I was going to start the character as a Barbarian (Dragon #63) and then as he became more ‘civilized’ from his association with the other characters roleplay his duel classing into an Assassin apprenticing under the Assassin in the party, Georgia (Jeremy’s character), possibly as an assassin/acrobat with tutelage under the party thief-acrobat Andrew (Farrell’s character) although 1st edition didn’t really have a rule for mixing the assassin subclass and acrobat split-class. The evil alignment was more out of the alignment requirement for the Assassin class, which I was visualizing as using a more as a combat oriented thief, than any desire to play an evil character and the Conan characterization in the cartoon series had some rogue skills and a ruthless streak mixed in with his barbarian honor and decency.
Name:
Nanoc si Semaj (I thought this was an amazingly clever name for a barbarian character at the time
its “James is Conan" backwards).
Appearance:
Race: Human (Baklundish)
Height: 5’ 9”
Weight: 147 lbs
Age: 15
Skin: Olive completion
Hair: Black, long unexceptional cut, usually worn in simple pony-tail
Eyes: Brown
Build: Obviously fit and probably strong but a little gangly but not exceptional in appearance
Grace: Clean fluid movements, not clumsy but nothing exception in appearance
Notable marks: Multiple scars from combat but mainly on arms with some on legs
and a few on chest. No scars on face or back. No birthmarks or tattoos.
Voice: Pleasant tenor voice, but with heavy western baklundish accent.
Does not talk much and when he does it usually brusquely curt and to the point.
Clothing (usually worn):
Trousers: Buckskin, light brown. Fringed on outside seams (wicks moisture quicker)
Shirt: Cotton shirt (not bleached or dyed so a kind of light off-white)
Vest: Buckskin, tan. Adorned with various symbols of tribal and personal significance which
tells who he is, who his family is, what his clan is, and his personal significant achievements
to those who know how to read such things (usually only others of his people
Moccasins: soft leather shoes, light brown. Fringed on outside seams (wicks moisture quicker)
Undergarments: Thick raw silk including shorts and undershirt.
Bracers: hard black dyed leather bracers.
Headband and hair clip: Soft leather headband and circlet to hold ponytail.
Coat: Heavy buffalo skin overcoat for cold weather
Equipment:
In Hand: Typically longbow unless in situations where an enemy may be able to close to
close quarters before he can react (such as indoors or underground) in which case he
switches to the spear.
Belt, brown leather (waist)
Knife Sheaths, boiled brown leather (two) one on each side
Knife (two), black flint, brown leather wrapped bone hilts
Tomahawks (two), hung from knife sheaths, stone heads, axe one side hammer the other
Belt Pouches (two, one each side rear)
Sap (right side, rear) pouch filled with various colored pebbles
Garrott (left side, rear) braid of hair, concealed in a pouch
Backpack (back) brown leather
Rations, blanket, extra clothing, treasure, etc.
Quiver (hung from backpack but can be work separately) Soft leather with hard leather bands
Recurve Bow (Mongol style but slightly longer), black locust wood, horn grip and points,
sinew wrapping and string
20 stone tipped arrows
4 short spears
Satchel (right shoulder to back of left hip - or front of left hip in cities)
Brown leather with decorative fringes and some holy symbols.
Waterskin (left shoulder to back of right hip) soft leather, horn spigot.
Personality:
Alignment: Neutral EvilNot extremely evil but definitely out for himself and he enjoys combat and killing a bit too
much. But he knows that the best way to get what he wants out of others is to present a
more kind and concerned facade to them which he is very good at doing. In general he acts
more Neutral Good around others unless he deems the short-term reward for stabbing
them in the back (possibly literally) is greater than the long-term rewards for keeping them
happy with him.
Honor and Taboos
Honor is gained through personal combat and overcoming test of skill and ability.
Exceptional achievement can prompt the creation of a token of some kind to be displayed
to denote the honor to others (usually a glyph, patch or design on an item of clothing or
feathers or other items attached to the headdress.
The use of items has certain honor or disgrace attached as follows:
Owning divinely granted items grants the most honor
Items made yourself with great effort or sacrifice
Items made yourself
Items made by someone else but within your ability to make yourself
Items made by someone else with means beyond your own
Items made by magic or incorporating magic
Using magic incurres the greatest dishonor.
Associating with others also implies certain things about an individual:
Priests of the 'real' gods (Native American mythos) are the best
Warrior Heroes
Warriors especially those of the people or who fight in melee and for personal honor
Druids and then Priests of other gods are also alright
Warriors that use magic items are a mixed blessing. The more magic the worse.
Commoners are weak and decadent members of the 'civilized' cultures are pathetic weaklings
Rogues and others that don't fight face to face are dishonorable
Wizards the worst, the world would be better if they were all slaughtered
Water: Water is a precious substance. Most member of the clan may go their whole
lives never seeing a body of water larger than they could step across. The exception to
this is of course the great salt lake which isn't drinkable and is home to powerful magical
beings and is a fearsome place.
Sharing water is a sign of trust and alliance and spitting in a person's presence is a show of
respect for them.
Horses (and carts, wagons, and other domesticated animals): The use of horses or other
riding animals, conveyances, or draft animals is considered as sign of weakness.
This probably has its origins in that the Dry Steppes has very little water to support
domesticated animals and natural springs and water courses tend to be extra
dangerous areas for predators and raiders making keeping domesticated animals
a luxury that few could afford after the Invoked Devastation.
History
Tribal History
Many years ago, long before the mass migrations of the Oeridians, Suel, and Baklundish people, the broad basin surrounded by the Abbor-Alz mountains was fertile land and home to a tribe of the Flan people called the Sulm. The Sulm were an aggressive people who conquered most of the surrounding Flan kingdoms. But they grew corrupt under the influence of magicians, necromancers, and greedy rulers. The last king of the Sulm was Shattados, whose desire to have absolute control over his subjects lead to the destruction of the Sulm and the poisoning of their lands. Shattados had pleaded to a dark god for a means to bind the people’s will to his own. The god answered the prayers, giving Shattados a powerful magical artifact, the Scorpion Crown, with a promise that it would enslave the Sulm to Shattados’ will.
But the dark god was Tharizdun, god of evil and ruin and the promise a lie. When Shattados dawned the Crown it did indeed most of his people to his will, but at a hideous cost. Shattados was transformed by the Crown into a gargantuan intelligent scorpion. His closest advisors were also turned into giant scorpions under his thrall and many of his other subjects were converted to manscorpions, twisted and evil combinations of man and scorpion, likewise bound to his will.
Some people managed to escape the full effects of the Crown. The practice of dark magic had become common among Sulm in these later days and some of the more powerful evil clerics and magic users were able to use dark arts to resist the psychic link to Shattados. These spellcasters were instead were transformed into vile and deadly creatures that would become known as Dune Stalkers. A very few powerful magic users were able use other powerful magics to escape the transformation and destruction befalling the Sulm. In one case a very powerful necromancer avoided the scorpion crown’s conversion by undergoing his own transformation into a Lich. In another powerful sorceress was able to place her tower into a form of temporal stasis, trapping it and herself in time to avoid the crown’s magic.
Some people, perhaps those that were less loyal to Shattados to begin with, survived the day of transformation unchanged but found themselves trapped in a land populated with monsters and rapidly dying from the poisoning of the land caused by the use of the crown. The centaurs who had also lived in the land and had been allied with the Sulm also survived the transformation and, over hundreds of generations, adapted to the changed land, although they would never again trust humans.
Under the influence of the Scorpion Crown the once fertile land was distorted into a wasteland. Rivers and wells dried and crops failed. Within a generation the land had become the Bright Desert. The survivors of the transformations took four courses. Probably the wisest fled the land entirely, although they found little welcome in the surrounding Flan kingdoms that had for so long been enemies of the Sulm. Others, unwilling to go to the other Flan kingdoms to beg for help but too weak to survive in the wasteland became nomadic hillmen in the Abbor-Alz mountains, barely surviving on the fringes of their blasted former home and the borders of their ancient enemies. Most of those that remained died from starvation, thirst, or under the claws of any of the multitude of monsters that stalked the land. But a few, a very small few, that were too stubborn to leave but strong or lucky enough to survive, remained in the wasteland and through much loss and suffering eventually learned to survive there.
Those that stayed and survived in the wasteland formed nomadic barbarian clans struggling to find food and water, survive the manscorpions that viewed them as little more than a food source or slave labor, and the undead of the surviving necromancers. Over time these barbarians developed several taboos and skills that were developed to enable them to survive.
First is a strong hatred of magic, and especially necromancy. Bright Desert Barbarians will go out of their way to destroy most magical items and slay wizards. Even divine spell casters are often viewed with suspicion. The clans have a few druids but these individuals are viewed as unclean and barely tolerated for all the good they bring to the people. Wiser and more experienced clansmen may be able to put aside or suppress their cultural intolerance of magic, more so for magic that is less ‘flashy’ or useful only to warriors, but in general they will still always find it distasteful. As part of this taboo if a Bright Desert Barbarian ever captures and destroys a magic item they gain experience for doing so. They do not gain such experience for destroying magic items they are given by another although they may still do so just to be rid of the vile thing. They actually lose experience for purchasing a magic item unless they destroy it, for which they do not receive any experience.
Second is a taboo against mounts and conveyances. Before Shattados the Sulm people were expert horsemen with a profound love and connection with their horses. When the land began to change it was impossible to find enough food and water to keep the people alive, much less the horses or other mounts. And without horses or other draft animals carts and wagons became more useful as a source of wood for fires or weapons than as conveyance. Watching their beloved horses suffer and die caused the development of a taboo against ever owning or using mounts. Somewhere in their psyche they still feel the connection but it is now a wounded and poisoned thing rather than a joy. While during the initial years the survivors also lost all their other pets this was not as much of a trauma as a loss of the horses and the following generations again began to domestic pets and herd animals that are useful and able to survive the harsh conditions. Hawks, canines, desert antelope and goat are most common. As part of this taboo Bright Desert Barbarians have become fast runners of incredible stamina. The gain +3” to their tactical movement speed and can double their overland movement for half their Constitution score in hours (and can continue this movement by making Constitution checks every hour with a cumulative -1 to each check).
Third is an ability called Dervish, develeloped by the Bright Desert barbarians to combine combat and movement into a flowing unified dance. 1/day for every three barbarian levels a barbarian may use this ability as long as they wish up to to their Constitution score number of rounds. While being a dervish a barbarian can move up to their full movement while making attacks anywhere along their movement up to their full number of attacks for a round. After using this ability, even if they do not use it for the full length, the barbarian is fatigued until they rest undisturbed for a turn to catch their breath.
Fourth is one of the only two magics that the clans willingly engage in, although they do not really see it as magic themselves. In this case it is the use of a Sacred Bundle. Upon becoming a warrior, usually around the age of 14, men of the bright desert clans undergo a ceremony where in they are given a special satchel that provides a limited amount of protection to the warrior it is bonded to. Throughout their life, after certain momentous achievements, the warrior can undergo private secondary ceremonies to memorialize the event with a totem item stored in the satchel which may bestow further powers or protections to the warrior.
Fifth is the second of the two magics that the Bright Desert Barbarians will tolerate. This is a bond with an animal spirit guide. At around the age of six the boys and girls of the clans undergo a ceremony to determine what their spirit guide is, usually a small natural animal common to the desert such as a hawk, snake, gazelle, dog, lizard, scorpion, spider, or mouse. It is uncertain how guides are determined: in some cases the guide is an obvious match to the child’s personality while in others the guide seems to balance something lacking in the child. As they grow older the barbarian can undergo other rituals that increase the strength of the bond with their guide.
Lastly, the Bright Desert Barbarians have developed several other important desert wasteland survival skills through their years in such a harsh environment. They are expert as setting snares and traps, administering first aid, and finding clean water. However they do not possess other ‘barbarian’ skills such as long-distance signaling or sound mimicry (drawing any attention to your position is a good way to die in the Bright Desert), boat handling or riding (no water or mounts), or other skills that do not have an important application in the desert environment.
Family History
Nanoc’s family has for many generations been an important family of the Warnoria clan of the people of the Bright Desert. His family is important because they are masters at making weapons which are critical for the survival of the people. His great grandfather discovered the method of making incredibly powerful non-magical bows which is passed down as a family secret. His father witnessed and quested after a fallen star which he found and forged into a powerful tomahawk.
Most of the men of the family have made suburb weapons for themselves and their fellow clansmen and even some for sell to the other clans or even to people beyond the wastes. This has given them an enormous amount of respect and prestige from their fellows. The Warnoria clan chooses their clan chief based on a variety of factors including family history, personal prowess in battle, apparent wisdom, and other skills and a member of Nanoc’s family has been the clan chief more often than not.
Early Life
Nanoc was born the second son and third child of Hurthger, the clan chief of the Warnoria clan. Hurthger was renown even among the other clans as both a fierce warrior and master weaponsmith and even some people from the lands beyond the wastes have traveled to meet and petition him to craft weapons for them. It is perhaps this contact with outsiders that first gave Nanoc his interest in the world beyond the Bright Desert.
Nanoc was also born a psychopath. He is not really evil in the traditional sense but he feels no real connection to others and feels no guilt or remorse for harming or allowing harm to befall others. But neither does he gain any pleasure from seeing others harmed. He is also very intelligent and understands the importance of displaying socially acceptable emotions. He carefully hides his psychopathy from others under a façade of carefully practiced acting unless and until the gains are worth the risk and cost of exposure of his true personality. Occasionally others in the tribe might catch a glimpse of the disturbed true personality under the façade but there was never enough evidence of wrong doing and Nanoc was always able to deflect attention away from himself or use charm or wit to extract himself from the situation.
When Nanoc was 15 it was becaming more and more apparent that Nanoc’s elder brother Toroc would be chosen as the next clan chief, a position that Nanoc wanted for himself. Nanoc decided that to get the position he would have to remove Toroc from the scene. During a patrol Nanoc had discovered evidence of a nearby nest of manscorpions but concealed the discovery from the others. Later he invited Toroc to go hunting with him and lead him into area of the nest. Nanoc watched from a safe vantage while his brother was ambushed by one of the monsters, almost prevailed, but then was stung and died in writhing pain (death from a manscorpion’s poison is a horribly painful death). He returned to the clan with the grievous news of the death and to ‘gather a warband’ to hunt down and destroy the monsters.
But unknown to Nanoc two other hunters had seen what happened. They had been too far away to be able to help Toroc but had still witnessed the entire thing including Nanoc seeing his brother about to be ambushed and not warning him nor going to his aid when the two of them working together could have obviously have defeated the beast. When Nanoc’s story conflicted with the two hunters several previously dismissed rumors about Nanoc were reexamined and Nanoc’s previous deflections and excuses found less believable. Broken hearted at the loss of Toroc and forced to finally accept what his younger son was, his father Hurthger banished him.
Even at fifteen Nanoc knew that it was impossible to survive alone in the Bright Desert and so immediately struck out to the west to the Cairn Hills. He barely survived to reach the city of Hardby were he meet a newly formed group of ‘adventurers’ who thought that they were a bit light on muscle and that a young tough looking barbarian from the desert might be just the ticket. Nanoc found the idea of working with these adventurers especially the spell casters in the group, distasteful but he was near starvation and getting desperate and so agreed to join them, thus beginning his life as an adventurer.
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