Username: POLYBIUS

Character Name: Tarsus Valheim

Race/Species: Human (Vrettonian)

Gender: Male

Age: 25

Career/Class: Mage

Weapons:

• Wooden Staff
• Ceremonial Knife
• Shadow-Dust ( a narcotic used to temporarily blind assailants)

Physical Description
Tarsus is of slight frame, hardened by time spent in the wilderness and borderland. Approximately 5"9, 145 pounds. He is strikingly handsome, with bold features, a strong jawline and curly unkempt golden hair. His equine-like nose bridges his almost-too big brown eyes, that shine with a fierce intelligence, or a certain distant sadness. On the inside of his arms from both wrists to the joints of his elbows are deep black scars that look like lightning from arcane feedback, caused by an accident when he was a youth at the mages academy. He keeps the scars covered and loathes talking about the subject.

Armor / Equipment / Other
He carries no true armor save for a pair of iron bracers on his wrists to deflect blows, a long leather cloak dyed black and a wooden staff, 6ft long, carved with Vrettonian Runes for channeling magic. On his belt are his ceremonial knife, his pouch of shadow dust. He carries a small sack with quill, ink, parchment and a few days worth of food.

Mental Description/Personality:
Orphaned at a young age and witnessing horrible atrocities has lead Tarsus down a dark path of bitter isolation. Distant, calculating and cold, Tarsus has few friends in Vrettonia let alone the distant North. The only thing he has going for him is his talent in the arcane arts-which led to further isolation during his tenure at the Royal Mages Tower in Vrettonia. Never truly accepted by his high-born peers (lowly peasant scum thinks he can cast spells!) but excelling at his studies none-the-less, his ability and talent bred derision and contempt among his classmates. Tarsus flung himself into learning every spell he could possibly master, to the point of insanity. He was ejected from the Tower in his final year after a particularly nasty accident that left his arms scarred with black arcane feedback.
Tarsus' mental state is slowly deteriorating. After the accident at the Mages Tower, Tarsus felt the limits of his abilities for the first time and has never really tried anything ambitious since. That is not to say he is not a reliable mercenary, he is. But he has become cruel since entering the North.

Goals: Tarsus seeks to empower himself over all else. Regardless of his allegiance to the Vrettonian Magocracy or his mission, Tarsus is looking for powerful spells, artifacts and magics to improve his skill and power.

Background/History:

• Tarsus Valheim was born Tarsus Grenfield, as many peasants in Vrettonia simply take the name of the town they were born in. At the age of 4, Battlemages loyal to the rebellion leveled his village and killed his family. Tarsus fled into the fields where he was captured by a young mage named Rorik Valheim who later adopted the boy, having no children of his own. Rorik handed Tarsus over to the Royal Mages Tower a few years later when his regiment was called up to defend Vrettonia. Tarsus has not seen Rorik since.
• At the Mages Tower, Tarsus learned the arcane arts. His social status was deemed irrelevant as the boy showed incredible potential. Regardless, his peers never truly accepted him and this drove a wedge between his loyalty to the arcane aristocracy of Vrettonia. As a result, Tarsus flung himself into his studies, attempting more and more dangerous spellcraft, eventually resulting in his expulsion after a nasty accident that left his arms scarred and his left hand slightly crippled.
• Not wanting to waste the resources spent on training Tarsus (nor losing his natural ability) the Mages Council of Vrettonia tapped Tarsus to spy on the activities in the North, where he has spent the last few years learning the lay of the land, gaining the trust of a few mercenary captains and gaining a reputation as a cold, quiet, but professional killer for hire.

Note to mages or those who have a bit of the talent. You have something called 'magesight' which is a tingling within you that raises the hair on the back of your heads if you sense someone casting a moderate to powerful spell. In fact you'll sense almost any kind of magic unless I or others indicate that they weave a spell slowly, or that it has a low, subtle power. It is also possible to ward yourself to be undetectable, but those are secrets that are passionately sought out and only a few mages have scrolls that contain such techniques. However, if you encounter someone that you believe is weaving a spell, or an item that you believe to have subtle power, you merely need to enhance your 'magesight' with a quick inspection spell.
You have a small, colored (your choice for color) energy stream leave your pointer finger as you weave this symbol. To those looking with naked eyes, it'll leave a small symbol burned into your retina for a short while.