Character Creation

I've approved everyone's character. Some notes:

Rydler:
- Light domain, correct?
- Don't forget to specify which skills for your Expertise.

Urban:
- Avruna is modeled after ancient India. I suggest renaming Carreau to something like Bhaya (fear), Mrityu (death), Dukha (pain), or Krodha (wrath).
- Cysegr has not waged war in the last century. We can say when Urban was conscripted into the Cysegrian Legions he was initially posted to the Q'sulth to help deal with the mountain tribes - a dangerous, undesirable assignment.

Awesome info, DM. Will edit accordingly - want to make the background correspond. I dig the naming trend guidance too.

Doh, you are correct. Made the proper changes, everything thing should be as fit as a fiddle now.

@HypCo, does Rydler's lady love have a name or is it too painful a memory? :-D

@Naatkinson, don't forget your character avatar!

@J, Where is Tullus House based out of?

Jabes, I was thinking Cadarnle. Idea is that it is old school gangster, developed from the ground up during the early days of supporting Cysegr's expansion with logistics and transportation. Long term connections and traditions in many locations from there outward. Represents kind of a long-term exploitation, corruption, apathy of what was originally a good thing, which seems to be a lot of what is going on in Cysegr overall.
With that being said, I'm game for anything that you say makes sense in the setting of course.

Up until this point I hadn't given too much thought to the level of criminality in Cadarnle. It's a sizable city and yeah there are certainly nooks and crannies for criminal elements to grow but law and order here is top notch so I'm inclined to say consider Port Llif instead. On the other hand, it makes absolute sense that a far-reaching operation with a legit front like Tullus House is going to want to be in the capital and get as many fingers in many pies. I guess one thing to think about is does the company have any backers among the nobility? So yeah I throw the ball back in your court. I'm fine with either.

If you have a gut feeling towards Port Llif, I think we should go with that.

On the idea of nobility, I loosely had in mind that Tullus was either some sort of low-level noble house itself, or it had greased the palms of some power positions at several locations, including Cadarnle, to stay out of danger from being shut down entirely. But again, I think it could go either way you say fits the landscape.

Symbol of Helios



Wrath of the Titans!
Don't call it a comeback...

Lady love's name is Ellethwen Valadhiel.

I think I prefer the riskier Port Llif over the safer Q'lac'tsh. We can always use Q'lac'tsh as a place to lay low if it gets too hot in Port Llif.

I'm wondering how much I should situate Baracus's history in the world of Cysegr. Any suggestions for how a half-orc soldier turned monk might fit into this world?

Given that, I think a base in Cadarnle works well. The capital is right on the bank of the Euraid. Tullus House would run merchandise, illegal and otherwise, on barges up and down the river. It would probably also have offices in Llif.
I give you free rein to establish a monastery pretty much anywhere. Base it on the flavor of your martial arts. Qinglai for southeast-asian flavor, Cysegr for western-style monks, Pradesh for hindu-style. Heck, you could even go Camaxacal for an Aztec fighting style or the Northlands for some Viking brawler flavor. All probably historically inaccurate, but who cares?

I ended up dumping that idea of Urban earning a demon-name moniker. Also roped in his criminal murder experience to a more reasonable 2 guys.
That was some pretty stupid overboard shit I wrote on the first draft. WTF, J?! This guy is only second level and his gangster thug days were only a BACKGROUND!

Well you're a 2nd-level paladin but your background could definitely have been an entire career!

That was his 0-Level Human career. Phew! Good thing he didn't get smoked out as a no-name Bandit NPC during an encounter vs. some 1st Level PCs.

Those action figures bring back some serious nostalgia. I owned the Murdoch and my brother owned B.A. Their heads were made of malleable plastic and could pop off and be interchanged. Fun times.

Hey Len I found some Highlander monks for ya! Wait for it...wait for it...

Oh man, highlander monks sound awesome! Currently the video says its restricted, but maybe that's because I'm at work. Will investigate tonight!

As it turned out, the Highlander Monks were worth the wait :)

As awesome as that was, I think I'm gonna go with a more Qinglai direction. I have watched my fair share of Chinese kung fu movies, my wife is Chinese, and my kids are half Chinese, so I think I can channel that vibe the best. Not sure what the story is for why this Half-Orc soldier was in Qinglai, but I guess we'll make it up as we go along.

That's awesome, Len! Gong Xi Fa Cai! The Lunar New Year is a big deal here in the Philippines where a large section of the population is of Chinese descent (I'm not in that section though)!

The Cysegr-Qinglai border has moved back and forth over millennia, at times through bloody conflict, but with both nations going through a cultural renaissance over the past century relations have been good, and borders are open. All this to say that you have pretty much complete freedom to carve out the backstory you want.

You're allowed to not be originally from Cysegr. You can choose any nation you want but at some point you served Cysegr, and served her well until that loyalty was questioned five years ago.

By the way, I intentionally did not assign specific PC races to specific nations or regions. The population is almost completely heterogenous. That, and the fact that I've assigned climates arbitrarily so the geography isn't too realistic, may detract from this word's verisimilitude but I really just want to spend more time following your adventures than spend too much time worrying about things like that.

Speaking of which, the story thread is now live. Have at it! :-)

Whoop whoop!

PS - spending 30 more gold on a great-axe. I know it's not a monk weapon, but I can't make a half-orc barbarian that doesn't have a great-axe. Probably flavour it as a tribal weapon, perhaps it will take on some sentimental / spiritual meaning as the story unfolds. "My father's father's axe" or something like that, not sure yet :)