Aranthaes Local Backstory Generator

Roll 1d12 on each table to create a character backstory rooted in Aranthaes. The tables tie you to the island’s people, places, and mysteries.

Use the results as prompts, not restrictions. Players can roll randomly, choose entries that fit their character, or mix several results together. If a result seems contradictory, treat that contradiction as part of the character’s story.

Characters born on the island may still have very different legal and social standing depending on whether they are citizens of Aranthaes, residents of independent towns such as Draktun, or outsiders whose families settled on the island later.

 

1. Origin (Where you’re from)

  1. Bim – born near the Mother’s Threshold shrine.
  2. Frey – raised in the shadow of Mother’s Egg hill.
  3. Lantear – grew up among tollgates and traders on the Tear.
  4. Rochpont – child of cliff-fishers, terraces, and caves.
  5. Sandmar – between marsh rice and river fish.
  6. Fairpont – ferried across the river since you could walk.
  7. Geldpont – at the bay’s oldest docks, where pilgrims arrive.
  8. New Haven – “place of second chances,” bustling harbor life.
  9. Geldcrass – heart of the plains, in the shadow of merchant towers.
  10. Draktun – raised under the Red Cloaks’ rule, independence in your blood.
  11. Aranthaes Wynds – from the crowded alleys and teeming lower city, scrappy and streetwise.
  12. High Aranthaes – born into privilege, noble houses, or priestly families near the High Temple.

 

2. Social Standing (Where you fit)

  1. Barely getting by, but never entirely alone; family, neighbours, or temple kitchens helped you survive.
  2. Working poor, one bad month from debt, hunger, or a favour owed to the wrong person.
  3. Temple-supported, grateful or resentful depending on what the help cost you in pride.
  4. Raised among dockhands, ferrymen, warehouse workers, caravan loaders, or fishers.
  5. Born to a skilled trade family with a good name, steady work, and modest security.
  6. Apprenticed to a guild, countinghouse, workshop, or merchant office.
  7. From a small merchant household with ambitions larger than its ledgers.
  8. Connected to the Church through family service, clerical work, temple duties, or patronage.
  9. Raised near soldiers, guards, Red Cloaks, mercenaries, or Defenders of the Mother.
  10. Educated above your station through luck, patronage, talent, or a debt not yet called in.
  11. Born close enough to wealth to resent not having more.
  12. High-born, well-connected, or quietly sponsored by someone powerful who expects a return.

 

3. Formative Event (What marked your youth)

  1. Survived a caravan accident in the Geldsan Pass.
  2. Blessed at Bim’s Chapel of First Light before a long journey.
  3. Worked summers in the Sandmar rice marshes, knee-deep in water.
  4. Climbed Mother’s Egg to prove your bravery, and nearly fell.
  5. Served as a dockhand in Fairpont, ferrying crates until your back ached.
  6. Joined a lantern procession in Geldpont Bay; something strange floated near your boat.
  7. Carried messages for Red Cloaks as a child, learning their ways.
  8. Studied accounts in a Lantear countinghouse, numbers sharper than knives.
  9. Saw lights in the Derkwuds forest and fled, never speaking of it again.
  10. Took shelter in the High Temple gardens, finding unexpected peace there.
  11. Ran errands in the winding alleys of the Wynds, learning to slip unseen when trouble came.
  12. Apprenticed in a guild hall of Aranthaes City, where coin and contract weighed more than kinship.

 

4. Relationship to the Mother (How faith shaped you)

  1. You are sincerely devoted to Lady Bune and believe the Mother’s Bounty proves her love.
  2. You attend temple because your family expects it, not because your heart is fully in it.
  3. You converted for practical reasons and feel guilty that it worked.
  4. You distrust the Church, but once survived because of the Carriers of the Basket.
  5. You believe Lady Bune is real, but you are not sure the Church speaks for her.
  6. You were raised outside the faith and still feel watched when you enter Aranthaes.
  7. You once served as a temple runner, scribe, singer, cleaner, cook, or errand-child.
  8. You owe a Defender of the Mother your life.
  9. You know someone who was denied the Mother’s Bounty and never recovered.
  10. You keep a private shrine but avoid public displays of devotion.
  11. You are fascinated by old draconic names, forbidden prayers, and half-buried versions of the faith.
  12. You believe the Church protects the city – and fear what it hides.

 

5. Connection (Who influenced you)

  1. A Defender of the Mother who fed you free bread in Draktun.
  2. A merchant factor in Geldcrass who paid you fairly, or cheated you.
  3. A Red Cloak overseer who kept you safe, or kept you quiet.
  4. A fisherman from Rochpont who told endless tales of the sea.
  5. A Sandmar abbot who taught you to read scriptures, and secrets.
  6. A New Haven guild clerk who saw promise in your skills.
  7. A hermit on Dragon’s Ridge who whispered of stone dragons.
  8. A farmer in Bersh who shared everything, even in lean years.
  9. A pilgrim in Bim who pressed a relic into your hand, “for the road.”
  10. A mysterious stranger in the Derkwuds who gave you directions to a glossy black temple – and you lived.
  11. A priest of the High Temple who once spoke to you as if you mattered — and you’ve never forgotten it.
  12. A noble patron from High Aranthaes who sponsored your studies, training, or debts… for reasons of their own.

 

6. Why You Left (What pushed you into adventure)

  1. You owe money, favours, or silence to someone you can no longer avoid.
  2. A relative vanished on the roads, in the mountains, or somewhere within Aranthaes itself.
  3. You disgraced your family, guild, patron, temple, or crew, and need a new beginning.
  4. You were given a task by the Church and still do not know the full reason.
  5. You angered the Red Cloaks, or owe them enough that leaving seemed wise.
  6. Guild politics ruined your prospects, and you refuse to spend your life apologising for someone else’s lie.
  7. You want to see the wider island before duty, marriage, apprenticeship, or debt closes around you.
  8. A patron sent you out to gather knowledge, prove yourself, or become useful.
  9. You had a dream, omen, or whispered command that would not leave you alone.
  10. You witnessed something you should not have seen, and someone knows it.
  11. You are running from a contract, arranged marriage, inheritance dispute, or sacred obligation.
  12. You believe your fate lies beyond the place that raised you, even if you cannot explain why.

 

7. Secret or Quirk (What you carry with you)

  1. You own a toll token from Lantear you never earned — did you steal it, or was it given?
  2. You avoid deep water – terrified of the black Tear lakes, though you never say why.
  3. You wear a cheap red cloak “for luck,” but would deny it if challenged.
  4. You still dream of the High Temple bells, though you’ve never set foot inside.
  5. You carry a carved stone from Mother’s Egg — it’s warm some nights, cold others.
  6. You once smuggled contraband through Draktun and kept one piece for yourself.
  7. You stole a wax votive from Bim’s Threshold; years later, it hasn’t melted.
  8. You know a hidden goat path into the Geldfrays – and swore never to use it again.
  9. You whisper prayers to Lady Bune in her old draconic name, not her holy one.
  10. You keep a shard of smooth black glass from the Derkwuds Tear, and sometimes it hums.
  11. You were adopted into a guild family in Aranthaes Wynds, but your birth name still follows you.
  12. You once glimpsed something vast moving beneath the Aranthaes Cauldron… and no one believed you.