Carsten Herzi

The nucleus of the group - Carsten Herzi Pictures created by Hero Machine

Occupation: Preist of Lothian, community worker

Description: Reasonably handsome, somewhat small male, 19 years old. He is 5' 10" and 146lbs.

Dwelling: Appartment in Midtown near to the Warrens

Persona: Neutral Good. Charming, friendly, cheerful, outgoing sort of individul. Seeks non violent solutions where appropriate but willing to use violence where necessary. However, he is much more concerned with helping the innocent and good than punishing the wicked.

• Believes that nearly everybody can be redeemed. But pragamatic enough to only try where reasonable odds of success
• Believes in converting by example and not by preaching.
• Respects all life and will not kill any life without concern and thought. That said, sentients have more rights than non sentients.
• In some ways a little naive. Believes in the fundamental goodness of most people, believes that people can make a difference, that heroics matter, that good examples matter. In other ways not at all naive. He's  spent a lot of time on the streets and is no fool.
• Very, very egalitarian in his views. He believes in order and hierarchy but he believes that these should be achieved by ones own merits and not by birth. Very much NOT racist. But not an idiot. Converting a devil, while theoretically possible, is almost always a fools errand.
• Does NOT overwhelmingly believe in Free Will, Ie, has no problems at all with spells that convert people to good.
• Has no problem with "icky" magics. If it isn't Evil he's down with it, believing that it is intent and effect that matters, not means. Very, very down with Evil magic mind.
• He is basically law abiding although he is very, very definitely willing to bend the law. Bend, not break.
• He will keep his word if freely given and not tricked and is basically a pretty honest person anyway.
• Very, very good. NG tending to LG.
• The places where he is not particularly lawful is that he does not have a huge respect for authority just because it is in authority. He respects individuals and not positions.
• Assuming this isn't illegal or against the Church teachings, he'll very much respect confidences.
• Loves to read. Curious about lots of things.
• Loves to talk to people and learn about their cultures
• Definitely still has a respect for nature as well as his worship of Lothian. But he definitely thinks man takes precedence over nature. Ie, man is the steward of nature kind of approach.
• While very definitely very sincere in his worship of Lothian and his belief that the worship of Lothian is best he has reasonably little problems with those who choose instead to follow other Good gods (well, some problems with Chaotic Good gods).

Goals: Destroy any and all undead and the Evil fools who raise and control them. Help the good and innocent people of Ptolus and the world. Fight Evil. Become both a Master of Radiance and a Radiant Servant of Lothian. He sees the synergy in their abilities. He'll undoubtably try and make alliance with the Keepers of the Veil when appropriate

Notes: Loves to read, curious about lots of things (people and cultures). He works primarily in the Warrens. He is devoted to the spiritual and physical well being of the inhabitants, especially the poor and downtrodden who have no other real recourse. If they exist in the warrens, he'll be working at hospices, clinics, orphanages and the like. Does lots of visiting with invalids, housebound, etc.

He also organizes "fighting the dead 101" type classes :-).

I'm kinda assuming that he is already getting something of a reputation and a bit of a network of contacts and allies. Nothing major, just enough to justify his Gather Information and Knowledge Local. Although he opposes the actions of the various crime lords he sees this as not his particular battle. I'm kinda assuming that he is seen (variously) as an irrelevant goody sort or as a friend. He'll help just about anybody who genuinely needs it. He'll help criminals to come to terms with their actions assuming that they have a genuine desire to reform. He'll help minor criminals deal with the law (Knowledge Local includes Knowledge Law) and individuals deal with the bureaucracy. He rarely has anything worth the stealing in the Warrens.

History: Carsten is the only child of two former adventurers (now deceased). His mother Elavina was a NG druidic Master of Radiance, his father Theobart was a NG bard. They had long been a part of a group of Good adventurers of low to middling level (got to about 9 ish or so) that included (amongst others) Siegbert Maurer a Radiant Servant of Lothian. When his parents married and Elvina became pregnant they decided to retire from the adventuring life although they maintained contact with their old comrades.

A younger Elavina? Picture from Libris Mortis artist Scott Prescott

Carsten spent the first few years of his life travelling with his parents. A significant portion of their time was spent with Elavinas' mother Swanhild (a Master of Radiance) deep in the forest but much time was also spent amongst various and sundry races and peoples (likely including the Assari and Littorans) since his parents had an intense curiousity about other races and the skills and outlook to make themselves welcome nearly anywhere.

When he was old enough (8 or 10?), he was enrolled in <some school in Ptolus> for much of the year although he still spent the summers and other vacations with his parents on their travels. Although given both his parents constant tutoring and education its likely he learned more out of school than in it. He was certainly reading from when he was 4 years old and always surrounded by books.

He'd very much been raised on tales of great heroism and derring do. He'd been exposed from an early age to the teachings of Lothian, the druidic way, and various other outlooks from the peoples he spent time with.

When he was 14 disaster struck. While in Ptolus there was an outpouring of undead from the Necropolis. His parents went out to help contain the attack and help save the helpless residents. They never returned. Memrad assumes (and hopes) that they were slain outright. One of his greatest dreads is that he will someday run into the undead remnants of his parents. In his studies of the undead he has particularly concentrated on the stories showing that there is little or nothing of the original person left in an undead husk. He is almost convinced.

After the death of his parents he was raised by the Sisterhood of Dayra. During this time he got thoroughly converted to the worship of Lothian (although he maintains his respect for Nature) and decided that his calling was as a priest of Lothian. The death of his parents has left him with an intense hatred of the Undead and hence his plan to become both a Master of Radiance and a Radiant Servant.

While in all respects a devout follower of Lothian (especially in his Dawnbringer mode) he gives particular respect to St Dayra, St Colosim and St Gustav

Associates: I AM assuming that Carsten still has at least some contact with at least two individuals from the above history. Very much intended to allow me easy access to the two prestige classes.

• Siegbert Maurer - A Radiant Servant of Lothian. Wanders through the Empire, only occassionally makes it to Ptolus whereupon he looks up Carsten. Probably something like 10th level or so. Totally up to you what his relationship (if any) is to Church.
• Swanhild - A druidic Master of Radiance