Linette

One of a twin pair, she and her sister Verna have never known their parents. Children of faces who had disappeared, tossed between distant relatives and escaping orphanages, they've essentially slipped through the cracks. Living on the streets, they did their best to keep their heads down and survive the hard life of the Razmiran peasant, the lowest caste in a religious nation basically run by a cult of man who claims to be a living god. That's all Linette is, and all she thought she'd ever be - nothing more than a peasant, an indentured servant in all but name, a slave in all but legality - one of the bottom rung whose lives were deemed only useful for toiling for the wealthy. Aka: the Razmiran priesthood, and those that backed them.

But they simply couldn't continue to live safely once their Aasimar features started showing - there are no other gods allowed to be worshipped within the boundaries of Razmir, and the living god had never announced claim of descendants. The feathers marking their divine heritage would bring them nothing but ill fortune should they remain.

Thankfully, not all of the peasantry are in the cult's pocket. The resistance actively fighting against the living god's tyranny were well known to smuggle those who wished to escape the nation, skilled at escaping the clutches of the priesthood trying to catch them. These fighters were just as quick to notice the feathered pair, as they were to try and hide their heritage. It wasn't long for them to acting accordingly to ensure the priests couldn't get their claws on them.

A stroke of luck for the twins, honestly. If the resistance hadn't intervened, it would have only been a matter of time the pair of godling's fate would have been snatched up and left to the whim of the Razmiran priesthood.

The kingdom of Razmiran is bordered by a giant lake, and three other countries - but there would be few options for them to be smuggled too. Razmir had control of the lakes, getting them beyond it's borders would be a fool's errand. The isolationist neighboring Kingdom of Kyonin would let them pass through their borders as per their agreement with the resistance, but wouldn't allow them to stay as they weren't elves. And the horror-plagued country of Ustalav... well, getting through the mountains and into their haunted mists with nothing more than the clothes on their backs and a couple guides could prove a fate worse than death. Their only chance of survival would be in the rest of the surrounding River Kingdoms, as chaotic and life-threatening as they may be.

A gamble which paid off.

Though she'd initially gotten separated from her twin in a moment of peril, they'd been reunited. And though they'd had to flee the encroach of Razmiran's ever expanding priesthood, Linette and her sister had managed to come into the company of trusted friends. Her mindset has a long way to go before it'd be able to fully throw off the shackles which Razmiran's lifestyle had conditioned her into, but she's come a long way in freeing herself from them.

Winding up as the accidental defacto leader of a city turned growing nation, in a section of the River Kingdoms of repute deemed the Stolen Lands? Whether that's a boon or a bane has yet to remain. She's almost regretting offering to help build the settlement - originally under the impression that it was just to get the town upon it's feet while it's benefactors set things up properly. After all, why shouldn't she want to help her newfound friends? They'd help her find her missing sister, after all. But now that it's become a proper nation and she's unable to step down due to lack of a more capable leader. She's simply too good at what her job is, despite her not wanting the position in the first place.

But is putting a refugee who has yet to fully escape her fears and conditioning of the cult she escaped from really a good idea? She has no ruling experience, and the life of a Razmirani peasant is essentially slavery. The priests were very keen on making sure they were mentally conditioned to stay that way. But now her aasimar features already have the populace looking at her in awe - she's scared. The last thing she wants to do is become another living god...

Ultimately, Linette is a very sweet, very kind girl. She's practically childish in nature, to the point she almost seems naive. Skittish and timid, quick to flee if anger or conflict is directed straight at her, remnants of latent fears caused by the priesthood which used to control her life. But her sense of right and wrong is accurate, and it is strong, due to her heritage. Warped a little bit perhaps, due to her upbringing - her sense of what is truly evil may not quite match the rest of humanity's perception of it, as she's well aware that a creature with an evil alignment isn't necessarily a bad person - that it's that creature's actions and thoughts accordingly are what truly matters. But there's no doubting that her sense of what she feels is right and wrong is force driving her actions. And ultimately, it's the driving force behind this little nation's success, as well as the conflicts between it's leadership.

For all of her fuss and adamant refusal about being considered a 'ruler' or 'queen' and rejecting any semblance of a title associated with a position of power and wealth... she is still a naturally good leader, whose innocent charisma often sways others into thinking of her favorably. Her lack of desire for the position hilariously plays into how well-suited she is for the role. 

But being a good fit for leader while simultaneously refusing to play this back-stabbing game that others leaders play isn't going to be easy. An escapee of Razmiran she may be, but an offshoot of the stubborn, abrasive, and chaotic River Kingdoms it still is. And the kingdom that they're establishing is - you guessed it - in the River Kingdoms. There's a very specific attitude among the people who call those lands home, and Linette is a true native of the area. Despite that sweet demeanor and true benevolent timidity, when it comes to sheer unwillingness to do something she doesn't want to do, she is no different than the rest of them. The River Kingdoms exist because they're fed up with the bullshit which other kingdoms try to put them through. A fine example of the folk that have created the region, if she doesn't want to play the games played by the rest of the world's nobility... she's not going to. 

She's going to need all the support and guidance she can get to play at the big table with the other nations - and those who are willing to support her are going to learn exactly why the River Kingdoms have been so hard to settle and get along with, example courtesy of the queen they've placed in charge. 

Notes:

• Horrendously curious, has an unnatural interest in magical items, and slightly short-tempered. Holds grudges.
• One of a two-sided coin with her sister Verna - each represent one half of a greater whole of a single soul and their personalities will flip between each other. Verna is typically the more cynical and aggressive of the two, while Linette is her anchor, being more optimistic and passive. Should Linette be stressed, this swaps 180 degrees with Linette being the more cynical and aggressive and Verna becomes her anchor.
  
• Very paranoid and mistrusting. Literally a cult escapee and has anxieties accordingly. Trust is earned, not given.
• Basically a former slave, given how Razmiran treats it's peasant class. Not in terms of national legality or anything, but that's essentially what she was taught she was by the cult's religion.
• Does not like Razmir. Does not like Razmir's clerics. Hostile towards anything to do with Razmir.
• Despite this, chooses to look for the best in everyone. can be naive, is very well-meaning.

MAGE. Linette is a sorcerer, meaning she spontaneously and intuitively learns and summons spells, rather than having to figure them out the hard way through pure academic research, like a wizard. This makes her far less flexible than a traditional mage or arcanist, but in return there is something in her bloodline that makes her more prone to... unusual magical inclinations. As a phoenix lingers in her blood, she specializes in wind and fire magic, but also has a few quirks when it comes to learning specific abilities or spells. The more powerful a sorcerer grows, the more like the creature that influenced their bloodline they become.

• ILLUSION MAGIC. This does not mean she's not capable of figuring out how to cast things other than wind or fire. She could learn a spell that summons ice or acid, if she wished to. But Linette's actually picked up an entirely different type of spell school - specifically, Linette has grown magically powerful enough that she's even learned how to replicate spells she's seen or learned of, but doesn't actually know herself. These copies are strong enough to cause the actual damage of the actual, original spell, should the illusion not be disbelieved - and a quarter of the damage, should they BE disbelieved. She's effectively become strong enough to warp reality to a very minor degree, at least in some scenarios. She mostly uses this to try and manifest anything that isn't of a fire element, in case there is something the party is struggling against and they do not have a method of dealing with it. It helps her feel a little less useless when fire magic can't burn whatever is the problem.
• PERMENANCY. Though she's not so good at making her own magic items (she could, if she wanted to, but she likes collecting them more than making them), she is capable of making creatures, places, or objects have a permanent magical effect. She's mainly done it to her own eyesight.... and to her ability to understand languages.
  
  • EYESIGHT. Linette got really, really hecking tired of constantly recasting things like detect magic and see invisibility. So when she was financially able to, she tricked out her eyesight halfway to hell and made such spells permenant. Her eyes now have a bright glow to them, proof of the modification, and she can see three general categories of things unable to be seen under normal circumstances: the aura of lingering magic, anything invisible to the naked eye, and any charms which could be causing a creature to act under something else's influence.
  • LANGUAGE. Linette has permenancied the spell 'Tongues' to herself - meaning she can understand any language being spoken in her vicinity, and speak that language back. However, she can only speak one such language at a time, not all of them. This was due to multiple meetings with creatures that did not speak the common tongue, leaving much of the party in the dark about what was being said. For the most part she doesn't show off this ability, as she doesn't wish to take the spotlight away from the party members more traditionally fluent in linguistics.
• BREAK ENCHANTMENT. Under a curse or some other magical inclination, and you don't want to be? She can Break It. All she needs to do is bonk you on the head. This is another aftermath of phoenixes being very inclined to dealing with potentially cursed magic items.
• MAGIC ITEMS. Linette intuitively identifies magical items with a mere touch with complete accuracy. She does need to make a more proper check to make sure it's not cursed, but as far as what the item is? What it can do? All she needs to do is brush her fingers and she'll automatically know every single detail like some nerd. Also, when it comes to using said items, she's got remarkable magical ability - even scrolls that replicate high-tier spells, she can cast the majority of them as if they were nothing more than a squeaky chew toy. Her phoenix blood and magic item obsession really did say 'MINE'.

PHOENIX FIRE. Linette's other abilities, beyond her magical prowess as a sorcerer, are influenced by her phoenix bloodline - giving her special mastery over fire.

• HEALING FLAMES. Specifically, she can do a very peculiar trick with her fire magic - she can have it heal damage, rather than cause it. Of course, it only heals for about half the damage it could cause - she's far better at destroying than she is at creating. But over time, it does wonders. Her favorite trick in this regard is forming a little ball of fire, and hugging it to herself, to heal damage in a safe location overtime.
  
  • GREATER RESTORATION. If she's truly focused, then she can call on flames within her that are much, much more powerful than the ones she normally relies on - a full-on Restoration, curing all ailments as if they were being affected by the healing power of a phoenix's tears. This can do things like cure fatal conditions and restore the body to peak physical condition, even if they were on the brink of death. But the power is great enough that these renewing flames are something she only has the strength to do once per day. Those who have been under it's powers claim it's like having their physical illnesses burned away, reversed through time.
• SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION. Speaking of, due to her phoenix heritage Linette can engulf herself entirely with fire for a short degree of time. This does not harm her, but will harm anyone standing adjacent to her - or who may be trying to grab her. She doesn't tend to do this often- usually only as a reaction should there be a physical threat nearby. The flames must last upwards of six seconds or longer to cause damage. She is not capable of remaining lit indefinitely. This fire does not have the capability to heal - it only harms.
• TEMPERATURE. Linette is warmer to the touch in comparison to a normal human, and cold temperatures are less likely to affect her. She can handle being in winter conditions longer without adequate protection longer than a normal human can, and ice damage is less effective against her. Electricity and acidic elements are also less effective. This is due to her pedigree and being considered a planar being in terms of magic.

FLIGHT. Linette can summon a pair of feathery white angel (or rather phoenix) wings from her back! She can fly twice as fast as she can run, and she has very good maneuverability with them. They are very fluffy and she actively encourages others to cuddle under them, as if she were a mother hen. They will light on fire as with the rest of her body, should she ignite herself in that manner.

RESURRECTION. She doesn't know about this ability (yet) - but the stronger she grows, the more phoenix-like she becomes. And truth be told, unbeknownst to her, it won't be long before she gains the ability to innately resurrect from the dead in a spectacular show of fire, returning back to peak physical condition like a phoenix when it is killed. And once she does, it will be the last breaking point for her, forcing her to realize that she is in fact more monster or magical creature than person. Once she gains this ability, she will be incredibly hard to kill permanently - able to resurrect in such a manner once a day without fail. She will have no control over this ability whatsoever. It will happen, whether she wants it to or not.

• CYCLICAL. There is a good chance - though it will be impossible for her to confirm until the time arrives - that once she reaches the end of an Aasimar's natural lifespan, she will incarnate back to a younger form like a true phoenix, to live life again once more. Depending on how phoenix cyclical reincarnation works, should her memories remain intact through such a thing, then she will also not take it very well.
  

YHOHM. Linette doesn't actually know what her heritage is, beyond others thinking it may be Phoenix. In truth, they aren't wrong. But it's a little bit more complicated than that. due to her Aasimar heritage, her heritage is a subset of Phoenix - Yhohm. A pigeon-like celestial that is said to be created from shards of a true phoenix's soul, each time it resurrects. Thusly, unbeknownst to Linette (and her sister), the twins are both in truth a Yhohm which has gone a little bit awol, splitting into two twin halves and resurrecting into a human form rather than forming as a bird.

As she grows stronger and more experienced, the more her yhohm nature manifests, overtaking her normal humanity and bit by bit making her mentality more driven by the bird in her blood than the humanity she was born into. A fact which scares her, given that all she desires in life is to be considered a normal person, and to be treated like everyone else. Beyond influencing her personality to become more bird-like, it also makes her appear innately youthful and childish in personality.

ENTITY OF FIRE. Linette is a little bit of a pyromaniac! As a phoenix, her abilities are intuitive and fire-based. She starts fires, she likes to see fire, she is fire. To burn is to live, to be extinguished is to die. She hates water due to this reason - to her, it feels as if it's smothering her. Due to the stressful nature under which many sorcerers discover their abilities, she's caused her fair share of accidental deaths in Razmiran due to fire-related incidents. She first realized that her fire has the ability to heal after accidentally burning someone she didn't want to burn, prompting the reversal in her powers.

UNDEATH IRRELEVANT. Oddly enough, the healing ability does not seem to be done through Positive energy, like most healing magic - it is truly an enigma of it's own. One of her party members is a Dhamphir, and thus is unable to be effectively healed by the party cleric under most usual conditions.Not without said energy harming her outright instead. But Linette's flames bypass that weakness, and heal her as if she were any living creature. It's quite odd. Of course, this aspect of her ability is kept under very tight wraps - it's fine if folks know her flames can heal, but if the wrong parties find out that she can heal even the undead without issue, there would be major trouble.

SUPERNATURAL CHARM. Linette is very cute - like all angels, or celestials, or vampires, or devils, or other planar entities, her appearance and demeanor naturally intuit others to listen to her, and cherish her accordingly. She's charming to a downright supernatural degree. Her specific heritage of celestial does however mean that such charm comes off as either a) quiet respect and astonishment, or more commonly b) childishly innocent, much to her chagrin.

LETHAL FORCE. She loathes burning living creatures, and killing in general, but as a River Kingdoms native, she's come to terms with the fact that she will have to kill as a matter of survival if she has to. "You have what you hold" is a defacto cultural rule of the river kingdoms. She's not a pacifist, for as naive as she is, she understands the philosophy behind this rule, and acts upon it just as any other resident of the nation would. In a land where everyone is fighting for the sheer right to live exactly as they wish, then you need to be willing to fight to prove your dedication to that cause. And in a land founded by bandits and outlaws, only those who understand why they live the way they do will be able to get a foothold in founding a kingdom there.

GIRL NEXT DOOR. She's well-loved among the citizenry simply because she doesn't act like the typical more-important-than-you noble or queen, and is very adamant on being seen as just another person in town that they've deemed as being the best fit to make important decisions regarding the town's wellbeing. The populace dislikes traditional nobility, or anyone attempting to tell them what to do, really. So Linette being one of them and knowing how they think, is a boon in their eyes. As her supporters who helped her found the city come from outside the River Kingdom and from more traditional structures of nobility, this viewpoint vexes them. She often disguises herself and mingles with the townsfolk by herself, pretending to be an ordinary person. Most of the townsfolk she interacts with are probably aware what she's up to, and find it charming.

COMFORTING PRESENCE. Acts as party peace-maker/therapist.

TABLETOP ORIGINS? Linette originated as a PC who was built for a Pathfinder campaign, meaning her base/default verse uses some of the wacky D&D 3.5 build fun-times, and goes beyond limits that are expected by D&D 5e. IE: her stats go above 20, whether it be naturally or through magic items. Additionally, she was built for and is actively being used in a Kingmaker campaign. Given that she is currently a high level character, she is powerful in comparison to the average adventurer. Which obviously normally means some finicky handling for the sake of balance. But given that she's literally in the ruler position for a kingdom-building campaign, to virtually any muse who encounters her, she is an NPC.

However, interaction does not have to occur in the scenario where she's a kingdom leader - I can also run her at her lower-levelled 'just escaped the goddamn cult and now roaming as a lone adventurer looking for her sister' history point as well, if that's preferred. Baby adventurer Linette.

Alafare - The scholar of dhamphir heritage, in charge of academic pursuits and scholarly matters. A girl who naturally clicks well with the phoenix running through Linette's blood, thanks to shared interest in treasuring lost knowledge and ending discrimination and prejudice through academic means being major boons that co-exist well with a phoenix's natural behavior. However, though she may be with good intention, she is not without her own faults. As she often refuses to properly confront matters which displease her, instead hoping that they will resolve themselves without her direct interference, her unwillingness to be upfront with her intentions often makes her actions come off as passive-aggressive and judgemental when she is upset. Something which has caused conflict amongst the party in the past, and something which Linette is still trying to figure out how to approach.

Alafare is engaged to Katherine.

Katherine - The fighter and scion from the nearby country of Brevoy, in charge of diplomatic endeavors. A happy go lucky personality, devout to a god of drink and freedom. Smooth of word and quick of tongue, Katherine is quick to settle fights before they get a chance to begin - preferably through methods of peace rather than war. However, her aggressively cheery personality is as much of a mask as any other - and it's one that Katherine guards with the same ferocity as a dragon. Linette knows not everything is as sunshine and rainbows as Katherine wants everyone to believe her to be, and despite her best efforts to peek behind it subtly, has yet to properly see what is hidden underneath. After all, Linette doesn't want to be seen as an enemy - she is no match against Katherine, should the later choose to fight back with blade rather than word.

Katherine is engaged to Alafare.

Lee - The gunslinger, heir to a noble family in the old and proud nation of Taldor. This lanky woman was formerly in charge of the nation's army, and is currently involved with local enforcement. Strict, stuffy, and imposing, the gunslinger has left quite a rift among the party as a whole - to the point her personality clashed considerably with the others. Truth be told, it was a necessary difference, even if her point of view was far from the party's ideal - though flawed and full of it's own national bias, it was still a very grounded, realistic way of looking at the world around them. The devil's advocate, a bitter medicine, if you will. Still, she's very human, and the act of being the villain grates on her heavily - it's not as if she's purposefully antagonistic, nor was it ever her intention to cause harm. She was just never fully aware - or free - from the blinders her nation had set over her eyes, nor aware of how she had been conditioned to view the world around her. Regardless of everything she tried to remedy the situation with her own two hands, nothing she tried worked - and the conflict slowly but surely whittled down her state of mind, feeding upon her insecurities and making her heavily doubt her own self-worth. Something Linette noticed early, and wound up becoming something akin to an impromptu therapist - trying to make sure she didn't slip too far down a hole she couldn't climb back out. Lee is... getting better. Slowly but surely, she's getting better.

This woman is so romantically dense someone could have crawled into her bed naked and she still wouldn't have taken the hint. That has in fact happened.

Mirra - The priest of a god of commerce, a judge who can divinely ensure the fairness of any situation at hand. Mirra is... admittedly someone Linette doesn't know terribly much about. She's fairly average in comparison to the rest of the party - a softer personality in comparison to how sharp the others could be. It's not as if she's hiding behind a mask - rather, it's that Linette can't figure out if she's wearing one most of the time. Everyone wears masks, from per experience. No-one is without one - not even her. And especially not a priest. Priests always wear masks, to hide their true intentions from those they interact with. That was simply how they functioned, they breathed lies as easily as they performed miracles. Truthfully, Mirra is a very sweet girl. Not without her own flaws - she's just as prone to trying to pretend that everything is sunshine and rainbows, refusing to look at the flaws of the world before her - but she's not malicious. But she knows that Linette is uneasy around her. Perhaps not why exactly, but it's clear enough that the girl remains skittish despite all attempts to acclimate Linette to the world beyond Razmiran's borders... so the two have so far kept each other at a respectable arm's length. Friendly, but respectful of Linette's boundaries.

Mirra is interested in the ongoing flows of merchant trade and coin. Not in people.

Pathfinder: Kingmaker // Position: Ruler
Aasimar (yhohm heritage) - Phoenix-blooded Sorcerer - Lvl. 15

eyes: red-pink - hair: white - height: 5'1 - weight: 121lb
age: 20 (at start of game), currently 26 or 27

Linette CR 14 XP –

Aasimar sorcerer 15
CG Medium outsider (native)
Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +5

DEFENSE

AC 20, touch 14, flat-footed 16 (+4 armor, +2 shield, +3 Dex, +1 dodge)
hp 120 (15d6+24)
Fort +12, Ref +13, Will +15
Resist acid 5, cold 5, electricity 5

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft.; fly 60ft (good)
Melee dagger +6/+1 (1d4) or +1 cold-iron quarter staff +11/+5 (1d6)
Ranged light crossbow +9/+4 (1d8/19–20)
Special Attacks spontaneous immolation (1d6 fire, 5ft radius, 28 rounds/day)

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 15th)

1/day–daylight, greater restoration

Sorcerer Spells Known (CL 15th; concentration +24)

• 7th (5/day)—firebrand, greater shadow conjuration, subjective reality; (DC 26)
  
• 6th (7/day)—greater shadow enchantment, greater shadow enchantment, path off the winds, shadow transmutation; (DC 25)
• 5th (7/day)—break enchantment, mask from divination, passwall, permanency, shadow evocation; (DC 24)
• 4th (8/day)—obsidian flow, wall of fire, warp metal, shadow conjuration, telekinetic throw; (DC 23)
• 3rd (8/day)—fireball, haste, invisibility sphere, magic circle against evil, shadow enchantment; (DC 22)
• 2nd (8/day)—arcane disruption, flaming sphere, glitterdust, see invisibility, spontaneous immolation, suppress charms and compulsions; (DC 21)
• 1st (8/day)—burning disarm, burning hands, color spray, magic missile, shield, windy escape; (DC 20)
• 0th (at will)—detect magic, disrupt undead, flare, light, mage hand, message, open-close, prestidigitation, ray of frost, read magic, spark; (DC 19)

Bloodline phoenix

TACTICS

Before Combat Linette casts Mage Armor before battle. If she’s expecting to fight invisible enemies, she also casts See Invisibility.

During Combat The sorcerer prefers to heal allies with her fire damage or create openings for them by hindering opponents rather than commit harm against others. Due to most of her offensive spells dealing aoe damage, she tries to avoid catching her allies in the blast radius. When forced to the offensive, the sorcerer is naturally inclined to use spells which deal fire damage, like Fireball. If her opponent is not weak to fire, she’ll rely on her various Shadow spells to get through their defenses. If forced into melee combat, the sorcerer will cast Invisibility Sphere and fly into the air to gain distance. If grappled, she’ll use spontaneous immolation to try and make them let go. If she's truly fearing for her life, she'll use greater shadow enchantment to replicate Antithetical Constraint, Crushing Despair, or Overwhelming Grief to immobilize her opponent.

Base Statistics

Without mage armor or magic items boosting her stats, the sorcerer’s statistics are AC 14, touch 10, flat-footed 10; hp 126; Fort +6, Ref 7, Will 9; spontaneous immolation (21 rounds/day), concentration 18, DCs -3, Cha 22; Bluff +10, Intimidate +10, Use Magic Device +15

STATISTICS

Str 11, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 13, Cha 28
Base Atk +7; CMB +7; CMD 21
Feats Dodge, Eschew Materials, Leadership, Magic Trick (fireball), Magical Aptitude, Maximize Spell, Natural Leader, Selective Spell, Skill Focus [arcana], Solid Shadows, Spell Focus [illusion]
Skills Acrobatics +3, Bluff +9, Diplomacy +11, Fly +15, Intimate +13, Knowledge (arcana) +25, Knowledge (nobility) +3, Linguistics +2, Perception +3, Sense Motive +15, Spellcraft +23, Survival +6, Use Magic Device +24
Languages Common, Celestial, Varisian, French
SQ arcane eyes, arcane voice, bloodline arcana (fire spells can deal 1/2 their damage in healing)
Traits orphaned, outcast’s intuition
Combat Gear Briar (+1 cold iron quarterstaff), scroll of repair undead (CL 3, x2), wand of mage armor (CL 1), wand of mount (CL 7); Other Gear belt of incredible dexterity +6, bracers of armor +4, cloak of resistance +5, discretion charm, handy haversack (containing a bag of holding (type I), expedition pavilion, greater replenishing aquarium ball, kinsight goggles, and a rod of splendor), handy haversleeves +4 (custom magic item combining a handy haversack, bracers of armor, and sleeves of many garments), headband of alluring charisma +6, laurel of command, mirror of guarding reflections, quill of passage, ring of feather falling, ring of force shield, robe of arcane heritage, treasure hunter's goggles, weirding watch

SPECIAL QUALITIES

Arcane Eyes (Sp) Linette has permanently applied multiple eyesight spells on her person. These effects include detect enchantment (60ft), detect magic (120ft), read magic, and see invisibility

Arcane Voice (Sp) Linette has permanently applied the Tongues spell permanent to her person. This effect allows her to understand all known spoken languages, and speak all spoken languages, albeit she can only speak one at a time.

ECOLOGY

Treasure explorer’s outfit, dagger, light crossbow with 20 bolts, other treasure

Phoenix Sorcerer

One of your ancestors bore witness to a phoenix’s resurrection and formed a bond with the magical creature. The resurrecting flames still course through your veins, surging with power.

• Class Skill: Knowledge (Arcana).
  
• Bonus Spells: Color spray (3rd), see invisibility (5th), magic circle against evil (7th), wall of fire (9th), break enchantment (11th), path of the winds (13th), firebrand (15th), prismatic wall (17th), fiery body (19th).
  
• Bonus Feats: Dodge, Elemental Focus (fire), Fast Healer, Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Mobility, Quicken Spell, Skill Focus (Knowledge [arcana]).
  
• Bloodline Arcana: When casting any spell that deals fire damage, you can instead heal your targets. The spell deals no damage, and living creatures affected by the spell instead regain a number of hit points equal to half the fire damage the spell would normally deal.
  
• Bloodline Powers: The phoenix is an elemental creature of sky and primal fire, and its blood within you sings with a similar power.

Obtained (4 levels early)

• The Unseen World (Su) At 1st level, you gain detect magic and read magic as spells known. At 5th level, the phoenix’s blood drives you to find and save lost knowledge and magical items. As a swift action, you can automatically identify the properties of a non-cursed magic item you hold; you must still identify a cursed item as normal to correctly identify it as cursed. You can use this ability a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier per day.
• Immolation (Su) At 3rd level, you gain the ability to surround yourself in fire as a swift action. This fire burns for a number of rounds per day equal to your character level plus your Charisma bonus. These rounds do not have to be consecutive. Any unarmed attacks you make while affected by immolation deal an additional 1d6 points of fire damage, and any creature that ends its turn adjacent to you while you’re affected by immolation also takes 1d6 points of fire damage.
• Vermilion Wings (Su) At 9th level, you gain the ability to grow a pair of phoenix wings from your back as a standard action. The wings grant you a fly speed of 60 feet with good maneuverability. You can dismiss the wings as a free action.
• Restoring Flames (Sp) At 15th level, you can cast greater restoration once per day as a spell-like ability.
• Rebirth (Su) At 20th level, the full power of a phoenix erupts from within you if you perish. When you die, you are brought back to life, as true resurrection, after 1 minute. This ability can be used only once every 24 hours, and if you are slain again within this period, your death is permanent.

Cloak of Resistance +3

Flecks of silver or steel are often sown amid the fabric of these magical cloaks. This garment offers magic protection in the form of a +3 resistance bonus on all saving throws (Fortitude, Reflex, and Will).

Robe of Arcane Heritage

These elegant, dark purple robes are usually decorated with gold stitching suggesting a particular sorcerer bloodline, though some might indicate a family tree. When a sorcerer dons a robe of arcane heritage, the stitching pulls itself apart and reweaves to match her particular sorcerer bloodline. The wearer treats her sorcerer level as 4 higher than normal for the purpose of determining what bloodline powers she can use and their effects.

Headband of Alluring Charisma +6

This attractive silver headband is decorated with a number of small red and orange gemstones. The headband grants the wearer an enhancement bonus to Charisma of +6. Treat this as a temporary ability bonus for the first 24 hours the headband is worn.

Ring of Feather Falling

This ring is crafted with a feather pattern all around its edge. It acts exactly like a feather fall spell, activated immediately if the wearer falls more than 5 feet.

Ring of Force Shield

This ring generates a shield-sized (and shield-shaped) wall of force that stays with the ring and can be wielded by the wearer as if it were a heavy shield (+2 AC). This special creation has no armor check penalty or arcane spell failure chance since it is weightless and encumbrance-free. It can be activated and deactivated at will as a free action.

Digression Charm

These magical baubles were originally created to aid nobles in slipping away to engage in trysts with fellow party-goers, but the Silver Ravens have seized upon them as an excellent way to baffle foes in public areas without resorting to combat. A discretion charm usually comes in the form of a cuff link, an earring, or another small piece of jewelry. Pressing the face of the charm (a standard action) activates it, after which it remains active for up to 5 minutes.

Once it has been activated, the wearer can drop the charm as a free action to render herself invisible, as per vanish. Simultaneously, the dropped charm generates an illusory duplicate of the user in the square, as per programmed image. This image repeats whatever activities the user performed between the time the charm was activated and the time it was dropped. Unlike programmed image, the illusory duplicate of the user can react to external stimuli to a limited degree. It can turn to face those who speak to it and respond by nodding and smiling, but otherwise cannot say anything that it did not record before being dropped. If the charm was dropped less than 1 minute after being activated, anyone interacting with the illusion gains a +5 bonus on the Will save to disbelieve the programmed image effect.

This illusory duplicate lasts for 10 minutes, whereas the vanish effect on the user lasts only 5 rounds. Once the illusion effect ends, the discretion charm loses its powers and becomes a worthless, non-magical piece of costume jewelry.

Handy Haversack

A backpack of this sort appears to be well made, well used, and quite ordinary. It has two side pouches, each of which appears large enough to hold about a quart of material. In fact, each is like a bag of holding and can actually hold material of as much as 2 cubic feet in volume or 20 pounds in weight. The large central portion of the pack can contain up to 8 cubic feet or 80 pounds of material. Even when so filled, the backpack always weighs only 5 pounds.

While such storage is useful enough, the pack has an even greater power. When the wearer reaches into it for a specific item, that item is always on top. Thus, no digging around and fumbling is ever necessary to find what a haversack contains. Retrieving any specific item from a haversack is a move action, but it does not provoke the attacks of opportunity that retrieving a stored item usually does.

Bag of Holding (Type 1)

This appears to be a common cloth sack about 2 feet by 4 feet in size. The bag of holding opens into a nondimensional space: its inside is larger than its outside dimensions. Regardless of what is put into the bag, it weighs a fixed Amount.

If a bag of holding is overloaded, or if sharp objects pierce it (from inside or outside), the bag immediately ruptures and is ruined, and all contents are lost forever. If a bag of holding is turned inside out, all of its contents spill out, unharmed, but the bag must be put right before it can be used again. If living creatures are placed within the bag, they can survive for up to 10 minutes, after which time they suffocate. Retrieving a specific item from a bag of holding is a move action, unless the bag contains more than an ordinary backpack would hold, in which case retrieving a specific item is a full-round action. Magic items placed inside the bag do not offer any benefit to the character carrying the bag.

If a bag of holding is placed within a portable hole, a rift to the Astral Plane is torn in the space: bag and hole alike are sucked into the void and forever lost. If a portable hole is placed within a bag of holding, it opens a gate to the Astral Plane: the hole, the bag, and any creatures within a 10-foot radius are drawn there, destroying the portable hole and bag of holding in the process.

Originally, Razmiran was nothing more than a little dutchy within a region called the River Kingdoms, a land of bandits, hermits, and misfits who disliked the rules and shackles imposed on them by their neighboring lands, essentially creating a chaotic mess of start-up kingdoms fighting for the right to exist - often springing to life and ceasing to be all within the span of a year, put down by other rival kingdoms seeking to exist in the same spot just as soon as they had named their intentions.

The church of Razmir was nothing more than another of those rival groups, a fringe religion which had sprung up on the outskirts of a dutchy about 50 years prior, and had quickly taken to ruling with an iron fist. The youngest and fastest growing nation in the region, but at it's own cost. The 'church of Razmir' is nothing more than a cult, of the worst kind, and it isn't afraid to push it's weight around - or it's people - to get what it wants. Through thorough warmongering, it has since well established itself in the region, ensuring that it's presence wouldn't easily be overthrown anytime soon.

With their lives ruled by the word of the cloth under the tenants of law, luxury, and obedience, the common folk are under constant surveillance by anonymous mask-wearing priests - watching for any act of insubordination, and any chance of opportunity to push their weight around. Every coin they earn and every move they make observed by the wealthy priesthood and those that support it, taken and controlled so tightly that those who live in luxury practically own the lives of the poor in all but legality.

Of course, the common folk don't take this lying down - some have indeed fought back. To very little success, thus far. The grip of the priests is strong, and the nails which stick out are often stripped out. It's not uncommon for faces to go missing, often never seen again. People never disappear due to brushes with the law, criminals send off to the mines. Those accused of heresy instead saved for a festival reserved for mass execution. They can't prove it's the priests behind the disappearances. But common sense reveals the truth. Sometimes, its by the beasts which plague the rest of the River Kingdoms, which the priests obviously do little about. But otherwise, there's no doubt that the priesthood has taken them with intent to correct these 'false notions' that have settled in their heads. Give them a 'corrective education', or 'proper indoctrination' into the faith.

Those whose faces are seen again are often... not quite who they once were. The scars aren't always physical, though some bear the signs of burns and physical torment - but unanimously, all who disappear only to come back, their minds and souls almost seem as if they had been twisted into a facsimile of what they had been before. Coming back as supporters, if not outright new priests, praising Razmir's name.

Those who hold doubts of Razmir's divinity have long since learned to hold their tongue, and keep their thoughts elsewhere - if they don't, the walls in which they live may decide to bless them with a visit by the local priests.

This is the life that Linette was born into.
And the life she strived to escape.