My character Squidima, formerly known as Zeulisad Qadima, formerly known as Qadima of the Veil has been concluded for a while now.
I don't have very many screenshots, but figured I'd post what I have. Unfortunately these screenshots are generally from after she was evicted from the Transcendent Conclave and had her name changed to "Squidima" (originally a mocking term that she grew to embrace as she became a true aberration). Qadima's actions when she little more than ambitious caliphar seeking Transcendence were perhaps more satisfying than her later stage as an aberration that dwelled in solitude with only the company of a giant Aberrant Tree, but I lost all my shots of those.
Here she is planting Alkalurops, which arrived to Ymph as a tiny shrub on the back of a meteorite.
(http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/462/qadimaplanting.jpg)
Running around in umber hulk form with some summons.(http://img830.imageshack.us/img830/6033/qadimahulk.jpg)
Discussing her final plans with Alkalurops (details of which I'll leave out).
(http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/1857/qadimaalka.jpg)
More minions!
(http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/4236/qadimaminions.jpg)
Here is her Endlude, after having been involved in some trickery and successfully escaping Ymph. The line at the end is interesting, as she witnessed (much early on her career) a vision of the future in which the last independent humans of an illithid-dominated world lose their humanity. It was from this incident that she recovered the Mask that became the mouthpiece for Alkalurops. So in a sense, it was an event witnessed twice: first from the perspective of Qadima, then from the perspective of the mask. Time loop!
(http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/4194/qadimaendlude.jpg)
Squidima, in the Darkness, Crawling with Tentacles. This is what became of a silly, husky girl who just hated the sight of her own perfectly normal face.
(http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/8867/qadimablackness.jpg)
Here is her application:
[hide=Qadima's Application]
Qadima
Shrouded and obsessively veiled with hardly an inch of skin revealed to the world, strange and husky Qadima was born only daughter to the eccentric Szadim the Astronomer, a renowned astronomer and diviner located somewhere in the wastes of the Calim Desert. Her initial tutilage in magic began under her father's harsh and painful instruction.
Upon reaching the age of maturity, she was sent from her father's astrological observatory and coldly instructed to make something of herself.
Lawful Evil Human Wizard (Divination School)
There are several main themes with this PC -
[hide=ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS AND PROPHETIC DIVINATIONS]
Qadima is obsessed with the night sky and movements of the celestium above. Her astronomical pursuits are an important part of her research, and reflect her spell school of choice (Divination). In a sort of lovecraftian way, she stares at the stars and beyond the stars, and dreams of what horrors may exist beyond them.
Whether true or not, I would like Qadima to gradually become convinced that the stars indicate a coming apocalypse in which only those who have evolved or advanced to the highest degree have a chance of enduring existence.[/hide]
[hide=DELIGHT IN THE ABERRANT: CONJURATION AND FLESHWARPING]
Qadima possesses an imbalance in her brain that strongly impacts her sense of aesthetics (and morals, for that matter). As a consequence, that which is beautiful or lovely (including herself) appears to her to be horrible and wretched, and that which is strange and bizarre (such as the grotesque forms of the aberrant) is to her sublimely beautiful. In conjunction with her fascination with the stars and beyond the stars, this leads to a very strong preference for the aberrant.
As a conjurer, this will lead Qadima towards seeking to learn how to bind aberrant creatures to her spells (aberration theme).
Additionally, this will lead to...[/hide]
[hide=FLESHLY STITCHES AND ALIEN BINDINGS]
Qadima will seek to evoke the theme of the canon prestige class "Fleshwarper" - attempting to graft aberrant parts to her body or the bodies of others, for example.
Qadima believes that humanity must advance and that the next, appropriate step would be stealing the talents and abilities of highly mutated aberrant creatures and "evolving" into a more "beautiful," perfect form.
As part of this process, Qadima will -
1) Pursue aberrant related alchemical research
2) Lead expeditions or hire expeditions towards aberrant hotspots (for example, the Larval Horrors) to acquire specimens or samples
3) Begin with hiring PCs to "test" her work on, perhaps these projects will lead to no advantages - merely horrible disadvantages and mutilations for the unfortunate subjects
4) Barter for knowledge from any more talented fleshbinders as she may discover
5) Conduct regular mini-tournaments, donating prizes, in which she collects blood or tissue samples from combatants[/hide]
[hide=DOMINATION]
All of this requires resources, and in order to pursue these projects and fulfill what she believes to be her own true potential she will seek Domination.
This will begin with seeking entrance into the Transcendent Conclave, and seeking to rapidly advance up the ranks by being a brusquely efficient and cooly effective member, generally avoiding politics but focusing on ensuring the reputation of the organization remains paramount and that the will of Pentumverate is done.
All members of equal rank will be considered as competition against whom she must prove herself superior, all of lower as underlings to be commanded.
In order to finance her projects, she will seek to position the Conclave - and herself - as the paramount supplier of magical (and non-magical) drugs or addictive substances throughout the Island. Depending on how it goes this could take any number of different forms, whether just by selling personally or making arrangements with another organization.[/hide]
[hide=PERSONALITY]
Qadima is a lawful evil, ruthless megalomaniac who sees herself as the potential for becoming the first of a new breed of aberrant life-form. She possesses a number of human frailties and quirks, these include:
- A bizarre way of reverse vanity in that despite her relatively pleasant appearance, she finds herself utterly hideous and is therefore highly reluctant to reveal her skin until it becomes "beautiful" in her eyes.
- An attraction towards eating strange and hideous things, including at times her own tissue samples or alchemical reagents
- A high degree of loyalty towards any organization she becomes a part of, and any underlings she may acquire
- An extremely courteous manner, yet in a way that's rather... off
- As mentioned before, a loathing disgust of that which might generally considered as "beautiful" - for example, any beautiful female Pcs will be to her sickeningly disgusting
- A basic twisted code of ethics that while morally reprehensible is consistent and adhered to[/hide]
I am applying for:
- The veiled head model (big perk I know)
- Opportunity for acquiring the Aberration theme at some point early in her career
- Entrance into the Transcendent Conclave[/hide]
Here was sort of a summary of her perspective on things as she became mostly a retired character, yet still seeking an apprentice (sadly, impossible to find).
[Hide=Statement from Qadima]Pursuit of the Truth has ever been my highest aspiration, and that my actions are now clouded with rumor and falsehood is a source of great sorrow to me.
My actions can only be understood as the logical and necessary consequence of my circumstances and intellect combined with a complex moral code. The knowledge I possess - knowledge that is beyond the understanding of the vast majority of you - required that I do what I have done. To do otherwise would be to a violation of this moral code that I have always feverishly embraced. Some of you may be surprised to learn that the source of this code, the capstone of all that I do and have done, is a passionate belief in the overwhelming value of Humanity.
TIME flows and branches in complex and nearly incomprehensible ways. A rational system of moral judgment must take into account this fluidity. Expansion upon this subject is so complex as to defy easy elucidation, and thus perhaps does not belong here.
As I write this statement, I struggle to imagine the mind of my reader. You may find much that is strange in this island, but you believe that through your wits and the guidance of your gods you will survive and live a meaningful life. Lamentably, the gods are mere extensions of ourselves; and when we fall, they will as well. With few exceptions, your short and violent lives will leave little trace of true meaning.
Perhaps you have heard that I have been involved in extensive aberrant research, and maybe even I was involved in the recent extraordinary event in which an enormous one-eyed and million-tentacled aberrant entity temporary took over the entirety of the Transcendent Conclave's physical structure. You may also be aware that, by command of the Transcendent Conclave's ruling Pentumverate, I have been named "Renegade."
How has such a thing come to pass? How has it come to transpire that Qadima, loyal Zeulisad and one of the Conclave's most distinguished and accomplished members, should become outcast?
The circumstances that have led to this regrettable state of affairs are complex and challenging to describe. But, for a moment, I wish you to imagine the entire cosmology of our universe, including all of the planes, as part of a single submerged crystalline sphere. Within this sphere can be found our own primal grittiness, along with the tranquil demi-planes of the gods as well as the seething Abyss and Infernal Hells. This carefully constructed crystalline sphere, with its separated sub-spheres of each respective plane, is surrounded by a balefully swirling sea that is beyond the powers of description. Yet there are pin-pricks in the surface of this protective sphere, and baleful light shines through from great distances. Do you doubt me? Stare long enough at the Stars, and perhaps you too shall understand the terrible truths that I do. I am not the first to Study the Stars, and learn their True and Hidden Names. Nor shall I be the last.
The Crystalline Sphere that is our ordered cosmos will not last long. The carefully divided and plodding concepts of good, evil, law, and chaos - along with all the metaphysical architecture of the gods and great powers - shall be, in time, swept away as sand castles before a rising tide. The baleful light of the far stars will inundate our universe, and we must be prepared for it.
For Humanity, the cosmology of our universe has been a kind of safe and comfortable nursery. Within its polished and cosy confines we have grown and learned as a species. We have raised up petty and fallible deities as our gods, and established our societies and lived our lives in a few hardscrabble but mostly meaningless aeons.
But if we are to endure the inevitable changes that will come - and in their coming wash away every great good and every great evil - then we must evolve as a new species, taking into us and incorporating those vital aberrant attributes that will allow us to survive while yet retaining those essential aspects that makes us Human.
We must, in essence, TRANSCEND.
"Transcendence" has been what I have studying and seeking all these long months that I have lived in Ymph. I conducted countless crude experiments in the darker places of our settlement; seeking to improve human flesh with aberrant flesh. Although I failed many times, I built the seed of what I hope will become a new and transcended humanity - I speak of my project, Kreil Gotek.
These initial and feeble efforts were, in time, eclipsed with more significant breakthroughs. I have paced through the concealed workshops of Belpharon himself, learning of his work with the larval creatures that inhabit the deepest ruins. I have ventured into distant places and discovered the lost observatory of the Astronomer Melech, memorizing the secret and terrible names of the stars. I have bargained with the Mythkeepers of the Diluvian Nation in exchange for their most secret knowledge. I have descended into the Underdark, and entered into Ysinode-controlled slave pens and laboratories to sabotage their dread projects. And I have traveled unimaginable distance into a potential future in which illithid rule a desert-world in which the number of free humans remaining can be counted in the dozens.
It was there, at the broken feet of one of these distant Illithid Dreadmasters, that I discovered The Mask of Sages, an artifact composed of the flayed faces and souls of all of history's most learned lorekeepers.
In time, I learned that this Mask, many tens of thousands of years of age at the time of its discovery, includes within it my own face and soul, which will be separated from me at some point in the near future.
When I first discovered Alkalurops, a tiny and aberrant shrub clinging feebly to a iron meteorite that landed in Ymph, I was uncertain what was to done with it. With the guidance of the Mask, guidance of myself, I took Alkalurops - tiny, helpless, born unimaginably distant from our world - to a safe garden where it could grow in peace.
Alkalurops, Scion of the Stars, is capable of transformation and improvement on a scale that I am not. In its actions, it works to prepare our unsightly world for the strange fates that await us all. Rather than see humanity wink out of existence, or endure as unthinking slaves for a master race of illithid, I and Alkalurops seek humanity to collectively transcend its limitations and fulfill its utmost potential.
Let us now turn to more recent events, to provide a proper and true accounting of the circumstances that have led to my renegade status.
Ever have I supported the Transcendent Conclave and its own mission of transcendence. I have accomplished many things on its behalf, destroyed many of its enemies, and performed many other useful tasks. When the question of my project Alkalurops rose before the collective judgment of our ruling Pentumverate, I expected controversy but chose to disguise or hide nothing.
A middling-ranked Zeulisad of the Conclave named Vinebloom was assigned to weigh the merits of my case, and in order to provide all the information she sought, I lent to her the Codex of Alkalurops, a manual containing much dangerous information. Unfortunately, and despite my strictest protestations, she confiscated the book for her own, its terrible secrets doubtlessly draining her mind of the last vestiges of its sanity. It was she in her great foolishness that took it upon herself to call upon Prijipati the Creator, the immense million-tentacled and squid-eyed entity that took up residence within the Conclave.
Acting on orders of the Oracle of the Pentumverate himself, and with great difficulty, in time I bound Prijipati and it vacated the Conclave. Myself and my loyal aids departed to the home of Alkalurops, all too tragically aware that in the eyes of the Pentumverate our great works would no longer be considered within the realm of acceptability.
And so, I have been declared renegade. Yet despite the essential injustice of this verdict, I do not particularly bear a grudge. Those members of the Conclave who (wisely) do not intend on hunting me, are invited to send me formal notice of their intentions, and in exchange receive assurances that I will not harm them. I would also be glad to meet with a representative in order to return my Robes and other Conclave properties.
What are my intentions now? My work continues. It is time for those who understand the significance of my work, to reveal themselves, and seek the transcendent-improvements that can be gifted to them. We are the seed of what is to come. Seek us out, leave notice, and find us.
And finally, above all else -
I mentioned before the Mask of a Thousand Sages. Bestowed with the learned insight of the best minds, this Mask is the face with which mighty Alkalurops speaks. In time I must join it.
But for now, in preparation for this fate, I seek an APPRENTICE. Although I have had Apprentices before, none of them possessed sufficient power of intellect and insight as to truly benefit from my teachings. To one of sufficient dedication and brilliance, this path is one that virtually can not be matched by any other you might find. To a trusted and respected Apprentice, I would offer the entire of my personal knowledge of Ymph and its secrets, as well as access to my spellbook which includes spells up to the sixth circle. Furthermore, when in good time I transcend to my rightful place among the thousand-sages of Alkalurops, you shall inherit my position and entire collection of magical artifacts. As I am anxious to soon benefit from this transition, I would urge suitable candidates to make themselves known to me soon.
To those Arcanists who are enticed by such an extraordinary opportunity, write to me and give indication that you can comprehend my purpose and what your own role in these momentous deeds might become.
For all others who have managed to read this statement, I can offer to you only my good wishes and expressions of sincerity, and high hopes that something of what I written here can be understood.
As for myself, I have found the personal Improvement that I have long sought. My ugly, mundane human flesh no longer necessitates the shameful veil.
Ever humanity's fond friend and champion -
Qadima, Sage of Alkalurops[/hide]
I had a lot of fun playing this character and thank my buddy Paha for being a privilege to play with and the DM team for involving her in their plots, as well as all other players I interacted with.
Was really neat just hearing about her. =]
A+ stellar character
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Thomas already said it! Amazing character!
Qadima and Kreil Gotek will forever be my two favorite characters on EFU.
Damn well done.
She did the creep
Amazing character
Squidima's Tentacles of Doom tickled my interest
At times I am sad that I didn't accept her invitation to become her Consort. But I guess it wasn't the right way for my character. Nonetheless, very cool character!
Wow.
Well, that looks like a marvelous story of what was a complex and well developed character.
The aberrant theme looks ",interesting," as well. Alas, I admit contemplating the position of apprentice to the Squidima but decided it was not suitable for my current character and was not quite inspired enough to create a new PC for the purpose.
It was my pleasure. Rewarding and all to all utterly enjoyable experience to play such active and unique concept as a henchman.
Very cool PC. You prolly would have numerous people wanting to "apprentice" under her, but the timing just didn't line up.
I don't have anything to say. What a character. Does anybody else like ice cream? Anybody want to go to the beach?
There are no words to describe how spectacular of a character Quadima was. Gods I wish I knew she was seeking an apprentice... I would have -loved- to make another Alienist character with you.