Jasmine Auloro
Jasmine Auloro
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Jasmine is one of the youngest members of House Auloro. At a young age she manifested the powers of an oracle. At first her parents thought her speaking to imaginary friends like many children at play. As time passed and poltergeist activity manifested around her, it became clear that Jasmine could perceive and speak to spirits, and they were drawn to her like moths to a flame. She was introduced to the teachings of Neros as a way to calm her fears and give her a sense of control and purpose. Jasmine now believes herself to be chosen for some grand purpose by Neros himself.
After her father was murdered and her brother Jafar chased away, Jasmine was kept prisoner by the remainder of her family. Her powers were twisted to their dire ends until Jasmine managed to escape, at which point she made her way north in search of her brother. Upon being reunited with Jafar she followed him dutifully, hoping that one day they could return to Baradrad and bring their family to justice.
Jasmine and Jafar faced Roshana, Kaspaer, and Gulshana in the Battle of Beacon Hill. Jafar was killed by one of their mother's necromantic abominations. Although the remainder of Jasmine's family was subdued, the loss of Jafar has hurt her immensely. She followed the army of Ghal Pelor into the ruins of Beldon, hoping to avenge her brother by destroying Theodore Cross or meet him in death.
She assisted in disrupting Cross's ritual and putting his body to rest with a consecration spell. By giving Cross's corpse Neros's blessing she seems to have severed its connection to whatever necromantic magics were re-animating it. In the aftermath she took the Staff of Zharkaddos and, accompanied by Rewyn, aimed to return to Baradrad and hand both it and her remaining family over to the High Council.
Education
Formal education as a Baradradi noble until puberty. Home-schooled, self-taught since.
Failures & Embarrassments
Unable to prevent the murder of her brother, Jafar, at the hands of their mother Roshana. Unable to convince her family to turn away from the use of forbidden magic.
Mental Trauma
Jasmine was a prisoner of her own family for several years. She loved her father, and knows that her mother murdered him. Yet it was her mother that discovered Jasmine's connection to the spirit world and helped her learn some measure of control over it. After murdering Jasmine's father, Jasmine's mother became more detached from Jasmine and increasingly relied on her for ritual purposes only. Jasmine therefore loves and hates her mother in equal measure, and is similarly conflicted regarding every member of her estranged family with the exception of Jafar, the only person she is sure had nothing to do with her father's death and her family's expulsion from Baradrad.
With the death of Jafar she has developed a sense of survivor's guilt. The seeming Final Death of Theodore Cross has reduced its intensity, and she no longer seems suicidally reckless, but she is prone to bouts of depression.
Morality & Philosophy
Jasmine is a devout servant of Neros, and firmly believes that he is a merciful and loving god. She does not believe anyone should seek death, but does not think any should fear it either. Neros will grant an eternity of serene and quiet repose to any who live their lives well.
The flip side of this philosophy is that life should be enjoyed and used to good purpose while it lasts. Jasmine is kind and helpful, but her pampered upbringing leaves her somewhat spoiled and uncomprehending of alternative viewpoints. As a Baradradi, she sees nothing inherently evil about necromancy or the use of mindless undead automatons as servants. To bury or burn a body after the soul has departed would strike her as wasteful as to burn a house or a tool after its owner has passed.
The tenets of Neros make her uncomfortabale with the idea of using magic to return the dead to life, or to extend the life or consciousness of spirits beyond their appointed time. She despises the hungry dead and will go out of her way to grant them Final Rest. On the other hand, when confronted with undead spirits Jasmine does her best to comfort them and lead them to peace.
Taboos
Raising, not animating, the dead. Returning a full sentience to life robs Neros of his due.
Personality Characteristics
Motivation
Jasmine used to believe, based on her powers, that she was chosen by Neros to fulfill some destiny. Having defeated Theodore Cross, Jasmine now seeks to return the Staff of Zharkaddos and her remaining family in chains to Baradrad for whatever justice Baradrad decrees. She hopes that she, Jafar, and her father's names will be cleared, and if shown mercy she plans to spend her remaining days in the Temple of Neros, warding the Staff. She seems unmoved by the possibility the High Council may simply execute her along with her family. She believes once the Staff is in safe keeping and her family accounted for, her destiny will truly be fulfilled.
Virtues & Personality perks
Helpful, polite, kind.
Vices & Personality flaws
While not malicious, Jasmine can be insensitive to how her actions might offend people of different cultures.
Personality Quirks
Jasmine often seems distracted or aloof. She seems to have a short attention span and "spaces out" a lot. In reality she is witnessing activity in the spirit realm, which to her is as real and important as anything happening on the material plane.
Hygiene
Meticulous. Jasmine cleans herself and her things (or has an undead servant clean them) daily. She views clutter and filth as beneath her social station.
Social
Contacts & Relations
The Seward Inheritors
Family Ties
House Auloro
Religious Views
Devotee of Neros
Wealth & Financial state
While House Auloro has fallen from favor in Baradrad, Jasmine is accustomed to living well, and it does not occur to her to even consider the possibility that she and Jafar would not return to their previous social standing if they were to bring the rest of their family to justice. She sees no problem in keeping servants or being deferred to.
Species
Birthplace
Baradrad
Children
Hair
Dark black, silky, cut into a bob
Height
5'4"
Weight
115
The Ashes of House Auloro
In the aftermath of the battle, the only sounds were wails and sobs. The few survivors worked in grim silence to gather the dead, if they were not incapacitated with audible grief. Former villagers were laid out in orderly rows, identifiable pieces placed with their source. Blankets, flowers, candles and mementos were used to provide former friends and family some measure of dignity and respect. Former foes were gathered into piles, usually with the aid of pitchforks and other farming tools if possible in order to avoid touching befouled flesh. Burning brands from the remainder of the wall were used to light kindling stuffed into these piles in attempts to burn the bodies of the ghouls and zombies. A miasma hovered over the village, and those working the piles covered their faces with cloth to try and keep the sickening stench from their nostrils.
Tyrwin and Dunric walked about hesitantly, offering aid and comfort where they thought it would be received. Jasmine, however, eschewed what would normally be her role, and she struck her allies as wanting their platitudes less than even the village that had considered bargaining with their assailants. She sat alone with the corpse of her brother Jafar, holding his hand and occasionally stroking at his face.
She'd gathered his bowels from where the ghoul had splayed them and placed them within urns nearby. She'd tended his wounds and covered his body in a rudimentary way. She'd lit candles at the points of the compass and begun a vigil over his body, but she felt none of the cold comfort she'd previously felt in Neros's teachings. Now she simply felt cold. Numb. She kept playing the nights events over in her head, wondering what she could or should have done differently. She'd let her rage at her mother blind her, and she'd ignored all other threats in her zealous attempt to finally mete out justice.
And now her brother was dead. Felled by one of her mother's abominations. Jasmine had to force herself to look at the still, cold, unmoving face of her brother's corpse to actually believe it. She'd been angry at her mother, she knew her mother had done terrible things, but Jasmine had never truly felt any fear when facing her. Fear of failure, perhaps, but not fear of death. Jasmine never truly entertained the idea the woman that had killed her husband would fall so far as to actually kill her own children as well. She'd kept Jasmine alive through intervening years and a thousand minor rebellions. She'd used her magic to wrack Jasmine with pain, to weaken her or prevent Jasmine from stopping her machinations. She'd taunted her and abused her and tormented her in many ways, but Jasmine never believed that her own mother would ever actually take the life of her offspring. And yet her brother, the last good scion of House Auloro, lay dead.
Her father, her brother, her uncle, her cousin Tekhet. Now Roshana, Kaspaer, and Gulshan were in custody. The village wanted their blood. Her brothers' friends wanted their blood. Jasmine's word was all that held their death at bay, and Jasmine would have wondered how long even that would suffice except she could barely muster the energy to care about their fate. She still had one brother, a few cousins abroad somewhere, but for all intents and purposes she was now all that remained of House Auloro, or would be once her mother and siblings paid for their crimes.
And pay they would. The closest thing Jasmine could think to a plan would be to march them all the way south to Baradrad, to hand them over to the council of Noble Houses and let whatever justice Baradrad decreed be meted out. In the process she would ask but one favor: to have the name of House Auloro cleared, even if it were only posthumously. She would be the last. She could restore honor to her father but the House was fallen, and she was alone in the world. She had barely fit in with her brother's friends. She weathered their jokes and stares with trained aplomb, but in her heart Jasmine knew they feared or disliked her. She would not stay with the mercenaries of Seward's Estate.
She thought of allowing Artemesia to simply end the entire affair. But Gulshan... Gulshan had an opportunity long ego to stop Jasmine's escape, and had let her go. That would mean little to the nobles of Baradrad, it would barely register for Jafar's friends, but Jasmine could not be the one to levy the sword on her sister.
So she sat here, stroking the cold flesh of the last person to truly love and understand her, the last person that had been true to their father's teachings, the only other person in the world that cared to seek justice in his name. He'd paid for it with his life, and Jasmine could do nothing for him but seek vengeance.
The "grand" army of Ghal Pelor would arrive in a day or two, and they would then march on Beldon. They would either eradicate the infestation and liberate the Hand of Zharkhaddos, or they would all perish and the world would face a new Plague of Undeath. Jasmine's grip tightened on Jafar's hand. She would go with them. It was Neros's will that the Hand of Zharkhaddos never again threaten mortals. Perhaps this was the destiny or grim fate for which he had always prepared her. Whether this foul specter was a product of Krutilix or other foul magics, he threatened to scour the entire world under. The only justice left for her family was to stop this and send him to his Final Rest. She would do so, or she would die in the attempt and join her father and Jafar waited in Neros's realm.
This did not leave the seven days typical of her faith. Other measures would need to be taken. Jasmine set about gathering the materials she would need. A table from one of the houses whose family would never return. Dead branches and kindling from about the shattered town. Cords of firewood from outside an inn that may never see guests again. Tyrwin broke the silence at one point to ask if she needed help. One glance in his direction and he had turned and walked away with no mor words. When it was done Jafar lay in his funerary robes atop a pyre. Jasmine bathed and tended his body as best she could through eyes blurring with tears. She anointed him with oil and placed what flowers and herbs she had left within his robes. She laid a kiss upon his forehead, channeling as much divine energy as she could muster into his body to ward off any corruption, and she prayed more fervently than she had in her entire life that Neros would see the light of his pyre, and come guide her brother's soul to his Final Rest. She lit the pyre, retreated beyond the circle of candles, and watched as the last scion of Auloro was consumed.
The light of the fire danced within the tears flowing freely down her face. Once she stopped holding them back she began to feel consumed herself. The tears pressaged weary, body wracking sobs until she fell to her knees, and Jasmine's wails of agony began to eclipse even those of the last survivors of Beacon Hill.
Great work on the morality and philosophy part, also your artwork is stunning
Thanks so much for commenting. That's the work of one of my great players who put a huge amount of effort into writing this up!
Then please do let them know it's great work!