Animi: My Spirit Burns

[Burning Soul]

This is the only decent shot I have of Animi, but that's fine because it sums him up perfectly: A taciturn, pissed off Monk whom I wanted to exemplify the RIGHTEOUS ANGER of the heavens.

I had many goals for this character, and only really accomplished one or two of them (burning fists and being taciturn, yo), but on the whole I'm really satisfied with the character. I'm incredibly proud of the reception he received from the DM team and my fellow players, and i'm glad so many people thought he was a great monk.

In the end, Animi was uncompromising - the one time he did compromise, it spelled his doom, because he refused to go out as anything less than pure Lawful Good (surprise he was lawful good) - so he did the right thing (which was dumb) after doing the wrong thing (which was dumb), and when it came time to face the consequences he walked into it with his head held high and no fear.

Also I made someone's Paladin fall with his death, so double win.

The key to the character was to be philosophical about -everything-. Sure, we're killing goblins - what do the goblins represent? We're climbing a mountain. What does the mountain REPRESENT? Everything was about hidden meanings and perceptions, and how it related to learning to be LAWFUL and GOOD. That, and I stole the hermit idea from the character bin by moving to the desert and outrunning monsters I couldn't hope to fight every day to travel to Mistlocke.

Short lived character, but incredibly rewarding. And proof you do not have to be a PVP machine, Evil, or a Schemer to get DM attention. Animi got more DM loot than any other PC i've played, and it was pretty swank stuff too - simply for sticking with a concept and refusing to give up.

Never forget that I have punches.

[hide="Animi's Long Ass Backround"]
Name: Animi (real name Ivan Gargovich)
Race: Human
Sex: Male
Ethnicity/Birthplace: Damarran/Damara
Alignment: Lawful Good
Class: Monk - Order of the Burning Soul (Unofficial Sun Soul Variant - See Below)
Deity: Amauntor (Lathander)


The Order of the Burning Soul:

The Long Version

Animi's master, Radiance (his 'Awakened' name in the church of Lathander/Amauntor, real name unknown) was a teacher of the Sun Soul Monastary in Waterdeep who came into conflict with the leadership of the order over liturgical and methodological differences. Within the heretical Waterdhavian Amauntori Sect, Amauntor is believed to have split into three separate deities - Lathander, Sune, and Selune - who will eventually rejoin as a triune deity and form Amauntor. Basing on historical believes as well as a rejection of what he saw as the more chaotic and 'foppish' elements of the faiths of Sune and Selune, Radiance rejected this notion.

Amauntor, he believe, evolved into Lathander following the collapse of the Netherese empire in response to the rapid shifts in power and the sudden loss of worshippers brought on by the collapse of the Imperial legal sects. Lathander, with his role as god of self perfection and development, was in his mind a pupate state for rebirth into Amauntor at a later date when he had perfected himself enough, at which time he would become a more perfect fusion of the Amauntor of Old and the Lathander of present - less concerned with staid legalities which could lead to entropy than Amauntor, and more focused and directed than Lathander. He rejected any connection to the other dieties of the Sun Soul order entirely.

This, combined with a teaching and fighting style that emphasized passion, violence, and physical training of such extremity as to be considered cruel resulted in Radiance's self imposed exile from the Order - he fled to Damara in secret to avoid censure and practice his methods in peace.

Key differences between Sun Soul and Burning Soul

Emphasis on Lathander as singular inheritor deity of Amauntor.
Emphasis on controlled passion and physical training over spiritual introspection.
Violence of fighting style - the Burning Soul strikes hard and aggressively, sometimes even cruelly.
Physical mastery over philosophical - the flesh is weak, it must be trained.
Vow of Chastity
Vow of Celibacy
Vow of Poverty
Vow of Sobriety

Character Backround

Animi was born Ivan Gargovich, wildman of the Damarran steppes. Born to a wandering Barbarian tribe, Ivan lived a life of violence, brigandage, and debauchery. Life revolved around combat, the seizing of plunder, drinking and whoring. He and his fellows would prey upon merchants and travelers for their gold and possessions, sometimes acting as mercenaries for landed nobles of Damarra to strike at their enemies, then spend the profits in whatever manner they saw fit.

It was fateful that Ivan, with a band of his brethren, stalked a particular elderly man upon the road out of Damarra. He traveled simply, but seemed to wear the raiment of a holy man or a cleric, and surely had a holy symbol, some gold, or valuable potions they could steal. Seeing him as an easy mark, they ambushed the old man upon the road.

Unfortunately for them, the old man on the road was Radiance. His counter-attack was so ferocious and sudden that two of them were dead before they even realized they were actually fighting. Ivan fought with rage and without discipline, as did all of his fellows, and before the skills of Radiance they were children. He disarmed them, broke their bones, and snapped their necks, and in short order Ivan was alone. Flying into a berserk rage seeing his brothers die and refusing to accept the same fate for himself, he harried Radiance with a flurry of blows, each of which was expertly parried or dodged by the old master. Radiance disarmed him, broke his arm, and delivered a crushing blow to his windpipe, knocking him to his knees. Taking pity on the boy, Radiance told him he could flee now with his life. In response Ivan attempted to strangle the monk with his remaining arm, earning him another broken limb and a shattered jaw when he delivered a kick to his mandible.

Both his arms broken and in extreme pain, Ivan struggled to fight on, clawing at the ground and crawling towards Radiance, who watched him impassively. When he asked if he had any last requests before he dispatched him, Ivan grabbed at his robes feebly and told him to stand still so that he could kill him. With a laugh, Radiance lifted his foot into the air and then brought it down, breaking Ivan's back.

That would have been the end of Ivan, had not Radiance, after looting his would be robbers and preparing to continue on his way (they were only bandits after all), noticed Ivan was still breathing. Wheezing, blood trickling from his nose, the young boy of the steppes stared at the old man with burning hatred and rage, even then trying to move his fingers so he could crawl. In Ivan, Radiance saw a refusal to submit, a soul that refused to accept the grip of death or the sting of pain. Intrigued, he constructed gurney for Ivan and dragged him with him.

For weeks he lingered on the edge of death as Radiance nursed him, giving him enough care to survive and binding his injuries, but holding back any form of divine healing. Somehow, despite being paralyzed, Ivan breathed on - though he was very rarely conscious, delirium mercifully claiming him from the painful agony of being awake.

Months passed, and Ivan did not die. His legs and lower body were now useless, but he was alive, and he eventually returned to the world of the living. It was then that Radiance spoke to him, and offered him a choice - reject the life he had known, all of his worldly possessions and attachments, and embrace the life of rigorous training and denial he offered him. On the slim chance he could ever walk again, Radiance would train the boy to fight as he did. If he somehow regained his ability to walk, somehow survived the training, then if he still hated him, at that time Radiance would allow him to take his life. Or, he could dispatch him painlessly now, and spare him the shame of failure.

Ivan spit on the old man and accepted his offer.

He spent nearly the next decade learning to walk again. Slowly, incrementally, by agonizing step, he willed his body to function. Wiggling toes was followed b moving feet. Moving feet was followed by moving legs. Moving legs was followed by crawling. Crawling was followed by stumbling. Stumbling was followed by walking. Walking was followed by running. Through sheer bloody minded persistence, his shattered body healed, though not quite as hale as it had once been. In the years that followed, he trained - leashing his violent and angry soul with the yolk of discipline, honing his body into a weapon, following Radiance's teachings and meditations. Finally, on the day he could be considered a true student, Radiance offered him his choice. He would permit Ivan to kill him, or even simply leave, if he wished.

Ivan chose to stay, and dedicate himself fully to his master. On that day he was baptized into the Amauntori faith, and took the awakened name of Animi, for the old-tongue word of Animus - the essence of life.

Ivan would train under Radiance for three more years, until chance intervened. Radiance had become old, while Ivan was still somewhat young and strong. He was nearly a worthy successor when a Tundra Yeti ambushed old man Radiance out on a run. Had he been a few years younger, it would have been no contested, but old age catches up even to a master like Radiance, and though he broke the Yeti's back he joined him in death. Animi wrapped his masters body in a blanket made of the Yeti's fur and buried him beneath their garden, donning his old robes for himself. After several months of isolation, the Ziggerat claimed Animi, bringing him to Ymph.

The Outlook

Animi is the practitioner of a martial order that eschews worldly possessions, vices, and weakness. He throws himself against challenges in order that he might improve, and subjects himself to brutal tests in order to increase his resistance to pain. He is only concerned with his mission - the nurturing of his soul's divinity to the point that he might ascend and become a Celestial warrior, before or after death - and the eternal struggle against the forces of entropy, which he considers the great enemy of all that live. The duty of all that lives is to promote life, improve itself, and fight entropy - entropy which is embodied by the destructive and necromantic powers of Ymph, the decadent ghosts of Netheril and their successors.

Character Goals

Kung-Fu Fightan
Being Lawful Good without being nice, at all. To anyone.
To gain the powers of a Sun Soul Monk
To ascend to a celestial state through denial of the material self, and become a warrior of Celestia or divine servitor of Amauntor.

Addendum: To cure the withering in himself by ascendancy to being a true planar being - become a celestial being, shake the witherings hold on him.

Seek lore of The Brotherhood of the Sun, the ancient Netherese monastic order that predates the Sun Soul
[/hide]

"Play serious characters more often, tbh" -DM Mort

[Bearic]

He was awesome, was great having him turn Blu's smile almost completely upside down. XD

[Spiffy Has]

He was an awesome PC.

[Vlaid]

He can finally be rid of that nasty case of soul gonorrhea.

Only met him IC once, but he was a dick to me that one time I met him.

[Pentaxius]

Sticking true to your alignment goals despite knowing it would lead to an obvious catastrophe is a praiseworthy deed.

He is the first monk I meet on EFU that I really felt exemplified the spiritual aspect of the class.

Quoted for Truth :

Sure, we're killing goblins - what do the goblins represent? We're climbing a mountain. What does the mountain REPRESENT? Everything was about hidden meanings and perceptions, and how it related to learning to be LAWFUL and GOOD.

I raise my hat to you sir.

[Howlando]

Nice job.

I would also make the point that sometimes DM rewards come only after quite a long time. Something like deliberately choosing to live in a very hostile area isn't something that's going to get noticed straight away, but if a player deliberately chooses to do something hard and crazy like that that makes excellent sense for the concept and doesn't give up on it as well as otherwise being a cool PC I think the odds are decent that eventually it will result in some kind of tangible reward.

[HerDarkMajesties]

A very well played monk indeed.

[Winston Martin]

[Kinslayer988]

Ana amazing feat sir

[PanamaLane]

Novena's favorite person and the only one she bested in the ring haha.

[icusmile]

My spirit burns!

An amazing guy, well done.

[Gotham]

My Spirit burns, and now so does the rest of me apparently.

Any truth to the rumors Thomas caught on fire while he was cremating my corpse?

[Winston Martin]

It happened.