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D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder / Re: Courtroom Reviews: Way of the Wicked Book One: Knot of Thorns
« on: May 28, 2014, 03:24:13 AM »
Name: Araugh
Alias: Smoulder
Race: Gnoll
Class: Antipaladin (Lord of Darkness archetype) of Asmodeus
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Crime: Murder
History:
Araugh and his brother were basically sold, as toddlers, to a wealthy, outwardly-pious pillar of Talingarde society, a rich merchant who prided himself on being able to show off various curiosities. Male gnolls are considered essentially second-class citizens in gnoll society, but even so, selling a gnoll to a lesser species is normally considered an astronomical betrayal of gnoll virtues.
This wealthy merchant, explained that he was going to teach the four-year old children how to be civilized, and as such, they were going to learn to speak and comport themselves as if they were human. To that end, he would beat them if they spoke in their native language. The first human sentence Araugh spoke, was in response to his smaller, weaker brother, Lok, being beaten for speaking in gnollish. He said, "One day, I will kill you for that. One day, just like you bought us, I will sell your children as slaves."
He received one of the most vicious beatings of his life. And he never did anything ever again to suggest that he would disobey, or be anything other than utterly courteous. He smiled and spoke only courteously when he was shown off as "one of the savages I bought from his own people, and managed to teach the love of Mitra and civilization to, that to this day guards my home with the loyalty of a dog!"
Until his tenth birthday (gnolls are physically adults at about 8 years of age).
He'd long since discovered his "benefactor's" collection of forbidden texts. Some of them including religious texts of Asmodeus. He'd pledged his heart and soul to Asmodeus, while his brother also made dark and secret pacts.
At midnight, on their tenth birthday, Lok poisoned the guards and most of the family with Blue Whinnis poison. All but the patriarch.
Araugh then bludgeoned the old man nearly to death with his heavy, two-handed mace. Leaning down into the nearly-unconscious man's face he said, "Remember what I told you that night, long ago? I'm going to murder you now, and then we will sell your children into slavery."
He then finished beating him to death.
Sadly, where things fell apart, was that the person they attempted to sell the family into slavery to was a government informant. Upon learning of the ruse, they killed the informant for his treachery, but unfortunately, did so while surrounded by the soldiers sent to arrest them. And it was off to the "inescapable" prison for the two brothers.
Quotes:
"Never break your toys until you're done playing with them."
"I said I'd never hurt you. Don't make a liar out of me."
"I believe in a fearful symmetry. What you've done to me only made me stronger. But when I do the same to you, see how you die."
"Your society of law and righteousness is a lie. The wealthy and powerful do as they wish, and the weak and gormless believe they are loved. The only time I was treated as a sentient being under the law was when I killed the man who bought me as a slave. You should have killed me. Giving me three days to stage my death as theater, means three days for me to survive."
Alias: Smoulder
Race: Gnoll
Class: Antipaladin (Lord of Darkness archetype) of Asmodeus
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Crime: Murder
History:
Araugh and his brother were basically sold, as toddlers, to a wealthy, outwardly-pious pillar of Talingarde society, a rich merchant who prided himself on being able to show off various curiosities. Male gnolls are considered essentially second-class citizens in gnoll society, but even so, selling a gnoll to a lesser species is normally considered an astronomical betrayal of gnoll virtues.
This wealthy merchant, explained that he was going to teach the four-year old children how to be civilized, and as such, they were going to learn to speak and comport themselves as if they were human. To that end, he would beat them if they spoke in their native language. The first human sentence Araugh spoke, was in response to his smaller, weaker brother, Lok, being beaten for speaking in gnollish. He said, "One day, I will kill you for that. One day, just like you bought us, I will sell your children as slaves."
He received one of the most vicious beatings of his life. And he never did anything ever again to suggest that he would disobey, or be anything other than utterly courteous. He smiled and spoke only courteously when he was shown off as "one of the savages I bought from his own people, and managed to teach the love of Mitra and civilization to, that to this day guards my home with the loyalty of a dog!"
Until his tenth birthday (gnolls are physically adults at about 8 years of age).
He'd long since discovered his "benefactor's" collection of forbidden texts. Some of them including religious texts of Asmodeus. He'd pledged his heart and soul to Asmodeus, while his brother also made dark and secret pacts.
At midnight, on their tenth birthday, Lok poisoned the guards and most of the family with Blue Whinnis poison. All but the patriarch.
Araugh then bludgeoned the old man nearly to death with his heavy, two-handed mace. Leaning down into the nearly-unconscious man's face he said, "Remember what I told you that night, long ago? I'm going to murder you now, and then we will sell your children into slavery."
He then finished beating him to death.
Sadly, where things fell apart, was that the person they attempted to sell the family into slavery to was a government informant. Upon learning of the ruse, they killed the informant for his treachery, but unfortunately, did so while surrounded by the soldiers sent to arrest them. And it was off to the "inescapable" prison for the two brothers.
Quotes:
"Never break your toys until you're done playing with them."
"I said I'd never hurt you. Don't make a liar out of me."
"I believe in a fearful symmetry. What you've done to me only made me stronger. But when I do the same to you, see how you die."
"Your society of law and righteousness is a lie. The wealthy and powerful do as they wish, and the weak and gormless believe they are loved. The only time I was treated as a sentient being under the law was when I killed the man who bought me as a slave. You should have killed me. Giving me three days to stage my death as theater, means three days for me to survive."