I wake up at 6:30, make some coffee, walk around the block with my dog
7:30 I leave for the gym where I do some light weights and have a nice swim. I shower at the gym because who has time to go home?
8:45 grab a bagel and some yogurt and possibly some more coffee depending
9:30 get to work around where I work my ass off until around 7:00PM, maybe once every two weeks I get to leave the office for lunch. I work 6 days a week, though Saturday is 5:30AM-2PM
LATELY THE LOVELY CAKE EATERS (my softball team) MADE IT TO THE CHAMPIONSHIPS, which means everyday this week we have had a game at 8 or 9 PM.
I get home around 9:30 or 10:30, depending. I eat some dinner, smoke a bowl, watch some TV until I pass out.

I also fit in grocery shopping, gardening (this could be a full time job in itself), laundry, cleaning the house, character crafting for an independent video game project, reading and if I'm lucky talking on the phone with a friend or two.

What is it like to have free time? And what is it like to spend 30 minutes on a post?

Username: NeutralNexus
Name: Andras Zsoldos
Age: 26
Race: Shadowborne

Appearance: Like most of his race, he sports medium length ashen grey hair, pale skin, and black eyes with red irises to punctuate the contrast. What sets him apart is his conditioning and physique, where instead of gangly and lithe, he is toned and muscular. his face is clean-shaven and well-groomed, framed by a strong jaw and usually highlighted by an almost heroic grin. However, with his appearance comes the scars, decorating his face and body

Personality: To put it simply, Andras is oddly quirky for a warrior. While Andras has characteristics that highlight him as very much a Shadowborne, such as being particularly scholarly, inquisitive, and intelligent, much of his character stands out as unusual or uncommon among his race. Andras is particularly happy-go-lucky and cheerful for a Shadowborne, for instance. He tends to look at the lighter side of things, joking and making light of almost any situation, no matter how grievous. He also sets himself apart from his fellow Shadowborne with his outright boldness and unabashed zeal, unafraid of prejudice and usually willing to overcome people’s bias with overwhelming friendliness and charm. Truly at his core lies an indomitable spirit and ‘never say die’ attitude, willing to give anyone a chance, no matter who or what they may be. This does tend to moments of naivete, however, and he does tend to get himself into a bit of trouble for his lack of foresight.

Archtype: Shadow Dragoon

Weapon: Andras is extremely skilled with a long-bladed spear, quick an elegant stabs and slashes with the light polearm. If for some reason he is unable to acquire his polearm of choice, he is known to carry a war sickle and shield for close-quarters combat.

Abilities: Andras, like most of his race, is skilled with magic, particularly Dark magic. However, he has made an effort to break the traditional spellcasting method, utilizing magic with physical combative tactics, combining magic with martial training to produce a completely physical style. He prefers to utilize the mobile capabilities of Dark Magic, utilizing shadows like portals to close distances between opponents, or creating shadowy constructs to devise either shields or cover to obscure his movements. Combining the deceptive tactics Dark Magic can bring with his spear skills presents an unpredictable fighting style, allowing him to appear wherever he pleases on the battlefield. He can be more traditional with Dark Magic, such as bombarding an opponent with assaults of Shadowy constructs, but he prefers to work physically.

Background: Andras was born to a small society of Shadowborne inside the Ketna borders, deep within the mountainside in a small secluded village. The village had cut their ties with the outside world, save for a trading route and a few emissaries with connections to the Legado Empire. The Shadowborne among the village had mostly been chased from society due to their affinity with Dark Magic, and had chosen to avoid conflict by hiding among the mountains. They studied their connection to the mystic arts in isolation, desiring to stay safe and secluded while they mastered their craft.

Everyone in the village, however, except for Andras.

As soon as the young man could stand on his own two feet, he had a thirst for adventure. While many Shadowbornes spent their adolescence beginning to study novice spells and hexes, Andras spent his youth venturing through the mountainside outside the village borders. He found a small outpost of Legado Knights camping in the rocky outposts not too far away, and was able to barter with them for lessons in anything other than magic. One knight took a shine to the boy, teaching him how to hunt and trap, as well as (arguably most importantly) the beginning movements of fighting with a spear in secret. He caught on quickly, having the inquisitive mind of a Child of Darkness helped with catching on even to swordplay and hunting, all the while still studying magic in the village. For years he studied with the nights in secret, learning the spells of magic

However, he could not keep this a secret for very long, mostly because he began to incorporate what he learned into his studies, creating a bow out of dark magic and hunting a boar as part of a project to show his progress in magic. While the magic was indeed impressive for a child his age, the knowledge he used to hunt was absolutely not known by the village. This was one of the first times he was warned of the dangers of the outside world, the prejudice against the Shadowborne, and the fear of being discovered.

Which did nothing to stop the young Andras, who only continued to be curious about the world. Again and again he was caught getting training, tutelage, and lessons by passing Wild Elves, Humans, Luni, and any other groups passing by the village.

This came into play many times, and eventually he earned the respect of his martial training when he assisted his village in defense against a marauding gang of bandits, looking to capture the village and sell the populace to Mandihar slavers in Ishna. However, the village could not defend itself forever, and eventually called upon the Silver Leaves for aid during a particularly large barbarian assault, which altered the course of young Andras’ life. He was enamored with the Silver Leaves’ sense of companionship, their worldly stories of adventure, and most importantly, their fonts of knowledge and experience. He assisted them during their entire stay, through the battle to repel the marauders, and once their time was done, he immediately offered himself in service to the Silver Leaves.

Country of Origin: Ketna, specifically the isolated mountains where most Shadowborne hide

Equipment: Andras’ normal attire when not on the job is a simple cloth tunic, some trousers, and a red sash that holds sentimental value to him. However he wears the outfit very rarely, always eager to be right back out on the job. His attire for battle is a chainmail shirt underneath a firm leather tunic, on top of which is an articulated set of full steel gauntlets, pauldrons, breastplate, greaves, and helm. The armor offers grants him a lot of protection, but is not all encompassing, leaving his thighs and arms open to allow quicker and more flexible movement. The crimson sash he wears off duty is repurposed as a scarf for his battle attire, giving him a bit of flair to personalize his armor.

He is of course, never without his spear, a construct of Shadowborne magic, fire, and steel. The weapon is engraved with many runes for Zali, hardened by rituals of Andras’ own practice. He keeps the weapon permanently hidden in his own shadow, and can summon it at will with an invocation.

Seeing as how his dark magic is in his blood, he needs no trinket or talisman to utilize it, however he does wear a talisman dedicated to Zali for assurance, as he passes through the God's domain when he walks between shadows. To fall out of favor with the dark god is tantamount to suicide among the Shadowborne people, after all.

As he is inquisitive and knowledge-hungry by nature, he carries a small book and quill at all times. In it he writes down everything and anything he learns, to later be researched heavily in his home, where he keeps countless tomes and compendiums of cultural and mystical knowledge.