NOTE: The tragic backstory of Duo is known only to the DM, and may never be known at all to anyone else including the player. At least in game. For coming up with this on the fly in a few hours late on a Friday night/Saturday morning, I’m actually quite proud of it. This would be a fun character to play from the blind though with no idea of the story. DM could have a lot of fun with customization on this one. My one request is this. If you decide to insert this into your campaign as a modular component, then just let me know, and give me feedback on how it works. I would love to flesh this out into a piece of legit content that would be included in actual official content. Gotta do some play testing first though. First hand feedback of play testing on this would be invaluable to me.

Ok here we go…. I would have hidden the below behind spoiler code, but can’t get it to work for some reason. [spoiler] test [/spoiler]. I don’t see anything wrong with that, but it doesn’t work for me.

___________ The War of The Souls and it's child Duo________

Duo does not know who he is.

Duo does not know where he is..

Duo does not even know what he is…

...Duo does not know how, why, or if he is...

This is not a happy story backstory, and there is no light at the end of this tunnel. This is a very sad story, and it is far from over. There is never going to be a path to victory and at best it will be one of discovery. The rest of this story will very likely continue to be one of immense physical, mental, emotional and meta-physical struggle. This in the end,...is only the beginning of the path for the one known only as Duo.

None of the names or places in this story are known, and they will likely never be known. The arbitrary names we assign to these things do not really hold much power outside of their realm of existence. They do not live on in any real sense of time. They mean next to nothing in the astral and less than nothing in an alternate physical. They do not transcend and they do not cross over… 

Actions are different. Actions are made up of everything in existence. From the physical to the non physical. A single Action no matter how small is made of both idea, intent, belief, and any number of other nonphysical elements, but in many cases, the action that occurs is a physical one and is thus made of both the physical and astral. Actions have immense power. Power to transcend, power to affect, and even in some cases the power to cross over from their plane of origin to another and affect it. Most of the time it’s not even a ripple. These splashes of physical astral fabric break against the membrane of other reality planes like the waves of an ocean made of dream and doubt. Not just one, but a series of actions having varying degrees of power is how Duo came to exist. At least exist in his current form.

 In an alternate plane of existence…  or perhaps it was this one even… a version… a branch… a thread of reality, there was an immensely powerful Paladin. He had not only come to a level of spiritual and magical enlightenment that was matched by few in existence at his time, but he had found his Soul Twin. This is more than a Soul Mate, but exists in parallel. Some souls are so powerful that they cannot be contained in just one body. In order for them to pass to the physical they have to split apart into at least 2 separate bodies. These are Soul Twins. If these two bodies manage to meet, then some very interesting things start to happen. They do not age in each others presence, gain a telepathic link, and are able to walk in the astral(one of them at least) with their Soul Twin. After spending enough time together they are able to merge their souls back together and transcend the physical entirely. Essentially becoming a celestial being. For these reasons, they are inseparable if they find each other. It’s not a conscious choice. It’s an immutable need that is triggered and will never go away once this happens. 

In the case of this Paladin, he met his Soul Twin, but this didn’t occur until after he had met and wed his soul mate. This meeting sets of a series of events that cascade through the years like a meteor storm. This costs countless lives, and ultimately fractures the planes of existence. 

The Soul Mate in question was an equally powerful Cleric that the Paladin grew up with. They had fallen in love over the course of countless adventures and quests. Both epic and not so epic. They had even fought alongside one another through a few full-on wars spanning the same range of epic to pathetic shows of machismo or disputes of honor. 

When the Paladin met and was uncontrollably drawn to a Warlock of immense power during their last quest together, everything changed. The Paladin saved the Warlock from death and proceeded to protect her, much to the confusion of the Cleric, his Soul Mate. This appeared to be the end for their bond as Soul Mates, but anyone who has ever been in love will tell you it’s not that simple. It never is and wasn’t going to be. 

The Soul Mate was driven insane by wrath and consumed by jealousy and spite. Not only had she lost her love, but she could see that he was now on the path to attaining immeasurable power and potentially becoming even a celestial being. The loss of love can do many things to someone, but in almost every case it needs to be replaced by someone… or something. The desire to attain this power was what replaced her love for the Paladin. It consumed her, twisted her, and in those depths of despair she found something dark, something sinister, something black beyond the idea of the color itself. It was hungry, very very hungry, and it spoke to her. It understood her, and she embraced it completely. This otherworldly Patron was consumed with the same desires for power and control as the Cleric now was, and together their rage spawned a power that drew others to it. 

The ensuing war ravaged the land and its people and brought the involved kingdoms to the brink of collapse. Even the forces that followed the Cleric now turned Dark Warlock suffered immeasurably and eventually, she could see that brute force would not end this struggle.

With only her two most skilled assassins, the Soul Mate managed to bind herself enough to her patron that she was able to transport the 3 of them through the astral plane right into the sanctuary of the Paladin and his Soul Twin. 

The battle that took place slid constantly between the astral and physical, magic, and even physical attacks that should not be able to exist in the other plain started breaking through. At first in just fragments and bits, but those fragments and bits started getting bigger, reality started getting cut, stabbed, shocked… burned. Hurt..and even afraid. The Paladin was almost entirely focused on defending his twin in the physical from the two assassins, while his twin was having a duel with his soul mate in the astral. What starts as a battle of elegance and almost beauty in the ether that is not quite the physical, and not quite the nonphysical, eventually degrades. Attacks and blocks start out as shards made up of idea and intent and are parried by walls of possibility and inevitability. Eventually, the wrath these two souls feel towards each other causes this dance of elegance to turn into a no holds barred astral brawl. What started as fragments of astral and non-astral are now rips, tears, and even a full fissure. As their astral forms twirl and twist through the air..essence..presence… They hit the fissure, and reality, space and time both collide, miss each other entirely, and most catastrophically of all merge. The physical effect of this is not instant, exists in many timelines both in parallel and perpendicular, and yet doesn’t exist at all. It can’t, or at least… It shouldn’t.  

The Paladin being able to see what is happening in the astral as he is parrying, enchanting, de-enchanting, and in some cases just taking attacks from the ruthless assassins, watches in indescribable horror as his Soul Twin; who his connection with cannot be measure or described in the thoughts or ideas of mortals, and his Soul Mate; who he never stopped loving, appear to have their souls disincorporated by the astral fissure, and both of their bodies turn to physical/astral dust before him. 

He drops to his knees, lets his sword arm relax, and releases the throat of one of the assassins that was struggling for its last breath. The enchantment he had spun to hold the additional assassin evaporates. These killers are not distracted as he is. Yes, they were loyal to the Soul Mate, but they are professionals, and the target just dropped it’s guard. They immediately move in, and drive their magical blades towards the neck of the Paladin. Just out of pure reflex the Paladin attempts to swing his sword up to parry the attacks, but he is too late, and… the blades never find their mark….

What was actually happening over the course of what could have been seconds, days, years or even eons; since time is funny in the astral in general and this is an astral/physical rift, is that the Soul Mate and Soul Twins astral and physical essences merge and create a new Soul that has a physical existence without a physical body. Souls do not have a physical existence, that is why bodies exist, that is a fundamental law of reality, and the laws that govern this fabric of reality are generally not forgiving. In addition to his impossibility of existence, is the psychic strength of this soul. Normally a newly born Soul has no memories or experience, no desires, no needs, no feelings… No wants. 

This newborn soul bursts into existence with the fully realized focused wants and desires of both the mate and twin as well both their memories. All of them. They become one. They want both things. Some of which contradict each other in very significant ways emotionally.

What happened right at the moment the blades were about to end the now meaningless life of the Paladin shouldn’t be described as an explosion. That word not only doesn’t accurately describe the event, it doesn’t even belong in the same language. A description for what happens to reality at this point isn’t possible and shouldn’t be attempted. All that can be described is the result, or to be more precise several results. The assassins cease to exist physically but cross over into astral existence, which they are not at all used to. Passing through it? Done that plenty of times on the job. This is different. They are both now existing astrally with their blades. One blade is astral and one physical, and of course the astral entity should not be able to be holding the physical blade. This is impossible, but in the scheme of things that are impossible within reality as whole that are about to occur, this one is minor. Only the astral blade is embedded into the physical neck of the Paladin. The physical blade has hit something else…. They barely have time to be aware of this before the next effect occurs though. The Paladin is aware of nothing. Cares for nothing anymore, and is ready for his life to end as fast as possible at this point, before the pain of his loss has a chance to fully weigh upon him.

Everything physical in the immediate vicinity ceases to exist, but does not do so quietly and with a quick blink or pop that leaves just empty space where the physical object once resided. The physical plane this is all taking place on splits into 2 parallel planes of existence, but the cataclysm of astral space, time, emotion and love remains only on one of them. This is because this event's existence is something the fabric of reality has to remove, and to remove it will require it to be sacrificed. It is essentially a limb that will cause the entirety of existence to wither and die if it is not removed, and so it is. With a very unique Effect.

The duplicate plane of existence still containing the event promptly collapses in on itself and by doing so ends the life of every duplicated being in that reality. Except for 5 or actually now just 4 beings. 4 essences. That is all that survives the destruction of an entire instance of reality. That, 1 body, and some physical essences...

In addition to the physical and astral directional movements we can perceive or are aware of, there are many more. If you’re a 2 dimensional being, then not only are you not aware of the 3rd dimension of space and movement, but you can’t even conceive of the idea of it. This is important to understand in regard to the next stage of the event. Things move in a direction that not only doesn’t exist, but can’t exist, and never will… but somehow it did or maybe didn’t...

The new soul is a torrent of conflict in every sense of the word. Not just emotionally but in it’s existence in general. Only one thought, one feeling, one emotion, one desire,... one need is shared enough by both the parent souls to cause an Action. The most important and significant of all the actions that have led to this space, time, astral, physical, reality thread ending moment. 

Protect my love. Protect who? What? When?... It finds it. It knows the want. 

Protect the Paladin!!!!

The new soul throws itself astrally and physically between the path of the assassin's blades, but it can’t have both astral and physical existence. That’s why this thread of reality is about to cease to be so that all the other threads of existence don’t combust in its wake. It gets cut by the merged points of the physical and astral blades, which given the nature of its existence is probably the only thing that will ever exist in reality that can do that. That impossible Cut of a being; who’s existence in itself is a contradiction of possibility, at this particular moment of astral/physical/time/space/reality/everything can’t exist. The new soul is separated into its original parts and loses its physical essence that defies existence. One impossibility has been removed from the now very tattered tapestry of this doomed thread of reality, but there are too many left for this to really matter.

Reality starts to repair, but not fast enough...

Everyone and some things(not everything this time) is pulled… a direction. Yet, another one that doesn’t exist in any dimension of space. What's left of them physically; which is just the Paladin, what he is wearing, some things in the immediate vicinity in the sanctuary and the assassin's blade that is still physical but existing on the astarl plain is pushpullthrowntosskicked in a physical direction of space that doesn’t exist, can’t exist, and never should have existed. The result of the movement of these beings is an Action. Unlike all the other Actions of this story. This one is taken by existence itself.

Duo is born.

This is the end of the back story, and where the journey of Duo begins.

NOTE: Below is an idea for how Duo enters a given campaign, but this is obviously something that is totally up to DM discretion. I would call the back story the interesting part, but I have also written the fun part. This creates a character with not only a compelling backstory, but some fun customized mechanics for the DM running the campaign to play with. END NOTE

A man materializes at some point early in any given campaign in the presence of the other characters. He is naked and has only a very interesting looking dagger that appears to be levitating in front of him. The dagger vanishes and makes a sound that is both the loudest thing everyone has ever heard and at the same time makes no noise in reality. 

The man at first appears to obviously be having some kind of conversation with himself but the conversation is clearly two sided... Maybe even 3. Perhaps a lovers quarrel?.. He soon starts making no sense at all and becomes quiet and waits for interaction of some kind.

The ideal path that is taken(anything can happen in D&D) is that even though the man is obviously confused, loose a few screws, and pretty ill equipped… well actually not equipped at all, the players could use some help/cannon fodder at this point, so they give him some basic gear and drag him along. Duo makes no protest being very very confused, but seems to naturally know how to “hold” a sword. 

They call him Duo because when they first saw him it was just a naked man and a spooky-looking dagger. Real name doesn’t exist(if it does it’s up to GM)

Duo has forgotten everything and possesses mostly just instinct at this point. He is able to use the skills available to his level(adjustable by campaign), but the DM can impose some penalties if they want given this status. These should just be temporary though and go away after a short time.

Duo is a Paladin/Warlock. This is because the primary influences that created him are the Paladin and the 2 merged Warlock lovers. The assassins were part of the merge as well, but not being as psychically strong, they exist in the whisper mechanic(see below), but don’t influence general alignment or class. 

Custom Skills/Feats - These are optional but their existence does make sense. What they are is totally up to GM. They can create new ones or pull from the existing list. The idea is that your body/mind don’t get punted across the plains of existence in a non existent direction without getting altered. This has resulted in an undetermined number of customized(by GM) skills and feats that Duo can acquire through any number of methods. For example, using the discovery mechanic(see below). Obviously at specific levels, after a meeting with a certain NPC, etc. Also, when he finds a piece of the Duo Set(see below).

The first rest: Duo is now the result of all 5 of the souls merging together into the body of the Paladin. Not in equal parts though. Not all. The Paladin was very powerful and had a strong sense of self, but in the end, it was bleeding away like the cut that should have been gashed in his neck. He has no memory of anything from before but sees fragments in dreams when he rests. The Paladin is the dominant alignment and personality because of various factors, but mostly because it was his body that survived the event and movement through dimensional space. He hears whispers though. Not always voices. Sometimes just feelings. Instincts.. Urges.

NOTE: The activation of all these mechanics is totally optional and up to the GM's discretion. I only make suggestions regarding when they might be activated. The time the GM takes on these little bits should be limited so as not to slow the game down for the other players.

Dream fragment mechanic - Only happens during rest periods normally, again obviously anything can happen in D&D, but this is the ideal time as it would be least disruptive to the other players. This is the method in which Duo's backstory is revealed to him in bits. The DM decides what details from the backstory manifest, but the kind of memory is determined by a roll of D6

1 - Memory about Soul Twin

2 - Memory about Soul Mate

3 - Random memory - Could be one from the roll list, something customized, or something that makes no sense. Usually just visual flashes

4 - Memory about The War of the Souls

5 - Visual flash memory. For example, flashes of moments in the last fight. 

6 - More specific memory with audio, visual and contextual from last fight. For example, he knows he is fighting assassins sent by his soulmate who is trying to kill his soul twin, and probably him, and understands what these ideas are. Nothing beyond that level of context or understanding in general, but again up to the GM in the end.

These should be quick flashes that are made up of only a few sentences unless the GM deems it's appropriate to take longer on a given fragment.

The Whisper mechanic - Totally up to the GM when they want to activate this, and how much influence it has over Duo. DM rolls 1D6.

1. Whisper from Paladin generally encourages the decision that would be considered good or just in general the right thing to do.

2. Whisper from Soul Twin - Wants duo to live. Will always try to steer him away from danger.

3. Whisper from Soul Mate - Wants duo to die. Will always suggest the path most likely to result in this.

4. Assassin 1 - Wants to kill. Didn’t get to kill enough when it existed before. Will encourage Duo to take the path with the most potential violence.

5. The Duo Dagger - This essence got scrambled with the existence of the dagger itself, and the murderous intent behind that blade's final thrust, which was part of the interaction of Actions that resulted in the Cut that split reality. This is the assassin who’s astral form was left holding the physical blade, and it is the only other fully conscious entity that resulted from the event. It will always give Duo some sense of what direction the dagger is in, a profound sense of loss and desire to go that direction, but no real indication of what is in that direction. 

6. Everything at once, so it generally doesn’t make any sense.

Note: The Dagger is an NPC, but it’s alignment/etc are up to GM. It could even have a class or more likely class abilities (most likely rogue/assasin/etc but upt to GM). It’s the main piece of the Duo set, and it’s recovery should alter duo significantly memory/ability recovery/etc, but should not happen for quite some time into the life of the character. How Duo would go about finding it is totally up to DM. I would say that the dagger calls to him and attempts to guide him in its general direction, but again that's just a suggestion.

The Duo Set

The pieces in the set are optional and most of their game effects are up to the GM, but this is what the overall drive and motivation for the character is outside of the current campaign/quest, so the set does need to exist in some way for his personal story to have progression triggers. As Duo acquires pieces of the set he will regain some of his memory through a dream fragment mechanic.

The Duo set that is created during the event of Duo's birth and scattered across the astral planes. Where the pieces are is up to the GM, and any quests involving their recovery is up to the GM. Generally, it should add/enhance/modify the skills of both the Paladin and Warlock class because that’s just what makes sense. All of it may be on the plane that Duo materializes on, or none of it may be. Entirely up to DM in this regard. If Duo does acquire all the pieces of the set, he regains his memory and has the choice at that point to transcend to being a celestial being. Regardless, this is the point where he will become an NPC. Even if the choice is not to transcend, the full set will grant him abilities that are inappropriate for a player. Whatever those are doesn’t matter. That’s his end game. Complete the set. Duo becomes an NPC. The player doesn’t know this, so they should always be driven to complete the set. 

The set is up to the DM. What it does individually and as a whole is up to the DM. The idea of the set is all that matters for the character's story, but the one thing that has to stay in is the dagger, but he doesn’t have to find it.

Duo Dagger - The exact effects and stats of the dagger are of course up to the DM, but it is an NPC, and in general has some significant consequences used. This dagger has the potential to be immensely powerful as it did at one point cut reality. If the dagger has other potential effects is up to the GM. 

Again this is just a suggestion of what the Dagger might do. The actual effect of the dagger is up to GM discretion.

Reality cut effect - An attack with the dagger does have the chance(rate up to GM) to do this, and if triggered it leaves a cut in reality. This cut is immediately repaired. That results in a ballistic effect of sorts. Think small AOE like a shotgun blast. Basically, it blows holes in stuff. Exact damage/effect is up GM interpretation. 

Side Effects 

Holding the dagger should have a chance to activate the Whisper Mechanic and amplifies it’s sway. Sometimes to the point that the player will not be able to resist it. For example, it may encourage them to attack their comrade to the point they are unable to resist, but can still choose which comrade to attack. 

Duo is not immune to the reality cut effect. It is a small AOE, so he should take at least a small amount of damage that is a percent of that damage inflicted by the effects roll.

Other duo gear - General guidelines are that these are pieces of gear created during the Cut of reality. What was Duo wearing at the time? Maybe it was his armor, or maybe he was in his underwear. Any physical object in the vicinity could be affected and thus become part of the set. Given the vague nature of the sanctuary the battle takes place in and the equipment that the participants are equipped with. This could literally be anything, so have fun with that. There could be a Duo chair.. A duo half empty glass of mead… A duo piece of used female undergarments…. Yeah probably not those last two, but you get the idea. They did astral transport into the “sanctuary”(again vaguely defined on purpose) at a non-specific time. Anything could be happening at the time they materialize in the “sanctuary”. There could be a duo cat or any other potential pet that was in the room. An NPC animal affected by the Cut could be a very fun thing to make. Does it have some of the consciousness of any of the involved parties in it?