Backstories
To make backstories work in the game some details, even if they're fuzzy, foggy, blurry or never explored or directly tied into need to be laid out. This is an attempt at notes to that end. Feel free to edit your own section and expand as needed, or keep the juicy details of your own backstory over on your character's actual entry page. As this campaign progresses some Player Characters may die off and new ones arise. But for cohesive story telling even past player character backstories should be kept here since as a whole they have a great impact on forming the game setting.
Jules' Backstory
Jules's backstory has evolved so that we know she came from the Havenspass area and her extended family also dwells in or near it. Since Jules started at level 1 at sea on a passenger ship heading somewhere undefined, we can at least pinpoint that she started at the port city of Mythburg, and then ended up uncontrollably in a land she'd never been to before featuring the Goldvale region. Otherwise the following conditions and terms exist:
Another Continent. The DM gets to name it if it ever matters.
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Whatever any tie in lore gets created that involves her mothers, none of it should involve any mention of
a certain uncle who is active in the game.
Jules found a dead ringer of herself in an ancient painting at
Mustardia.
Tod Fuzzybutt swears he's seen Jules somewhere before but can't place it.
Jules “Grew up in Havenpass but traveled to
Mythburg a bigger city nearby to go to school. Which is how her parents didn’t know she ditched class a lot because she wasn’t in the same town.”
Tori's words about Mythburg: A very developed and popular city known for inhabiting a wide variety of races, but it’s particularly attractive for those studying magic (aka clerics, sorcerers, wizards) because its main feature is a magic school.
The school has a pretty hefty fine for those wishing to attend.
Jules ditched because she did not want to be a wizard.
Jules requested that
Wyrd Uncle Lugo deliver a letter to her adopted tiefling mother as a condition of helping him with the
Crompse Causal Loop. The letter is one of asking her mom about Lugo, wishing she'd learned infernal, and informing her that she's living in Goldvale. We have no idea what impact Lugo delivering this letter may have if any from overseas. There is a chance this could stir some drama up back home in Mythberg.
Jules actually ended up near Mythburg again after intentionally transiting between continents via portal from a dungeon and re-encountered Lugo after he'd delivered the letter.
1)
DM Supplemental Note:
Jules basically wastes a few years of her life not completing school and largely screwing around in Mythburg while technically living in Havenspass. Growing up around The Mistwood also turns out to be largely inspiring for her career as a ranger. Between roaming randomly in the region but not truly spending much time in Havenspass, it is logical that would contribute to her and Eyrun not knowing each other.
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Urist's Backstory
Halenbron:
Urist started life as a foundling on the (as of yet unnamed river) bank in the
Halfling fishing village Halenbron, also known as the
Village of the Salt Hands. This implies that this halfling community lives along a freshwater river, but is also close (within 10 miles) to salt water, as was the ideal for Urist's background to become a sailor.
Urist was ONE of TWO foundlings the halflings of Halenbron discovered that day, and the only one they kept.
This is a large contributing factor to the barbarian rage that drives Urist's personality later in life, as he was angry after learning about this. Perhaps the other foundling was a sibling or someone else that might have provided more clues to his own origin…
It is
not entirely certain at this time if this is on the same continent as
Goldvale or a different one. As a sailor anything is possible and this detail can be defined later. However, see jade ring notes below.
He was found with a
jade ring, which he now wears in his beard for decoration, or a small link to his past, thinking it possibly a clan ring. He has asked around of other
dwarves, but none can identify it. This is likely a minor quest line for Urist as dwarves are encountered in game.
While shopping in
Ancient Crompse Urist came across 3 matching jade rings very similar to his own, purchased them for 5 gold each, and the shop keeper was able to tell him that the jade for those probably comes from an area to the far north of Goldvale known as the “
Marmyan Wastes”.
2) This may or may not spawn a desire to travel there for Urist, but it does lend a little validity toward the argument that he's from the same continent as Goldvale. However this was all found out during the
Crompse Causal Loop which leaves a huge time span for rings to get around the world before Urist is even born, throwing a counter argument into the mix as to if he's from the same continent as Goldvale or not.
Urist being a strong dwarf, became protector of the halfling village, but had
anger management issues as he got older, which led to being told to go deal with that by the village elders. See
Urist's actual entry for specific wording. This fits his
Path of the Berserker well.
Urist not being raised by dwarves, and then getting picked up by a privateer ship to start life as a sailor, at some point in his timeline did some whaling and met
Pirate Captain Salty Merlot.
Depending on other events in the game, such as overseas voyages taken on by the party and whatever else, it is possible extended traveling could eventually happen, in which case Urist might benefit by virtue of the DM giving that character some vague outline of the common ports with taverns in them he could have likely visited before.
Eyrun's Backstory
For Eyrun's backstory it is important to keep in mind that she started with Jules at level 1 at sea on a passenger ship heading from the port city of Mythburg to somewhere undefined, and then ended up uncontrollably in a land she's never been to before featuring the Goldvale region. These terms and conditions otherwise apply:
Another continent. Which is the same one Jules is from. The DM gets to name it if it ever matters.
Eyrun's birthplace is a small city by the name of
Havenspass, an area nestled between steep mountains and deep ravines. First built by a conglomerate of different
Goliath tribes, it soon found prosperity in being a solid trade route/lumber supply, and soon through the decades other races passing through would find a home within it's walls. However, as other trade routes emerged through the centuries, such as a massive port in
Mythburg to the north, the local economy slowly started to falter, leaving room for a cancerous undergrowth of crime to be allowed to slowly fester as some residents fell to desperation in more trying times.
A right of passage for young Goliath in Havenspass involves trekking to the
Cloud Giant Shrine, a pilgrimage of sorts that Eyrun never did.
“
Mistwood”
3) is a kind of hardwood that most commonly comes from a super foggy area of Havenspass. So far the only example of this in the campaign is based on some furniture at the
Mirror House as a nod to this backstory.
While Eyrun's family started simple and normal enough, her mother unfortunately grew to resent the stable, yet in her eyes boring life she fell into, craving more out of the world around her. When Eyrun was young, her mother opted to leave when opportunity struck without hesitation or even the excuse of “going to the store for some milk”, leaving Havenspass without so much as a goodbye in pursuit of loftier, more luxurious goals.
4) Young Eyrun didn't take this too well, but her father took it even worse. Falling into self-loathing and debt, he took to drinking and very shady deals to keep the family going, soon trying to pull Eyrun into what he attempted to call a “family business” as she started to grow up. Despite her young age, she could see the writing on the wall after trying to plead with her father to take less risky and more honest paths and him having none of it at all, too lost in get-rich-quick schemes and criminal mischief to see how far he was truly sinking. And so, despite not knowing much besides her home of Havenspass, Eyrun fled her home as to not go down with the growing rot that was the home she grew to fear.
5) Slowly hopping from town to town, making her own way was far from easy without proper education or trade. Eyrun spent many a night in the back of barns owned by sympathetic farm owners and tucked in the darker alleys of quiet city streets, taking odd jobs to make enough to feed herself (given she was a growing Goliath, you could guess she wasn't quite meeting the nutritional goals one would want). During a stormy night, while repairing a glove with scrap fabrics she managed to pick up along the way, Eyrun had a sort of epiphany: happiness doesn't necessarily come from vapid forms of ambition, or drowning sorrows, but from within one's self, within a burning will to overcome and be better for it. At the end of the day, all one has is their own attitude and outlook, and it can be so, so influential and integral to how they go about their life.
From this, the
foundation of her budding faith was born: a positive outlook can not only keep you afloat in times of desperation, it can be your sail, it can be your anchor as you travel through life. Yes, life can be hard, it can be cruel, but that is far from what it is as a whole.
Life can and will always have a Silver Lining.
DM Supplemental Note:
Because of the comments about hopping from town to town and quiet city streets above, we can surmise that Eyrun left Havenspass many years before hopping a ship and meeting Jules aboard it. Given the Havenspass region, this means she probably wandered Oakenshire, The Mistwood, the random farms and unnamed micro communities to the north of Havenshire, and ultimately the city steets have to refer to Mythburg, just before the player character enters the official campaign. This is part of why she never encountered Jules previously, nor had any knowledge of extended family.
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Although
Eyrun is now a deceased player character, her legacy to the game world through this backstory is/was immense and leaves these things to ponder.
Alimir's Backstory
Alimir's backstory is simple6), in that not much was ever known about him prior to the point where he experienced amnesia about his past. His relevant memories only span the time period from where he met Urist, Jules & Eyrun to present, and also have a gap of about a week from where he went to sleep at the Cloud Giant Shrine and awoke in The Cans mysteriously.
In addition to his memory loss before meeting the other player characters, Alimir's gap of a week between the Cloud Giant Shrine and The Cans is relevant in that he was with Succu and Fauxbe, and yet knowledge of that was lost to him for awhile until he made a deal with a powerful fire elemental in another dimension to restore his memory. See: When Alimir Went Missing.
Matilda's Backstory
Matilda used to be a strategist for the Royal Navy of the Island Nation of Berm, but discovered the government was more corrupt than she thought it was. She decided to leave the navy, (which her commanders were not happy about) to pursue better dreams. Her goal is to usurp corrupt governments in general, her flaw is that she likes nice things in life and she likes money. Thus she found herself traveling to Mythburg where she quickly encountered The Party.
Matilda and her younger sister, Elena, lost their parents while they were young and grew up relatively poor.
Matilda became very protective of Elena, who remained behind in Berm when Matilda left.
Growing up poor also contributed heavily to Matilda's desire for wealth. She saw how easily those without money could be ignored or looked down upon and came to view wealth as a source of security, freedom, and influence.
That said, not all of Matilda's desire for money has a deeper justification. She genuinely likes riches, fine clothing, good food, and expensive things.
Matilda joined Berm's Royal Navy and eventually rose to become a strategist and officer.
Her advancement came largely through her own ability rather than family connections or social standing.
Even after earning her position, some members of the nobility continued to look down upon her because of her poor upbringing and lack of a prestigious family name.
Matilda took pride in serving Berm and generally respected the navy itself, but became increasingly frustrated by the amount of influence corrupt nobles held over it.
As Matilda rose through the ranks, she became more aware of corruption within Berm's government and military.
She particularly resented nobles who gained authority through wealth and family connections while using their positions for personal benefit.
Eventually she decided she could no longer continue working beneath them and legally resigned her commission.
Her resignation was entirely official, but her commanders and several influential nobles were angered by her decision and did not consider her departure to be on particularly good terms.
Matilda ultimately wants to amass enough wealth and influence to help free Berm from its corrupt leadership.
Her experience as a strategist taught her that opposing an established government takes far more than good intentions. Ships, weapons, supplies, information, allies, and soldiers all require money.
She also believes people are far more willing to rally behind someone who has already proven themselves successful and has the resources to back up their promises.
Matilda therefore sees building a fortune, reputation, and network of allies as preparation for the possibility that she may one day return to Berm and challenge the nobles controlling it.
Her goal is not to destroy Berm, but to free the country and people she loves from those she believes are exploiting it.
Of course, this is only one reason Matilda wants to become wealthy. She also wants to provide security for Elena and, much less nobly, simply really likes being rich.