Nme'an (Gaming)

by Ragashingo , Official DBO Cryptarch, Sunday, January 29, 2017, 16:10 (2859 days ago) @ Ragashingo

Nme'an was (and is!) my first Pathfinder character. He is a Paladin who is a Knight of the Dawnflower, a semi-religious group of peace keepers and high end law enforcers who answer directly to the kingdom's King. Nme'an himself has quite the backstory:

Nme’an was born to the daughter of a prominent leader of the Elven town near the human settlement of Brakton some twenty-eight years ago. Raised along side two older Elven brothers, he always had his mother’s love, but was never allowed to use her last name or that of his father. Though his mother would never admit it to him, the truth was Nme’an’s birth was a major embarrassment for her and her family line. She had been grieving the loss of her husband to illness when forced to accompany a trade delegation to the city of Thaleniel. One night of weakness with a charming Human who she would never see again, who’s name she would never even learn, was all it took.

Still, she was determined to give her newborn son a good life and used all of her remaining influence to shield him from the mistrust her fellow Elves typical directed to those of mixed race. She could only protect him for so long, though, and as he entered his second decade of life Nme’an began to feel the increasing tension between himself and his Elven peers. At the age of seventeen, having quietly endured years of carefully directed shuns and insults, Nme’an announced to his family that he would soon be leaving them. Where he would go and what he would do was unclear, but surely anything was better than tolerating a life of unspoken scorn. Then, just days after his announcement, his future laid itself before him.

A surprise Goblin raid from the bordering swamplands breached his town’s defenses forcing all its inhabitancies to flee or fight. Nme’an and his brothers fought. One of his brothers was slain by an arrow early in the battle, while the other was maimed by a vicious attack. Nme’an, however, fared remarkably well even though he rushed into battle with nothing more than a dull blade and a set of worn training armor he found in one of the town’s inner guard posts. He was knocked down twice, suffered a number of cuts and bruises, but for some reason none of the Goblins were able to land a decisive blow. Nme’an had never considered a life of fighting before, had never so much as held a real sword, and yet he somehow managed to fell four fully outfitted Goblin raiders before the raid was driven back.

Nme’an was hailed as a hero but soon found he could not accept the honor, or rather he could not abide the hypocrisy of his town’s newfound praise when just days before he had all but been an outcast to them. A month later he carried out his previous plans to leave, despite the protests of the town, his surviving brother, and his mother.

The next decade of Nme’an’s life were not as easy as he had hoped. The other Elven towns and villages he looked for work in wanted nothing to do with him, and the Humans, who he had higher hopes for, treated him only moderately better. Still, Nme’an persevered. He served where he could, learned to fight from whoever would teach him, and longed for a day where he might have the skill and opportunity to once again place himself between innocents and harm. He eventually found a home in the Human city of Thaleniel where his quiet, resilient demeanor and natural talent earned him a rising position among the town guard. More recently, Nem’an left his position with the town guard, having been hand picked to train with The Order of the Dawnflower. It was there he found the secret to his success against the Goblin attackers all those years ago. The goddess Sarenrae, whom The Order worships, had been watching over him all along, and now he is able to repay her.

The game Nme'an is a part of has been running for well over three years now and is nearing 3,000 total posts. There's some cool stories and happenings contained throughout the game but it'd be quite a lot of work to pull them out and set the context, so I'll post the one solid backstory piece I wrote for Nme'an separate from the main storylines.