When going around asking people why they were helping the magus or trying to save magic, I found that some trouble back home was often a catalyst.  Or they might introduce their character with a flaw that may of been an effect of their upbringing.  The pitstops, lend themselves to conversations between characters, and further probing and fleshing out of backstories.  When we reached someone’s hometown, we let that player control the magus and do the introduction scene, and they got to show how their character and hometown are pieces of a whole.

A midwife had a prejudice against giants.  When we arrived at their village, They showed old battlefields, war memorials, and orphans.

A warrior monk returns to their keep in the mountains.  They show old companionship with the other monks, and zealotry to an ancient cause.

The character from the port city has the option of a title known as ‘crab singer’.  Which in my experience brought up a lot of discussion.  That player has the longest to sit back and imagine what their city is like.

There was a frontier kind of city that was working hard to not fall into the ocean.

Other times they were extraordinary fishermen with elements of steam punk.

Or a city full of skeptics who blocked passage across the sea, seeing it as a fool’s errand.

Seeing these towns and how the characters are a product of them, was probably my favorite part.