Saturday, February 23, 2013

Rat

Male Human 
Psion (Kineticist)

CHARACTER SHEET

"Weep, Citizens of Khorvaire, for the Crown Jewel of Galifar is no more! Cyre, the shining example for all is gone! " "Shining Example". If you believe that, I have a rock to sell you that will grant any wish you might have.

Cyre actually was a fairytail land of magic and art, I'll admit, atleast if you were a noble. Those refugees in Breland? New Cyre? They have this image of Cyre that not even comes close to what it actually was like. Oh sure they remember all the shine and gloss, but no one recounts how the common folk was made to pay and bleed for all those marvels. The royalty was too busy protecting their own behinds, to notice that the nobility basically had the run of the land. Injustice and greed were the motto of the day. The ones in breland? rich people on a trip or visiting family. A few are actually common folk that was lucky, but they are too busy now trying to settle in a new life to worry about the excesses of the past.

Huh? Yeah, I'm actually from Cyre myself. From before the big event that finally got the people in charge to wake up and try talking to each other. Why I wasn't in Cyre when it happened? I used to be an alchemists apprentice, my teacher was a regular "supplier" to several nobles. Supplier, is another word for "pillaged the shop without paying for it". One of those noble sons ran him through with his sword when when my master explained that what he wanted just wasn't possible.

After a few weeks of trying to handle the nobles myself, run the shop and pay the rent, I was out on the street with only a few things in my hands. Landless like so many, but also angry enough, I fell in with others that resent the nobles. I tried fighting the nobles alone at first. Little things, like delaying the carriage of a noble, laxative for a group of guards. But there is only so much one man can do, if he feels lost and is hungry.

Eventually I fell in with likeminded people. They were a bit organized and had had some succes. One of them noticed I had a talent for psionics and other mind tricks. I offered my skills as an alchemist. There's wonders as to what a rusting compound on a doorhandle or a bit of acid to a porticulis can do. We liberated people from chains that had spoken out against a noble, or stole money and redistributed a part of the money back to the locals. For a while I felt like a little hero. When I look back at it, we actually did very little and thought very highly of ourselves. The one teaching me how to work my mind, Chris, left for other parts. I chose to stay behind, thinking I could contribute to a worthwhile cause by staying.

Greed began to set in, the focus became less about paying back the nobles or helping the locals. The gold we gave to the helpless, shrank and eventually stopped. The liberating of prisoners changed it's gold. Instead of old women and intellectuals and others, they started to free criminals and thieves and murderers and took them in as brothers in our little group. I was thinking of leaving the group, but the choice was made for me. One of the more greedy members sold us out to a noble and led us into a trap. I managed to get away.

Still embittered against the nobles I, got the idea of hooking up with other enemies of the nobles, the other nations. Becoming a mercenary is easy once you display powers and show them that you know where a high profile target will be in the next day. When I look back on it, I should have tried to find Chris, but that's hindsight for you. I was employed as a battlefield caster, although I kept away from arcane mages. Eventually I plead to put my skills to use in a more specialised way.

As a saboteur and infiltrator I could get closed and lay the hurt where it mattered most. I usually took a team and prepared a target before an assault. When the main force would come, I would lay waste to the defenders from a hidden position. I took up the name Rat, because I snuck in holes others thought weren't there and would gnaw on what was supposed to remain whole and weakened them as a disease carrier, my old name I abandoned.

 One particular encounter went bad when the reinforcements that were promised didn't show up and we had to retreat. They chased us far, outside of Cyre's traditional borders, into Aundair. That's when the Mouring happened. I got a look at it when it happened. Mostly clouds and mist. But the sense of devastion we all felt, made us feel really small. My theory? Probably a weapons experiment gone wrong, Cyre was being pressed really bad and those nobles were feeling the heat. I stayed as far away as I could from other cyrans at first, in the end I stopped caring. Sure, the nobles are gone now, but a lot of innocent people also wound up getting killed. In the end they still paid for the sins of the nobles.

I continued with my mercenary work on and off. Eventually I wound up with these folk from the Dragon prophecy. The girl saved my life at some point, so I stuck around and helped when I could. Now is the time for me to go my own way again.

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