Madame Azlu, Sailor of the Sea of Stars - Confronting Ableism with Rachel Voss (D&D 5e)

Hello friends welcome to characters without stories, a TTRPG podcast about the roads not yet traveled, I'm star. If you play tabletop role playing games, you probably have some back pocket characters, characters who are just waiting for the right story. Every episode i'll bring in a friend to tell me about their character and their approach to creating characters. This episode, I'm joined by Rachel Voss, a retired wheelchair athlete who uses her more than 20 years of disability experience to create accurate representation in tabletop role playing games. She is the co founder of forge ahead a party to access. Rachel, I think you and Wesley are doing such important work highlighting the creativity of people with disabilities in the tabletop community. And I am so thrilled to have you on the podcast.

Thank you. I'm super excited to be here. You've been with us since the very beginning and was super excited to support you on your adventure.

Awesome. Yeah, this is great. I will give you a chance to plug your projects at the end. But right now, do you want to tell listeners a little bit about yourself?

Yeah, so my name is Rachel Voss. I am a manual wheelchair user and have been since I was 12 years old. I woke up the day after Christmas in 2002 from a nap and I couldn't walk due to a spinal arteriovenous malformation. It's big fancy words for veins and arteries that I was born with that was wrapped around my spinal cord that I had no idea I had until that moment, and add a little bit, several little moments after that. But eventually, I found adaptive sports. And I moved to Champaign, Illinois, where I attended University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign, and for wheelchair basketball, and pretty much just fell in love with the area. And now I'm connecting my community with programs and resources for everyone to be able to recreate because it is so important.

That's awesome. So tell me, who are you bringing to the table today?

For our work with forge ahead, we had considered starting a stream where we play a campaign and people could see characters with disabilities actually being played, but none of us really had enough energy to start another campaign that we weren't already in. And so then it turned into a one shot and we ended up actually making our characters for the one shot it just never happened. And her name is Madame Azlu. She has a soul knife rogue, that she is a tortle and she's extremely old way older than what most tortles live to. And because of that she has had some hip injuries and when it was time for her to get some hip replacement surgery, she decided that she didn't want the traditional hip replacement she wanted wheels. And so she has wheels that are able to fix to her shell essentially. And she is able to conjure her soul blades in her hands to propel her forward like a cross country skier with the Nordic skiers at the Paralympics or like a sled hockey player would more than like pushing a wheelchair you would typically think of It is it is for 5e. She was going to be a 14 level one

Interesting. Is this character built for d&d? shot we're just going to try to throw it together. But like I said, it didn't end up happening but she's definitely going to come into play in the future for us, but not I haven't played her yet. Why, Madame Azlu, where does that name come from?

I wanted to pay tribute to one of my favorite characters of all time, which is Madame Raz in She-Ra and the princess of power. Madame Raz is amazing. And so Madame Azlu is essentially Azlu, I can't remember exactly what it's mushed together, but it started off as Azula, but it's not Azula so it ended up just like morphing into this Madame Azlu name, but she has essentially, Madame Raz mixed with Entrapta mixed with a little bit of myself as every character is that people play. So yeah, that's just kind of where she came from. Personality wise, I should say.

You said that you have a little bit of yourself and every character you play what part of yourself is in Madame Azlu?

It is my pure ADHD self is in Madame Azlu and she has very low constitution she like ends up having like a negative two modifier on her constitution, partly because how old she is, but then also just just because of how far out there she is a bit and just like how hard it is for her to stay focused unless if she's very interested in it. And so that aspect of myself as absolutely in it, and I get to like, lean into it versus like IRL, I can't really lean into it. That's not accepted in society.

What was the initial spark or the inspiration for creating Madame Azlu?

I saw a picture of a turtle, that hat for some reason had had an injury or something where he no longer had back legs. And instead of trying to give it legs or whatever they used, like the kinetics blocks that the not Lego blocks, like stick things to make a fixed set of wheels on the turtle. And I just thought that that was such a great basis for character, that's when like, that morphed with my favorite characters in one of my favorite shows, it just ended up all coming together after that. Mm hmm.

Do you often take references from media like like TV or movies, things like that?

I do find myself doing that, in a way. I'm very much like, I have to kind of see it, I have to experience it in a way to really grasp it to be able to roleplay it and really try to embrace that character. I've tried to play characters in the past or just like, make characters just to make characters and not really like, think about the backstory, and all that kind of stuff. But I'd never had as much fun as when I could like really dive into those kinds of characters and things like that. Not like ripping any media off, of course. But I like to pay tribute to some of the things that I love that I like to celebrate as much as possible.

I don't think it's uncommon for people to take bits of inspiration from media to create their characters. I know I've done it, it's, I think it's pretty common. And what I think makes it useful is that you can see a well rounded character and take just a piece of it. Just, you know, oh, that gave me an idea for a warlock that does this, just like this character. I don't think people should be ashamed to take their references, the culture that they're around, and bring that into characters that they create for tabletop.

Absolutely, especially. I mean, there's so many now fandoms that are getting their own tabletop games, right? Like, I've created myself into the Tales of Zadia game because I wanted to see myself in that, like that world. And so that it's definitely, and then being able to pull any of those like references from that world into into the Forgotten Realms or into any other game is so much fun as well.

Absolutely. Is this a common approach that you use to character building? Is it different each time kind of what's the first step when you're building a character?

It's a really good question. The first step is always the hardest for me. Because I'm very indecisive. So just seeing the vast opportunity of all the different things it's so overwhelming for me to start from scratch. And so I have to almost get like a spark of seeing a picture or getting an idea or like taking what I have in my life or what I'm experiencing in my life and trying to translate it into character form. I know we had mentioned I had a different character that I really enjoyed wanting to play. And he is based off of like a Lion's Mane mushroom because I grew mushrooms during quarantine. And so it was a spore druid Leonin in that so like it's very much pulling from nature pulling from things that I can see to make it make my choices easier. Hmm, yeah.

You said that, Madame Azlu is very old. How old is she?

Um, so from what I like have read tortles' average lifespan is like 50 years and so I was thinking like, in her 60s in her 70s. She is well past what she could be but she doesn't have the constitution to remember what the number is. So She does knows that she has been on so many adventures. her body, her face. It just it seems like an old ashy turtle. Right. But her eyes are super bright and super full of life. She wears the traditional granny garb. She has the sun hat, and like a doily shawl on her shell, or like, was it the soul knife, her blades are pink. And so she's just like, cute turtle, but is very wise. And it's very insightful and just won't take any one's bull, I feel a lot of the time she'll she would receive some ableism because of her age, and because she does have a physical disability. And so she wouldn't, she would shut it down as fast as possible. And so that's always fun to get to roleplay that, because generally in like, in the real world, you don't really get to shut it down as fast as you can in the tabletop. And it's just it's so nice to be able to do that to be like, nope, that's ableist here's what I blah blah blah. And just you don't have to worry about if you're seeming like the jerk or things like that.

I think it's an interesting question. And I talked to Wesley about this as well, I think some people who are experiencing discrimination, whether that's sexism or racism, or homophobia, or like you're talking about ableism, there's debate about whether or not that should be brought into games, or whether we should inhabit a world that doesn't have those problems. And I can see both points of view. So I think it's interesting that you're saying that you you prefer to play in a world that does have ableism, but to confront it.

Yes. So a lot of the times people will say that they're using tabletop, or their preferred form of recreation, to run away from their life, right get away from something that they can have peace for a little bit. I see tabletop, is that I am running to something I'm running to a world where it's possible for me to feel comfortable enough to stand up for myself, a world that accepts disability and understands that disability really isn't something that should be swept aside when it is a beautiful thing and a beautiful thing in nature. And it's something that should be celebrated. And so I often find myself in tabletop running to something instead of running away from something, and that's a small word difference, but a big meaning difference.

Oh, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, that's really interesting. So you said she is a soul knife rogue? I'm not actually familiar with that subclass. Do you want to tell me a little bit about that, and maybe why you chose it for her.

I chose a soul knife rogue because you don't have to have a like a weapon you like summon spiritual weapons, essentially, like soul blades, little like astral knives. And so you don't have to carry actual weapons. And so since her hands would be free, she would be able to do some other things other than having to hold her weapons. And being able to do that as a wheelchair user would be really important. But then also flipping it and being able to use it to propel yourself would be also really useful and important as well.

Interesting. So these are very long blades.

Generally, they I think not super duper long in my drawing, they're really really long. But I also don't think that she would sit up all the way I feel like there's physics I'm trying to like, imagine it and it's

Maybe not the best medium to try and describe

Yeah. Yeah, so I mean, they're more than just like daggers I mean, they're less than a sword but more than a dagger I feel so enough to be able to propel yourself forward especially since she's like shorter as well.

Cool. With the soul knife threre's a connection there with the astral plane does Madame Azlu have a history or some sort of connection to that plane?

Essentially, Madame Azlu is a self-taught astronomer. So over her lifetime, she all she wanted to do was get to the best place to see the stars and learn more about the stars by just experiencing them and so her whole life's journey was to find the best place to view the stars. And through her travels, she learned of the astral plane, but wanted a ship to be able to sail. Because she didn't call it the astral plane. She called it the sea of stars, which she never called the she never learned the real names for the stars and constellations, they were just the ones that she came up with. When I play them it just be all my favorite, like musical artists probably would be the different stars and things but she ended up finding someone who could make her a ship made of crystal that could float through the astral plane. And so she got a crew together and made it to the astral plane and to sail the sea of stars and get the best view possible of the stars.

I love that that is such a beautiful mental image that you're creating there.

Yeah, I love the crew to the crew is would just be like this ragtag team of some people has the astral plane you don't age. So that's one reason to she wouldn't be able to sail this the it's she's at the end of her life to be able to sail in the astral plane, she'd be able to stay there forever. There'd be people that would want to do that the same work. They might be have different illnesses or different, like bounties or something in the material plane and they just need to stay somewhere else. She would take them in but her like first mate was a sailor that ended up getting scared of open water from from an attack. And so he wanted to still sail but couldn't have water. And so he found Azlu and she welcomed him with open arms and you can be my first mate and made sure that he felt like he could be in charge of a ship again.

So I am hearing a little bit of her voice Do you want to talk about why you chose that particular voice?

I just want to have an old like an old lady turtle like what? Love with an old lady turtle sound like deary? She loves deary? Oh, yes. Deary. And oh, missed. Make sure you go get every speck of dust out there. Just just Just what what what an old lady turtle sound like? That's it. That's what you got.

That sounds like an old lady tortle. I definitely see that. So how long has she been sailing on this ship?

For a very long time. And she doesn't know a material plane. But she's been there. For quite some time. I haven't quite figured out. We have this big storyline we're writing at the forge and try to figure out exactly where she fits. But the storyline is it takes about like 1000 year span and are in the world recreating and I think she would probably span the entire time.

So Oh, wow. Yeah, that's a long time. Tell me what was it like growing up for Madame Azlu. What was her family like, for example?

Her family really wasn't around. She woke up out of her shell and crawled through the dirt and is very hard for her to get through the water. Not all of her siblings made it and she had to fend for herself for herself from day one.

So very much like a real sea turtles story. And where did she grow up?

She grew up drifting from little chain Island to little chain Island and I ended up getting picked up in the net of a pass by pirate ship. And then being one of the biggest ships in the sea that she was in and ended up staying in the crew and worked in group a little bit in the big mighty ship that was a traveling show ship the mariners of the sea

Like a ship that had performers on it that would go to place to place and perform?

Yep, that's exactly what it is.

So would you say that when she joined this crew of the ship that was when her adventure started or would you say that it happened earlier or later than that?

I feel her adventure started the moment she cracked out of her shell

Adventurer from day one

From day one. She is an adventurer and she like I said always wanted to climb and get to the best like heights to see the stars and she one element that she has a she has two immovable rods and basically she so she's super strong like she's super strong arms and she would take Get the immovable rods and do like the I can't remember exactly what it is, but it's like the pegboard like climb where you like have to you have like poles that you have to put in the holes and then you can lift yourself up and then you can put the you have to lift it up and put it in the next hole. She can essentially do that and create her own ladder climbing up using them to get some like higher heights and things like that. And so she was like super creative and always trying to climb and doing it'd be an adventure and climb the mountains. And yeah, so that's absolutely always an adventurer.

How did she learn her skills as a rogue? So for example, how did she learn how to use the soul knife?

I feel she learned how to use the soul knife out of necessity. To get to some heights to get to some spaces to have the best stargazing ability, or like view, you would need to be sneaky to sneak around dragons to sneak around guards and things you'd have to make sure that you weren't seen so that you could go to that space again. And that could be your secret spot in that town or whatever. So you'd she'd learn how to be sneaky that way to get to those restricted areas. But how she actualized her her soul knives would be she was attacked or she wasn't as sneaky as she thought she was and was attacked. And it just she needed some form of weapon and it manifests the when she needed it most.

I like that. What sparked her interest in stargazing?

I think that when she busted out of her shell and climbed up into, like out off the beach, one of the first things that she saw was the night sky and all the stars. And that's was like the first thing she ever saw. So it really just geared her for the rest of her life because she saw something so beautiful right away.

Mm hmm. Does Madame Azlu have a personal ethical or moral code, a vow a motto?

She'll always want to do the right thing for people who are willing to be open and willing to lead with empathy. I feel she would give anybody a second chance that she felt very deeply towards she knows that everyone will make mistakes. And that mistakes happen all the time. It's just how you recover, and how you move forward after that. But she also very much values fun, and having fun with her friends and fun with her crew and pulling pranks and being just silly. Also, because life is can't be too serious about life. You have to be silly.

Yeah, definitely. I mean, if you're flying on a crystal boat stargazing with a crew of pirates, that that sounds like a fun time.

Oh, there'd be singing, there'd be shanties. It'd be a fun time.

Those Madame Azlu have flaws?

Oh, absolutely. She can't stay focused. So that means when she's piloting the ship, and they're supposed to go somewhere, if they leave her unattended, they're not going to get there. Cuz she'll see a constellation that she remembers, that she hasn't seen in a long time, and she'll just go and just really lean into not being able to stay focused and maintaining focus. So there's always someone Azlu demands that she pilots her own ship, but there's always someone waiting in the wings just in case.

Does your character have any feats or unusual builds anything interesting in her statblock?

I tend to if I pick feats tend to pick the skilled feat, I very much like my like, characters to have be well rounded and skills. And I feel that it also shows growth in a character of being able to acquire new skills over time. So I, I definitely know that Madame Azlu has the skilled feat. But then other than that, I feel like she didn't take anything else.

Yeah, that's interesting, because I think that as a class rogues part of how they excel is that they're very good at skills, because you get that expertise, for example.

Indeed, she definitely has expertise in investigation and stealth, and then insight and survival. Those are the four that she had expertise in.

Yeah, I think that's part of what's fun about playing a rogue is that you're so versatile you can you can be useful in many different situations.

Yes, I so many I, my first character was a rogue in 3.5. And I barely remember her. But I just know like ever since I just I'm always making rogues. I think the Forge has like three or four rogues right now. Out of like the eight - we have seven, eight characters, but I love rogues.

Yeah, I think one of my first characters was also a rogue. So why don't they have a story? You mentioned that you were going to play her in a one shot. And that didn't happen.

We were going to play her in the one shot. And it just none of us had ended up having time. Level 14 was the highest character that any of us had ever played. But it just seemed right that if we wanted to showcase disability in this light that we really needed to be able to pull out all this all this stuff, everything we got in our tool belt. But at the same time, it just it was too much for us all to play in the campaigns that we were doing, doing all the things where the forge and then being able to come together and figure out time. So it was just the classic d&d, we didn't kind of coordinate schedules. But we will be she will have a story. I'm forcing this to happen even if I have to be the one to tell the story.

What kind of campaign is this that you're planning to have her in?

So our DM Shana approached us with this idea of doing a campaign on the sea of stars or the it's her version of the astral plane. And so that's how, why as Luke calls it, the sea of stars is because it's it was her campaign of just doing this sailing through the Astral Plane campaign that she was just going to homebrew. And so that's that's where it started. And then in that campaign, all of us had great characters. And I could talk about every single one of those characters because they were all great, but that was just where it started. And that's as far as we got. I'm 100% going to be utilizing her here in the near future.

Madame Azlu, if you knew you're going to die tomorrow, what would you do today?

I want to throw a feast for my crew. And we would sail amongst the stars the entire night, and no one was sleeping, and we would have the best time.

I love that. That sounds once again, that sounds like fun. Going out with the same level of fun as you spend all of your days.

That's the goal.

Well, Rachel, thank you so much for coming on the podcast and sharing your character with us.

Thank you for inviting us to be able to be on and share our awesome characters.

How can people find you?

You can find us at forge ahead a party to access we are on Twitter, on Instagram On Facebook, at a party to access and we have a whole bunch of characters with disabilities that you can add into your campaigns as well as new coloring sheets for all of them that you can use while you're playing. Because coloring is a great way to stay focused for us ADHD folks, and a whole bunch of different things that we have planned for our Patreon including the disability scene, which is a podcast where we will be playing characters with disabilities 20-30 minutes at a time just so that you are able to get accessible content as fast as you possibly can without having to listen to an entire campaign for snippets of disability representation you'd be able to experience disabilities one scene at a time and where I will make sure that Madame Azlu will live as long as we get to our patron goal.

And what is the goal for that podcast?

It is our top goal right now it is 500 patrons so it is it is a stretch goal. But we are we have some steps along the way to get there including a Discord server and a sport that I designed myself called Access Ball.

That sounds really interesting. Go ahead and go to their website and their Twitter and check all that out and I highly encourage you to support through patreon you can find me on Tik Tok at starmamac. You can also listen on YouTube just search for characters without stories. Please Like Subscribe rate review, share with your friends every little bit helps. I'm currently accepting submissions so if you'd like to share your character on the podcast email me at characters without stories@gmail.com Thanks for listening and may all of your characters find their stories.