Vexa and Kassix - Born as normal kobolds are - anonymously and in a communal hatchery. Upon inspection by the clan’s dragon guide, it was revealed that her egg had great potential, and should be placed accordingly. The egg after her was determined to have little potential. Kassix, one of the clan’s high priests, switches her egg and the one with little potential. It is his intent to steal Vexa’s egg before too much damage is done by having it in the cooler sands. However, a raid on the warren makes this impossible, and by the time Kassix is able to get back to the hatchery, most of the young in that particular batch had already hatched. Vexa is the very last kobold to emerge, and only with some help. She is half the size of the others, but otherwise perfectly healthy. Still hopeful that Vexa can help him come into power, Kassix agrees to take her under his wing and teach her the ways of the clan. Things do not go as well as he would have liked. Vexa’s small size is more of a hindrance than anything, and nothing ever pleases him. She is of no use as a miner, or a trap builder, and her grasp of magic is average at best - hardly the high potential that Kassix had expected. Infuriated at his own folly, their relationship turns into something of a red-headed stepchild situation.
“Perhaps if you had wings you would be worth the amount of food you consume” - Vexa’s lack of worth is mentioned over and over again by Kassix, even when she comes up with something good. To the audience it is revealed that while he cannot take Vexa as a mate to rule the clan with, he CAN use her in a ritual that will start up a new warren - at the expense of the very essence of her being. Because the ritual cannot work without the express cooperation of all parties involved, Kassix knows that he will have to convince Vexa that offering herself for the ritual is the best way to become useful. After years of lowering Vexa’s mental image of herself, Kassix finally feels the time is right to begin. Vexa comes to realize the true nature of the plan when she sneaks in to the dragon guide’s chambers only to find that it has been slain, and the ritual already prepped. Horrified at this new revelation, she confronts Kassix and denies his offer to become “useful”, saying that she would rather renounce her status as a kobold than to dishonor the clan by becoming an abomination.
The high priest takes this denial in stride, and offers her a way out - going topside and becoming an adventurer or a trader will break all ties to the clan. She is free to go as she wishes. Vexa agrees to the self-imposed banishment and becomes a trader. She rises quickly up the ranks, and is a fully realized trader within the year. It is the fastest anyone has ever done it, but her speed comes at the expense of her popularity - though she is skilled and profitable, nobody wants to travel with her. Most of her caravans are thus staffed by slaves, or traders with no other options (Dirt poor, accused of stealing, almost about to retire, lost a limb, etc). At first, she is the most successful trader on the Silver Road, but eventually word gets back to Kassix of her good fortune, and he sets it upon himself to rectify this. A huge string of failures suddenly descends upon Vexa, and her status is ruined, culminating in a cave in which destroys her entire caravan and shatters her trader staff. She returns to the her old warren a broken and defeated kobold, and is sent to work in the dregs carting waste to the furnace that heats the hatchery.
The staff is an integral part of Vexa as a character. Every Silver Road trader has one, and each staff is different. If a Trader’s staff should be destroyed, the consequences on the trader themselves is dire. Likewise, if something should happen to a Trader, it will be evident in their staff. The only unifying element of trader staves is the solid silver cap at the bottom end, which is engraved with a portion of the individual’s soul, coming out in a distinct picture that has a meaning for them. Everything else is variable, from the shape of the staff to the material in which it is made out of. For Vexa, her staff is made from the pink wood of the Cerisetra tree, a rare and valuable wood that absorbs magic easily. This allows her to store offensive spells that she would otherwise not be able to cast, though she must recharge the staff after the spells have been used, and not every town has a caster that is capable of doing this. Her cap shows a small dragon atop a pile of treasure, with many different species carting offerings to it. When casting a spell, she manifests as a set of gold colored dragon wings.
Yul - Born into a relatively comfortable existence as the son of his clan‘s Matriarch, Yul didn’t realize how sheltered he was until his mother was slain by a cunning young upstart. He and his siblings were thrown out of the secure stone “den” they’d known their whole lives, and left to fend for themselves on the plains with the rest of the tribe. Yul’s older sisters were fine - in their female dominated society they were already well liked and powerful warriors to boot. Nobody gave them any trouble, and they didn’t bother anybody else, just went about their business and did their part as every other female is expected to do. Yul and his brother Wuldi, however, were not so lucky.
Because Yul has not had any experience with magic, any time he manifests, it simply occurs as a dark green glow. Eventually he will have crossed swords backing him. His trader staff will depict a gnoll with a sword and a fan in poses that mimic a martial arts form, and will be made of holly inlaid with amber.
Gana - Gana lived a simple life as a commoner in the a small gnomish community on the outskirts of a larger human city. She spent her days immersed in books, her head in the clouds. Her childhood was normal, with lots of friends, both wild and civilized. On her 28th birthday (roughly 14-15 human equivalent) she set out adventuring to find her place in the world. With a human city nearby, it was easy to find a group to travel with, and she joined a large organization of adventurers, taking on the cleric class in order to stay out of the fighting. The large amount of seemingly needless bloodshed was distasteful to Gana, and she tried to convince her adventuring companions to take on more mundane tasks to go up in level - escort missions, for example, or perhaps investigations for the proper authorities. Though at first the other adventurers were loathe to abandon the high-profit raiding of “evil” monsters, a string of bad luck caused them to reconsider their position and try their hand at the combat-less assignments.
The company did well, though the slower pace chafed for some of the more brash members of the party, and it wasn’t long before talk of pulling another raid for old times sake started to drift around the adventuring company. Though she didn’t approve, Gana was one of the few healers of the appropriate level who would be able to accompany them. She agreed - on the condition that if their opponents surrendered, the adventuring party would take what they came for and get out, with no further bloodshed.
The raid seemed to go well at first, right up until the very large, very angry dragon emerged from the kobold warren, furious that adventurers thought it wise to raid a dragon’s den. It gathered the party in a magical cage, and proceeded to bear judgment upon them. One by one the adventurers were deemed worthless - greedy XP hogs willing to kill their own mother for a scrap of gold or a bonus to attacking. They were promptly eaten. Ready to face the same fate, Gana laid down her weapons and surrendered to the dragon, asking only that before she was to be killed that she be allowed to discharge her cleric magic to heal some of the wounded. This request confused the dragon, as gnomes and kobolds were mortal enemies. As a cleric of their chief god, Gana should have left the kobolds to tend to their own. It stared into her soul, and used ancient magics to determine her worth. When all was said and done, Gana was left the only member of her adventuring party alive. The kobolds were at a loss as to what to do with her. She was a hated enemy, and yet their patron dragon had judged her worthy of life. Too dangerous to be set free, and yet too honored to be executed, Gana was instead held as a sort of privileged prisoner, using her magic to do good for the warren.
Gana is not a trader, nor does she wish to become one. Her weapon of choice is none at all, although she is handy with an axe if the situation demands it, and has been known to kill in the past. When she uses magic, it manifests as an icy blue story book (matching the color of her hair) with pages whipping about in the wind.
Penn - Penn prefers to keep his history a secret, as most rogues do. Throughout his travels with the group, however, it is clear that somewhere in his family tree there was a changeling. This is made apparent by the fact that Penn never looks quite the same from one minute to the next. His ability to change forms at will is the only thing keeping him alive at times. His true appearance is hideous, a mishmash of inherited ugly from just about every known humanoid in existence. Penn fears being discovered for what he believes he truly is.
Though he tries to keep it a secret, Penn has a dangerous gambling addiction, and it is likely that he took up the rogue class in order to fund it. He is convinced that once he acquires 2 million in platinum coins (or equivalent worth), he will finally be happy and his life would be easy living from there on out. What he does not realize however, is that he has burned through three times that amount through frivolous purchases and his addiction. He is a notoriously good schmoozer, able to mingle with noblemen and simple farmers alike with ease, and prides himself on his ability to woo the ladies.
Penn was "captured" by the kobolds during a failed attempt to raid the yearly offering to their patron dragon. Though through his shapeshifting, the rogue was able to sneak into the holding chamber and pilfer an ungodly amount of gold and treasure, he simply was not able to resist attempting to grab one more bauble - a comparatively worthless silver necklace hanging from a small rock in the wall. The attempt to yank it off the rock, however, was a poor decision. The necklace was in reality a magic item that opened a portal from the kobold warren to the patron dragon's lair, which also acted as a sort of scrying device for the dragon to see into the holding chamber. Amused by the mongrelfolk's actions, and feeling particularly generous due to a good donation year, the dragon agreed to spare him in exchange for his service as a spy to keep tabs on enemy races. Penn reluctantly agreed to this, and returned all the treasure to the holding chamber before walking out and surrendering to the stunned guards.
When Penn manifests, it is as an amber brown glow. Despite his high level, his unwillingness to stick to one form as bled over into his aura, and he does not gain a solid form until after he comes to grips with his appearance. At that time, he will manifest as a dark pink (light red?) swan.
Resco - Resco wasn't always so grim and dour. At one point, he could have passed for a normal dwarf, albeit a bald one. And for the majority of his life, that is exactly what Resco did...
Though born into a life of harsh servitude as most Duergar find themselves in, Resco found that despite warnings to the contrary, most of the other dwarves he found on patrol were just as lawful as his own kind. They seemed to work hard as far as he could tell, and there was no doubt that they put the good of their clan in the forefront of their minds, even if it meant torture or death for themselves. Throwing caution to the wind, Resco decided to reach out and communicate with them. If it worked, there was a possibility of reuniting with their cousins. If not, well, if it didn't work he'd likely be killed either by the ones he meant to communicate with or by his superiors for reaching out in the first place.
Amazingly, the first communication went well. His superiors were reluctant to enter any talks at first, but did come around. Years passed with no incidence, and it looked as though there could possibly be a reunion of the two species. Resco took a standard dwarven wife, marrying into her clan and apprenticing in alchemy. His favored set of concoctions were explosives. Things were bright and happy, for a time.
Though nobody is clear exactly how it happened, THAT DAY marked a grave step backwards for the relations between the dwarves and the duergar. What *is* known however, is that on THAT DAY a massive explosion wracked the tunnels that connected the two delves. The resulting cave in cost hundreds of lives, including that of Resco's wife and the majority of her clan. An investigation revealed that the origin of the explosion was located somewhere within his home. Or at least where his home used to be.
Suspicions and finger pointing came out in full force, and whatever peace may have been achieved by the union of the dwarves and the duergar was shattered. No longer welcome with either faction, Resco was forced to flee, as not even an honorable death would be granted to him. Should he have stayed, the alchemist would have been offered as a plaything to the Sempit - a fate that promised an eternity of torture and no chance for salvation. He wandered for years, until finally stumbling upon the kobold warren. Too tired to continue on his journey, Resco asked one thing of them - to either accept him as a prisoner and utilize his talents for good, or else to kill him mercifully. They chose to keep him as a prisoner, though his skill at making explosives quickly rocketed him up the social ladder, and it wasn't long before Resco was living as an honored prisoner, gilded cage and all.
When Resco manifests, it is as a gloomy grey raincloud.
