An interview with Karira - work in progress
For my 3.5 game that starts in June, I'm working on Kari's backstory. This is just how i decided to play with it. I have no idea what she's famous for at this point... other than being a crazy bitch.
We're sitting down with everyone's favorite mage for a quick interview before she leaves the city. Karira is a name that most of our readers will recognize, and with good cause! But we're here to find out more about the most famous halfling to burn her way through the city in quite some time.
As we talk, it's hard to call up the fearsome persona this young girl has cultivated. A Strongheart halfling by lineage, she has the auburn hair (in two braids that have been woven into a bun almost as large as her head, a very southern style), fair skin, and icy eyes of the north, and her diminutive size (she's short even for one of her kind) makes her look waif-like and innocent in her simple red gown. Smiles seem to come easily to her young face, though there's usually a wry tinge to the curl of her thin lips.
As we play, she insists on playing a game as well. Knowing her reputation for easy boredom, I agree. After I make my first move, we begin.
Karira, let's start with the basics: How come no one knows your clan name? Is it a secret?
(She laughs easily) Oh no, not at all. See, my Ma might have been a proud and noble Thornsbridge of the Stronghearts, but my Da was a wondering Lightfoot by the name of Hillstrider. He wasn't around long, dead before I was a year old, but Ma says I got enough of him in me that she would swear he raised me 'stead 'a her. My Ma is a woman to put the fear of the nine hells in a kid, but I was pretty resilient to fear, so I was a handful to raise by herself. When she was mad, she'd combine the two names and call me (in that horrid stern not-yelling-but-oh-just-you-wait-young-lady voice mothers seem to have perfected) "Karira Thornheel", since I was certainly one in hers. Eventually i kinda got a reputation for being... precocious, and the name stuck. When I left home, I kinda adopted it as my own, yanno? I'm not all that big on clan names though. I guess technically, mine is still Thornsbridge, like my Ma.
You say your mother was a stern woman? What was it like for her to raise such a clever child?
Clever was never the problem! The problem was that I was quite the little shit as a child! (she smiles wryly)
My Ma came from a family of warriors and soldiers. I know up north here that the Hin are more well-known for their clever fingers and quick minds, and leave a lot of the fighting to the humans, but at home there aren't a lot of humans, so my people are warriors as diligent as any soldier here. And my whole family was military to the bone. Strongheart don't leave their land as often as other Hin, and my clan has been there since we warred with the Ghostwise. They're very... traditional, even as humans judge things.
But I'm half Lightfoot, see, and I got a lot of their mischievousness in me. From the time I could crawl, I was in everything. I could be out of the house before Ma knew I was awake, and you'd best believe I was going to mess something up if she let me touch it. Or look at it without her eyes on me. Eventually, I started to be able to use the Talent I had in me, and oh, then things got interestin'. My Ma... that woman could stand up to Mystra herself after raisin' me.
How young were you when you learned you could do magic?
Young. Very young. I could talk and walk by then, but not much more.
I always had it strong I guess. I could feel it before then, but couldn't use it. Thank the gods. It was bad enough once i learned. It's prolly for the best I didn't get it any earlier.
Bad enough? What happened?
What didn't?! When I was three, I got so mad at my older brother (my Ma was married again by then to a widower with three sons) that I set his pants on fire.
Oh my! Was he okay?
Oh he was fine, but he certainly learned better than to lie to our Ma about me that day. Turns out, the old rhyme about what happens to liars is founded in truth!
That wasn't the worst of what happened, but it's certainly my favorite story. The others aren't all as pleasantly humorous.
You said your family had a military background. Did that influence your decision to enroll in Academy and become a War Mage?
Hm, probably. I can't deny it was a way to make my clan proud and get to learn more about my powers at the same time. Traditional wizard training just wasn't for me.
Why not?
I've never been that great with traditional learning, but I knew I was going to have to be forced and made to if I was going to get anywhere with my power. I'm impatient and headstrong, and some people even say I'm - what's the word? - reckless. I needed somewhere that could train into me all the qualities that didn't come naturally, and the military is definitely the place to have qualities you don't really like forced upon you.
I still had quite the reputation at the Academy, but I am much more able to contain myself if I need to now. And the training for War Mage was much more interesting!
I thought War Mages were mostly taught offensive spells.
Exactly. (She grins, all teeth and eyes, and suddenly I can see where the stories of her as a deadly force come from.)
So you like the dangerous spells?
All spells are dangerous. It's part of magic's very essence: the risk of losing control and having it destroy you. It's part of the gamble. But yes, I tend to prefer working with the elements the most. There's just no reason to be diplomatic when setting things on fire gets equal results in a fraction of the time. And there's little that's more satisfying than calling down nature's wrath on your enemies.
So, back to your training, why did you decide to become an adventurer rather than go into the military like so many war mages?
Like I said, the training was just to teach me discipline. I need to know how to channel lightning while someone is swinging sharp things at my head. I know that now. I need to know how to work with people. I know that now (more or less). I certainly don't need to get up at the crack of dawn and go do drills or something ridiculous. I'm not good with regimented activities.
Also, I doubt they wanted me to stay. Like I said, I had a reputation.
As a trouble-maker?
As a stubborn, lazy, quick-tempered trickster who may or may not have slightly sociopathic tendencies.
...
That's a direct quote.
I see. So you made your way north after leaving the Academy?
Yep. Stopped in Halruaa for a bit to visit one of my teachers, and then I was off.
What did you think of the trip? Was it hard being on your own?
Eh, not really. I had money (from the Academy), and I could set things on fire. Life was pretty okay. I joined up with a couple of other travelers I met and we did okay for ourselves.
Were you ever attacked?
Of course! Statistically speaking, any band of travelers off on an adventure is almost guaranteed to be ambushed by bandits at some point.
That sounds intimidating. You're so young... were you frightened?
Not really. I was mostly excited. They were well-dressed bandits. I got a bit richer that day.
...So do you have any hobbies?
I like to read, sleep, and not deal with idiots. Is that a hobby? Either way.
It's a hobby we share! If you weren't a mage, what do you think you'd be doing with your life?
Honestly? I'd probably be doing things that are rather illegal. If I hadn't been setting things on fire by the time I was four, I'd have been picking locks by six. I always knew I would adventure. It was just a matter of how. And I'm no good at swords and hitting people face-to-face. If I can't sling acid at them with magic, I'd do it from the shadows, and I'd make sure said acid was on a dagger.
It's kind of a good thing I'm a mage, huh?
I know you're adventuring now, but what are your plans for later? Gonna settle down and have a family?
Me with a family?! I think it's a little early to consider the possibility of that being an idea. But no, in general, I never wanted to have that kind of life. Seems boring and tedious.
So no romance in your life right now?
Nah. I'm a lot better at setting people on fire than I am talking to them and having meaningful relationships. Also I get bored easily.
Bored of people?
And everything else, yeah.
Fair. And, a last question, one we almost always ask: If today was your last day alive, what would you do?
I'd go looking for a cleric to make sure it wasn't! (she grins impishly) Judging by your expression, that's not the normal answer? I guess most people say something about righting wrongs or living life to the fullest. I don't care about those things. Being dead... well, it might just be an awfully big adventure, but I'm not done here yet!