Korara, the Maker of Brides
The Wise Woman of a small family of the giant hill people known as the Volgotoi, Korara's particular gifts of illusion have allowed her a surprising degree of influence over the local Imperial outpost, helping spare her people the ravages of 'civilization'.
Appearance
Once, Korara stood a full nine feet tall, with a surprisingly curvaceous body, and amazingly unugly face to match her outstanding stature, though she still bore the coarse hair and ashen tone of her breed, the Volgotoi. Now, however, she has grown old and weary, her stooped back and bowed legs assisted by a great cane of gnarled iron, her once nearly pretty face wrinkled and sagged to a degree that no makeup can hide. Coarse-spun fabrics hang from her wornout frame, and with every movement, she creaks as if she may collapse, yet a brilliant sparkle remains in her ancient eyes.
History/Background
Many years ago, Korara was more than passing fair for a Vogotoi, the Ogre Maiden's hand sought by more than a few warriors. But only part of this was her natural beauty, for like many of her kind, she had learned well the power of cosmetics, and so too, after a brief encounter with a human magi in her youth, she had sought out the power of the Lie That Was True, the art of illusion.
Selecting, finally, an especially harriable warrior to take her hand, the found herself settled in a great cavern system, not far from where the Imperium had recently broken ground on a new settlement.
Sent to gain assurances of peace, she could not help but notice the great number of unmated soldiers, hungry enough to look at even her ogrish frame with desire. And from thence came her great idea. Working the marketplace and the farms, she gathered up all the unmarried women she could find, and extracting promises of future favors from them, she used her skills to make them beautiful for a time, allowing them to snare the soldiers in their own webs with ease.
It would be with careful, subtle tugs on her web of favors that she would turn the attention of the Imperials from her kind, to more important things, requiring only a few, messy object lessons to reinforce the importance of carrying out her 'favors'...
Special Equipment
Korara carries with her at all times an abbreviated version of a makeup kit, as well as a few, well concealed foci for illusion spells.
Roleplaying Notes
As the years have turned, the nature of Korara's services have weathered little, though now both Ogre Maidens and human ones must come to her, rather than she to they, each gushing of how mighty and influential their chosen warrior will be some day. Some of these, she believes, and these, she renders the service of beauty, though she can no longer maintain her own, save for a few moments at a time. Always, too, she now demands most of her 'favors' in advance.
She has face more than her share of challenges from within as to her methods and madnesses, and has become exceptionally cagey, even for a Volgotoi female. Most of her attention, however, has now turned to despair with her only granddaughter, who seems intent on bucking the ways of her people and becoming a warrior. If only she could find some way to get someone to beat some sense into the younger Maiden...
Most plots to deal with Korara are likely to deal with a PC or NPC seeking to convince her to use her abilities on them for some reason, possibly even dealing with marriage. As she gets older and lazier though, she has little desire to actually do things, preferring to string women through an endless supply of 'favors', only occasionally lifting a finger to help them.
Alternately, a jealous rival could be seeking to prove her interference in matters of the heart, and to find a way to break the spell.
Other plots may deal with the reverberations of her 'favors', and how they affect things far down the line...
Notice: We have here on the citadel an astounding number of Intelligent Races. Now, the ultimate goal of a written race in a game is to provide both a wide cultural conflict within the setting, as well as to create Characters, either PCs, or NPCs.
What I would like to see is for people to write characters of races that someone else has written up. If the write up is sufficient to be used as a guide to create a well written character, then the write up has reached its goal. If the write up is not sufficient, the questions required to write a character will help fix any gaps in the write up - Good for everyone around. --Siren no Orakio
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? Responses (9)
Well, this is an excellent first entry to the quest Siren! Nicely done!
I wished there was more to it - honestly so, I wanted to see more.
Death to conventional ogres. Volgotoi rule!
Now there is an woman to entangle whole kingdoms, ogre none the less!
Excellent NPC.
She is certainly an intriguing woman, an ogress that ironically enough, uses her skills in the are of enhancing beauty as a tool to subvert human leaders. Certainly a far cry from the slavering, hulking brutes that most of us think about when the word 'Ogre' is mentioned. I do have a query though. Why do her clients have such disproportionate levels of influence on their spouses? In most warrior, male-dominated societies, women fill a strictly sexual and domestic role. Why are the women whose needs she meets, able to bend strong-willed leaders into doing fulfilling these favors?
I'm sorry that I missed this when it was first submitted. Siren was building on the Volgotoi Ogrish culture, in which the males tend to be loutish and straightforward, while females master manipulation and deception. Rather than a male-dominated warrior culture, each gender has its own role in their society, with women acting as negotiators and intermediaries between family clans. Korara has simply chosen to specialize in matters romantic and matrimonial.
If a man would walk 500 miles to see a woman smile, think of what he will do for that thing she can do with her tongue. Heh heh, I hope that wasnt over the top. Nice work and an unexpected twist on the Volgotoi.
Very clever take on the matchmaker!
What a great way to manipulate people and plots. Great sub!
I read (and enjoyed) this a while ago, but forgot to comment. A complex and clever character!
