Things I've been working on, part 1.

My D&D 3.5 Forgotten Realms character, Lyseria Dawnclear.

She's a chara for a RPoL game. The last name's taken from Thyria and her mother in Exalted B&B. The first is a derivative of Lysistrata, which Kalli suggested but I felt too shy to use, since people might recognize the Greek play it came from. :O

I'm not going to post the sheet, but I will say she's a level 5 half-elven swashbuckler. And I'm very likely going swashbuckler all the way, though I did kind of regret not deciding on starting with a couple Ranger levels. (Rangers get more skill points + they get two weapon fighting for free at 2nd, which I had to buy as a feat. Still, doing that would have made feel too twinky, so I didn't!)

My one complaint after working on this is that Forgotten Realms is just too friggin' HUGE. Way too many countries of origin to choose from, and places to have traveled to. I had a hard time settling on Lyse's god (Tymora) for a while, too.

Someone just needs to take Faerun and ... destroy at least half of it. :D It boggles me even more that it's only PART of Toril. I mean... WTF?! Huge campaign setting is huge. Even more so than Exalted, which always feels more like a bunch of city states than a bunch of nations (barring big ones like the Realm, Lookshy, Lintha, etc.)

But enough of my griping, here's the writing! And it's not my best. But it's not meant to be artistic prose or anything.

Early Years

Lyseria Chantalle Amastacia was born in Kalania, one of the last elven bastions of Cormanthor. Her mother is Marishaniel, sister of Kalania's leader, Lady Kayir, and her father a human visitor known as Korveil Athendi. He was a well-traveled man who sang brilliantly of the coldest North and the golden South, and for a short time Marishanel was enamored by the wistful transience of his existence. He indulged her, but knew that it would be temporary, speaking poignantly: "We will part when the day dawns clear." And so he did, on a bright spring morning, leaving behind a morning glory blossom in his wake, and his daughter in her womb.

Despite the fact Lyse was a half-blood, Marishaniel loved her as she would any child, even though few others in her household would do the same. She did not get along particularly well with her older sister Evandelle, whose high elven blood was full and "untainted". Evan was over 100 years older than Lyse, and took great pleasure at establishing her place as her better, reminding her daily of the failings of youth and humanity. Despite that early animosity, though, one could say that Evandelle's tormenting about her unrefined manners and inferior mind helped shape the kind of person Lyseria would become.

Maturity and Departure

Being half-human, of course, meant Lyse matured much faster than a full blooded elf would. Her teenage growth spurt meant that she very quickly towered over her sister (relatively, since she was still on the short side for a human). Unlike Evandelle, she had no restriction barring her from joining the House of Sword and Shield, and so she took to learning combat the elven way: less brute force than finesse, adopting a style that kept her constantly on the move, and difficult to predict. Lyse's strengths manifested in this period of training -- besides her budding skill with the blade, she was a natural acrobat, with a keen sense of balance and muscle control.

At 18 years of age, Lyseria finally felt the call of wanderlust drawing her away from the lush and plentiful forests of her home. She visited her mother Marishaniel (by now Evandelle had already begun her own travels as a diplomat) to tell her of her intention to see the world as the humans see it, now that she has lived all her childhood with the elves. Marishaniel, knowing this moment would come, set her off with a cache of coins and fine quality equipment, and a ring of sentimental value to remember her by. "Go forth and know the world as your father did," she told her bright-eyed daughter, "for he too faced the dawn with no regrets."

Thereafter did Lyseria adopt the name Dawnclear, and begin her travels as a journeywoman. She found this newfound freedom to be quite palatable, but at the same time realized she would be quickly taken advantage of if she traveled alone and unprepared. She spent her first year in the Dalelands, training longbow with the best of Dale archers, offering her sword to combat bandits and assist in defense against local enemies such as the drow and the Zhentarim. It troubled her, in these early days, to see how the unity of the Dales had frayed since the elven courts had begun losing power in the area, giving Lyse her first taste of how wide in scope the troubles of the world could be.

Talsyth and the Open Sea

Afterward, Lyseria's travels took her beyond the Dales to the Dragon Coast, which she originally conceived of as a lawless and dangerous place. In time, she learned to appreciate it as a region with its own unspoken, common law, for those smart and shrewd enough to respect it. When she first entered Westgate, though, she was fresh from the Dales and not quite streetwise. Only the intervention of her now trusted ally, Corion Talsyth, kept her relative naivete from doing her in.

Though mostly human in appearance, Talsyth (water genasi swashbuckler) bears the blue tint and blue-green hair of one with marid blood. He has the temperament of the sea, as well, capable of great patience and dependable leadership, but prone to anger when faced with those who abuse the laws for their own ends, or tip the scales towards chaos. He allies himself with no significant power, but has made a name for himself as a privateer preying on black-hearted pirates and corrupt nobility alike. Lyseria befriended him during his brief visit to the Coast, and he offered to recruit her as crewmember of his galleon, the Stormchaser.

So began Lyseria's adventures on the high seas. As part of Talsyth's crew, she traversed the Sea of Fallen Stars, visiting many of the major ports along the Dragon Coast and the Moonsea, Cormyr and Sembia, even the Pirate Isles (where Talsyth had many an ally). Her acrobatic skill and willingness to labor made her quite useful both as deckhand and topsman, and she relished the opportunity to come in contact with many cultures and people (even if not always friendly). It is also around this time that she truly embraced her worship of Tymora, whose clergy have healed and aided her many times in return, believing her lifestyle true to their dogma: "One should be bold, for to be bold is to live."

Then she went and did the foolish thing, and fell in love. With her captain, no less. Talsyth was not an ungentle man, nor an intentionally insensitive one, but still they argued as much as they loved one another, disrupting the easy camraderie of life at sea. The worst of their respective mixed heritages came out in those moments, she adopting a decidedly elven aloofness when he irritated her, he raging with all the ire of a stormy sea. Why they disagreed so much, no one really knows. At times they seemed to feed off the passion of their arguments, and at other times wanted nothing but to avoid each other.

The Ruins of Raven's Bluff

In the end, Lyseria agreed to leave for a time for the sake of keeping the peace -- something that Talsyth still raged at her for suggesting, but she would not budge.

They parted ways, coincidentally, at the eastern shore of Dragon's Reach, in a land known as the Vast. Attracted by its reputation as an adventurers' haven, Lyseria settled near Raven's Bluff for a time, and came to know the autonomous, pioneering, do-it-yourself spirit of the Vast's hardy people. Here she first became aware of the old dwarven ruins in the area, remnants of a kingdom beset by orcs, and became engrossed in the vocation of ruin exploration. Again, being relatively unexperienced in such a task, she joined an adventuring party as a junior member, a good-natured group of comrades: Miri (halfling rogue), Ithran (human loremaster), Tenebia (human darkhunter), and Thorim (dwarven cleric). Sadly, their most ambitious quest was also their last one, leading in a cataclysmic cave-in that separated Lyse from the others, leaving her alone with the prize they sought.

Lyseria survived, somehow, but she never knew whether her companions made it out another way. She waited for them for a while, hoping beyond hope, but as weeks stretched into months she finally resigned herself to their loss. Unsettled by the idea of keeping the single relic she escaped with, she decided to bring it back to its rightful owner, or at least the closest descendant she could find. It took some work to find him, as the Glimmersword clan had withdrawn into heavy seclusion after the fall of Roldilar centuries ago. But her persistence paid off, and she brought the aging Arthul Glimmersword the sun sword of Roldilar, naming the names of her friends who had perished to excavate it. As she witnessed, the Glimmersword dwarves built a great monument to their death, and sang songs of their bravery, and near insisted that Lyseria accept heroic status on her own.

But it was not truly her doing -- Lyse had only been along, a younger adventurer learning the ropes, and by chance survived the disaster that claimed the others. Doing her best not to offend her hosts, she told them that their debt had already been appeased, and to give the gifts they would shower on her to the families of the lost. She wasn't quite altruistic enough to refuse at least some of their coin, though, as well as the mithral chain shirt she now wears as protection.

Another Beginning

That done, she returned to Raven's Bluff, once again just a little bit older and wiser. She found Talsyth waiting for her there, apologetic and brooding, and felt joy leap in her heart at the sight of her old friend. They would not be lovers now, but she would return to the Stormchaser for a time, to the warmer seas of the Dragon Coast, until the wanderlust rises in her again.

After all, it always does.