Thomas Keith

What do you mean I have no legs?
Lalalalalala, I can't hear you!

So you're probably looking at another picture here saying "What gives? Where's the comic?" My bad. I was working on it during some free time I had, but then I had to go to work. I was so wiped out after that I couldn't finish anything more than a quick sketch of Thomas.

Isn't the sketch great though? He's waiting for a fiery explosion, which for some reason makes me think of Wile E. Coyote. He also doesn't have any legs, as the comic this sketch is for is cut off at his midsection.

But hey, you came here for a reason, so I figure I owe you another outline on a character here.

Thomas Keith is, at the current point of the comic, a 1st level cleric of the Arbiter. His domains are Law and Protection, and his alignment is Lawful Neutral (he chose to channel good energy for spontaneous healing and so he can turn undead). That's boring technical stuff though, so if you don't play Dungeons and Dragons you can totally disregard that.

I had asked Joseph at one point to give me an idea of Thomas' back story. He then gave me a surprisingly detailed biography and description, a sketch of the character, and an anthology of short stories. I was surprised to hear that he spent about as much time with his one character as I do with the entire campaign. Nonetheless, I'm going to try to pare it down for the readers, and add a couple insights of my own.

Thomas' backstory, like so many other characters, begins with his childhood. He grew up in the waterfront district of Verngull (it occurs to me here that I haven't really talked much about Verngull. It's the capital of the party's nation, is a sprawling port city, and has an obscene crime problem. I'll probably have an interlude adventure sometime just to show the city proper.), and had a tumble or two on the wrong side of the law. Joseph's notes tell me that he was publicly lashed for stealing from a fruit stand, and once he robbed a wizard of an expensive alchemical reagent.

That's in his past though, and he doesn't dwell too much on it. He grew up to apprentice under an alchemist by name of Zubayr ibn Rasil (who will never be featured in the comic. Seriously, Joseph gets pretty proprietary about his characters). He later became a journeyman with the alchemist's guild. His studies shifted to the Divine as he began investigating the refinement of metal. I assume this has something to do with the effects of silver and cold-forged iron on undead and demons.

Before long, he joined an order dedicated to championing the cause of the Arbiter. The Arbiter appealed to him because he's responsible for all the laws of man and nature in my setting (he's kind of a big deal, really). Anyway, the order trained him how to fight, as it is often the responsibility of the Clerics of the Arbiter to dispense the king's justice.


Thomas continued his alchemical pursuits, publishing books under the name of Al-Kythrazi. I'm sure that means something, I just don't know exactly what.

The Arbiter
If you're a DM (or a player for that matter) and you want to use The Arbiter as your favored deity, I have absolutely no problem with that. Seriously, it's like a form of flattery for me.

His alignment is Lawful Neutral, his favored weapon is the warhammer. His domains are Law, Protection, and Knowledge.