Glorivesh

Glorivesh

caption

Relatives	relatives
Languages	languages
Affiliations	affiliation
Aliases	alias
Marital Status	marital status
Place of Birth	birthplace
Date of Death	deathdate
Place of Death	deathplace
Species	species
Gender	gender
Height	height
Weight	weight
Eye Color	eyes

Glorivesh, aka Gloria is a kalashtar shadow sorceress in the Bedlam in the Badlands campaign.

Physical Appearance

Gloria has extremely pale skin and long white hair which she usually keeps tied back in a long high ponytail. She has bright violet eyes, stands at 5' 9" tall, and weighs around 125 pounds. She isn't particularly strong or hardy, and doesn't wear armor, or anything else that is likely to weigh her down. She tends to wear white flowing clothing, with black and brown accent colors, and can always be found carrying her prized lute: a family heirloom from her mother. She always feels cool to the touch, as if she were a corpse, although she is still fully affected by heat.

Personality

Gloria is a vivacious and friendly person. She loves seeing people smile or moving them to tears with a beautiful story. She is a performer through and through, and is as dedicated to her craft as she is anything else. She is a firm believer in making the world a better place than she found it by bringing people joy through storytelling and song.

Gloria is deeply in love with her spiritual companion and guiding dream spirit: Vesh. Her goal in life is to find a way for the two of them to truly be together and also give Vesh the freedom to rejoin the plane of dreams.

History

Gloria was born on the northeastern coast of Pteris in a small town near Mek. Her parents were a half-kalashtar-half elf woman who ran an inn, and a human fisherman. She grew up relatively simply, learning tales, how to sing and play the lute, and for the longest time, she expected she would just grow up to inherit her mother's business when she got older. Those plans changed after an incident in her 11th year where she disappeared for a month, only to come back changed: affected deeply by the shadow plane, and with a new ability to use magic. Her dream spirit Vesh was also deeply affected by this brush with darkness, becoming more closely bound to Gloria's being, and specifically, her shadow, inhabiting the darkness around her as much as she does Gloria's dreams.

Languages

Gloria speaks the common tongue, Elvish, and Quori - the language of dream spirits.

Powers and Abilities

Glorivesh uses a small amount of combat magic, but truly focuses more on utility and battlefield control. She likes to use darkness to her advantage, and teleport allies and foes to the most opportune locations. When she has to deal damage herself, she prefers to use the chill touch of death or the chaotic energies of her sorcerous nature.

Songs and Tales

The first night Gloria arrived at the Arboretum and settled at the inn where she had arranged to play several times a week for room and board, plus tips, she played a historic tale of her ancestors produced below:

The Bloody Baron of Galomy

"In a land some call Glendoveer, and others call Alest, there live people much like you or I, perhaps with more elves, and less rough-and-tumble folk than gathers here. There, within the Barony of Galomy ruled a prosperous family of elven nobles, wisely governing their people and ensuring their safety from the threats of the world. But elves are a long-lived race, and their people were not all of the same folk. Generations of other races passed under the reign of these elves without change, without input, and tensions with those who were ruled grew."

"Proud as these elves were, they did not mistake the danger that was building, and the young scion of the family, took it upon himself to mingle with the people, to gather their grievances, and get in their good graces. He did this for nearly a decade, slowly winning the hearts of the people back to his family as he proposed countless changes to the customs. But his work was doomed to fail, for his elders had seen the wheels of rebellion beginning to turn, and they had other plans to head it off."

She sings a series of lines, snapping her fingers between sets of notes to create a harmony with magic. One side telling of the young elf's growing love for the tavern owner, a woman who constantly rejected his marriage proposals, and yet never pushed him away, while the other, casting a sinister tone tells of the gathering of soldiers, the planting of evidence, and writing of proclamations.

Late one evening, filled with laughter, song, far too much alcohol, and what our young ne-Baron's heart was certain would be the night his love told him 'yes,' the peace was shattered by a bloodied orc stumbling into the tavern. He yelled of an attack! Elves in fine armor, but not the Baron's colors, surrounding the town and accosting any and all travelers, even cutting some down without cause." She takes a breath allowing the music of her lute to fade into silence before once again snapping her fingers to add a low magical percussive rhythm. "Eager to show his bravery and to protect his people, the elf took up his arms, calling for those with him to do the same and rushed out to do battle!"

And a battle there was, but not the one he expected. It was quick and bloody, and the supposedly unknown elves were driven back in short order. But in the aftermath, he saw the bodies. He saw that these were in fact elves he recognized, that he had shared a home with, and whom he both loved and trusted."

"But the elders had proof of their rebellion now, and now it had a head they could focus all of the attention and blame upon: the young ne-Baron's. Word spread quickly, plans falling into place casting blame for all number of atrocities on him, and casting him as a power-seeking villain all too eager to take his place as Baron before his time." She begins playing the lute again, a laughing tone to her voice. "But they were the true fools, for they underestimated the support he had from the people. A false rebellion quickly turned real, and the former nobles found themselves outmatched. In less than a year, the tide had turned, and they were forced to try to seek terms with their scapegoat. Terms he flatly rejected."

"Because he was in love, and with the threat of death in every battle, his love had finally let him into her heart and her bed. She had a child on the way, and he would not allow these former relatives an opportunity to escape, retain their power, and threaten his new family in the future. They all had to die. All who had a claim to the Barony, and all who would seek to avenge them or take a throne that he fully intended should go to his children and pass from the hands of the elves entirely."

She sighs, turning the song meloncholy. "But his love had no desire for thrones. She wanted only peace. Peace, songs, and a hearth to offer others. She argued with him for weeks over his plans, telling him they could simply leave: let his relatives keep the seat while the people governed themselves and find safety on the road for themselves. But he was fixed on his new dream, certain that she would adjust, that she would understand, all without knowing of her own plans to leave, with or without him."

She throws a hand up toward the ceiling, and a sphere of impenetrable darkness forms in the air. The music halts for a heartbeat before resuming, tension rising every second. "The night before the final attack on the keep, to kill the last barrier between him and the throne, his love had a dream: one where she stayed with him, where their family ruled, and where she was happy. She was happy. She would be happy, she saw. Her dream guide, a spirit that had been with her all her life, showed it to her. She would be happy, she would forget the people who were killed. She would forget the toll that their lifestyle would have on the people. She would forget what it meant to be cold and lost and alone on a road far from home, and to find warmth and shelter beside a stranger's hearth." "But that happiness would cost her her very soul in the bargain, because her soul could not forget those things and remain the same. It would twist, it would change into something darker, and so would her children."

The darkness vanishes, replaced by an illusion of a tall, dark horse running across the stage. "Without another moment of hesitation, she woke from the dream, climbed atop the majestic stallion her baron had given her, and fled into the night! Large with her child, she rode South, telling no one who she was, or where she was going." The colors of the horse shift from black to roan to white as it runs. All the while, the lute plays a staccato rhythm. "She used her own magic, slight as it was, to hide. To change her appearance and that of her steed, to vanish into the world somewhere her love would never find."

"She never learned what became of her love—for love him still, she did. For she knew that the knowledge would only make her doubt her decision and tempt her to return." The image of a stallion shifts into that of a large sailing ship. "Cutting off her final tie to that life, she sold the horse for passage across the seas to Pteris. But on the journey, her daughter was born: hair white as seafoam, and eyes the same violet color of her father's—a tie that she could never sever, and could never dream of wanting to. A love that was true and had no power to twist her into something monstrous, and a life she would dedicate herself to nurturing far from the risk of ever falling within the reach of the Bloody Baron of Galomy." She ends the ballad with a chord that echoes through the room, breathing heavily from the effort of the song, before standing and taking a bow.

While not entirely clear if this story refers to Gloria's grandmother, or an ancestor further generations back, this story tells of how her family moved from Osugbo to Pteris before she was born.

The Girl with Violet Eyes

On a cool night, in the darkness at the edge of the Arboretum, Gloria sang a song of her own past, of when she came into contact with the shadowy forces that she has since made her own. This was in response to Rhogar Dreel sharing a story of the Pilgrim of Pteris.

The melody peaceful and gentle at first, but slowly changing over time to add more tension.

"In Trudger lands, out by the sea, there lived a fisher, kind and fair, and his wife with violet eyes.

They had a child they loved so dear, and raised her with great care, the girl with violet eyes.

Strong and wise, but proud and bold, the girl with violet eyes

feared nothing but the dark and cold, the girl with violet eyes.

But safe she was, in lands of dreams, the girl with violet eyes,

For Vesh was with her, there beyond, the world with violet eyes.

But dreams can sometimes lead you wrong when violet eyes are closed.

And on one night, the girl would walk, away from all she knows.

Though safe, her mind, in cloaks of dream, her body left its own,

'Till wake she did, in cold and gloam, in no place she'd been shown."

Here, Gloria's music pauses for an uncomfortable number of seconds before she speaks again, almost in a whisper. "Silence, death, and darkness, were all that surrounded her. Silhouettes, of shadow, looming, growing, and spreading all around. Then within her, they spread their cold, and it seemed for a moment that could have been an eternity that nothing could prevent her death, and the world would never see once more that girl with violet eyes." She picks up the music again, seeming to battle back the silence and gloom of the darkness by sheer force of will.

"But Vesh the spirit, kind and bold, would not allow the girl with violet eyes,

to no more sing the songs she loved, and lose those violet eyes.

With light and love, and joy and faith, she took upon the dark.

That darkness had no taste for two, for prey was always 'lone.

And now with darkness of her own, the girl did make it home.

A month had passed, her family mourned, the girl with violet eyes,

But back she was, though cold and worn, with smiling violet eyes.

And from that day, the girl knew, she'd never be alone,

And the dark could never take her soul, for it was all her own,

With her and Vesh, now bound through night, and days with violet eyes."

The autobiographical song is mostly accurate, although it takes some artistic license with events. Gloria remembers waking up with a start from her bout of sleepwalking, something that had occurred for her as a child a number of times, although it had never led her into any serious trouble before. This night, however, she recognized that she had somehow walked far out of the town and into the hills leading towards the deserts. Before she could start making the trip back home, a pure darkness enveloped her, bringing her body, mind and spirit briefly into the shadow plane. What caused this, Gloria could never tell, but when she finally escaped, an entire month had passed, and her parents had feared her dead. She came back, a bit worse for wear, her skin, gaunt and pale, and her temperature seemingly low as a corpse, but otherwise healthy and whole. Further, her connection with Vesh, her lifelong dream spirit guide, had deepened considerably, with the spirit having some small ability to signal certain thoughts and emotions to Gloria even while she was awake, and with her dreams allowing more complete communication between them.