New Character Submission - Jordath Hightooth

[mal]

Character: Jordath Hightooth
Age: 23
Gender: Male
Class: Bard
Race: Human
Alignment: True Neutral



Biography:

Jordath Hightooth is not any common man and has not had a common life. Jordath's family is one of minstrals and performers. They travel from town to town and village to village telling the tells of Layonara's heroes and villians.

Times were not always kind for the family. In Jordath's youth, the family would often perform for very small crowds and often just for enough crumbs to survive. At the worst of times, the family would have to go door to door (each picking a hut or house) and perform for a scrap of food or a single piece of gold. Some of the homes they would stop by would chastise them and others would welcome them in and share what they could spare. Sometimes if His uncle Lundar Hightooth felt that the family was suffering too much, he would hide in the shadows and take a handfull of grain or flower into his pocket. Because of these hard times, Jordath was taught that good, evil, lawfull and lawless were all just points of view and that the group that you are with will determine your actions and determine your fate.

When Jordath turned 14, the ashes fell from the sky and light returned to the land. Things started to look better for the family. Crops returned to the land and by the time Jordath turned 16, the family began to flurish. The crowds loved the family and all of their performances wether through song or though other artistic means.

Jordath's father Balain is a great story teller and often told him of the times before Blood and of the heros that defeated him. This captivated Jordath and he tried to learn all he could of these heroes. He not only taught Jordath how to read the crowd and tell a story, but that the story would be re-told by others so that people would want to hear another.

His mother Lillian was a minstral and tought him how to play several instruments including the horn, flute, and harp. She also taught Jordath how to control his voice as a performer and how to sing. She taught him the power in singing and how it could inspire, captivate, lul, or confuse all that hear it.

His uncle Lundar taught him how to juggle and how to hide in the shadows of the tents so that he could supprise the crowd during a performance. Lundar also taught Jordath how to sit back and listen to the crowd to see what they were talking about. By relaying this information effectivly, they could cater each show to the customers.

At the age of 18, Jordath saw that during different motions of his performances, the crowds reactions and moods seemed to change more easily than when others performed. Often on the day before preformances he would go into town and practice this to try to find out what was happening and how to control the effects. First he found motions and song that would put others to sleep. Then he discovered how to charm people. Once he discovered this, he ran back to his mother to explain what was happening. She encouraged him to practice this often and try new things to see what else he could control.

After a months of discovery and practicing, Jordath asked for a meeting with all of the family memebers to try to discover the source of these "powers." Lundar spoke of a legend that had been passed down in the family. Lundar spoke of the time of dragons and the wars between the races. The passage that stuck out in Jordath's mind was, " All races were brought into being by the dragons. When they first arrived into this world, they made the different races to be their servants and their minions. To counter some of the magic of the gods and goddesses, the dragons infused their blood into some of their choise subjects." Lundar said the only thing he could figure out is that enough of the blood, or magic from the blood to give him these powers.

Jordath thought the "dragon blood" was a great tell, but it was most likely a lost relative that had magical abilities and somehow got passed to him. He just knew he must practice and discover any new abilities that he may possess so that he might help his family.

Growing up in this atmosphere was fun and exciting for Jordath....well...for a while. Jordath got tired of hearing the same story and the same show night after night. He asked his father how he had learned all of the stories of the Heros from before the Dark Ages. His father told him of a group of adventures that he had followed. He spoke of the goblins and kobolds that the group had destroyed, of the treasures to be found and the glory to be had. This clicked with Jordath. He now wants to find a group of his own to join with and sing and tell of their stories and share in their treasure.

[darkstorme]

This is well-written. The support for the class is almost overwhelming. There are just a few points I'd like to see addressed before Jordath is ready to go.

First, Bardic magic. Bards, like sorcerers, have an inborn talent for magic - it is simply expressed in a different way. While sorcerers harness their magic through a force of will, Bards access theirs through artistic expression of whatever sort - though conventionally song. Did Jordath's parents (one or both) have this talent, or were they simply minstrels and storytellers? Either way, when did he discover this ability in himself?

Second, his alignment. While the performing group into which he was born seems fairly mercantile, I see nothing that illustrates Jordath's own personality. He agitates to go forth and explore the world, learn new stories and set them to song, epic poetry, or simply tell them again... but what is he like to others?

Finally, from birth to age 14, the world would have been shrouded in the nuclear winter effect wrought by the defeat of Blood. Crops were failing, people were dying, and the level of wealth afforded by the average citizen plummeted. What did his family do in those years to earn their living - how were they forced to adapt? After the skies cleared in 1420, I imagine it would have been like a breath of fresh life to the group, but I'd like to see at least a little detail on how they managed through the hard times.

Once you've updated this submission, post again to this thread.

Thanks!

[mal]

bump...

[jrizz]

Thank you for the extra work.

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!