Villains Seeking Employment - Character Background

[Trailfoot]

I'd like if people would post their character backgrounds for VSE here. Given that it's going to be a round-robin game, the backgrounds need to be public.

I'll start with mine.

Celena, Celeisian Human Shadowcaster

Shadowcaster, Level 5

Celena is the youngest of four children of the First of the Tower of the Blood chapterhouse in Selus, a mid-sized city on the southern shore of the Empire of Celeis. Given the magical talent of her parents and siblings, Celena was expected to wield similar talent - after all, the blood of dragons normally flows true. However, in Celena's case, this did not happen - she was born without an ounce of magical talent.

Thus, she was raised as a servant, and sent to the main Tower in Zalten at eight years of age to learn the proper respect for sorcerers. She was miserable, treated like dirt, but was helpless to do anything about it. Years passed, each day more painful than the one before.

Then, one day, Celena became lost in the Tower she thought she knew perfectly. Trying to find her way back to familiar rooms, she stumbled upon a long-forgotten, secret library. It was in this library that she located the Tome of Shadow. This book promised power to anyone who could learn the fundamentals within, for once one learns to touch the shadow, the shadow becomes a part of you, and improving at its use becomes as natural as sorcery is to those with dragons' blood.

Thus did Celena read. Every evening, when she finished her chores, she would sneak away into this forgotten library. Soon, she had learned the basics of shadow magic from the tome... the manipulation of light and the touching of the Plane of Shadow. The tome revealed to her another hidden spot, where she found a suit of magical shadow-armor and a lantern that cast shadows rather than light. With these in hand, she escaped the Tower of the Blood.

Celena now holds a rare and forbidden knowledge in the Tome of Shadow, as well as magical items which the making of is long-lost. She has advanced her understanding of the reality which lies in the darker areas, and vowed never to serve another again unless that service also serves her.

[Nephallim]

Tybal Mancleaver, Troglodyte Warrior

Humanoid 2, Fighter 1 (Level Adjustment +2)

Raised among the Troglodyte clans of Blin for the purpose of supplementing the Dark Empire's human soldiers, Tybal showed unusual cunning and tenacity in his early career, and was quickly elevated to the position of Battle-Chief (Commander of a force of about 20 Troglodytes, answerable only to Troglodyte War-Chiefs and human officers of the Blin army). Tybal served in several successful border raids, further distinguishing himself as a superb warrior, and earning the honor of wielding a Blinstone battleaxe.

In time, however, Tybal grew dissatisfied with life as a servant of humans and led about half-a-dozen of his kinfolk out of Blin. His Troglodyte companions are long since dead but Tybal is a survivor above all. He dreams of one day leading an army to free his kinfolk from the oppression of the Shadow-Lords. He will show the fools of Blin just -who- is best fit to serve the Dark Force.

"I was bred to serve darkness. You goons just do it for fun."

-Tybal on Blinian Humans

[Horosha]

Koikumo Midnightsun, Drow, Cleric of Lolth, Wizard of Necromancy

3rd Level Cleric/3rd Level Wizard

Talen Moonglass, a name burned into Koikumo Midnightsun's mind, her captor, her teacher, the man responsible for her training as a wizard while she was a prisoner of the Tu'ron'o, within the domain of the Elves of the Lesser Moon. What was she to them, a Drow, a girl, a mere child to them to be used as a tool. She practiced her craft before him, having not heard Lolth's calling, she was just a child of three when she was taken after her family was wrapped out by a Dwarven attack, sold to the Tu'ron'o for a pretty penny. Her heart burned with cold rage at how her teacher mislead her with words of praise whenever she succeeded in her lessons, or gentle words when she failed, knowing the other students smirked and gave her superior attitude because she was a lesser, her magical skills lesser than theirs, Talen never telling her the truth, she would never be as good as his other students, always two steps behind them all. It wasn't until the Spider Queen entered her dreams and showed her the truth, how her craft was directed away from what was her real abilities, to command spiders and control the undead. In secret she became a priestess of Lolth, began to practice the arts of the necromancer, learned them in secret, grinning at her speedy success, how easy it was to do them. She continued to follow and do as Talen told her to do, bidding her time, learning of the Elves of the Lesser Moon, their weaknesses and how each of them could be corrupted. In her hidden room, she learned what was needed to be a cleric of Lolth, the use of weapons and rituals meant for the Spider Queen. When she reached her late teen's years, in Elven terms, she was secretly returned to her Drow people, the Tu'ron'o believing they had planted a guiding influence amongst the Elves of the Underdeep, to take the Drow away from Lolth, to show that they must return to the duty that the Drow abandoned. But the Tu'ron'o didn't, couldn't, understand that what they had done was to give Lolth a weapon to use, that Koikumo Midnightsun sought two things, become the leader of her people, give them the sun once more, and to corrupt all Elves, make them the followers of Lolth, and so her followers.