Tifreth

Born to a pair of surface-dwelling drow, Tifreth left her parents' hemp farm in Beryl to embark upon a personal journey of self-discovery in 215, as is traditional for Drow. She hopped on the first boat to Sa'athi and as soon as she stepped onto the docks there, bandits robbed her of all her worldly possessions. Luckily, a local chapter of the Argentum Order apprehended the criminals and returned not only her belongings, but her faith in humanity.  Inspired by this selfless act, Tifreth sought out more information on the Order, was won over by their stated ideals (ie, she read a propaganda poster and believed 100% of it. She did zero actual research into the Order, and only learned of its history 7 years later), and signed on with them.

Though she was not-at-all religious and had no skills, no training, and no clues, Tifreth prayed to the Order's patron deity and received an answer. Thus began her training as a Cleric of the Weaver.

Immediately after enlisting, a tear in the space-time continuum threw the entire realm into chaos (THIS WAS A COINCIDENCE I SWEAR), so her Cleric education ended up very....non-traditional. She usually only saw the aftermath of combat rather than combat itself, and absolutely did not do her homework, but everything was on fire anyway so no one noticed. Eventually, Tifreth was assigned to and given a tower on Csa, a tiny island that was settled by the Order, but abandoned in the chaos and subsequently occupied by Dwarves.

In addition to holdings, the Order lost a good amount of its standing as a result of the events of 215. In 220, it was revealed that a Usurper had been leading the Order by impersonating its leader, the Oracle, for literal decades. The Order continued to lose ground due to back-to-back political scandals as Tifreth struggled to maintain her faith until 222, when she was called from her tower to attend a meeting at the Order's headquarters.

There, she was assigned to what she thought would be a simple escort mission. Turns out the person she was assigned to escort was none other than the Usurper herself, and the Usurper was the Oracle's twin sister, Brynhild! This did not alleviate her crisis of faith in the slightest! 

They were supposed to go around the southern portion of the continent, completing objectives that would help the Order regain some of its lost standing (like reclaiming a fort, opening trade negotiations, etc) as a sort of journey of atonement. Before they even left Oder HQ, they were attacked by dark spirits, and realized someone was trying to sabotage their mission....

Over the course of the campaign, we learned that multiple objectives had been tampered with by someone WITHIN the Order. Come to find out, MULTIPLE evil wizards were working on world-ending schemes, some of which were utilizing the Order as their own personal source of funding and labor! This was the entire plot of the campaign!

In addition to Tif and Brynhild, the party contained Athra: a marginally less evil wizard whose objectives COINCIDENTALLY aligned with Tifreth and Brynhild's; and Mak: a grippli monk/druid who was just along for the ride. Erza the Fighter was in the party for the first session, but was relegated to NPC status after taking STR damage, RIP. YOU KNOW WHAT IT'S FINE, HE'S A LAWFUL GOOD TRYHARD ANYWAY.

At one point, Athra got possessed by a pendant and tried to Disintegrate Tifreth, causing Brynhild to try to impale Athra, causing Tifreth to pray SO GOOD that her deity intervened (by striking Brynhild with lightning, OOPS). In fact, Tifreth's deity intervened and communicated A LOT. Turns out what we thought was a haunted mansion was actually a mansion in a time rift. Tif prayed to her deity, who responded with "new phone, who dis?" and, long story short, Tifreth started the modern incarnation of her own religion. YAY?

The bandits that robbed Tifreth all those years ago were actually a part of a larger group that only grew larger with time. The Plot led us to encounter them once more, at which point Tif lost her shit and killed all their leadership. The circle of stupidity is complete?

After the party made it to the end of the campaign relatively unscathed, Brynhild got Disintegrated in the very last session. Although Tifreth cast True Resurrection at the first opportunity, it left her more than a little bit traumatized!

Nerd: highly perceptive and analytical. Likes to read and learn new things, but only "cool" and "interesting" things (ie, fantasy books, trashy romance novels, conspiracy theories......anything other than whatever she was supposed to be reading in seminary. She got around to those religious texts after the campaign concluded!)
Nosy: what's most "cool" and "interesting" to read is other peoples' mail/diaries/MINDS. She highly values her own privacy so she's being more than a little hypocritical and it's messing her up. She means well, though! She's just trying to connect with people in the most cowardly way possible! Eventually stops invading peoples' privacy, but still likes knowing things that are absolutely Not Her Business.
Faithful: didn't feel the need to learn about the Order's founding and "boring" stuff like that because she had faith that her deity would take care of her.
Didn't even feel the need to do her own damn job until recently. Multiple crises of faith later, she still feels that her deity is looking out for her (doing a bit of a crap job at times...), but she's also putting more effort into seeing things through on her own. Finally understands why you shouldn't just rely on a higher power to do everything for you.
Anxious: fully aware that even with a deity looking out for you, things might suck hardcore for a while! This causes Anxiety, which she combats by putting way too much thought into her decisions to the point of acting too late or not at all, or by coming up with overly complex plans with minimal chance of success.
Distrustful: due to some bad experiences. Only once she's absolutely certain someone isn't out to rob and/or kill her will she open up/be honest.
Idealist: in spite of the above, she believes wants to believe everyone is good at heart, and that it's possible to create a world free of strife. Trying REALLY HARD to not adopt a "the ends justify the means" viewpoint, but it just keeps being true!!!!!
Passionate: let's call it that. Slowly evolved into Anger Management Problems over the course of the campaign.....she gets better, though!
Helper: naturally inclined to fix every problem she comes across, even if just to ease her own mind. IF SHE CAN'T FIX IT, SHE'S JUST GOING TO TRY TO IGNORE IT. See: Anxiety.
Conspiracy Theorist: including such fun things as "the lost city of Atlantis." Some of her crackpot theories wound up being true though!

Respects the Oracle more than what is healthy. Actively avoiding thinking about the Oracle's myriad problems. Ciarra is the helpless baby bird that Tif wants to help out from a distance by doing her job really well, because spending too much time with the Oracle is frustrating.

Started out confused, frightened, and exasperated by the party's wizard, Athra, but they've since found out they both have a lot in common (mostly nerd crap) and are now SUPER BFFs.
Athra is the MOST helpless baby bird, in spite of knowing how to cast Disintegrate, so Tifreth is trying to look out for her and make her feel like she belongs somewhere where people want her around.

Completely vindicated in her belief that Brynhild is actually a good person, which is great because she also has a huge, gay crush on her. Literally the only thing that was keeping that in check (Brynhild repeatedly trying to murder Athra) was resolved. OOPS? OPPOSITES ATTRACT I GUESS???
Tif admires Brynhild's bold, straightforward approach to life, her unwavering dedication to the Order and her convictions (even when she's wrong!), and her willingness to walk into danger just to spare someone else from having to do so. She's pretty pleased by how much Brynhild has grown as a person during their travels together and trusts her with her life. Doesn't hurt that she finds Brynhild smokin' hot.
Brynhild is the second most helpless baby bird, in spite of having 30 STR and a cart full of weapons, and Tif would literally die for her. Luckily (unluckily?) it will likely never come to that, since Brynhild tends to run head-first into danger, WILLINGLY.

Thinks Mak is a font of wisdom who has the favor of his deity as well. Respects his ability to stand by his beliefs. Is trying not to tell him his beliefs are Wrong. Mak is NOT a helpless baby bird at all, somehow!

Neither is Erza, who Tifreth immensely respects and views as an exemplary person.

The only character with a normal, loving relationship with her still-alive parents??? Valendrys is Tif's mother's surname.
Tif loves her parents, even though she's sometimes frustrated by them. No matter how old she gets, at least part of them will always think of her as a child helpless baby bird haha RIP
Tif's parents still sometimes worry that she is in a cult (because Tif abysmally failed at describing the Order and its mission, good job) or an otherwise terrible situation (because she teleported home after 7 years just to complain about everything being terrible and sporting new scars).

Most of the regions of this setting draw inspiration from real-life locales, including their fashion choices. Tifreth likes to blend in, so she'll buy an outfit in the local style whenever she gets to a new region that she's going to stay in for a while NO IT'S NOT JUST AN EXCUSE FOR ME TO DRAW EMBROIDERY SHUT UP

Argen: Where the campaign started. Tunics and cloaks inspired by Norman/Anglo-Saxon clothing. Lots of embroidery.

Beryl: Tif's hometown. Eastern European-inspired clothing. Lots of embroidery. Popular patterns include flowers and crystals.

Trollmoor: What a shithole Generic fantasy. Opulent clothes are commonplace. Probably embroidery, IDK, I hate this town.

Tyda: The city of eternal rain. "China, but with Elves" -GM. Flowing silk robes. Lots of embroidery.

Tifreth follows Lymeria, the goddess that weaves the threads of fate into the great tapestry. Known as the Weaver to most. Everyone has a thread and every thread has its place in the tapestry. Usually. 

Priests can attempt to glimpse the tapestry by communing with the Weaver or her agents; however, the Weaver is not omniscient, and certain places (eg, other planes of existence) and people exist outside of the weave entirely (sometimes due to interference by another deity, in one case because someone tricked the deities responsible for reincarnation and bypassed that whole process. WIZARDS, AM I RIGHT?).

Things that threaten the stability of the weave are extremely discouraged if not outright prohibited, such as cutting someone's thread short before it's reached its proper length (murder), extending a thread beyond the point at which it was meant to be cut (undeath), or generally chaotic actions that fray and weaken the threads.

Drow that spend a long time above ground sometimes develop yellow eyes. Yellow-eyed drow can see perfectly well in daylight, but have lost some ability to see in the dark. This adaptation is sometimes passed down to offspring.

Drow are encouraged to see travel around and experience a variety of cultures and locales before their 100th birthday. This provides plenty of opportunities for personal development, but also allows them to see how peaceful and idyllic the drow homelands* are in comparison to the rest of the world.

Those drow who are over 100 and have seen the outside world are considered adults, and usually create a last name of their own, relegating their family's surname to a middle name if they keep it at all.

*Arten: A series of islands, most of which are nearly uninhabitable for a good portion of the year, being ravaged by tides, winds, and extreme cold. Below the harsh surfaces of these islands exists a sprawling network of caves both natural and artificial. It is within these caves that drow have built their society, which is a delightful underground utopia with free healthcare and a proper postal service.