Of Politics and Player Characters

Looking at my feeds this week had two main themes: politics and dungeons and dragons.

Let’s get the not-so-fun but necessary stuff out of the way. I wrote a lot about politics this week over on my social media, but I doubt you want to read all my thoughts about that. To summarize:

• Ron DeSantis dropped out of the race for the GOP presidential nomination
• Chaya Raichik was appointed to an Oklahoma library advisory committee
• Ohio banned gender affirming care for minors over the Republican governor’s veto; then got on a call with Michigan legislators and talked about their endgame of banning care for everyone, everywhere
• Texas all but declared war on Mexico using language reminiscent of the articles of secession
• 2/3 of self-identified Republicans say they support Trump over any specific policy
• SCOTUS ruled 5-4 that federal laws supersede state laws (this should have been a 9-0 decision)
• The so-called “Kids Online Safety Act” (KOSHA) is back up for a vote; call your representatives to vote against this censorship

Here’s some scripts to help you out, timed to about one minute in normal speaking voice, and tailored for more liberal and more conservative politicians:

---

Now for the fun stuff.

I didn’t do any book reading this week, but I did write a bit in my journal, so that’s a win.

I also achieved a small personal milestone. After almost four years on the office side of higher education, and now with three years’ experience in my area, I submitted my first conference proposal for a panel on utilizing a CRM on a community college campus. (Just in case you don’t know, a CRM is customer resource management software.)

My nose started hurting this week, and it turned out that my pores were so clogged they were becoming inflamed. Looks live I’ve started a new skincare routine this week.

This week was also national rhubarb pie day. I made this image and thankfully no one pointed out that the stock photo labeled “rhubarb pie” actually appears to be cherry.

---

There were two big things in D&D this week:

After a few weeks off we picked back up with our Legacy campaign – as I type this the notes aren’t updated but I’m not going to publish this post until they are. Muwahahaha

One of our D&D friends is starting their own campaign (which will allow our two main DMs to be players) and so this week has been quite fun with character creation. I really really really want to share everything about this character, so get ready for some information overload.

If you’re not interested in D&D, or if you’re one of my friends that cares about spoilers, feel free to stop reading now. Otherwise, allow me to introduce . . .

Deer Walking in Autumn Leaves

The Particulars

Name: Deer Walking through Autumn Leaves

Nicknames: Rustle

Titles: The Bloodied Bird, The Watching Dark 

Class: Monk 6 | Fighter 1

Subclass: Way of the Shadow

God: Quorlinn (nominally)

Alignment: Chaotic

Race: Kenku

Age: early 20s

Birthday: Scorpio 

Gender: Neutral; Androgynous; Undisclosed

Pronouns: They/Them

Size: medium

Height: 5’6” 

Weight: 105 lbs

Feathers: iridescent blue and purple (with some subtle hints of green) 

Eye Color: bluish-brown 

Distinguishing Features: 

Rustle bears a blood fury tattoo, which is described as “evoking fury in its forms and colors”. Across all nations, black and red have long been associated with rage and fury; lucky for Rustle they’re mostly black. However, the tattoo must leave its mark, and close observers will notice some feathers on Rustle’s legs and torso are tinged or tipped with red as if splattered with paint . . . or blood.

Voice: in addition to the sounds Rustle mimics, they speak with the voices of two men and one woman. The voices often sound gruff and exasperated regardless of the situation.

Signature Weapon: Fists 

The Backstory

Deer Walking through Autumn Leaves was Kenku, and most would consider that all they needed to know. Scoundrels, miscreants, the necessary but despised dregs of society – they had heard them all and then some. But, like most, this particular Kenku had so much more to offer.

They were the child of First Strike of the Anvil on a Winter Day and Birdsong in the Pine Grove at Twilight and the sibling of Running Water under Moonlit Ice and Falling Timber in a Summer Thunderstorm and had a rather lovely if simple childhood farming a mountainside meadow near a secluded monastery.

Their family had learned long ago it was best to settle into the background and not call too much attention to oneself, while also realizing that complete isolation posed its own problems. Unfortunately, Rustle (as they were inevitably called by anyone who met them) wasn’t going to entirely blend in, even by Kenku standards.

It is a legend now long considered fact that Kenku are under a curse for some long-ago transgression. They lost their ability to fly, with no Kenku born with wings since time immemorial. They lost their creativity, though they have since become renowned forgers and copyists. They lost their voice, able only to speak with speech and sound they heard before. They lost their darkvision, their birdlike eyes replaced with those resembling    humans. 

But even a curse might fail in subtle ways once every millennia, and so it was that Rustle was born with blindsight. Those ten feet were like a hundred miles, but they also attracted . . . attention. Rustle was sent to the monastery; perhaps the monks could do something with them. The monks began to train Rustle in the art of meditation and mastery of self. Rustle showed promise, though they also took a brief detour in their training when a traveling fencing master found sanctuary in the monastery. First Strike of the Anvil had been an accomplished two-weapon samurai fighter in his own right before opting to retire to the wilds, and he convinced the monks to allow Rustle to train under the instructor-in-hiding (a human named Cosmo Dew). Rustle completed the most basic training before realizing fighting wasn’t for him. It had nothing to do with the violence; it had everything to do with mindset. Fighting asked one to know their enemy; Rustle felt compelled to know himself more. And so it was that he found himself training under the monks at the monastery. Falling Timber in a Summer Thunderstorm showed much more promise and eventually left the farm, accompanying Cosmo Dew with the family’s blessing.

The monastery itself was rather unique in that it was not dedicated to any one Way, but rather to helping young novices find the Way most suitable to their character. The monastery was governed by a rotating board of three monks of differing Ways, who in turn required the novices under their influence to take a vow of silence until their Way was made evident. As such, Rustle did not pick up many sounds here, though he did learn how to mimic sounds like shuffling papers, creaking doors, and snoring monks. They certainly learned the art of copying documents under the tutelage of Vuris Tazziros (Dragonborn; Way of Long Death),  Kelora Keenbough (Halfling; Way of the Open Hand), and Taeral Olana (Wood Elf; Way of the Kensei). 

Perhaps it was inevitable that Rustle felt drawn to the Way of Shadow, but that’s exactly where they found themselves. Their family weren’t the only ones drawn to the wilds; bandits roamed there as well, and Rustle often went out on scouting duty, blending into the shadows, becoming one with the night – and picking up some speech and skills from the bandits in turn. Forging an item meant being able to reproduce it, and to reproduce it one had to understand it, and Rustle found that approaching a trap with the intent to copy it would often result in the knowledge of disarming whatever tripwire, metal-jawed trap, or collapsing column of logs the bandits thought would keep them safe. 

It must be said that not all bandits are created equal. Some rob from the rich and give to the poor. Others rob from both rich and poor and give to themselves. It was the latter Rustle had a problem with, though the problem seemed to resolve itself sooner rather than later and after a while the more superstitious of the bandits started whispering of one they called The Bloodied Bird or the Watching Dark.

Seasons come and go and life changes. First Strike of the Anvil and Birdsong in the Pine Grove grew older and decided to move closer to Birdsong in the Pine Grove’s Circle of the Moon order of druids. Rustle imagined Running Water under Winter Ice would not stay with them there for long; they sought magic of a different kind. How different, they did not know.

Rustle made permanent the dwelling the monks allowed them in the monastery tower, continuing to act as scout and striker and sometime “supernatural entity” of the nearby forest (though after a time the tales told among the bandits around their fires greatly exaggerated Rustle’s capabilities). They often took small spoils from the bandits, trinkets really, and soon learned how to copy things like arrest warrants, blackmail letters, letters of introduction, news sheets and pamphlets, and even a pardon or two. Rustle felt compelled to keep a trinket from those missions resulting in another level of knowledge, and so accrued: 

1. a piece of crystal that glows faintly in the moonlight 
2. an old chess piece (a rook) made of glass 
3. a tiny silver icon of a raven 
4. a tiny silver bell without the clapper 
5. a silver spoon with “M” engraved on the handle
6. a brass ring that never tarnishes 
7. a crystal doorknob  

It must be admitted that Rustle did very little to dispel the stereotype that Kenku are attracted to shiny things. It is quite natural that, over the course of the six-to-eight years Rustle spent with the monks (and fighting bandits) that several magical items would come into possession. 

First came the Goggles of Night, a gift from Kelora Keenbough upon Rustle’s official entry into the monastery. She had the foresight to see that some explanation would be needed for Rustle’s non-Kenku ability to see in the dark; as far as Rustle knew, she was the only other one aside from parents who knew about the blindsight . . . He did, however, object to wearing the owl-looking glasses over their own avian-like face and had the lenses placed in a simpler pair of spectacles (held securely to the head by a leather strap). 

Then came the Leg Band of Elvenkind, a parting gift from Birdsong in the Pine Grove. Kenku feet are not made to wear boots, but someone had enchanted a leg band granting Birdsong the same effect. It must be said that while banding a bird has certain connotations, this leg band is clearly a type of jewelry or other article of clothing willingly worn by the wearer. Rustle appreciated how much their parents had done to keep them safe.

Even the bandits provided for Rustle, when one night Rustle came into possession of two items that redirected their life.

The first was a pamphlet, a cheap thing quickly produced on paper rapidly falling apart that nonetheless angered Rustle. It was the soon-to-be typical drivel about Kenku being untrustworthy threats to society prone to criminal activity. It planted a seed in Rustle’s mind that bore fruit some months later . . .

The second item Rustle found wrapped in the paper: a mysterious needle looking very much like the ones the monks used to tattoo themselves. Rustle had a habit of fiddling with things, and holding the needle against an upper thigh, felt the magical flow of ink begin to course, eventually leaving Rustle with an indiscernible pattern on the legs and torso: every so often in the right light a feather looked like it had been spattered with red paint . . . or blood. 

Keeping it a secret proved easy, and in fact Rustle had nearly forgotten about it until several months later when one bandit saw Rustle in the shadows and, advancing, muttered something about a “no-good skulking scavenger” that would make “good target practice”.  Rustle took that personally, and reaching out grabbed the bandit by the throat to throttle him. Rustle was quite surprised when the man’s neck began rotting away from necrotic damage. The bandit was equally surprised, but for far shorter a time than Rustle – who determined then and there to change society’s perception of Kenku by undoing the curse and restoring themself – and hopefully all Kenku – to their true selves.

Now with a new purpose and new ability, Rustle left their home of many years, seeking something more than what could be found within the walls of the monastery and the mazes of the bandit caves.

---

Well, that’s me covered. What have you been up to?