Sorcerer's Pivotal Dream [Archive] - Wizards Community

Sorcerer's Pivotal Dream [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
phelanarcetus
06-08-07, 10:49 AM In an upcoming evil campaign, I'm working on a sorcerer. He's focused heavily on cold-casting, and related to my character from a previous, good, game.

A little background from the previous game:
Viktor Kerensky was a wizard, who, as it turned out, was the grandson of a very powerful silver dragon. His father was dead already, and towards the end of the campaign, his grandfather, Ivan Kerensky, gave his life to defeat a demonic invasion. In the final adventure, Viktor discovered that he had two cousins, and some more of the family history.
Viktor's father Ilya had been killed by his brother Koschei (Viktor's uncle). In the end, Viktor and his party defeated Koschei, and Viktor gave his life to defeat a force of primal chaos.
Koschei's daughters Natalia and Elena were the only remaining Kerenskys. Natalia is a low-level priestess of Svarog, the sun god, and Elena a low-level sorceress specializing in transmutation spells. Neither is aware that their father was a half-dragon, or that he was evil.
The game is set in the Slavic Lands, so the geography basically matches Russia, as does much of the culture. Ivan's lair was in a particularly tall mountain towards the north of the Ural Mountain range. Natalia and Elena live in a small town in the principality of Chernigov, near the border with the principality of Smolensk.

My character, Kirill, is Elena's son, and a sorcerer himself. He becomes aware of his draconic heritage and the fact that it comes from the Kerensky side of the family in an exceptionally vivid dream. Having been caught alone in a blizzard, he passes out from cold and fatigue, and has a powerful dream. Shortly after he wakes up, he begins to manifest his sorcerous powers.

The dream itself is what is giving me trouble. The key points that need to be hit are that he has draconic heritage, and that it's from the Kerensky blood. I've been trying to view it as a sort of genetic memory, using great-grandfather Ivan Kerensky as the viewpoint he experiences.

What I have so far is below. I'm quite willing to trash it and start over. I've been trying to tell it as he remembers it, in his voice. Finding the character's voice has been one of the problems. He's definitely arrogant, by the time he'd be recounting this he's convinced of the superiority of his destiny and bloodline. Given to grandiose, even theatrical gestures. Little respect for most people, and quite happy to use them up and discard them.

But what I remember is the dream. Even as I lost consciousness in the cold, it awakened something else. The Kerensky blood surged to life within me, and carried my mind away. It seemed to me that a mere moment after I ceased to feel the cold wind, and the snow falling on my hair, I felt something different. I blinked, and instead of snow falling in the wood, I saw clear skies over a vast tundra. And I was gliding far above, soaring on powerful beats of my outstretched wings.

Of course I was puzzled, but I let go and followed the dream. Soon, my flight took me to a towering mountain, which dwarfed the others in its range. I swept into a great cavern, high on the side of the mountain. And for the first time I could see my dream-self clearly, in a massive sheet of ice. A smooth plate of almost liquid silver, topped by a frill, was my face. A beak-like nose, two horns, and huge teeth. I was a truly massive silver dragon.

I lumbered through huge passages until I came upon ones much smaller. And here I felt myself change, contracting, shrinking, transforming. In mere moments I stood upright, and it was obvious that my new form was human. Into the smaller passages, sized for humans, I went. They were strangely familiar, as though I had been there many times before. I checked on... I can't truly say what they were, rooms filled with a swirling vortex of power, with a simple ring hovering in the middle. And shortly, I saw myself in a mirror again. I was indeed human, aged and grey-bearded, but fit and slender. I looked... almost like myself, if older, and... it couldn't be me, not with that ridiculous chin behind the beard. But the eyes were a perfect match. And the nose... perhaps if mine had not been broken twice before.

At the sight of my human dream-self, my mind spiraled away from me for a time. I don't know how much I missed before I became aware of the dream again.

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.
Kolytszusk
06-08-07, 11:40 AM Perhaps instead you could have his mother and her sister talking to their father, and then keep going back in time, to them being children, and to their father killing Viktor's father, then to Viktor's father and him being children, then to them being concieved, then to his great-grandfather turning into a dragon and leaving or something?
Terjon of the Blue Rose
06-08-07, 11:25 PM You said your character, or at least campaign, was going to be evil. This should force some sort of confrontation with the innate good in your bloodline. Tell me a little more about your character and his attitudes and I'll give you a better idea of what I mean.
phelanarcetus
06-11-07, 12:21 PM Kolytszusk: I think I see where you're going, though I'm not sure that it suits me. That is, accounting for some adjustment for the fact that grandfather left his children when they were very young.

Terjon of the Blue Rose: The setting is somewhat modified; so far as I am aware the idea of an alignment inherent to the species is eliminated. That is, "Dragons: color-coded for your convenience" is not a truth in this setting. (As of the end of the previous, exalted campaign, I was only aware of one living dragon, for that matter.) Certainly his grandfather was evil, though great uncle and great great grandfather were good. Any conflict between the character's personality and any goodness innate in his heritage will not likely come up for a little while.
However, as regards what I have worked out of his personality: I should first note that the DM has set forth some ground rules. Despite being evil, we're going to be a cohesive party, and there won't be any of the classic evil characters who end the campaign during the first session. No "kill everything I see", no "sure I'm weak, but I'll commit obvious crimes because the DM won't have me arrested and killed", and no "Look, I'm wearing spiked black platemail crusted with dried blood and sound like Darth Vader" either. Also no total loners. So we can have a functional campaign rather than a brief one-shot ending in everyone caught by the good guys or killed by the other party members.
Now I haven't fleshed out his personality a great deal yet. I know that he is a very arrogant little sod. This is primarily because he's convinced that his draconic heritage makes him better than other people. Not more good, but more powerful or important, and thus justified in looking down on others as his inferiors. I also know that he's a grandiose, theatrical person. Given the choice between doing something simply and doing the same thing with fanfare, he'll choose the latter. Sweeping gestures, attempts to take center stage. Desire for friendship and popularity, even though he looks down on the people... he wants adoring masses. And he's obsessed with the power of cold and with his draconic heritage.
BroadStreetBully
06-11-07, 02:38 PM Phen, that's a pretty nice background. you've asked for help with your dream vision, so here's my two cents:

starting at the end of what you have written, have your visual perspective make an abrupt and disorienting change. you are now sitting on the floor of a grandiose cavern, only you are a child once again. you look up, up, and higher still at a massive creature; your grandfather! with a voice that makes the very mountain shake, he introduces himself to you.

he continues to speak, and as he spews forth his aspirations for his bloodline to thrive with arcane and draconic power, your child-self quickly grows to become the "you" that your character really is... only in the dream sequence, as you grow your skin becomes finely scaled and you feel a sudden surge of arcana in your blood, and you unleash it upon your arrogant grandfather!!!! He is destroyed in the ensuing spell, and you awake with the realization of exactly who you are, and with the utter confidence that your own legacy will be even greater than his...

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
phelanarcetus 06-08-07, 10:49 AM	In an upcoming evil campaign, I'm working on a sorcerer. He's focused heavily on cold-casting, and related to my character from a previous, good, game. A little background from the previous game: Viktor Kerensky was a wizard, who, as it turned out, was the grandson of a very powerful silver dragon. His father was dead already, and towards the end of the campaign, his grandfather, Ivan Kerensky, gave his life to defeat a demonic invasion. In the final adventure, Viktor discovered that he had two cousins, and some more of the family history. Viktor's father Ilya had been killed by his brother Koschei (Viktor's uncle). In the end, Viktor and his party defeated Koschei, and Viktor gave his life to defeat a force of primal chaos. Koschei's daughters Natalia and Elena were the only remaining Kerenskys. Natalia is a low-level priestess of Svarog, the sun god, and Elena a low-level sorceress specializing in transmutation spells. Neither is aware that their father was a half-dragon, or that he was evil. The game is set in the Slavic Lands, so the geography basically matches Russia, as does much of the culture. Ivan's lair was in a particularly tall mountain towards the north of the Ural Mountain range. Natalia and Elena live in a small town in the principality of Chernigov, near the border with the principality of Smolensk. My character, Kirill, is Elena's son, and a sorcerer himself. He becomes aware of his draconic heritage and the fact that it comes from the Kerensky side of the family in an exceptionally vivid dream. Having been caught alone in a blizzard, he passes out from cold and fatigue, and has a powerful dream. Shortly after he wakes up, he begins to manifest his sorcerous powers. The dream itself is what is giving me trouble. The key points that need to be hit are that he has draconic heritage, and that it's from the Kerensky blood. I've been trying to view it as a sort of genetic memory, using great-grandfather Ivan Kerensky as the viewpoint he experiences. What I have so far is below. I'm quite willing to trash it and start over. I've been trying to tell it as he remembers it, in his voice. Finding the character's voice has been one of the problems. He's definitely arrogant, by the time he'd be recounting this he's convinced of the superiority of his destiny and bloodline. Given to grandiose, even theatrical gestures. Little respect for most people, and quite happy to use them up and discard them. But what I remember is the dream. Even as I lost consciousness in the cold, it awakened something else. The Kerensky blood surged to life within me, and carried my mind away. It seemed to me that a mere moment after I ceased to feel the cold wind, and the snow falling on my hair, I felt something different. I blinked, and instead of snow falling in the wood, I saw clear skies over a vast tundra. And I was gliding far above, soaring on powerful beats of my outstretched wings. Of course I was puzzled, but I let go and followed the dream. Soon, my flight took me to a towering mountain, which dwarfed the others in its range. I swept into a great cavern, high on the side of the mountain. And for the first time I could see my dream-self clearly, in a massive sheet of ice. A smooth plate of almost liquid silver, topped by a frill, was my face. A beak-like nose, two horns, and huge teeth. I was a truly massive silver dragon. I lumbered through huge passages until I came upon ones much smaller. And here I felt myself change, contracting, shrinking, transforming. In mere moments I stood upright, and it was obvious that my new form was human. Into the smaller passages, sized for humans, I went. They were strangely familiar, as though I had been there many times before. I checked on... I can't truly say what they were, rooms filled with a swirling vortex of power, with a simple ring hovering in the middle. And shortly, I saw myself in a mirror again. I was indeed human, aged and grey-bearded, but fit and slender. I looked... almost like myself, if older, and... it couldn't be me, not with that ridiculous chin behind the beard. But the eyes were a perfect match. And the nose... perhaps if mine had not been broken twice before. At the sight of my human dream-self, my mind spiraled away from me for a time. I don't know how much I missed before I became aware of the dream again. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.
Kolytszusk 06-08-07, 11:40 AM	Perhaps instead you could have his mother and her sister talking to their father, and then keep going back in time, to them being children, and to their father killing Viktor's father, then to Viktor's father and him being children, then to them being concieved, then to his great-grandfather turning into a dragon and leaving or something?
Terjon of the Blue Rose 06-08-07, 11:25 PM	You said your character, or at least campaign, was going to be evil. This should force some sort of confrontation with the innate good in your bloodline. Tell me a little more about your character and his attitudes and I'll give you a better idea of what I mean.
phelanarcetus 06-11-07, 12:21 PM	Kolytszusk: I think I see where you're going, though I'm not sure that it suits me. That is, accounting for some adjustment for the fact that grandfather left his children when they were very young. Terjon of the Blue Rose: The setting is somewhat modified; so far as I am aware the idea of an alignment inherent to the species is eliminated. That is, "Dragons: color-coded for your convenience" is not a truth in this setting. (As of the end of the previous, exalted campaign, I was only aware of one living dragon, for that matter.) Certainly his grandfather was evil, though great uncle and great great grandfather were good. Any conflict between the character's personality and any goodness innate in his heritage will not likely come up for a little while. However, as regards what I have worked out of his personality: I should first note that the DM has set forth some ground rules. Despite being evil, we're going to be a cohesive party, and there won't be any of the classic evil characters who end the campaign during the first session. No "kill everything I see", no "sure I'm weak, but I'll commit obvious crimes because the DM won't have me arrested and killed", and no "Look, I'm wearing spiked black platemail crusted with dried blood and sound like Darth Vader" either. Also no total loners. So we can have a functional campaign rather than a brief one-shot ending in everyone caught by the good guys or killed by the other party members. Now I haven't fleshed out his personality a great deal yet. I know that he is a very arrogant little sod. This is primarily because he's convinced that his draconic heritage makes him better than other people. Not more good, but more powerful or important, and thus justified in looking down on others as his inferiors. I also know that he's a grandiose, theatrical person. Given the choice between doing something simply and doing the same thing with fanfare, he'll choose the latter. Sweeping gestures, attempts to take center stage. Desire for friendship and popularity, even though he looks down on the people... he wants adoring masses. And he's obsessed with the power of cold and with his draconic heritage.
BroadStreetBully 06-11-07, 02:38 PM	Phen, that's a pretty nice background. you've asked for help with your dream vision, so here's my two cents: starting at the end of what you have written, have your visual perspective make an abrupt and disorienting change. you are now sitting on the floor of a grandiose cavern, only you are a child once again. you look up, up, and higher still at a massive creature; your grandfather! with a voice that makes the very mountain shake, he introduces himself to you. he continues to speak, and as he spews forth his aspirations for his bloodline to thrive with arcane and draconic power, your child-self quickly grows to become the "you" that your character really is... only in the dream sequence, as you grow your skin becomes finely scaled and you feel a sudden surge of arcana in your blood, and you unleash it upon your arrogant grandfather!!!! He is destroyed in the ensuing spell, and you awake with the realization of exactly who you are, and with the utter confidence that your own legacy will be even greater than his...