Backgrounds

When you first step into the world of Ashkarin and beyond, don’t worry too much about your character’s full backstory—focus instead on who they are today and what brought them to this first moment of danger or opportunity. But after that first session, take time to consider the life they left behind. Where were they born? Were they raised in the shadowed alleys of Ashkarin, or deep among the stone halls of Red Tooth Rise? Who trained them—an old soldier with regrets, a wandering herbalist, a disgraced knight? What faces do they still remember, and what oaths have they sworn or broken? Your background is more than flavor—it is soil where future quests take root. Plant it well.

With a basic background rooted in the world already established, we can begin shaping character knowledge sheets (Character Knowledge Sheets) detailing the people you know, the places you've seen, and the rumors or debts that may soon circle back to you. These connections will guide not only your personal narrative but the kinds of adventure hooks likely to come your way. This is a deadly, unraveling world where survival often hinges on who you can trust—or who still owes you a favor. Who you are becoming matters more than who you once were, but in a realm stretched thin for resources and shelter, it's imperative you gain a foothold early. Connections are coin, and legacy is leverage.

Here are five important pieces of background to help bring your character to life in the world of Ashkarin and beyond. These details don’t need to be finalized before the first session, but they’ll serve as strong anchors for future roleplaying, relationships, and adventure hooks:

Where are you from?
Start with the “Where Are You From?” table to determine your origin—Ashkarin is most common, but your roots might lie in the dwarven halls of Red Tooth Rise, the elven glades of Brinewood, or the haunted marshes of the Singing Fen.
Where were you trained?
Who shaped your skills? A Pale Lodge mentor, a back-alley bladesman, a scholar-priest of Nisaba, or a wandering beast hunter? Consider how formal or chaotic your training was—and who might still remember you.
Who do you owe (or who owes you)?
Was your escape paid by a dying comrade? Do you carry a debt to a crime family or a vow to an order? Perhaps someone you saved—or failed—is still out there, waiting.
What’s your mark of distinction?
Even fresh adventurers carry the weight of a story. Perhaps it’s a worn family heirloom handed down with trembling pride—a simple dagger, a faded locket, or a cloak patched a hundred times. Maybe it’s a scar from a childhood accident that’s become your only real tale of danger. Some bear a symbol stitched into old armor by a parent who once fought and fell. Whatever it is, your mark of distinction sets you slightly apart—just enough that others may ask, or remember your face.

What are you chasing—or running from?
Are you seeking vengeance, redemption, or just coin? Have you sworn an oath you can’t break or fled a past that might find you again?

Where Are You From?

🌍 Where Are You From?

Race-specific origin tables for characters born in a world shaped by Ashkarin’s shadow, racial enclaves, and frontier hardship.

🧑‍🦰 Humans

d100	Origin	Notes
01–70	Ashkarin	City-born. Raised among saints, shadows, or silvered halls.
71–76	Draxigar	Raised where ambition walks with a knife. Merchant-lords and backroom deals.
77–80	Duskwater	Lake mist, reedwind prayers, and sharp herbal fingers.
81–84	Frostmark	Paladin marches, banners stiff in winter, and command drilled early.
85–88	Fort Triaros	Ash on your skin and iron in your voice. Survival was your only education.
89–92	Warden (Dus-Canach)	Death-bound oaths, measured breath, and contracts signed in ash.
93–96	Pale Lodge Trailborn	A childhood of campfires, dead maps, and whispered trails.
97–100	Mixed Heritage (Choose 2)	You grew between places—claim two locations and live the contradiction.

🧝 Elves

d100	Origin	Notes
01–70	Ashkarin	Cloaked in grace and older secrets. Your eyes remember stone forgotten by men.
71–83	Brinewood	Treebound rites, fey-laced twilight, and blood-tied forests.
84–90	Singing Fen	Marsh-born memory singers. Your family speaks with birds and wakes with ghosts.
91–95	Duskwater	You grew quiet. You grew keen. Mist and memory marked you.
96–100	Pale Lodge Trailborn	Never stayed. Wander-blood burns brighter than tree-root calm.

🧙 Dwarves

d100	Origin	Notes
01–70	Ashkarin	Raised among undercroft guilds or deep beneath the Iron Court.
71–84	Red Tooth Rise	Adamantine born and oath-tempered. The mountain remembers your name.
85–89	Frostmark	Siege-trained. The forge roared louder than lullabies.
90–93	Duskwater	Rooted and quiet, a rock among fishers and herbs.
94–97	Warden (Dus-Canach)	Bonewright discipline and death-bound craft.
98–100	Blackfang Foothills (Stoneclad Clans)	Rare as true mithral. Born in vaults sealed by silence and old law.

🧝‍♂️ Half-Elves

d100	Origin	Notes
01–70	Ashkarin	Neither one nor the other. You wear your lineage like a shadowed sigil.
71–80	Brinewood or Singing Fen	Between root and mist, your song never fully settled.
81–85	Duskwater	A reed-grown home and an old elven lullaby.
86–90	Frostmark or Triaros	Edged by martial law, forged by divided command.
91–100	Pale Lodge Trailborn	Camp-born, oath-woven. Your trail name means more than any surname.

🧝‍♀️ Half-Orcs

d100	Origin	Notes
01–70	Ashkarin	Grew strong in the alleys, or born beneath banners of steel and sacrifice.
71–80	Fort Triaros	Forged in siege. Burnt food, bad dreams, and a blade before bedtime.
81–85	Duskwater	A lake-born giant among small boats and tired smiles.
86–90	Frostmark	Rare and iron-hard. Your silence was louder than command.
91–95	Warden (Dus-Canach)	You obey contracts like scripture and wear silence like armor.
96–100	Pale Lodge Trailborn	Born in grit, raised in whispers. Trust is earned by steps and scars.

👣 Halflings

d100	Origin	Notes
01–70	Ashkarin	Grew up in a tavern corner or on a trade cart bench. You know how to listen.
71–80	Windward Hills	Hill-folk, hedge-blessed, and fearless in defense of joy.
81–88	Singing Fen	Fog-kissed and fey-sung. You dream in riddles and cook with ghosts.
89–93	Duskwater	Grew up beside lilypads and iron hooks. Quiet but not simple.
94–100	Warden (Dus-Canach)	Your smile hides a contract and your stew stirs the dead. You serve. Always.

🧝‍♂️ Drow, Duergar, Svirfneblin

d100	Origin	Notes
01–70	Ashkarin (Deep Door or Gutterroot)	You walk with shadow, even in the sun. You were watched. Always.
71–90	Khaldrith Nyx	Lanternborn. Bone-masked whispers, and truths traded for silence.
91–95	Warden (Dus-Canach)	Raised among contracts and the quiet dead. Unnatural stillness comforted you.
96–100	Azure Shelf (Svirfneblin only)	You remember salt-flecked caves and radiant coral cathedrals. The deep still calls.

May 22nd, 2025

Training Origins by Class

🧭 Training Origins by Class

Acrobat

Trained: Wheelmarked
Initiated into the Wheelmarked and possibly worked in rogue performance troupes. Learned balance, stealth, and flair performing on rooftop ropes and dodging back-alley blades.

Assassin

Trained: Wheelmarked
Recruited quietly by the Wheelmarked. Whispered oaths taken under flickering oil lamps and blood rites performed behind the fighting pits.

Barbarian

Trained: Shadehouse Commons or Bear Valley frontier
Untrained in city ways, but tested in trial combat at the Commons. Occasionally taken under the wing of mercenary captains or pit masters seeking raw power.

Bard

Trained: Latch & Lantern (6), Temple of Oshun (Temple District), or with traveling troupes
Drew inspiration from politics, poetry, and whispered tales in upper-class taverns. Some serve Oshun, where music is worship and magic.

Cleric

Trained: Temple District (11) — Shrine aligned to their god
Initiated into divine mysteries through long candlelit vigils. Each god’s temple offers unique trials and theological instruction, often with strange visions.

Druid

Trained: Grove of Lost Stones (13) or beyond city walls by Rooted Circle mentors
Rare in Ashkarin. Their rites are held in the mossy grove or outside the walls at midnight. The Rooted Circle teaches the balance of wild and city.

Fighter

Trained: Shadehouse Commons or Iron Court auxiliaries
Drilled in the art of steel and shield by retired war sergeants or house mercenaries. Some rose through Blades of the Commons tournaments.

Illusionist

Trained: The magically hidden Shrouded Spire
Taught by Althalen Varis. The illusions they craft amuse nobles, mislead foes, and veil secrets in silk and shadow.

Knight

Trained: Iron Court (1), noble houses, or Cathedral of Donblas (2)
Younger sons of merchant lords or Gilded Dust scions. Often pledge to Donblas, tying chivalry to law. Trained in courtly warfare and oaths.

Magic-User

Trained: Tower Arcana (9)
Tested at the Mage’s Gambit. Taught sigils, binding runes, and arcane etiquette. Some buy their way in, others earn entry with strange natural gifts.

Paladin

Trained: Cathedral of Donblas (2) or Temple of St. Ras (11)
Their calling manifests through visions or judgmental dreams. Mentored by high priests or crusading knights, their sword is an oath made manifest.

Ranger

Trained: Rooted Circle outposts, Shadehouse Commons, or Blackfang foothills
Taught to track, survive, and kill outside the walls. Sometimes return to serve as scouts or quiet protectors of the city’s fringes.

Thief

Trained: Wheelmarked sponsorship
Picked up in the streets, the pits, or the slums for guild training. If they survive initiation, they’re taught to vanish, pick locks, and steal secrets as well as gold.

May 22nd, 2025 May 22nd, 2025