Re-Recruiting for The Shield of the North [5E]

[TriciaOso]

IC Thread: https://forums.giantitp.com/showthre...f-the-North-IC
OOC Thread: https://forums.giantitp.com/showthre...-the-North-OOC
Original Recruitment Thread: https://forums.giantitp.com/showthre...ampaign-combat

The city of Coldwater is annually assaulted by necromantic raiders from Blackreach and their army of the dead. Coldwater, 'the Shield of the North,' is the first line of defense against this Wintertide invasion of the dead, which would otherwise spread across the continent of Solus.

-PCs will start as level 1 and work as a team in the city militia, guarding a specific objective or set of objectives during the annual invasion; fighting until their resources are exhausted
-A year passes between each combat scenario, with downtime mechanics to flesh out what happened
-Characters go up one level between each combat scenario.
-Game expected to (ideally) go from 1 - 10.
-Forum for narrative, DNDBeyond for character sheets, Discord for communication. Dice can be rolled on the forum, on DNDBeyond, or on Discord.
-Must be able to post daily!
-Homebrew world, kitchen-sinky, mostly human or demi-human characters in this continent. In addition to humans/elves/halflings, Goliaths and water genasi are especially common in this region, as are shadar-kai half-elves for those who have some connection to the noble family or Blackreach. The history of orcs, goblins, the Underdark and other elements are different in this setting.

The existing crew has just completed the first year, with one of our players going AWOL along the way. As they move through downtime, I'd like to recruit a fourth character to join them starting in Year 2, so it would be a 2nd level character. I'd like to be able to lock in a new character by 5/3.

The current party is a rogue, fighter and druid; the missing character is a bard.

The DNDBeyond Campaign is here: https://www.dndbeyond.com/campaigns/5321799

[NiKkatsu]

I'd like to throw my hat in the ring. Either as a divine sorcerer or cleric of light. Can you tell me a bit more about the Celestial Court. Is it still the dominant religion? What are the sun and/or light gods in your world?

[TriciaOso]

I'd like to throw my hat in the ring. Either as a divine sorcerer or cleric of light. Can you tell me a bit more about the Celestial Court. Is it still the dominant religion? What are the sun and/or light gods in your world?

Sure! The Celestial Court is a pantheon of deified figures from an earlier age of the continent of Solus. They are all light gods in one way or another, but the sun god and the head of the pantheon is the Sun King. In life, he was the ruler who originally united the continent into the Solar Empire, defeating the giants of the west.

For most of the continent, the Celestial Court is the dominant religion, especially among humans and halflings. Most of the rulers of the states and cities of Solus claim descent from the Sun King and call themselves Princes; they sometimes go to war over the right to rule the continent and claim the title of King.

Coldwater itself is a bit of an outlier -- worship of the Maiden, the goddess of the dead, is more dominant; rather than a Prince, they have a Duke, whose descent comes from the shadar-kai of Blackreach; and being located in the Free West they are pretty far from the periodic wars in the east.

Worship of the Celestial Court is truly practiced all over; but if you're looking for a Vatican City, it's Kingseat in the principality of Old Solus.

[Infernally Clay]

I do believe I had put together a Barbarian for this last time but I can't find it any more, so I'll make a Shadar-Kai Warlock since you mentioned that race was pretty common. I know Warlocks probably aren't a great class for a campaign like this given the limited spell slots, but I can definitely make it work.

I think I'll go Genie, just because I really like the idea of someone who went looking for treasure and only found trouble.

[NiKkatsu]

Sure! The Celestial Court is a pantheon of deified figures from an earlier age of the continent of Solus. They are all light gods in one way or another, but the sun god and the head of the pantheon is the Sun King. In life, he was the ruler who originally united the continent into the Solar Empire, defeating the giants of the west.

For most of the continent, the Celestial Court is the dominant religion, especially among humans and halflings. Most of the rulers of the states and cities of Solus claim descent from the Sun King and call themselves Princes; they sometimes go to war over the right to rule the continent and claim the title of King.

Coldwater itself is a bit of an outlier -- worship of the Maiden, the goddess of the dead, is more dominant; rather than a Prince, they have a Duke, whose descent comes from the shadar-kai of Blackreach; and being located in the Free West they are pretty far from the periodic wars in the east.

Worship of the Celestial Court is truly practiced all over; but if you're looking for a Vatican City, it's Kingseat in the principality of Old Solus.

Sounds great! I made my character on the link you posted to the campaign. Can you see her?

Spoiler: quick BG

Show

Lune is a noble from Kingseat. Her family are bankers and they work closely with the church. As the only daughter in her family (she has three older brothers) she decided to join the clergy to avoid getting married off for her family's interest. Her parents were not too pleased, but she has distinguished herself in the clergy (to her own surprise!) so they are more accepting of her new calling now.
She is well-known and well loved amongst the common folk, she spends alot of time among them, which also caused some friction with her family...
She was tired of always being a disappointment so she left to travel for some time, tending to the sick and poor and spreading the good word. She happened to be in Coldwater when the last wave of undead appeared and her cleansing light magic and healing spells proved quite useful on the battlefield so she decided to stick around for at least another year... She's not a huge fan of fighting but once again she surprised herself with a new skill.
In Coldwater she is proselytizing and trying to spread the faith of the Celestial Court a bit more, since the Maiden seems to be the primary deity in Coldwater. Her sermons attract more and more people, but obviously the church of the Maiden aren't too happy about that.

Does this story make sense? We can work out some details to have it fit more into your setting if you'd like. I'm thinking she prays to the Court as a whole, but she has favor with a deity who is more about the duality of fire as being both destruction/creation if there is one like that in your pantheon?

[TriciaOso]

Sounds great! I made my character on the link you posted to the campaign. Can you see her?

Yep, looks good! In addition to starting equipment, you have 94 extra gold to spend, since you're starting as level 2.

Spoiler: quick BG

Show

Lune is a noble from Kingseat. Her family are bankers and they work closely with the church. As the only daughter in her family (she has three older brothers) she decided to join the clergy to avoid getting married off for her family's interest. Her parents were not too pleased, but she has distinguished herself in the clergy (to her own surprise!) so they are more accepting of her new calling now.
She is well-known and well loved amongst the common folk, she spends alot of time among them, which also caused some friction with her family...
She was tired of always being a disappointment so she left to travel for some time, tending to the sick and poor and spreading the good word. She happened to be in Coldwater when the last wave of undead appeared and her cleansing light magic and healing spells proved quite useful on the battlefield so she decided to stick around for at least another year... She's not a huge fan of fighting but once again she surprised herself with a new skill.
In Coldwater she is proselytizing and trying to spread the faith of the Celestial Court a bit more, since the Maiden seems to be the primary deity in Coldwater. Her sermons attract more and more people, but obviously the church of the Maiden aren't too happy about that.

Does this story make sense? We can work out some details to have it fit more into your setting if you'd like.

Yes, this looks fine. I haven't fleshed out Old Solus and the other easternmost principalities yet, so you have a pretty clear field.

I'm thinking she prays to the Court as a whole, but she has favor with a deity who is more about the duality of fire as being both destruction/creation if there is one like that in your pantheon?

Hm, maybe -- Lukas the Councilor is the founder of the Order of the Unburnt Hand, which is home to both monks and clerics, and his mythology sort of revolves around holy fire that only burns the evil/unworthy.

Lukas the Counselor was one of the four most important gods of the Celestial Court, one of the two pillars of the King alongside the Celestial General. He represented wisdom and magic, faithfulness and integrity.

According to Celestial Court mythology, the brothers Lukas and Rukon were both counselors to the Sun King. When it became apparent one of them was a traitor, Lukas thrust his hand into a fire and swore that if he lied his hand should be consumed. When his hand did not burn, Rukon was unmasked as a red dragon and cast into the Plane of Fire.

In the inverted faith of the Thieves Arcana he was revered as a trickster, who lied so well that he could trick Truth herself.

Otherwise, the Sun King himself is the patron deity for Fire.

[NiKkatsu]

Great! Lune will be a priestess of the Court who curries favor especially from Lukas the Counselor. Wisdom, magic, faithfulness, bravery, and integrity sounds dead on for her! And the idea that Fire will only burn the impure seems to work well too. Plus the idea of serving a god who is so close to the father figure of the pantheon is a fun bit of irony considering her own relationship to her parents