Post by David on Jul 18, 2008 15:30:34 GMT -5
So, technically, his name is Prince Kyron Drake of Angel's Rock, but he's not exactly comfortable with the role or title. After all, Kyron grew up in relative poverty with his father; he's rather "hill-billy" in fact.
Kyron is the only child of the 11th lvl cavalier, Baroness Caeleia Drake of Angel's Rock, and Urish, a mountain man from the backwoods of the Grand Duchy of Geoff. While still a young child, Kyron's parents were separated, each assuming the other dead. For Kyron's mother, Caeleia, this was in many ways a relief as Urish was very much below her social station.
Kyron's father, Urish, raised the boy as best he could by himself in the wilderness. Urish's cabin was in the forested mountains bordering Hornwood and the Crystalmist mountains, in the south-west frontier of Geoff. Until the age of eight, Kyron's only real neighbors were an occasional (usually anti-social) hunter, forester, and/or mountain man as well as the friendly, helpful Huron tribes. Kyron's father, Urish, encouraged his son to make friends among the Flan and most of the pair's social contacts were at various Huron festivities. As a result, Kyron has an excellent command of Huron language and culture, as well as a fair grasp on their sign language.
It was because of these Flan friends that at the age of eight Kyron gained his pseudo dragon companion, Dart. The Huron tribe had been attacked by monsters and Urish attempted to save them. Unfortunately, while a capable fighter and aided with a cap of invisibility, Urish could not handle the task alone. Working together with a rag-tag band of neophyte adventurers, the tribe was saved and monsters vanquished. In the process, the heroes encountered the young pseudo dragon and brought it to their home, Urish and Kyron's cabin. While the little drake had some interest in Shaldomar (a teenage thief), he GREATLY preferred the company of an eight-year old Kyron and the pair have been together ever since.
Urish's erstwhile party attempted to have a few adventures in the region, using the family's cabin as a base of operations, even though Urish only helped on those missions where innocent people were in danger. The group, calling themselves the "Hicks" party (as in "we're hicks in the sticks") became a second family to young Kyron, especially Shaldomar and a witch of Bahamut, most of the other adventurers either dying or drifting off. Urish and Shaldomar were close, but the older man wasn't interest in a relationship, to the teenage thief's chagrin. Instead, however, she and the witch helped raise Kyron and ultimately helped root Kyron in general Oerdian culture. It was also in this way that Kyron learned of the worship of Bahamut; the witch believed that the child was destined for special things since the pseudo dragon had sought HIM out even though he had not been present when it was rescued (ah, how games play out to form complex storylines 15 years later!).
By the time Kyron was 16, he was again living alone with his father, the witch having long ago left and Shaldomar having married one of the Huron braves. Orcs had returned to the region and in order to protect his friends and neighbors in the tribe, Urish tried to drive the humanoids off. At first quite successful (thanks to his cap of invisibility), the fighter was finally caught in a pit-and-deadfall trap. Dart had been with Urish and went to Kyron for help. The boy returned with the family hound, but was unable to lift the log that had broken his father's leg and was pinning him. Luckily, it was still a few hours until sunset, so Kyron headed for the Huron encampment, encountering a group of Oerdians en route.
The party had been sent by a local lord in the lowlands to deal with the orcish bandits. Among the group was a ranger named Vaughn, a Lakota shaman named Shadow Dancer, a fighter named Red Wing, and a shapeshifter named Thyme. The group helped free Urish, but since the older man's leg was broken, there was no way he could be of any assistance. Dart, however, knew the general location of the orcish lair. With a promise from Vaughn, Thyme, and Shadow Dancer to watch over his son, Urish agree to let Kyron accompany the group but ONLY as a scout and ONLY under cover of Urish's magic cap.
Naturally, Kyron became involved in the whole adventure, especially after orcs nearly killed his hunting dog, Lucky. It turned out that the orcs had taken up residence in a sacred cave and disturbed the spirits therein. After the heroes vanquished the orcs, the spirit "blessed" the party to live a life in the footsteps of another creature (long-story). As a result, Kyron was transformed into an ogre. While he wanted to stay with his father, all agreed it would be best for the boy to accompany the party back to civilization in order to obtain a remove curse. Given his leg, Urish couldn't possibly accompany his son as it required a long trek through the mountainous wilderness.
Kyron had a few minor adventures en route and Vaughn taught the boy the ways of a ranger. Once in the city of Gorna, the group attempted to regain their human forms, but each cleric who attempted the spell either failed or learned via augury that they should not attempt it. Without a good idea of what else to do and having formed strong bonds with the party, Kyron began his adventuring career.
A few years passed and in the course of one adventure, Kyron (still an ogre) met up with a band of equally-young female adventures. The girls referred to their party as the "sailor scouts" and included Samandra Talgris, Adama, Mina, Quendi, and (the considerably older, adult) Zarabell Finelock. With the girls was Mina's boy-friend, Prince Garlok Drake of Amberwood as well as Adama's lover, Ishmopah. Kyron joined the group and had a few adventures, slowly developing a relationship with Samandra (when her father found out, he VERY much disapproved of his daughter's choice, to which she responded with the immortal lines, "I'm 18 now! I can sleep with an ogre if I want to!"). For Sam's safety, however, Kyron never attempted to consummate their relationship sexually...
As time went on, Mina grew curious of Kyron's ancestry. There were a number of elements which reminded her of a story she'd heard from her boy-friend, Garlok's, aunt. Finally, using a spell to verify her hunch, she determined that Kyron was, indeed, Garlok's long-lost cousin. Instead of saying anything to Kyron, Mina immediately traveled to the neighboring fief of Angel's Rock where Caeleia was baroness. There, that such a socially-insignificant (read: low social level) teenage upstart could suggest that her "dead" son was in fact an ogre "hill-billy" enraged the cavalier; Caeleia actually drew steel on Mina! In the end, however, the truth was revealed and Caeleia grudgingly accepted that Kyron was her long-lost son.
The fief of Angel's Rock was already in a bit of a crisis. Although Caeleia was a devout worshiper of Ukko (Angellus), her barony was poor. In contrast, her brother, Moorak's, fief was quite wealthy and prosperous and yet he was a pagan champion of Bahamut. Caeleia had no husband or heir while Moorak had four (legitimate) children, one of whom, Garlok, Caeleia had been grooming to potentially replace her. Suddenly enter a bastard son reincarnated (not really) as an ogre? Not to mention that the boy was also a pagan follower of the Platinum Dragon? Caeleia was never been a very warm or motherly woman...but she did the best she could to "clean up" young Kyron, something the boy-prince-ogre hated. He traded the misty mountains and fern-filled forests for rules of comportment and etiquette lessons. The only time Kyron felt he fit in was when he was with his cousins, especially Garlok and Robyndella.
After about a year, Samandra and Garlok were kidnapped through the machinations of the witch-priestess Kahlee. A worshiper of Tiamat, her previous designs on power had been thwarted by Garlok's father, Moorak, and Sam's parents, Kalavor and Jessica Talgris. In revenge, Kahlee hoped to capture and sacrifice the pair of children (now adults themselves) to her goddess. In the end, things didn't turn out as she intended. Kahlee escaped, but her dragon incinerated Kyron's ogre body. To everyone's surprise, an 18 year old man stepped out of the ashes to continue his life...!
Caeleia now completely embraced her son and worked to "get him ready" for his place on the throne. Kyron played along for over a year (while having an occasional adventure along the way) but ultimately told his mother that he wasn't interested in being a baron. Caeleia freaked out and panicked; Kyron was her only hope of a stable dynasty! The young prince ducked out and joined Samandra's family on the world of Eon for a while, completely enchanted by the natural beauty of the massive forests. When the Apocalypse struck the following year, Kyron managed to return to Oerth and evacuate his father to Eon. There, Kyron and Samandra learned from Black Robe (Shadow Dancer, now known as Black Eagle's , husband) that Kyron's uncle and Sam's parents were dead and that Oerth was destroyed.
The couple attempted to rebuild their lives on the nearly-virginal world. Although Samandra was shaken with grief, the couple wound up conceiving a child. They were married on 616 / 6 / 6 (winter on Eon) amid friends and most of Samandra's family. Ten days later, Sam got word that her parents were alive. Shortly thereafter, Kyron and Samandra were able to return safely to Oerth. Deciding to be direct and forthright, Samandra told Caeleia not only that she was now married to Kyron (something Caeleia had tried to prevent, given Sam's common heritage), but was carrying Caeleia grand-child. Expecting the worst (Caeleia nearly cleaved Mina in TWO!), Samandra was flabbergasted when the "Steel Baroness" embraced her and bent her entire fief to making the young couple welcome and comfortable.
At a loss of what to do, Kyron and Samandra settled in Angel's Rock. It afforded them with the opportunity to see their friends (Mina and Garlok living only 30 miles away in Dragondale, capitol of Moorak's fief, Amberwood along with Vaughn, Black Eagle, Black Robe, Red Wolf, etc) and family (Jessica and Kalavor returned, mostly, to Oerth). In fact, although the northern Flanese was immersed in war between the nation of Iuz and Furyondy, Kyron managed to convince his cousin Garlok (now a Knight of the Hart and Captain of the Watch) to help him find a magic ring with which to officially propose to his wife.
Finally, in the winter of 616, Kyron got word from Garlok that a group of adventurers were having trouble with some monsters plaguing several Lakota villages. Already involved were Black Robe, Black Eagle, and Red Wolf, so Kyron immediately volunteered and soon met another cousin, his uncle Moorak's own bastard son, Torr Redlocke, a paladin of Bahamut. While Kyron is happy to help, his skill in combat is not that of Torr's or Wooden Thigh's. His hope is to get home to Samandra and his unborn child once the party's mission is done.
Kyron is the only child of the 11th lvl cavalier, Baroness Caeleia Drake of Angel's Rock, and Urish, a mountain man from the backwoods of the Grand Duchy of Geoff. While still a young child, Kyron's parents were separated, each assuming the other dead. For Kyron's mother, Caeleia, this was in many ways a relief as Urish was very much below her social station.
Kyron's father, Urish, raised the boy as best he could by himself in the wilderness. Urish's cabin was in the forested mountains bordering Hornwood and the Crystalmist mountains, in the south-west frontier of Geoff. Until the age of eight, Kyron's only real neighbors were an occasional (usually anti-social) hunter, forester, and/or mountain man as well as the friendly, helpful Huron tribes. Kyron's father, Urish, encouraged his son to make friends among the Flan and most of the pair's social contacts were at various Huron festivities. As a result, Kyron has an excellent command of Huron language and culture, as well as a fair grasp on their sign language.
It was because of these Flan friends that at the age of eight Kyron gained his pseudo dragon companion, Dart. The Huron tribe had been attacked by monsters and Urish attempted to save them. Unfortunately, while a capable fighter and aided with a cap of invisibility, Urish could not handle the task alone. Working together with a rag-tag band of neophyte adventurers, the tribe was saved and monsters vanquished. In the process, the heroes encountered the young pseudo dragon and brought it to their home, Urish and Kyron's cabin. While the little drake had some interest in Shaldomar (a teenage thief), he GREATLY preferred the company of an eight-year old Kyron and the pair have been together ever since.
Urish's erstwhile party attempted to have a few adventures in the region, using the family's cabin as a base of operations, even though Urish only helped on those missions where innocent people were in danger. The group, calling themselves the "Hicks" party (as in "we're hicks in the sticks") became a second family to young Kyron, especially Shaldomar and a witch of Bahamut, most of the other adventurers either dying or drifting off. Urish and Shaldomar were close, but the older man wasn't interest in a relationship, to the teenage thief's chagrin. Instead, however, she and the witch helped raise Kyron and ultimately helped root Kyron in general Oerdian culture. It was also in this way that Kyron learned of the worship of Bahamut; the witch believed that the child was destined for special things since the pseudo dragon had sought HIM out even though he had not been present when it was rescued (ah, how games play out to form complex storylines 15 years later!).
By the time Kyron was 16, he was again living alone with his father, the witch having long ago left and Shaldomar having married one of the Huron braves. Orcs had returned to the region and in order to protect his friends and neighbors in the tribe, Urish tried to drive the humanoids off. At first quite successful (thanks to his cap of invisibility), the fighter was finally caught in a pit-and-deadfall trap. Dart had been with Urish and went to Kyron for help. The boy returned with the family hound, but was unable to lift the log that had broken his father's leg and was pinning him. Luckily, it was still a few hours until sunset, so Kyron headed for the Huron encampment, encountering a group of Oerdians en route.
The party had been sent by a local lord in the lowlands to deal with the orcish bandits. Among the group was a ranger named Vaughn, a Lakota shaman named Shadow Dancer, a fighter named Red Wing, and a shapeshifter named Thyme. The group helped free Urish, but since the older man's leg was broken, there was no way he could be of any assistance. Dart, however, knew the general location of the orcish lair. With a promise from Vaughn, Thyme, and Shadow Dancer to watch over his son, Urish agree to let Kyron accompany the group but ONLY as a scout and ONLY under cover of Urish's magic cap.
Naturally, Kyron became involved in the whole adventure, especially after orcs nearly killed his hunting dog, Lucky. It turned out that the orcs had taken up residence in a sacred cave and disturbed the spirits therein. After the heroes vanquished the orcs, the spirit "blessed" the party to live a life in the footsteps of another creature (long-story). As a result, Kyron was transformed into an ogre. While he wanted to stay with his father, all agreed it would be best for the boy to accompany the party back to civilization in order to obtain a remove curse. Given his leg, Urish couldn't possibly accompany his son as it required a long trek through the mountainous wilderness.
Kyron had a few minor adventures en route and Vaughn taught the boy the ways of a ranger. Once in the city of Gorna, the group attempted to regain their human forms, but each cleric who attempted the spell either failed or learned via augury that they should not attempt it. Without a good idea of what else to do and having formed strong bonds with the party, Kyron began his adventuring career.
A few years passed and in the course of one adventure, Kyron (still an ogre) met up with a band of equally-young female adventures. The girls referred to their party as the "sailor scouts" and included Samandra Talgris, Adama, Mina, Quendi, and (the considerably older, adult) Zarabell Finelock. With the girls was Mina's boy-friend, Prince Garlok Drake of Amberwood as well as Adama's lover, Ishmopah. Kyron joined the group and had a few adventures, slowly developing a relationship with Samandra (when her father found out, he VERY much disapproved of his daughter's choice, to which she responded with the immortal lines, "I'm 18 now! I can sleep with an ogre if I want to!"). For Sam's safety, however, Kyron never attempted to consummate their relationship sexually...
As time went on, Mina grew curious of Kyron's ancestry. There were a number of elements which reminded her of a story she'd heard from her boy-friend, Garlok's, aunt. Finally, using a spell to verify her hunch, she determined that Kyron was, indeed, Garlok's long-lost cousin. Instead of saying anything to Kyron, Mina immediately traveled to the neighboring fief of Angel's Rock where Caeleia was baroness. There, that such a socially-insignificant (read: low social level) teenage upstart could suggest that her "dead" son was in fact an ogre "hill-billy" enraged the cavalier; Caeleia actually drew steel on Mina! In the end, however, the truth was revealed and Caeleia grudgingly accepted that Kyron was her long-lost son.
The fief of Angel's Rock was already in a bit of a crisis. Although Caeleia was a devout worshiper of Ukko (Angellus), her barony was poor. In contrast, her brother, Moorak's, fief was quite wealthy and prosperous and yet he was a pagan champion of Bahamut. Caeleia had no husband or heir while Moorak had four (legitimate) children, one of whom, Garlok, Caeleia had been grooming to potentially replace her. Suddenly enter a bastard son reincarnated (not really) as an ogre? Not to mention that the boy was also a pagan follower of the Platinum Dragon? Caeleia was never been a very warm or motherly woman...but she did the best she could to "clean up" young Kyron, something the boy-prince-ogre hated. He traded the misty mountains and fern-filled forests for rules of comportment and etiquette lessons. The only time Kyron felt he fit in was when he was with his cousins, especially Garlok and Robyndella.
After about a year, Samandra and Garlok were kidnapped through the machinations of the witch-priestess Kahlee. A worshiper of Tiamat, her previous designs on power had been thwarted by Garlok's father, Moorak, and Sam's parents, Kalavor and Jessica Talgris. In revenge, Kahlee hoped to capture and sacrifice the pair of children (now adults themselves) to her goddess. In the end, things didn't turn out as she intended. Kahlee escaped, but her dragon incinerated Kyron's ogre body. To everyone's surprise, an 18 year old man stepped out of the ashes to continue his life...!
Caeleia now completely embraced her son and worked to "get him ready" for his place on the throne. Kyron played along for over a year (while having an occasional adventure along the way) but ultimately told his mother that he wasn't interested in being a baron. Caeleia freaked out and panicked; Kyron was her only hope of a stable dynasty! The young prince ducked out and joined Samandra's family on the world of Eon for a while, completely enchanted by the natural beauty of the massive forests. When the Apocalypse struck the following year, Kyron managed to return to Oerth and evacuate his father to Eon. There, Kyron and Samandra learned from Black Robe (Shadow Dancer, now known as Black Eagle's , husband) that Kyron's uncle and Sam's parents were dead and that Oerth was destroyed.
The couple attempted to rebuild their lives on the nearly-virginal world. Although Samandra was shaken with grief, the couple wound up conceiving a child. They were married on 616 / 6 / 6 (winter on Eon) amid friends and most of Samandra's family. Ten days later, Sam got word that her parents were alive. Shortly thereafter, Kyron and Samandra were able to return safely to Oerth. Deciding to be direct and forthright, Samandra told Caeleia not only that she was now married to Kyron (something Caeleia had tried to prevent, given Sam's common heritage), but was carrying Caeleia grand-child. Expecting the worst (Caeleia nearly cleaved Mina in TWO!), Samandra was flabbergasted when the "Steel Baroness" embraced her and bent her entire fief to making the young couple welcome and comfortable.
At a loss of what to do, Kyron and Samandra settled in Angel's Rock. It afforded them with the opportunity to see their friends (Mina and Garlok living only 30 miles away in Dragondale, capitol of Moorak's fief, Amberwood along with Vaughn, Black Eagle, Black Robe, Red Wolf, etc) and family (Jessica and Kalavor returned, mostly, to Oerth). In fact, although the northern Flanese was immersed in war between the nation of Iuz and Furyondy, Kyron managed to convince his cousin Garlok (now a Knight of the Hart and Captain of the Watch) to help him find a magic ring with which to officially propose to his wife.
Finally, in the winter of 616, Kyron got word from Garlok that a group of adventurers were having trouble with some monsters plaguing several Lakota villages. Already involved were Black Robe, Black Eagle, and Red Wolf, so Kyron immediately volunteered and soon met another cousin, his uncle Moorak's own bastard son, Torr Redlocke, a paladin of Bahamut. While Kyron is happy to help, his skill in combat is not that of Torr's or Wooden Thigh's. His hope is to get home to Samandra and his unborn child once the party's mission is done.
