I've added Erewel, the former original settlement of the Sylrowen's clan, which used to function as their equivalent of a 'capital'. It also used to be the biggest sanctuary of the clan, and thus after centuries of druidic magic, the magic linger still in the land, making the land exceptionally well suited to rear animals and plant growth, with the bounded nature spirits and sprites still working to take care of the animals and plants residing there, making it an ideal place for a farming village after Haven took over.
Mage Staff - An ornate ebony staff with gold plating and purple gemstones. A decorative piece that is also sturdy enough to be used as a blunt instrument in an emergency. Imbued with lighting magic.
Soulbound Part of a set of rings forged Archon Lovias to simultaneously command the physical realm and the Fade. The two rings were lost, but Soulbound was excavated from Ferelden and eventually made its way to Cadmu as a gift when he was a magister. Technically a form of gratification, but in politics, dabbling in such thing was unavoidable. Increased resistance against spirit damage and potency of spells causing spirit damage.
| {Skills} |
Arcane Lore - A Laetan who has managed to join the upper echelon of the Imperium partly due to his magical talents, Cadmus boasts an impressive resume of magical knowledge and research capability.
Diplomacy - If one-half of what allowed Cadmus to rise to high status was his magical ability, the other half was the ability to navigate the murky waters of Imperium political intrigue, making him an adept diplomat.
Cooking - Born to a family of Soporati that has a tavern business from his mother's side of the family, Cadmus learned to cook from a young age and still considers it a relaxing hobby to indulge in from time to time.
| {Talents} |
Marksmanship - After being conscripted as a warden, Cadmus often found himself running out of stamina during missions due to him being more used as part of the Imperium elite. Eventually, he asked a fellow recruit to help him train with a crossbow to conserve his energy. Four years later, now a more seasoned warden with better endurance, Cadmus still continues practising his marksmanship with his crossbow as a practical skill to conserve energy on the field.
Quarterstaff Proficiency - Whacking an opponent with one's staff is considered inelegant and beneath the elite mages of the Imperium. Ask anyone actually serving in the war against the Qunari, though, they will tell you that the ability to use a staff as a blunt quarterstaff can be the difference between being dead or alive. Cadmus' father, who was an Imperium soldier had asked a mage friend he met in the army to teach Cadmus how to use his staff as a pole weapon, just in case.
| {Spells} |
Proficient in Spirit and Entropy Schools. Adept in Creation School.
Story traits:
(Leave this empty for now. These are rewards granted via story progression)
Stats:
Perseverance 10 Hard Hitter 5 Combat Sense 5
Reflexes 5 Rapid Blows 5 Perception 15
Power 20 Pattern Weaving 15 Mana Pool 10 Fortitude 10
Biography:
Cadmus was born in Minrathous, the heart of the Tevinter Imperium, to a family of Soporati—commoners with no magic—his father was a soldier in the Tevinter Military and his mother worked in a family-owned tavern business alongside his uncle and cousins. He was a second child, with an older sister five years older than he was. Though born a Soporati, when Cadmus was 7 years old, he manifested magical ability and was then sponsored into the Circle, unlike the Southern part of Thedas, in Tevinter what would typically be a cause for distress was instead a cause for celebration, magical ability being highly valued and the Circles in the Imperium more akin to prestigious learning institutions. Due to his work ethic and magical talent, he eventually found himself in the position of a minor official in the Imperium. He eventually became disillusioned with the way Imperium’s government was run and threw himself deeper into politics, hoping to rise to a higher station to enact a reformation.
After being elevated as a Laetan from a Soporati, Cadmus eventually managed to ingratiate himself with the upper echelons of the Imperium, eventually managing to earn a seat in the magisterium as part of the seats held by the Circle. An inspirational figure as being a case of someone from humble origin rising to the ranks of magister, he gained momentum among the reformist faction and became the rising star in Magister Maevaris Tilani’s faction. Through his newly attained influence and financial capability, he helped his family’s tavern expand and paid for his sister’s tuition at the University of Orlais in Val Royeaux, where she now stayed as a lecturer.
By 9:56 Dragon, Cadmus was influential enough to be considered for an arranged marriage with one of Tevinter’s Great Houses, whose daughter was in line to be a Magister succeeding her father. It was more a marriage of convenience than actual love—though Cadmus did consider his fiancée a friend—that would cement Cadmus as a prominent figure in the Imperium’s politics. Unfortunately, he was outmanoeuvred, throughout his career, he had made many enemies, most of them people he deemed incompetent and replaced them with competent people, many of whom deemed to be of lower ranks. The culmination of Cadmus’ political adversary’s plot saw him arrested by Imperial Templars for blood magic usage. While he was a blood mage, mages of the Imperium using blood magic were a public secret, and the only mages arrested by Imperial Templars were those targeted for political purposes, such as the case with Cadmus. Cadmus was only spared after a Gray Warden who had been a war buddy of Cadmus’ father before he joined the Wardens invoked the rite of conscription to recruit Cadmus to the Grey Wardens instead.
Though he was sullen and angry the first few months the joining, both due to still not accepting what had happened to him and that his life was now cut short due to the taint—exacerbated by his Father’s passing in Seheron on duty shortly after his conscription to the wardens—he eventually accepted his place within the wardens both to ‘repay’ their help in sparing him execution and his personal adage of ‘if one were to do something, then that something must be done to the best of their ability’. He was now a warden, whether he liked it or not, so why not make the most of it rather than sulking until he eventually dies either from darkspawns or the joining?
Homeland:
Tevinter Imperium
Motivation:
(Aside from stopping the blight, what is your character hoping to achieve?)
Relations:
Yes. Used to be engaged to a magister's daughter, but it was mostly political, though they were good friends (At least from his perspective)
Equipment List:
Courtier Outfit - An ornate mage robe with gold trim, styled in a classic style of the Imperium so as to still be fashionably acceptable with little regard to the fashion cycles. Used only for official functions.
Travelling outfit - A practical and comfortable plain black robe with a belt and various pockets to store things.
Dagger - A sharp dagger worn in the belt for easy access. While it can be used as a self-defence tool in an emergency, its primary use is to cut open skin for blood magic.
Crossbow - A light Crossbow kept as an alternative ranged weapon to conserve mana—and blood—it has no special properties but does its job decently enough.
Ritewine - A custom of the Grey Wardens, as a wine enjoyer, the bottle's content has become a mixture of wines from various origins and bottle ages. Rumour among his colleagues has it that the bottle has never been emptied to the last drop, and thus still contains traces of the Imperium's finest wine he bought just before being conscripted. The bottle is marked with "Vintage: Warden Cadmus. Last drop reserved for the Calling."
@Randomguy, I don't particularly care for the third Guardian question in the book, but given that Hasdrubal and Arnannel both fought in the Havenite war of conquest, I think an interesting question might be something like this: "We once stood on opposite sides during a battle; what happened there, and which side won?"
"Two civilisations with conflicting worldviews clashing. Haven saw itself as the master of its own destiny, that they even killed the deity Shun’Aush the Granite Ophid; they saw themselves to be lords of the natural world and tamers of nature. Such that when the solution to the illness that plagued their people necessitated disturbing the balance of nature, they judged such a thing to be justified. The people of Fanewick--my people especially--saw themselves as part of the giant organism that is the forest, such that if they had to perish for the greater whole of the natural world they live in, then so be it. Who won? Well, Haven, of course. Not only had Haven gained what it was looking for, but it also had a whole slew of new territory after routing the resistance. And I cannot say that the 'wrong' side won, per se. Frankly, waging war for the survival of your people at least felt more real than fighting to the death for some nebulous ideology."
I have an idea for a connection between Pepper and anyone from Fanewick if either of you are interested (and if the DM is okay with this. ^^")
I was thinking that the Book in Pepper's inventory "The Book you're trying to translate", is a family heirloom. She was given this book before she left to find the cure, and was told to take great care of it. Naturally, she would be curious about the book and work to try and translate it on her own time.
She doesn't know the contents and the history behind the book: Pepper's wizard ancestors received this book after somehow saving the life of a Fanewick resident. Perhaps the Fanewick resident was Arnannel himself, or a relative of his, or somebody else he knows.
Dimple could have seen this happen, if not know the Brevil ancestor himself, and maybe recognize Pepper as their descendant?
I don't mind that, though that should probably be Arnannel's ancestor? Maybe his father. I don't know if it's specified in the core rulebook, but my interpretation is elves mature the same rate as human, they just live longer, so Arnannel is still young given the timeframe of the war.
What was your first hunt? How did it changed you? A soldier of Haven's army. The manner by which he died, hesitating killing me and clutching a locket with an image of his daughter solidified the people of Haven as merely other people who are trying to survive, instead of the evil heretic invaders my clan would like me to believe.
What was the worst thing you have done as part of the resistance against Haven? One of Haven's General had a trusty companion, his faithful hunting dog. Using my ability to speak to animals, I gained the trust of the dog and convinced him to ran off toward me in the middle of their patrol, beckoning the general to follow into our ambush, where we then killed both the general and his dog. I betrayed the resistance soon after.
What is the thing you liked the best in Haven after becoming one of them? Art and entertainment. Life in the forest of Fanewick was simple, but is wholly dutiful, no one had the incentive nor the time to create art and entertainment beyond rendition of old legends and songs in oral tale or simple wood carvings. In Haven? Orchestral concert, theatrical performances, fascinating novels, and more are available in abundance.
"Long ago, before even the eldest Sylvan Trees had taken root, our clan, the Sylrowen, fled the fall of Liraethal—a shining kingdom brought low by greed and the wrath of nature. The land we once ruled turned against us: storms screamed, rivers rose, the earth cracked, the animals and trees grew abundantly and overran us. So we wandered, seeking not a new throne, but forgiveness. At last, we came to Fanewick, a wild and sacred forest. But we did not claim it. We listened. We learned. And in time, the Great Owl Nikta spoke—not with voice, but with knowing: 'Be not rulers. Be forest.' So we became its keepers. Not lords, but limbs. Not masters, but servants of the great being that was the forest of Fanewick. Thus do we remain—Sylrowen of Fanewick, children of the wild, sworn to the balance between sowing and reaping."
-Legends of the Sylrowen Clan’s Origin Told within the Clan
Living in giant trees called Sylvan Trees that have been moulded with druidic magic to be hollow on the inside but remaining sturdy on the outside, is—or rather was—the Elves of Fanewick’s Sylrowen Clan. It was said that the elven clan of Sylrowen was the first group to settle in Fanewick. Prior to the arrival of clan Sylrowen in Fanewick, the bogged forest was a true untamed land, inhabited only by the lush trees and the varied animals of the forest, as well as the various Faint Divinities dwelling in Fanewick. Legends told of how the Sylrowen Clan arrived escaping the destruction of the Kingdom of Liraethal—a mythical elven kingdom—seeking to ingratiate themselves into Fanewick, not as masters of Fanewick, but mere members of the superorganism that was the forest of Fanewick. And thus, the Faint Divinity of the Great Owl Nikta accepted them into Fanewick, making them an extension of her will, keepers of the balance between reaping and sowing.
As an extension of the Shepherds of Seasons, the elves of Clan Sylrowen, too, divided their life cycle into two, just as how the Great Owl Nikta represented the cycle of growth and decay, sowing and reaping. The younger elves are hunters, slayers whose job is to maintain balance by taking from the forest, killing animals for food and foraging from the trees, acting as the apex predators of the forest, keeping a ‘check’ in the population. When there is are certain population of the forest that has grown past what is healthy for the biome, such as the case in invasive species, hunters of Clan Sylrowen enact what is known as a sacred hunt, a massive hunt targeted at a specific population to trim their numbers. In turn, once they turn 150, they retire from being hunters and start learning the druidic arts, and henceforth become nurturers who care for the forest’s trees and animals. Where the hunters participate in the sacred hunt, druids are keepers of sanctuary for the forest denizens to safely reproduce and grow their numbers.
As more and more people of all ancestry arrived in Fanewick, the role of Clan Sylrowen extended to that of an arbiter and enforcer. Only those, who agreed to live as part of the forest, not masters of the forest, were allowed to settle, while the rest were driven away. Clan Sylrowen did not actively involve themselves in the dispute between others living in Fanewick, however, children of any clan are welcome within their sanctuary, where they are guaranteed protection. In turn, any clan that has grown too large to the point they are disturbing the balance within the forest and ignoring the warnings given are exiled from the forest, should they defile the order to vacate the forest, they become a target of a sacred hunt, where hunters of Clan Sylrowen descend on them and cull their numbers, a rare occurrence where the sacred hunt targeted sapient denizens of the forest instead of flora and fauna, only five such occurrences has been recorded in the long history of the clan.
This was the clan Arnannel was born into, one where he grew up expecting to follow the path that had already been laid out for him, and he probably would, if not for the invasion of Haven’s army into Fanewick. When Arnannel was 18, the nation of Haven invaded Fanewick in search of a cure for the Serpent’s Sickness, their Haven fire laying waste to the natural defences of the forest and Sylvan Trees while their organised standing army swiftly triumphed over the resistance forces of Fanewick, which had neither the number nor the discipline of their adversary.
Before long, Haven’s army managed to scatter the resistance and reach the heart of the forest, where they took the Reaping Eye from the Great Owl Nika. Clan Sylrowen, who was leading the resistance, turned to guerrilla warfare as the situation turned more and more desperate. Arnannel’s first hunt, which was supposed to be a rite of passage, where elves on the cusp of adulthood were assigned a beast within the forest to hunt as a target, instead had a member of the Haven’s army as the target. Arnannel never found out the name of his target, he was merely a soldier leading a squad who was getting too close to their hideout. By this point, though still trying to adhere to their traditions, the Sylrowen Clan had other pressing issues than hunting beasts, and thus had turned to making soldiers from Haven as the targets of their children’s first hunt. And so it was that Arnannel ended up killing the soldier as his first hunt. The hunt was quick, yet nearly deadly for Arnannel, the soldier was more skilled than their clan had expected, and had he not hesitated for the briefest of seconds, Arnannel was sure that the soldier’s blade would have severed his head from his body. The soldier died holding a locket he held tightly in his bloody hands, apologising to his daughter and cursing himself for not being able to steel his heart and cut down someone the same age as her. The soldier's dying words were something that weighed on Arnannel, not only that he had killed a father, but also that it was only the soldier’s kindness, so to speak, that spared him from death. It was customary for a hunter to take a trophy of their first hunt; thus, for Arnannel, the locket with the picture of the man’s daughter made as good of a trophy as any.
In the following three years since the start of the invasion, what resistance was left continued their guerrilla war, raiding settlements and military outposts Haven had set up, killing what patrols they could, and any poor fools who wandered too deep into the forest. Despite having proclaimed that they had ‘conquered’ Fanewick in the second year since the invasion, in truth, even with many losses, the resistance army still managed to make life hell for Haven soldiers and citizens in the newly conquered Fanewick. There had been a point, when many started deserting the resistance in exchange for safety as farmers in Haven, that the Sylrowen Clan considered giving up the resistance. However, with the arrival of the Witherwild, those who favour continuing the resistance among the elders of the Sylrowen Clan gained ground, as Haven, who had caused the imbalance in the cycle of sowing and reaping due to their greed, was seen as making the same mistake as the elves of Liraethal in their legend, and thus they believed that should Haven not stopped and the Eye of Reaping returned to the Great Owl, nature would swallow and destroy all of them up, as the elves of old.
Thus, the resistance continued with more vigour, becoming more and more brutal in desperation. In the fourth year since the invasion of Fanewick, it was not uncommon for the means justifying the end to be the common adage among the resistance. Captured Haven soldiers were tortured for information, spies and saboteurs were sent mixed in with those who defected to Haven, and even abducting children to be used as bait to lure Haven’s army into a lair of beasts engorged by the Witherwild. It was when the strategy to use child soldiers—exploiting the hesitation of many among Haven’s army to cut down children—was being considered that Arnannel decided that they had turned from mere victims fighting to beat back invaders into the villains of the war. Arnannel took as many children in the resistance as he could, leading them to Haven’s army, before negotiating protection for them as farmers, in exchange, he would lead them to hideouts of the resistance. As the child of the high druid leading the council of elders within the clan, Arnannel was privy to knowledge of the major hideouts, those hidden deep within the forest that Haven’s army would never be able to traverse on their own, and thus, after successful negotiation, Arnannel started leading Haven’s armies to said hideouts, and within the course of the year, Haven’s army managed to grain major grounds and had truly conquered Fanewick, there were still some pockets of resistances left, and the council of elder druids managed to make their escape, but for the most part, Haven finally settled Fanewick, the Witherwild notwithstanding.
During that one-year period of helping Haven’s army against the resistance, Arnannel lived among the people of Haven, even visiting their cities close to Fanewick from time to time. While adjusting from living in a thick forest to the more urban and civilised Haven’s towns and settlements was difficult at first, Arnannel found himself fascinated by a new world he had never known his whole life, and in time, came to appreciate the amenities and other benefits of a civilisation that he could never had gotten in the forest of Fanewick. Arnannel never truly absolved Haven of their invasion, but he understood them. To Arnannel, who had lived with the natural laws of the forest, it was only natural that Haven did what it could to survive. The desire to survive and to continue living is the primal directive of all lives. Even within the forest, when his clan conducted a sacred hunt, the target of their hunt did not take their demise lying down; they fought for their lives and their continued existence, and now, to Arnannel who had expanded his worldview by living among the people of Haven, he had come to believe that fighting to live is a more worthy cause than taking up arms against an insurmountable odds for something as nebulous as traditions and the balance of nature. Today, Arnannel felt right at home in Haven’s towns and settlements, enough so that he had lost the leaf foliage as part of his mystic form as an elf who had lived in the forest and dedicated himself to its protection.
Arnannel was acting as a scout and escort to a group of alchemist to harvest Crimson Lady' Veil, the cure for the Serpent's Sickness, when the group was attacked by a massive boar courtesy of the same Witherwild that had allowed the abundance of the flowers they were looking. Though managing to escape, with some of the alchemists wounded, Arnannel led them to the nearby village of Alula to recuperate, whereupon he inadvertently became involved with the plot surrounding the Great Owl's Sowing Eye.
Experiences From Backstory:
•Familiar Terrain [Fanewick Woods] When traversing Fanewick either to track people or to lose pursuers in the woods, Arnannel can gain bonus modifiers.
•Guerrilla Warfare When doing actions related to guerrilla tactics, such as making traps, ambushing, or disengaging and running away, Arnannel can gain bonus modifiers.
All right, here's my character from the interest check. Edited the Nikta's pronoun we talked about and the background questions.
Sheet:
Appearance:
Background:
Background Question
What was your first hunt? How did it changed you? A soldier of Haven's army. The manner by which he died, hesitating killing me and clutching a locket with an image of his daughter solidified the people of Haven as merely other people who are trying to survive, instead of the evil heretic invaders my clan would like me to believe.
What was the worst thing you have done as part of the resistance against Haven? One of Haven's General had a trusty companion, his faithful hunting dog. Using my ability to speak to animals, I gained the trust of the dog and convinced him to ran off toward me in the middle of their patrol, beckoning the general to follow into our ambush, where we then killed both the general and his dog. I betrayed the resistance soon after.
What is the thing you liked the best in Haven after becoming one of them? Art and entertainment. Life in the forest of Fanewick was simple, but is wholly dutiful, no one had the incentive nor the time to create art and entertainment beyond rendition of old legends and songs in oral tale or simple wood carvings. In Haven? Orchestral concert, theatrical performances, fascinating novels, and more are available in abundance.
"Long ago, before even the eldest Sylvan Trees had taken root, our clan, the Sylrowen, fled the fall of Liraethal—a shining kingdom brought low by greed and the wrath of nature. The land we once ruled turned against us: storms screamed, rivers rose, the earth cracked, the animals and trees grew abundantly and overran us. So we wandered, seeking not a new throne, but forgiveness. At last, we came to Fanewick, a wild and sacred forest. But we did not claim it. We listened. We learned. And in time, the Great Owl Nikta spoke—not with voice, but with knowing: 'Be not rulers. Be forest.' So we became its keepers. Not lords, but limbs. Not masters, but servants of the great being that was the forest of Fanewick. Thus do we remain—Sylrowen of Fanewick, children of the wild, sworn to the balance between sowing and reaping."
-Legends of the Sylrowen Clan’s Origin Told within the Clan
Living in giant trees called Sylvan Trees that have been moulded with druidic magic to be hollow on the inside but remaining sturdy on the outside, is—or rather was—the Elves of Fanewick’s Sylrowen Clan. It was said that the elven clan of Sylrowen was the first group to settle in Fanewick. Prior to the arrival of clan Sylrowen in Fanewick, the bogged forest was a true untamed land, inhabited only by the lush trees and the varied animals of the forest, as well as the various Faint Divinities dwelling in Fanewick. Legends told of how the Sylrowen Clan arrived escaping the destruction of the Kingdom of Liraethal—a mythical elven kingdom—seeking to ingratiate themselves into Fanewick, not as masters of Fanewick, but mere members of the superorganism that was the forest of Fanewick. And thus, the Faint Divinity of the Great Owl Nikta accepted them into Fanewick, making them an extension of her will, keepers of the balance between reaping and sowing.
As an extension of the Shepherds of Seasons, the elves of Clan Sylrowen, too, divided their life cycle into two, just as how the Great Owl Nikta represented the cycle of growth and decay, sowing and reaping. The younger elves are hunters, slayers whose job is to maintain balance by taking from the forest, killing animals for food and foraging from the trees, acting as the apex predators of the forest, keeping a ‘check’ in the population. When there is are certain population of the forest that has grown past what is healthy for the biome, such as the case in invasive species, hunters of Clan Sylrowen enact what is known as a sacred hunt, a massive hunt targeted at a specific population to trim their numbers. In turn, once they turn 150, they retire from being hunters and start learning the druidic arts, and henceforth become nurturers who care for the forest’s trees and animals. Where the hunters participate in the sacred hunt, druids are keepers of sanctuary for the forest denizens to safely reproduce and grow their numbers.
As more and more people of all ancestry arrived in Fanewick, the role of Clan Sylrowen extended to that of an arbiter and enforcer. Only those, who agreed to live as part of the forest, not masters of the forest, were allowed to settle, while the rest were driven away. Clan Sylrowen did not actively involve themselves in the dispute between others living in Fanewick, however, children of any clan are welcome within their sanctuary, where they are guaranteed protection. In turn, any clan that has grown too large to the point they are disturbing the balance within the forest and ignoring the warnings given are exiled from the forest, should they defile the order to vacate the forest, they become a target of a sacred hunt, where hunters of Clan Sylrowen descend on them and cull their numbers, a rare occurrence where the sacred hunt targeted sapient denizens of the forest instead of flora and fauna, only five such occurrences has been recorded in the long history of the clan.
This was the clan Arnannel was born into, one where he grew up expecting to follow the path that had already been laid out for him, and he probably would, if not for the invasion of Haven’s army into Fanewick. When Arnannel was 18, the nation of Haven invaded Fanewick in search of a cure for the Serpent’s Sickness, their Haven fire laying waste to the natural defences of the forest and Sylvan Trees while their organised standing army swiftly triumphed over the resistance forces of Fanewick, which had neither the number nor the discipline of their adversary.
Before long, Haven’s army managed to scatter the resistance and reach the heart of the forest, where they took the Reaping Eye from the Great Owl Nika. Clan Sylrowen, who was leading the resistance, turned to guerrilla warfare as the situation turned more and more desperate. Arnannel’s first hunt, which was supposed to be a rite of passage, where elves on the cusp of adulthood were assigned a beast within the forest to hunt as a target, instead had a member of the Haven’s army as the target. Arnannel never found out the name of his target, he was merely a soldier leading a squad who was getting too close to their hideout. By this point, though still trying to adhere to their traditions, the Sylrowen Clan had other pressing issues than hunting beasts, and thus had turned to making soldiers from Haven as the targets of their children’s first hunt. And so it was that Arnannel ended up killing the soldier as his first hunt. The hunt was quick, yet nearly deadly for Arnannel, the soldier was more skilled than their clan had expected, and had he not hesitated for the briefest of seconds, Arnannel was sure that the soldier’s blade would have severed his head from his body. The soldier died holding a locket he held tightly in his bloody hands, apologising to his daughter and cursing himself for not being able to steel his heart and cut down someone the same age as her. The soldier's dying words were something that weighed on Arnannel, not only that he had killed a father, but also that it was only the soldier’s kindness, so to speak, that spared him from death. It was customary for a hunter to take a trophy of their first hunt; thus, for Arnannel, the locket with the picture of the man’s daughter made as good of a trophy as any.
In the following three years since the start of the invasion, what resistance was left continued their guerrilla war, raiding settlements and military outposts Haven had set up, killing what patrols they could, and any poor fools who wandered too deep into the forest. Despite having proclaimed that they had ‘conquered’ Fanewick in the second year since the invasion, in truth, even with many losses, the resistance army still managed to make life hell for Haven soldiers and citizens in the newly conquered Fanewick. There had been a point, when many started deserting the resistance in exchange for safety as farmers in Haven, that the Sylrowen Clan considered giving up the resistance. However, with the arrival of the Witherwild, those who favour continuing the resistance among the elders of the Sylrowen Clan gained ground, as Haven, who had caused the imbalance in the cycle of sowing and reaping due to their greed, was seen as making the same mistake as the elves of Liraethal in their legend, and thus they believed that should Haven not stopped and the Eye of Reaping returned to the Great Owl, nature would swallow and destroy all of them up, as the elves of old.
Thus, the resistance continued with more vigour, becoming more and more brutal in desperation. In the fourth year since the invasion of Fanewick, it was not uncommon for the means justifying the end to be the common adage among the resistance. Captured Haven soldiers were tortured for information, spies and saboteurs were sent mixed in with those who defected to Haven, and even abducting children to be used as bait to lure Haven’s army into a lair of beasts engorged by the Witherwild. It was when the strategy to use child soldiers—exploiting the hesitation of many among Haven’s army to cut down children—was being considered that Arnannel decided that they had turned from mere victims fighting to beat back invaders into the villains of the war. Arnannel took as many children in the resistance as he could, leading them to Haven’s army, before negotiating protection for them as farmers, in exchange, he would lead them to hideouts of the resistance. As the child of the high druid leading the council of elders within the clan, Arnannel was privy to knowledge of the major hideouts, those hidden deep within the forest that Haven’s army would never be able to traverse on their own, and thus, after successful negotiation, Arnannel started leading Haven’s armies to said hideouts, and within the course of the year, Haven’s army managed to grain major grounds and had truly conquered Fanewick, there were still some pockets of resistances left, and the council of elder druids managed to make their escape, but for the most part, Haven finally settled Fanewick, the Witherwild notwithstanding.
During that one-year period of helping Haven’s army against the resistance, Arnannel lived among the people of Haven, even visiting their cities close to Fanewick from time to time. While adjusting from living in a thick forest to the more urban and civilised Haven’s towns and settlements was difficult at first, Arnannel found himself fascinated by a new world he had never known his whole life, and in time, came to appreciate the amenities and other benefits of a civilisation that he could never had gotten in the forest of Fanewick. Arnannel never truly absolved Haven of their invasion, but he understood them. To Arnannel, who had lived with the natural laws of the forest, it was only natural that Haven did what it could to survive. The desire to survive and to continue living is the primal directive of all lives. Even within the forest, when his clan conducted a sacred hunt, the target of their hunt did not take their demise lying down; they fought for their lives and their continued existence, and now, to Arnannel who had expanded his worldview by living among the people of Haven, he had come to believe that fighting to live is a more worthy cause than taking up arms against an insurmountable odds for something as nebulous as traditions and the balance of nature. Today, Arnannel felt right at home in Haven’s towns and settlements, enough so that he had lost the leaf foliage as part of his mystic form as an elf who had lived in the forest and dedicated himself to its protection.
Arnannel was acting as a scout and escort to a group of alchemist to harvest Crimson Lady' Veil, the cure for the Serpent's Sickness, when the group was attacked by a massive boar courtesy of the same Witherwild that had allowed the abundance of the flowers they were looking. Though managing to escape, with some of the alchemists wounded, Arnannel led them to the nearby village of Alula to recuperate, whereupon he inadvertently became involved with the plot surrounding the Great Owl's Sowing Eye.
Experiences From Backstory:
•Familiar Terrain [Fanewick Woods] When traversing Fanewick either to track people or to lose pursuers in the woods, Arnannel can gain bonus modifiers.
•Guerrilla Warfare When doing actions related to guerrilla tactics, such as making traps, ambushing, or disengaging and running away, Arnannel can gain bonus modifiers.
What centuries old story does the Sylrowen Clan tell that features a roguish faerie character with limbs made of gold, ears made of diamond, and eyes made of gemstone?
Hmm...I don't think there is specifically one on a faerie with cyborg/artificial parts, but I imagine Clank as a whole is something that is in their legends, as golems and such, and they see it as part of the old kingdom eschewing natural law and probably distrust Clank somewhat. Though there are probably less ostentatious Clanks made from natural wood or stone living in fanewick, they're still scrutinized, but is more accepted.
Only thing to edit is pretty small: Nikta has been described in the book with she/her pronouns, and I'm keeping it that way. Big scary one-eyed mother owl!
Got it, I probably just missed it in the books. I'll change it for the OOC
AtomicNut
PureWitch
Ammokkx
rush99999
Bacon
Ravion the Red
GOATPlumber
Ariamis
Guardian Angel Haruki
