DnDTheShroudHiraz

Hiraz Coldscale – Dragonborn Ranger (Martin)

(A character in the D&D Shroud campaign.)

How your character fits into the tribe. Was he born into it, or has he moved to their lands and tried to fit in. What is his role in tribal life? How well does he fit in?

Hiraz Coldscale is a foundling. The young - no more than a few months old - Dragonborn was found washed up on shore (lake? ocean? I'm not sure if the current locale we're in is landlocked or not) clutching onto a crate as if his life depended on it, which - assuming he had been in some kind of accident at sea - it probably had.

No other Dragonborn was a member of the tribe, so the tribal leaders were at a loss what to do with him. In the end, one of the Elders took him under his wing.

Coldscale is a bit of an outsider - growing up the only Dragonborn in the tribe was a bit of an ordeal. He was not treated unkindly (although sometimes children his own age could be a bit cruel), but his scales always marked him as a stranger compared to the other not particularly scaly races comprising the tribe. His adopted father's strange relationship with the rest of the tribe probably didn't help either.

Coldscale serves as one of the tribe's rangers, always scouting around the neighbouring countryside keeping a watchful eye on the tribe's holdings. The fact that he is often alone suits him just fine. It seems to suit some within the tribe just fine also, though Coldscale is not without at least some friends. Possibly, as outsiders might stick together, Neil's apelord might be one of them :)

Think of at least one important NPC. This can be a friend, enemy, relative, mentor, or anyone with whom your character has a strong relationship. I only want a very brief outline -- just a few sentences.

Hiraz Marakal is Coldscale's adopted father. Originally a key member of the tribal Elders, Marakal over the years has drifted away from the rest of the tribe. The tribal priests claim that Marakal was struck down with madness, but in fact this is not so - Marakal has "the sight" - he sees what has been, what will be and what might be. Indeed, his first "vision" was of a strange small scaly creature being washed up on the shore ...

Marakal's visions were a bit of a problem for the tribal priests, who considered Marakal a threat to their spiritual authority. This was largely solved when Marakal abruptly upped sticks and moved out of the village and into a cave several miles away only a few months after adopting the young Coldscale.

On the downside - it's a cave. On the upside, it's quite a comfortable one all things considered. Marakal was originally a carpenter, so he knew how to make decent furniture :)

Not only that, for some unknown reason the cave served to stabilize Marakal's talent for visions. He now makes a relatively good living - well, he's not completely impoverished - in the seer business. People are always wanting to know whether or not the crops will fail, or where they might find the sheep that went missing ...

Marakal's quite reliable, though nowhere near 100%.

There you go. You ought to be able to hang a hook or two off a mad old semi-hermit living in a cave who receives prophetic visions :)

A long-term goal for your character. This isn't something they'll achieve in this block, but should shape their decisions and actions.

Coldscale is very interested in his Dragonborn heritage. In the crate he was clinging to were a few items which he assumes to be his: the two swords he now wields, and a medallion with the word "Bahamut" on one side and on the other a great rearing Dragon. The tribe knows very little about the Dragonborn, though there are stories told of a great Empire of Dragonborn which fell long ago. Marakal pronounced that he had seen in a vision that "Bahamut" was their god, and so Coldscale's god also. Whether this is true, or whether he was just making stuff up which sounded good to the young Coldscale, is a matter of conjecture.

Coldscale would very much like to know more about this "Bahamut", and the great fallen Empire. He often dreams of one day setting out on a great quest to discover his heritage. Or, indeed, other Dragonborn who might be able to explain things to him. Needless to say, so far he's not done much about it. Well, you know. He's been busy. But if the opportunity ever arose to find out more, or if he ever saw another Dragonborn ...

An achievable goal. This should be something important to you, but something that can be dealt with in the course of a session or so of play. There will be an XP reward for completing this.

Hiraz doesn't really have any short-term goals right now. I think of him as a bit of a dreamer. Sure, one day he's going to go off and find out about his people and their Empire, but right now he's far too busy making sure that nobody raids the tribe's holdings, seeing off the odd bear, or looking after his ... ahem ... eccentric father etc. Of course, that could change at the drop of the hat if his father received a vision, or the tribal leaders needed him to do something ... but for right now he's happy seeing to his duties and soaking in the beauty of nature (hey, he IS a ranger!) as he wanders the tribe's lands. Possibly he might compose very bad poetry while he's doing so :)

As for a short-term goal, how about this? Daddy's cave is under threat from the encroaching Shroud and/or fighters from neighbouring tribes. The sensible thing to do would be to leave and find another home before he gets killed. But Daddy doesn't want to do that, as the cave helps his visions. Finding some way out of that predicament could be a goal for Hiraz.