New Character Submission - Rundello Elderwood

[RankledOldMan]

Character: Rundello Elderwood
Age: 28
Gender: Male
Class: Bard
Race: Halfling
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Deity: Deliar


Biography:

Rundello was born to travelling halfling-folk, twenty-eight years ago. Being gypsy-like in their ways, his clan were often persecuted by humans. His parents perished during a mountain crossing, killed by ignorant mountain folk. They were accused of theft, destruction of property and blood magic. It was not true, but ultimately that didn't matter.

Rundello's uncle, Rory Elderwood, managed to escape the attack with Rundello in tow. Of the two dozen or so clan members, only these two managed to survive. They ultimately ended up in the town of Clover.

Uncle Rory raised Rundello for nearly 20 years. A kind and thoughtful man, he filled the boy with stories of his parents and of the Folk. Rundello's foster parent never treated him poorly or spoke badly of him. As a result, it could be said that boy had a wonderful early life, filled with fun and excitement.

Once Run was old enough to live life on his own, Rory announced that he would travel east to find the rest of his scattered clan. It is the only time Run ever remembered him mentioning more Elderwoods. Gripped with a sense of wanderlust, Rundello chose not to join his uncle, but to instead travel the land and search for personal truths. On the day his uncle left for the east, the young halfling packed up his belongings and began his own travels.

For three years Rundello has lived in Pranzis, eking out a life as a poet, singer, minstrel and mercenary. Life here is far different than the easy life he has lead elsewhere. Political intrigue, high-society, and strict laws are the bread and butter of this army town.

Many are the people that Rundello has worked with, or for. Most notable are the merchant houses that often seek out men and women to accompany their caravans on their journeys. Rundello has also worked with a few mercenary companies, providing much needed entertainment in distant postings. He has spent weeks and sometimes months travelling from outpost to outpost doing what he can to raise morale, earn some coin, and build a reputation. Occasionally, the small bard also finds himself assisting in the odd skirmish. In one battle he was given the name Sa'acha-Vatok (Small Hand of Death) by a barbarian chieftain. It is a title that the halfling enjoys immensely.

Rundello has been back home for the last two weeks. Being shy on money, he has taken to busking on street corners and in local pubs. When coin permits, he hangs around with guardsmen and guildsmen, buying drinks and trying to build contacts. The halfling longs for adventure and often tells stories to fire the blood. His hope is to join a group and quench his unending wanderlust.

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The Psychology of Rundello

Though embittered by his parents death, he doesn't blame humanity. Instead, Rundello blames ignorance and intolerance. The bard goes to great lengths to educate and stomp out bigotry where he can. He also dislikes bullys and anyone who acts without thought for others.

[Acacea]

Hey, welcome to Layo. Nice bio, always nice to see halfling halflings. Going to go ahead and put you through, but with some notes for you to think about. So just to make it clear at the beginning, APPROVED. I know the post looks scary, heh.

For the explanations - putting a name in the deity field generally implies a level of devotion at least exceeding lip service, because priests can sense their deity's stance towards your deity, and act accordingly. It often doesn't make a lot of sense for it to read "friendly" or "unfriendly" or "allied" or what have you, if the person doesn't actually care much about the god or what he's doing. There's no mention of Deliar in the bio, so usually we ask about "why a deity in the field?" when it's not left blank.

Despite the lack of mention though, he makes a pretty good Deliarite as he is. Halfling, CG, traveling, into freedom and stomping out bigotry, all things the god and his Lucky Coins share - add wandering trade for the good of the people in there and he'd even be a model Deliarite, really. And since most halflings worship the Couple in some form or another and aren't often into ceremonious worship even when they are heavily devoted, it's not really a big deal. Halfling spirit fits the dogma pretty well already as he is, but if you think that might not be the case I'd just leave it out. If you do, let us know, please.

Other than that, the skirmishes and caravan jobs and such are of course considered something around a challenge a level one character might contribute to. Pranzis is now referred to as Prantz. I don't want to overwhelm you or anything, but there is a lot of info floating around that isn't included in the outdated handbook, that he would be familiar with and you might like to use for your roleplaying. So I hope it's helpful rather than scary.

You might be interested in reading about Clover here, and of Prantz (no longer Pranzis) and its laws here.

It should help with some background info for RP purposes, if you're into that. Otherwise, the short version to note for some history things in your bio - the city was sacked by an army of Bloodstone's around the same time Bloodstone himself was killed (1402), and taken over by Lord Rael, who rules the city now and the surrounding area (and below...). There is a lot of registration required and tight laws unfailingly executed, and Sulterio is the god of choice... but on the other hand, the city was rebuilt and given back structure and stability. It's got kind of a LE thing going on for it now.

The other background event was global, in that a year after Rundello was born, the world entered a dark age brought on by an enormous explosion that decimated the mountain Blood's tower was on. So a cloud of ash and debris filtered sunlight for about two decades, causing famines, frigid temperatures, mass death and hysteria, etc. It simply disappeared from the sky about 9 years back though, which in a way was as much a shock as it coming in the first place. A lot of things are still in recovery mode or just dead, but at least it's not the Dark Ages. Perhaps the skies clearing were what prompted his uncle to go out in search of the clan? Your choice of course, just letting you know some 'recent' world events. He'll start on Mistone, regardless, in one of two cities - Fort Vehl or Port Hempstead.

The latter has a strong Deliarite presence, as they are the ones that reformed the city several decades ago and make an effort to keep the place clean and free and all that, trade at the profit of the people and not the already-rich, all that Deliarite stuff. There is a big temple there, maybe the only stationary one existing.

Your character has been approved.
Server address is west.layonara.com
Password is layoplayer
Thanks, and sorry for the super long post. I hope it was helpful, at least. Have fun!

[Leanthar]

You rock Acacea.

[RankledOldMan]

Firstly, thanks for the admit! I'll try to familiarize myself with the history as best I can. I think I may even work some of it into ballads or odes to help me to remember.

The deity situation. I was wavering over that from the get-go. While I don't want to be a lip-service type I also didn't want Rundello to come off as a zealot. I think a happy medium exists where he can be a quiet devotee. The type that tithes, lends his service to the church, and even puts in a good word for his faith when he can (like plugs for Deliar during a show, etc...). His not being a worshipper of the Couple can easily be explained by a lack of familial guidance in that direction. His uncle Rory was liberal to the point of not really pushing the cultural dogma.

As for the Dark Age, I think that absolutely works great as a motive for my family having hit the road to look for greener pastures. The ash-cloud disappearing also works as a motive for my uncle wanting to get back on the road.

Thanks again, I'll put Rundello together and see you online.

[Acacea]

It's cool, you don't have to be a zealot to be faithful. It's pretty hard to be a Deliarite zealot, anyway, especially as a halfling. What are they going to do, threaten to break all your locks and force you to buy pencil sharpeners at fair prices?

Have fun!