Raith Draft V.

1
Concepts
Why is your character adventuring?
Raith has always gone where death is. He finds comfort in guiding souls to Dolurrh. He receives vague hints from the
Queen to go places. She’s sent him to different cities and remote places.

He’s built a life for himself in each place;

1. Doctor
2. Embalmer
3. Farmer
4. Curator
5. Librarian

What motivates your character?

Redemption
1. He was sent to attack one of Lady Illmarrow’s envoys, they not only failed, but she managed to raise his
siblings under her control. He hopes to release their souls.
2. After successfully attack one of Illmarrow’s main envoys, they retaliated by attacking the Gloaming. Raith
went into hiding, doing small jobs. Hoping to free the souls of his siblings. No network anymore, mostly on
his own.
Maintaining the cycle. Lil to no death means no new memories.
1. Directly sent from his duties of bringing souls to the Queen, now he goes after the Queen of the Dead.
2. A Large Meld is being formed from the amassing army of undead. Raith needs to track down the main
nucleus and send it back.
Where did your character grow up?
Gloaming. Dolurrh.
Why is your character their current class?
The concept of life and death are intrinsic to Druids. Druids of the Queen of the Dead maintain that
balance.
Backstory
Main Inspirations

 Grim Reaper
 Death from Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman
 Caduceus Clay

Early Life

The plane of Dolurrh has become coterminous, the shades of the Eldeen trees grow ever so long and darker. Colour
seeps away into the soil. Under the perfectly aligned stars, the Children of Winter await new arrivals from the Queen
under a large dying tree in the Gloaming. Acolytes of the Queen given new purpose. Out from the curtain of
darkness, a group of Shadar Kai step through, naked and afraid. The last of this group to arrive is Raith.

Midsommar vibes

Their lives began as a family. So much so that, over his early life, he lost over half of his fellow shadar kai siblings.
Some fell to sickness, others died to the predators of the Gloaming. However, there were too many times when they
could have been saved. Raith had the ability to cure one of his sister’s illnesses, but the other Children stopped him.
They said to him, “If she isn’t strong enough to survive, then her fate is with the Queen.”

“It is as natural to die as it is to be born.”

The Queen Mother spoke to each of them uniquely and at a time when they’re ready. Her voice came to him during
a communal meditation. Siting under the constellations, she would invoke words of wisdom into Raith. They would
ponder some of the memories she shared with him, lives of seemingly random people from the past. It was during
this first commune that the fellow Children saw him levitate above the mass circle, glowing in the constellations of
the night sky, still in trance with the Queen. In that moment she summoned Raith to Dolurrh.

The first time that Raith met the Queen of the Dead, she stood far above him at the top of her Spire in the Vault of
Memories. She descends fast to fall right in front of Raith, never breaking eye contact. She speaks to him, “Welcome
home, my child.”
After the Mourning, many Children believed it to be the Time of Winter finally coming. Raith was one of the few to
doubt this, wondering if destruction of this magnitude was natural at all. What followed was an exodus of the
Children en masse, some seeking truth, others seeking to begin the end.

Raith would spend decades, seeking answers to the unbalance of death on Eberron. He would communicate
thoroughly with the other Children of Winter across the globe, following trails of unnatural death and life. Bringing
an end to both where they could.

Middle

Not really sure what to fill in for 40 years but the main points could be

 Catches wind of the Blood of Vol/Emerald Claw > Lady Illmarrow

 Investigated the Shadow Schism
 Not sure how much they could influence things

Now

Invasion of Lhazaar Principalities -> Solo? With a Squad?

Ship Doctor ->

NPCS, goals other than the main Queen of the Dead, more personal

- Where I want this character going/ personal achievement?

- Has he ever been tested on his beliefs of life and death?

Keith Baker Blog

GUARDIAN OF FATE. 

In Eberron, fate is determined by the Draconic Prophecy. One option is to say that the Raven Queen knows the path
the Prophecy is supposed  to follow. When forces on Eberron—the Lords of Dust, the Chamber, the Undying Court—
seek to change that path, the Raven Queen seeks to set things right, either using shadar-kai or pushing player
characters onto the right path.

All of these are valid options, and you can mix and match them: She rules a layer of Mabar, but she was once an elf
queen and seeks to destroy the Undying Court. She’s a power in Dolurrh and served by the Children of Winter. But
there’s a final option that’s MY personal favorite, as it brings a number of different ideas together: tragic Elven
backstory, mortal who’s become a godlike being, guardian of the natural cycle of death, mysterious motives and ties
to fate, specific tie to Eberron. And that’s ERANDIS VOL.

The Children of Winter

The Children of Winter see death, disease, and decay as part of the natural order. They believe that if the natural
order is bent too far the world will retaliate with a terrible cleansing fury (the metaphorical “Winter” of their name)
… and many in the sect believe that the Mourning is the first stage of that destruction. On the positive side, the
Children of Winter despise undead as creatures that defy the cycle of life and death, and many of the are dedicated
to hunting down and destroying undead. On the darker side, some believe that the benefits of civilization also defy
the natural order, allowing the weak and infirm to survive when they’d never survive in the wilds. They see disease
as an important tool that weeds out the weak and may spread disease in large cities or towns; but they may also
push other situations that force conflict and ensure the survival of the fittest. However, not all Children approve of
these methods. Likewise, some extremists among the Children believe that the apocalyptic Winter has already
begun and should be welcomed, and that great cities should be torn down; while others fervently believe that the
Mourning is a warning  and that there is still time to stop this cataclysm. Such Children seek to contain contaminated
regions, such as the Mournland and the Gloaming.

As a Child of Winter PC, you are trying to protect the world from the coming apocalypse. You do this by fighting
undead, by investigating the Mourning, and when possible by pushing situations that test the weak. You may
oppose extremists among the sect engaging in actions you believe are unjustified. While death is part of the natural
cycle, you’re still able to heal your allies. You oppose using magical healing to sustain creatures who could never
survive in the wild. But healing the fighter after he chooses to battle a pack of vampires—an unnatural situation he
could have easily avoided—is entirely justified.

Meld

A meld is formed from the faded souls of mortals—husks whose memories have been consumed by Dolurrh. These
husks are typically harmless, but sometimes an aggressive nucleus gathers other husks, forming a deadly gestalt. In
essence, a meld is a fusion of half-formed ghosts; it has an amorphous shape, with vague faces and limbs projecting
from the mass, then being consumed once more. It makes no sound when it moves, but mortals around a meld hear
cries of pain, pleading voices, and unearthly moans. Its Conflicted Soul action reflects it projecting some of its husks
into a mortal body, temporarily overwhelming the victim with conflicting desires and visions.

Denizens of Dolurrh. Melds are born in Dolurrh, and prowl the endless caverns searching for scraps of memory. This
hunger can draw them to Eberron through manifest zones or when planes are coterminous. A meld can also
manifest when someone is raised from the dead, following in the wake of the soul being drawn back to the world of
the living. Melds that enter Eberron rarely stray more than one mile from the point where they arrived.

Hunger for Memory. A meld has the barest traces of dozens of souls. It remembers scraps of the most powerful
moments of its component husks, but it can't place these in any context. The meld yearns to consume other spirits,
to feast on their memories and emotions. While highly unusual, it's possible for a powerful personality within a meld
to exert temporary control; this might cause the meld to pursue a particular individual or draw it to a specific
location. When a meld kills a living creature and consumes its spirit, the flood of memories can also shift the purpose
of the meld, as it suddenly acts on the desires of its most recent victim. A meld loose in Eberron retains the spirits it
consumes, preventing them from transitioning to Dolurrh. This prevents the spirit from fading; a character could
hear the whispers of a trapped spirit within a meld, and a husk could hold the souls of people who died long ago. A
side effect of this is that creatures slain by a meld cannot be resurrected or raised from the dead until the meld is
destroyed.