Aliarra Landsritter (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
lockdownbuild) wrote2025-08-18 01:52 pm
lockdownbuild) wrote2025-08-18 01:52 pm
(no subject)
⏵ player information
name and pronouns: Dragon (he/him)
age: Waaay over 18
contact:
⏵ character information
name: Aliarra Landsritter
canon: OC (D&D)
age: 36
canon point: 20 Years Later (that's the name of the adventure!)
history:
Born to the Baron of Landsritter, Aliarra lost her home and birthright in a fire at six years of age, set by mysterious figures who hounded her clear down to the city's docks. She escaped only by hiding on a ship that took her to the frigid northern lands. Turned loose into the wilderness, she survived thanks to the blessing of Skeldric, god of war, and the Snowclaw clan of Banglasharans (aka cat-people). Over the next 10 years, her determination and developing martial prowess earned her a spot in the clan, and a blood-sister by the name of Mrrshala, who chose to accompany Aliarra back to the Faldric Empire when she at last determined it was time to return.
Before the two could seek out people behind the arson and slaughter of her family, they needed money, and so found themselves working for a mage named Carrick along with a priest of the god Denerim named Aiden, a ninja with mysterious goals who identified himself only as Hanzo, and a Banglasharan baker named Drusila (who was actually a rogue, but did so few roguelike things Aliarra never figured this out). A simple fetch-quest to obtain a lost artifact took a sinister turn when said artifact turned out to be the heart of an ancient god named Kalroth, which a temporarily-insane Carrick consumed. In the course of hunting him down, Aliarra engaged in an epic duel of honor with a minotaur who also followed Skeldric, which she lost to her bitter disappointment.
They caught up with Carrick just in time for him to hand over the heart to a mysterious figure they would later learn was named Moresh, but they drove off his minions in time to protect the second artifact, the dead god's arms (in glove form). A much saner Carrick returned them to the Mages' Guild, where archmage Denelos tasked them with hunting down the remained of the body parts. They located the legs in the Banglasharan homeland, the eyes deep within a crevasse-hidden dungeon, and the head in a sect devoted to its keeping. The last remaining part, the armor, was long ago given to a powerful noble family in the Faldric empire: the Landsritters.
At last returning home, Aliarra found her uncle now ruling in place of her parents; as soon as her blood proved capable of unlocking the case that sealed away Kalroth's body, he betrayed them to Moresh, revealing that the fire from ages ago was their enemies' effort to acquire the body and that he'd sold them out because of his own cowardice. Aliarra promptly deposed him, regained the title of Baron, and put an old family retainer in charge so she could keep adventuring. (They end up joined by a warmage and a wizard, who don't contribute much to the plot.)
Temporarily hijacked by a powerful magical being known as an izual, they found themselves in the shrine where Kalroth's parts can be recombined. The izual of Divination explained it had showed them this place to find balance, implying that it had slipped or circumvented the control the heart gives over its kind. With this information in mind, the group teleported to the northern continent, where the temple of Skeldric's forces march against the evil they discovered in the furthest northern reaches. Several rough battles against minotaurs later, Hanzo received word of evil afoot back in his ancestral homeland, and attempts to slip back there on his own. Everyone followed him, to his immense annoyance.
Turns out Hanzo's uncle was also evil-slash-possessed: he attempted to assassinate the shogun, then turned into a giant that the party smacked down. Hanzo's honor restored, he returned with them to the north, where they faced down against the izual of Necromancy. Though the izual were spoken of in hushed tones, and no mortal had ever stood against one successfully, the party discovered that it possesses the universal weakness of "losing HP" and annihilated it, then continued north into the fog that protected the villain's citadel.
Punching into the north, they find the being that possessed Hanzo's uncle inhabiting crystals to attack them, and in an epic battle suitable for the end of a D&D campaign, at last conquer him, restore the god Kalroth to power, and claim victory.
Except Moresh had fled the world entirely, and Aliarra could not abide that. She chased after him, traveling to other planes with the single goal of finding him and ending him. Twenty years have passed since that day, and though she's done many incredible things, Aliarra has yet to bring Moresh to justice.
abilities:
Aliarra is a crusader; she is an exceptionally capable and resilient warrior, with the ability to delay damage and turn it into strength, endure mental and physical assaults easily, and not die until she is killed. Her particular specialty is that doing anything around her, including nothing, prompts her to attack in response, and she's quite good at tripping people with her weapon and then bashing them while they're down.
Her god grants her maneuvers, which essentially amount to: hitting someone and healing herself or others; resisting damage; hitting really hard; or resetting someone's initiative, which isn't broken at all.
Being built under 3.5 rules, much of Aliarra's power is in her magic items, which include:
personality:
After twenty years of failing to achieve her goal, Aliarra is cynical, tired, and frequently doesn't bother to pay attention to social graces. She is bitterly disappointed in herself for putting in so much effort without success, and uncomfortably aware that she's used up the best years of her life in doing so; she can feel her body declining from its peak at this point. Even if she retired and went back to her barony, she wouldn't have things like a family; she could at best hope for a political marriage and cranking out an heir-and-a-spare real fast. This is not where she ever intended to be. Worse, she had to deal with a growing feeling that all of her accolades and deeds are unearned, flukes at best
Beneath that, though, she has never lost the faith and purpose that sustain her. Being a crusader of Skeldric and a force of good and righteous is in her blood and bones, and she couldn't put it aside if she tried. She absolutely loves it, too, more than just feeling it's right; righteous battle satisfies her, deeply and personally. A little talk or a little battle is all it takes for that spark to shine through the bitterness and weariness. No one could call her mindless or unwilling to compromise, but if she ends up in a situation, she's going to see it through without backing down.
If it's needed, she really can turn on the politeness, charm, and social grace; she just doesn't usually bother. Instead, she's walking a constant tightrope between self-defense and protection, and not making a scene, while usually erring on the latter. It isn't paranoia if they really are out to get you -- or if you're used to planar travel and how bad things can very quickly get. If she couldn't call her armor and weapon she'd never be without both, no matter the circumstances.
She doesn't realize she is both lonely and used to loneliness. She's only had one close companion for two decades, and even then she doesn't related to the other woman much at all -- they're working together, but not friends and allies the way she was in her original party. Aliarra generally doesn't put effort into making friends, since she's used to just moving on in very short order. Probably as a consequence, her sense of humor is dry and jaded; if something gets serious laughter out of her, it's usually because of how her cynical outlook spins it.
samples:
A one, two-who, three.