Heya and some questions...

[Tai'dashar]

Hi, I'm new to this server and I was pondering about some stuff about what character I should play.

I've given it some serious thought about playing an Aasimar paladin, since I've never played paladin before I thought it could be a fun change from my fighter/weaponmaster characters.

Some stuff I was wondering about before i send in my submission.

Can an Aasimar have siblings and parents that does not show any signs of celestial blood? Does it only shows sometimes in the carrier of the blood or does all does that have celestial blood look a bit diffrent from ordinary humans.

Also I was wondering how many active players you have Layonara.

If anyone have any suggestions on a biography I would glady take the help since I've never played an Aasiamr or paladin before.

Thanks

[Link092]

Hello! I'm new here as well, and as far as the bio, I'm nowhere near qualified to help you on that subject.

good luck!

[minerva]

Welcome to Layonara.
 
 I suggest you read a few posts  such as  This while planning out your paladin.  Only a few of Layonara's gods have paladins and they are supposed to the shinning example of that deity. As such they have a few extra requirements this post helps to outline and point to.
 
 Any of the special subraces require a far more descriptive biography to become approved. The bio of a aasimar must make clear why this character concept needs the special subrace and cannot work without it.  It must demonstrate how the qualities of the aasimar are found in the character far beyond just a list of the traits found on the LORE page.
 
 A few other points you can garner from the timeline.  Starting at about 1420 those of mixed blood are not longer able to reproduce. This means you Aasimar character will not be able to have children and must be born prior to this date. This shouldn't be a problem as you cannot have a child PC and the current date at this writing is 1435.
 Also from the timeline you will see that the world is recovering from a period of darkness that resulted from the defeat of Sinthar Bloodstone.  These dark ages resulted in the deaths of millions of people due to starvation, disease and the perils that such bring. Your character would have lived through a portion of this time and it would be nice to see it reflected in them.
 
 Aasimar does not have to "show" in all the siblings of a family.
 
 Questions you may have can also be answered sometimes using the IRC chatroom by other players and gamemasters that lurk there.

[aragwen]

Hi there
 
 Many of your questions can be answered by http://forums.layonara.com/lore.
 
 You will see a complete writeup on [LORE]Aasimar[/LORE] here as well.
 So to answer you question, surely you can have siblings and parents that does not show any signs of celestial blood, as your actual character would likely not show any clear signs either except the few mentioned on that page I linked for you.
 
 Number of active players are very hard to gauge, but again look for yourself here http://forums.layonara.com/nwn-server-status. I have to say that I very seldom see nobody else around. But there are quiet times and then more busy times.

[ShiffDrgnhrt]

Heya Dude!  Welcome to the Best online Persistant World EVER!  (I might be biased though )

First piece of info you might wanna know:

1421
In this year, the very last recorded cross-species birth occurred. After this, no halfbreed children were born, and those who were halfbreeds themselves (Half-Elves, Half-Orcs, and other creatures of mixed blood) gradually discovered that they were utterly unable to conceive/bear children.

This means that Aasimars also can't concieve anymore.
The Current Layo year is 1434? I think thats right.  Anyway, if you want your PC to be a Aasimar, you still can.  He just has to be older then 13, which should not be a problem since no one has ever heard of a 13 year old Paladin.   As for the siblings thing, sure!  Say the Mom is the Celestial one, and the dad after 1421 wanted more kids and wasn't too nice of a guy and got a new wife.....  Or the other way, the Dad is the Celestial one and maybe is also a paladin and dies, and the mom remarries.

So!  Now you need to read the stuff about [LORE]Paladin[/LORE]s, [LORE]Toran[/LORE], and [LORE]Aasimar[/LORE]s....  (I included Toran, one of the Goods, cause most Aasimar I've seen worship him, but they could also worship any of the good [LORE]Deities Of Layonara[/LORE] [but then again Toran is the "God of Paladins", along with that many of the good Gods don't use Paladins like Prunilla, Beryl, Deliar, Katia....])

As for stories/Bios for your Character, just try your best.  We have an AWESOME staff of Character Approvers that will gladly help you flesh out basic ideas and help fit in any slightly "out of place" stories into the Lore of the World.  You need to know this though.  From 1402-1420 (or around there) the WHOLE world was covered in a Dark Age, where the skies where filled with Ash, dust, and debris from a HUGE explosion, causing famine and other bad stuff...  You should make sure to reference that in your PCs story since he will have grown up during that, most likely.

Anyway!  Phew I talk to much....  Welcome to Layo!

(And to your "How many Players" question, It varies since we always have new members coming, old members taking breaks, and older players coming back when they realized this place really is the best )

[Link092]

Heya Dude!  Welcome to the Best online Persistant World EVER!  (I might be biased though )

First piece of info you might wanna know:

1421
In this year, the very last recorded cross-species birth occurred. After this, no halfbreed children were born, and those who were halfbreeds themselves (Half-Elves, Half-Orcs, and other creatures of mixed blood) gradually discovered that they were utterly unable to conceive/bear children.

This means that Aasimars also can't concieve anymore.
The Current Layo year is 1434? I think thats right.  Anyway, if you want your PC to be a Aasimar, you still can.  He just has to be older then 13, which should not be a problem since no one has ever heard of a 13 year old Paladin.   As for the siblings thing, sure!  Say the Mom is the Celestial one, and the dad after 1421 wanted more kids and wasn't too nice of a guy and got a new wife.....  Or the other way, the Dad is the Celestial one and maybe is also a paladin and dies, and the mom remarries.

So!  Now you need to read the stuff about [LORE]Paladin[/LORE]s, [LORE]Toran[/LORE], and [LORE]Aasimar[/LORE]s....  (I included Toran, one of the Goods, cause most Aasimar I've seen worship him, but they could also worship any of the good [LORE]Deities Of Layonara[/LORE] [but then again Toran is the "God of Paladins", along with that many of the good Gods don't use Paladins like Prunilla, Beryl, Deliar, Katia....])

As for stories/Bios for your Character, just try your best.  We have an AWESOME staff of Character Approvers that will gladly help you flesh out basic ideas and help fit in any slightly "out of place" stories into the Lore of the World.  You need to know this though.  From 1402-1420 (or around there) the WHOLE world was covered in a Dark Age, where the skies where filled with Ash, dust, and debris from a HUGE explosion, causing famine and other bad stuff...  You should make sure to reference that in your PCs story since he will have grown up during that, most likely.

Anyway!  Phew I talk to much....  Welcome to Layo!

(And to your "How many Players" question, It varies since we always have new members coming, old members taking breaks, and older players coming back when they realized this place really is the best )

You should be a salesman... :p

[Tai'dashar]

Thanks for all the info. I already figured some of that stuff out but thanks for the time.

I've been thinking of some stuff that could develope into a biography.

The char would be taking under the protective wings of a travelling paladin of Toran going through their village. Since it's under the dark ages the village is suffering from famine and the mother can barley feed her baby so she agrees to give it up for the paladin to foster and train.

Do the paladins of Toran have some kind of headquarter where they train their pladins to be? And where is that?

[merlin34baseball]

There's a Temple to Toran in Llast, pretty sure it's the main one on Mistone, at least it seems to be for the Paladin that I travel with.

[darkstorme]

Did someone ask for statistics?

Although it's been answered already, it's quite possible for Aasimar heritage to miss a sibling, or skip a generation.  So for a boy to be born to parents, one of whom had Aasimar blood, to manifest the heritage even when none of his siblings did is possible, if more unlikely than you'd think.

[ShiffDrgnhrt]

Haung Jin on Corsain(?) is also the Home of the Citadel of Toran, and might be considered THE HQ of Toran's Faith on Layonara but I can't be sure on that.  But that does not mean you can't make up a small temple somewhere else.

Oh, and FYI: Paladins aren't "trained," they are chosen by the God for their devotion and service to the God (in this case Toran)

At least I think so  :\

[Tai'dashar]

Could he be trained in Pranzis? Since it's a large city I figured it would have at least a decent sized temple. Rofirein has a large temple there so I figured that maybe Toran had one as well, but not as large

[DMOE]

Erm no cause the Toranite Temple in Prantz was kinda destroyed in a very impressive manner after a group annoyed the hell out of a very nasty man by spiriting away the holy artefacts from right under his nose *looks shifty*

Although to be fair, the temple wasn't looking very healthy after this...

1402
In this year...

• A large scale invasion by the forces of Blood is twarted near the Great Oak and Silver Veign. Ozlo is lost during this battle. The dragon called summons ends here.
• At the same time that the Great Oak is being attacked an invasion force, led by a general of Blood known as Lord Rael, strikes Prantz and Dregar as a whole. Prantz falls and is from then on ruled by Lord Rael.
• A large group of heroes destroy Bloodstone and the war ends. At nearly the same time a Bloodwell is destroyed in the Demon Tower and the resulting explosion levels a large part of the Demon Mountains and puts the world into the Dark Ages due to the dust and debris that circles the globe.

Rael has built a fighting pit where it used to be

[darkstorme]

Added to that, it's now illegal for any deity other than Sulterio to be worshiped within the city limits.  Prantz is not a particularly friendly place.

Tai'dashar: the Handbook is an excellent source of information - but some of it is unfortunately rather dated.  Key events that have transpired between the publishing of the Handbook and the current day:

• Sinthar Bloodstone is dead.
• The Dark Ages occurred as a direct result of the above, from 1402 to 1420.  This period was marked by plunging temperatures, crop death, famine, disease, and massive population reduction.  Several towns simply ceased to be.
• Prantz (once Pranzis, more on that below) was attacked, sacked, and conquered by Lord Rael, one of Bloodstone's generals.  He now rules the city with an iron fist.
• Ozlo, the Dragon from the name "Dragoncalled" is dead.
• Out of character, a lot of place names changed, to avoid infringing on others' copyright.  Among these (though by no means an exhaustive list):
• Arabel => Arnax
• Sielwood Forest => Silkwood Forest
• Port Hampshire => Port Hempstead
• Fort Velensk => Fort Vehl
• Pranzis => Prantz
• Underdark => Deep
• Leilon => Leringard

These are retcons - which is to say, IC, the names have never been anything but what they are now.  The exceptions to this are the continents of Alindor and Belinara, once Rilara and Xantril, since both had their names

changed from their current names to the others when unpleasant events happened on these continents.
[/list]

And @Shiff:
Paladins are holy warriors, trained by the church.  Just as with any clerical initiate, of course they must show devotion to their God before they're selected for training, but it's still the Church that trains them to fight, and educates them in theology beyond "Toran is good".

[Tai'dashar]

Sorry, didn't know all the details. I'm new to the server and haven't learned all the history of all the places yet. But what would be a good place for a Toran paladin to be trained?

[DMOE]

The Temple at Fort Last or the Citadel of Toran at Haung Jin

[darkstorme]

The temple at Fort Llast or the Citadel in Huangjin, a city on the north tip of Tilmar are the two major centres of Toranite faith.  They're the big, in-game locations where Toran is worshiped.

This is, as Shiff pointed out, not to say you couldn't describe a small temple to Toran in most good-aligned major cities - the GMs and character approvers will inform you if there's something wrong with the city selection, for whatever reason.

[Acacea]

@darkstorme, of course paladins are trained, but there is no "and then after you go through our classes and show this amount of skill we will deem you a paladin." There is no diploma and graduation - Toran of course has final say. Devotion is complimented by the training, just as any other martial and theological knowledge...have to get the rest of it somewhere.

But yeah, don't spring from the ground.