Deniase Heirlaen (Bread)

### Status

Retired, serving the Hob Empire to gain power for the Grounded Highlands Kingdom

### Class(es)

Character Level 15Oath of the Crown Paladin 6
Shadow Sorcerer 4
Champion Fighter 4
Bard 1

## Personal Data

### Family

King Lruregard Chance Heirlaen (Adoptive Father)
Queen Deniasse Rhudae Heirlaen (Biological Mother)

Reidof Don Heirlaen (Grandfather on Adoptive Father's side)
Hyscheia Chance Heirlaen (Grandmother on Adoptive Father's Side)
Denis McLane Rhudae (Grandfather on Mother's side)
Lillian Remisar Rhudae (Grandmother on Mother's side)

### Affiliation

Grounded Highlands Kingdom
Eden (no longer affiliated)
Hob Empire

## Description

### Age

Physically 20
Originally 24

## Appearance

In his early appearances in the project, Deniase was noted to have the common orcish jaw and grayish-green skin paired with jaw-length soft blonde hair. He stood at about 6'3" and was visibly muscular. He was also noted to sport a scar on his left eye and was seen donning black armor from the Grounded Highlands Kingdom when he wasn't walking around in a white tank top.

His appearance, however, underwent continuous changes throughout the project. From losing a part of his scalp from his depetrification, to having a wisp of darkness hover over his chest from his sorcery mentorship, to his constant change of armor, to his change of age and height from curses, to the loss of his scar, and to the way he styled his hair. What was consistent, however, was his build, general facial structure, and hair texture.

During his last appearance, Deniase was seen in dark armor from the Hob Empire marked with a Grounded Highlands Kingdom emblem on the right breastplate. His hair was done in an undercut with braids on the left side and a small pony tail at the back. He was also noted to wear a greathelm.

## Personality

Deniase's character started as bubbly and rather interested in the lives of other adventurers. Prior to the destruction of his resolve, Deniase let off an aura of will, determination, and concern for others, especially those that he had grown close to over the course of the project. He was not known to hold grudges and took constant responsibility for his actions and the actions of those that he oversaw.

During his final appearances towards the Hob Empire siege, Deniase seemed cocky and vengeful towards the citizens of Eden. It is unknown what more of his personality changed.

## Abilities

### Racial

Darkvision. Thanks to his orc blood, he had superior vision in dark and dim conditions. He could see in dim light within 60 feet of himself as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. He couldn’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Menacing. He had proficiency in the Intimidation skill.

Relentless Endurance. His most used feature, whenever he was reduced to 0 hit points but not killed outright, he dropped to 1 hit point instead.

Savage Attacks. When he scored a critical hit with a melee weapon attack, he could roll one of the weapon’s damage dice one additional time and add it to the extra damage of the critical hit.

## Belongings

### Trinkets

The most Deniase had that was close to a trinket was the journal passed down to him by his adoptive father. The journal was passed down from the 9th blood-crowned king of the Grounded Highlands Kingdom.

## Backstory

### Preface

Surrounded by acres of the Highlands Forest and seated atop an elevated plane in the Old World lies the Grounded Highlands Kingdom, a place of magical and mechanical advances. Within the kingdom walls lives mostly humans and beings part human who have taken refuge from the world outside. It is ruled by the Heirlaen bloodline – kings and queens filling the royal seats with ideas of innovation and wonder never before seen in the kingdom – for centuries. With each heir, the kingdom grew stronger – that is until three generations ago when, for the first time in the history of the Grounded Highlands Kingdom, the coronation for the new king was held without confirmation of the death of the previous. Instead, the king was replaced after a disappearance that lasted three years. That king’s whereabouts are unknown to the kingdom.

### Kingdom Scarcity

The 12th blood-crowned of the Grounded Highlands Kingdom is King Lruregard Heirlaen, son of Reidof Heirlaen and Hyscheia Heirlaen. The kingdom’s richness of resources for both magic and tinkering had slowly desaturated over the course of the last two centuries. The kingdom his father left him was far from the powerful and all-conquering kingdom that his history books spoke of. The lands had lost their fertility, and the mines were drying of resources. All of this seemed odd considering the resource allocation his forefathers’ trusted advisors set for the kingdom.

To tackle this problem, King Lruregard secured diplomatic agreements with nearby kingdoms to provide for their continuing attempts to advance their magic and mechanical innovations. One such kingdom is that of Lon'g Eirs. Despite Lon'g Eirs’ terrible reputation for mass murder against its own elf citizens, King Lruregard offered technological knowledge in exchange for dried organs for his kingdom spellcasters.

One busy day while the kingdom stirred, he found that he could not travel to Lon'g Eirs himself and sent his wife Queen Deniasse Heirlaen to travel through the Highlands Forest in his stead to exchange the goods. Unfortunately, Lon'g Eirs’ reputation against elves caused a band of orcs to find safety in its surrounding area. While Queen Deniasse was passing through, she and her army men were ambushed. The latter were killed, and she was taken into their den where she was held captive, beaten, and tainted.

Amidst all this, a half-orc child was conceived. Queen Deniasse, with a loving heart, still saw the child as her own despite its origins. They were held there and beaten, and finally, after over a year of searching, the Grounded Highlands Army found and raided the orc den. The queen and child were taken back to the kingdom.

### His Upbringing

Her motherly love for the child never faltered, but the events that took place could not be made known to the rest of the kingdom lest vulnerability showed. The male half-orc child that the queen named Deniase was instead raised by her parents - Denis Rhudae & Lillian Rhudae – in the inner part of the kingdom’s production sector to grow up as the other children did. He was referred to as Deniase Rhudae to hide his relation (albeit not a blood relation) to the King. The queen's maiden name was unknown to the public due to strictly implemented privacy laws that the kingdom had long established.

They were all, however, honest with Deniase about his origins, and he was granted permission to visit them in the Heirlaen Tower as often as he pleased. As the years passed, Queen Deniasse’s love for him only grew, but it was still never revealed to anyone outside of the family and trusted family servants that he was of her blood.

Upon their return to the kingdom, King Lruregard initially sought to rid them of the child, but after many visits to and from him, he grew fond of Deniase and eventually regarded him as his son and only child. Receiving truth and love from his family, Deniase grew to be a skilled pottery maker and a loyal paladin of the Grounded Highlands Army.

### Provoke to Action

On his 24th birthday, King Lruregard gifted Deniase a journal that he had inherited from his own father who had inherited it from his. Inside were stories of the New World, a thought-to-be recently discovered continent by explorers, but the journal’s entries had it appear well-travelled, and to his surprise, all the entries were signed by one person – the 9th blood-crowned of the Grounded Highlands Kingdom, the king that had disappeared centuries ago. The journal was filled with stories of travel and encounters, and it revealed that the king had snuck into the Heirlaen Tower one night to leave it and disappeared without further traces. These stories, as he read through them, filled Deniase with a feeling of awe fueled by possibly being the first of his bloodline to discover such wonders. With his parents' blessings, he ventured out into the New World to achieve the power that the New World holds to help their kingdom prosper.

### The 9th Blood-crowned King

Unknown to anyone of the Old World, the king set off to embark on a long journey around the New World. After spending fifteen years there and taking note of its many wonders and dangers, he briefly returned to the Grounded Highlands Kingdom to pass a journal of his experiences to his son in hopes that it helps the kingdom continue to grow. Upon his return to the New World, however, he angered the Dragon Council. As a result, the Grounded Highlands Kingdom was stripped of its most vital resources from thousands of miles away.

## Significant Events

### Arrival in Eden

In an unfortunate turn of events, the ship that Denaise rode to the New World got wrecked. As surviving explorers gathered what could still be used, Deniase found himself among people of different kinds - vastly different from the humans and half-humans he was familiar with in the Grounded Highlands Kingdom. Together, they set up a small settlement on the shores of the New World, using the ship as a longhouse. The settlement was dubbed Eden.

Early on, Deniase spent most of his days in the longhouse reading the journal he was given. As explorers went in and out, Deniase slowly made acquaintances who eventually became friends by listening to stories of their explorations. In the New World, he no longer needed to hide his surname and introduced himself as Deniase Heirlaen. Significant friends he made were Orphelin Heatherly II who he eventually built a bond with to be *tank bros,* Eranthis who prepared meals at the longhouse and shared constant conversations with him, and Diandra Exonia P. Vali who occasionally flirted with him*.* Deniase also grew close to Uruk, a freed orc slave he and Orphelin took home from the Hob Empire.

### Early Exploration

Much of Deniase's early explorations had attempts of diplomacy with locals they'd found. Outside of those diplomatic encounters, Deniase found himself in a strange new environment to interact with, and ended up presenting himself in an extremely forward and unhesitant way that made many of his co-explorers ask *"Is he always like this?"*

Some alliances that he help built with a party were that with the Sahaugin of the land for pacifism, the Hob Empire for a trade alliance, the Stoners Druid Circle for mentorship, and the alliance of a galeb duhr that guarded tunnels made of the bodies of ancient dragons from thousands of years ago.

### Spiders, Stones, and Shadows

After forming a trade alliance with the Hob Empire, Deniase and his party found themselves being chased down by Baghala the Spider Queen across the desert leading to Eden. This lead Eden to believe that they were soon to be under attack by her and members of her spider den. *Eden was right.* Bursting from the ground, Baghala attacked the longhouse and had her spider minions attack the rest of Eden. Deniase, alongside six other explorers, aided settlement captain Thomas Fanton in battle to force a retreat. Against all odds, the small party was able to push her back, but the whole encounter had Eden begin a plan to siege.

During preparations and planning, Deniase ventured a forested area high atop a mountain. There, he and his party encountered a Gorgon that ended up petrifying him, cutting their exploration short. Over the week, Deniase was situated at the longhouse while his friends set out to cure him. The siege against Baghala proceeded as planned. Right before their main attack, a party brought Deniase to the sphinx Zahur to cure him. Several parts his petrified body broke off during the travel - his sword, his scalp, his left leg, and even his head. Attempts were made to mend the stone together, and miraculously, Deniase was completely brought back from the dead with only scars resembling cracks where parts of his body had broken off when they met Zahur. Strange energy radiated from the scars, but the fight against Baghala was made a priority.

Back to health, Deniase aided in the final fight against the spider queen, once again facing near-death with a sliver of life before hers was ended. Despite him getting to keep his life, many of his companions in a separate party, including Orphelin, lost theirs.

The defeat of the spider queen gave Deniase more time to think about the energy within him. He approached Captain Fanton, a man whose magic use was innate, and was told that there was only one way to put the energy to use - *dying.*

Fanton declared the energy to be innate in Deniase, making him a potential sorcerer. He was taken aback that Deniase only showed signs of that type of magic after 24 years of living. He identified the source of the energy to be from Shadowfell, and that is where he sent Deniase to die. Fending off the undead in the Shadowfell, Deniase was eventually made to face the fallen Orphelin who had delved into Shadowfell magic before dying. Until that point, Deniase had not yet accepted Orphelin's fate and cried at his grave daily from the feelings of loss and guilt. What began as an exciting, albeit terrifying, quest to unlock his powers, turned into an emotional and heartaching moment. However, there was only one way that everything would be finished, and so, he and Orphelin battled. Banter was thrown back and forth as they dueled, and memories of fondness returned to Deniase. With both then at their limits, Orphelin dealt the final blow to Deniase. He held his soul in place to provide him closure of all the recent events and people that Deniase felt he had failed, and as he lifted his hand, Deniase fell lifeless.

Deniase was promptly revived by an accompanying cleric, and as he awoke, he felt the strange energy now surging through his body - some even seeping out of the cracks on his flesh. Over his heart was a wisp that pulsated as his heart beat. Deniase was in power and in peace as a new Shadow Magic Sorcerer.

### Physical Age Revision

Before escorting Sahadin on his quest to trade a chest of magic coins for a ship, Deniase was offered the opportunity to take some of the coins. Intending to up his coinage from 492 to 500 GP, he picked up eight pieces of gold, resulting in his age decreasing by eight years. He promptly returned the coins, but his age remained the same. Upon return to the longhouse, he had his splint armor refitted. His reflection reminded him of his younger days and he decided to tie his hair up like he used to.

Weeks later, he was forced to drink ale by a Weretiger tribe that added four years to his physical appearance, bringing him to the age of 20.

Illustrated are early depictions of Deniase and his interactions. (top left) Deniase bust; (top right) Deniase's first interaction with Diandra Exonia Vali; and (bottom) Deniase and Orphelin finding emberite shards in hardened bird feces atop Deniase's Rise (later renamed to Mt. Deniase).Illustrated by the player is Deniase in mithral armor that he had picked up on one of his adventures.