1/4/22 - 2/6/22

YEAH YOU HEARD RIGHT IT'S TIME

Also 2022???? Wild.

Anyways better buckle up because this is probably going to be a very long chapter. I don't really have a format other than sharing the ref, stating a few vague fun facts, and then just rambling about them SO....idk if it'll even be that long(Future Kit here. This chapter is fucking LONG).

Bc historically I have never been good at talking about my own OCs. But I seem better at articulating thoughts through text so maybe this will be fine???

Originally I was going to do all 10 of the "main characters"(AKA the party) and 10 of the minor characters(NPCs we met) but then I realized 20 refs is too much for right now so. Another time :)

But I did end up digitalizing and coloring the refs so I think that's a fair tradeoff 🙄🙄🙄 But note that the designs/lore are subject to change lol

Just a few more things before I start ig: Since the DM repeatedly restarted the campaigns, there are multiple timelines with these characters, so when I say "iterations", I'm referring to whatever campaign that version of the character came from.

Also I'm introducing them in alphabetical order 👍👍

Anyway uh. I think that's it???? 🤔🤔🤔

Content/Trigger Warnings for Mention/Discussion of: Violence/murder, Severe injuries, Arson, Religious trauma, Slavery, Sexual assault, Memory repression, Memory loss, Death(of loved ones), Animal death, Drowning, Child abandonment, Child kidnapping, Alcoholism, Bullying, Unhealthy coping mechanisms, Trauma in general, and lots of other bad stuff.

Okay let's start 😁👍

(See this is exactly what I'm talking about, other ppl just jump in and talk but I make it weird for no reason 🙄🙄 I feel like a field trip teacher trying to get the kids interested in the educational merit of the trip lmao)

(Another note: all ages are relative to human ages. Not all races age/mature at the same rate :])

(I've come to the realization that some of these characterizations can be hypocritical or confusing so if you get lost please please please ask questions I will gladly answer 🙏🙏🙏🙏)

Arivine | Tiefling Rogue | 16 | 4'4 | any pronouns(biological female)

- certified asshole

- "what are parents?"

- uses the gaiter to cover her face when she's sad/embarrassed

- ankle biter

Arivine is!!! An interesting character :) She falls under the sneaky edgy rogue stereotype but like. Not "ooooh I'm so dark and brooding and mysterious" edgy, she just uses dark/edgy humor to the point where you'd wonder if she's actually okay yknow. In terms of a criminal record, the most she's really done is just. Steal stuff. She wouldn't go out of her way to kill people and she sees it as "too much work". She would absolutely stab a bitch but that's the worst she'll do really.

And despite being very...loudspoken and extroverted???? She's SO FUCKING BAD at connecting with other people. Not that she tries, anyway. She's really hard to get along with. At best she's that fun chaotic "fuck the police" friend, and at worst she's rlly toxic and dangerous and really needs some help 💔💔💔 It has a lot to do with growing up by herself and just being really socially isolated. She's never joined any thieves' guilds or been in any gangs or whatever unless it benefitted her more than going it alone and getting things done herself. And even if she did, it would just be temporary; she essentially has NO CONCEPT of friendship and sees social connections as either criminally fun or mutually beneficial.

So when I say she's friends with a certain person, it's not. Real friendship per se??? They'd be on good terms and MAYBE she'd help them out but the second something better presents itself or if she just feels like it she'd drop them on a dime. It's a bonus if they share similar humor/viewpoints but she'd just go "well it's been fun, see ya lmao"

So yeah she's not supposed to be a good person lmao. Like if someone needed help stealing a diamond or whatever she'd take them up on the offer then take the diamond for herself. But she's rlly independent and knows how to make things last. Just really good at rogue-ish things yk.

You might be asking. "Where the hell are her parents???" Well they're dead. And so is every other person who knew her in her childhood(except one heeheheheh) :)

Backstory time! Arivine lived in a clan of other tiefling rogues, and was about the same as she is now, just a bit more wholesome. Rowdy kid who liked to avoid chores, but really fun-loving and adventure seeking. The type of kid who encourages their friends to sneak off with them and steal cookies or scare animals. And her player was never direct about this but SOMETHING bad happened. Something along the lines of a raid on the camp by humans, something about them being taken prisoner or something, and then something about Arivine just. Snapping. Idk what triggered it or even if that info is still gonna be relevant, but the bottom line is that the tiefling camp got raided by people, and Arivine did something that led to everyone she knew except for one other person being killed. At this point in time, she's 7. Maybe a little older idk. But definitely less than 10.

Arivine's player always said Arivine repressed and effectively "had no memory" of this event, since it was so traumatic for her. Apparently that's called dissociative amnesia. Little bit of explanation: when we first made these characters, we used these character trait tables that we'd roll dice for, and the roll for Arivine's flaw was that she's an alcoholic. This translated into Arivine occasionally remembering bits and snippets, but quickly using alcohol to flush the memories back into the depths of her brain. Ik it might not make sense bc how would she know to make the memories go away if she doesn't know what they are, but even without fully grasping what they mean, the memories still caused her pain, and she DOES NOT like being in emotional pain. It's a foreign feeling and she doesn't know how to cope with it properly.

So as far as her own memory goes, Arivine has always lived alone as a rogue, and has no memory of her parents or people she knew in her childhood. She just naturally gravitated toward the thief lifestyle and that's all she knows. We never got to a point where we explored Arivine's backstory in-game, but we did meet the other survivor, and I'll introduce her whenever I introduce the NPCs 👍 All you need to know about them right now is that the survivor despises Arivine, and Arivine has no idea who this person even is. So that's fun :)

!!! Can't believe I almost didn't mention this but she no longer has a hood because I realized that uh. A hood is basically useless for her???? Because. Horns :) So I replaced it with a gaiter recently. Also her horn wasn't always broken; she had both in all the campaigns, but I just gave her a broken one because. Why not. I think in the canon lore she lost it in the backstory lol

In one of the campaigns, she kinda??? Lost her eye??? I don't remember how it happened but we were fighting some plant monsters and I guess Arivine got hit really badly? So it ended up with her losing her right eye, but later on a vine grew out of it and onto her arm and suddenly she had like a 30ft reach with that arm. It was cool in the moment but now I'm thinking about what the hell happened to her actual arm under the vine??? Did the vine absorb it or some shit?????? Freaky. Anyway, later on in the campaign it started having a mind of its own but the DM canceled that campaign before we could figure out why it was doing that :/

Yes there were a lot of Ari-vine jokes. It was funny as hell >:D

Also apparently she had a pet in one of the previous campaigns??? It was like a tiny fire dragon who lived off of juice and stuff. It killed someone by sucking their blood out once so that was. Fun. : ) And then in every campaign after that her player was just really fixated on getting pets/familiars. Once she tried to tame a baby ice dragon but the DM said 'no' lmao

Just remembered another thing: okay so once one of the characters died(no one here) and Arivine kinda lost her shit??? I know I said she doesn't have a concept of friendship but that's before she meets the party and gets attached if that makes sense.

So anyway she started desecrating the corpses of the people we just fought. Arivine in the campaigns lashed out when she got upset, and that was just how she coped. With alcohol and violence👍I did say earlier she hates feeling emotional pain but I just wanted to. Provide a example :)

Not sure if I mentioned this but Arivine is also very blunt. Was checking the notes I took and like whenever party members went missing or got hurt Arivine either makes a dark humor joke out of it, or she just goes "well, guess they're fucking dead". She's VERY insensitive and I think being so matter-of-fact was another coping mechanism??? I thought it was important to mention bc it did end up happening a lot.

(Ik she looks short in this pic oops)

Ashyn | Triton Rogue | 24 | 5'3 | she/her

- "what's the straightest thing you've ever done?" "...I killed a man."

- if you zoom in close enough you can probably see that she has golden freckles :)

- born mute!! Knows sign language!!

- pirate captain yas queen

It's Fish Lady :) Tbh I wasn't expecting the design to come out so colorful but whatever lmao

But first can I say that by GOD I'm happy that I finally nailed an Ashyn design that I'm pretty happy with. She's been the most frustrating one to come up with an outfit for because I was trying to find a good balance between looking like a pirate, having practical clothes, and the overall outfit being appealing fron a design perspective. She's gone through at least 3 different outfits before this one.

Because. She was raised and lives as a pirate. Her mom was the captain before her and Ashyn is the captain now. And being tritons they tend to swim a lot, but a lot of pirate outfits I found weren't very practical for swimming :/ And tbh they didn't really fit Ashyn's vibe???

She doesn't care much if something looks good, as long as it's light, flexible, or otherwise practical, she's good. So big pirate hats??? No. Long coats with lots of shiny buckles??? No. Fluffy shirts? She literally ripped the sleeves off the one she's wearing. And god forbid the skirts I found in a lot of female pirate outfits.

So that brown leather armor she's wearing?? It's v light and she can easily slip it off if she needs to.

Also I'm not sure why I decided to give her REALLY SHARP EYELASHES???? I think it was to make her sharp amd dangerous looking but eh :/// I mean it looks good so I'm not changing it 👍👍

So yknow. Being mute and all she can't always communicate with her crew all at the same time. All of her people know sign language(learned from her parents and other members) so she has to put an immense trust in everyone to correctly relay her orders to other people. And she does trust them!! Her crew is her family and everyone else is an outsider.

Aside from that she's really resourceful and skilled 😳😳 Yknow she needs to think quick on her feet and she needs to be levelheaded in a crisis so she has really good management skills and leadership skills in general 👍👍

But not very motivational you know??? She's focused and goal driven and has no time or patience to be throwing pity parties or holding hands for anyone. Everyone on that ship needs to know their worth and pull their weight or else...or else something :/ Tbh Ashyn can't really imagine having self-esteem issues. Just a result of how she was raised.

She also doesn't go out of her way to kill people either. Yeah she wants to be seen as intimidating and threatening but not crazy yknow. She's not above taking hostages though and she will cut a bitch if neccessary. But she has killed multiple times before 👍 All part of being a pirate👍👍👍

Remember how I mentioned her crew is family to her?? Her loyalty runs deep and when she's not busy with other shit she's akin to an older sister almost???? She helps around the ship where she can and hangs out with her crewmates when things are good. And I know I said she doesn't like holding someone's hand but she gives good practical advice, given you can understand sign language. Just don't come to her looking for emotional support lmao

Little bit of backstory: you see that hairtie she's wearing??? It's a gift from her gf :) I'll introduce her in the NPC chapter but uh!!!

So essentially, they met after Ashyn saved her from drowning??? And I know it seems lwk out of character but her gf is pretty so..... anyways, Ashyn was watching when it happened ig and just jumped into action??? And they continued to meet in secret for a while because gf was like "omg pretty fish lady 😍😍" and. Yknow. All was well.

Except it WASN'T because gf was actually engaged to ANOTHER GUY. And this other guy was nice and loved her and they were childhood besties but she didn't see him the same way. I think Ashyn's player mentioned it was an arranged marriage :/ So gf continued to see Ashyn while being engaged with this other guy, until Ashyn found out she was engaged!!! Not sure how that happened but anyways.

So Ashyn, feeling betrayed and jealous, left and didn't see gf until the day she was supposed to get married. Then she proceeds to crash the wedding and murder the guy. Yeah. Not her greatest moment.

Since there were lots of ppl there Ashyn actually got apprehended and was set to be executed. And in the moment gf was really upset and angry that Ashyn murdered her friend but yknow her other lover was about to die and she had really mixed feelings about that.

Except of course Ashyn escaped before that could happen. So she set off with her crew and gf was left with loss to deal with and the consequences of her not communicating the situation to either side.

Thing is. Ashyn still likes gf(hence why she wears the hairtie) but kind of??? Doesn't want to go back and confront gf about it???? Which again seems out of character but people can be hypocritical. I kind of think of it as Ashyn not willing to confront her feelings about the whole thing because she's bad at emotional vulnerability.

She doesn't feel bad about killing the guy. It's that gf was upset and angry with her and Ashyn just couldn't really??? Understand that???? She didn't WANT to make gf upset. Her thinking is really flawed here. But yeah in order to settle the situation Ashyn needs to talk it out and explain her feelings and she's never had to do that before so uh. It remains unsolved 👍

We met gf briefly because she was captured by some followers of the main antagonist(BBEG). And by 'we' I mean my character and one other guy(same as the one who died). She seemed pretty happy to hear we knew Ashyn??? But her feelings about the whole thing were still mixed and she wanted to talk it out with Ashyn but never got the chance.

I think it was the other guy who promised to help her escape so they could meet up but the BBEG's followers erased his memory so WHOOPS. And while my character did meet gf, it wasn't at the same time as the other guy and she never heard about gf's relation to Ashyn. I'll most likely explore what a meetup between them would be like and how their relationship progresses from there because WE NEVER GOT CLOSURE!!! >:(((

As for Ashyn in the campaigns, she has a few good stories. In one of the earlier iterations she was so powerful(good stats) that the DM decided to nerf her by disabling her : ) Not the best DM moment tbh. But yeah her legs got crushed and she couldn't walk for a good long while. And then even after she got prosthetics she couldn't swim since they were made of wood and there were concerns about the wood rotting :///

Another time we were doing this competition thing, and Ashyn wrangled a whole ADULT ASS OWL GRIFFIN to the ground. Thank the dice gods but STILL it was cool as hell.

And then in more recent iterations her uh. Her ship got fucking blown the hell up by some people???? I'm removing that from the canon but yeah she had a burn scar on her face because of that. She did get like...an ash wolf familiar from that though so :/

One more thing: I realize most of these aren't really good stories but whatever. Anyways remember that person from the out of context meme chapter??? The one I said everyone hates?????? Yeah this next one has to do with him.

So in one of the iterations he's part of Ashyn's crew yeah? And he uh. Tries to kill her??????? And also got one of our other party members involved in that too!?!?! So that's a whole can of worms I'll talk about in the NPC chapter but the point is Ashyn got betrayed by someone she trusts with her life so uh. That was fun.

Except we never got to explore that plot point because the campaign was canceled!!! Surprise!!!!

Idk if in the """"""official"""""" storyline this happens but it's definitely a fun thing to explore 👍👍

Also she smells like the ocean. Sea salt. Even if she's been away from the ocean for some time she will smell faintly of it. Also she has scales but they're not very obvious.)

Barryl | Dwarf Barbarian | 24 | 4'2 | he/him

- somehow has 25 siblings

- might change skin+hair color these just don't vibe with me that much???

- just wants to help

- wears the clothes of his dead friends

Barryl has always been one of THE sweetest and nicest characters ugjychvu 😭😭😭😭 Which is really ironic considering his class and job??? All of the players agreed on different classes/races(we did double up on rogues but whatever) and Barryl's player wanted a barbarian :/ So he's a really gentle giant kind of character but as a dwarf he's short lol

We never really got to explore his character much in any of the campaigns 🤔🤔 But he was always a mediator sort of person and tried to keep Arivine out of trouble 👍 He also really hated conflict but I don't know if there's a specific reason why???

I also think he got spooked easily??? Idk he kinda seems to person who'd get spooked easily.

Anyways about the whole 25 siblings thing. His player said Barryl's parents were like "lmao wouldn't it be funny if we had 26 children and they all went in order with the letter of the alphabet". So naturally Barryl is the second oldest. And not all his siblings are full siblings; a lot of them are just half-siblings lol. Tbh I'm not sure how the timeline of that works, since we met his youngest sibling Zarryl, and she's like....18-19. So I think some of his siblings are twins/triplets, and most of his half-siblings come from his dad 👍That's literally the only way that works.

Besides Zarryl, another one of the "major" siblings that we met was Aarryl, Barryl's older, biological brother. And since Aaryl is his ONLY older sibling, he's very much Barryl's role model. And Aaryl was presented as this charismatic, cool, bro-like paladin, so naturally Barryl just thinks his brother is super cool 👍👍 He even adopted the man bun hairstyle from him lmao

You can essentially chalk up their dynamic to older jock-younger nerd brothers who love/care about each other a lot 👍👍👍 But ofc being an older sibling himself, Barryl is also very responsible/protective for his younger siblings. He has a younger biological sister Carryl, and that's pretty much where the siblings stop being full blood related.

So that kind of translates to being protective of the party overall and just trying to be a big brother to everyone :) He's a bit of a nervous guy though, so people like Arivine tend to treat him like a doormat, but he's dealt with all sorts of personalities and tries to not let it hurt him too much 👍 At the end of the day he sees her as a little sister and OH NO that got too wholesome too quickly hdydndjs

Okay so remember I said his job was ironic considering his character?? Barryl's an urban bounty hunter, so he chases down criminals in the city and whatnot 👍 Not really what you'd expect from a guy like him, but he was inspired by his brother, and less criminals means the world is a little safer, so it works for him. He works with a bounty hunters' league so he had a team that he was really close friends with.

Also also. Barryl's a barbarian, but specifically a Totem Warrior Barbarian. There's 5 different animals these barbarians can have, and Barryl's animal is the bear(his totem is the bone ring on his finger. I didn't draw it but there's a bear engraved in it). His team had four other people with 4 different totems: an eagle's feather earring, hairsticks made of elk antlers, a tiger's eye necklace, and a coat with wolf fur.

They were really close friends!! They did missions together and also hung out outside of the workplace and were buddies. And they jokingly but also not so jokingly said that if any one of them were to die, someone else could wear their totem. Barryl would be the guy who'd go "but you're not actually gonna die right???" and they'd say of course not, but just in case.

Essentially, something happened on a mission that resulted in everyone but Barryl dying and uh. That was very upsetting for him :) So like they discussed, Barryl started wearing his friends' totems(after a period of time when it hurt him too much to look at them), and he can call upon these various animal spirits to aid him in battle 👍

His player said that if Barryl ever were to die, he'd pass the totems on to the party members and that's just 😢😢😢😢 he said he had an idea of which totems would go to who but never specified bc that would be spoilers lol

None of our characters ever knew this info in game bc Barryl never said anything about it. He prefers to be unintrusive and wouldn't say anything unless someone asked but it's not like he bottles up his emotions. Being the older brother and everything he wants to be strong and dependable, but he's willing to be honest about how he feels. Like he does have to put on the brave face sometimes, but he doesn't pretend to be someone he's not yknow??? He knows he's a more sensitive guy and he's okay with that 👍

I don't remember the exact number but Barryl has had at least 2 bodily injuries over the course of the campaigns 😁😁 In the original campaign his arm got cut off at one point and in another, he lost his eye 💀💀💀

There was also another thing: in the first campaign Barryl was given a potion of clairvoyance(I realize now that clairvoyance isn't really the rigjt term for it) and he saw a fresh corpse with some shadowy dude coming out of it. That corpse was a character's dad, and people were being targeted and killed at that time, so we went 'oh shit' and essentially went bodyguard mode for the next few days.

Few days later, it's revealed that said character's dad was the one behind the slaughter and he turns himself in. So a few party members including Barryl escort him to jail where THE VISION HAPPENED. They turn a corner, see this guy dead on the ground, and a shadowy dude comes out of his corpse.

I don't know how well I'm conveying it but the table went CRAZY because this kind of shit is so hard to pull off in open ended RPG games yknow???? So that was really memorable lmao

Okay yknow what I just remembered something. Remember I said Barryl like. Chases down criminals and whatnot yeah. Arivine is a criminal, and IN FACT, one of the people Barryl is supposed to take in. So this was brought up in the 4th iteration I think, so when Barryl sees Arivine for the first time it's. Kinda awkward.

So we go to Barryl's hometown to get these prisoner rings off of the rest of the party(we realized most of these characters have no reason to stay together so the DM used these magic rings to keep the party from splitting) and Barryl's like "okay wait I need to do something" so we follow him and he straight up turns Arivine in.

Then she goes ballistic and stabs 3 people until Ceral apprehends her. :) so that was fun.

Ceral (pronounced: Seral; rhymes with feral)| Human Cleric | 23 | 5'3 | she/her

- mom friend

- "god give me patience, because if god gave me strength, all of you would be dead."

- almost died 12 times

- gets called 'Cereal' a lot

(side note her eyes are hazel green I'm just bad at coloring hazel lololol)

!!!! Behold, my character!!!!!!! She's had 4 different backstories and none of them have ended too well lmfao

Like pretty much all of my main ocs, Ceral is kinda similar to me. At least that's how it was in the first iteration. She liked to help people but had near crippling social anxiety and was a really big pushover who cried a lot 👍

But as the campaigns went on and I developed different versions of her, she became more distinct of a character and that's always cool to see. So as of right now she still likes to help people, but she's better at talking and asserting herself when needed, more work-driven, and still cries a lot but just internally.

I'm not really good at just listing out personality traits so uh.

So in pretty much all the campaigns, the DM said "oh yeah humans discriminate against all the other races for literally no reason" so there was a lot of tension in game between Ceral and quite a few other party members. Most of the campaigns start with Ceral having to break the party out of jail or some shit because plot convenience.

Ofc that's not how it'll go in the """"official""" storyline but anyways.

After my first group broke up, I did actually use Ceral in another campaign(that also broke up lmao rip) and I'm using that iteration of her as the """"canon"""" one because I like it better. I will explain the other versions of Ceral probably so dw 👍

Okay so this Ceral had a job as a city watcher, essentially keeping her eye out for danger and making sure the citizens were safe. She likes protecting people and it gives her a sense of purpose and community yknow 👍👍And she also had a team of people she worked and was friends with and they were pretty good at balancing each other out!! And Ceral herself was pretty confident in her work and all that good stuff!!

So naturally that all came crashing down 😁👍 I realize now this is very similar to Barryl's backstory but. It happens. Anyways. They were dealing with a particular threat; I never specified what it was in the backstory, but it was dangerous. So this thing basically kills all of her friends, and it just?? Loses interest in her for literally no reason and checks out. Like she's lying on the ground half dead, but the thing goes "nah it ain't worth the trouble" and leaves. Maybe it already thought she was dead idk 🤔🤔🤔 Depends on the specifics.

Anyways, she gets found by a rescue party or something similar and wakes up back in the city. And naturally, this experience took a BIG HIT to her mental health overall and took her drive to protect people and multiplied it by 100. In the present day, she's overprotective of people she cares about and gets really scared when said people go off and do dangerous things. I wouldn't say she's paranoid, but she gets worried easily.

This only applies to other people. She'll literally run into danger so other people don't have to. She refuses to ask for help and tends to resist people helping her, and self-sabotages a LOT by overworking and undermining her own confidence because she's terrified of becoming overconfident and making a mistake that might lead to someone getting killed.

And because she always wants to be doing something sometimes she'll kind of pace around if there's nothing for her to do. She'll get antsy and yknow even before the whole. Thing happened. She didn't like doing nothing when she COULD be doing something. But she tries to calm down and not look so anxious out of courtesy for others. The event just made the overworking tendencies and behavior worse.

And she does. Have survivor's guilt. She sometimes about why she was the one left alive and why she wasn't killed with her friends. She's not suicidal, but the thought has crossed her mind a few times :// Not of actually going through with it, just the idea of it. But her responsibility(partly the feeling of wanting to make up for the event) toward her community pulls her back.

I didn't draw it but she has a scar on the right side of her neck that runs down to her arm from being attacked. It's usually hidden by the shirt collar though.

I know I've spent most of this section talking about her trauma but honey trust me it only gets worse because this is just the most recent version 👍 I'm only on the tip of the iceberg. I'm just hoping this isn't coming off as me looking for pity points because I'm trying to convey her personality and why she's the way she is through her backstory 💔💔💔

So! She originally wasn't a city watcher, she was actually a fisherwoman from a small town in all the versions before what I just talked about :] She was quiet and wanted to live a peaceful life but alas that would never be the case. Remember how I said the campaigns started with Ceral having to jailbreak the rest of the party?? In the first and second campaigns she ended up resorting to making a deal with some goblin gang to make a distraction, but they ended up razing the town we started in, and then later on in the campaign they'd bother her about repayment(she had a breakdown in the first campaign because they were guilt tripping her 👍)

In the second campaign she was actually chronically ill with some disease that broke out in her hometown, but she never died from it because her god was protecting her. Anyways since a lot of people were unfit to work she had lots of pressure to take care of things yknow???

And then in the fourth version I actually tried to multiclass with paladin and that's where the whole city watcher idea comes from???? Her friends also die in that version but that took place in the actual campaign.

In her original iteration she was just. Super emotional???? Also it REALLY didn't help that Arivine and Fuuxandith(character I'll introduce later) were always assholes to her lmao. Idk she felt a lot like a typical emotional woman character yknow?????

And I mean she still is very emotionally driven but it's layered, in a sense. Like she has her protective nature that's magnified by her trauma, she's stubborn and prideful, and she's fear-driven in general. Like she's not just sensitive anymore. People are complicated!!! I don't know why I'm having trouble explaining Ceral in particular 💔💔💔

Not to say she doesn't do anything logically. I talked a lot about her deep psyche but on the surface she's levelheaded and friendly. As a Cleric of Protection she naturally gives off an aura of safety, so she's good at calming crowds, being a mediator, and being a grounding presence in general 👍👍 She likes having a rhyme and rythmn and does things by the book, but she's open to more "out there" ideas as long as it doesn't hurt anyone.

And like. Even if there's a crisis and people are in danger, she'll still try to not lose her shit. If people are counting on her, the last thing she needs to do is panic 💔💔💔 This is a LOT harder for her to do now since whenever dangerous things happen her overwhelming fear of letting people die completely overrides her need to be calm so yknow 💔💔

Sometimes her fear actually comes off as being annoyed lol. Like whenever the party was doing something stupid she'd chide and otherwise be more short tempered than usual and say something like "what were you thinking you could've hurt yourself!!!!" Especially in the first iteration there were jokes about Ceral having a villain arc due to having enough of the party's shit but tbh Ceral could probably never go full villain mode lmao. Lots of "they're idiots but they're my idiots" energy 💞💞💞

I'm hyper aware of how MESSY this section is so I hope her character is cohesive enough to understand 💔💔💔

Okay so about the "almost died 12 times" bit. It was about 6 times each in the 1st and 2nd campaigns and by GOD it was stressful. She's almost died of electrocution, getting her blood sucked by a vampire, nearly drowned twice or three times, being severely injured, getting acid splashed in her face, getting a rock to the head, and getting dropped off a mountain. And probably a few others.

A decent amount of these are related to Fuuxandith actually. Their relationship is a bit complicated I'll explain it later lol

More about the whole being dropped off a mountain thing!! Yeah so Ceral was yeeted off a mountain bc Fuuxandith has terrible friends(more on that later) and as a result my character was in a coma for 1 in-game week. And then after she somehow lived she became AN ASSASSIN TARGET. Again, Fuuxandith has terrible friends. Then when she woke up she had amnesia 💔💔💔

I JUST CHECKED THE NOTES I TOOK APPARENTLY SHE GOT PARALYZED TOO!?!?!? I don't remember that at all. But anyways after almost drowning she remembered another time she almost drowned, but that time, another one of the party members(you'll see him in this chap) ACTUALLY drowned. And then all her memories came back and had a breakdown because so many bad memories were coming back to her at once and she couldn't take it.

(I'm realizing now that the timeline is really confusing with 4 different campaigns so once I have all the characters introduced I'll most likely make a timeline chapter detailing what happens when 👍)

Speaking of that party member drowning, the new character his player made ALSO. Almost drowned :))) And Ceral got violent flashbacks to the first time that happened and saved the new character, and then proceeded have an emotional breakdown. This happened wayyy before the mountain incident but I thought it was relevant.

All of that happened in the first iteration.

Now in the second iteration, an incident happens in which Ceral accidentally gets sprayed with acid and almost dies yet again, and gets put out of commission AGAIN. And this is the same campaign in which she had a deadly disease so DM said Ceral had to quarantine when we officially found out. So I wasn't part of the action from that point until the campaign was canceled 👍👍

Also also. I just remembered we had a "campaign 0" in which we just goofed around with characters and experimented with stuff because we were all new to D&D and wanted to dip our toes in. There's a few good stories from there; one of which includes Ceral getting a vial of 'dragon blood' which just enhances abilities and makes you god-powerful. I didn't go crazy with it, but it was fun 👍

ALMOST FORGOT. Okay so at one point Ceral also had an animal companion!! It was in the second iteration and she was a couatl named Tiladid. But see, couatls are divine beings???? I think the only reason Tiladid stuck around was to monitor Ceral bc this was the same campaign she was sick in. But yeah that was a thing 👍

Wowza guess what I found. Alright so apparently in the same campaign, yknow how I said Ceral's god was keeping her safe yeah. The reason she starts getting sick is bc the patron of another character was killing gods, so in their weakened state, Ceral's god couldn't protect her. And for that same reason, Ceral COULDN'T CAST. She LOST her cleric powers and if her god ended up actually dying, she would've had to change classes entirely :)))

Woman really went through it huh 💔💔💔

Realized I forgot to explain her powers. Since she's a cleric she gets her powers from a god/a very strong conviction. The city watchers she joined serves under a pantheon of protection gods, hence her cleric subclass. So as long as she upholds the values of her group, she'll have her power, whether she's particularly religious or not.

Also realized that since The Incident she might've felt she doesn't deserve her powers because she failed to protect her friends. Obviously she does still have her powers so that kinda adds to the whole "I have to protect people with my life" complex but mayyybe adds a bit of imposter syndrome in it??? Yeah.

Fuuxandith Erajurn III | Dragonborn Sorcerer | 19 | 5'11 | he/him

(Party calls him by Fuux (pronounced: Fooks) bc his name is too damn long 💔💔)

- has daddy issues

- has issues in general

- closeted magic nerd and plant dad

- needs better friends

This guy!!!! Tbh I've been dying to talk about him because he's just???? And I'm sorry if I'm setting expectations but I think he's a really complex character because he grows so much as a person during the campaigns and ahsjsisbi 💞💞💞💞 I love positive character development.

Anyways so throughout all the campaigns Fuuxandith starts as a surly, grumpy guy who has literally no reason to be with the party. Like he DOES NOT like any of them and is at best neutral to some characters from the main party. He's not edgy(unless you ignore all other aspects of his personality lol), he's not supposed to be an edgy character, but those are the vibes he gives off 💔💔

So yknow he's very skeptical of people and is really just not a people person. Which is kinda ironic considering his occupation lol.

It'll be easier if I explain his personality with context. So backstory time!!

So Fuuxandith is the youngest out of 8 to the chief of his hometown, Fuuxandith the Second. Compared to the rest of his family, he's a runt(abt 3-4 inches shorter), but his grandfather(Fuuxandith the First) insisted that he be the one to carry the name. So out of respect for his old dad, Fuuxandith II gave the name to Fuuxandith.

I did say Fuuxandith was runty as a kid. Shorter and weaker than his siblings, yet being the one to carry the Fuuxandith name, brought a lot of teasing and mocking from his peers and siblings, and of course his dad being disappointed in him 💔💔💔 His granddad said to never underestimate a Fuuxandith, and honestly Fuuxandith would've probably turned out different had his granddad been with him as he was growing up but alas.

As a kid, Fuuxandith was really interested in magic. And he didn't try to hide it, he'd go out to watch the wizards and sorcerers in his town preform magic and he'd try to do magic himself. Ofc he wasn't trained or cultivated or anything so it never really worked out for him 💔💔

His family had a reputation for being fearsome fighters, and his dad especially was great in battle. So naturally his dad went "no you can't do magic, you're an Erajurn; you carry the Fuuxandith name". Bc obviously that's what you say to a kid 👍

But yeah his interests were suppressed by lots of people. His hometown in general is martial dominant, so fighting hand to hand is part of their culture. People who study magic aren't necessarily discriminated/inferior, but a majority of families/people just believe in melee superiority.

This was especially the case with his dad and a specific group of peers he tried to fit in with. To get stronger, Fuuxandith tried to hang out with strong people, but unfortunately they REALLY WERE NOT GOOD PEOPLE....

The whole group is guilty of this but his backstory focused on one person in particular. A dragonborn named Razor. She's older by 2 years and bullied him really badly with the excuse of "tough love". Like she belittled him and his interests, when they sparred she'd show no mercy, and she'd purposely do things in a way that humiliates him. Yknow how media bullies hold things over their head bc their victim is short and can't reach it???? Yeah things like that.

And Fuuxandith was really young and impressionable at the time so he was just like "huh this must be totally normal behavior 😀😀😀". And his thought was that he needed to get stronger, he couldn't be interested in magic, yadda yadda.

But also he kind of??? Hated her for being so fucking mean to him. I'm not sure of the psychology behind it but he was a young child and essentially got little to no positive interactions from anyone. Wouldn't that lead to an acceptance of this behavior instead of a resentment towards it because he had nothing else to compare it to???

My thought is that he just knew that this was bad but convinced himself that the only way to stop it was to just get strong???? That might not be how it works but bottom line is this poor kid got bullied by his peers and family for being small and liking magic. And he hated them for it but that was just how it was.

So he tried to get tough by fighting other kids, and when a recruiter for gladiators showed up he was like "yes, I want to train to be a gladiator". This happened when he was 10.

So as a result from the bullying and gladiator training, Fuuxandith grew up with a distorted concept of strength and identity. And bc gladiator stuff is very strict it only reinforced his childhood experiences. So he did that for like....6-7 years and even though it made him really tough he just grew cold, cynical, and standoffish.

He was actually pretty good at it. And yknow he could be charming for the crowd but that's only if he wants/needs to. If he isn't running on adrenaline after fighting someone then he's pretty bad at anything social lol. He's insensitive and used to just doing things his own way because he's just been mentally/emotionally independent for so long. Bad at being a team player and absolutely ABYSMAL at expressing his more sensitive emotions.

Also uh. Infinite from Sonic Forces moment but he can't tolerate being called weak. He literally will attack you. This man has spent his entire life trying to prove he's strong and capable so if you call him weak then to him, that's insulting his entire existence 💔💔💔 I mean if it's like an off comment from a random hater or something he'll just intimidate you into backing off but if it's an argument and he's already pissed off then it won't end well.

And in general he has a pretty short temper. Very impatient(again, prefers to do things his way), rolls his eyes and crosses his arms a lot, says "fuck off" at least 3 times a day.

But wait! There's more.

Since all of that was his image of a "strong person", he chalked up his identity to "I'm strong and independent because I'm aggressive and can beat people in fights and no one can tell me otherwise". And yeah winning fights and getting cheered on by the crowd released that sweet dopamine, but it didn't really make him happy, yeah? But that was his life and he more or less accepted it.

So. Fastforward a few years and Fuuxandith is training on his own somewhere. I think his player said it was stormy. Anyway, something happens and Fuuxandith gets injured REALLY badly. Death-threatening badly. He's got a big-ass scar across his chest and torso from it.

Next time he wakes up, he's in some stranger's house. Naturally he goes "what the fuck" and tries to leave but ofc he's in a LOT of pain. Man tries to tough his way through it but can't lol.

The player never mentioned a name for the guy who saved him so 🤔🤔🤔 he remains nameless for now. Anyways, the guy who saved Fuuxandith tells him he's in no condition to go anywhere and to just stay with him until he's fit to go around. Obviously Fuuxandith isn't happy with this but he doesn't have a choice.

He quickly learns that this guy is, surprise! A sorcerer. And that naturally piques his interest but he keeps that on the down low. He learns the guy also has magical plants he tends to and has a greenhouse for them. And so when he's able to walk around he kinda goes over to the greenhouse to see what's what.

And the sorcerer sees that some of the plants are reacting to Fuuxandith's presence. So he asks Fuuxandith if he can wield magic and of course Fuuxandith says no. But the sorcerer convinces him to try and over the course of a few days, surprise!! Fuuxandith was capable of using magic this whole time. Sorcerers are born with magic talent, but Fuuxandith lacked the focus/a teacher at a young age and never learned how to access it until now.

So this was a HUGE breakthrough for him. Over the course of his healing, he learned to use magic and learned about the plants his mentor was growing. Lwk became the supportive dad figure Fuuxandith never had 💔💔 And he was happy!!! Fuck being a gladiator, he wanted to be a sorcerer and do cool magic shit!!! Of course his entire personality didn't change, but he was a lot more open about things he wanted to learn, laughed more, and all that good stuff.

I don't know why it happened, but Fuuxandith eventually left. I'm thinking that as it became evident he was long healed, he started feeling guilty and maybe a bit of imposter syndrome??? Ofc he wanted to be a sorcerer much much more than a gladiator, but he probably never told his mentor about his childhood experience so he just??? Couldn't let go of that???? So he essentially convinces himself he needs to leave and get strong again and tells himself magic is just something he can do in his off time. So he says goodbye to his mentor/dad figure/friend and goes back to his old life.

Somehow he just reverts back to his old personality??? Maybe it was the environment or maybe he's just suppressing himself but yeah he returns to being an asshole again. I'm not sure if that makes a lot of sense 💔💔💔 I did say he couldn't let go of his trauma and that's why he relapsed back into his old mindset but I don't know if that actually happens.... I don't want it to feel like that entire section of his backstory amounted to nothing besides learning he could use magic 💔💔💔💔

That aside, now I can talk about Fuuxandith in the campaigns. I said at the beginning he always started the same, and his character development always kicks off with his interactions with Ceral.

I won't say too much now bc there'll be a specific section for inter-party relationships but basically they clash a lot, and a lot of the time Fuuxandith is (partly) responsible for a lot of bad things that happen to Ceral in the campaigns. He's the one who almost electrocuted her, his wandering off led to the vampire incident, he accidentally sprayed acid in her face, and his affiliation with her led to Razor nearly killing her twice. In the first and second iterations he guilttrips her into breaking them out of jail and was just a really big source of her distress overall :/

And I think as a result of that, he just feels guilty about almost killing her multiple times over??? Because in spite of his actions, Ceral's saved his ass quite a few times so I think he felt kinda indebted. And then because of that he slowly opened up more bc they did end up spending time together. Unintentional on his part though.

There was a whole arc that I think was supposed to start a significant change in his character. In the first campaign, Fuuxandith and the rest of the party are summoned to his hometown because they were having an annual event and as the son of the chief, Fuuxandith had to be there. Shit happens, his family starts getting killed off, Ceral gets dropped off the mountain, and at the end of it all it turns out that his dad was the one who hired people to kill his children. Something about needing to protect a magic macguffin and he didn't trust his children to do the job correctly. It didn't make a lot of sense but that's how it was, and he was deadass about to kill Fuuxandith until he was apprehended by the party and turned himself in, only to die to some shadowy figure soon after.

So ofc being the only one alive, Fuuxandith was expected to be the next chief. Except he turned down the responsibility lmao. And even though he wasn't that close to his family he spent a while just being exhausted/drained from all of that stress. Campaign was canceled before that went anywhere though lol

I also want to mention Fuuxandith got an animal companion himself, and she's the only one I'm keeping canon bc I'm biased and I loved this companion. She's an owl griffin hatched from an egg that Arivine stole and she ended up imprinting on Fuuxandith. She was named Valkyrie and was a lot like a therapy animal during that stressful period. And even though at first Fuuxandith was like "oh GOD how do I take care of another living thing" he quickly got attached(little ooc, but could you blame the player) and she became a party favorite. One time a hostile NPC threw her and Fuuxandith went apeshit on him so that was fun 👍👍👍

It only ever got to a point where we were starting to see the change, but it wasn't really quantifiable yknow??? Again I'll explain more later.

Campaign 0 stuff!! There was an inside joke abt Fuuxandith and that he was unreliable. His player got low rolls relatively often so eventually it just became a joke 💔💔💔 Did not help that the "official" iterations actually reinforce this lol. Also the idea that he's a heavy sleeper came from this campaign and that idea stuck.

I know his characterization might seem kinda hypocritical???? It makes more sense to me bc I know this character inside and out but idk if it'll make sense for you 💔💔💔 Also it was peppered in with a fuckton of backstory so I don't blame you if you got lost lol. Like I said before please ask if you're confused abt anything 👍👍

Also. It will be known that Fuuxandith has a gardening hobby; he enjoys it and it reminds him of his mentor :) But as with all his other interests, he keeps it suppressed 😁😁

OKAY WAIT I just remembered. Right so in the first campaign, we actually met his family earlier on because they were going to conduct some "diplomatic business". Recall that personalities/history weren't concretely established so his dad was like "wow son look at you all grown up....wanna come back to the family" and Fuuxandith essentially goes "bitch, NO" but we don't find out why until the whole subplot where his family gets killed :) Anyways that's an important detail for later 👍

Horkin | Halfling Fighter/Bard | 18 | 2'11 | he/they

- literally raised by wolves

- has and will eat bugs

- recently realized he's really similar to Oreo OI so take that as you will

- quotes vines on the daily

Horkin is very cool!!! Chaotic memelord of the party. Also the shortest lmao.

I think out of all the characters, he's the one who was most chill with just being a party of adventurers. That's literally what he does on a daily basis. He just travels around and vibes 👍

And as a....counter?? So to speak? Like how each positive can come with a negative aspect, Horkin loves adventure and seeks new experiences all the time, but has trouble staying in one spot. It's like an instinct?? He just craves being on the road with no particular destination in mind. Like sometimes he'll hear about cool places from other people or he'll see a place that interests him and he'll drop by for a bit to check it out, but it'll only be for a week or two before he checks out again.

He doesn't really see it as a problem, though. He's pretty carefree like that 👍 Unironically says Hakuna Matata and 'take a chill pill'. But he'd go stir crazy in a quarantine. He can handle 1-2 weeks of being in a place, but any longer and he'll start doing anything he can to keep himself busy. He appreciates downtime but not too much of it, yknow???

So he can't really sit still and think. He'll pace and tends to think better on his feet. Living in the wilderness for so long's given him a knack for finding unconventional solutions to problems, so like if he's running from a predator he'll tumble roll into some mud to hide his scent and get out of sight or smack the shit out of it with a branch or just yell louder to assert dominance. Whatever's available. But if you ask him a math question he'll need some time to process it lol

Just very jokey in general!! A clown, if you will. And despite being extroverted he usually ends up traveling alone. If he sees some people heading the same way as him he'll definitely go with them for a bit, but splits off eventually. So yknow he tends to talk a lot and has lots of good traveling stories/tips :)

He's just like. A token extrovert, really. Hype man, fun at parties, likes to include people, natural charm, gets along with pretty much everyone, can talk for hours on end if you let him.

But one of his most defining characteristics throughout the campaigns was his desire to learn about literally everything. He loves experiencing different cultures and tasting different kinds of foods and learning about people in general. He 100% gets distracted by anything/anyone that he thinks is cool. I know I said he's usually somewhere for like 1-2 weeks but he'll stay longer if there's a bunch of stuff to learn. He tends to pick up stuff really quickly, but only non-academic things, really. Actually he hasn't had much of a formal education but I'll get to that later!!

So as a result he knows a lot of instruments(carries a lute and kazoo with him at all times(not sure if kazoos are a thing in dnd but whatever)) and languages and is all around very knowledgeable!! He's great at surviving in the wilderness because of his travels but not a genius, per se. He just has a lot of experience :) It doesn't really seem like he's all that smart on the surface because of, again, his laid-back, jokey, carefree nature, and ofc he doesn't have a lot of conventional intelligence, but if you need a wilderness guide or translator or music teacher he's your guy.

Tbh if he could carry more, he would, he loves little trinkets and souvenirs of different places, but alas, he is only one small man 💔💔💔 Besides, carrying lightly is important when he's always on the move lol

I think his wanderlust has a lot to do with his backstory??? Okay so Horkin never knew his parents; his earliest memory is getting abandoned in a forest. Somehow, SOMEHOW, a pack of wolves took him in as one of their own and he was just raised like that. I know this ignores a lot of development from a psychology perspective but bear with me 💔💔 The average person's memory begins at ages 4-5, and the critical period of language acquisition is 2-4. So while Horkin wasn't around people for an extended period of time, for the time he was around his people, he could pick up language. I also did say he just has a knack for learning things like language, but I feel like he wouldn't use a lot of the more complex words people learn as they get older.

On the bright side, being with wolves made him really good at imitating wolf howls. And living in the forest made him good at imitating forest animals in general ig lol

So up until the age of 10, he was raised as a wolf. Child. Thing. Yeah. Until hunters!! Killed them because they were just doing their job :') But imagine being these guys and you track the den of these wolves and you see this??? Small child just hanging out there.

So these hunters send this child to an orphanage and he stays there for 4 years. I'm not sure if living with wolves made him super feral or something but he learns the ways of people eventually. He does plenty of stuff that gets him in trouble like climb things and eat bugs but it was funny/cool for the other kids there.

But as he developed more self awareness he realized that even though being at the orphanage was nice, he felt a calling for the outside world. I have no idea why the people running the orphanage agreed to let him go when he isn't even a legal adult (did you know halflings reach adulthood at 20(but mature at the same rate a s humans)? This man STILL isn't a legal adult), but it happened and he's been on the road ever since.

Yknow thinking about it maybe his wanderlust doesn't have a lot to do with the backstory lol. The thought of settling down just doesn't really vibe with him I guess. But while he doesn't get homesick, he does wonder where he came from. His player said that Horkin had a small piece of jewelry from his homeland, but I'm not sure if it's plausible that he still has it with him.

His player never specified why Horkin was abandoned either, but I think it was for his own safety? Player said they were considering his homeland being politically unstable but that was only a consideration. And ofc Horkin doesn't know why either, but he tries not to think about it too much because that's the only thing that makes him homesick for a home he never even had 💔💔💔 I'm personally considering the reason being that his parents just uh. Didn't want him :))) The angst is tempting. But I haven't decided anything yet.

Just in general in the campaigns, Horkin never really expresses a desire to seek out his homeland or parents. I think he just hopes he'll coincidentally cross paths with them or someone who knows them, and he'll be able to go from there. Yknow since he can't even remember what they look like, he doesn't have a connection with them other than them being his parents. It'd definitely be nice to meet them, but he'd have no idea where to start 💔💔 Probably has a better chance of just running into them. And so most days he's pretty indifferent about his abandonment, but occasionally he'll go into existential crisis mode and question everything he is.

I briefly looked into the effects of child abandonment to see if his mental state reflects the consequences his backstory should have, but his situation isn't so clear cut??? For one, he never really grasped that he was abandoned until his teenage years. He always considered the wolves his parents until he realized they couldn't be, so by that point, would it really matter? Two, even though he was abandoned, he was quickly taken in by the wolves who again, treated him as one of their own. Are wolves able to provide the support a human child needs? I have no idea.

However. I have deduced that he does suffer from some of the consequences of abandonment, they're just on a very subconscious level, and don't really surface unless he has those crises that come up every so often. You'd NEVER suspect that he's dealing with these sorts of things on the surface 💔💔

I have this idea?? Okay so Horkin's abandonment happened on the very edges of his memory so the event itself is very blurry. So I kinda feel like that memory manifests as a recurring dream in which Horkin is a child and gets abandoned in a forest by someone whose face he can't remember. And he never understood the dream until much later and had an "oh." moment.

Anyways.

In campaign 2 I think, Horkin's player had some fucking balls of steel and started a romantic subplot with another NPC. It was only ever one sided but their dynamic was so good 💔💔💔 THE THING IS. This was the SAME NPC that was the other survivor in Arivine's backstory. This NPC also happens to be part of Ashyn's crew. SO UH. Kind of awkward. I'm pretty sure only the player ever expressed interest in starting a romantic subplot, I don't remember if Horkin as a character ever tried to flirt with her because I don't remember the NPC ever rejecting him. Because that's what would've happened.

Not sure if I'll make that canon in the "official" timeline I'm hypothetically constructing. He'll definitely have a crush on her but I don't think she'd ever reciprocate the feelings :') Just doesn't seem in character. Plus he's friends with the source of all her childhood trauma so there's that.

Remember how I said there was a character who actually died in the first campaign???? Yeah that was Horkin. It was relatively early in the campaign but none of us were expecting it to happen. His player made a new character(who, spoiler alert, also dies) who I'll introduce another time but STILL. It just came out of nowhere💔

Also apparently the subrace Horkin's player chose for him has telepathy powers!?!? I don't know if I'll change that, but it does make for some fun scenarios lol

Strazz | Goblin Druid | 32 | 3'1 | he/him

- too old for this

- "animals are better than people"

- that one chill (probably English) teacher you had in high school that people actually feel bad for making upset/mad

- knows a lot of sea shanties but can't really sing

Strazz is another character that didn't get a lot of spotlight bc his player, like Strazz, doesn't really speak up a lot 💔💔💔 He prefers to chill in the background but he's there if you need him.

So yknow he's very mild, mellow; one of the few voices of reason within the party. He's pretty good at giving advice because he's lived life, and like Ashyn, spends a lot of time at sea. But more on that later.

It's pretty hard to piss him off. He's very diplomatic and he'll get annoyed at most, but not usually mad mad. If someone's giving him a hard time, he knows better than to keep engaging and will just check out. He does NOT have the mental energy to deal with that </3

So when he IS pissed.... I mean he'd never get violent, but he'll verbally pick you apart 💔💔 He always tries his best to not let it get to the point where he just loses his shit, but it happens ocasssionally, and it's scary bc this man will spit cold hard facts and then not talk to you for a few days. Maybe longer.

Yeah despite being a typical "wise old druid" he's good at keeping grudges which is of course NOT a good thing but he can't help it. Doesn't always forgive and NEVER forgets. My teacher once told the class the story of how she hated this person who was mean to her when she was 17, and 31 years later that same person tried to friend her on Facebook, and she was like HELLLL NO. Strazz is my teacher.

Most of his grudges are internalized though and he doesn't really bring other people into it. But yknow if he sees a person he doesn't like, it's VERY OBVIOUS he has something against them. He won't say anything but he'll get noticeably grumpy and short tempered. But if someone apologizes to him he'll most likely give them a chance to talk it out. And again, he'll only hold a grudge if you really piss him off and don't apologize.

But even if the person does apologize, he doesn't forget. He won't be petty and constantly bring it up, but yknow. It'll be there.

But other than that he's very chill 👍

So Strazz is actually a sailor boy(she said see you later boy) and spends a lot of his time out on the water. He also has a crew of his own but doesn't really like to call himself the captain because he not that comfortable with the idea of "having power" over other people. But most of his crewmates are sweet and defer to his judgement because he's the most experienced.

I'm not sure exactly what they do??? His player never specified. But I think they'd be like a small delivery service 🤔 Strazz has this character quirk that his player always forgot to mention but he checks the weather everyday(druids have a spell that lets them do this) because when he was at sea, he'd do the same thing to see whether that day would be good for sailing or not.

So he's usually just with his crew, out on the ocean and talking to sea birds or fish or whatnot. Strazz's goblin subrace lets him talk with small animals :)

And idk the specifics but someone betrayed him. I don't know why, but it happened and Strazz is still angry about it to this day. Fun fact! This is the same person who betrayed Ashyn in one of our other campaigns!!! So yknow. Solidarity moment.

Anyways that event just made Strazz really closed off for a long while because he trusts all his crew members and has only ever treated them with respect so :(( He went on a mental retreat for a long time and hasn't gone back to sailing since.

So as a result Strazz kinda?? I mean I won't say he isn't trusting, but he can't always see the best in people like he used to. He won't immediately assume the worst, but it's something he keeps in mind. He doesn't do it unsolicited because he isn't a jerk, but he'll throw in a dose of realism if someone's being too idealistic.

Maybe I should've said this earlier but he is a very observant person. He's a pretty decent judge of character since he takes his time to consider people's motivations and actions, and even then his impression of someone never truly solidifies because in the back of his head he's always like "okay but what if this is a ruse and they're actually a horrible person". Of course the more time he spends with a person, the less loud that thought is, but it'll pop up every so often yknow. Basically just restated the last paragraph lol

And like Ashyn, he's resourceful, but usually relies on the help of animals and nature. He's small and fast but definitely not as strong as her 💔💔💔Also unlike Ashyn, he's more passive and less chaotic. This man just wants a peaceful life but alas.

I feel REALLY BAD that I don't have too much to say about Strazz compared to the other characters hndsjnjnkn. I guess he's not necessarily as deep or profound or complex??? So this is all I got for now :/

Oh one more thing. Okay so his player said he already had a familiar/pet but we never got to see what it is :( Apparently it was big enough for him to ride on??? I always imagined it as some kind of dog-shark hybrid tbh.

Sylnala | Elf Bard | 17 | 5'0 | she/her

- obligatory sunshine character

- you're doing great sweetie

- hums a lot

- neurodivergent coded??? it could just be a trauma thing so I need to research.

Okay so I think it's obvious I didn't try too hard with the design on this one because I literally didn't draw the fingers + the ears are way too big + the eyes and hair really shouldn't be the same color but outfit designing is HARD and I was really tired 💔💔💔 Sylnala is also someone who I've had a lot of trouble designing but I THINK I'm getting closer to the vibe I want.

Anyway! Being the obligatory sunshine character TM Sylnala is really upbeat and friendly!!! And tends to talk kinda loudly!!! Usually very wholesome and optimistic <3

I noticed in the campaigns she kind of wandered off a lot 🤔🤔 And liked to touch things. I feel like she's the type of person who fidgets with things to see how they work. She's plenty curious and wide-eyed in general lol

She's also emotionally sensitive so people (*cough* ARIVINE *vague throat clearing sound*) can make her upset pretty easily. Remember how I said Arivine uses dark humor/bluntness a lot?? Yeah that kind of thing won't go well with Sylnala. She'd always say something like "why would you say that??? 😢" so uh. Yeah.

Being a bard ofc she's very musically skilled 😎 Mainly in woodwind and string but she's quick to pick up new instruments. Has a lyre and flute on her at all times but she usually plays the lyre. Part of her backstory consists of her traveling around and playing music for people 👍

Speaking of backstory.

Okay so Sylnala's earliest iteration was that she was from a small fishing villiage and that was basically it???? Another component of her backstory went something like "her fishing boat got overturned at sea but she was saved by a literal mermaid and she's been looking for them ever since" but idk if that was part of the original story.

Then it changed in the second iteration to her being in college because we didn't know bard colleges were a thing until then lol. And she's really personable so she was pretty popular there, but there was this one NPC that we met in the campaign(her name's Orithiya but I'll call her Ori) that was like. Idk their specific relationship, whether they were friends or if Ori was a private or public admirer, but Sylnala knew her. Anyways she really liked Sylnala and tried to. Sexually assault her one day???? I have no idea why but naturally Sylnala was VERY UPSET by this and cut communication with her. I think Sylnala's dad filed a restraining order as well 🤔

So then fastforward to that campaign and the party got kidnapped by some pirates(unrelated to Ashyn) but Sylnala was the main target, and we were taken to Sylnala's hometown. Idk if this was confirmed but Ori was the one who staged that since...idk she wanted to "start over" with Sylnala. Sylnala never saw Ori though since we dropped by her dad's place and he protected Sylnala when Ori came to look for her.

Also she apparently had a little ball of light that was her comfort item. Not sure how she got it but yeah 👍

And then in the third and fourth iterations her backstory got finalized. I shit you not though when I found out what it was I fucking screamed bc it was just. SO different from what it originally was ffs

In those iterations, Sylnala was a former slave. Yeah. She was also an Avariel Elf which meant she could fly but idk if I'm keeping that. Anyway. She was a runaway slave because someone unspecified helped free her and I think she traveled with them for a while before splitting off for some reason. It probably wasn't voluntary.

Also, Ori's role was completely changed and now she's Sylnala's older sister. Which I found a little weird but that was probably the whiplash from literally everything about her backstory changing. To clarify, the sexual assault aspect is no more.

So currently! Sylnala's backstory goes that she was sold into a traveling circus with her older sister Orithiya at a young age. Too young to remember her parents. She was told she and Ori were found abandoned, and the circus took them in :) Ori is about 4 years older than Sylnala, and is old enough to understand what happened. So while Sylnala thinks this has just been her life, Ori is bitter about the whole thing.

So. They weren't treated terribly terribly, but they were still forced into it. Training Sylnala was easier because she was young and malleable, and the bright colors and animal training and flying trapeze really captured her young child brain. And so as a result Sylnala is always quick to follow orders when given, and in crises tries to find someone to follow.

Ori was harder to work with but needed to be with Sylnala to watch after her. So as far as Sylnala knows, Ori is her protective older sister who is sometimes mean. I'll talk more about Ori in the NPC chapter most likely👍

Anyways. After spending most of her life with the circus, someone helps her escape. I'm pretty sure Ori canonically stages this, but an "accident" happens, and Sylnala is "lost" in the confusion. In reality, Ori took Sylnala to someone on the outside(whom she planned it with) and this person helped Sylnala escape. And Sylnala, not doubting a single word her sister said, goes with them.

See that scarf she's wearing??? It's actually Ori's. Before they split, Ori gives it to Sylnala so she can always be with her, and Sylnala treasures it with her LIFE. Waiting for the day she can give it back to her sister 😢

So from there, Sylnala travels with her new guardian, who teaches her how the world works. She's moderately well adjusted, but they never really settled anywhere for too long. Guardian was scared the circus people would track them down 💔💔 And this segment of her life lasts for about 2 years.

Then something happens again and they get separated. Maybe the circus tracked them down and they had to split, but either way Sylnala's on her own until she meets up with the party 👍

Okay, so. Sylnala hasn't really registered that she was sold into the circus. Ori never told her, and Guardian didn't know. Fron her perspective, she was having fun flying around and entertaining people until her sister told her to go with this stranger. Guardian has told Sylnala the circus people are bad, but that's all she knows.

Because as with certain training, bad behavior is punished. I don't have a specific example that involves circus animal training but you probably know what I'm talking about. Anyways yeah the circus people employed the same tactic with this CHILD and so Sylnala's scared of people raising their hand at her. If you tried to give her a high five(out of nowhere) her first reaction is to cower. Guardian tried to heal that trauma, so she's a little better with that. But if someone suddenly raises their voice or hand at her, she'll flinch or hide. I remember once in a campaign there was danger and Sylnala felt really threatened and tried to hide behind Barryl even though he's shorter than her 💔💔

So she knows that how she was sometimes treated is bad, but justifies it by saying she was "acting bad". I don't know how well 13-14 years can be healed in 2, but like. She hasn't really registered it as trauma. I know it might be weird that Guardian didn't tell her "you have trauma", so I'm trying to figure out how that works, per se. I guess it depends on how much Ori told them??

Or maybe Guardian did tell her, but Sylnala still has trouble grasping the concept. I'll. Figure it out.

Anyway. As I said before, Sylnala follows whatever authority is present at the time because she's not used to being independent. She was trained to always follow orders and even though Guardian tried to give her more freedom, she defaulted to staying by them. She can express her wants and opinions, but she's dependent on other people to make bigger decisions for her. So as kind of a natural consequence, she tends to get attached to people quickly.

She's also pretty unassuming and usually sees good in people. Obviously if someone is mean to her she'll be like "this person is mean :(" but she doesn't really hold anything against anyone. Unless someone has actively tried to harm her or her friends, she'll try to be friends with them 👍 So if someone like Fuuxandith tries to wave her off, she won't get it until he lashes out, but it'll pretty much be forgotten by the next day.

Also she might not look like it at first glance, but Sylnala's REALLY good at twisting her body and moving in the way she wants to. Being a circus performer trained her balance and hand-eye coordination well, so if anything good came from her circus experience, it's that 💔

Anyway. Hopefully Sylnala isn't a problematic character hahaha wouldn't that be a shame 😁😁

Other things real quick: Sarcasm is completely lost on her lol. And I want to include the mermaid and ball of light from her previous backstories but I'm not sure where 🤔 Thinking she met a mermaid and they gave her the ball of light to help them communicate 👍 So she essentially has a mermaid friend

(Real eye color ^^^)

Uieke Sagittariidae (pronounced: You-ee-kay) | Aarakocra Warlock | 20 | 5'8 | she/her (transfem)

- 🌟 gender 🌟

- sold her soul and all she got was cool contacts and the ability to talk to ghosts

- "it's leviOsa, not levisoSA"

- will absolutely wreck your shit if you're not careful

Birds are hard to draw 💔💔💔

Did you know?? Her player specifically chose Uieke's last name because it's the family name for the secretary bird :) And we had to pronounce that EVERY TIME because Uieke is a noble and insisted we call her by her proper title: "Lady" Sagittariidae (quotation marks will be explained later) :))) Our characters never knew her first name 💔💔💔

Another did you know! The cravat she's wearing is actually called a jabot. A cravat is something you tie and tuck into a shirt or suit or whatnot.

Anyways. Uieke is very cool and morally gray 😎😎 Tbh I couldn't even begin to talk about her character without the backstory context so hERE WE GO

Okay so as I said, Uieke comes from a noble family and is biologically the first born son. And "he" is supposed to carry the family name when "he" marries. And it's never occured to her that she could keep her name because she's traditional and respects traditional family values. Family oriented in the sense of "I must bring honor to my family" yknow.

And then she realized she didn't like being a guy??? I'm not exactly sure how trans people come to the conclusion that they're trans but she often looked at other women and internally went "man I wish that were me" and over time became more uncomfortable with male pronouns. But being traditional as she is, she denied being trans until there was no other explanation for the way she felt.

She actually got her current outfit by like. Going out and saying she was buying new clothing for her mom when she was actually buying it for herself lol. And of course she never ever ever let her family see it, but the first time she wore it she felt really affirmed and that was just it. Testing female pronouns on herself(in private) also really helped but again. She never came out to her family or any of her peers because she was afraid of getting disowned and shaming her family :')

First time she ever went against her parents on anything. But she sure as hell couldn't ask another noblewoman or her mom because she didn't want anyone to ask questions or start rumors.

Fastforward to some time after that. There weren't much details but essentially Uieke's family was being threatened, and in desperation, Uieke sought out a person who could help. I'm not sure if she contacted her patron directly or one of his followers, but she got in contact with an entity who promised her the power to eliminate this and all future threats, as long as she was willing to do his bidding when needed, and her soul would be compensation.

Uieke is usually more tactful: obviously, this is a bad deal. She's going against her parents, literally giving up her soul, and if they ever found out they'd probably disown her twice over. Usually she'd manipulate the situation to be more advantageous or find a loophole somewhere in the deal.

But, she's dealing with an entity summoned with some dark magic shit. And the people threatening her family took her unborn baby brother(an egg). Forgot to mention that. There was this subplot in a previous iteration with Uieke's and Fuuxandith's families having a feud and the Sagittariidaes accused the Erajurns of stealing their unborn son. More on that later.

Anyways I just remembered that subplot existed and decided to bring the concept back just now. I am indeed making up some lore on the spot :) Anyways yeah Uieke is dealing with a kidnapping situation, and as I said before(or at least implied), Uieke is unwaveringly loyal to her family. So loyal that she gave up her soul, traveled to the perpetrators' hideout that same night, and killed everyone there.

Uieke is uh. Very scary sometimes :)

But once she was done. Murdering. She looked for her brother and whoopsie doopsie he wasn't there at all!!! So it was basically for nothing!!!!!

Oh yeah and in reference to what I said at the very beginning, once she made the deal with her now patron, her eyes changed into a midnight purple and she can see ghosts. Don't know for sure know if I'm keeping that last part though 🤔🤔

And yknow what that actually is a good reason why she's adventuring in the first place. To find and return with her brother. Because if she comes back empty handed(winged?) I mean. No one knows she went out and killed like 5-10 people so it really is mainly for herself. Ofc she wants to save her brother but like.

She already went and got the warlock powers. And while she did take out the threat, her brother is still missing, so she doesn't consider it a done job. It essentially means nothing if she doesn't achieve complete success. In her mind, she would've sold her soul and risked her place for nothing. And not only that, but since she "can't" carry the family name anymore, it's up to her brother to carry the family legacy. Duty and pride.

I don't. Really like calling characters "complex", ESPECIALLY my own bc it sounds so...self-righteous??? But Uieke is one of those characters where if you saw her in an anime or show, you might not really like her until her motivations are revealed. Because yknow on the surface she's blunt and unfriendly and acts like she's better than everyone else. Very stereotypically the snobby noble type, yknow.

She always talked down to other party members and was annoyed whenever we bothered her lol. We only ever got to see a little bit of her inner self in the campaigns. But other than that she was very goal driven and whenever the party got too distracted she'd be like "um hello did you forget we have more important things to do??"

And this was especially the case in the first iterations. Remember how I said the party besides Ceral starts in jail; so the first thing that happened when we got to somewhere safer, Uieke would say "okay well I need an escort home"

Which tbh doesn't match her current characterization that well??? She doesn't like asking for help, it makes her feel like a peasant.

Anyways yeah that was a thing. That campaign is also the one with the Sagittariidae/Erajurn feud. Obviously Fuuxandith didn't know about it since he cut connections with his family, and Uieke uh. Idk if she knew, I feel like if she did, she wouldn't tolerate being in his presence, but nevertheless when that became the active plotline, Uieke would just diss on him and Fuuxandith would react like "I don't even associate with them wtf"

So continuing on the quest to get Uieke home; we actually did find her home city empty, but Uieke reasoned that they went to their migratory home further South. Not sure how she forgot that but anyways.

And basically we find a whole lot of dragonborn and the city in flames. We find Fuuxandith's dad there and he says he took Uieke's parents. I don't remember if he said he killed them but fastforward to when we see the dad again and turns out he didn't kill them. Just knock them out bc they had something he wanted. I think it was some sort of magic macguffin he was trying to keep away from the BBEG. But then he died so :/

SPEAKING OF THE BBEG....that's Uieke's patron :) In the second iteration Uieke gets instructions to....idk what specifically, but her goals basically conflicted with the general good of the party and especially Ceral. Because remember I said "the patron of another character was killing gods" in Ceral's section. Yeah. I'll talk about more BBEG lore in the NPC chapter. I mean Uieke wasn't actively hurting the party I don't think, but she was kind of an informant.

OH yknow I forgot to talk about the thing I said I'd talk about. About why I put 'Lady' in quotation marks. Remember: Uieke hasn't come out to anyone she knows. But when she introduced herself to the party for the first time, she used female pronouns on accident. And then when she realized, it was too late to take it back. And so when we met other people who knew her, they used male pronouns and it was uh. A time :) Luckily it was only one person and they brushed it off, and the other times we were going to meet people Uieke knew, she'd tell us to use male pronouns.

Actually. Quite a bit of shit happened to Uieke in the second campaign; I don't remember when it was, but Uieke was flying alone when she was struck down by a marilith(snake with 6 arms) for someeee reason? Idk if it was for some ulterior motive BUT THEN this marilith says "wow don't you look tasty" so this bitch was planning to eat Uieke!?!?! No idea where that came from but it eventually leads to her wings being clipped and then she couldn't fly anymore.

And yknow other than the physical distress she was in, it was a very mentally and emotionally distressing moment as well. So. Uieke, as a noble, usually has power over other people, yeah? Being in control makes her feel secure, because that's what she's used to. When she was questioning her gender, she didn't feel in control. And although this doesn't necessarily apply, when her brother got kidnapped in the current version, she didn't feel in control. And so naturally, Uieke always looks for a way to regain control of the situation so she can be secure again, whether it's by exerting more power over others or taking drastic measures.

But there, she's in a situation where she could only watch. Idk if I'm conveying this well but like. It was a helpless scenario for her.

SO when Aarryl(+his own party), looking for this marilith, shows up and helps free Uieke, she kinda. Overdoes the whole 'regain control' thing. Because it's one thing to realize she has the upper hand against the marilith now and rub it in their face. But Uieke is a vengeful person, as you probably saw from the way she murdered the fools who kidnapped her brother. And she'd do it again.

Since this marilith took her ability to fly, Uieke called lightning on this marilith's ass and clean cut their arms. All six of them. Deadass was about to kill them before Aarryl stopped her.

And then later in the same campaign, she got paralyzed legs down so that was fun : )

Getting on Uieke's shitlist basically means death. Either she'll kill you via passive aggression and potentially undermine your entire life or straight up kill you. She's VERY grudgy and more petty than she'd like to admit.

Other!! Fun Facts. Since she doesn't have arms she actually uses a magic spell that summons an invisible hand she can command(in actual D&D, this is called Mage Hand), and uses it to do all the work she can't. So things like writing, eating, and holding things.

Also her voice is a lot like Bfb Lollipop so. Hearing her talk was always fun :)

Uieke is another character that I'm kinda worried won't be recieved well :/ So hopefully she's good 👍

Vairx | Changeling/Tabaxi Wizard | 26 | 5'1 | he/him

- has committed multiple feline-ies (felonies)

- "we live in a society"

- the quiet kid in class

- that happy, supportive, anime side character until it's revealed they've been a villain the whole time. I don't know if that's actually a thing but if that character trope existed, it would be Vairx

Vairx is uh!!! Something :)

Let me preface this by saying his player was actually not present a whole bunch in the campaigns?? He had a pretty busy work life so he'd usually join in later on in the campaign or opt out of some sessions. And as a result I don't know that much about Vairx regarding his current personality. So a lot of it will be speculation based on his current backstory 👍

But first I'll talk about how he originally was because HOO BOY Vairx is probably the character with the most dramatic change in personality over the campaigns.

I don't quite remember how he was originally introduced into the campaign?? I think he helped the party after they got into bandit trouble and just joined with them after that. And he was one of the sweetest characters like 😭😭😭 He tried to do what he could to help the party and originally he was just a changeling but a tabaxi was his go-to form. Anyways I mentioned in Ceral's section that she was emotionally distraught in the first campaign because she did something morally questionable to save complete strangers and some goblins were guilt tripping her over it. So Vairx follows her out and reassures her she's not a bad person because of what she did. And from there he was always backing Ceral up and helping her out and making sure she was okay <3

I almost want to say maybe there were romantic feelings involved on Vairx's side??? But most likely not. He probably did admire or look up to her to some degree though. And overall they were pretty close friends :)

At this time, Vairx as a person was kind of shy and reserved and mousey. I remember once in the first campaign during the arc where we went to Fuuxandith's hometown, Vairx was walking with him and someone asked who Vairx is. Fuuxandith deadass replies with "a nuisance". Tbh Fuuxandith was just unnecessarily mean to him overall but I think that was partially out of jealousy or maybe bc he saw a little bit of himself in him??? Anyways.

Briefly went through the notes again bc I remembered a Super Chad Moment Vairx had. So remember those goblins that were bothering Ceral??? Yeah so those mfs came back and it escalated into us killing the chief and 3 of us going back to their camp to send a message or something. And that leads to Vairx unintentionally getting left behind bc some violence broke out and the goblins beat him up for info on Ceral. He doesn't even say a word and WHAT'S MORE, he SPITS at the feet of the interrogator. Yeah it cost him to get beat up within an inch of his life but he escaped by turning into a fly and getting the fuck outta there.

Then when we restarted for the second campaign, Vairx's player thought it'd be a "cool challenge" to introduce a language barrier between Vairx and the rest of the party. The only common language he had with anyone was Primordial(ancient language with modern dialects), an ancient version of Elven(elf language(and even then no one was fluent in the ancient version)) and Draconic(dragonborn/reptile language). So Fuuxandith was the only one who Vairx could really talk to, which I found KINDA FUNNY because Fuux is this "don't talk to me" kinda guy, but here he is, being Vairx's translator 💔💔 They also had a thing where Fuuxandith would call Vairx an asshole for no reason??? I think it has to do with how they met lmao

His character is actually pretty stable in this one, too. Still with the reserved and mousey personality, but he has his moments!!! Unlike the first campaign he actually tried to keep his changeling identity a secret but it came out eventually.

But anyways while we were on the "being kidnapped by pirates" arc Vairx meets an NPC I'll introduce in the NPC chapter :) But essentially they're both wizards and were friends sort of. On good terms. This NPC and Vairx had a shared language I'm pretty sure, but I don't remember what :/

There was another incident in which the ship was being attacked by something. Don't remember what was attacking, but Vairx transformed out of sight and fought the threat by himself and got kinda beat up but there was that moment of heroism :)

It was shown Vairx was actually learning a bit of Common(a language most D&D races share) and that was pretty cool :)

I'm fairly certain this part of his backstory comes from the 2nd campaign or the interim between the 2nd/3rd campaign, and the party never officially knew this but Vairx's player did talk about it. So Vairx originally was part of like....an acolyte missionary??? He basically learned his wizard magic there while also studying religion and doing regular acolyte stuff.

Also apparently he had a ghost friend??? Don't know if that'll still be canon but a tabaxi ghost was living there for some reason.

Anyways remember I said Vairx is a changeling, and his go-to is the tabaxi form. So D&D changeling lore basically says people tend to treat changelings with suspicion bc they shapeshift and "ohhhhh you can't trust them" kinda sentiment.

So no one at this religious facility knew Vairx was a changeling because Vairx himself wanted to keep it a secret. Something about his home getting destroyed by anti-changeling fucks and he barely escaped with his life??? Sounds awfully familiar 🤔🤔

So basically the missionary takes him in after he shows up in tabaxi form and cares for him and in return, he became an acolyte. It was a pretty nice place and he felt...relatively at home. I guess as a changeling he always knew people didn't trust his type, so he just kinda accepted that he wouldn't fit in unless he was someone else :/

Anyways I'm not sure how it happened but his true identity was revealed and these people were like "OH NO HE'S A CHANGELING" and uh. Cut his eyes out. So in that version, his glasses were actually magic that 1) created illusory eyes and 2) gave him Truesight, which meant he could see things beyond what regular sight can. It was never really brought up though lol

But back to Vairx almost dying. Tbh I'm not sure how, but he escapes and idk if he enchanted the glasses himself or if someone did it for him. And while he's healing, he's understandably upset. He's been nearly killed and had his home taken from him twice. So he kinda. Briefly snaps.

So when he's well enough, he went back to the missionary and set it ablaze. Killed everyone inside. I don't know why he did such a drastic thing and tbh I don't know if it really makes sense??? It was out of bitterness and revenge but like. Sheesh 💔💔

I did check the notes and this backstory is canon in the 2nd campaign bc Aarryl asks him about it since he was looking for the perpetrator and Vairx matched the description pretty well. But that does introduce a plothole since how the hell could he stand to be around Ceral, a cleric who's religious(but not strictly so)??? Plus the people who blinded him were humans and Ceral's a human 💔💔💔 No one really paid attention to that detail I guess

I mean either way that campaign isn't canon but I wanted to point that out lol

And then when that campaign resetted, neither the 3rd or 4th campaigns lasted long enough for Vairx to join in lmao

Okay time for my favorite part: psychoanalysis :)))

I think in the second campaign Vairx actually felt bad about what he did?? He wasn't willing to turn himself in but he wouldn't do it again. At one point one of the characters jokingly asks if he's evil and Vairx just cringes in response. Tbh I think part of his reserved and timid nature comes from wanting to make himself a better person.

LMAO okay wait before I go into his psyche and all that I need to explain his current physical self. I said he was originally a changeling, but his player decided to make him a tabaxi/changeling hybrid bc he liked the tabaxi design more than the changeling design. So Vairx's true form is a tabaxi, but he can shapeshift like a changeling. You also might've noticed the bottom right drawing in the ref!

Those would be his real eyes. I shifted the backstory to be that he always had those glasses to hide what his eyes looked like since they're not normal tabaxi eyes. Tbh changeling eyes don't look like that either but whatever. Anyways people did attempt to blind him, but he got away before that could happen. Still sustained injuries from fighting the staff at the missionary though. Maybe has a scar near his eye???

I think that after burning down the missionary, Vairx has...abnormal reactions to fire and religion. If he sees something burning or maybe even like a campfire he'll kind of. Blankly stare at it. Almost like a trance? He's not afraid of fire, but say for example he's in a burning building, he won't even attempt to get out. I'm not sure if this'll apply to fire magic as well, but I think he'll be hesitant to use it.

And as for religion obviously he doesn't like it; he refuses to step foot into a missionary or church and is disapproving of it in general. Probably has a "if god was real he wouldn't have let this happen to me" kind of attitude. Like normally he's pretty chill and rational but if he has to talk to a religious person he'll suddenly be cold and snappy. So you can imagine how this Vairx feels about Ceral 💔💔💔

I imagine that while Vairx doesn't necessarily feel bad about what he did, it's something that he wants to put behind him. So normally he's a well and mild mannered, rational, friendly person. Very helpful and intellectual 👍But if you disrespect him or really piss him off his personality does a complete 180. He has no problem verbally or physically murdering a person if it comes to it 👍👍 But in the in between of "normal Vairx" and "murder Vairx" he gets snappy, cynical, and blunt.

I'm not sure how to describe it without making him sound like a psycho or sociopath??? Maybe he is 🌝🌝 But his conscience is something he can just. Turn off???? When the situation really calls for it. He puts himself into the mindset of when he decided to burn down the missionary and suddenly doing immoral things is easy for him. Like usually he's against murder but if someone is is being a legitimate threat, he'll put them down.

Kinda realized it's a lot like how Uieke behaves?? Except that Vairx is quicker on the murder trigger than she is.

Like. 🤔🤔 he doesn't wanna have to be violent but at the same time he feels like he doesn't have a choice??? Doesn't have a choice in the sense of if people are gonna be violent towards him, he'll be violent right back. Because that's how people have always treated him when they found out who he was. So in order to defend himself, his normal conscience is something he needs to be able to turn off.

Hopefully that all makes sense??? I realized in the middle of writing this, Vairx is also a character that can come across as seriously problematic and/or not making any sense so hopefully I explained his mental state and processes well enough 💔💔

I think that at his core, Vairx still wants to fit in. Remember that he's normally a nice person; he only gets violent when others are violent towards him. But at the same time he's also aware that he's never been fully accepted and he's never truly safe unless he was with his own people. So he's not really a happy person. And consequently, sometimes he gets reminded that his connections with other people aren't "real". But he doesn't really see what he can do about it so he's just. living life 💔💔

Idk if Vairx is especially distrustful??? He's amiable but cautious. I think that he does trust other people to an extent, but he reminds himself to not get too comfortable lest he get gotted about his identity.

I remember in campaign 0, I think we were dealing with hostile changelings bc they were trying to take over a town, so we were fighting some changelings and yknow. Got rid of them. OH and Ceral had some kind of cleric staff that let her speak to her god and so the god was like "ayo there's still a changeling here" and turns out it was Vairx lmao. But we decided he's okay to keep alive bc he didn't have anything to do with the changeling attacks.

Vairx is an among us reference!?!?!?! REAL!?!?!? 😱😱😱😱😱

Yknow I just realized I actually slightly changed his characterization from the D&D Memes chapter to this one 🤔 In that one he was a relatively chill but slightly insane person but now he's just a dork/nerd who wants real friends. So if he seems different, that's why.

Anyways that's all the main party characters 😁👍 if you've made it this far, congrats!!! Hopefully they're not too much of a hot mess. I was debating whether to include the party relationships in this chapter because it's already super long, but....I feel like it's better to include it here. So HERE WE GO AGAIN

Lines with no arrows = mutual relationship

Lines with arrows = one-sided relationship

Characters who aren't connected with lines = neutral relationship

Some of these are self-explanatory, but there's a few I'd like to go more in-depth with because I love character parallels and foils <3333

So, in no particular order!

Fuuxandith+Ceral

These two. THESE TWO.

Okay so I said before these two have a bit of a complicated relationship with a lot of mixed feelings and it MIGHT ACTUALLY not be the healthiest relationship at least in the beginning. I'd actually really like to stress this is a very non-romantic relationship and I don't think it'll be a problem tbh but I just wanted to say that :')

Brief history of them in the campaigns: I already said that Ceral's saved Fuuxandith a few times whereas Fuuxandith keeps accidentally almost killing her so that contributed to some guilt where he feels he had to make up for it somehow?? So in the first campaign he tried protecting her from Razor and later on in that same campaign, they get separated from the party(and subsequently each other) and Fuuxandith lwk goes a little apeshit because later on he found out that the BBEG's following kidnapped her :)

There was also a thing in the 2nd campaign where Ceral (privately) calls him out on his bullshit with the whole "I can't cast magic" thing, but she does agree to keep it secret for him.

But tbh if you asked me to identify the major event that causes Fuuxandith to change his mind about her I couldn't really tell you :/ I'd have to actually reread my notes for that and I have a FUCK TON of notes.

So as they currently stand!! Obviously they're VERY DIFFERENT in personality and that causes them to clash a lot but honestly the core root of their conflict is that Ceral wants to help Fuuxandith, while Fuuxandith doesn't want it.

Because I've established Ceral as the overprotective, "let me fix your problems" type of person, right. And Fuuxandith is extremely "I don't need your help". It's to the point he won't even let her heal him because he's too prideful to accept help. BUT TBH Ceral herself is overstepping his boundaries. Yeah Fuux is being shitty about it but because of the way Ceral is, she's too prideful to back off yknow. She's insistent on helping him because Fuuxandith is a person who does need guidance. In spite of Fuuxandith's shitty behavior, Ceral still cares about him and saves his stupid ass when needed. She's just too forceful about trying to "help" him yknow.

But obviously the more she persists, the more he resists and it's a really dumb cycle now that I'm typing it lmao

So what's the catalyst that starts improving their relationship??? I'm not really sure yet. Most likely a shared experience. A realization that there's more to the other than what they've shown. But it'll still be a slow buildup of their relationship. Like Fuuxandith starts accepting her healing and actually listens to her while Ceral learns to step back and give him space to sort out his own shit. Which tbh is directly linked to their respective traumas and I. Think that's why I like their dynamic.

They both behave in a way that makes the other reevaluate themselves and how they treat other people. And that reevaluation helps make room for recovery. This sounds too preachy and #deep so I'll just. Stop. Idk it might make more sense when I draw them in certain scenarios 🤔 But if you have any specific questions I can probably answer 👍

Fuuxandith+Uieke

The main thing with these two are their views on family. I already said in the beginning of the first campaign, Uieke disliked Fuux for something his family did while Fuux said it has nothing to do with him.

Being separate or cut off from family isn't something Uieke can really understand. It's "you carry your family's name and it's your responsibility to right their wrongs and bring honor to your family" to her. And Fuux is the exact opposite.

So the next time something like this happens is when Fuuxandith is going apeshit over his family being killed. Because there was actually one sister he had and she treated him decently but then she was killed lol. So Uieke, who by this point we still think her parents are dead, tells him anger won't help him. And idk I thought that was a neat moment.

And then when he turned down his responsibility as the next chief, you can bet your ass Uieke judged the HELL out of him for it.

I just think they're cool foils :) And in addition to their fundemental differences, they don't really like each other bc(in their respective opinions) Uieke is haughty and snobby and Fuux is too vulgar and barbaric lol.

Barryl+Arivine

...good boy/bad girl dynamic-

Okay I already said they're kinda friends but also not really. First of all Arivine is a criminal and Barryl is a criminal hunter. But also while Barryl kind of acts as Arivine's supervisor, he really finds her behavior questionable. He does want to keep her out of trouble but she makes it REALLY HARD to like her. And of course Arivine takes advantage of Barryl's timid nature and loves to mess with him. But tbh she has no idea why he bothers to look out for her and does try to see how far she can push Barryl before he gives up on her.

So...not the healthiest dynamic. And that's why I labeled Barryl's side of the relationship as complicated; he's aware of this mistreatment but still wants to look out for her.

I think what might make the most sense for them is that Barryl originally was looking for her to apprehend a notorious criminal. Stuff happens, he meets Arivine and the party, and has to kind of go undercover until he can turn her in. So at the beginning he looks out for her to make sure she doesn't cause trouble.

But along the way he learns that Arivine never grew up with parental figures and never had anyone to teach her anything so his big brother instincts kick in. And if it's not exactly her fault she turned out this way, is it really right to turn her in and reinforce her negative views on the world? So that's what Barryl struggles with while Arivine has no clue and just thinks Barryl is naive and stupid for thinking he can keep her out of trouble.

She has no idea how to deal with someone who cares about and is willing to deal with her though so she pretends he doesn't. But after spending so much time with him maybe she does develop some subconscious affection. Not exactly sure how that works :/ But yeah 👍

Arivine+Vairx

So these two actually have no significant interactions within previous campaigns that I remember, but with the emergence of Vairx's new backstory, I did speculate what kind of relationship they'd have.

Vairx would rather be in the background and so Arivine doesn't pay much attention to him. But I imagined if/when his backstory gets revealed Arivine is like "wait you're actually really fucked up in the head???? Kinda hot ngl" AND HEAR ME OUT Vairx obviously doesn't take that well. He wants to leave that behind and gets uncomfortable when Arivine tries to goad him into becoming more like that person. Also she's 10 years younger than him so that's weird.

Does that mean Arivine wants to watch the world burn? Maybe. Especially after if/when she consciously remembers what she went through, but as of now...she just really likes dark and twisted people.

Vairx+Uieke

This one will be relatively brief but yknow how Uieke is a noble and so she tends to hear gossip from other nobles right. So she knows about the whole "this crazy changeling tried to burn down a missionary" thing and when she sees Vairx for the first time she's just like. "Huh". So she's on to Vairx, and Vairx is aware she's suspicious of him so uh. Yeah :) Also Vairx finds her kinda scary in general lol

Vairx+Ceral

So due to completely personal reasons, Vairx doesn't like Ceral and she has no idea why. He's really cold to her and doesn't even speak with her despite Ceral's attempts to befriend him. And yknow she hasn't even done anything wrong so like???? It's confusing and concerning for her but she's doing her best.

I'm not sure if Vairx will eventually see that Ceral means well, or if he'll be able to see past his trauma and trust her. It'll definitely take a lot of work.

Ceral+Horkin

These two are just a fun dynamic; not sure if you remember but I said Ceral(and others, tbh) is a very "by the book" person, while Horkin can be unconventional. The way they solve problems is different but neither of them mind that bc different things work for different problems :)

They also have one of my favored dynamics, outspoken excitable extrovert/taller and older introvert who's their impulse control . But tbh Ceral sounds more like an introverted extrovert??? Still counts.

But while Ceral keeps his impulses in check, Horkin makes sure she takes care of herself. I'll give you an example: I made a comic a while ago abt these two and I don't QUITE remember what it was about, but it involved Ceral being on night watch and Horkin comes out and is like "yo what up I can't sleep how you doing"

Actually I'm gonna try to find it lol

FOUND IT okay so yeah Ceral's on a night watch and Horkin wakes up and goes "hey wait a minute isn't it someone else's turn???" And Ceral says yeah but she didn't wanna disturb anyone and insists she can handle it. Which prompts Horkin to say something along the lines of "yknow you always say you can handle things and take care of us but like...do you even take care of yourself??? You put everyone before yourself but don't seem to care if anyone would do the same"

And Ceral opens up a bit about how she can't really accept being thanked or cared for and says that she feels kinda stupid for feeling that way about herself. Like she's in her mid 20s you'd think she'd have a relatively decent self esteem. But Horkin reassures her and that it's nothing to feel stupid over bc he's met people of all ages who've felt the same way, and that the process of realizing you're worth caring about yourself is a little different for everyone. And even so, it's something worth pursuing everyday.

Ceral reflects on that a bit and thanks him for talking to her and Horkin tells her that if she ever wants to talk, he's her guy and ugdisbisbsn yeah. And of course people like Barryl and Strazz urge Ceral to care for herself more, Horkin is more persistent with it. So yeah they're just really nice and wholesome <3

Horkin+Sylnala

Wholesomely chaotic duo <3

These two get along really well!! Their dynamic is pretty self explanatory but I did want to point out something I recently realized about them.

They both have had things happen to them that they didn't truly grasp until later in life. Horkin was abandoned at a really young age, and Sylnala still hasn't realized growing up in the circus caused her some amount of trauma. And I feel like when Sylnala does come to that realization, or maybe Horkin figures it out himself, he's just like. "Oh". Obviously they do already share a lot in common but this kind of thing, having to put your entire life in a different perspective is something Horkin can deeply relate to and serves as a deeper connection.

So I do like to think he'd support her during that confusing time of her life because going through that on your own isn't fun.

OKAY I'M DONE GOOD GRIEF

If you're here and read the whole way through you are. Insane. That was ~19500 words of OC infodump and like???? Idk man thanks for listening to my shit :')

I wasn't expecting this to take a whole month but schoolwork got in the way a lot lol. Way in over my head. I still gotta do the NPC chapter and the timeline of events for previous campaigns and what I'm thinking for the current story but it'll all get done I hope!!!

Because I have NO IDEA why they'd join up to make a party in the first place. A good amount of them are loners/don't like people which is why in the fourth campaign the DM created these rings that prevented the party from getting too far away from each other. All of us realized that NONE of these characters have anything to do with each other so why would they make a party?? So that's something I need to think about bc as it stands, that's the biggest plothole in this...OCverse, I guess.

BUT YEAH I hope you enjoyed!! Have some more alignment memes for your time I have way too much of these 💔💔💔

Okay that's my image limit BYE LMAO THANKS FOR LISTENING TO ME RAMBLE ILY <333