Appearance:

He stands 6'2, his frame wide and muscular from years of intense training and combat. He has long brown hair which he tends to tie into a ponytail, green eyes and a clean shaven face.

Name: Elden Fryar
Age: 36
Gender: Male
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual
Occupation: Member of the King's Royal Guard.
Weaponry: In battle he wields a steel longsword, the insignia of King's Guard on the hilt, which is a sword upon a crown. He swings the sword in one hand while a steel shield is in his other hand. He also carries a dagger on his belt.
Apparel: He wears thick iron armor, it is very similar to the armor the King's Guard wears, but much more generic and less noticeable.
Equipment: A canteen, compass, pocket watch, spare change of comfort clothing and a bedroll.
Skills: Elden is an exceptionally skilled swordsman, able to fight with exceptional skill and finesse. He's also a talented strategist and battle planner.
Magical abilities: N/A
Personality: Elden is a man of intense honor and loyalty to the King. He is a kind heated man that wants the best for the kingdom and its king, and his friend, Ethan. However, thanks to having devoted his life to the king's guard, Elden is a shy man in less formal situations. But, he is not afraid to speak his mind and voice his opinion when he feels it is needed.
Backstory: Elden was born into a middle class family in the capitol, his childhood typical of many others in his situation. He received the typical amount of schooling and when he was old enough he took up a job as a blacksmith, training under one of several within the kingdom. Just as he began to get good at it the Grand Usurper's War began and he like many others quickly joined the military in defense of the kingdom.

From the start of his service he showcased an immense amount of talent, skill and courage on the battlefield, eventually encountering the king during the war and becoming one of the man's trusted soldiers, this was the start of their friendship as well. He contributed to the war effort and immeditaly afterwards the king offered him a place in his own personal king's guard, an opportunity which Elden took. Since then he has served honorably on the king's guard, his service interrupted by the Calling which he witnessed personally.

Other: N/A

---

Appearance:

An attractive dark haired woman who stands 5'8, she has piercing blue eyes and a noticeable scar above her right eye.

Name: Riya Rochette
Age: 24
Gender: Female
Sexual Orientation: Bisexual
Occupation: Assassin, though she masks as a bard.
Weaponry: Her main weapons are two identical steel daggers and on her armor she has ten throwing knives.
Apparel: She wears light leather armor with a dark gray cloak over the armor, the hood usually open to retain the mysterious assassin look. Fingerless leather gloves are on each of her hands.
Equipment: Several vials of poison, three apples, rope and a small lute.
Skills: Riya is a skilled combatant, especially with her twin daggers, though she'd rather avoid a straight fight altogether. Shes also very capable with her throwing knives and can hit a target with precision. She is able to lay traps which is something she will do if given the time. Outside of her combat talents, Riya is a capable musician, able to play the lute, flute and piano.
Magical abilities: N/A
Personality: Riya is a normally quiet girl, though she can be friendly and sometimes outright silly. But she is utterly ruthless as an assassin and always tries to get the job done, she won't hesitate to kill a target or someone that would possess a threat to her or her friends.
Backstory: Born into a poor family in a small town to the northwest, Riya received minimal education but is able to read and write. She exhibited an interest in music at a young age and was fascinated by a traveling bard that came to her town, the man gifted her a lute which she still owns to the day, learning how to play the instrument quickly. When she was old enough she left town and began to travel, becoming a bard.

It was not till a couples months after she became a bard that she entered the assassin business. As it turns out, bards don't normally get paid that well, unless they are a very famous and renowned one. So many of them take side jobs, some as thieves, some as assassins, which is the side job Riya embarked upon. At the start she had qualms about killing another human, but quickly realized that many of her targets were bad people, very few were innocent, those that were she avoided taking contracts to kill. After some time she made a name for herself, under an alias, Nightbird, making a good amount of coin. She witnessed the Sounding and headed for the capitol right after hearing the announcement from the king.

Other: Has a beautiful singing voice.

---

Elden Fryar - Heat
Riya Rochette - Heat
Ghisronia Vollis - Kingfisher
Lilianna Beaufort - Dominique
Ople Hendric - HopelessTights
Jarin Saye - WubWub
Seothrunn Fjallthim - Skythikon
Agnatus XXI - Jpp188
Klaus Banning - Kierkegaard
Mytchel Isth'stezia - Obscene Symphony
Jobe Robson - MelonHead

Appearance:







Ghisronia is a short young woman, with a noticeably overweight body. A mixture of fat and muscle, she has a squat, rounded form, with a large stomach, pudgy face, and a double-chin. Whilst markedly flabby, her arms and legs also have a decent amount of muscle on them.

Name: Ghisronia Vollis

Age: 18

Gender: Female

Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual

Occupation: Performer/Cook

Weaponry: A variety of poisons, lightweight crossbow, and a slender short-sword.

Apparel: Ghisronia dresses in a motley combination of cloth and leather when not performing; with a hooded cloak, and trim shoulder pads for added protection. A simple leather mask is sometimes worn to obscure her features.

Equipment: Basic cooking supplies, materials for making a campfire (flint and steel etc), ornate necklace, and a handmade waterskin.

Skills: Acting, Cooking, theft, the art of disguise. Reasonably skilled with her crossbow and sword, but not at a remarkable level.

Magical abilities: Very mild understanding of healing magic. Can patch up minor wounds, and can prevent larger wounds from festering and becoming infected.

Personality: A self-aware narcissist, Ghisronia cares about one thing, and one thing only; Herself. Whilst not completely sadistic, Ghis does draw a slight sense of satisfaction from the suffering of others, and delights in meddling in affairs that aren’t her own. A survivalist at heart, Ghisronia is good at adapting to hazardous situations, and is able to keep a cool head in the face of danger.

An expert actress, Ghisronia will usually pass for a fairly eloquent teenaged girl with a slight air of spitefulness about her, working to shield the full extent of her dark side.

Backstory: Born to a family of farmers, Ghisronia suffered at the hands of her abusive farther, until the day she snapped and killed him. Running away from home, Ghis spent a few months as a beggar and a thief, before falling in with a troupe of traveling performers. Having always had a skill for cooking, Ghisronia worked as a chef for the performers, whilst they honed her acting skills in return.

Plagued by memories of her mistreatment at the hands of her father, Ghis spent the majority of her childhood in melancholy, feeling like a victim, until the day of her second kill.

After a performance, a spectator from the audience followed the young girl back to her tent, attempting to force himself on her. After she refused his advances, her stalker became feral and violen; giving Ghisronia a black eye and a split lip. Enraged, she killed the man in a fit of anger, slashing his neck with one of her cooking knives.

Horrified about what might happen if the body was discovered, Ghis began to cannibalize the man who’d followed her, finding that taste of human flesh send electric sensations through every fibre of her being, in a manner that she had never before experienced. Ghis cooked the remains into a stew, which she served to the rest of the troupe; thus awakening a dark thirst that she would never be able to shake. Wherever the troupe travelled, Ghisronia would pick off easy targets, before feasting on their remains, and satisfying her gluttonous desires.

Ghisronia has continued to develop her acting skills, becoming an extremely convincing actress, as well as her thievery, to the point where she is a formidable pickpocket and con artist.

Other

Lilianna is 5'5" tall, with copper-shaded hair, vivid green eyes and a disarming smile.
Name: Lilianna Beaufort
Age: 21
Gender: Female
Sexual Orientation: Oblivious - In certain aspects she's beyond naive
Occupation: Horse trainer/ Stable girl (and estranged daughter of a viscount and his wife)
Weaponry: Lily wields a bow and arrow for hunting; a skinning knife as well as a carving knife, carefully sheathed.
Apparel: She wears comfortable dresses of several layers for keeping warm. Each layer of the skirt has a slit running up to her thighs at different angles for added comfort (and revealing nothing) while riding horses. Over her daily attire she'll usually wear a woollen cloak.
Equipment: Furs for sleeping, a pendant bearing her family crest as proof that she's of noble heritage, a leather water skin, a small assortment of herbs for various purposes and a comb and soap (because cleanliness is a virtue).
Skills: Lily is a more than decent archer, although her skills are limited almost entirely to hunting animals. She is able to skin animals and prepare them for cooking; Lily can make a mouth-watering meal with just a potato and a dead squirrel. Above all she's an excellent horse rider with an affinity for animals in general and the noble equine creatures in specific. Considering her magical abilities though, some might regard it as slightly macabre.
Magical abilities: Lily has the ability to shapeshift into a number of animals commonly found in the vicinity of the farm she lives in (she doesn't know many others, after all), and although she has hardly mastered it to perfection, the girl manages to alter her shape with an apparent ease that stems from childhood. Her favoured forms are the robin and the red fox, and although she, by now, knows better than to risk being discovered for who - and what - she is, shapeshifting is a guilty pleasure that, much like an addiction, has to be satisfied regularly.

Personality: Lily is a sweet girl, a bit on the naive side and a somewhat odd mixture of noble heritage and farmer girl upbringing. Her mannerisms and politeness stem from what she's been taught as a child, even if her current life really doesn't lend itself for impeccable manners and straight posture. Her caring nature befits her healing abilities and she's generally friendly and open towards the townsfolk in a way that could almost be considered endearing.

Backstory:Lily is originally from Griffinmont, her family of lower noble ranking. She was brought up like a proper little lady, but her magical affinity became apparent at an early age. The first time she disappeared, her parents were in a total panic and convinced their precious daughter had been kidnapped by bandits who would demand their riches. How a small child could make their way all the way up the rickety ladder to the attic, they couldn't figure out, but after two painstaking hours that was exactly where they found Lily, contently playing with half a dozen mice who seemed delighted by her presence. The mystery grew when it happened two times more in that year, especially since the ladder had since been removed. Over the years Lily would leave her parents astounded several times over, each time she managed to seemingly tumble down high windows without harming herself - and never whilst being seen - or climbing up rooftops or getting into locked rooms with narrow windows not even a child could fit through. It wasn't until a few weeks after her seventh birthday that the mystery was solved, when Mrs. Beaufort walked into her daughter's bedroom unannounced to catch her, in all her youthful innocence, wandering up to her windowsill, her eyes longingly gazing up at the sky. Her mother just barely managed to stifle the scream that burnt on her lips as their only child seemed to leap to her own death, but fell silent at an unlikely sight: without any apparent effort the young girl abandoned her human form and instead reduced it to one much smaller, winged and feather-coated, flying into the sky without a care in the world.

Of course, once the truth came out, everything inevitably changed. Lilianna's parents decided it would be best not to have her raised in one of the most densely populated and harshly judgemental places of the kingdom, and so Lily spent most her life growing up in Sinegi, a small town in the relative north of Ecen. The frozen mountains have been like sleeping giants, lurking on the distant horizon almost as a warning, but Lily has been blissfully unaware of any truth to the rumours that surround the mythical north. Sinegi is a quiet town with few travellers. It has less than two hundred inhabitants, most of which are farmers and hunters. Surprisingly, the ground is rather fertile and though the harsher climates make the area only suitable for growing sturdy vegetables like carrots and potatoes, the village is pretty much self-sustaining.

Lily has been living in with her aunt Margaret and uncle Claas from the tender age of eight and grew up working at the horse farm that has been in their family for generations. The Beaufort horses are pure blooded creatures, strong, healthy and particularly composed, making them extremely suitable for battle. Which is likely why their mounts are almost exclusively sold to the royal army itself, despite the considerable distance between Sinegi and the capital. Lily has been hauling bails of hay, lugging pails of water and brushing the grand horses from the moment she could lift a full bucket and when she got older, she was allowed to break in and ride the animals as well. She has a natural way of handling the noble animals without the need of force or raising her voice (a talent no doubt to be attributed to her magical skills). Her ability to alter her form is something that her aunt and uncle neither encourage nor discourage, and although Lily rarely has need of her skills, her occasional (and generally accidental) display of what she's capable of has made the entirety of the small town all too aware that they have a mage in their midst. But the Sinegians are loyal folk and Lilianna is a girl easy to like; no one ever speaks ill of her and no outsider would know she's any different from the rest of the villagers.

Appearance:
Ople stands 5'7, appearing slightly older than her actual age from all the work she's done, since her childhood
Name: Ople Hendric
Age: 28
Gender: Female
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual
Occupation: Bread Saleswoman
Weaponry: Bread knife (slashing weapon, double as equipment); Rolling Pin (blunt weapon, double as equipment)
Apparel: Usually wears around low or medium class clothings.
Equipment: Bedroll, canteen, a book, a quill, an inkwell, a small bag containing some dough, and a few small changes.
Skills: Charismatic as a saleswoman, and able to cook decent tasting breads.
Magical abilities: Only knows, and adequate with, Fireball. She was born with the ability to use magic, but kept it a secret due to her family's strict religious outlooks. She practice in secret, with the little time she has.
Personality: Usually nice. Though if conflict does occurred, she prefer to handle it peacefully. But, she has been known, though rarely, physically hurt someone, that has hurts or threaten someone she cares about. Though, despite being known as one of the nicest people by many, her father consider her as hotheaded.
Backstory: Born in the household the Hendric, she was taught to care for others, as she would to herself. Her family weren't rich enough for her to attend to school. Her mother, Heather, taught her all that she knew in school, when she was younger. Ople learned quickly from her mother. Around the age of 7, she was already helping out the family's business.

Her family business took up most of her time, so she had little time for almost anything else. Because she never took school, she never had many friends. The ones she had are regular customers, or a relative of the customers. Around the age of 15, she secretly discovered her ability to use magic. When her hand appears to be engulfed in fire, but it felt natural to her. Unfortunately, because she lacked the knowledge on these set of skills, she didn't know where to began. For years, using the time she had, she practiced the only magic skill she knows.

This went on, until the age of 28, where she became a witness for the Sounding. With her family knowing this, they had one last hug, before she descends toward the capitol city.
Other Despite never going to school, she has been known to be smarter than other would've imagined. She is a quick learner, but it doesn't changed that she doesn't know much, at the moment.

Appearance:

He is 5'11" with a lean figure, strong hands, and lightly tanned skin. He has black hair which reaches just past his shoulders and is usually left down, a short beard and mustache (as seen in the picture), and brown eyes.
Name: Jarin Saye
Age: 39
Gender: Male
Sexual Orientation: Straight
Occupation: Mercenary

Weaponry: A short spear and a lightweight buckler. Also keeps a dagger tucked in his sash.
Apparel: Wears dark blue layered robes with a red sash around his waist. Under his robe are cloth pants, a leather cuirass, and leather boots.
Equipment: Canteen filled with wine, coins, bandages, herbs
Skills: Stealth, black magic, some skill with up close combat and blocking
Magical abilities: Black magic: Able to contract muscles of other beings to control movement (no more than one or two limbs at a time)

Personality: Jarin does his best not to draw unnecessary attention, but his seemingly dark and imposing aura causes crowds to part without a word being spoken. His dark robes and long black hair make him stand out, so he tends to take the back alleys through town like a ghost, knowing the stigmas that come with his abilities. Jarin has become curt and sardonic towards strangers over time, if not downright pessimistic. He trusts the weaknesses of men more than any good intentions, and it takes a lot for him to consider another as an equal.

Backstory: Jarin has struggled his whole life with maintaining the tradition of black magic that his father passed down to him. Most families in his town, even the ones with healing powers, tried to hide their abilities and assimilate into their community. But Jarin's family did the exact opposite. Black magic was considered a legacy and a proud tradition in which only the men of the Saye household could be born. To the rest of the town, it seemed that females in this family simply could not inherit the ability to perform the magic. Jarin believed this as well until the age of 17 when his father revealed their family's secret to him. The powers of the black magic could be inherited by either man or woman, but only the men could claim this as their birthright. He did not believe his father until a girl was born that winter, a girl with powers. At the age of two months, she showed signs of her abilities, as all babies did. The next day she was gone and next to the garden a patch of soil was freshly turned.
Jarin was horrified to say the least. But that was when his real training began. For five years, his father taught him how to manipulate the limbs of animals, how to twist the arms of rodents, how to silence the whimpering of a dog. Jarin hated it, but he trained day and night under his father's watchful eye to please their elders and to uphold the Saye tradition.
The day to pledge his loyalty and settle down eventually came. Jarin had come a long way in his training despite his reluctance, and his father saw great potential. The boy had grown callused under the intense training and was now ready to truly obey and serve his family, but Jarin never carried through with that plan. Word of the Saye's offspring traditions reached the ears of their suspicious neighbors. The town guards had looked the other way because of the family's usefulness. To other residences with magical abilities, the black magic of the Saye family only seemed to help perpetuate the taboos of any person with magical powers. And so, the other residents, especially those with magical abilities, retaliated. A mob formed late after the sun had descended, and by morning almost the entire family lay lifeless in their beds. Jarin and his father were the only ones who were able to flee from the house. Jarin was the only one who walked away in one piece.

Other

Appearance: Pale would be the easiest way to describe Seothrunn. Everything about him, from his incredibly light brown hair, to his alabaster skin, to his blue-grey eyes, is pale. He stands close to 5'9", considered to be of average height for someone from the north-western isles. His hair, windswept and unkempt has been allowed to grow to just before the point of discomfort; the fringe just barely licks at his eyebrows, and if pushed down, would probably cover an eye; the sides are close to covering half his ears and the back his collar. He is of a lean and slender build, his muscles having grown to be wiry rather than bulky. His lips always appear to be slightly upturned in a playful, mischievous grin.

(Note: Couldn't really find a picture I liked, and I can't draw to save my life, so I hope a wordy description is alright.)

Name: Seothrunn Fjallthim
Age: 27
Gender: Male
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual
Occupation: Raider by winter, bonesmith by summer

Weaponry: As befits an experienced raider of the north-western islands, Seothrunn wields a sword carved from the bone of the very first catch of the very first hunt he led. Tough as a regular, steel blade and only a mite less sharp, the bone sword is a hallmark of those who call the north-western isles their home. For defense, he carries a small, wooden shield, just large enough to cover his body from neck to belly. His favoured weapon, however, is a ashwood-bone composite bow, built compact to allow for easy carriage. A quiver of fifteen arrows hangs from a belt around his waist.

He also carries a skinning knife, though this is less for battle and more for survival.

Apparel: The north-western islands are poor in metals, and so the people make do with what they have. The bones of marine animals are always in great abundance all year round, and thus it should be no surprise that Seothrunn's armour consists largely of pale, ghostly white pieces of bone stitched onto a leather base. His cuirass is most evident of northmen construction, consisting of mid-sized scales carved from bone stitched together to form a flexible and lightweight piece of armour. His arms are protected by a rerebrace and vambrace each, both constructed out of hard leather and reinforced by strips of iron - the only metal that can be spared - riveted to the outside. He wears padded, shin-high and laced leather boots. The leather portions of his armour are bleached white.

Underneath his armour, he wears a pair of simple, woolen pants and a hooded shirt of the material. As per tradition, they are dyed a deep shade of black to complement the pale-white colour of his armour.

Equipment: Seothrunn carries a knapsack containing:
- Waterskin, one quart capacity
- Dried and salted fish, wrapped in cloth
- Whetstone block
- Carving knife
- Needles and thread
- Strips of clean cloth for bandages
- Salt for wounds
- Bedroll

Skills: Seothrunn is a highly skilled sailor, and can either captain or crew a ship as needed. As a warrior, he is well-versed in the way of the sword-and-shield as well as the bow, though he cannot be considered a master of either. As land wildlife is scarce on the north-western islands, he is unskilled in the art of tracking, but when it comes to fishing and following the trail of undersea life, you can find few who can match Seothrunn's skill. During the summer, he works as a bonesmith, and can fashion any kind of weapon or armour you desire from bone or horn.

Perhaps his greatest skill, however, is his skill to survive. He relishes a fight, but he would gladly forsake honour and run from an unwinnable battle to save his own skin. It is not the way of the Bonemen to die against insurmountable odds. The Gods favour heroes and warriors, not the foolhardy.

Magical abilities: The winds have always favoured Seothrunn. While he would call it luck, some would say that it is magic of the worst kind: magic held by the unwitting. Regardless of what is said, the fact of the matter is that Seothrunn has never been without wind in his sails even in places where others had been stranded by the doldrums.

Personality: Seothrunn's person reflects the very nature of the islands he calls home. Guarded and slow to accept newcomers, he appears to be unfriendly and frigid at first glance. However, given time and around the right people, Seothrunn can prove to be an affable person who is always ready to aid a friend without question. He speaks little, not out of unfriendliness, but simply because his command of the southern tongue is still not perfect, and he dislikes it when he is made a fool due to slips of the tongue. Having spent most of his life in the north-western islands and the surrounding waters, he can be as curious as a child when it comes to the new and unexplored.

Backstory: Had Seothrunn been born anywhere else, he would have lived the luxurious life of a prince. However, the Bonemen of the north-western isles saw no distinction between commoners and those of noble blood. The isles were a harsh place to live, and they could ill-afford to mindlessly follow a person simply because of their blood. If Seothrunn was to lead his people, he would have to prove himself worthy of the role and title of King of the North-Western Isles. His training started at an early age, with his father drilling him in sword fighting from the tender age of six, when even the small shields favoured by the Bonemen were almost half his height.

Over the next decade, he was taught how to fight, how to sail and most importantly, how to lead. By the time he was sixteen, he was already the captain of a small longship, numbering only forty oars but still good enough for hunting marine life and raiding lightly defended coastal hamlets and villages. He was already a well-respected man by that point, but it was still not enough to earn him a sword, and so when he was finally given command of a larger, seventy-oar vessel on his eighteenth year, he wasted no time in hunting down a worthy target.

He found one in the form of a naval vessel of some southern kingdom - the politics of the world did not interest Seothrunn - and pounced on it the first chance he got. The crew that sailed with him still claim divine intervention had a hand in Seothrunn's victory; according to them, the winds had been unfavourable up until the point when Seothrunn called for the attack on the southern vessel. It is said that the winds suddenly shifted at that time, and a powerful gust filled the sail of the islanders' longship. At the same time, the southern vessel found itself buffeted by winds from the side, the front, but not from the back, where it was needed the most. Seothrunn's ship powered through the water at an incredible speed, and that speed proved to be the southern vessel's undoing when the bone ram of the longship tore a massive gash in the side of the southern vessel.

Regardless of whether the Gods had a hand in the battle, the detail that all would agree upon is that Seothrunn returned to his home port with the entire southern ship and her crew as his prize. The north-western islanders had never managed to actually capture a southern warship - they tended to avoid the military vessels and struck at wandering mercantile ships or fishing skiffs which strayed too far from the coast - and thus when it was discovered that they actually had plenty to learn from the southerners, Seothrunn was finally considered worthy of wielding a bonesword.

When Seothrunn witnessed the sounding, it had coincided with a troubling time for his people. Ships that went to the far north in such of fertile waters never returned, and those sent to find them vanished as well. These happenings, accompanied by his vision and the noise which apparently only he heard, made for a very uneasy Seothrunn who was determined to find out the cause. Taking leave from his people, he journeyed south on board a small longship in search of answers, and that eventually led him to discover King Ethan's summoning. Wanting answers, as well as an adventure, Seothrunn turned his ship to sail farther south, towards capitol.

Other: N/A

Appearance: Agnastus stands 5 foot 11 inches. He is in great shape from the training from home. He has a nice appearance and has a long scar going down the left side of his face.

Name: Agnatus XXI (Twenty-First)

Age: 23

Gender: Male

Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual

Occupation: Owner of a moderately sized thievery guild.

Weaponry: 2 stabbing daggers, good for stealth.

Apparel: Has light weight leather armor with a cloak, has one knife sheath on his chest, another on his right-hand side hip.

Equipment: Basic supplies,(Food, water, etc...)has his pet parrot,(Not magical this time) and his weapons

Skills: He is good at stealth, dodging and parkour. He is trained in using a sword but prefers daggers for their speed. He isn't very good at cooking. Has very high intelligence.

Magical Abilities: Has a minor illusionary spell that lets him make a shadow appear for a few seconds.

Personality: He grew up being taught to fight, not love. He can be a bit harsh in even basic communication, but he tries his best to say the correct thing for the situation. His intelligence almost matches his lethality with daggers with the training in his village with his master. The only thing he loves more than money is his parrot, he doesn't even speak to the parrot very often, they already know what each other think. But overall he enjoys money sometimes more than contact with other creature.

Backstory: He grew up in the southern part of Ecen on the beaches. He was part of a richer family and never had problems with educational fees. To take it a step further he even studied with his mother (Who too was intelligent). His father was part of the Royal Guard and was slain during the civil war. After his father died he switched from studying during the nights to practicing with a sword. Soon his relationship with his mother started to diminish. After two months of backyard training, he signed up for the local training group. He started way ahead of the group and was transferred to advanced training. He slowly progressed enough to graduate from the club at 19 and went off into the world with his high intellect and amazing sword skills.

After a year of wondering, Agnatus started to get into thieving. He started small with pickpockets and stealing off the bread cart, but it turned into full on break-ins. He started up his guild of "sword training" when he was 20. He recruited the people who he taught in sword combat for his underground thieves guild, and took the best in the classes. He met his pet parrot when he was looting a village early on, it was just sitting on a fence with no one around. He befriended the parrot and now his parrot and him travel together. His guild now has 15 members and sort of "own" a city by having the ultimate influence over it. The influence mainly comes one of the guild members blood line. A young women by the name of Lisanne is in direct relation to the lord of the city. Anytime a guild member is caught, she asks that they are excused, usually it works. Only once was it bad enough it didn't, One of the guild members killed someone, which was against the code of the guild, we threw him to the wolves. The lord asked us if he was with us, but we told him no, he was executed the next day. Suspicion came over the town on who ran the thieves guild and who was in it. He just kept on training with his students and he was left looking innocent. Nobody else knows that he owns the thieves guild of course, but some could assume.

Other: Loves birds and has lots of knowledge about most of them.

Description: Klaus is easily recognized by his shock of white hair, undoubtedly the result of some magical experiment gone awry. The rest of him is unremarkable. The image above is a portrait of Klaus during his university days. He's clearly aged since then (read: stretched out like a scarecrow), but is unable to sit still long enough for another portrait.

Name: Klaus Banning

Age: Biologically 26, has the job of a 50 year old, and acts like he's 5.

Gender: Male

Sexual Orientation: Pansexual. Seriously, he'll take what he can get.

Occupation: Assistant Professor of Elemental Magic at the University of Ironwood

Weaponry: A heavily modified crossbow that definitely has more features than needed in battle (cup-holder? Really?), none of which seem to have improved Klaus's melee ability. It's uncertain whether Klaus is aware that crossbows are suppose to be used to vanquish enemies and not to capture interesting insect specimens. Ah, well, academia.

Apparel: Klaus wears a simple brown traveling cloak and boots. He'll occasionally don faculty robes when he's feeling up to it, but those days are getting rarer and rarer.

Equipment: Scrolls, quills, and a butter knife. Various knick knacks stowed away in the infinite pockets of his cloak.

Skills: Klaus is an exceptionally talented at his specific branch of elemental magic and exceptionally clumsy at almost every other activity, including walking.

Magical abilities: Klaus is trained in elemental magic and has a particular affinity for summoning lightning, although he's only ever done it to study electric charges. Despite the obvious offensive potential, he has yet to display any talent for fighting. Years in the ivory tower will do that to you.

Personality: For someone with a history of manic outbursts, Klaus is remarkably stable. He's affable enough, albeit mildly autistic. He's a little too quick to laugh, a little too slow to appreciate the gravity of a situation, and prone to spouting irrelevant trivia at inopportune moments. For the most part he's chatty, funny in an off-kilter way, and enthusiastically curious about everything. Has an uncomfortable tendency to treat acquaintances like interesting specimens. He's unfortunately prone to arrogance when it comes to academics, but that's to be expected.

Backstory:

Nine years ago, the future looked bright for a young Klaus Banning. He'd just graduated from the University of Highmont with a degree in elemental magic at the precocious age of seventeen. The university had offered him a job as a teaching assistant, which he'd accepted. He could continue his magical research with the university's vast resources at his disposal. He was going to publish groundbreaking tomes on the nature of elemental magic. He was going to get tenure.

The first few years went well. Klaus became assistant professor, then professor, then chair of his department. He was young, brilliant, and respected. He was a prodigy, dammit.

Then the trouble started. Klaus had always been interested in the bizarre and unexplainable, but the university became worried that his research was crossing the line into Black magic. Above that, he wasn't sleeping. More than once he was seen with sparks flying out of his hair. He was summoned before the board more and more often, to no avail. Professor Banning was just getting weird.

Klaus's students vaguely understood that he thought he was on the brink of something groundbreaking, something that would fundamentally alter magical theory. But no one understood exactly what that something entailed, so they learned to avoid his office hours and to stop sitting in the front row on the days he was involuntarily breathing fire.

It's unclear what happened next. By some reports, Klaus had a manic episode in the lab and went on some kind of magical acid trip, destroying half the basement floor and costing the university thousands in damages. A more sympathetic story holds that government officials approached him about developing his electrical magic for military purposes, and did not react favorably when he refused.

Most of the students believed Klaus had simply been driven mad by his own research. Professor Banning had looked into the abyss, and the abyss had broken him.

In any case, Klaus was denied tenure, stripped of his position and research resources, and kicked out of Highmont to boot.

The details of the next two years are equally murky. Some former students believed that he'd set about traveling the kingdom. Some thought he'd taken up refuge in the Truesh Peaks. Others were convinced he'd been committed to a mental institution.

And then he was back, with no explanation as to where he'd gone. He looked a little worn around the edges, a little more manic if you looked closely at his eyes, but otherwise appeared to have recovered. Highmont refused to allow him back onto the faculty, but the smaller institution at Ironwood eagerly offered him an assistant teaching position. (This title is generous, as Klaus does very little teaching and very much jumping out at students from random corners on campus for fun.)

---

Appearance:



Name: Korvo Volkot

Age: 25

Gender: Male

Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual

Occupation: Guerilla Fighter, Hunter

Weaponry: Father's Curved Swords (One shown in picture), Bow and Arrow, throwing daggers.

Apparel: As pictured, with shirt occasionally

Equipment: Lucky charms, bag of money, various hunter's traps.

Skills: Hunting, Fighting, Surviving, Guerilla Warfare



Other: Korvo has a companion, I say companion because pet is not a good word for the relationship the two have, named Menina who is a dark black wolf, the two are partners, comrades, and friends, Menina accompanies Korvo wherever he goes and vice versa.

Appearance:
At 5’9” and a smaller build, Vala looks like a typical Northern with blue eyes, blonde hair, which is usually kept up in a braid, and fairly pale skin. For the most part, her skin is rather free of marks and scars but there are a few exceptions. Right shoulder has a small scar from an arrow and a scar right around her right hip where a sword pierced through her entirely.

Name: Vala Lynstad
Age: 25
Gender: Female
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual
Occupation: Master-at-Arms for the Sae Hrafn
Weaponry:
Vala primarily uses a standard long sword with a rounded-shield for protection. As a backup, she has a knife. For variety, she is pretty accurate with a short axe, both as a primary weapon and a projectile.

Apparel:
Vala dresses rather plainly and conservatively in commoner clothing. For times of battle, she adorns herself in hardened leather armor.
Equipment:
Waterskin, scraps of cloth usually for the purpose of cleaning her weapons,
Skills:
Vala comes from a Northern Longship and has established her sea legs and can handle rough waters. She lead men into the defense of said Longship and can help direct forces in battle. Her primary skill is her ability in combat, both with weapons and without.

Magical abilities: None

Personality:
On first impression, Vala is a bit cold with strangers and first-time acquaintances. She isn’t outright rude, however, and she believes that everyone deserves a chance. Displays of serious determination or willpower go a long way in her eyes. Her humor is a bit dry or a bit harsh at another’s expense because that was a common go-to for her crew members. Despite being a bit rough around the edges, Vala does have some softness at her core. She is extremely loyal, to the point of blind trust, when it comes to blood brothers and sisters (anyone who fights alongside her after a while). She also secretly enjoys being courted by people, especially if she is being fought over. But she’ll never say that.

Backstory:
Vala hails from Northern Coasts of Ecen, specifically a lonely island just off the coast called Marstal, and if you are living in Marstal, you probably either fish or sail for the navy. The sea always plays a big part of those who live on that tiny island and for Vala, she grew up just like any kid, craving the adventure that the older generations tell tales of. Of course when you finally get there, life at sea is a bit crueler and less dreamy than the tales.

It wasn’t too typical for women to join up with fishing crews, as there was no guarantee that your shipmates would have pure intentions, and in order to join the military ships, where things like that would never happen, you had to have at least a year of experience on the sea. So Vala sighed onto her Uncle’s ship where she was protected as her Uncle’s attendant.

After her year was up, she signed into the navy. Starting as a simple oarsmen, she eventually rose to the rank Master-At-Arms at the age of 21. Four years she went from ship to ship, not really settling down anywhere permanently. Then the Sounding happened… Even though a part of her didn’t want to, she was being mandated to by her superiors. So she departed for the capital, missing the sea but also enjoying the break as she hoped the Sounding was good news and not bad.