Post/Author/DateTime	Post
radu the wanderer 04-18-04, 04:45 PM	Hey all! I was wondering if anyone could help me flesh out my character backstory a bit. As it is, I am a human cleric of Kossuth, from Calimshan.... that in itself is kind of strange, as Kossuth is almost exclusively worshiped in Thay. Khemed grew up in Thay for the first 8 years or so. His parents were both Thayan slave traders and merchants, but Khemed never found out what their true cargo was. They got into some heat with the Red Wizards and had to flee. Using their resources they managed to escape to the coast where they bought passage to Calimshan--- by selling their son Khemed into slavery with the captain. Khemed didn't find out about this until the boat pulled into Calimport. He was crushed. Given Khemed's looks, the Captain decided to use him as part of his household staff. While not striking enough to serve in a high position, he was fair enough to merit a job as a scullion and runner. The captain turned out to be a harsh but fair man, dealing out strict punishments, but only for crimes explained before hand. Khemed became part of his household staff, cleaning, cooking, etc. He never gave up on Kossuth, who he saw as the one constant, pure thing in his life. Even here in Calimshan Khemed saw powerful fire magics and evidence of Kossuth's intervention everywhere. When he reached the age of twenty two, Kossuth intervened in a much more drastic way. Khemed was out on an errand in the city when he saw a plume of smoke coming from his master's manse. Running back, he saw the whole house consumed by a terrible blaze. Khemed stood there watching as the house burnt to cinders, sure this was a sign from Kossuth. He vowed then and there he would never abandon his god, as Kossuth had never abandoned him. Khemed was tempered by hardship, forged into an awesome weapon for Kossuth over fourteen hard years. Now he would go out into the world and purify it as Kossuth had purified him. I'm trying to account for the unusual choice of god (Kossuth) and home region (Calimshan), mixing in some justification for my ability scores: Str 16, Dex 10, Con 18, Int 12, Wis 16, Cha 13 So what I'm asking is this: How would you play a backstory of slavery, betrayal, and hardship without being bitter, and without overdramatizing? I figure Khemed's already forgiven his parents for what they did to him, but cannot forgive them for what they did to others. He bears a slave brand but keeps it covered with a high necked tunic, and mostly doesn't talk much about himself. We've had about 4 game sessions so far, and it's come out that he's pretty upset on discovering a slave trade in the region, but not much else on his backstory has been brought up. Any suggestions as to how I can drop bits in without overwhelming the other characters and hogging the spotlight?
Skyrocket 04-18-04, 08:04 PM	Have him deal with the darker side of Kossuth's faith. Someone setting themself on fire in front of him as an act of devotion would really give him a kick in the teeth. Or have him meet someone who worships another elemental god. How does he react to them? Maybe the party gets hired for a mission by someone they later find out is a part of the slave trade. Maybe a noble's son has been kidnapped and sold into slavery and the party must locate and rescue him.