Spirit Storm Characters

Bilby was a spy employed by the Albions at the start of the war and was directly involved in providing information to the Rat Gog assassins for the assassination of the King Of Turle. After seeing the results of his work Bilby felt tremendous guilt for the war and the destruction caused by it. He realizes that he can never undo nor make up for his part and the suffering it caused, but he feels the rest of his life must be spent trying to make amends. To accomplish this he has focused his skills on righting wrongs he comes across. He seeks no recognition and prefers to do his part from behind the scenes. It is not uncommon for him to arrive in a town, listen and learn of an injustice, act to correct it and move on without any of the involved knowing he was there or involved...

Belongs to a secret society within the dolphin-kin who guarded secrets thought to be too dangerous for other kin to learn. [entire family part of the society – parents Hugo and Cora and half sister Nessa] Killed step-sister because she was going to sell the secret of Nombrien magic to a faction fighting in the war Nombrien magic consumes spirits instead of tapping them for power - Causes greater destruction and stronger powers but leaves an area devoid of life. Lived much of his life at the hidden dolphin-kin island fortress of Vambre Scholar of magic, ancient lore, spirits and recently learned the secrets to Nombrien magic Banished for killing sister, branded a dolphin-kin killer -Accept punishment to conceal the ancient secrets Is haunted by the spirit of his sister Nessa – her spirit has become tied to his own Train in ancient arts of concealing truths and has harden his mind to protect against such intrusions – skills like buff and deception – resists vs. mind prying spell and maybe even spell ward for protection Has a passion for surfing Has a good friend in the society named Reef - an Orca-kin [subkin of dolphin-kin]

Cillian's always had direction. He may not know why he's going there, but he always keeps moving...sometimes looking for his past, sometimes running from those strangers currently looking for him, sometimes just looking ahead for something new. He grew up under the care of an elderly couple. At the age of 4, they had found him wandering the forest with nothing but a scrap of paper in his loin cloth with the name Cillian on it. He always wondered if it was supposed to be his name or someone else's, but since he grew up using it, he decided it was his. His elderly guardians died when he was only 8, and Cillian was forced to take to the streets. He grew up in the streets, wandering from town to town, trying to avoid the war wherever he could. For a couple years he thought maybe he could find his parents, but with no leads or clues as to where to even start looking, his search didn't lead to much. He knew he had to steal to survive most the time, but as that got easier and easier over time, he realized he had more to offer those around him. He began to help other kids that had been left to the streets like himself...teaching them how to survive there, but also teaching them to only take the minimum to survive, any extra was given to those less fortunate than themselves.

About 6 months ago, near the end of the Spirit War, strange things started happening around him. At first he thought he had angered the spirits as items around him would move or he would get flashes of sewers when walking down a street. However, over the past few months he learned that if he concentrated on what he wanted to do, he could actually control the items to move, see through stone, and even breath under water. He knew this was a strange thing, so Cillian kept these powers to himself, only using them when required. He also began to use these skills to take more risks, stealing bigger and better things, but always giving away what he's taken, because he "knows" that's what is right. These thefts not only gave him a reputation among the other street dwellers, but more and more towns Cillian found himself having to leave because of people asking questions about him.

Jack Joey is a Kangaroo-kin and confirmed pacifist and vegetarian like all of his kind. When the great war came and the press gangs came looking for recruits Jack's village fled to the safety of the dessert. Jack however was so exceptionally lazy that he remained behind and was drummed into service. Whilst the army looked for a role for him it became apparent that Kangaroos were designed to be bowmen, large stable legs, long bow arms and little heads that don't get in the way like ape heads do. Nobody had ever spotted this before as all Kangaroos are pacifists. Jack was quickly nicknamed Kanga by his unit as he was the only Kangaroo warrior they had ever seen. Jack turned out to be a fairly terrible solider constantly getting lost, heading to the wrong objective, trying to talk the enemy out of fighting but because of that he was oftentimes the only survivor, found the hidden objective by accident etc. and so rapidly got promoted and became a war hero which he enjoyed, finally reaching the rank of Lt. Jack never fired his weapon in anger during the whole war. He'll resist doing this in the campaign too unless 100% necessary, if he does he'll use his tremendous skill to go for hard disabling shots and not kills. If the campaign had sunglasses and Hawaiian shirts then Jack would certainly wear them. He also speaks with a broad Australian accent. :D

Oren’s people were not inclined to war, but were well suited for it. Culturally, this became an opportunity, and while most nations were in a constant state of turmoil throughout this era of strife, Oren’s people flourished. And although they became mercenaries in the truest sense of the word, they were mercenaries with a conscience – they choose the good fight, didn’t rape or pillage, and became known as fair adversaries. Because they didn’t pillage, they were expensive – but nations paid, and paid well.

A byproduct of decades of war was a well-trained veteran core. Individual soldiers made enough money to retire early. With less than a decade of service, a soldier could retire and live comfortably for the rest of his life. It was this veteran core that bred an elite class of bodyguard. With military discipline, combat experience and their natural ability to protect from physical harm, they were unmatched by any other kin as elite bodyguards.

Their military revolved around mercenary companies, not the traditional rank and file. Each company had a specialty – be it siege, sapping, etc. Oren’s father commanded a company who specialized in siege warfare, which in turn, Oren commanded. This was a very famous company that was well regarded, often finding itself at the heart of much of the war’s most important battles.

When his father retired, Oren took command of the company and led it to great fame. After a decade, Oren passed the mantle to his younger brother and retired. Unlike his father, Oren hadn’t married, and decided to travel to the outer kingdoms, away from the heart of the war – and became a bodyguard. Because of his success and fame as a military leader he was able to accept the contract of his choosing.

He became the bodyguard of [young, 11 year old prince of XYZ kingdom], and for the next 4 years protected his ward with the same intensity and commitment as commanding his mercenary company. At first the household thought him a terror, but eventually he became part of the family, and prince XYZ’s closest confidant.

When prince XYZ reached adulthood in his 15th year he warranted his own compliment of guards, and a company of men. At the same time, Oren’s younger brother was killed in battle, and the company reached out to him to lead them to what turned out to be the final battle of the war as defenders of The Great Oak.

During this battle, there was a great push to end all conflict and many actions were taken within the Great Houses to force capitulation. Part of the pogrom was to show the royal families that nobody was safe, nobody was untouchable – and prince XYZ, Oren’s ward, was assassinated.

Oren’s world had taken a dire turn – his brother slain, his company decimated and his ward and good friend assassinated. Oren knew that if events had transpired differently, he would have been with his ward, and he would have saved him from a bitter end. It’s been a few months since the end of the war, Oren has been trying to find new purpose and then receives a calling… a calling he is compelled to answer

Po worked with his father, learning the Shaman craft, making jewelry and trinkets from found shiny and objects often for trade among other kin and each other. Raven-kin magic was a carefully guarded secret. Raven-kin's like to stay off of people's radars as threats and in general Raven-kin felt that if they were too "showy" with their spirit abilities, then they would become targets or be sought out. Happiness was avoiding others.

As Po matured into an adult, he married his soul mate (Raven-kin marry for life) and worked on starting a family.

During this time, the war started getting uncomfortably close to Po's extended family "estate" (they all had homes nearby each other, almost like a bird village, but not too close to each other.)

During the end of the war, at [fill in the battle], during a stormy siege, Po saw a great opportunity for a whopper of a prank. Pos wife was home with their egg, and bringing back food was boring "work." While out scavenging one day, Po caught sight of the preparations for a battle.

The Albion army was preparing to storm a Kaldonian stronghold. Siege engines were created by the Albions, tearing apart some good forestry, which didn't make Po too thrilled. Po saw this as a good opportunity to have an excellent prank and punish the people hurting the forest.

Po gathered some of his friends and later, in the dead of night, a hoard of Ravens descended on the siege engines and frayed ropes, loosened fittings, and in general set up the siege engines for failure once stress was applied to them.

The next day, Common ravens darkened the sky to witness the fun. Enough so that both armies witnessed and took note. Both sides took the raven presence as an ill open, as Ravens are known to feed on the dead. Clearly an epic battle was going to ensue and there would be a lot of death.

As the siege engines rolled forward, and the armies engaged, one by one siege engines failed. The loud cacophony of "caws" and calls from the Ravens also was noticed from the field. Again, ill fate was noted. Despite the trouble with the siege engines, there was treachery afoot in the Kaldonian stronghold and spies took the gate, opening the stronghold for the Albion army. Due to the failure of the siege engines, only one port of entry was made into the stronghold, which led to many many deaths. At the end of the day, the Kaldonian were defeated, survivors snuck away to tell takes of the day, and the Albions dwelled upon their day.

In good humor after an excellent prank (and easy food opportunities), Po went out to visit a mistress of his to celebrate and tell the tale of such a great prank and engage in a bit of hanky-panky his wife wasn't in the mood for.

Meanwhile, General [fill in the blank], upset with their terrible losses, declared 'hunting season' on all Ravens and offered a copper for every two raven bodies brought to him. While Po was out with his mistress, his entire village, including all his family members were killed

The results were devastating to the nearby Raven and Raven-kin population. Eager archers descended into the forest, looking for Ravens. In an effort to flush out ravens, trees were oiled and a large fire was set. As Ravens (and other creatures) fled the area, they were targeted and killed by dozens of soldiers, it was a slaughter.

With his mistress, Po suddenly felt pulled in a thousand directions and heard/felt the sound of hundreds of spirits crying out in pain and agony. He fell writhing and screaming and appeared to his mistress as if he was having a seizure. In actually he was feeling the pain and suffering of many and was rendered immobile. As he regained control of himself, he raced home to investigate. As he neared, the wind shifted and Po caught the smell of fire. His fears were quickly becoming founded as he neared his home. There was a fire and hundreds of archers amongst the tree line. As he got nearer he was sighted and suddenly he was busy dodging a hail of arrows. He barely made his escape. Afraid of pursuit, he had to run and ensure he went away from other Raven-kin.

In the days that followed, he was unable to approach for fear of attack and he had no idea of what befell his family. When he was finally able to return, he found no sign of bodies of friends or family. He had no idea if any made it away or if they were all killed. his home was burned down, and there was no sign of his wife or unborn child.

Po spent the following months searching and never finding signs of his family. During this time he found no more humor in his soul for fun spirited pranks, instead he started to enjoy causing misfortune on others to match his dark mood. His spirit powers, responding to this change in his spirit, shift slightly and he fine tunes the ability to curse/cause misfortune on others. Never had he heard of others if his race use such a spiteful spell, but somehow he finds it fitting.

He felt guilty for having survived whatever befell his village as more and more he came to realize everyone must be dead. He feared, somehow deep down that he may have caused the devastation to his friends and family, but for the life of him he had no idea how, but his dad always told him that others didn't share their sense of humor, especially when it was at the cost of themselves...

A year to the day after the dreadful event, Po "woke" into a spirit dream, where he was visited by his wife. He now knew that she was dead for sure. His wife's spirit told him he must move on, abandon his search and find others to help them heal the land from its great hurt. She tells him that despite the past he has to move on and leave about what has happened and go forth and make amends with the world. Shrouded in guilt, haunted with a deep sense of the macabre, Po abandons his search for family and friends and seeks undeserved redemption. He does not know what he must do, but he feels compelled to seek out others and make a change. Remembering the devastation to his homeland, seeing in his search the devastation upon the whole land, he knows that spiritually the world is at hurt and he is ultimately a Shaman, and responsible for the health of the land. Embracing fully his Shaman profession for the first time ever (taking it seriously), he goes forth to search for ways he can heal the land.