Although Hroot would make a good character for the computer game, I can't see her fitting in well with the rest of the party as a spirit or an Ent, so instead I'm offering a madcap dwarf with a suit of 'technologically advanced' armour. Or at least what passes for technologically advanced in the Middle Ages setting of Thedas.
Henrietta Harrowmont .
Madcap Mechanical Menace
Basic Information
Species: Dwarf
Age: 23
Gender: Female
Class: Rogue
Appearance:Like most of her race Henrietta is shorter than most other races, but she still stands a good couple of inches taller than most of her own people. Heavily influenced by the technologies of both the Tevinter and the Qunari, Henrietta has built herself a 'battle-harness' which incorporates any number of weird and wonderful gadgets to help her keep safe in battle.
Curriculum Vitae
Specialisations: Artificer,
Sabotage,
SubterfugeNotable Traits:A Gadget For Every Occasion: Whenever the opportunity presents itself Henrietta loves nothing more than to dismantle and rebuild her battle-harness, upgrading and improving its design with her latest madcap invention. She always seems to have some sort of gadget to lend a helping hand to a situation, even if they don't always work in exactly the way she had intended them to.
Mechanical Mastermind: Henrietta is a genius when it comes to mechanisms, machinery and motorised marvels of all kinds. There are very few devices which, with the proper instruments and time, she cannot discover the purpose, function and operation of.
Mind Over Matter: Fully aware of her physical shortcomings, Henrietta's battle-harness has built-in strength enhancing gauntlets designed to increase the power of her punches and enable to to fight back against anyone who might try to take her inventions away from her. While this only makes her as strong as an average warrior, it still packs enough of a punch to help Henrietta out of tight corners.
Duck and Cover: The only reason Henrietta has survived this long in her experimentations is her innate ability to know when something's just about to go dreadfully wrong, and having the speed and skill to make herself vanish just before someone asks the question "Who the hell blew up my forge?"
Flaws:Fade-less: As a dwarf, Henrietta has no connection with the Fade and cannot use magics in their normal manner. While she has a resistance to lyrium in all its usual forms, she can still be affected by red lyrium over long periods or in large enough quantities.
Loose Screw: While none can doubt her skills at forging and crafting components for her latest creations, Henrietta has a habit of missing out minor, but often key, components when constructing her devices. Nine times out of ten this isn't a problem, but the tenth time... DUCK!
"What Does This Button Do?": When faced with a mystery, especially a mechanical one, Henrietta just can't stop herself from giving it a poke. Sometimes this habit of practical experimentation leads to great rewards and breakthroughs in knowledge, but at other times it can lead her and her comrades into trouble.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: Henrietta is obsessed with the number three and often has to do minor actions, such as stirring her broth, washing her bowl and tightening screws, in multiples of three. While this has no immediately detrimental effect should she not be able to complete the action, it will bug her for the rest of the day, until she can finally complete the sequence.
Skills: Spike Trap,
Elemental Mines,
Caltrops,
Hook and Tackle,
Throwing Blades,
Knockout Powder and
StealthBackstory
Biography:Born on the surface, in a clan of dwarves living in Nevarra, Henrietta soon showed an inquisitive and curious nature which was only fed by the love of her blacksmith father. Quickly learning the ways of the hammer and tongs, Henrietta set out to discover new ways to make metal work, developing skills in precision crafting and forging which enabled her to build smaller, more efficient mechanisms each day. When the Nevarran Military discovered the young girl's gift they immediately travelled to her small settlement to make her an offer she couldn't refuse, to turn her skills towards constructing war machines which would make Nevarra the envy of the world.
Asking for some time to think over their proposal Henrietta and her entire family swiftly scarpered, leaving their village behind them to seek out a safer, less intimidating place to set up shop. For several months the dwarves journeyed around the shores of the Waking Sea, passing through numerous countries on their way, the family eventually found themselves in the shadow of the Frostback Mountains with seemingly no way to pass.
Settling down the dwarves began doing what they do best, mining. As they cut their way into the side of the mountains, uncovering ores and minerals which could be used to craft their wares, the dwarves were surprised to come across red lyrium buried deep within the rocks. Not realising what this strange material was they happily began forging it into their armour, weapons and trinkets as an adornment to their creations. Soon after they found themselves under the gaze of the Inquisition, who demanded to know where the red lyrium had come from.
After revealing their mining endeavour the dwarves were quickly evacuated from the area, for their own safety. WHile the move was sudden the poor innocents were treated with the utmost respect and soon found themselves working their trade under the Inquisition's banner. CHurning out arms and armour each day held little interest for Henrietta though, so instead she set to work building herself the means to help the Inquisition more directly, and had soon created a working prototype of her battle-harness. When presenting the mechanisms to the Inquisition forces they were less than impressed, mainly due to Henrietta managing to accidentally demolish part of the kitchens in the process.
Seeing the potential in the young and eager dwarf, and not wanting her anywhere near them when her mad inventions finally managed to reduce the area around her to a smoking crater, the Inquisition forces made enquiries as to the need amongst their allies for a blacksmith-come-death machine, and Henrietta soon found herself in the company of the Company, brave mercenaries who treated her with the utmost respect and courtesy, from as far away as they could politely get.
Personality and/or Motivation:Dreaming of nothing more than machinery, cogs and gears Henrietta seeks to learn everything she can about the physical sciences, and to be the first to build something spectacular. She doesn't know exactly what that something may be, but she is most definitely certain about the spectacular part.
Player’s long term goals:Henrietta can be an important part of any quest, her skill with mechanisms and devices extending to locks, traps and secret doorways just as much as to machinery and engines. I'd like her to have the opportunity to build steam-aged machines to help out the party, if she can work out the science behind them first.
Relations:- Henrietta's family are currently sheltered by the Inquisition, working as blacksmiths and trader on their behalf.
- Although her family once had times with the Noble House of Harrowmont, as a Surface Dwarf Henrietta has no contact with Orzammar and only limited knowledge of dwarven beliefs and traditions.
- While not Andrastian herself she holds a deep respect for their faith and accepts many of their customer and rituals as her own.
- Henrietta is currently wanted by the Nevarran Military, although as they only wish to recruit her they wouldn't want to take any overtly aggressive actions against her, least they drive her into the hands of their rivals.
The power supply for Henrietta's battle-harness is a refined red lyrium reactor, which harnesses the power of the strange element in order to make her mechanisms function. The long-term effects of exposure to the material, even in its heavily shielded state, are currently unknown, and should the containment ever be breached the red lyrium could adversely affect everyone Henrietta comes into contact with.
SpookySquid,
knighthawk
