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Name: Lyris Reynolt
Alias: n/a
Race: Human (Chondathan)
Initial Alignment: CG
Height: 1.55 m
Weight/Build: Diminutive
Age: 20
Eyes: Light Brown
Hair: Sandy blonde
Deity: Mystra
Base Class & Proposed Development: Sorceress (potentially dragon disciple if and when it's reworked)
Notable/Distinguishing Features: Light dusting of freckles
Appearance: Lyris appears as a diminutive woman with sandy blonde hair and light brown eyes. A light dusting of freckles covers her cheekbones and nose.
When traveling, she favours comfortable clothes with a touch of style, while in civilized areas she prefers long flowing robes of vibrant colors. All outfits would show the presence of small precious ornaments here and there such as a golden broach, a gem encrusted ring or even a thin silver embroidery.
Despite this, it is clear to an attentive eye that her manners and poise are those of a commoner.
Personality Profile: At first glance, Lyris appears cheerful and carefree, sometimes naive. Her attitude is very gregarious and she often prefers lingering in busy gathering spots than wandering on her own. Most of all she enjoys talking and, in a way listening, if only to have stories to retell.
Due to her upbringing, her perspective are mostly down-to-earth and seemingly ignorant of more complex thematics. Nonetheless, she is animated by an unrelenting curiosity about anything unknown to her and doesn't shy away from asking as many questions she deems necessary to anybody within reach, often resulting in their annoyance. Even though she is fond of books, she prefers to learn by talking and interacting with others. This curiosity also translates in her eagerness to experiment and test the boundaries of her powers.
Although Lyris loves to boast her sorcerous powers and draconic heritage, in reality this is something directed to herself more than others in an attempt to quell her fears about her mostly unknown bloodline and hide her insecurity about disappointing others.
Lyris is particularly fond of gems and precious ornaments and, in general, of any eye-catching thing she perceives as beautiful.
Background: Lyris was born on the 12th of Kythorn 1360 DR in Baldur's Gate, daughter of apothecaries in the Lower City. Although her parents had been married for years before her birth, children wouldn't come likely due to her mother's poor constitution. As a consequence, the latter died shortly after giving birth.
Lyris was raised by her father Ander and her maternal grandmother Petrine, however the presence of her expanded family members, such as aunts, uncles and first or second cousins was also consistent in her life. Although her family was overall caring, her father never processed his wife's loss and focused his efforts on his work, leaving young Lyris in the care of her elderly grandmother most of the time. When she was old enough to help, she was taught enough basics of letters and numbers to do so as well as the basics of the trade. Nonetheless, young Lyris still enjoyed the stories her grandmother would tell her and she often fancied herself one of the heroes of those stories. Considering this, it wasn't too shocking to her when at the age of 8 her sorcerous powers awakened.
At first, these bizarres episodes of flickering lights and disembodied sounds were so sporadic and out of her control that she didn't immediately realize they came from her and, even when she did, her power manifested very instinctively either in situations of danger or when her mind was between sleep and wakefulness. For this reason, her father attributed those episodes to the ghost of her dead wife, and never believed Lyris whenever she claimed to be able to use magic. Whenever she claimed this, her father would scold her and claim that she was too old to believe the stories her grandmother told her. This, in turn caused Lyris to be in control of her powers even less, as she started perceiving her claims as wrong. Time passed and despite seeking the aid of various priests none of them could detect the presence of a restless soul. Nonetheless, Ander still chose to believe in the presence of his wife and would even speak as if she was present, while progressively losing faith in the gods and their servants. Grandmother Petrine, on the other hand, at first indulged the child in what she thought was fantasy, but ever pious she opted to trust the judgement of the priests and began to suspect that Lyris might have been right after all.
At the age of 11, Lyris mustered enough control on the Art to demonstrate it in front of her family.
Seeing the cloud of glitter erupting from her daughter's hands, even her father had to surrender in front of hard evidence, but this was nothing like what she expected. Instead of pride or even surprise, she could only read one thing in her father's expression: disappointment.
After that episode, her father removed anything that belonged to her mother from sight and closed up within himself, reacting with hostility whenever his wife was brought up. Despite this, he had the sense of finding guidance for his daughter and sought help from the Temple of Mystra.
Lyris is taken in the care of Priestess Kalandra Brightwood and in the following years she learns not only how to harness her powers but also the basics of arcane theory and Mystran dogmatics. It is here she learns about her draconic heritage, although at this stage Kalandra was unable to determine exactly which draconic bloodline she belonged to. From this moment onwards, Lyris will become increasingly drawn towards anything related to dragons.
As Lyris reached adulthood, she accompanied her teacher increasingly often at official meetings. Although many of those were strictly related to the church activities, she started suspecting this was not always the case. For one of such meetings in particular, she refused not only to let Lyris accompany her but also to give any detail. In the end curiosity had the better of her and she snuck in shortly after the beginning of the meeting. Just moments after, she saw the person her teacher was talking to stab her to death and rummage through her belongings. Oddly enough, she saw him taking only a single item: a pin in the shape of a harp. Of course Lyris had and still has no idea what that meant, nor she had time to reflect on this as a sudden movement revealed her presence to the assassin.
Thanks to her sorcerous powers, the help of Eli, the pseudodragon companion of her teacher, and most importantly to the fact that unlike her pursuer, who wasn't a local, she knew the area like the back of her hand, she managed to escape. This did not prevent her killer from seeing her face and, after learning this, the church insisted that she left the city as quickly as possible for her own safety.
Thanks to the help of an uncle who worked with caravaneers, a trip out of Baldur's Gate was arranged.
She roamed around for a few months and in her travels she met the bard Cyrah Jr. and the warrior Edgar. With them she set off towards Waterdeep, drawn at last towards the more familiar Sword Coast.
Goals: Lyris' goals are mostly two: finding out more about her bloodline and exploring her sorcerous potential.
Enemies: The one who killed her teacher was a spy from the Iron Throne, which had been banished from the city years prior. Of course Lyris doesn't know any of this.
Possible Plot-Hook Ideas and Misc Facts:
- Lyris bloodline is that of a brass dragon, though she does not know this;
- She might be interested in knowing what the "harp pin" means and who the assassin was, however so far from Baldur's Gate she is unlikely to start this investigation on her own;
