New Character Submission - Aelir Valmont Kaalor

[Jesterr01]

Character: Aelir Valmont Kaalor
Age: 19
Gender: Male
Class: Wizard
Race: Human
Alignment: True Neutral
Deity: Branderback


Biography:

Aelir Valmont Kaalor was born to Veir and Kayara Kaalor in Lor. Veir and Kayara both came from long lines of soldiers of the port cities. "The law is in place for a reason and that's all there is to it" was a common saying used when apprehending thieves and the like. Veir, like his and Kayara's parents, was killed defending the city against a bugbear attack when Aelir was only 5. Veir's brother, Daklan left Lor to seek his own fortune away from the soldier's life by heading for Port Dart when both he and Vier were young. Year's later Daklan would return to settle back down in Lor, after much initial apprehension from the public. Initially suspicious (as they are of anyone from Port Darth), but eventually accepting him as one of their own, "One from Lor, always from Lor". At the age of 6, Aelir's mother, Kayara came down with an illness and couldn't afford the price for a cleric to heal her affliction. Feeling that Aelir needed a male for guidance, she sent him to live with his uncle Daklan before passing away. Daklan took care of Aelir, gave him a place to sleep, food to eat, but for a price. "Nothing comes free" and "The Gawds gave you hands, now use 'em" were common phrases in Daklan's home. At the age of 8 Aelir was sent to the docks to find odd jobs, any he could to help support both Daklan and himself. "A man's gotta be self reliant" was also a common mantra of the new house Kaalor. One day when he was 12, Aelir saw a dock worker stealing part of a shipment. He confronted the dock worker about it and the dock worker hit him and told him to get off the docks and never come back. After returning home with a swollen black eye he relayed the story to his uncle. "Hmph. And? What'd ya do about it?" Daklan asked. "Well, I came home and told you" was Aelir's reply. His uncle took him aside and said "Life's pretty simply boy. If you let people walk on you, they will. If you want something, you be a man and take it. Knowledge is power boy. Ye say you saw the dock worker take somethin', then get 'em fired by tellin the foreman or blackmail the dock worker, I dun't care, but take care of yerself however you have to. Hear me boy...HOWEVER you have ta." Blackmail? Aelir knew that was wrong, how could his uncle even suggest it? The dock worker did hit him and threaten him though. Aelir decided to tell the foreman and after investigation the foreman found the stolen goods and fired the dock worker and offered Aelir his job. After returning home Aelir told his uncle what happened. "Just make sure you're not caught with anything" Daklan said. "What do you mean? I don't steal" was Aelir's reply. "Don't you get it boy, it don't matter. You think they're gonna care or ask if you took somethin' if yer caught with it? It don't matter if ya done anything, just if you LOOK like you done anything. You think that foreman's not goin' to fire you if you get caught with somethin'? HA, where was the foreman the day you got hit? Alls I'm sayin is, you look out fer yerself. That dock worker was probably pullin in an extra few gold a week sellin that stuff till he got seen by a little kid."
"What are you saying uncle, that it was ok?" Aelir asked.
"It was till he got caught. I expect you to get me 5 gold this week to help with the food."Daklan stated.
"But I only get 4 gold a week!"Aelir proclaimed
"Then you got some thinkin to do, I expect 5 gold by the end of the week boy." and Daklan left. How was Aelir supposed to get an extra gold a week? After a couple of days loading and unloading on the docks the dock worker he caught came up to him and said "I'm sorry for hitting you son."
"I'm not your son, and I bet you're sorry...now." Aelir said. "I only needed some extra money on the side to feed my family. I have responsibilities. By the way, my name's Desh" the dock worker stated. "What's this gotta do with me?" Aelir asked. Desh said "Well I've got a job on a ship but I need just a little more to feed my kids. I don't want to start no trouble, but there's a shipment of spices coming in and if a little bit fell off the boat and fell my way...I could see that an extra 10 gold fell your way"
"5 gold by the end of the week and I don't get paid for another 2" Aelir muttered. "I'll do it this once, then I don't want to see you again"
A week later is was "Here's your gold uncle. Do you want to know where I got it?" Aelir asked. "Don't care" Daklan said. "I said I wanted 5 gold and you got it for me. You don't tell me and I won't ask, that's the deal. "Law don't mean as much when you got a timeline does it boy?" And that was the way of things. Aelir got money honestly (and not so honestly if he was in a pinch) and decided he wouldn't hurt anyone if he didn't have to...as long as they weren't directly in his way. It really was that simple, if you want something you take it...and what Aelir wanted was knowledge. He'd heard tales of wizards who could see off to distant lands and held the knowledge of the world and even the universe in their hands. He wanted that. He worked hard at the docks the next few years picking up stories here and there and life lessons from his uncle who learned everything from the church of Branderback during his days in Port Dark. "Never speak of it to anyone else boy." He'd say "If others knew what you know, they'd try to take it from you, out of jealousy and greed. Look to the sky, pray to Branderback and seek out others of him if you have questions, but don't get caught looking for him."
"How'm I supposed to do that?"Aelir asked
"Ye make a way boy. If you fail in finding the Black Hound, it's yer own fault, no one else's"
That was Aelir's 16th year before leaving his uncle's house. During one of his occasional "losing" of merchandise on the docks, he discovered one of the people he was acquiring things for was a wizard. Aelir, not being one to miss an opportunity quickly struck a deal with him. "I want to know what you know." Aelir told him. "You want to know eh? And what can you offer me in exchange for knowledge? Nothing comes free in this life" the wizard said. "I can offer you components as they come in from the dock and we can trade off." Aelir said. "Tell you what son, you've been reliable in the past. Get me this list of things I need plus 2000 gold and I'll teach you what you ask" the wizard stated. Aelir simply took the list and said "done" without even looking at the list. "Aren't you even curious why I want the things on that list, my hopeful apprentice?" the wizard asked amusedly. "It's not my business what you want it for. All that matters is, I have the list, I have things to get, and I get paid in lessons." Aelir replied. "Being a wizard's apprentice is no picnic son, it's hard work" the wizard told him. "Everything seems to be."Aelir said as he left the wizard's home to fetch the money he already had squirreled away at his uncle's home. "I'm leaving uncle. I'm going to become a wizard, and on day you'll hear tell of me" Aelir told his uncle. "Is that so boy? How do you think yer gonna do that? There are no schools around here for that sort of thing" his uncle told him. "I've already gotten an apprenticeship. It's like you told me, life's easy...you just pony up, be a man and take what you want, so I have" That was the last thing Aelir said to his uncle before departing with the money and heading for his first of many contacts he'd made through his dealings in search of items on his list. This is how it would be from now on, you have a task and you do it...you want something, you take it, you need someone, you depend on yourself.

[darkstorme]

Hi there!

This is a great story, and I quite enjoyed reading it. Unfortunately, the end will need a little tweaking.

There are no formal mage academies in Layonara. The closest available is a school of magic run by the church of Lucinda in Spellgard, but they do their own scouting, on the whole, and are not a formal body of education (not yet, anyway). Plus, of course, the place is several hundred gold away, by boat or portal. For Aelir to learn magic in Layonara, he would have to get himself apprenticed to a wizard.

Other than that, this is an excellent story. Change the ending to reflect what training he received, and Aelir should be good to go.

Thanks!

[Jesterr01]

Oops, didn't realize the bit about the schools, but having a wizard teach him would fit better anyway. Hope this works better

[osxmallard]

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.

As Darkstorme said, excellent story and very enjoyable to read. Welcome to Layonara.