ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS!
Before I begin, let me say out loud that I DO NOT own Ironclaw 2e and any of the intellectual
properties contained therein. Ironclaw is
a product of Sanguine Games and the
author of this drivel had no part in the creation of said game. All rights
belong strictly to Sanguine Games and
they have the final say with all their intellectual properties.
Also, if you’re reading this right now Afreemanornot, you have my absolute gratitude in giving exposure to
the fiction I’ve written no matter how utterly horrible it is!
A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO “STORM TALON”
Storm Talon is a
fanfic based on the setting of Ironclaw
2e, a roleplaying game similar to Dungeons
& Dragons but with anthropomorphic animals instead of the usual races
like elves and dwarves. To start with, I wanted to GM for a campaign of the
same name for any group of players in one of the furry communities I had
recently joined. Unfortunately, few had even heard of the game and even fewer
were interested in the kind of roleplaying I had in mind.
Having lost my recent job, frustrated, stressed and fed up
with the political situation in the Philippines, I just decided to turn my
campaign into a fanfic instead...
So please enjoy the train wreck that is Storm Talon!
A LITTLE CONTEXT...
Anyway, for context, the world of Ironclaw contains three major continents: Calabria, Zhongguo and
Akoma which are rough analogues to the real-world continents of Europe, Asia
and Africa, respectively. That said however, Storm Talon takes place in none of those aforementioned continents and is instead
set in an original world called Felominar and the bulk of the story takes place in the vast Thessonia Ocean. What
hasn’t changed from the source material are the species (although I added a few
as you will soon see), careers (I've added a few more of those as well) and terminologies.
MAIN AND P.O.V. CHARACTERS
Vicente “Vic” Dubois
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Species: Collared Lemming
Career: Peasant
Motto/Quote: “I will face any challenge to get my sister
back!”
Goals:
1.
Rescue Pia Dubois, his older sister, from the
clutches of Don Sebastian, the Lich Pirate.
2.
Prove his worth to his family.
3.
Eat grilled corn lathered with butter.
Character Backstory:
The
thirteenth child of Elmer and Dolores Dubois, Vic has always seen himself as a
source of sorrow and misfortune to his family. Sadly, most of his siblings and
even his father shares this sentiment, sending his self-esteem plummeting down
a deep, dark abyss. That said, his mother and his sister Pia believe in his
potentials and believe that he may one day become a man of worth should he be
given the chance. When his mother died when he was a young lad, Pia took over
taking care of him and told him stories of courage and heroism the same way
Dolores did. Pia cheered him on in his efforts while his other brothers and
sisters mocked and dismissed him as “useless”.
Then,
one terrible day while on a trip to Cormalen City, Pia was abducted and taken hostage by the dreaded Admiral Donato
“Don-Don” Sebastian, the undead leader of the Grim Sails pirate fleet. Having witnessed
his own sister being taken away by Grim Sail pirates, Vic vowed never to return
home without Pia. He would either save his sister or he would die trying.
Prince Gaius Faulkner
Age: 28
Gender: Male
Species: Lion
Career: Dilettante
Motto/Quote: “It is no bad thing to celebrate a simple life!”
Goals:
1.
Carve out a life of his own away from the
politics inherent in his family.
2.
Live a simple but comfortable existence.
3.
Read the latest volume of 50 Hues of Silver while no one is looking.
Character Backstory:
The
second son of King Fabius and Queen Babette, younger brother to Cassius
Faulkner and older brother to Decius Faulkner, Gaius seeks only to live a
simple but comfortable existence away from the political troubles of his
family. Sickened of Cassius’ arrogance and constant posturing, tired of Decius’
trickery and relentless scheming and, most of all, fed up with being used as a
pawn in a huge political game, Gaius fled to Pyril in the hopes of escaping his
brothers and their lackeys. Since he arrived in the port city of Cormalen five
years ago, he has lived comfortably as a trader of exotic spices and vegetation
like durians which are native only to Pyril aboard his luxurious but well-armed
man-o’-war, the Chenodia.
When he
heard there was a huge manhunt for the pirate Admiral Sebastian, he was quick
to join and commit what forces he had as a prince to the search and capture of
the dreaded scalawag. He has done this not only as a public service to the
people of Pyril but to prove to his family, once and for all, that he can hold
his own and is not, was never and never will be interested in their petty plots
against one another. He knows for a fact that, should he manage to capture the
dreaded pirate, he will forever be honored and remembered as a hero across all
the continents and might be even given a small kingdom of his own away from the influence of his family, should he succeed.
Zenaida Ivanov
Age: 24
Gender: Female
Species: Tiger
Career: Hospitaler
Motto/Quote: “Once, I offered the Radiant Lamb my life, but now I
offer him my death!”
Goals:
1.
Atone for her past mistakes, even if it means
her demise.
2.
Bring death to all necromancers and undead.
3.
Roast and eat sweet potatoes by a fire.
Character Backstory:
Zenaida
Ivanov was a simple but devout woman who later joined the Twilight Crusade
which sought to defeat and kill an ambitious necromancer somewhere in the desert near Valmoren. Thanks to her courage and dedication to physical training, she
quickly rose to the rank of army captain which, at the time, brought her
much pride and joy. But then, one day, she was tricked into the service of an
inquisitor who had already been raised as a vampire by the same necromancer she
and her comrades were meant to fight. On a night she would never forget, she
was duped into fighting her fellow crusaders whom the inquisitor told her to be
heretics and infidels while the newly turned vampire went and slaughtered the village Zenaida was meant to protect from the forces of darkness. It was at
dawn that Zenaida came to realize her folly and was immediately excommunicated from her order and
deemed unworthy of even being executed. She was then exiled to the far-flung
lands of Pyril where she has worked as an occasional sell-sword and bouncer at
a local tavern in Cormalen.
When news
arrived that a hunt had begun for the lich pirate Admiral Sebastian, Zenaida
saw a chance at redemption. She quickly volunteered to join a privateer
company in the hopes of fighting and hopefully destroying the dreaded undead
pirate and his minions herself. She knows now that this may be her very last
chance at redeeming herself in the eyes of the Radiant Lamb and has dedicated herself
to the goal of putting an end to Admiral Sebastian’s reign of terror even with
the knowledge that she could very well die in the process.
Captain Beryl Meralco
Age: 26
Gender: Female
Species: Mink
Career: Bounty-Hunter
Motto/Quote: “My husband would never do that!”
Goals:
1.
Capture Admiral Sebastian for the massive
reward.
2.
Solve the mystery of her husband’s untimely
death.
3.
Protect her children from bad or corruptive
influences.
Character Backstory:
Born
Beryl Paddington, Captain Meralco is the wife of the late Antonio Meralco and
mother to Tony and Tina Meralco. Her life was simple enough at first, what with
her husband being a wealthy tobacco merchant, but her son soon fell ill with ghost
pox, a poorly understood and bizarre condition seldom seen outside of Pyril. As
if that wasn’t enough, her husband soon committed suicide with the rest of his
immediate family (parents and siblings) by jumping off a cliff when he went to
visit them. Refusing to believe that her husband would even contemplate such a
thing, what with a son who was almost always in need of medical attention,
Beryl insisted that her husband’s death was either a murder or that some form
of coercion was involved. To this day she is haunted by the death of her
husband and constantly seeks to discover what had really happened on the day
that he and his family had taken their own lives.
Beryl
later became a privateer using her husband’s original ship The Golden Bride and its crew to pay for her son’s extremely high
medical bills. While difficult and dangerous, she was determined to ensure her
children’s future at the cost of her own life if need be. While she had lost
her husband’s ship, she had managed to capture Admiral Sebastian and had
brought him to Cormalen to be processed. She was due a hefty reward for her
efforts but alas the pirate managed to escape and her reward was cancelled. Luckily,
all was not lost for the privateer captain as help came from a most surprising
source.
Not exactly a main character per se, but since all heroes
are said to be only as strong as the villain, I give you the fearsome leader of
the Grim Sail pirates himself...
Admiral Donato “Don-Don” Sebastian
Age: ?
Gender: Male
Species: Komodo Dragon
Career: Lich/Pirate
Motto/Quote: “It’s not death you should fear but what you’ll
find yourself forced to live with!”
Goals:
1.
Unknown. He seems to be seeking something. Or someone.
2.
Pirate and sell banned books as well as concoct
and peddle prohibited liquors.
3.
Produce and profit from illegal theatrical
plays.
Character Backstory:
The
dreaded Pirate Admiral began his mortal life as a commoner whose only desire
was to explore and discover more about the world. He traveled often, usually
with his childhood friend and later betrothed Fina Vaughn, and had seen much of
Calabria, Zhongguo, Akoma and Pyril and had even gone on to explore the
mysterious continent of Xenji beyond the known world. Unfortunately, it was
said that it was in his travels in the land of Xenji that Donato first
discovered black magic and became obsessed with it, later transforming himself
into a vile undead sorcerer known as a lich. According to stories told
throughout the centuries, Donato went mad with power and murdered Fina Vaughn
who was carrying his child at the time as a kind of sacrifice to the gods he
had come to worship. Admiral Sebastian is feared throughout the world if the
reward for his capture or destruction, 3,000,000,000 Aureals (or gold coins) and perhaps even more,
is anything to go by.
These days
Admiral Sebastian sails the waters of the Thessonia Ocean in search of ships he
may capture or loot or those he may sell his pirated goods to. He has a
particular hatred for Xenjese ships and will almost always attack them over
Pyril’s own navy and constabulary even though the latter is probably the
greatest threat to him. According to what the Pyrilian Navy has discovered so
far, Admiral Sebastian seems mostly content to pirate and sell books banned by
either or both the government and the clergy such as The Salacious Secrets of Pyril’s Clergy, The Xenjese Agenda: Enemies Among Us, The Turtle Code: What Pyril’s Clergy Isn’t Telling Us, The Unholy
Debaucheries of Emperor Pu and the ever-infamous 50 Hues of Silver. He also takes part in the production of coconut
vodka, also called “lambanog” among the local Pyrilians, which is unfortunately
illegal even though opium brought over from Xenji is not just more addictive
and harmful is actually legal. He also produces stage plays that are otherwise outlawed
by the government and or church usually starring his own crew at fairly
affordable prices.
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