Example Background

My last main character was a halfling hexblade (warlock with pact of the blade), whose patron with the rest of the adventuring party was the Church of Kelemvor, Kelemvor being the Forgotten Realms’ god of death at the time. Fortunately, we didn’t get to a high enough level for the issue of summoning undead allies in battle to come up.

The fourth edition warlock rules forgot to limit hexblade weapons according to the summoner’s size, so she ended up with a summoned magic sword nearly as long she was tall. I don’t think this works in fifth edition.

Story

When I was just a little halfling, I heard an Eladrin priestess telling the story of the Lady of the White Well. A long, long time ago there was this eladrin knight who Shar cast a glamour on, so that Sehanine would think he was Corellon. One thing led to another, as it does in those old stories, and Sehanine gave birth to a baby girl.

It’s a bit hard not to notice someone getting pregnant and giving birth, even a goddess, and when Corellon found out he was spitting tacks! The old meanie cursed the girl to remain at the pool where she’d been conceived until she gave her heart freely to another.

I thought this was the saddest story, so I was like, “I’ll rescue her when I’m grown up.”

Then the priestess was like, and it was a bit odd, “Is that a promise, child? Will you succeed where many great and noble Tel’Quessir have failed?”

And I was all like, “Yeah! I promise!”

Anyway, I was in Myth Drannor because the elves said I had a wonderful singing voice. It was cool for a few years, but then I got a bit pissed off at all the elves being like “look at the halfling that can sing,” and I started sneaking out and hanging out with this cool gang of swordmages.

I thought it was pretty neat sneaking around and being all mysterious and secretive with them, and I started going along when they worshipped Shar in secret. Don’t look that way, I know I was a bit of an idiot back then, but it was fun and a bit scary keeping secrets and messing with the authorities.

Of course, it all went a bit wrong when they decided they needed a halfling to sacrifice. Their leader was like, “Hah! We’re going to sacrifice you now!”

And I was like, “No way!”

And he was like, “Yes way!” And then they tied me to their altar and starting chanting and stuff like that, and then I realised that I’d screwed up a bit.

So I was calling everyone there all sorts of names, and telling them what I really thought about Shar, and I guess I must have officially renounced her ’cause I started hearing a woman’s voice inside my head.

At first I thought I was really going bonkers, but then she was like, “Do you remember your promise, child?” and I realised it was that priestess who told that story years ago.

And I was like, “Oh yeah! I remember!”

So then she was like, “Then take up my daughter’s sword and save yourself!” And I guess she was actually Sehanine, because I found one hand on a rod and one hand on the hilt of sword, and the sword was giving off some moonlight that made the whole ritual look a bit banal, and then there was a lot of screaming, and lots of magic, and quite a lot of blood.

So, yeah. The officer from the Coronal Guard wasn’t particularly pleased when they all turned up to find out what the fuss was, and she was really unhappy when she recognised their leader.

“A scion of Elsydar!” She swore under her breath.“You’re not safe here, lass. Do you have any family that live a long, long way away?”

“I, uh, have some cousins with some farms over by the East Rift.”

“That’s good. I’ll find someone who can open a portal there before the wrong people get wind of this,” and she was all like trying not look at the bodies. “The Church of Kelemvor has a seminary in Eartheart, and you’ll be safe there from Shar’s followers, and from his family.” She gestured without looking.

So she sent someone off to get some hotshot mage out of bed, and someone else went to get my parents, and there was a lot of crying and chanting and drawing on the ground in funny colours, and before I knew it I was miles away and enrolled in the Seminary of Kelemvor.

Appearance

Celestine is 124 cm tall and weighs about 40 kg. She has dark brown skin and brown eyes, and straight black hair that she wears in a chignon, using unusually shaped hair pins.

In her own time, Celestine usually wears scandalously short dresses, while in Kelemvor’s service she wears a loose grey robe over serviceable hide armour, with Kelemvor’s symbol on a silver chain around her neck. Either way, she is never parted from a plain grey rod that seems to glow with strange symbols in the moonlight, and has refused all offers from the church of an edged weapon of a size suitable for halflings.