Creating Halewater V – The Wizards

In my last few posts I’ve been creating the little hamlet of Halewater – a hometown for a hypothetical fantasy PC.

I’ve determined that some kind of Sage, Witch, or Wise person lives in a house just outside of Halewater, to the south  -and this intrigues me.  Today I’m going to do some rolling, and determine randomly who this person is, and what the heck they’re doing here.   I’m quite curious to find out.

So let’s head over to the people system and get started!

The Sage / Witch / Wise Person

(Rolling, rolling…)

• Name: Dystan Brookmind
• Role: Wizard
• Situation: Typically with his family
• Bodily appearance: Big-boned
• General appearance: Tawny blonde hair
• Memorable mannerism: Deep voice
• Interesting fact: Has strong feelings about the political or religious authorities
• Hope or Fear: Hopes that people will become more ethical

Interesting!  Ok, so Dystan Brookmind is a wizard who lives in a small house just south of Halewater.  He’s a big, sturdy man with tawny blonde hair.  (Some may call him “fat,” but he prefers “big-boned”).  His big chest and his wizardly training have combined to give him a deep, authoritative voice.   He once practiced magic in the Capital, but he’s not a political man, and he was maneuvered out of position by those more skilled in intrigue.  Thus he’s ended up in Halewater, his status much reduced.  Dystan is a fundemantally good man (if a little naive), and his deepest hope is that people will learn to treat each other better.  He tries to do what he can to make this happen.

Unlike many wizards, Dysten is not a hermit or bachelor: quite the opposite, he’s very much a family man.  A typical day sees him spending just as much time with his family as on his research.

Dystan’s Family

What is Dystan’s family like?  Let me ask the Solo 8 for some answers here.

First question: is Dystan’s family composed of the fairly typical “wife plus 3 kids”?  (Rolling…) 3: Yes.

Is Dystan’s wife also a wizard?  (Rolling…) 3: Yes.  Interesting!

Are the kids mostly very young?   (Rolling…) 1: An emphatic “yes, and”.   Ah, very interesting – let’s say that they have newborn triplets!  That certainly explains why Dystan is spending so much time with his family at present – having a single newborn baby is hard work; having three newborns at once is a colossal task.

Hmmm.. it occurs to me that three is quite a magical number, and these triplets are the offspring of a wizardly couple…  Is there something obviously magical about the triplets?  (Rolling…) 5: “No, but..”    Very well – at this stage there’s nothing to indicate that the triplets are in any way magical, but their parents will certainly be watching out for signs of magical talent in the years to come.

Now I’m very curious about who this other wizard is.  Let me create her…

The Other Wizard

(Rolling, rolling…)

• Name: Embra Brookmind (formerly Embra Hillhall)
• Role: Wizard
• Situation: Typically irritable, at present, due to lack of sleep.
• Bodily appearance: Tattooed skin
• General appearance: Wears a distinctive piece of jewelry
• Memorable mannerism: “Rests her eyes” while talking, due to lack of sleep.
• Interesting fact: Has strong feelings about the neighbours.
• Hope or Fear: Afraid of power

Embra is a woman of great intelligence and natural magical talent.  She was born into riches – she’s a daughter of influential noble house “Hillhall”, back in the capital – but she married beneath her, for love, and this has put a it of strain on her relationship with her family.  Now she’s moved to the backwater hamlet of Halewater, further separating her from her family’s influence.  She’s very happy here, though the arrival of the triplets has left her extremely tired and haggard.

Embra has an interesting relationship to her own magic: she was born with vast natural power, but it was difficult to control.  As a baby, she was quite dangerous to be around.  Thus when she was young her parent had a magical tattoo drawn around her ankle, to shackle her power and help her to keep it under control.  To this day, Embra fears what the consequences would be if her great power were to run wild.

(Her fear of her own power, and her family’s willingness to shackle her, might be the root of her desire to escape their influence, and her need to avoid living up to their expectations).

Embra wears a brass necklace almost all the time.  The necklace is magical; when the moon is right, it allows her to communicate telepathically with her sister, back in the capital.

Right!  That’s enough for today.  I’m happy with this pair – plenty of adventure hooks here.

Next time, I’ll be creating the blacksmith – which is exciting for me, since the blacksmith is meant to be the father (or maybe mother? not impossible) of our hypothetical PC.