The Valiant : Development thread

[CrackedChair]

Hello people of the Playground, I recently joined this forum today so that I can express my creativity in the art of writing a story.

Anyways, I had this story idea thought up for a long time, and it seemed like i'd share it with the rest of the forumers and various other people of the internet.

I will try my best to put up the plot and develop the characters and iron them out soon enough, but for now, here's the basics...

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The story will take place in a fantasy world which is based around 5e D&D, in a homebrewed world. It will feature a group of many characters, some who yearned for the adventuring life, and some without any clear calling in life, adventuring. While there may be silly moments here and there, and a few instances where the fourth wall is slamed repeatedly with a Greatclub, for the most part, it will be a story driven world, which details the lives and various moments of an adventuring party. Fans of other fantasy stories/webcomics/games/whatnot are welcomed to read it, but it's not required if you want to enjoy the story!
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Well, that's all I will post for now, next thing I will do is go over the basics of my characters.

[Lethologica]

Sounds like a good time. Look forward to it.

[CrackedChair]

Haha, glad to see some people are interested! Well, might as well start off with some basic ideas of our characters.

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Alright, now the characters of this story are all in classes available in 5th edition D&D, but I want to give an interesting reason as to why they chose that particular calling in life. The main characters, who form up a party, as followed...

>A Forest Gnome Fighter, Female, who left the safety of the sylvan forests due to a terrible choice made by the elders
>A Human Barbarian, Male, who oddly, is the residing noble of a town.
>A Half-elf Sorcerer, Male, who is the vassal ( or some other person-in-waiting ) of said Barbarian
>A Human Paladin, Male raised by a local temple of a Lawful Good Deity, who thinks he's the hottest thing since sliced bread.
>And a Wood elf Cleric, Female, who is the Paladin's love interest and childhood friend

There will be more characters to form this party as time comes, but for now, these are the ones I settled on.
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Anyways, if you got any comments on the current lineup of characters, or feel like I can change something, let me know in the thread.

Next time I might develop these characters and see what I can do to make them tick.

[JNAProductions]

Haha, glad to see some people are interested! Well, might as well start off with some basic ideas of our characters.

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Alright, now the characters of this story are all in classes available in 5th edition D&D, but I want to give an interesting reason as to why they chose that particular calling in life. The main characters, who form up a party, as followed...

>A Forest Gnome Fighter, Female, who left the safety of the sylvan forests due to a terrible choice made by the elders
>A Human Barbarian, Male, who oddly, is the residing noble of a town.
>A Half-elf Sorcerer, Male, who is the vassal ( or some other person-in-waiting ) of said Barbarian
>A Human Paladin, Male raised by a local temple of a Lawful Good Deity, who thinks he's the hottest thing since sliced bread.
>And a Wood elf Cleric, Female, who is the Paladin's love interest and childhood friend

There will be more characters to form this party as time comes, but for now, these are the ones I settled on.
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Anyways, if you got any comments on the current lineup of characters, or feel like I can change something, let me know in the thread.

Next time I might develop these characters and see what I can do to make them tick.

Bolded the characters that are SOLELY DEFINED BY THEIR RELATION TO SOMEONE ELSE.

[CrackedChair]

Bolded the characters that are SOLELY DEFINED BY THEIR RELATION TO SOMEONE ELSE.

Yeah, it's a bit cliched, but its just a basic draft of what they are now, but rest assured, that Half-elf and Wood elf will be a fleshed out character soon enough.

I thought about them a bit about the Half-elf and decided I might as well have some event leading him to serve the Noble Barbarian, but as for the Wood-elf... hmm... that's a hard one.

If you got something for the Wood-elf, then I'd be happy to hear it.

[CrackedChair]

Alright, now to begin this story, I will need to use some sort of website that allows people to write their stories and post them.

Now thread, which website is the best for me when it comes to this thing?

[Tiffanie Lirle]

Haha, glad to see some people are interested! Well, might as well start off with some basic ideas of our characters.

<snip>
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If this is all going to be in one singular story then you need to be aware of the issues of developing multiple spotlight protagonists instead of a single one. Being that you have to flesh out their characters in a manner that is interesting to the reader. With one main character you can easily display and develop them as the story goes on, but with several characters who all have very active roles you must develop several individual personalities as the story goes along. This could lead to reader boredom and confusion if you go about this the wrong way. There's also a saturation point each person has, where they just might stop caring. They might read to the end, but they won't really differentiate your characters during the story anymore at that point. This causes a massive loss of plot impact during important scenes.

Introduce them each slowly to the story and let the reader get to know them before throwing them all in a truck basically.


Yeah, it's a bit cliched, but its just a basic draft of what they are now, but rest assured, that Half-elf and Wood elf will be a fleshed out character soon enough.
Make sure you know who your characters are. I was once told to make a 'résumé' of sorts for each character before you start writing so you have something to base their initial actions off of. Expect them to develop themselves though as you write further and further into the story.


Now thread, which website is the best for me when it comes to this thing?
If you need a hosting platform for free you can decide between Tumblr, Wordpress and Blogger. Or you could make a thread here in the subforum I suppose.

Tumblr is the easiest, but Wordpress let's you customize more. Blogger is sort of an inbetween. :smallsmile:

[CrackedChair]

If this is all going to be in one singular story then you need to be aware of the issues of developing multiple spotlight protagonists instead of a single one. Being that you have to flesh out their characters in a manner that is interesting to the reader. With one main character you can easily display and develop them as the story goes on, but with several characters who all have very active roles you must develop several individual personalities as the story goes along. This could lead to reader boredom and confusion if you go about this the wrong way. There's also a saturation point each person has, where they just might stop caring. They might read to the end, but they won't really differentiate your characters during the story anymore at that point. This causes a massive loss of plot impact during important scenes.

Introduce them each slowly to the story and let the reader get to know them before throwing them all in a truck basically.


Make sure you know who your characters are. I was once told to make a 'résumé' of sorts for each character before you start writing so you have something to base their initial actions off of. Expect them to develop themselves though as you write further and further into the story.


If you need a hosting platform for free you can decide between Tumblr, Wordpress and Blogger. Or you could make a thread here in the subforum I suppose.

Tumblr is the easiest, but Wordpress let's you customize more. Blogger is sort of an inbetween. :smallsmile:

Ah, thanks for the tips!

I might as well use wordpress, cause from I seen, it really does give me what I need to start out. I'll probably post a link to the prologue from this thread soon enough.

About your résumé idea... I was thinking about making D&D character sheets for each one. Would that help?

And the story's going to span a few chapters. It's not going to be a single story in where I put a wall of plot and leave it at that. I will probably divide the story into sections, with the first giving the origins of the characters and explaining why they decided to form a party.

Once again, thanks!

[JNAProductions]

As a question, why not just post the story here?

[CrackedChair]

On second thought, maybe I might as well post it here on the GITP forums... hmm.... tough choices... I can still link to the story itself in my signature...

But with that aside, I might as well discuss more of the story.

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Alright, so lets see here... I got the main characters and the basics of what they are down... might as well shape them out as actual characters...

Now, I want to make these characters fit in with the D&D character-making that is present in the Player's Handbook, but I want to customize them out as well, to not make it look like they are just cut and paste adventurers...

Alright, lets start with our Female Gnome, who I shall refer to as Selwyn. Due to a terrible choice by the elders, she is forced out rom the sylvan forests that are home to the Forest Gnomes... but what of her origin?

I want to avoid the overdone orphan hero cliche first of all, that has been done to death and a half in many, many fantasy stories. There's also the matter of trying to make a reason as to why she chose to be a fighter, even though Gnomes are known to be rather evasive folks...

But first, her origins... I came to the conclusion that she should preferably be the daughter of a native Forest Gnome mother, and a Rock Gnome father, who came to this sylvan community that she was raised in after becoming lost. They eventually wed, then gave birth to Selwyn. After hearing tales of the great dangers of the outside world, and the heroes who take up arms to repel it, most of her games she played were with herself alone, pretending to be a chivalrous knight, and the yearning too be like them never lied down.

It was not until that a tragedy happened in the town ( Which I am going to name the Mistshell town ) of the gnomes that truly drove her to the life of a Fighter... Her mother, who I shall call Trysis, who was out picking flowers for a tea that she loved so much, was attacked by a Displacer Beast. After not returning home for a day, the town send a search party to find out what happened to her. It was then discovered that the was attacked and killed in the aftermath. Horrified by the horrors that hide in wait in the sylvan forest, the Rock Gnome, named Grapos, left the forest straight for his home, leaving Selwyn behind, and never looked back.

Ever since, she has been raised by the elders. But the need to see the world ate away at her, and urged her to grow stronger and protect those she loves, and thus, she decided to sneak out one night, and head towards the outside world...

After an uneventful trek through the woods, she found a town no more than a mile ahead, called Maplevale. After arriving, she saw a few guards at the gate, and asked them where she can find out who is in charge in town. They urged her to go see the Noble of the town, who will funnily enough, be the Human Barbarian that I've mentioned awhile ago...

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I'll probably write about her origins and why she picked this calling later today, but just give it a look-over and tell me what I can improve on.

[JNAProductions]

Looks good to me, as a base.

[CrackedChair]

Alright, time to finish up the summary of her origins...

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She then visits the manse of the local lord, whose name is Graham, and meets his vassal, a Half-elf named Riben, answers the door when Selwyn knocks on it. The Half-elf then allows Selwyn to come inside. She then meets Graham himself, a tall, and rather muscular human, who unbeknownst to her, is actually one who took up the Barbarian class. Graham was rather intrigued, however, when he realizes what he thought was a Halfling was actually a Forest Gnome, who came from the forests due south of the town. After a chat with him about the town and points of interest, Selwyn asks if he knows a place where she can train to be a fighter. Graham then was truly shocked that such a woman would want to take up this path, but he thinks better of it and gives her directions to the Warrior's academy in the heart of the city.

Selwyn then goes off to the academy and asks if she can train under a master in the basics of combat and other skills essential to a fighter. Once she got the ok from the headmaster, she then sorts out which days she would like to train and for how long. After than, she begun training at the school. When the sun started setting, she realized she needed to get home, and hurried away from the academy, and Maplevale.

After getting home just in time for bed, she then checks up on the elders, who thankfully, have not realized she was gone for so long...

After that day, she started going back 4 times a week for training, until she got the hang of the basics of combat. One weapon she truly found easy in her hands was a training rapier, which was never used until she found the training longsword too heavy and wanted something lighter. She made sure to keep it in a safe spot in the academy each day, to make sure nobody else got it. But this rapier would be her undoing...

After training for what appears to be a very long time, she realized she needs to get home quickly before she arouses suspicion. She rushes back to the forest, not knowing she still had the training rapier stuck to her leather scabbard it goes in.

When she got home, the elders then saw her rush in and asked where on earth she was. She was about to respond until the elder's saw the sword at her side, and asked what shocked the rest of the villagers. " You... you associated with outsiders!? "

The elder's feared for their lives when they realized that Selwyn was associating with the outsiders. It was a village law that nobody was to leave the forest for anything, for a unknown fear. The elder's made a painful decision; to exile Selwyn, as to keep her from drawing attention to the forest gnomes.

After she packed her stuff and head out, she left to Maplevale, and knocked on Graham's door. Riben, being ever the dutiful vassal, answers, and asked why Selwyn is outside in the black of night. She explains to Riben, who allows Selwyn to come inside. After explaining to Graham over a nice cup of tea, he was wondering why the elder's would disallow people like her from ever leaving... He then allowed Selwyn to stay in Maplevale for as long as she likes.

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Phew, that's a whole lot... better not go any further or I'd spoil the story.

Next time I might try my hand at characterizing The Paladin, as well as his Childhood friend and love interest.

[JNAProductions]

That's, uh... Not actually a whole lot.

And you probably should spoil the story, so we can critique the plot.

[CrackedChair]

Alright, time to write up a base of the Paladin.

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Our paladin, whom we shall refer to as Farley, was born in a city not far from Maplevale, known as the City of Stagshield. Due to unfortunate circumstances with her husband, Farley's mother had to be rid of him, for he must not be raised by such a wretched person such as her husband. She stopped by the Temple of a Lawful good deity and gave Farley unto the care of the clergy, hopeful that he will have a better life there.

Now, I gotta stop right now and think; I need to come up with names of deities so that our clerics and paladins and whatnot are given a purpose to be there. I might need some thread participation, but for now, let's just refer to it as the lawful good deity.

Anyways, Farley, in his youth, grew up with 2 orphans; Adrel, a female Wood elf who wishes to serve the lawful good deity with all her heart, and is one of our Main characters, the wood elf cleric. She arrived to the temple due to a bandit attack on a caravan that her parents were involved in when she was very little. Due to the attack, she has a serious trust problem with people she does not know, ever since she learned of her parent's fate.

And there is Zarvir, a Male Tiefling, who all his life, wanted to channel the divine energy that comes forth from serving the lawful good deity. His parents were part of a cult worshiping Asmodeus, the lord of the Nine Hells. They were then met with swift justice from a group of vigilantes for the lawful good deity who root out cults all across the land. After discovering the young Zarvir, still in the crib, they took him in, as they could not bring it upon themselves to murder an innocent baby.

Although Adrel hid her feelings from Farley about how she loves him, Zarvir secretly despises him, thinking that he might upstage him and show him up by becoming a cleric as well. Tieflings are very unliked in this setting, and if Farley ever did become a cleric, Zarvir's efforts to make something of himself may never be noticed. There's also the complication that Zarvir openly thinks of Adrel as more than a friend for now, but Adrel really has her eyes on Farley.

As Farley grew up, he was enamored with tales of chivalrous knights and questing paladins, and aspired to be just like one. Even though the priest of the lawful good deity sees Farley as being a devout cleric, his true passion lies in the path of a paladin.

It was not until his 10th birthday that he then heard about a group of questing knights, led by the great paladin Braedon, was coming to Stagshield. Feeling as it was his calling, he left to go see the paladin himself, who was currently at the local lord's house.

Farley was lucky to find that the paladin was still outside the manse and was currently discussing matters with the lord. As he approached, the knights who were currently on guard stopped him, and told him to buzz off. Braedon noticed that Farley wanted to talk to him, and lended an ear. Farley then proclaimed that he wanted to be a paladin, but Braedon wondered if he was truly considering such a life. He explained to him that being a paladin was much more than chivalry and justice, but Farley was still adamant about this choice. Braedon then wanted to know if it was alright with his parents, or rather, the head of the Lawful good deity's temple when corrected by Farley, if this was an ok choice on his part. Despite his disappointment with him choosing to become a Paladin instead of a Cleric, he respected it nevertheless, and allowed him to be trained under the knights.

Braedon was getting old for the life of a paladin, and thus wanted to pass down the mantle to Farley now...
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Looks like Im knocking out two hippogriffs with one stone here, developing 2 main characters and introducing a villain to add to the story.

Next time I'll wrap up Farley's origins and after than, is Graham.

[Lethologica]

Careful. You kinda doubled down on Adrel only being defined in relation to Farley, as Adrel is now only defined by her position in a love triangle with Farley. Meanwhile, Zarvir is defined as hating Farley for maybe-probably being so much cooler, and Braedon is defined as dropping whatever he was doing to make Farley's training his life's calling. The backstory is being warped around Farley's awesomeness, and you want to avoid that--these characters should have bigger lives than their relationships with Farley, they're not his accessories. Especially true for Adrel as she's a main character--I look forward to hearing more about her.

[CrackedChair]

Careful. You kinda doubled down on Adrel only being defined in relation to Farley, as Adrel is now only defined by her position in a love triangle with Farley. Meanwhile, Zarvir is defined as hating Farley for maybe-probably being so much cooler, and Braedon is defined as dropping whatever he was doing to make Farley's training his life's calling. The backstory is being warped around Farley's awesomeness, and you want to avoid that--these characters should have bigger lives than their relationships with Farley, they're not his accessories. Especially true for Adrel as she's a main character--I look forward to hearing more about her.

Yeah, might as well edit them to justify Braedon having a reason to train Farley. And characterize Adrel some more...

Just look forward to the edit, I'll change it.

Really, if there's one thing I don't like about a story, it's a Mary Sue. I try my best to avoid characterizing my characters at the exclusion of others, but sometimes I... ugh...

[CrackedChair]

Well, I try to put some effort into notable characters to keep them from just being there, but in all honesty, I know flat characters are not bad. I'm not necessarily going to go any further with Braedon cause of him being a minor character who starts Farley's journey onto being a paladin.

But Zarvir is a notable villain, as far as I know. He's actively competing for Adrel and despises Farley, due to Zarvir's paranoia that Farley will upstage him as the best, and possibly take his chance at making something of himself and the Tieflings. This makes him up to be a tragic villain, whose cause is rather good, but his heart is just not in the right place.

I do thank you for the information on flat characters though. Thanks!

[CrackedChair]

Alright, time to characterize Adrel and finish up with Farley

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Now, as I explained, Adrel lost her parents to a caravan attack while they were away. Adrel was alone with a good friend of the parents but could no longer go home. She arrived to the temple of the Lawful good deity, a few years, probably 4, after Farley and Zarvir arrived. Ever since, Zarvir held a great interest in Adrel, but worried that Farley would take Adrel from him, leaving him with nothing. Her arrival sowed the seeds of paranoia in Zarvir's head...

Adrel was a devout worshipper of the lawful good deity, and follows the idea of a lawful good character very well. She admits any wrongdoing she does, such as spilling water on scriptures that belong to the head Priestess of the temple, or maybe even knocking over and breaking a rather valuable glass. She's just That Lawful.

She as I explained, held feeling for Farley when she got to know him some more, but only thought Zarvir as a good friend, while Farley is oblivious to both Adrel's love ( until a later point in his life, probably. ) and to Zarvir's loathing of him. This seems to create a rather good example of a love triangle.

She discussed with the head Priestess that she would very much like to channel the divine magic that comes through a cleric not for personal gain, but for enlightenment, while Zarvir just wants to obtain the divine magic just to show the world that even a Tiefling can make their spot on the world.

Anyways, back to Farley and his shenanigans. Farley spend most of his time under Braedon at their local base of operations in the shopping district of Stagshield, and only returned to the temple to go to bed or pray. He learned basics of combat, such as swordplay, horseback riding, and even holding a lance, something that Braedon's knights are well known for. He also learned of the spiritual objects of the paladin, his convictions, and his faith, as well as his nobility. All things here were difficult for Farley, but one of the most difficult things for him is his ego. He truly believes himself to be a great hero, and worthy of praise, but he had to be told several times that paladins are not one for putting themselves first. Even as Farley perfected the areas most paladins must grasp if they wish to proceed on the just path, he never grew out of him being so full of himself.

Eventually came the day when Braedon returned, with a nick on the side of his arm from a skirmish that involved a small group of Gnolls harassing a farmer's livestock. Braedon said to Farley that this is his first challenge to see if he was truly ready to take up the mantle of a paladin; he had to use the Lay on Hands skill. Farley focused, put his hands on the arm... and the wound slowly but surely stitched up, not quite all the way, but enough that it would not bleed a little. Farley can't believe it, he truly used Lay on Hands. He knew he was ready to be a paladin...

As Farley trained, he knew that one day, he would have to leave Stagshield... and at age 20, he would have never guessed that this chance would come, when a Gnome and a Human noble along with a Half-elf would come to Stagshield...

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How does it looks so far, guys?

Next time I'll develop Graham and Ribel.

[CrackedChair]

Now it's time to characterize Graham.

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Graham for all his life, was a noble. He was born unto a family of Viscount's who are the dominant noble house in Stagshield, called House Greenwood. His childhood... was actually very normal, unlike the rest of the main characters. No family member's died, nothing unusual, nothing. If there was one defining moment in his life, it would be the fact that when he came of age, he was to take the helm when the current noble of Maplevale, whom was a good friend of Graham's family, who was too ill to continue work.

Now here's the explanation as to why Graham is a Barbarian. Graham was a rather average person, as far as his body goes. When he heard that the locals of Maplevale were hunting for wild pigs, he wanted to join in as well. The hunt outside took him to a lake, where there was said to be several wild pigs going for a drink. When Graham saw a pig at once, he aimed his light crossbow, but then noticed a few ger's a half a mile to his left.

What he saw was Nomads of the land, who were setting their temporary Ger's to rest here. Graham was wondering if they were participating in the wild pig hunt, but the nomads were suspicious of him, as he was an outsider. He eventually found the Chieftain's Ger, and saw what appeared to be a massive, muscle-bound man, whose wild but still tamed grey beard was the most defining feature of him. The Chieftain asked Graham who he was, but as soon as Graham said his first and last name, the Chieftain was truly shocked.

Twist time: This guy is actually Graham's Grandfather.

Apparently, before Graham was born, his grandfather was known as a well-to-do noble of Stagshield, who held his possition alongside his son and daughter, who were graham's parents. One day, after an attempt on his life by a disgruntled servant, he made the decision to wander the lands, as he worried he would still be targeted, as long as he lived, and hoped that his daughter and son would do a better job.

Anyways, Graham's grandfather welcomed him with loving arms. Graham had to be a bit wary, since his grandfather, who we shall refer to as Oklin, smelt like an Owlbear after a 5-hour hunt. Eventually, after a rather robust meal of wild pig, he wanted to see what life was like as a nomad.

After going to bed at the Maplevale manse, he headed out to the lakeside to meet Oklin again. He then noticed that he was training with 3 other nomads. After making an absolutely terrifying roar, he pinned the 3 other tribesman to the ground with his thick and manly arms. Graham read stories of Barbarians and how they utilize rage to their advantage, to protect those they love and destroy those they despise, but to see such a terrible force in action now was something alright. He then asked Oklin the question that made him truly have faith in his own family; he asked to train him on the path of a Barbarian.

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Now, I'm rather unacknowledged in the nobility field, so this information about noble houses might be incorrect. If so, just let me know what I should fix and I'll hop to it!

Now next time, I'll characterize Graham some more and move on to Ribel.

[CrackedChair]

Time to finish up with Graham and start on Ribel

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The day after Graham asked his favor, it was nothing but harsh training, down by the lakeside. Graham had to get a grasp on how to fight with unwieldy weapons that the nomads favored, such as the Greataxe or Greatsword. Graham seemed to favor the Greatsword about all other weapons, due to it being relatively balanced for somebody his size, although it still felt painful to lift. As the days went by, Graham noticed some changes in his body, it was getting rather muscular, nothing like he was used to when he was growing up. Eventually, the Greatsword he trains with did not feel as heavy anymore, due to extensive Barbarian training. Oklin was amazed to see the lad grow up that much during his weeks here, and wondered how he does it. Eventually, Graham had to do one last spar with his Grandfather, before the nomad's leave, and Graham gladly accepted.

The spar went rather evenly, as Graham's training Greatsword clashed against his Grandfather's training Greataxe. Eventually, once Graham saw an opening in Oklin's swing, he jammed the greatsword into the greataxe blade, catching it and disarming Oklin. Oklin cann't believe it, he raised a scrawny boy into a fit man able to take on the world...

As Graham said his goodbyes to the tribe and Oklin, he promised him one thing, to live life to the fullest. With his heart heavy with regrets of leaving, but light with the joy of knowing Oklin, he headed back to Maplevale, to check up on the ill baron.

Now, lets discuss when Ribel came in. Ribel was born to a High elf Woman and a Human man, of whom were not very popular with the elvish parents of the High elf when they got engaged and married. In Ribel's youth, he was... rather dull, to be honest. He did not have much friends, due to most elves being rather older and not willing to play catch with him, and the human children he grew up with picked on him constantly, due to his race. Yes, children racism, I know.

Now, because of him not getting any friends, he went to the library, to help researchers in there with their... well, research. He followed orders by the people in the library to the best of his abilities, bringing books, pens, lenses, that sort of stuff. Eventually, he asked a rather sagely human, whom was discussing a matter with his colleagues, if he could be a Researcher when he grows up. The Sage then turned to him and said that if he puts enough heart into his research, he could one day. This solidified his decision.

Ribel, once he reached age 24, was now searching for a job in Stagshield. He thought of a few things he could do, but not a one tickled his fancy. He then happened upon Graham, who was heading to his parent's manse. Ribel then asked Graham if there is any place he could find a job. He did so due to the way he dresses, and thus thought he was some sort of guild leader. Graham... actually had a falling out with a previously disgruntled servant, who felt like Graham was too unrefined to be served by the likes of him, mostly due to the fact that Graham just returned from Oklin's temporary settlement and was rather unrefined after all that training with the nomads. He thought better of the question and told him to follow him to his parents.

Ribel then realized what he gotten himself into; he was applying to be a butler, or some other person in waiting (come on thread, give me some ideas on what he can be!) to the Greenwood Family. He was to start on the job tomorrow at Maplevale manse.

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Better stop there so I can get my bearings on the situation.

Next time, I'll finally finish up our bases on the characters!

[CrackedChair]

Time to finally finish up the basics of our characters.

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A week after Riben applied to be a Butler, he heard that Graham wanted to go on a camping trip near the Sylvan forest, just for fun. Graham invited along Riben and some other servants of the Maplevale manse.

Now, this here is where Riben became a Sorcerer. After going to a clearing and setting up the site, Riben went out to get some tea leaves to make some quality tea. After wandering around for a suitable specimen, he heard a stiff giggle. As he looked around, he saw nothing. But he kept going. Eventually he saw what appeared to be a tea leaf on the ground. As he reached to grab it, it phased through his hand. It was nothing but an illusion. He wondered why it was so, but then he put two and two together; something was toying with him.

And after he found an illusion, he was lost. He wandered around, taking all sorts of bends and turns, but to no avail. Eventually, he came across a beautiful clearing, which looked fantastic, what with it's crisp ponds and tall fruit bearing trees.

Oh yeah, and there is a Gold dragon who made this clearing his home.

The Adult dragon turned around and asked if Riben was lost. He was... scared out of his wits. He knew this was a Metallic dragon, but even then it's awe-inspiring stature made him uneasy. Riben nervously said yes, and the gold dragon then asked him if he was scared. Riben then said yes, and was reassured that the Gold dragon shall not harm him. Riben thought better of it then, but wanted to at least give the dragon a gift. He took out a Diamond, worth about 50GP from his pocket and laid it near the dragon, as a gift for easing him. The dragon happily accepted and asked Riben if he wanted something in return...

Riben thought quite awhile. He wanted something... but he was not too sure what... Eventually, Riben said that he wanted something that would serve his master better, and anybody else he would come to care about. The dragon then explained that he could give him that power, but first he had to cut himself with his talon. He dragged his claw across his arm, then told Riben to calm himself, as he nicked Riben in the arm with the dragon's blood. The blood seeped into Riben's arm, thus granting him the gift of the dragon.

Riben then thanked the dragon for his gift then left. Riben really did not know what to think; he was actually given by a dragon the gift of sorcery. After wandering around a bit more, riben then found a unruly gang of 2 or so Kobolds running around. Riben... Screamed like a little girl at these rather small buggers. Graham must have been around to hear it, and realized somebody was in danger. He grabbed the Lumber axe; intended on using it to protect whatever is screaming, and headed in the general direction of the scream.

Graham got there in time to find the Kobolds harassing Riben. Even against an unarmed half-elf, the kobolds were rather scared themselves, as they pointed their crude knives at Riben. Graham got there in time and slew a Kobold, and left the other one to run away to live.

Riben then thanked Graham, and they went back to the campsite to finish up the trip.

When they got to the manse again, Riben did extensive research on Sorcerers and the Draconic blood they are infused with. With the research he done, he was already making progress using it's magic for mundane purposes, such as lighting a fire with Prestidigitation, and even used it to flavor a meal for Graham when he thought it as a bit bland. He had to keep these acts secret, just to not arouse suspicion. Eventually, he got the hang of using regular spells such as Burning hands, but only when there truly was nobody watching him outside of town at night.

Riben dutifully served Graham, but his life was going to change when a Gnome from the very same Sylvan forests would come and knock at his master's door...

-----

And that's all character bases!! Woo!

Let's see... Now what next shall I work on... I guess I'll work on the gods of this homebrewed world and move on to worldbuilding...

[CrackedChair]

Alright, I decided upon a title for this particular story!

Be sure to look forward to the first chapter of The Valiant soon enough!

[Prince Zahn]

Looking forward to it :3
I'd like to see how you go about it. :smallsmile: