Jurienne
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| Greyhawk Campaign player character | |||||||||||||||||||
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One of the original members of the party, Jurienne's past remains something of a mystery to her compatriots.
Notable Holdings
Henchmen
- Huckleberry Rose, flying horse
- Benjamin Hornigold
- green dragonling
History
To understand Jurienne you must understand her heritage...
Jurienne's mother, Liadry, is a troubled woman. Born to parents of elven royalty, Liadry had the dual misfortune of being female and the spitting image of her human great-great-grandmother. Her father needed a male heir to confirm his succession and Liadry's appearance would have ruined his chance for the throne. The midwife - the only person besides Liadry's mother to know about the babe's gender and "deformity" - suggested swapping the child for an elven boy who had been born less than an hour before to a servant family. The switch was carried off in the night and the family was paid off for their compliance. The boy-child grew up as a prince and treasured son, while Liadry suffered a life of privation and bigotry. She longed for nothing more than to travel in the circles of elven nobility and be given respect and power, but her height and rounded features excluded her. Even other half-elves had more pull in society than her, for nothing in Liadry's appearance looked elven at all. Over the decades she began to loath her human heritage that barred her from the life she desired and loath her elven heritage for denying her. In time she left the elven kingdoms to live in seething anonymity in the world of men.
Jurienne's father, Veridix the Warped, is a well-known and feared psionicist. He is fierce and passionate, difficult to control and the sort of man who is cowed by no earthly kings or political powers. His motives are a mystery to many, but the power he commands combined with his deadly temper inspires awe and terror. Numerous ambitious men have sought to use Veridix to their own ends, only to find themselves at his mercy when their plans were laid bare. He is not an evil man, however. His actions are driven by devotion and honor, and he will viciously protect those he loves with all of the awesome power at his disposal. He will torture and slaughter anyone who would harm the innocent or pure, but he does not fight for causes. Any conflict he gets involved with is deeply personal, and those who provoke him soon realize their mistake. Even then, Veridix always tries to give his enemies the chance to redeem themselves or stop taking offensive action, so long as doing so would not put innocents or loved ones in further danger. He has a special fondness of children of any race and a great love of women that hobbles his ability to fight the distaff gender. He falls in love easy, but will never forget or forgive a betrayal of his heart. His greatest sadness was his inability to father a child.
Veridix and Liadry were brought together through the machinations of the same person who played the role of midwife at Liadry's birth decades before and quietly sabotaged Veridix's relationships over the years. Both were unaware that their lives had been shaped and manipulated to this final objective. Through guile and magic, the master behind these plans ensured that Veridix and Liadry would come together and love each other long enough to consummate their love and bear a child. Veridix was overjoyed, although Liadry began to grow distant from him as the pregnancy progressed. In the guise of a close friend, the manipulator began spinning lies to Liadry about Veridix's intentions for her and the unborn child. Liadry began to fear and hate the man she had loved, and believe that he had some evil ulterior motive for wanting the child.
When the girl was born, her sharply elven features inspired a jolt of jealousy and anger from Liadry, who (at her friend's subtle hinting) suggested that the infant's ears be cropped. Veridix, who immediately fell in love with his baby daughter and saw her as absolutely perfect, was incensed by the very idea. What remaining tenderness he had for the mother of his child faded. Veridix told Liadry with deadly coldness that if she hurt his daughter in any way, he would kill her. Terrified, Liadry fled with their daughter and denied him paternity over the child. The manipulator used some simple magics to hide mother and child from Veridix; although he searched high and low, he could find no trace of them at all.
Jurienne grew up only knowing what Liadry told her about her father; never his name, but that he was a monster who had tried to kill both of them when she was a baby. At a young age, Jurienne began to realize that her mother was not reliable. Liadry would have fits of temper and punish Jurienne for the smallest of slights and then burst into tears. Her mother was never a well-adjusted woman, but the indicant with her father had pushed her over the edge. Jurienne tried to please and take care of her, but Liadry constantly pushed her away to test her love. It was exhausting and trying, especially as Jurienne got older. When she began developing psionic powers inherited from her father, she kept their use secret but adopted a more human appearance around the house. This seemed to help calm her mother some, who had begun to lose touch with reality. Without the constant reminder of her pointed ears, the tension eased between them.
Her mother's health and sanity waning with old age, Jurienne took her mother to the church to be taken care of, donating most of their possessions to the congregation. She kept enough to outfit herself for travel, and set off to find her father. Even she doesn't know what she will do when she finds him; part of her wants to know why he left them, how he could hate his daughter so much; part of her wants vengeance for what his actions did to her mother and their life. Mostly, she's just confused, and thinks that finding him will somehow solve all the problems in her life.
Meanwhile, the manipulator has been watching from afar and waiting...