| Yol |
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Yol of Hel, Cleric 3/Domain Wizard (Necromancy) 3/True Necromancer 13
Here's what Mark has to say about Yol.
Background
Yol was born and raised in an underdark drow community a few weeks journey from Mansfield. She is still a part of this community and frequently travels back to study and maintain her clan ties. As a young drow magic was part of her daily life and since religion was not a big factor for her she started training as a mage. She particularly enjoyed harnessing the raw magic power of evocation spells.
Her outlook was changed radically by a great plague that stuck the underdark, decimating its population with disease. Yol was frightened, and she was not alone; fear swept the community as many died horrible, painful, wasting deaths. Yol saw, however, that the only ones who kept their heads and remained strong were the priestesses of Hel, goddess of death, disease and poison. [Whether they had anything to do with the plague in the first place, is another story].
This experience transformed Yol and she came to believe that all life, including her own, is weak and fragile, and that only death is strong. Sooner or later, all life ends in physical corruption. Death conquers all. It is only by embracing death and her handmaidens war, disease, and poison can one, at least temporarily, align oneself with true power, and thus gain power for oneself and overcome weakness.
Yol devoted herself to Hel and chose the path of a Priestess/Mage. Yol spreads the message of the power of Hel by revealing, through her actions, the supremacy of death. Thus she instills the proper fear of death. When others fear death, her ally, Yol feels more powerful and in control. While Yol's driving force is her own fear, she never admits this to others or even herself, and will certainly never show it. If questioned, she will explain any overly cautious acts as being reasonable actions.
Because Yol sees herself as weak, she concentrates on the defensive arts and spells to protect herself. On the other hand, it is of the utmost importance to her that she spread her "message", so she also studies powerful killing spells, and devotes herself to the study of the methods of death, especially those preferred by Hel, poison and disease.
Yol views her adventuring companions as tools which are means to her ends. They give her another layer of protection and thus allow her to go places and do things she could not accomplish on her own. The adventuring for loot, which in itself is not very important to her, tends to involve a great deal of killing, which is. She respects those that are more powerful than her and values anybody else who is useful to her, but she has no real emotional ties to anyone.
