Folk Heroes

252TuFoHe

Folk Heroes – Randall Hensley

Randall was recruited into a mercenary company from a very young age. He learnt that to fight for his life and his meals whilst serving with his brothers when in the service to a king, a madman but powerful. As the renown of the company grew to greater heights so did his passion to improve his skill sets and so he searched for forgotten blades of Ikshar. These blades were forged by master smiths of their time and then blessed by the priests of a falling deity.

As such no ordinary warrior could wield them but Randall trained harder so that one day when he found them he would be worthy. When his boss, the company leader, brought him into the tent and provided him a map to the powerful blades Randall rushed off to find that they were guarded by a feeble old man. Seeing the pain and suffering that he was enduring Randall came to understand that the blades carried a curse. You would be unbeatable, unable to be bested by the blades of mortal men but… you would watch everyone and everything you lived or cared for die and wither away to nothing.

He swore and oath to ensure that no one would take these blades for greed or power. And the priest so convinced by his change of heart gave them to him. Over the next decade he did not grow old but he watched his family, the mercenary company slowly die one by one. He began to seek out death and eventually, he got his wish. He faked his own death and fled for a distant land to find peace where no one seeking the blades power could find them.

Randall now resides as a merchant selling bags, rope and other general goods to adventurers and who ever is in need. Content to live his life and to not take anything for granted. The blades curse still holds him tightly but he has only had to draw them once. To protect the village from an Orc slavers raid.

Folk Heroes – Anne Rivers

Not blessed by magical blades, a deity, spirit or Fae, Anne has spent her life sticking up for the small people. An orphan by any other name is still an orphan, however Anne rose above her sad start to become a guardian for all. Abandoned as her parents had no need for a seventh daughter she grew up with a woman who was just kind enough to feed and clothe her but not kind enough to love her. She learnt that a family isn’t just who you were born to, who you were raised by but who you chose to keep close and value above all else.

She started to look out for the other orphans and street urchins when she was little. In fact this trend continued well past her teens where she became more of a mother and leader figure to a rather well known street gang. This gang however didn’t rob, hustle or attack others but they carried messages and did odd jobs for the community. Something that Anne enforced with an iron fist. Soon Anne became well respected by the merchants and city folk in her district but others began to take note.

Now in each story there has to be some villain somewhere and ours lies with the city guard. Corrupt as they were numerous it was hard to sneeze in the city without the guard trying to extort money out of you. In fact the city guard tried that numerous times with Anne and her gang but she resisted heavily. When the Guard started to move in and try the same tricks with the people in her district they quickly found out why she rules the streets.

Several skirmishes and small fights later and the guard tried to take her out by force. The battle was bloody and the casualties many but Anne invoked the right of single combat with the captain of the guard. The stakes were high but Anne watched as the guard began to beat and riot through the shops even as she had invoked the right and her desire for justice was unquenchable. In a clutch moment, using the uneven terrain of the streets she lunged on the far better equipped captain and slew him. Her first kill.

The towns folk rallied to her and pushed back the guard. In fact that day the guard came to know that her little family of street gang members were not just urchins and messengers but they could in fact hold their own in a street fight. Their streets their rules.

The guard did not return to the district again and with Anne at the lead the other district soon stood up against the corruption. Anne’s name is still whispered when ever there is any unrest, the city folk believing that she will rally and rise up against any injustice and tyranny that threaten her extended family.

Aster Sepharin

251TuDiEm20

Aster is young by magic user standards but she is dedicated and driven to her craft. Not necessarily evil or bad but her creations or, to be more exact, her inexperience with them leads to disaster. She is after all a passionate yet frustrated young lady that others don’t share her vision or drive. Yet despite her drive, talent and passion she still has room left in her life for generosity and despite the means to getting there her creation of constructs was meant to be the way forward into the new era for the townsfolk of Snowtown.

The view from above Snowtown

250TuDiEm13

The town of Snowtown situated amongst snow covered rocky outcrops gives it the appearance of a much larger village. However there isn’t many dwellings in the town and the blankets of snow flank most of the useable land nearby. The mountains around the town are host to bountiful trees and wildlife if there are people experienced enough to know where to look.

Through the rocky valleys and trees the Goliath come from a nearby village to Snowtown. Sturdy and tribal these are hardy people of the land who seek balance and peace with their neighbours.

The People

---

Welcome to Snowtown

249TuDiEm6

The town of Snowtown is set against the high peaks of the Gritch mountains which sees the town blanketed in snow year round. The walls of most building are double or triple bricked with thick insulation to keep them warm year round. Apart from the snow the second most common thing to see in the skies of Snowtown. Smoke rises from each chimney stack just as quickly as the wind that whips down from the mountains whisks it away. There is a single road into Snowtown, a relatively well maintained one due to the town being near some hard to find resources. This promotes trade and trade needs good roads so the trek into the town isn’t as gruelling as one would imagine.

Despite the well maintained road there are pockets where the village isn’t well maintained. Fresh faced villagers are in short supply in Snowtown and slowly the population of the town is aging. There are occasionally a wayward traveller will settle down in the town and re-spruce up an old building as their home but this is a rare occurrence. As such some buildings have fallen into disrepair despite the best attempts of the townsfolk.

The People

Penny Cartwright settled with her family in Snowtown when she was a young lass. Now into adulthood she maintains the general store whilst her family travels the roads selling the wares of the village to further villages.

Penn always has a far off look in her eyes, as if not actually looking at customers when they talk to her. It’s almost as if she is dreaming of a different life past the snow, the trees and the road that leads out of the village and into the vast world beyond. But despite this longing for more she is bright and cheerful. She truly enjoys the people she talks to and loves to serve the townsfolk of Snowtown.

---

Stout and gruff is how the villagers would describe Daryll. He is short tempered, strong as an ox and has the manners of one. However he is the first to jump in to do what is right and help those in true need. Once a black smith forging the measly amounts of ore that could be found in the hills around Snowtown necessity saw him close his forge and move to support his then wife at the inn.

One morning he woke to find her gone with no trace or note, but other villagers had known that she left the town and the responsibility of the inn to Daryll. Lying to himself he believed that if he worked hard enough at the Inn she would come back. She never did but he hasn’t the heart or will power to leave the inn to someone else despite hating what it now represents for him.

---

Thoughts – Nightcafe

An interesting concept of taking text and converting it into images. So far the images that have been created seem to be nearly on-point however the limited ability to modify your existing creations to get them just right (like in artbreeder) is frustratingly odd.

I would prefer to be able to tweak images once purchased (more on that in a minute) so that they are fit for purpose. I tried to get an image of Daryll (as you can see under that gallery) to be just right and to fix the “broken hand appearance” that one of the images has. Alas it was not to be. Despite my best efforts in tweaking the image based on text input it was a throw-away result.

However, the other images are something I would consider a success. This leads me onto the next point. Cost.

Now each image costs .5 (or .25 if you want 4 images created from a string of text for options) of a token. You earn tokens by doing daily tasks but if you are like me and like to sit down and make a bunch of images at once… No amount of daily tasks will fuel the creative need I have or gaining followers (and likes) by sharing your art.

You can of course by more tokens to fuel your creative spark, and they aren’t super expensive however it appears to mainly be subscription based plans which I dam not a big fan of.

I will continue to create a few more images on here and see how we go.

---