Character Backstory – SOLSTICE CYRA
 
1. Where were you born? (you don’t have to name the city exactly or even flush out the entire thing, just give an idea of what kind of city/ environment/ size/ unique things, you don’t have to be too specific)


 
Solstice was born in the city near Misty Vail harbor. She grew up between the city and her clan in the forest. She ran with her clan’s wolf pack as a teen for the coming of age ceremony. She’s very at home with a pack of predators.


 
At present day, Solstice is 22 yr old. Solstice stands average height for a shifter woman – 6’0” and is about 180 lbs. Her skin is a beautiful warm mix of pale cream in dark coffee, golden almost. The first thing you notice is a curvaceous figure framed by long thick unruly dark hair. Waves of it fall down her back to her waist. You can see braids and brightly colored beads scattered throughout the waves catching the light. The right side of her head is shaved. A few pieces of hair curl around to frame her heart shaped face. At first glance, she is very delicate with high cheek bones and full lips. Until you meet her ensnaring eyes, shades of brown mix with flecks of yellow and amber. Outlined in deep gray and black. If you are able to drag your glaze from her eyes that somehow hold happiness and speak of sorrow, you begin to notice scars across her body. She’s seen battles. One scar bisects her right eyebrow creating a thin line through the eyebrow and picking up on her cheek down to her nose. Her right ear also has a neat triangle missing from the top. Her left ear has several studs and one hoop. She exudes this warmth tinged lightly with violence. She has a pale blue gray pattern decorating the right side of her face.


 
Leather boots come over her knees. Straps of leather wrap the boots tightly to mold her legs. Hide and red fabric gather at her waist forming an asymmetrical skirt. She also has a thick leather belt with pouches and places to sheath weapons. Her left arm also has pieces of leather with a few bones and feathers wrapped around her bicep. A similar blue gray pattern decorates that arm as well. Now that you have notice this pattern, you see bits and pieces across her body.


 
2. Who are your parents? Names / Occupation (try NOT to just kill them off/ be an orphan, but you can make it unique)


 
Mother is a barbarian shifter. Elluna of the Tree Wolf Clan. Tree Wolf Clan Lycanthrope, werewolf variant that lives in the forest. The clan stays away from most politics and lives a simple life. Some leave the clan for a different, more human, lifestyle or for adventure.
Father is a renowned half elf fighter. Geralt Caillou Ky-u Allairon His adventures and battles are songs and stories passed across the continent. (think Witcher)


 
Elluna met Caillou while he was adventuring in a dark forest where her clan lived. Caillou was fighting an epic entity (choose monster?). Elluna saw some of the fight and was entranced with the half elf fighter’s abilities. He was almost as swift as HER clan. She stayed to watch the battle and made a noise when he was wounded. She finished the battle and saved him from certain death. It was love at first fight. She nursed him back to health.


 
Her parents are an unconventional pairing. Solstice’s clan begrudgingly accepts her father and mixed blood is no difference to them. His fighting skills were unparalleled. The Tree Wolf pack values strength and abilities above blood. They live in a training school bottom floor make shift orphanage top floor. Her parents do not tolerate poor treatment of children. They take in children abandoned. Her ‘adopted’ siblings are her pack. Solstice very much takes on a protector role.


 
3. What were you doing before you left to be an adventurer? Or have you even “left” yet? What was it you left behind? (What was a “normal” day like in the life of your character?)


 
Solstice hasn’t left home for adventure yet. She was raised on stories of her parents. She does want to grow up and be like them. She is waiting for the ‘right moment’ or a sign to set out. Finding a party to join could be the sign she’s waiting for. Or she’s waiting to hear a quest that grabs her attention and heart.


 
Mother moved to a town with father, and they adventured together helping small villages until I was born. Elluna and Caillou opened a training school in their favorite village that just so happened to sale Misty Water. Because trade was so high, people were always entering and leaving the training school. Not to mention most people wanted to see the beautiful shifter, Elluna that taught with a ruthless edge. Solstice was raised in the training school and even taught sessions herself by age 12. When all else fails during competitions, rage. Her parents were warm and showered affection on her. She was raised to believe there are people worth protecting and that she could not use her strength maliciously. She has no siblings but runs with a similarly aged town kid (maybe a party member?) She was born in the forest early on her mother’s last hired adventure. Her family lives modestly. People have heard tales of her parents’ adventures and many enroll in training even if it’s briefly. Others do it to see her parent or the 12 yr old that can beat grown men in a matter of minutes. Her parents taught her to take calculated risks to win a fight. Sometimes she’s too risky or forgets her strength. She frequently knocked sparring partners unconscious or broke items she picked up.


 
A normal day is getting up. Potentially carrying for younger siblings then sparring either for practice or as a competition. The training school offers lessons and holds competitions to make money. Solstice was a big attraction because she was able to beat larger men as a pup/teen. Her father rarely competes. He mostly teaches due to past injuries. He isn’t as spire as he used to be. Her mother will teach and compete as needed. Solstice probably is one of the oldest in the house and runs errands in the town as needed.


 
4. Who do you know in the world? (Friends, Enemies, Extended Family, Acquaintances)


 
Solstice was raised between the city/Misty Vail harbor and the forest her clan resides in. Solstice’s clan, the Tree Wolves, emphasize communing with the beasts that are a part of them as well as the shifters. All shifters spend several years with a pack of their beasts, in Solstice’s case wolves. It was during a battle protecting her pack in the forest that she noticed her rage. It felt as if the very spirits of her ancestors filled her with renewed vigor to protect those she cared for. She also has a ‘city clan’ those that share her home regardless of how they came to live with her parents. They are a happy mix of races.


 
5. Why did you leave to become an adventurer?


 
Solstice hasn’t left home for adventure yet. She was raised on stories of her parents. She does want to grow up and be like them. She is waiting for the ‘right moment’ or a sign to set out. Finding a party to join could be the sign she’s waiting for. Or she’s waiting to hear a quest that grabs her attention and heart.


 
6. How did you become the class you are?


 
All shifters spend several years with a pack of their beasts, in Solstice’s case wolves. It was during a battle protecting her pack in the forest that she noticed her rage. It felt as if the very spirits of her ancestors filled her with renewed vigor to protect those she cared for. Her mother is also a barbarian. Once Solstice described the sensations and her heightened abilities, her mother told her she had come of age.


 
7. What do you want? Immediate goals? Long term goals?


 
Long term goal: become a well-known adventurer like her parents
Immediate goal: Find something worth standing for. See more of the world.


 
8. What do you love / hate / fear? (Ideals)


 
During her time with the wolves, she lost pact members and mourned with the pack. It’s part of the natural order which she understands. She also wants to be strong enough to protect those precious to her. Although she is generally neutral (life is like the seasons, it changes) she also can’t stand by watching cruel injustice. She was labeled somewhat a “trouble maker” growing up because she beat up bullies. The towns’ people are found of her and a little scared. Because life changes like the seasons, Solstice is quick to try something new or risky in battle if the reward is enough. Growing up she was not allowed to touch delicate things or left without some sort of friendly supervision.


 
She fears not being strong enough to protect her pack, those she holds dear.


 
9. What do you respect / value in others, the world, or life? (Bonds)


 
Her pack is the most important thing to her. She seeks to become a great adventurer like her parents and make them proud of her. She respects those that weld great strength and power in a delicate merciful way. She’s seen and experienced a lot of bad in the world.


 
10. What major flaws do you have? They could be physical, mental, social (***Bonus points for cool/ big flaws***)


 
Solstice is clumsy af. She picks up things to fidget without noticing and frequently breaks them. She will destroy at least one thing before she leaves a place. She also forgets how strong she is compared to others. She may have given actual rib crushing hugs. She rarely hesitates. She has learned life can be brief and you should try most things before yours ends.


 
11. Are you heroic? (If there was something dangerous happening, would you run to it?)


 
Only if her pack was in danger or she was able to deem it a worthwhile risk.


 
12. Are you merciful? (Goblin Story: a person who wronged you, then asks to be spared… do you?)


 
She is merciful generally. If her pack has personally suffered and they have a history of not keeping their word, Solstice would end a threat. Nature can be ruthless.


 
13. How do your powers work? (anything cool or unique to the way you cast spells)


 
When Solstice shifts, her skin ripples like heat off a hot pan. Above her skin it’s a little blurry as her body adjusts and sprouts fur. Her face shifts to become more snout like. Her ears shift on her head and triple in size. Her face appears more like a german shepard. Her teeth elongate. Her fingers become more pawlike. Claws burst out of her finger tips long and sharp. When she rages, a tuff of fur sprouts down her back. Almost like her hair continues down into a tail. She lets out a skin prickling lonesome howl.


 
14. Backstory:
Write about what happened before “The Campaign”
You don’t have to answer all of these, this is just for help brainstorming:
Did you go on any adventures before this? Do you have any people you know in the town you’re from? Know of any suspicious activity/ rival/ danger somewhere near or far? Did you celebrate/ have any huge successes? Did you lose something of great importance? Did something mysterious/ unknown happen to you or you heard about it? What did you parents do before this? What are you trying to accomplish, made progress towards? What struggles/ flaws does your character currently have that they will have to try and overcome?


 
Solstice grew up between the training house and her mother’s wild pack. All cubs spend time with their ancestors, usually the animal they most resemble or have evolved from. Solstice enjoys and understands her pack and how they value their freedom from humans. She also loves her siblings that she has grown with and helped care for. Solstice wants to grow up and be an epic adventurer like her parents. Classic I love my parents and want them to be proud of me. Other races may not understand or accept the shifters. That is part of the reason they avoid towns. Some of the pack members are certainly more wild/less human and more beast. I’m sure there are tails about shifters being wild beasts that can’t control themselves. Elluna fights and teaches in the training house to help people understand shifters more and show that they are not threats. I’m sure her parents have experienced racism and discrimination and tried to shield Solstice from the brunt of it.
<Shifters could be hunted to slave trade. If you need some drama?>


 
Solstice has perhaps completed a few low level quests: finding missing items or people, maybe collecting herbs or something from a difficult region.


 
Solstice is still waiting for the right time to set out and adventure like her parents did saving villages and righting injustice. She just hasn’t felt like it’s the right time yet. And her father spoils her and wants to keep her safe. He’s hesitant to let her set off without an adventurer group that can be trusted. Imagine the over protective dad giving safety speeches and teaching her fighting moves to protect herself. There is a flyer in the fighting house for people interested in starting an adventurer group. Solstice’s dad let her hang it. To join the group, you have to fighter Caillou, Elluna, or Solstice. <Perhaps this is how some of the party members meet?>