Personal Summary

Religion: Priest of Esscencia

Known tenets of the priesthood of Esscencia:
Foresight - try to anticipate the unfolding of events.
Manipulation - Try to shape events to maintain balance in the universe.
Arbitration - The main tool in restoring and maintaining balance in the universe without tipping the scales.

Background Summary

• Born 1st of Needfest, of human parents in Courwood. (1)
• Crayon was raised by his Elfish great, great, great Grandfather Vasher in Celine. (2)
• Trained for the Priest hood of Correllian Lorethian but fell into coma before he could be ordained.
• Had visions of the Goddess Esscencia and was made her prophet by the goddess herself.
• First saw Esscencia on the border of Ulek and Celine where he accepted the mantle, Prophet of Esscencia. (3)
• Awoke in the sacred grove of Esscencia. Ten years had passed and he hadn’t aged. (4)
• Joined a circus in Narwell. Traveled with circus through the wild coast.
• Worked as a scribe for the Onnwal diplomatic mission in Hardby. Signed up to join the Onnwal military as a medical officer.
• On route to Scant was captured at sea by slavers and spent a year on a slave galley. Crayon helped the slaves to rise against their oppressors. Met some of his future followers and Q Featherhammer on the slave galley. (5)
• Finally arrived at Scant. Enlisted as a medic in the Szeck’s army.
• Involved in the freeing of Pogrom Island. Made a Baron and Knight Lieutenant
• Worked on Pogrom Island to establish church and religion.
• Traveled to Jama plain (longest two weeks of his life).
• Traveled into Drow territory to save his followers. Defeated Drow in Ul-Drakken. Given more lands and promoted to Knight Captain.

Excerpts of the history of Crayon.

Early Travels of Crayon — Vasher

The cloaked stranger stood warily at the edge of the elven wood, holding his horse by its reins in one hand and the other clutching a parcel so close to his breast like it was his very soul. He had been standing there for the last three hours and it was well past midnight. The rain beat him mercilessly and he was drenched, it only brought that parcel closer to his chest, for it had to remain dry. Even though it was a full moon the stormy clouds held the orb at bay, covering the forest in inky blackness. The only relief was the sporadic flash of lightning. The thunder hid the agitated neighing of the stranger’s horse and the words the stranger was saying to the parcel. The stranger’s eyes probed the inky darkness. He had a touch of the gift of elven sight. Plagued with the curse of it, he thought, not elf nor human but an outcast. “Damn, them all” he thought.

Just outside the strangers vision stood the elf. He had been watching the stranger for the last three hours. Even though the storm had raged for the whole day, the elf was perfectly dry. The elves were not known for communication with other races and the stranger had gone to great lengths to contact the elf, The elf was steadfast in his resolution not to have this meeting; however, every time he had reverie he saw the stranger and the woman who brought him into his life. “She has damned me” he whispered as he stepped out of the covers of the trees and walked towards the stranger.

The stranger saw the elf come out of the forest. Fear and excitement coursed through his veins, but he fought to control himself. He tried to reflect that distant reserve that elves show the rest of the world. “You came,” said the stranger showing a slight hint of relief and anger. The elf seemed to glide into view “Did I have a choice?”
“Everyone has a choice.”
“What a human notion.”
“I’m half elf as well, don’t forget it.”
“Half elf and half human, does that make you a whole anything?”
“Don’t provoke me old man!”
The elf let a hint of a smile touch his lips, not to mock but because of the irony of the situation. The elf looked like he was in the prime of his life; whereas, the half elf looked venerable and tired. Though their looks would say otherwise, the elf was twice the age of the half elf. The irony left a bitter sadness on the elf’s soul “What do you want.”
Bastoll pushed the parcel into the arms of Vasher and walked away. Vasher called out over the roar of the storm “what is this?”
“It’s my great grandson.” Vasher pulled back part of the cloth to find the face of a baby. Vasher was unable to hide his astonishment. If this was Bastoll’s great grandson, it should be human or at least half elf; instead, the baby was pure elf. Bastoll pulled his cloak tighter to himself as he got on the horse. The rain hid his tears. “Wait!” it was the only time that Vasher’s voice had displayed any emotion besides disappointment to Bastoll. Bastoll looked at Vasher and knew he would never see him again. He allowed himself one parting farewell as he spurred his horse into the storm.
“Goodbye grandfather.”

Early Travels of Crayon — Vasher and Bastoll

Vasher, a high priest of Correllian Lorethian, returns to the Elven forest city deeply disturbed by the events of the night. A century ago his daughter had married a human and gave birth to Bastoll. Vasher had disowned them both. The last he had heard, or wanted to hear, was that Bastoll had married a human and she had given birth to a daughter. And now apparently she had given birth to a son, and he was an elf! Even if the father was a pure elf an elf child was very rare. Vasher had to get to the bottom of this mystery immediately, which in elf time was the next year.

Vasher tracks down Bastoll who is know on his deathbed. Bastoll is reluctant to divulge any information to his estranged grandfather. Bastoll believes that his grandfather hates him because he is a half elf. In a moment of pity and love Vasher casts rapport and allows Bastoll to share their lives. Bastoll learns of the great sorrow of all elves that befriend or love other races. For elves to love outside their race exposes them to terrible emotional pain. A single elf will outlive many generations of humans and half-elves. Bastoll has some awareness of this already as he has outlived his own child. Bastoll and Vasher share their knowledge, memories and emotions through the rapport spell. The strain of the spell kills Bastoll but he dies happy that he has reconciled with his grandfather. Vasher now carries the memories of Bastoll, knowing the sadness it will cause him. Vasher buries Bastoll in the elven forest city and then meditates on what he has learnt for a few months.

Vasher learns that the elven child name is Crayon and that there is elven blood in both the mother and father but tit goes back so far that a pure elven child should not be possible. The father was killed at war and the mother died at birth. He decides to raise the child as his own. He takes the infant to the temple for blessing. On the way to the temple he sees two beavers fighting over the same piece of wood and has a serendipitous moment. He remembers an old prophecy of the coming of a great priest who would lead the elves away from destruction. This elven prophet would be an elf not born of elves. Vasher shrugs this off as folly on his part but the seed is planted in his mind.

Crayon’s education

Crayon grows up like normal elves. He shows surprising wisdom and Vasher, unable to forget the prophecy, guides Crayon into the priesthood of Correllian Lorethian. Crayon is readily accepted not only for his potential but because Vasher is a priest high in the upper echelons of the church. Crayon’s training goes well. He exceeds the other students in mental skills and is a natural leader and diplomat; however, he won’t wear armour or carry a weapon. This has the priests baffled as the priesthood allows any weapons and any armour. They try and make him train but he has an aversion to the weapons and refuses to lift one. They put him in the ring with a trainer and told that the trainer will attack and he must defend himself otherwise he will be severely injured. The trainer lunges at Crayon with a sword and Crayon tries to block the attack with his own sword. When the two blades hit, Crayon’s sword turns to powder and the trainer’s blade comes down on Crayon’s head almost killing him. This incident causes much discussion throughout the church. Vasher is finding it more difficult to forget the ancient prophecy.

Crayon is ill for three months, having fevered fits. The wound will not heal even though the priest's use powerful magic on him. Vasher and the priests fear that Crayon will die. That night an elven blacksmith named Itzgude has a dream of making a symbol out of the sword that caused Crayon’s wound. The next day the blacksmith petitions the clerics to be allowed the have the sword. They refuse but so determined is the blacksmith that Vasher hears the commotion and agrees to the blacksmith’s demand. Itzgude takes the sword, melts it down and then fashions it into the symbol he saw.

Itzgude takes the symbol to Vasher. Vasher and the other priests have never seen the symbol before. It is not a known heraldry symbol or religious symbol. They have no idea what to do with it. Acting on an instinct Vasher puts the symbol in Crayon’s hands and moves them to over the wound. The wound is magically healed. This causes more disturbance than the injury. After this incident Crayon is excused weapon’s training; however, he takes an affinity to using a net. A very strange choice for a potential priest of Correllian Lorethian.

It appears that Crayon is on the mend except every so often he has seizures. In these fits he has strange visions and dreams. He starts having prophecies that start coming true. Though he is a natural leader, the prophecies, his combat training injury, and his refusal to fight has isolated him from the other students. Crayon tells Vasher his prophecies. Vasher cannot ignore the prophecy now and he goes to the high priest of the church. A meeting of the highest priests are called to discuss the mater. They call in Crayon and ask him to retell his dreams. Crayon talks of the most consistent dream of two arms fighting each other for the supremacy of the body. Another is standing in front of a gigantic face the size of a small mountain. The priests agree to let matters take their own course and that Crayon should be inducted into the church.

Vasher’s Death

The day of the ceremony for induction finally arrives. Crayon and the other acolytes line up to receive the final blessing to become a priest. When it is Crayon’s turn, just before the holy symbol of Correlian Lorethian touches Crayon’s forehead, the training wound starts bleeding again profusely. Crayon collapses before he can take part in the initiation rite. In that instance, he first comes into contact with the Goddess Esscencia. The contact is only for an instance but it is though all the questions in Crayon’s life have finally been answered. He suddenly awakes to realise that he has been in a coma for three months.

Crayon tells Vasher and the other high priests what happened. They are aware that his life holds great purpose but it’s not within their church. They do not know how to advise him. Vasher who has become very fond of Crayon and views him as his own child suggests that he and Crayon should perform the very sacred elven ritual “communion”. Crayon agrees.

During the linking of minds Vasher gets a sense of the power behind the events in Crayon’s life and finally accepts that Crayon is a prophet. From Vasher’s vast experience and wisdom he realises it’s not an established God. Before he can breakaway Vasher is shown some of the events that will happen in the future for Crayon. There are times that Crayon comes near to death. Though Crayon holds great potential power he is inexperienced and Vasher views a moment in the next year where Crayon will die. The memory of loosing Bastoll resurfaces and Vasher is overwhelmed with great sadness. The new god takes pity on Vasher and allows him to give Crayon a gift. Vasher in an effort to change the future wills part of his life force to Crayon. The power of Esscencia acts as a conduit draining Vasher and invigorating Crayon. Crayon tries to stop Vasher by breaking the mind meld. However it is too late and Vasher has transferred his life force to Crayon. Crayon weeps when he realises that Vasher’s sacrifice has given Crayon the powers of a priest (5th level cleric).

Crayon decides to leave the elven forest to fulfil his destiny. He finishes his grieving for his great, great, great grandfather who has been a father to Crayon all these years. He cannot hold back the tears as he makes a promise over Vasher’s grave. Prophecy or not, Crayon will not let the elves fall into the path of destruction. Crayon leaves the elven wood.

Esscencia

Crayon walks for months, going from village to town and city. He has the power of a fifth level priest but has no spells, as he does not know who to pray to. He wonders in the hope he will find an answer.

One day he is walking across open plains when he sees a small mountain range in the distance. Walking in the fields is a creature made of shimmering light. In Crayon’s heart he knows that this creature holds the answers to Crayon’s question. He has no idea how he knows this but he feels it with such the same surety that he knows to breathe. Crayon calls out to the creature, but the creature starts to run away. Crayon starts to run after him but the creature gets faster. Crayon is scared that he will lose this creature, and more scared that he will never know the answers to his questions. Crayon starts to run faster but the creature is still too fast. Crayon, thinking his soul will burst, wills himself to go faster like a cheetah. Crayon does not know how but he finds that he is transforming into a cheetah. He should be scared but it feels natural to him and cleansing, as if he has been blind all his life and now can see. He starts to gain on the creature until they come to a river. The creature jumps in the water and starts to swim across this wide river. The pain in Crayon’s soul increase as the creature gets away. Crayon wills himself into a crocodile to swim across the river. Again he is surprised but not scared. Once across the river the Crayon returns to his normal form and starts to chase the creature again. He is gaining on the creature as they run towards the mountain. Just as Crayon is about to grab the light creatures arm, the creature shoots off into the air like lightning. Crayon releases a primal scream as he sees his hope flies away and with all his will changes into an eagle and flies after the creature.

Crayon flies to the top of the mountain to find the creature waiting for him. The creature is sitting crossed legged and floating two feet off the ground. Crayon feels a magnificent radiance coming from this being. Crayon is incomplete awe of this creature but he has not come so hard as to fail now. He plucks up the courage to speak. “Who are you?” silence, “Why am I here?” The creature does not answer. Crayon repeats the question two more times, each time he gets angrier and angrier until he demands from the creature “WHO ARE YOU? WHY AM I HERE?”
In the instance that he demands an answer the protective layer of his mind and soul is blown away and he sees for the first time the Goddess Esscencia. Impossibly, she looks full elf and full human. She radiates pure white and in her hand she holds forth a tree by the trunk. Esscencia speaks in a voice that Crayon thinks booms across the cosmos.

Esscencia address to the Gods

“I AM ESSCENCIA, MANIPULATOR OF THE RIVER.” Crayon is in the grip of fear and ecstasy. He soon realises that Esscencia is not addressing him but what appears to be a circle of illuminated beings. It is then that Crayon realises that he is surrounded by all the Gods. The realisation almost destroys him. Esscencia continues to address the circle of the Gods. “I, Esscencia, have been raised, by the combined will of all the Gods, from being a Demi God to a Lesser God, to oversee one event, the destruction of the elves and humans. This event has not been deemed by the Gods but has been chosen by the mortal elves and humans. They are blind to their actions. The Gods have deemed that no direct intervention can be allowed. However I am the manipulator of the river, and understand that the river can be diverted without direct intervention. Intervention by mortals does not contravene the will of the Gods. Let it be know that the Prophet Crayon, a mortal, sort out the Goddess Esscencia of his own free will. He overcame all obstacles put in his way to stop him. If he so chooses he will be my prophet, as I am allowed representation on the prime material plane.” Crayon was too scared to notice that the God’s showed their agreement with a collective nod and then they disappeared.

Crayon tried to speak but could not. Esscencia speaks again but this time her presence is more subdued and reassuring. “Hello Crayon, I have been waiting for you for centuries. I am your fate, and the answer to the question that has become you.”
Crayon: “Who am I?”
Creature: “It pleases me that you can see the question.”
Crayon: “What is the answer? Who am I?”
Creature: “You are my prophet if you agree.”
Crayon: “Why would I refuse?”
Esscencia: “Knowledge can be build and it can destroy. I can show you the answers to all your questions but it could destroy you. Is knowledge that important?”
Crayon: “You said that the elves and humans are going to destroy each other. Saving them is reason enough to risk all.”
Esscencia: smiled “You do not disappoint me, Crayon. Your dream of the two arms fighting over the same body is the struggle that exists between elf and humans. If the humans and the elves destroy each other many gods will cease to exist. It is the law that all God’s follow that no god will directly interfere with the raise or fall of a race. The God’s agreed that an arbiter should be set for this event. The Humanoid Gods wanted the arbiter to be neither elf, human or half-elf. The human and elf gods strategically chose me, Esscencia the manipulator of the river. I am neither elf nor human or half elf. I am all. It was their hope that I would somehow find a way to save the races. The destruction of the elves and humans is a possibility. Like any possibility it may or may not occur. There is choice.’
Crayon: “Vasher says that choice is a human concept.”
Esscencia: “Bless the elves. They life for centuries and think they understand the eons. They think of humans as children, yet there are entities that view elves as children. Time is a river. The humans in their short span see the rapids, the splashes. For them time is chaotic and full of possibilities. The elves see the river flow. They see that the rapids are not formed by chance. The water is going in a predetermined direction and therefore the rapids are predictable. There is no choice. Yet I say unto you that what the elves don’t see is the river. There are thousands of possibilities that direct the flow of the river. The river is not predetermined. The river can be dammed or diverted. To fully answer the question you have to see you the whole river. In doing so it may kill you.”
Crayon: “I will take that chance.”
Creature: “Good, you see the risks in being a prophet but face them anyway. You may survive. Clear your mind. I am going to show you the river.”

In what seems like an instance Crayon is shown what Esscencia described as the river of time. Crayon finally understands what his dreams mean. The two arms fighting each other are the elves and the humans. They don’t realise they are part of the same body. Crayon is shown all the millions of possibilities that occur to make this river. Crayon is shown an image where the elves and the humans destroy each other. His mind is almost destroyed by the endless possibilities of the river. He collapses from mental exhaustion. Crayon awakens and has no idea of what time has passed. It was low summer when he came to this mountain but now it is late winter. His heart is heavy from what he saw.
Crayon: “I am meant to stop that?”
Esscencia: “I never said it would be easy.”
Crayon: “How do I stop it happening.”
Esscencia: “One day at a time. There are thousand of events that occur that bring about the future you saw. Each event determines a small section of that future; however, if you can manipulate enough of them you can divert the river.” Esscencia can see the news weighs heavily on Crayon so she blesses him with a different view of the river. In this view Crayon sees the elves and humans unite in a brotherhood that drives away their common enemies. The land is green and the forest cities of the elves are open to all. It is an enlightened time. This vision strengthens Crayon’s faith.
Esscencia: “Are you the prophet of Esscencia.”
Crayon: “I am yours to command my lady”
Esscencia: “Do you accept the mandate of your Goddess?”
Crayon: “With every fibber of my being. Though I am afraid I may fail.”
Esscencia: “Your success is not guaranteed but neither is your failure. You have been chosen for this destiny because of your abilities. Take comfort in that thought. You will be find help in the strangest places and find danger where you least expect it. But no matter what happens I will be with you.”

Priesthood of Essencia

The following are the spell-casting followers of Essencia:

Campaigns

• Necropolis
• Queen of Lies
• ???