Quote from Paperman0 >>

Name: Lorarila

Race: Half-elf

Class: Warlock (Undying patron)

The elves are the most recent inhabitants in the forest, but they are also the ones who have left the most lasting mark on it.

When the first stragglers reached the trees, telling half stories of having been driven out of their lands, the ancient inhabitants of the forest, the Dryads and the Treants, and all the other spirits, thought little of them. They were never properly allowed to resettle there, but after long consultations the spirits decreted that the newcomers could be allowed to live among them, albeit separated, as long as from their presence wouldn't come harm the forests.

With that, the proper immigration of the elves into the forest they called the Forest that Breathes; Eyran Serin in their dialect: the vast mangrove forest that lies in the Great Dragon bay. The forest itself lais on a massive web of leylines and it's this peculiarity that guided the elves in their migration: the forest was one of the few points which was likely to reach for them where they could continue the  practice of their customs and traditions. Those customs, especially their birth and funerary practices, were not properly harmful to the forest, or to anyone else, but still they had unpredictable consequences on the very fabric of the forest, leading to its current state of war.

Those elves use to bind the soul of their newborn to the very nature of the places they call home: ritually at their 29th day of life they are brought to a leyline nexus, where the elders of their clan tattoo the Glyph of the Return on the crown of their heads: at their death, the mark would summon their souls back to the forest. Those very spirits could then be accessed in areas where the magic is strong, to offer confort and counsel to the living. For this reason many youths are pushed to travel and pursue different paths in their life, so that the pool of knowledge could always grow bigger and better with any elf.

When an elf dies in the Forest that Breathes, their body is collected, mummified to keep it as long as possible, armed and armored as in life, and then left scattered in the forest. In times of need, or just to better interact with their living kins, the souls of the dead elves can inhabit and reanimate the bodies.

For the first few generations things seemed to proceed peacefully. Then, the spirits of the forest started perceiving a change in the spiritual plane of their home. The bound souls of the elves were coalescing within the magic-heavy background of the forest, approaching something that seemed like sentience: young but growing in power and knowlege with the death of any elf.

What was worst for the spirits was that they had no way of control over this new consciousness, as it was based exclusively on elves' mind and souls and was alien to them. The only solution they could find was making the elves stop their practice and wait for the consciousness to disperse itself into the forest, otherwise they could only destroy the leyline hotspots where the binding rituals are conducted, and this was deemed unacceptable.

When they were asked, the elves refused. Rather than explaining their reasons and risking a new refusal, the spirits decided to wage war and either drive the elves away or exterminate them.

It seemed a simple plan, but they didn't realize how powerful and numerous the elves had become. Plus, every casualty made the gestalt consciousness grow in power and awareness. Fearing defeat, and the end of the forest as they knew it, the dryad Saerriefrie Cypresscrown decided to resort to an extreme solution: awaken the great Green Dragon Rhansedra, hoping to make her a powerful ally.

Saerriefrie's gambit paid off: despite her condescension to non-draconic life forms, Rhansedra loves the Forest that Breath and considers her property and to her the practices of the elves mean theft and invasion. She was willing to help the dryads and the treants, but but in return she would spread her influence throughout the forest. Saerriefrie agreed and Rhansedra made the dryad an half dragon.

In the following years, the balance of the war, until then in favor of the elves, became uncertain again. Half dragon Treants and Dryads started joining the fray, while trees started growing scale-like leaves and release poisonous mists. Finally, a worrying number of green dragon Wyrmling started fighting against the eves. 

All of this meant that the spirits actually had a chance to win their forest back. However, all those changes brought by the dragon and Saerriefrie started having the same effect on the forest that the arrival of the elves had: an ever growing presence that threatens to encompass the whole forest, but at least the dragon promised Saerriefrie that she wouldn't leave the original inhabitants alone and Rhansedra started growing ever fonder of the dryad.

To cope with this new shift, the elves decided to seek allies among nearby human tribes. Eventually a few half-elf children were born and the elves were delighted to learn that not only those children grow faster than a pure blood elf, they could also commune with the souls, just like them, and had an easier way to draw raw power from the spirits. They were the first Warlocks of the Forest that Breaths and the forerunners of a new offensive.

 

Lorarila was born in the Fyfe Esari (Whispering Leaves) clan of the elves living in the Forest that Breathes.

As the custom dictates, in her 29th day of life Loralia was brought to a leyline nexus in a pond. There the elders tattooed the Glyph of the Return on crown of Lorarila's head and her genealogy on her back: all her noteworthy deeds would be added and at her death the skin would be removed, treated and kept in her clan's archives. Running out of free space in life, thus having more than one sheet in the archives, is considered a mark of great honor (for the same reason, purposely harming one's back in a way that cancels the tattoos is taboo).

The clan of the Fyfe Esari basically is a single, large family and its children were raised with the participation of most of the adults. Lorarila's childhood went by with as much lightheartedness was possible to balance with her learning and weapons training. She was lucky in being born in one of the areas more firmly in the hands of the elves, so the war was something she never experienced first hand, even though her parents brought Lorarila and her siblings to see its effects more than once.

When she reached 20 years of age (maturity for an half-elf, even though her pure blood siblings were older in years but much less mature), Lorarila was brought once more to the elders and to the nexus. Once more she was presented to the spirits of their forebearers, and they found her worthy of receiving their Pact. That was the rebirth of Lorarila as a Warlock of the Forest that Breaths, receiving the vertical green line above the left eye and meeting warlock Ilimaer, who would be her master for the ritual three years of apprenticeship.

That was the first time Lorarila faced the war and her deeds earned new lines on her back, as well as new scars.

After that period, once her master deemed her able to protect herself and properly use their power and that of their patron, the time of the journey came. Lorarila has to leave the Forest that Breaths and, for at least the next ten years, she is supposed to travel the world, experiencing and learning news that couldn't be found in the forest. On her return she will be considered an adult member of her clan.

 Errrmmm, not to be pushy or anything, but more please!!!

I think that is great, kinda reminds me of Buffy the vampire slayer, perhaps a little dark but some nice intrigue there.

Approved!

And think that I never watched Buffy.

I will give it a try and see what comes out. That or a bard/warlock based on 'The Music Of Erich Zann.'

Patron: Great Old One (Elder Brain) BG: Haunted One      Horror Trinket: A green Tiger-eye gem (that I put on a necklace)

I was a wizard in a party. We adventured in the Underdark and came up against a pack of drow. We fought them and won. The Elder Brain that controlled the drow was angered by our party’s victory, sending a squad of mind flayers to capture and bring us to its presence. It was an ancient, bloated, blasphemous thing. (Thanks HPL) As the other member of my unfortunate and stunned party was fed to the Brain, it probed my mind. It had never encountered a living arcane caster before. The Fetid Horror corrupted my feeble human intellect, transforming me into a warlock. I don’t recall how long I was in servitude when a formidable group of adventurers slaughtered the small pod of Illithids I was accompanying on a mission for the Brain. My mind was able to right itself from the decadent influence. I convinced the group that I was a slave of the foul creatures and thanked them for my freedom. Now, I found I was able to probe the Brain’s knowledge and use that power for my own means.

Sometimes I have flashes of memories from the Elder Brain’s many minds it has consumed.

Eldritch Blast = green tentacles of energy.

i have a strong love of Eldritch horror and Great Old ones. Nice backstory! 

Haven't entirely pinned my warlock's down yet as we don't have many background details of the campaign, but the backstory so far for my Dispater, spy background, GOO pact warlock:

While on an infiltration & intel retrieval mission, Gnosis came across a codex planted by Nyarlathotep among the maps & dispatches that were his intended targets.  What he saw of the contents gave him a hefty helping of awareness & understanding of disturbing truths seldom encountered this side of the Far Realm, only for all concept of them to disappear from his mind the instant he closed the codex & watched its physical manifestation blink out of existence.  

Based on Gnosis' already lifelong drive towards knowledge & experience, pre-existing skillset & capabilities, fairly flexible morals, & ability to withstand exposure to things man/tiefling was not meant to know w/ his psyche mostly intact, Nyarlathotep appeared to him the next evening offering a pact: serve faithfully & competently as his agent when called & over time Gnosis would receive all he saw in the codex & more.

With the absence of that briefly held, terrible yet magnificent comprehension beginning to create a gravity well in his brain that was sure to consume his cognitive & analytic minds if left unfilled, Gnosis had no choice but to accept.

Not particularly original, but I think I like it for this character. 

Edit: edited & punched this up a bit this evening, still don't have details of the campaign setting.

I wanted to play a Lost Vikings set of characters where I play three characters in one. So I settled on a Fairy genie warlock whose siblings are its Chain pact sprite familiar and a Summon Fey fey. The three of them won a house in a wine bottle from an efreeti in a cross-dimensional card tournament in the Feywild, and after their win, they just go around to bars around the multiverse, gambling and adventuring, slowly absorbing the power of the efreeti infused in their wine bottle/luxury apartment, making sure to put the sign outside their house stating "DO NOT BUS: BOTTLE IS REAL ESTATE, NOT BEVERAGE" when they stop at taverns.

They MAY or may not have cheated in said tournament (easy when you're Tiny and three people and one of you can be invisible), and the efreeti MAY or may not be hunting them, which MAY or may not have facilitated their plane jumping adventures, along with the fey desire to meddle in the affairs of mortals for the LOLs... 

The character comes across a group of bandits attacking some merchants, they run in to help saving their lives at the cost of their own. A Noble Genie restores their life and becomes their patron. Unbeknownst to the character one/all of the merchants was a favored relative of the noble genie of X. Variants could be for less altruistic characters, they come across the attack and ignore it the merchants call out for their aid promising great power if they help.

Thanks! I mostly don't think about backstories. At times, my muse just plops an idea in my head, all at once. Then I have to race to the computer/paper to write it down.

Hmm…a Warlock who is a lawyer; and their Patron is their client.

Their pact is their binding agreement; and the Warlock is now on retainer for that Patron whenever they encounter legal trouble, in exchange for power.

…this could easily get out of hand for any “Fiend” or “Archfey” patron; but could just as easily work for “Genie”, “Undead”, or even “Celestial” Patrons…depending on how frequently they like to meddle in affairs beyond their capability to reason out of.

Quote from Tony1Adobe >>

Hmm…a Warlock who is a lawyer; and their Patron is their client.

Their pact is their binding agreement; and the Warlock is now on retainer for that Patron whenever they encounter legal trouble, in exchange for power.

…this could easily get out of hand for any “Fiend” or “Archfey” patron; but could just as easily work for “Genie”, “Undead”, or even “Celestial” Patrons…depending on how frequently they like to meddle in affairs beyond their capability to reason out of.

 Fey and Genie are probably the most suited for lawyers with their endless drama. 

One of the things that I like about playing a Warlock is almost any path to becoming a Warlock that you can imagine fits into the class. It's fun creating creative back stories where the only limit is your imagination!

Quote from Collin_Lightborn >>

 

Quote from Tony1Adobe >>

Hmm…a Warlock who is a lawyer; and their Patron is their client.

Their pact is their binding agreement; and the Warlock is now on retainer for that Patron whenever they encounter legal trouble, in exchange for power.

…this could easily get out of hand for any “Fiend” or “Archfey” patron; but could just as easily work for “Genie”, “Undead”, or even “Celestial” Patrons…depending on how frequently they like to meddle in affairs beyond their capability to reason out of.

 Fey and Genie are probably the most suited for lawyers with their endless drama. 

 Agreed.

I initially had thought Fiends…what with their fixation on contracts…or Archfey, what with their literal “courts” in the Feywild…

…but Genies are “just” neutral enough…and unpredictable…that a clever DM would likely come up with boundless shenanigans for a Lawyer-lock to have to deal with.