LiT - Liara Bryos
Liara was born in the tiny town of Aldmoor, miles to the west of Brightport. Her mother Chelsie, died during childbirth and Liara’s father Lawrence raised her. Lawrence was a local merchant and made a living selling goods to people traveling through Aldmoor. He made a meager living but it was enough to keep himself and his daughter fed. Even so, they never really had more than the absolute bare essentials: a small roof over their heads, some very basic clothes and a meal (or sometimes two) a day. At the age of 15, Liara began to thirst for more. She started to wonder if there was anything else that life had to offer beyond the hum-drum of being a local merchant. She saw adventurers and explorers come through Aldmoor and her mind would drift to fantasies of fame and fortune. She wanted to have more than enough of everything; to never worry about where her next meal was coming from.
No matter how often she imagined herself leaving her tiny town and running off to some grand adventure she could never leave her father behind. He had worked his entire life to support her and his health had started to fail him in recent years. When Liara was 19, Theria suffered one of it’s worst cold seasons on record. Many died due to illness or exposure. Her father was one of the unlucky ones. With no more attachment to Aldmoor and an even greater desire to leave, she packed her few belongings and headed west. She had no interest in moving to a large city like Brightport as the only adventure to be found there was fending off the occasional drunken assault or pickpocket. No, the real adventure was out in the wild where there was hardly any civilized towns or people.
She found her first spot of danger near an orc encampment in central Theria near Donhurst. Of course, she had no idea there was orc encampment there or had ever even seen an orc for that matter. She quickly came under attack by the large green-skinned hulks who saw her as an invader. If not for a band of bounty hunters who happened to be looking for one of the orc scouts in the very same area, Liara would have died right then and there. The group saw that the girl was in far over her head and decided to take her in as one of them. They taught her the basics of sword combat and how to spot danger (like for instance an orc camp) before she walked into them. Liara spent a short amount of time with the group before striking out on her own again. She was still hell-bent on finding her fortune, but there was one problem. There were too many experienced adventurers out there, the margins were too small. Liara realized that if she was going to carve out her niche, she was going to have to do the jobs that no one else wanted to do.
While near the town of Aubrey she heard about a series of disappearances of locals and farmers. She took the initiative and started investigating the surrounding forest for any sign of the missing townspeople. While exploring a nearby cave she happened upon a nest of vampires. A nest like this was very rare to find indeed and what was even more astounding was that Liara happened on it during the day. She managed to silently kill five of them before the sixth woke up and challenged her. Getting the drop on the nest had given her the advantage but the vampire’s strength and speed were amazing. Liara finally managed to defeat the monster but not without the lose of her right eye. Within the cave she found many personal belongings which were later revealed to be from several members of Aubrey and the surrounding countryside.
Liara became a bit of a celebrity after that. She began training with a master swordsman who lived in Aubrey and honed her skills. She learned several techniques to fight the living and undead alike. After living in Aubrey for 2 years she started traveling again and then began taking high profile jobs slaying monsters. She would always be most famous for killing vampires, though and at the age of 28 she was hired by Mayor Zannon Carter of Overdale. On the way to the city her caravan was attacked by a group of local lawbreakers. They managed to not only free some of the people the caravan was bringing into OverDale for questioning but killed several town guard as well. She fought the group with vigor but they proved to be too much for her. Liara barely managed to escape with her life by diving into a nearby river and swimming to safety. In her haste she had forgotten one of her favorite weapons, an expertly crafted silver edged sword.
She would see this group again at the signing of the Winterhaven treaty. This would be the last time she would see the group for nearly 2 decades. During this time she settled into her role training new guard recruits and working closely with Trias Draverson. The two grew very close over the years and even had an on again/off again relationship. Eventually, Carter’s policies became too much for Trias to handle and he left the city in secret to form The White Ravens. Liara left almost a year later and joined him. She had been convinced that she could still do some good within the city but after witnessing an event that would later be dubbed “The Trials” she left in disgust. Trias and Liara trained the Ravens to be quick and quiet. They knew that they could never win an all-out battle against The OverWatch but if they kept their ear to the ground and were patient, one day they could take advantage of a gap in the city’s armor.
They took in a young woman named Briahna not too long after that. She had survived the siege of Winterhaven and watched her own father get cut down in the frenzy. There was something else in the girls eyes though, a deeply seeded pain that begged for someone to hold her close while she simultaneously kept people at a distance. What’s more, she was revealed to be a psion of all things, a very rare and dangerous source of power. The Ravens trained the young woman and before long she had found a place by Liara and Trias’ side. Her psionic power was a monumental asset while her small frame allowed her to be as stealthy as a cat. The trio worked very well together and went on several highly important missions gathering information and fighting the warforged patrols that dotted the roads and forests.
While on a fairly routine excursion through Greenrock Quarry, the Ravens were ambushed by a squad of warforged in the area. Trias did what he could to buy time for the others to escape. He shielded Briahna’s body with his own, taking a mortal wound in the process. Liara had to drag Briahna kicking and screaming away from the scene as Trias bled out under the mob of Warforged that closed in. There was nothing the Ravens could do but flee. After a period of mourning, Liara elected Briahna as the group’s new leader. She had never been a commander and was more than happy to mentor the young woman and keep her head on straight, as Briahna was prone to letting her emotions do her thinking for her. The White Ravens live day-to-day in a large cave on the edge of The Evergreen. They barely have enough food to share among the many refugees they house there and have not rested well in years. Liara hasn’t quite found her fortune and fairy tale ending. Only time will tell if she ever will.
Now for some stuff behind the curtain.
Liara started life as my little homage to Buffy: The Vampire Slayer. Myself and Tom have professed our love for the show a few times during recording and for good reason. I had thought to myself, “we have a vampire in the party now…why not a badass vampire hunter?” Enter Liara. She didn’t quite get the awesome entrance that I wanted for her but I think it was memorable enough. If Thoril had stayed undead a bit longer I had planned for a cool little send up to BTVS with a little love/hate relationship. That never happened though and maybe it was for the best. Looking back on it, I think it was a fun idea but not sure it would have played out like I would have wanted. Although I must say that Tyler has been great at acting out sex scenes in the past so who knows? I guess there’s always time :)
No matter how often she imagined herself leaving her tiny town and running off to some grand adventure she could never leave her father behind. He had worked his entire life to support her and his health had started to fail him in recent years. When Liara was 19, Theria suffered one of it’s worst cold seasons on record. Many died due to illness or exposure. Her father was one of the unlucky ones. With no more attachment to Aldmoor and an even greater desire to leave, she packed her few belongings and headed west. She had no interest in moving to a large city like Brightport as the only adventure to be found there was fending off the occasional drunken assault or pickpocket. No, the real adventure was out in the wild where there was hardly any civilized towns or people.
She found her first spot of danger near an orc encampment in central Theria near Donhurst. Of course, she had no idea there was orc encampment there or had ever even seen an orc for that matter. She quickly came under attack by the large green-skinned hulks who saw her as an invader. If not for a band of bounty hunters who happened to be looking for one of the orc scouts in the very same area, Liara would have died right then and there. The group saw that the girl was in far over her head and decided to take her in as one of them. They taught her the basics of sword combat and how to spot danger (like for instance an orc camp) before she walked into them. Liara spent a short amount of time with the group before striking out on her own again. She was still hell-bent on finding her fortune, but there was one problem. There were too many experienced adventurers out there, the margins were too small. Liara realized that if she was going to carve out her niche, she was going to have to do the jobs that no one else wanted to do.
While near the town of Aubrey she heard about a series of disappearances of locals and farmers. She took the initiative and started investigating the surrounding forest for any sign of the missing townspeople. While exploring a nearby cave she happened upon a nest of vampires. A nest like this was very rare to find indeed and what was even more astounding was that Liara happened on it during the day. She managed to silently kill five of them before the sixth woke up and challenged her. Getting the drop on the nest had given her the advantage but the vampire’s strength and speed were amazing. Liara finally managed to defeat the monster but not without the lose of her right eye. Within the cave she found many personal belongings which were later revealed to be from several members of Aubrey and the surrounding countryside.
Liara became a bit of a celebrity after that. She began training with a master swordsman who lived in Aubrey and honed her skills. She learned several techniques to fight the living and undead alike. After living in Aubrey for 2 years she started traveling again and then began taking high profile jobs slaying monsters. She would always be most famous for killing vampires, though and at the age of 28 she was hired by Mayor Zannon Carter of Overdale. On the way to the city her caravan was attacked by a group of local lawbreakers. They managed to not only free some of the people the caravan was bringing into OverDale for questioning but killed several town guard as well. She fought the group with vigor but they proved to be too much for her. Liara barely managed to escape with her life by diving into a nearby river and swimming to safety. In her haste she had forgotten one of her favorite weapons, an expertly crafted silver edged sword.
She would see this group again at the signing of the Winterhaven treaty. This would be the last time she would see the group for nearly 2 decades. During this time she settled into her role training new guard recruits and working closely with Trias Draverson. The two grew very close over the years and even had an on again/off again relationship. Eventually, Carter’s policies became too much for Trias to handle and he left the city in secret to form The White Ravens. Liara left almost a year later and joined him. She had been convinced that she could still do some good within the city but after witnessing an event that would later be dubbed “The Trials” she left in disgust. Trias and Liara trained the Ravens to be quick and quiet. They knew that they could never win an all-out battle against The OverWatch but if they kept their ear to the ground and were patient, one day they could take advantage of a gap in the city’s armor.
They took in a young woman named Briahna not too long after that. She had survived the siege of Winterhaven and watched her own father get cut down in the frenzy. There was something else in the girls eyes though, a deeply seeded pain that begged for someone to hold her close while she simultaneously kept people at a distance. What’s more, she was revealed to be a psion of all things, a very rare and dangerous source of power. The Ravens trained the young woman and before long she had found a place by Liara and Trias’ side. Her psionic power was a monumental asset while her small frame allowed her to be as stealthy as a cat. The trio worked very well together and went on several highly important missions gathering information and fighting the warforged patrols that dotted the roads and forests.
While on a fairly routine excursion through Greenrock Quarry, the Ravens were ambushed by a squad of warforged in the area. Trias did what he could to buy time for the others to escape. He shielded Briahna’s body with his own, taking a mortal wound in the process. Liara had to drag Briahna kicking and screaming away from the scene as Trias bled out under the mob of Warforged that closed in. There was nothing the Ravens could do but flee. After a period of mourning, Liara elected Briahna as the group’s new leader. She had never been a commander and was more than happy to mentor the young woman and keep her head on straight, as Briahna was prone to letting her emotions do her thinking for her. The White Ravens live day-to-day in a large cave on the edge of The Evergreen. They barely have enough food to share among the many refugees they house there and have not rested well in years. Liara hasn’t quite found her fortune and fairy tale ending. Only time will tell if she ever will.
Now for some stuff behind the curtain.
Liara started life as my little homage to Buffy: The Vampire Slayer. Myself and Tom have professed our love for the show a few times during recording and for good reason. I had thought to myself, “we have a vampire in the party now…why not a badass vampire hunter?” Enter Liara. She didn’t quite get the awesome entrance that I wanted for her but I think it was memorable enough. If Thoril had stayed undead a bit longer I had planned for a cool little send up to BTVS with a little love/hate relationship. That never happened though and maybe it was for the best. Looking back on it, I think it was a fun idea but not sure it would have played out like I would have wanted. Although I must say that Tyler has been great at acting out sex scenes in the past so who knows? I guess there’s always time :)
