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ABOUT
云如鸿
YUN RUHONG
— D&D 5E —
a thirst for pleasure and war
a hunger we keep inside
Other Physical Traits.
Ruhong usually wears her hair half-tied back in a bun and interlaced with braids. The bun is held up and pinned with a jade hairpin. There is a scar over her left eye from above the brow to the cheekbone, and she wears huadian between her brows, often decorated with rubies in the same pattern.
STR20 DEX10 CON14 INT12 WIS10 CHA22
IC Permissions.
Background.
+ WORLD HISTORY: THE PATH OF LIGHT
The Birth of KalashtarThe Path of Light
Ruhong is from a homebrew setting that adapts Eberron kalashtar lore as closely as possible, along with some heavy inspiration from wuxia/xianxia genres.
There are some key differences between Eberron kalashtar and kalashtar of Ruhong's home world. Rather than finding their way to Adar, the quori found their hosts among the monks of a clan of cultivators on the continent of Bataan in a realm known as the Divine Veil.
Although the details of the quori and their conflict in the Plane of Dreams remains mostly the same, in this flight from Dal Quor, the dream-spirits of metallic dragons led the frightened quori to the material plane, calming their fears and showing the path. The dream-spirits of gem dragons who chose to join them (and not all the dreams of gem dragons did so choose) watched the rear, fighting off any who came in pursuit. No chromatic dragons joined in the flight.
The dragons' reasons for joining differed. The metallic dragons, of course, joined for the cause of light and goodness, because they deemed it the right thing to do. The gem dragons had much more varied reasons: some, like the moonstone dragons, joined for their fondness of the spirits who rebelled against the dark. Others joined simply in the interest of maintaining balance: so that the darkness could not fully obliterate the light any more than the light could the darkness. And some joined of self-preservation only, disgruntled and disturbed by the tumult that the conflict had upon their dreams.
Though many kalashtar may never leave the monastery, some choose to leave and take the path of Lightbringers who wish to spread the Path of Light and goodness throughout the world, hoping to encourage the Turning of the Ages.
The direct Yun bloodline, or draconic kalashtar, leave the monastery without exception the moment they form their golden core. They walk the path of Shadow Watchers, who seek to hunt and root out the agents of the dark.
+ WORLD HISTORY: DESCENT INTO AVERNUS
The events leading to The Descent, 1516.+ PRE-CAMPAIGN
» Ruhong is the second child of five. Her older brother, Jinyang, was the first: a prodigy among their people, host to the dream of a golden dragon, the youngest to form his golden core and leave the monastery to hunt the darkness. Her twin brother, Rulan, loved magic and tricks and people as much as the moonstone dragons. Her third brother, Suwei, kept to himself, calm and still and clear. And her youngest sister, Sujin, as golden as their eldest brother, was favored by their grandmother and much the source of Ruhong's ire.
» Wrestling with the chaotic instincts of the dream within her soul, Ruhong did not find her studies to be easy. She's neither naturally gifted in magic nor naturally adept with her hands, and so she had to work harder and longer to cultivate discipline and self-control than her siblings. She was deeply jealous of her older brother and younger sister, who were more favored by their grandmother who taught and raised them; none of the siblings knew their wandering parents well.
» Ruhong formed her golden core at 14, the second of her siblings to do so after Jinyang. She wandered her home continent of Bataan for a time as a rogue cultivator, driving out monstrosities and other dangerous pests from populated areas while seeking agents of the dark. Ruhong eventually concluded that their fight was not limited to one continent, so she boarded a ship to the eastern continent of Ebora to take her search overseas.
» After landing on a new continent, Ruhong's journey took her to the city of Elthriel, as tales of the city of light naturally drew her to it. Her first day in the city, she befriended a group of laborers, who dubbed themselves the “Gang of Light” in her honor.
» That night, Ruhong clocked a commotion in a local bank, where she discovered a robbery in process. Ruhong defended workers and hurried to the basement below, where she found two men: one with green eyes and one with purple, who was casting some sort of spell. Ruhong would never know, but these men were dyads: twin brothers, powerful ancient creatures with control over space and time.
» Squaring off against the green-eyed man in a swordfight, Ruhong realized that he couldn’t speak and reached into his mind to communicate. Before the man could respond, his purple-eyed brother ripped open a portal and threw Ruhong inside a blank and empty demiplane.
» Isolation took its toll on Ruhong’s sanity, and her already-thin grip on self-control waned. Eventually, a mysterious, powerful, and horrible being known as Junior Squint appeared before her and showed Ruhong a terrifying alternate reality of a world taken over by the Dreaming Dark. Within this alternate reality, Ruhong fought against her corrupted siblings and a corrupted version of herself, who quickly overwhelmed her.
» Returning to the empty plane of nothingness, Junior Squint offered to free Ruhong, though not without a price. He also hinted (truthfully, though she would not believe it) that her family had been destroyed by fire and by agents of the dark. Ruhong stumbled back into the mortal plane where she met Detective Adrian Gharendal, a former member of the party that had both been responsible for Elthriel's descent into Avernus and also helped raise it out once again, and learned that 80 years had passed during her time in the demiplane.
» Now stranded 80 years past her time, Detective Gharendal led Ruhong to find work at a mercenary guild called the Adamant Company and promised to find her answers to the culprits of her imprisonment in exchange for payment. She joined a party who eventually called themselves the Nevermore Crew, taking odd jobs around the city as unrest grew between the rich and working classes of Elthriel—focused particularly around the inequity of magical power and spell components, especially those related to magical resurrection.
+ CAMPAIGN: REMEMBRANCE
» Recurring mercenary work led the Nevermore Crew to uncovering secrets behind the rise of a nefarious blood cult, slowly wedging its influence into the people of Elthriel in seemingly disconnected incidents occurring throughout the city.
» This also led Ruhong to return frequently to the detective for information, thinking herself manipulating him into using his connections and knowledge of the city's mysteries to get her what she wanted but finding herself entangled with him far more than she had ever meant to be.
» The mysteries—and hired work—took them as far as the Feywild to seek answers for mysterious metalwork creatures appearing throughout the city. They fought a jabberwock, jousted the Night Hunt, and made deals with a demigod who led them to the answers they sought.
» Upon returning from the Feywild, the party discovered that the Detective Gharendal had delved back into Avernus, a layer of the Nine Hells, in search of an old companion—and as enemies chased him, they left a portal to the Hells open once again in the city that had once nearly been dragged down into it.
» Ruhong and her companions followed him to Avernus to defeat the fallen members of the detective's former party, including a kalashtar who had given Ruhong the scar over her eye shortly after her exit from isolation. While in Avernus, they learned that the detective had formed a pact with the devil Fierna to grant him power and resilience for his journey back into the Hells.
» Upon their return, they found Elthriel in chaos. The purple-eyed man behind her isolation had also been the one pulling the strings of unrest in Elthriel for months, building up to this moment. He used the chaos and riots to power an arcane machine that halted the flow of magic and divine resurrection in the world; and though the Nevermore Crew defeated him and destroyed the machine, magical resurrection remained out of reach for any who tried to touch it.
» One last mystery remained: the fate of her people. Through a former party member's use of Sending, Ruhong at last contacted her twin brother, who met her in the still-recovering city to take her back to their monastery in Bataan.
+ CAMPAIGN: KRYNN
» Ruhong's return to her home of the Hidden Sun monastery was not a happy one. Many of her people had been slaughtered, as Junior Squint had hinted, in an attack on the village when her youngest sister had been nineteen. Sujin had hunted down those responsible and found that it had been their eldest brother, corrupted by the Dreaming Dark. To save those among her people who had survived, she had killed him; and, years later, revived him whole but never quite the same.
» Among those Jinyang had killed had been their grandmother and clan leader, Yun Ruijin. Jinyang, as the eldest, should have taken up the mantle, but in the guilt of his past actions he refused and chose instead to live in isolation and meditation to atone for his sins. Rulan had founded a new school of disciples of light in the Underdark, called the Underlight, and thus could not split his attention between leadership of the two. Ruhong had been trapped in isolation, and no one knew Suwei's whereabouts. As the hero of their people, Sujin had, of course, then taken up the mantle of clan leader—to current Ruhong's consternation.
» Sujin had also wed an outsider, a hexblood wizard named Velda Fae who had helped her defeat the incursion of the Dreaming Dark and taken over as archmage at one of the continent's leading universities. Velda had seen the death of one of Ruhong's companions, a woman named Rosalie Othronus, who also happened to be the adopted child of a former companion of his and Sujin's. He blamed Ruhong for her death. Sujin claimed that Ruhong was losing herself to chaos and hunger and challenged her to a duel: should Sujin win, Ruhong would stay in the Hidden Sun until she remembered balance.
» Ruhong hadn't been planning to leave immediately, but the challenge made her furious. She defeated her sister but chose to stay nonetheless, drawing closer to her twin and older brother as she tried—and failed—to connect with the memory of a family she had barely known as a child.
» After months passed, an apparition appeared to Ruhong and spoke of a danger from their ancestral enemy of the Dreaming Dark, but warned that this danger came to them through another world or plane of existence. Unsure whether to trust this figure, Ruhong vowed to help with the condition that she could bring one companion who might know whether or not to believe in it rather better than she.
» In a journey that took months, Ruhong rode to the coast and once more boarded a ship to the continent of Ebora and the city of Elthriel. Along the way, she wrestled ever more with strange, violent urges that nearly took her over. When she arrived in Elthriel and tracked down Detective Adrian Gharendal, her chosen companion, that urge overwhelmed her and she grabbed him by the throat in fury before she remembered herself and let him go.
» Hurt and furious with her for having vanished without saying anything and then appeared to throttle him, Adrian refused to listen to her explanation or her request until quori attacked the city and set it on fire. The two of them drove back the attack, and the mysterious figure appeared once more before Ruhong. With the figure's declaration that joining Ruhong would save the city of Elthriel as well, Adrian agreed to accompany her.
» The figure transported them outside the town of Vogler on the continent of Solamnia, on the plane of Krynn. There they learned of the incursions of the Dragon Armies of Takhisis, the five-headed chromatic dragon goddess known in their world as Tiamat. Attempting to divert an attack on Vogler, Ruhong rode into the heart of the Dragon Army's camp as was captured and imprisoned for her hubris.
» After helping the citizens of Kalaman escape just in time for the army's attack, Adrian made his way to the city of Kalaman, where posed as a noble from the isle of Mythos to claim that Ruhong was a princess of Kothos across the Blood Sea in order to mobilize the city's forces. A strike team helped liberate Ruhong, who was informed of the detective deception and intent to raise an army under the guise of fighting the Dragon Armies to instead turn against the forces of undead where he theorized the agent of the Dreaming Dark was hiding.
» Ruhong played her part and posed as a princess of Kothos to make connections among the court—including Kalaman's own Princess Sophia, who had her youthful eye on Adrian. Some of the members of court were suspicious, including a polymorphed silver dragon going by the name of Lord Spelltongue, and an old adviser to the king named Jensen Tholde. While Spelltongue left them mostly alone (though not without pointed warnings), Tholde pushed his luck, and Adrian nearly murdered him to keep him silent. Ruhong stopped him at the last second, and instead they sent Tholde away with their allies.
» Ruhong and Adrian fought back an attack by the Dragon Army, and she killed the black dragon who had imprisoned her, earning them enough recognition to receive approval to raise the White Phoenix Army and march to war.
» So they marched—and Princess Sophia followed, to Ruhong's consternation. Ruhong taught her to use a sword enough to defend herself. Approaching Nightlund, Ruhong sent Sophia away with a contingent of the White Phoenix Army, believing that the soldiers would bring the princess home before journeying to seek out the fabled Dragon Orb.
» Nightlund was a bloodbath. The army was decimated, and so were Ruhong's companions. Only she, Adrian, and the Witch of the Woods who went only by Lucille made it to the final chamber, where they were confronted with the Death Knight Soth and the sight of hundreds of bodies, identical to Ruhong, hanging from their necks. Soth taunted her for having tried "again and again" to kill him, but he had killed her "every time." He killed Adrian and, in a final move of sacrifice, Lucille ripped open a portal that lasted just long enough for her to push Ruhong through before it closed.
» Grieving, Ruhong screamed for the figure who had sent her to this world. The figure, called Prometheus, revealed that he had called to Ruhong before: Ruhong from other realities and other existences. He knew only that Ruhong could defeat the Dreaming Dark in Krynn but not which Ruhong, so he had simply tried any who would come and would continue to do so until he found the right one.
» A furious, devastated Ruhong wandered listlessly until she came upon the house of an old woman: one who was, unmistakable, a vision of herself as she might appear decades older. This older Ruhong revealed that the violent urges that Ruhong had been feeling were flashes into her other selves and showed Ruhong how to access those other selves—just as ancient dragons can see into their varied existences through an ability known as dragonsight. Because of the physical and psychological toll (as every Ruhong whose visions she accessed were brutally murdered while in their bodies) and recovery time required, it is not an ability for Ruhong to use often, but the older woman showed her how to use it to see visions of her other selves in Krynn and to track down both means of sealing the darkness and resurrecting a single companion.
» Ruhong located a Scroll of True Resurrection along with the secrets of what was happening to the stolen eggs of the metallic dragons. Seeing a village attacked by swarms of the Blue Dragon Army, she used the scroll to resurrect Adrian, free of his pact from Fierna—at the cost of Ruhong taking his place in the pact instead. Silently vowing to travel to the Hells to defeat her after achieving their mission in Krynn, but desperate for assistance and companionship, Ruhong accepted the deal and brought him back.
» Together, they helped the remnants of the White Phoenix Army—now led by a much-changed Sophia with the Dragon Orb in the place of a missing eye—they fought back the Blue Dragon Army troops and agreed to return to Kalaman to regroup. Three days outside of the city, they were apprehended by Kalaman's forces, led by none other than the silver dragon disguised as the human Lord Spelltongue, who arrested Adrian for deceiving the court and murdering Jensen Tholde. Despite Ruhong's protests that he did not kill Tholde (only planned to, but stopped short of doing it!), Adrian was taken away and Ruhong placed on house arrest—for her good behavior of alerting Spelltongue of the whereabouts of the metallic dragon eggs.
» The story still continues...
Personality.
+ STRENGTHS
» CONVICTION. Every paladin needs belief and dedication to uphoald an oath, and Ruhong is no different. Her conviction naturally comes in part with her faith: Ruhong has never wavered in it, no matter how much she has faced or even struggled in her own nature. Even to be willing to struggle against herself she has to believe there is a point to it all. In this way, Ruhong's dedication to her beliefs is what drives her to want to do good in the world.
It would be easy to follow the path of a Shadow Watcher merely as someone who thirsts for violence in the destruction of an enemy. Certainly, Ruhong does enjoy this. Certainly, she gets lost in it sometimes. But what always brings her back is the teachings of the Lightbringers, of the promise of a kinder and a warmer world, and the need to do good to tilt the balance of the world back into the favor of the light. Someone less firm in their beliefs than Ruhong would waver when confronted with death, pain, sadness, or even the joys of hedonism. But Ruohng, even when she falters, always comes back and tries to keep going—and do better.
Conviction doesn't only apply to religious faith, either. Ruhong is dedicated to everything she chooses to do and, once she sinks her teeth in, refuses to let go. She's tenacious: Ruhong puts her mind to getting something done and persists simply because she must.
» STEADFASTNESS. Hand in hand with conviction is steadfastness in belief and in action. Ruhong is a confident person—sometimes to her own detriment—but this also gives her the ability to keep her cool and not panic in difficult situations much of the time. (Not all!) She stays calm and presses on, one foot in front of the other, and she rallies her companions with commitment to a goal right alongisde her divine healing. Ruhong's steadfastness and willingness to put herself in the face of danger in itself can touch others to remain calm as well.
» MORALITY. "Morality" can mean a lot of things, because "morality" can take many forms. On the surface, Ruhong's morality is clear-cut: she is a dedicated follower of the Path of Light and, therefore, believes in "goodliness" and the power of kindness and love. The Path of Light teaches detachment from material things, meditation for self-control, and above all, the lesson that spreading simple acts of kindness in the world will be enough to rid the world of darkness.
The irony here is that Ruhong does not believe that she is moral: rather than she admires morality in others and tries to uphold it in part as atonement for the dark parts of her soul. Ruhong believes that she is, at her core, as violent, greedy, and vain as any dragon, and she does not know whether to love that in herself or hate that about herself. She loves being powerful and beautiful and having things, and she feels good about those things. But she also hates that she loves them and wishes deep down that she did not have to choose every day to be kind, or to quell her anger, or to offer aid to any in need. She wishes it were as easy as it is for those born naturally "good." Ruhong sees people who are loved for their generosity and both envies and tries to emulate them. But the point is that whether she always manages to act in accordance with her "morality," Ruhong truly believes in it, and she always tries. Even if she chooses a winding path.
» COURAGE. Willingness to die for one's belief doesn't necessarily precipitate true courage, but it doesn't hurt. Yes, some of Ruhong's "courage" comes from fanatical dedication to the idea that she will fight the Dreaming Dark until the day she dies, which is ultimately to be in battle. But it's not just religious zeal and comfort on the battlefield that makes Ruhong courageous.
True, it helps. True, paladins are traditionally steadfast frontliners whose courage is so inspiring that allies nearby feel no fear themselves. True, Ruhong has learned to force back and push down her emotions, which keeps her pressing on even when she feels something holding her back. But Ruhong is often scared. Not of the big things, perhaps: put her on dragonback and she'll run right at it. She's scared of the little things. Ruhong is scared of intimacy, of loss, of failure. She's scared of the downfall of the Light. But she takes risks: whether it's letting someone into her heart even knowing loss will be inevitable, even confronting an enemy who's bested her again and again, even alone in the dark and with no one but herself putting one foot in front of the other, Ruhong takes a chance.
+ WEAKNESSES
» PRIDE. Above all else, Ruhong's fatal flaw is her hubris and pride. It's a problem that plagues most of the Cloudwalkers (when you share a soul with the dream-spirit of a dragon, pride tends to be an issue), true, but it's especially problematic for Ruhong to a unique degree. While it's true that her personality and memories are influenced by a dragon's dreamsight to some degree—lending her the pride of an ancient dragon who's lived many, many lives—and perhaps it's the capricious personality of her neutral-aligned dragon in particular, Ruhong's pride would still be her downfall even if he were removed from the equation.
From childhood, she's felt compared to her other family members: her eldest and youngest siblings prodigies, her twin particularly talented with innate magic, and she had no natural skills towards which she was particularly inclined. Her resulting jealousy is another matter, but Ruhong took matters into her own hands. She refused to be seen as "less than" and worked, putting in the hours, desperate for the same kind of praise and adoration her siblings came by naturally. For a long time, she saw herself as much of a chosen holy warrior as any golden-souled kalashtar and hated to be acknowledged as anything but: leading her into the confrontation with a much-more-powerful kalashtar who simply put her to sleep, tied her up, scarred her face, and could have done much worse.
While Ruhong has learned, through much trial and error, that she cannot simply waltz into every encounter expecting to be the victor because she is special, she often still overestimates her abilities or judgement, such as her belief that she could barter with the black dragon Ebonwrath and his army. This frequently leads her into situations in which she is deeply over her head. She hates to be embarrassed, hates to be thought of as less than anyone else, hates to be seen as someone small, even if she is. While this pride does push her to better herself daily, it also leads her into situations that she could have avoided and regularly clouds her judgement.
» VANITY. Part and parcel of Ruhong's pride, of course, is her vanity. She loves to be praised for any reason and seeks out opportunities to show off her physical talents and strength (offering to train others with the sword or helping with heavy lifting not only to help for the sake of it), but she has made a particular point of caring for and seeking praise for her appearance as well.
Despite the fact that makeup is not practical, Ruhong regularly wears face powder and lip paint to enhance the color of her eyes. She takes deep care with her hair, wearing it mostly down and long rather than tied back and out of the way, and carefully applies huadian to her forehead every day. She wants to be the kind of attractive that is intimidating, and she leans on it: willing to use others' attention on her to get what she wants, as much as she can. And if she is praised, well—of course she is. That's only natural.
» JEALOUSY. Someone proud and vain is probably going to be easily jealous, and that's the case with Ruhong. She's not jealous about everything: Ruhong feels mostly secure with her relationships, for example, and wouldn't necessarily question someone's affection for her were someone else to enter the scene. However, she would get jealous of someone giving another person more attention, even if she felt no jealousy about the actual fact of her relationship status with that person.
She's also jealous of her siblings, especially her youngest sibling and younger sister, Sujin. Sujin, a kalashtar with a golden dragon's dream-spirit, was an incredibly talented child. While her cultivation skills were slower than Ruhong's and their brothers', Sujin's martial prowess and speed were unmatched along with her talent for meditation. The siblings' grandmother and clan mother quickly took to Sujin with a level of favoritism that did not go unnoticed to Ruhong. Training and meditation came easily to Ruhong, who struggled to build her strength and for whom meditation and focus was particularly difficult. She resented, and still resents, Sujin for this, deeply jealous of the favor and affection the younger sister was given by her other family members—and now too that Sujin is the Yun Clan leader.
» MANIPULATION. Look, when you're hot, and when people pay attention when you talk, you learn to like what you can get out of it. Ruhong is no exception. Vain when it comes to her appearance and charismatic enough to know how to hold attention, Ruhong has learned to use it. She will flirt with strangers to tease out a rumor she heard whispered a table behind her, seduce a detective to entice him to share his secret case files, or lie to a court of nobles to convince them to send their soldiers to join her in a quest to eliminate evil. Even if she won't be proud of it, Ruhong will do it.
Despite this, Ruhong is averse to becoming close with others, hates being touched, and withdraws from intimacy. She does have strong lines in the sand and doesn't push her own boundaries. She'll use what she can to get what she wants, but never if it will make herself uncomfortable. She wouldn't admit that it's a self-defense mechanism, but if you can't get close to someone, you can't get hurt. If you get just close enough, you can leave before you're too far gone.
» ANGER. Proud, vain, and sometimes jealous, of course Ruhong would also be quick to anger. That she has a temper should be expected. That it simmers, often, close to the surface should also not be surprising. It's one reason that meditation has always been so difficult for Ruhong: there's always something hot and boiling in the back of her mind, and when she latches onto something, Ruhong does not easily let go.
As capricious and unpredictable as the gem dragon's dream-spirit, Ruhong saddles the line between light and dark with her soul's natural neutral alignment, and her anger is one area where this really comes to light. When she fights, it's violent, explosive, and brutal, almost as though she's letting all of that anger out as a release. It can often snap in conversation, too, if she is impatient or frightened: Ruhong will not hesitate to threaten someone and mean it. The madness she has gained through her extended isolation and plane-hopping does not help here, either, as whispers of other realities touch her mind and overtake her deepest, angriest thoughts. She doesn't like to be angry and tries to rein herself in, but sometimes temper just happens, and what matters next is the fallout.
» IMPULSIVITY. Ruhong has had to work to fight back the worst of her urges and impulses from childhood, which is all part of what meditation is supposed to help with doing. And look, she works at it, because there is a part of her soul that is always hungry. Ruhong wants, and she wants hard, and sometimes that voice is just a little too hard to ignore.
She makes decisions quickly, and those decisions aren't always good ones: taking an archfey's deal even while knowing it was a bad idea because she wanted to see what would happen, for example, or challenging a rival before knowing anything about the person's history or relative power level. But sometimes the impulses are smaller, too. Sometimes even Ruhong doesn't always know where they come from. An element of this is from her madness: siezing the detective in anger, cornering him against a wall for no reason, or even the temptation to lift a heart to her lips when kneeling over a dead body. Some of the worst ones Ruhong can fight back, and she truly does try to fight it back. But she can't hold back everything.
» POSSESSIVENESS. Dragons are known for their greediness and hoarding habits, and, well, that can apply to a lot of things. Ruhong is materialistic: she likes fine things no matter how ascetic her community tried to raise her to be. Not to say that she can't manage just fine with simple necessities—she'll do it without complaint, even—but when given the choice, why wouldn't she choose something nicer?
So when Ruhong finds something nice, she keeps it, and she doesn't like to let it go. She has three swords on her person and can only use and attune to one at a time, but the others are hers, so she's not giving it up. And as much as this applies to inanimate objects, this applies to people, too: once they are hers, she's not giving them up.
» PARANOIA. When you're taught from a young age that your enemy knows how to lie, manipulate, and hide in the shadows, you're not going to be quick to trust, and you're going to see signs of that enemy everywhere. This is a problem for Ruhong. She is neither particularly insightful nor intelligent, and she knows this about herself. When it comes to understanding or picking up on hints, she's often a bit slow or behind. To compensate for this, Ruhong trusts few people, if any, and that trust is very hard won. She sees agents of the Dark everywhere, often convinced that she is wrapped up in a plot meant to bring down her people and their goal. Better to be too careful and wrong than not careful and wrong.
+ THEMES
Ruhong's character conception began from asking two questions: how hard is someone willing to work to be good? and how far are they willing to go for it?
Traditionally, paladins in D&D are lawful. With the exception of Oathbreakers, they are usually lawful good. Kalashtar have a strict code of ethics and relgion and are often good, too, and most of Ruhong's clanmates (including her sister, Sujin) are indeed lawful good. However, Ruhong is chaotic good, and she is chaotic rather than lawful for a reason. First, Ruhong's quori dream-spirit is that of a gem dragon, which itself is traditionally a neutral alignment. Second, as a paladin, she swears an oath to uphold her faith—and what happens when a paladin is deeply committed to that oath at all costs?
There's still an argument to be made her for a lawful alignment, but kalashtar society also raises Shadow Watchers alongside the Lightbringers. Ruhong was raised as the former, not the latter: someone committed to driving out and obliterating the Dreaming Dark and its allies rather than bringing out the turning of the ages by spreading good. The end goal is the same: Ruhong genuinely believes in the Path of Light and in the destruction of the Dreaming Dark, and where she can, she does want to apply the teachings of the light to those around her. But someone has to be the bulwark. Someone has to make the difficult choices. And, sometimes, chaotic good characters can be committed to achieving the greater good, even at their own detriment. She will do violent things as long as it brings about something good or causes the downfall of her enemies.
And to be clear: Ruhong genuinely believes in the Path of Light, even as she struggles with her own nature. She admires the Lightbringers more than she will admit, because they are the ones doing good. She believes she has to make the hard choices, like lying to the court of Kalaman to raise on army to try to strike at the heart of evil on the continent, even knowing that most of the soliders would die in the attempt. She has to work to be good and choose to dedicate herself to the Path, even when she does difficult things. What is grey morality, really? And how can we make it work to uphold a narrative that ultimately focuses on choosing to be good?
She's mentally unwell and mechanically has two levels of indefinite madness. Mental health isn't always something explored at the table, for good reason, but it has been in her campaigns. Part of Ruhong's struggle is that she's unwell and has never had a good support system: she was essentially raised as a child soldier and sent out on her own as a teenager. Kalashtar develop unusually quickly, sure, but there's nothing like a little found family narrative or the journey of learning to be better and learning to rely on others.
Ruhong was created to be a character who actively engages her flaws and tries to grow from them without undermining who she is as a person. She's meant to be highly charismatic and likable while also being someone who's vain, paranoid, quick to anger and violence, and has a lot of deeply flawed traits! But that's all part of being a person and learning to accept both the good and bad parts of ourselves.
Other Details.
+ VISUAL
REFERENCE SHEET.
DESCRIPTION FORTHCOMING.
+ AURAL
ACCENT. Received Pronunciation (RP). Putonghua. She sounds posh.
PITCH. Bright to medium pitch. Drops to a low, gravelly pitch when angry.
TIMBRE. Smooth, melodic, and full. Drops to rough and resonant when angry.
TONE. Confident and authoritative.
ARTICULATION. Precise and deliberate.
+ PALADIN TENETS
1. DEFENSE AGAINST THE DARK. The bridges between the Material Plane and Dal Quor may be severed, but forces wish to connect the two one more. You cannot allow this to happen.
2. MIND OVER MATTER. Inner strength is more important than outer. Think before you act. Your actions should always be mighty.
2. UNYIELDING WIT. Your charm and wit are second to none. You find pleasure in being the most well-spoken in the room.
3. PEACE AT ANY COST. To keep the harmony of the world intact, you will do whatever is necessary to keep it balanced—even commit violence.
+ PALADIN FEATURES
DIVINE SENSE. As an action, Ruhong can detect good and evil. Until the end of her next turn, she can sense anything affected by the hallow spell or know the location of any celestial, fiend, undead within 60 ft. that is not behind total cover.
LAY ON HANDS. Ruhong has a pool of healing power that can restore health per long rest. As an action, she can touch a creature to restore any number of HP remaining in the pool, or 5 HP to either cure a disease or neutralize a poison affecting the creature.
SPELLCASTING. Ruhong can cast prepared paladin spells using charisma as her spellcasting modifier.
DIVINE SMITE. When Ruhong hits with a melee weapon attack, she can expend one spell slot to deal extra radiant damage to the target plus additional damage against undead or fiends. (Improved Divine Smite: Whenever she hits with a melee weapon attack, the target automatically takes additional radiant damage.)
HARNESS DIVINE POWER. Ruhong can expend a use of her Channel Divinity to fuel her spells. As a bonus action, Ruhong can touch her holy symbol, utter a prayer, and regain one expended spell slot, which can be no higher than level 3. She regains all expended uses when she finishes a long rest.
DIVINE HEALTH. Ruhong is immune to disease.
AURA OF PROTECTION. While Ruhong is conscious, she grants all friendly creatures (including herself) within 10 ft. a bonus to all saving throws.
AURA OF COURAGE. While Ruhong is conscious, she and friendly creatures within 10 ft. can’t be frightened.
CLEANSING TOUCH. Ruhong can use her action to end one spell on herself or on one willing creature that she touches.
+ PALADIN OATH ABILITIES
OATH SPELLS
» 3rd level - Wrathful Smite, Hellish Rebuke
» 5th level - Flame Blade, Shadow Blade
» 9th level - Thunder Step, Ashardalon's Stride
» 13th level - Fire Shield, Raulothim's Psychic Lance
» 17th level - Synaptic Static, Immolation
CHANNEL DIVINITY
» Concentration Disruption: You muddy the mind of an attacker, slowing down their mind and their body. When a creature within 30 feet of you makes an attack roll, you can use your reaction to apply to that creature a -10 bonus to the roll, using your Channel Divinity. You make this choice after you see the roll, but before the DM says whether the attack hits or misses.
» Charm of the Dragon: The Apostle of the Dragon may draw upon its charisma in a time of need. When another creature attempts to charm or frighten you, you can use your reaction to attempt to turn the charm or frighten back on that creature. The creature must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your Paladin spell save DC or be charmed or frightened by you for 1 minute or until the creature takes any damage.
AURA OF SCALES
Beginning at 7th level, ancient magic guards you like the scales of a dragon. You and friendly creatures within 10 feet of you have resistance to Psychic and Fire Damage. At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.
INFALLIBLE MIND
Starting at 15th level, your mind becomes as impenetrable as a dragon’s den. You are now immune to Psychic Damage, as well as having advantage against the Charmed and Frightened conditions.
+ SPECIES TRAITS
DUAL MIND. Ruhong has advantage on all Wisdom saving throws.
MIND LINK. Ruhong can speak telepathically to any creature she can see within 150 ft. of her. She doesn't need to share a language with the creature for it to understand, but the creature must be able to understand at least one language.
When Ruhong is speaking telepathically to a creature, she can give that creature the ability to speak telepathically with her for the next hour, or until she ends this effect as an action.
SEVERED FROM DREAMS. Ruhong is immune to magical spells and effects that require the target to dream, like the Dream spell, but not to spells and effects that put you to sleep, like the Sleep spell.
+ FEATS
GIFT OF THE GEM DRAGON. When you take damage from a creature within 10 ft. of you, you can use a reaction to force the creature to make a STR saving throw. On failure, the target takes force damage and is pushed up to 10 ft. away from you. On success, the target takes half as much damage and isn't pushed.
MOUNTED COMBATANT. While you are mounted and aren't incapacitated, you have advantage on melee attack rolls against any unmounted creature that is smaller than your mount. You can force an attack targeted at your mount to target you instead. If your mount is subjected to an effect that allows it to make a DEX saving throw to take only half damage, it instead takes no damage if it succeeds on the saving throw, and only half damage if it fails.
TELEPATHIC. You are able to speak telepathically to any creature, as long as you share a language. You also learn the Detect Thoughts spell and can cast this spell without expending a spell slot, recharging on a long rest. You can also cast this spell using spell slots you have of the appropriate level.
MAGIC INITIATE: SORCERER. You learn two cantrips and one 1st-level spell of your choice from the sorcerer spell list.
» Control Flames
» Fire Bolt
» Silvery Barbs
PERMISSIONS
PHYSICAL VIOLENCE: yes
ROMANCE/FLIRTING: yes
SMUT: yes
MIND READING: yes
BACKTAGGING: yes
THREADHOPPING: yes
⚠️ CONTENT WARNINGS: potentially violence, blood, religion/faith
⚠️ ASK BEFORE PLAYING: non-con
if you are unsure or wish to opt out of anything, do not hesitate to reach out.