New Character Submission: Kayiti the Endurant

[LightlyFrosted]

Name: Kayiti The Ludicrously Endurant
Sex: Female
Race: Human
Class: Barbarian
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Deity: Folian S'pae

Biography:
Hailing from the far North, in the depths of the arctic wastes of Krashin, Kayiti was always the heartiest of five sisters and two brothers born to a ranger of the North, and a barbarian from one of the local tribes. At their knees, the children learned of the value of strength, the lore of the land, and the teachings of Folian S'pae. In keeping with the ways of the barbarian tribe, the children were also taught from the rich oral tradition that the tribe held, and the hunting, trapping and fishing from which the tribe gained much of its protein food supplies. Finally, all of the children were taught the ways of war, for while the tribe was not a savage one, neither were they so far removed from the threats of the land that they could safely disregard the numerous threats that plagued the people of the land.

Of her childhood, many stories could be told; she was one of the few willing to plunge into the northern ocean waters regardless of the time of year, not evidently feeling the cold. When one of the village's fishermen was pulled from his boat by a harpooned too-large-catch, this willingness allowed her to dive from the next boat over, knife in hand, and cut the line before the fisherman was drowned. Swimming swiftly to shore, she managed to get a fire lit from what tinder she was able to gather, and though the fisherman grew very sick, he did survive, albeit some the worse for wear. Kayiti suffered no ill effects from the mid-winter swim. Such physical fortitude would serve her well, as threats arose to worry her people.

One great threat did eventually arise, that would earn Kayiti the recognition of her family and tribe, and which would later act as an impetus sending her off on her own. A pack of winter wolves plagued the area, so directed by a goblin named Drot the Malodorous. Hunting expeditions had begun to return with badly wounded members and tales of Drot's predations. A council of the natives convened, and the decision was reached that Drot must be dealt with, severely. Having recently reached adulthood, Kayiti and her sister Liuci (later to become Liuci the Perpetually Furious - but that, gentle reader, is another tale) accompanied the party that would end the goblinoid menace.

Perhaps it was that the gods had other plans for Drot - or perhaps it was simply ill fate - but two days into the trek that would take them overland to the lair of the goblin-bandit and his wolf pack, a storm began to brew. The reaction of the warriors sent out was mixed - Sarad the Silver-Tongued thought it an ill omen, and a poor circumstance for battle (should it come to that). Still, it was farther to go back than it was to go forward - what then could the brave do but to be bold?

A half-day later, there was some regret over this decision. The storm had gotten worse, with visibility all but negligible, and the howling winds stealing what heat even a roaring campfire was able to evoke. Perhaps drawn by the light of the fire - or again, perhaps fate - a scouting party of the bandit-wolves came across the expedition. The warriors fought bravely, but the weather had sapped their strength, and they had been caught by surprise. Two of the party of eleven died, and three were badly wounded.

Kayiti, who had sustained a few glancing blows in the battle, was in better shape than most. What had always been her natural hardiness was proving resistant to bitter winds felt by warriors several years her senior. Still, she had been trained and taught to be a warrior herself, and she knew that without the more skilled fighters in fighting condition, an expedition to negotiate with the goblin-bandit would be at a severe disadvantage. The expedition limped along, until one of the more far-sighted warriors caught sight of a cave, which might provide the shelter the party desperately needed in order to recuperate.

Caves, as a rule, are but rarely safe places to be. One never knows how deep they run until one is inside, to say nothing of other residents. Kayiti and a trio of warrior-kin entered first - they being the ones in best condition to fight, if such action were required. A sound thing it was that they did, at that, for the cave was the residence to a great white bear, hugely strong and swifter than any of them could have anticipated. Resenting, perhaps, the intrusion, a mighty swipe of one paw sent one of the warriors smashing into the wall, and into unconsciousness. Ducking the second paw, aimed at her, Kayiti knew that this would be the end unless something saved them...

It was when Liuci pressed the attack and got a horrific swipe for her troubles, and lay there, bleeding, that something clicked in Kayiti's mind. The rage of a barbarian is never anything to take lightly, and hers was no exception. Everything went red... and when it had faded, she was wounded but still on her feet, and her hunting spear had plunged deep into the great bear's heart.

Nevertheless, the party was decimated, and four days later the storm raged on, but even the bear meat was running in short supply, to say nothing of tinder. Only Kayiti's great toughness had saved her wounds from infection thus far, for what healing supplies the party had with them were being used to treat the more grievously wounded. Someone would have to go out and try to seek aid from one of the nearby villages, some of whom were allied with Kayiti's own. Strong as she was, tough as she was, Kayiti's courage began to fail, but still hers was the first hand raised to volunteer for the duty. She was fleet of foot, and hopefully strong enough to make it to the next village.

Word came, along with the much-needed aid, some three days later, that the barbarian lass had staggered in from the storm, blue from the cold, some day-and-a-half after she had left the cave. Half-frozen to death, and bleeding from wounds not even yet begun to heal, she had staggered, limped, and crawled the whole way - some twenty miles. The expedition turned back, once the storm had broke, though Kayiti was in no condition to travel for a couple of weeks.

Though the expedition had been a failure, Drot's reign as bandit-prince of Krashin had come to an end nonetheless. Winter-wolves being treacherous beasts, he had fallen prey to one of the pack after a dispute about the division of loot. Kayiti was named The Endurant One, for her lengthy but successful trek, which was decided to likely have saved those that had survived the storm, but though the skies were clear, she remained troubled. Her near brush with death was something that had not happened before - her great fortitude had spared her from the diseases that occasionally plagued the various tribes, so she had never been in danger from illness, and her fitness had always saved her from more physical threats.

She knew then that she had to leave Krashin - to see the world, to grow stronger, and to learn of the things and places which she had only previous heard stories of. Her first adventure had concluded, but her journey was only beginning...

Edit - clarification: I am aware that some of the described action here may somewhat exceed that which is possible for a first-level character - particularly considering that Polar Bears are not inconsiderable threats. There are any number of possible answers to how she ended up slaying it, including her tripping and just so happening to stab the bear in the right place, while she was blinded by rage. The best explanation that I myself can give is that barbarians draw their excessive strength from great rage, and her clan at the very least highly values kin. I have deliberately left the precise details vague however, and as I expect absolutely no special consideration for the character simply for having this in the back-story, you may feel free to insert whatever solution to this question suits your fancy.

That being said, she's going to be quite a tough cookie, particularly when raging. Who knows?

[jrizz]

Can you give just a bit about what makes her CG.

[LightlyFrosted]

As far as goodness goes - well, along with proving her endurance, the fact that she was willing to go out, despite her own injuries, into one of the worst storms to hit Krashin in years, for the good of her clan-mates, struck me as covering it. Regarding chaos, I realize that I may have somewhat stressed the role and importance of belonging to a clan in her life, but she IS a barbarian. The ability to berserk as a barbarian, give in to bloodlust and emotion to the degree that one can at will call up an adrenaline rush is an inherently chaotic act that more disciplined fighters are, by nature, unable to perform - at least to the same degree.

That being said, I should emphasize as well the effect that growing up in a place like Krashin would have on someone. Far removed from most cities and their laws, one is forced to confront the more tribal viewpoint, which more closely resembles one person, one vote - calling a 'council', as the tribe did, to work out how to deal with Drot was less an act of a patriarchal gathering, and may well have included all of the members of the tribe. Certainly the warriors would all be included, they being the most immediately affected by the decision being made. One can extrapolate that if such a gathering would be held to work out a strategy against a common threat against the tribe, then it is reasonable to assume that a similar approach would be taken to policy and reprimand for those who transgressed against the best interests of the tribe, and that such transgressors would be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. This is often described as the method of justice for a chaotic good community, and nature is often defined by such sociological means.

The concept of honour, although mentioned, is not exclusive to the lawful, although its significance and meaning does vary somewhat depending on the situation. Looking at the epic of Beowulf (who is almost beyond question the other half to the Conan coin, when it comes to defining barbarians - and has the advantage of some few hundred years of seniority), one cannot help but note the extreme honour with which that same warrior conducts himself - not perhaps the definition of 'lawful', but extremely oriented on honour, to the extent of depriving himself of weaponry when he hears that Grendel spurns the same. Kith and kindred having supreme importance is one of the key features of a tribal society, regardless of 'alignment'; again, a sociological issue. Were it not, such societies would break apart, because blood-relations and allegiances based upon the same were often the mortar that held them together.

That's what I was thinking of when writing the character, at least. I can add in a little more to the bio, just to clarify what I was aiming at.

[jrizz]

Nice reply

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.

Have fun!