Character Design and Barks Doc: Varethorn
Created during the Pixelles Game Writer Program, this character is based off of a villain in a Dungeons and Dragons game I run as game master. The exercise includes information meant to help different members of a game design team.
My goal was to capture the feeling of a complex villain that holds significant plot and emotional weight to one of the party members.
I also created a barks document for this character as a boss encounter. Check it out!
Game Narrative Genre: High Fantasy
Game Play Genre: Tactical RPG; 3rd-person; tactical map (ala Fire Emblem or Baldur’s Gate 3)
Character Type: Enemy NPC
Name: Varethorn
Age: ~147
Sex & Gender: cis-male (he/him)
Race/Origin: elf
Important Visual: a single deer/elk antler growing from his head
Alignment: Magic the Gathering color philosophy Green/Black (heavily focused on the “natural order” of things)
Affiliation/Team/Organization: Cult of the Dark Hart of the Woods
Archetype: Well-intentioned Extremist; Eco-terrorist; Shadow (to Ferret, party member)
Inspiration Characters: Mythos (Tales of Symphonia); Poison Ivy (Batman); Count Dooku (Star Wars)
3-4 personality traits: serene, threatening, predatory, manipulative
Wants: to reawaken at least one of the embodiments of nature that will harken a remolding of the planet back to its origins
Needs: a true return to teaching. Revolution is a young person’s game, people who understand the new world. Varethorn is focused on hurting and punishing his enemies, when he would be better off explaining his ideals to students and letting them decide their own path.
Motivation: believes people and urban civilization have lost its reverence for the natural order and world
Other character relationships:
Originally mentor of Ferret (ally); now a secondary antagonist; straddles line of wanting to destroy Ferret and to convert him back to Varethorn’s views (relies on negging manipulation)
Summary (max 4 words) that best describes your character: vengeful cataclysm seeking heir
Voice Notes:
-everything is said with the undertone of threat or insult, but he couches it in polite discourse
-he’s a bit like a cat playing with his food; he’s happy to talk as long as he’s in control of the situation, but if things begin to shift then he’ll end the game
Audio Voice Quality:
-majority of dialogue should be soft, airy; he’s lulling his conversation partners into a false sense of security (regardless if friend or foe since either can change at a moment’s notice)
-as conversation gets hostile, voice becomes biting, clipped, snippy; like through a snarl or snapping jaws
Quote (25 words max): “The cities of the realm have planted themselves atop the graves of entire ecosystems. I will be the wildfire that allows new growth.”
Biography/Background:
Varethorn was long a mentor to explorers, druids, and rangers. For a while, that was enough. However, a group of his mentees discovered the extent of deforestation and exploitation of resources. And they struck smaller work sites and nearby towns until the larger organization sent in rabble-qwelling security teams.
Varethorn seethed that much of the world supplanted and corralled nature. And he decided that the brutality against his mentees was the last straw. His teachings began to lead his students and growing followers in actions that began as simply restoring nature but snowballed into razing towns. His reasoning to the more reticent followers was that their actions were in the same way a wildfire scours a forest before allowing it to repair itself stronger than before. Civilizations that coexist with their landscape are passed over, being what he considers redeemable.
Driving Varethorn’s crusade is his knowledge of stories from his youth of ancient embodiments of the land. He sought them out in the hope that awakening them will lead these avatars to crash through civilization in a wave of destruction that leaves the world restored to its original form. He believes those that survive in this transition will be the truest form of life. The avatar he most desires to awaken is the Dark Hart of the Woods, a deer-like creature with a body made of bark, stone, and dirt.
Ferret was a prized mentee of Varethorn during the early stages of restoring nature. When their actions began to shift into more violent attacks, he questioned Varethorn and was cast aside, wounded by his mentor and left for dead. Varethorn hoped that Ferret would survive and return to the pack with his proverbial tail between his legs sooner or later, having seen urban society for its evils.
Art drawn for comission by Amy King
Unique Look: Varethorn is covered in plant matter, such as vines with nettles, brambles, and thorns. He is tall and sinewy, built like a swimmer (physical but not bulging muscles).
Iconic Weaponry/Ability: A glaive-like staff topped with the claws or fangs of an apex predator. While primarily a caster, the idea is that getting close can lead to deadly consequences. It should be clear he defeated the creature that now adorns the staff, a sign of respect for it.
Core Gameplay: Begins combat encounters by buffing his “pack” of followers (humanoid and beastly) and using plant, rot, and fire based offense spells. As the tide turns, the spells are used to enhance himself as he wades into combat with his glaive (focusing on party members with lower defenses first).
Additional Info:
Varethorn sees himself as an apex predator and readily confronts others in single combat.
Covered by hair or plant matter is his other horn, which was shorn off in combat with the creature whose claws/teeth are the blade of his glaive.
Arms are covered in scars from the brambles and thorns adorning the vines on his arms.
Barks when attacked: “A challenge? Good.” or “A challenge? Hardly.” depending on the attacker’s class being associated with nature or not.
Plants growing on him change based on location (probably not used in game, but any additional material like comics could depict more local flora)
He has a soft spot for rodents, and they are the only animals he will not hunt.
Varethorn feels a strong parental connection with all of his mentees, and Ferret in particular was one he feels a lot of care for, maybe even someone who could inherit his fight. This is what causes his strong hope for Ferret’s survival after their confrontation, and his initial joy upon their reunion.
