Erasmus

[finneas]

First Name: Erasmus
Last Name: None/Unknown

Appearance:
Race: Human
Age: 19
Height: 6’5”
Weight: 175 lbs (very thin, emaciated even)
Eyes: gray
Hair: brown, tinged with auburn
Facial Hair Style: thin wisp of moustache and lipstache

Personality Profile:
General Health: Hearty. Has lived his whole life on the streets and as such is quite hale. Represented by 14 constitution and eventually the toughness feat.
Deity: Selune
Initial Alignment: Chaotic Good
Profession: Orphan, Waife, Street Rat, Performer
Base Class & Proposed Development: Bard. Eventually Bard 3/Sorc 7/Stormsinger 10/Bloodmage or ASOC or Frostmage 10 depending on how the RP pans out.
Habits/Hobbies: Performing with his lute, running errands for anyone who’ll pay or provide a meal, avoiding the Fist as best as possible, sneaking looks at the White Mask Theater
Languages: Common, Elf, Dwarf
Weapon of Choice: His voice. He really has no physical combat ability whatsoever.

Background:
Erasmus has spent his entire life on the streets of Baldur’s Gate. He often sings of his life, a few verses here and there that he wrote to illustrate where he came from.

♪ “I was spawned in a ditch by a mother who left me there, naked and cold and too hungry to cry, I never blamed her I’m sure she left hoping, that I’d have the good sense to die…”♪

♪ “Then of course, there’s my father…I’m told that most children can point to their fathers with loving and pride. Mine was some regiment here for an hour…I can’t even tell you which side…”♪

♪ “So of course I became, as befitted my delicate birth…little more than a street rat, an orphan, the salt of the earth…”♪

In truth he knows nothing of his parents, the song merely to catch a sympathetic ear or more importantly a sympathetic purse. Erasmus was raised mostly by street people in “The Gate.” In the coldest of nights they would retreat under the streets to the dour warmth of the sewers. His earliest memories are of staring up at the lady moon with fervent longing. Most of his early years were spent panhandling, running errands for any who would offer coin or food and making a general nuisance of himself amongst the shopkeepers and guards of Baldur’s Gate.

Once, at the age of twelve summers, as adulthood was just beginning to get its first tendrils into him one particular shopkeeper, finally fed up, called the Fist to cart him off to one of the workhouses. Erasmus tried to escape non-stop. During one particularly bad beating following such an attempt amidst his cries of pain and anger, lightning struck the workhouse and the building caught fire. In the ensuing confusion Erasmus was able to melt back into the crowds and find his way back to the urchins he had grown up with. The event was spoken of with mild curiosity for the night had been clear, Selune’s soft glow spilling onto the streets. As with all things, memory of the isolated incident faded as nothing of note followed and a fire, after all, is not all that noteworthy.

Erasmus continued to run the streets, watching the performers with awe and sneaking to the basement of the theater to listen to whatever performances filtered down through the stone as he stood at the locked gate. Eventually he started to try his own luck, doing small shows on the street. He carved a crude flute from a dried reed and worked on small feats of magic for the other urchins to watch, never realizing that the simple lights and flares that he managed were the beginnings of something more than tricks.

As it stands now the teen, nearing true adulthood manages to rough out a crude living playing his extremely poor quality lute and reciting poetry and prose. Many of his songs are improvised and impromptu as he studies the marks as they pass and guesses to the content that might pique their interest. He continues to risk life and limb taking on riskier and more dangerous deliveries for local merchants. Thus far he owes his life to a quick tongue and quicker feet…

Goals: In the short term to not starve to death or fall victim to the many perils of street people; murder, robbery, exploitation, etc. In the longer term he dreams of performance, his name spoken in every household, a stage and audience. Though he does not realize it he needs to discover the truth about his sorcerous powers and why his voice sometimes calls the storm.

Possible Plot-Hook Ideas and Misc Facts: Erasmus recently bungled into some caravan laden with explosives and a connection to some group known as the Vitrous Soil as he was delivering mushrooms to a Halfling chef in Beregost. Rumor in the Gate puts this group at odds with the dukes. Aside from this he has been shown small kindness by Telia Navra. She graciously gave him a personal tour of the White Mask Theater and even hinted that he might one day perform on that very stage should he prove himself worthy.

[DM Golem]

Approved, XP pending (ask a DM IG)

[DM Bloodlust]

Rewarded.