Ary usually is known by his surname, Olivier, sometimes shortened to Oli or Ollie. It is often not clear to people if Olivier is his first, family, or a false name. He usually doesn't bother to enlighten them.
Olivier grew up in a small village on the southern shores of the
Moonsea, and spend much of his youth on the edges of the Cormanthor forest,
splitting his time with hunting betwen the trees and helping out at a small
temple dedicated to various goodly nature dieties, sucha as Chauntea, Sylvanus,
Eldath and Mielikki, the latter being his favourite of the four.
The nature temple also took care of various orphans and second children, and
Olivier, who had become a teacher and priest, eventually became the leader of
the small community. Unfortunately, he was not a very good manager and although
the temple had a talented sexton (an orphan whose mother had once workedi there
as a cleaner), who tried to cover for the middle-aged cleric as much as she
could, eventually the temple had to cease operations. Their landlord didn't
extend the lease after too many missed and late payments and a watermill was
build at the site instead. The last few people still at the temple mostly took
up the life of adventurers. You may have heard or read stories about for
instance Jaq, San and Bud, who all spent more or less of their younger years at
Olivier's temple
As mentioned, the demise of the little nature temple was mostly due to
Olivier just being a bad manager, the meagre income and donations being gambled
away, converted into luxery goods and/or drunk up: over the last years Olivier
usually was too hammered (Or as the sexton used to say: "in bed with headaches
caused by the money troubles"), sat in some or other disreputable gambling dive
("traveling to recruit new donors"), or lounged in a bar with vague friends
("in conclave" etc.) and therefore not available to lead the services, let
alone manage the affairs of the community he was supposed to lead.
The services were frequently taken over by the sexton, based on the years
worth of notes and preparations of an Olivier still doing his duties, as she
experienced him in their younger years, and she also managed to make what money
they did have laast as long as possible. This in addition to her
responsibilities as a sexton: doing all the simpler odd-jobs that Olivier did
not feel like doing anymore ("could, unfortunately, due to his busy involvement
over more important business, not make enough time free for"), such as
cleaning, care and maintenance of the buildings, helping members of the
congregation with their pains, aches and petty troubles, gathering ingredients
for the meals and preparing these, etcetera and so forth. Making Jaq the sexton
of the temple would have been the best thing Olivier did for the Temple. Would
have been, if he actually ever officially had done this, but it was just one
more thing that she had just decided needed doing, so she just took up the
mantle.
Only when the temple ceased operations, Olivier came to realise what his
behavior had cost him and more importantly, those that had been in his care. In
part as thanks for the work done and in part as an attempt to secure and
preserve them just in case, the last of a number of "valuable relics" from the
temple's inventory (mainly old junk that he hadn't been able to flog off for
cash) were given in the care of the sexton. Olivier himself swore off
gambling, wine, women and song, then took up his old bow, some arrows and a
moldy, old ranger's jerkin for himself, and went forth into the wider world in
an attempt to recover the grace of his goddess, and redeem himself in her
eyes.
Mielikkian Faith
Organisation
All the faithful of Mielikki are known as
Walkers of the Forest Way. They are now organized into three
branches of devotion: the Heartwoods, the Forestarms, and the
Needles.
Heartwoods
The Heartwoods are the heart of
the faith, and serve as voices of the spirits of the trees themselves. These
members of Mielikki's faithful include dryads, hamadryads, and treants.
Forestarms
The spiritual followers of Mielikki, known as the Arms
of the Forest, or Forestarms, are the clerics and druids of her faith. They
protect the forests of the world. Mielikki's priesthood is open to all good and
neutral humans, demihumans, and members of other woodland races, but tends to
be dominated by human and half-elf women of battle experience, passionate
character, and adventuring interests.
Needles
The Needles are rangers. They are considered to be the
most beloved of the Lady of the Forest. They sometimes serve as clergy, but
most often act as the warrior arm of the faith and serve a defensive role
protecting the forests from marauders, humanoids, and the followers of the god
Malar. Included in this branch is a small religious order of druid/ranger
woodland knights known as the Shadoweirs (SHA-doh-weerz).
Forestarms and Needles are given to dwelling in the forest. (Heartwoods do so
per force.) Forestarms and Needles often have two or more abodes and a
dozen or more caches of food and items that they can travel to in times of
need. They tend to be the most adventuresome of forest and wilderness dwellers
and to have easy-going dispositions. They are serene in their knowledge of the
balance of natural cycles and at peace with all other sylvan faiths except the
followers of Malar (whom they call "the Great Beast" or "the Beast of Beasts"
or "the Bloodgod").
Forestarms tend to be practical, unfussy folk, reverent in their fireside
prayers to the Lady but impatient with too much ceremony. Their titles reflect
this:
Questers
Novices, who, once they are accepted into the ranks of the priesthood may
rise through the following ranks.
Spring Stag
Clergy members of less than two winters of service
Stalkers in the Green
Experienced clergy who have not achieved
outstanding achievements or appointments to senior temple staff duties
Forest Flames
Senior temple staff, envoys, and recognized tutors
of the faithful
High Rangers
Leaders of temples and champions of the faith
Hawks of the Lady
This last title is given by the Lady herself to
denote her most cherished and high-ranking followers.
Temple staff titles tend to be very simple: Cook, Master of Novices,
Doorwarden, Housemaster, Prior, Abbot, and Worship Master are all common
titles.
Dogma
Mielikki's followers are close to those of Silvanus in
outlook and ethos, save that they stress the positive and outreaching nature of
the wild. Intelligent beings can live in harmony with the wild without
requiring the destruction of one in the name of the other. Mielikki's outlook
matches that of rangers in general, which is why she is their patron.
Mielikkians are taught to embrace the wild and not fear it, because the wild
ways are the good ways. They are to keep the balance and learn the hidden ways
of all life. They should not allow trees to be needlessly felled or the forest
to be burned. They are to live in the forest and be a part of the forest, not
dwell in endless battle against the forest.
Walkers of the Forest Way must protect forest life, defend every tree, plant
anew where death fells a tree, and strive to keep the balance that
indiscriminate fire-users and woodcutters break. They are to live in harmony
with the woods, to teach others to do so, and to punish and frustrate those who
hunt for sport (not food) and who practice cruelties upon wild creatures.
Day-to-Day Activities
The Forestarms outlook is oriented toward the
protection of nature (and forests in particular) from the forces of evil and
ignorance. Many of these priests can be found wandering among small communities
nestled at the edges of forests both great and small. They seek to teach humans
and other goodly races to care and respect the trees and the life beneath their
leafy bows. They try to prevent further encroachment by civilization on the
remaining great forests by teaching careful forest husbandry. When called upon,
they defend the forest with force of arms if necessary.
The Needles support the Forestarms of their own faith and the clergies of
Eldath and Silvanus in defending, renewing, and even extending forests and
forest life. Wherever possible without conflicting with this prime interest,
they are to work against those who deal in fire magic (notably the Red Wizards
and followers of Kossuth) and encourage city- and farm-dwelling folk to
revere natural life and to view woodlands as rich, friendly places that are
pleasant refuges for renewal and enjoying natural beauty, not deadly backlands
to be feared and fought. They are also charged with supporting the Harpers
when this does not conflict with their more primary duties, since the Harpers
work against the rise of great powers, which tend to endanger all natural life
and conditions around them by trying to reshape Faerûn.
Rangers of all faiths are to be assisted whenever possible by Walkers of the
Forest way, and the seeds of trees and woodland plants gathered, nurtured, and
planted in an ongoing process so that 40 new trees will rise for every one
taken by flame or axe. Many of the Forestarms and Needles visit foresters
regularly to heal them and provide guidance so that as few trees as possible
are taken and the forest is culled of weak creatures and unnatural predators,
not creatures in the prime of life and health. In recent years, the Forestarms
and Needles have worked with ranchers north of Melvaunt, eastern Amn, and the
lands of the Dessarin to breed deer in large herds for food and pelt use,
leaving the wild deer of the forests to recover—along with all the other
forest creatures that either depend on deer for food, or are killed or
frightened away by casual human forest incursions.
Character Statistics
Ranger 8, Male Variant Human, Acolyte Background (Mielikki,,N.
STR
Mod.
Save
DEX
Mod.
Save
CON
Mod.
Save
INT
Mod.
Save
WIS
Mod.
Save
CHA
Mod.
Save
10
0
+3
20
5
+8
14
2
+2
12
1
1
14
+2
+2
8
-1
-1
AC: 19; Init: 5; Speed 30; HD: 8d10 (68); Passive Perception (Wis) 15
Feat lvl 1: Healer
ASI lvl 4: DEX to 18
ASI lvl 8: DEX to 20
Ary's physical and mental faculties have all been more or less diminished
by the years of alcohol-abuse, but somehow his dexterity has remained way above
average, and now that he's been (mostly) clean for some time, his aim has
even become better than ever. Hopefully, in time some of his old personality will
also recover a little.
Skill Table
Strength
0
Wisdom
+2
Athletics
0
Animal Handling
5
Dexterity
+5
Insight
5
Acrobatics
5
Medicine
2
Sleight of Hand
5
Perception
5
Stealth
5
Survival
5
Intelligence
+1
Charisma
-1
Arcana
1
Deception
-1
History
1
Intimidation
-1
Investigation
1
Performance
-1
Nature
4
Persuasion
-1
Religion
4
Personality
personality traits
Reluctant abstainer
ideals
Prove my worth to my Goddess
bonds
Crew of the Temple I used to run
flaws
Recovering alcoholic, gambler
Goals
Olivier's main goal is to prove (mostly to himself) that he is still worthy
of being part of the Mielikkian Faith. He feels he has basically failed as a
Forestarm, by letting the little nature temple lose its lease, and has gone
back to basics, the path of an adventuring Needle. Although more at easy in the
forests and coastal areas of Faerûn's Moonsea region, he currently finds
himself on the Swordcoast, as part of the crew of the Aurora. The Aurorans are
trying to prevent the destruction promised by the appearance of Lobstermoth,
some sort of seamonster. Hopefully he'll live through this and will be
able to focus on working on land again for his next adventure.
Some ideas of things Olivier would want to work on are: stopping
aberrations from other planes from invading Faerûn, restoring natural order
after an unnatural catastrophy, resisting practioners of the dark arts. He
would also be interested in finding out what happened to some of the other
members of the small nature temple's community. The exploits of Sexton
Jaqueline, who took up the role of Forestarm with enthousiasm, are well-known,
as she is now a 20th level Cleric whose adventures have brought her to most
corners of Faerûn. However, what exactly happened to the young ranger's
apprentice Sandra, the barbarian druidess Elisabeth and Bud, the Half-elf
with his strict morals?
