Cleric grew up in a rather shady part of Tilde where she lived with her mother in an abandoned building until they could afford to move out into the nearby countryside. The streets were full of thugs, thieves, and other people of questionable business. The racial population of this part of town was mostly comprised of Half-Orcs (which is why she learned how to speak giant), Haflings, and the occasional Tiefling (she’s even seen a dragonborn running around a few times).
Cleric’s given Tiefling name is Akta. She chose to be called ‘Cleric’ later on in her life to give her something to live up to and become.
Cleric’s mother had come from a long line of rogues, and taught her daughter how to fend for herself. Cleric was taught at a young age how to pick locks, disarm traps, navigate the streets, pick pockets, steal, tell if someone is lying, avoid detection, bluff, and how to use a dagger. Later on in her life, Cleric steered away from lying and stealing. She prefers to get what she wants through honest dealings, however if the situation calls for it, she is not opposed to relying on her skills.
Cleric has a severe dislike and distrust toward humans that she does her best to hide from others. This distrust stemmed partly from her mother and partly because of her. Her mother had reasons of her own for disliking humans and openly expressed her hatred for them to Cleric. Cleric did not take up the same hatred, but she did not trust them. This distrust was solidified when her mother was ultimately killed by a different human (she was caught stealing from one of her patrons and was killed for it, but Cleric does not know this).
One thing that frustrates Cleric is how Tieflings are viewed and treated. She feels strongly that it was her ancestors that made a mistake, but she is not one of them, only cursed in appearance by their tainted blood. Knowing that this prejudice has oppressed her kind for centuries, she tries her best not to let her feelings about humans turn into a similar prejudice. So her beliefs and feelings about them are rather conflicted.
When she was young, Cleric had a vision. All that she can remember from it was a hand that touched her head, and a voice that whispered a single word, ‘cleric’. She felt that vision was calling her out to become a cleric.
Her mother respected her vision and even helped support it. She brought back books on religion and history of the Tiefling people for Cleric (After “borrowing” them from her patrons. Occasionally when her mother did not want to leave Cleric home alone, she would bring her along and Cleric would also “borrow” these books and read them while the patron and her mother were distracted).
Not wholly satisfied with learning from the books, Cleric would stealthily listen in on scholars and clergy men whenever she could. She seldom was discovered, and even if she was, she knew the streets like the back of her hand and would lose any pursuers effortlessly.
After much research, Cleric decided to follow the commands of Kord, the god of lightning and lord of battle.
Cleric’s given Tiefling name is Akta. She chose to be called ‘Cleric’ later on in her life to give her something to live up to and become.
Cleric’s mother had come from a long line of rogues, and taught her daughter how to fend for herself. Cleric was taught at a young age how to pick locks, disarm traps, navigate the streets, pick pockets, steal, tell if someone is lying, avoid detection, bluff, and how to use a dagger. Later on in her life, Cleric steered away from lying and stealing. She prefers to get what she wants through honest dealings, however if the situation calls for it, she is not opposed to relying on her skills.
Cleric has a severe dislike and distrust toward humans that she does her best to hide from others. This distrust stemmed partly from her mother and partly because of her. Her mother had reasons of her own for disliking humans and openly expressed her hatred for them to Cleric. Cleric did not take up the same hatred, but she did not trust them. This distrust was solidified when her mother was ultimately killed by a different human (she was caught stealing from one of her patrons and was killed for it, but Cleric does not know this).
One thing that frustrates Cleric is how Tieflings are viewed and treated. She feels strongly that it was her ancestors that made a mistake, but she is not one of them, only cursed in appearance by their tainted blood. Knowing that this prejudice has oppressed her kind for centuries, she tries her best not to let her feelings about humans turn into a similar prejudice. So her beliefs and feelings about them are rather conflicted.
When she was young, Cleric had a vision. All that she can remember from it was a hand that touched her head, and a voice that whispered a single word, ‘cleric’. She felt that vision was calling her out to become a cleric.
Her mother respected her vision and even helped support it. She brought back books on religion and history of the Tiefling people for Cleric (After “borrowing” them from her patrons. Occasionally when her mother did not want to leave Cleric home alone, she would bring her along and Cleric would also “borrow” these books and read them while the patron and her mother were distracted).
Not wholly satisfied with learning from the books, Cleric would stealthily listen in on scholars and clergy men whenever she could. She seldom was discovered, and even if she was, she knew the streets like the back of her hand and would lose any pursuers effortlessly.
After much research, Cleric decided to follow the commands of Kord, the god of lightning and lord of battle.
- Be strong, but do not use your strength for wanton destruction.
- Be brave and scorn cowardice in any form.
- Prove your might in battle to win glory and renown.
Her next step was to learn the ways of a cleric. Her mother gave her a ritual book (which, unbeknownst to Cleric, is stolen, she assumes they come that way), dagger, holy symbol, a sack of food and supplies, and a full brown cloak that would come useful for hiding her horns and tail (when she held it up that is). As she was leaving on her quest, she spotted a small convoy of soldiers followed closely by a wagon that looked to belong to a nobleman headed for her home. Curious to know what is was it might be about, she hid in the woods and watched them pass by. She followed them under the cover of the woods to the house.
In order to maintain her cover, she had to remain in the distance, because there were several guards keeping watch. A human noble stepped out of the wagon and entered the building. Several quiet minutes passed until she thought she heard her mother scream. Willing her legs not to run and check it out, she stayed in her cover until the man and his guards left.
Upon entering the house, Cleric discovered her mother, dead in the middle of a pool of blood on the floor, deep claw marks across her neck and chest. After mourning her death, burying her, and cleaning up some of the mess, she took all the money she could find: 50 gp and left her house for good.
She found difficult to find a church of Kord that would accept her and train her as a cleric. In spite of the command to be brave and scorn cowardice in any form, a lot of the followers would either run away in terror, lock her out, or simply stand frozen in fear. She found that wearing her cloak and wrapping the cloak fully around while holding her tail up, made it more likely that she could at least talk to some of the followers. Until, that is, she revealed to them her identity.
Frustrated, but determined to become a cleric, she would sneak in during training sessions to watch and listen. She would then practice the things she picked up alone. From the lessons, she also learned how to read and perform rituals. She began to study the ritual book that her mother gave her. She soon discovered that several of the rituals in that book were currently beyond her ability and that she would simply have to become better and stronger in order to perform these. She also learned that it did not contain a ritual that all clerics learn: Gentle Repose. She contemplated stealing a copy of it from the church, but she wasn’t quite sure how her deity would feel about that. Therefore, she took the 50 gp she had and went to town to purchase it.
During her cleric training, Cleric would camp out in the woods. To avoid being caught off guard, she invented some rituals of her own in order alert her to danger, make and conceal her campsite, and creating food and drink. She studied the theory behind the rituals that she had with her in the book and did her best to modify and create her own rituals. She successfully managed to create her own versions of ‘Create Campsite’ and ‘Eye of Alarm’ (however she does not know that they are very similar to actual rituals yet). She wrote down her two inventions on some blank pages in her ritual book.
Cleric enjoyed learning the ways of a cleric and was disappointed once the training was completed. She contemplated what to do next. She could work as a healer in the part of Tilde she was most familiar with. She could become an adventurer and help keep a small party alive. As if an answer to her questions, Cleric woke up one morning to find a letter of invitation next to her. She felt confused as to how the letter got delivered without the detection of her Eye warning her of an intruder. She decided since she was unharmed that it probably wasn’t that big of a deal, so she opened the letter and read it.
