Ayanna

From Toosigma

Ayanna is a continuation of the Naomi character from the last campaign, and has enjoyed (or been the victim of) a sort of serial immortality. From the dawn of her life over 400 centuries past, she has been “reborn” of some catastrophe several times. Each one has been in different circumstances, but the most recent two beginning with the last campaign have brought her out of her murderous and horrific past.

Naomi started the Convergent Threads campaign as a frightened animal, nearly killing the first person she came into contact with. She was later used by an officer of the Sharn Watch who set her up for his own gain. Through the love of an adoptive family, she overcame some serious adversity and eventually became one of the most powerful adventurers on the face of Eberron!

In an interesting departure from the superhero Naomi, Ayanna is a mouse. The druid was quiet and quite at ease in her non-adventuring world in Silvervale. Where Naomi was a storm of action and courage that would take the fight to the enemy, Ayanna is quiet and shy, preferring the simple things such as playing in a meadow or swimming in a quiet lake to any sort of adventure. Where Naomi was a very kind and goodhearted woman, Ayanna is (nearly) a saint.

Description

Name	Ayanna
Player	Philip Mann
Campaign	Shattered Prisons
Race	Elf
Class	Druid/Wolf Sister

Ayanna in elf form

Ayanna appears as an idealized elf just over five feet tall. As Malidin found out when they collided in a previous adventure, she is actually quite heavy at around 225lbs. Her platinum blond hair is never out of place, which could strike as odd given her usually unkempt appearance, but it is characteristic of her nature. Her eyes are a deep sapphire that almost glow with a gem-like intensity. Ayanna's skin appears to be a soft alabaster color bearing no blemishes and, oddly, no sign of her life outdoors. Her nails (fingers and toes) are a very similar color to her hair, but usually go unnoticed as an odd feature.

Regardless of the animal form she takes, its fur/feathers/scales are always the same platinum blond color as her hair. At first she thought she was just getting the shifting wrong, but she has come to realize that it is just something she is going to have to live with. So, "mamma wolf" is a 9ft, 800lbs platinum blond dire wolf.

Her attire is a simple brown ramie dress. She wears no shoes or any other clothing items, but she does have three pieces of jewelry that are all masterfully crafted and appear regardless of her form:

An ear cuff on her left ear. It is an item from her past made of braided gold, silver, and copper, dotted with many tiny rubies. She has no idea of its past, or even if it has any special properties, but she cannot make herself take it off.
An earring resembling a beautiful red cottonwood leaf on her right ear. This was a gift from Keradin. He told her it will protect her in time of need.
A beautiful bracelet made of stranded silver woven to resemble vines on her left wrist. This was a gift from Malidin (he has an identical one), and the two use them to know how where the other is and what condition they are in. It also grants invisibility to undead. Additionally, it marks her as a trusted friend to the Withered Hammer.

Ayanna in wolf form

As a good model for her, I have been using a picture of Claudia Schiffer which, IMHO appears to be suitably "idealized" and "elf-like". However, while the specific one I use is now posted here, it is not on that site and I have been unable to locate it again to properly indicate the source.

It occurred to me to note that, while Ayanna’s class is listed as “Druid”, she is actually a Charisma-based “Fey Druid”. Unlike the class created by Rich Burlew, we just shifted her primary stat to CHA instead of WIS with using the magical power of the GM’s Fiat. I believe this is much better than having to take feats and such to make a standard class into something that is also of a power roughly equal to the standard class but with a shift in flavor.

Background

With any luck, I'll have more background stuff up in a couple of days. Character names and descriptions are good to have as I will write a couple of interactions for one or more PCs who happen to be in the area and have expressed an interest in integrating backgrounds.

In the interim, here are some traits that I believe are somewhat important:

Typically, Ayanna operates at the periphery where the farms and the forest proper come together. She promotes the harmony of the boundaries between civilization and Nature by harassing poachers, coaxing herd animals out of the crops of reverent/careful farmers (and/or into the crops of those who clear-cut areas to plant rather than working around the natural contours). She also finds lost children and gets them back to their side of the boundary before they become part of the food chain. (Nature is self-correcting, and it will be just fine without taking a child from her family.)

Ayanna is, at best, uneasy in city streets and in buildings. Additionally, she doesn't do crowds and has moderate-severe claustrophobia.

She is charming and kind, but has an obvious preference of company to very select individuals and the critters/denizens of the forest. For reasons I'll figure out as I go, the PCs she has met already will be in the “preferred company” list generally as it makes life a lot easier when we all get along. Few of the local populace ever see more than a glimpse of her, and almost nobody ever speaks with her, PCs excepted of course. A villager about to screw-up might get a harsh glare after being “beaned” with a pine cone; someone doing well by the forest might get an appreciative nod.

For the folks that have been around a while: she has been a fixture in the area for the last couple of years, but was completely unknown prior to that.

Season Recap

Here is some updated information now that we are well into the campaign and past the first “season finale”. The idea is just to recap a few things that were discovered or matured during the campaign so far. I admit, this is probably more for me than anyone else:

Ayanna is a construct. I figure that this is pretty well figured out by everyone in the party, particularly after meeting “the clones” and having on dissected aboard the airship by Brit, and by observing her wounds and such after a couple of recent near-death experiences for her.
Her combat preference is “none”. She helps here and there by summoning assistance, but she remains detached from the fighting for the most part. IIRC, she has only actually attacked undead since the beginning, and precious few of those. However, there was the last fight where she tackled the lich into the ledge several stories below. (Hey, I thought it was neat and appropriately contrary to any sort of common sense for the poor girl!)
She spends more time as a wolf or dire wolf than she does as an elf. She communicates with the group telepathically when she is in range, and has let Malidin speak for her even when she was present.
Ayanna will run blindly into eternal damnation to protect the young, innocent, and helpless.
Generally, she likes the whole group:
- Malidin: Oh, she likes Malidin a lot! The dwarf's strange ways have become less strange and are daily just more a part of what makes him who he is. They talk often and spend a substantial part of their down time engrossed in various topics. They have found so many things in common by exploring their differences. He has also done much to lessen the blame she puts on herself for Trina.
- Marius: He is the leader of the group, and if she would follow any leader it might be him. He seems genuinely concerned about all in the troupe, which she genuinely admires.
- Hazairah: Rotten and self-interested, now devout and holy? Much has indeed struggled over this girl, and she will either be the source of great radiance or great terror. Ayanna certainly hopes for the former but has not written the latter off.
- Brit: An interesting little man, but so very busy all of the time. Ayanna sometimes wonders if he ever stops simply to enjoy the sunset as he toils after dark. She likes him fine, but after dissecting the construct corpse he brought on board, she isn't completely sure he won't want to do the same to her when she passes. (Nothing like seeing a twin of yourself carved up like a turkey!)

Stories

Ayanna

From Toosigma

Contents

Description

Background

Season Recap

Stories

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