GangreneFoot
2023-08-30, 11:50 AM
this is my second campaign, the first one fell through halfway because of some issues. i guess that's the real dnd experience.
the DM is a first time DM and hes putting a lot of work into his campaign. in general he told us its an open world and the main quest will be facing hoards and armies of the undead. Great right?
so i've been working on this character and putting it together bit by bit. i did a lot of searching and watching an ungodly amounts of YT videos. put different idea and concepts i had in mind together and this is what i came up with.
her story is the one that i put the most work in. and shes basically straight forward except for a couple things so here goes.
note: some passages of lore are copy pasted from the source to provide clarity
the story of BYSS
The Imaskari are an ancient and advanced civilization. They are known for their mastery of magic and planar travel. According to the lore of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, the Imaskari traveled to Earth during the time of ancient Netheril, around -3850 DR (Dale Reckoning), which is roughly equivalent to the year -5850 in the Gregorian calendar.
-3850 DR ( -5850 BC) mass slave kidnapping from Egypt and Mesopotamia by the imaskari using magic gates to travel between the 2 worlds. (there's more about this below, also better explained by MrRhexx in his video "what they don't tell you about the rise and fall of dwarfs" starts at 15:36, and AJ Picketts video "ancient imaskar" it's easier than to follow my rambling)
-3850 DR birth of Byss, daughter of Aniu, Hery Sheshta and high priestess of Anubis and high wabet. Aniu was the second priestess of Anubis ever. as her mother was the first in this young and blooming religion. and Byss was supposed to be the third (it's worth noting that numbers did have symbolic significance in ancient Egyptian culture, and they were often used in religious rituals, architecture, and other aspects of daily life. Certain numbers held special meanings, such as three representing completeness (the union of Upper and Lower Egypt)
Aniu was amongst the first batch of kidnaped slaves from the first incursion.
Byss was supposed to be born on earth where magic is non-existent. and as the 3rd priestess of Anubis she was meant to have a strong connection with the deities and tie up the pantheon as complete and cement it in the lands of egypt. Her link to the gods in a world without magic was strong to say the least.
When Byss took her first breath she almost destroyed herself, mother and a few blocks of the city if it were not for an anti magic field.
without effort and unconsciously she was like a conduit to divine and radiant magic. it flew through her and stored inside her in such intensity and power that the imaskari immediately started experimenting on her. She was only given back to her mother for care, feeding and whatnot. Both were under key and heavily guarded. For 9 years she was used as a guinea pig and experimented on and with. when the torture sropped and she went back to her mother, Aniu would tell her stories of their world, their civilisation and more impotantly Anubis and teach her their traditions and secrets, she would tell her how Anubis and his bretheren would come and save them, or at least guide them in the afterlife when time comes.
what they didnt know is that the egyptian pantheon could not reach toril as they were blocked. and their souls will not be claimed by anubis or the others but by any devil, lich, hag or whatever creatures that roam these realms.
9 years later, on the day she was born an experiment went wrong and claimed Byss.
the imaskari were trying to harvest the divine energy of dead gods from the astral realm, but instead of driving the enegy through Byss like a conduit, they ****ed up and sent Byss through that magic energy. (like when hulk and antman were ****ing with time travel, instead of pushing antman though time they pushed time through him)
-3841 DR "death" of Byss at the age of 9 yo
Byss's "body" now in a state of ethereal and pure divine energy and consciousness floating between the long gone corpses of past dead gods. and with her innate power to conduct divine magic shes being slowly imbued with power in a kind of osmosis.
-2488 DR attack of the avatars and the destruction of the imaskari empire
When the Imaskari captured the Mulan ( the mulan are the descendant of the kidnapped egyptians) and brought them to Toril, the slaves also brought the worship of their deities. With help from Ao, these deities were able to follow their worshipers and end their servitude.
After the destruction of Mulhorand (the mulan) by the Spellplague, the Mulhorandi pantheon disappeared. In the wake of the Second Sundering, and hearing again the plea of their people, the Mulhorandi gods returned to Toril and sent their Chosen to overthrow High Imaskar and to restore Mulhorand.
1490 DR Byss is found, she had been in suspended animation for 2351 years and is now 2360 years old but still in her 9 year old body.
A few things happened while Byss was unconscious: she wasn't aware of where she is or why, or time or if she's dead or not the only thing she felt was the death of every egyptian that was kidnapped and their souls being lost and hunted, traded, consumed, the list goes on. especially her mothers soul who until the end she kept her belief that anubis will come. and all this time she was floating and absorbing the divine magic of the godcorpses (i didn't make that word up).
Anubis is the one who finds her. (This being was once known as Anubis, guardian of the dead for the Ennead, but now and for ages hence, they've been known only as the Guardian of the Dead Gods. Then as now, they most commonly take the form of a muscular, dark-skinned, humanoid figure with shadowed eyes, their form marked by iconography of the black-furred wolf, the imiut, or the scales of Ma'at.
Prior to this state, in the course of his duty with the Ennead he grew well-accustomed to the Astral Plane, the realm through which his pantheon's followers traveled to reach their final end. However, as time went on, he grew increasingly off-put by the growing number of godcorpses within that plane. Over time, oddly for a power, his time watching the conduits gave him a strong sense not just of his own mortality, but that of all deities; a sense that was truly solidified when he caught sight of a group of mortals attempting to rend a godcorpse apart for reasons unknown, scavenging for building materials, spell components, or who knows what.
Wishing to stop this senseless dissolution of all that remained of those who he once considered compatriots, Anubis cast off his divinity through unknown, obscure means. He became something else, something neither mortal nor divine yet somehow straddling the two. Taking upon themselves the role of steward of the dead gods, they began to watch, guarding the floating islands from others that would do them harm.) better explained by MrRhexx in his video "The Dead Gods Of The Astral Plane"
and Anubis remembered, he remembered Aniu and her unborn child. that child who was not only born but still alive and the chance of them being here in that same moment was impossible and incomprehensible. she's not dead, not alive. human no more but retained her humanity. she was something new. and when he dug in her memories he saw the weight of her heart. not only she hasent "lived" a life but every moment is filled with torture and experimental horrors. the only light of hope that was sustaining her was the promise and the hope of him anubis coming and saving them. and with him and the other gods absent the weight of their worshipers souls fell on her. he saw all the pain and horrors she went through because he and the other gods failed her and their people.
but here she was still "alive" and suffering.
He wakes her up
she almost goes full magic supernova but he got it under control and sealed it within her.
He has failed her, her mother and all those who died here and she took it all.
Once she was completely awake and conscious, her first world to her god: you never came.
He could feel her anger and disappointment.
she didn't regard him as her god anymore and he knew. The god has to make amends. for his and the other gods' failure. and she was the last pure Egyptian blood left. She's one of the original worshipers and priestesses and was destined to bring it all together and complete their dominion over the Egyptian lands.
and then they talk, they argue, they fight and he shows her everything that's passed since her "death". how they couldn't reach this world at first then the destruction of the Imaskari empire by their hands. but by then the Egyptian bloodline in this world was gone. The bloodline thinned with every generation as the mingeled, married and had kids with local races. Those descendents even built an empire, the Mulhorand empire but that empire fell like so many before.
What got her even more ticked off is that this world contains an immense number of gods and most of them good gods. None of them came to help either.
Anubis has to fulfill his duty to Byss, she has to live, have a life so he can weigh her heart and guide her soul. He can't fail her anymore. The problem is she doesn't worship him anymore. but still.
so he sends her to Faerun in a body that is more him than her while containing the immensely divine energy she has accumulated. and keeping her hidden from the eyes of other gods, devils, demons, fey and all that would try and take advantage of her powers. so he sends her.
1491 Byss arrives in Faerun.
in her 9yo body (that's where her life stopped and that is where it would resume from. his reasoning). and she's pissed. Very pissed. ooooooooo so not happy. she lumps all divine entities together as good for nothing piss water. good and bad since none of them came to their help.
What Byss doesnt know is that some of the souls managed to reach her as she was the closest thing to the divine in their religion. By no means she's a god but she was Egyptian, devoted to Anubis and brimming with godly and divine energy. and they are all stored in her. 1000s of souls that didn't get claimed by devils and so reside in her. and like her they are angry with the gods.
now for the technical stuff
Anubis gives a small part of himself to create her physical body (aasimar). She cannot die of natural causes (reborn aasimar). He wants her to live for as much as she wants and he would only claim her soul at her request. So he kept her heart and replaced it with an Ankh, a piece of the Ankh he carries. Which also helps to contain her energy, and keep a close eye on her. It also serves as her holy focus symbol thingy.
Weapon: mace since in the lore Anubis carries a +5 mace of disruption. Hopefully she will get a mace of disruption too down the line or Anubis will bless it for her
Background: astral drifter
Race: reborn aasimar
class: twilight cleric
Here I need Byss to have a magic item or something from Anubis to hide her form so she looks like a halfling and not a 9yo. a ring or something.
now heres where my problem rises:
The Ankh in place of her heart functions as a holy symbol but also as a rod of absorption. a less powerful version that she can drain and fill. it also levels up with her and becomes more powerful to keep up with her.
Now since Byss has a shard of Anubis that helped form her body, and a piece of his Ankh he has a very strong connection to her. in moments of extreme peril, or stress and danger Anubis can manifest in her and it shows physically and in terms of power, magic and presence. (here i dont know how to go with it. idk what the condition for her to meet, if she has to fail or succeed some rolls, in a single moment or it builds over time to a breaking point. I prefer the build up. and I want her to slowly gain control over it and be able to control it, and that power grows with her as she levels up. The other thing idk is what power she gains. Do her stats change? Does she get some spells from anubis? how would that work mechanically?
So Anubis is sending a 9 yo basically to fend for herself in a world where anything is possible. My reasoning is that he is kitting her with what she will need to survive so she can live as much as possible so at the end when she chooses to give up her soul she would be fulfilled and leaves no regrets behind. something like that.
i know the: talk to your DM part. i will but i want to provide opinions and options its his first time too. and hes working so hard i don't want to add to his misery.
first time here too :)
thank you all.
the DM is a first time DM and hes putting a lot of work into his campaign. in general he told us its an open world and the main quest will be facing hoards and armies of the undead. Great right?
so i've been working on this character and putting it together bit by bit. i did a lot of searching and watching an ungodly amounts of YT videos. put different idea and concepts i had in mind together and this is what i came up with.
her story is the one that i put the most work in. and shes basically straight forward except for a couple things so here goes.
note: some passages of lore are copy pasted from the source to provide clarity
the story of BYSS
The Imaskari are an ancient and advanced civilization. They are known for their mastery of magic and planar travel. According to the lore of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, the Imaskari traveled to Earth during the time of ancient Netheril, around -3850 DR (Dale Reckoning), which is roughly equivalent to the year -5850 in the Gregorian calendar.
-3850 DR ( -5850 BC) mass slave kidnapping from Egypt and Mesopotamia by the imaskari using magic gates to travel between the 2 worlds. (there's more about this below, also better explained by MrRhexx in his video "what they don't tell you about the rise and fall of dwarfs" starts at 15:36, and AJ Picketts video "ancient imaskar" it's easier than to follow my rambling)
-3850 DR birth of Byss, daughter of Aniu, Hery Sheshta and high priestess of Anubis and high wabet. Aniu was the second priestess of Anubis ever. as her mother was the first in this young and blooming religion. and Byss was supposed to be the third (it's worth noting that numbers did have symbolic significance in ancient Egyptian culture, and they were often used in religious rituals, architecture, and other aspects of daily life. Certain numbers held special meanings, such as three representing completeness (the union of Upper and Lower Egypt)
Aniu was amongst the first batch of kidnaped slaves from the first incursion.
Byss was supposed to be born on earth where magic is non-existent. and as the 3rd priestess of Anubis she was meant to have a strong connection with the deities and tie up the pantheon as complete and cement it in the lands of egypt. Her link to the gods in a world without magic was strong to say the least.
When Byss took her first breath she almost destroyed herself, mother and a few blocks of the city if it were not for an anti magic field.
without effort and unconsciously she was like a conduit to divine and radiant magic. it flew through her and stored inside her in such intensity and power that the imaskari immediately started experimenting on her. She was only given back to her mother for care, feeding and whatnot. Both were under key and heavily guarded. For 9 years she was used as a guinea pig and experimented on and with. when the torture sropped and she went back to her mother, Aniu would tell her stories of their world, their civilisation and more impotantly Anubis and teach her their traditions and secrets, she would tell her how Anubis and his bretheren would come and save them, or at least guide them in the afterlife when time comes.
what they didnt know is that the egyptian pantheon could not reach toril as they were blocked. and their souls will not be claimed by anubis or the others but by any devil, lich, hag or whatever creatures that roam these realms.
9 years later, on the day she was born an experiment went wrong and claimed Byss.
the imaskari were trying to harvest the divine energy of dead gods from the astral realm, but instead of driving the enegy through Byss like a conduit, they ****ed up and sent Byss through that magic energy. (like when hulk and antman were ****ing with time travel, instead of pushing antman though time they pushed time through him)
-3841 DR "death" of Byss at the age of 9 yo
Byss's "body" now in a state of ethereal and pure divine energy and consciousness floating between the long gone corpses of past dead gods. and with her innate power to conduct divine magic shes being slowly imbued with power in a kind of osmosis.
-2488 DR attack of the avatars and the destruction of the imaskari empire
When the Imaskari captured the Mulan ( the mulan are the descendant of the kidnapped egyptians) and brought them to Toril, the slaves also brought the worship of their deities. With help from Ao, these deities were able to follow their worshipers and end their servitude.
After the destruction of Mulhorand (the mulan) by the Spellplague, the Mulhorandi pantheon disappeared. In the wake of the Second Sundering, and hearing again the plea of their people, the Mulhorandi gods returned to Toril and sent their Chosen to overthrow High Imaskar and to restore Mulhorand.
1490 DR Byss is found, she had been in suspended animation for 2351 years and is now 2360 years old but still in her 9 year old body.
A few things happened while Byss was unconscious: she wasn't aware of where she is or why, or time or if she's dead or not the only thing she felt was the death of every egyptian that was kidnapped and their souls being lost and hunted, traded, consumed, the list goes on. especially her mothers soul who until the end she kept her belief that anubis will come. and all this time she was floating and absorbing the divine magic of the godcorpses (i didn't make that word up).
Anubis is the one who finds her. (This being was once known as Anubis, guardian of the dead for the Ennead, but now and for ages hence, they've been known only as the Guardian of the Dead Gods. Then as now, they most commonly take the form of a muscular, dark-skinned, humanoid figure with shadowed eyes, their form marked by iconography of the black-furred wolf, the imiut, or the scales of Ma'at.
Prior to this state, in the course of his duty with the Ennead he grew well-accustomed to the Astral Plane, the realm through which his pantheon's followers traveled to reach their final end. However, as time went on, he grew increasingly off-put by the growing number of godcorpses within that plane. Over time, oddly for a power, his time watching the conduits gave him a strong sense not just of his own mortality, but that of all deities; a sense that was truly solidified when he caught sight of a group of mortals attempting to rend a godcorpse apart for reasons unknown, scavenging for building materials, spell components, or who knows what.
Wishing to stop this senseless dissolution of all that remained of those who he once considered compatriots, Anubis cast off his divinity through unknown, obscure means. He became something else, something neither mortal nor divine yet somehow straddling the two. Taking upon themselves the role of steward of the dead gods, they began to watch, guarding the floating islands from others that would do them harm.) better explained by MrRhexx in his video "The Dead Gods Of The Astral Plane"
and Anubis remembered, he remembered Aniu and her unborn child. that child who was not only born but still alive and the chance of them being here in that same moment was impossible and incomprehensible. she's not dead, not alive. human no more but retained her humanity. she was something new. and when he dug in her memories he saw the weight of her heart. not only she hasent "lived" a life but every moment is filled with torture and experimental horrors. the only light of hope that was sustaining her was the promise and the hope of him anubis coming and saving them. and with him and the other gods absent the weight of their worshipers souls fell on her. he saw all the pain and horrors she went through because he and the other gods failed her and their people.
but here she was still "alive" and suffering.
He wakes her up
she almost goes full magic supernova but he got it under control and sealed it within her.
He has failed her, her mother and all those who died here and she took it all.
Once she was completely awake and conscious, her first world to her god: you never came.
He could feel her anger and disappointment.
she didn't regard him as her god anymore and he knew. The god has to make amends. for his and the other gods' failure. and she was the last pure Egyptian blood left. She's one of the original worshipers and priestesses and was destined to bring it all together and complete their dominion over the Egyptian lands.
and then they talk, they argue, they fight and he shows her everything that's passed since her "death". how they couldn't reach this world at first then the destruction of the Imaskari empire by their hands. but by then the Egyptian bloodline in this world was gone. The bloodline thinned with every generation as the mingeled, married and had kids with local races. Those descendents even built an empire, the Mulhorand empire but that empire fell like so many before.
What got her even more ticked off is that this world contains an immense number of gods and most of them good gods. None of them came to help either.
Anubis has to fulfill his duty to Byss, she has to live, have a life so he can weigh her heart and guide her soul. He can't fail her anymore. The problem is she doesn't worship him anymore. but still.
so he sends her to Faerun in a body that is more him than her while containing the immensely divine energy she has accumulated. and keeping her hidden from the eyes of other gods, devils, demons, fey and all that would try and take advantage of her powers. so he sends her.
1491 Byss arrives in Faerun.
in her 9yo body (that's where her life stopped and that is where it would resume from. his reasoning). and she's pissed. Very pissed. ooooooooo so not happy. she lumps all divine entities together as good for nothing piss water. good and bad since none of them came to their help.
What Byss doesnt know is that some of the souls managed to reach her as she was the closest thing to the divine in their religion. By no means she's a god but she was Egyptian, devoted to Anubis and brimming with godly and divine energy. and they are all stored in her. 1000s of souls that didn't get claimed by devils and so reside in her. and like her they are angry with the gods.
now for the technical stuff
Anubis gives a small part of himself to create her physical body (aasimar). She cannot die of natural causes (reborn aasimar). He wants her to live for as much as she wants and he would only claim her soul at her request. So he kept her heart and replaced it with an Ankh, a piece of the Ankh he carries. Which also helps to contain her energy, and keep a close eye on her. It also serves as her holy focus symbol thingy.
Weapon: mace since in the lore Anubis carries a +5 mace of disruption. Hopefully she will get a mace of disruption too down the line or Anubis will bless it for her
Background: astral drifter
Race: reborn aasimar
class: twilight cleric
Here I need Byss to have a magic item or something from Anubis to hide her form so she looks like a halfling and not a 9yo. a ring or something.
now heres where my problem rises:
The Ankh in place of her heart functions as a holy symbol but also as a rod of absorption. a less powerful version that she can drain and fill. it also levels up with her and becomes more powerful to keep up with her.
Now since Byss has a shard of Anubis that helped form her body, and a piece of his Ankh he has a very strong connection to her. in moments of extreme peril, or stress and danger Anubis can manifest in her and it shows physically and in terms of power, magic and presence. (here i dont know how to go with it. idk what the condition for her to meet, if she has to fail or succeed some rolls, in a single moment or it builds over time to a breaking point. I prefer the build up. and I want her to slowly gain control over it and be able to control it, and that power grows with her as she levels up. The other thing idk is what power she gains. Do her stats change? Does she get some spells from anubis? how would that work mechanically?
So Anubis is sending a 9 yo basically to fend for herself in a world where anything is possible. My reasoning is that he is kitting her with what she will need to survive so she can live as much as possible so at the end when she chooses to give up her soul she would be fulfilled and leaves no regrets behind. something like that.
i know the: talk to your DM part. i will but i want to provide opinions and options its his first time too. and hes working so hard i don't want to add to his misery.
first time here too :)
thank you all.