Tag: human

Hart Miklo, a Treasure Hunter

2016-04-24

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.

Lucius Valonia

2010-01-10

Name: Lucius Valonia
Race: Human
Location: Warder Keep, Akron

Warder Keep is a small fort in Akron just south of the Witchlight Strand border, some 100 kilometers North-East of the city of Agale. It originally belonged to Groam but as Akron separated from Groam and became an independent kingdom, the fort was abandoned and fell into disrepair for several decades until purchased by the mercenary leader Artor Gambori who renewed the fort and made it the base of his mercenary group.

Formerly a general of the smallish military forces of the independent city state of Karthis (located at around the border of Groam and Akron in the north) , general Valonia fell into severe arguments with the city-state’s new ruler. The arguments were mainly fueled by Lucius’ insistence to grow Karthis’ military presence in the area. Lucius believes that unstable times are ahead and that Karthians should wake up and stop smelling the roses – he thinks that the time of independent city states is running out. Lucius wanted to enhance Karthis’ military by growing all the aspects of the armed forces, forcing a mandatory military service time to all male Karthians and to set clearly defined borders (including peripheral forts and outposts) that the city-state will defend with vigilance and vigor. The soldiers in Karthis are all skilled and honored professionals, but Lucius thinks there are simply not enough of them to meet the challenges of tomorrow which eventually need these professionals of violence.

Lucius was eventually politically crushed over the course of three years and none of his ideas were taken seriously enough by the civil rulers. The mind-set in the city-state is that the skilled mercenary groups present in the city are enough of a military presence. After a time general Valonia found himself time and time again in bitter arguments and one day after a heated discussion with the leader of the city guardsmen – a man blindly loyal to the civil rulers – he simply announced his retirement, packed his belongings and left Karthis.

He rode straight to the Warder Keep where he met several men who he had both fought against and fought with in the past. And of course he knew their leader Artor Cambori very well too. The Warders were commonly used by Karthis to accomplish several semi-military tasks in and around Karthis. And many times Lucius was the final link in the hiring of these mercenaries.

Artor didn’t just embrace Lucius to be one of his mercenaries. He thought that Lucius had too much political baggage and too much enemies and was too proud to become but one rank’n’file mercenary of The Warders. After a night involving much drunken shenanigans, they ended up drawing their swords in disagreement. Other Warders stopped the men and threw Lucius out of the keep. But Lucius had made up his mind … he was to become one of The Warders. He set up camp about half a mile away from the keep. He then marched to the keep each and every day for a duration of almost 8 months to ask for a chance to become one of the mercenaries. Artor was not always there. After refusing Lucius for 99 times, Artor changed his mind and finally Lucius was accepted.

That was 5 years ago. Since that time Karthis has been needing the services of The Warders in alarmingly growing frequency.

 

 

Afra Kartumal, Desert Mystic

2016-06-04

Name: Afra Kartumal
Race: Human
Location: City of Ada Ruwak, Northern Calishem

When the sun escapes behind the ever-shifting shapes of sand dunes, the desert city of Ada Ruwak located in one of the hottest desert zones in Calishem , springs to life. Life in the city is based of an oasis around which the city spans in concentric circles of mostly clay buildings of simple and rugged design. The daytime in this area is simply too exhausting and because of that the city is mostly still from early noon until the sun sets down being more active at night time when the air cools down a bit and fresh winds sweep away the staying heat of the daylight hours.

One of the city’s luminary figures is the city’s long-time sulinar (which translates roughly as “mayor”) Afra Kartumal whose great-great-grandfather founded the city a long time ago. Afra is a famed mystic in whole of Calishem although he rarely leaves Ada Ruwak. His main abilities are foretelling the future and explaining the events of the past. Some of his divinations have been accurate enough to have affected the lives of thousands of people. Some have been able to avoid disastrous and potentially deadly calamities (such as fatal sand storms or rampant monsters on the desert) and some have been able to stay clear from rogue bandit groups while yet others have added extra provisions of water while journeying the desert because Afra had warned them about dried up oases. The stories of survival are thousand-fold and the common denominator is both getting an appointment with Afra and then taking seriously what he has had to say.

Afra is a truly benevolent ruler of Ada Ruwak and has virtually no opposition in the city. He listens carefully to what the citizens have to say and allows public opinion to greatly affect his decision making process. The city is not without it’s fair share of problems, though. One of the biggest issues is the volatile nature of the region which leads to surges of mystical (and often times violent and erratic) creatures raiding the region. It’s not clear where they come from, where they disappear or why they plague the region around this specific oasis. Whatever the case, abnormally cool or warm weather and waiting stillness of air are signs that alert the people of the city to close their doors and shut their windows and sleep warily because odds are great that something peculiar might happen.

Afra can be spotted pretty much anywhere in the city: he might spent his day trying to cure a dying child, help the citizens to repair damaged buildings, assist in removing excess sand from the main roads after a storm or even take part in the miracle of life as an assisting midwife! He doesn’t have a palace or mansion or anything grandiose like that although his family’s set of well-made stone buildings located right at the shore of the oasis itself is finely crafted and the only buildings of the city reaching three floors from the ground with a few simple spires housing lookout points and defensive positions for archers. A visitor can not make a mistake as to where the sulinar lives.

 

 

 

 

Chya, High Priestess of the Dhaira Cult

2010-10-09

Name: Chya, High Priestess of the Dhaira Cult
Race: human
Location: North-Eastern Caheb (somewhere near Dhaira Bay in a secret nest)

One of the young prodigees of Hight Priest Dry’zan, Chya has mastered the secret black art of Nero Arachnitis – one of Syth’s magical spheres. High Priests of Syth generally master 4-5 of the black arts controlled by Syth and their most prominent apprentices learn directly from their High Priest or Priestess. Chya is one of three Syth’s priests and priestessess that Dry’zan has appointed to lead the new cult of Syth in the region of Dhaira Bay, Caheb. The other two are masters of two different disciplines. In this way Dry’zan can establish a formidable power block – each member of which control one important aspect of what it means to be a cult leader of Syth.

Chya was only 10 when her parents were killed in a massive fire that burnt down most of the village where Chya grew up in the north in Zarnova. Dry’zan and 5 of his disciples were staying in a nearby forest clearing at the time and once they realized the village had pretty much burned to the ground, Chya – shocked, dirty, crying and trembling – pleaded the strangers to help her as she was one of the few survivors wandering through the remnants of the village. He was just about to dismiss the wimpering poor little girl when he spotted a black spider crawling upwards the girl’s long flowing raven-black hair. To Dry’zan that was clearly a sign from Syth himself and Chya soon became an integral part of Dry’zan’s group. Chya was not “in the loop” of Dry’zan’s activities until well into her early adulthood when she was officially appointed a title of Apprenticing Priestess by Dry’zan. Chya owes her life to Dry’zan and also everything she knows about magical arts is from her mentor as well. The young girl was easy to influence to accepting Syth as her deity and is thus now a devout follower of the dark deity. She relocated from Zarnova to Caheb at the brink of her ascension to a Priestess in her early twenties.

Chya is today 28 years old and is quite an attractive young woman – except when vomiting black spiders, of course! Her raven-black hair and sensuously soft voice combined with her beautiful shape and delicate face make her a real head turner. Chya also knows her beauty and uses her looks to seduce men in order to exploit the men’s natural weaknesses. A real femme fatale. She has almost no moral boundaries and is famous for organizing foul and depraved all-night long orgies of violence, sex and intoxicants in which the participants willingly get involved in activities best left to imagination … or nightmares. Such festivities usually entail potent herbal concoctions that enhance the feelings of pleasure, pain and ecstasy.

In Caheb Chya has now formed a spider sect. The sect has 20 members – 5 of whom are Chya’s disciples and the rest are mainly younger local men who have been enthralled by Chya and her wild parties. The sect members are not just any random peasants and instead are all carefully hand-picked from an array of potent families. As such, the members are more victims than they themselves realize. The sect has several immediate goals set by Dry’zan and the most important one is to gain total control of the two rivaling thieves’s guilds in the nearby city of Tash. A work already nearly finished. As for the next goals … only Dry’zan knows for certain.

 

Milja Markovec

2010-11-13

Name: Milja Markovec
Race: Human
Location: Port Magalie, Witchlight Strand, Kingdom of Akron

All the inns and taverns in all the countries around the continent have one thing in common. They need skilled workers to serve the tables, do the dishes, help the intoxicated to their beds, offer an ear to weary patrons or join in the merry singing. And keep a smiling face through all this to secure a tip.

Milja works in the biggest tavern in Port Magalie. The place, The Wyvern’s Nest, is located in an ideal spot pretty much at the dead centre of the bustling port city and has a constant stream of patrons no matter the day or hour. She has served tables there for three years and is a highly popular figure in the tavern. Well liked, open, chatty, witty and with a hearty laughter she has charmed both the local busy bees stopping for a drink after the day’s work and travelling merchants just spending this one night in the city.

Her position is such that she hears things. Many things. And while not a tell-tale by any means, she has been known to line her pockets by dropping an essential piece of information to needy adventurers who treat her good and respect her hard work.

Milja is an excellent singer and was the founding singer in the events now known as Wyvern’s Tuesdays – evenings filled with laughter, singing, poetry, musical acts and such. The events are free for all to attend but since the place is usually packed on those nights, the performers receive a small fee from the tavern’s owner as well as nice tips from good performances. Milja sings on her own, as part of a choir and with percussionists and string-instrument players. She performs mostly local folk songs but also has been known to surprise the audiences by singing songs originating from far away lands. Calculated as it may be from Milja’s part, patrons such as Calishem merchant sailor crews easily tip much more when they hear a common tune so far away from their homes and when one has a boat load of sailors doing the same … anyone can do the math.