Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Ivarr the Quieter

What follows is the origin story of a character I played this Sunday. It was a D+D game and Ivarr is 14th level, so I had help (thanks Mark) in the game mechanic stuff:

Ivarr was born of the violence of a raid, in a festering marsh. He narrowly avoided being exposed as a baby. His mother raised the war-child because of visions her father related. A Shaman's daughter, she took the boy's rapid growth to be the confirmation of the sign that he was to end the war with the Orc tribe (the Dripping Blades) and bring peace to the village. Ivarr (in Orc - "Hand" as in Hand of friendship) was despised in the human settlement and spent a good deal of his younger years wandering alone.

A friend to the ten-thousand good Kami (spirits), Ivarr eventually did find the Dripping Blades when he reached his teenage years. The negotiations came to a grinding halt when a particularly big and cruel Orc implied that he might have been the young man's father.

What he did to that Orc is why he's referred to as the Quieter. Soon, for better or worse, all around Ivarr grew quiet.

He had to go further from home.

By the time Ivarr enters the story, he's been wandering around so much that he doesn't form strong attachments to places, things or people. Ivarr has no formal training in religion, but he "talks" to the Kami in the area he finds himself in. In any of the many terrains in which he is comfortable, the spirits "talk back." This is the explanation of the preternaturally enhanced skills and abilities.

Physically, Ivarr is massive. He is fully 6'4," heavily built (300 lbs) with strong bestial features. His skin is a green-grey like his Orc lineage, but his eyes are brown and slightly almond shaped (like an east-asian). His hair is black and wiry. All in all, Ivarr is unapologetically ugly.


His fulll plate armor is mitral that has been expertly dulled and scratched to give it a less bright shine. Looking closely, the scratched surface also contains
engravings, in a kind of almost childlike hierogyphics. These mark(incomprehensible to others)are a form of road map of the Kami, or spirits, of the places Ivarr has been. He wears a full helm and gorget, unadorned, that usually has its visor up.

Across his waist is a large belt whose silver buckle depicts two giants fighting. Across his left shoulder is a bandolier from which Ivarr suspends his arsenal. He carries Two greataxes, one black hafted and covered in Fey language blessings(Ivarr calls the axe "Quiet") and a silver greataxe that is otherwise plain.A wicked morningstar also is suspended from the bandolier.

On Ivarr's back is a nice large metal shield and a longbow. His boots are high and clean despite the overall dirtiness of the adventurer lifestyle. He wears a green cloak with magical inscriptions on the inside. Under his lobstered gauntlets , Ivarr wears supple gloves and the only piece of jewelry he owns, a shiny platinum ring.

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