Liesje Sweetwater [Archive] - Wizards Community

Liesje Sweetwater [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Radijs
08-29-07, 02:49 PM Liesje Sweetwater.

Liesje was born from the union of Hazel Sweetwater and Darren Ramesh. Darren and Hazel where just lovers when the last war began and the thought of Darren’s death was already in both their minds when the call came out for every able-bodied man to march to war. The night before he marched they lay together as one and when Hazel said farewell to her true love she knew that she bore a living child of him.
Two months later news of the battle finally reached Hazel and when she learned that Darren was slain in battle. Some part of Hazel died that day as well. She was already the shame of the city as an unwed mother and now her true love was fated never to return to her.
As the months progressed she began to slowly go slightly mad. She gathered whatever she could find of Darren and erected a small shrine inside her home. And she would sit by that shrine as often as she could idly hoping her love would still return one day.
Nine months later she gave birth to a lovely baby girl, Liesje Sweetwater.
She raised her as best she could in her madness telling the little girl stories about her father and that he would return one day.
But deep in her heart Hazel still knew that Darren was dead and would never return home and that the only real thing she had left of him was Liesje and so she wanted to protect her little girl.
At first it was relatively easy. She kept Liesje inside at all times away from the foul Orc patrols that wandered the city.
But as the seasons passed and Liesje grew older she became restless and curious about the outside world. And one night while her mother was sleeping Liesje snuck out and crept through the dark deserted streets seeing the big wide world for the first time. She snuck through the alleys knowing well enough to stay away from the main roads and the Orc patrols.
Then as she was just about to make her way back home Liesje saw a green light shining from a burnt-out house. Her curiosity peeked she went to the burnt out wreck and discovered a hidden door in the floor and found an abandoned wizards library. She stayed there reading the books stacked on the wall and completely forgot about the time.
When she eventually came home her mother was furious and she received a rough beating for her disobedience. And her mother warned her again never to go out.
But Liesje’s heart was captivated by the old writings in that basement. And after a few weeks she dared to sneak out again to read more.
But her mother had gotten wise to her and when she snuck back home Hazel was there waiting for her. And again Liesje suffered from a harsh beating.
But as much as the wind howls the mountain cannot bow to it and Liesje’s curiosity burned in her like a torch. And despite her mother’s explicit forbiddance she kept going back to that old basement to learn more magic.
But her mother’s beatings did wear down on her body and her mind and slowly she began to break. To keep herself from breaking down she invented an imaginary friend. Ursula the girl who could do everything that Liesje wasn’t allowed to do.
So Ursula would sneak out during the night time and read the magic books and it was Ursula who get beaten for disobeying her mother.
And slowly as the time passed Ursula became more and more real representing Liesje’s darker side. Slowly Liesje grew more meek and obedient unconsciously relying on Ursula to let her do anything her mother forbade her.

The basic premise for a fourth level wizard I'm going to play. She's got a split personality. As I asked about here (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=874581). Any comments or suggestions are welcome.
Free1983
08-29-07, 03:18 PM Looks very good. Only thing that bothers me a little is that Liesje is still a child when your story ends. If you're having a game where those things are accepted and if you're ok with playing a child, than you can take this character to the gaming table.

But, it might be interesting to think about the break up with her mother. In the end Ursula won't accept the endless beatings no more and she will run away from home. Whether she goes away quietly into the dark, or leaves with slamming doors causing more humiliation for the mother is up to you, but it would certainly help to get this character on track for an adventuring carreer.

I'm also a bit troubled by the fact that this is the starting point of a level 4 adventurer. I don't know how you guys deal with XP, but sneaking out of the house and reading books isn't as challenging as killing packs of wolves, breaking into the nobles villa or crawl through dungeons to find ancient draconic tomes. I guess your DM set the starting point at level 4, but it might be more realistic if Liesje already has done some adventuring. Perhaps she has looked for a mentor that could instruct her further into the arcane arts, and perhaps that same mentor sent her away on some minor quests to discover more of the world and herself.

I'm sure you can find lots of interesting ways how a psychotic teenage girl gets by in the world.

Hope this helps,

Cheers
Radijs
08-29-07, 03:23 PM Its a bit hard to guess her age in the story. But I expected her to be about 14-15 years old at the start of the game. Its young but in DnD she is an adult.

As for the level, well yes lvl 1 is traditionally the starting adventuring level but there are other ways to learn magic then killing rats and wolves. In her case its mostly book knolwedge. Which she found in that old basement.
Terjon of the Blue Rose
08-30-07, 12:05 AM Not quite sure on why there are orc patrols on the streets. Where in Khorvaire are you? Are you putting cross class ranks into hide/ms? Does anyone else know of the shack? If so who and are they aware of your excursions?

I'd make her start fighting back with her mother as Ursula starts growing stronger within her. Ursula is not meant to take beatings but rather to escape them. She should do what Liesje can't and seek/plan escape. This can lead to some fun moments where her mother has to choose between chasing after her daughter and remaining home at her shrine. I imagine that the day her mother finally leaves the shrine to chase her down, and then discovers Ursula/Liesje's power leads to the final split where Ursula takes Liesje away from her home forever.
Radijs
08-30-07, 04:27 AM We're not in khorvaire, its the midnight campaign setting. And we're starting in either Erenhead or Fallport.
I did sink some skill points into hide and move silently.
And from the DM's description I understood that the city has been mostly emptied for reasons unknown to me and that the patrols have gotten very lax since there's not much left to guard.

I'm really going to have fun with Ursula and Liesje together. I'm curious to see what will happen with their alternating ego's.
Terjon of the Blue Rose
08-30-07, 07:44 AM Ok. For some reason it seemed Ebberonian to me. Prob the starting off with dad going off to war. I suppose it makes sense mom would stay there since she doesn't want to go anywhere that dad can't find her but if the city is empty it would work better if there was at least some foreshadowing of a reason. Of course if the DM says you don't know that may be a plot device that should be left alone. I suppose the whole thing makes a bit more sense now that I changed my angle of perspective. Very nice set-up for an unusual character. One suggestion. Given that the stress of adventuring is probably going to call out the Ursula personality more maybe you'll want to restrict spell-casting to Liesje. It means there is a definitive reason for her personality not to be completely subsumed. Moreover as her arcane power grows she may even start to regain some (almost certainly not all though) control.
Radijs
08-30-07, 01:27 PM Well OOC I have a good idea why the patrols have gotten lax.
Most of the people in the city that could flee have done so and the rest have been systematically rounded up some ten years ago and marched off.

And as for the father, not long after the DM heard about Liesje's dad dying in battle he reminded me that the fell (the undead) in the setting are all mindless. So knowing the guy I expect dear ol dad to come around as an intelligent undead some time in the future.
That should be fun.
Radijs
09-04-07, 05:48 AM Bah, I've been forced to redo my characters bio. Another player has taken the role of arcane caster and I'm being forced into an emergency healer/frontliner role.
And unfortunately the whole meek personality thing can't really fit in there anymore.

I've been pondering over a new bio and I've come up with this:

Anna Raimunde

Anna was born and raised on a farm a few miles west of the village of Caderin and despite the shadow's final victory over the alliance of Elves, Dwarves and Men life wasn't that bad for the family. At least not at first. A cunning Orc commander had taken up station in Caderin and he had realized quickly enough that it wasn't a good idea to have his troops marauding and pillaging at random. Though it would get him quite a few nice goods in a short amount of time it would leave the countryside completely wasted and then where would he get the food to feed his troops? Even the humans would eventually run out right? That's what he figured anyway. So instead of burning everything to the ground the Orc decided to tax the area. And tax it heavily. Because if you're going to do something you gotta do it right. And that way the humans would be too weak and starving to put up much of a fight.

So Whilst Anna grew up she grew up in relative safety, even though she also grew up in abject poverty the farm yielding just enough crops to keep up with the taxes and provide enough for the family. But always Anna felt like she was out of place somehow. When she was doing her chores on the farm she often found herself dreaming of far away places and distant lands and during the full moon she would have dreams. Strange dreams of something calling her away.

On one autumn Anna could resist the strange call no longer. It was early in the morning when she packed whatever belongings she thought her family could spare
But I'd really like to incorporate the split personality that Liesje had into my character somehow. But I'm not really there yet on how to do this.

I was thinking of putting these two archetypes in her head:
1. A kind and caring person, prefers to heal rather then to harm. Prefers to find nonviolent solutions to problems.
2. A Stalwart warrior, simple solutions work the best and if brute force isn't working you're not using enough.

I'll be staring play as a 2nd level crusader. Later on multiclassing to sorceror to end up entering Jade Phoenix mage & abjurant champion.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Radijs 08-29-07, 02:49 PM	Liesje Sweetwater. Liesje was born from the union of Hazel Sweetwater and Darren Ramesh. Darren and Hazel where just lovers when the last war began and the thought of Darren’s death was already in both their minds when the call came out for every able-bodied man to march to war. The night before he marched they lay together as one and when Hazel said farewell to her true love she knew that she bore a living child of him. Two months later news of the battle finally reached Hazel and when she learned that Darren was slain in battle. Some part of Hazel died that day as well. She was already the shame of the city as an unwed mother and now her true love was fated never to return to her. As the months progressed she began to slowly go slightly mad. She gathered whatever she could find of Darren and erected a small shrine inside her home. And she would sit by that shrine as often as she could idly hoping her love would still return one day. Nine months later she gave birth to a lovely baby girl, Liesje Sweetwater. She raised her as best she could in her madness telling the little girl stories about her father and that he would return one day. But deep in her heart Hazel still knew that Darren was dead and would never return home and that the only real thing she had left of him was Liesje and so she wanted to protect her little girl. At first it was relatively easy. She kept Liesje inside at all times away from the foul Orc patrols that wandered the city. But as the seasons passed and Liesje grew older she became restless and curious about the outside world. And one night while her mother was sleeping Liesje snuck out and crept through the dark deserted streets seeing the big wide world for the first time. She snuck through the alleys knowing well enough to stay away from the main roads and the Orc patrols. Then as she was just about to make her way back home Liesje saw a green light shining from a burnt-out house. Her curiosity peeked she went to the burnt out wreck and discovered a hidden door in the floor and found an abandoned wizards library. She stayed there reading the books stacked on the wall and completely forgot about the time. When she eventually came home her mother was furious and she received a rough beating for her disobedience. And her mother warned her again never to go out. But Liesje’s heart was captivated by the old writings in that basement. And after a few weeks she dared to sneak out again to read more. But her mother had gotten wise to her and when she snuck back home Hazel was there waiting for her. And again Liesje suffered from a harsh beating. But as much as the wind howls the mountain cannot bow to it and Liesje’s curiosity burned in her like a torch. And despite her mother’s explicit forbiddance she kept going back to that old basement to learn more magic. But her mother’s beatings did wear down on her body and her mind and slowly she began to break. To keep herself from breaking down she invented an imaginary friend. Ursula the girl who could do everything that Liesje wasn’t allowed to do. So Ursula would sneak out during the night time and read the magic books and it was Ursula who get beaten for disobeying her mother. And slowly as the time passed Ursula became more and more real representing Liesje’s darker side. Slowly Liesje grew more meek and obedient unconsciously relying on Ursula to let her do anything her mother forbade her. The basic premise for a fourth level wizard I'm going to play. She's got a split personality. As I asked about here (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=874581). Any comments or suggestions are welcome.
Free1983 08-29-07, 03:18 PM	Looks very good. Only thing that bothers me a little is that Liesje is still a child when your story ends. If you're having a game where those things are accepted and if you're ok with playing a child, than you can take this character to the gaming table. But, it might be interesting to think about the break up with her mother. In the end Ursula won't accept the endless beatings no more and she will run away from home. Whether she goes away quietly into the dark, or leaves with slamming doors causing more humiliation for the mother is up to you, but it would certainly help to get this character on track for an adventuring carreer. I'm also a bit troubled by the fact that this is the starting point of a level 4 adventurer. I don't know how you guys deal with XP, but sneaking out of the house and reading books isn't as challenging as killing packs of wolves, breaking into the nobles villa or crawl through dungeons to find ancient draconic tomes. I guess your DM set the starting point at level 4, but it might be more realistic if Liesje already has done some adventuring. Perhaps she has looked for a mentor that could instruct her further into the arcane arts, and perhaps that same mentor sent her away on some minor quests to discover more of the world and herself. I'm sure you can find lots of interesting ways how a psychotic teenage girl gets by in the world. Hope this helps, Cheers
Radijs 08-29-07, 03:23 PM	Its a bit hard to guess her age in the story. But I expected her to be about 14-15 years old at the start of the game. Its young but in DnD she is an adult. As for the level, well yes lvl 1 is traditionally the starting adventuring level but there are other ways to learn magic then killing rats and wolves. In her case its mostly book knolwedge. Which she found in that old basement.
Terjon of the Blue Rose 08-30-07, 12:05 AM	Not quite sure on why there are orc patrols on the streets. Where in Khorvaire are you? Are you putting cross class ranks into hide/ms? Does anyone else know of the shack? If so who and are they aware of your excursions? I'd make her start fighting back with her mother as Ursula starts growing stronger within her. Ursula is not meant to take beatings but rather to escape them. She should do what Liesje can't and seek/plan escape. This can lead to some fun moments where her mother has to choose between chasing after her daughter and remaining home at her shrine. I imagine that the day her mother finally leaves the shrine to chase her down, and then discovers Ursula/Liesje's power leads to the final split where Ursula takes Liesje away from her home forever.
Radijs 08-30-07, 04:27 AM	We're not in khorvaire, its the midnight campaign setting. And we're starting in either Erenhead or Fallport. I did sink some skill points into hide and move silently. And from the DM's description I understood that the city has been mostly emptied for reasons unknown to me and that the patrols have gotten very lax since there's not much left to guard. I'm really going to have fun with Ursula and Liesje together. I'm curious to see what will happen with their alternating ego's.
Terjon of the Blue Rose 08-30-07, 07:44 AM	Ok. For some reason it seemed Ebberonian to me. Prob the starting off with dad going off to war. I suppose it makes sense mom would stay there since she doesn't want to go anywhere that dad can't find her but if the city is empty it would work better if there was at least some foreshadowing of a reason. Of course if the DM says you don't know that may be a plot device that should be left alone. I suppose the whole thing makes a bit more sense now that I changed my angle of perspective. Very nice set-up for an unusual character. One suggestion. Given that the stress of adventuring is probably going to call out the Ursula personality more maybe you'll want to restrict spell-casting to Liesje. It means there is a definitive reason for her personality not to be completely subsumed. Moreover as her arcane power grows she may even start to regain some (almost certainly not all though) control.
Radijs 08-30-07, 01:27 PM	Well OOC I have a good idea why the patrols have gotten lax. Most of the people in the city that could flee have done so and the rest have been systematically rounded up some ten years ago and marched off. And as for the father, not long after the DM heard about Liesje's dad dying in battle he reminded me that the fell (the undead) in the setting are all mindless. So knowing the guy I expect dear ol dad to come around as an intelligent undead some time in the future. That should be fun.
Radijs 09-04-07, 05:48 AM	Bah, I've been forced to redo my characters bio. Another player has taken the role of arcane caster and I'm being forced into an emergency healer/frontliner role. And unfortunately the whole meek personality thing can't really fit in there anymore. I've been pondering over a new bio and I've come up with this: Anna Raimunde Anna was born and raised on a farm a few miles west of the village of Caderin and despite the shadow's final victory over the alliance of Elves, Dwarves and Men life wasn't that bad for the family. At least not at first. A cunning Orc commander had taken up station in Caderin and he had realized quickly enough that it wasn't a good idea to have his troops marauding and pillaging at random. Though it would get him quite a few nice goods in a short amount of time it would leave the countryside completely wasted and then where would he get the food to feed his troops? Even the humans would eventually run out right? That's what he figured anyway. So instead of burning everything to the ground the Orc decided to tax the area. And tax it heavily. Because if you're going to do something you gotta do it right. And that way the humans would be too weak and starving to put up much of a fight. So Whilst Anna grew up she grew up in relative safety, even though she also grew up in abject poverty the farm yielding just enough crops to keep up with the taxes and provide enough for the family. But always Anna felt like she was out of place somehow. When she was doing her chores on the farm she often found herself dreaming of far away places and distant lands and during the full moon she would have dreams. Strange dreams of something calling her away. On one autumn Anna could resist the strange call no longer. It was early in the morning when she packed whatever belongings she thought her family could spare But I'd really like to incorporate the split personality that Liesje had into my character somehow. But I'm not really there yet on how to do this. I was thinking of putting these two archetypes in her head: 1. A kind and caring person, prefers to heal rather then to harm. Prefers to find nonviolent solutions to problems. 2. A Stalwart warrior, simple solutions work the best and if brute force isn't working you're not using enough. I'll be staring play as a 2nd level crusader. Later on multiclassing to sorceror to end up entering Jade Phoenix mage & abjurant champion.