Mardred and Shaena

Ugh, finished... for now. I feel not so much that I've 'finished' but staggered across the line and collapsed I tried to make the hair look more natural with the rest of the picture. Tidied up a few things and added small details. Still not happy with it, but I have to finish it to get over this hurdle. Might add Shaena's story in later - right now I feel it's too similar to Drew's.

Not even sure at this point if I will even finish the series. 4E is defunct, the players are indifferent, and might just wait for the new edition.

Marcy



This is a kind of 'short girls' picture, as these two don't really line up with any of the 'Power' books...

Mardred, on the left, is a Duergar Battlemind, a psionic warrior. Shaena is a Ghostwise halfling, a small tribe of the 'little folk' who live an untypically tribal existence on the Talenta Plains. She's a Whirling Barbarian.

Shaena has a story to go with her - I feared it was a bit too much like Drew's (though it was written first!) which I might post later when I've done some colouring.

Shaena is meant to be quite pretty - she doesn't speak a word of any language except Argon, and she chirrups away in that tongue non-stop. She's sexy, and cute, all at once.

I strongly resisted making Mardred 'pretty' - Duergar are not a 'pretty' race - though I wanted her to have a nice body. I'm still giving some consideration to giving her a helm or mask.

I actually disliked the idea of 'tribal halflings' to begin with, as I preferred the races to remain distinct. If everyone can be everything, it ruins the impact for me. So we made some pretty strict rules about what races had which power sources. Some of these rules were strict, others only a guideline. For instance, a dwarf shaman would likely be the only one in the world, but a dwarf mage would be the only one in history.

Shaena is likely the only Ghostwise barbarian the world right now - tribal or not, they are not built for violence. Most would likely become rangers or rogues or some class that plays to their strengths. But Shaena, as we shall see, likes to flex her small muscles.

Duergar - the 'dark dwarves' - have always been psionic since 1st edition way back when, so Battlemind seemed a good choice for them. They are also the only dwarves to use Arcane magic, liking illusions and invisibility.

Problem is, 4E in its usual unsubtle way changed them from being 'grumpy, selfish underground dwarves' to being half-devil, and made them spiky and encrusted with needles. Yeah, really, they can shoot porcupine spikes at people *facepalm*.

I thought that was really silly, personally, chucking head spines at foes. So for Mardred, I've tried to preserve the classic Duergar look - bald, grey, surly - and instead put the spines on her arms.

I have a real hankering to have Mardred and Helja fight, then challenge the other to a 'beer-drinking and human-screwing' competition!


______Mardred Grimhammer_____

The duergar are an uncompromising people, brothers to the dwarves of the mountain and the surface world. Sundered in olden days from their brethren, the duergar retreated far beneath the earth, swearing oaths that would forever see them enstranged from their kin. In the deep, perpetual night of the Underdark, they became something different to their lost brethren.

They carried with them the worship of their forbidden 'god' - a devil named Laguder, a grim deity of harsh work and constant toil. In time, some of the patriarchs and matriarchs took on characteristics that were... disturbingly infernal. Dwarves are resistant to the magick of the lower planes, but over the centuries, the horns and spines of their dark patrons have split the skin of their flesh, marking them as corrupted, an affront to others of their kind.

The duergar are mostly spoken of as legends, a cautionary tale of what happens when a people engage in civil war. They are the 'dirty secret' of the durgenlen, and thankfully their distant home far beneath the earth means they seldom visit the world of men. There, in the lightless depths, they toil and work endlessly, fighting kobolds and goblins, orcs, drow, kuo-toa and their own savage cousins, the derro.

In truth, and despite their worship of the infernal and their penchant for forbidden magicks, they are closer to their surface kin than they are to the feral, insane derro or the decadent drow, or the alien horrors like illithid or aboleths. They remain honourable in their harsh way, and tradition-bound, like many dwarves, a dark mirror of surface society.

But their culture demands unstinting loyalty, and rejects any concept of kindness or mercy as a weakness. Mardred Grimhammer was born with psionic potential, something uncommon but not unknown among the duergar. Honing her fighting skills and mental abilities both, she excelled in rising through the ranks of her military. Women warriors were unusual among her kind, but the Duergar are fond of their loopholes, and their women ironically enjoy more freedoms than regular dwarven females.

But Mardred grew tired of slave raids and endless toil, and began to ask the kind of questions the Patriarchs detested. If the duergar were so superior, why did they use slaves and fear the other races? Would trade and alliances not benefit them more? Did they not have more in common with their surface kin than the twisted degenerates among the derro?

She learned the hard way that such heresies are punished by the 'Walk of Torment' - exile in the Underdark, where their assassins hunted the outcast. If she could survive their pursuit for a full cycle, then they would respect her strength and she would be allowed to rejoin their ranks... providing no further blasphemies were forthcoming from her lips. Fail, and her bones would lie in the silent dark.

Mardred was lucky in her flight - she fled into the 'Underwild', a lushly verdant underground area that the other races avoided. Here dwelt the Myconoid mushroom men, the snirfneblin deep gnomes, and human druids who had been drawn to the world beneath their feet. They took her in, and in return she swore to guard the strange sanctuary, this eerie realm of subterranean life.

For long years, she patrolled the Underwild, guarding its boundaries from its many foes. She spoke with the slumbering crystals in the sacred glades, learning of the Far Realm and its many horrors. War was coming, they told her, and this war would require the World Above as well as the World Below. If the two worlds could not find common cause, both would cease to exist.

Though she did not wish to leave the Underwild, Mardred understood the necessity of finding allies in the World Above. She left her home for the surface lands, a place of harsh brightness where others looked upon her with suspicion and distaste. There, she joined the Company of Greys, a mercenary unit who take on outcasts, runaways and strays from races humans would ordinarily consider foes. She has made good progress in their ranks, and is ready to speak of the coming war, and enlist surface warriors to come to the aid of the Underwild.

There, in the Underdark, is where the battle will be won, she is sure of it. And she is ready to play her part.

Mardred is a grim, no-nonsense woman, with little time for fripperies and frivolous behaviour. Unless it involves drinking and sex, but those things are a serious business for her. The latter past-time is a new one for her - duergar breeding practises are secretive and not a matter for emotions or pleasure. But that is not so in the Underwild, or the surface world, and she has a particular attraction towards darkly elegant drow males or tall, well-built human men. While other races do not find her people attractive, she has a good body and finds she likes to show it off.

Mardred is fascinated by psionics and the nature of the Underwild, and is happy to learn from those who weild psionic or primal power. She does not hate her surface brethren, but remains suspicious around them, and is exceptionally competitive with the other dwarves she meets. Ultimately, she knows she must one day return to confront her people, but she does not relish what will be a bloody homecoming. She understands they must see her as a traitor, and there can be no forgiveness, or quarter.


____Shaena_____


The Hin people call no land their own, nor do they have kings or emperors. Gregarious and mobile, they are nomadic wanders, trading and travelling where their wagons and riverboats take them.

But this is not all they are - few know it, but a tiny tribe of Hin dwells on the Talanta Plains in tribal lands, and this little 'lost tribe' is quite unique to the others of their kind.

The 'Ghostwise' people are shy and secluded, trading only occasionally with other tribal folk and never with outsiders. Most speak only Argon, and only a few Elders know the speech of 'civilised' men.

The Ghostwise folk live at one with nature and the seasons, preferring woad paint to clothing, and the company of beasts to men. Each Ghostwise has his or her own markings, unique to them, and these can change as the seasons pass and the hin enters a new phase of their lives.

The other races give them a wide berth - among civilised people, there is even talk of them as tiny, pygmy cannibals and savages. Although in fact they are peaceful hunter-gatherers and never indulge in such barbarities, they accept these tales as a means of keeping others away from their home. They have a particular rapport with the Great Lizards, the 'behemoths', and frequently tame or befriend such beings as steeds, adding the kind of strength and power the small hin lack.

Shaena was born to the warrior caste, tall for her people, being almost four foot of sculptured, sleek muscle. Beautiful, headstrong and none too bright, she was an excellent warrior and huntress, but the restrictions of tribal culture chafed her. The great plains and deep woods could not hold her, and she wished to meet with other races and see the cities of men.

After one too many arguments with the tribal elders, Shaena took her macetail steed and set out by herself. An early encounter with the orcs and goblins of Drazen's Horde saw her mount sacrifice himself to save her, hurling himself off a cliff with many foes so that she could escape.

Saddened, Shaena soon found that her dream of exploring the outside world had tarnished - she could not speak the outsider's tongue and their ways confused her. Her lack of clothing and decorum created many problems, and she found herself longing for her wide open home.

Unable to fit in the human world, and unwilling to crawl back home with her tail between her legs, she drifted around the hinterlands for weeks, hunting and wandering. A chance encounter with a human male changed both of their lives, and convinced her that she might find peace among the Outlanders after all.

Attending TribeMeet on her own, and keeping clear of her people, she heard the High Druid was seeking bold warriors to fight the monsters of the Dreaming Dark. Sensing this was her opportunity, she gladly signed up for more adventures. Fighting was something she understood, and perhaps she could learn more about the Outlanders and fellow tribals alike.

Shaena is just under four feet tall, but she is almost pure, lissom muscle, all sleek athletic grace. She has tawny skin, burned buttermilk under the hot sun on the plains, and tousled chestnut hair. Like all Ghostwise, she uses woad blood-paint to decorate her skin and shuns anything beyond the most basic clothing.

Touched by the primal spirits, she is consumed by a joy of battle when she fights, in a spinning dance of destruction that sees her bouncing about the battlefield. She has always found it easy to let the spirits ride her, possessing her in the wild affray. Of late, she has felt the touch of her dead macetail steed, and his spirit drives her to greater heights of combat ecstacy.

Shaena uses the weapons of her people - the paired Tangats for close work or her boomerang for attacking from range. She is one of the few Hin warriors able to heft the mighty Sharrash, a weapon intended for threshing the mightiest of foes.

Shaena's personality is somewhat intense - she has few concepts of civilised behavior, and even tribal traditions grate on her. She is direct, forceful, and blunt, and easily loses patience with others. She finds most other people to be too big and lumbering - they move too awkwardly and speak too slowly.

But at heart, she feels lonely, and is still looking for her place in the world. For now, it is enough to belong, and to enjoy the unique melding of cultures the Far Realm war has brought about. She wonders sometimes if she will ever see her human lover again, or even if he remembers her.


Mardred
Duergar Resilient Battlemind
Str 17, Int 10, Wis 18, Dex 13, Con 18, Chr 13
Languages: Dwarven, Deep Speech, Common
Skills - Dungeoneering, Endurance, Insight
Feats - Deceptive Mind
Powers - Bull's Strength, Iron Fortress, Living Fortress
Gear - Scalemail, Heavy Shield, Warhammer, Crystal focus

Shaena
Ghostwise Halfling Whirling Barbarian
Str 18, Int 9, Wis 17, Dex 18, Con 14, Chr 16
Languages: Argon
Skills - Acrobatics, Athletics, Nature
Feats - Talenta Weapon Training
Powers - Foe To Foe, Whirling Rend, Whirling Frenzy, Macetail's Rage
Gear - Warpaint, Leather thong, Talenta Tangats (pair), Talenta Sharrash, Talenta Boomerang