I've done it no~ooww...! (new character)

First of all, up too late. SIGH. I wanted to sleep 3 hours ago but Jon wanted to cook all late (really late). Meh. I found something to distract myself while waiting and decided I'd apply for a D&D 4th Edition game on RPoL.

No clue if I'll make the cut, but I gave it an ok effort for something scrapped together in a couple hours.

I'm posting this mostly as I did in my request to join the game. I'm lazy, and it's late. Also, if you're wondering, the setting's a custom setting, so I went and expanded on some bits and pieces the DM wrote for it so far, and tried to make it work for my concept.

(Hrifa was originally conceived as a D&D 4e dragonborn version of Archana. I didn't want to make her a cleric, though. So I gave an entirely different impetus for her relentlessness...)

Character Name: Hrifa Agradathi
Character Race: Dragonborn

First Choice Role: Leader (Warlord)
Second Choice Role: Defender (Fighter)

Character Concept: Warlord/Knight Commander or Sword Marshal. Fighter/Iron Vanguard or Sword Master if I get my second choice. Not that interested in multiclass at the moment.

The paragon path Hrifa ends up choosing, I'd like to be at least partially determined by her actions in game. I don't just want to make a build without knowing how the plot and her decisions will shape her. For example I think she'd be more likely to choose Knight Commander or Iron Vanguard if her actions lead her towards a path of protecting and inspiring others. On the other hand, if events lead her to believe that the best way to achieve her goals is through crushing force, she'd more likely go with the Sword Marshal or Sword Master choice.

As for 'elite' I'm not sure if you mean Epic Destinies? if so I would see Hrifa taking the Demigod path.

Background Idea: (I realize I'm taking liberties and that details may be changed... it's not my setting, after all! But this is to give an idea of what I imagine my character might have gone through.)

Hrifa was born in the Kingdom of Issus. Her allegiance has ever been with Issus and her Royalty. Why, then, is she now languishing away in a prison where none would dare acknowledge her existence, for crimes against the state?

Rust-scaled, sleek and powerful, Hrifa was born to fight and proud of her natural ability. She is not arrogant, but strives toward perfection of body and will, and to apply that perfection toward a goal greater than herself. In her youth, she became quietly enamored of the Princess Guardian Takish, and since then has seen Takish as a model by which to compare her combat prowess and loyalty. She would later discover that she was one of the few hatchlings considered for the honor of Guardianship herself, that Takish had been considered her superior even from birth. Such a realization only fanned the flames of her desire to prove herself an equal and worthy of trust.

But she would not progress through her training with the ease and fervor that Takish possessed. Hrifa was constantly overlooked for promotions, given the most menial or unnecessarily difficult of tasks, criticized for her failings despite all her best efforts. In truth, Hrifa was neither crippled nor inept. She could have grown to be one of the finest knights of Issus. But there was one man who wished her not to reach that goal... one man who wished to use all the pent-up frustration and wounded pride she endured for all her adolescence, and twist it to serve his own designs.

That man is Duke Antonio Carver.

Duke Antonio nurtured his plan in secret, convincing her instructors by whatever means necessary that Hrifa ought not to be rewarded for her honest efforts. He encouraged them to be harsh with her, to test her will and endurance far beyond what other students must endure. And when her resentment was finally ripe for the picking, when she'd finally had enough of the injustice so underhandedly perpetuated, he came to her with words of praise and encouragement. Antonio took the guise of benefactor, and chose Hrifa personally for a task that only she and a precious few would ever know of.

Hrifa, to her credit, desired no money for the job. Despite all she'd endured, she had kept her pride intact, and saw this not as an opportunity to profit but to finally prove herself to her peers and elders. Little did she know that Antonio desired the Princess, and very likely the throne of Issus, for himself. All she needed to know was that the job must be done.

Antonio sent Hrifa in secret with a small group -- her very first command, even if they were mercenaries -- to rendezvous at night with a carriage traveling back toward the castle. It was deliberately unmarked, and only lightly guarded. Antonio's orders were to kill everyone inside and burn the evidence, proclaiming to her that the people inside were enemies of the state. She did so, and accomplished her goal handily, bringing back as proof the amulet around the neck of the young man that had fought the hardest.

What she did not know was that the man she had killed was one of Princess Illa's suitors, and a noble in his own right. He had been riding with her in the carriage, on a secret tryst, but his keen senses had discovered their ambush and he'd directed her to flee. Had she escaped in time? Hrifa would never know of it, or of her presence there, until Duke Antonio greeted her at the castle -- not with accolades, but with chains.

Four years have passed since her imprisonment, and Hrifa has had a long time to think on her youthful folly, and on the betrayal Antonio wrought upon her. Four years, she has kept her body strong and limber in the cramped confines of her cell. Four years, waiting stoically for the chance to bring to light the truth, for herself and those that took the fall with her... and to finally restore her pride, once and for all.

Writing Sample: (I can do posts shorter than this, but this is more of a showcase of me writing Hrifa in character.)

One. Two. Three. Four.

Hrifa's talons gouge into the indentations left upon the beam she grips tightly, indentations from month after month of daily exercises just like this one. Quietly, methodically, she pulls herself up so that her chin is level with top of the beam, then lowers herself so her arms are near fully extended. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Over and over the dragonborn repeats this motion, her rust-scaled arms flexing and unflexing with surprising ease.

It is all she can do to keep from going mad.

The room Hrifa is in is an eight-foot cube. It is spartan, though not uncomfortable, with few items of note besides the amenities: a wall hanging proclaiming "Strength through Perseverance," simple drapes in a cool dark blue, a threadbare oval rug that serves more as an exercise mat than decor. An amulet sits atop a small shelf with books on warfare and tactics, seemingly devoid of any power yet prominently positioned. Notches on the side of the shelf count the weeks, months, years that have gone by.

Hrifa's arms lift and lower her suspended form with slow, controlled motions. Nine. Ten. Eleven. Twelve. The long wait has not tamed her, but merely honed her patience, and brought wisdom and focus where there was once brash youth. She thinks daily upon the Duke whose machinations have brought her here, left her to languish in a cozy cell while he subtly poisons the Kingdom of Issus with his schemes.

It is for this purpose she cannot believe her fate lies in captivity. For Duke Antonio Carver must pay for his treachery, just as she has paid for hers. For his true colors must be revealed for all the kingdom to judge him proper. And until that day, Hrifa Agradathi would train and study and bide her time...

Thirteen. Fourteen. Fifteen. Sixteen.

...in anticipation for his undoing.

I stopped short of putting "Seventeen" in my writing sample, tee hee. :P Geez. am I a fangirl enough? Jon actually wants to RTJ (that's 'request to join' in RPoL jargon) with a Seventeen-ish warlock, so we'll see how that goes. If one or the other makes it, ahh well!

I should also admit, while I'm at it, that the main reason I wanted to join this new game wasn't just because of boredom, or wanting to play D&D 4e. Actually, it's because the premise has the PCs starting out as prisoners taking the fall for a scheming duke. ^^; I just really have a thing for characters getting incarcerated for doing their job too well... *eyes 17 again*