Sydney Diem – Bard [Subclass TBD] Stoat (Gnome) Lvl 5 (he/him)
[Edition TBD] PHB + [Source TBD]
A fast-talking stoat who claims to be the 13th Prophet of Verimoss, scribe in the court of Virelan. He carries a fiddle, a patchwork cloak, and a journal of dubious divine wisdom.
Trinket (d100: 96): A black pirate flag adorned with a dragon’s skull and crossbones.
Backstory
Sydney Diem doesn’t remember his parents. What he remembers is the cold, and the hunger, and being small enough that most people looked right past him.
He was taken in by a stoat called Aldric Fenwick — a traveling preacher who called himself the 12th Prophet of Verimoss, humble scribe in the court of the Titan Virelan. Aldric gave Syd warm meals, a fiddle, and a purpose: Verimoss, he said, recorded the truths that powerful people tried to bury. The Prophets carried those truths into the world. Syd believed every word.
As a teenager, Syd witnessed a crime — a merchant’s stores being looted by someone with connections to the local authorities. When he reported it, they laughed. When he insisted, they arrested him as a conspirator. A street rat pointing fingers at his betters. He was days from the gallows when Aldric arrived and delivered a “divine vision” of Syd’s innocence — complete with theatrical trembling and a booming invocation of Verimoss’s holy judgment.
They released him.
That night, Aldric told him the truth. There was no Verimoss. There was no lineage of Prophets. Aldric had invented the whole thing — the title, the history, the sacred proverbs — because he’d learned that people don’t listen to nobodies. They listen to prophets.
The truth Syd spoke hadn’t saved him. The lie Aldric told had.
Syd took up the mantle. He is the 13th Prophet — though he suspects Aldric may have been the second, or even the first. The “200-year legacy” might be two people deep. He doesn’t know, and Aldric, who disappeared shortly after passing the title, left no answers — only a battered journal full of mangled proverbs and a patchwork cloak with a single patch from their shared road.
Now Syd travels Myrador. He plays taverns, gathers information, and delivers “prophecies” that give voice to people the powerful would rather silence. Each patch on his cloak comes from a place where he helped someone. The journal grows with new proverbs he invents when the old ones don’t quite fit.
He knows the con is fragile. He knows it could collapse. But every time he sees a child being ignored, dismissed, or endangered, he remembers being that kid. And he’ll be damned if he lets it happen again.
NPC Connection: Aldric Fenwick — The self-proclaimed 12th Prophet of Verimoss. Mentor, father figure, and the one who shattered Syd’s faith while simultaneously proving the con works. Aldric vanished roughly two years ago. Syd doesn’t know if he’s alive, dead, or running the same grift somewhere else under a different number. Finding Aldric — or finding out what happened to him — is unfinished business.
Character Creation Questions
Species / Appearance
Stoat (gnome). Small, lean, russet-furred with a cream underbelly. Quick dark eyes that miss nothing. Wears a patchwork cloak over traveling clothes, carries a well-loved fiddle on his back. Moves with nervous energy — always adjusting his cloak, tapping his fingers, scanning the room. When he’s “performing” as the Prophet, he draws himself up, slows his movements, and speaks with a gravity that seems impossible for someone his size.
Place of Origin
[To discuss with DM — likely the Verdant Forest region or its edges, close enough to Virelan’s influence that claiming Verimoss as a divine patron is plausible, but from a settlement rough enough to produce orphans that nobody notices.]
Motivation
Syd didn’t join the rebellion out of ideology. He joined because tyranny creates the conditions he can’t walk away from — silenced people, endangered children, authority that only listens to power. The rebellion gives his con a cause bigger than individual marks. “No Kings, No Tyrants” isn’t far from “Nobody should need a fake prophet to be heard.”
Skills & Role in the Rebellion
Intelligence gatherer and propaganda arm. Syd plays taverns, charms crowds, and listens. He delivers “prophecies” that are actually intelligence briefings wrapped in divine theater — warnings, morale boosts, coded messages. He’s a spy who hides in plain sight as a spectacle.
Connections
- Aldric Fenwick — Missing mentor, the “12th Prophet.” Father figure. Status unknown.
- The authorities who nearly executed him — Syd doesn’t know if they’re still in power, but they shaped everything he became.
- The children he’s helped — Scattered across Myrador. Some remember the strange stoat prophet who stood up for them. Some are old enough now to be part of the rebellion themselves.
Quirks & Personality Hooks
- The Veri/very wordplay (“I tell you this is Veri important… Verimoss would want you to know…“)
- Consults his proverb journal mid-conversation, squinting at his own handwriting
- Kids gravitate to him — he always has time for a story or a fiddle tune
- Practices dramatic prophetic gestures when he thinks no one is watching
- Each patch on the cloak has a story; he’ll tell you if you ask
- Uncomfortable with genuine gratitude — deflects it with humor or credits Verimoss
Secret or Conflict
The entire Verimoss prophet lineage is a fabrication. If exposed, every person the Prophets ever helped might feel betrayed — and Syd’s usefulness to the rebellion as a credible voice would evaporate. Deeper: Syd suspects the “13 Prophets across 200 years” might really be two stoats across a couple decades. The legacy he carries may be even thinner than the lie he already knows about. Deepest: sometimes his prophecies land too well. Sometimes things happen that he can’t explain. And that scares him more than being caught.
Long-Term Goal
Syd wants to build something that doesn’t need him. A world where street rats get listened to without a prophet vouching for them. Whether that’s a school, an archive, a network — he doesn’t know yet. He just knows that if the rebellion succeeds and he’s done his job right, nobody should ever need a 14th Prophet.