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JulesCARV 08-03-06, 04:03 AM

You see a slightly chubby young woman, wearing clerical vestments that appear to shift and change color as you look upon them. She has a disarming, vivacious smile that points toward her eyes -- green iris on the left eye, brown iris on the right. Her chestnut hair is pulled back in a ponytail. A symbol of the acquisitive hand of Kol Korran hangs around her neck Andorra Hausdorff was born in Rekkenmark in Karrnath. In wartime Karrnath, everything was rationed, and reputedly, there was a period when grain was more expensive per pound than gold (although this is, in truth, an urban legend). Her father, Matthias, an adept and priest of the Blood of Vol, was always away, on the battlefields healing wounds and helping with Karrnath's battlefield necromancy projects. Her mother, Karina, a seamstress, raised her and her younger brother Wilhelm. All things considered, it was not an unhappy childhood. To whatever extent the material privations of the war affected the Hausdorffs, it did so less than most of their neighbors, thanks to Matthias's position as a valuable contributor to the Karrnathi war effort and ranking in the Blood of Vol. An airship firebombing by Aundairan forces, however, killed Karina and destroyed the family home while Andorra and Wilhelm were in the woods, trying to collect wild berries. After picking out what remained of the possessions from the water-soaked, burnt-out shell of their home, they went to stay with Matthias's cousin, Gerhard. They later received a letter from Karrnath's War Ministry telling them that Matthias was missing in action on the Aundairian front (presumed dead, unless my DM thinks it's a neat plot hook if he's still alive). Gerhard lacked the advantages of Matthias's connections as a Karrnathi military officer and priest of the Blood of Vol, and his household acutely suffered from poverty and extensive rationing. Andorra and Wilhelm stayed in his home for two months, but stretched to the limit, Gerhard looked for an excuse to expel the children from his home. He found one when Andorra forgot about a fire that she was charged with tending, ruining a stew and the pot it was cooking in. Gerhard kicked both children out of his house, leaving them to fend for themselves. The children tried to fend for themselves on the outskirts of Rekkenmark, but could never find enough, and were soon starving. Andorra turned to theft to support herself and her younger brother, but she was not a skillful thief, and was soon caught, and jailed for four days. By the time she was released, Wilhelm, fending for himself, was afflicted with serious malnutrition, food poisoning from what scant, bad food he did find, and scurvy. Worst of all, during the night, fireflies seemed to surround the orphaned children. Perhaps this was some kind of symbol of the impermanance and the fragility of life, or something, but it was very dissappointing to Andorra that the cosmic forces seemed to be more interested in making her life symbollic, poetic, and meaningful than, for example, giving her a good fresh loaf of bread. Andorra prayed for a god -- any god -- to help them. She abandonned her parents' faith in the Blood of Vol, despairing at the idea that her brother -- and she, soon after -- would suffer from the great evil of death, but had no one but themselves to help them in their fight against it. She went to a temple of the Sovereign Host and looked among the shrines dedicated to the gods. Yet to whom should she pray? Dol Arrah, whose justice had put her in jail for her attempts to survive? Dol Dorn, whose wars had destroyed almost all that she held dear? What favors could Boldrei offer to one whose community and hearth were nothing but ashes? In the end, she prayed to three of the Sovereigns: Arawai, that Karrnath's fields might have the abundance to feed all even in wartime, Olladra, that they might have better luck, and feast and rejoice, sometime soon, and Kol Korran, that they might acquire the wealth to survive. On her way out of the temple, a man offered her some food. She accepted warily, wondering whether her prayers had been answered. After she had eaten, the man told her that she would receive two silver Sovereigns for doing a small errand -- smuggling several box of oranges through a small tunnel, into a warehouse. The tunnel was small enough that only her emaciation allowed her to fit comfortably: an adult, other than a halfling or gnome, would be unlikely to fit at all. She carried the boxes through, though, on several trips. She immediately grasped the purpose of her job -- she was supplying a black market in fruit, cheating the rationing system, selling the fruit illegally on the black market at inflated prices. She was able to feed herself and her brother with this money, but her brother's pre-existing illnesses did not abate. Eventually, working whenever she could as a smuggler for the black market, she saved enough money to go to a Jorasco healing house. However, almost all of the medical workers were on the front, treating wartime injuries, and those that remained were seeing other patients. Wilhelm was seen by an incompetent, part-time medic who had previously been a janitor and errand boy for the Jorascos before receiving minimal medical training. He treated Wilhelm with half-remembered folk remedies that, if they did not kill Wilhelm directly, certainly did little to improve his condition. Wilhelm died soon after, possibly of food poisoning, possibly of scurvy, or possibly of poisonous herbs mistakenly given to him as medicine. Andorra was on the verge of despair, but soon a sense of clarity and resignation came over her. Her mother, father, and brother were dead, but adding herself to their number would help no one. Olladra had not given her luck or healed her brother, nor had Arawai given Khorvaire's fields abundance, but with enough money, she could survive, and with her job as a black market smuggler, she could get at least enough money to live on. With enough money, enough prosperity, there needn't be starvation. There needn't be war when all had enough. There would be better schools, so that healers would be better. There would be enough magical wealth to solve many problems. She decided to devote her life to Kol Korran. It was an unusual choice, but she trained and learned the theology of the Sovereign Host with other seminarians. Eventually, as her faith in the God of Prosperity strengthened, and her learning increased, she became a cleric of Kol Korran. As she was learning divine magic, she also learned finance, seeking a practical means to improve the world's wealth in addition to the help her god would provide. After the Treaty of Thronehold, and the peace between Breland and Karrnath, she moved to Sharn, where the greatest sums of wealth in Khorvaire were exchanged, gained, and lost, and became both a cleric of Kol Korran and a financial consultant, hoping to give the blessings of her god to those who came to her in the form of sound strategies of saving and investment. In spite of the hardships she underwent, Andorra is optimistic and lively. She puts others at ease easily. She is primarily devoted to wealth. She cares about her own wealth first, but she thinks that the world would be a fundamentally better place if all were richer. Andorra is not without conscience, but she is not very insistent about her morals. She is willing to compromise with things she finds objectionable if she feels that she has little realistic prospect (in her view) of changing them. For instance, if asked, she will express concern for the downtrodden status of goblins in Khorvaire, but she takes no concrete actions in any attempt to improve their lot. Andorra Hausdorff Human Cleric of Kol Korran Domains: Charm, Travel Age: 20 Height: 5'4" Weight: 140 lbs (stats come from DM-rolled array: 17, 15, 14, 13, 12, 12) Strength: 12 Dexterity: 12 Constitution: 13 + 1 (Ioun stone) Intelligence: 14 Wisdom: 17 + 1 (periapt) Charisma: 15 + 1 (4th level increase) Feats: 1. Extend Spell, Persistent Spell 3. Divine Metamagic (persistent spell) 6. Skill Focus (knowledge (religion)) Skills: Concentration: 9 ranks (+11) Diplomacy: 9 ranks (+12 (+13 with glamerweave)) Profession (financial consultant): 4 ranks (+8) knowledge (arcana): 1 rank (+3) Knowledge (religion): 8 ranks (+13) Knowledge (history): 1 rank (+3) knowledge (the planes): 1 rank (+3) Spellcraft: 9 ranks (+11) Survival: 3 ranks (+7) Equipment: (13,000 starting gold) +1 heavy mace (2,362 gp/8 lbs) +1 full plate (2,650 gp/50 lbs) +1 buckler (1,165 gp/5 lbs) Masterwork light crossbow (385 gp/4 lbs) 30 Bolts (3 gp/3 lbs) Holy Symbol (1 gp) Glammerweave Cleric's Vestments: (105 gp/5 lbs*) (Hey, Creflo Dollar would wear them if they existed.) Explorer's Outfit: (10 gp/8 lbs*)) Component pouch: (5 gp/2 lbs) Everburning Torch: (110 gp/1 lb*) Handy Haversack: (2,000 gp/5 lbs) Pink Rhomboid Ioun Stone +1: (2,000 gp) Periapt of Wisdom +1: (1,000 gp) 1,204 gold (banked with Kundarak)