Ranulf
Ser Ranulf Kinborough
Ranulf is a young man who has lost his standing with his holy order, but has lost none of his own convictions. He is now on a quest to become powerful enough that noone can tell him how to fight for justice, and also to find out the truth of his heritage.
Named for his great-grandfather, who in turn claimed he got his name from an ancestor who was a Gorl raider, Ranulf Kinborough was born in 739 SE to Garett and Enid Kinborough, a freeman household in the county of Gorsdale in Sarkara. His mother died giving birth to him and Ranulf grew up raised mostly by his sister Marjorie, eleven years his senior. His other sister Gail, who was 3 years older than him, was his only friend, as he was shunned by everyone, even his own father, who seemed to resent Ranulf for the death of his mother. The children of his father's farmhands would avoid him, seemingly afraid of him. Even those much older than him seemed intimidated by him, but sometimes, when he was alone, they would shout at him, calling him "devil child" and "demonkin", and throw rocks at him, only to run away screaming as soon as he would move to react.
It was a lonely childhood, and Ranulf dreamed of traveling to far away lands and finding glory. His great-grandfather, who had outlived both his son and granddaughter, still lived on the farm, and was the only other person who seemed to care for Ranulf, besides his sisters. He had fought in the War of the Witches, and would tell stories of fighting evil warlocks and witches and their monstrous minions. He had lost his right arm in the war, but said he had been saved from death by a cleric of Karos, whose healing spell he would also claim was responsible for his longevity.
When Ranulf was 8, Marjorie was married to the local merchant's son, and moved to the nearby village of Gilsbridge, leaving Ranulf with only Gail and papi Ranulf to care for him. His father grew increasingly distant, and as Ranulf grew he began to understand that his father did not want to leave his land to Ranulf, and was hoping that Marjorie could provide him with a grandson who could inherit the farm. Ranulf didn't really want to inherit the farm, he wanted to be a warrior like his papi, a crusader for good, like those who fought with King Ethalad, but he was still hurt that his father seemed to have turned his back on him so thoroughly.
In the autumn of 751 SE two events happened in quick succesion that would change Ranulf's life forever. Papi Ranulf, now 97 years old, got sick and started to decline rapidly. Ranulf would tend to him by his bedside, and here the elder Ranulf told his great-grandson the truth of his heritage: that cleric of Karos who had healed Ranulf was not just his saviour, but also his lover. Her name was Anna, and she was, as papi Ranulf put it, a Half-Angel from the mercenaries of Mount Pallas. He and she had had a love-affair as he was recovering from his wounds, and Anna had become pregnant with the child who would eventually become Henri, Ranulf's grandfather. Anna gave birth in secret, and only a few weeks later, the biggest battle of the war happened, and Anna was rallied to the side of her kinsmen, and was killed. Ranulf took the infant Henri home to his birthplace of Gorsdale, and with his spoils of war bought a modest plot of land from the local count. This land was merged with the neighbour's land when Enid married Garrett, which is how Ranulf came to live on Garrett's farm.
So Ranulf, through his mother, had angel-blood in his veins. Papi Ranulf went on to reveal another shock to Ranulf: after Marjorie was born, Garrett and Enid had a son, stillborn, with vestigial wings, So Ranulf's father had known since the day he was born, why he was different. When Ranulf confronted his father with this, all he would say was that Enid's blood was cursed, and it had brought nothing but ruin to the family.
The second event happened only weeks after papi Ranulf died: a farmhand called Barnaby was found to have stolen wine from the cellar and selling it on. Barnaby had been with Garrett for many years and had a family, and when Garrett found out about the theft, he couldn't bring himself to give the man over to the sheriff, but instead allowed him to leave with his family, if he promised never to return. But only a month later, a group of radiers attacked the village and killed Marjorie, among many others, as they pillaged the merchant house. The farm also came under attack, but the Sheriff's men arrived in the nick of time, and helped Garrett, Ranulf and the farmhands fight them off. A group three knights from the Order of the Rising Sun, who were travelling through the area made a counter-attack on the raider's camp, and returned with prisoners, including Barnaby. It turned out he had been selling the wine to the raiders, and when he and his family had been exiled he had sought refuge with the bandits, and helped them plan the attack on the village.
Ranulf was furious with his father: exiling Barnaby had led directly to the death of his beloved sister, and all because his father had not been able to enact the judgement that Barnaby had made himself more than deserving of. He packed up what little belongings he had, said goodbye to Gail, and ran after the knights as they travelled west. When he found them he pleaded with them to take him with them, and they agreed, bringing him to their headquarters in the capital city of Sarka.
Here he was inducted into the Order of the Rising Sun as a servant, undergoing training to see if he would be worthy to become an initiate eventually. It was a tough existence, but one Ranulf came to quite naturally, as he was used to hard work with little gratitude. It also seemed the brothers of the order were less dismissive of him than people usually were, perhaps because they were less afraid than most normal people, or perhaps just because they tended to be cold and distant towards everybody, so at least Ranulf wasn't being singled out. He also enjoyed the fight training and he took to it quite naturally, and quickly became a favorite for initiation into the order. He noticed the many murals and paintings of angels in the monestary, and the reverence which the brothers spoke of the angels of ages past, but he still kept his nature secret, as he was not sure how the order would react, and indeed, he wasn't himself sure exactly what he was.
The only other servant his own age was named Marcel, and he and Ranulf became friendly, if not friends, and would also occasionally fight, as young boys are want to do, over food rations, or who would get to sleep in the softer bunk et.c. When they were 17, they were both accepted into the order as initiates, and were given their own sword. Ranulf prized that sword like no other posession he had ever had: it was a symbol of justice and strength, and it had been intrusted to him and him alone. Marcel and Ranulf quickly became rivals for the favour of the brother-sergeants who trained them. While Ranulf was almost always the better of the two, Marcel's was almost his equal in every way, and he started resenting Ranulf for always coming out on top. In the winter of 758 SE the Order started a campaign to defeat a dark elf necromancer and his minions, who had started menacing the foothills of the Blacktallow mountains in Burnom. During this campaign Marcel and Ranulf were constantly trying to one up each other, to the chagrin of their superiors. Fighting skeletons didn't seem all that challenging or dangerous to the young initiates, so they would fool around and show off, until one day Marcel's actions resulted in the death of a brother. Marcel imediately blamed Ranulf, and the Brother-Sergeants believed him, so Ranulf was severely reprimanded. The injustice of being punished for something he didn't do filled Ranulf with a seething rage, and he now hated Marcel with a passion.
At the campaign camp the initiates were still being trained and a few days later, unaware of their rivalry, the brother-sergeant training them bade Ranulf and Marcel to spar with each other. At this moment Ranulf's rage got the better of him and he beat down Marcel with the training quarterstaff until it broke, and continued wielding like a sword. An aura of dread started to spread from him, and a black inky liquid sprung from his eyes and ran down his cheeks. All the other initiates and brothers were frozen in horror watching this, while Marcel screaming in pain and in abject terror at the inhuman creature wailing away at him with a broken staff. Finally their trainer broke out of his stupor, and pulled Ranulf off the beaten initiate before he could kill him. The cleric looked at Ranulf and exclaimed: "Dominus Solis Custodiat Nos! Restrain him! Lord preserve us, restrain him now!"
Ranulf's shadow had a strange blueish hue and seemed to release smoke off the ground, and his eyes were completely black, no irises visible. The other soldiers seemed to hesitate for a moment, but then fell on Ranulf, who did not struggle when he realised what was happening. "The boy is cursed" said the cleric: "Some unholy aura eminates from him. He most be brought before the high inquisitor at once. And he must be cast from the order immediately! We cannot allow our most holy brotherhood to be tainted by such foul magic! Bring his sword!" One of the initiates got Ranulf's sword and handed it to the cleric who proceeded to draw the sword and, citing the rite of expulsion, hit the sword against a rock. As Ranulf looked on in horror, the cleric hit the sword against the rock again and again, until finally, after seven strikes it shattered and broke. Thus was Ranulf excommunicated from the Order of the Rising Sun, and taken prisoner to be brought before the Inquisition in Sarka.
A few days later a small group of three men, as well as the Cleric, and Ranulf in chains, left the camp and travelled west to Sarka. But the necromancer's spies had followed them and on the second night they were ambushed. While the men fought valiantly and killed many, they were overcome by the two remaining ghouls, and Ranulf was doomed to face them alone. With his hands chained the ghouls would make short work of him, but as they ran towards him he felt the strange aura come over him again, and the ghouls hesitated. Somehow, they were afraid of him, like the boys who had tormented him as a child. He ran after them screaming, sending them scrambling into the night. He then found the keys to his manacles, and, with some difficulty, managed to get his chains off. He then went to the cart where the supplies were kept and found a box with the broken shards of his sword: they were being brough back to be ritually purified and then melted down to make swords for new initiates. With his captors dead, he gathered what supplies he could, and set off on his own, into the night.
Years later Ranulf found himself as a mercenary, taking small jobs as a caravan guard or muscle to protect a local farmer or merchant. It was a meagre existence, and sometimes humiliating, but at least he was free of the Order, who had not pursued him further, probably believing he was dead. He had made a vow to Karos, his great-grandmother's god, to uphold the tenets of the Order, those with which he agreed anyway, and a more personal vow to always uphold justice and to never show mercy to those who would take advantage of it, like his father had done with Barnaby, and as he had himself done with Marcel, who he now felt he should have killed when he had the chance. He had made this vow on the broken hilt of his old sword, which he now carried with him as a reminder.
Since that day at the camp his shadow now always had a slightly off colour, but it would only become clearly noticable when he got angry or felt threatened. When this happened the smoke would appear too, both coming off his shadow, and sometimes from him as well, and his eyes would blacken, like spilled ink running over his irises. These were the only signs of his angelic nature, but Ranulf was very aware of it, even if others didn't notice. Any weapon he would wield would quickly begin to degrade, wood shafts blackening and rotting, and blades rusting, yet they would remain as sharp as ever in his hands. He could also invoke magic, healing himself or allies, or burn and repulse foes, even without the blessing of the Order. He still wanted to understand his origins and who he was, and he wanted to redeem himself in the eyes of his countrymen, if not the Order for which he had little respect left.
Background
Named for his great-grandfather, who in turn claimed he got his name from an ancestor who was a Gorl raider, Ranulf Kinborough was born in 739 SE to Garett and Enid Kinborough, a freeman household in the county of Gorsdale in Sarkara. His mother died giving birth to him and Ranulf grew up raised mostly by his sister Marjorie, eleven years his senior. His other sister Gail, who was 3 years older than him, was his only friend, as he was shunned by everyone, even his own father, who seemed to resent Ranulf for the death of his mother. The children of his father's farmhands would avoid him, seemingly afraid of him. Even those much older than him seemed intimidated by him, but sometimes, when he was alone, they would shout at him, calling him "devil child" and "demonkin", and throw rocks at him, only to run away screaming as soon as he would move to react.
It was a lonely childhood, and Ranulf dreamed of traveling to far away lands and finding glory. His great-grandfather, who had outlived both his son and granddaughter, still lived on the farm, and was the only other person who seemed to care for Ranulf, besides his sisters. He had fought in the War of the Witches, and would tell stories of fighting evil warlocks and witches and their monstrous minions. He had lost his right arm in the war, but said he had been saved from death by a cleric of Karos, whose healing spell he would also claim was responsible for his longevity.
When Ranulf was 8, Marjorie was married to the local merchant's son, and moved to the nearby village of Gilsbridge, leaving Ranulf with only Gail and papi Ranulf to care for him. His father grew increasingly distant, and as Ranulf grew he began to understand that his father did not want to leave his land to Ranulf, and was hoping that Marjorie could provide him with a grandson who could inherit the farm. Ranulf didn't really want to inherit the farm, he wanted to be a warrior like his papi, a crusader for good, like those who fought with King Ethalad, but he was still hurt that his father seemed to have turned his back on him so thoroughly.
In the autumn of 751 SE two events happened in quick succesion that would change Ranulf's life forever. Papi Ranulf, now 97 years old, got sick and started to decline rapidly. Ranulf would tend to him by his bedside, and here the elder Ranulf told his great-grandson the truth of his heritage: that cleric of Karos who had healed Ranulf was not just his saviour, but also his lover. Her name was Anna, and she was, as papi Ranulf put it, a Half-Angel from the mercenaries of Mount Pallas. He and she had had a love-affair as he was recovering from his wounds, and Anna had become pregnant with the child who would eventually become Henri, Ranulf's grandfather. Anna gave birth in secret, and only a few weeks later, the biggest battle of the war happened, and Anna was rallied to the side of her kinsmen, and was killed. Ranulf took the infant Henri home to his birthplace of Gorsdale, and with his spoils of war bought a modest plot of land from the local count. This land was merged with the neighbour's land when Enid married Garrett, which is how Ranulf came to live on Garrett's farm.
So Ranulf, through his mother, had angel-blood in his veins. Papi Ranulf went on to reveal another shock to Ranulf: after Marjorie was born, Garrett and Enid had a son, stillborn, with vestigial wings, So Ranulf's father had known since the day he was born, why he was different. When Ranulf confronted his father with this, all he would say was that Enid's blood was cursed, and it had brought nothing but ruin to the family.
The second event happened only weeks after papi Ranulf died: a farmhand called Barnaby was found to have stolen wine from the cellar and selling it on. Barnaby had been with Garrett for many years and had a family, and when Garrett found out about the theft, he couldn't bring himself to give the man over to the sheriff, but instead allowed him to leave with his family, if he promised never to return. But only a month later, a group of radiers attacked the village and killed Marjorie, among many others, as they pillaged the merchant house. The farm also came under attack, but the Sheriff's men arrived in the nick of time, and helped Garrett, Ranulf and the farmhands fight them off. A group three knights from the Order of the Rising Sun, who were travelling through the area made a counter-attack on the raider's camp, and returned with prisoners, including Barnaby. It turned out he had been selling the wine to the raiders, and when he and his family had been exiled he had sought refuge with the bandits, and helped them plan the attack on the village.
Ranulf was furious with his father: exiling Barnaby had led directly to the death of his beloved sister, and all because his father had not been able to enact the judgement that Barnaby had made himself more than deserving of. He packed up what little belongings he had, said goodbye to Gail, and ran after the knights as they travelled west. When he found them he pleaded with them to take him with them, and they agreed, bringing him to their headquarters in the capital city of Sarka.
Here he was inducted into the Order of the Rising Sun as a servant, undergoing training to see if he would be worthy to become an initiate eventually. It was a tough existence, but one Ranulf came to quite naturally, as he was used to hard work with little gratitude. It also seemed the brothers of the order were less dismissive of him than people usually were, perhaps because they were less afraid than most normal people, or perhaps just because they tended to be cold and distant towards everybody, so at least Ranulf wasn't being singled out. He also enjoyed the fight training and he took to it quite naturally, and quickly became a favorite for initiation into the order. He noticed the many murals and paintings of angels in the monestary, and the reverence which the brothers spoke of the angels of ages past, but he still kept his nature secret, as he was not sure how the order would react, and indeed, he wasn't himself sure exactly what he was.
The only other servant his own age was named Marcel, and he and Ranulf became friendly, if not friends, and would also occasionally fight, as young boys are want to do, over food rations, or who would get to sleep in the softer bunk et.c. When they were 17, they were both accepted into the order as initiates, and were given their own sword. Ranulf prized that sword like no other posession he had ever had: it was a symbol of justice and strength, and it had been intrusted to him and him alone. Marcel and Ranulf quickly became rivals for the favour of the brother-sergeants who trained them. While Ranulf was almost always the better of the two, Marcel's was almost his equal in every way, and he started resenting Ranulf for always coming out on top. In the winter of 758 SE the Order started a campaign to defeat a dark elf necromancer and his minions, who had started menacing the foothills of the Blacktallow mountains in Burnom. During this campaign Marcel and Ranulf were constantly trying to one up each other, to the chagrin of their superiors. Fighting skeletons didn't seem all that challenging or dangerous to the young initiates, so they would fool around and show off, until one day Marcel's actions resulted in the death of a brother. Marcel imediately blamed Ranulf, and the Brother-Sergeants believed him, so Ranulf was severely reprimanded. The injustice of being punished for something he didn't do filled Ranulf with a seething rage, and he now hated Marcel with a passion.
At the campaign camp the initiates were still being trained and a few days later, unaware of their rivalry, the brother-sergeant training them bade Ranulf and Marcel to spar with each other. At this moment Ranulf's rage got the better of him and he beat down Marcel with the training quarterstaff until it broke, and continued wielding like a sword. An aura of dread started to spread from him, and a black inky liquid sprung from his eyes and ran down his cheeks. All the other initiates and brothers were frozen in horror watching this, while Marcel screaming in pain and in abject terror at the inhuman creature wailing away at him with a broken staff. Finally their trainer broke out of his stupor, and pulled Ranulf off the beaten initiate before he could kill him. The cleric looked at Ranulf and exclaimed: "Dominus Solis Custodiat Nos! Restrain him! Lord preserve us, restrain him now!"
Ranulf's shadow had a strange blueish hue and seemed to release smoke off the ground, and his eyes were completely black, no irises visible. The other soldiers seemed to hesitate for a moment, but then fell on Ranulf, who did not struggle when he realised what was happening. "The boy is cursed" said the cleric: "Some unholy aura eminates from him. He most be brought before the high inquisitor at once. And he must be cast from the order immediately! We cannot allow our most holy brotherhood to be tainted by such foul magic! Bring his sword!" One of the initiates got Ranulf's sword and handed it to the cleric who proceeded to draw the sword and, citing the rite of expulsion, hit the sword against a rock. As Ranulf looked on in horror, the cleric hit the sword against the rock again and again, until finally, after seven strikes it shattered and broke. Thus was Ranulf excommunicated from the Order of the Rising Sun, and taken prisoner to be brought before the Inquisition in Sarka.
A few days later a small group of three men, as well as the Cleric, and Ranulf in chains, left the camp and travelled west to Sarka. But the necromancer's spies had followed them and on the second night they were ambushed. While the men fought valiantly and killed many, they were overcome by the two remaining ghouls, and Ranulf was doomed to face them alone. With his hands chained the ghouls would make short work of him, but as they ran towards him he felt the strange aura come over him again, and the ghouls hesitated. Somehow, they were afraid of him, like the boys who had tormented him as a child. He ran after them screaming, sending them scrambling into the night. He then found the keys to his manacles, and, with some difficulty, managed to get his chains off. He then went to the cart where the supplies were kept and found a box with the broken shards of his sword: they were being brough back to be ritually purified and then melted down to make swords for new initiates. With his captors dead, he gathered what supplies he could, and set off on his own, into the night.
Years later Ranulf found himself as a mercenary, taking small jobs as a caravan guard or muscle to protect a local farmer or merchant. It was a meagre existence, and sometimes humiliating, but at least he was free of the Order, who had not pursued him further, probably believing he was dead. He had made a vow to Karos, his great-grandmother's god, to uphold the tenets of the Order, those with which he agreed anyway, and a more personal vow to always uphold justice and to never show mercy to those who would take advantage of it, like his father had done with Barnaby, and as he had himself done with Marcel, who he now felt he should have killed when he had the chance. He had made this vow on the broken hilt of his old sword, which he now carried with him as a reminder.
Since that day at the camp his shadow now always had a slightly off colour, but it would only become clearly noticable when he got angry or felt threatened. When this happened the smoke would appear too, both coming off his shadow, and sometimes from him as well, and his eyes would blacken, like spilled ink running over his irises. These were the only signs of his angelic nature, but Ranulf was very aware of it, even if others didn't notice. Any weapon he would wield would quickly begin to degrade, wood shafts blackening and rotting, and blades rusting, yet they would remain as sharp as ever in his hands. He could also invoke magic, healing himself or allies, or burn and repulse foes, even without the blessing of the Order. He still wanted to understand his origins and who he was, and he wanted to redeem himself in the eyes of his countrymen, if not the Order for which he had little respect left.
Ruined
Everything was going so well! You had a life of luxury, love, and comfort when you suddenly lost it all. Perhaps you were framed for crimes you didn’t commit and lost your reputation, fortune, and career. Or maybe a rampaging dragon or another monster wiped out everything you had in a single calamitous afternoon.
Your desperation has driven you to the career of adventurer. You don’t seek out dark dungeons and their monstrous inhabitants for excitement and glory; you do it because every other path is closed to you. But you have risen high on fortune’s wheel once before, and with luck and fortitude, you could do so again.
Skill Proficiencies Stealth, Survival
Languages One of your choice.
Features
Still Standing
You have weathered ruinous misfortune, and you possess hidden reserves others don’t expect. You gain the Alert, Skilled, or Tough feat (your choice). Your choice of feat reflects how you’ve dealt with the terrible loss that changed your life forever. If you’ve kept your senses sharp for every opportunity and climbed your way out of misery by seizing the tiniest scrap of hope, choose Alert. If you’ve redoubled your efforts to reclaim what was once yours, choose Skilled. If you’ve stoically persevered through your misfortune, select Tough.
Alignment
Lawful Neutral
Species
Ethnicity
Year of Birth
739 SE
25 Years old
Birthplace
Near Gilsbridge, in the county of Gorsdale
Children
Pronouns
Him
Belief/Deity
Related Plots
Related Reports
Dunorian (common)
Malakian (rare)
DEX: 10
CON: 15
INT: 8
WIS: 10
CHA: 16
Racial Feats:
Angelic Heritage: Resistance to radiant and necrotic damage.
Healing Hands: As an action, heal a touched creature for HP equal to your lvl. Use once (half prof modifier) per long rest.
Light Bearer: You know the Light cantrip, using CHA.
Necrotic Shroud: From lvl 3, use an action to transform. Immediately creatures other than your allies within 10 feet that can see you must save CHA or become frightened of you until the end of your next turn. DC is 8 + proficiency bonus + your CHA. Transformation lasts for 1 minute or end it as a bonus action. During it, once per your turn, you can deal necrotic damage when you deal damage to it with an attack or a spell equal to your lvl. Use this trait once per long rest.
Tool Proficiencies:
Cartographer’s tools
Comments