Calyx Thistlebloom, Elven Warpriest

[CharmingSatyr]

Calyx Thistlebloom

Race: elf
Age: 125
Gender: Male
Party Role: melee, healer
District:  Cudgel

Traits:  Heavy Hitter (+1 melee damage); Blessed Touch (+1 cure effects)

Starting Gold:  5d6x10 = 150 gp

HP: max HP when leveling up

Background:  It had been three years since leaving the monastery and, with it, everything familiar in his life.  Friends.  Family.  Father.  His departure was thunderous.  Storming out amidst an argument with his father and the other abbots, after he yet again chose his responsibilities to the monastic order over his own flesh-and-blood son.  As if the secrecy, the isolation, and the rigid discipline weren't enough, knowing that he would always be second-best in the eyes of his father was too much for the young man to bear. Now, standing across the street from the thick stone walls and sturdy wooden doors, he tries to work up the courage to go inside.  Tries hard to remember anything other than cold words, impossible lessons, and the burning ache of disappointing the elders, and his father.  Someday, he would let go of the past resentments and approach his father.  When he entered this district, he was confident that today would be that day.  But now ... now, he wasn't so certain. He turned to the southeast, facing towards where he imagined 'home' would sit -- the Church of Whirling Fury.  His new life was blossoming there.  Friends, allies, people who valued his contributions.  More importantly, people who valued him.  They were such little things -- being thanked, being liked, being asked.  Patience and kindness were such abstract, ephemeral things, but they were the things that filled his life with purpose and with meaning that was sorely lacking from his time in the monastery.   He turned again and regarded the monastery.  Unlike the laughter and camaraderie of his new home, all he could remember were endless back-breaking chores, grueling labor, and soul-crushing rejection time and again.  He let out a deep sigh.  Some day he would return to the House of Violets, but that day was not today.   Brief Background: Where did you come from? Calyx was raised in the Cudgel district, the son of a high-ranking member of the House of Violets monastery, who was expected to follow in his father's footsteps, and ran away from home after years of conflict and heartbreak. What is your character's family like? His father is his only (or only known) living relative.  Their relationship is tumultuous.  His father is cold, demanding, and never satisfied.  They have not spoken in years.  Will time and distance have softened his father?  Is the son ready to forgive?  Why did your character start adventuring? It started simply enough.  He received food and sundries from the church.  Used to working for what he received, he began trading labor for the things he received.  Over time, he was exposed to their teachings, spending more of his time volunteering, until becoming a respected member of the parish.  What has your greatest accomplishment been?  He is just proud to be accepted by people who trust and value him.  After a lifetime of having his spirit crushed, he's happy to be somewhere that he can be proud of, and zealously defends that feeling. What has been your greatest failure? Never receiving the approval of his father or, by extension, any of the House of Violets senior abbots.  While he rejected their teachings, there is a hole in his heart that nothing has yet seem to fill. Personality: At first glance, Calyx comes across as a little simple-minded.  Perpetually smiling, generally content with life and, on occasion, exuberantly joyful over some of life's simple pleasures.  The young elf exudes an air of vapid joy and vacuous pleasantness.  Like cotton candy, he moves through the world with a lightness and a saccharine sweetness that seems annoyingly boundless.  With his pleasant smile and guileless expression arranging his handsome facial features, it becomes easy for many to jump to the conclusion that the young man has no depth to him. One but only needs to engage him in conversation for more than a few minutes -- and he loves to meet new people and chat their ear off -- before they're met with a sharp, inquisitive mind, bolstered by seemingly bottomless depths of wisdom and insight.  Since leaving the confines of the House of Violets, he's made inroads into the Church of Whirling Fury, exposed to the diversity that the city's districts have to offer.  Now, for the first time, his appetite has been whetted and his curiosity about the world at large is driving him forward to explore and see as much of the world as he can. NPC Relationships: Caladrel Thistlebloom (Father, ???) - Abbot of the House of Violets, where Calyx spent many of his formative years.  His father was stern and demanding taskmaster, and seemed to have nothing but disdain and disappointment for his only son.  Taliosin (Rival) - Another supplicant to the House of Violets, one who was allowed entry, and a favorite of Calyx's father.  One of the catalysts of Calyx's eventual departure was the perceived rejection from his father, and replacement by this arrogant acolyte. Deacon Pierce (Mentor) - A low-ranking member of the church, but one Calyx greatly admires.  It was through his youth-outreach program that Calyx was able to stop living on the streets and did not have to resort to a life of crime to stay alive.  Pierce is encouraging Calyx to study, train, and join the clergy, and its having an effect.   Goals: Be worthy of Deacon Pierce's trust and faith Reconcile with his father, one way or another Role: Melee combat and healing. Calyx will do everything he can to keep people alive, throwing himself into harms' way to defend people that he cares about.  Calyx will endeavor to bring wisdom and serenity to his interactions with his allies, and with his allies' interactions with the world at large.   NOTES ON CHARACTER DECISIONS: There is not a lot of information available on the House of Violets, so I rewrote his association to be a little more tenuous.  He was there, but uninitiated, so not privy to their secrets.  That gave me room to maneuver depending on the nature of the organization. His relationship with his father is untyped.  Is he an ally?  Is he an enemy?  Is he a rival?  Do whatever you like. Calyx feels a rivalry with Taliosin.  Taliosin may or may not feel a rivalry with Calyx.

Edited December 5, 2023 by CharmingSatyr (see edit history)

[CharmingSatyr]

Placeholder post for notes and whatnot.

[CharmingSatyr]

Okay.  Updated.  Feel free to review.