Nerys Greyfox (formerly Battlesong)

[Duster47]

First Name: Nerys
Last Name: of the Battlesong Greyfox Tribe

Appearance: Nerys has fair skin indicating her northland heritage. She is more graceful than strong. She would clean up nicely. There is a small scar across the bridge of her nose into her right eyebrow. Her clothing is more functional than fashionable, but rarely sloppy. She arrives at the Sword Coast wearing fur-lined leather head-to-toe. She occasionally wears the Greyfox tribal totem.

Race: Human
Age: 20 years
Height 1.68m (5'6")
Weight: 60kg (130 pounds)
Eyes: Bright blue eyes.
Hair: Long, sandy-blonde hair.
Facial Hair Style: None.

Personality Profile: Even tempered. Curious. Most comfortable with humans though cautious with other races; especially orc-kin unless they are wearing a Foecleaver tribal totems. Has a strong sense of honor and tribal loyalty. Nerys is more open-minded than her tribe mates.
General Health: Very good health. She has well toned shape and moderate feminine curves, though she does nothing to embellish this.
Deity: Shaundakul with deep respect for Tempus and interest in Milil
Initial Alignment: Chaotic Neutral.
Profession: Skald & Forager
Base Class & Proposed Development: Barbarian/Fight/Bard in equal measure, more or less
Habits/Hobbies: Nerys is not comfortable with her femininity since she was so often with males in her youth; more "tom-boy" than girly girl. She is very comfortable in the forest and in cold weather. She hates orcs and hobgoblins. She enjoys sharing stories and songs of historical events. She sings with a mid-range raw, slightly raspy and often soulful singing voice; though she has no formal training in music. Nerys collects gems, small baubles and trinkets. She is a collector and sharer of maxims. She enjoys ales.
Languages: Common & Illuskan
Weapon of Choice: Handaxe and shield or longbow.

Background: Nerys was born in spring of 1329 DR. She is the only daughter of a Greyfox warrior Taban and his spearwife Meru. Her mother was literate and taught Nerys to read and write Common and Illuskan. Meru was killed during an hobgoblin raid when Nerys was 10 years old. Nerys was devistated by her mother's death. She felt very helpless during the raid and wanted to help defend the tribe. She convinced her father to teach her basic fighting techniques with axe and bow. About two years later, her father took another tentwife, Jada, who had two young sons, Reon and Pohl, by another fallen warrior. Nerys became a a tom-boy in those formative tween-years with her rambunctious step-brothers. The three of them would disappear into the woods foraging and stalking each other or small animals. During her mid-teens, Nerys became adapt at learning and re-telling stories and songs of old shared by her step mother, Jada. Taban was killed defending the winter camp during an orc raid when Nerys was almost 18 (early 1347 DR). Otherwise, her youth was generally unremarkable.

In the early spring of 1347, Nerys seized an opportunity to join a small scouting party whose task was to explore the Greyfox's distant north ancestral river lands south of the Lurkwood. They hoped to find a suitable place for the tribe to relocate away from the High Moor. They covered great distances on horseback. The A few months past with few notable events as she and the others explored and scavenged northward around and into the Lurkwood.

In late fall, Nerys was part of an ill-fated foraging party who stumbled upon a much larger group of orcs. Nerys was immediately separated from the others in the running battle. She was smacked across the face by an orc's axe haft and tumbled into a ravine. She awoke hours later, alone in the dark forest. Her face was a bloody mess. She found her dead attacker at the top of the ravine with her hand-axe lodged in its massive neck. She now wears the resultant scar across her nose as a proud badge of honor from her first orc kill.

Unfortunately, Nerys was alone and lost in the forest. She wandered aimlessly until she found a river. However, it was not the river near her group's camp, but instead a different river which lead her west toward Mirabar, where she was found.

Nerys was in poor shape from many day's exposure to the elements. She explained to the Mirabar inhabitants who she is, about her tribe, her parent's names, and such. One of the town elders, Wynn, remembered Meru saying she disappeared during a raid about 20 years ago. Wynn took Nerys into her home for the winter and aided her recovery. Nerys learned Meru was an apprentice mystic at the time she went missing. This story puzzled Nerys since neither her father nor mother spoke about how and where they met. Nerys did not remember her mother ever saying where she was from. Instead, she always assumed her mother was a member of the Greyfox tribe. Nerys vaguely remembers Meru talking about and sketching "buildings of stone" and "silken clothes" when she was learning to read and write. However, Nerys never saw either actual stone buildings or silken clothes until her arrival at Mirabar. Nerys also now realized eight years later the potential significance of a few sparkly gems and trinkets her mother left behind; tools of a mystic. There was obviously more to Meru's history than Nerys ever imagined.

During her winter stay in Mirabar, Nerys heard many stories from Wynn about other villages in the region and the "City of Sails" to the west. She was fascinated by it all since before she only knew snow, alpine forest, valleys and the dreadful High Moor. Nerys convinced a soldier to teach her to fight more effectively. Wynn filled Nerys' idle time refreshing her neglected reading and writing skills.

Nerys was fully recovered from her foraging ordeal by the following spring (1348). As soon as harsh-winter broke she departed Mirabar on horseback to find her scouting party's previous summer's camp. She traveled around the south edge of the Lurkwood until she found the river. A month past before scouts of her Greyfox tribe found her and they returned to their tribe's camp in the High Moor. She shared the story of her adventure so enthusiastically and dramatically that a visiting Battlesong emissary requested Nerys join them. They believed her experiences outside the tribe and being literate in Common and Illuskan should help the Tribes as they move southward into new lands. Jada and the Greyfox Coven agreed to this request.

The Greyfox where preparing to move southwest from the High Moor in the summer of 1348. Nerys departed their summer camp on the edge of the High Moor in late summer of 1348. She and a few others traveled on horseback down the rivers until they found trade caravans and the The Long Road. The group split up to cover more territory. They planned to return to the Tribe in a few months and guide them to a suitable new home. This was the last Nerys saw of the others. As winter set in Nerys continued her journey south and west, offering herself as a sell-sword along the trade roads to those who would have her.

She arrived at Baldur's Gate following a trade caravan in the month of Hammer, year 1349 DR, about a month before her 20th birthday. Soon afterward, the Dark Horde swooped across the lands north of the Baldur's gate separating Nerys from her people.

Goals: First, lead her tribe's survivors together then to new home lands. Keep their stories alive. Kill orcs. Fight honorably. Eventually become a shieldwife and mother to add new sons and daughters to replenish the Tribe. Last, die honorably, though hopefully after a long, song-worthy life.

Possible Plot-Hook Ideas and Misc Facts: How did her parents meet? What is the story behind her mother's "mystic" skills? What did the vision of Shaundakul truly mean when he said, "Lead our people."?

Old world style portrait of Nerys.

+++ edit +++

Added SS image of Nerys.
Edit 2 - adjusted geography references to better fit overall tribal origin stories posted by Maverick40.
Edit 3 - more adjustments for geography and better references w.r.t. Lore and other tribes plus some back-story tidbits.
Edit 4 - some more tweaks.
Edit 5 - changed last name, deity, and a few details to reflect IG activities.
Edit 6 - further adjustments to clarify/correct historical inconsistencies.
Edit 7 - added portrait

[Duster47]

In mid-Alturiak 1349 DR, Nerys returned to where she last knew her Battlesong tribe to be camped. However, they were gone. She tracked some of them through the hilly forest finding some evidence of skirmishes along the way. Late one afternoon, as the shadows grew long, Nerys heard the sounds of warhorns beyond the next ridge. She moved quickly to the top only to see a horde of dark figures charging down the opposite ridge into the valley below. She could see figures below running away into the shadows with the horde fast behind them. She considered following them but decided one against hundreds would only get her killed. Instead she returned toward Baldur's Gate area searching for other tribe members to tell them the terrible news: She suspects most of the Battlesong Tribe may be defeated.

//// Added given new IC information from Maverick40 from DM regarding the Tribes of the High Moor topic. ////

[DMogorgon]

reviewed and rewarded

[Duster47]

/// Too great to not post here also. Thanks Colonic and Piamango for creating this. ///


Another one:

[Duster47]

/// Summary of Nerys' Activities around Baldur's Gate the past 18 months. ///

Nerys’ skaldic journal.

Nerys was the first of the Battlesong emissaries to arrive near Baldur’s Gate. She did her best to tell the southlanders of the coming threat from the Dark Horde. A few listened but failed to truly comprehend the danger of the coming threat. Nerys attempted to return to the Battlesong Tribe’s main camp but arrived only to see them destroyed by the Dark Horde. Nerys returned south to aid the bickering and overconfident southlanders who chose to make a stand against the oncoming Dark Horde at Triel.

Nerys held her own in the battle until dishonorable, coin-loving mercenaries back-stabbed the defenders. Nerys barely survived the battle and became very distrustful of the southlanders afterward. She also became greatly depressed, being alone in a faraway land. She thought the fires in her blood were out and her heart gone cold as a cinder.

Nerys was visited by an avatar of Shaundakul who told her she was not broken, but only bent. The fires burned within her, but she needed reminding of this, to fan the fires hot again. She met a local warrior-healer, Ameris, during this dark time. He goaded her into further self-examination that she was not at all willing to do.

Nerys’ natural affinity for song and grew stronger during this time and provided an outlet for her pent up anger and depression. She began to write old stories and new songs of old and new stories. This was beyond the typical oral, skaldic traditions but Nerys thought it a practical way to preserve the Tribe’s history. In the year to follow, Nerys shared many of her songs with the southlanders at the Temple of Milil (White Mask Theater) in the walled village. She earned great honor for herself several times in victory at temple events. Their chieftain, Herran, asked Nerys to join their tribe. She was issued a key to the temple, which Nerys thought to be such a curious thing.

Within a month, a few other Greyfox survivors where guided by Shaundakul’s wind to the Baldur’s Gate area. Nerys joined them and changed her tribal alliance back to the Greyfox. Together, they selected Cynric, son of Rigo, to be their chief. (Cynric suggested to Nerys she be the chief given she carried the fire of the tribe in her heart. But she declined believing the others would never follow a woman.) Nerys was designated the Tribe’s Emissary and over time would become a close adviser and confidant to her new chief.

In the summer of 1349, the warriors of the tribe were asked by Trasker Selarn of Secomber to find and eliminate a new threat to that area. They tracked the source to a lizardman tribe in the nearby swamp. A black dragon named Alucius attacked the warriors, hitting Nerys with a full acid blast. Fortunately, shaman Ulwick of the Griffin Tribe called a water spirit who washed the acid away, probably saving her life, and certainly most of her skin. Soon after, the tribe found and defeated the lizardman chieftain, Saukatha, and his warriors. Nerys recovered a war trophy Longbow of Silvanus from a defeated foe, which she uses to this day.

The tribe grew more with the return of the chief’s sister, Barilla, and her new husband, Horik, and his two sons. Soon afterward, survivors of the Foecleaver, Battlesong and Blackfeather tribes became known to the Greyfox. A great council meeting was held wherein the tribes discussed re-unification in the north but no final decision was made.

In the fall of 1349 DR, a wandering healer of Ilmater, Layana, found a new home with the Tribe. Nerys and Layana soon became close friends, then later, lovers. This was the first time since Nerys was brutally betrayed by her step-brothers, that she allowed someone else into her loving heart. Nerys and Layana together became adoptive mothers to Faldorn, a child delivered to the Greyfox camp by her mortally wounded Black Raven Tribe mother. Together, the women began raising Faldorn as their own. They encouraged the child’s natural connection to the Feywild spirits and forest creatures. Nerys and Cynric’s relationship also grew closer. Nerys agreed to merge her tent with his if he would also accept Layana as his spearwife (multiple wives is not uncommon within the Tribe). This arrangement brought greater prestige to Nerys as Shieldwife of the chief.

Over time, Nerys overcame her distrust of the southlanders. She negotiated alliances with the Merchant Traders tribe, the Radiant Heart tribe and the Silver Rose tribe. She and others of the tribe participated in several raids with the warriors of these tribes. One raid went badly and Nerys saved the Radiant Heart’s leader, James White, from certain death. On another raid deep into a crypt, Nerys’ deadly aim with her longbow greatly aided their victory and earned them great honor on behalf of Tempos. Nerys participated in battles leading to the final defeat of the Dark Horde at Triel and Soubar. She personally set on fire many damaged buildings and worm-infested bodies to cleanse them of the putrid curse of Yurtrus. She and other warriors of the Tribe routinely patrolled the Triel ruins for several moons afterward. Nerys, Layana and chief Cynric joined the Whistling Wanderess crew to find and defeat a dreadful dragon. Nerys was credited with the killing blow; an arrow in the eye of the great beast.

Unfortunately, over time the forces of evil and bickering, dishonest southlanders around Baldur’s Gate were more persistent than the Tribe would choose to endure. In the summer of 1350 DR they decided to move north. They joined the other tribal remnants camp on the Delimbiyr River near Secomber. Now there, the tribes joined under the common name of the Greyfox Tribe and follow the banners of Shaundakul and Tempos. Layana birthed quadruplet daughters to the proud (if overwhelmed) chief. Nerys herself now also carries another child of the chief’s who is expected to arrive in the middle of the coming winter. Meanwhile, the warriors are defending the trade routes around Secomber and bolstering the town’s militia when needed. In her limited spare time, Nerys continues her skaldic performances in the local Seven-Stringed Harp tavern. She occasionally journeys to Baldur’s Gate to share ale and song at the Temple of Milil.