Character Creation

Here's where I'm at with my character's backstory:

Tarasynora Liavaris grew up among the wild elves of Lyrengorn, and became a proficient hunter in the mountain forests. She adored the beauty of the icy wilderness, the majesty of its glaciers and ancient pines, and especially the wonder of the northern lights, and the skillful aerobatic displays of the wyvern riders who played amongst the dazzling colours.

Tara was proud of her skills as a hunter, but always felt as though there was something missing from her life, some essential purpose or meaning. Her work was important, for sure - it kept the people of Lyrengorn fed, and the forests safe from supernatural threats. It kept nature in balance, and ensured that everything continued as it always had.

It was only when a group of humans came to the city, begging for the elves’ aid to save their village from violent creatures of the Feywild, that Tara was able to understand what she was missing. The city’s leaders welcomed the humans as they did all peaceful travelers, and gave them all the comforts of elven hospitality, but they refused to help them. Tara demanded to know why.

"Their troubles are not our troubles," she was told. And in that moment, she understood - she could not ignore the suffering of others, no matter who they were; the presence of darkness and evil in the world was everyone’s problem, and she would never be content to maintain the state of things as they were. She had to try to make the world a better place.

When the humans left, she left with them, against the protestations of her family and friends. The humans told her of the fey spirits that attacked their farmers, hunters and woodcutters, starving the village of supplies. The people were afraid to leave their houses, and they feared the spirits would soon attack the village itself.

Tara went out into the woods near the village alone, and called upon the forest spirits to speak with her. The dryads came forth from the trees, in their aspects of war and anger. They told Tara that the humans were wounding the land and the forest with their greed and ignorance. Tara did not try to argue, but simply listened.

For over a year, Tara went back and forth between the humans and the dryads, asking for patience and understanding. She taught the humans how to gather wood and hunt game without upsetting the balance of the forest. She convinced the dryads to give over some of the forest for farmland, so the humans could grow enough crops to survive. In turn, the humans agreed to protect and honour the dryad’s sacred groves, the surrounding forest and its creatures. She built an agreement between them, such that each was better for it - without the conflict from their mutual misunderstandings, they could grow and flourish to mutual benefit.

When she first began to see humans and dryads starting to work in harmony without her intervention, Tara felt joy and sadness in equal measure. The results confirmed her deepest feelings - that she could make a difference in the world, and that the light of compassion was truly able to banish the darkness of ignorance and hatred. On the other hand, these people no longer needed her help, and it was time to move on.

Think yer've got problems? Wish yer had never been born? Sit down, shut up and thank yer lucky stars that yer not me. I was born into the Mossflower Tribe, a bunch of tree hugging hippies, the lot of them. Used to be one myself once, but that's not important. Every year at harvest time we gathered together with the other Firbolg tribes of Wildmount, and the shamans read the future. Sometimes we had good signs, sometimes bad. In a good year we'd drink, make merry and celebrate, in a bad year we'd work hard, disperse, and conserve what we had. It's all balance, yer see? This one year the signs were the worst the shamans had ever seen. Hard work wouldn't cut it. Somethin bad was commin. And the Wildmother would need some serious help to fight it. To get that help, she'd need a trustworthy soul. A really nice guy. A good honest worker... You can see where this is going right? So I was selected. The chosen one. Lucky me. The bastards never told me that they were gonna send me to her direct like. I was hanged from the corpse of the great tree, while all of my friends and family watched and threw lillies at my feet. Fuck em. I died that day. But my spirit didn't go up, or down. Instead it was sucked into the tree where I met Death herself. See, people think that nature is all lovely roses, the birds and the bees, yer know? That is nature. But nature is also the cruelist thing you can imagine. A whole bunch of plants and animals struggling to survive, eating each other. Torturing each other. And I have met her. If she doesn't scare yer then yer ain't right in the head. She fucking terrifies me and I'm on her good side! Sorta. Anyway, we meet and she takes one look at me and I could feel her stripping away my soul as if she were about to eat it. After a long while she says Change is coming. I need all the strength I can get. You have a choice, serve me. Be my Reaper of Souls. Harvest for me and all of your kills will feed me. If you refuse I will eat your soul. Choose. Well, as yer can see I'm still here, so guess what I chose? I woke up with this scar running along me neck, and my body was covered with flowers. How nice of them, aye? And all of my people had scattered like the wind. You know the first thing I did? Rip off my bloody tribal tattoo. Fuck Mossflower, Fuck the Firbolg. To hell with the lot of them. Oh I'll serve the Wildmother. I'll send her evil souls, while I see if I can figure out why she needs em and if there's any way to get outta this curse. So whatdya think? Did yer like my touchin story?