Article 19396 of rec.games.frp: Path: bloom-beacon!bu.edu!purdue!iuvax!cica!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!CIS.OHIO-STATE.EDU!davenpor From: davenpor@CIS.OHIO-STATE.EDU (Jim Bassman Davenport) Newsgroups: rec.games.frp Subject: Tabolport: 21 persons Message-ID: <9002232125.AA16614@mercury.cis.ohio-state.edu> Date: 23 Feb 90 21:25:55 GMT Sender: davenpor@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu Lines: 375 These are some of your more famous and infamous personalities from the city and also your neighborhood citizens. ============================================================================ PERSONALITIES OF TABOLPORT (A-Z) Amms-Ra - Amms-Ra is a healer. He is rather low-key and never bothers the priests. He also never attends Mass, or any other Church event. His patients say that he uses rare herbs, balms, and incense. He also stays by the patient until a cure is achieved Some suspect that he is a priest for a dark religion (dark denoting anything not the Church), but they don't say anything due to the service he has performed for him. He is only in Tabolport during the winter, leaving each spring to roam the countryside helping out the people. He is a tall thin man, whose looks suggest the form of a raven, with his beak like nose and dark straight hair. He looks like he is in his early thirties, but people recall his works back fifty years and more. Boridun Agelsmith - Veteran Quantum, Captain of the Scarlet Lion Barracks. He is a tall and impressive man, sporting a full beard and a shaggy head of hair. He is said to wrestle grizzly bears on a bet and to hunt orcs in the wintertime outside the city lands. The members of the Lion perpetuate this image as a show of the ferocity of their unit. To join them, you must survive a brawl with Boridun or beat another Lion in a match of wrestling. Few take the first option, but those that do and survive get Boridun's personal friendship and often raise in rank quite quickly. Chesian - Therik Chesian is the High Priest of the Church in Tabolport, serving under Patriarch Idian. He performs almost all the Masses in Tabolport Cathedral. His background is with the Dogmist monks, unlike Idian who came up from the ranks of the Inquisitors. Chesian has his own designs on power but is willing to bide his time. His service to the Dogmist Enclave at Blackthreat taught him great patience. He is actively cultivating a popular powerbase by serving the people of Tabolport at all times, whereas Idian is rarely seen by the people and he is greatly feared when he is. Chesian is a respectable 40 years old, and has been the High Priest of tabolport for 7 years. His early days were spent doing service for the Dogmist Brotherhood in Blackthreat and was integral to the success of the actions the monks took against the troll king Rasifas. He is slightly balding with stark white hair, and grandfatherly demeanor. He has a slight pot belly, but tries to keep himself fit enough to take care of his duties. Devain the Bard - Devain is probably the most famous bard in Tabolport, he often entertains the Baron at Court. He is rumored to have learned his craft from the legendary Similin of Valtanis. His stories and music are quite enchanting, and some suspect that his lute is enchanted of itself. Rivals think that the lute is the real bard and Devain is just a lucky but untalented man. Thus, many would love to get their hands on the thing just to see if it could help them. Devian has golden hair and quite a fair face. (He's pleased many a lady after court is over). His eyes are the blue normally associated with southerners. He wears emerald green clothes when he performs, but opts for less striking greens at other times. His shoes are famous themselves, being green with a curled toes. Ethan Dyrkhander - Ethan is gambler, a rogue, a cut-throat, and a thief. But that doesn't mean that he is liked. He is very subtle about his mischief and is never suspected of odd happenings or disappearances. Where other thieves strive for anonymity, Ethan counts on his reputation to clear his name of any suspicion. Ethan has a secretive past which may include blood relation to a Royal house. At least he seems to have a pathological hatred for any official from the Holy City, let alone royalty. This is typical for those of royal blood who have a conscience. He doesn't want to be royal, but keeps an eye on the current prince. If it gets out of hand, in Ethan's opinion, he is resigned to leading some sort of resistance and overthrow. Ethan has red-brown hair which is usually long enough to fall in front of his eyes. He is considered quite handsome and very intelligent (having made friends amongst some members of the Pentalphan Society on a strictly social basis). he loves a good game of chess. He dresses well and explains his money source as a successful uncle in the Holy City who sends him a monthly stipend. Guran the Moneylender - Your typical loan shark, Guran pays a gang of thugs to enforce his deals with people. He is also involved in the underground slave market (neck-deep as they say). He supplies Hillam the White with at least two men and two women a month. He gets them from the farmer's market and the low life areas of the docks. Guran is an ugly SOB, having a broken nose and beady little eyes. He stands 6 foot with short-cropped blonde hair. He works form the backroom of the Two Dice Inn, a small business near the public docks. He has 3 men 'working' for him at any one time and pays money to the Black Cat Clan for their protection. Hillam the White - By day, Hillam is a simple cloth trader, working the import business from his ties to eastern sources. By night, he is the White Master, lord of the slave trade in the underground. Slaves are not illegal, if they were captured in war or indentured for a specific period of time. Hillam deals in the dirty trade, permenant indenture, no records, no questions asked, hidden sources. Hillam is thin, and prefers wearing dark/black clothes. He sports a longbrimmed hat, reminiscent of his eastern roots. Illyth the Accursed - Illyth is a witch. She is also considered insane. Illyth is a reed-thin woman with a shock of snow white hair on her head. She appears to be about 30 years old, but people remember her from at least 50 years ago. She makes no attempt to hide her witchdom, wearing the inverse pendant on her amulet, over her white robe. Illyth is not bothered by the Baron, the Guard, or the Church due to some unwritten rule (actually they tried when she first showed up, but each in turn got their butts kicked). She wanders the city babbling at people unlucky enough not to have gotten out of her way. It isn't common knowledge where she lives as she can be seen on the streets any time of the day or night. There are rumors that she meets with Kane of the Pentalphan Society, others say that they are lovers, but most dismiss these thoughts as sheer frivolity. Kessian Blackbottom - Tar and Pitchman down on the docks, rumored to be one of the best. Kess is short and wiry with strong arms none- the-less. He works freelance mostly, but will hire on to a particular house if he thinks the season will be a little dry of work for independents. His ambition is to build his own ship and become a great explorer. He's got some money saved, but his drinking habits always seem to dwindle his supply of silver. Kess has short black hair and is most often seen in his work clothes, coveralls colored black with many coats of tar splatterings. He isn't married and doesn't seem to be to worried about doing it. He's about 30 years old. Laora of Whistlebend - Laora is a young and quite beautiful woman who visited Tabolport a few years ago with her family of Gypsies and came back when the family was divided by Church persecution in the Holy City. She now hides her past, delving into her 'talents' when she knows that she is alone. She plans to snag herself a noble to gain protection of his house if the Church ever discovers her true lineage. She is not above using her spells to seduce this person, but she'd rather it be a true love. She earns money as a seamstress for the patrons of Gerald's. She also sells wine made by her gypsy brethren to merchants in the city, making a great profit off of the rare vintage. With this money, she keeps a modest room for herself at Gerald's and spends the rest on the accoutrements (sp) for attending court regularly. Currently, she has her eye on Jimza of the House of Ulmich. It is rumored that the elder Ulmich will soon receive a title from the Prince for his service in the Southern Wars a few years ago. Laora is rather tall for a woman, but not enough to impose upon men's egos. Her hair is long and raven-black, her eyes a gypsy-common bright green. As said before, she is quite beautiful in face and form. Mikhail the Red - owner of the Redsmithy, veteran of the Southern Wars, owner of only eight fingers, and a mean tempered, hard&heavy drinking brute. Brothels know him and don't let him in as he hurts the girls when he is drunk. When Red isn't drunk, he works like the devil in his smithy, producing some of the finest heavy hand weapons in Tabolport, his designs unique to the city but common in the South. Red is over six feet tall and quite large of frame, a mountain of muscles so to speak. He lets a warrior buddy of his (Yavek) sleep in the smithy to act as guard for his shop. Nymark the Grey - This older man has one of the worst jobs in Tabolport. He must guard the cemetary southeast of town. He lives out there and no one visits him. Still, for important burials he gets dressed in his traditional robes of office (looking foolish to those unused to accurate dress from 300 years ago), and presides over the digging of the graves or opening of the crypts. Crypt builders rarely see him and never speak to him. He has begun to get a kind of ghost-like quality, himself, grey of skin, hanging around the edge of life and the edge of death. He has also begun to get a little unstable in his age. He's been Guardian of the Dead for 45 years. It's got to wear on a man's psyche. Not much more is known about him as the only people that speak to him are the priests in charge of the burial rituals. Nymark wears grey cloaks and clothes. He is bald and often wears a tin skullcap. His mannerisms often frighten people as he's developed a lot of twitches and odd speech patterns. Osek the Limper - Osek is a tinsmith who was wounded in a brawl when he was serving as a Quantum. He was well liked and his Barracks now gives their business to him exclusively. He still lives on the Barracks grounds in a little shack. His brother Quantums feel especially guilty since his injury caused a grave deformity in his body, twisting his hips around and forcing him to walk very awkwardly and painfully. This caused his betrothed to refuse to marry him, or see him again. He tries not to dwell on the past, but sometimes cries to himself at night. He is a very good tinsmith and has begun to work with copper and brass too, in order to better earn his keep at the Barracks. Osek is unmistakable in his deformity although above the waist he is a muscular and handsome man. He wears baggy robes to help cover up his waist and legs. Pritchard - Prit (as he is called by friends) is a little weasel of a man, singularly concerned with money, profit, and wealth. His trade was originally weaving and dying, as taught to him by his father but his avarice soon outstripped his abilities. Now he arranges things for people. He arranges for certain guards to be sleepy on a particular night, he arranges for copies of caravan schedules to be available, he arranges for two certain people to meet in a neutral place without fear of an ambush for either of them. In other words, he is a professional middleman. He retains a pair of regular bodyguards for himself, leaving everthing else to a deal-by-deal basis. These two are quite capable of stopping everything short of Julius Nightshade or an angry wizard. Their names are Havlok and Meeks. Prit lives above the unnamed jewelers shop at the corner of Nobleway and Pitcher's Row. Richard of Attelbrook - Richard is a bookdealer near the Baron's house. He has a small but well-stocked shop, complete with magical wards against wetness and fire. He barters for new acquisitions, but will rarely sell a book. He will sell you a copy for a high price but never the original. He also sells his service as a linguist, a cartographer, and a document appraiser. He married a lovely woman of lesser years a year ago, and finally spends some waking hours away from the shop with her. Those who knew him thought him a weasely little man before Agna came into his life, but now he is held in higher esteem, and he proven to be a good person in a hard shell. Richard is about 5'10", with balding flecked grey hair. He wears a woolen sweater made by Agna everyday in addition to a softcap to keep his head warm (The shop is often cold due to the nature of the anti-fire magics). Sydake - He's a scrap dealer, taking cloth scraps from weavers and making it into pillow stuffing, taking sawdust from the woodler house and selling it in barrels to foreign sailors for ballast. Most anything he does, is usually done by the people he gets the scraps from, but they all know that he's poor and harmless. They let him collect the scraps to give him a way to live. He doesn't speak much, except in barter, but seems to be every- where and his ears are big (literally too). Sometimes, when he hears something important, he'll wander off to someone who would be very interested in the knowledge, and he makes some good money. He never spends this money, but hides it away somewhere. He's been around for years, and if anyone thought about it, they'd realize that he must have a big hoard of informant money piled up somewhere. Sydake is a hunched man, barely 5 feet tall, but taller if he'd ever straighten out. His hair is messy and unwashed, and he only bathes when his suppliers tell him its the water or no business. He often gets Hilima, the clothmaker, to do it as he's kind of fond of her. (She notices, but won't let him try anything until he straightens himself out and gets a respectable life). His hair is dark brown, starting to grey, and his eyes are a plain brown. He usually wears his only set of clothes, a tattered jerkin and pants with a pair of boots that Eldin the Cobbler repairs for free when Sydake needs it. Tessa - A long time ago, Tess was a happy farmgirl, cooking and mending for her brothers, her father, and her new husband Ezekial. Her life was simple and fulfilling. Now she's a tired hooker in Tabolport. She's spent years in the hay with wretches and nobles alike. She's a Lytreta addict and she's only a couple winters away from dying from the drug. She has lost most of her looks that brought in the easy money in the past, and now makes ends meet by taking anyone with a copper or two. She appears to be a healthy woman, but her posture is beginning to curve and her eyes have the unmistakable hollowness of the addict. She lives down at the docks, sleeping in common rooms or having her tricks buy her a private room if she's lucky. She gave up on happiness a long time ago, but she is really agonizing about a deed she commited a couple years ago. It was a point where she couldn't get enough Lytreta to satisfy her, and she couldn't get enough tricks to pay for what she needed. In a withdrawl induced craze, she kidnapped a young lass from a farmer's market in Tabolport and sold her to the underground slave market. It earned her enough to get her through her Lytreta peak (a period in an addict's life when the demand for the drug gets intense. After the peak, the addiction settles into a steady state which eventually kills the addict from bone warping or malnutrition. Not Pretty eh?). But the deed broke her spirit. She cries when ever she thinks about it, not only for the deed, but because she saw the girl a year later, naked and chained to her master and smoking a Lytreta pipe in the common room of a low-class brothel. Those who know Tessa think that the same thing might have happened to her, making it all the more poignant. Undoria - the Grave Priestess, she leads a small but twisted cult in worship of Marianne Ul-Dane as the ruler of the world, waiting to be risen. Their goal in life is to get a hold of the saint's bones (which are locked in a chest in Patriarch Idian's Great Hall and only taken to Cathedral twice a year). If they could get these bones they'd pay a priest in the boonies to raise her spirit by lying and saying she was their mother. Not too bright, but stupid can sometimes be more dangerous than your intelligent types. Undoria is a raven-haired wench, never at a lack for money. She dresses in a provacative style, and hopes that her liasons might someday yield a way to get to the bones of the Saint. Many despise her without knowledge of the cult, because she is such a slut with any priest that comes around the bend. Xavier Hawthorne - Chronicler of the Principality of Tabolport. Xavier is an official of the Prince, residing in Tabolport to record events form the perspective of a local citizen. Every year he sends a copy of his manuscripts to the Prince with a special messenger. Well, Xavier has had some hard times. Seems he has a penchant for the dice, cards and ladies. The stipend for a Chronicler is not that much; large to a working man but small when you have such expensive habits. Xavier was lucky enough to find a benefactor before Guran the LoanShark killed him. This benefactor paid off Xavier's debts and made arrangements for a few establishments to take Xavier's business. This person was also kind enough to take the time consuming work of the Chronicles off of over-burdened Mr. Hawthorne. This benefactor happens to be Patriarch Idian. What better way to keep the Prince out of your business than edit the man's information sources. He has also bought off every Royal spy he has found. (What an altruistic guy, helping these people with their lives, offering them permenant free income.) Xavier has sparse brown hair and a slighty gangly face and form. He is not handsome, more average. His taste in clothes, food, drink, etc are modest, as most of his money goes for gambling and women. He has never spent a night alone in his bed. Yavek - Yavek is a half-breed, his mother a human, his father an orc. He luckily favors his mother's side and passes generally as a truly ugly human. He is also large and strong, from his father. Yavek is a mercenary warrior who served in the Southern Wars years ago and now seeks long commitment jobs and easy work for sufficient pay. He lives in the back of a smithy owned by a fellow veteran, Mikhail the Red. He helps Mik out when he doesn't have a job. Yavek is most impressive because of his sword. a famous design in the south, his Heartstinger is almost unknown by reputation in Tabolport. It impresses due to its size (large claymore). He wears it strapped to his back. (He often acts quite like Conan does in the movies). Zhivit the Archer - A loner mercenary who hires out to caravans mostly, but also enjoys accompanying the occassional band of adventuring nitwits. He's got a scar across his chest from a fight with a dragon (or so he says). He's excellent with the bow and was convinced by the leaders of the Tabolport Games to accept a position as judge instead of competing anymore. He enjoys living with his dead brother's wife in a small house near the market in Tabolport. He thinks he was responsible for his brother's death (He wasn't) and thus pledged to support Maretina for the rest of his life. He pays for the house and makes lump sum payments to the local merchants for the daily necessities, using his reputation to ensure he isn't cheated. ============================================================================ Jim. -Telemein Moragain: fourth son of sir Gregory; arrogant young noble -girl at Gym baths: mute slave-girl, knows some interesting stuff. -Cythia Melitorn: would-be seeress, minor noble related to Flanis. Likes to be associated with adventure, but basically an airhead being used as a cover for Anzarin grave-robbing attempts by ???