The Heroes
Jia-rhaz Xil'myriin is a half-drow blade dancer hailing from the Drow city of Veldor'dhun located near Arrapha in the Kingdom of Amarak. She has spent the last 15 years or so traveling across Eressea before meeting up with the party in Crosswater.
Through the usage of Mask of Many Faces, Jia often takes on alternate forms on her travels. Some of her most common cover identities include:
Alexandra "Lexa" Tzahr (Tiefling)
Kensia Anzara (Human)
Salandra (Half-elf)
Andromache (Triton)
Vystra (Dwarf)
Damaris Spindrift, Commander of the Cerulean Army and Champion of Poseidon's Vanguard, is a triton from the Kingdom of Coralan. She is daughter of Deimos and Malantha.
ALIASES:
Maggie the Dragon (in the Pits in Kirkwall)
Hagfish, in the Feywild
Darkness Breaker to the Orcs
General Damaris Spindrift, Commander of the Cerulean Army and Champion of Poseidon’s Vanguard
Damaris Spindrift is the only daughter of General Deimos and Cmdr Malanthe Spindrift in Coralan. As is tradition, the oldest/only child pursues the family vocation, and Damaris was groomed her entire life to be a warrior, rising through the ranks with the understanding that one day she would inherit her father's rank. Everything changed house Akheilos staged a coup, deposing the House of Anemora from the throne in a single bloody banquet in the palace in Riefafa, below the Great Reef.
Damaris and her father were at the banquet and defended the Anemora royal family to the last. Damaris's last memory of the palace is of falling, mortally wounded, and seeing the King take a trident to the chest. When she wakes up, she is on Skelliwick, A local fisherman had found her washed up on shore, unconscious, and brought her to the local healer woman. The healer woman and her daughter bring Damaris to health. Mara stays in the village doing odd jobs and mourning until she regains her strength enough to leave. She decides to go find work more in line with her skills, and perhaps get farther away from the Coralan kingdom in case the usurpers come looking for survivors. However unlikely that might be.
She falls in with a white dragonborn, an elf, a half elf, and a tiefling, and starts a new adventure.
As Taulius grew, saw more of the world, and specifically more of the cities and nobleman, he grew increasingly disgusted. He agreed with his father wholeheartedly that the cultural heritage of the elves needed to be recovered, but he felt his ancestral yearnings for the woods and wilderness. The call of nature and older, more natural times was heavy upon him. Late one evening, in his 82nd year, after an argument with his father, he gathered his belongings together and left. He loved his Father, but could no longer bear to live in the cities, and pander to the whims and caprices of the courtiers.
His sister Veria was 16 when he left.
He struck out towards the Cloakwood, eventually running across a druid named Ibis Athenacius. Taulius discovered that he was once a noble son of a lord of Valoria, but did not wish to grow up to inherit his father’s title. He ran away from home as a youth and began learning of the woods, beasts, trees and plants. Now in his early 60’s, Athenacius was well versed in the druidic arts, and sensing a kindred spirit, took young Taulius under his wing. Together they roamed the woods and heaths until tragically, Athenacius was killed by an Owl bear. Taulius was distracted while on watch and wondered away from camp. While he was gone, the owl bear attacked Ibis and killed him.
Taulius buried his friend, and found a large red feather from the Owlbear, and his mentor’s family crest which he had kept always around his neck on a string. It was a circular metal medallion with an owl on one side, and the face of a warrior goddess wearing a helm on the other. Somehow trusting that despite his grief, that this fate was for his good, tied the feather to a string, and follows it wherever the wind takes him.
Toura is a Stone Crow woman who was captured and enslaved by the Frostwolf tribe. She was gifted to Klun'Ragthroknaar after the Battle of the Maw. Despite being given her freedom by the party she has vowed to stay with them until her life debt has been paid.
May the stars carry your sadness away,May the flowers fill your heart with beauty,May hope forever wipe away your tears.And, above all, may the silence make you strong!— Traditional orcish song
The World
Rivain is the capital of the Rivain Prefecture in the Valorian Empire. It was formerly the capital of the Kingdom of Engwaeld until the country was conquered and subsumed into the Valorian Empire.
History
The area where Rivain is located was once the site of a small elven fortification chosen due to a nearby natural spring and its proximity to orcish lands. As time went on humans began to settle and the surrounding area organized into the Kingdom of Engwaeld. Rivain grew from a small village to a large city and was designated as the capital of the kingdom and given the name of Rivain by the first king of Engwaeld, Aethelwold.
Several hundred years later, and the Valorian Empire has been engaged in a series of conflicts with Engwaeld, each resulting in a loss of territory for Engwaeld. At long last, the Empire laid siege to Rivain, and Hildebeorht, the last king of Engwaeld, was trapped inside the walls. Due to the circumstances surrounding The Battle Hardbrin, the Emperor ordered that no quarter be given. When the city walls fell a terrible slaughter ensued, the king's hall burnt, and some of the royal tombs were looted.
During the War of Northern Rebellion the rebels/seperatists/freedom fighters used Rivain as a base of operations. The Emperor sailed north with several legions and attacked Rivain. Following his victory the Emperor ordered that the city walls be razed and commanded that no walls ever be constructed around the city again. To this day there are no city walls to be found.
Geography
The city center has a very distinct feel. Older architecture with lots of wood and intricate scrollwork carved into the wood. The outer part of the city is constructed in a more traditional Valorian style. There are no city walls, and only the Imperial Army garrison has fortified walls.
The land surrounding Rivain is largely farm land with occasional stands of trees and small forests.
The city has a large hill, King's Hill, with barrows at the top. These barrows are the resting place of many Engwealdish kings.
Demographics
Rivain is a less diverse city than places like Kirkwall or Crosswater. Humans are prevalent with a sizable half-elf minority. Other species can be found in small groups, but there are no other large enclaves.
Factions
- Northern Independence Movement - Many nobles who trace their lineage back to old Engwaeldish families support the idea of the north reclaiming its independence. The commonfolk are more split on the matter.
- Imperialists - Those loyal to the Empire
- The Badger Crew - A gang of ruffians and hoodlums that roam the streets of Rivain
- The Gauntlet - A mercenary company headquartered in Rivain
Notable Locations
- King's Hill - A large hill with standing stones carved into the visages of ancient kings on top of several barrows.
- Sword of the Ancients - At the center of the city there is a large stone arm coming out of the earth. The hand is clutching a sword thrust into the sky. Some say it is the petrified arm of a giant, others say it is a memorial to a king long forgotten.
- A food bank run by the Church.
- The Fountain of Fortune is a popular destination for the superstitious. This deep, wide fountain is said to be possessed of a magic humor that causes the surface of the water to play out scenes of love or conquest when coins are thrown into it. The fountain seems to have a sense of humor; when other objects are thrown into it, it is known to throw them back.
- Prefect's Palace - The home of Aufidius Orestes, prefect of the Rivain District.
- Legion Garrison - The X and XXI Legions are currently garrisoned there. The only location within Rivain that has actual fortress walls.
- Oak and Spear - An blue-collar alehouse, often patroned by those sympathetic to Northern Independence.
- Five Flagons - A respectable Inn and Tavern. A popular destination for traveling merchants.
- The Drunken Elf - Another blue-collar establishment. Has various (inexpensive) elven artifacts displayed on the walls.
- The Griffons Nest - a tavern run by a retired Valorian soldier. Popular watering hole for off-duty soldiers and officers.
- St. Rowan's Cathedral - The main church in Rivain. Overseen by the Archbishop Hydroc Beckett. Northerners are very proud of this church and consider St. Rowan to be the epitome of northern courage and martial prowess.
- Primilla's - A Valorian style bathouse and spa.
- The Humble Skull - Magic shop run by Eadwig.
- Potions & Lotions - Run by Tecca.
- The Gilded Compass - Adventurer's Guild
Notable People
- Aufidius Orestes - Prefect of the Rivain District.
- Thomas Neville - Guildmaster of The Gilded Compass
- Osbert of Rivain - The magistrate
- Celsus Laevius - Legatus of X Legion - Dauntless Tenth
- Ridolfo di Luca - Legatus of XXI Legion - Pious Twenty First
- Hydroc Beckett - Archbishop of Rivain
- Opizo - Assistant to Osbert, the magistrate