ZEITGEIST Fey changeling character background in Zeitgeist

[reighndragon]

One of my PC’s (Oxton) in the Zeitgeist campaign starts as a changeling character with the fey. Oxton (human) has red-gold hair and was interesting for the fey. His parents made a deal with the fey. He would be given to the fey for raising until he would be an adult. Raised in the feywild. A fey would take his place in the material plane to be raised by his original parents.

Oxton has returned 8 years ago to the material plane, but he has no recollection of his original parents. He lives in the Cloudwood area of the city and has connections to the city guards and has a good relationship with the fey of the Cloudwood. He’s a musician playing the flute and is a docker playing in a band in the Bosum Strand district.

In the feywild he has trained with the fey gaining the feytouched feat (5th edition). He is a paladin wanting to take the oath of the ancients. In his background he met king Thisraldion, and I plan to make the king his patron for his oath.

We’re playing two introductory adventures before becoming official agents. I imagine the Royal Eyes of Aundair (RHC in my campaign) would like to know who he really is, before appointing him to a position as an agent. The second adventure will be a murder investigation in the city, so I could incorporate his parents or links to his parents in this adventure. So I need help with the following questions:

• How to incorporate his original parents and older sister in the Zeitgeist adventure path.
• How to incorporate his fey double in the adventure path.

I hope someone can help me with some original ideas.

 

[arkwright]

Let's see.

• His older sister could be a disciple of Nevard Sechim. When the old man dies, she takes over as respected Skyseer, and serves as a prophecy/druidism mouthpiece through the rest of the campaign.
• His fey double could, like Copperhead, have fallen in with the Voice of Rot. Tying the party to the Voice would be good for when the Voice reveals he is one of the endbosses. The Voice can say that Oxton seems familiar when the party meet him in Book 3.
• When the party rescue the orphans of the Gallo School for Boys in Book 5, Oxton can suggest getting the Unseen Court to take them in as an apology for what the rogue archfey did.
• His parents, desperate to get Oxton back, could have fallen in with the Vekeshi Mystics in a bid to earn the favor of the Hedgehog Court, and wound up tangled in the Ob conspiracy.
• His parents could have been recruited by the Ob, knowingly or unknowingly.
• A tie to Asrabey, agent of the Unseen Court, would be good; though really Oxton should have that tie since he's been in the Dreaming for so long.
• Whatever you decide, you should make sure it provides a way to save the Dreaming fey before Av is destroyed in the beginning of Book 12.
• His older sister could have grown up to become a top fey researcher at Pardwight, investigating the nature of the fey tech sickness.

Let me know which of these you like, to guide me in coming up with a few more.

 

[reighndragon]

Thanks for the options.

1. Another character in the party is a skyseer, so I would like him to be the one to take over as the mouthpiece of the skyseers.
2. I really like the option of his double being an accomplice of the Voice of Rot. I'm certain I will use this in book 3. Using him as an important adversary in the later books.
3. I like the deal for the orphans as a repayment by the unseen court.
4. I think his parents will live in the Pine Island district, because deals with fey are more common in this district. Because his double is allied with the Voice of Rot, his parents could be influenced by the Voice of Rot as well? I think that's a better fit than the Vekeshi Mystics. The Hedgehog Court is an option to open up a conflict for his character.
5. I think point 4 is more compelling.
6. The player of Oxton has mentioned one of his goals is to become an official emmissary between the Unseen Court and Aundair (my version of Risur). So this will come into play easily. His close connection to the Fey makes him an interesting candidate for the Royal Eyes of Aundair.
7. I definitely want them to save the fey, and maybe even the entire plane if possible.
8. I think this is a great idea. She could have become a top researcher because she grew up with a fey. Maybe she wants to find her real brother after she heard what happened to her younger brother from her parents.

 

[MrsMongoose]

Alternate idea to the Fey Double: they are both a half of the same person (effectively twins with added weirdness).

His parents made a deal with "insert here" as the mother was ill (yes I know it's a bit Tangled but hey...), and the "cure" ended up creating a mirror twin (so one is left-handed etc). However, they might not know this (or only one of the parents knows, and the cost of the "cure" was the "spare"...)

If for some reason they need to be spliced back together again (say, after both feel "not quite whole" or somesuch), or one dies for some reason, you could have a merge: a bit like when Xambria ended up in someone's head, but more so... and this might be a good way to impart extra info that your NPC "twin" has but don't want the party to have to begin with?

 

[reighndragon]

I've been giving this a lot of thought and think I'm going to run this as following.

His father was really sick and his mother made the deal with the fey. I think this will be with the Voice of Rot, because it was some kind of rotting disease. As such the double will be an agent for the Voice of Rot. I like the fey double to be a mirror twin of Oxton. Careful study will show it's the twin, because he is mirrored to the original. The personality of the double is also mirrored, so he won't be a nice guy.

@MrsMongoose Thanks for bringing up Xambria. I think I will make Xambria his elder sister. This will make it easier for them to trust her in the 3rd adventure, making the ending more tragic. Before Xambria leaves for the Ziggurat, the party will meet her, so she can tell Oxton who his parents and family are. This will solve his identity problem before he becomes an agent. She will recognize him immediately and she hates the double. Her parents never told her of the deal, so this will make a nice roleplay encounter.

What do you think?