Thaldril / Bromwylda Oakenspine

You were born in the bustling city of Cliffport - the first home of the Seafarer Dwarves. But you are not of Seafarer stock - your grandparents came to Cliffport only a few hundred years ago after living as close to a nomadic life that a Dwarf could stand. You are from the Hill Dwarf people. And despite the fact that you shared Clan heritage with Dwarves of Seafarer and even Firstborn stock, you always got the impression that you were treated as the "poor cousin". Your family raised you as well as they could - instilling in you the phrase that you consider your personal motto. You had clan, beard, and family, so you were desperate to find friends.

Perhaps that is why, at a young age, you fell in with the wrong crowds in Cliffport. Your companions wanted to be "important", and they frequently called upon you to use your exceptional strength to persuade others just how "important" you were. You wanted to be accepted, and you wanted respect, and, to be honest, you were a bit naive. Before long, you realized that you were simply the Enforcer in a small gang of thugs that shook down respectable Folk - mostly the Humans and especially the Halfling shopkeepers in Cliffport, but even a few Dwarves as well. When you realized this, you also realized that you weren't happy about it - but what could you do?

A year ago, you figured it out. You could simply leave. You'd have to say goodbye to family and the few real friends you had, but you'd never be happy unless you put many miles between you and the gang you were running with. And so you set out for a place as different from Cliffport as you could imagine: the Feywood. There were villages and towns springing up there -- mostly good, honest Folk, or so you have heard. You'd make a new life among them.

After much travel, you found yourself in the village of Feybridge Crossing. There was talk all over town about a settlement of gold miners to the southeast - perhaps you'd make your real fortune there! What could be more natural for a Dwarf than digging into the earth and extracting riches?! But before heading down that road, you decided you would treat yourself to a bit of fun and enjoyment. There was some sort of festival going on in a Halfling village about 10 or 12 days away, and lots of Folk from Feybridge thought it was a big enough deal to make the trip. You might as well tag along and see what it was all about. It would be nice, after all, to have dealings with Halflings that did not involve lifting them by their collars and shaking them!

Role-Playing this Character

There are two important things to remember when playing any Dwarven character in Cartyrion. The first is that all Dwarves belong to a Clan - yours is the Stonebreaker Clan. The Twelve Clans can trace their origins back to the first Dwarves to be Awakened, Every Dwarf is given a Clan Dagger at their Naming Ceremony on their first birthday; that Dagger is a symbol and reminder of who they are and where they came from.

The second thing to remember is that all Dwarves -- regardless of temperament, ethics, morals, or otherwise - value three things above all else: their beards, their Clan Daggers, and their families... in that order. A Dwarf, male or female, without a beard, or without a Clan Dagger, is nothing, and since a Dwarf includes all members of their Clan as "family", being without Family means being without Clan. Again... such a Dwarf is nothing. Even the nastiest, most selfish Dwarf on Cartyrion will never willingly do ill toward a member of their own Clan. Good friends gathered during a lifetime are also of extreme importance, but they never supersede these three things.

You are escaping your past. You're ashamed that you allowed yourself to be used by others to cause pain, and you are seeking for some way to make amends for that. You want to be helpful, not hurtful. You have exceptional strength and surprising agility, and you should look to use these talents wherever possible (and not just in combat).

At the same time, brute force is what you know, and so in sticky situations, it is what you will revert to. You have always found it easy to Coerce others into giving you what you need with little more than an intimidating glare and a few choice words.  

Special Abilities, Features, and Feats

Because of your Dwarf Ancestry...

Physically, you are shorter and stockier than the Elves, Humans, and Orcs of Cartyrion, though not as short as the Halflings, Goblins, and Gnomes. Your purposed gait gets you where you want to go a bit slower than other Folk, but your stamina makes up for this. But you find the Elves particularly annoying because of their ability to cover ground much faster than you can. Being born under a mountain and far from the light of day, you can see rather clearly even in total darkness. Your family line has passed on to you the inherent ability to acclimate yourself to wearing heavy, bulky armor. Protection that would reduce the speed and agility of others has little effect on you.

You have a deep-seated respect for tradition and clan/family that other folk might even call obsessive. The pride and respect for your beard falls into that category as well. While your general nature is often seen by non-Dwarves as being stoic, stubborn, and serious, you most defintely know how to have a good time - if the time and place are right for it. The fact that something worth doing is worth doing well has been drilled into you from your childhood; that applies to celebrating as well.

You can undestand, speak, read, and write the Common and Dwarvish languages.

Because of your Hill Culture...

...your ancestors, who have lived above the mountains a long time and faced perils that Dwarves were simply not built for, have passed onto you a limited resistance to the poisons that may be experienced in the wider world of Cartyrion. Even if poisons do affect you, you tend to shake off the effects faster than other Folk.

Because of your Criminal background...

...you learned how to intimidate others using brute force - and pain when necessary. But you always sensed that what you were doing was somehow wrong.
...you gained an understanding of how criminal enterprises worked, and in particular how the smuggling game was played in a great seaport like Cliffport. You're not sure how much that knowledge will help you deep in the forest, though.

As a Ruffian Rogue...

...you retain the ability to intimidate with as little as a stern glare.

...unlike most other Rogues, you find you find relying on your strength more dependable than relying on your dexterity - even though your dexterity is superior to that of the average Folk.