pillars of eternity: character backstory
Mar. 23rd, 2017 03:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sideways[crossposted from Tumblr]
Neus backstory musings! Subject to change should canon slap me with conflicting info, but decently supported I think.
• As noted, born to Calbandran / ocean folk sailors, who were part of a merchant company with bases in both Old Vailia and the Vailian Republics.
• Since “murdered at birth” would make for a very short story, Neus drew a lucky straw in that her parents were somewhat dismayed to have produced a godlike child, but not superstitious enough to kill or abandon her - and, over the next few weeks, they moved past their initial reservations to love her as they would any other child.
• (Neus means ‘snow’ in Catalan, it being one of the languages Vailian is based on. Make of that what you will.)
• It did mean a lot of restrictions about where she went and when - her mother’s ship was the majority of her world for many years, with a few greatly-cherished forays onto land and a lot of wistful peering through portholes.
• Much of the crew accepted or at least tolerated her, since her parents chose their hires carefully after she was born, but trouble brewed regardless; there was no stamping out the uneasy undercurrent entirely, and the wider merchant group was also less than pleased to have a death godlike on their ships. More dangerous than the prejudice, though, was those with ambition - Neus’ parents had significant shares in the company, and their removal would tip the hierarchical balance in certain people’s favour.
• Things came to a head after a period in which the company had hit a downturn for several months straight, meaning tensions were high. The opportunists pounced on the opening to point fingers at the classical harbinger of ill fortune, plying viciously clever charisma to fan the embers of unease into real flames of violence.
• When the fighting broke out, Neus was hastily swept from her ship and told to run - to hide in the Vailian Republic city they were docked at, until it was safe and her parents could come for her. She fled down unfamiliar streets, hood pulled over her head to mask her at least that little, and waited. And waited. And when dawn broke she tried to make her way back to the docks, only to realise she’d lost all sense of the way she’d come. Too frightened to ask for help, it wasn’t until the next morning that she found it to where her family had been, and by then the ships were gone.
• (As an adult she does track down the company again, and finally confirms she was orphaned that night. In the interim period she’d sometimes wondered if they’d just left her.)
• All of nine years old and having spent little time in cities at all, let alone on her own, Neus to this day counts the following two months as the worst time in her life. She stole when desperation turned to recklessness, but she had no knack for it and was rightfully terrified of what would happen if she were caught; the rest of the time, she begged where she was able, and dug through garbage where she was not. She kept herself as covered as she could, but still became well accustomed to the reactions she could expect should people realise what she was.
• One day, she crossed some older youths who chased her down, pinned her to the ground, and tried to tear off her facial growths. It would have ended bloodily had they not been suddenly - and quite literally - punted off her. The youths fled in one direction; Neus’ feeble attempt to scramble in the other was forestalled by a hand fisting itself in her collar, and she found herself dangling from midair like a scruffed kitten under the resigned eye of a coastal aumaua wearing a tarnished sunburst badge at his throat.
• Six months before, the Saint’s War had ended in fire and blasphemy (at least according to some quarters). Those not killed in the battle had slunk to safer lands to lick their wounds, and it turned out one such group of slinkers occupied the shabby building Neus had been accosted behind. They were a sorry lot indeed; a couple of acolytes and soldiers following a woman whose faith had been so badly broken by the defeat and ensuing silence from her god that her blessings carried little weight anymore.
• The aumaua, Barasse, took the struggling Neus inside anyway. At first the priest regarded the child as expected - with the weary shadow of compassion and orders that her wounds be treated, but no attempt at healing made. Equally tired of the malaise they had all been living under since the War, Barasse made an offhand comment about how strangely convenient it was to have found a godlike in need right outside their door.
• The priest hesitated, and called Neus back; clasped her face in her hands and echoed that yes, perhaps it was curious, to find a child blessed by death, by the god of cycles and renewal, at their door in these trying times when Eothas himself was claimed dead and lost to them - in that moment, desperate hope latched onto the handhold provided, broken faith kindled anew, and the priest healed the wounds Neus had received in the scuffle.
• Neus found herself being spun in delighted circles through the air and declared a sign, a missive, a miracle! (Neus was too petrified to protest.)
• And so Neus ended up staying with the priests, because there was food and shelter, as well as ample affection. The trauma of her experiences had left her fearful and distrusting, and it was a slow process to undo it. Over time, though, the kind attentions of the Eothasians softened her, and she came to enjoy listening to their prayers and joining in their rituals. She liked the message they preached - of benevolence and honesty, traits they’d shown her when so few others had.
• Foregone conclusion: Neus ended up becoming a full convert, training in the Eothasian ways alongside the other acolytes. She learned to hone the edge of her faith such that it shaped the very world around her, while Barasse taught her first the use of the quarterstaff, then the proper weapons of an Eothasian, the morningstar and flail. He also provided a tempering opinion on the events of the Saint’s War in comparison to some of the others, who truly believed Waidwen to have been Eothas taken flesh and still harboured significant anger towards Dyrwood.
• Neus lived among the priests for some ten odd years - not in the same shabby building, as they travelled a bit to spread their ministry rather than set up in a stable temple. Eventually the leading priest died of age and illness, however, and without her steadying leadership the group began to argue and fracture under their differing opinions - those still bitter about the war against those who wanted the ugly past forgotten.
• The infighting became too much for Neus, who still remembered well how that had gone once in her life already (and indeed, there were some pointed comments directed her way as one of the head priest’s favourites). She ended up parting ways with the group over it, with Barasse going his own way as well. It was not an easy decision - she actually had a serious crisis about the whole thing - but it was the moment she decided she believed in Eothas’ core teachings and Bugger Everything Else. She would be kind, she would be good, she would be everything they had been to a child in need. The world was ugly but that just made every choice to do the right thing all the more beautiful. Etc etc. Stubbornly optimistic mode engaged.
• And lo, she commenced wandering around Eora for another five or so years until she hitched a ride with a caravan and everything went dramatically pear-shaped.
Neus backstory musings! Subject to change should canon slap me with conflicting info, but decently supported I think.
• As noted, born to Calbandran / ocean folk sailors, who were part of a merchant company with bases in both Old Vailia and the Vailian Republics.
• Since “murdered at birth” would make for a very short story, Neus drew a lucky straw in that her parents were somewhat dismayed to have produced a godlike child, but not superstitious enough to kill or abandon her - and, over the next few weeks, they moved past their initial reservations to love her as they would any other child.
• (Neus means ‘snow’ in Catalan, it being one of the languages Vailian is based on. Make of that what you will.)
• It did mean a lot of restrictions about where she went and when - her mother’s ship was the majority of her world for many years, with a few greatly-cherished forays onto land and a lot of wistful peering through portholes.
• Much of the crew accepted or at least tolerated her, since her parents chose their hires carefully after she was born, but trouble brewed regardless; there was no stamping out the uneasy undercurrent entirely, and the wider merchant group was also less than pleased to have a death godlike on their ships. More dangerous than the prejudice, though, was those with ambition - Neus’ parents had significant shares in the company, and their removal would tip the hierarchical balance in certain people’s favour.
• Things came to a head after a period in which the company had hit a downturn for several months straight, meaning tensions were high. The opportunists pounced on the opening to point fingers at the classical harbinger of ill fortune, plying viciously clever charisma to fan the embers of unease into real flames of violence.
• When the fighting broke out, Neus was hastily swept from her ship and told to run - to hide in the Vailian Republic city they were docked at, until it was safe and her parents could come for her. She fled down unfamiliar streets, hood pulled over her head to mask her at least that little, and waited. And waited. And when dawn broke she tried to make her way back to the docks, only to realise she’d lost all sense of the way she’d come. Too frightened to ask for help, it wasn’t until the next morning that she found it to where her family had been, and by then the ships were gone.
• (As an adult she does track down the company again, and finally confirms she was orphaned that night. In the interim period she’d sometimes wondered if they’d just left her.)
• All of nine years old and having spent little time in cities at all, let alone on her own, Neus to this day counts the following two months as the worst time in her life. She stole when desperation turned to recklessness, but she had no knack for it and was rightfully terrified of what would happen if she were caught; the rest of the time, she begged where she was able, and dug through garbage where she was not. She kept herself as covered as she could, but still became well accustomed to the reactions she could expect should people realise what she was.
• One day, she crossed some older youths who chased her down, pinned her to the ground, and tried to tear off her facial growths. It would have ended bloodily had they not been suddenly - and quite literally - punted off her. The youths fled in one direction; Neus’ feeble attempt to scramble in the other was forestalled by a hand fisting itself in her collar, and she found herself dangling from midair like a scruffed kitten under the resigned eye of a coastal aumaua wearing a tarnished sunburst badge at his throat.
• Six months before, the Saint’s War had ended in fire and blasphemy (at least according to some quarters). Those not killed in the battle had slunk to safer lands to lick their wounds, and it turned out one such group of slinkers occupied the shabby building Neus had been accosted behind. They were a sorry lot indeed; a couple of acolytes and soldiers following a woman whose faith had been so badly broken by the defeat and ensuing silence from her god that her blessings carried little weight anymore.
• The aumaua, Barasse, took the struggling Neus inside anyway. At first the priest regarded the child as expected - with the weary shadow of compassion and orders that her wounds be treated, but no attempt at healing made. Equally tired of the malaise they had all been living under since the War, Barasse made an offhand comment about how strangely convenient it was to have found a godlike in need right outside their door.
• The priest hesitated, and called Neus back; clasped her face in her hands and echoed that yes, perhaps it was curious, to find a child blessed by death, by the god of cycles and renewal, at their door in these trying times when Eothas himself was claimed dead and lost to them - in that moment, desperate hope latched onto the handhold provided, broken faith kindled anew, and the priest healed the wounds Neus had received in the scuffle.
• Neus found herself being spun in delighted circles through the air and declared a sign, a missive, a miracle! (Neus was too petrified to protest.)
• And so Neus ended up staying with the priests, because there was food and shelter, as well as ample affection. The trauma of her experiences had left her fearful and distrusting, and it was a slow process to undo it. Over time, though, the kind attentions of the Eothasians softened her, and she came to enjoy listening to their prayers and joining in their rituals. She liked the message they preached - of benevolence and honesty, traits they’d shown her when so few others had.
• Foregone conclusion: Neus ended up becoming a full convert, training in the Eothasian ways alongside the other acolytes. She learned to hone the edge of her faith such that it shaped the very world around her, while Barasse taught her first the use of the quarterstaff, then the proper weapons of an Eothasian, the morningstar and flail. He also provided a tempering opinion on the events of the Saint’s War in comparison to some of the others, who truly believed Waidwen to have been Eothas taken flesh and still harboured significant anger towards Dyrwood.
• Neus lived among the priests for some ten odd years - not in the same shabby building, as they travelled a bit to spread their ministry rather than set up in a stable temple. Eventually the leading priest died of age and illness, however, and without her steadying leadership the group began to argue and fracture under their differing opinions - those still bitter about the war against those who wanted the ugly past forgotten.
• The infighting became too much for Neus, who still remembered well how that had gone once in her life already (and indeed, there were some pointed comments directed her way as one of the head priest’s favourites). She ended up parting ways with the group over it, with Barasse going his own way as well. It was not an easy decision - she actually had a serious crisis about the whole thing - but it was the moment she decided she believed in Eothas’ core teachings and Bugger Everything Else. She would be kind, she would be good, she would be everything they had been to a child in need. The world was ugly but that just made every choice to do the right thing all the more beautiful. Etc etc. Stubbornly optimistic mode engaged.
• And lo, she commenced wandering around Eora for another five or so years until she hitched a ride with a caravan and everything went dramatically pear-shaped.
