The last thing Berranian had said to her was the truth: 'There simply aren’t enough of us…' She’d finished the phrase for him, “…yet something must be done.” The old elf nodded. He gave one last longing look at Oron-yána, the ancient mountain temple that had been their post, then rode down the trail leaving her utterly alone. As he and his mount faded into the woods, she heard him call, “Tirith oialë!” Their shared oath: ‘A guardian, forever.’ She had smiled. But she never heard from him again. In the years that followed, a circle of druids entered the shadow of her mountain. She welcomed the company, but she knew the truth. The hierophant, Nyaisuria, clearly revered the ancient elven temple but would never restore its glory. Oron-yána would fall to ruin. So, she must go out into the world to do what she could. It had been so very long. She needed a sign. And one night, as if in answer, the sky was rent open by a shaft of blue light. She turned and saw the forest ripple and roil below her. It surged towards her mountainous perch. When it came, the wave washed over Nia like a baptism. It threw her off her feet, but left her almost giddy. She rose on battered limbs. “Very well then,” she laughed, “something must be done.” [OOC: Nia (Ni'Oth Di'Arnay) is a Mysterious Elf Adept who Slays Monsters. Nia is a member of an order of guardians that linger in stories, but have vanished from common experience. “A Tirith, you say? Did they just walk out of the first world?” Guardians (Tiriths), if they are remembered at all, are thought of as wandering, do-gooders. The stuff of children’s stories. Nia’s hindrance to get people to trust or believe her stems from her unfamiliarity with shorter lived races. Her prevailing thought with them is always “but soon they will be dust.” Makes it hard to strike an amicable tone. Regardless, she is committed to protecting the innocent, above all the innocents in nature. Death is part of life, but those who seek to wield death against the innocent must be stopped. Connections: - It’s possible that she would have come down to a settlement to get her gear repaired, she could have run into a certain smith. - She would regularly have been in contact with the druids at Blackwood - Anyone who would have visited the mountains or the woods surrounding them could have run into her - Nia knows Locke exists, but refers to it by the name of an ancient riverbed that used to run through it - Broikae ]
On 2025-06-26 at 18:14:26 CDT, via Emerald Flame (emerald-flame@lists.incorporeal.org) wrote:
Nia (Ni'Oth Di'Arnay) is a Mysterious Elf Adept who Slays Monsters.
[Looking good, don't forget to pick a Character Arc, which it sounds like you have plenty of good seeds for.] -- bss (Brian S. Stephan) | https://bss.zone/ | GPG: 0x80895FCB
[OOC Character Arc: Repay a Debt Beakarethian, the kindly old boyer at Oron-yána was an ally to Nia when she first arrived at the temple. The ancient elf used to muse about how he wanted his bones to lie "under the waters of his ancestors, under Lac Duöme." When Beakarethian died, the temple garrison could not spare anyone to serve as his honor guard, so he was interred at Oron-yána. But Nia never forgot. She'd promised herself that she would fulfill her friend's last wish. But she will need to gain entrance to the lower burial chambers (sealed by colossal amounts of stone), disinter the boyer's remains, and transport him the many leagues to his final rest. Relationships: At this point, the only relationship I'm sure of would be a 2 point positive relationship with the Druids at Blackmoor (or specifically with their hierophant, Nyaisuria) Nia would probably raise the ire of any faction trying to exploit the territory surrounding Oron-yána, so if there are interlopers of note, they would merit a 1 point negative relationship. I'll reserve the last point until I know the factions better. Setting: Not sure if the campaign map supports an ancient temple in the mountains near Locke. Oron-yána can be pretty much anywhere it makes sense to have a locale that is hidden enough to escape all but determined notice, yet still close enough to be affected by the anomaly/blue-green light explosion thing. Nia's intent: The big boom was taken as a sign that it was finally time for Nia to leave the temple to the wilds and do some good out in the world. I can imagine that Nia would have encountered Gegren in Locke/Broikae when she needed some gear repaired. Anyone who was even half polite to her would make a big impression - as she sees all crowds as full of hostile faces. If she learned that anyone was giving Gegren any kind of grief over his appearance, she would make a serious (and likely calamitous) effort to defend him. Social situations prey on Nia's nerves, but straight up fistfights? She's in her element. And she is not above making someone forget they met her - or make them never forget her. Either way is good enough for her.]
On 2025-06-26 at 22:44:49 CDT, via Emerald Flame (emerald-flame@lists.incorporeal.org) wrote:
[OOC Character Arc: Repay a Debt Beakarethian, the kindly old boyer at Oron-yána was an ally to Nia when she first arrived at the temple. The ancient elf used to muse about how he wanted his bones to lie "under the waters of his ancestors, under Lac Duöme."
[...]
I'll reserve the last point until I know the factions better.
[This all looks good, and yeah, I'll try to see what factions come out of the woodwork with a bit more background stuff. I'm shooting for no more than a dozen that seem like regular contributions to the story.]
Setting: Not sure if the campaign map supports an ancient temple in the mountains near Locke. Oron-yána can be pretty much anywhere it makes sense to have a locale that is hidden enough to escape all but determined notice, yet still close enough to be affected by the anomaly/blue-green light explosion thing.
[I think both are supported. I don't have any problems with bumping up the terrain a bit to support that, and Oron-yána might be a good thing to put in the mountain chain at the top of the map somewhere. That might stretch my reading of the event a bit, but that's fine. Only problem is I didn't think to save the bare version of the map before I restarted my Firefox, so I might have to recreate it or monkey patch it to get a mountain-mountain near Locke.] -- bss (Brian S. Stephan) | https://bss.zone/ | GPG: 0x80895FCB
participants (3)
-
Brian S. Stephan -
bss -
murphzero@gmail.com