Backstory
When the dust settles on the battle and a treaty is signed or a victor reigns, what comes of the bodies that litter the ground, preventing land from being reclaimed for the wellbeing of society? In the past, battlefields were left to be reclaimed by nature, but when homes and farmland have been destroyed by war, any and all land is vital for survival. That is where the Cremators come in: medium-sized warforged made post-fight to clean up the battlefield. Cremators have blazing incinerators in their torsos that can turn organic material into ash, which they then compress into small blocks, which were buried in mass graves. On the backs of their hands and on their cheeks are textured hotplates that when rubbed together can start a flame, which they use to light their inner incinerators. It took time, but the Cremators were successful in clearing the land. Their use was controversial, as many thought this process disrespected the dead, but there were too many lives lost to give each a proper burial. Once they finished, Cremators were resold as forge assistants. Interest was low at first, many not wanting to own a warforged that had done such things, but the prospect of a portable forge was too good to pass up. Dulrig Bokog, a weaponsmith, was a reluctant buyer but like many, he gave in and purchased one. However, when he brought it home, the short warforged refused to light itself, or even open its incinerator. After much coaxing, the warforged opened up its incinerator to reveal a pile of books it had found previously while clearing out a destroyed house. Titles included ‘Monk Magica’, ‘Cleric Moon’, ‘Little Goblin Academia’, and ‘Bardcaptor Sakura’. The warforged had become very protective of these books. Dulrig was quite entertained by this and patiently talked the warforged into putting the books on a shelf. The warforged became a helpful assistant, but it quickly formed a personality influenced by these books. The excitable warforged grew on Dulrig and his wife Redla, who named it Liliana, and it slowly became less of an assistant and more of an adoptive daughter.
Dulrig gave Liliana less and less to do in the smithy and allowed her to explore her own interests. Liliana seemed relieved to not light her incinerator and even became nervous around the smithy over time. Redla taught Liliana how to sew so she could dress like the girls in her books (they also bought her some wigs), and Dulrig helped her make little charms and accessories for her outfits. Liliana eventually developed her own style of dress that mixed her book inspirations with other fashions. Dulrig didn’t necessarily see the appeal of dressing like Liliana did, but it made her happy, so he was happy. He even let her give him makeovers.
As Liliana’s personality and emotions grew to be more complex, Redla became worried about the girl. When the family’s elderly cat died, Liliana seemed terrified and hid from her parents, as if she expected them to make her handle the body. When they tried to talk about it later, Liliana said she was fine and acted joyfully, but the glow in her eyes wasn’t there. When did she learn to lie? This trend continued when it came to dealing with other hard emotions. Redla tried to help Liliana accept when she was sad, scared, and mad, but the girl refused to acknowledge them. The characters in her books always powered through, so she would too.
Since her original find, Liliana had continued to search and find more books in the same style. Many of them were series and she was ravenous for the next installment. Dulrig brought her to markets and events with him and gave her an allowance to buy and trade for more books. On one such occasion, Liliana wandered into the farthest edges of the market and found herself at a dark tent filled with strange texts and curiosities. She was about to leave when she spotted a title. Was that the 20th-anniversary edition of Cleric Moon she saw? Yes! The super rare book stood proudly on the shelf, almost glowing. Liliana bought the book from the mangy-looking Tabaxi and ran to the park to begin reading. However, when she opened the book, all the pages were blank. Liliana began to internally scold herself for not checking if the book was real before buying when a voice began to whisper in her ear, “So you want to be like those magical girls, ey?” Liliana spun around to find the source of the voice, but there was no one there. “You want to be brave and strong and to make everyone happy, don’t you?” Liliana timidly nodded. “Perfect, you’ll make a fine client.” Liliana was suddenly hit with a surge of power, causing her cheek patches to spark and singe her wig. Pictures and words began to bleed across the paper and the Cleric Moon story became clear. “Now, enjoy your new book, and what surprises I have for you.” Little did Liliana know that she had just entered a pact with a being that would send her on the path to becoming a Warlock.
Liliana didn’t tell her parents about the experience, not wanting to get in trouble for buying something that could be dangerous from a shady seller, but the effects of her pact soon became clear. She began to show an affinity for magic, accidentally setting off spells in random situations. Neither of her parents had any experience with magic and didn’t know what to do. Now, the idea of school had come up before, but Dulrig and Redla had always felt so protective of their little, innocent Liliana and had let the idea slide. However, Liliana needed mentoring with her newfound power. Plus, it would be good for her. She deserved to make friends and get a normal life like any organic individual. After much debate, Dulrig and Redla decided to send her to school. A friend of Redla’s suggested Thomas Grey’s Adventuring School. The idea of Liliana adventuring terrified Redla, but the school had a good reputation and Dulrig remembered one of his old high school friends mentioned working there, so she was convinced. Liliana was very excited to go; her only friends were her parents, their friends, and the kids next door, and school was the place where cool things happened in her books! So, she applied and was overjoyed to get in. She packed up her favorite books and clothes and rode with her parents to the school, and the next step of her life.
----- Liliana’s Patron A Tanar’ri named Kif-Kif
A large Tanar’ri with an even larger ego. After an embarrassing hit to his ego, Kif-Kif made a bet with several other Tanar’ri that he could turn an innocent, caring person from the material plane into an evil force of chaos. Easy peasy. You’re talking about the great Kif-Kif, he knows no failure! So, Kif-Kif located a pure little soul in the form of a warforged named Liliana. She was a sweet girl who loved her parents and only ever wanted to help, but he also sensed a churning sea of fear within her that he was confident he could use to his advantage. He was intrigued by her past as a Cremator and hoped to push her to return to her old emotionless handling of life, but harness it into destruction. Kif-Kif did his research as he watched. He knew she would never agree to Kif-Kif’s intentions, so he decided to play to her innocent love of magical girls and manga. Connecting to the material plane, he forged a connection through a book, which he fashioned to look like what he knew Liliana greatly desired: the 20th Anniversary Cleric Moon book. Kif-Kif’s plan worked perfectly. Liliana desperately wanted to be like the girls in her books, who faced any and all fears and looked beautiful doing it, saving everyone in the end, far from the little gray Cremator that Liliana was. This fantasy helped Liliana ignore the memories of the lifeless faces she was tasked with chopping up and cremating within her. What Kif-Kif did not expect was how much of a gentle pushover Liliana was. He knew she was sweet, but the girl wouldn’t even hurt a fly. But, Kif-Kif was not one to give up and he vowed to break her. His first big success was getting Liliana to beat up a toaster. Yes, a toaster. Liliana was attempting to make breakfast for her parents for their anniversary and the toaster kept turning the bread black. No matter how low the setting was the bread was still burnt. Over and over again, Liliana went through an entire loaf of bread, anger growing. Kif-Kif jumped at the chance and stoked her fire, whispering encouragement until Liliana took an uncharacteristic swing at the little metal box and created a sizeable dent. By the time her parents woke up from the commotion, Liliana had flattened the toaster and her incinerator was lit. It had not been lit in years. This incident worried Liliana’s parents, but Kif-Kif was thrilled with this win. He found little more success breaking her sweet persona but began to give her access to magic, hoping this would push her to become the force of chaos he told himself she could become.