Background and Character Creation

 Background and Character Creation

The characters start the game as residents of Glenhill and are assumed to know or know-of each other. They have recently hired on as short-term guards of the Grey Fox Consortium, a trading company which, as far as your character knows, arranges safe transport of goods between the villages, towns, and cities of the theocracy. The latest caravan arrived in the village needing a few mercenaries before pushing west into Province Greenwood and the village Lereny beyond. Your character decided to hire on for a few coins. Their exact motive? That’s for you to decide. Maybe your character has a burning desire to work as a caravan guard. Maybe they want to explore.  Perhaps they wish to become a famous merchant and take over Grey Fox Consortium in brilliant move of political manipulation.

Glenhill, Province Shoreham, Theocracy of Alene

Characters have grown up and around the village of Glenhill in the province of Shoreham, home of Eastport, the capital of the Theocracy of Alene, the Lady of Justice. Glenhill is a heavily agricultural village though the fact that it is centered in the province makes it a common location for travelers and traders to meet and transact business. Because of this there are a several inns/taverns, an apothecary, a skilled blacksmith, and a well-supplied village market on Marketday.

Of course, there is a small temple of Alene overseen by two priests who work closely with the locals to maintain the order of the village and provide spiritual succor to the devout. Surprisingly, there is also a local scribe, who spends most of her time with legal documents, updating maps, and who knows what else. It is rumored she knows wizard’s magic, but no one has offered proof or accusation. 

Other nearby resources include a nearby sawmill and grain mall both located on the near bank of the Serpent River that coils its way along the western and southern borders of the village.

To the north of Glenhill is the Iron Hills, home to the Iron Hill Dwarves, to the south, across the Serpent River is the Corellon Forest were a small population of Wood and High Elves reside, and far to the northeast is the village of Bywater home to halflings, situated on the coast of Clearlake, the province’s largest body of water.  

Far to the east, along the King’s Road is Eastport, the provinces only “city” and the seat of government for the theocracy. It is rare that anyone other than traders and travelers arrive from the city, though occasionally clergy and/or military will stop to collect yearly tithes and taxes or to settle legal cases.

Following the King’s road west will bring one to the border of Shoreham and into the western province of the theocracy, Greenwood.  Those that pay attention may know that the capital of that province is Highgate and that there is a large forest “Myrewood” that is rife with trouble for travelers.

Notes on Character Creation

• Create a short (or long, if that’s your preference) background that makes sense given the information above and after any deviations from “standard” are worked out with the GM.
• Create a couple of short and one long-term goal for your character. These will be used to drive story.
• Give your character a few personality traits to help with role-play.
• Everything is negotiable. If you wish to play a race, a class, or have some other benefit beyond the starting options such as a wide selection of languages, a different starting class, race, or religion let’s talk it out so that I can add support for those options into the world of Talisvera.
• Ability scores may be determined in any manner described in the Player’s Handbook.
• Your character has grown up in the vicinity of Glenhill and may be a human, a dwarf, an elf, a halfling, or a gnome.
• You have a choice of classes, though some will require further world development, so will require working together to create a cohesive world. Certainly, fighters, druids, rangers, thieves, wizards, clerics, bards, and paladins are available.
• The only commonly known god in the province is Alene, whose domains are order and light. Worshiping other deities is illegal in the theocracy and the punishment can be severe.
• Magic isn’t exactly illegal in the theocracy, but it is rare. Magic is certainly not flaunted as it is viewed by the clergy as offering direct competition to the Order of Alene. It is fair to say that magic is tolerated when it services the purposes of the theocracy and when it doesn’t, the heretics are severely punished. There are no “schools” or wizardry and if your character knows magic, we’ll have to discuss how they have learned such things.
• Most commoners are illiterate. If you wish to play a literate character, you must choose reading/writing of a particular language as one of your language skills. Commonly known languages include Common, Elvish, or Dwarven. Halflings and Gnomes use the Common language as humans and have no specific racial language. There are no alignment languages.
• The standard coin of the realm is the silver piece. Almost no one has gold except the very rich. When rolling “starting gold” think of it as “starting silver” and all prices are in silver instead of gold.
• Have a question or need clarification? Ask over on the discord server. Together we’ll develop the world and I’ll update a FAQ document here as well and further design the world using that information.