(whoops this perhaps should've been in "story & lore". if its irksome that it is here, I'm totes happy for an admin to move it if they so desire. apologies.)
I've just wrapped up character creation (of all the things character sheet, sketch, backstory, and personal magical item). It turned out quite nicely so I thought I'd share with y'all. Hopefully this is the right category. I'm not usually on the player side of the screen, but life & work (yadda yadda), so I'm "slumming" it with some players and joining a game in session. ;) It's my first Tortle.
His name is Gug'Ug (pronounced as if you swallowed at the back of your throat twice, loudly). He is a Life Cleric of Eldath, so all his spell casting will leave you feeling a little damp. He speaks slowly, often swallowing mid sentence, but is well-travelled (INT 14), well-intentioned (WIS 18), and modestly quiet — but he's weird looking, talks funny, and far too slowly beating around the bush, so people are usually weary of him (CHA 9). He's also all muscle (STR 18), but slow and uncoordinated (DEX 8).
His shield is super important, it's actually his great grandfather's shell. It's alsomagical!
Allies
• Kwilgok, a Tortle guide in Nyanzaru. I took Kwilgok under my wing when he returned broken from Dangwaru. I know the horrors he faced in there, as I myself face them once.
• Harper agent. Never did get the name, but we'd recognise one another if we saw each other again.
Enemies
• The Amnian Council of Five. I helped return a desirable title deed to the, at the time penniless noblewoman, Franzechka Jyvian. Unfortunately, this earned the ire of the Council of Five, who had been plotting the best part of a year to secure her family's land.
• (To the DM) Feel free to add however many as it serves you - from minor to major. I’ve travelled extensively in the realms wearing my Lawful Good badge pissing off evil folks, looking like a foreign Tortle with a less than charming disposition.
Backstory
I hatched on the Snout of Omgar 39 years ago, an Island off the north coast of Chult. As is custom, my parents spent their last year – my first year – filling my head with the knowledge of our family's heritage.
The most famed member of my family is Poqwat, my great grandfather on my mother's side. My mother told me the tales that her father told her: Poqwat was a great hero, blessed by the Goddess Eldath herself, Slayer of the God Spawn of Beshaba, Uniter of clans, Calmer of storms and even Political Emissary to Kara-Tur. There were many more honorifics, but I'd had to have a piece of parchment to get them all down proper.
Eldath's blessing was to grant Poqwat a single wish as he lay on his death bed, succumbing to the long sleep at the venerable age of 63, almost unheard of for a tortle. Poqwat's body was small and frail but his shell remained magnificent and powerful. Hundreds of nicks, cuts and scars adorned it. He gripped his son's hand, and whispered to Eldath's glowing form his singular wish. He wanted his shell to be passed down the family line, and for it to be used to inspire courage and curiosity of all things. He wanted it to be a herald for Eldath, and remind whoever bore it, the great deeds it has witnessed. Yet he didn't want it to become a weapon, instead – a shield. A protector of honour and virtue. Eldath smiled, his son sobbed and gripped his father's hand tighter and tighter, until a bright yellow glow enveloped him entirely. It became unbearably intense, and all those there shut their eyes until the after image stopped flashing on the backs of their eyelids. When they opened Poqwat was gone. In this stead all that remained was his Shell, adorned with swirling glyphs of the churning waterfall waters of Eldath. Poqwat got his wish.
His son, Pyqian inherited Poqwat's Shell, and he tried his best to follow in his father's footsteps. He certainly spent his life correcting wrongs, slaying fell beasts, but his deeds never rivalled the fabled accomplishments of his father nor was he blessed with Eldath's divine magic. He also didn't have Poqwat's wanderlust, preferring to stay in the south western parts of the realm. He retired from adventuring and settled down quite early in his later life (as compared to his father). He met a female tortle, Ini, who was of the right age, and together they decided to begin their final act of their life by having a child.
And then fate stepped in. Before Wabu (my mother) hatched, Pyqian was implored to venture out one last time. Some evil was spreading from an ancient shrine to Beshaba, Dangwaru – and worse a group of inexperienced adventuring Tortles had ventured inside a week ago – could he please rescue them, and stop the evil. He did neither. He died somewhere deep in the catacombs of that evil shrine. No sign of the adventuring turtles was ever recovered. The evil as eventually fought back just enough so as to seal the entrance, forever sealing away the Poqwat's shield and Pyqian's corpse.
Wabu has to make do with only one parent telling her the oral history of both families. She was sure to mention Poqwat, but not his shield. She didn't want to send her daughter into the depths of the evil shrine to die like her husband had. She thought to spare her the same fate. Regardless, Wabu would in time learn the stories of both Poqwat and Pyqian, but it was too late in her life for her to do anything about it. She made an oath that her child would be given the opportunity she was denied, and so my mother told me that Poqwat's Shell lay unrecovered deep in Dangwaru, and if I trained well, and had faith in Eldath like Poqwat did, I may very well have a storied life like Poqwat.
On my tenth birthday, I swam into the shrine via an underwater passage. I crept along in the dark, spear in hand just incase, looking for my birthright. It took 3 days to find it. The number of times I almost died in that most evil of places is without measure. Only my faith in Eldath and my great grandfather's shield kept me alive. I had yet to learn how to fight properly, and so broke my spear on the second day. I crawled through all manner of filth. I lay motionless in fetid, oozing corpses as shades flitted across the walls and ceiling in search of my soul. I pretended to be a rock when a beholder in conversation to some invisible fiend floated by. Starving I ate cave crickets, and worms. There were more monstrosities, too many to write down. Eventually, I found my way up to the top entrance, and to the very sealed door. I had to push it open from within, I couldn't return the way I had come. It felt like it took hours until I saw a crack of light. I stuck out my arm and shouted for help in my small hoarse voice. I had pushed open the seal, it was the very least thing my body was capable of. I felt a hand on mine from beyond the crack as I fell unconscious. It would take me six days to awake, but I had done it. I had reclaimed my families birthright.
What followed was nearly three decades of living up to the memory of Poqwat. Adventuring, travelling the realms, being curious, and defending the innocent from the wicked. Truth be told, it has been more travelling than adventuring — and although I'm never one to shirk the duty the legend of the shield demands, there is no driving ambition to serve the Ego and be The Hero. I'm not looking to topple evil gods, I'm quite happy being a simple hero of the people with a small h, as long as there is travelling, waterfalls and something interesting to drink.
This is a timelapse of me drawing him with Procreate on an iPad.
Rule for drama. Roll for memories. If there isn't a meaningful failure condition, do not roll. Ever. (Perception checks, I'm .... clunk, roll, roll, roll, stop... 14, looking at you... maybe?)
(whoops this perhaps should've been in "story & lore". if its irksome that it is here, I'm totes happy for an admin to move it if they so desire. apologies.)
I've just wrapped up character creation (of all the things character sheet, sketch, backstory, and personal magical item). It turned out quite nicely so I thought I'd share with y'all. Hopefully this is the right category. I'm not usually on the player side of the screen, but life & work (yadda yadda), so I'm "slumming" it with some players and joining a game in session. ;) It's my first Tortle.
His name is Gug'Ug (pronounced as if you swallowed at the back of your throat twice, loudly). He is a Life Cleric of Eldath, so all his spell casting will leave you feeling a little damp. He speaks slowly, often swallowing mid sentence, but is well-travelled (INT 14), well-intentioned (WIS 18), and modestly quiet — but he's weird looking, talks funny, and far too slowly beating around the bush, so people are usually weary of him (CHA 9). He's also all muscle (STR 18), but slow and uncoordinated (DEX 8).
His shield is super important, it's actually his great grandfather's shell. It's also magical!
Allies
• Kwilgok, a Tortle guide in Nyanzaru. I took Kwilgok under my wing when he returned broken from Dangwaru. I know the horrors he faced in there, as I myself face them once.
• Harper agent. Never did get the name, but we'd recognise one another if we saw each other again.
Enemies
Backstory
This is a timelapse of me drawing him with Procreate on an iPad.
The character sheet.
Rule for drama. Roll for memories.
If there isn't a meaningful failure condition, do not roll. Ever. (Perception checks, I'm .... clunk, roll, roll, roll, stop... 14, looking at you... maybe?)
LOVE IT!
Hi, great work, this is an amazing character!