Talia and Tarsis
The 10th Obelisk was a role-playing campaign that I was a player in that used the Pathfinder Role-Playing system. The campaign ran once a week over the course of two years, from September 2012 to September 2014 (our characters started the campaign at Level 1 and by the end of the campaign we were at Level 10). Our DM was an experienced DM with an incredible imagination and a gift for story telling. I was very fortunate to be a part of this campaign.
The 10th Obelisk campaign was never referred by this name when we were playing this campaign (the campaign never had a name). Rather, it was a name that I gave to this campaign when I published it on this website.
As someone new to Role-Playing games, I decided to take notes throughout the campaign. This not only helped me remember the events of the campaign, but also helped me entered inside the mind of my character. At the end of the campaign I was able to give those who took part of this campaign the following notes and maps:
Tarsis Half-Elf (Ranger)
The character that I played for most of the campaign was Tarsis, a half-elf ranger. During character creation I was interested in playing a "martial-type" character as a character along these lines was easier to play than a spell-based character (I was new to the system and wanted to start off with a less complex character to play). At first I was thinking along the lines of a fighter, but when the DM told me that the campaign was based in a desert world and the wearing heavy armour could have negativities due to the heat, I decided to play a light armoured ranger.
The main reason why I decided to play a half-elf characters was that I was interested in playing a character who was caught between two worlds, and never fully accepted by either world (I based the half-elf racial concept from the character of Tanis Half-Elf from the Dragonlance series). Throughout the campaign, one of the themes that was important for Tarsis was that of friendship and acceptance.
The name of Tarsis was in fact borrowed from the Dragonlance universe (Tarsis was a City in the World of Dragonlance). I thought the name Tarsis had a certain half-elf ring to it.
Tarsis and his elven mother
Much of Tarsis' back story was inspired by background of Tanis. Like Tanis, Tarsis was raised by his mother and his elven family. He never knew his father. Tarsis' mother had a secrete relationship with Tarsis' father, a human ranger named Tanath. Tarsis' mother had become pregnant with Tarsis a short-time before Tarsis' father was sent on a secrete mission outside of the City of Vadin. Tarsis' father never returned from that mission.
Growing up, Tarsis was never accepted by Elven society due to his half-human heritage. Because of this, friendship and acceptance became very important things for Tarsis. In my back story, I described how Tarsis as an adolescent had fallen in love with an elven girl, but she could not accept Tarsis for his half-human heritage. This event had a great impact on Tarsis.
Another theme that I tried to role-play for the character of Tarsis was his desire to learn more about his human father, and to follow in his father's footsteps by becoming a ranger. Tarsis' journey as a ranger was a way for him to make the connection with the father that he never knew.