PDA

View Full Version : I need character background help...



TechnOkami
2010-11-19, 11:18 PM
So, I'm stuck on a certain place of my background for this character so far. I know where he's supposed to go and what he's supposed to do, but not persay a reason for why certain events take place. Here's what I've got so far.

The name of this Illithid in question is Maninder Hayes. He, like any ordinary Illithid was Lawful Evil. Simply another pawn of the Elder Brain… until a certain item came into his possession. It looked simple enough, but it’s the simple things in life we need to keep most aware of. What Maninder had in front of him was a leather bound tome with a pen built into the book. The front of the book said, “Taketh pen in thy hand and write what thou will.” He sensed no power emanating from the tome, but disregarded it as nothing. Taking the pen, he wrote his name. Maninder Hayes. As soon as he finished writing, the very ink he had written with moved across the page, changing shape and forming a new set of words. Well, this is unexpected. I knew this book was bad news. I swear, never receive “gifts” from old wizards, they’ll get you every time. But anyways, since you have given your name, I shall give mine. I am Reina. Glad to me- well, write to you, Mr. Hayes. It is here where the story of Maninder takes a most interesting turn, for with his own name, he has started on a path that only time can know. These two characters wrote to each other, at first out of sheer interest for the point and purpose of this book (where it was learned that two such books existed, hence why they could write to each other), but later developed into an intellectual conversation across the very universe. Illithids are of a cold and hard mindset, wishing to dominate all with their vastly superior intelligence and psionic prowess: such was the demeanor that passed along into his writing. [name] however, was a different kind of intellectual, writing with a distinct and passionate voice. Over time, their intellectual discussions evolved into more meaningful discussions, and the icy mind of our Illithid was melting, steadily drifting from his evil character to a more neutral mindset. Their intelligence, coupled with verbose infatuation, bloomed into a love. They shared their most intimate thoughts with each other, and grew deeper and stronger in their relationship.
Desperately they wanted to meet each other, yet had no idea where each other was. Maninder decided to use an Illithid tracking device to locate the other book, and effectively her. What he found was staggering even to his intellect: she was quite literally billions of miles across the universe. Unfortunately, his actions had not gone unviewed, and his change in personality started to attract suspicion from the other Illithids. He soon caught on though, and devised a daring plan to reach her location. And all went according to plan. He boarded a Nautilus, a flying Illithid ship in the shape of the animal itself, filled with cargo intended for the voyage of several dozen Illithids. What came next though took the other Illithids by surprise. As he flew off into space, several other ships came on his tail. He flew the ship through a pre-set ring of teleportation, set for the planet that his love inhabited: Krynn. As soon as he passed through, he and the ship teleported directly to Krynn, and the ring transformed into a portal to the plane of Neth. Specially designed so the contents of the plain would spill out onto the other plane, vast writhing tentacles spewed forth from the gate’s mouth and consumed every Illithid and Elder Brain in sight, leaving naught but dust once it recoiled and forcibly shut the portal.
Using a smaller, short range tracking device built into the ship itself, he soon located her location and set the ship down.



Basically what happens next is their relationship really blooms (for clarification purposes, he is an Erudite and she is a Swordsage, who uses a really big scythe). Meanwhile, the Illithid empire has discovered this treachery and has sent an invasion force to the newly unconquered planet to a. kill Maninder, and b. enslave Krynn. The dragons don't take too kindly to this once they figure out what's going on, hence the dragons wiping the invasion force out and later turning them over to the kobolds to deal with.

THE ISSUE is that I need a reason that would make Reina dead, where Maninder will reason that because he has nothing to heal her with, has no resurrective powers, and is more or less caught between the epic battle between the dragons and the Illithids, he will instead consume her mind to preserve it (where he can get her wished out of him), but gains her swordsage powers as a side effect of doing so. He then applies his psicrystal to her scythe and makes it a much more powerful weapon than before. Coming out from where he was with Reina at her end, incredibly pissed off and angry, and slaughters every Illithid in sight. ...then a dragon mage mistakes him for being part of the invasion force, doesn't want to deal with him, and uses the Imprisonment spell. (what happens next is he remains underground for several centuries, his mind degrading with extreme amnesia, which is then where the party stumbles upon him while searching for the BBEG in his underground lair. All he remembers is his name, his classes, and that he uses a really big scythe that holds significance for him, but can't remember why.)


Sorry this is so big, but thoughts? Ideas?

TechnOkami
2010-11-20, 01:08 AM
...anyone? :smalleek:

TurtleKing
2010-11-20, 01:39 AM
Question is how can he regain his memory? That will be a huge goal. Another thing is how does the world at large react to a being that has not been seen for hundreds of years.

One way for him to regain his memory could be through the books. If any of the conversations were recorded in the book then it is possible in a mundane way to piece together some aspect of his personality. This however includes the Reina for the two have merged. How does he handle the two personalities, and will he be able to find out why he has two? He will probably need some epic level magic to restore his memory. If you use Wish or similar then he will need two. One for the memory, and the other to restore her to life if possible. This is considering her personality survived the imprisonment and the extreme amnesia.

Fhaolan
2010-11-20, 01:40 AM
It's a bit complicated to start with, so I'm loathe to complicate it further.

You might leave that bit unwritten, to allow the DM to 'surprise' you with the answer later in some plot-relevant twist.

But if you really want the whole thing written out you've got other options.

1) Assassinated by the Illithids: Advance scouts target the love-interest as a way to bait Maninder into the open. The assassination succeeds, but the trap doesn't.

2) Assassinated by the *dragons*: This one's a bit more complex, as it involves someone on the Kryn side getting his facts/rumours all backwards, making the mistaken assumption that Maninder is the advance scout, and that Reina is a 'traitor to the planet'. In which case Maninder doesn't go all Schwarzenegger on just the Illithids, but on everything that moves.

3) Accidental death: The war is raging, and the city Maninder & Reina are in is directly under one of the sky battles. A Nautulus falls out of the sky and crashes into the building they're in. It's really nobody's direct fault, other than the fact there's a war going on, and this kind of thing happens in wars. That's a rationalization, however, and grief-stricken lovers tend to not be rational.

TechnOkami
2010-11-20, 01:48 AM
Question is how can he regain his memory? That will be a huge goal.
This has been left up to the DM's digression, he will every now and then force me to make rolls to regain my memory when something I see/hear/experience/feel makes me remember something. Basically I'm a new variant for the DM's plot.

Another thing is how does the world at large react to a being that has not been seen for hundreds of years.
Honestly, I have no idea. The GM's going to have to figure that part out. The Party might not take too much of a liking to me (having found wild Illithids which they've killed), but they're chaotic enough that they would accept my dilemma (of not remembering anything).


How does he handle the two personalities, and will he be able to find out why he has two?
Well, the personality of Reina is more like her memories, so his personality is still his own, though occasionally he sees glimpses of things he doesn't remember seeing (which he might interpret as being his own).

Callista
2010-11-20, 03:07 AM
With the way illithids are practically a psionic hive-mind, maybe they knew about her all along and were just giving your character enough rope to hang himself.

Also:
"Taketh pen in thy hand and write what thou will."

The grammar is incorrect; it should be, "Take thou the pen in thine hand and write what thou willst."

TechnOkami
2010-11-20, 03:41 PM
With the way illithids are practically a psionic hive-mind, maybe they knew about her all along and were just giving your character enough rope to hang himself.
...that actually sounds like something the Illithids would do too. Thanks.


Also:
"Taketh pen in thy hand and write what thou will."

The grammar is incorrect; it should be, "Take thou the pen in thine hand and write what thou willst."
Oh really? I'm sorry, I didn't know. I'm not well versed in old English, though I'm taking Shakespeare right now. :smalltongue:

Callista
2010-11-20, 03:43 PM
Here you go--
Shakespearean Pronouns (http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/xThou.html)

TechnOkami
2010-11-20, 03:54 PM
Here you go--
Shakespearean Pronouns (http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/xThou.html)

Oh cool! Thanks.

Callista
2010-11-20, 04:02 PM
Lucky you for taking a Shakespeare class, though. Here I am, stuck in Linear Systems (which is a cross between circuits and differential equations...) and wishing I were discussing "The Merchant of Venice" instead...

Study up on the effects of solitary confinement:
Social Psychology Blog: Solitary Confinement (http://socialpsychology-ali.blogspot.com/2007/10/solitary-confinement.html)
Effects of Solitary Confinement on Mental Health (http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1898)

Quite interesting. Of course there's no real-world equivalent of a 1000-year Imprisonment.

TechnOkami
2010-11-20, 10:43 PM
Lucky you for taking a Shakespeare class, though. Here I am, stuck in Linear Systems (which is a cross between circuits and differential equations...) and wishing I were discussing "The Merchant of Venice" instead...

Study up on the effects of solitary confinement:
Social Psychology Blog: Solitary Confinement (http://socialpsychology-ali.blogspot.com/2007/10/solitary-confinement.html)
Effects of Solitary Confinement on Mental Health (http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1898)

Quite interesting. Of course there's no real-world equivalent of a 1000-year Imprisonment.

Yeah, we finished reading The Merchant of Venice AND Hamlet, and currently we're reading through Taming of the Shrew. Coincidentally on TV, I watched the Patrick Stewart version of Macbeth which was very very well done.

And though I thank you for the effects on a person in solitary confindment, the imprisonment spell puts them in suspended animation as per temporal stasis, so his mind wouldn't be active during those thousand years and would (with liberties) be effectively frozen.