Calai Redleaf
Hey, if you're still looking for some sketch subjects, here's my old favorite. I might be interested in buying the original sketch and/or ink, depending on how it turns out.
Calai RedLeaf (Caliban) is the last son of a doppelganger family, orphaned when his parents were killed in a fire... that was unintentionally set by him. Nearly killed in the blaze, he was saved when his father - already ablaze himself - threw him from a window to the ground below. Nearly dead from the burns and fall, he was saved and adopted by the clan of flame mages called to extinguish the blaze. They realized he had set the blaze, not with a dropped candle, as all thought, but with the power of his mind. In him, they recognized the potential for power... and for destruction.
Caliban grew up knowing nothing of his origin or race, believing himself to be an elf, as that was the last identity his family had assumed. The terrible events of his youth created a mental wall, which prevented him from accessing his telepathic and morphic powers. He also developed an obsession with fire, and an intense dislike of water.
Rejected by the other elven children for his ugliness and lack of family, Caliban has always felt himself an outsider. A few years after leaving the Flamecraft Academy, drunk on cheap moonshine, he commisioned a tattoo that would mark him on the outside as he felt on the inside. A dragon, talons digging into the flesh of his back, perched on his lower ribs, spreads its wings across his shoulders, as its serpentine neck coils around his to his face, where the head of the dragon shares an eye with its bearer. Interestingly, the tattoo artist he paid to do the work was inept at best, but the tattoo is beautiful - a subconscious product of his latent doppelganger powers.
Typically, he wears no shirt, black leggings with many pockets, a belt with spell component pouches, and in cold weather, a robe the colors of flame. He has no hair, and his eyes are coal black, with the light of flame reflected in them, even when it isn't apparent from where. He is somewhat more muscular than typical of an elven mage, and his pale skin is often somewhat stained with soot. He smells of smoke, and when sitting near a campfire, the smoke is usually drawn in his direction.
He carries the WyrmStave, a staff carved of a single piece of bloodwood, in the shape of a dragon, mouth open, with continual flame jetting from the mouth. He carries as well a Silver Sphere of dimension door, a baseball-sized orb that transports its thrower to the point of its landing (not terribly powerful, but really useful).
In addition to his skill with flames, he is also a master woodcarver and crafter of magic items. The staff is his work, and has the ability to cast most of the usual flame-based spells.
Caliban is well on his way to completing the Elemental Savant prestige class, emphasis fire.
Notable Exploits:
Caliban has recently been an (unwilling) visitor to the City of Pirate's Haven. Used by several bands of pirates, and reachable only by the use of magical astrolabes, this city is located on an island in a bubble in the Elemental Plane of Water.
The city proper is the subject of an epic-level Sanctuary-type spell, which prevents both physical and magical violence to all within the walls. Any who attempt to perform violence within the boundries of the spell are immediately paralyzed. (The city guards carry rings that bypass the spell, and rods of doing lots of subdual damage)
Caliban has begun to worry the guards quite a bit, as being in a city surrounded on all sides by water is beginning to get the best of him. His temprement, never more than dour, has begun to turn downright nasty. In several recent altercations, he has just about gotten a fireball spell through to completion. In fact, the flaming bead has been fully formed at least once between his hands, and required a mage to dispell it before he could be revived.
Caliban has one rank of Swim, courtesy of an elder water elemental and a well-meaning but not-yet-forgiven companion.
Caliban recently discovered his true race, as he was slain by a high-level chain lightning, reverted to his natural state, and was resurrected as such. The resulting emotional turmoil has broken the mental wall, and he is learning of his true heritage and the associated powers. In the midst of an identity crisis, he turned to the elementals who have long been his solace. Unable to understand his upset, they unintentionally offered great wisdom: as beings of essence, they never saw him as an elf, or as a man, or a doppelganger - they saw him as the distillation of his power and person, and this hasn't changed.
He is now debating about which path to follow: the path of the flame mage, leading to elemental perfection, or the path of his ancestors, leading to great psionic power. He still prefers his elven form, and is uncomfortable assuming other roles.
Thanks!
jtb
