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Sidekicks & Sidequests

Building a world, one character at a time.

Bo Jang & Paul the Avenger

  1. These are characters that LegalKimchi is rolling for aspects randomly as well as inventing answers. Both of the names are from his family (his great-grandmother and his uncle).
  2. What is this character’s name? - Bo Jang (pronounced Bo Jahng). Her full mimic-tongue name sounds like a slurping noise, but its closest human translation is Bo Jang. She protects her human charge, a young aspiring knight named Paul the Avenger.
  3. What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Mimic (Metal Mimic Subspecies). Bo Jang is an ancient, 80-year-old female mimic belonging to a distinct, highly specialized variant species known as Metal Mimics. Instead of growing larger as she consumes organic matter, she converts mineral nutrients to make her chitinous exterior denser and tougher, allowing her to assume the form of polished steel plate armor.
  4. What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Symbiotic Magical Armor / Family Protector. Bo Jang acts as a sentient, highly protective piece of magical steel plate armor (specifically a breastplate with an armor skirt) worn by Paul the Avenger. Rather than acting as a parasite, she maintains a mutually beneficial symbiotic bond with Paul: she absorbs crushing blows, grants elevated physical AC, and snaps out with hidden teeth to bite the heads off adjacent enemies in exchange for eating enemy corpses after the battle.
  5. How old are you? - Elder (Bo Jang - 80 years old) & Young Adult (Paul the Avenger).
  6. Describe your physical appearance. - As a Metal Mimic, Bo Jang appears to the naked eye as a pristine, beautifully polished, and masterfully crafted steel breastplate complete with an articulated armor skirt. Because she has spent 80 years consuming dense minerals, her metallic surface is exceptionally tough and dense. During high-stress negotiations or when Paul is slacking off, she can subtly shift her surface, revealing a sudden, unsettling shimmer of dozens of unblinking eyeballs or opening a jagged maw along her steel seams to deliver a minor, good-natured "love-munch" to Paul's backside. Paul himself is a young, eager human warrior dressed in sharp gala attire over Bo Jang's steel form.
  7. Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Loyal, Cautious, and Deprecating (Good-natured, grandmotherly chop-busting).
  8. What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - Secret Lore—The Global Dragon Lair Registry. Decades ago, Bo Jang was a tiny coin mimic trapped inside a dragon's hoard before being rescued by Paul's great-grandmother. Due to her deep ancestral animosity toward dragons (who routinely hoard and accidentally starve mimics), Bo Jang intimately knows the exact geographical locations of every single dragon lair across the continent, offering this intelligence to those who wish to hunt dragons.
  9. What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Matchmaking at the Peace Gala. Two rival nations stand on the precipice of a devastating, continent-spanning war. A grand aristocratic gala ("Hope Springs Eternal") is being thrown as a final bid for diplomacy. Bo Jang notices that the young Archduke of one nation and the headstrong Princess of the rival nation share a secret, unspoken mutual attraction. She tasks the adventuring party with sneaking into the ball, navigating courtly intrigue, and orchestrating a series of romantic comedy encounters to get the two youths to fall in love, securing a permanent royal marriage to stave off the war.
  10. What would be their reward for succeeding? - Political Dividends & Dragon Coordinates. Bringing the two royal youths together resolves the conflict peacefully, granting the party lifetime political favors, aristocratic prestige, and royal immunity from both nations. Additionally, as a personal thank-you, Bo Jang promises to share her secret coordinates to a dragon's lair, allowing the party to harvest massive hoards of treasure.
  11. What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - Outbreak of War. If the party refuses or fails to unite the two young royals at the gala, the diplomatic negotiations collapse entirely, plunging the region into a brutal, bloody war that closes off regional trade routes and floods the local roads with hostile military factions.

Optional Questions - not required

  • What are the goals and motivations of your character? - Bo Jang's primary goal is to ensure the physical survival of Paul the Avenger, honoring a multi-generational pact she made with his great-grandmother 80 years ago. Her secondary goals include playing matchmaker for cute young couples and eventually organizing a massive dragon-hunting crusade to avenge her mimic ancestors.
  • How do these affect your general personality? - She behaves like an overbearing, highly protective, and slightly nagging grandmother. She is constantly anxious about Paul getting hurt, frequently interrupting his heroic speeches to remind him to eat his meals, posture correctly, and stop being reckless in combat.
  • How do you normally interact with your family/friends/peers? With your enemies/rivals? With people who work for you/report to you? With player characters? - She speaks directly to Paul via a muffled, internal telepathic/auditory voice that only he and nearby allies can hear. She uses affectionate, backhanded family banter ("busting his chops") to keep Paul humble, but will immediately deploy lethal violence against anyone who threatens his life.
  • Do you have a particular accent or language? Any idiosyncrasies in how you act and speak? - She speaks Common in a warm, smothering, classic grandmotherly cadence (reminiscent of a Jewish or Italian matriarch constantly worrying if her grandkids are eating enough). Her primary physical idiosyncrasies include shimmering a row of hidden eyes across her breastplate when making a point, and giving Paul a quick, painless nip on his rear when he hesitates in battle.
  • What impact have you made on the world? How have you shaped the local area? - By serving as the living armor for four generations of Paul's family, Bo Jang has single-handedly kept a storied bloodline of heroes alive through dozens of lethal dungeons, dragon fights, and war zones, shaping the geopolitical stability of the realm from behind her wearer's steel chest.
  • Do you have any current problems that prevent you from being a bigger player on the stage? - She is fundamentally bound to the physical limitations of her wearer. Because she operates strictly as a piece of worn armor, Bo Jang cannot embark on independent adventures or fight dragons on her own, relying entirely on Paul (and outside adventuring parties) to execute her tactical advice.