Here lies Deputy Warden Commander? Warden Sir Volric Ashtallow, Knight of the New Path. He never scored.
Volric Ashtallow was the son of two chandlers in the poor, dilapidated part of the Docks district of Waterdeep. Early in life, he was recruited to be an enforcer and Cutthroat™ for a gambling house. The eccentric owner of this den was a bizarre follower of the Red Knight, who applied the tactics and foreplanning that the deity is known for to his criminal enterprise. This gave Volric a strong sense of ruthlessness, pragmatism, and willingness to justify the means with the ends.
When Volric arrived in Sanctuary, he made the rounds to several factions, asking their members to explain why his talent as a killer would be utilized the best by them. This was a bit of a sham, since I had planned his trajectory ahead of time--Byran Ayes was the one who brought him into his new home--as he was fond of calling it, the "Vault of the New Path". His first task was to train and prepare for battle with the Pride of Jultar, the first of MANY fights I expected Volric to die in. But he didn't, and he became a Knight of the New Path upon his return, with his beloved sword, the Edge of Reason, in hand.
As a Knight, Volric's ride got a lot wilder. A lot of ups and downs, both in the extreme. He hit the ground running as Ayes' Deputy in the old Council system, and following that character's retirement to war on the surface, he seized the title of Warden.
The thing is, Volric was only *actually* the Warden for about two weeks, and not at the start. The thing I'm most proud of on this character was building that cult of personality. Volric just said he was the Warden as soon as Ayes was gone, and even months later after he had officially taken the title, had it removed by the government, and THEN having it removed by Malark Amblecrown, I would still see new characters introduce themselves to the "Warden". Volric, on the other hand, almost never actually used that title to refer to himself. He would simply tell others, "I am Ashtallow."
With his stolen valor, Volric made a lot of big moves, a lot of them ending in tragedy. Ayes and Volric always had a KotNP supremacy angle, which led to the latter having no compunctions about turning against elements of the faction he perceived as weak or outmoded. At one point he sought to unseat Ormulax, and replace that part of the Collective with something newer and more ferocious. Sadly, only the former came to pass, which earned him very little love from his brethren.
If there's one thing I am weirdly the most proud of, it's sticking to Volric's very stilted speech pattern. A character's "voice" is the most important thing to me, and I think his slow, contractionless, "alien's idea of how people talk" speech patterns were a huge success. I never used a single apostraphe that wasn't either possessive or part of some ridiculous fish/ooze name.
My hugest thanks to the staff who supported me, and to all the characters who helped shape Volric into the taciturn bundle of rage that he was at the end: All of the EC characters(Particularly Byran), Saevel, Team Redhands, Statues, Naomi, Geoffrey, the Reborn tribe, and the Red Banner. If I walk away from this character with any real regrets, it is that Volric and Rana never got to part ways with gusto. Every conversation they had was tense, expecting her to either betray or kill him. In the end, he died as he lived--caught off guard due to complacency. There are plenty more folks to thank, but that's what I have off the top of my head!
In the end, I am happy with what I accomplished and how the character turned out, but we can't all live forever. A lot of my plans never went anywhere or failed, but I had a blast. Before I go and start planning my next character, I'll leave you with some post-EE screenshots. If I have the time, I'll comb through my .tga screenshots from the bad old days and add them as well, but it's already a heaping pile.
First, THE LOOT. There is one piece missing, but I know I've screenshotted it, so I'll try and dig it up.
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And without ado, a portion of the Life and Times of Volric Ashtallow.
[hide]
[/hide]
-Ashtallow
Volric Ashtallow was the son of two chandlers in the poor, dilapidated part of the Docks district of Waterdeep. Early in life, he was recruited to be an enforcer and Cutthroat™ for a gambling house. The eccentric owner of this den was a bizarre follower of the Red Knight, who applied the tactics and foreplanning that the deity is known for to his criminal enterprise. This gave Volric a strong sense of ruthlessness, pragmatism, and willingness to justify the means with the ends.
When Volric arrived in Sanctuary, he made the rounds to several factions, asking their members to explain why his talent as a killer would be utilized the best by them. This was a bit of a sham, since I had planned his trajectory ahead of time--Byran Ayes was the one who brought him into his new home--as he was fond of calling it, the "Vault of the New Path". His first task was to train and prepare for battle with the Pride of Jultar, the first of MANY fights I expected Volric to die in. But he didn't, and he became a Knight of the New Path upon his return, with his beloved sword, the Edge of Reason, in hand.
As a Knight, Volric's ride got a lot wilder. A lot of ups and downs, both in the extreme. He hit the ground running as Ayes' Deputy in the old Council system, and following that character's retirement to war on the surface, he seized the title of Warden.
The thing is, Volric was only *actually* the Warden for about two weeks, and not at the start. The thing I'm most proud of on this character was building that cult of personality. Volric just said he was the Warden as soon as Ayes was gone, and even months later after he had officially taken the title, had it removed by the government, and THEN having it removed by Malark Amblecrown, I would still see new characters introduce themselves to the "Warden". Volric, on the other hand, almost never actually used that title to refer to himself. He would simply tell others, "I am Ashtallow."
With his stolen valor, Volric made a lot of big moves, a lot of them ending in tragedy. Ayes and Volric always had a KotNP supremacy angle, which led to the latter having no compunctions about turning against elements of the faction he perceived as weak or outmoded. At one point he sought to unseat Ormulax, and replace that part of the Collective with something newer and more ferocious. Sadly, only the former came to pass, which earned him very little love from his brethren.
If there's one thing I am weirdly the most proud of, it's sticking to Volric's very stilted speech pattern. A character's "voice" is the most important thing to me, and I think his slow, contractionless, "alien's idea of how people talk" speech patterns were a huge success. I never used a single apostraphe that wasn't either possessive or part of some ridiculous fish/ooze name.
My hugest thanks to the staff who supported me, and to all the characters who helped shape Volric into the taciturn bundle of rage that he was at the end: All of the EC characters(Particularly Byran), Saevel, Team Redhands, Statues, Naomi, Geoffrey, the Reborn tribe, and the Red Banner. If I walk away from this character with any real regrets, it is that Volric and Rana never got to part ways with gusto. Every conversation they had was tense, expecting her to either betray or kill him. In the end, he died as he lived--caught off guard due to complacency. There are plenty more folks to thank, but that's what I have off the top of my head!
In the end, I am happy with what I accomplished and how the character turned out, but we can't all live forever. A lot of my plans never went anywhere or failed, but I had a blast. Before I go and start planning my next character, I'll leave you with some post-EE screenshots. If I have the time, I'll comb through my .tga screenshots from the bad old days and add them as well, but it's already a heaping pile.
First, THE LOOT. There is one piece missing, but I know I've screenshotted it, so I'll try and dig it up.
[hide]
[/hide]And without ado, a portion of the Life and Times of Volric Ashtallow.
[hide]
[/hide]-Ashtallow
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