mgbeach
Explorer
In working on a character's backstory, I came up with an idea I wanted to run by y'all and maybe get some feedback on to try and polish it up.
Here's the character, named Isegrim Valko..
Isegrim is a large man, standing 6’4” tall and weighing in at about 250lbs. Thick black hair covers most of his body, and he has a veritable mane of the same cascading to his shoulders. He has striking amber eyes.
Isegrim was born along with his twin sister Reyna near the town of Wolf's Ear. Their father was never in the picture, having been a mercenary soldier who had a brief, steamy affair with their mother and then moved along, never even knowing she had gotten with child. Their mother fell ill when they were 15 years old and passed away the next spring.
Several years ago on the twins’ 20th birthday Isegrim returned home by the light of a full moon after a long day of hunting, a prize stag slung across his shoulders. He had always been an uncannily good hunter.
From his right he caught a blur of movement - a flash of red eyes and white teeth as a heavy, snarling weight bowled him over.
The stag dropped to the ground and Isegrim got to his feet, facing his attacker. It was a large and vicious wolf, all of its fury focused on him. They circled one another several times, each looking for an opening. The wolf suddenly charged, leaping towards Isegrim. He fell to his back and kicked up with his feet, using the beast’s own momentum against it. The snapping jaws closed inches in front of Isegrim’s face and its claws raked deep furrows along his left jawline as the wolf went flipping over him.
There was a snapping sound and a piercing yelp; as Isegrim got to his feet and turned he saw the beast impaled upon the dead stag’s rack of wicked antlers.
His relief at his own luck quickly turned to horror; as he watched, the wolf changed forms into his beloved sister Reyna. The red eyes softened to familiar amber ones from which a tear rolled down her alabaster cheek. With her last breath she said, "I'm so sorry...I... I couldn't control it."
Isegrim fell to his knees, futilely trying to make sense of what had just happened. He looked up to the full moon and let out a primal, howling scream. Tears and blood flowed down his face and mingled with Reyna's on the floor.
The next day he buried her next to their mother on a nearby hill covered in aspen trees. He clumsily did his best to sew up his face, but he would forever bear the scars of that night...in more ways than one.
Isegrim gathered his belongings with a grim determination. He knew he wouldn't be returning, and so anything he couldn't carry he'd have to either sell or trade away. His gaze drifted above the mantle and to the weapon that had hung there his entire life.
It was the family's Raven Blade, and had been in the Valkos' possession for generations. For reasons no longer fully understood, all of the area's oldest families had a bladed weapon of similar make and design.
Most families had a shortsword, longsword or dagger, but the Valko Raven Blade was a massive two-handed greatsword. It was a beautiful weapon, with a pommel in the shape of two facing ravens and a cross-guard depicting two jet-black raven wings. The leather of the grip was also black and tooled to resemble layered feathers.
IDEAS ABOUT THE VALKOS AND THE ORIGIN OF THE RAVEN BLADES
Ok, so this is where I need some ideas to really bring it all together into something truly cool (obviously, any and all cool ideas are welcome.. even if they change up some of the backstory above). Thanks in advance!
When looking over the map of Golarion I saw the town of Wolf's Ear marked and I loved the idea of a settlement of lycanthropes. I started thinking about the idea of these werewolves and whatnot having families.
As for Isegrim.. I see him as a carrier of the disease. So, maybe he's just a very good hunter, has a deep need to be a part of a pack (ie, adventuring group), has vaguely lupine features (amber eyes that flash in the firelight occasionally, dark hair all over, slightly more pronounced canine teeth), and anything else y'all think might be cool
So, if we make a quick foray into genetics..I'm thinking his mother passed the recessive gene on to he and his sister and his unknown mercenary father gave Reyna a matching recessive (making her a natural werewolf) but did not pass that gene to Isegrim.
The Raven Blades themselves came to me as an idea after watching a National Geographic special on wolves and how they have this weird relationship with ravens, almost playful at times.. It's speculated that the ravens circle above wounded animals/easy kills to alert "their" pack.
In Norse mythology, Odin's two ravens (Hugin and Munin) go out and fly all over the world gathering news for the god from both the living and the dead. He is also accompanied by two wolves (Freki and Geri). Those ideas probably arose from similar observations of ravens and wolves.
Here's a neat page on raven myth
Maybe the Raven Blades came about as a symbol linking a carrier family to a particular pack of werewolves. In a time long ago, it might have even been that these families fought alongside the lycanthropes to defend the area against a common enemy (invading Drow or something?) and were awarded the blades to mark them as auxiliary pack members (ie, the pack's "ravens")
A final thing is that obviously after all that it wouldn't do to toss the Raven Blade aside as soon as the first +1 greatsword popped up in a treasure pile. So, I was thinking that over time it might have properties that reveal themselves. I'd love any thoughts on how that might work and what those properties might be.
Thanks again for reading through all that, and I apologize if it was rambling on. And thanks in advance for all your awesome ideas that I know are forthcoming!
Here's the character, named Isegrim Valko..
BACKSTORY
Isegrim is a large man, standing 6’4” tall and weighing in at about 250lbs. Thick black hair covers most of his body, and he has a veritable mane of the same cascading to his shoulders. He has striking amber eyes.
Isegrim was born along with his twin sister Reyna near the town of Wolf's Ear. Their father was never in the picture, having been a mercenary soldier who had a brief, steamy affair with their mother and then moved along, never even knowing she had gotten with child. Their mother fell ill when they were 15 years old and passed away the next spring.
Several years ago on the twins’ 20th birthday Isegrim returned home by the light of a full moon after a long day of hunting, a prize stag slung across his shoulders. He had always been an uncannily good hunter.
From his right he caught a blur of movement - a flash of red eyes and white teeth as a heavy, snarling weight bowled him over.
The stag dropped to the ground and Isegrim got to his feet, facing his attacker. It was a large and vicious wolf, all of its fury focused on him. They circled one another several times, each looking for an opening. The wolf suddenly charged, leaping towards Isegrim. He fell to his back and kicked up with his feet, using the beast’s own momentum against it. The snapping jaws closed inches in front of Isegrim’s face and its claws raked deep furrows along his left jawline as the wolf went flipping over him.
There was a snapping sound and a piercing yelp; as Isegrim got to his feet and turned he saw the beast impaled upon the dead stag’s rack of wicked antlers.
His relief at his own luck quickly turned to horror; as he watched, the wolf changed forms into his beloved sister Reyna. The red eyes softened to familiar amber ones from which a tear rolled down her alabaster cheek. With her last breath she said, "I'm so sorry...I... I couldn't control it."
Isegrim fell to his knees, futilely trying to make sense of what had just happened. He looked up to the full moon and let out a primal, howling scream. Tears and blood flowed down his face and mingled with Reyna's on the floor.
The next day he buried her next to their mother on a nearby hill covered in aspen trees. He clumsily did his best to sew up his face, but he would forever bear the scars of that night...in more ways than one.
Isegrim gathered his belongings with a grim determination. He knew he wouldn't be returning, and so anything he couldn't carry he'd have to either sell or trade away. His gaze drifted above the mantle and to the weapon that had hung there his entire life.
It was the family's Raven Blade, and had been in the Valkos' possession for generations. For reasons no longer fully understood, all of the area's oldest families had a bladed weapon of similar make and design.
Most families had a shortsword, longsword or dagger, but the Valko Raven Blade was a massive two-handed greatsword. It was a beautiful weapon, with a pommel in the shape of two facing ravens and a cross-guard depicting two jet-black raven wings. The leather of the grip was also black and tooled to resemble layered feathers.
It had been Isegrim's honor and duty to keep it oiled and sharpened for as long as he could remember. There was no way he'd be selling it off; the time had come to wield it.
IDEAS ABOUT THE VALKOS AND THE ORIGIN OF THE RAVEN BLADES
Ok, so this is where I need some ideas to really bring it all together into something truly cool (obviously, any and all cool ideas are welcome.. even if they change up some of the backstory above). Thanks in advance!
When looking over the map of Golarion I saw the town of Wolf's Ear marked and I loved the idea of a settlement of lycanthropes. I started thinking about the idea of these werewolves and whatnot having families.
As for Isegrim.. I see him as a carrier of the disease. So, maybe he's just a very good hunter, has a deep need to be a part of a pack (ie, adventuring group), has vaguely lupine features (amber eyes that flash in the firelight occasionally, dark hair all over, slightly more pronounced canine teeth), and anything else y'all think might be cool
So, if we make a quick foray into genetics..I'm thinking his mother passed the recessive gene on to he and his sister and his unknown mercenary father gave Reyna a matching recessive (making her a natural werewolf) but did not pass that gene to Isegrim.
The Raven Blades themselves came to me as an idea after watching a National Geographic special on wolves and how they have this weird relationship with ravens, almost playful at times.. It's speculated that the ravens circle above wounded animals/easy kills to alert "their" pack.
In Norse mythology, Odin's two ravens (Hugin and Munin) go out and fly all over the world gathering news for the god from both the living and the dead. He is also accompanied by two wolves (Freki and Geri). Those ideas probably arose from similar observations of ravens and wolves.
Here's a neat page on raven myth
Maybe the Raven Blades came about as a symbol linking a carrier family to a particular pack of werewolves. In a time long ago, it might have even been that these families fought alongside the lycanthropes to defend the area against a common enemy (invading Drow or something?) and were awarded the blades to mark them as auxiliary pack members (ie, the pack's "ravens")
A final thing is that obviously after all that it wouldn't do to toss the Raven Blade aside as soon as the first +1 greatsword popped up in a treasure pile. So, I was thinking that over time it might have properties that reveal themselves. I'd love any thoughts on how that might work and what those properties might be.
Thanks again for reading through all that, and I apologize if it was rambling on. And thanks in advance for all your awesome ideas that I know are forthcoming!
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