Character: Sabalan Thergol

[Angelic]

Character: Sabalan Thergol
Age: 19
Gender: Male
Class: Cleric
Race: Human
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Deity: Grannoch
Domains: Protection, Earth

He had hill giant blood infused in family but way way back and he is for almost all human now, not using half giant race.

He is LN because his family teach him that law is more important than to be good. If he has to choose he is normally good person but don't break the law or else. If people stick with the law then normally all else is not any trouble.

He is a nice person and always tries to do right thing. He thinks people should not rely on others. His cleric advice is normally to help people to help themselves. He sees the power in all elements but especially the earth powers of earthquake and volcano call to his blood.

He is from Krashin, where some of his people worship the Goddess Mist and some of them worship the Goddess Grannoch. Though they are unfriendly, the biggest threat to his people was storms and bad weather and some people though Mist brought them and some people thought Grannoch brought them. Who know who is right? He would have been quite happy to stay there for lot longer but the dark ages means food was hard to find and he tries to find a better life by using his Goddess' gifts.

He is not nobleman or has any nobleman anywhere in his family tree.

1. I have read and understand the dogma and expectations of Grannoch and intend to follow them.

2. Strong people live and weak people have not during dark ages. He tells people to be strong. Find inner strength and from that all things come. Do not rely on others. Rely on own strength.

3. Sabalan will wear armor and brown cloak - his cleric domain is earth. I think he will be too little to use maul and shield so he will used hammer and shield if this is okay. He will do this because it is close to maul but just little for smaller people.

[jrizz]

This is a great start and we want to get you playing as fast as we can. He you tells us a few stories about him? one for his youger years, one from teenage years, and one about how he came to be a cleric.

thanks

[Angelic]

Story from when he was a boy.

"Sabalan, you stay away from those ropes"
"But Father, I want to help you with the fishing."
"When you are a big and strong boy you can come on the boat and help your Father catch the fish for all the village."

Sabalan looked down at his skinny arms and weak body and thought if I work very hard this will change soon and everyone would be proud of him.

His father then went out to catch the fish but never came back at all. This is one of the reasons why Sabalan thinks he must be strong. He was weak and his father got taken by the sea and he feels guilty that he was not strong enough to help. He knows from Grannoch that all elements are special but he leans to earth element as his father was killed at sea.


Story from when he was a teenager.

Two boys from his village were having a big fight. One said Mist was the better Goddess and one said Grannoch was better Goddess. They were very angry like barbarians could get. Sabalan listened very carefully to their words to see which side he thought he was on.
After a lot of listening and thinking he decided on Grannoch. Mist was very chaotic and her clerics didn't seem to much care about helping other peoples lives get better. Sabalan liked to help other people. A safe home and other people being happy was important to him.


Story about how he became a cleric.

Sabalan was tall and strong and he had a quick mind and strong will. The two nearest clerics from nearby saw that he would be a good pickup for their church. The cleric of Mist promised him wonderful things and the cleric of Grannoch thought that Mist would be who Sabalan would choose to pray to.
But Sabalan picked up a handful of dirt in front of the two clerics and said "I do not choose Grannoch but she chooses me. This is the right thing to do for my heart. I have known this forever."


Hope this is okay.

[Angelic]

Did you need any more stories for him to be a cleric?

I have been told by a friend who plays I should also put in how he looks. Sabalan is tall and muscular build. He has a friendly face you can trust that says to you this is a nice person. He has brown hair and no beard or mustache.

[darkstorme]

Hi there!

While the expansion on your character is good, I'd like to see a bit more on Sabalan's faith. A cleric is a mortal vessel for the power of their god - this is no mere "preference", but pure, burning faith. As such, becoming a cleric would not be the point where he would be forced to choose between two deities, but rather the point, after years of worship, where the Goddess chooses to make manifest Her power through him. The point at which his devotion is so absolute that he is rewarded for his faith. So a bit of elaboration on his worship and devotion prior to becoming a member of Her clergy would greatly flesh out Sabalan as a character.

There are also a couple of things that are out-of-place in your existing submission:

• First and foremost, Grannoch is a she. The Mother of Giants. Since all of your references to Grannoch are masculine, I suspect you might have misread that bit.
• Second, it would be a trifle unusual for a community to be made up of worshipers of Grannoch & Mist. Both deities paint each other as Unfriendly, so to say that such a community would be polarized would be an understatement. Given that Krashin is populated largely by Barbarians, the first holy argument that broke out would likely also be the last, as the community would either split or be... forcibly converted.

Sabalan's character sounds fascinating - once you've addressed the above points, I'm sure he'll be in-game in no time.

Thanks!

[Angelic]

Hello darkstorme.

I have got my friend to help me out with these answers as my English is maybe not good enough to get my idea explained well.


The relationship between man (or woman) and deity in an polytheistic setting, especially that of an online fantasy world, can resut in as many opinions as there are participants in the discussion. Why does a Priest choose to worship one God or Goddess? Your reason will be different to mine yet I would contest neither is definitively right nor wrong. How would you have one explain the unfathomable relationship bewteen man and God(dess)? Christian scripture says the letter kills but the spirit gives life. Truth is greater than logic. Worship is greater than recording of worship. Meaning is greater than language. An attempt to define such a relationship in a paragraph or two that matches your understanding (which I am not saying is the less valid one) of such a bond I would suggest is only a certainty to place limits on such a relationship. This man has chosen this Goddess and this Goddess has chosen this man.

All mascuine references to Grannoch have been changed to feminine. This was a mistake, though I would have thought that an 'ascended mortal' might very well have left the ephemeral cloak of male or female form so far behind as to make such labels meaningless?

Sabalan's village was fundamentally multi-denominational - as I would imagine most typical human settlements in these times to be. In times of drought they would pray to the God that might bring the blessing of rain, in times of war they prayed to the God that would grant them victory of their enemy, etcetera. The earlier reference to the two competing representatives of the 'unfriendly' religions of Mist and Grannoch were, let us say, separated by a sufficient geographical distance that prevented unavoidable faith-fuelled conflagration.

[darkstorme]

An emphatic (and well-worded) rebuttal. Your friend is remarkably well-spoken.

I was under the impression (from your original posts) that the village was bi-denominational, and therefore the polarization of the village would have quickly torn it apart. While there must be yin and yang in all things, if they're in close proximity, holy wars usually erupt.

The two remaining points I have issue with are merely clarifications:

First, while the man can choose the Goddess, the Goddess cannot (in any direct way) choose the man. The calling must be general, as the gods do not interfere directly in mortal affairs.

The second is that in Layonara, at least, the Gods are not ascended mortals who have shed mortality. They came into being independent of the mortals that they created/created them. Just a theological perspective.

That all being said:
Your character has been approved.

Server address is west.layonara.com
Password is layoplayer

Some final notes on character creation:

• Please note that racial adjustments for players with subraces are skin based and thus get applied after getting in game.
• Only two ability scores can be less than 10 and only one can be less than 8 after racial adjustments
• Brownies, when selecting a head, the head you choose on the halfling selection will correspond to that numbered head for elves (for example, clicking right 6 times on the head selection during character creation will take the 6th head when clicking right on the elf creation)
• Half-giants and ogres, please ask for a GM (type /dm Anyone here?) if you would like to change to a custom skin.

I look forward to seeing Sabalan in game.

[Acacea]

As a clarification, several deities deities in Layonara were once mortal, but that is neither here nor there. Welcome