Liiros Tivaniel, Elven Crusader
Squire Liiros Tivaniel, Male Elf Crusader 5, XP 10,000
Lightly-Tanned Skin, Shoulder-Length Black Hair, Bright Green Eyes
Age 124, Height 4'-10", Weight 102 lbs., Medium-size
Alignment: Chaotic Good, Patron Deity: Corellon Larethian
Languages: Common, Elven, Gnome, and Sylvan
Str 15, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 14, Wis 10, Cha 14
HP 39, Nonlethal 0, AC 19, Touch 11, Flat-Footed 18
Fortitude +5, Reflex +2, Will +3, Speed 30/20 ft. (run x3)
BAB +5, Grapple +7, Melee +7, Ranged +6, Initiative +1
Attacks:
Anyariel's Wooden Longsword +7 melee for 1d8+2 slashing (19-20/x2)
MW Longsword +8 melee for 1d8+2 slashing (19-20/x2)
Heavy Shield Bash +7 melee for 1d4+1 bludgeoning (20/x2)
Silvered Short Sword +7 melee for 1d6+1 piercing (19-20/x2)
Strange Old Greatsword +7 melee for 2d6+3 slashing (19-20/x2)
Dagger +7 melee or +6 ranged for 1d4+2 piercing/slashing (19-20/x2, 10 ft. increment)
Composite Longbow +6 ranged for 1d8+2 piercing (20/x3, 110 ft. increment)
Feats:
Extra Granted Maneuver, Vital Recovery (8 HP)
Skills:
Balance -1 (6 R, +1 Dex, -8 ACP), Concentration +3 (2 R, +1 Con), Craft (Painting) +3 (1 R, +2 Int), Diplomacy +10 (8 R, +2 Cha), Heal +1 (1 ccR, +0 Wis), Intimidate +6 (4 R, +2 Cha), Jump -5 (1 R, +2 Str, -8 ACP), Knowledge (History) +5 (3 R, +2 Int), Knowledge (Nobility & Royalty) +3 (1 ccR, +2 Int), Knowledge (Religion) +6 (4 R, +2 Int), Martial Lore +4 (2 R, +2 Int), Perform (Dance) +3 (1 ccR, +2 Cha), Perform (Singing) +3 (1 ccR, +2 Cha), Ride +2 (1 R, +1 Dex), Survival +1 (1 ccR, +0 Wis), Swim -11 (3 ccR, +2 Str, -16 ACP)
Class Features:
Crusader Proficiencies (as per fighter), Furious Counterstrike (1-9: +1; 10-14: +2), Steely Resolve 10, Indomitable Soul, Zealous Surge 1/day
Crusader Blade Magic:
Initiator Level: 5
Maneuvers Readied/Granted: 5/3
Stances Known: Iron Guard's Glare, Martial Spirit
Maneuvers Known: Crusader's Strike, Charging Minotaur, Stone Bones, Leading the Attack, Shield Block, Mountain Hammer, Bonecrusher
Active Stance: Martial Spirit
Ready Maneuvers: Bonecrusher (1), Crusader's Strike (2), Mountain Hammer (3), Shield Block (4), Stone Bones (5)
* Maneuvers are numbered alphabetically for rolling granted inspiration
Racial Traits:
+2 Dexterity, -2 Constitution, Medium Humanoid (Elf), Speed 30 ft., Low-Light Vision, trances 4 hours a day instead of sleeping 8 hours, immune to magical sleep effects, +2 on saves against Enchantment effects, proficient in longswords and rapiers, proficient in longbows and shortbows, +2 Listen, +2 Search, +2 Spot, auto-Search check for secret or concealed doors within 5 feet, favored class: Wizard
Possessions:
Anyariel's Wooden Longsword (? gp, ? lbs., one-handed melee), Masterwork Longsword (315 gp, 4 lbs., one-handed melee), Silvered Short Sword (30+ gp, 2 lbs., light melee), Heavy Greatsword (50+ gp, 8+ pounds, two-handed melee, retrieved from the shrinelike or holiday-site just south of Gate Pass, heavier than normal, old and primitive-looking, with an unadorned crossguard and many nicks from years of use), Dagger (2 gp, 1 lb., light melee/thrown), Composite Longbow (300 gp, 3 lbs., ranged projectile), 39 Arrows (2 gp, 6 lbs.), Heavy Wooden Shield (7 gp, 10 lbs., +2 AC, -2 ACP, 15% ASF), Banded Mail Armor (250 gp, 35 lbs., heavy, 20 ft. speed, x3 run, +6 AC, +1 MDB, -6 ACP, 35% ASF), Traveler's Outfit (free, worn), Mythic Shroud (??? gp, ??? pounds, retrieved from the shrinelike or holiday-site just south of Gate Pass, seems to give possessor greater understanding of their faith and the possessor may be able to focus energy from it into a weapon when the shroud glows, currently carried by Torrent however), Backpack (2 gp, 2 lbs.), Belt Pouch (1 gp, 1/2 lb.), Wooden Holy Symbol (1 gp, 0 lbs.), Bedroll (1 sp, 5 lbs.), Flint and Steel (1 gp, 0 lbs.), 4 Trail Rations (2 gp, 4 lbs.), 4 Waterskins (4 gp, 16 lbs.), Sour Lake Swamp Map (5 gp, 0 lbs., given to Hollister), Oar (5 gp, ? lbs., in boat), Rowboat (40 gp + others' contribution, ? lbs.), 5 Silver Pearls (100 gp each), 5 Amethysts (100 gp each), 5 Red Garnets (100 gp each), 81 pp, 12 gp, 8 sp, 10 cp
Load 98 lbs., Light 0-66, Medium 67-133, Heavy 134-200
Appearance:
Liiros is a noble-looking elven man just under five feet tall, with lightly-tanned skin, shoulder-length straight black hair, and bright green eyes that gleam with intelligence and mirth. His face is often lit by a handsome smile, and his demeanor is always friendly until a fight breaks out, at which point he goes into a fury. Liiros wears heavy banded mail armor, lacking some of his kind's usual grace, half-covered by a white and red tabard bearing the cross and feathers of his order, the Knighthood of the Aquilline Cross. The armor includes steel boots, gauntlets, and helm. The helm is a fancy elven design with three fluted horns curving back and ending in a few colorful feathers, with small diagonal earslits on the sides, and his face partly exposed by a T-shaped slit over the eyes, nose, and middle of the mouth.
A wooden kite shield painted with the crescent-moon emblem of Corellon Larethian is usually strapped to his left arm, showing his faith to the elven god. He fights with Corellon's favored weapon, the longsword, sheathed in a black scabbard at his right hip when not in use, and a composite longbow hangs over his left shoulder, its quiver hanging behind the right. A dagger is sheathed at his left hip, and a belt pouch hangs behind it. He wears a small backpack as well, lightly packed, and wears simple elven traveling clothes beneath his armor, brown trousers and a forest-green tunic. A dark brown, hooded cloak and soft shoes are carried in his pack for the occasions where he goes unarmored. When his forehead is not covered by the helm, a silvery tattoo there shows the crescent of Corellon. The elven god's emblem also adorns Liiros' scabbard and quiver.
At present, a short sword is also sheathed at his belt and an old, crude greatsword is sheathed in crude leather strips at his back. Likewise, a wooden sword is carried in his belt behind the elf's longsword, but without a proper sheath as of yet.
Background:
Liiros Tivaniel hails from Shahalesti, the Shining Land of the elves, and grew up in the capitol of Calanis, thanks to his noble blood. The Tivaniel family is of only minor significance among Shahalesti's aristocracy, claiming no particular city as its own, but the House of Tivaniel lives in Calanis and a few other cities where larger Houses are dominant but friendly with their lessers in Tivaniel, such as Raavias and Neriios. They are a family of artisans, musicians, and rangers in the case of the more aggressive Tivaniel men.
Liiros himself spent parts of his childhood and much of his early adulthood among the forests around Calanis, learning to love nature and the freedom of open wilderness, so different from the confines both physical and social in Calanis. He was devoted to Corellon Larethian and perhaps honored him more than the average elf by living more in the style Corellon encouraged, unlike the more rigid, arrogant, and selfish aristocrats that surrounded him in much of Calanis. His family's habit of traveling between the cities wherein their relatives dwelt, often lingering for months in the wilderness on holiday along the way, left Liiros a bit more humbled by nature and appreciative of it than the city-elves, while exposing him to more of what goes on outside the big cities.
Liiros was also taught a bit of art, music, and dance, while choosing from an early age to train in combat and warfare, fueled by a desire to protect the beautiful and peaceful elven lands, after witnessing some orcish and goblinoid raids on woodland villages in his early childhood. He thought it was only fitting that an elf train in the sword and bow primarily, finding it odd when he saw other elves training as much with spears, axes, hammers and flails. However, with his tendency to stumble sometimes during sword practice, and his slight inaccuracy during archery practice, Liiros eventually took up training in the use of armor and shields, not quite as traditional, because he knew he didn't have the agility and finesse that other elves so easily demonstrated. He needed to survive his first real battle, and those that followed, if he was ever going to protect anything.
By the time he was fully matured, over a century since he first learned to speak, Liiros had realized his life's calling, as Corellon Larethian appeared to him in his nightly trances, and told him of elvenkind's glories, though he forgot much of it whenever he stirred from the trance; was left with the sense that Corellon had plans for him, wanted him to act, perhaps in the manner of what the elves of old had done in Corellon's stories. Thereafter, whenever Liiros entered battle, whether it was a sparring match or a true fight against the ravages of orcs, gnolls, goblins, or human bandits, Liiros felt a flash of inspiration from those half-forgotten stories, and was able to remember the techniques of those great elven heroes with such clarity that he could duplicate them perfectly. Yet those memories would fade back into his subconscious in moments, as fleeting as the breeze.
Corellon was not the first to contact Liiros in his trances, however. Ever since his first time picking up a practice sword and training as a child, since his naive childhood claim that he'd become a great hero and protect the woods and everyone in Shahalesti from nasty orcs and gnolls and other meanies......Liiros began seeing a stranger during his trances. Even as he reflected on recent events to keep them in his mind forever, considering his words and actions each day, Liiros saw an elf he couldn't identify in each of those memories. The stranger was a kindly-looking elf in nice leather armor and simple clothes, a blue mantle on his shoulders and a fancy sword at his hip, almost like a great-grandfather that he'd just somehow forgotten, watching over him, encouraging him.
It was so strange, that he often asked his mother, Yaliina Tivaniel, about this elf and why he never noticed him around during the day, and why nobody ever introduced him or talked with him, why they ignored him all the time. His mother fretted that the poor child must be mentally unstable, unhinged from the reality around him, and always tried to hide her son's mental malady from others. It wasn't until Liiros started using crusader techniques and described his dreams of the Protector and Preserver of Elves, Corellon Larethian, that she finally found relief from her worries. She told him that the strange elf he had seen for decades before must've just been Corellon, subtly nudging him towards his current path, until he was worthy of seeing the true form of the Ruler of All Elves in his trance, worthy of being chosen by the elven god. Yet she thought he must have just been slightly worthy, since he received no divine magic, just some kind of divine insight from Corellon. Still, her motherly concerns were assuaged.
It would not be until many years later that Liiros would discover the truth of his frequent trance-visions of the strange elf, which were even more perplexing when they continued well after his occasional visions of Corellon, and only on nights when Corellon did not visit his trance.......
Regardless, a few years after his crusader awakening, when Liiros had blooded himself against several foes of Shahalesti's common people in the wilderness and on the streets of Calanis, that he was inspired to leave Calanis behind and travel. Since he was no cleric, and Corellon seemed not to object, Liiros joined a branch of the Knights of the Aquilline Cross in Shahalesti, finding himself in disagreement with how the elven military was being used in recent decades and believing that the Knights had the better way. Corellon's priests had not lead Shahalesti down the right path yet, so Liiros followed his own path to find it, starting with the Knights of the Aquilline Cross. There was much to be learned, he considered, from this far-reaching order of just and active warriors, serving the immediate needs of the people rather than the political machinations of one monarch or another.
A few years after becoming a Squire in the Aquilline Cross, Liiros Tivaniel set out for Gate Pass with a few other Knights to see if more could be learned about what was going on in Ragesia now, if the Ragesian emperor was truly dead, and if war was really going to break out..... Liiros is hopeful that it is just baseless rumor and that Shahalesti won't really go to war. Ragesia was vast and powerful; a war with it would only cost the lives of many Shahalesti elves, humans, and other folk, even if Shahalesti somehow won. The forests could burn under Ragesian invasion, and all that destruction couldn't be Corellon's will, could it...........?