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View Full Version : Suryana, the fallen Bard/Cleric/Soulknife [4E, but RP mostly]



AstralFire
2010-05-31, 01:46 PM
Pretty much a tinkering-with-this-character thread for me.

Alignment: Good.
Race: Kalashtar
Faith: Il-Yannah, the Path of Light.
Setting: Homebrew anything goes, I think.
Class: Hybrid Bard/Cleric with a bow. DM is allowing me to roleplay as a soulknife - my arrows are comprised of energy, as is my longsword.
Campaign Hook: Our characters all sold our souls and helped raise up an evil empire. We are now dead, but an angel has decided to raise us and give us a chance to win back our souls - if we can undo the evil we wrought. She will not (or cannot, I forget) raise us to our full, level 30, Paragon Path and Epic Destiny'd selves.

The challenge for me: How to be 'good' when my character sold her soul and helped raise up an evil empire. I can do 'struggling with good', but I really can't play someone who is unrepentantly evil and just trying to get a job done. As a DM NPC, sure, PC no.

My ideas: Shooting in the dark here since we don't have many details of our past yet, and hoping I'm not conflicting with party members.


How she came to be her class: Recognizing that song is an important element by which to spread faith and raise morale, Suryana had no natural talent for music but came to practice it as part of an active decision in her devotion to the Path of the Light among her beleaguered people. Like all of her people in the mountains, she lived an athletic, ascetic lifestyle - living off of the land and quietly killing whatever hostiles stumbled upon the tunnels leading to her village of Agni.

What got her out of the mountains: Unfortunately, a pattern of blood soon became clear, and an army came marching up to the village Agni. Suryana saw them coming - and she knew that she could not hope to save her village. Instead, she presented herself as a gift to the commander of the army, convincing him to keep her as a concubine. She did her best to lead the force through the winding paths which would give her people the most warning, but in the ensuing bloodbath, she could feel the lifeforce of her entire lineage slipping away. The village was burned as a message to the rest of the Kalashtar, in an ironic twist to its name - the messenger flame.

How she regained freedom: Her first priority was to bear a child, to keep the lineage of the Quor Agni alive. If she perished without passing on the blood, the Quor spirit bound to her would be gone from reality. So she served her master quietly, bore him a daughter. In truth, perhaps, she even grew fond of him and his little extravagances. He was bright, indulgent, and almost naive about the craven morality in which he had grown. Some months later, he came to his harem and lay with one of the concubines. While all were asleep, she quietly sealed all exits, slipped out with her daughter, and set flame to the entire palace; no survivors, no one to hunt her down. No one left who would want her.

What happened to the daughter: She traveled with her daughter, Radhu, for some time, teaching her ways of Il-Yannah; someone would have to carry on. Once her daughter was twelve, Suryana went back to the mountains and found another village of Kalashtar. There she left the girl, to be the mother of the renewed lineage of the Quor Agni. From the shadows she watched, and in time, she had four more children; two girls, two boys. Each of these she raised and sent to other villages, so that the line of Agni would never again be imperiled by the loss of one village. With that burden lightened, she turned her attention to vengeance.

How she got vengeance: She had made connections with many in her time as a wanderer, both the ambitious and the righteous. They were capable men and women, and the Sarlonan Empire - the Empire built upon the blood of villages like Agni - held many riches. She joined with those who sought glory, and with them, forged a corps of officers; the leaders traded their souls to the demons below, in return for an army to lead. Together, they ripped through Sarlona and destroyed in months what had withstood centuries. Now a silver-haired and bitter woman who had come to hate what she had become, she took her life before the burned husk of the palace where she had committed her first murders in cold blood.

But the story does not end there: She was brought before an angel. Mene mene, tekel, upharsin. You have been judged and found wanting. In service of the Path of Light, she had darkened it. And to sell her soul was to jeopardize the whole line; for the soul of a Kalashtar was not truly and solely her own. Along with several of the others who had taken those dark vows, she was given a brief reprieve, a second chance and an order: undo the dark empire which she had helped build. For this, she was given back some of her youth in return for the dark power she had fed upon.

What she is like: A disciplined woman, Suryana broods - but quietly. Though she believes there is much work to do to correct her faults, she also is aware that allowing herself to slip into these emotions may prevent her from getting anything done. Suryana keeps a quiet, dry wit about her lips, depending on that humor to distract her from the weight of what she's done. Interestingly, she has no fear or concern about falling back into the path of evil. Perhaps it is delusion, perhaps it is metaphor, or perhaps it is fact, but she claims that her time spent burning in hellfire has purified her soul of its darker elements and served as her repentance - though she does not claim that it has absolved her of fixing what she has wrought. When she sings, her songs are joyous melodies - but there's always a tiny hint of wistful longing for the past.

Zuki
2010-05-31, 07:16 PM
Wow, I really like this as a character background. Mostly a bump here so others can see it.

I agree that playing an evil character seeking redemption will be an interesting challenge for you; the Buddhist shades of punishment in hellfire thus purifying, the Path of Light, and vengeance-gone-too-far all sound like they'll interact well. I like the idea of Soulbow flavor a great deal!

This makes me want to have a higher standard of development for my own character. Thanks, love.

Mando Knight
2010-05-31, 09:47 PM
Where do you want to take it? I could give you a number of personalities that take the exact same situation and twist it into different ends.
Ohmygosh,it'sAstralFire! Eeeeeeeee! :p
How does she feel about her encounter with the fires of hell? Was she shown her ugly darkness for what it was by the angel? Is she grateful for it? In awe of the power that destroyed her amassed evil? Frustrated that she's no longer as powerful as she once was? Was her malevolence destroyed, leaving nothing but good, or is it merely the dark power that was holding her, giving her the power to finish her atonement? Has she atoned, or was she redeemed? Was the absolution freely given, or is she on parole?

AstralFire
2010-06-02, 09:31 AM
Where do you want to take it? I could give you a number of personalities that take the exact same situation and twist it into different ends.
Ohmygosh,it'sAstralFire! Eeeeeeeee! :p
How does she feel about her encounter with the fires of hell? Was she shown her ugly darkness for what it was by the angel? Is she grateful for it? In awe of the power that destroyed her amassed evil? Frustrated that she's no longer as powerful as she once was? Was her malevolence destroyed, leaving nothing but good, or is it merely the dark power that was holding her, giving her the power to finish her atonement? Has she atoned, or was she redeemed? Was the absolution freely given, or is she on parole?

Hmm. Answering each one in turn... (This is very useful for expanding my character, thanks.)

- Not sure where I want to take it. I just want to have a good base wherever it goes.
- Hellfire was necessary, and even for that brief eternity, felt like far too long. But she has no right to complain, just grateful that it has ended.
- Glad the power is gone. She is confident she can regain her strength with time, without the taint. She's seen what she can achieve with aid, and she has new clarity from the pain.
- She thinks her malevolence was destroyed with the fire. It really wasn't, but it's a useful placebo for her to force herself over her bitterness.
- She's on parole, but she's a true believer.

I made a fancydancy profile for her now (http://www.rphaven.com/profile.php?user=Suryana).