Abridged History for Klaudia

[sulit]

This campaign takes place in the Dungeons and Dragons setting of the Forgotten Realms.

Content warning for this page: Child neglect, implied racism.

Klaudia grew up in the coastal city of Waterdeep, daughter to the human noblewoman Lady Irlingstar and a traveling tiefling mage by the name of Zherakos. As scandalous as the affair was, Lord Irlingstar allowed the tiefling child to remain with her mother, so long as she was kept out of sight--from everyone. Thus began Klaudia's nineteen years of solitude.

As far as Waterdeep was concerned, Klaudia was a sickly human child being kept indoors for her own safety. In reality, she grew to be a insatiably curious and energetic thing, eager to explore the world and unlock its mysteries with her own hands. When the walls of her family's villa couldn't contain her interest, she turned to books to sate her appetite for adventure. Stories about the sea were her favorites, but she would read almost anything. With too much time and not enough hobbies to fill a day, she eventually taught herself tailoring, woodcarving, tinkering, sailing, shipbuilding, astronomy, and even magic.

Her mother doted on her with gifts that only excessive wealth could buy, but there was little real love in her life. Lord Irlingstar barely looked at her and never spoke to her, and she likewise avoided him. Her half-siblings also took little interest in her, and even the servants kept their distance. It wasn't difficult for Klaudia to reason that she was being treated differently, but she could do nothing about it.

When she was sixteen, she realized that her mother never intended to let her leave the house. She was expected to live her whole life behind these walls, never setting foot past the front step. Her panic at feeling trapped was so strong that she started planning her escape immediately, deciding then that she would leave home and find her real father; despite barely having more than his name.

Three more years passed before she finally felt prepared to execute her plan. Armed with knowledge of maps and navigation, lock picks that she made herself, and money stolen from her mother; Klaudia snuck out of her home for the first time ever. She stole down to the docks, bartered with several captains, and finally booked passage on the first ship that she could convince to take her. As the ship sailed away, she resolved to put everything squarely behind her. There would be no love lost, no distractions, and no more time spent thinking about the family she was leaving behind. If that was a family, then she didn't want it.

The ship made port in Balder's Gate to the south, where Klaudia disembarked and began her search. Being both a competent craftswoman and a budding mage, she had no trouble providing for herself; but there was no sign of her father. Undiscouraged, she bartered passage again and again for nearly two months, visiting many new places as she went.

It was in Calimport that Klaudia came upon the Brassica--the brightest, bluest ship that she'd ever seen. She'd already heard rumors that it was actually a ghost ship, captained by a woman that had been hung for treason. But if that was supposed to deter her from investigating it, then the rumor had the wrong effect entirely. Instead of offering a bribe for passage, Klaudia met with the captain and requested to join her crew. Far from the terrifying woman the gossip had depicted, the captain was kind and warm. She welcomed Klaudia into her crew immediately. The rest of the crew wasn't swayed as easily, but over time they began warming up to her.

Most surprising for Klaudia was that they actually wanted her around, and she likewise began to enjoy their company, too. Never-mind that she was soon to discover that the ship was not a ghost ship at all, but rather a pirate ship... albeit an unusual one. Gold wasn't particularly important to this crew, at least not as much as the adventure and the freedom--and that in itself felt like the home that Klaudia had always wanted. There were no walls or cages here on the open sea, just space to breathe and people that she might eventually call her family.

Six months later, Klaudia now spends her days traveling with the crew of the Brassica, chasing adventure and living her life of freedom on the Shining Sea. She still searches for her father when they make port, but that doesn't feel as pressing as it did those months ago.

Most recently, the crew discovered a fifty-year-old map and journal from another pirate captain. It told of a treasure that was buried on a cursed island, and the crew decided to set a course to find it. Upon arriving at the island, they instead found the undead, skeletal crew of that captain. A number of fights were had, along with some puzzles and questionable decisions regarding cursed items; but the Brassica's crew finally found the captain that had written the journal.

After another fight, he told them of the death god's curse on the island and the rubies that he thought sustained it. Klaudia inspected the rubies, but found nothing particularly cursed about them. At that moment, an earthquake shook the island, causing the temple to start to crumble.

After fleeing the temple, Brassica's crew offered passage to any skeletons that wanted to leave the island. Many of them joined for the time being, until they could find fortune elsewhere.

Brief Personality:
It's said that Waterdhavians are social, stalwart, and outspoken; and Klaudia is a prime example of these qualities. When in a comfortable place, she's a charismatic and fiercely optimistic individual who enjoys engaging others in conversation. She works hard, often on a large number of projects simultaneously; and she finds that hard work to be enjoyable. She's the sort of person that can't ever truly relax if she's not busy building or learning something.

However, Klaudia is emotionally stunted, suffice to say. Most of her life was spent without access to others, which has denied her any sense of social awareness. Her comments are blunt and can often cause irritation, though they don't come from a place of malice. If anything, they come from her innate and intense sense of curiosity. She makes observations and asks questions without considering how they might sound to others. There are very few things she judges others about--although fashion and magic are on that list. But she's surprisingly accepting of many other things, especially things that she has little experience with.

Likewise, Klaudia is also morally stunted. She understands that some things are socially considered good, and some are socially considered bad; but she has no internal compass to rely on herself. She follows her Captain's rule of strictly non-lethal combat not because she understands the gravity of murder, but because she wins her Captain's approval when she adheres to it. Without that approval, she doesn't understand how it benefits her to care about others, especially when so few people have cared about her.

Klaudia also comes across as especially prideful, though that is an over-compensation for her upbringing more than anything else. Internally, she's deeply self-conscious. She adores praise and fears rejection to the extent that she will actively praise herself and her own skills, while also being preemptively combative with anyone who might express displeasure. Furthermore, she can sometimes force herself to altogether dismiss the person that is rejecting her; but other times it sits with her and causes her a deep sense of anxiety, especially if she's put a lot of stake in that person's opinion.