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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31774 Posts |
 Posted - 30 May 2004 : 08:32:29
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Shatakke the Kingslayer (Male Salamander noble;Fighter 10/Sorcerer 5/Assassin 1; CG)
Shattake was an ordinary salamander, one of many in his tribe. Sure, he was orphaned, the rest of his clutch killed by pyrophors a few years ago, but most of the tribe lost someone on that day. Not able or willing to run their forge on his own, Shattake joined the army of the salamander king Dreox for the life of a soldier. He adapted well but unspectacularly, and probably would have died in combat against the forces of one of the unconquered salamander princes if something hadn’t happened to change his life.
A noble calling himself Masqal began appearing in the various cities of Dreox’s kingdom, preaching a gospel of rebellion. Shatakke heard his words while off-duty, trying to find a bar in the City of Clocks, and was both entranced and inspired.
He knew that Masqal’s revolution could not wait. Shattake would hurry it along by killing the High King himself.
He trained in secret, practicing secret techniques away from the bright glare of his superiors’ eyes. Even rabble-rousing Masqal heard nothing about it until the day the High King died.
The trauma of the event triggered an early transformation in Shattake, and he molted in a secret burrow beneath the king’s own palace. Realizing, too late, that he had made himself the target of every wannabe in Fire, he snuck out of the palace in the belly of a behemoth of flame, and slithered to a monadic deva’s watchtower to plead for sanctuary.
Surprised as she was to see the the newly-molted salamander noble, dripping with behomoth-bile, stumbling at her doorstep, the deva agreed, and took Shattake back to Arborea and the realm of her patron, the goddess Babeestor Gor. It was there that Shattake met the eladrin Tanzin and his paramour, the Hallowed Penitent Saraqael.
There in the realm of a goddess of sacred vengence and retribution, exhausted and scared from all the recent changes in his stupid, fanatical life, Shattake accepted the fiery love and acceptance of a firre. He scarcely noticed when brokenhearted Saraqael left for her own plane.
Shattake and Tanzin remained together for almost a year, when Tanzin became distracted by a nymph. Finding himself alone in the town of Thrassos outside Olympus, he tried to return to his old profession of blacksmith, but found the local guild too powerful. Disappointed, he drifted back into the role of sword-for-hire.
In the centuries since, the name Shattake the Kingslayer has become infamous throughout the planes, synonymous with that of an able, remorseless killer who picks his own tasks. He selects only those missions that involve destroying tyranny. He arrives at the doorsteps of potential patrons without prior announcement; no one finds him.
He has remained abroad for far longer than most salamander nobles, who would normally return to their homeland to claim a domain in Fire once they had grown as powerful and famed as Shattake. Some wonder what Shattake’s game is, and what greater prize he may be seeking.
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Sarta
Senior Scribe
USA
505 Posts |
Posted - 30 May 2004 : 09:39:30
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Not to put a damper on this post (which I thought was good stuff) I can't help but read the salamander's name as "shiitake" and think mushroom.
Also, couldn't help but notice the use of Babeester Gor, a deity from Glorantha, the world setting for Runequest and Hero Wars.
Sarta |
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Sarelle
Senior Scribe
United Kingdom
508 Posts |
Posted - 30 May 2004 : 11:32:19
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With the inclusion of Saraqael, I'm guessing this is for your campaign, right?
It's interesting stuff - if very un-Realms-specific (i know its on the planes... but still). However one minor nitpick - he can't be CG and be an assassin unless you've house-ruled it. He has to be evil. Personally I never mind neutral assassins, but then I don't give them the assassin Prc. However good assassin is a bit of a oxymoron - assassins kill for money.
My 2 cp |
Chair of the The Rightful Return of Monster Deities to FR Society (RRMDFRS)
My character, drawn by Liodain: Sarelle / Sarelle (smaller) |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31774 Posts |
Posted - 30 May 2004 : 17:19:25
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quote:
Originally posted by Sarta
Not to put a damper on this post (which I thought was good stuff) I can't help but read the salamander's name as "shiitake" and think mushroom.
Also, couldn't help but notice the use of Babeester Gor, a deity from Glorantha, the world setting for Runequest and Hero Wars.
Sarta
I don't know what to tell you about the Noble's name Sarta, other than it is something I picked up from an urelated fantasy novel several years ago...
As for the world of Glorantha, and old Babe... well, I run both a 2e and d20 campaign in that world... and I've just always felt that the setting material for Runequest needed more exposure, so the source material sometimes finds it's way into my D&D campaigns...
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Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium -- Volume IX now available (Oct 2007)
"So Saith Ed" -- the collected Candlekeep replies of Ed Greenwood
Zhoth'ilam Folio -- The Electronic Misadventures of a Rambling Sage |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31774 Posts |
Posted - 30 May 2004 : 17:22:45
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quote:
Originally posted by Sarelle
With the inclusion of Saraqael, I'm guessing this is for your campaign, right?
It's interesting stuff - if very un-Realms-specific (i know its on the planes... but still). However one minor nitpick - he can't be CG and be an assassin unless you've house-ruled it. He has to be evil. Personally I never mind neutral assassins, but then I don't give them the assassin Prc. However good assassin is a bit of a oxymoron - assassins kill for money.
My 2 cp
Yes, it is. Both Shatakke and Saraqael feature in some rather important points in my Realms history.
As for the CG assassin, GRR has presented alternate rules that makes such a class allowable (under very strict and DM-enforced circumstances) in a campaign. I'll track down the specific reference so you can take a look if you're interested...
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Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium -- Volume IX now available (Oct 2007)
"So Saith Ed" -- the collected Candlekeep replies of Ed Greenwood
Zhoth'ilam Folio -- The Electronic Misadventures of a Rambling Sage |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31774 Posts |
Posted - 31 May 2004 : 08:24:20
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Masqal, Commander of the Eternal Revolution
Honestly, the Commander of the Eternal Revolution was surprised to see Dreox, High King Salamander, dead. He meant to gain enough of a following from those secretly harboring anti-Dreox sentiments to found his own iron city, preferably far enough away to be out of the long reach of Dreox’s retribution.
Then one of the rabble had to get carried away, and Dreox was dead, and everything changed.
The killer (one Shatakke, forever known as Kingslayer), fled to the upper planes while Masqal found himself thrust into the kingship himself. Not high king; perhaps there will never again be a High King of the salamanders. It’s unlikely the other powers of the plane will permit it. But king, nonetheless, of Dreox’s own capitol, the City of Lamps and Hunger.
The city, once filled with great statues of Dreox depicted in a strong, angular style, have been defaced by the army of the Revolution, their heads cracked open and replaced with great blue torches symbolizing the everlasting flames of freedom. Rubble from the statues clogs many of the streets and fills some of the pits of punishment that once seemed bottomless as Dreox’s rage.
But soon the children of the Revolution began to get restless again, their lust for social upheaval quickened by the first and not yet sated. They began crackling to one another that the fugitive Shatakke should perhaps be their true leader, and that their Commander should be overthrown.
The Commander of the Eternal Revolution keeps his support by embarking on new revolutions, and newer ones - against the efreet, against Imix, against Kossuth himself. He plays a dangerous game, for he is not nearly powerful enough to defeat these opponents, but he knows that as soon as his nation’s state of war lulls so will his popularity. So carefully, in secret whenever possible, he advances his crusade against every visible authority figure. His agents weave a web of terror across the Plane of Fire, extending their resources wider and wider, from Wormhole in the City of Brass to the Molten Tower of Kossuth. And the Commander waits in a terror of his own, for he knows that it cannot last.
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Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium -- Volume IX now available (Oct 2007)
"So Saith Ed" -- the collected Candlekeep replies of Ed Greenwood
Zhoth'ilam Folio -- The Electronic Misadventures of a Rambling Sage |
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Sarta
Senior Scribe
USA
505 Posts |
Posted - 31 May 2004 : 09:04:02
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quote:
Originally posted by The Sage
As for the world of Glorantha, and old Babe... well, I run both a 2e and d20 campaign in that world... and I've just always felt that the setting material for Runequest needed more exposure, so the source material sometimes finds it's way into my D&D campaigns...
Sarta carefully checks for Aulaundo's presence and whispers...
I'd be very interested in seeing some of the ways you've adapted Glorantha to work for D&D (or D&D to work for Glorantha). I probably own almost as much Glorantha material as I do FR.
Sarta |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31774 Posts |
Posted - 31 May 2004 : 09:16:16
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I'll see what I can find in my notebooks Sarta. Most of the data I had developed was available for download on my old Legends of Amasaria website. But, since that page's demise, I've been looking to include most of the information I have, in my new site that will be online soon...
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Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium -- Volume IX now available (Oct 2007)
"So Saith Ed" -- the collected Candlekeep replies of Ed Greenwood
Zhoth'ilam Folio -- The Electronic Misadventures of a Rambling Sage |
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Salamander Nobles
