Welcome to the Dog Days of Podcasting, 2022 season. This year we’re taking part by creating 30 NPCs to use with table top gaming, writing projects, or other creative endeavors. These NPCs are system agnostic, but may include minor suggestions for how to run the characters with a party of adventures and explorers. They are written with a specific genre in mind, but will include notation for how to use them within at least two other realms.
That said, let’s get started.
Today, we’re visiting The Fallen Crusader, an NPC designed for fantasy campaigns.
The Fallen Crusader
I
Once a gleaming bulwark of faith and mission; this former true believer has severed the thread that bound her divine heart. A youth spent in service to justice and sacrifice, a warrior cleric willing to risk flesh and soul for the righteous path and is now only a remnant of a failed god-sent campaign.
A survivor, despite her best intentions.
Her life now is one of reminiscing the past. The Fallen Crusader lives a demure life, odd jobs here and there her education and training afford her in these autumnal years. Her neighbors don’t know the breadth of her past, but everyone recognizes the sorrow that visits her eyes during certain times of the year. Only those who have sat patiently through slurred words and drunken sighs have a clue of what light she once wielded.
The Fallen Crusader can be coaxed out by those who still believe. She can be convinced to seek justice and tempted by the hope of legacy. Whispers of vengeance can manipulate her to burn the rest of that tattered soul, or shame can conquer her and break her spirit one last time.
As a guide, she can teach of the history that failed her cause. A mentor of what went wrong, she can speak wisdom to those who traverse along her quest. Caution, concern, and trust infuse her words.
In fantasy and medieval tables, she is still a knight, regardless of her lost faith. She will carry herself with dignity and honor.
In modern times, she was a defense attorney who failed to save her client and prove innocent those falsely burdened.
In distant sci-fi, she will be a time traveler abandoned in the wrong path, a ghost who failed to correct the course of history.
Ally or foe, she still possesses her armor, her arms, and her shield. Though skills may be rusty, and flesh no longer as young, her blade is still sharp. Deep within, she is eager to shed her fear and wield the sword of faith once more.
The audio portion of this episode is shared on a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Sounds and music are provided by Syrinscape’s Witchwood Soundset. Please see the website for individual song and sound usage. The text for this episode is shared under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Have a good time with the character, and let me know if you use them for something.
Until tomorrow.