Before this current chapter of your life, you have known the pain and indignity of having your freedom stripped away from you by the slave trade on the continent that serves both the Avaeythid Empire and Forsaken Loyalists on Dae-Nar (see World Atlas).
When choosing either Variant of this background, be sure to think about the cirumstances of your former enslavement. How did you become a slave (if you even remember)? What form of labour were you exploited for? Does your character think they had it easier or harder than most? If you are Emancipated, how did you gain your freedom, and how have your circumstances changed since becoming a free citizen? If you are a Runaway, what were the circumstances of your escape, and how far would you go to avoid recapture
- Skill Proficiencies: 1 of your choice
- Tool Proficiencies: 1 of your choice
- Languages: Elvish + 1 other of your choice
- Equipment: Choose the equipment of either the Folk Hero; Gladiator; Sailor or Soldier, whichever is most appropriate for your backstory
If you have not already decided what labour your former life as a slave entailed, you can choose or roll for one of the pre-prepared options here...
d8: Slave Role
1: Agriculture. You toiled in the fields, planting and harvesting food for the citizenry.
2: Infrastructure. You hauled stones and mortar to build and maintain the structures and roads of your masters.
3: Slave Soldier. You were used as fodder on the front lines in your master's wars.
4: Galley Slave. You were chained to an oar in the bowels of a war or trade ship.
5: Gladiator. You fought and bled for the amusement of the free citizens.
6: Concubine. You were kept for the pleasure for the powerful and wealthy.
7: Scribe. You transcribed, copied and kept the knowledge of your masters.
8: Domestic. You managed the household of a wealthy noble.
As a former slave who gained freedom through legitimate means, you are able to exercise a newfound social status within the society that once enslaved you. Once per long rest you can add +1 d4 to any roll of your choice.
Suggested Characteristics
While they all have a shared experience, all slaves and former slaves are still individuals. As such, no two experiences or outlooks are ever wholly identical. If you do not have any of your own in mind, you can pick from or roll to determine these pre-set characteristics...
d8: Personality Trait
1: I never talk about my time as a slave. It's behind me now, and I intend to keep it that way.
2: Now I have my freedom I won't waste a day of it. I am determined to live life to its fullest.
3: I will never forgive the people who took my freedom away, even if those same people returned it to me.
4: I have stayed near to the place where I was enslaved, because there is nothing left of my former life to return to.
5: I am free, but a part of me now feels lost without the purpose I once had.
6: I would die before I ever let anyone put me back in chains.
7: I cannot truly celebrate my freedom while I remember all of those who are yet to be freed.
8: I feel nothing for those still held in slavery. I won my freedom by being better than them.
d6: Ideal
1: Vengeance. Those who wronged me must pay for their crimes.
2: Justice. The struggle isn't over until the last slave is free.
3: Fraternity. Every current or former slave is my brother, no matter who they were before.
4: Charity. I know what it's like to have nothing, and I can't stand to see others suffering like that.
5: Greed. Now I can have possessions of my own again, I will guard even the smallest of them jealously.
6: Defiance. No one will ever push me around again.
d6: Bond
1: I was seperated from all I loved when I was enslaved, and I now want nothing more than to find my way back to it.
2: I had to leave someone behind when I became free, and I desire freedom for them too more than anything.
3: Even though I am free now, something keeps me bonded to my former master.
4: I had to do terrible things to gain my freedom, and I am seeking someone or something to redeem me.
5: I will live the rest to my life in honour of someone who gave up their life for my freedom.
6: No one has ever looked out for me except me, so I am loyal to nothing but myself.
d6: Flaw
1: I am plagued by nightmares of what I went through every night.
2: I remain afraid of my former masters, even if they have no hold on me anymore.
3: I was conditioned for violence and now I struggle to approach my problems any other way.
4: Seeing so many terrible things has left me desensitized to the suffering of others.
5: I will consume anything that helps me forget what I went though if only for a little while.
6: The thought of doing to my former masters what they did to me is the only thing that gives me comfort anymore.
Choose the equipment of either the Charlatan; Criminal; or Urchin, whichever is most appropriate to your backstor
Your experience in escaping your enslavement has given you knowledge of how to avoid detection when travelling. You have +1 d4 to all Stealth checks, and once per long rest, you can grant the Help Action to another PC or NPC and receive +5 temporary hit points.
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