Can you help me twist my characters backround into an even more helpless tangle?

[MoriaCatlinChattal]

I randomly roled this in the Hero Builders Guide Book and gave it a few tweaks: The ancient family of the Saskiir are located in the arctic marsh of Muriir, where they rule a small elven kingdom. They are well known for thier outstanding military and magical skills, but are also lawful evil [and it's not that hard to guess.] They are commonly known to practice black magic and worship the chaotic evl deity Lolth. Often family members disapear and it is assumed they are sacrificed. The Saskiirs are treated with fear and contempt, and every member is assumed to be disreputable. Mirdvar, a fifteen year old girl born into the house of Saskiir, who prefers to be called Mira, is in a tight place. She is a Lawful good cleric of Bahamut, who only wants to be closer to her god. Her male dominated family has slowly killed off anyone important to Mira. Her parents, grandparents and one good friend have all disappeard in the space of a year. Stuck in a family of otherworldy god-touched raving cultists, she doesn't know where to turn next. Now, while her insane identical twin goes and wreaks havoc in neighboring kingdoms, Mira falls helplessly in love with her lawful evil cousin.

Do you know of anything else to twist this up even more?

 

[Parlan]

First of all, slight inconsistancy: a LE family worships a CE diety? Seems a little odd...

Second, how much drama do you want in a backgrond? Don't you want some space for your adventures to develop/determine your character's lifestory?

 

[MoriaCatlinChattal]

thanks

 

[MoriaCatlinChattal]

I'm trying to make it as weird as I can get it! Any other ideas?

 

[poilbrun]

I'm trying to make it as weird as I can get it! Any other ideas?

To twist it a bit more, try to explain why she became a cleric of a LG deity in such an environment, and the relations she had with her mentor... It could be fun to explain how a LG cleric of a dragon deity ended teaching the way of his god to an Elf that lives in a LE community...

 

[iblis]

not sure...

...but I'll give it a go.

Some things that may well tangle a 15-year-old character's life a bit more : addiction (and that's fairly broad, especially in a fantasy setting), chronic recurring illness, disability, loss of a limb or organ, torture, death (and return!), mutation, doomed and/or arranged marriage / other relationship, pregnancy, betrayal by those trusted (maybe the priest(ess) tutor?), events that create disillusion, events that inspire long-lasting and stubborn illusions, rash and foolish decisions leading to rash and foolish actions leading to unforeseen consequences (perhaps due to overestimating one's own strengths, for example), weakness of will (leading to being easily swayed by whoever and whatever), insanity (particularly with a lack of awareness of such), misplaced faith, the lacking of a truly true faith while tragically defending the belief in one to the nth degree, having youth's dreams shattered, losing all hope in a life where it still exists, maintaining hope in a life where it does not, irrational fear of a given thing, irrational hatred of a given thing, mindless but undeniable attraction to a given thing, an embarrassing trait, a humiliating experience or condition, a loss of face, identity crisis, internal denial, verbal denial, being considered 'property' and treated as such, being sold / traded, having this happen to a loved one, being under some magical / genetic / social / psychological sway towards acting evilly - or perhaps just nurturing evil thoughts / wishes, being deserted by one's deity...

If none of that is even close to helpful, my apologies. Simply stuff off the top of my head, so it's probably mainly junk, I know.

Still, best of luck, and I hope others can be of more focussed help.

 

[Piratecat]

This is kind of a cool background.

The part you really need to explain is how she's worshipping Bahumut. Perhaps underneath the swamp is chained an ancient, withered, dying gold dragon? The family has had it chained there for centuries and it is far too weak to move (they bleed it daily for spell components.) She sneaks in occasionally, late at night, and it preaches to her.

 

[MoriaCatlinChattal]

Those are some good ideas! I'll work on adding them in. In the mean time, any more?

 

[MoriaCatlinChattal]

ANYONE?