Beyond Sanctuary: Arien Fingalen

The second character in my Beyond Sanctuary Mythic GME Old School Sandbox game. The finished character is presented first, then a description of the cliches, followed by notes describing the process of creating her (and the resulting world-building).

Arien Fingalen
Beautiful but serious-looking Elf maiden clad in shining mail and green velvet accoutrements. Her hair is like spun gold braided with strands of green the color of her emerald eyes. She bears an intricate green and silver glyph on her right cheek to denote membership in her arcane order.

Cliches: Noble Elven Knight of the Crimson Wolf (4), Sword-Mage of the Sisterhood of Galenteith [3].

Languages: Several dialects of Elven, the Common Tongue of the North Lands, and a smattering of various Gnoll, Hobgoblin, and Orc languages (TN roll vs. Crimson Wolf).

Lore: Carries a spellbook with the listed spells below. Note that if she loses dice to pumping her Sword-Mage cliche then she may be restricted in what spells she may cast. Also, if she fails a roll to cast a given spell, then it may not be attempted again until she rests and prepares spells anew.

• Second Level (TN9): Invisibility.
• First Level (TN6): Detect Magic, Magic Missile, Protection from Evil, Read Languages, Read Magic.
• Various Cantrips (TN3)

Tools: Fine chainmail armor, light shield, longsword, dagger, elven bow, quiver of arrows. Spellbook, spell components, quills, ink.

Other Possessions: 78 gp, 3 sp. Fine velvet and green leather clothes. Backpack, bedroll, silver holy symbol, small mirror. One week's elven waybread, waterskin.

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Noble Elven Knight of the Crimson Wolf: Being an Elf (being long-lived, being beautiful, being incredibly graceful, being deceptively strong, seeing well by the light of the stars, being immune to most wilderness hardships, not needing to sleep more than a few hours a night, having eyesight, having excellent hearing, detecting secret doors, being highly resistant to enchantments, being immune to ghoul paralysis, having an elven talent for archery); being skilled in courtly manners; knowing heraldry; fighting on foot or on horse; knowing her way about the North Lands.

Sword-Mage of the Sisterhood of Galenteith: Fighting with blade or bow; casting spells prepared from her spellbook (even while wearing metal armor); learning new spells and scribing them into her spellbook; being educated in Elven history and languages.

***

CHARACTER GENERATION & WORLD-BUILDING NOTES

Image
As with Hal Ptor, I used a python script to pick a character image from my collection of inspirational art. Like Hal, I came up with an image originally posted as preview art on the WotC site. (specifically an Eberron book). It depicts a serious-looking and properly armored elf female warrior. I love her green clothing and the crimson device on her shield obviously means something. Character background and world details flow naturally from here.

Name
Arien is not an uncommon first name given to girls of noble houses. Fingalen means "hair of green", which refers to the green strands of hair that frequently appear in members of her lineage.

Background
Arien is one of the younger daughters of the ancient house of Fingalen. Her family's lands are located deep within the primeval forest beyond Druid's Gate. As she passed into adulthood, she met traveling knights of the Crimson Wolf. Feeling an urge to wander and with little to tie her to her home, she joined their party and and began intensive martial training. Within three short years, she was made a full member of the Order.

Several decades later, feeling restless and unfulfilled, she discovered a hidden sanctuary that trained women of Elven ancestry in the ways of sword magic. Already an expert swordswoman, she was able to focus almost entirely on her magical training. Within a year and a day, she was Initiated into the Sisterhood of Galenteith.

Elves
Over a thousand years ago, Arien's people used to trade with the Men of the Northern Empire. When the Empire fell to barbarism, the Elves withdrew into the forest.

Crimson Wolves
An Order of Knights that trace their lineage back to the days of Northern Empire (whether this is true may never be known). Their proclaimed purpose is to patrol the roads of the wilds, beat back the darkness of barbarism, and destroy any nests of evil that they find. Nobody minds that they also make a tidy profit looting those same nests of evil. After all, the treasure they bring back to human settlements spurs trade and helps advance civilization.

The Sisterhood of Galenteith
Formed by non-inheriting daughters of the great Elven houses, the stated aim of the Sisterhood is to worship the Green Maiden and to restore the glories of Elven civilization. All members train intensively in martial and magical combat. Their training allows them to cast magic even while wearing metal armor. All members are required to tattoo the order's symbol on an exposed part of their body. Many continue to tattoo themselves throughout their career.