them making them less than ideal. They are heavy enough to provide protection against small infantry groups but they would probably not be able to take much beating from siege weapons until they would crumble or topple even. However, the surrounding area is rather level and plain and the towers do have an excellent line of sight all around to spot unwelcome visitors.
Population
The villa can accommodate roughly 100 persons if some of them wouldn’t mind sleeping outdoors in hammocks under the walkways. The interior areas would easily accommodate between 30-40 persons. Currently the villa has 18 permanent residents – 7 of which are women and 3 children. A carpenter and a mason take care of the villa and it’s courtyard, a total of five persons both acquire and preserve foods and prepare them for consumption, three persons manage the stables, six Marcheval Dufien’s men loiter around as “guards” and two are too young to participate in anything meaningful. There are no maids, servants or slaves in the villa but come time for festivities and we can rely on Marcheval hiring additional people from Udynaesses.
Marcheval Dufien “The Beheader”
Name: Marcheval Dufien
Race: Human
Location: Udynaesses, Groam
The city of Udynaesses located in the border region of Groam and Caheb has been a lawless pit ever since the area was ravaged by a devastating plague and while the region in general has more or less recovered, the city of Udynaesses unfortunately has not. With a long and glorious history as the once capital city of Caheb, Udynaesses was seized by Groam during the period of plague some 80 years ago and is the southernmost population center of Groam. Groam hasn’t had an interest in keeping the place in line though and mostly this is because it’s hard to reach from Groam – one would have to travel through dense jungles, cross snow peaked mountains or risk dehydration if reaching by desert.
The de facto ruler of Udynaesses is now Marcheval Dufien who is known and feared in the region less affectionately as “The Beheader” because beheading his enemies is his signature gesture of power. Marcheval lives in a small fortified desert castle (Villa Hargassah – in reality not a castle but a well fortified villa) just a few kilometers south of Udynaesses. His power in the region is partially backed up by groups of Caheb origin wishing to see the city revert back to Caheb and this goal can possibly be achieved by disrupting the nominal leader of the city – commander Remnor Galant. Galant is appointed and backed up Groam but in truth has little say in the day-to-day affairs of the city.
Marcheval is of mixed descendence himself having a father from Groam and mother from Caheb and he himself initially had no political motivation – he didn’t care which country called the city as it’s own – but things have changed since the day when he saw a possibility, grabbed it and became the feared ruler of the city by joining a few of the bigger outlaw groups and creating a unified force with him in the lead. Formerly he had made a name for himself by running various small-time crime operations in the region and gradually becoming a prominent crime ring leader. Since effectively taking over the city he has had ample opportunities to further line his pockets with coin and strengthen his presence in the region. He has no official intention of competing with the mighty countries Groam and Caheb – both of which countries haven’t shown much interest in returning rule of law to the city – but lately he has been contemplating with the possibility of forming an independent city-state and also seizing control of the harbor towns of Tash and Calemnor located in the south coast of Dhaira Bay. His plans are known only to a select handful of his most trusted men. Common people see him only as a violent opportunistic brute whose aim in life is to cause misery and pain.
As a man Marcheval is cunning and brutal. He believes that maintaining and attaining political and military power as well as coin actually requires the use of violence and that the brutality of the violence used must exceed that of the opposition – whoever it happens to be. Mercy and forgiveness are not words in his vocabulary. In a relaxed state he is actually quite jovial and friendly even but he rarely shows that side of himself in public; it’s strictly reserved to close friends and manifested within closed quarters.
It has been rumored that Marcheval is somehow linked to the so called Dhaira Cult and one of it’s leaders – the High Priestess Chya. The nature and intimacy of their relationship is subject to speculation, however, but apparently Chya has been spotted at Marcheval’s villa on several occasions when wild (and some witnesses would use the word vile as well) festivities have taken place. Whatever their relationship actually is, some of Marcheval’s backers are less than thrilled about it since Chya’s activities directly threaten many prominent families and the coastal city of Tash in particular. And since the city of Tash is firmly under Caheb control, groups that are friendly with Marcheval against the invading Groam are very wary not to undermine their own country’s power in nearby Caheb -controlled cities.
Hart Miklo, a Treasure Hunter
Name: Hart Miklo
Race: Human
Location: Udynaesses, Groam
The life of a treasure hunter is really not that glamorous as common tavern chatter would have you believe. Then again, only the most extraordinary feats are usually good enough to end up as tales repeated over a tankard of ale. Hart Miklo was once a farm hand and a stable boy making a barely meager living in a small rural town of Maekones just north of the northernmost tip of Dhaira Bay in Groam. On free evenings he marveled at the tales spewed forth by a local veteran treasure hunter by the name of Janos Martol who liked his mug full of ale and a crowd around him centered at him. Janos Martol was full of big fat lies about his travels in search of long lost treasure from the jungles west of Dhaira Bay. His tales of bravado and untold riches just waiting for their finder were enough to convince young Hart that his place in this world should be somewhere else than in a quiet little farm surrounded by horses, pigs and goats.
20 years later and Hart Miklo’s name is quite well known among the people as a treasure hunter of some fame. He has never struck gold as such but has been part of several successful expeditions that made back their investments a dozen times over. However, gambling, drinking and stupid wagers have been around Miklos’ adulthood as flies are around a dog’s turd and he has pretty much lost every penny he has ever gained. He also buried a sizable amount of money a few years ago while he was extremely drunk and come next day he forgot where he buried it. It’s somewhere in Udynaesses for sure and contains a few kilo’s worth of gold and silver artifacts retrieved from an ancient ruined temple.
Hart is an easy going fella with a witty mouth and fast legs both of which are many times used in conjunction as he has the bad habit of not controlling his verbal output while intoxicated and intoxication is not an uncommon state for him. He is quite funny to be around and while a bit mischievous at times, he is still trustworthy and values a good friendship above else. Hart has been in Udynaesses for a few years and considers this lawless city as his home now. He is always looking for jobs somehow related to treasure hunting and has a rather well rounded skill set for such work.
The Uninvisited Isle 
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