Hello everyone on the Boards!
Previously, I had solicited some inspirational aid for the name of my newest D&D character. I can now say I’ve come up with one, thanks to that thread.
And…here he is!
The Tortle known as Ket hails from the Le’Ne Kai tribe: the scattered, nomadic remnants of a once powerful and feared civilization.
Millenia ago, the Le’Ne Kai were struck down by their deities after attempting to obtain power far beyond their reach. Exiled from their ancestral home, the survivors swore to never repeat these mistakes. In the present, the Le’Ne Kai seek not glory and conquest but peace and isolation.
When Ket was very young, he was captured by cruel hunters. For hundreds of years of his naturally long life, Ket was enslaved and endured endless suffering. But it was seeing the pain of fellow slaves that harmed Ket the most, and so at every opportunity he chose to take the beatings so that others would not.
Over time, a rage and power Ket had never known sprung forth within him. With his own raw strength, he ripped the stone that kept him chained from the ground and, wielding it as a weapon, escaped from his enslavers. Finally free, Ket became a wanderer, his only aim to protect others from the harm he endured.
Years later, Ket found himself in the back alley of a restaurant in the city of Kita Kyo. There, he would meet Tomoko Miyazaki, a chef-in-training. Tomoko fed Ket left-overs and used him as a testing audience for her own recipes. The two became inseparable friends.
When Tomoko joined with Kenshiro Atasi and Harlow Devereaux, Ket sought his missing friend out. After reuniting with her, Ket continued to follow the group to protect Tomoko.
It’s taken me a while to arrive at this backstory for the character, and it’s taking even longer to draw him exactly how I’d like him. This piece here is the first one I did of Ket, and so far it’s the only one I really like. Something about his pose and stature really worked for me on this one, and I haven’t been able to replicate it yet.
He’s also extremely hard to draw from any other angle. Here is my current attempt at that, but even this feels off to me, at least in terms of its personality:
He’s changed a lot over the course of my making him, both in terms of looks and his backstory and personality.
Originally, he was actually a true pacifist. I thought it would be a fun challenge to play a tank character while trying to not hit things, but that’s turned out to not be as fun as leaning fully into the role, so that’s gone. He was originally wandering the world on a spiritual pilgrimage of sorts, but things got needlessly complicated with that. His totem rock was meant to break at some point and reveal something inside, but now it’s his iconic main weapon and central to his story.
I arrived at the idea that he was a “captive animal” pretty recently, and I feel like it’s tied every bit of his character together. He’s always had the rock and the chain and collar, but they were never explained in a satisfying way. But tying all of those things, his rage (as a Barbarian), the way he speaks, the way he takes hits for others, into that experience for him just made everything make sense.
We’re about ten or so sessions into our campaign now, and I’m excited to see where our story will bring him!
As a little bonus, here are the very earliest designs I was toying with, back before we even started the campaign.
If you read any of this, here is your cookie:
It’s gingersnap.
As always,
Comment and Discuss!