Need a character background written up?

[Tawmis]

I run a sort of 'Age of Exploration' campaign. That being, there are rudimentary guns and cannons, the players own a ship, and it takes place in a sort of archipelago (a group of islands). Scattered about this archipelago are twelve characters that function as a player would, and can be recruited to the ship. At present, nine of these characters are complete in that I know who they are and who they used to be. Three of them are in varying stages of completion. I can say that having someone help patch those gaps would be a great help, so anything you (or indeed, anyone else) can offer would be a godsend.

The campaign takes place across several islands. There are two 'superpower' nations - the Kingdom of Aeros, and the Empire of Kyralia. Both of these two nations have several vassal states, and there is tension between the two, because as if two nations could exist in D&D without nearly being at war with each other. The recruits come from various powerful factions; the Cardinal Orthodoxy, the religious group of the isles; the Ambrose Academy, the university and council of mages (wizards, warlocks, sorcerers); the Blackthorn Mercenary Company, based in Aeros; and the Outcast's Charter, a former thieves' guild now trying to do some good in the world. There's also an unknown group called the Coterie, which puts up a front of being a group of people who want to improve the world and the relations between the two nations - but is truly seeking power in various ways. The players themselves are essentially a group of wanderers thrown together by chance, standard stuff.


Race: Drow | Class: Druid, Circle of the Shepherd | Alignment: True Neutral | Age: 2000~ | Faction: Cardinal Orthodoxy

Xavier, as a character, defies most normal rules of the druid - narratively, he has already attained a 'Timeless Body' - he will live for over seven thousand years. For balance, he is only level 3 (I've coded this as 'he's out of practice'. He is known to the general public as the Sage; to most, the Sage is a mysterious figure, as though he is a prominent figure in the Faith, he remains an independent entity. Only a select few, most of them in the Inner Circle of the Orthodoxy, know who he is. There are 'good' reasons for this; namely being that Drow are Kyralian by default, and heavily distrusted by most Aerosians. As the Sage, he has been the teacher and essentially bodyguard of each successive High Priest or Priestess for 1500~ years. He's also essentially a walking history book - because if you're there for most of it, you're going to know about it.

In terms of the present day, he is watching over Cassie (recruitable cleric, future high priestess, nobody has any idea she is an Aasimar), and Leon, his adoptive son, a half-elf whose mother was a high elf named Jewel, Xavier's friend (keyword; was).

In general, Xavier is a calm, collected individual; pseudo-immortality will do that. How did he get to this point, who he was before then? I don't know.[/SPOILER]

It's always a difficult terrain to write in when it's a homebrew world; because I am not entirely sure what exists in your world...
If it's high fantasy or just low fantasy with guns and ships, like pirate setting with minor magic.
That said, I wrote what came to my mind when I read what you provided for Xavier... and I think I managed to hit some highlights.
But again, not being familiar with your homebrew world (for what lives in it), other than the history you provided about the world...
I went with what came to me.
So before I tackle the other (two was it?), I will wait to see what you think of this one!
As always, please provide feedback! Whether you liked or hated it, or what worked and what didn't work!
Enjoy!
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My mother had sought a better life for me and booked passage aboard The New Dawn, which had promised a new life for those who took a chance to defect from the Empire of Kyralia and never swear allegiance to the Kingdom of Aeros.

Unfortunately word had reached the pointed ears of one of the Captains of the Night Watch, who then commanded a ship to meet us out in sea. Knowing that the punishment for defecting would be severe, once my mother saw their ship approaching, she had shoved me into a small chest and thrown me overboard. I was barely an infant at the time and she knew that drowning would be a much better fate than what I would have gotten in the hands of the Kyralian.

Despite being an infant, as the chest began to fill with water, I recall hearing the sound of songbirds; unusually sounding songbirds. Suddenly the chest had stopped filling with water and it had felt like I was being pushed forward. Hours of this seemed to go on.

My next memory was the chest opening and a woman opened it. She took me in her arms and nurtured me for years. I grew up on a small, uncharted island that had a forest that seemed to stretch in every direction for miles. I also grew up always being around animals. One of my most incredible memories in my youth was seeing, petting and speaking to a Unicorn. The Unicorn had explained that it was a protector of the woods and that the woman who raised me was a Dryad by the name of Síoraí. The Unicorn named Gruaige’airgid, or simply “Gru” for ease of my tongue back then, also explained that it had been Selkies – humanoids who took the form of seals in the ocean. They had sensed an innocent life at risk and saved me and brought me to the Dryad to tend to me.

Síoraí raised me for years and I viewed her as my mother. Though I could never be a Dryad like she was, she did teach me to respect, understand and embrace nature. She showed me how to channel – never control – the magic of the world and how it was woven into the roots of nature itself. I would spend days sitting in the middle of the forest clearing, cleansing my mind, and when I opened my eyes I would be surrounded with animals lying all around me.

After twenty seasons I found myself changing. When I asked Síoraí about it, she explained that it was the magic of the island. The island itself had several portals to the Feyworld, and the magic that seeped out from the Feyworld had changed me the longer I stayed on the island. One of the primary changes was that it decreased my aging drastically, just as it had decreased Síoraí’s. She explained that in “mortal years” she was well over ten thousand years old.

By the twenty fifth season of my life, I told Síoraí I had wanted to see the rest of the world. Síoraí summoned Gruaige’airgid who used his ability to teleport me; using the portals of the Feywild to step through and take me back to one of the islands belonging to the Kyralian Empire. Gruaige’airgid explained I need only whisper his true name and he would find me no matter where I was.

That was nearly two thousand seasons ago. Since leaving the isle I have seen men rise and fall. I have seen kingdoms on the brink of victory and driven back by the quivering coward who was cornered. I have seen cities rise, fall, rise again, and burn to the ground.

All of this granted me audiences with kings, queens, princes and princesses; dukes, duchesses, emperors and empresses. Most of them thrived to learn from me so that they could better prepare themselves for what is coming. I became a “Sage of the Ages.”

This ageless body of mine allowed me to live and love, to appreciate things, since I watched so many age before my eyes and leave this world. One such person was High Elf I came in contact with named Jewel. We had become friends as she loved being around me. Her youthful energy seemed to feed me. Being around her was like anyone else. But just as I had seen others age and change, Jewel did not age; but she had certainly changed.

When I learned she had a son, I sought him out. Leon, her son, had not seen his mother in years and had been taken care of by the community. I took him under my wing. Why? Perhaps because in his eyes I still saw a piece of Jewel in him; as if his eyes were sparkling jewels of her soul captured there. With me was Cassie who I had met on the road. I’ve not yet figured her out, but she exudes energy from her being, which has much more to do with than her religious choice. Síoraí had taught me how to read magical energies and Cassie was a burning beacon whenever I looked at her.

Still she was a wonderful soul, because she helped me look after Leon whenever I was busy running errands. When I was relaxing and watching Cassie with Leon, there were times I almost felt completely at peace, as if I finally had a family of my own.