Mara
Origin: ThayAge: 30s
Sex: Female
Deity: Jergal
Alignment: Lawful Good
Height: 6'3"
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black
General Health: Athletic
Profession: Paladin, undead hunter, monster slayer
Habits/Hobbies: Venerating Jergal
Languages: Common, Mulhorandi
Weapon of Choice: Scimitar
Appearance
Mara is a tall woman with oddly colored eyes. Her armor is a patchwork of leather and metal, all cobbled together into a makeshift fullplate suit. Her shield is cracked and beginning to rust.
Personality Profile
Mara is somber and quiet. Her face rarely expresses any emotion or feeling. She looks at anyone she talks to with a deadpan gaze, almost unblinking.
Background
Thay
- "The Mulan people are tall and slim, sometimes to the point of being gaunt. Their skin is sallow, and they usually remove what little body hair they have by means magical or mundane...
"Almost all nobles in Thay are of Mulan descent, although not all Mulan are nobles. At worst, lowborn Mulan are free farmers or artisans, although many seek power that does not depend on their family’s wealth, becoming bureaucrats, soldiers, or priests..."- -Unapproachable East, page 158-159
- "The Mulan people are tall and slim, sometimes to the point of being gaunt. Their skin is sallow, and they usually remove what little body hair they have by means magical or mundane...
- "While it is possible for a sorcerer or bard to become a Red Wizard, such misfits are ridiculed in their homeland and are incredibly rare."
- -Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, page 50
- "While it is possible for a sorcerer or bard to become a Red Wizard, such misfits are ridiculed in their homeland and are incredibly rare."
- Born into a Mulan farming family in Thay, Mara discovered her innate sorcerous magic in her early childhood. Because sorcery is frowned upon in Thay, her family urged her to hide her powers. Mara practiced her powers in secret, thinking that what people did not know could not hurt them. She was wrong. Her sorcery was discovered, bringing unwanted and lethal attention to her family. Her family's farm was one day overrun by the undead. Mara managed to escaped into hiding, eventually claiming sanctuary at the Crypt of Imminent Death in Bezantur.
- "Jergal's cult has undergone a small renaissance in Thay where death is a daily fact of life. The Crypt of Imminent Death in Bezantur, Thay, is a small onion-domed structure of gold-veined black marble...
"The Companions of the Pallid Mask were a group of Jergali priests who specialized in combating or commanding the undead. They eliminated undead creatures whose existence was not sanctioned by the church or who had proven to be troublesome..."- -Powers and Pantheons, page 33
- "Jergal's cult has undergone a small renaissance in Thay where death is a daily fact of life. The Crypt of Imminent Death in Bezantur, Thay, is a small onion-domed structure of gold-veined black marble...
- Learning the teachings of Jergal helped Mara come to terms with the death of her family. Seeing death as an inevitable eternity that comes to all, regardless of the length of anyone's life, allowed Mara to let go even of her anger over the loss of her family. "Existence is but a brief aberration in an eternity of death." Mara took this dogma to be a guiding principle. This meant that she saw the undead as an affront to Jergal's cause.
Mara also came to learn about the Companions of the Pallid Mask, an old Jergalite group that didn't seem to exist anymore. She agreed with the defunct order's now-abandoned practice of fighting the undead. Having seen what the undead were like in Thay, Mara did not feel that Jergal's cause required the use of the undead. However, she discovered that the Jergalite church was uninterested in destroying the undead, and that some members of the faith even utilized such necromancy. Feeling disillusioned, Mara was on the verge of leaving the church.
That is when she felt called upon by Jergal to become a paladin. Taking this as a sign that Jergal wanted her to destroy the undead, Mara decided to follow the old ways of the Companions of the Pallid Mask. She would take their practices a step further though, and seek the destruction of all undead whatsoever, even if they had been sanctioned by the Jergalite church. Thinking that she alone knew Jergal's true wishes, Mara left the Crypt of Imminent Death and began her travels.
She was fortunate enough to encounter skilled adventurers along the way willing to teach her how to combine sword and sorcery to combat the undead.
On Flamerule 12, 1356, Mara was slain in combat against an evil Jergalite monk. She was, ironically, later resurrected. Upon her return from death, Mara became even more dispassionate and emotionally detached. This, along with a conscious decision to turn away from sorcery and towards greater worship of Jergal, inhibited her arcane powers. Her connection to her god, however, strengthened.
- Destroy the undead
- Advance the cause of Jergal
- Teach others not to fear death
- Mara is under the assumption that she alone knows how Jergal truly feels about the undead. She believes Jergal only allows some followers to utilize the undead because those followers are somehow weaker in their faith, or weaker in power, or otherwise need the undead as a crutch. As a representative of Jergal's "true" will, Mara will not hesitate to fight Jergalites who summon the undead.
- Her faith in Jergal's teachings make her detached from many things that others find important.
- Mara does not prioritize material wealth, so most of her arms and armor are not high-quality. She did recently receive one masterwork blade from another paladin, however.