How are they born? Do genasi give birth to other genasi, or are they human children that express the traits of their elemental ancestor? What is their culture like, if they have one? Do they live together, or are they just scattered randomly among human communities?
If you happen to have any great backstory ideas for a genasi swordmage from Aglarond, feel free to share them.
Absent that book, we can only do our best with what we have.
OK, the FR Campaign Guide mentions that the land of Akanûl lay just south of Aglarond. Akanûl is a land of genasi.
It goes on to say the Abolethic Sovereignty destroyed and depopulated by the genasi’s city of Brassune. This forced many genasi to flee south, away from the northern part of Akanûl and to the southeast of their land.
It follows that those Genasi sailing the waters of the Sea of Fallen Stars when the Aboleths attacked might have been forced to seek safe haven in nearby lands. The nearest safe coast lay less than one hundred miles to the north, along Aglarond’s southern border.
No doubt the southern Aglarondan city of Delthuntle became host to many genasi refugees. Mayhap this is how your character (or your character’s parents) came to Aglarond, and thus your character calls it home.
What is the Aboleth Sovereignty, why did it destroy Brassune, and what state is in now? What does an Aboleth look like?
What are the FR elves like? What is Delthuntle, and Aglarond as a whole, like? What kind of society was it? What social pressures are present?
What are the FR elves like?
-Information on the Elves of Faerûn can be found in the aptly named Elves of Faerûn.
-Information on the Elves of Faerûn can be found in the aptly named Elves of Faerûn.
whats that?
-Information on the Elves of Faerûn can be found in the aptly named Elves of Faerûn.
I am beginning to think LK has several accounts just so he can ask questions that allow him to mention Elves of Faerun. :D:P
I am beginning to think LK has several accounts just so he can ask questions that allow him to mention Elves of Faerun. :D:P
Now that you mention it, I have seen Lord Karsus and Mr Miscellany in the same room at the same time.....hmmmmmmmmmmm..............
I am beginning to think LK has several accounts just so he can ask questions that allow him to mention Elves of Faerun. :D:P
-Nope. That'd produce posts that aren't credited to me. I want all of my posts credited to me.
Now that you mention it, I have seen Lord Karsus and Mr Miscellany in the same room at the same time.....hmmmmmmmmmmm..............
-I'm not getting what you are insinuating.
The Abolethic Sovereignty is based around the moving, glyph-covered citadel Xxiphu, itself a place that can change its location seemingly at will. Immortal Aboleths roused from long sleep flock to it with their servitors to recuperate. Within are other Aboleths of massive size and ancient lineage, perhaps as old as the Sea of Fallen Stars itself (at least 33,000 years).
It’s unclear why unfettered Kraken in service to the Abolethic Sovereignty (the unfettered are servants that can breathe air and fly as well as swim; they include, but are not limited to, Krakens, Morkoths and Kuo-Toas) destroyed Brassune, but the net affect was to push the Genasi population to the south, where they founded a new capital, Airspur.
Brassune still lay in ruins, though the Brassune Safehold exists along the outskirts. This place is a safe house of sorts for the Firestorm Cabal, which is a group of disaffected Genasi who “hold the queen and the four Stewards in comtempt for their failure to adequately secure the kingdom’s borders,” (FRCG, page 90) against the Aboleths and even the Dragonborn of Tymanther.
Here is an Aboleth picture.
Here is another picture from the 3E Monster Manual.
I hope this helps to get you started!
:D
-I'm not getting what you are insinuating.
that you are one and the same
Ya know, like Clark Kent and Superman
that you are one and the same
Ya know, like Clark Kent and Superman
-Certainly not, no.
I've just gotten into D&D with the release of 4e. I'm going to play in a FR game online, and I plan on playing a Genasi Swordmage. I want a decent background, though, and I think I could write a much better one with more information on the Genasi.
How are they born? Do genasi give birth to other genasi, or are they human children that express the traits of their elemental ancestor? What is their culture like, if they have one? Do they live together, or are they just scattered randomly among human communities?
If you happen to have any great backstory ideas for a genasi swordmage from Aglarond, feel free to share them.
In the old days, genasi were unusual births to human parents resulting from long-dormant bloodlines that traced back to elemental creatures (not actual elementals, but creatures from the elemental planes, or deities or their agents that had elemental focuses. They didn't have to be; I heard a great back story about an earth genasi who was once a human warrior who survived being buried alive.
They were very rare, and scattered around the world, though some lands were more likely to produce them: fire and air in Calimshan from genie influences; earth in Mulhorand from the god Geb (or possibly Set in his desert role), and possibly the North due to portals in the Spine of the World; fire in Unther, Chult and the lake of Steal from portals in the volcano regions; and water in Chessenta, Aglarond, Dragon Coast, Sembia and the Vilhon Reach, due to creatures of the Sea Of Fallen Stars mingling with humans in the coastal lands.
Your Aglarondan Genasi is likely to be Water, but anything's possible (yeah, yeah, 4th edition now, but it's still possible). I imagine such a character would grow up on the coast, in a port city, and go to sea to become a sailor, fisherman/woman or pirate as soon as they old enough.
Genasi rarely got together in their own societies, even when they did meet up. It's generally said that they're too proud, aloof and independent to really bother. Their culture is usually from where they grew up. Otherwise, their personalities really depend on what type of element they derive from (obviously similar to that element).
Races Of Faerun is the best source on the Genasi, albeit from a 3.x edition, circa 1372 perspective.
(My earth genasi fighter is a rock-solid bodyguard slave-warrior of Mulhorand, devout and honourable, though his heritage may derive from Geb or Set. I have an NPC who is a water genasi ship's captain who seeks to sail every sea of Faerun, and has been everything from sailor, castaway, pirate and cargo transporter.)
(My earth genasi fighter is a rock-solid bodyguard...)
-Ouch...
-I know in the Calimshan write up it mentions that there was alot more Genasi in the region than people knew or expected. When the 2nd Era of Skyfire started they went to work on both sides of the conflict.
18DELTA :D
Is that good and workable? Obviously that's not thorough, he'd have a few quirks, and a childhood full of terrible stories about the Aboleth, but none of that's particularly pertinent.
Thank you all very much for your help. This is much better than the vague thing I might have concocted on my own.
Earth Genasi tend to be quiet, strong types, dependable, reliable, proud and honourable, etc. You get the picture. I found my own earth genasi a little dull for these qualities, but YMMV. Alternatively, be a desert-themed earth genasi, hot and restless, ever-shifting and slippery.
Perhaps things might change depending on your environment, based on local earth elements. Be smooth and polished within a city, and rugged and windswept in the wilderness.
Take powers to emphasize your element, like you kick sand in an enemy's face, smash them like a boulder, crash down atop of them like an avalanche, and so on.
Maybe he doesn't know how to swim, and hates travelling by sea. And he never takes a bath.
Is that good and workable?
-Yes, it works.