PCs:Willem Lightheart
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Name: Willem Lightheart
Race: Human Romini
Profession: Lighthearted Performer and Scribe of Songs
Positions Held: Master Sage Avlis Tower University
Willem's Songbook
Biography:
Willem Lightheart is the son of two Romini circus acrobats. When he was a young adolescent his father was teaching him to walk the tight rope and he fell to the ground and cut his cheek on a small stone giving him a small scar under his left eye. This event led to Willem’s fear of heights. Even though Willem never walked the tight rope again, he still enjoyed performing by singing and playing the lute. He had a natural ability, even as a young boy, to encourage and strengthen those who listened to his songs.
One of the circus performers was a friendly giant named Bigarow who was the circus’ sword swallower. Since he was such a large individual, he performed his act with a greatsword, which still looked like a twig in his hands. He befriended young Willem and even taught him to wield the greatsword, although Willem never learned to be a sword swallower because the greatsword was much too large for him to attempt that act.
Shortly after Willem became an adult one day he was sent to the near by town to purchase supplies for the circus. While he was gone a band of bandits attacked the circus to steal the receipts from that day’s performance. Willem’s parents were killed by the bandits during the robbery. Willem returned to find his murdered parents and since he knew he could never know who actually performed the act which led to his parent’s death, he vowed to dedicate his life to always fight and help protect those who could not do so for themselves.
As he sharpened his fighting skills he realized that his natural ability to encourage himself and others with his songs was one of his greatest strengths and since he enjoyed performing so much he continues to improve his abilities as a performer as well as venture across Avlis. His love of lore and song causes him to write many songs about those he travels with and the sights they see together.
Willem’s travels led him to the city of Elysia where he began working for some of the local farmers. One day as he was helping harvest crops and ridding the farm of rodents, he saw the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She was a half-fey with bright green hair and she immediately stole his heart. Willem and Susallia Songbird started a relationship and their love grew as the days went by. Susallia learned of Willem’s fear of heights when she took him to the city of Le’Or, but she led him across the many bridges and canopies holding his hand while he walked with his eyes closed. They were soon engaged and one day, after a brief absence from each other, they ran off to the Celestial City on Hala and were married in a very private ceremony. That day Willem’s fear of heights vanished when he put on his wedding band, for it was magically enchanted to make him immune to fear. Now when Willem crosses a bridge or walks along a cliff he often touches his wedding band and smiles.
During the war between Mikona and Elysia Willem’s love Susallia was banished from Elysia for treason. Although he had never been a religious person before, he felt lost without his soul mate at his side in the city where they met and lived together. He began searching the temple district for guidance and found himself in the Temple of Dru’El. He learned that the way of Dru’El was to follow your heart and knew that Dru’El could help him through the troubling times he faced. He asked the priests to help him learn to follow Dru’El and they gladly showed him the way.
Willem wanted to grow in his relationship with Dru’El so he left Elysia for the deep woods of T’Nanshi to pray and worship Dru’El. He lived in seclusion for many days, but he realized that his place was among those who he could help with his songs and decided to return to the fair city of Elysia. Upon his return he discovered that his love had returned to the city as well and that they could once again be together making their empty house a home.
Unfortunately, Willem and Susallia had grown apart during their long separation. Upon his return they tried to pick up where they had left off, but the sands of time had put too much distance in between them. It was only a matter of time before Willem realized that it was for the best that he pack up his belongings and move out of their house. Although their song together was a happy one, there is a time for the music to fade.
Willem joined forces with several other bards led by Arania Moonshadow Alastaire-Alaster to form the traveling troupe Reverdie based out of the Academy of Bardic Arts in Visimontium. The thrill of entertaining a crowd always brought a twinkle to Willem’s eye, and traveling with the troupe gave him great pleasure. Their first performance together was a revival by a few of the members of a long since forgotten play titled Game of The God at the first Spring Festival in Visimontium.
After his marriage ended Willem began to travel Avlis again as he did before; searching for new people and things to sing about as was his way. Wanting to reconnect to his Romini heritage, he traveled South to Mikona and spent some time in that part of the world. When it was time for him to stay put, he would stay put and when it was time to move on to the next location, he would pick up and do that as well.
While in Mikona he met up with a fellow Romini named Poke who was a great crafter that used to make and sell Lesser Belts of Guiding Light which would protect people from their fears. Due to some evil acts by a group unknown to Willem, the belts were no longer being made and sold in the Romini Camp in Northwest T’Nanshi. Because they shared Romini blood, Poke felt comfortable sharing information with Willem so that he would be able to get revenge on those who ended his trade. Willem was given a list of items to collect for Poke and in turn he taught Willem how to make the belts in question. Although Willem was not skilled enough to manufacture these belts himself, he freely offered to show other tailors how they could make them. As a reward for his help, Poke gave Willem a special belt he made personally that he called the Romini’s Revenge. This gift was very important to Willem because his fear of heights had returned when he stopped wearing his wedding band.
Willem thought that he needed to share his knowledge with others and, sought to become a faculty member of the Avlis Tower University and was given the position of an Apprentice Sage after he gave a lecture at the University. His time at the University led him to appreciate and seek the knowledge of Vorin. After holding several lectures and events, Willem was promoted to the position of a full Sage within the University. Shortly thereafter Senior Sage Rose claimed the title of Master Sage only to name Sage Lightheart as his replacement and immediately stepped down making Willem the next Master Sage.
And the story continues…