Post/Author/DateTime	Post
pmurray@bigpond.com 05-17-06, 08:52 PM	"From all across Khorvaire the various folk travel to Solitude, this once remote village in the heart of Breland is now a lodestone attracting all types, from farmers and merchants to treasure hunters and mercenaries. The discovery of Darkhold's riches and the tale's of battle have spread across the land. New names of legend are now spoken with reverent tones in the taverns and inns in great cities like Sharn and Wroat. And now you find yourself following the other pilgrims on the very same path that those heroes took to find adventure in the town called Solitude." So for this new group, I am looking a building a Swashbuckler and developing him into a Dervish. The DM wants a character background, and will use that background to dole out some bonus skill points. Not to be sneezed at. I'm hoping to build something that emphasises acrobatics - "Tumble" is a great skill for lightly-armoured mele fighters. I've gotten as far as the name "Barak", which is "the lightning" in arabic (actually, it's "Borak", but dammit I am not using that as a character name in the group I play with). How is an arabic desert human kinda guy going to wind up in Breeland? Particularly one that wants to be a dervish when he grows up? How come he as spent is time being acrobatic? Ran off to join the circus? Rejected from the dervish monastery for misconduct. Or ... heresy? There's a thought. He could secretly be a devotee of Ao the one, and the desert gods who sponsor the dervishes won't have him. Or I could leverage this other background I wrote. A street kid who grew up among thieves (leaping from building to building etc), became an urban swashbucker ... but secretly has a passion for all things deserty and dervishy as a result of reading "1001 nights". Or .. I could ditch the deserty bit and just treat dervish as this street person who's a good dancer (no other way for a poor kid to get chicks), who later begins to incorporate dance moves into his fighting style. Bleh. Brings a new slant to "murder on the dancefloor". Disco Stu with a scimitar. I could make him a chick, I suppose, but I'd brefer not to. Anyway, I'm kind of flailing around for ideas.
pmurray@bigpond.com 05-18-06, 01:19 AM	So I have gone with: "The boy's name Barak is pronounced bar-AHK. It is of Arabic origin, and its meaning is "the lightning." According to legend, Al Barak was the name of the magical horse that bore Mohammed from earth to the seventh heaven." His friends sometimes call him "flash". His enemies call him "*****son", or "bastard", and occasionally "aaarrgh!", or "gulk!". If anyone calls him "BAR-ak", he is usually quick to correct them. Mum was a working girl, dad was one of her customers. In appearance, he takes after his dad, who was probably some kind of camel salesman. He is basically arabic looking, a gold tooth (upper left canine), ponytail, black leather (a little shabby at 1st level), a bandoleer of throwing daggers of assorted origin, and a scimitar. Barak grew up on the streets and fell in among thieves early. He spent his early years running over rooftops with his gang, leaping from roof to roof, balancing on precarious and rickety structures, and dodging around the town guard (and everyone else. Generally living up to his name, in other words. Although he had the ability to be a fine burglar, he never really had the talent for it. He has picked up a couple of scraps of information: where people tend to hide their valuables, the little tell-tales that indicate traps, and perhaps how to jam the simpler kinds. But that's mainly a result of hanging around others who are better at it than he will ever be. His main job in the gang has always been fighting. Whether in a bar or an alley, on the street or on a rooftop, he is always ready to toss a dagger and then draw his scimitar. His fighting style is flashy, flamboyant – all leaps and dodges and swinging off chandeliers (when available). Lately, he has become interested in the "Dervish" fighting style, following an exhibition performance by a troupe of Phiarlan entertainers. Having always had nimble feet and smoove moves on the dancefloor (or the campaign equivalent thereof: the only way a poor boy can get laid, it seems), the idea appealed to him both because it suits his abilities and because of his own pride in his heritage – illegitimate as it may be. Just a few weeks ago, he got involved in a bit of nastiness which shall remain undescribed, and has had to get out of town having never ventured beyond its walls in his whole life. Looking for a place to lay low, and with pretty much no skill whatever in living off the land, a town named "Solitude" seemed like a good bet. Maybe there'll be some work going in the city. But on the other hand, travelling across the land, getting out of the city for the first time ever has given him a taste for adventure, a sense that there are possibilities that he never even considered. He may not know it, but adventure is beconing him.