Tomis Oathmaker
Prime human paladin [he/him] / Mover Three of the Harmonium / LG
Tomis is a paladin, a human of faith, dignity and diligence. Some call him a great man, one of the greatest. Others call him a racist bigot.
To inspire such diverse comments isn’t rare for a high-up in the political minefield of Cage, but to garner such divided loyalties from one’s own faction is a little more unusual. Especially when you consider the fact that Tomis Oathmaker’s a Hardhead.
Tomis’s history leaves bitter memories in the minds of many. He was born and raised on Chavella, a Prime with a world-spanning Empire. The world had a delicate balance of power, where humans ruled in a grand council alongside elves and orcs. The politics weren’t split along the lines of race as you might expect, but with ever-shifting coalitions. Unions and factions’d been outlawed, as everyone was supposed to choose their own way in life. On paper, it could’ve been paradise, but in practice it was hell.
Senators would ally with one another as the mood suited them, and attempt to twist every situation to their own advantage. It was impossible to trust anyone, unless you’d blackmailed them personally. Even then there was always the threat that someone’d blackmailed them more effectively than you.
No matter what attempts were made to bring the situation under control, the Senators steadfastly refused to join any kind of political party. Every man worked for himself; it was more profitable that way. There was too little trust left for anyone to work with another body for longer than it took to find a better deal elsewhere.
“Sir, we can’t prove he did anything…”
– Newly recruited Harmonium patrol member to his commander
“So? What’s your point?”
– Commander’s Response
It couldn’t last forever, of course. The Empire had no identity, and there were no figureheads for bashers to follow. It didn’t take much for it all to erupt into civil war. But even then, it wasn’t a normal civil war. There were no sides for sods to choose; it was every berk for himself.
Millions must’ve died at the hands of their fellows. There was no means of stopping the conflict, since there was no-one willing to stand up and try; it was simply too dangerous. Those who did were assassinated or just got lost. The climate was jealous and the rivers ran with the blood of men killed by bashers they had no quarrel with.
Tomis had to leave. He was one of the few who managed. See, portals and planar travel weren’t widely know on Chavella; it was one of those backward little worlds with no place in the grand scheme of things. Nobody cared about it. Nobody except Tomis, that was.
The blood prayed to the one Power of the Empire; the others’d been made illegal long ago, before the citizens had the freedom of choices. For a long time Tomis went unheard, then one evening he had a dream. His Power showed him a way out of the madness, another place to go. She showed him a portal.
And so Tomis ended up in Sigil.
The skills which so endangered his life on Chavella made the paladin a most valuable commodity. He was a great orator, an inspired leader, and he had a vision. It was one that was heard by many in the City Barracks, and it was one that many of them found they could believe in. Tomis rapidly became a Mover of the Harmonium.
Source: Jon Winter-Holt, mimir.net
