I'm very interested in building up one of the extant NPC's, namely Ashlyn. Just one question - Do I have free reign in designing Ashlyn's background as long as I maintain the details already mentioned in the thread?
Ashlyn Alsedora Dorandanna (Paladin 6) A Cyran champion of Dol Arah and devotee of the Lightbringers. A martially minded and direct hunter for the dead, she fights tenaciously the unending fight. In Barovia for unknown purpose.
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Appearance
Ashlyn is a short woman with a wiry strength and resilience. Her blond hair, cropped short, frames a beautiful visage, her unblemished features a stark relief to her martial garb and demeanor. Her intense green eyes gaze out, unblinking, and unflinching. Hardship and horrors have tempered her in untold conflicts and she is a hard woman, as hard as the blade she wields. Her garb is simple and practical, a blouse and trousers, covered by shining plate over which is worn an exquisite purple cloak. A shield hangs from her back, and a sword is sheathed by her side.
Background
Born during the nigh constant conflict of the Last War, Ashlyn is well used to battle. The ancestral lands of her mother's family lands lie to the northwest of what was once Metrol, along the west bank of the Cyre river, yet she has never lived there. Their home the site of neverending battles against the undead forces of Karrnath, Ashlyn and her mother sought refuge in the Metropolis of Metrol. Her father, a true magewright and master craftsman, took up the mantle of war, unsuited for it though he was, and rode against the undead legions. Ashlyn does not know what became of him, but it is thought that he fell in combat for he never returned to his wife and daughter. After many long, cold, and dreary months waiting for her fathers return, Ashlyn's mother, tired, worn and sick of the war, took her daughter away, accross Lake Cyre into the north of Valenar. There they made their way to a nearby town and sought refuge within an old temple to the Host. Only a few short months later came the Day of Mourning.
The catalysm, that shook all of Khorvaire and destroyed Cyre, affected the survivors in different ways, ... some lost the will to continue and found an end of one sort or another, ... some began to wander, sometimes stopping in one place or another, but never truly settling down, ... some used the destruction of their homeland as their fire to continue, ... some denied it, ... and some few simply got on with life. Ashlyn was one of the later. Having lived with the constant reality of war her entire life, she was well familiar with the concepts of loss and survival, and now, as before, the practicality of survival overode the loss and she perservered.
Perserverence took Ashlyn down the path of a paladin over the following years, perserverence and devotion. Devotion to certain ideals that she holds self-evident, and devotion to the divine embodiment of those ideals, Dol Arrah. It was, however, her memory of the undead legions of Karrnath that led her to the lightbringers. Perserverence and implacable resolve, virtue and flaw. The mix is deadly.
The last few years have been filled with battle, constant and unending battle. No matter how many of the undead fall before her, no matter how many friends and comrades fall, Ashlyn continues on.
Primary role/Distinguishing abilities
Primary melee combatant/Alternate healer.
With the Sacred healing feat, Ashlyn can expend a turn attempt to give every living creature within 60ft, fast healing 3 for several rounds.
(This should initially equate to a total of 105pts of healing per day to every living creature within 60ft)
Quirks
Ashlyn embodies many of the traits that exemplify Dol Arrah. In particular she has a unyielding sense of honor and believes strongly in honorable combat and self sacrifice. However her youthful naiveity has been wiped away long ago, and she does not expect to see such honor in others. On the rare occasions that another displays such, she shows her respect by falling back on the formal forms that she learnt during her training. Spiritually tired, yet refusing to fall or stop, Ashlyn is emminently practical and has relatively little time for niceities or feelings including her own. Ironically she is often viewed as cold or callous by others, yet it is her need to protect the living that drives her. She is a careful planner and strategist although her hated of the undead occasionally clouds her judgement.
