Character

Caitlin is a female halfling with a cheerful disposition, always seeing something positive, even in the most dismal situation. Her genial ways have made her many friends, but this may also result from her gullibility. It's not that Caitlin is stupid, just trusting and naive. She won't harm anyone intentionally and subsequently can't imagine anybody else doing otherwise. The lass has some difficulty in spotting obvious clues and this tends to interfere with here job. Somehow, however, she's managed to survive. This has given her a reputation to be lucky, but people who know her understand that Caitlin learns quickly.

Appearance

Humans might mistake Caitlin for a human child at first glance as she is a halfling. Even measured by the small people's standards she is quite small with her 3 feet. Despite her active lifestyle and her athletic profession Caitlin's always a bit plump, which is a direct result from her fondness of good food. Her skin is a bit pale, paler than you'd expect from an adventurer. Of course there's little sunlight in the underground caverns she habitually visits. A stubborn lock of her honeyblonde hair always manages to dangle in front of Caitlin's kind grey eyes. A small blueish scar adorns her left cheek. Caitlin is a charming person and possesses a fetching smile which has broken more than one heart — although she wouldn't do this intentionally, now would she?

Religion

Caitlin is familair with more beliefs and faiths than most people. She likes Fharlanghn, the Dweller on the Horizon, for his vision and inspiration but dislikes his soberness. Olidammara provides a more life-celebrating point of view.

Biography

On a totally ordinary Spring night 29 years ago, Caitlin was born into the little halfling community of Eastspire, a substantial city state in the East (natch). Eastspire rests at the azure lake of Mare Mansuetum, formed by the river Mercatrix. As the name implies, there's brisk trading along the river and Eastspire is the natural hub which is the center of it all.
Caitlin was the third child in a wealhty merchant's family. As her older brothers would inherit the family business, the lass was a bit spoiled. She needn't do anything, and got away with most everything. She didn't think much of the merchant's life, always trying to get the best bargain, always counting money. As it was, the city didn't appeal to her at all. Displaying a bit of the famous halfling curiousity she took to hiking around the city, in particular in the boggy swamps in the South. The thrill of constant danger lurking enticed Caitlin in a way she hadn't been before. Before long the girl stumbled upon the ruins of what looked to be a watchtower. Her curiousity sparked to a bright bonfire, Caitlin explored the watchtower in the following weeks. After being scared off by a pair of exceptionally large bugs our heroine deducted that mere stealth wouldn't get her everywhere, she demanded martial training of her father.
The placid merchant was happy to oblige, glad that Caitlin seemed to have grown bored by the dirty outdoors and payed for her education. The elegance of the rapier matched her petite body and after some time, Caitlin was confident of her own again.
Her next venture into ruins and relics of the past was accordingly more fruitful. She found several items which she mostly sold off. One thing, however, she kept: a colourful scarf which she used to keep her hair out of her face as she jumped and skipped through the underground ways under the watchtower.

After her 25th birthday Caitlin was allowed to visit her relatives in Fionnghuala, a dwarven/halfling city at the slope of Mount Geal. This broadened her horizons considerably and the hearthy welcome by total strangers gave her confidence to stretch her legs. After some communication with her parents (by magic mouth) the lass struck out for herself. Her first real 'assignment' was with the dwarven Seanána clan in investigating the fallen city of Talliaason.
In this undertaking she learned much, not only in ways of skills, but of people as well. Many skills were gained or honed even further. Caitlin learned how to find traps, and how to disable them without setting them of. How to move across the underground ledges and cliffs, how to climb and tumble. To turn her size into an advantage by going where no-one else, even the dwarves, could go. Her martial arts were tested and found wanting. The dwarves were more of a 'face the enemy head-on' kind of people and the girl found herself in grave circumstances more than once. Her agility saved her more times than can be counted on the hands of a naga, and her feinting tricks on the other occasions.
While the dwarves were appreciative of the contributions she made and the cheerful disposition she had, there were some troubles. Caitlin's curiousity brought mayhem upon the heads of the exploration party more than once, and her carefree attitude clashed violently with the stern and sober dwarves. After another accident with near-fatal outcome (this one involving a carrion crawler) Caitlin was kicked out and left to her own devices.

This, however, proved to be no problem. The halfling lass —with considerable less colour upon her cheeks than before she entered the underground caverns of Talliaason— was ready for the experiences before her. Her tuition had been ample, her skills were honed, and she had quite the equipment to support her escapades.

Additional biography (by F&X)

Caitlin, proud of her new skills decided that she would like to test her newly trained skills and gain some new ones. This would not come easy she knew so she started to look for something challenging, something different. Different was not really the problem nowadays. The world around her hometown was changing so quickly that every now and then a house was demolished because of shifting lands and spontaneous appearing pools of water around houses that grew larger and larger. It seemed to Caitlin that the world was starting to change faster every year. She doubted very much that this could be a good thing.
Caitlin left her village to find answers to the questions she had even though she knew it would unmistakenly lead to more questions.

On one of her trips, it went dark and Caitlin was looking for a place where she could spent the night. In the distance she saw a great mansion. As she knocked on the door noone answered. The house seemed deserted. Pushing the door, it easily opened and Caitlin stepped in. After a couple of 'Hello!' and 'Is anybody here?' and having a good look at the dust and spiderwebs, she decided noone must've been here for ages. She checked everything in the main hall and set camp.

The next morning Caitlin started to explore the house a little further. The house was nothing special. Just an empty deserted house. When she came to the door to the cellar and went down a couple of stairs she was suprised. Letting her guard drop as the house seemed all quiet, she was almost caught by an arrow that sprung when she stepped on one of the last stairs. It grazed her leg and Caitlin screamed. Why would anyone install a trap like this in a house that hadn't seem interested at all.

Caitlin was intrigued and started to explore the cellar. It was much larger than she thought at first and it had to reach far beyond the base of the mansion. Dodging many more traps, leaping over spiked pits, defeating a couple of unnaturally large spiders and thumbling past traps she detected, but could not disarm she came to a larger room.
What obviously once was the wine cellar was now empty. Not a single bottle could be spotted among those shelves. What Caitlinstruck immediately though, was the pedestal in the center of the room. On top of it was a rapier with a bit of parchment. Caitlin unrolled the scroll and read:

Saving the world from magic will seem hard
Impossible however, it is not.
There is a power that saves the world from magic's chaos
Have this weapon and play your part.

Beyond the desert lies the answer to your trouble
If you think yourself worthy,
Travel to the ice city in the south
In the heart of the cold, your knowledge will double.

With nothing better to do for the time and curious about the meaning of this all was, she decided to take the rapier. Unless Caitlin was seriously mistaken, the rapier felt warm and kept feeling warm even the days after she took it. This truly was a strange weapon. Every now and then a spark came of it.

Caitlin went south in search for the desert and the city of ice.
After months of travelling she left the desert behind and came to the city. She had already encountered some people who seemed to be able to live in this harsh environment, but they did not seem very friendly. After a couple of near escapes, Caitlin thought it would be better to hide from them for now until she had found why she was here.
After a couple of days wandering around the city of ice and not finding what she was looking for, she noticed a small and a tall man with a white, soms sort of leopard and an owl, wandering through the city. Caitlin decided to follow them to see if they were friendlier and to see what brought them to this desolate place.

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