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alexi
2007-08-29, 01:13 PM
what I came up with for my morose ranger
The Tintangael family was blessed (or so their neighbors claimed), even the leanest of years their garden would produce a surplus of vegetables, and Durgwyn would always bring home the fattest buck and the plumpest hare when he hunted in the forest. Life was full of joy and happiness for the newly married couple, barely 18 each a bright future seemed certain. Then the twins were born a boy and a girl, a sign of good fortune and luck (or so their neighbors said). But as the children grew the fruits of the farm shrank, the children flourished and the garden withered. Before Durgwyn would only slay the fattest bucks, now he was lucky if he could kill a brace of squirrels.
Thru all of his fortune and misfortune Durgwyn would only shrug as if to say “all things must pass.” But his neighbors gossiped and said his children must be cursed. Some even went as far to claim that the children must be changelings left by the fae. To all of the gossip Durgwyn paid no head, but his wife began to believe that perhaps she had angered the fairies somehow and that perhaps the children were cursed. She began to visit various self proclaimed miracle-men and hedge wizards, purchasing charms and amulets to reverse the farms fortunes. Durgwyn’s wife placed cold iron nails into all the doors and windows, painted the door with hex signs and wove hawthorn wreaths to place above the hearth. Nothing changed, fruits withered on the vine and even squirrels became scarce. This went on for 2 years, and things only became worse the money that the Tintangaels had been able to save from previous years of bounty was almost depleted.
One afternoon returning yet again empty handed from the hunt Durgwyn came home to a quiet homestead. His wife was not tending the garden and his twins were not playing in their usual dirt patch. Durgwyn entered his cottage to find his wife sitting before a cold hearth, rocking back ad forth in her favorite chair. The children however were not to be seen.
“I’m cleaver my husband, I’ve done removed the faerie curse! Now we are free, and the garden will again blossom.” Mumbled his wife when asked where the children were. Durgwyn did not quite understand, but was worried by his wife’s strange state. He asked again where the children were. His wife pointed to the back window, “my knowing and doing has lifted the faerie curse.” Keeping an eye worried eye upon his rocking wife Durgwyn walked to the back window and peered out upon the patch where laundry was hung to dry.
“Women what have you done?” His beautiful children were hanging head down from the clothes line, their throats slashed and their lifes blood already drained out onto the parched earth below.
“I’ve done removed the changelings and undone the curse my not too quick husband. Aren’t you proud at how cleaver and resourceful I am? Soon our right children will be returned to us. We’ll all be bountiful again thanks to my knowing and doing.” His wife continued to rock in the chair, and flashed Durgwyn a crooked smile.
“True my wife you are very clever,” it was all Durgwyn could do not to run out the door screaming. He was slowly backing away from his wife when he noticed the bloodstained cleaver tucked into her apron.
“Why don’t you go into town and buy us a nice plump goose and a bottle of apple wine to celebrate my knowing and doing. Soon the children will be home, so hurry along we don’t want them to be left hungry.”
Durgwyn raced to the magistrate’s house, “my wife she has lost her mind and I’m afraid done something terrible.” The magistrate returned with to Durgwyn’s house, but his wife was not there, and neither were the bodies of his children. All that was there to prove Durgwyn’s tale were the twin blood stains under the clothes line.
The neighbors and towns people helped Durgwyn search for his lost wife and murdered children in the wood, but nothing was ever found. A few people in town did not believe his story thinking he had killed his wife himself, or perhaps his wife had run away with the children to find a better life. Though most knew Durgwyn to be an honest man and believed him. Much was gossiped about his wife’s blaming the fairies for their ill luck, and that the fae had bestowed her with a madness in revenge for maligning them.
A few months later Durgwyn sold his homestead, though he only gained a tenth of it's worth, due to the land being cursed (or so their neighbors claimed). Durgwyn then gathered his few measly belongings and set off into the woods to begin a new life.

slexlollar89
2007-08-29, 01:32 PM
This is not the most twisted backstory i have ever heard, but it is great (aside from a few bad spellings like cleaver instead of clever, ha ha).

I am curious though, what are this guy's stats, class and alignment? He sounds very cool, congrats.

Machete
2007-08-29, 01:53 PM
Like something straight out of Heroes of Horror.

alexi
2007-08-29, 02:10 PM
ok most disturbing that I've come up with at 9am...

http://www.thetangledweb.net/profiler/view.php?id=21404

Tallis
2007-08-29, 03:45 PM
Love it. That is the best origin story I've read for a D&D character. Reminds me of the real old faerie tales, which I really like (much better than the Disney versions). I would've liked to see something to explain his favored enemy:goblins though. Going by the story faeries or animals seems like a more consistant choice.

alexi
2007-08-29, 04:31 PM
well the character went into the woods (i will not sing that song!), and came out a little later as a ranger.

but yeah i was going for an old faerie tale feel. The game i run has a definate Scotts/Welsh faerie tale influence.

Ashtar
2007-08-29, 04:48 PM
Whoooo! Your DM is going to have a field day with the fey court, child ghosts and a murderous wife gone crazy. Let's not forget the evil druid who caused all this because of...

This (!) is the kind of story to get the DM wild eyed with ideas, excellent content. It could do with a spell/grammar check and some formatting, though :smallwink: .

alexi
2007-08-29, 04:50 PM
Whoooo! Your DM is going to have a field day with the fey court, child ghosts and a murderous wife gone crazy. Let's not forget the evil druid who caused all this because of...

This (!) is the kind of story to get the DM wild eyed with ideas, excellent content. It could do with a spell/grammar check and some formatting, though :smallwink: .

hey i ran a spell check on it thru word!

yeah my grammer sucks, thats why I spent 8 years in art school. anyone wanna edit it for grammer for me?

slexlollar89
2007-08-29, 06:23 PM
Worry not good sir, for while i will not fix your grammar, i support your lack there-of wholeheartedly! Horray for bad Grammar.

Secondly, Alexi, is this the first character with such an excellent backstory that you have created? Have you deprived me, and the other forum-flunkies the oppourtunity to read cool character concepts?

I demand MORE GOOD WRITING!

Binary Stars
2007-08-29, 06:45 PM
If you don't feel like editting it, just chalk-up the bad grammar to the insanity. :smallwink:

jjpickar
2007-08-29, 06:57 PM
Boo bad grammar. Hooray Beer!

JackMage666
2007-08-29, 09:37 PM
Not to insult the character, as the background is great, but why the Crossbow, rather than a Longbow? They're generally considered much better, because the Crossbow will provoke when reloading, and when shooting. If it's for flavor, or other reasons, that's up to you, but a Longbow (or Shortbow), is generally considered much stronger (especially because Composite lets you add Str to damage.)

Volug
2007-08-29, 09:42 PM
hahaha..... thats ****'d up

i made a character based on a red mage (he was a battle sorc.) and he thought that the god of all god's, was called "the DM"
so he caried around a sheet of himself with ability scores and skill points, his hitpoints, equipment, etc.

(ironic isnt it?)

it was fun to play as that character:smallbiggrin: . his familiar was his character sheet by the way.

Neon Knight
2007-08-29, 09:55 PM
Somewhat disturbing. I do like how the truth of the matter was left undefined. Was it really the Fae? Or the wife allow superstition to drive herself to madness? Or did the Fae trick the wife into butchering her children?

I'd say it is fairly interesting. I'd certainly be able to evoke something good from it.

JackMage666
2007-08-29, 10:09 PM
Oh, and I don't know if it's the most disturbing... I once played an Evil Incarante who's parents were paladins - Which he saw slaughtered by a chain devil. The only thing he hated more than people was Demons and Devils, who he slaughtered regularly. As well, he specialized in killing evil people, and rarely tried to hurt good creatures (so long as they stuck to themselves).

He was absolutely convinced that he was doing better keeping good alive than the Paladins, kinda a lesser of two evils thing. He was put into foster care after his parents death, where he was beaten regularly and forced to slave labor, effectively. The females of the foster home were turned into prostitutes, and after he was to be sold into slavery, he snapped and killed all the foster workers in their sleep, effectively freeing the other children. He then fled to the forest.

Where he was found and raised as a necromancer, who took him as an apprentice. He then got a regular feeling of death and evil, and began training as an incarnate with a Chaos incarnate. After killing several Lawful people under his guidance, he turned to his own pursuits.

He went back to his old home, to pay homage to his parents, and was arrested. He was placed in general prison population, which he didn't like (he had a holy complex, and didn't want to be around people who fought for no cause). He killed several inmates, then the Paladin guards who tried to subdue him. Then he escaped. And the game starts...

He was rather insane, and literally flicked off the DM's favorite NPC for about 30 minutes (he didn't fear death. He knew he'd become a Yugoloth, and slaughter thousands upon thousands of Demons and Devils in the afterlife. He was rather confident). His alliance could be bought by offering Planar knowledge, particularly about the Chain Devil that killed his parents (when he did meet him, he slaughtered him without taking a single hit, and wore the chains happily).

slexlollar89
2007-08-29, 10:25 PM
AWESOME! Evryone seems to have way cooler characters than my group:smallsmile: .

One of my favorite charaters was a warforged warlock. He was origionally called by a serial number, and was created by a mad, demon binding wizard. the wizard wished to have a bodyguard of unsurpassed knowledge, and capability, with "the strength of adamant, and the mind of Asmodeus himself!"
Well, Asmodeus heard, and added some power to a regualr golem, making my guy: the warlock warforged (sentient golem actually). The first thing the golem did was outwit the wizard, and kill him by accident (he droped something heavy on him). He could often hear the vioce of Asmodeus (or thought he could, never found out) i his mind, and tried to do stuff like he thought he should. What made this guy scary was that he had a cannon for his left arm, and the rest of the group called him "Super Delux Man" (like mega man, but bigger and badder), and on top of it all, he thought everything he did, which was mostly evil stuff, was completely justified, an often convinced others t=so as well. the only time he actually became crazy (or evil stupid as you guys say) is when the LG pally countered my arguement with "the people won't listen to you, you're a golem!". The village didn't lsten to me, but that was only because i blew the Pally into peices in the public square.

SpiderKoopa
2007-08-29, 10:31 PM
I had a chaotic evil deathpriest who, while a child, to get into the occult, watched the slaughtering of his own family (both parents, a younger brother, and an older sister) with no sorrow. He commited his own first act of murder a few short weeks later.
I can't remember all of it. :smallconfused: But he was one messed up puppy. Fun to play though. :smalltongue:

Jannex
2007-08-30, 02:46 AM
Wanna talk "disturbing"? How about my genocidally-psychotic half-elf who, at the tender age of eight, cut off the tips of her ears with a knife in the hope that it would "make Daddy love her again" (it didn't).

As requested, I went through and cleaned up the grammar and spelling a bit. (I need to get some mileage out of my English degree, after all...)

The Tintangael family was blessed, or so their neighbors claimed. Even the leanest of years, their garden would produce a surplus of vegetables, and Durgwyn would always bring home the fattest buck and the plumpest hare when he hunted in the forest. Life was full of joy and happiness for the newly married couple; though they were both barely eighteen, a bright future seemed certain. Then the twins were born: a boy and a girl, a sign of good fortune and luck--as their neighbors said. But as the children grew, the fruits of the farm shrank. The children flourished while the garden withered. Before, Durgwyn would only slay the fattest bucks; now he was lucky if he could kill a brace of squirrels.

Through all of his fortune and misfortune, Durgwyn would only shrug as if to say “all things must pass.” But his neighbors gossiped, saying that his children must be cursed. Some even went so far as to claim that the children must be changelings left by the fae. To all of the gossip Durgwyn paid no heed, but his wife began to believe that perhaps she had angered the fairies somehow, and that maybe the children really were cursed. She began to visit various self-proclaimed miracle-men and hedge wizards, purchasing charms and amulets to reverse the farm's fortunes. Durgwyn’s wife placed cold iron nails into all the doors and windows, painted the door with hex signs, and wove hawthorn wreaths to place above the hearth. Nothing changed; fruits withered on the vine and even squirrels became scarce. This went on for two years, growing worse as time went on. The money that the Tintangaels had been able to save from previous years of bounty was almost depleted.

One afternoon, returning yet again empty-handed from the hunt, Durgwyn came home to a quiet homestead. His wife was not tending the garden, and his twins were not playing in their usual dirt patch. Durgwyn entered his cottage to find his wife sitting before a cold hearth, rocking back and forth in her favorite chair. The children, however, were not to be seen.

“I’m clever, my husband. I’ve done removed the faerie curse! Now we are free, and the garden will again blossom,” mumbled his wife, when asked where the children were. Durgwyn did not quite understand, but his wife’s strange state worried him. He asked again where the children were. His wife pointed to the back window. “My knowing and doing has lifted the faerie curse.” Keeping an uneasy eye upon his rocking wife, Durgwyn walked to the back window and peered out upon the patch where laundry was hung to dry.

“Woman, what have you done?” His beautiful children were hanging head-down from the clothesline, their throats slashed and their life's blood already drained out onto the parched earth below.

“I’ve removed the changelings and undone the curse, my dim husband. Aren’t you proud at how clever and resourceful I am? Soon our rightful children will be returned to us. We’ll all be prosperous again thanks to my knowing and doing.” His wife continued to rock in the chair, and flashed Durgwyn a crooked smile.

“True, my wife, you are very clever.” It was all Durgwyn could do not to run out the door screaming. He was slowly backing away from his wife when he noticed the bloodstained cleaver tucked into her apron.

“Why don’t you go into town and buy us a nice plump goose and a bottle of apple wine to celebrate my knowing and doing? Soon the children will be home, so hurry along; we don’t want them to be left hungry.”

Durgwyn raced to the magistrate’s house. “My wife--she has lost her mind, and I’m afraid she has done something terrible.” The magistrate returned with Durgwyn to the hunter's house, but his wife was not there, and neither were the bodies of his children. All that was there to prove Durgwyn’s tale were the twin blood-stains under the clothesline.

The neighbors and townspeople helped Durgwyn search for his lost wife and murdered children in the wood, but nothing was ever found. A few people in town did not believe his story, thinking he had killed his wife himself, or perhaps his wife had run away with the children to find a better life. However, most knew Durgwyn to be an honest man, and believed him. Rumors were spread about the way his wife had blamed the fairies for their ill luck, and that the fae had bestowed upon her a madness as revenge for her maligning them.

A few months later, Durgwyn sold his homestead, though he only gained a tenth of its worth because the land was--according to his neighbors--cursed. Durgwyn then gathered his few measly belongings and set off into the woods to begin a new life.

Dhavaer
2007-08-30, 02:58 AM
I had an infernal heritage sorcerer whose powers originally manifested by summoning fiending creatures and slaughtering her parents. Then she ran away and hid in an abandoned quarry for a while and alternately helped, scared or murdered children. She had two main personalities, one a somewhat hyperactive, bubbly little girl (thoughts in blue) and the other a bloodthirsty demon (thoughts in red). She talked in purple. Unfortunately I never got to do all that much with her.

Tokiko Mima
2007-08-30, 01:30 PM
The OP's origin story reminds me of a Brothers Grimm fairy tale. :smallsmile:

Ravyn
2007-08-30, 04:37 PM
I'll see those stories and raise you a ten year old deathknight in utterly dedicated service to the ancient ghost who'd killed her family in front of her, known for killing her foes with her own armbones, with an obsession with the kinds of creepy crawlies that haunt the underworld and the spirit of her older sister Lisbet soulbound into her right arm and ready to suck in the soul of anyone killed by said bone and use it to heal the girl (against particularly interesting opponents, she'd smile and, in a singsong voice, say, "Lisbet wants to meet you...")

And you know the scary part? She was only the creepiest member of the group for the first session.

Jannex
2007-08-30, 04:47 PM
I'll see those stories and raise you a ten year old deathknight in utterly dedicated service to the ancient ghost who'd killed her family in front of her, known for killing her foes with her own armbones, with an obsession with the kinds of creepy crawlies that haunt the underworld and the spirit of her older sister Lisbet soulbound into her right arm and ready to suck in the soul of anyone killed by said bone and use it to heal the girl (against particularly interesting opponents, she'd smile and, in a singsong voice, say, "Lisbet wants to meet you...")

And you know the scary part? She was only the creepiest member of the group for the first session.

Well if we're going to get into Abyssal Exalts, there's the Midnight I came up with (but have never had a chance to play, sadly)... A young girl watches her drug-addicted prostitute mother live and die on the streets of Nexus, and comes to understand the world in these terms: "To live is to desire. To desire is to suffer. Oblivion is salvation." As a deathknight, she is a priestess and a seductress, luring in the unsuspecting by playing on their desires, and then using those very desires to "save" them. The fun (creepy) part is, she looks about fourteen years old. Actually, the really creepy part is that Compassion is her highest Virtue.

Her name is The Porcelain Kiss of Exquisite Oblivion.

TheAlmightyOne
2007-08-30, 04:58 PM
I tell you it much more in depth then my characters backstory. Thief, killed a wizard, stole his books, learned magic from them, killed his dad out of boredom legged it into human lands (hes an elf) and is going wit your party out of boredom. Now roll the ****ing dice. They made me come up with it on the spot and it had to explain why I was a rogue/wizard. My other fighter character is 'generic fighter. Wants to make money. Nothing interesting has ever happened to him'. Im lazy. But well done on a very nce backstory.

SpikeFightwicky
2007-08-31, 06:43 AM
Better than my group... My main group doesn't bother with such intricacies as character backgrounds... or role-playing for that matter (one player in my group called his character Steve - he was an elf), preferring hack and slash Diablo style play to anything else. Funstuff....

Since I've been either DMing or playing with this group, my 'background' skills have atrophied.

Good background, BTW.

Rhue
2007-08-31, 10:46 AM
Here's another interesting one:
http://www.thetangledweb.net/profiler/view.php?id=21522

Ravyn
2007-08-31, 05:26 PM
Well if we're going to get into Abyssal Exalts, there's the Midnight I came up with (but have never had a chance to play, sadly)... A young girl watches her drug-addicted prostitute mother live and die on the streets of Nexus, and comes to understand the world in these terms: "To live is to desire. To desire is to suffer. Oblivion is salvation." As a deathknight, she is a priestess and a seductress, luring in the unsuspecting by playing on their desires, and then using those very desires to "save" them. The fun (creepy) part is, she looks about fourteen years old. Actually, the really creepy part is that Compassion is her highest Virtue.

Her name is The Porcelain Kiss of Exquisite Oblivion.

Well played, Jannex, well played. (The ones who Exalt young are always so much fun to creep people out with.) Who were you thinking of having her in service to?

Jannex
2007-08-31, 07:16 PM
Well played, Jannex, well played. (The ones who Exalt young are always so much fun to creep people out with.) Who were you thinking of having her in service to?

I'd been having a hard time deciding on that one, but I was leaning mostly toward The Lover Clad in a Raiment of Tears; she comes across as more focused on gaining temporal power than on bringing about Oblivion, but I can imagine her developing a fondness for this character (and the resources of the wealthy and influential people she seduces before bringing them to their final "salvation"), and besides, she's a pretty little thing, which would appeal to the Lover. She's always been my favorite Deathlord, anyway, since I had the chance to NPC her briefly in a friend's game.

Feralgeist
2007-09-02, 04:27 AM
In a tabletop campaign me and my friends have just started, we all start out amnesiac. My wizard is actually a very powerful evil ghost cursed and bound into a peasants' body, and will only get free by dying,but he doesnt know that, and his adventuring/ xp rewards is actually just gaining back his former powers, instead of learning new ones. He mutilated and tortured the party rangers body, covering him with scars and burning his arcane mark into the elfs' flesh, but they're both friendly to each other now cause they're both amnesiac.

Gonna be funny once My character spots and recognizes his arcane mark.