Rexikas Zothoz (Rex)

 Rex grew up in Cardisea near the Guild of the Supernatural, the only magic guild of Cardisea where his tiefling mother, Nemeia worked as a low level member. Rex was a bit of an outcast due to his copper/bronze skin and fire-like eyes but this never bothered him and despite the occasional strange look or comment Rex and his mother were content.

One evening however a 10 year-old Rex came home to an empty house with his mother nowhere in sight. Rex noticed she had left behind her dragon claw necklace, the only keepsake of Rex's father and her spellbook scribbled with her spells and notes. Both of these were something Nemeia would never go without especially at night. Worried something was amiss Rex grabbed her things and ran to the guild for help but was turned away at the door as he had no magical ability and therefore he was not one of them. He returned home and decided to wait for her but a month soon passed and Rex started to lose hope. 

After eating the last crumb of food in the house Rex realised he needed to find a way to survive and so he turned to thievery aiming especially for the GS members' purses and homes due to their arrogance. He found he had a natural talent as a pickpocket and a thief (as well as a knack to talk his way out of trouble). But when Rex wasn't spotting a mark or spinning tall tales he was buried in his mother's spellbook hoping to find clues to where Nemeia might've gone. After struggling to make sense of his mother's notes Rex discovered a potion recipe meant specifically for him. Unsure of the potion's use and what it was meant for Rex decided to sate his curiosity. Lacking resources and materials Rex tried to infiltrate the GS store room to grab the necessary ingredients. He was caught however by Glen Radios a kindly wizard who had recently returned to Cardisea and had known his mother Nemeia. Glen took pity on Rex and helped him find what he needed and assisted in his escape but Glen made Rex to also swear to never steal from the GS again.

After parting ways Rex went to a secluded location and attempted to concoct his mother's potion. But due to his lack of skill as a potioneer the concoction became unstable and exploded all over Rex. The burning liquid began to seep into his skin, his blood and his very bones. It caused his blood to boil, and bronze scales started to appear on his body which seemed to shine with a metallic luster. His heart started to pump excitedly but then unimaginable pain soon started to wrack throughout his entire body. Unable to take such excruciating pain he roared to the skies like an ancient dragon awakening from his slumber, before quickly passing out. He awoke 2 days later to find his body appearing the same as before but he felt more vigorous and alive and to his surprise he could now sense the mysteries of magic... his bloodline had awakened. 

Wanting to harness this new-found power Rex decided to leave Cardisea and temper himself. After a year of training and traveling a reborn Rex returned to Cardisea with a freshly embedded scar across his chest, a taste for battle and a desire to pick up where he left off. Rex began to scour the city in his search for answers for his mother's whereabouts. This pursuit nearly cost him his life however when he broke into a building in the northern quarter. He had heard rumors of a dragon relic that was similar to his necklace being held in the NQ. He had hopes that it might provide clues to his parentage and maybe where his mother had gone. Rex instead encountered a group of military officials who would have had his life if not for the timely intervention of Glen who had seemed to suddenly appear out of nowhere. 

After the incident Glen berated Rex for his foolishness pointing out that there's no point taking such risks to find answers if it meant losing his life. Glen then offered Rex a chance to join the GS outlining the additional resources and information he would have available as well as a chance for stability. Touched by Glen's concern for him Rex decided to join. He became a low level member of the guild there he spent his time further honing his magic and the rest of his time half-assing the jobs the GS delegated him. One such job was cleaning the GS library and it was there Rex found an old faded tome with the same insignia as his mother's spellbook. Unfortunately the tome was written in a language forgotten to time and therefore  unable to be read but Rex found two words written in his mother's handwriting 'Old Goult'. This was all the push Rex needed to start planning his journey...

Aurelius

Aurelius was born into the Noble family; Atticus and once of age, entered the service of a Knight as a squire.  Aurelius's tutors were harsh but fair, teaching him the art of war and speech craft. Upon completing his time as a squire Aurelius was Knighted and guided by his sense of righteousness sought to protect the innocent and the weak.

Aurelius's Aasimar heritage began to manifest itself after he defended a group of travellers from a bandit assault on the road. News of his now gold coloured eyes spread quickly in Cardisea. While such features were not unusual, in a port city such as Cardisea, this feature began the first of several changes in Aurelius. His started remembering his dreams, something that had not happened to him ever before.  In his dreams he spoke with a being of light that charged him with defending the weak and the innocent... in the light of day occasionally Aurelius would have a feeling or hunch that would lead him to find himself between the innocent and catastrophe.

The local bandits groups became increasingly frustrated with Aurelius as he foiled their plans, leading the Knights of Cardisea to their operations, time after time. The local bandit groups conspired to set a trap for him.  They used his own knack for defending the innocent against him and lured him into a trap on the Cardisea docks by forcing him to defend an innocent Commoner.  While he took out far more of the bandits than anyone would have thought possible, he was struck down. A travelling pair of Clerics of the Order of Helm came upon the grisly scene and drove off the bandits. They stabilized Aurelius's broken body with holy Magic, and not wanting to cause trouble with local authorities, fled Cardisea by ship to the nearest Shieldhall of Helm.

Aurelius eventually regained consciousness once at the temple. He stayed with the Pryats of Helm learning about their order and recovering his strength. Once fully recovered, Aurelius was convicted by his own morals to join the Order as a Paladin. He spent several years at the Shieldhall completed his Order training. In the months before he was to take his final oaths he began to have dreams about his family.  Aurelius became increasingly alarmed by his dreams, they were filled first with his mother weeping and progressed to images of his family being tortured and then slaughtered.

Unable to shake the building dread from his dreams Aurelius left the Shieldhall and rushed back to Cardisea, only to find his family all but gone. Aurelius returned to the Knights of Cardisea seeking information on what had happened to them.  He discovered that there were several attempted assaults of his family from unknown assailants and, in one attack, Aurelius's brother Ranier was murdered.  The remaining members of his immediate family moved to Old Goult attempting to escape the attackers..  Adding to concerns is that there has been no one return from Old Goult for a whole week.  As Aurelius is heading to Old Goult to discover what has happened to his family, Knight Commander Ulicia Amnell, has asked that he bring back word of what has transpired in Old Goult...

Liu Chang'e

When not a cat, Chang'e is a woman of east asian appearance with untidy chin-length black hair (a few strands of white), with the weathered, dark tan look of someone who's spent a lot of time in the outdoors. Approx 50 years old, 4ft 10, 43kg.

Origin:

Liu Chang'e is the 8th daughter of Liu Wei and Liu Min, born at the 8th bell under the 8th full moon of 2628. Her parents, struggling merchants, hoped to use such an auspicious birth to gain the favour of the local priest, whose influence could save their business. Showing great audacity for their low class, they named the daughter after the goddess of the moon, and at age 4 sent her to be a servant at the Temple of the Celestial Heaven. She was quiet and dutiful as a child, careful not to anger the priests.
The temple was always bustling, full of priests, acolytes, servants, and townspeople come to make offerings, ask advice, or just gossip. Chang'e preferred to keep to herself. Her kitten Meitan, found as a tiny black ball of fluff and smuggled dinner scraps, was her only confidant.

As she grew her duties changed from chores to lessons and she studied the secrets of druid magic with dedication and some talent. When the class began learning to commune with the spirits of plants and animals, Chang'e snuck out with Meitan at night and sat at the bottom of the garden, breathing in time with the small creature, trying to see through the cat's eyes, hear through his ears, understand his thoughts. Though sometimes the meditations tested the patience of the boisterous cat, years of practise gave Chang'e and Meitan the ability to share thoughts and perceptions at will. Sometimes, if Chang'e let her senses ride in Meitan for hours as he darted around the garden after imaginary prey, she would come back to herself feeling distinctly odd, with a twitching, itchy face, oddly shaped fingernails and surrounded by loose tufts of black fur. But this puzzling experience seemed to be of no advantage. 
Near the end of her acolyte studies, Chang'e noticed Meitan, now an elderly cat, would not eat even when brought his favourite crab meat. She carried him to their hidden spot at the bottom of the garden and felt for his spirit - it was dimming, and his thoughts felt slow and tired. With a heavy heart, Chang'e laid on the ground with Meitan, soothed and patted him, joined his thoughts and purred comfort with him for 2 days until he passed. After feeling him leave, she said a short prayer and opened her eyes. To her immense surprise, the orchids towered above her, she had perfect vision despite the dim light and Meitan's still body was enormous beside her. Sitting up, she saw furry black paws with white toes. She trotted to a still pool and observed the small cat in the reflection. Similar to Meitan, shorter fur, bright green eyes, and soot black but for the feet. 

Shape changing was an ability only claimed by the greatest visiting high priests, but the love Chang'e had for Meitan and her persistence in that final meditation achieved what no other acolyte had.

Feeling overwhelmed, Chang'e sat quietly beside Meitan for an hour before she suddenly returned to human form. Though she felt oddly ill at ease back in her usual body, at least she was still wearing her robes! She buried Meitan and returned to the acolyte dormitories. The moment she entered the temple, Chang'e knew the noisy, crowded maze of rooms wasn't home anymore. She needed quiet time in the domain of her gods. Without a word, she packed a bedroll and food supplies and walked out into the forest.

Winstone (Stone) Bruk

Stone was born as a baby and raised as a small child in the Dwarfish Kingdom of Cavendish . From a noble back ground, his full name is Winstone Galapagos Bruk, the only son of Topol and Lavinia Bruk, well respected dwarfish nobles and part of the inner court of Dwarf King Neville the Great.

Long before the birth of Stone, his people were engaged in long conflict started by the Goblin clan Lohengrin, led by the vindictive and corrupt Lord Dolph. Stone’s father Topol fought against Lord Dolph as a fighter under King Neviles father, King Edgar. Wounded twice during the infamous battle of drakes pass, he very nearly did not see the birth of his newborn son.

Stone never grew up with his mother Lavinia as he died bringing Stone into the world. Despite the pain and suffering caused by his wifes untimely death, Topol cherished Stone and did not hold him responsible. The war came to an end after King Edgar’s forces under Supreme Commander Gillet overwhelmed Lord Dolph's forces at Imbros, forcing him to surrender. Dolph was exiled and his army taken prisoner.

Since then, the idea of surrender or appeasing the aggressors against one’s family became the cornerstone of the Bruk family, they would never say die.

At a young age, Topol taught Stone how to fight, engage in battle with a variety of weapons and taught him the heritage of his family. As he grew his strength increased and he caught the attention of the court of King Edgar, giving him a position of division commander in the dwarfish army.

After the death of King Edgar, his son Nevile ascended to the throne at the age of 24. At this time, Lord Dolph, now 40, had returned from exile, rebuilt his forces, winning the hearts and minds of a new generation of power hungry goblins, little by little he set about his revenge, and invaded the territory of Stone’s Kingdom.

However, rather than stand firm against aggression, King Neville chose to try and keep the peace by any means necessary, even to the length of giving up land to Lord Dolph to spare the Kingdom of bloodshed. This angered Stone’s father who protested the king at great length, to the point where Topol was imprisoned on the Kings orders.

Stone was livid, he broke rank and openly attacked King Neville, calling him a coward and a traitor to his people and all dwarves. His pride with his family’s history and wealth, plus is newly found interest in alcohol, had made him not afraid to speak his mind. With tension rising against the ever-mounting threat of Lord Dolph, the King ordered the execution of Topol and forced Stone to wtiness the hanging of his father, to make an example of him.

Imprisoned, stripped of rank and cast aside by his own people, the bitter and devastated Stone sat at rock bottom in the prison as Lord Dolph and his vastly superior army, laid waste to Stone’s kingdom, slaughtering men, women and children. Dolph’s army searched the cells and found Stone, tired and malnourished.

He was brought before Dolph. The last survivor was brought before the new lord of Cavendish and he would not give in or recant his identity or his heritage, despite his own people betraying him.

Lord Dolph could not help but admire his courage and allowed him to leave without any trouble, but warned if he tried to return, he would be hunted down and killed mercilessly. Before leaving, he managed to break into what was left of the armoury, taking a long sword, great axe and two hand axes. Using his military training, he managed to escape unnoticed. He was angry and bitter and vowed to take revenger against Lord Dolph and his descendants.

Stone left his home on foot, traveling for days on end carrying only his clothes, weapons, and wearing his signet ring showing the coat of arms of his family. Meeting various characters on the road, he worked as a mercenary for various clients, allowing him to earn enough to survive.

That said, Stone was still able to save a bit. After a month of living place to place, he arrived at the west gate of Cardisea. Bribing the guards at the gate he settled in the Northern Quarter, bought a second hand building and transformed it into the Coat of Arms pub.

As the years went by, Stone now 55, hear rumours and news from travellers that Lord Dolph was overthrown by his own son, and was residing as a hermit in the town of Old Gault. Stone was now convinced he needed to travel there, if there was any chance of handing out justice, it would be in Old Gault.

Odi

Odi was born in a small village to the north. His mother and farther were farmers like their parents before them. He was an unremarkable boy. Not the strongest or the fastest but he was happy. When he was about 8 years old his vision started to deteriorate. His parents tried every medicine man, herbalist and cleric they could to stop Odi from loosing his eye sight, but none were successful.

Despite Odis’ lose of sight, he remained as active as before. Local priests called it a miracle that this small blind boy could still function as if his vision was that of a regular person.

As the years went bye Odi continued to help his parents work on their farm, until one day a traveling monk visited his town. Anton Toh, the monk, instantly recognized Odis’ dormant abilities and through countless debates and bargaining managed to convince Odis’ parents that he would have a better life training as a monk then as a farmer.

Odi would travel with Anton until he was 11. Anton eventually realizing that Odi needed more masters than just himself. They decided to return to Anton’s monastery to the south. There Odi would get training that would truly allow him to excel.

The years went by at the monastery. Odi would distinguish himself as one of his age groups top students. this caused a lot of the other students to grow resentful. They didn’t like the fact that they were being out shone by a cripple. The monks however were oblivious to this growing unrest.

The final year of the student’s training was one of intense mental pressure. The students were all tested of every manner of techniques that they were expected to have mastered of the years. the student who showed the greatest understanding and ability would be given a great honor. They would be entrusted with the knowledge of an ancient scroll. Many believed that the student who would be granted this honor would be Marina. Marina was the student who always manage to emerge victorious in local tournaments and was one of the more aggressive students. She was also one of the main contributors to the hate towards Odi.

Marina was not to be given this Honor. Instead it was granted to Odi.

The council of grand monks, who Odis’ mentor Anton was a member chose instead to bestow the honor of knowledge onto odi. This caused a large commotion amongst the entire monastery. Many believing that they had all been wronged. The hate and resentment towards Odi, which the monks of the monastery had chosen to ignore for all these years suddenly erupted as the grand council was about to take Odi to where the scroll was kept. The class mates of Odis’ attacked with fury and anger of barbarians and slaughtered any who stood in their way to the scroll of knowledge. The monks who resisted died. Those who didn’t, joined the mob.

Anton, thinking fast managed to smuggle Odi out of the monastery with the scroll, but needed to stay behind otherwise the mob would catch and kill Odi. As Odi fled the now burning monastery where he had called home for many years, he could hear his mentor Anton fighting and loosing.

Odi travels the land now. Constantly moving as, he is sure that the rage of Marina will not allow her to forget him or the ancient scroll, whose knowledge was never revealed to odi.