Dwarven Astrologer background? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Dwarven Astrologer background? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
EpicEvokerElf
06-10-07, 09:59 PM Does anyone have any ideas for how a near-sighted dwarf who's spent near his entire life underground could become obsessed with the stars?

If 'tis relevant, he's a wizard and grew up in a trade center with strong ties to the humans, elves, and gnomes. His spells are carved into a set of glass lenses, which he slots into his telescope. The carvings are illuminated by the stars, and need to be lined up with certain constellations to work. I think he got the telecsope from either a mentor or an elven druid passing through the city.

Thanks in advance for whatever help you can give!
ratarang
06-11-07, 02:29 AM Dreams. As long as he can remember he's been having dreams of stars and constellations, changing form in ways that he now knows must have taken at least hundreds of thousands of years. Each one leaves him with the feeling that he's on the verge of understanding something very important, very fundamental, yet even the faintest glimmer of that knowledge keeps slipping away every time he awakens.Ever since the first time he left his underground home as a toddler at night, the first time he looked upon the stars and finally understood what the burning lights in his dreams were about, he's been obsessed with unlocking their secrets. His search for star lore led him to a master dwarven diviner who, recognizing a keen intellect and a thirst for answers, agreed to take him as an apprentice.
warwinner
06-11-07, 02:35 AM Maybe he wants to find a way to travel to the stars or atleast as close as possible.
Maybe a certain wandering/erratic behaving star has some very significant connection to him, moving as he does/should, leading him somewhere - to something !
Dead_Weasel
06-11-07, 04:44 AM Your character can recall, flawlessly, the first time he saw the stars. Perhaps it was his first time outside of the tunnels, perhaps it was the hundredth time, but this time he looked UP.

Since then he has devoted countless hours in observation and in thought; it no longer truly matters to him what they are, since they will always captivate him, but he still wonders, daily if not by the moment, what they are. How far away they are. What makes them move. If they are truly the eyes of the gods. If they are the pillars of the sky. If they hold the souls of his ancestors. If they are gemstones of immense size and beauty. All these ideas and more; he cannot be satisfies until he knows everything about them, but that information would in no way diminish their significance, because they are stars.

His endless speculation has lead him to accumulate knowledge of many kinds, and he continues along many avenues of study, having become interested in a variety of subjects through his ruminations on the firmament, but the stars remain his first and only love.
Ariana_Thorngaggle
06-11-07, 12:05 PM a dwarf fascinated with the stars can be really easily explained....it's unknown. Perhaps he's half gnome, and the gnomish curioscity has finally overcome him, but unlike most gnomes, he has one very focused curioscity instead of just being interested in everything, and he just needs to know.

the idea of light is pretty strange to a dwarf living underground forever, but small pricks of light resting in darkness?? that's something interesting to be explored. And space, that's just like, you know, a giant mine in the sky or something. Maybe the entire night sky is just as fascinating as the patterns of stars. I mean, does a dwarf's ability to tell depth underground and distance work on the sky too? Is it basically the same as a great cave in the sky full of gems (as Dead_Weasle talked about) and waves of metals and ore?
EpicEvokerElf
06-11-07, 12:41 PM Thank you all so much, you have given me a lot of great ideas and material to think over.
EpicEvokerElf
06-11-07, 05:08 PM How's this? I borrowed from a few of you guys' stories.

Heftig Sterndrache can recall, flawlessly, the first time he saw the stars. It was not his first time outside of the tunnels, but it was the first time he truly stared up into the sky and wondered what indeed those shimmering blurs up in the great expanse of sky were.

The stars haunted his dreams, glimmering out of reach in countless intricate forms. He could look up into the sky and see hundreds of constellations, constantly shifting. His nearsighted vision, which had been but a nuisance to his studies in the past, was suddenly the bane of his existence. He could not see the stars but as blurs.

So he delved into the mysteries of magic, studying for countless hours the stellar paths across the sky, divining from their motions a system of power, which influences everyone's life. Yet still he despaired, for even the mightiest of divinations could bring the stars no closer.

To him, the magic of the stars is in wonder. He still wonders what the stars are: souls, gems, bursts of magic, gods, or planes. He wonders how far away they really are. He wonders how they stay up, how they move, how they exert so much influence over the world from so far away. But he knows, deep in his heart, that no matter how much he knows, the stars will come no nearer.
warwinner
06-12-07, 04:08 AM Good enough.Now time to put it all into action
EpicEvokerElf
06-12-07, 05:15 PM Meaning?
warwinner
06-12-07, 07:15 PM Put the background/motivations into actual play
EpicEvokerElf
06-12-07, 08:56 PM That might be a while. The campaign won't start for probably about a week still, at best.
warwinner
06-12-07, 10:22 PM why nearsighted ? did you take Some flaw or trait ?
EpicEvokerElf
06-13-07, 04:24 PM Read "The Mole Family Christmas." Then you'll understand. And yes, I took Murky-Eyed, but that was WAY later.
Brotter_Lutgehr
06-15-07, 02:18 PM Maybe after spending his life underground never seeing the stars he ventures to the surface at night see's them "Like diamonds in a cave wall" etc.
EpicEvokerElf
06-17-07, 01:14 PM Has anybody read "The Mole Family Christmas" yet?
warwinner
06-17-07, 02:34 PM Where is the owl ;)
EpicEvokerElf
06-24-07, 01:00 PM Couldn't fit it in, you could say Ashley is. Speaking of which, have this:

Heftig was born into the Verriegelung clan, a small trading family that lived deep in the caverns underground. Though their craft was indeed wondrous, foreigners descended into the caves to buy their wares, rather than the clan peddle their wares in the lands of light. Heftig seldom saw the lands outside his clanhold. However, he did meet some interesting characters.

One merchant, an elven nature-priest named Ashley (odd setting, long story:P), took a liking to Heftig, and led him aboveground for a day. He loved the sights, the sounds, the smells, the life that seemed to infuse the surface world. But in the end, he preferred the continual darkness and silence of his underground world.

The druid did, however, secure Heftig a place in the annual caravan to Tysis. Every year, for about the last fifteen decades, a train of hand-picked dwarves ascends into Tysis for a great market day (which lasts a week). Heftig spent 49 years among them, finding at last his purpose in the stars at the age of 76.

Upon his return to the Verriegelung clanhold, Heftig apprenticed himself to a diviner, finally dashing all his family's hopes that he might live up to his name (which means "violent"). Five years later, he had nearly resigned himself to his terrible detachment from the celestial bodies when, lo and behold, the druid Ashley returned. She had only a single piece of advice for the bereft dwarf, which was, "When all else fails, seek the stars."

Heftig's former vigor returned. He ended his apprenticeship rather abruptly, and began a pilgrimage through the caves of his birthplace. Working through a network of prominently unused tunnels, the ingentious dwarf set up a relay of mirrors and canals to the surface. With the skills of his clanmates, he began construction of an enormous brass and crystal contraption that he proudly explained was his telescope. For the next two years he labored constantly, toiling endless hours over his masterpiece. Finally, it was complete.

Based in a laboratory filled with papers and charts of the stars, marking constellations and convergences, his telescope stretched for miles of tube and focusing crystals. With a light heart, he began the search which occupies him today: he scours the world for every crystal, glass, and substance from which he can form a lens. He has a lens of quartz, a lens of plain glass, one of ruby, of emerald, of amethyst, and a lens of mica. His final lens, the ocular, is the one he holds dearest: it is a lens from the glasses of Ashley, his druidic benefactor and, in his heart, his true mentor.
warwinner
06-25-07, 12:19 AM Pretty good that background
But i really don't like this dwarves and elves live centuries kind of thing.In my campaigns, they live only 100-120 years normally.Dwarves don't grow much weak with age
EpicEvokerElf
07-12-07, 11:33 PM He's old.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
EpicEvokerElf 06-10-07, 09:59 PM	Does anyone have any ideas for how a near-sighted dwarf who's spent near his entire life underground could become obsessed with the stars? If 'tis relevant, he's a wizard and grew up in a trade center with strong ties to the humans, elves, and gnomes. His spells are carved into a set of glass lenses, which he slots into his telescope. The carvings are illuminated by the stars, and need to be lined up with certain constellations to work. I think he got the telecsope from either a mentor or an elven druid passing through the city. Thanks in advance for whatever help you can give!
ratarang 06-11-07, 02:29 AM	Dreams. As long as he can remember he's been having dreams of stars and constellations, changing form in ways that he now knows must have taken at least hundreds of thousands of years. Each one leaves him with the feeling that he's on the verge of understanding something very important, very fundamental, yet even the faintest glimmer of that knowledge keeps slipping away every time he awakens.Ever since the first time he left his underground home as a toddler at night, the first time he looked upon the stars and finally understood what the burning lights in his dreams were about, he's been obsessed with unlocking their secrets. His search for star lore led him to a master dwarven diviner who, recognizing a keen intellect and a thirst for answers, agreed to take him as an apprentice.
warwinner 06-11-07, 02:35 AM	Maybe he wants to find a way to travel to the stars or atleast as close as possible. Maybe a certain wandering/erratic behaving star has some very significant connection to him, moving as he does/should, leading him somewhere - to something !
Dead_Weasel 06-11-07, 04:44 AM	Your character can recall, flawlessly, the first time he saw the stars. Perhaps it was his first time outside of the tunnels, perhaps it was the hundredth time, but this time he looked UP. Since then he has devoted countless hours in observation and in thought; it no longer truly matters to him what they are, since they will always captivate him, but he still wonders, daily if not by the moment, what they are. How far away they are. What makes them move. If they are truly the eyes of the gods. If they are the pillars of the sky. If they hold the souls of his ancestors. If they are gemstones of immense size and beauty. All these ideas and more; he cannot be satisfies until he knows everything about them, but that information would in no way diminish their significance, because they are stars. His endless speculation has lead him to accumulate knowledge of many kinds, and he continues along many avenues of study, having become interested in a variety of subjects through his ruminations on the firmament, but the stars remain his first and only love.
Ariana_Thorngaggle 06-11-07, 12:05 PM	a dwarf fascinated with the stars can be really easily explained....it's unknown. Perhaps he's half gnome, and the gnomish curioscity has finally overcome him, but unlike most gnomes, he has one very focused curioscity instead of just being interested in everything, and he just needs to know. the idea of light is pretty strange to a dwarf living underground forever, but small pricks of light resting in darkness?? that's something interesting to be explored. And space, that's just like, you know, a giant mine in the sky or something. Maybe the entire night sky is just as fascinating as the patterns of stars. I mean, does a dwarf's ability to tell depth underground and distance work on the sky too? Is it basically the same as a great cave in the sky full of gems (as Dead_Weasle talked about) and waves of metals and ore?
EpicEvokerElf 06-11-07, 12:41 PM	Thank you all so much, you have given me a lot of great ideas and material to think over.
EpicEvokerElf 06-11-07, 05:08 PM	How's this? I borrowed from a few of you guys' stories. Heftig Sterndrache can recall, flawlessly, the first time he saw the stars. It was not his first time outside of the tunnels, but it was the first time he truly stared up into the sky and wondered what indeed those shimmering blurs up in the great expanse of sky were. The stars haunted his dreams, glimmering out of reach in countless intricate forms. He could look up into the sky and see hundreds of constellations, constantly shifting. His nearsighted vision, which had been but a nuisance to his studies in the past, was suddenly the bane of his existence. He could not see the stars but as blurs. So he delved into the mysteries of magic, studying for countless hours the stellar paths across the sky, divining from their motions a system of power, which influences everyone's life. Yet still he despaired, for even the mightiest of divinations could bring the stars no closer. To him, the magic of the stars is in wonder. He still wonders what the stars are: souls, gems, bursts of magic, gods, or planes. He wonders how far away they really are. He wonders how they stay up, how they move, how they exert so much influence over the world from so far away. But he knows, deep in his heart, that no matter how much he knows, the stars will come no nearer.
warwinner 06-12-07, 04:08 AM	Good enough.Now time to put it all into action
EpicEvokerElf 06-12-07, 05:15 PM	Meaning?
warwinner 06-12-07, 07:15 PM	Put the background/motivations into actual play
EpicEvokerElf 06-12-07, 08:56 PM	That might be a while. The campaign won't start for probably about a week still, at best.
warwinner 06-12-07, 10:22 PM	why nearsighted ? did you take Some flaw or trait ?
EpicEvokerElf 06-13-07, 04:24 PM	Read "The Mole Family Christmas." Then you'll understand. And yes, I took Murky-Eyed, but that was WAY later.
Brotter_Lutgehr 06-15-07, 02:18 PM	Maybe after spending his life underground never seeing the stars he ventures to the surface at night see's them "Like diamonds in a cave wall" etc.
EpicEvokerElf 06-17-07, 01:14 PM	Has anybody read "The Mole Family Christmas" yet?
warwinner 06-17-07, 02:34 PM	Where is the owl ;)
EpicEvokerElf 06-24-07, 01:00 PM	Couldn't fit it in, you could say Ashley is. Speaking of which, have this: Heftig was born into the Verriegelung clan, a small trading family that lived deep in the caverns underground. Though their craft was indeed wondrous, foreigners descended into the caves to buy their wares, rather than the clan peddle their wares in the lands of light. Heftig seldom saw the lands outside his clanhold. However, he did meet some interesting characters. One merchant, an elven nature-priest named Ashley (odd setting, long story:P), took a liking to Heftig, and led him aboveground for a day. He loved the sights, the sounds, the smells, the life that seemed to infuse the surface world. But in the end, he preferred the continual darkness and silence of his underground world. The druid did, however, secure Heftig a place in the annual caravan to Tysis. Every year, for about the last fifteen decades, a train of hand-picked dwarves ascends into Tysis for a great market day (which lasts a week). Heftig spent 49 years among them, finding at last his purpose in the stars at the age of 76. Upon his return to the Verriegelung clanhold, Heftig apprenticed himself to a diviner, finally dashing all his family's hopes that he might live up to his name (which means "violent"). Five years later, he had nearly resigned himself to his terrible detachment from the celestial bodies when, lo and behold, the druid Ashley returned. She had only a single piece of advice for the bereft dwarf, which was, "When all else fails, seek the stars." Heftig's former vigor returned. He ended his apprenticeship rather abruptly, and began a pilgrimage through the caves of his birthplace. Working through a network of prominently unused tunnels, the ingentious dwarf set up a relay of mirrors and canals to the surface. With the skills of his clanmates, he began construction of an enormous brass and crystal contraption that he proudly explained was his telescope. For the next two years he labored constantly, toiling endless hours over his masterpiece. Finally, it was complete. Based in a laboratory filled with papers and charts of the stars, marking constellations and convergences, his telescope stretched for miles of tube and focusing crystals. With a light heart, he began the search which occupies him today: he scours the world for every crystal, glass, and substance from which he can form a lens. He has a lens of quartz, a lens of plain glass, one of ruby, of emerald, of amethyst, and a lens of mica. His final lens, the ocular, is the one he holds dearest: it is a lens from the glasses of Ashley, his druidic benefactor and, in his heart, his true mentor.
warwinner 06-25-07, 12:19 AM	Pretty good that background But i really don't like this dwarves and elves live centuries kind of thing.In my campaigns, they live only 100-120 years normally.Dwarves don't grow much weak with age
EpicEvokerElf 07-12-07, 11:33 PM	He's old.