https://www.errantstory.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special:NewPages&feed=atom&hideliu=&hidepatrolled=&hidebots=&hideredirs=1&limit=50&namespace=0The Heretic Knowledge Vault - New pages [en]2024-03-28T19:34:37ZFrom The Heretic Knowledge VaultMediaWiki 1.16.5https://www.errantstory.com/wiki/index.php/ER:KhooER:Khoo2021-08-14T17:34:24Z<p>Graybeard: </p>
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<div>{{ER-Article}}<br />
'''Khoo Tan-Lian''', normally just called '''Khoo''', is a character in the [[Errant Road]] free-form on-line role-playing game, played by [[User:Graybeard|Graybeard]]. Like all Errant Road player characters, he doesn't exist in the [[Poe-verse]]. His basic concept can be found in [https://forums.errantstory.com/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=396&p=35258#p35258 this] entry on the [[Forum]]. The entry there, however, doesn't do justice to what has happened to him since he first appeared, so:<br />
<br />
==History==<br />
<br />
''Under construction''<br />
<br />
When first encountered, Khoo is a graduate student at [[Sashi Mu]], working on the side in a restaurant in the [[Tower of Artifex]] while he finishes his D.Thm. thesis in thaumatic engineering. He's busy enjoying life and has no intention of becoming a swashbuckling adventurer, expecting instead to get his degree in Thaumatic Engineering with a thesis project of building a lifeboat-like glider for use on [[airship]]s. This stands to make him a large pile of ''[[ER:Tsui|tsui]]s'' if it works and is patented, but he honestly doesn't care about that; he's not materialistic by nature and wouldn't know what to do with a large pile of tsuis if he had one.<br />
<br />
This cheerful, somewhat Bohemian existence is interrupted when someone [https://forums.errantstory.com/viewtopic.php?p=35236#p35236 crashes] an [[airship]] into the Tower of Artifex, doing terminal damage to same and triggering a whole series of chaotic events in Errant Road. ([[Meji]] [https://www.errantstory.com/?p=48 mentions] this incident in Errant Story itself, without elaboration, showing that life imitates art, or something.) As it happens, PCs [[ER:Drusia Valis|Drusia]], [[ER:Tamina|Tamina]] and [[ER:Udo|Udo]] are being served -- by Khoo -- at the Artifex Sashimi Palace just as the airship arrives, and in the ensuing chaos, the adventurers, now including Khoo, find themselves transported to [[ER:Tsuirakushita|Tsuirakushita]] aboard the glider that is Khoo's thesis project.<br />
<br />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Khoo}}<br />
[[Category:Errant Road player characters]]</div>Graybeardhttps://www.errantstory.com/wiki/index.php/Santuariel_IIISantuariel III2021-04-08T15:28:52Z<p>Graybeard: Created page with "One of the incarnations of the half-elf refuge city of Santuariel, and of all the various Santuariels, the one of which we know the least. A topic for a future in-story ..."</p>
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<div>One of the incarnations of the [[half-elf]] refuge city of [[Santuariel]], and of all the various Santuariels, the one of which we know the least. A topic for a future in-story student thesis in archaeology, maybe?<br />
<br />
What little we do know comes from these [[Poe]] notes in the [[Chronicles of Heretic Knowledge]] (specifically, in the accompanying timeline):<br />
<br />
:[[Santuariel II]] and Santuariel III were more roving refugee camps than they were established geographic locations, so they don't have clear founding or ending dates to put on the timeline. Santuariel II was more or less disbanded towards the end of the Errant Wars, as people gradually left in search of better food and shelter. Santuariel III lasted much longer but suffered a variety of small disasters, culminating in a fire set by a self-hating half elf with the misguided notion of purging them all of the curse of their various birth defects. It kinda worked, in a manner of speaking.<br />
<br />
And there, for the moment, the matter rests.<br />
<br />
==See also==<br />
<br />
[[History of Santuariel]]<br />
<br />
[[Category:Cities]]</div>Graybeardhttps://www.errantstory.com/wiki/index.php/Santuariel_IISantuariel II2021-04-08T15:27:58Z<p>Graybeard: Created page with "One of the incarnations of the half-elf refuge city of Santuariel, and of all the various Santuariels, the one of which we know the least. A topic for a future in-story ..."</p>
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<div>One of the incarnations of the [[half-elf]] refuge city of [[Santuariel]], and of all the various Santuariels, the one of which we know the least. A topic for a future in-story student thesis in archaeology, maybe?<br />
<br />
What little we do know comes from these [[Poe]] notes in the [[Chronicles of Heretic Knowledge]] (specifically, in the accompanying timeline):<br />
<br />
:Santuariel II and [[Santuariel III]] were more roving refugee camps than they were established geographic locations, so they don't have clear founding or ending dates to put on the timeline. Santuariel II was more or less disbanded towards the end of the Errant Wars, as people gradually left in search of better food and shelter. Santuariel III lasted much longer but suffered a variety of small disasters, culminating in a fire set by a self-hating half elf with the misguided notion of purging them all of the curse of their various birth defects. It kinda worked, in a manner of speaking.<br />
<br />
And there, for the moment, the matter rests.<br />
<br />
==See also==<br />
<br />
[[History of Santuariel]]<br />
<br />
[[Category:Cities]]</div>Graybeardhttps://www.errantstory.com/wiki/index.php/ER:AntoniER:Antoni2021-04-06T14:20:02Z<p>Graybeard: Created page with "{{ER-Article}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Antoni}} A non-player character in the Errant Road on-line free-form role-playing game, on stage briefly but significantly. Needless to say, he ..."</p>
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<div>{{ER-Article}}<br />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Antoni}}<br />
A non-player character in the [[Errant Road]] on-line free-form role-playing game, on stage briefly but significantly. Needless to say, he doesn't exist in the [[Poe-verse]]. His first appearance is [https://forums.errantstory.com/viewtopic.php?p=13921#p13921 here], just about as a rabid dog is going to enter the scene.<br />
<br />
Antoni is a [[half elf]] living in the smugglers' nest of [[ER:Nautkia|Nautkia]] when PCs [[ER:Lillith|Lillith]], [[ER:Sister Rose|Sister Rose]], etc., show up there in pursuit of the mysteriously fugitive [[ER:Father Egbert|Father Egbert]]. He's one of several half elves who have been eking out a precarious living there, taking advantage of the fact that the inhabitants of Nautkia are too busy profiting from their smuggling rackets, and occasionally feuding with each other, to worry about half elves in their midst. At least that's the way things look when the PCs arrive. Unfortunately, a [[Peregin]] has recently moved to town, looking for [[Errant]]s to dispatch, and as usual for elves, not being too picky about whether a half elf is actually an Errant or not. Antoni has particularly to fear this Peregin, as he truly is an Errant, with an ability to cause fatal disease in other humanoids and animals with a touch. (This was the "bad thing" mentioned in his introduction, causing the creation of the rabid dog that his partner, [[ER:Ledos|Ledos]], dispatches.) [[ER:Leofric|Leofric]], leader of the band of half elves, understandably takes this as a sign that the band has overstayed their welcome, and it's time to go back to [[ER:Santuariel|Santuariel]] where they came from. Leofric manages to get the assistance of Lillith (who's also terrified of Peregins and the world as a whole, and wants desperately to go back home herself) in a scheme to sail away on a ship belonging to smuggler [[ER:Lucy Kankaniel|Lucy Kankaniel]]. Lillith, who's present when the mad dog appears, has a brief bit of soul searching as a result of this demonstration of Antoni's Errantcy, but decides to go along with the scheme anyway, and include him in it.<br />
<br />
Things proceed more on less smoothly until it is discovered that the ship on which the half elves (including Lillith) are to escape Nautkia is also supposed to be used by Father Egbert for the same purpose -- and that the skip's skipper [[ER:Lucy Kankaniel|Lucy Kankaniel]], has a contract out on her head, a contract that a most reluctant [[ER:Argus Cleiviein|Argus]] has been extorted into accepting. In a taut episode on the [[ER:Lorenzel River|Lorenzel River]], during which on the good side, Argus saves the ship from destruction but makes it ''look'' like it was destroyed, while on the bad side, Egbert mysteriously commits suicide (maybe), Antoni gets to atone for what he did earlier: his partner Ledos is also an Errant who gets fits of uncontrolled magical violence, one of which is developing against Argus, Rose, etc., until Antoni breaks it up by conking his lover on the head. The half elves succeed in reaching the ship and sail away to what they hope is a new life -- minus Lillith, who wanted to join them and is devastated that the concatenation of events works to prevent her from going.<br />
<br />
All in all, a rather sad character, if one who loves and is loved. The half elves are never seen again in the story, so one can hope that he and Ledos manage to live happily ever after.</div>Graybeardhttps://www.errantstory.com/wiki/index.php/ER:LedosER:Ledos2021-04-06T04:13:41Z<p>Graybeard: Created page with "{{ER-Article}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Ledos}} A non-player character in the Errant Road on-line free-form role-playing game, on stage briefly but significantly. Needless to say, he d..."</p>
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<div>{{ER-Article}}<br />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ledos}}<br />
A non-player character in the [[Errant Road]] on-line free-form role-playing game, on stage briefly but significantly. Needless to say, he doesn't exist in the [[Poe-verse]]. His first appearance is [https://forums.errantstory.com/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=739&p=13930#p13930 here], dispatching an apparently rabid dog.<br />
<br />
Ledos is a [[half elf]] living in the smugglers' nest of [[ER:Nautkia|Nautkia]] when PCs [[ER:Lillith|Lillith]], [[ER:Sister Rose|Sister Rose]], etc., show up there in pursuit of the mysteriously fugitive [[ER:Father Egbert|Father Egbert]]. He's one of several half elves who have been eking out a precarious living there, taking advantage of the fact that the inhabitants of Nautkia are too busy profiting from their smuggling rackets, and occasionally feuding with each other, to worry about half elves in their midst. At least that's the way things look when the PCs arrive. Unfortunately, a [[Peregin]] has recently moved to town, looking for [[Errant]]s to dispatch, and as usual for elves, not being too picky about whether a half elf is actually an Errant or not. [[ER:Leofric|Leofric]], leader of the band of half elves, understandably takes this as a sign that the band has overstayed their welcome, and it's time to go back to [[ER:Santuariel|Santuariel]] where they came from. Leofric manages to get the assistance of Lillith (who's also terrified of Peregins and the world as a whole, and wants desperately to go back home herself) in a scheme to sail away on a ship belonging to smuggler [[ER:Lucy Kankaniel|Lucy Kankaniel]].<br />
<br />
This all seems like a tidy solution to the half-elves' problem, but alas, there are two complications. First, Lucy Kankaniel is the ''sister'' of Father Egbert, who's also retained his sister's services to get smuggled out of town for not-yet-clear reasons. Second, '''Ledos really is an Errant'''. At the climax of the Nautkia thread, as the half elves are boarding Lucy's ship (after Egbert's demise), Ledos shows his Errant-ish tendency to shoot first and ask questions later, and unleashes a magical barrage that almost incinerates several of the PCs. His partner and fellow Errant [[ER:Antoni|Antoni]] manages to knock him out before he can complete the assault, and the ship sails away with the Nautkian half elves aboard -- but without the devastated Lillith, who goes on to have years (real time) of further adventures with the PCs.<br />
<br />
All in all, for someone who only appears in about half a dozen Errant Road postings, he's a rather significant fellow, and in his way, quite a tragic one. One hopes that he, Antoni, Leofric, and their colleagues do make it to Santuariel and live happily ever after, but they're never heard from again in the game.</div>Graybeardhttps://www.errantstory.com/wiki/index.php/ER:HikariER:Hikari2020-05-22T04:47:58Z<p>Graybeard: Created page with "{{ER-Article}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Hikari}} Category:Errant Road player characters A player character in the Errant Road on-line free-form role-playing game, portrayed (briefly..."</p>
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hikari}}<br />
[[Category:Errant Road player characters]]<br />
A player character in the [[Errant Road]] on-line free-form role-playing game, portrayed (briefly) by [[User:Alessa]]. Needless to say, she doesn't exist in the [[Poe-verse]].<br />
<br />
Her basic concept is shown [https://forums.errantstory.com/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=396&p=25798#p25798 here]. She's a [[ER:Tsuiraku|Tsuirakuan]] teenager who recently graduated from high school in the [[ER:Tsuiraku-town|Tsuiraku-town]] district of the [[ER:Farrel|Farrelian]] city of [[:ER:Rinkaiel]]. When semi-PC [[ER:Galina|Galina]] starts offering basic magic lessons to Rinkaelian mage-wannabes, to get a body of local talent ready to be trained to work at the [[warp gate]] soon to be opened there, Hikari decides to give it a try. It doesn't take long, however, for Galina (and Hikari, who's not terribly confident in her own abilities) to discover that her skills are already far beyond the "basic" level, and Galina decides instead to take her on as a "teaching assistant" to help with the students that she hopes are on the way.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, her arrival coincides with Galina getting crosswise with several nasty forces in Tsuiraku-town, generally not for reasons of her own doing. Galina takes her infant daughter Oxana to shelter at the [[ER:Bad Ass Wines|Bad Ass Wines]] vineyard, run by her friend (and magic student) [[ER:Layla Sorensen|Layla]], until things quiet down, leaving Hikari to house-sit for her. While doing so, she unwittingly stumbles across what appears to be a magical extortion attempt involving death magic and Oxana by forces unknown. This fails (the kidnapee is out at the vineyard, after all), but it terrifies Hikari to the point that she abandons the lessons and goes back to her settled, but un-threatened, life. (This coincides with her player becoming unable to continue in Errant Road, so it's a graceful way out for all involved.) All in all, an interesting character who isn't on stage for as long as one might wish, but such is the way of role-playing games.</div>Graybeardhttps://www.errantstory.com/wiki/index.php/ER:Brother_OhmadER:Brother Ohmad2020-05-15T17:13:36Z<p>Graybeard: Created page with "{{ER-Article}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Brother Ohmad}} Category:Living Impaired characters in Errant Road A particularly unpleasant character in the Errant Road on-line free-form r..."</p>
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Brother Ohmad}}<br />
[[Category:Living Impaired characters in Errant Road]]<br />
A particularly unpleasant character in the [[Errant Road]] on-line free-form role-playing game. Needless to say, he doesn't appear in the [[Poe-verse]]. He's also no longer among the living in Errant Road, and in this case, it's probably just as well.<br />
<br />
This fellow, who neatly straddles the gray border between "evil" and "insane" (albeit with the more heavily weighted foot clearly in the latter), was originally named "Ozzie Samuels" before he joined the hideous [[ER:Malletarians|Malletarian]] cult and took on a name from the "church," making a mockery of both church names and himself. He's the brother of the former [[ER:Gewehr|Gewehr]] Wraith, the late [[ER:Arty Samuels|Arty Samuels]], who passed beyond the pale in a fracas early in the game. He is first [https://forums.errantstory.com/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=687#p11581 mentioned] under his old name, as Arty's widow, the sincerely grieving yet rapidly rebounding PC [[ER:Layla Sorensen|Layla]], is going over funeral arrangements with her mother [[ER:Faye Sorensen|Faye]].This exchange between the two speaks volumes about Ozzie's character:<br />
<br />
:''"Do we try to find and invite Ozzie?"<br />
<br />
:''Now that struck home. Ozzie Samuels was Arty's only surviving brother, in fact the only close family member of any kind that Arty had acknowledged existing -- certainly not "loved" or any other verb implying affection, but he was out there somewhere. And they knew where. Ozzie had abandoned the Gewehr and joined the bizarrely homicidal religious cult up in the mountains. An attempt to forcibly return him to Kugelheim a few years back had ended disastrously, a more recent attempt just to contact him only slightly less so. He'd come back to town on his own once, for Arty's and Layla's wedding, with "friends" -- friends who sparked a near-riot after the newlyweds were safely out of town. Those people were xenophobic, violent, and powerfully magical. There was really only one possible answer, and Layla gave it.<br />
<br />
:''"Hell, no, Mom." Layla got a look of horror on her face. "What if he showed up?"''<br />
Further exposure to the Malletarians, it is safe to say, does not improve Ozzie's/Ohmad's outlook on life, nor anyone else's outlook on Ozzie/Ohmad.<br />
<br />
He first shows up in person under his later, churchly''[sic]'' name, as the Malletarians are preparing to make a human sacrifice out of the unfortunate [[ER:Elizabeth Arganial|Liz Arganial]] who has somehow appeared in their midst. (Ohmad thinks that's a fine idea and regrets only that he'll be on guard duty and unable to watch.) A party of PC adventurers, centered around [[ER:Jamie Porter|Jamie Porter]], picks this time to show up and make a mess of proceedings in their usual way. It's too late to save poor Liz, who is sacrificed messily offscreen, but the adventurers do wreak vengeance on the Malletarians, many of whom are incinerated in a not-entirely-natural eruption of the volcano known as the "[[ER:Dwarven Forge|Dwarven Forge]]". Ohmad is among those who meet their ends in this manner, singularly appropriately given what they'd been doing only minutes earlier. By this time, Arty's funeral has come and gone, Layla is well on the road to recovery, and Ohmad is definitely not missed. All in all, a cautionary tale of sorts.</div>Graybeardhttps://www.errantstory.com/wiki/index.php/ER:Harzh%27biahER:Harzh'biah2020-05-15T13:57:22Z<p>Graybeard: </p>
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<div>{{ER-Article}}<br />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harzh'bian}}<br />
A rather unusual character in the [[Errant Road]] on-line role-playing game, and "unusual" by game standards is very unusual indeed. Unusual or not, she doesn't exist in the [[Poe-verse]], as far as we know.<br />
<br />
Harzh'biah, as one might guess from her name, is not a human, but rather, a [[troll]], the niece of player character [[ER:Grope|Grope]]. She enters the game during a [https://forums.errantstory.com/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=742&p=13774&hilit=Harzh%27biah#p13774 skirmish] in the [[ER:Waldhaxen Channel|Waldhaxen Channel]], the possibly-unnatural water course that bisects the continent of [[ER:Veracia|Veracia]]. To their mystification, Grope and his nephew (and Harzh'biah's sister) [[ER:Scrobian|Scrobian]] have temporarily joined up with a band of humans that includes PCs [[ER:Lucas Ravanel|Lucas]], [[ER:Marcus|Marcus]] and [[ER:Jamie Porter|Jamie]], and Jamie's incorrigible mother [[ER:Jasmine Porter|Jasmine]], as they try to cross the channel.<br />
<br />
Harzh'biah, however, isn't trying to ''cross'' the channel; she's trying to ''escape'' from it. She has been taken captive by a weird band of pirates, apparently human, that have "crew" of sorts in the form of ''[[ER:Pinguimho|pinguimhos]]'', large and very strong penguin-like birds that are almost as tough as trolls. "Almost" isn't good enough to fend off this doughty crew, though, and the adventurers and trolls eventually prevail, leading to a family reunion of sorts. Harzh'biah is startled to find Grope and Scrobian not merely hanging around with "Small Ones," as the trolls call humans, but in Grope's case, administering magical [[Healing]] to fix her badly broken arm. This is jarring because male trolls just ''don't do magic''.<br />
<br />
Harzh'biah eventually gets over her injuries and her skittishness around Small Ones and joins her brother and uncle for more adventures, including returning the favor for Jamie and colleagues (now including [[Gewehr]] big shot [[ER:Faye Sorensen|Faye]] as they have a rumble in the jungle in northern Farrel. After this, she heads off into what passes among trolls for a happy ending.</div>Graybeardhttps://www.errantstory.com/wiki/index.php/ER:XzenER:Xzen2020-05-14T22:58:10Z<p>Graybeard: </p>
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<div>{{ER-Article}}<br />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Xzen}}<br />
[[Category:Errant Road player characters]]<br />
<br />
A player character in the [[Errant Road]] on-line free-form role-playing game, portrayed by a player of the same (in-forum) name. Needless to say, he doesn't exist in the [[Poe-verse]]. His basic concept is [https://forums.errantstory.com/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=396&p=15483&hilit#p15476 here], from which the following is taken (but there's more good backstory in the forum entry, go read it):<br />
<br />
==Description==<br />
<br />
'''Name''': Xzen Dvorak (usually just "Xzen" in the game)<br />
<br />
'''Age''': 24<br />
<br />
'''Gender''': Male<br />
<br />
'''Race''': Human<br />
<br />
'''Nationality''': Veracian<br />
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'''Occupation''': former priest<br />
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'''History/Backstory''':<br />
<br />
Young Xzen Dvorak grew up in a fervently religious household in Emerylon. Having demonstrated a mild proficiency in the use of magic, particularly healing, a career in the priesthood seemed an obvious choice for Xzen. Upon completing his time as a novitiate, Xzen's faith in Luminosita seemed unwavering, so his first assignment from the Veracian Church was to replace an elderly, ailing priest at a small chapel on the outskirts of Saus.<br />
<br />
What the church wasn't counting on was that Xzen Dvorak was capable of thinking for himself. Quite capable, in fact. He had just never needed to, because everyone around him had always seemed to do his thinking for him, usually to his satisfaction, so he left well enough alone. However, being in a rowdier city such as Saus and not having any convenient church elders around to do his thinking for him, Xzen was forced to think for himself. His efforts at religious outreach brought him into contact with many... colorful... characters, and Xzen quickly learned that if he was willing to listen to them, they would be more willing to listen to him. And so over a period of several months, Xzen came into contact with more and more foreign travelers and non-believers who stated with certainty that Luminosita, while certainly real enough to smite people now and then, was nothing more than an artifical god-construct. At first, Xzen merely humored these heretical arguments, but over time, certain elements began to ring true.<br />
<br />
As Xzen approached the one-year anniversary of his ordination, he asked for and was granted a five-day sabbatical from his post. With assistance from one of the aforementioned colorful characters, he put together a set of fake research orders, traveled back to Emerylon, and bluffed his way into the Heretic Knowledge Vault. After several days of reading and prayer that left his faith in Luminosita in serious jeopardy, he walked out of the Vault and into the main temple and immediately resigned his position, declaring himself unfit for the Veracian priesthood. He also stated his belief in the existence and inherent goodness of one true God, but that Luminosita himself was not that God. The church elders he spoke with were not amused, and Xzen was gently encouraged to leave Veracia entirely, which he did, ending up in the Farrelite city of Isabel.<br />
<br />
With little money, few provisions, and a spiritual outlook that still put him at odds with most of the local citizenry, Xzen felt the most isolated and rudderless he'd ever felt in his life. So when he walked into a shady looking bar named [[ER:Happy Hookah|The Happy Hookah]] and saw a flyer entitled "ADVENTURERS WANTED," he decided this was as good a way as any to restart his life, even if he was a former (and still in some ways current) "Veracian religious whacko." The hard physical labor involved could serve to focus his mind, and in the meantime even pirates still deserved to be healed of their injuries. And maybe, just maybe he'd be able to give this crew of rogues a subtle nudge on those occasions when they strayed a little TOO far from the path of righteousness...<br />
<br />
(Needless to say, when he introduced himself to [[ER:Shorty|Shorty]], he conveniently omitted his priestly history.)<br />
<br />
'''Appearance/Personality''': <br />
Light-skinned, average height, slightly-but-not-spectacularly muscular build. Short dark hair, brown eyes, and clean-shaven. The Veracian Church was kind enough to provide Xzen with a single set of plain-looking civilian clothing to replace his priestly vestments before sending him on his way, and he used some of his meager funds to buy a second similar set so he could wear one set while laundering the other. Xzen tries not to stand out in a room or a crowd, but making that effort usually just seems to make him stand out as someone trying not to stand out.<br />
<br />
'''Abilities''': <br />
Moderately skilled in a variety of spells with peaceful applications, though no more so than any average priest, or many average Farrellians for that matter. No formal combat training whatsoever, though he did pick up a few informal hand-to-hand combat moves as a result of several particularly heated theological debates in Saus. You might be surprised if you pick a fight with Xzen. Or not. Also, currently utterly useless with a firearm, though he may wish to change that in the near future given his current career tack.<br />
<br />
==Appearances==<br />
<br />
He first (and only) appearance is in the "Airship Pirates, Chapter 1: Isabel" thread, [https://forums.errantstory.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=837&p=15490#p15490 regaining consciousness] aboard the ''[[ER:Bonny Read|Bonny Read]]'', the airship that has been looking for "adventurers" or "crew" or "red-shirted ensigns to be fed to the first weird monster encountered," or something like that. His first act is to scold fellow PC and crew member [[ER:Rip|Rip]], who has, without malice aforethought but not really thinking about it, just set a small airship full of ''exceedingly'' gross stuff on a course that will drop that stuff on a small town in [[ER:Farrel|Farrel]]. As Rip puts it, "This guy wasn't going to last long as a pirate, with morals and all that ... but he did have a point." The town is saved through some adroit, if somewhat scatological, magic, albeit with some damage to the local ecosystem. This turns out to be important, as the little town turns out to be [[ER:Gyptiel|Gyptiel]], exactly the place where these airship pirates are looking to commit their next act of airship piracy (on some ruins outside town and the [[ER:Nikolaitis|archaeologist]] therein, rather than the town itself, but same general idea).<br />
<br />
As soon as everything is sorted out, [[ER:Jon Wrackham|Jon Wrackham]], captain of this mighty warship, gives the order for able-bodied crew to take to the ship's squadron of hang gliders, to head down to the surface and start plundering and pillaging, ideally administering death and destruction to the rival airship ''[[ER:Queen Alice's Revenge|Queen Alice's Revenge]]]'' in the process, since it's already on the scene getting a head start on the plundering and pillaging. Xzen obediently falls in with Rip, and the two of them watch as some red-shirted-ensign types first fall in for hang glider duty, and then fall ''out'' -- out of their hang gliders, since they don't know how to use them. Xzen and Rip do make it to the surface in one piece (each), or at least, manage to avoid being devoured by the monstrosity that resulted when the contents of the airship-bomb reached the ocean. However, he isn't heard from again. Pity; every band of pirates could use a conscience, particularly one that then gets into the pillaging and plundering once the demands of conscience are satisfied.</div>Graybeardhttps://www.errantstory.com/wiki/index.php/ER:Kattie_AmhurstER:Kattie Amhurst2020-05-12T23:54:21Z<p>Graybeard: Created page with "{{ER-Article}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Amhurst, Kattie}} A non-player character in the Errant Road free-form on-line role-playing game. Needless to say, she doesn't exist in the [[Poe..."</p>
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<div>{{ER-Article}}<br />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amhurst, Kattie}}<br />
A non-player character in the [[Errant Road]] free-form on-line role-playing game. Needless to say, she doesn't exist in the [[Poe-verse]].<br />
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Ms. Amhurst (with many name variations) is introduced at the very [https://forums.errantstory.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=837#p14241 beginning] of the "Airship Pirates, Chapter 1: Isabel" thread, welcoming new fish [[ER:Tom Brambil|Tom Brambil]] onto the ''[[ER:Bonny Read|Bonny Read]]'', the airship carrying the eponymous pirates. She isn't named until a few entries later, but she's quite unmistakable, having among other things "a surprising amount of jewelry in pretty much everything that could be pierced" -- not a lot of characters around like that. She's the First Mate of this redoubtable, if doubtful, vessel, and acts as a go-between for the crew and the captain, [[ER:Jon Wrackham|Jon Wrackham]], who also has all sorts of odd name variations. She's surprisingly competent in this role (unlike most everyone else on board) and breaks up food fights, handles interrogation of bad guys, stops Wrackham from pitching young Tom overboard following a minor food fiasco, and so on. As far as can be told, she also has the good sense to stay on the ship when it alights to attack an elven(?) ruin at the very end of the thread -- so far.<br />
<br />
Whether she and Wrackham have a thing going on is never made completely clear by the story line, which is just as well.</div>Graybeardhttps://www.errantstory.com/wiki/index.php/RookRook2020-05-12T23:33:55Z<p>Graybeard: Created page with "Category:Omake A character of no particular significance to either Errant Story proper, or the Errant Road game. He or she [http://www.errantstory.com/2010-07-24/4888 ap..."</p>
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<div>[[Category:Omake]]<br />
A character of no particular significance to either Errant Story proper, or the [[Errant Road]] game. He or she [http://www.errantstory.com/2010-07-24/4888 appears] in the [[Chronicles of Heretic Knowledge]] that [[Poe]] wrote for background material on the story, and nowhere else, to our knowledge. He or she is included here just for completeness.</div>Graybeardhttps://www.errantstory.com/wiki/index.php/ER:Sign_of_the_FlatironER:Sign of the Flatiron2020-05-10T23:04:14Z<p>Graybeard: Created page with "{{ER-Article}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Sign of the Flatiron}} Category:Locales in the Errant Road RPG A sleazy bar in the Errant Road on-line free-form role-playing game. (In Erra..."</p>
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<div>{{ER-Article}}<br />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sign of the Flatiron}}<br />
[[Category:Locales in the Errant Road RPG]]<br />
A sleazy bar in the [[Errant Road]] on-line free-form role-playing game. (In Errant Road, there apparently are no bars ''but'' sleazy ones.) Needless to say, it doesn't exist in the [[Poe-verse]].<br />
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This fine(?) institution caters to discerning palates (meaning anyone who can't find food and drink anywhere else) in the small town of [[ER:Ester|Ester]] in southwestern [[ER:Farrel|Farrel]], not far from the larger [[ER:Port Lorrel|Port Lorrel]]. It does double duty as headquarters for the [[ER:Falkenrohr|Falkenrohr]], a small Farrelite guild that more or less controls the town and the nearby countryside. The shadowy [[ER:Tom Odd|Tom Odd]], apparently the head of the Falkenrohr, is a regular here.<br />
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It first shows up in the game when PCs [[ER:Tamina|Tamina]], [[ER:Udo Fujomori|Udo]], and [[ER:Jamie Porter|Jamie]] (with [[ER:Nera|Nera]] in a somewhat indeterminate state) wander in after a murderous fight with a band of "cultists" back in Lorrel. Unsurprisingly, it isn't long before a bar fight breaks out. Jamie quells this with superior firepower, some of which is applied fatally to bad-guy [[ER:Winslow|Winslow]], who just happens to be the head of the outfit (the "[[ER:Expendables|Expendables]]") that had just been, well, expended in Lorrel. They hang around just long enough for Jamie to receive partial payment for her next job, a hit on a member of the unpleasant [[ER:Oshima|Oshima]] gang; however, the key action for this gig happens somewhere else.<br />
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The Flatiron is visited again, much later in both game and (particularly) real time, when Tamina and Udo join up with members of the [[ER:Silver Hands|Silver Hands]] and the reluctant [[ER:Khoo|Khoo]] (and his definitely not-so-reluctant girlfriend [[ER:Anna-Lisa|Anna-Lisa]]) for a revenge visit to the "[[ER:Mushroom Woods|Mushroom Woods]]" outside town. It's mainly just a rendezvous point and little of the action connected with the Mushroom Woods happens here; however, [[ER:Eisenfaust|Eisenfaust]] big shot [[ER:Elke|Elke]] happens to be in town as well, and runs into the merry crew at the Flatiron after their "quest" has come to a more or less satisfactory conclusions. This encounter sets in motion shadowy events that continue to this very day, so despite its seeming obscurity, this bar actually is kind of a happening place, of sorts.</div>Graybeardhttps://www.errantstory.com/wiki/index.php/ER:RitsukoER:Ritsuko2020-05-08T16:55:40Z<p>Graybeard: Created page with "{{ER-Article}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Ritsuko}} A non-player character in the Errant Road role-playing game. She's on stage only briefly (and unlike most such transient NPCs, manages..."</p>
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<div>{{ER-Article}}<br />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ritsuko}}<br />
A non-player character in the [[Errant Road]] role-playing game. She's on stage only briefly (and unlike most such transient NPCs, manages to escape the game with her life), but plays an important role in events around the smuggler's paradise town of [[ER:Nautkia|Nautkia]], one of the game's key venues. Needless to say, she doesn't exist in the [[Poe-verse]].<br />
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At first glance, Ritsuko appears to be nothing more than the completely benign operator of a produce wagon bringing vegetables and such things from market to restaurants, bars, businesses, and so on. In Nautkia, however, ''nothing'' is ever as simple as it seems, and it develops that she's also on the payroll of one of the smuggling gangs in town, carrying not-entirely-licit "produce" from one party to another; in other words, a mule.<br />
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She enters the game playing this "courier" role, not for delivering contraband, but rather, taking the frightened [[ER:Lillith|Lillith]] to meet the smugglers she works for, to try to get them to arrange to get half-elf [[ER:Leofric|Leofric]] (one of Ritsuko's "customers") and his half-elven colleagues out of town, as it's become too dangerous a place for them now that an [[elf]] has arrived. (This, needless to say, is a pretty good reason for Lillith to want to get out of town herself.) This almost turns out disastrously when Ritsuko makes an intermediate stop at a bar to deliver her normal cargo, and Lillith mistakes the place for the one where she's supposed to meet the smugglers. The barmaid at this place is none other than the elf in disguise, the particularly nasty [[Peregin]] [[ER:Bauti|Bauti]], who relishes taking out half elves with explosive force and doesn't mind wiping out entire human villages in the process. A timely intervention by [[ER:Sister Rose|Sister Rose]] and [[ER:Argus Cleiviein|Argus]], followed by a classic food fight, saves Lillith from Bauti's ministrations, but not before there's further damage to Lillith's already battered psyche. Ritsuko sensibly disappears after this encounter, and we don't hear from her again.</div>Graybeardhttps://www.errantstory.com/wiki/index.php/ER:Tom_BrambilER:Tom Brambil2020-05-08T04:19:42Z<p>Graybeard: Created page with "{{ER-Article}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Brambil, Tom}} A player character in the Errant Road free-form on-line role-playing game, portrayed by Arreksu. Needless to say, he doesn't exis..."</p>
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<div>{{ER-Article}}<br />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brambil, Tom}}<br />
A player character in the [[Errant Road]] free-form on-line role-playing game, portrayed by Arreksu. Needless to say, he doesn't exist in the [[Poe-verse]]. His basic concept is given [https://forums.errantstory.com/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=396&p=14211#p14211 here], from which the following is taken:<br />
<br />
==Description==<br />
<br />
'''Name''': Tom Brambil<br />
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'''Age''': Fourteen, by my reckoning...<br />
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'''Race''': Human.<br />
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'''Origins''': An urchin on the streets of [[ER:Farrel|Farrel]] from as early as he could remember, Tom has lived most of his life on and around ships and sailors. Well, not on sailors, obviously, those that try to muscle in on the seam-stresses territory suffer severe consequences, and Tom is nothing if not self-preserving. A life as a street-corner jack of all trades has led to Tom picking up all the skills a successful... uh... well successful whatever needs, anyway. He can cook, dance, sing, swab deck, haul tackle, juggle, tumble, play poker, act demure, pick pockets, lug baggage, polish brass, and did I mention he can cook?<br />
<br />
When he was probably twelve (the age thing is a little iffy), he stowed away on a ship heading for Port [[ER:Isabel|Isabel]], leaving behind some disreputable "friends" and an offer he apparently could refuse. The crew discovered him within eight hours, mostly because he has the occasional obsessive compulsive reaction to unswabbed decks. They let him stay after discovering how handy he was with a metal soupspoon; several fingers and foreheads were sorely bruised before they let him stay aboard. Arriving in Isabel, disaster struck; the ship he'd secured a position on was destroyed in an unfortunate incident involving a drunk troll, two coils of slick rope and some feathers, and the crew went their separate ways, leaving Tom stranded. He's been living in Port Isabel for the last two years or so.<br />
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'''Appearance''': You know Oliver Twist? Short, dirty blonde hair, scrawny build? Him, but less whiny, and minus the enormous blue eyes. He's got green eyes instead, and they're normal size.<br />
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'''Equipment''': The breeches, tunic, vest and boots are just about the only thing he owns, in addition to a battered harmonica, a hefty metal ladle intended for big pots, and a belt with a huge buckle that's too big to go around his waist, so he wears it at an angle across his chest. He says it makes him look "dashing," but it just looks like he's wearing a belt over his shoulder.<br />
<br />
==Appearances==<br />
<br />
He's one of the first characters to show up in the "Airship Pirates, Chapter 1: Isabel" thread, where he is recruited by a "help wanted" sign posted by [[ER:Rip|Rip]] at the [[ER:Happy Hookah|Happy Hookah]], your basic seedy bar. (What a fourteen-year-old is doing in a seedy bar is probably best left to the imagination.) One thing rapidly leads to another, and soon he's the cook aboard the ''[[ER:Bonny Read|Bonny Read]]'', the airship of the thread title. Somehow he manages to survive in this role, despite an instruction from [[ER:Jon Wrackham|Jon Wrackham]], captain of the BR, to [https://forums.errantstory.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=837&start=70#p15501 "kill the cook"] after a little spellcasting by Rip, part of the battle with rival airship ''[[ER:Queen Alice's Revenge|Queen Alice's Revenge]]'', fills the ship with a noxious stench that he thinks Tom caused. (First mate [[ER:Kattie Amhurst|Kattie]], who receives this order, ignores it, since she knows Wrackham will have calmed down by morning. Besides, good ship's cooks are hard to find, and young Tom is actually quite good at it.)<br />
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He stays with the ''Bonny Read'' through various aerial adventures, notably a food fight where he contributes, among other things, dinner rolls that make lethal projectiles after absorbing a bit of Rip's magic. He's last seen as the airship is on the way to another rendezvous with the ''Queen A's Revenge,'' after which both he and the thread fizzle out into the mists of role-playing-gamedom.<br />
[[Category:Errant Road player characters]]</div>Graybeardhttps://www.errantstory.com/wiki/index.php/ER:GlorfinkleER:Glorfinkle2020-05-06T18:04:55Z<p>Graybeard: Created page with "{{ER-Article}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Glorfinkle}} Category:Living Impaired characters in Errant Road A ''very'' short-lived NPC in the Errant Road on-line free-form role-playing ..."</p>
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<div>{{ER-Article}}<br />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Glorfinkle}}<br />
[[Category:Living Impaired characters in Errant Road]]<br />
A ''very'' short-lived NPC in the [[Errant Road]] on-line free-form role-playing game. Not only does he not exist in the [[Poe-verse]], as per the usual disclaimer; he doesn't exist any more in Errant Road, either.<br />
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This fellow was one of the "red-shirted ensign"-class crew of the ''[[ER:Bonny Read|Bonny Read]]'', the centerpiece of the "Airship Pirates, Chapter 1: Isabel" [https://forums.errantstory.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=837 thread]. Nothing was seen of him in the flesh (although ''bits'' of his flesh were certainly seen), so it is unclear whether he was wearing a literal red shirt or not (nor, for that matter, whether he was an actual ensign; probably not). He was manning one of the "crow's nest" observation stations on the BR when their arch nemesis, fellow airship ''[[ER:Queen Alice's Revenge|Queen Alice's Revenge]]'', literally got the drop on them in the skies above the coast of [[ER:Farrel|Farrel]]. A small raiding party, consisting of one goon named [[ER:Cuthbert|"Cuthbert"]] and another whose name has been lost in grisly anonymity, had shinnied down a rope from the ''Queen A'' to sabotage the BR; landed in the crow's nest; messily disposed of Glorfinkle; and gone on to throw a magical monkey wrench into the BR's engines.<br />
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At least his messy death was not entirely in vain. PC [[ER:Rip|Rip]], ordered to find out why the ship was flying ... abnormally and to see why Glorfinkle made no report when queried, makes his way to the crow's nest, there to find what's left of Glorfinkle strewn messily around the bottom of the platform. Rip and fellow PCs (and crew members) [[ER:Garlock|Garlock]] and [[ER:Reyn|Reyn]] flush out the evildoers, kill the unnamed one in a manner befitting his crimes, and take Cuthbert prisoner, or at least what's left of him after being "subdued" by a bonk on the head from a fossilized dinner roll. (It makes sense in context, [https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ItMakesSenseInContext as they say].) He is taken prisoner and interrogated before meeting another messy end at the hands of ship's doctor [[ER:Doc Barrel|Doc Barrel]], but not until he has implicated the ''Queen A'' in what happened; at least that's first mate [[ER:Kattie Amhurst|Kattie Amhurst's]] story. Of course, there was no airship within miles of these two when the boarding and vandalizing occurred, so there couldn't have been much doubt where the two deceased goons had come from, but it's still nice to think that Glorfinkle died for the sake of the good guys. Relatively speaking, anyway.<br />
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The alternative spelling "Glorfingle" refers to the same red-shirt.</div>Graybeardhttps://www.errantstory.com/wiki/index.php/ER:Happy_HookahER:Happy Hookah2020-05-06T02:50:07Z<p>Graybeard: Created page with "{{ER-Article}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Happy Hookah}} Category:Locales in the Errant Road RPG A seedy bar visited briefly in the Errant Road role-playing game. Needless to say, as..."</p>
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<div>{{ER-Article}}<br />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Happy Hookah}}<br />
[[Category:Locales in the Errant Road RPG]]<br />
A seedy bar visited briefly in the [[Errant Road]] role-playing game. Needless to say, as far as is known, it doesn't exist in the [[Poe-verse]], although very similar, unnamed seedy bars do. One might even bear the same inane name; who knows?<br />
<br />
The Happy Hookah is what passes for a happening place in [[ER:Isabel|Isabel]], which of course is damning with faint praise. Its role in the game is brief but important, as a call for adventurers, posted there by PC [[ER:Rip|Rip]] (and his cigar-smoking parrot familiar [[ER:Thurston|Thurston]]), gets the ball rolling for the "Airship Pirates, Chapter 1: Isabel" [https://forums.errantstory.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=837&p=14172#p14172 thread]. Seedy it may be, but apparently it's popular enough that a goodly number of other player characters (and the obligatory red-shirted-ensign-type NPCs) sign up to crew the eponymous pirate [[airship]], the ''[[ER:Bonny Read|Bonny Read]]''. As soon as there are enough crew (read: PCs), the airship lifts off to its assorted adventures, and the Happy Hookah is left behind. Presumably it's still there.</div>Graybeardhttps://www.errantstory.com/wiki/index.php/ER:StalwartsER:Stalwarts2020-05-03T23:20:59Z<p>Graybeard: Created page with "{{ER-Article}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Stalwarts}} Category:Living Impaired characters in Errant Road A body (so to speak) of not-alive, but maybe not-quite-dead adherents of the [[ER:..."</p>
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<div>{{ER-Article}}<br />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stalwarts}}<br />
[[Category:Living Impaired characters in Errant Road]]<br />
A body (so to speak) of not-alive, but maybe not-quite-dead adherents of the [[ER:Veracian Church|Veracian Church]] in the [[Errant Road]] role-playing game. Even though they are never seen in the flesh, they're important to the eerie tales surrounding the [[ER:Artifact of Absonial|Artifact of Absonial]]. Needless to say, they don't exist in the [[Poe-verse]].<br />
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There is no short and simple description of just who the Stalwarts are/were, so let [[ER:Sister Rose|Sister Rose's]] memories of what she'd [https://forums.errantstory.com/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=1557&p=21976#p21976 learned] about them try to explain:<br />
:''It would be a mistake to call the Stalwarts a "denomination" within the Veracian Church; "sect" came closer, although it still might not be totally correct. Orthodoxy certainly wasn't an issue with them -- quite the contrary, the Stalwarts were probably the single most zealous movement in the entire Church when it came to religious orthodoxy in the traditional sense. Their '''practice''' of that zeal, though ...<br />
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:''The heyday of the Stalwarts movement had been about a hundred years in the past, if Rose remembered her history correctly. Some priest whose name she couldn't recall had discovered a combination of magic, plus certain herbs that grew in the swamps of the far south, that could induce a death-like state in their recipients, a state so convincing that it took the revival of one "volunteer" who'd been placed into the state (not so voluntarily, Rose suspected) to convince the Patriarch that the state was not death. And that paved the way for Father Yogesh.<br />
<br />
:''Yogesh had started out as a simple country priest, barely literate, and knowing little more of Luminositan doctrine than that He was powerful and scary, yet to be loved, worshiped, and -- incongruous as it might seem -- protected. Simple Yogesh may have been, but he did have charisma, and he also had a concept. His followers, mainly drawn from small towns such as the ones that Rose and her friends had been passing through, had sworn to defend Luminosita even unto death and beyond ... and so, when the drug/magic-induced death-like state known as the Peaceful Death became public knowledge, he knew exactly what to do with it.<br />
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:''It was only a matter of time, and not very much of it, before Father Yogesh had a cadre of ultra-zealous Luminosita worshipers who were willing to enter into the Peaceful Death state (with, of course, appropriate pomp and ceremony), and be interred in the most sacred grounds of the Veracian Church -- the temple at Emerylon itself, the swamps where Luminosita had arisen hundreds of years earlier, a few other sites -- there to watch over the holiest artifacts of Luminosita, and rise to defend them from the infidels, or at least rise when Judgment Day finally happened. Of course, things didn't exactly work that way. When the Tsuirakuans arrived to prosecute the last of the Mage/Priest Wars, the Stalwarts remained buried, and as far as anyone could tell, also quite dead -- if peacefully so. ...''<br />
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This odd, maybe-undead army plays no direct role in Errant Road. However, when Rose and her colleagues [[ER:Argus Cleiviein|Argus]], [[ER:Lillith|Lillith]], etc.) go to retrieve the Artifact of Absonial from an archaeological dig near the small town of [[ER:Provatiel|Provatiel]], they have a scary encounter with buried, not-quite-dead guardians on the Stalwarts model. At first Rose suspects that they ''are'' Stalwarts, but some "research" reveals that these guardians had been buried decades after the last of the Stalwarts was interred, and had nothing to do with them. Lillith, the first to make contact with this scary bunch (and to be, for lack of a better word, possessed temporarily by one of them), coined the name "[[ER:Peaceful Dead|Peaceful Dead]]" for them, and the name sticks.<br />
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According to Rose, there are still Stalwarts out there, still waiting in their sacred burial grounds for a chance to rise and fight for [[Luminosita]] against the infidels. Their categorization "Living Impaired character in Errant Road" therefore has some oddities to it, but one has to call them ''something''. In any event, they have not yet appeared in the game proper, and probably never will.</div>Graybeardhttps://www.errantstory.com/wiki/index.php/ER:NikolaiER:Nikolai2020-04-30T16:14:29Z<p>Graybeard: </p>
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<div>{{ER-Article}}<br />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nikolai}}<br />
A non-player character in the [[Errant Road]] on-line free-form role-playing game. He doesn't exist in the [[Poe-verse]], which is just as well, there being too many disagreeable characters there already without him.<br />
<br />
This sinister man puts in his first (and, as far as we know, only, at least in the game) appearance in the smugglers-den town of [[ER:Nautkia|Nautkia]] in southern [[ER:Veracia|Veracia]], but at least at first appearance, he isn't one of the smugglers himself. He shows up looking enigmatic and sneaky at the banquet that corrupt [[ER:Father Nestor|Father Nestor]] (of ''course'' he's corrupt; almost everything around Nautkia is), head of the [[ER:Reformed Veracian Church|Reformed Veracian Church]] in town, throws when PCs [[ER:Sister Rose|SIster Rose]], [[ER:Argus Cleiviein|Argus]], [[ER:Lillith|Lillith]], etc., come calling as they search for renegade priest [[ER:Father Egbert|Father Egbert]]. He isn't named yet at the banquet, but he's suspicious-looking enough that the party takes notice of him, name or no name.<br />
<br />
Their suspicions prove well founded, as after the banquet ends prematurely owing to the tragic(?) death of [[ER:Brother Kelso|Brother Kelso]], one of the church's priests, Nikolai accosts Argus in his room and blackmails him into an attempted assassination mission. Two interesting relationships emerge from their "discussion:" first, that Nikolai works for Argus' nemesis [[ER:Captain Kitaura|Captain Kitaura]] (which provokes puzzlement, as Kitaura, as disagreeable as he is, is a noted straight arrow who wants nothing to do with smuggling except to destroy it); and second, that Lillith is Argus' ''daughter'', a fact previously unknown to either of them (indeed, how Kitaura and thus Nikolai found out about it is a mystery that's never solved). Nikolai makes it quite clear that Lillith's well-being is tied to Argus'successful completion of the hit. A further complication is that it turns out that the ship that Argus is supposed to sink is skippered by Father Egbert's sister, [[ER:Lucy Kankaniel|Lucy Kankaniel]], and is the means by which Egbert, who's fleeing from something awful but not (yet) described, will be bugging out of town to somewhere in the [[ER:Northern Confederacy|Northern Confederacy]]. These things together make it pretty much impossible for Argus to say no, and most of the rest of the thread is tied to the party's desperate attempt to balance all the forces converging on them, preferably without deaths and also without Nikolai learning that he's been deceived. They more or less succeed, except that Egbert commits suicide right in front of a horrified Rose.<br />
<br />
Incidentally, while all this is going on, PC assassin [[ER:Cithule|Cithule]] (or "Cit") is being contacted by one of the other smuggling outfits in town (there are many) to execute a hit on -- Nikolai himself. However, Cit "wanders off somewhere," as they say (possibly a victim of nasty [[Peregin]] [[ER:Bauti|Bauti]], since Cit is a half-elf), before this plan can come to fruition, and Nikolai escapes this thread with his life. We never see him again in person, but much later, in the long and complicated [[ER:Goriel|Goriel]] thread complex, Argus gets an unwanted message from Kitaura that makes it clear that Nikolai is still out there, and still threatening.<br />
<br />
All in all, a shadowy, unpleasant character, and one can't help but have a certain amount of sympathy for the forces in Nautkia that want him rubbed out.</div>Graybeardhttps://www.errantstory.com/wiki/index.php/ER:IsabelER:Isabel2020-04-30T14:03:30Z<p>Graybeard: Created page with "{{ER-Article}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Isabel}} A city in the Errant Road free-form on-line role playing game. Unlike most locales and other things that show up in Errant Road, this o..."</p>
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<div>{{ER-Article}}<br />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Isabel}}<br />
A city in the [[Errant Road]] free-form on-line role playing game. Unlike most locales and other things that show up in Errant Road, this one does have a [[Isabel|counterpart]] in the [[Poe-verse]]. However, any geography, population, etc., of the Errant Road version is not [[canon]] and does not necessarily exist in the Poe-verse version, and the curious characters encountered there certainly don't exist in the other one. (This is probably just as well.)<br />
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Isabel is the largest city in [[ER:Farrel|Farrel]], or at least the largest city (1) that we know of, (2) on a seacoast, and (3) that any of the Errant Roadies ever visit. Just "largest city" seems to work well for it. It is on the east coast of the continent, facing [[ER:Veracia|Veracia]] across the reaches of the [[ER:Farrel Sea|Farrel Sea]]. Total population is unknown, but it's large enough to support a good-sized seaport, a [[warp gate]], and an [[airship]] terminal. There aren't many cities in the [[Errant World]] so equipped with ways for people to get into (or, more frequently at least in the game, out of) them, so presumably it's a big city by local standards.<br />
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One thing it is certainly equipped with is sleazy bars, and it is in one of these, called the "[[ER:Happy Hookah|Happy Hookah]]," that the long-running '''[https://forums.errantstory.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=837 Airship Pirates, Chapter 1: Isabel]''' thread gets its start. Player character [[ER:Rip|Rip]] (accompanied as usual by his cigar-smoking parrot familiar [[ER:Thurston|Thurston]]) posts a help-wanted ad there, looking for crew for a new pirate airship called the ''[[ER:Bonny Read|Bonny Read]]''. This eventually recruits enough curious characters that the ship lifts off and heads for high adventure and low comedy, and it hasn't made it back to Isabel by the time the thread ends.<br />
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Be alert for variant spellings: "Ysabel" has occasionally been used in Errant Story and Errant Road, but refers to this place.<br />
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[[Category:Locales in the Errant Road RPG]]</div>Graybeardhttps://www.errantstory.com/wiki/index.php/ER:Jon_WrackhamER:Jon Wrackham2020-04-29T14:55:02Z<p>Graybeard: </p>
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<div>{{ER-Article}}<br />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wrackham, Jon}}<br />
A non-player character in the [[Errant Road]] on-line free-form role-playing game. As far as is known, he doesn't exist in the [[Poe-verse]], although characters like him probably do.<br />
<br />
Wrackham is the skipper of the ''[[ER:Bonny Read|Bonny Read]]'', the eponymous [[airship]] of the "Airship Pirates" thread group (which, as of this writing, is just a single thread, although the ''Bonny Read'' has appeared in others). He's introduced [https://forums.errantstory.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=837&p=14276#p14276 here], from which two things may already be deduced: he's a real pirate captain, and he's probably going to be played for laughs, as indeed he is. (So is the whole thread, so he fits right in.) It takes a little longer before it is also obvious that he is not particularly competent. He has a running grudge against the never-named captain of the rival airship ''[[ER:Queen Alice's Revenge|Queen Alice's Revenge]]'', and a pronounced tendency to go off half-cocked when any other airship crosses his path.<br />
<br />
Spelling variations ("Rackham," "John," etc.) exist. He may or may not have a thing going with first mate [[ER:Kattie Amhurst|Kattie Amhurst]].</div>Graybeardhttps://www.errantstory.com/wiki/index.php/ER:ShortyER:Shorty2020-04-27T18:22:05Z<p>Graybeard: </p>
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<div>{{ER-Article}}<br />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shorty}}<br />
A character in the [[Errant Road]] free-form on-line role-playing game, one of the "semi-player characters" who hang around for a long time and are usually portrayed by one player (in this case, Graybeard), but aren't developed as fully as full-fledged player characters are, and are available for use and abuse by other players. Needless to say, he doesn't exist in the [[Poe-verse]].<br />
<br />
Shorty's first appearance is [https://forums.errantstory.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=837#p14235 here], as the ''[[ER:Bonny Read|Bonny Read]]'' [[airship]], on which he's a crew member, is recruiting fresh crew/suckers/victims for its next foray in search of treasure and trouble. As one might expect from his nickname and the usual tone of the threads where the BR appears, he is an ''enormous'' man, described as having to duck whenever he passes through a standard doorway, and wide enough that he has to turn sideways to make sure he fits in that dimension as well. His vast bulk notwithstanding, he's generally a mild-mannered soul, with a quiet voice (although on the rare occasions when he does get loud, it can be heard on the next continent, figuratively speaking) and no tendencies toward fighting, not that anyone in their right mind would put him to the test. His inseparable companion (although there's nothing ... going on between them) is player character [[ER:Rip|Rip]], also part of the crew of the ''Bonny Read''.<br />
<br />
He's a part of pretty much every comedic bit of trouble his airship gets into, and in addition, joins Rip for some scary, rather than funny, ground-bound adventuring near the disagreeable city of [[ER:Goriel|Goriel]]. Later, he and Rip, having '''finally''' struck it rich on one of the BR's raids, strike out in an airship of their own to live the good life on the [[ER:Southern Continent|Southern Continent]]. Needless to say, this doesn't go as hoped, and he and Rip are deposited on the Continent with a crash, linking up with [[ER:Tamina|Tamina]] and her fellow [[ER:Kobold|kobolds]] while they try to get back to civilization. Over ten years of real time after the game starts, they're still trying. Give these people credit for one thing: they're persistent.</div>Graybeardhttps://www.errantstory.com/wiki/index.php/ER:ThurstonER:Thurston2020-04-26T22:05:29Z<p>Graybeard: </p>
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Thurston}}<br />
The cigar-smoking parrot [[familiar]] of [[Errant Road]] player character [[ER:Rip|Rupert (Rip) Ricordiel]]. See Rip's page for more on what Thurston is like: in certain regards, like a feathered, cigar-smoking [[Ellis]], although maybe with a less abrasive personality. (Or maybe not.) Needless to say, he doesn't exist in the [[Poe-verse]], although parrot familiars very well might.<br />
<br />
He has typically familiarish skills, being hard-wired with [[Translation]] and a snarky attitude. Perhaps less typically, he is apparently a father-to-be, following a brief assignation on the [[ER:Southern Continent|Southern Continent]] late in the game.<br />
<br />
Not to be confused with one of the [[ER:Carrier parrot|carrier parrots]] used by the special-ops branch of the Veracian army to stay in touch with [[ER:Sister Rose|Sister Rose]], [[ER:Brother Miguel|Brother Miguel]], and whoever happens to be traveling with them.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Familiars in Errant Road]]</div>Graybeardhttps://www.errantstory.com/wiki/index.php/ER:Peaceful_DeadER:Peaceful Dead2020-04-26T19:56:20Z<p>Graybeard: Created page with "{{ER-Article}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Peaceful Dead}} An unseen, but most ''definitely'' encountered, cadre of (probably) people in the Errant Road on-line free-form role-playing game..."</p>
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<div>{{ER-Article}}<br />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peaceful Dead}}<br />
An unseen, but most ''definitely'' encountered, cadre of (probably) people in the [[Errant Road]] on-line free-form role-playing game. Needless to say (and definitely for the best in this case), they don't exist in the [[Poe-verse]].<br />
<br />
The Peaceful Dead are the key figures -- "antagonists" doesn't exactly do them justice -- in an eerie series of encounters in the thread complex centered on the southern [[ER:Veracia|Veracian]] town of [[ER:Provatiel|Provatiel]]. They get their name from [[ER:Lillith|Lillith]], who is one of several adventurers (the usual ones surrounding [[ER:Sister Rose|Sister Rose]]) who have been tasked to retrieve the [[ER:Artifact of Absonial|Artifact of Absonial]] from an archaeological dig near town. Something about a forest they pass through on the way to the archaeological site makes them uneasy, so Lillith puts her [https://forums.errantstory.com/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=1557&start=20#p21973 skills] at reading the "spirits" to work and comes up with the name, although she isn't aware yet just how sinister those "spirits" are.<br />
<br />
Lillith's explanation sheds a bit of light on what she's experiencing, and Rose draws a parallel, if not an actual connection, between the spirits here and those of the [[ER:Stalwarts|Stalwarts]], an ancient sect of the [[ER:Veracian Church|Veracian Church]] that agreed to be put into a death-like state and buried(!) until it was time for them to rise again and defend [[Luminosita]] and [[Veracia]]. Rose is well aware that, when the [[Mage/Priest Wars]] started, the Stalwarts did ''not'' rise again, and some of them remain interred to this day, still waiting and causing certain problems for the Church. However, as far as she knows (and she would probably know), there are no Stalwart burials anywhere near Getsemiel, certainly none to protect an artifact that the Church didn't even know about when the Stalwarts were created. So just what ''are'' these things whose unquiet spirits are marked by the trees?<br />
<br />
An answer isn't long in coming, as first Lillith and later [[ER:Harker|Harker]] are, for lack of a better word, "possessed" by some kind of spirit emanating from where the Peaceful Dead are buried, before being extracted from their possessed state by the ministrations of Rose and [[ER:Argus Cleiviein|Argus]]. [[ER:Drusia Valis|Drusia]] also makes contact, but without the possession part of the deal, learning that the Peaceful Dead are no great lovers of elves, who might be the "abomination" that they went into their death-like state to defend against, and also that they know nothing of the Artifact of Absonial. This, plus a mental sneer from the most powerful mind speaking to Drusia from beyond the grave, convinces Rose that the Peaceful Dead have nothing to do with the Stalwarts, and aren't just a sad leftover from before the War, but a current, potentially very dangerous threat. Harker's possession follows at this stage and drives the point home ''very'' clearly, as whoever or whatever is doing the possessing exhorts the other buried spirits to "rise." The combined mental efforts of the spiritual members of the party (and a well-timed whack on Harker's head by the less spiritually inclined Argus) drive them back, and Lillith begins a rite intended to calm the spirits and dismiss them from their half-existence to a more permanent eternity. And so it does ...<br />
<br />
... Except that at the end, one small, child-like voice is heard in Rose's mind, saying ''"Wait! Please don't go! I don't want to be left here among these dead minds for all eternity! I'll behave, I promise I will! PLEASE don't leave me..."'' This strikes a motherly chord in Rose, and she promises solemnly that when the group has finished their business with the Artifact, they (or at least she) ''will'' come back for the deserted, lonely spirit.<br />
<br />
Some time later, after the Artifact has been retrieved, the group heads back out of the canyon where the Peaceful Dead were buried, but not before the solitary spirit gets back in touch with Rose and pleads for her not to leave him there (which, of course, she has no intention of doing anyway). After a hair-raising moment involving [[ER:Maduin|Maduin]], who somehow terrifies the spirit, the combined efforts of most of the group succeed in raising a child's body and re-uniting it with the terrified spirit that had been its soul in life. The boy, who turns out to be named [[ER:Jedidiah Bindiel|Jedidiah Bindiel]], is found to be living, and with some delicate care, eventually makes a full recovery by the time the shaken group makes it back to Provatiel, with the rest of the Peaceful Dead having been successfully dismissed -- probably.<br />
<br />
All in all, a long story, even with much of it omitted for (relative) brevity, and one that was deeply gripping for the players as their characters played it all out; an example of Errant Road at its best.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Living Impaired characters in Errant Road]]</div>Graybeardhttps://www.errantstory.com/wiki/index.php/ER:RipER:Rip2020-04-26T14:34:01Z<p>Graybeard: /* Appearances */</p>
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<div>{{ER-Article}}<br />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rip}}<br />
A player character in the [[Errant Road]] free-form role-playing game, introduced [https://forums.errantstory.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=837#p14172 here]. (He's the guy with poor firearm safety skills, not [[ER:Shorty|Shorty]], who first appears a couple of segments later.) Needless to say, he doesn't exist in the [[Poe-verse]].<br />
<br />
Rupert "Rip" Ricordiel, to give him his full name (although almost nobody calls him "Rupert" except [[ER:Argus Cleiviein|Argus]], who [https://forums.errantstory.com/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=2257&p=34280#p34280 knows] him slightly from when they both lived in [[ER:Tsuirakushiti|Tsuirakushiti]]). is a former professor at a mediocre Tsuirakuan university, now turned privateer and adventurer. His basic concept is [https://forums.errantstory.com/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=396&p=14262&hilit=Rupert#p14262 here], from which the following is taken:<br />
<br />
==Description==<br />
<br />
'''Name:''' Rupert Ricordiel; goes by "Rip" or "Ripcord"<br />
<br />
'''Age:''' 42<br />
<br />
'''Race:''' Human<br />
<br />
'''Origins:''' Rip is the child of a man (fully human) from the [[ER:Northern Confederacy|Northern Confederacy]] and a Tsuirakuan woman from a high-class family. (How they got together is a long story, and he himself doesn't know all of it.) His experience growing up partly in the north, partly in Tsuirakushiti was quite similar to Bani Igaaru's in the main story. On completion of his D.Thm., he took a faculty position in the sociology department at one of the "community-college" level institutions in Tsuirakushiti, and in this capacity, ran into [[ER:Sasha Mitchel|Sasha Mitchel]] when she took a class from him there; however, the two wouldn't remember each other, neither the class nor the professor nor the student being particularly memorable.<br />
<br />
About two years back, he went on a sabbatical to [[ER:Farrel|Farrel]], intending to live off the land while he researched a paper on Farrelite guilds that he was going to write when he got back home. However, he discovered that he enjoyed the privateering lifestyle enough that he's been in no hurry to resume his humdrum life in Tsuiraku. Being single and unattached (he fancies himself a ladies' man, and pretends not to notice that his luck with the ladies really isn't all that good), he simply settled down in [[ER:Isabel|Isabel]], taking the role of ground crew with one of the mercenary bands that he was "researching" when they went into the airship-pirate business. He mainly fills this role (his one area of exceptional magical virtuosity is in repairing things, which comes in handy in that line of work) and sticks around Isabel most of the time, but goes on the occasional raid with his employers when they're short staffed and/or he's getting bored.<br />
<br />
'''Appearance:''' Rip looks his age (42) but no more. He's of average height and slender build, with brown hair (just a touch of gray at the temples) and eyes. He normally is clean shaven but lets his beard grow out when he's out with an airship, which gives him a somewhat scruffy look. He wears clothes to try to fit in with his surroundings, nothing out of the ordinary, but again, generally on the shabby side -- he could afford better, but keeping a low profile is a good thing in his line of work.<br />
<br />
'''Equipment:''' Mainly '''[[ER:Thurston|Thurston]]''', the cigar-smoking parrot. (Rip, incidentally, does not smoke himself.) Thurston is a typical Tsuirakuan familiar of no abnormal abilities, apart from familiarish intelligence and unusual skill with languages -- he was hard-wired with a Translation spell at creation. This has come in handy when "out in the field." Rip carries a revolver but rarely uses it (in the episode at the beginning of the story, it wasn't even loaded), a dagger that he also rarely uses, and a wand for spellcasting that he uses rather more often, but mainly just to repair the airship, do analyses on weird items plundered on raids, and generally, do supportive stuff. His few other belongings are usually carried in a [[Pocket Dimension]] that he opens only on rare, almost extraordinary, occasions. Included among these is a [[crystal ball]] that he literally hadn't used in years before story time ... but it's there in case things get really messy, as they do almost as soon as his on-stage time begins.<br />
<br />
He is competent in a fight, whether physical or manual, and can cast the usual array of offensive and defensive spells that a Tsuirakuan generalist can use, but has no specializations anywhere near the battlemage level and generally avoids combat where possible. In short, he's just another Tsuirakuan out to see the world, although one with an advanced degree and probably some serious magical skills if he ever bothered to tap them; he simply doesn't.<br />
<br />
==Appearances==<br />
<br />
He makes his first appearance in the "[[Airship]] Pirates, Chapter 1: Isabel" thread, as the guy recruiting fresh meat for the ''[[ER:Bonny Read]]'', the pirate [[airship]] of the title. Most of the people in the sleazy bars of Isabel have the good sense to avoid an operation this sketchy, but enough succumb to wanderlust and the (dubious) claims about pirate treasure that the ship eventually heads off for various adventures. Needless to say, these don't go exactly according to plan.<br />
<br />
Like almost all player characters in Errant Road, he eventually gets dragged into more conventional battles either in relatively civilized [[ER:Port Lorrel|Lorrel]] or in the barbaric wastes of the Northern Confederacy, near the unpleasant city of [[ER:Goriel|Goriel]]. These don't go exactly according to plan either. Later still, he parts company with the ''Bonny Read'' and shows up on the [[ER:Southern Continent|Southern Continent]], having acquired his own airship and set off with fellow BR crewman [[ER:Shorty|Shorty]] to see the world. This airship, however, is a junker, and falls apart at the very start of the thread, leaving him and Shorty groundbound, desperately scheming to get back to somewhere civilized, and fortuitously, in the company of a band of [[ER:Kobold|kobolds]], long-time PC adventurer [[ER:Tamina|Tamina]] among them. And there, more than ten years after the start of Errant Road, the adventures still continue.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Errant Road player characters]]</div>Graybeardhttps://www.errantstory.com/wiki/index.php/ER:Queen_Alice%27s_RevengeER:Queen Alice's Revenge2020-04-25T15:25:26Z<p>Graybeard: Created page with "{{ER-Article}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Queen Alice's Revenge}} An airship that appears in the "Airship Pirates, Chapter 1:Isabel" thread, serving as a foil for the ''[[ER:Bonny Read|Bo..."</p>
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<div>{{ER-Article}}<br />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Queen Alice's Revenge}}<br />
An [[airship]] that appears in the "Airship Pirates, Chapter 1:Isabel" thread, serving as a foil for the ''[[ER:Bonny Read|Bonny Read]]'', the airship with all the player characters. Not much is known about her, except that her captain doesn't like the BR's captain ([[ER:Jon Wrackham|Jon Wrackham]]) much, and that they're going after the same intended victims for most of the thread. She eventually meets a sad''[sic]'' end on the ground, not due mainly to hostile action by the BR, although their rival does swoop in to plunder the wreck. First seen [https://forums.errantstory.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=837&p=14376#p14376 here].</div>Graybeardhttps://www.errantstory.com/wiki/index.php/ER:Bonny_ReadER:Bonny Read2020-04-25T14:58:50Z<p>Graybeard: /* Crew */</p>
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<div>{{ER-Article}}<br />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonny Read}}<br />
The '''''Bonny Read''''' (BR for short) is an [[airship]] that appears in the [[Errant Road]] on-line free-form role-playing game. Needless to say, it doesn't exist in the [[Poe-verse]].<br />
<br />
The BR serves as the centerpiece for the comedic [https://forums.errantstory.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=837#p14172 "Airship Pirates, Chapter 1: [[ER:Isabel|Isabel]]" thread]. As one might expect from the title, it's an airship that's crewed by, well, pirates. The description is largely theoretical, however, as we have never seen them successfully commit piracy against anything, although not for want of trying. It shows up later in the long-running [[ER:Goriel|Goriel]] thread complex, which is generally a much more serious proposition, although the BR manages to bring some levity to that subject as well. In the Goriel threads, its main function is to bring a hired gun, player character [[ER:Jamie Porter|Jamie]], to the Goriel area so that she can hunt down and kill the renegade priest [[ER:Father Blaise|Father Blaise]], for reasons never made completely clear. (Of course, all sorts of other strange things happen in the process.) It also puts in a brief appearance in the [[ER:Rinkaiel|Rinkaiel]] thread complex, but to relatively little effect.<br />
<br />
As pirate airships (probably) go, the BR is a large, well-equipped affair, with all the standard pirate-airship stuff -- guns, sizable crew, guns, mess, guns, storage space for purloined treasure, guns, and so on. The startup of the Airship Pirates thread calls it "new," which probably explains why there are certain ... ''bugs'' that are still getting worked out (notably the very buggy crew). A similarly large airship, the ''[[ER:Queen Alice's Revenge|Queen Alice's Revenge]]'', is out there (and serves as the BR's foil for the first half of the thread), so while it may be "new," it's not particularly innovative. This is probably just as well.<br />
<br />
==Crew==<br />
<br />
Several player characters "serve" (for certain definitions of the word) aboard this mighty vessel for a time:<br />
<br />
* [[ER:Doc Barrel|Doc Barrel]]<br />
* [[ER:Garlock|Garlock]]<br />
* [[ER:Leana|Leana]]<br />
* [[ER:Reyn|Reyn]]<br />
* [[ER:Rip|Rip]]<br />
* [[ER:Tom Brambil|Tom Brambil]]<br />
* [[ER:Xzen|Xzen]]<br />
<br />
Several other crew members are named and serve as NPCs, some disposable, some not:<br />
<br />
* [[ER:Jon Wrackham|Jon Wrackham]], ship's captain; also spelled "John" and/or "Rackham"<br />
* [[ER:Kattie Amhurst|Kattie Amhurst]], first mate; also spelled "Katie" and/or "Amherst"<br />
* [[ER:Glorfinkle|Glorfinkle]], regrettably(?) deceased<br />
* [[ER:Shorty|Shorty]], still going strong many threads, and years of real time, later<br />
<br />
Of course, there are the usual number of unnamed NPCs on board, serving partly as crew but mainly as red-shirted ensigns waiting to have something bad happen to them. There's even a joke about that in the Airship Pirates thread.</div>Graybeardhttps://www.errantstory.com/wiki/index.php/ER:LeliER:Leli2020-04-25T05:02:03Z<p>Graybeard: Created page with "{{ER-Article}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Leli}} A "semi-PC" in the Errant Road on-line free-form role-playing game. Needless to say, she doesn't appear in the Poe-verse. Alas, she'..."</p>
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<div>{{ER-Article}}<br />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leli}}<br />
A "semi-PC" in the [[Errant Road]] on-line free-form role-playing game. Needless to say, she doesn't appear in the [[Poe-verse]]. Alas, she's also no longer with us in the game, a true pity since she was obviously one of the good guys, er, [[ER:Kobold|kobolds]]. She first appears [https://forums.errantstory.com/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=1663&p=24863#p24863 here], although she's named earlier and her hut in the clan compound is the centerpiece of an important battle.<br />
<br />
Leli is an elder in the [[ER:Killikah|Killikah]] clan to which PC [[ER:Tamina|Tamina]] also belongs, and serves as, among other things, mother figure to the younger kobold. When she first appears, Tamina and fellow PC [[ER:Jamie Porter|Jamie]] (and, of course, baby [[ER:Nera|Nera]]) are sore beset by weird "feral" monsters in the Killikah village, until Leli and some other kobolds come to the rescue like cavalry coming over the hill. Tamina, it's fair to say, is happy to see her, and not just because of the long-standing (by kobold standards) bond between the two. Readers appreciate her too, as she engages in some exposition so that we're all up to speed on where the ferals came from: they were most likely created by the [[ER:Ralkin|Ralkin]], the Killikah's arch enemies from way back. This realization sets all manner of merry(?) adventures in progress that take Leli, Tamina and assorted others through many pages of posts, and into lots of trouble.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, some of that "trouble" proves [https://forums.errantstory.com/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=2319&p=36411#p36411 fatal] to the old kobold. A fight with the Ralkin eventually goes terminally badly for her, and the fact that [[ER:Drusia Valis|Drusia]], who with [[ER:Khoo|Khoo]] has joined the party on the Killikah's side, immediately makes a messy end of Ralkin big shot [[ER:Gabriel Averis|Gabriel Averis]] is scant consolation to the horrified Tamina. Tamina spends years of play, which is an ''incredibly'' long time for a kobold, grieving for her tribal leader and mother figure, and trying to remember all the things Leli taught her -- spellcraft, how to speak human-talk, you name it.<br />
<br />
So rest in peace for this much-loved character, although "peace" and "kobold" are words that don't often go together in Errant Road.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Living Impaired characters in Errant Road]]</div>Graybeardhttps://www.errantstory.com/wiki/index.php/ER:LeofricER:Leofric2020-04-22T02:39:42Z<p>Graybeard: Created page with "{{ER-Article}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Leofric}} A minor NPC ("minor" for everyone but Lillith, for whom he plays a brief but highly significant role) in the Errant Road..."</p>
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<div>{{ER-Article}}<br />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leofric}}<br />
A minor NPC ("minor" for everyone but [[ER:Lillith|Lillith]], for whom he plays a brief but highly significant role) in the [[Errant Road]] on-line free-form role-playing game. Needless to say, he doesn't, or didn't, exist in the [[Poe-verse]]. He's introduced [https://forums.errantstory.com/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=739&p=13611#p13611 here].<br />
<br />
Leofric is a [[half elf]], the leader of the small half-elven community in the smuggler's haven of [[ER:Nautkia|Nautkia]] in southern [[ER:Veracia|Veracia]]. Lillith and her fellow adventurers visit this out-of-the-way place as they search for the renegade priest [[ER:Father Egbert|Father Egbert]], whom they have tracked to the town. While they're there, doing things that take the entire "Nautkia, and the South" thread to develop, Lillith and her half-elf nature attract the attention of a member of Leofric's community, and he arranges to meet the young priestess. A substantial sub-thread develops from this meet-up.<br />
<br />
Leofric is the owner-manager of a nursery/greenhouse in town, and he and his fellow half elves generally get along well enough there; as he puts it, "For many years, Nautkia has been a place where we can hide in plain sight. The smugglers who run the town, and who by the way help us keep our business flourishing, don't care what their clients' ears look like. And they don't permit overt prejudice to interfere with business, either. Anything here that interferes with business attracts the attention of powerful and ruthless people, and I mean ''anything''." Alas, this comfortable (at least by half-elven standards) way of life was interrupted, not long before Lillith and colleagues appear, by the arrival of an elf, the nasty [[Peregin]] [[ER:Bauti|Bauti]], although Leofric doesn't know the name. Seeing disaster if he and his people are discovered, he asks Lillith to help deal with the threat. After exploring some alternatives that wouldn't work well, he proposes that she help them get back to [[ER:Santuariel|Santuariel]], the place they came from before moving to Nautkia (and also Lillith's home town), via a boat skippered by smuggler [[ER:Lucy Kankaniel|Lucy Kankaniel]]. She nervously agrees, despite never having dealt with a band of smugglers in her life.<br />
<br />
The ensuing complications take a fair fraction of the Nautkia thread, one of the main complications being that Lucy Kankaniel isn't just another smuggler; she's Egbert's ''sister'', and he has made arrangements for her to spirit ''him'' away to a new home somewhere. She also has incurred the wrath of one of the smuggling rings in town, and they, in turn, have extorted [[ER:Argus Cleiviein|Argus]] into a "hit" on her and her ship. Somehow it all works out in the end (for everyone except the unfortunate Egbert, who meets a most disturbing end just as Leofric and his party are boarding the ship), and Leofric is last seen sailing off to start a new life -- minus the devastated Lillith, who'd hoped to join them.<br />
<br />
It may or may not be significant that when, many years (of real time) later, a party of player characters ([[ER:Desiree|Desiree]] and [[ER:Therese|Therese]]) finally makes it to Santuariel, Leofric is not mentioned as being there, although Lillith has made it to town with her new husband [[ER:Bradford Nuria|Brad]] and is happily expecting twins. What became of them? A tale yet to be told in Errant Road, perhaps; the game just keeps going and going and going ...</div>Graybeardhttps://www.errantstory.com/wiki/index.php/ER:ShamhatER:Shamhat2020-04-20T03:09:04Z<p>Graybeard: </p>
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<div>{{ER-Article}}<br />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shamhat}}<br />
'''Shamhat''' is a non-player character (NPC) in the [[Errant Road]] free-form on-line role playing game. She's the mother of player character [[ER:Lillith|Lillith]], and her basic concept can be found in the same [http://forums.errantstory.com/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=396 article] as Lillith's. Needless to say, she doesn't exist in the [[Poe-verse]].<br />
<br />
Like her daughter, Shamhat is a [[half elf]] who lives in the half-elven sanctuary community of [[ER:Santuariel|Santuariel]]. There she serves as a priestess for a little-known nature-worshiping cult (in fact, she and Lillith may be its only real adherents) having nothing to do with any of the [[Errant World]]'s known religions. Relatively little is known of this religion, except that it treats all living things (and apparently some non-living parts of the world) as having spirits with whom one might be able to commune, and which may provide the priestess with magical power; at least it seems to work this way for Lillith, so presumably it does for her mom as well. (A [[Tsuiraku]]an atheist would probably say these spirits are nonexistent and are really only contrived ways for the priestesses to access the magic that's all around them anyway, but what would a godless Tsuirakuan know?) Shamhat's "worship" of these spirits seems to involve hanging brightly colored ribbons and such things on trees, rocks, etc., that do little to dispel her reputation among Santuarielites as being a little ... odd.<br />
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Shamhat raised Lilltih as a single mother, and in her original concept, never revealed to her daughter who her father was. However, in a long, emotionally-charged story arc, a shadowy Tsuirakuan operative named [[ER:Nikolai|Nikolai]] revealed to PC [[ER:Argus Cleiviein|Argus]] that Argus was the daddy, by way of a brief affair when he was but a teenager. (How Nikolai, or more accurately his boss, the formidable [[ER:Captain Kitaura|Captain Kitaura]], learned of this little trivium is a mystery that has never been revealed.) When Lillith learned of this side of her origin story, she ... didn't take it well at first. All's well that ends well, and the family situation is currently much more comfortable.<br />
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Shamhat was a background character for the large majority of Errant Road, and only [https://forums.errantstory.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=2835&p=40450#p40450 appeared on stage] late in the game, when the first party of PC adventurers, [[ER:Desiree|Desiree]] and [[ER:Therese|Therese]], visited Santuariel to see the now-pregnant Lillith and her husband [[ER:Bradford Nuria|Brad]], who had returned there to start their family. A visit to her odd "shrine" in the hills above Santuariel revealed the colorful ribbons and decorated rocks and trees, and also gave Shamhat a chance to have a few speaking lines, eventually aiding the pair in their pursuit of a "[[ER:Banshee|banshee]]" plaguing the town with its night-time howls. This task accomplished (sort of), Desiree and Therese moved on, leaving Brad and Lillith to continue preparing for the birth of their twins, and Shamhat presumably still being Shamhat, decorating her shrine. Presumably she's still there.</div>Graybeardhttps://www.errantstory.com/wiki/index.php/ER:GhobER:Ghob2020-04-19T22:34:09Z<p>Graybeard: </p>
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghob}}<br />
[[Category:Races in Errant Road]]<br />
A sentient race in the [[Errant Road]] free-form on-line role-playing game. As far as is known, they don't exist in the [[Poe-verse]].<br />
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The basic concept for the ghob (both singular and plural) is [http://forums.errantstory.com/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=731#p12613 here]. They have much in common with the goblins of various other role-playing games, including small stature, underground dwelling places, non-magical nature, social structure that is centralized almost to the point of being hive-mind-like, and so on. They don't interact much with other races, which is probably just as well, since at least the elves would hunt them down as more [[troll]]-like "mistakes" made by the gods before they got it right''[sic]'' with the elves.<br />
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Player character [[ER:Ghaz|Ghaz]], seen briefly during the [[ER:Rinkaiel|Rinkaiel]] threads, is a ghob far from home and tribe, in human space. His full given name is "Ghaz, Best At Making Love," which illustrates one point about ghob culture: calling someone "Best At..." is an honorific that promotes the holder of the title in the eyes of ghob society, to the point that a ghob will go out of his or her way to call himself/herself "Best At..." something-or-other when being introduced. Even if it's only "best at washing dishes," that's ''something'', at least to a ghob.<br />
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Two ghob cities have been encountered during the wanderings of various player characters. First, [[ER:Sister Rose|Sister Rose]], [[ER:Argus|Argus]], [[ER:Tamina|Tamina]], etc., have a brief ghob encounter on the way south from their extended adventures in [[ER:Goriel|Goriel]]. Argus' NPC friend, trader [[ER:Dess Marson|Dess Marson]], is giving the merry crew a ride south, and has arranged to do some business with the ghob on the way. This starts to go badly when Tamina's -- ''uninhibited'' nature sits badly with a ghob sentry, but all ends well when [[ER:Harker|Harker]] does his inimitable thing in the city, gaining the honorific "Harker, Best At Porn" (and a bunch of silvers) for his trouble. ''Much'' later in real time, although only a few months later in game time, Tamina, fellow PC [[ER:Rip|Rip]], and several human and [[ER:Kobold|kobold]] NPCs have another ghob encounter on the [[ER:Southern Continent|Southern Continent]] as they try to complete a disagreeable quest laid on them by a powerful and equally disagreeable kobold chieftain. Much as in the first encounter, this looks at first as though it may go badly because of the ghob's xenophobia, but it turns out that the monsters that the adventurers have been sent to dispatch, the giant insect-like "[[ER:Chittorick|Chittorick]]," aren't any more popular with the ghob than they are with kobolds, so a common ground is found.<br />
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We may be seeing more of the ghob as the ghame continues, so watch this space.<br />
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==Named Ghob==<br />
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* PC: Ghaz, Best At Making Love<br />
others to follow.</div>Graybeardhttps://www.errantstory.com/wiki/index.php/ER:Father_ArnoldER:Father Arnold2020-04-17T16:23:09Z<p>Graybeard: Created page with "{{ER-Article}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Father Arnold}} An NPC in the Errant Road on-line free-form role playing game. Needless to say, he doesn't exist in the canonical Poe-verse...."</p>
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Father Arnold}}<br />
An NPC in the [[Errant Road]] on-line free-form role playing game. Needless to say, he doesn't exist in the canonical [[Poe-verse]].<br />
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Arnold is the senior priest of the [[ER:Calfornican Veracian Church | Calfornican]] temple in the coastal town of [[ER:Getsemiel|Getsemiel]], visited by PCs [[ER:Sister Rose|Sister Rose]], [[ER:Desiree|Desiree]], [[ER:Lillith|Lillith]], etc., as they search for the renegade [[ER:Father Blaise|Father Blaise]], who was reportedly seen there. He welcomes the band of adventurers to town while stark naked and dripping wet. This may seem rather un-priestly, but in fact, it's completely consistent with the practices of the Calfornican sect of the [[ER:Veracian Church|Veracian Church]], and is taken in the normal and sincere spirit in which it's given. He extends the aid of the temple in looking for Blaise, but all in vain, as the corrupted priest somehow makes his escape from [[ER:Frobish Bay|Frobish Bay]].<br />
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One of the quirks of the Calfornican sect is that while it denies marriage to its priests and nuns, it permits them to have ... ''relationships''. Arnold is no exception; when introduced, he is in a relationship with [[ER:Sister Nymphaea|Sister Nymphaea]] (aka "Nimmie"), a senior nun at the temple. This takes a tragic turn when the town is inexplicably bombed by an [[airship]], for reasons never made completely clear. Nimmie is killed in the attack, and while Arnold puts up a brave front, he is quite clearly devastated by the death of his paramour. Spare him a warm, consoling thought as you read (or write) Errant Road, still active lo these many years after Arnold made his appearance.</div>Graybeard