Character Background: Nikolai Angel

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Starting a Pathfinder campaign and I wanted to share my character's background. Our DM makes it a requirement to play in his games because he believes that it makes you fall in love with your character and helps you roleplay. Feel free to critique and I'd love feedback. This character is a Fighter 1/ Cleric 1 and I hope it shows in the writing.

WARNING: The following is not a short story. To those that hate reading, proceeding is not advised.

I am Nikolai Angel and I will be short with my words. A man should be of action and less talk. I grew up in the town of Pharetir; a town of knights and warriors for hire. Life was brutal. At a young age I was raised to use the sword. My father, Heshro, was a knight of the old ways. He told me a night where we could clearly gaze upon the stars that littered the endless dark, “Son, one day I shall leave this plane to where I do not know. I have regret that the world I have brought you in is a foul and abysmal place. The only action I knew to take was to make you strong enough so you could one day take leave of this place on your own two feet. Stand strong my son and become stronger than I ever could be.” My father died in a battle two winters later. I was nine when I helped bury him in his final resting place. I never forgot his words.

At the age of twelve I had grown much stronger and participated in small skirmishes on behalf of the knights of Pharetir. The money was terrible and just enough to scrape a living. I knew nothing else so I continued my days of slaughter, butchering smaller monsters until our town was raided. They came in the night when few soldiers were on watch and set fire to every building and stable. I wonder if I truly had the knack to escape or if the goblins and orcs merely let me escape because I wasn’t worth their time. I climbed the hill from where my father and I gazed at the stars and observed my burning home while being forced to watch what was left of my “family” become the slaughtered. I remember their screams and find myself waking up on troubled nights in cold sweats to their agonizing cries. I wandered the plains in my home region with no hope of survival. I killed and scavenged for food but a knight that has no training in the hunt can only be so lucky in the open fields of Dereska. I collapsed several days in to my journey thinking I was to die and be eaten by the beast of the plain. I awoke to the kind face of an old woman whose husband had carried me to their cottage in the plains. I thank Sarenrae to the day. The man that had saved my life was an old hunter named Olue and his kind wife was Yesmeril. They cared for me for several months raising me as their own. Time flew past as I was raised to live on the plains and one day a young knight of a neighboring city came home to his parents. Jasqaer was his name. He saw “light in my eyes” if I am quoting him properly and he offered to pay for my schooling as a knight of his city. I felt it was necessary and had outstayed my welcome so I left with him the following spring.

At the age of fourteen, I had begun my training as a knight of Celrule. I never knew I could grow to be so strong. If my father was watching me, I hope he knew how I remembered his words and pushed myself to be the great man he desired me to be. I had grown larger and dawned chain armors. I was shocked at how light they felt.

It was when I was sixteen that I met her; a girl of indescribable beauty that had eyes of silver and platinum hair that rivaled the shine of the moon. I only met her in passing, but every time I did, my heart pulled into my chest and it felt as though it would not stop its incessant beating until I pounded my chest into submission. I learned that she was a slave girl, bought on the market that belonged to a rich patron of the castle. Jasqaer noticed how elated I became in her presence and sought her name for me. Eiliyah I came to learn was her name. I had few opportunities to speak to her and when I did have my chances, I froze up. She failed to notice me. I continued my training vigorously through the years.

At the age of eighteen, I had surpassed Jasqaer himself in battle and made all but the best of knights kneel in submission before my prowess. I was knighted and again found myself following the path of my father. I waged battles on behalf of my lord Gustave for years to come. I found my talents accelerating rapidly and bore new armors of heavy chain and banded steel. These too felt light and I pressed myself to train harder so I could find the limit to my abilities. I didn’t know what I was looking for. My nights were cold and lonely and I often whispered into the night air my wishes for the future hoping someone was listening.

When I was twenty-four I had become a royal knight of the city. I was given the honor of participating in a grand spectacle of the royal games. I was to joust and fight in the arena in non deadly combat in honor for my fellow brothers and lord. I did so with blessings from my comrades and gave my all. I came fourth in the tournament which came surprise to many that I had done so well. I had faired against many veteran knights that had fought a decade longer than I. I was praised and celebrated within the chambers of my lord Gustave. I was told that I need take a wife to bare strong children. There was a woman I had in mind. When I requested her I found that she was claimed by her master Teires; a vulgar and portly slob of man. I could not have my Eiliyah and my heart broke. I refused to take a wife and my lord became short with me.

At the age of twenty-six our castle was raided by another battalion of knights in the midst of night and my new home too seemed lost. As I stormed through the castle slaying what enemies marched through the halls of my lord I came across Jasqaer; a blade sank deep into his armor. He told me to escape and to give his parents and wife his love. His last words to me as he grabbed hold of my collar were, “You can find what you seek deep within yourself and it is neither emotion nor thought. It is a part of you and you must embrace it without question to truly understand it.” Only years down the line would I come to learn of what he had preached. I flew into a blood lust and coated the cobblestone walls of my home in red. My enemies learned fear that day. I eventually found my way into the courtyard of my district where lo! Eiliyah was being assaulted by these dastardly villains. Their hands upon her, tainting her body with their foul touch with her dead master lying beheaded by the haystack she was being forced upon. I roared with a ferocity I knew not I had and leapt on the soon to be corpses of my foes. They stood no chance with their armor half unlinked and weapons down. I broke my sword atop one’s head and grabbed a grounded Morningstar to finish the job. Afterwards I helped Eiliyah clothe herself and escorted her hastily to the stables where we found a horse to escape. We rode out to the home of Jasqaer and I told his sobbing parents what had befallen him. Eiliyah did not leave my side that night as we rested in the woods in a clearing, showered in starlight.

It was when I was thirty-six that something happened to me that changed my life. Eiliyah and I had traveled far across the region into a populated area near the city of Hiceres. I had built us a home with sweat and blood nine years ago and she had bore me a healthy son. We named him Christophe and he had my looks and his mother’s eyes. I love him with all my heart. He wants to be a scholar and his mother agrees that she would prefer him down that path rather than the one I had been forced to take. I agreed but somewhat regrettably for I saw the potential for his ability to fight. When his mother would leave to the city, I would teach him the basics of swordplay with wood crafted blades and shields. He is an exceptionally fast learner. One day in the summer, I had returned home from the hunt and Eili came yelling to me that Chris had not returned home. It was well into the night so I grabbed my armor and Morningstar and took haste to where she saw him last. Apparently he had grabbed his wooden shield and sword and rushed off to play with some friends in the area. I knew the parents of the children he played with and ran to their homes. They too had not seen their children. I became more worried as I found four other children aside from mine own had gone missing. The last house I came to, a young girl told me that she had refused to go to where they were going to play; a crypt of sorts. I fell deep within myself. A crypt would certainly hold the undead and I flew to where she pointed me. I prayed to what I know not then but know now. I prayed for the safety of my son and the other children. “Please let them be well.” I beckoned over and over again. I found my way to the crypt and saw traces of their passing. Why? Why would they enter the crypt? I was furious. My son should know better. What was the point of all that reading and studying if it only enticed him to seek the dangers he read of? I entered the crypt and smelled the rotting flesh of the dead. When I found myself in the main chamber I saw them; the ghouls and zombies of the underworld clawing at the walls, trying to reach the five small children that had climbed atop a stone slab balanced high atop four pillars. They cried for help in tears. I charged forward and blindly swung in rage at the unholy creatures of decay. I only took a few down before I began to lose myself. They bit and scratched and tore and ripped at my body. They began to pin me down and unshackle my armor mindlessly when my son roared at them and began to climb down the pillars. I screamed for him to stop but it was too late and a ghoul leaped at him and flung his small body to the ground. It looked on him with milky and pale dead eyes and bared its teeth to sink into his flesh. I lost myself.

At that moment I remember not being entangled in the rotten claws of the undead nor was I any longer in a physical body of sorts. I stood naked before a woman of great beauty; endless white wings drifting like clouds swam into the eternal black around me with a brilliant halo of fire and light adorned atop her head. It was magnificent. Even though her lips moved, I could not hear her speak but yet I understood every word. “I am the Dawnflower. I am the Healing Flame. I am the Everlight you seek without seeking. Your heart is just and courageous and I cannot let a mortal such as yourself fall victim to the soulless.” She glided towards me and rested her hand on my cheek and locked lips with me. As she pulled away, she met eyes with me but an inch from my face and muttered, “Sarenrae.” Is this an angel I thought to myself? I felt myself grow warm and at ease. She embraced me with her wings and they shrouded my body with soothing energies I cannot describe to this day. “Call on me Nikolai Angel. You are my child and a part of me as well. I will guide you as best I can and protect you as long as you stray not from your true self. Love me and I shall love the unconditionally.” After these words I remember nothing but the brightest of lights filling my mind and spirit as I returned to world I knew. I called to Sarenrae almost instinctually and the same light as before covered my body and flooded the room. The undead fell back, arms covering their eyes and howling in pain. Within an instant they burst into white flames and disintegrated into dust. My son stared in disbelief at me and the other children gawked at me with awe. Later that night, after returning the children home, my son praised me. “Father, you were amazing! You looked like an angel! I think I want to study magic so I can get to be stronger someday just like you.” He had said it with a smile on his face and I knew he was truly serious. I knew at that moment that that was no magic. That power was of the divine that the priest and paladins spoke of at the cathedrals and churches. Not until that day did I know that they spoke the truth.

At the age of thirty-seven I told my beloved wife Eiliyah that I needed to make a journey of self discovery. I would venture out and find what this message meant and what I was meant to do. She was told by our son what had happened and nodded acceptingly and kissed my forehead. She told me to do what I knew in my heart was right. I gave her all the money I had saved over the years and told her that Christophe wanted to go to a school for the arcane. She seemed shocked by the notion but after much debate, agreed that it was best for him. The school was nearby so he would be able to travel home often. I promised that I would return home every season at the very least. The following morning, I ventured out on my adventure that would define my life.

I hope you enjoyed my story guys!