“I’m often hired as a procurer of fine items. I can’t tell you who my clientele is though, sorry.”
O V E R V I E W
N A M E
Hanako Moriyama
A V A T A R
Rael xiel Vauxdvihl
A G E
18
G E N D E R
Female
V I S A G E
Hanako imagines herself as a more confident version of herself, with more flare and assertiveness— a fact that translated to her subconsciousness and her appearance in the world of Pariah. Whilst she still maintains the same petite frame, reddish brown hair and brown eyes, Hanako lacks the visual impairments of her real world appearance with no suggestions that away from Pariah she is nearly blind without corrective eyewear. Her hair is woven in a loose ponytail strung by a simple black linen band and her general appearance is not so flashy it is impractical with a dark red coat, white tunic, white leggings, and dark red boots. Many jokes have pegged Hanako’s avatar, Rael, for her preference of the color red; some of which that she has found endearing.
P E R S O N A L I T Y
As her choice in fraternity may imply— Hanako’s personality, even when in character as Rael, is determined by self-interest and voracity.
As the product of a sheltered upbringing, Hanako hasn’t really had many opportunities to be socially adept especially considering the enormous shadow of her incredibly renowned and wealthy parents who coincidently were also immensely overprotective. Her father insisted on private schooling and strict regulations for socialization for the majority of her life and her mother saw their reputation as too dangerous for Hanako to have a life in the public sector so as a byproduct Hanako gathered few friends and fewer social experience. To describe her as “socially awkward” would not be entirely inaccurate; but within such social ineptitude Hanako ended up directing her emotional and mental energy into creative outlets such as video games, short stories, and augmented simulators– and such efforts would eventually become immensely valuable.
It was through virtual social networking where Hanako felt like she could finally be social, and away from the eyes from her parents she could take her time away from her studies and finally act how she wanted to; and away from the expectations, rules, and restrictions she felt she could be herself without any filter to speak of. However such freedom could be seen as anarchic given as soon as Hanako immersed herself in the world of Pariah she chose quite possibly the most self-serving faction of the choices available— Draethir. In combination with that fact and her fanatical stance of being an “avid roleplayer” this has created a personality that represents Hanako’s avatar, Rael, as one who is an opportunist who while not unwilling to work with others is still all very cynical, greedy, loud, and arrogant.
As such in the world of Pariah, Rael is a wildcard and is notorious for that fact.
B A C K G R O U N D
Hanako Moriyama was born to an affluent family within the Tokyo Prefecture in Japan in 2094 CE, situated to be the prospective heir of the family’s wealth and legacy.
As a child Hanako had few friends, a fact that led to her social anxieties and ineptitude regarding interaction due to the steadfast efforts of her parents to protect their interests by isolating their daughter from the public sector of life as much as they possibly could to minimize any potential defamatory gossip or public embarrassment to occur. This would not change as Hanako moved through adolescence— a fact that would often make Hanako feel claustrophobic, restricted, and inconvenienced. Within that childhood Hanako found herself able to be creative and inspired despite lacking a lot of time in-between schooling, family expectations, and the few friends she spent trying to understand by socializing with. This creativity would lead to a variety of short stories and an interest in video games.
By the time of 2112 CE and Pariah’s launch, Hanako’s wealth allowed her easy access to the module— and the rest is history.
A T T R I B U T E S
R O L E
Tank
A F F I L A T I O N
Draethir
P R O F E S S I O N
Collector
W E A P O N O F C H O I C E
Spear
B E N C H M A R K S
Acrobatic Reflexes – In addition to her abilities as an evasive combatant, Rael is uncanny with her movement around an enemy thus making it exponentially more difficult to strike her or maintain a full threat assessment of her party given her tendency to jump, weave, and duck in the midst of battle. This benchmark has given her increased polish to her dodging abilities.
Dirty Fighter – Rael has always incorporated cunning into her attacks and using the environment against monsters and even resident opponents in duels. After doing this consistently for an amount of time she has found herself good at analyzing the environment for utility in battle whether it is a section of dirt, loose rocks, or weakened building supports. This has earned her a passive increase to temporarily immobilize her enemies.
Duelist’s Ethos – Rael is not a tank who blocks but there comes a time where she needs to meet an opponent’s weapon over simply dodging. However, instead of blocking Rael chooses to misdirect and counter instead; using her spear to shift an enemy’s weapon to the left or right instead of taking the brunt force of its blow. As such precision-based techniques in clutch situations come easier to her.
Evasive Combatant – As a tank who doesn’t bear heavy armor or extensive enchantments, Rael has had to take a different approach to combat; after conditioning herself to be faster than most of her peers she has achieved an agile and dynamic skillset that allows her to perceive things quicker and react in kind.
Provocative Presence – Intending to keep the attention of their enemies away from their allies, the rogue-like user has proven to constantly shift the attention of their enemy to focus on them by being agile and persistent. Due to this Rael has found herself emitting an inherent aura when in the heat of battle that attracts the attention of dangerous foes even when in the company of more dangerous allies that should be prioritized.
Decadent Dungeoneer – Dungeons are dangerous places in Pariah full of monsters, traps, and great treasures. After some time exploring and plundering these ruins and crypts Rael has found herself quite adept at pinpointing the best way to circumnavigate the dangers of their contents.
Herbal Savant – For toxicologists and alchemists, herbalism is the key to understanding the world; for Rael she just rather know if a field of flowers are toxic, carnivorous, or a non-issue and while she has little interest in making potions, she does find the creation of poisons a bit more apt to her interests. As such Rael has a basic fundamental knowledge of the common and uncommon variants of herbs that grow throughout the world.
Prudent Profiteer – After extensive trading through “alternative” channels consistently, Rael has made enough of a mark on the black market to know how to maximize her profits, seek valuable items, and barter efficiently with dubious vendors.
Scrupulous Scavenger – If there is an item that is worth having it tends to be one from the many dungeons, crypts, ruins, and caverns in the world and Rael has shown that she is adept in the procurement of key items. Coupled with her abilities to plunder in these instances she can spot items quickly and pocket them without issue. Knowing the value of items is key.
Venomous Apprentice – The study of poisons is fundamentally to manipulating your opponent in the long term and Rael knows it. Whilst she has not put countless of months into the creation of poisons and other toxins, she has put some time into it and thus can create decent grades of the craft with some competency.
R O U G H V I R T U A L H I S T O R Y
Rael xiel Vauxdvihl is a name that has been one with the community of Pariah since the beginning of the immergence crisis— where a variety of new residents came to settle within the confines of the realm from parts unknown. In the time since said crisis Rael has earned a reputation that is equal parts renown and infamy, a fact that has been a result of Rael’s arrogant brand of individualism, profession, ethics, and her record on not entirely playing well with other residents of the realm. However, this has not made issue with the fraternity that fostered her as the denizens of Draethir consider her living proudly by their pathos.
For those who are not denizens of Draethir or are disconnected with the socio-politics of the world at large, Rael is an arrogant opportunist who has connections to the illegal markets and their brokers. It is with this connection that led Rael to her current profession, that of a collector.
Serving as a middleman and agent of the illegal markets and their buyers, Rael has often been utilized as a purveyor of niche, exotic, and esoteric needs due to her skillful scavenging and looting of instances across the known territories; things such as lost artifacts, rare poultices, noteworthy items, and uncommon goods serve as Rael’s “specialty” and when tasking a dungeoneering group is too costly Rael’s services are usually acquisitioned. This can extend to her looting adventurer corpses before a cleric restores them, or even serving as a plant inside an adventuring party to swipe an item or three. Rael’s sense of guile and wit has often kept her alive in many instances.
Depending who you ask Rael can be seen as an expert in dungeoneering, a untrustworthy thief, a shrewd profiteer who works for the illegal markets, or a hardy combat rogue who is experienced with poisons.
Considerate. Free Spirit. Stubborn. Family Oriented. Night Owl. Creative. Trust Issues.
Though Mia has had her share of trials and tribulations, she remains a fairly friendly and considerate person to everyone she meets. She considers her friends her family, and her family her life. She wants to have a big family one day, and thinks about it often. Sometimes a little too often. Yikes. Mia always sticks with what she believes in no matter what anyone has to say about it. She fights for what she wants, despite being wrong most of the time. She spends all of her nights awake playing video games or doing something creative, whether it doing old fashioned and traditional arts of drawing and painting or the more modern arts through computer and other means the world now had to offer.
B A C K G R O U N D
Mia was your typical girl next door. The Southern sweetheart teen growing up. The girl you wanted to take home to your momma by the third date. She lived in a relatively small town where everyone knew everyone and gossip was the only thing that was worth talking about. When she wasn't doing household chores, she was outside with her dark hair flying in the wind, her smile lines deeply carved into her sun kissed skin.
One day while painting outside, the storm clouds moved in quicker than usual. "Damn it." Mia growled, trying to grab her supplies without ruining her work. The sky rumbled with thunder, a huge lightening strike lit up the sky and the heavy rain started to pour. Mia looked up, and let out a huge laugh. This was life, and no matter how bad it got, she found happiness. Her teeth chattered as she quickly began walking back to the house her parents had raised her in, and she now owned.
That is when she met Keith. Keith had been the guy in high school where every girl within a 10 mile radius had a crush on, and there he was staring at Mia. "Need an umbrella miss?" he called from his porch, as if the heavens themselves had opened up and spoke through his perfectly shaped lips. Mia stopped and turned towards Keith. He had grown more handsome since high school and it was apparent as the blood raced to her cheeks that she had fell over the Keith curse. "Yes sir!" Mia called, biting her lip afterwards and shaking her head as he approached her with the umbrella.
"Yes sir!? I must look so stupid..." she thought to herself as he reached her, placing the umbrella over the two of them as he continued to walk her home. The silence was broken by his warm voice, "That is mighty pretty." he commented to the painting, and Mia was sold. They talked the whole walk home. He wouldn't stop making her laugh. Several bouquet of lilies, two movie dates, and three months later Keith was proposing with the biggest ring Mia had seen this side of the river.
Mia moved right in to Keith's home, and was the talk of the town for a few weeks. "What would he want with her?" they sneered between glances, as they walked by. Mia paid no notice, she was madly in love with Keith. The catch of the town, the muse behind the beautiful paintings she began producing and displaying all around the house. "What do you think of this one baby?" the woman would call from the room she had made into her studio. "Baby?" she'd call with no answer.
Keith wasn't home from work yet, late again for the 25th time that month. Mia's eyes looked up at the clock. The ticking was loud, invading every corner of the room. "He must be getting me something special this time, a gift maybe." she smiled speaking loudly over the sound of the clock, imagining Keith coming through the door with a huge present for her.
Keith never came home, and she never heard from the man again.
Rumor mills started as what exactly happened that night, but Mia knew that even the truth was not going to mend her broken heart that she felt. She quickly sold everything she owned that was not necessity, and left for the city. There, she bought a small studio apartment for herself where she began doing free lance art work for some of the upcoming companies. Pariah had been one of the web advertisements she had worked on briefly, not knowing much of the game. She was given a copy as a thank you for the job well done, and before Mia knew it she was making a character and getting involved in everything that had to do with the game.
It was her way of coping with the recent incidents, and it would quite rapidly change her life.
A T T R I B U T E S
R O L E
Ranger DPS
A F F I L A T I O N
DROX.
P R O F E S S I O N
Fletcher.
W E A P O N O F C H O I C E
Bow and Arrow.
Mirage's Bow came about during her own material gathering, trading, and crafting stage. It is a brown and grey bow with two very sharp points along the body in case of an unexpected melee attack. Pride in the details can be shown in the work of the bow, but it is clear that Mirage is wanting to upgrade to something better soon. She has been looking for materials as of lately, and doing odd favors for them.
B E N C H M A R K S
1. Precise Aim Mirage's aim playstyle is meant to be precise and true. She would rather do a few critical shots rather than a jumble mess of several shots from her bow. She knows that these shots always take longer to do, and take time and care to complete, but she feels it is cleaner way to go about it.
2. Swift Movements Able to quickly dodge, duck, roll, or run out of an enemies attack, Mirage is able to use her movements to her advantage when she is in combat. She prefers to be out in the sidelines dropping shots, but she knows during certain situations, she has to move around until she can find proper location.
3. Trap Master When given enough time, Mirage is able to place traps for enemies. They are basic stunning traps leaving the enemy caught in a snare for only a few moments. Sometimes these moments are dire when it comes to a battle. This trait is useless in the heat of battle, and is much better for pre-planned attacks.
4. Craftsman Given a keen eye to detail, and professionalism is wood working Mirage is able to not only appreciate her craft but understand exactly how it works. She has crafted her current bow to satisfy her own needs but is always looking for something a bit better.
5. Arrow Storm In some cases, there are several enemies evading at once and no time to collect your thoughts on to one victim in particular. During these moments, a barrage of arrows can shoot from her bow that can cause quick bursts of damage to multiple targets at once. Unfortunately because of the nature of this attack, it is not best used in the direction of other party members as well.
1. Complete Focus Able to become quite silent and block out factors going on around her, Mirage is able to completely set focus on her target until a next target has been chosen. This can cause stress for a party as often Mirage becomes too wrapped up in one target instead of the larger battle.
2. Sensitive Hearing Trained in the idea of the hunter, Mirage can focus in on small sounds around her. This is important for when she has an enemy sneaking up from behind and she needs to get out of harm's way in a hurry.
3. Camouflage Continuing on from the last benchmark, because of her training when she is very quiet and within a stealth mode, she can blend into the world as if she doesn't exist. This can be a helpful strategy when a planned attack is being formed and Mirage has to set up a shot without being seen.
4. Arrow Making The ability to know what items in the world go together to make specialty arrows.
5. Quick Thinking Not only quick on her feet, but quick in her thoughts. Mirage is able to think a few steps in front of herself when it comes to attack formations and plans. She knows to move forward or when she needs to fall back.
R O U G H V I R T U A L H I S T O R Y
New to such an environment, Mirage struggled and struggled to get the hang of her skills and weapon. Stubborn, she decided to stick with everything knowing that she could very easily change everything if she wanted to. The woman would not have it. She took it into her own hands to ask people within her affiliation for guidance and most if not all happily applied. Soon she was getting the hang of things and began to really flourish within her class and her new found profession. This profession was encouraged by another member who had seen her work and thought it was quite well done.
Despite her rough start, Mirage is really coming into herself and hopes to improve as time goes on.
“If you are looking for a book, check aisle B for monsters or aisle D for plants and aisle A for miscellaneous. For something else, I would recommend you come in advance, it helps with me being prepared, you know?”
O V E R V I E W
N A M E
Marcelino Anthony Silvestre
A V A T A R
Silvestre
A G E
22
G E N D E R
Male
V I S A G E
Marcelino can be considered what you would call a 'hipster' of sorts, the outgoing and quirky guy that you know. Having a fun and energetic personality to him and following all of the latest trends, it wouldn't be at all unexpected that he is a serious gamer who would have fun both in the real world and virtual one. To him personally, it's surprising he can pull such an outgoing and bubbly personality that even his friends think that he is always like that. From inside, he is an anxious and self-conscious person which he disguises pretty well apparently which goes unnoticed from most people. Fighting against his self-depreciating ways, he managed to improve himself by elevating his figure and keeping himself away from a sorry state that he once was in. Having a lithe body almost like a swimmer, while having black hair with blonde streaks through it and dark brown eyes.
When translating over to Pariah, it replicates mostly the same figure for him in real life with the exception of his skin tone and surprising length of hair that he is that's completely white along the clothing. His hair is almost impossible to keep, so he lets it stay that way naturally and let it simply hang, although on occasion he makes sure to go through the tedious process of taking care of it. He might as well have gained some levels in hair caretaking or vanity if that was a possible with how much time he had to spend with it, but he doesn't mind it. As it adds flavor to his character that he surprisingly liked after getting used to it.
P E R S O N A L I T Y
Some things about Marcelino perfectly transfers over to Pariah due to the ease of things, such as his outgoingness and quirky feel that he had around him that comes second nature to him. He even tends to be uncharacteristically flirtier compared to real life which may be due to the fact that he's anonymous in Pariah. However, even having anonymity can reveal things about people when they know nobody they know is watching them do it. For one, he's a savvy roleplayer and is dedicated to an idea once he settled his mind on pursuing it to the very end. This is something he wouldn't get caught dead with in real life, as Pariah is basically 'larping' or 'live action roleplaying' but within a different reality... His ability for roleplaying is translated well from his skills as a shy actor back in high school, which are unhindered within this virtual game.
B A C K G R O U N D
So Marcelino... He's a relatively normal college kid with his own problems like everyone else who's going through them and finding a way to overcome them. Currently living in the States, he can be called successful considering the average set by his peers around him as he is performing above them. However, as a human being, he has his own problems to take care of and whether he successful or not is up to him to try and overcome. But beyond that crude and small explanation of Marcelino in a nutshell, lets dive deeper shall well?
Like mentioned several times before this, Marcelino considers himself a socially anxious and conscious person in the real world. Caused by a sheltered childhood, which was used mostly to be much more mature than his age normally was. His father had left him, his oldest brother was hours away living with the grandparents, and his older sister grew up in be spiteful and rebellious of the fighting that went on between their parents. Then there was Marcelino's younger sister who was the baby of the family that grew up to have a learning disability which only added problems. To say the least, Marcelino's childhood wasn't a good time to be a kid as he had to learn how to take care of her sister early on while his Mother went to work and while the rest of his siblings were elsewhere. A good part of his livelihood was dedicated to her sister and embarrassment over his helicopter mom (from experience of her two older children who not doing so well in life) stunted his social growth, making him very reclusive. His friends were the nerdy ones and the weirdos where he connected to them easily with common interests.
However, as he grew up it was obvious that he didn't want to be like his other siblings and decided to work on himself. Despite the lazy and procrastinating nature he had, he began to try and improve himself in ways that nobody realized. He practiced 'emotions', 'gestures', and 'phrases' which would be used in socializing and it worked for the most part. He made friends easily by being 'friendly' and open to everyone that was introduced to him and increased his social circle much more compared to before. Of course, there were awkward things like relationships and love during his high school years that were cringeful but he managed. Sure, he was a bit of a hopeless romantic but he made do with what he was able to work with. Taking examples from other sociable people he knew, he simply painted more onto himself to develop a personality suitable for a good life. He had a girlfriend despite being attracted to men (self-consciousness again), had many fond memories with his friends, and graduated high school with good grades. By the time he had finished school, his siblings had fixed themselves despite the time they took, it was better than never. His older brother was a mechanic making good money, while his sister worked at a company which she rose through the ranks faster than ever. Even mother was back into a relationship (a bit rocky one) that proved to last since he was in middle school, so around eight years. But yes, family life was going well and his social life was doing great as well so check!
Life itself was great for Marcelino, he had a group of friends, a person he 'liked', and his family was doing well. Beyond the usual troubles of his anxiety about himself, his life was shaping up to be a good one that would click in with society like anyone. The next step was going to college, another worrisome milestone that marked a successful human being (in this century and the last) as it was impossible to get a good job without a degree unless you were lucky... Majoring in chemistry, the science industry was never going to die and thus was a viable area to pursue an occupation. Of course, there were things like being an Art or English major but they weren't reasonable ideas from what he firsthand experienced.
Fours years into college and he had gotten his bachelor's in chemistry which was great, so his academics was finished and completed. Having a job was tricky after recently getting his degree, but he did do odd jobs for the neighbors (yes, there are neighbors in the 22nd century) that have him some pocket change. however, he has been looking for a steady job that will be paying him that focuses in his desired area of chemistry. His social life was doing okay, his relationship with his girlfriend has been going steady and his friends are still mostly there still. However, recently he has been getting back into serious gaming when his older sister told him about Pariah as she was a serious computer and gaming nerd. With the money he had, he bought the game and fell for it hard as a means to escape boring reality. It a way, the experience was addicting as hours could be shoved into what limited time he had but with an unfilled schedule maybe perhaps he could give himself a break. Of course, he would still be a functioning citizen of society cause both he and his sister monitored each other so they didn't go off the map.
A T T R I B U T E S
R O L E
Ultility / DPS
A F F I L A T I O N
Queon
P R O F E S S I O N
Scribe: An occupation that mostly involved with recording books over and copying them for distribution, it is a production-type job where the recreation of texts of all kind are possible as you level you. Copying books slightly increase the skill of the topic that is covered. The higher the level of the book, the bigger bonus that is given to the scribe when they read and copy it which allows them to acquire levels of knowledge from a wide topic. Usually, this job is taken by those who utilize magic to create spells that can be activated through their use in the form of spell scrolls.
W E A P O N O F C H O I C E
Satchel of Containment: A bag that Marcelino has which simply holds things inside for him, being packed with a book or two before the rest being occupied by scrolls containing magic for emergencies should it be required. The bag is usually customized depending on the situation to allow what is carried inside to suit what comes ahead.
Staff of Drawing: A black and seemingly burnt staff that is wielded by Marcelino, it serves not only as a focus for magic that he usually performs but in larger instances of casting spells. The staff can be activated with energy that allows the bottom to act as if it was a marker and can write with magic in the air.
B E N C H M A R K S
Mind Over Matter: As a magic user, and no less a member of a member of the Quenon fraction, it not surprising that Marcelino's character lacks other notable physical achievements. This is a milestone is given to players who have a ridiculously low amount of levels in physical abilities compared to their mental abilities. It serves no other purpose than congratulating the player on focusing the majority of the levels that they have on their mental benchmarks. In short, it's a decoration simply to fill out those empty physical benchmarks slots as a Magic User.
Steady Caligraphy: Like drawing an arrow with a bow, the calligraphy of a book is just as important to keeping it cool and constant. Any book that had lopsided or mistakes with the writing is decreased in quality and without lined paper or fast drying ink, it's a common obstacle of most scribes who are PCs. With hours of focusing, raging, and training, it's impossible for Marcelino to draw a letter, symbol, or whatever wrong. This is a form of weapon training for people of the scholarly kind which can result in deadly proficiently with a pen at close range. A deadly and calculated art, if only they trained their bodies more would this technique be much fearsome. In it's tamed and docile form, its suitable for writing and drawing purposes. Other writing utensils can be used from what was used to gain this ability but suffer a penalty for it.
Combat Casting: Marcelino is adept at ignoring distractions and even when threatened with an attack, he will continue to muster through casting the entirety of his spell. Having a bonus when casting a spell when even being placed in a precarious position such as being pinned or grappled so long he's able to meet all requirements. This skill also allows much more damage to be taken before a spell can be interrupted by damage breaking Marcelino's concentration.
Book Creation: A skill gained through meticulously copying a book word by word so that it can be distributed, while assumably capable of doing it with a typewriter the technology of Pariah isn't advance enough. Thus, the books that Marcelino had copied through this skill sell for a good amount to wealthy NPCs who wish to buy such a rare resource of knowledge which is limited in this era. With a high level of this skill, he is able to publish books simply for enjoyment rather than knowledge itself. Publishing several books under a secret pen name which has gotten fairly good reception from NPCs. With adequate levels, it is also possible to branch off from this skill and create magic spells in scrolls instead of simply plain books. This is a requirement for the skill Magic Scroll Creation to determine the best materials to create scrolls and write them.
Lore Knowledge: A skill that Marcelino has which is used to represent one's understanding of the world Pariah farther than the basic descriptions. It covers things all significant things that a person living in the world of Pariah would know from being raised there such as major historical events, prominent people of power like royalty, and major cities or geographical points of interests. It can be raised normally by spending more time in Pariah simply and taking the time to read or listen to gain experience. As a scribe, though, Marcelino's level in this skill with the dozens and dozens of books that he has given the time to reading them has increased this skill significantly. He is capable of being a teacher in the world of Pariah should he ever chose to enter that vocation.
Magic Scroll Creation: A divergence from the Book Creation skill which focuses on literary text only, this skill focuses on making spells accessed through scrolls by anyone who is capable of doing so. It gives the user the ability to activate the stored spell instantly from the contents of the scroll. Michael himself for the first few levels focused on simply practicing how to properly make one before anything could be put on them. From further use, he focused on this skill and provided resources for many events that has leveled this skill even past his Book Creation skill.
While the limit of spells that can be written in scrolls are contained to medium powered spells and a single spell per scroll. They save a huge chunk of energy when prepared beforehand that can place the advantages in his hands. This skill boosts both Arcane Theory and Book Creation as well
Arcane Theory: A skill that Marcelino has that he would recommend to any other person if they wish to further understand how magic works in Pariah. On the base level, it allows him to understand the different forms that magic comes in Pariah and identify them when being used or been placed. Going in deeper, his level with this skill is augmented by his job as a Scribe which allows him to reach far and wide to pick books pertaining to this skill itself. The creation of spells is a possibility for Marcelino with this skill to be used on the spot so long as he is not in combat and has the requirements handled to do so. It is a requirement for the skill Magic Scroll Creation to transfer spells onto paper.
Enhanced Willpower: An ability that is built up upon more mental challenges that stack up on each other to build a wall of bricks when solidified. Pushing one's limits is generally a way to increase this skill in exchange for receiving physical lash back for doing such a thing. It is a skill suitable for all players, but in Marcelino's case, it is useful for surviving the world of Pariah without coffee when working on copying books. The skill also proves useful in increasing how much he can overexert his physical or mental abilities but face harsher whiplash should he do so.
R O U G H V I R T U A L H I S T O R Y
In the world of Pariah, Silvestre is known as the Magic Librarian for his status of having a library of books which he willingly lends so long as he trusts the person using them. Being a known trader of books from both NPCs and PCs that he will be the first to appraise them so long he gets to read it first. Many of the books that he lends are mostly those that he copied twice to sell once and keep the other for himself. If a request is given to him about copying something or creating a book, then he will offer a price for doing it depending on the difficulty of the task. His services are also hired as a creator of mobile spells, creating portable magic to be used when desired but charges a high price for the mental health it takes out of him and the cost of materials. As a Librarian books that he allows people to borrow are all commonly sought after due to the topics that they cover while quite common in rarity are high in demand. Most of his books are in his vault which prevents them being accessed for the most part unless someone asks to get inside there which needs his trust in the first place.
“Do you really think you can stand against my blade? I crafted it myself you know.”
O V E R V I E W
N A M E
Alex Crane
A V A T A R
Vulcan
A G E
23
G E N D E R
Male
V I S A G E
Over the years, Alex has developed a strong, toned physique from his years of intense training. His hair is generally kept short on the sides, but long enough to be swept to the side on top. Lately however, he has let his brown hair run long and it has started to fall into his eyes making him constantly brush it out of the way. His piercing blue eyes do nothing but enhance his condescending gaze. Standing at about sixty eight inches, he is of an average height for a man and his 180 pounds don't allow him to be overly imposing in any way.
In game, his visage barely differs. Keeping to the standard build he is most comfortable with, his body is entirely similar to his body outside of the game. His largest change comes from his hair. Having grown out a bit longer, able to cover his eyes, but never seeming to get in his way. In the back, he has a thin pony tail that runs down to the bottom of his back. A sort of symbol to him that he has finally grown out of the constraints of his past, allowing him to carve his own rules and destiny.
On his body he wears little armor. Only wearing greaves that reach up to his knees to protect himself in the place that is most difficult for him to deflect attacks from. He wears looser fitting clothes on his body to allow him to move fairly comfortably. Blue pants, white tunic, and a black cloak are his trade mark clothes. On his left hand he has a black glove that is etched with his patron symbol. The image of a crane, wings spread into a circle. The same symbol that he adorns on all of his creations, including the katana he wears on his left hip.
P E R S O N A L I T Y
A condescending man through and through. He is the type to only help those that he deems worth helping and it takes a lot to earn his respect. Logic and reason over feelings are a prime aspect of his nature that causes much strife between him and other players in Pariah. He can often be considered a jerk, but his friends, which are few and far between, know otherwise. He cuts right to the point in any subject and is very often rude. However, he doesn’t consider or understand that he is rude, he simply feels he is being efficient and cutting out the unnecessarily droll parts of conversations. Given that he has few strong friendships, he has some of the strongest bonds with those that he has become friends with. Namely, Steel Crow, a friend he made through circumstance, has actually managed to become on of his closest friends in Pariah. Radiating self-confidence and an aura of mystery, and through insightful observations, original ideas and formidable logic; He is able to push through any obstacle with sheer willpower and force of personality. He is decisive, ambitious, amazingly curious, but will never squander his energy in fruitless efforts. Especially when it comes to people. He sees altruism as a false virtue and knows it is important to take care of himself before others. Leaving only the few instances where he will allow his friends to come first.
B A C K G R O U N D
Alex was raised by his rich parents. Originally, most kids growing up would think it was great being able to have whatever you wanted without worry. However, Alex's life was different. His parents were the epitome of what one would call elitists. They expected an unrelenting effort on his part. No expenses were spared in his cultivation. He spent hours studying with the best instructors and training with the best coaches. He was constantly number one in school and was reprimanded if he wasn't. He was even sent to the best college around to obtain a degree civil justice to become a lawyer. A life without rest, guided by his over bearing parents.
When nearing his graduation day from college. His parents found themselves in an unfortunate accident. A plane crash took the lives of both of them at once. Leaving Alex alone with an enormous inheritance, he found himself not sad, but overjoyed. The shackles of his life were finally released and he could live how he wished without the repressive gaze of his overbearing parents. With his new found freedom and over flowing bank account, he decided to buy a cozy apartment and set his sites on the laziest past time he could find, Videogames. His sights landed on the newest in virtual reality and with its astronomical price range, he knew he had to have it. Unshaven, unkempt, and ready to enjoy life for once, he started up Pariah and drifted off into a world of dreams.
A T T R I B U T E S
R O L E
Mixed Melee DPS/Tank
A F F I L A T I O N
Draethir
P R O F E S S I O N
Weapons Blacksmith
W E A P O N O F C H O I C E
He mainly uses katanas, but he also is skilled in using his body as a method of attack.
B E N C H M A R K S
Hardened in Flame – As a blacksmith, he has spent long hours residing next to the heat of a forge. The flames have hardened his skin allowing him to more easily endure the heat. He has an increased resistance to all fire attribute effects, including magical fire.
Enhanced Strength – Hours of physical labor in a forge have increased his strength, allowing him to use heavier hammers in smithing as well as increasing his general combat strength.
Riposte – Rather then blocking an attack full on, he has learned to adjust the flow of his opponents attack with his blade. After catching his opponent off his guard, he executes a swift counter attack in response.
Diminutive Presence – Fighting alone for any length of time is dangerous to any fighter. After spending an extensive amount of time fighting solo, he has developed a presence that seems to be ignored by many enemies. This decreases his chances of finding himself surrounded in a fight.
Flashing Arc – Drawing his blade in one clean and destructive motion, he is able to deal massive damage before his sword is even fully drawn and before the enemy even knows what hit him.
Weapon Smithing – Be they swords, katanas, knifes, hammers, or axes, he can make it. As long as its useful in the maiming of others he can most definitely craft it
Magic Weapon Smith – Smithing ordinary metal has its limits. He has learned to go beyond simple weapon smithing and has begun to incorporate magic into his weapons. It is very difficult to do, requiring many had to acquire materials and a lot of time to prepare to make a successful magic weapon. Alternatively, he can temporarily enchant a normal blade to do elemental damage. However, the amount of magical energy it requires to perform puts him at a significant risk if the fight was to last even a few seconds longer.
Field Mending – Weapons get damaged over time naturally. Being a blacksmith, he knows a few tricks to fix up those poorly maintained weapons, even in the middle of nowhere. Got a crack in your blade? He's on it. The wrappings on your hilt falling off? He'll fix that. Got a broken wrist from your negligible ability with a blade? Sorry, but he cant fix that. He's a blacksmith not a doctor, go find one and learn how to use your sorry weapon while your at it.
Ore Knowledge – Being a warrior blacksmith has its limits. Having to buy the ores he uses to craft with, he has developed a discerning eye for them. Their strengths, weaknesses, and he is even able to distinguish what ores are in a weapon.
Katana Mastery – Skills with weapons are not hard to come by. If enough effort is put into a single weapon then mastery can surely be achieved. A katana has is peculiar as most think that it is the “strongest blade”. However, that is not the case. Where a katana does have impressive cutting strength, that is only when it is well forged and with quality materials. The blade itself, being an amalgam of varying strengths, finds itself breaking quite often. Sure, you can try to cut through that solid steal rebar, and it just might happen, but your blade will definitely not look the same afterward. Using the katana doesn’t require much skill on it's own, mastering the katana, on the other hand, requires the wielder to understand its innate properties and to work around it's weaknesses.
Flashing Arc only works when he has his blade sheathed, so it can only work once per fight, unless he continuously resheathes his weapon during combat. He has no range capabilities what so ever, if he is caught in a ranged battle against multiple opponents then he is surely done for. Crowd Control is similarly a huge weakness of his. He is also not specialized in one area other than blacksmithing weapons. In combat he could barely be called a tank and barely be called a DPS.
R O U G H V I R T U A L H I S T O R Y
Upon entering Pariah, Alex began his adventure by exploring the town he arrived in. Finding himself in a back alley in the town he heard the sound of clanking metal and began to investigate. Discovering an elderly man working away at his forge, Alex became intrigued and began to watch with interest. After a few hours of the rhythmic clanking of steel and cooling of the blade, the old man gazed at his creation and turned to Alex. “You seem to be interested in the forging of blades, how about a few lessons?”
Later, Alex, began to become one of the most prominent blacksmiths in Pariah. Few knew his name, but many knew the works of the “Black Crane”, as they had begun to nickname him. His elegant blades made a mark on those who used them and they soon became highly sought after. His goal is to become the best weaponsmith in all of Pariah, however he could care less for the fame. Only a few know of his actual identity.
“Message me if you need anything. I'll come if I can.”
O V E R V I E W
N A M E
Eric Steele
A V A T A R
Steel Crow
A G E
20
G E N D E R
Male
V I S A G E
Crow's image in game is vastly different from his appearance IRL. This is because he is a triple amputee, having only his right arm as a full limb. He lost entire left arm, his entire left leg, and his right leg at the knee in a tragic fire that claimed the lives of his parents. Forty percent of his remaining body is scarred. He spends most of his time in a power chair since his older siblings can't afford to get him fitted with prosthetics. In real life, he wears mostly simple, neutral colored tee shirts, black, tied-off sweats, and his favorite grey slouchy hat. His hair is dyed silver and his eyes are a lush green.
Inside Pariah, Crowe has all of his limbs and layered, black hair. His eyes change to an inviting, purple-ish color and he wears mostly light, yet sturdy armor with thick plates on his forearms and shins to use as on-the-fly guards. He can be seen carrying large, heavy, two tanded weapons, but his physique is pretty average. This is because although he uses a strength-based playstyle, he hates the look of huge, beefy guys with oversized weapons. He can use any two-handed weapon adequately, but the great sword is his baby.
P E R S O N A L I T Y
Crow was once cocky and outspoken, but ever since the fire, that version of him is long gone. He can be reserved, even reclusive at times, but mostly he just likes to watch and listen to other people. Among friends or in a party, he is kind, compassionate and always wants to be helpful to the group. If anyone is a symbol of the Drox way, it's the Steel Crow.
Eric has a hard time letting people in. Although he is kind to them, he tries to keep himself blocked from most people. It's easier for him to not risk making close friends he might lose. The only person in game that he actually trusts is his blacksmith, Vulcan, and he hasn't even met the guy IRL.
B A C K G R O U N D
Eric was born into a well-off family of five. His parents were hot-shot political officials embarking on some revolutionary things. Someone seemed to disagree. An unnamed party was suspected to have been responsible for the fire that burned down the estate and killed both of his parents, but no one knows for sure.
Eric was trapped under smoldering support beams for long enough to end up a triple amputee after the emergency services finally arrived. His limbs were burned beyond use.
He elated to hear that Virtual Reality was coming into its prime, and when Pariah came out he had to try it. The thought of being able to walk and swing a sword was intoxicating. When he finally got the game and loaded in, he fell immediately in love.
His older brother, Brandon inherited monthly checks but they weren't enough. Brandon joined the Navy and claimed Eric as a dependent. Now they move from place to place, enjoying life as much as they can while their Sister, the middle child of the three, does who-knows-what.
A T T R I B U T E S
R O L E
Tank or Support
A F F I L A T I O N
Drox
P R O F E S S I O N
Healer
W E A P O N O F C H O I C E
Most two-handed weapons, Mainly Greatswords. He can also wield a sword and shield if he's playing support, although he's not nearly as good at it.
B E N C H M A R K S
Fleet Footed: Being overjoyed to be able to run, Crow tends to do it a lot. He gets faster and faster all the time, and can use this as an escape if his slow-natured attacks put him in a pinch.
Enhanced Strength: hours of swinging his great sword around have increased his physique, allowing him to deal more damage as a DPS or carry even the heavily armored party members out of the fray as Support if needed.
Ward of Drox: as a protector of his friends,Crow has blocked a lot of attacks as a tank. This has hardened him as a fighter, allowing him to take a lot of damage without wavering, as well as increasing the durability of his weapons and gear.
Helping Hands: Crow's practice with healing has increased his overall affinity with magical healing practices. He is able to learn healing magic slightly faster than the average student.
Friendly, neighborhood...: After a lot of dungeon helps and the many side-quests involving escorting or helping people of the towns, Crow has gained a reputation, not just amongst other players, but in the NPC community as well, making it easy for him to persuade or otherwise charm them if he needs to. As an added bonus, he tends to get discounts from the NPC shops.
Field Dress:Crows extensive study of first aid in Pariah has sharpened his ability. If he's quick enough, Crow can field dress a downed player's wounds and get them back into the fight.
War Dog: As a tank, Crow has learned the best ways to gain the agro and attention of enemies, effectively distracting them from the actions of party members such as DPS's and Supports.
Hidden Talent: Crow's multi-play style build has allowed him to use low-level, AOE type healing incantations, but players have to be close to him and he has to be in a defensive or blocking position.
Dungeon Crawler: Being that his primary focus is dungeon and raid helps, Crow has developed a sense of how to navigate these areas and as Leo where to find all the little goodies usually are.
Combat Analysis: Crow has been on the front line of every encounter he's experienced, as such he has developed an uncanny intuition for what the enemy is most likely to do next.
Crow is little more than cover for others in a ranged fight, and in order to switch between Tank and Support, he has to re-equip between his great sword and sword-and-shield combo, sonit takes a lot of time, especially if he's in an encounter. His need to help people can sometimes distract him from the duties of a tank. His repeated runs through dungeons can sometimes lead him to get complacent in them. Additionally, his lack of close relationships means he rarely works with the same party twice. This means there is a lack of teamwork at times due to the single-serving nature of the encounters
R O U G H V I R T U A L H I S T O R Y
Crow spent most of his time grinding for decent gear and skill with his weapon at first until a party asked him to join them in a dungeon. There he discovered his passion for helping others. He began to dabble in healing magic and other restoration abilities like treating wounds on the battle field with med kits. He's just recently learned to use mid-level healing incantations. He found his way to the pathos of Drox, and has lived by it since. This also led to a change in attitude IRL too, but his scars are not just skin deep. He still carries the emotional and mental trauma from the fire.
One might call him a sword for hire, although he doesn't charge a price or even ask for unreasonable shares or drops. He just wants to help others and have fun, even at the expense of his own progression.
“Not everything needs to happen all at once. Some things just need a little time.”
O V E R V I E W
N A M E
Maxwell Castillo
A V A T A R
Ochre
A G E
22
G E N D E R
Male
V I S A G E
Ochre can be identified as a lean, Caucasian male, who stands at a relatively average height of 166cm, displaying intriguing jade eyes and raven-black hair. While usually seen in light, leather cloth that boasts a bronze pauldron on the left shoulder, it would not be surprising to see him wrapped within a cloak, equiped with chainmail under scale armor, or donning full platemail while out in the field. His entire figure, despite his current state of movement, seems to be in perpetually sedated position, as if the state of affairs in the immediate world around him are merely just another second in time.
P E R S O N A L I T Y
Ochre is slow.
That is not an insult to his intelligence, despite the popular belief that he is mentally impaired as well. No, the description is used to describe him as a person. Everything he does, despite its true speed, seems downplayed in comparison to the actions of others. If a line of people moved at an equal pace, with the same tempo and in a perfectly straight line, the drill sergeant composing the practice would shout at him to pick up his pace. It is an almost instinctual reaction to his presence, to the lethargic air that seems to encompass his sphere of influence. Even in combat, as he moves throughout the field, setting traps on the fly and slicing at foes as quickly as any fighter, his allies have frequently noted that the man works less than the rest of them. It befuddles everyone around him, even those who are knowledgeable of his passionate side, of the man who would go far and beyond the call of duty to get a job done. This powerful force of will that hides under his lethargic exterior is massive, to the point where one may think him more paragon than bum. In fact, if it wasn't for his similarly fervent attachment to the bonds between others, a close friend would think him more suited for Draethir than Sikth
This unhurried nature spreads to his mannerisms as well, having no sense of the word "Quickness" in his consistency of arriving late to every sort of function or meeting. Any person who knows of him understand to give him the time of a meeting up to thirty minutes earlier than the designated, as to make sure he shows up on time. Something to note about him is his patience, and while it may strengthen the idea of his unnatural sluggishness, it is probably one of the main reasons for his success in Pariah. Minutes, Hours, and once, even Days, he is capable of waiting out the perfect circumstance, springing a trap when the most optimal situation may appear. During special occasions, however, one would be amazed at the speed of his momentum, taking him from point A to point B in record time for the sake of his companions. But, as fitting of a Sikth, this sort of behavior is seen rarely, to the point where his closest friends may comment that "a blue moon is more common than seeing Ochre move quickly".
Any who are capable of seeing past such idiosyncrasies would find a young man capable of extraordinary compassion, taking to heart any sort of problems a person may have and seeking to make it right, even complete strangers. Anger is not a word in his vocabulary, accompanying "Haste" in the mental garbage bin, though irritation is very likely to be present within a situation that isn't solved within the first few tries. Most of the time, however, he is usually laid back in his way of speaking, not usually taking offense to many things. Any mistakes or issues with his own person are corrected almost immediately, though retaining his amendments may take a few weeks. The only exception to this is his own skills, and a one track mind is set on developing the strongest set of armor in Pariah. While he is still far from reaching that goal, he gains another step closer everyday.
B A C K G R O U N D
Honestly, there's not much to say about his life. He lives in a modest apartment, graduated with a college degree in the past year, and even more recently found an internship as a business associate. His only sibling, his sister, is going through her freshman year in a university, sending him postcards from her little corner of the world. His parents, happy for his accomplishments, drive to see him every month to catch up, enjoy each others company, and generally live life in a joyous manner.
However, a few months ago, his sibling sent him a package instead of an envelope. Curious, he opened the container to find a copy of the latest hit "game", Pariah, and the regular postcard he usually received. Apparently, his parents and his sister had pooled money together in order to give him a congratulatory gift for his currently progressing life. Having forgotten to buy one for him on the day itself, it was agreed to procure a present more opulent than they otherwise would have. Touched by the gesture, he started up the program only minutes after receiving it.
He remembered to thank them for the gift a week later with a surprise visit to his sibling, and a big hug to his parents when they came for their routine visit to his home.
A T T R I B U T E S
R O L E
Support/ Tank
A F F I L A T I O N
Sikth
P R O F E S S I O N
Armor Merchant
W E A P O N O F C H O I C E
Griffzungenschwert, though the use of a Hammer cannot be unfounded
B E N C H M A R K S
Exploit Armor Weakness - Many foes have some sort of armor equipped onto their person within the world of Pariah. Metals, scales, shells, all sorts of protection that may deflect or mitigate the extent of injuries created by attacks. Having created a variety of armors himself, Ochre has used his experience to innately pinpoint the flaws within the protective coverings of his enemies, taking advantage of openings and cracks that naturally occur, or even those created by wear and tear to harm the more malleable, fragile flesh underneath.
Magical Trap Creation - Gathering materials from the creatures of Pariah is quite vexing, as combat with monsters and beasts may unintentionally render such elements useless, marred by cuts, fractures, and other sorts of disfigurement. As such, Ochre has taken measures in order to keep his targets as closest to completely intact as possible, delaying the activation times of debilitating spells that cause afflictions capable of incapacitating targets, such as momentarily restricting movement via paralytic sparks, plagues of vertigo and blinding flares, or slow-acting poisons useful for steadily draining a monster of its energy. Through practice, he has gained the ability to "set" such spells at designated locations, and granting them the ability to be remotely activated by special conditions, such as proximity or pressure.
Second Skin - As Ochre crafted more, and more, and more varieties of armor and attire, he slowly became used to each individual style, the contours and shape of each becoming as familiar as an old friend. As a result, he is able to move unrestrained in any sort of armor, from the lightest cloak to the heaviest platemail.
Optimal Decortication - Hunting monsters and beasts within the world of Pariah is commonplace, the corpses of the fallen creatures holding unrefined treasures that are just waiting to be put to use. Noting this aspect through his own musings, Ochre has developed the precise talent of extracting materials from the corpses of monsters, selling the procured components for money from fellow merchants, or making use of them for his own desires.
Proficient Leatherworking - Through his natural routine of skinning the creatures that fall in battle, Ochre accumulated a surplus of pelts and hides from multiple species of beast and monster. To keep his efforts from falling to the way side, Ochre has matured for himself the facility of crafting leather instruments from the materials he collects. From clothing, to decorations, to actual musical instruments, Ochre has developed his art to a fine point, capable of creating a multitude of products for both his business, and for himself.
Competent Blacksmithing - While harder to come across than pelts, metal is a commodity common within caves and dungeons. Being an adventurer as well as a merchant, Ochre was able to come into possession of such materials from the areas he visited, and monsters defeated. Supplementing his Leatherworking skills, Ochre expounded on his craftsmanship, molding and striking metal into equipment and trinkets as well as he sew leather.
Adept Armorsmithing - Protection is key within the world of Pariah. When an enemy is more nimble, stronger, smarter, and generally a better combatant than another, the only way the underdog would be able to win is by the state of his equipment. Specifically, his armor. After developing his skills in shaping cloth and metal, Ochre was able to use such talents in the development of protective equipment, ranging from light, heavy, and even domestic pieces of attire. While not as efficient as the enchanted apparatuses rewarded through high-level dungeoneering, his works are a cut above the average.
Traveling Salesman - Taking the phrase “off the beaten path” literally, Ochre has become a well-versed salesman in the art of "travel". A vendor no matter where he is, no matter the place, situation or time, due to the fact he is constantly moving and selling his wares in towns throughout the realm. This has given him trade awareness within various provinces as well as an understanding of the various economies of aforementioned provinces, picking up information from the multiple prefectures that others would lack.
R O U G H V I R T U A L H I S T O R Y
A peculiarity within the secretive Sikth, the name "Ochre" would have most people outside of the pathos scratching their heads. Who is that? Isn't that the name of a color? Inside, however, many know of the Blacksmith like one would a childhood friend. A numerous amount of those who know his name have some sort of equipment on their person created by the man, each of them vouching for his efficiency and the longevity of his works. A helmet here, an arm guard there, some have entire sets of armor that they could certify were molded by his hands. Although, many who browse his wares wonder how he procures materials for the durable pieces he makes, and are usually surprised by the answer.
He obtains them, himself.
Supporting large raiding parties, accompanying travelers, and sometimes on his own, each and every one of his creations were made with his tireless labor, both with the anvil and with the sword. Many may call him a fanatic, others a man to stick along side. Those who truly know him, and understand his rather unsightly habits... Don't want to deal with his perpetual down tempo.
Andrew is a lanky Caucasian male with light blue eyes and a stupid sideways grin. He’s almost always the tallest guy in the room, standing at six feet and four inches tall. It’s only natural his avatar be of the same verticality. Graves is a tank, so of course he’s built like a linebacker, whereas his creator is skinny enough that most his of real life friends know him as ‘Twig.’ The dichotomy was initially a little difficult to adjust to, but eventually his mind was able to comprehend having two separate body types. Both Gray and his character have long nearly silver hair that they tend to keep up in a ponytail. Keeping with the theme of ‘blood,’ Graves tends to favor crimsons, blacks and silvers. His armor is admittedly more for looks than practicality. It covers his shoulders, back, arms, legs and sides- but lacks a breastplate in any capacity. This is the case for two reason: One being that he wants his enemies to think he’s vulnerable there, and give the courage to get in range of his pike. Two being showing off his sick abs.
P E R S O N A L I T Y
Graves has been called any number of things for his less than stellar behavior: jerk, asshole, dick, bastard and jackass all being common substitutes for his name. He isn’t particularly malicious. He doesn’t wake up in the morning, wondering who he can screw over today. But Graves is selfish to his core. He cares only about himself. Every action he takes is to get ahead, others be damned. He’s abrasive, standoffish and horribly arrogant. His crude sense of humor tends to be bent toward insulting others and joking at their expense. He very smugly thinks he’s the greatest person ever, and that anyone who doesn’t see that is a moron. It’s easy to see why he doesn’t have many friends; mostly because he takes advantage of people, treats them badly and then dumps them off before they can get too close. Once upon a time, however, he was different. Graves used to be pleasant enough. He had a small but dedicated circle of friends that he would drop everything for. He was generally joyful and kind, and there was a lot less edge to his humor. Was Bludd perfect? No. But back then, in great contrast to the present, Graves wouldn’t hesitate to help someone else- even if he didn’t get much out of it. It’s speculated that Andrew is putting up a front; that he’s building up a toxic and unlikable character to push others away, to avoid getting burned again.
When Andrew can’t hide before a pike and a fake face, he’s a lot quieter. He hides his emotions from his coworkers and peers, keeping some of the choice words he might have to himself. He avoids conflict whenever possible, to such a degree that he’s willing to bend to views he doesn’t agree with just to avoid a confrontation. Gray is weak. He knows he’s weak. That’s why, when he plays Pariah, he likes to pretend he’s strong- it’s an escape from his sucky ass life and sucky ass 'friends'. He wishes he was tougher, but never makes any strives to actually become more confident and assertive. In game, he's pursuing that power fantasy- he hunts down the toughest of the tough and trains himself until he's strong enough to beat them. Then he moves on to the guy stronger than the last, repeating the process until, one day, he stands above everyone. He isn't anywhere near completing his goal. But, hey, he has nothing but a shitty part time job to do outside of play Pariah- he has plenty of time to dedicate to the game.
B A C K G R O U N D
Andrew was born in a little town in Ohio to two loving parents and eight siblings. He was unlucky enough to be one of the middle children, so it was no surprise when he was overshadowed by the rest of his family. He found that the best way to get any attention from them was to act out- so he was a bit of a devil when he was younger. He eventually grew out of it and accepted the fact that he was meant to be ignored and merely tolerated as a background figure. His town was small, and his high school even smaller- which meant finding friends and penetrating the normal clichés was quite difficult for someone that had gotten used to quietly observing. Gray wasn’t exactly an introvert. He could be loud, excitable and social- but he just…never got the chance to. He didn’t have many friends at all. That is, until he had scrounged up enough cash for his first MMO. He used his low grade laptop to play the game at its lowest settings; it was choppy, constantly lagged and rather ugly…but he loved it. He loved everything about the game. Gray retreated from his garbage normal life into the world of a generic role playing game. He ignored his tanking grades, few acquaintances and boisterous family to play for hours on end. He started off grinding on his own, as most do. But he chanced upon a party of likeminded individuals that needed a secondary tank. Andrew melded seamlessly into their company. They were all chill, cool guys and gals that were always willing to help Andrew learn the game. They continued to play together for months, the size of the group ever expanding as they built up a sizable guild of their own. Andrew became near addicted to raiding. Fighting bosses was the most visceral and exciting experience he’d ever had in a game. Eventually Andrew was (somehow) able to graduate high school and purchase a real computer. All was well for him. His family only occasionally harassed him for being a bum. He had a steady job at a backwater gas station, making minimum wage for very little work. He had made a decent circle of friends for himself within the guild. Life was simple; it was good.
But nothing ever stays good for very long. Rumors began to arise within the lower ranks of the guild that Gray’s circles of friends, the founders of their company, were cheating. Accusations ranged from merely using gold farming bots all the way to increasing their characters’ stats to impossible levels. Gray defended his friends religiously. There was no possible way they’d do something like that. His aggressive resistance to their false claims earned him a fairly bad reputation in a short time. The rumors continued to spread, to the point where other guilds were putting in tickets to the server admin to have their guild investigated. With the moderators getting involved, Grays’ friends found themselves backed into a corner- they had been breaking the rules, and would soon suffer the wrath of the ban hammer. A meeting was held, and a rash decision was made. They would find a single member to put the blame on, plant evidence that they were responsible, and then report them to the administrators. Andrew was chosen. It wasn’t out of personal distaste for the guy; most everyone liked him well enough. But he had already tarnished his own reputation among the lower guild members and lacked many close friends who could help him fight the claim. The next day, Gray logged on to a single message: he had been permanently banned from playing the game. Of course Andrew sent in a support ticket. He tried to fight the claim. However, he found no success- and was eventually forced to abandon his first and favorite MMO. He had been devastated. Things only got worse when someone leaked a log of the meeting to him where his so called ‘friends’ had decided to use him as the scapegoat for their actions. He brought the logs to the mods that had banned him; nothing came of it. He wasn’t trusted, and they had tossed his evidence aside as fake.
A T T R I B U T E S
R O L E
Tank
A F F I L A T I O N
Sikth
P R O F E S S I O N
Bounty Hunting: A video game is all about killing things for Andrew. It's what he enjoys most about Pariah. So what better profession than one that let's him kill things? Bounty Hunting covers a wide array of different targets over the entire game world. He's given a list of hunts to choose from that can range from simply kill twenty of X monster, to beat X raid boss in less than forty five minutes, to even going after other players. It's a profession that doesn't ever get boring or tedious and allows Gray to indulge his murderous tendencies on virtual mobs. Certain epic jobs are available for all hunters and can only be completed a certain number of times; making the bounty hunting profession extremely competitive for those looking to make the most from their job.
W E A P O N O F C H O I C E
Graves currently wields an oversized halberd he refers to as a pike, despite being corrected multiple times; Graves is not wrong, everyone else is. It's nearly as large as he is, and is designed to allow him to land as many hits on as many enemies as possible from various ranges.
B E N C H M A R K S
Tough Skin- Graves is naturally more durable than other non-tank characters. He doesn't wear particularly heavy armor; however, his naturally high health pool allows him to take incredible amounts of damage for a character with relatively low defense gear. The trade of for this is he's weighs a hell of a lot more than other classes, and is thus slower and can be kited by ranged or agile enemies. He gained this trait through hundreds of hours of getting the shit kicked out of him without armor on, which has led to increased durability without the need for heavy armors.
Potion Addict- Graves has been relying on potions for his tanking abilities since he started playing Pariah. After chugging down countless elixirs, his physiology has an easier time adapting to the ingested liquids. Potions last longer and are more potent on Graves than others. A small side effect being that Bludd can’t function very well without them in his system. He usually carries potions for lifesteal, iron skin and healing- to make him even harder to kill.
Blood In The Water- Much like a shark, Graves gets a sort of sixth 'sense' whenever a target is bleeding. It allows him to track them within twenty five meters (doubles if he was the one that made them bleed); it's less like echo location and more like a compass that points him in their general direction. It won't reveal the exact position of a hiding enemy, nor does it tell Graves if they are above or below him- simply where they would be on a two dimensional field. Dozens of hours of trying to hunt down that last monster for his bounty hunting quest has made the tank a decent enough tracker.
Enhanced Strength- The weapons and armor used by a tank are heavy. Graves is required to have above average physical strength if he wants to use them effectively. This also means he's able to carry more (when not impeded by his regular gear) and hits slightly harder with unarmed attacks.
Executioner- Graves tends to fight harder when his enemy his on the back foot. He pushes his advantage and attempts to go for killing blows as often as possible. A slew of decapitated and mutilated foes behind him, Graves has learned how to more effectively hurt enemies that are already wounded. Enemies very close to death's door take more damage from Graves' attacks, although he also heals less off of them and takes more damage from them- so he has to be careful with certain monster types or enemies with 'deathrattles.'
Monster Bestiary- Graves has studied the average field and dungeons mobs extensively. He has a fairly good grasp on what most common enemies are capable of, what their weaknesses are, ect. More rare beasts, especially those he isn't high enough level to be fighting anyway, wouldn't apply.
Boss Bestiary- Bludd is a raider at heart. He loves MMOs for the massive, titanic battles between huge parties and giant bosses. It's his favorite part of Pariah. Thus, he's invested quite a bit of time into learning some of the boss enemies in the game. The tougher, higher end leviathans that require teamwork, determination and raw power to defeat. Knowledge is power in these sort of encounters, and Bludd has made sure he knows about the general workings of the bosses he's likely to face.
Meditative Healing- Since Graves' combat stance is entirely based on healing, he figured he could use an out of combat healing ability too. Essentially, Graves can sit down and focus his magic on repairing his wounds. How long it takes depends on the severity of his injuries. The stance is extremely taxing, takes awhile to start and takes forever to finish if he's hurt- and it can't heal things like broken bones or eviscerated organs. He'll need a real healer for that.
Metalworking- Required field to get to Weapons' Repair. He uses this as a source of income, creating very basic items and selling them either on the market or to NPCs. He would much rather get money from killing mobs all day and pawning off legendary raid items, but sadly working the marketplace is the only real way to get a stable source of income.
Weapons' Repair- Graves likes his Pike. It's his favorite weapon. He isn't very good with much else, and doesn't have a backup for when it breaks. So, instead of constantly paying vendors and other players to fix it for him, he decided to spec into Weapons' Repair and do the damn thing himself.
R O U G H V I R T U A L H I S T O R Y
Andrew came by Pariah through rather interesting circumstances. He was scrolling through online forums, looking for something to replace his beloved original MMO when he came across an advertisement for Pariah. The game looked absolutely phenomenal; and Gray had always been fascinated by the idea of VR. He had only gotten to play with a system like that once or twice, but he loved every nanosecond of the experience. He couldn't afford it, however. Not on a minimum wage job. That is until he caught wind of a giveaway being done by a local game store. The place had just gotten a shipment of VR headsets and wanted to attract buyers; so they held a raffle contest. Five people would walk away with a copy of Pariah and one of the headsets. Andrew knew he had no chance of winning, but he decided to enter anyway; there was a small fee, but...what the hell. Why not give it a try? Imagine his surprise when he gets an email from the company, informing him that he had won. Gray rushed over to the store the moment he finished reading it and picked up his package. Thus began his journey in Pariah.
Graves is not a name known by many, simply because he keeps to himself for the most part. He has a rapidly growing reputation, however, among the more attentive members of the bounty hunting community. The profession is used by a large chunk of the player base; however, the few hundred or so individuals that claims to be 'professional bounty hunters' are a highly competitive and inclusive group. So when some no name young blood starts snatching up important contracts and taking down a high level bosses and esteemed players, the smarter heads start to turn. He's an above average raider that joins public groups, dominates his enemies and takes what he needs before disappearing again.
Andrew is above average at best. He's no professional, and lacks the experience or gear to take on the really big names. Yet. He's dedicated himself to becoming the absolute strongest hunter in the name; and he's going to do it by almost any means necessary. The only thing he's wary of is teaming up with other players. He's partied up a handful of times, but never long enough to get attached- he knows where that particular road leads. However, there are some obstacles which cannot be overcome alone. Some enemies cannot be defeated through sheer force of will and hours of scrolling through guides and wikis online. On occasion, Bludd has to team up with others- usually to do bosses or gank unsuspecting targets that he can't beat alone. His temporary help always gets a 'piece of the pie' so to speak; he makes sure they get something out of the effort, even if he's an asshole to them while doing so.
Bludd received his primary weapon a few months ago in one of the hardest grind sessions of his life; it's priceless to him, and it fits his playstyle perfectly. The pike isn’t exactly anything special, but it’s Graves weapon of choice no matter the circumstance. He uses it consistently, and has yet to hear of any item that he'd rather have over it. He and that dumb ol' pike have been through a lot together. Why give it up for something unfamiliar? His current weapon is reliable. And if Gray needs anything, it's a little bit of reliability in his life.
“Can you see the stars? No! Not the ones you can see with your eyes!”
O V E R V I E W
N A M E
Jack Liken
A V A T A R
Enyo Blackmage
A G E
20
G E N D E R
Male
V I S A G E
Jack is normal man with a busy life style. He is always working on something, months fly by as he has no other goal then trying to create his future. The lack of food during his usual days has makes him quite slimer than most, mixed with his long black hair it almost makes him look like a Rockstar. His personality and busy attitude were probably translated the worst into Pariah.
For the most part, Jack's physical appearance has translated into the world of Pariah. While his face and size remains unchanged,but his body is more fit. Scars follow him through his body since the creation. Jack also seems to always look tired, regardless how he actually feels. The bags under his eyes mixed with his slow movements make him look depressed. Still Enyo stand's tall and with confidence, an exact opposite of his real life counterpart. If he's not in Mage armor he stays in comfortable clothing for the time, surprising some due to how much bigger the armor actually makes him.
P E R S O N A L I T Y
In real life, Jack is a kind hearted man. Respectful, polite, and caring. He finds that it suits him most of the time and enjoys him. His parents raised him to be as good as a man that he could be, although sometimes he doesn't know how to say no. This occasionally makes him stressed and wishes he was different. He finds his wish granted only in the confines of Pariah.
In game as Enyo, Jack's personality changes a whole One eighty. As Enyo, Jack acts how he feels at all times giving him a mental release from the real world. While still keeping his pleasant attitude, especially to the general Populous. Although when he feels like he can come out. Sometimes being rude, witty, and sarcastic when he pleases, since he knows its a game. With his position, he made a name for himself on how he acts a little, 'Insane', his profession not helping his case. Enyo is also prideful in his work and in combat. Mostly due to his company the he keeps and the Rank he holds, he hold some degree of honor.
B A C K G R O U N D
Raised from a poor family with good intentions, Jack is the golden child of his parents. First to graduate highschool and attend a college in his family, he has high expectations from all the know him. This causes stress to him and his kind personality doesn't help. While working at his part time fast food restaurant job, he began to fall in a state of depression and it was apparent to all. One day, a coworker invited him to play a game he heard about, but never could afford. This game was Pariah. He instantly fell in love with the game. Lucky for him, his coworker was very well off and the bond of friendship they created through the game led him to gifting his Sister's system to Jack. "Not like she ever played anyway."
When he isn't studying, working, or eating he plays. It is what gives what he needs to get on in life. It gives the mental release he needs in life, only occasionally losing some real sleep.
A T T R I B U T E S
R O L E
DPS / Tank
A F F I L A T I O N
QUEON
P R O F E S S I O N
Alchemist
W E A P O N O F C H O I C E
Bladed Wand: This weapon is a long wooden staff with one end containing what seems like a bony hand gripping a foggy green sphere, used for his spells. While the other end holds a sharp blade, similar to a spear to use in close combat.
B E N C H M A R K S
Battle Mage - A title given to those similar to a Bruiser build what with the reliance of Magic. Earned through his odd mix of having higher fortitude, and being a DPS oriented Spellcaster. This allows him to wear the Sub-category of Battle Mage Heavy armor. It proves the Enyo is not a simple Glass cannon like other DPS Spellcasters, he can take hits as well as he can dish them out. Of course it makes him slower dodging and without a shield it makes him vulnerable to Range combat.
Tank or Mage? - Not a proud benchmark to get for any players who aren't building a Battle Mage. It is earned through attaining a high enough defense to any Spellcaster oriented Character. Enyo's vitality is usually below any true tank, far above a DPS mage, but a little over average to a Melee DPS class.
Staff Adept - Like many Spellcasters, Enyo is specialized in the staff for help in spell casting, although Enyo has also Branched out to some physical attacks as well. Having to crack a few heads that thought he would be defenseless up close. Still, any other who specialized in another form of close combat would rate Enyo's abilities as amateur.
Dark Magician- Given to the Spellcasters who focus primarily on the use of Dark Magic. Enyo has attained a multitude of magic powers, only the strongest of the Dark Powers are unknown to him. His abilities focus on Single target Damage and slowing effects. He contains some buffing effects of Holy magic, but not in the degree of Dark Magic.
Celestial Magic - Unlocked by having skills in both Dark and Holy Magic. It is an advanced form of the two that focuses on creating, shaping, manipulate the cosmic elemental force. While it is a strong Advanced form of Magic, it is very new to Enyo and he only knows few of the basic abilities, still mostly relying on Dark magic.
Know no fear - Achieved by being a Spellcaster and letting so many hits being landed on him without attempting to dodge them. Enyo has now been accustomed to taking blows to his armor, he no longer flinches or hesitates when being struck by a weapon. That gives him the advantage or trading blows more easily.
Magical Perception- A benchmark rarely attained by anyone, but true strategists. It marks the skill of Enyo being able to clearly see the strategy of his opponents. Usually in the forms of counters. Now it's almost instant, such as seeing a tank that takes long hard swings, then speed is the proper counter or If a sword enchanted in flame, then a water enchanted Dagger might be needed to put it out.
Support Trainee - Added for the most basic knowledge in the Support Casting Branch. In the beginning, Enyo dabbled a little into support magic, but never stuck with it due to him finding it boring. He still keeps a few spells under his belt, such as light healing ability and a Perception buff.
Mad Scientist - Awarded to him after his experience with creating potions, with strange abilities. From anything that gives the user gills or letting them see through walls. He has experience with all kinds of Potion creations, yet still tries to make new ones using the most unorthodox ingredients.
Magic Enhancer - Presented to Enyo for unlocking Elemental bindings to his Enchantments. In just a few seconds Enyo can enhance an item with elemental attributes, speed, or strength to best fit a situation for a limited time. While it could be a speed boost to a sword or a Elemental Dark binding to a shield, if he knows what would best counter his opponent, he can adapt items to the situation.
R O U G H V I R T U A L H I S T O R Y
Enyo was quick to join a group. The group was a RP group of Knights, Wizards, and such. He didn't really get all the Roleplaying, but it came to him with time. At first he started as a Apprentice, learning the ropes and as a wizard for the Guild. Fighting other players who started war's with them and going on raids for loot. He loved the experience enough that he eventually gained the position of Head Alchemist within weeks of joining the Moon Light Guild.
Months later into present time, he has been added to the council of Wizards, not only being the Head Alchemist, but holding a Cohort of Wizards. This has given him some renown in the QUEON faction. Recently he feels like it is becoming a job and less of a game. While not all bad at times he has thoughts of leaving the guild if an offer presents itself.
“They say if you bring science into a fantasy setting, God kills a catgirl. I hate catgirls.”
O V E R V I E W
N A M E
Eileen Fang
A V A T A R
Ailanthus Altissima
A G E
32
G E N D E R
Female
V I S A G E
Under a dark suit of magical armor is the small, frail frame of Ailanthus Altissima. Though she could have been her ideal self, her PARIAH appearance is (other than being free of blemishes) unremarkable, normal, and bland. That is how she sees herself. She appears slightly younger than she actually is because society reminds her constantly that she hasn't matured because she's not married and still plays games. Her glasses form a very core part of her identity and followed her into PARIAH. When out of armor, she wears a white robe that acts as a closest approximation to a lab coat. She has no desire to 'stay in-character' or preserve 'immersion' for others, intentionally commissioning crafters to make her scientific- and futuristic-looking gear.
Below is her face, 90% of the time:
P E R S O N A L I T Y
Tessa is a single, middle-aged woman whose work- and social-life has her stressed to breaking point, causing her to indulge in escapist behavior with the aid of electronic media. In some circles, she might be called an 'otaku', which would be true; while others might call her a 'fujoshi', which would be technically incorrect. High-strung and irritable, Tessa has difficulty keeping her stress from flowing into her leisure activities, and is often accused of 'spoiling the mood'. Some question why she even plays games as she has a tendency to become frustrated easily, a trait that stems from performance anxiety.
Though Tessa has difficulty enjoying a game if things don't go her way, she is addicted to the rush of things going right. Despite her thorny and at-times belligerent behavior, Tessa has a deep sense of responsibility, a need to not only pull her own weight, but to go above and beyond. However, she not only holds herself to this level of perfectionism, she expects the same from anyone unfortunate enough to be her teammate.
B A C K G R O U N D
Urban China was all Eileen ever knew, from the robotic and highly-competitive educational system to the robotic and highly-competitive high-tech industrial work environment. She never stood out when it came to academic excellence, but she did stick her neck out just far enough to warrant being bullied and socially sabotaged by her peers. She went through life with jaded bitterness and social awkwardness.
She retreated daily to social media, illegally downloaded anime, manga, and games, becoming addicted to MMO's in particular. She was known as a rage gamer, logging on alone, joining teams of people she didn't know to participate in dungeons and other party activities. She even attempted forum RP once but only ended up arguing with others, pissing people off, and finally, rage-quitting for good.
Living in the high-tech center of ShenZhen, Eileen is an engineer in a bloated company that produces and sells cheap, barely-functional healthcare devices. Her life is a wreck and she was so caught up in securing her place in the world that her nearer relatives are now suddenly concerned that she will never get married and have kids. Her daily routine has not changed since school: wake up, wash up, commute, attend class/work, commute home, eat, leisure, sleep, repeat.
One day, the company's R&D division wanted to play with the idea of therapeutic VR, and got several PARIAH headsets for the researchers to toy around with. But due to lack of a perceivable market, the project was dropped and the headsets were put in permanent storage. Eileen asked to take one home and the lax inventory manager gave her the OK. She wasn't that interested in VR, but figured she'd give it a go. She figured that the worst that could happen was that she'd lose interest and leave it in a corner to gather dust, which it would have done anyways if she didn't take it.
A T T R I B U T E S
R O L E
Control Mage
A F F I L A T I O N
Queon
P R O F E S S I O N
Enchanter
W E A P O N O F C H O I C E
Chains
B E N C H M A R K S
Exile's Burden – While Tessa has always veered towards the massive damage and control effects of mages, her poor gaming skills has had her lament her chosen characters' 'squishiness' on more than one occasion. As someone who is easily abandoned by her party members, Tessa decided, for survival reasons, to wear armor that is uncharacteristic of mages. This habit, combined with her tendency to hoard loot alone and overburden her backpack at the end of missions, has led to her being surprisingly strong at carrying heavy weight. On top of that, she has enchanted her armor to feel less heavy, allowing her to move freely in heavy armor despite being a mage who is otherwise not physically strong.
Tough it out – Tessa has pretty severe body dysphoria and believes that the body is the slave of the mind. If the body fails to obey the mind, then the body must be punished/forced until it complies. In PARIAH, she is even more dissociated from her body because it's virtual. As such, she is much more willing to put herself in harms way or try to force her body beyond its limits, such as climbing and jumping over an impassable mountain because she doesn't want to walk around it (who hasn't tried to do this in a free-roam RPG?). This has given her an innate toughness, especially when it comes to taking blows.
Artisanal Precision – As an enchanter and a perfectionist, (and Gunpla aficionado) Tessa is good at working with minute, tiny details, whether it's inserting magical gems or carving runes. She can thus enhance equipment with high-quality enchantments thanks to her constant practice of the art, and is herself completely decked out in gear she has enchanted.
Paranoid Perception – Having been abandoned and betrayed by her party members on more than one occasion, Tessa is understandably paranoid. Because of this, she has a strong awareness of escape routes, dead ends, and good ambush spots. Initially her paranoia resulted in a million false alarms, but over time she began to recognize the signs better and better. This benchmark makes it very difficult to sneak up on her or ambush her and her party.
Cock Block – When she was younger, Tessa was very socially awkward (well, she still is), and had a tendency to get in people's way, literally and figuratively. As she matured(?), she actively learned a bit better where to stand and where to walk to provide the least resistance to the flow of foot traffic. But in games, and in PARIAH in particular, Tessa has learned to use what once was sheer cluelessness as a weapon. Identifying her opponents' goals and/or targets, Tessa knows to place herself squarely in between and actively body block them, using her natural tendency to be a hindrance and a physical barrier. To her enemies, she always seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Short Spell List – Tessa has restricted herself to learning only a small handful of spells, choosing to go for quality instead of quantity. As such, her familiarity with these spells runs deep, shortening her cast time, increasing the efficacy, and making it more difficult for the casting to be interrupted.
Synergistic Specialization – Tessa's main spell is telekinesis, which she applies mainly to her weapon of choice: chains. The chain links have been inscribed with runes that increase their ability to be controlled and increase their magical affinity. Most of her other spells are conducted through the chains: electricity and vibrations. She has learned how these different spell effects work with one another, allowing unique synergy and a combat style that her opponents are unfamiliar with.
Stacked Auras –Tessa also has a handful of aura spells (areas of effect centered on herself). She learned over time how to cast and maintain multiple auras simultaneously, some offensive, some defensive, making her playstyle come out: area control. This makes her a veritable bunker; difficult to approach and a safe haven for party members.
Spider's Web – Tessa's chains are usually laid out radiating from her in all directions for several meters. She has learned to be extra vigilant of what goes on in her zone of control and can differentiate friend from foe with spells that would otherwise be indiscriminate.
Kick 'em while they're down – Tessa doesn't get along easily with people and has been bullied for much of her life. She takes a sadistic pleasure in lashing out, in having the tables turned by becoming the bully. Delighting in 'kicking her enemies while they are down', she focused so many spells on downed, incapacitated, or otherwise helpless targets that she has developed an interesting trait: her spells do higher damage to and ignore the magic resistance of targets who have been affected by any negative state, whether slowed, taunted, rooted, frozen, stunned, etc.
R O U G H V I R T U A L H I S T O R Y
Ailanthus Altissima, the scientific name for a plant commonly called the 'tree of Heaven'. It is an invasive species with the ability to clone itself through its roots in a technique called 'suckering', and is, like the mythological hydra, difficult to exterminate. It is considered a noxious weed due to the foul-smelling odor it produces. The tree also resprouts vigorously when cut, making its eradication difficult and time-consuming. In many urban areas, it has acquired the derisive nicknames of "ghetto palm", "stink tree", and "tree of Hell".
No one knows, or cares, why Dr. Eileen Fang chose this name, and most refuse to say it in full, earning Eileen the nickname 'Tessa' from Altissima. Since logging on for the first time, Tessa has been like her namesake, invading parties and raising a stink. Her initial desire had been to party up and quest with others, but her belligerence always got in the way.
Eventually, she turned her focus to enchantments, seeing a need in the community for those who only had access to crafted gear to attain gear that could compete with rare drops. While her enchantments aren't that good, properly crafted and enchanted gear at least had a fighting chance against Rares and Epics, and sometimes, a fighting chance was all some adventurers needed. Tessa found her niche, but still needed to satisfy her urge to actually adventure, so she would take enchanting commissions, find out what materials she needed for her enchantments, and then demand the ones who commissioned her to take her with them when they went to farm said materials.
Due to forcing herself into parties in this way, Tessa adopted a flexible, albeit lazy, playstyle: a confusing, semi-immobile walking disaster area, essentially claiming a large portion of the battlefield as her own and manipulating the positions of her enemies, doing some status effects and some damage, while still survivable enough to hold her own.
Tessa has not achieved fame for her enchantments; she instead draws clients by under-sellng other enchanters, a practice that has gotten her in trouble with guilds on more than one occasion.
“If you want me to heal you, STAY WHERE I CAN @#$%ING HEAL YOU!”
O V E R V I E W
N A M E
Emma Ellison
A V A T A R
Elian Zefra (also answers to Elly, Zef, and a few other nicknames, including her unofficial title of Chaos Butterfly)
A G E
31
G E N D E R
female
V I S A G E
Emma is a fit young woman, her body shaped by years of dance classes. She is solidly built, not willowy, and if she isn't mindful of what she eats she gains weight. She's taller than most women, but this doesn't stop her from wearing heels if she wants to dress up a bit. Her dark hair is untamably curly and she keeps it cut very short so it is manageable. Her eyes are an unremarkable hazel, her brows thick, and her face rounded. Emma favors intense colors, be it vibrant crimson, royal purple, eye-searing green, or jet black. Outside of the dark and the bright, she also likes metallics, and a lot of her jewelry is metalwork, where it's not chunky modern-art plastic. Her fashion sense is a bit quirky, and she is just as likely to be wearing a blouse and a skirt as she is jeans and a T-shirt. One thing she does insist on is comfort -- if it bothers her too much she won't wear it, whether she's having a day in or a night out. Because she can't do much with her hair, Emma has a whole collection of hats, and she'll wear one more often than not.
Emma is very aware that her avatar is not herself. While she might embody Elian while she's logged in, and while MMOs are really not roleplay-heavy in most cases, outside of specific groups, her concept of Emma-as-Elian and Emma-irl are quite distinct. Since that is the case, it's not too surprising that Elain only somewhat resembles Emma herself. The build is the same, with perhaps an extra inch or two of height, but her brown hair has darkened to jet and her eyes lightened to gold. Since it was an option, she elected to get her hair permanently straightened. It's still a shorter style, but now the back is completely off her neck while the very front reaches her collarbone. Her skin tone is slightly darker too, more bronzed than tanned, and she's come out with elfin ears, just pointed enough to have the tips show through her hair. She's traded her hats for a woven golden circlet, but her fondness for dark colors is still very much in evidence. Her favorite attire is three pieces of black velvet, a close-fitting tank top, a long-sleeved jacket, and flowing pants. The pants might be mistaken for a skirt at a distance, cut loose in the leg and widening from hip to ankle. The waist is broad and snug, providing a bit of padding between her skin and a leather utility belt. Her jacket has no collar and only a single, small button near the top so it doesn't fly completely open. Unlike shirt and pants, this garment is covered in gold filigree, Even the smallest movement is accompanied by sparkle and flash as the embroidery catches the light. Leather boots with a slight heel finish off her outfit, with sturdy soles and metal reinforcement for the toes. She wears a light leather vest with a soft lining underneath her tank for defense, as well as bracers and kneeguards, but these are all hidden by her outfit. In addition to the utility belt, Elian often also carries a leather satchel strapped to her thigh to carry somewhat larger items.
P E R S O N A L I T Y
Emma is generally kindhearted and compassionate. She's known among her friends for being a good listener and willing to lend a hand. She is mostly cheerful, with a good sense of humor, and fluent in sarcasm. She is willing to laugh at anything, including herself -- and all the inappropriate jokes as well. Her outlook tends to be a mix of optimism, pragmatism, and cynicism. She did well though not great in school, but she is particularly adept at puzzle-solving and thinking on her feet. She's mostly dependable and trustworthy, though she tends to have trouble learning names, and will forget when things are if she doesn't write them down. She enjoys a good party, so long as it's not too loud, and is perfectly at home among strangers. Emma is outgoing, eager to meet new people and make new friends. This desire for new experiences leads her to be the sort of gamer that enjoys exploration.
She's always had one foot in the virtual world, and the people she befriends online are just as real to her as those she knows in the physical one. She believes there are advantages to each sort of relationship. She's had a number of boyfriends over the years, some starting irl, some starting online, but she's yet to find the person she'd like as her permanent Player Two.
Emma is a huge geek, and acknowledges her various fandoms openly. She is also a dedicated gamer, though she does not play competitively. For her, gaming is a way to step away from any worries she might have and immerse herself in another world, a chance to be whoever and whatever she likes. It's not that she dislikes her life -- indeed, she is quite happy with it. But that doesn't mean there isn't time to let her imagination take the lead while chilling with whomever happens to be on.
Emma is quick to anger, but just as quick to forgive. She's mostly a good sport, though she never likes losing. She hates trolls and people who mess things up for others through sheer stupidity. It should be noted that kindhearted does not necessarily mean kind or polite. She tends to give those she likes a hard time, teasing, taunting, and being generally snarky. This verbal abuse is given with the greatest affection, a casual lack of concern for what's proper or polite that shows she's truly comfortable with that person. Of course, if she really hates someone she's likely to insult and mock sincerely, and this can be a bit confusing if one is not sure where one stands.
As a gamer, Emma tends to be a completionist, and she enjoys experimenting with what a game will let her do. She loves turning up secrets and the accompanying thrill of discovery. Her temper also shows in games, and there is a dent in one of her game room's walls where she once threw a controller a bit too hard after some idiot turned a challenging but doable boss run into a TPK. It's interesting to note that while she doesn't often yell at people in the real world, she has no such qualms in virtual combat and an impressive array of curses to boot. All of which she will unleash on...well, just about anyone. The guy that got the party killed. The camper that keeps killing her. The one that steals her kills. The teammate that ruined her perfect shot -- even the tank she was healing who moved out of range. But give her a brief break after a fight and she will settle down again.
Emma will play any class, but tends to favor melee DPS fighters and ranged DPS casters when playing alone. However, because she is very familiar with the shortcomings of MMOs, she knows that a healer and support caster will rarely lack for willing companions in dungeon runs, and these are the areas she chose to have Elian focus on.
B A C K G R O U N D
Emma's life has been nothing particularly exceptional. She grew up in midwest America, the elder of two siblings from an upper middle class family where affording the latest game system was never much of an issue. Both her parents had jobs dealing with computers, and Emma entered the world of the internet and video games young. She'd try just about anything, but has always gravitated toward puzzle games, rpgs, and open-world games. With a network of fellow gamers that spans the globe, it was no surprise that she heard about Pariah very early on. She had to tighten her budget and do some saving, since dance instructors don't exactly make a ton of money, but it was more than worth it when she first entered the world of Pariah.
A T T R I B U T E S
R O L E
caster (primarily healer and support)
A F F I L A T I O N
Tyhrien
P R O F E S S I O N
healer, dancer
W E A P O N O F C H O I C E
Butterfly's Wings - Rather unconventional implements, the Butterfly's Wings are deadly weapons masquerading as ornate, ornamental fans. The ribs are quite sturdy, made of metal with wooden handles and extending beyond the dark fabric of the fans themselves. Those tips are sharpened, as well as the leading edges of the outermost ribs, designed to slice and stab as effectively as long knives. Each fan can open as far as a hundred and eighty degrees, revealing a bright swirl of butterflies on the fabric, and she can lock the fans in any position, to keep them from collapsing on impact when this is not desired. The hingepoint of each fan consists of a large gemstone, a magical focus allowing the wielder to cast much like with a wand or a mage's staff.
B E N C H M A R K S
Physical Healer - Elian specializes in magic with healing properties, whether for a single person or for a group. Because she's cast so many of them, the healing effects of her spells are improved, and she is better at casting them.
Support Caster - The vast majority of Elian's participation in combat is as a support caster. Because of her experience, she has excellent endurance when it comes to casting, much better than mages who only dabble.
Dancer's Grace - Elian is a dancer, like her player, and she makes use of these skills even when not dancing. Between practicing routines and pushing herself in exploration, Elian is flexible and acrobatic. Her balance in particular is superb, and she can keep her footing and land jumps even on difficult terrain, where it's all but impossible to do so.
Agility - Before Elian started partying up regularly, and before she'd developed her skills as a mage, she employed a nimble in-and-out fighting style. She still relies on her agility to react to threats and make herself a more difficult target, as well as for getting past obstacles in her explorations. As a result, Elian is highly agile, able to get close and then fall back, and changing directions easily. She can pull maneuvers that others could not.
Saw It Coming - Elian relies mostly on grace and agility, trying to avoid taking damage as much as she can -- particularly since if she goes down, there's usually no one to come to the rescue. Practice anticipating and avoiding has left her better able to identify attacks that will hurt her in time to cast a counter spell or get the heck out of the way. Sometimes she can avoid attacks that she did not anticipate.
Mental Battlefield Awareness - Healers are responsible for keeping people alive, and this means knowing when they need help. Elian has done her best to consistently track her partymates and healing them when they need it, and now she has a general though vague awareness of who is in trouble, and how badly.
Danger Assessment - A squishy healer does not last long if she doesn't know how to avoid danger. Experience (and a number of early deaths) have taught Elian how to recognize unsafe terrain and places where unpleasant things might lurk, and now she is much better at noticing such things, almost like a gut feeling at times.
Identify Monster - Emma enjoys the tactical aspects of combat, and she believes that is important to know your enemy. To this end, she's made an effort to remember the appearance and location of various foes, and what sort of abilities they used. Upon reaching a town, she would look up the things she'd encountered to learn more about them. Her dedication and research have paid off, and now in addition to knowing almost all of the ones she's encountered, there is a small chance that Elian has skimmed over the entry for a monster that she has never encountered herself and knows a bit about it and what it is capable of, even if she never read the entry properly.
Enemy Assessment - If she identifies an opponent, she may know this automatically, particularly for common foes. For others, Elian tries to keep track of what works and what doesn't, and she thus has some skill identifying weak points and what kinds of attacks are effective based on the ones tried. Once she has, she is highly likely to retain that information for future reference. This is possible even on foes she's never heard of.
Pathfinder - With her love of exploration and taking the road less travelled, Elian has honed her pathfinding skills. She is quite good at figuring out ways to get somewhere, including less conventional routes. Her chances of noticing hidden doors, shortcuts, and less dangerous routes is increased, even if she's not actively searching for them.
R O U G H V I R T U A L H I S T O R Y
Elian has been in Pariah since near the beginning, though she spent a good amount of time getting used to an entirely new system, and then playing with it. For Emma, the new system was almost counter-intuitive, given that she expected it to function like...well, a game. However, once she got the hang of it she immediately set off to see what she could do. A lot of time was spent exploring, whether by herself or with a party. A lot of solo explorations ended in death. Embarrassingly many, actually. While Emma is a dancer, she is not a fighter, and the lack of HUD and various other supposedly-necessary weasels of gaming made things harder. She still /likes/ solo exploration, as she does in just about any game, particularly the open-world ones, but Emma's learned that Elian's far better off travelling with a group in many cases. There was some benefit to all the dying, and it takes the form of Elian being able to actually land hits in melee combat and then get out of range. She can even do respectable damage for a character that isn't offensively oriented.
To the community of Pariah as a whole, Elian is known as a reliable healer who will do everything she can to take care of her party. She's known to be adventurous and not afraid of a challenge. She is, however, also known to be a real firecracker, between her habit of shouting profanity at friend and foe alike, as well as her low tolerance for fools. One rather interesting rumor says that after a particularly close call, the feisty healer ressed, killed, and then reressed her party's DPS archer multiple times in a row, since he'd drawn aggro on not only the mobs they were fighting but several more beside, and then failed to back off when he was told he was making a mess of things. The rumor isn't true, of course. Elian only killed him once. And she had help.
N O T E S
Thael - Elian met Thael in Tyhrien in the initial mission of what eventually became BroForce, though she was only a tertiary member and missed the drama that killed the group. They've remained good friends even after the Force disbanded, and the hollered abuse between them is given with the greatest affection.
Graves - Another tank she can insult with impunity, Graves may be a jerk but he's not so bad if you get to know him. He's arrogant and selfish, and more than once Elian has chewed him out for his lack of compassion. But she's heard some of the stories about him from before they met, and as long as he's not overtly nasty, she actually enjoys his company, not to mention his sharp wit.
Hawkwood - Elian has a great deal of respect for the Dork Knight. He's smart, he's patient, he's always willing to lend a hand, and he's an all-around likeable guy. Plus he's close to her age, which is another point in his favor. His love of learning meshes well with her hunger for finding new things, and Elian is willing to put up with flailing newbs in exchange for some quality exploring with one of her closest friends in Pariah.
Tiferet - Bards are awesome, and Tiferet is no exception. Elian loves the whole sugar-skull aesthetic and thinks it's great. The bard's general curiosity and desire to explore are a big reason why Elian enjoys teaming up with her. They first met when the dancer decided to find a concert at the local graveyard, and ended up not-quite-crashing it because she wanted to dance to the music. Upon finding out the other lady was a support caster, Elian was quick to find a reason to team up for something, and they've been friends since.
Landon - He's a pretty decent guy, even if his flirting is a bit over-the-top at times. But he seems genuinely nice underneath an initially prickly exterior, and between his helpfulness and humor, they get along well. Elian loves bantering, and tends to half-flirt, half relentlessly needle the older man. His inventions are pretty amazing, and some of his ideas are wild. One thing's for sure. Landon knows how to have a good time.
Ebon - Elian greatly respects anyone with the sort of dedication Ebon shows for her training, and also because she has real-world medical knowledge, which is kinda cool. They met through Hawkwood, and their relationship is something like competative friends. Elian's a better healer, since it's her primary class and she uses extensive magic for it, but Ebon's faster. Who is the more agile of the two is up for debate.
Vulcan - He made the blades for Elian's fans, and they've stayed in touch since. She'll visit his forge just to hang out on occasion, and they have teamed up in the past.
Crow - Elian's seen him around Vulcan's forge, and the two have a loose working relationship, though they're not particularly close. She often pays for his help with healers' tips and the like. She knows he's someone who can be relied on.
Ochre - Elian prefers his work to most others for armor, though she doesn't know him particularly well. She's partied with him a few times in exchange for services. He's /slow/, and she isn't fond of that, but he generally does what's needed. ...Eventually.
Redsky - It's hard not to know of Redsky if you've been within a hundred yards. The lady is bright and loud! Neither of these are much of a problem for Elian, and she actually likes the flashy fire magic quite a bit. They've talked a bit about adventures afield while in the same party, but they're only loosely acquainted.
Mirage - Elian has never met Mirage.
Rael - Elian knows of Rael, though most of it is not flattering. She has heard that the bounty hunter will take advantage of others, and dislikes this greatly, but she's also heard that if not specifically on some other assignment, the rogue can be a solid player for a mission.
Tessa - A big fat clanky NOPE. Elian hasn't had the dubious pleasure of partying with her, and she doesn't intend to. Hearing the stories was more than enough to make her decide to steer clear. Elian is here to have fun, and from what she's heard, Tessa is anything but.
“Time is the greatest teacher, but it winds up killing all its student's. How about I teach you instead?”
O V E R V I E W
N A M E
Richter Grant
A V A T A R
Hawkwood
A G E
34
G E N D E R
Male
V I S A G E
Beneath his armor of chain, leather, breastplate and gambeson lies a man of relatively average attractiveness, possibly more than average if he were the one writing this. Eyes of green, and skin a tone of slightly tanned salmon along with a round jawline are the most easily noticed thing about him beyond other incredibly obvious features. Usually keeping his dirty-blonde hair in a fairly normal crew cut, and his facial hair neatly shaved down to nonexistence, Richter is best described as looking "clean" at most any time you see him. In fact, that partially transitions to his appearance in Pariah with his armor and weapons, keeping them spick and span, lest they rust. He didn't know just HOW realistic Pariah was, but best not to let perfectly good armor rust away from blood and dirt. Given that he has no real qualms about his image mentally, his face, hair, and the like are all the same in Pariah, save for him perhaps being an inch taller, going from an infuriating 5"11' to a clean, even 6".
P E R S O N A L I T Y
A man who prides himself on educating others, Grant is extremely caring to those under his wing, quick to treat a stranger as a friend and even quicker to try and befriend them. He'd best be described as that one cool teacher you remember long after graduating, the kind that'd remember you if he heard your name. He's extremely loyal to people who reciprocate his feelings of friendship, and is often eager to learn something new, especially in the virtual landscape he's found himself in. Even when he should probably be doing something to make coin or improve his skill set, he can't help but immerse himself in learning about this strange fantastical land.
On the downside however, he can be a might bit annoying if you really don't want him as a friend, seeming to not be able to take a hint until being verbally accosted. He's also a bit of a dork when it comes to his field of work, and will not hesitate to exposit on his favorite historical figures, events, and a whole bunch of other things most people don't come to Pariah to hear about. He's a bit of a neat-freak, and will often stop to clean off his weapons after combat as long as there is time for it.
In regards to his aspirations, one could say that like any teacher, Grant really just wants to have his education matter to his students. Of course, beyond that, a raise and a vacation are always nice to the working man. He has doubts about whether or not he can actually make a significant impact in his student's lives in regards to what he teaches them, and also doubts his own ability as a teacher from time to time. If something he told you didn't work out in Pariah, he'd probably be heartbroken that his advice/teachings didn't help, and would take it as a sign that he needs to better himself before giving advice about something like that. After all, the path of learning is ever-winding, and teachers never stop learning.
B A C K G R O U N D
Born to a relatively well-off-enough household of a couple of newlyweds, Grant had felt blessed for the entirety of his childhood. Going to Normal schools, growing up to a normal, somewhat rambunctious teen, getting a normal crappy first job flipping burgers for an ungrateful slob, the works. What started to make Grant start looking above the haze of normalcy and into his future career as an educator was one Mr. Hawkwood, his High School Social Studies teacher. As dull as a Social Studies teacher may sound, Hawkwood was the kind of teacher that understood how little of a shit that high school kids gave in normal classroom scenarios, and as such would stage historical events out with the help of students, albeit with far less blood and violence involved. In addition, his class had less to do with doing homework and more about the actual studying of history. Richter fell in love with his methods of teaching, as well as just how genuinely enjoyable he made his high school experience, taking him for both his Junior and Senior years.
Life went on as it does, the boy grew into a slightly larger man-child that was in college. Time passed on back home as well, leading to the eventual death of his favorite elderly teacher at the age of 89. While he wasn't personally close to the man, it still felt only right for him to attend his funeral. After all, invitations were open to any who had his classes. Something sort of...sparked in Richter. Of course, it was just a small notion at the time, but some bit of him was telling him: "Y'know, teaching would work out good." And it did! Getting his doctorate, he managed to net a career at a 4-Year University after spending a few years as a Social Studies teacher at a local middle school in the city he'd moved to.
Time went on and as technology progressed, so too did its role in the classroom. Something as simple as projectors even started to become obsolete in this new virtual age, to the extent that the school even purchased some slightly outdated VR equipment for various class' uses. One rather popular feature among the University's faculty was the "Virtual Classroom" program, wherin students who weren't even at the University could experience a recording of the lecture in first person. Of course, this required a VR setup at home, but given the use of it by many students as an outlet for gaming, communication, or whatever other things kids (and adults) in a high-level education program did. Professor Grant was, quite frankly, smitten with the idea of experiencing history first-hand, and as such bought into the craze of virtual reality. Just about every kind of VR experience relating to some sort of documentary or first person recollection event was bound to be purchased by him at some point, and it was only a matter of time before the idea of a world with an entirely new history intrigued him. Pariah, a reality within a game that has infinite possibilities to learn, or even MAKE history. Given that the price wasn't the largest dent in his wallet he ever made, he invested into the new system as well as Pariah. Pressed by the system to know his character's name, Grant would naturally think back to the man who inspired him to become a teacher.
That and Hawkwood sounded pretty damn cool.
A T T R I B U T E S
R O L E
Tank/Support
A F F I L A T I O N
Tyhrien
P R O F E S S I O N
Lorekeeper
W E A P O N O F C H O I C E
At any given time, he will have: A Rondel Dagger An Arming Sword A Heater Shield A Short Spear
B E N C H M A R K S
Armored Accomidation: Hawkwood has spent an extremely long time in his armor most times of the day, having grown quite used to it. As a result, he doesn't get fatigued as easily when he wears it for extensive periods of time, and doesn't quite "bake" in the armor under the sun.
Fight the Good Fight With All Of Your Might: Crusader, Lord of the Realm! Hawkwood is quite easily inspired and performs far better with someone to fight for. He's had to face many a monster stronger than what his newbie teammates could handle, and he knew for a fact he couldn't let them down. A true knight fights to the last!
Equipment Caretaker - Advanced: His obsessiveness with maintenance of his equipment as well as his devotion to cleanliness have given Hawkwood the knowledge needed to ensure that his gear won't fail him when he needs it most. Even if it isn't the strongest of swords, you can leave it to him to make sure it won't break unless you smack it against a rock a few thousand times.
Cry of Heroism: Hawkwood has a damn loud public speaking voice, and can use his booming voice to inspire allies around him to fight their hardest, generally giving them a surge of endurance and vitality. So long as they don't find it just annoying. This also however tends to paint a huge target on his back, in regards to fighting beasts.
Encyclopedia Pariah: Because he gets around quite a lot and invests himself in learning about the world, he is generally always aware of where he is as long as he hasn't been knocked out and carried somewhere, or if the terrain isn't generic, even without a map to guide him. This also means it is incredibly easy for him to find his way around cities.
Teach And They Shall Learn: A teacher first and a knight second, Hawkwood may not be the best of trainers in this medieval land, but he sure can put a fire in your gut to get you learning. Someone who spars or trains in a skill that Hawkwood has basic familiarity with can often learn it a lot faster due to his instruction, although if they're of a higher caliber than him in the skill, then there's not much he can do to help there.
Plant Identification Minor: One can't exactly survive in the woods off of herbs and mushrooms if you don't know which ones are poisonous. As such, Hawkwood has familiarized himself with knowledge of the most basic plants so that he doesn't accidentally make a mushroom stew that kills a man in one sip.
Monster Identification Advanced: Many a novice under his watch has charged beasts, so of course he'd familiarize himself with knowledge of all but the most recluse and rare of beasts. Hawkwood can generally tell you what sort of feats a creature is capable of, and sometimes, even their weaknesses.
R O U G H V I R T U A L H I S T O R Y
Immersing himself into this strange virtual world, Hawkwood began his career as a knight of Tyhrien...who completely disregarded actually learning any of the valuable skills that a knight would need beyond fighting. In fact, he's more of some sort of Scholar class by this point than any sort of knight. However, that hasn't stopped him from donning his armor and choosing to help out the newbie players to Pariah, whether they be from Tyhrien, or any of the other Fraternities. So helpful and informative is he that he has quite numerously been mistaken for an NPC. Mostly because he...tends to stand in one spot most of the time.
Regardless of his nature of NOT being an NPC, Hawkwood has helped many a new player get into the groove of playing the game, as well as often helping out lost or injured adventurers in his own expeditions into the wilderness.
“One thing I don't understand is why you go to such a length making fireproof robes then forget the underwear! This is my third pair this raid alone, I'll have you know!”
O V E R V I E W
N A M E
Skylar Moore
A V A T A R
Redsky
A G E
23
G E N D E R
Female
V I S A G E
Skylar's appearance depends on a lot of things but for the most part, she's normally quite normal. Chocolate brown curls, an average bust and standing around 5'6 affords her the luxury of fitting in. But it's the small details that make her undoubtedly conscious. From the small scars on her lips to the dusting of freckles and weaves of laugh lines, she becomes something more than an arrangement of pixels. The small hiccup to her otherwise pretty design is the burning red of her eyes. No matter the occasion, her eyes look like there's a small firestorm whirling around in her head. Despite being a distracting centre piece, she seems fond of them and the odd looks they usher from others.
In terms of clothing, Skylar likes some opulence. Finding clothes imbued with fire resistance runes isn't particularly easy but she gets by. She also has a thing for witch hats. Don't question it.
P E R S O N A L I T Y
Ever know one of those people that you wish had an off switch? That's Skylar. Talkative doesn't quite do her justice considering the sheer quantity of mindless garbage that flows from her mouth. Although annoying, it has its ups and downs. She trusts very easily and would give you an entire history of her life within a minute of meeting you but she's also exceptionally easy to talk to. A lot of that is down to her also being a warm individual, someone who you could confidently confide in without fear of a single secret ever being leaked.
A lot of people are hesitant of her, however. Although genuine, sometimes her happiness seems a whitewash rather than a true display of her emotions. Happiness is her only method of dealing with life and the rocks it enjoys throwing at her. If she wasn't happy then she'd crumble under a whole heaping of fear and responsibility.
Their hesitancy is not entirely unfounded, however. Although she tries to treat everyone equally, her hypocrisy can become blindingly obvious when you examine her actions. The truth of the matter is Skylar is a very passionate person and being someone who doesn't just have herself to care for, she isn't above stepping on others to reach a better place. Her child bears the highest priority and anyone who steps in the way of getting a better life for her and her child will be shoved aside without much thought.
Inside the game, she's exactly what you'd expect of a Mage DPS. She has random bouts of anger which usually ends in something burning and seeing an enemy means engaging said enemy. She's no coward but she's an idiot - a talkative idiot who could probably make your day very unpleasant if she wasn't paying attention.
B A C K G R O U N D
Skylar Elizabeth Moore was born in 2089 to the Moores, a power couple who were rising figures in the tech industry. Their company, based in London, specialised in communication technology.
Her parents, surprisingly, were quite liberal in her upbringing but that didn't mean she rejected all their influences. In fact, some of her fondest memories were of getting lost at technology exhibitions.
Primarily, she played a lot of video games when she was younger. She wasn't shy or introverted, she simply enjoyed getting lost in other worlds. Her parents were approving as long as she got a good balance and for the most part, she did. She blossomed into her own person within no time at all.
Blazing her own trail, she chose not to follow her parents into the tech business. Skylar loved art. As a child, she would paint mindless things for the sole purpose of just painting but as she grew older, she followed her hobby into education. Her parents were more than happy - she was dedicated and it earned her more than enough friends in the process. Her teenage years were a bit of a social awakening and her social circles were wide but she always found time to slip in a few games here and there. Her parents' company had expanded quite a bit during her upcoming so money was never a problem and anything she did want, she often got but they somehow managed to never overtly spoil her. It was a strange relationship but she loved them.
During this time, her parents had another girl, Lyla. They were both as stubborn and headstrong as one another but they were sisters so that didn't really matter in the end.
As she grew older, her world expanded even more. Her social circle expanded; she got her first boyfriend and had her first kiss. Mostly rudimentary - she kept her art up right until the end of school where she graduated with good grades and went on to university.
University was a whole different kettle of fish. She followed her passion, art, but that didn't mean she didn't live the student life. Drinking and sex were often synonymous and despite it being the future, unprotected sex is unprotected sex. Without much warning, Skylar discovered she was 4 months pregnant at the start of her second year in Uni.
She had half a mind to get rid of it but something compelled her to keep it. Whatever it was, 5 months later Leo was born. The responsibility acted like a cement in Skylar's life. She didn't have time for procrastination or taking a back seat. Finishing her degree in night time classes with support from her parents, she eventually graduated and went on to work in graphic design, all the while shouldering the task of raising a child by herself.
A few years down the line and Skylar was as independent as she had ever been and she was happy with what she had earned. Leo took priority, followed by her job then her own life fell in last. She didn't have a great deal of time for socialising so her return to games was expected.
Pariah arrived in her hands through her family's links. She often kept one foot in the door of the tech industry so when she got to transform a few hours of downtime to days upon days of socialising and adventuring, she took the chance.
Pariah, to Skylar, was never an escape. Pariah was another chance, a chance to be her but become something radically different. A chance to grab life by the balls and take it for a waltz.
A T T R I B U T E S
R O L E
AoE Caster DPS
A F F I L A T I O N
QUEON
P R O F E S S I O N
Gaffer
W E A P O N O F C H O I C E
Caster Gloves: Skylar originally used staffs but she was never too fond of them. They were very prone to breaking and she preferred the idea of slinging spells from her hands. Although the magic was possible, the gloves didn't have the amplification of a staff if they were already inlaid with fire resistance runes. After reaching high level Glassblowing, she created glass fibres and along with a weaver and enchanter, she made caster gloves with fire resistance and magic amplification.
B E N C H M A R K S
Firebug - Firebug is a benchmark gifted to players who have spent the majority of their playtime swamped in flames. It doesn't just imply a small resistance to fire magic, it denotes an almost total resilience to fire attribute attacks. It gives the user extra passive abilities as well. Although Redsky can ignore fire attacks, she's quite weak to other elemental attacks but Firebug also gives her a buff to her own fire magic.
Glass Cannon - Glass Cannon is a lot like Firebug but it's often a benchmark most players look down on. Glass Cannon is a recognition that the player has one of the lowest possible health pools in the game but also one of the highest damage outputs. It has an extra active ability which allows Redsky to sacrifice percentage health in return for temporary percentage damage increase. She will only ever activate the ability when she has someone soaking aggro for her, allowing her to do a lot more damage.
Chaotic Touch - A benchmark awarded to a player who the system doesn't quite understand, combat-wise. It's a marker of terrible positioning to the point where the AI and other players find it very difficult to predict how she will move and what she will do. Often frustrating, it can drag more aggro but it allows her to dodge a few ranged telegraphed abilities.
Firestorm - Firestorm is one of the specialist trees in the fire mage benchmark. It allows the player to use primarily AoE spells. It doesn't support high single target damage but allows the player to cast spells which inflict medium damage on multiple targets. Redsky was built around Firestorm. It allows for some self-peel and a lot of AoE attacks and paired with her ability to sacrifice health for damage, she can deal high damage to multiple targets. It also has extra benefits by giving the player much more spell control, allowing them to maintain one spell while casting and maintaining another spell. This can tire out a mage but increases the amount of damage they do in a certain time.
Flames of the Dragon King - There's a joke in the small circle of high level fire mages that players who spec into FotDK either have a special death wish or are just outright masochists. The tree is an additive one to the mage’s primary tree and requires a number of prerequisites. First of all, the player must have a low base health pool, secondly they need to be a high level fire mage and finally, they must complete a solo questline about the fall of the great dragons. Once all of this is completed, the player unlocks the Flames of the Dragon King benchmark. Suicidal isn't quite the right word for it but it's a simple idea. The benchmark gives the players three abilities of varying power but they all have a similar trend - they do a massive amount of damage but completely exhaust the user and reduce their health by eighty percent and upwards. If a fight isn't over when one of the abilities are used, the user is dead. It leaves them unable to escape, on low health and with a great deal of aggro.
Glassblowing - Glassblowing is one of those professions that most people remain entirely unaware of. Low level glassblowing is largely uneventful; you make some nice jugs and glasses which often fetch a good price from richer players and NPC nobles but it's quite boring. The higher you get, however, the more interesting it becomes. It allows the creation of glass tipped weapons (in conjunction with a weaponsmith) which are fragile but extremely sharp and glass fibres which can be woven into various garments to increase their strength. Overall, the role is a bit meaningless and requires working with others but Redsky enjoys it.
Explorer - A benchmark given to players who have been around the block a few too many times. It allows the player to easily discern maps (including treasure maps) and gives them a good sense of direction so that they usually find their way back to civilisation one way or another.
Negotiator Extraordinaire - Surprisingly, for someone who spends the most of her time burning things, Redsky is quite good at negotiating. Allow her negotiations don't often make sense, it means that not every fight has to end with some poor chap burnt alive. It also comes in handy when trying to bargain and convince people to do it her way.
Mother’s Voice - A benchmark which has always been with her character. She never quite understood why considering Pariah was just a game but she reasoned that it must have detected something in the complex architecture of her mind. It's mostly passive but allows her to calm others and occasionally (and accidentally) cast a buff which increases perseverance.
Arcane Knowledge - Arcane Knowledge is a benchmark which notes a good understanding of magic and its applications. It derives from a basic investment in learning in the Queon Familia and allows Redsky to talk competently on her and others’ magic.
R O U G H V I R T U A L H I S T O R Y
Redsky is a name that quite a number of players are familiar with. She's been there since the very start and she's a regular that seems to come and go in the world of Pariah. Not involving herself much in the politics of the world, she's often frowned upon in Queon but that could be to do with her being a klutz. Primarily, she's known for being the crazy, suicidal fire mage that can either be dropped in a moment by a boss or can wipe entire dungeons of mobs. For that reason, most people have a love-hate relationship with her. She's fun to be around but she can occasionally mess up depending on her mood.
Love her or hare her, however, most people have to admit that she's one of the most potent mages in the game. Although she can blow up in an instant, she's built to dish out massive damage and people don't often forget that. Plus she talks a great deal of shit. People sort of appreciate that as well.
VISAGE Ebon is a carbon copy of Olivia, save for the hair which has been shortened to shoulder length, and perfect vision. Olivia is a short person, standing only at 5'2/157cm. Thanks to years of fencing and training in HEMA, she is fit and athletic. She normally wears glasses over her dark brown eyes to correct her poor vision, something she doesn't need to do in Pariah. She has black shoulder blade length hair often tied up in a ponytail or wrapped up in a bun, styles that she keeps while in the game. The outfit she wears in Pariah is only cloth, but it's comfortable, light, and lets her keep her range of movement. Although it was designed for practicality and comfort in mind, some parts are there for fashion. The shoulders have been padded, her shirt extends downward to her shins much like a dress, and her coat stops at the middle of her midriff. Her boots are thigh high, but still made of a durable, rugged material. She wears a metal mask which acts as her 'fencing mask', and she usually has a dark grey cloak wrapped around her shoulders for warmth.
PERSONALITY Olivia is an introverted, practical person, nervous and uncomfortable when outside of her comfort zone. She compensates for this by imitating confidence, following the saying 'fake it until you make it'. She would very much rather not be bothered, but the false confidence she displays when in social situations can cause others to approach her. While it is something she dislikes, she knows that she has to work on her social skills in order to avoid becoming a crazy cat lady when she grows older.
When it comes to other people, she is friendly and helpful. She's quick to make friends, seeing the good in people. And just as quick to trust and become close to them. There's always a lingering fear that she'll be betrayed in some grand and cinematic way, but so far, none have done so. When she's in a familiar setting she relaxes and becomes more honest, quieter, turning back to her normal introverted ways.
BACKGROUND Olivia was born into a wealthy family on the east coast of the United States in 2092. With one other sister and three brothers, she's the youngest in the family. As a child she was enrolled into public schools, raised as a normal kid, with loving, caring parents with four attentive siblings. Remarkably she turned out to be very... normal. She connected the most with her eldest brother, Alfons, a man who wanted to live without any financial help from his family, he wanted to stand with his own achievements. On his own he had joined the military making a career out of being an Air Force Pararescueman. When she was young, Olivia saw him as a real life superhero, after all he did jump out of planes and ride helicopters to save people for a living. Whenever he came home she was always around him and he always taught her a few things, how to dress a wound, how to fight, how to hide and evade from people chasing you. Skills typically utilized by an Air Force Pararescueman. Alfons the practical, special operations brother, made a huge impact on Olivia. She grew up to be like him.
When she was seven, her parents let her choose a hobby, ranging from sports to music to woodworking. When presented with so many objects, tools, musical instruments, she picked up one of her father’s sabers that were mounted on the wall. She wanted to be a warrior, like Alfons, someone who could fight and protect others. A week later Olivia had a fencing tutor. Throughout the years she kept at her swordsmanship, expanding her interest into Historical European Martial Arts as well, specifically Victorian sabre. As she went through middle and high school, she joined a club to further expand her knowledge. She participated in a number of tournaments, winning more than a few of these competitions. In her club she was exposed to a number of other techniques, Fiore’s longsword and rondel dagger, Polish and French sabre, but she only dabbled in these, learning from other students when everyone was leaving for the day. She floated through life committed only to martial arts, not really knowing what she wanted to do in the future.
Two years after graduating high school, Alfons was deployed to a city in Italy that was struck by an earthquake. Alfons and his team prepared, flew, arrived and began operations for search and rescue in just a little over ten hours. Twenty eight hours after their arrival, a group of extremists attacked. As people ran from the fighting, Alfons and his fellow PJs prepared to fight back, armed with nothing but kitchen knives salvaged from the rubble and rocks. They fought for hours in the darkness of night before the area was mostly clear of civilians and the Italian armed forces had arrived. During the battle Alfons shielded a young Italian soldier from a grenade, taking shrapnel to his back and two bullets to his left leg. The battle lasted for ten hours more, Alfons laying in a field hospital with the people he had rescued just earlier, hating that he was taken out of the fight so early. He would be sent back to the states to recover from his wounds with two shiny medals pinned to his jacket, one from the Air Force, another from the Italians.
This story would haunt Olivia for a week after Alfons had told her. Soon after, Olivia decided to study to become a paramedic, understanding how fragile people are. It was nothing like the movies or books, where heroes would take sword blows to the chest and keep on fighting, where warriors would lose limbs and fight on. Her superhero was taken out of the fight by two bullets and a handful of shrapnel. She got her own apartment close to the campus. She stopped practicing martial arts to focus on her studies. She kept in contact with the friends she made during those years fencing but she had very little luck making new friends. A year later one of her old friends had mentioned a new virtual reality game, Pariah Online. Olivia had no history of playing video games, but she found herself with more free time than before, since she had stopped fencing. It didn't take much to convince her to join.
A T T R I B U T E S
ROLE Combat Medic - Healer/DPS
AFFILIATION TYHRIEN
PROFESSION Healer
WEAPONS AND EQUIPMENT OF CHOICE Sunset's Edge - A military sabre based off of the appearance of the English Pattern 1853 Cavalry Sword, complete with three bar hilt. Crafted with blackening on the ricasso in the shape of a right triangle, the back of the triangle on the false edge of the blade. Further blackening follows the fuller and spine, halting where the fuller stops. Two angled stripes cross the weak of the sword. The black oxide coating represents the night, while the steel is day. Combat knife - A typical combat knife modeled after the german KM2000 army knife. Belt - A leather belt with two pouches. One pouch is for a water can, the other is for miscellaneous things, pens, notebooks, etc. Backpack - A backpack based on a military compact assault pack. Usually has camping supplies. Medical Satchel - A satchel containing various medical supplies.
BENCHMARKS
Enhanced Speed - Thanks to her intense training in the park, Ebon is remarkably quick on her feet. Her speed has been enhanced by this benchmark, letting her dart from place to place with a quickness not many can match, her reflexes has also been enhanced to allow her to process and react with her new speed. Lightning Step [Storm Magic] - Ebons need for speed and training to be the fastest she can be has granted her the ability to go above and beyond normal ‘fast’. With Lightning Step she accelerates with the speed of a lightning bolt. Appropriately observers have told her that she practically becomes a cluster of orange lightning bolts when using this magic. So far she is only familiar enough with this to use it while en garde, in a stance ready to fight, at a distance of at most 10 meters, and only with advances, retreats and lunges. If Enhanced Speed is one rating above normal human quickness, Lightning Step is two ratings. Saber Expert - Her history with the saber has gotten her this benchmark rather quickly. However this only extends to Saber weapons, although she has experience with other swords, she cannot use them as effectively as the saber. This benchmark naturally increases the penetrating and cutting power of whatever saber she is currently using.
Experienced Warrior - Years of sparring and competing has given her a good sense of battle. When fighting she can tell when the opponent will attack, advance, retreat, guard or parry based on the movements of her opponent's body. This benchmark gives her the ability to feel if her opponent will be attacking physically or magically. Healers Incantations [Holy Magic] - Not the best healer in the game thanks to her obsession with becoming proficient with the blade again, but she has a wide variety of healing chants. The spells are more effective when specific, a chant to heal a broken bone will heal much quicker than a general 'heal this warrior's wounds' spell. This requires her to identify the wound and then say the correct chant to heal the wound, her ability to see, properly diagnose, and heal has given her this benchmark. The benchmark acts much like a mental library, with this she will never forget the words to heal. It also allows her to invent new chants, for example in a situation where she has never seen a specific kind of wound before, and she has no existing incantation for it, she will be able to develop a new incantation just for it and deposit it into her mental library. Shorthanded Cantation - Shorthanded Cant is a much quicker, shortened incantation which lets her heal while doing another action, such as moving or fighting. When most other healers need to concentrate fully on healing then halting to fight, Ebon is capable of both at the same time thanks to this benchmark. So far she is only able to shorthand her lower level, generic healing spells.
ROUGH VIRTUAL HISTORY When Ebon first joined, she explored the starter areas, amazed by the landscape. Then she quickly became tired. This was a problem to her, a big one, in real life the amount of travelling she had done wouldn’t even have winded her. But there she was, panting. So the second thing she did was get a sabre, she tried it out and found that it felt heavy and sluggish in her hand. This coupled with her lack of stamina upset her. The third thing she did was train. She ran laps, practiced her advances, retreats, lunges, ripostes, parrys, attacks, she wanted that sword to feel familiar in her hand. She felt incomplete without it. For weeks she would stay in the same park, exercising, running through flow drills, practicing her techniques. So much so that others had gathered around her, mostly warriors, doing the same. With her as the center they exchanged their knowledge of weapons, armor and shields. They taught new players, and sparred with experienced ones.
It was here that the sword became familiar to her again, and it was here that she met a man named Elias. He was a blacksmith, wanting to adventure and travel, but he had no experience in combat. He wore a suit of armor that he made, wielding weapons that he forged. Ebon taught Elias what she knew and he invited her to party up with her. She agreed. The two travelled the forests and mountains, fighting wild creatures, discovering beautiful waterfalls and rivers, talking well into the night, seeing the sun rise and set. Then Elias told her that they should return to the city. When they did, he disappeared for a few days. Olivia had volunteered at the local hospital, where hunters would be healed. When Elias reappeared, he held a sword, a very specific sabre. He said that he was going to move, and he had to sell his module to make the trip. He wasn’t certain that he would come back. The two logged off for the night. When Olivia logged back in she was greeted by a message, Elias saying that he had walked to a cliff where they had camped and seen the sun rise and fall for the first time. If this was his last moments in the game, he wanted it to be in a beautiful place. She unsheathed the sword that he had given her as a parting gift, it was the Sunset's Edge.
NOTES Color - Chetwode Blue #9289e1
CS 1.3 >Edited Weapons of Choice to Weapons and Equipment of Choice. >Added Belt, Knife, Backpack and Medical Satchel to Weapons and Equipment of Choice.
CS 1.2 >General proofreading, grammar fixes and changes. >Added Notes section. >Added color formatting. >Adjusted Physical Benchmark: Revised 'Enhanced Speed'. >Adjusted Physical Benchmark: Minor grammatical change to 'Lightning Step'.
“Man, y’all need to learn to have some fun. Live a little! Or don’t, as the case may be.”
O V E R V I E W
N A M E Allison “Allie” Márquez.
A V A T A R Tiferet.
A G E 19.
G E N D E R Female.
V I S A G E In-game, Tiferet stands at about 5’3” and 140 pounds, putting her on the petite side. However, this is far from the first thing one would probably notice about Tiferet, which instead is her rather morbid fashion sense; much of her gear is adorned with bones, crosses, and Day of the Dead-esque skeletons, and her face is often adorned with skull makeup as well. Even her fiddle is black and white. This all stems from Tiferet’s desire to know what exactly it’s like on the “other side”.
P E R S O N A L I T Y Allie is an… odd individual. Contrary to what one may expect, she’s very lively and gregarious, and absolutely loves trying out everything life has to offer. She’s driven by knowledge; specifically, wanting to know everything, including the unknowable, like “what happens after you die”, “what’s at the center of the universe”, and “does Finland really exist”. Most of the time, this involves buying (or stealing) anything she considers “neat”, exploring every little nook and cranny in a given place, and even doing drugs every so often (though she steers clear of the really bad ones; some things just aren’t worth experiencing). Her preoccupation with death is also rather unnerving, especially because she’s been heard to make a few nonchalant comments about breaking into morgues. (She’s probably joking. Probably.) However, this also means that Allie is really nosy; if she thinks someone’s saying or doing something that’s worth finding out about, she will try to discover more about the situation, whether through eavesdropping, a bit of petty thievery, or even just annoying someone into telling her.
Despite her strange clothing choices, obsession with death, and general creepiness, Allie is actually quite a nice person. It takes a lot to make her angry, and even then, she’s very quick to let things go. Sometimes, the person who attracts her ire will find themselves subject to some sort of semi-harmless prank, but that’s usually the extent of her “wrath”. Allie mostly plays Pariah for the social aspect, and loves partying up with people and running quests together. Of course, others may not want her around (you wouldn’t believe the number of people who get freaked out by the skull makeup), but they usually come around.
B A C K G R O U N D Allie’s life has always been pretty stable, if not particularly normal. She was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, to a Mexican father and an African-American mother. Her mom was a high-ranking executive in a prominent tech company, which brought in enough money to allow Mr. Márquez to stay home and raise Allie, and to pursue his dream - being a musician - on the side. Allie was always a very inquisitive child, constantly pestering her parents with questions, especially about their respective lines of work. “Mommy, whatsa headset?”, “Hey Daddy, how d’you play the thing that goes ‘BWAAAP’?”, and so on. Initially, the Márquezes were exasperated by their daughter’s need to know everything about everything, but they soon began to enjoy seeing their daughter taking an interest in so much.
Her school years progressed with little fanfare, and were soon left behind, though Allie seems to have retained a few things from her middle school goth phase - namely, her fashion choices and obsession with all things dark and deathly. At the moment, she’s pursuing a career as a mortician, using her violin skills as a backup. Normally, the salary of your average broke college student isn’t enough to buy Pariah, let alone a VR headset, but Mrs. Márquez was nice enough to get them both for Allie as a birthday present this year.
A T T R I B U T E S
R O L E Support, with a splash of Utility.
A F F I L A T I O N Queon.
P R O F E S S I O N Bard, but with a definite "necromancer" bent to it.
W E A P O N O F C H O I C E A fiddle. It’s specially-reinforced with steel to make beaning people with it feasible as a last resort, though Tiferet does also have a short sword on her, making the fiddle a last last resort. Tiferet also considers her voice a weapon.
B E N C H M A R K S
<<Dexterous>> - Playing a fiddle so much has given Tiferet some very nimble fingers, not to mention some pretty decent upper arm strength. <<Lung Capacity>> - Singing as often as she does has granted Tiferet the ability to hold a note much longer than normal people. It also lets her really belt it out when she wants to. <<Midnight>> - Tiferet's always preferred playing at night, and after doing that so often, she's been able to see better and blend in better during nighttime, especially during a new moon. <<Scream and Shout>> - This simple ability is Tiferet's main way of dealing damage (though she often doesn't need to). By magically amplifying her voice, enemies in a cone in front of her take damage and have a chance to be deafened. <<Under Your Skin>> - This benchmark allows Tiferet to cause an enemy to feel the very discomfiting sensation that many, many parasites are lurking just under their skin, moving around, waiting to burst out. As you can imagine, such a thing is very hard to ignore, which makes this benchmark ideal to delay spells and dissuade warriors. As Tiferet gets stronger, this ability will actually spawn several bugs from a person's skin after a few seconds, dealing a small amount of damage and creating a few weak enemies.
<<Mobility>> - Tiferet, by necessity (running solo missions is hard for a bard), has practice with playing and moving at the same time. <<What's Mine Is Yours>> - This benchmark was awarded to Tiferet by virtue of her partying up with people very, very often. It allows her to designate a target, then transfer every buff or debuff - permanent or temporary - from her to that target for one minute. However, any benefit Tiferet had that lasts for less than a minute is preserved; if Tiferet has a boost to her speed that lasts for 15 seconds, and uses 4 seconds of it, then transfers it away, the other person now has 11 seconds of boosted speed to use. <<Visitation of the Ghost>> - Tiferet summons a ghost to aid her in the fight. Unfortunately, said ghost doesn't actually deal damage to anyone. However, it does terrify an enemy of Tiferet's choice, giving them a fairly potent debuff to both attacking and defending. To compensate, <<Visitation of the Ghost>> has a fairly long recast time. <<Un-Death>> - This benchmark is an activated ability that Tiferet obtained by sheer luck, having discovered an esoteric questline hidden in a desolate corner of the world map. When she activates this ability, one of her fallen allies is returned to life, and with some extra power to their attacks. However, they die again after about 45 seconds to a minute, so they had best use that time wisely. Someone who's already been raised by this effect can't be raised by it again, either, unless another resurrection ability has been used on them in the meantime. <<The Headless Horseman>> - This benchmark also takes the form of an activated ability, albeit one that Tiferet uses very rarely. Using all of her power, Tiferet can grant herself or another the Headless Horseman buff, which massively boosts all of their capabilities for a short time. It also gives them the appearance (and speed) of the famous specter. After using this ability, Tiferet is essentially defenseless until her health regenerates, which is why she doesn’t use it often.
R O U G H V I R T U A L H I S T O R Y The name Tiferet is usually accompanied by a response of either “Who?” or “Oh yeah, the one skeleton chick, right?” She’s mostly known for her… interesting getup, which has gotten her a bit of admiration from the more fashion-oriented players. Another subset of players know her because they happened to come upon one of her “concerts”, which generally take place in some dark corner or other; a graveyard, an abandoned building, a graveyard, and suchlike. Yet another sliver know her as a fairly dependable support mage, and speak of her fondly. Finally, there are a few rumors making the rounds (mostly from veteran to newbie) about a ghostly woman with a violin, who sang the most beautiful, haunting song you’ve ever heard, then disappeared into the mist. Were one to ask Tiferet, she’d likely just drop a comment about “It’s a fiddle, actually” and then move on. All of these, taken together, make Tiferet known, at least, though she’s far from a household name.
"Hey, chum - gimme a light, wouldja? Stop whining, I smoke in my workshop all the time, and there's only been one explosion!"
O V E R V I E W
N A M E
Watts Broker
A V A T A R
Landon Longcross
A G E
88 (visage appears much younger!)
G E N D E R
Male
V I S A G E
Though Watts is nearly ninety years old, he has always been more comfortable with younger people, for he is young at heart. This is why his avatar in Pariah is a representation of himself back during what he considered to be his prime, back when he was in the middle of establishing his fame and career.
His avatar, Landon Longcross, looks like a blonde-haired blue-eyed man in great shape. Though otherwise well-groomed, he leaves his hair a little spiky, and he has a thin omnipresent layer of rugged stubble around his jawline (he cannot seem to grow a mustache, which is a source of minor frustration). He stands about five foot ten, though he slouches a bit and this makes him look shorter than he is. He is rarely seen without something sticking out of his mouth - usually a cigarette, but sometimes a pen or tool. There is just a hint of tightness around his eyes that makes him appear severe at times.
He is usually dressed in a long brown coat of leather, with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, over a simple white shirt with suspenders and a few buttons by the collar, sturdy multi-pocketed pants, a toolbelt with a few of his favorite tools, heavy steel-toed boots, fingerless brown leather gloves, and a pair of dark goggles worn around his neck or on his forehead. He often carries a light frame backpack for carrying extra gadgets and tools, or for carrying back supplies or treasure, and whenever combat is expected, he always has a quiver full of crossbow bolts of various types.
P E R S O N A L I T Y
Watts grew up with tinker toys and an interest in how things work, which has carried over from his youth into the rest of his life. Even before Pariah, he was always working on a project in his garage, whether it was a car or other vehicle, a new turbine for gathering wind power, or a lightbulb that absorbs sunlight and slowly releases it over time. He maintains a sense of wonder about the world that belies his age, and loves to share it with younger people around him. He tempers this with a streak of practicality, as he is interested in solutions and not dreams. Nevertheless, he is more than willing to combine the scientific knowledge of the real world with the unique magical resources of Pariah, and thus achieve results neither could accomplish alone. He glories in learning all he can about Pariah. Though immediately gruff and standoffish with strangers, he usually warms up once he gets to know someone, and those who know him quickly know that the prickly attitude is more bark than bite.
Though trained as a soldier, Watts doesn't strictly enjoy fighting - it always feels like an interruption to more productive, important things. And, truth be told, he is a bit of a coward. Nevertheless, he recognizes the need for combat even - and perhaps especially - in the world of Pariah, so he has built his own wrist-mounted crossbow to give him the tool he needs to end a fight quickly. He much prefers to fight in a party, where he can support the team from a distance with direct attacks, crowd control and debuffs for the enemy, or healing and strengthening his team with infusions in his crossbow bolts.
Watts came to Pariah to stave off his approaching death by stretching out the time he has left. But as he has stayed in the game, he is wondering if, just maybe, there might be a way to make a discovery in age reversal that could translate into a solution he could use outside of Pariah. He revels in the freedom and vitality he feels in Pariah, and is constantly motivated in his quest for immortality every time he is forced to return to his arthritis-ridden body after a gaming session. He has even considered the idea of attempting to upload himself into Pariah permanently, but as desperate as he is in his quest to defy death, he is cautious of any action that might have consequences worse than his present circumstances.
Watts regrets some things he missed out on during his busy life. One of these is that he never found the time to have a relationship with a member of the opposite sex. It wasn't because of a lack of interest, but because of a lack of time. Now that he has essentially gotten a "second life," Watts as Landon has become flirtatious. He tries to remain classy about it, but an eagerness to make up for lost time sometimes comes out in a pickup line or two. He has also picked up a smoking habit that he never would have started outside of Pariah, using it more for the extra edge to his image he presents than any other reason.
Oh, and he's a decent cook, too.
B A C K G R O U N D
Watts Broker is dying.
He had been a creative young man who had served in his country's military as a combat engineer, where he had to put his talents for on-the-spot solutions to the test as he disarmed mines and bombs. He then turned his talents to more productive ends with some inventions that harnessed the powers of alternative energy sources, eventually leading into a company that produced many of the world's most energy efficient technologies and left him wealthy. He was free to spend time with the young people of his community during his golden years, where he enjoyed their youthful exuberance...
...until Watts fell sick and became homebound. All the money in the world could not find a doctor or specialist who could help him. After all, even in the twenty-second century, humans had not achieved the technology to reverse the aging process.
Watts grew desperate. The truth is that, despite a long and fulfilled life, he was afraid to die. He felt there was too much he still could offer to the world - and he had regrets, things he meant to do left untried. He invested much of his remaining wealth into every possible solution to extend his lifespan and restore his vitality. Nothing worked. He could probably keep living for a few more years, but his health had deteriorated to the point he was bedridden. He was trapped in his own body.
This led to a dabbling in technologies to at least let him interact with the world electronically, and he heard about Pariah. His interest was piqued by Pariah's claim to allow players to experience time subjectively - he could literally extend his dwindling life and act for himself once again! He did not hesitate to spend the money on the system and its installation in his room for his convenience. The game exceeded his expectations, and has rekindled his hope.
Watts Broker is dying. But through Pariah, he may have the time he needs to discover the secret of immortality...and save himself.
A T T R I B U T E S
R O L E
Support
A F F I L A T I O N
Queon
P R O F E S S I O N
Gadgeteer
W E A P O N O F C H O I C E
Wrist-mounted Crossbow
B E N C H M A R K S
Ambidextrous - Outside of Pariah, Landon's player spent time practicing using both hands to do essential tasks, and he has continued this practice in Pariah. This nervous habit has made it so he doesn't have an "off-hand" - he can use either hand for any task.
Snap Shooter – Landon isn't what you would call a sniper, but his diligent practice with his crossbow of his own invention has allowed him to aim quickly, fire a shot, and reload in short order so he can fire again. Since he doesn't like to fight in-close, he has learned to compensate by firing fast enough he doesn't need to worry about the enemy getting too close. He can also make trick shots, though this is usually more to luck than to outright skill.
Nimble Fingers, Steady Hands – Time in the bomb squad in reality, as well as constant work on gadgets in Pariah, has made Landon dexterous and quick with his fingers, yet also calm enough to do his work without letting distractions get in the way. This serves him well in his gadgeteering and cooking - and, should the ladies stop turning his advances aside, they'd find he was good with his hands in other ways as well!
Overloader – "Always be prepared!" is Landon's motto. This means carrying whatever he could reasonably need wherever he goes, and with all the various tools, ammo, and gadgets he hoists about with him, that adds up to a lot of weight quickly. Combined with a little weight-bearing technology in his gear, he has gained the endurance to carry more weight than the average without it slowing him down, even in combat.
Quick-Draw Parry – Even the best-prepared adventurers get ambushed sometimes, and when that happens, you have to use whatever is closest at hand. For Landon, that likely means a heavy wrench or screwdriver in his tool belt. While unconventional, the weight of the tool lets him block blows that might cleave through a thinner piece of metal, allowing him time to scramble away for a better shot with his crossbow. His ambidexterity combined with this trait let him use a weapon in his free hand, though it does make it more awkward to reload (and, therefore, takes more time to reload if he is "dual-wielding" like this). This trait also helps him reach into his pockets to quickly pull out a necessary gadget.
Jury Rigger – Landon's quick mind and steady hands let him piece together temporary repairs or devices in a pinch when he doesn't have access to all the supplies he needs to do a full fix. He can also do the reverse to break something quickly and in such a way to require the most repairs for the least destructive effort, like removing a screw from an inner piece of machinery, or taking out a vital support in a bridge at the right time to drop it out from under an enemy.
Ingenious Inventor – With time, tools and materials, Landon is able to come up with all kinds of useful inventions - from the special crossbow bolts he uses, to small clockwork machines that can be used for toys or distractions, to ways to gather energy from the creatures and minerals of the magical world of Pariah and make use of them as an alternative energy source. And if he doesn't have the tools to make what he wants, he usually can make the tool first, then proceed.
Cure Finder – Extensive research into healing magic and restorative elixirs in the search for workable immortality has given him a knack for identifying and creating potions of various sorts. And spinoff applications gleaned from failed experiments have given him access to oils, ointments and poisons that range from helping prevent rust to causing paralysis or other status ailments. He also knows what ingredients he needs for these potions, and how and where to get them.
Young at Heart – Despite his age, Landon is able to "stay hip" with the times through a combination of open-minded inquisitiveness and interaction with a younger crowd. He is free with favors and gifts to younger players of the game, which has inadvertently given him access to a grapevine network of rumors and information he can tap into if he needs to, as well as a source of extra parts for his inventions as youngsters turn in pieces of junk they find as part of their adventuring that they cannot use.
Infusion Artificer – While not strictly a mage or wizard like some casters, Landon is not so caught up in making inventions that he has neglected study of Pariah's unique magical resources. He has learned to draw the essence of magic - whether the raw elements themselves, or the more refined properties of specific spells or potions - into his inventions and more particularly into his crossbow bolts. From ice bolts that freeze enemies in their tracks or create slick floors for them to slip on, to bolts that detonate in midair to drop a healing mist over allies, to "flashbang" bolts, Landon's only limitations to the variety of bolts he can have are his imagination and the room in his quiver.
R O U G H V I R T U A L H I S T O R Y
Landon Longcross is an accomplished member of the Queon pathos, having readily contributed several time-saving inventions that utilize magical power sources. Many of these inventions are now standard magic laboratory equipment. He is most known for these and for his eccentric habit of spending time with younger people from all the pathos groups - this is tolerated since he is usually sharing his inventions and insight with them, but there is a sizable contingent among the echelons of Queon that disdain entertaining children when the time could be better used for more science. Landon disregards these stuffy labcoat types entirely, except for the cuter women among them, who he makes passes at. In fact, he is regarded with a fond exasperation among women in general, and he has gotten used to getting turned down, just as nearly every female around has gotten used to his flirtatious advances.
And his talent for magical infusion and potion making has not gone unnoticed, either. There is a constant need for magical arrows or other projectiles for adventurers, not to mention the healing and curing potions so essential to a life of danger. Despite his contributions, however, he has managed to fade into the background of life in his pathos, which suits him fine since it lets him continue his studies in relative peace. And he earns enough from providing a steady supply of potions, magical ammo and the odd clockwork gadget that he lives comfortably enough, when he isn't acquiring loot more directly in field expeditions.
It is only those who know him best that can see past his kind and helpful persona to connect the dots of his desperate research into all things restorative. In every moment of time away from others, he is going through the collected libraries of his fellow pathos members, particularly the herbalists and magicians who specialize wholly in the discipline of healing and resurrection. He has even gone so far as to try to obtain ingredients and potions from the black market of Pariah, though he draws the line at knowingly purchasing or using anything derived from harming other human beings. Though how long he will continue to hold that standard depends on how long it takes for him to find what he is looking for...
Jared is around 6’2 and a shade under 200 lbs. Lots of time spent at the gym have left him well built and extremely fit. He has dirty blond hair, generally kept short and lightly styled, light blue eyes, and a slightly crooked nose from when he broke it playing hockey in his teens. High, prominent cheekbones and a well defined jaw are what Jared considers his best features. “Handsome” his mother calls him. “Pretty boy” his friends tease him. “Dreamy” says the barista whose name he can’t remember despite seeing her every day.
In Pariah, Thael is more or less identical to Jared, though his nose is perfectly centered. Thael also has a few scars that Jared does not; these were acquired in Pariah, a testament to battles won and lost.
Five words that come to mind when describing Jared. He tends to call it like he sees it, a quality that endears him to some and irritates others. He is easygoing, social, and generally likeable from the minute you meet him. However, getting to know him better might make one revise their initial assessment. Likely due to his upbringing, Jared has very little appreciation for the difficulties other people may have faced in life. He’s also the kind of person who never backs down, who refuses to admit he’s wrong unless someone can look it up and prove it. Together, these traits are an absolute dealbreaker for some people. The upside of Jared’s conviction is that he’s extremely dedicated to his friends and anyone who has earned his trust.
Jared’s gaming persona doesn’t much differ from his real identity. He is self confident and honest, easy to like and always loyal. Still has those flaws too. One difference is Thael’s commitment to honour, as evidenced by his membership in Tyhrien. Questioning Thael’s honour is a good way to get your ass beat. It is also worth noting that Thael tends to treat Pariah much more like a game than other people, meaning he is sometimes isn’t very serious when he really should be.
Thael also has a tendency to trashtalk when fighting, even (or especially) against NPCs and monsters, causing him to slip into a dialect of slang and semi-nonsense in battle. Thael of course insists - with some justification - that telling a dungeon boss to “GET REKT” helps generate aggro, and that his trashtalk is essential to his tanking.
B A C K G R O U N D
Jared grew up in a wealthy and happy family in Toronto. His childhood was filled with best private schools, expensive family vacations, the latest toys, generally anything he wanted. Jared’s father, the sterner of his parents, always resisted spoiling his sons, but his wife delighted in giving her two boys everything, and in a standoff between the his two parents, Jared’s mother almost always won.
A sizeable donation ensured Jared was granted admittance to a top tier university - despite his decidedly average marks - where he majored in business, completing his degree in five years due to a little too much partying and not enough studying. After college, Jared’s parents had a huge fight over the question of whether or not Jared would be brought in to work at his father’s company. Eventually, his father gave in, and Jared was hired “but only temporarily, just to get some experience on his resume” his father insisted.
After a year working there, Jared is conflicted. He is well paid to do very little work, but he can’t avoid feeling guilty about his blatant case of nepotism. He also finds himself extremely bored, unchallenged, and dissatisfied. Enter Pariah. Always an avid gamer and experienced MMO player, Jared was immediately pulled in by Pariah’s advertising campaign. He bought the system on launch day, and has been playing ever since.
A T T R I B U T E S
R O L E
Tank
A F F I L A T I O N
Tyhrien
P R O F E S S I O N
Dungeoneer: Dungeons, raids, and dungeon related activities are Thael’s preferred pastime.
W E A P O N O F C H O I C E
Two handed swords. The exact sword changes fairly often as Thael acquires better gear or switches weapons for different combat situations.
B E N C H M A R K S
Regenerative: Constantly being subjected to healing spells, potions, poultices, incantations, chants and prayers has left its mark on Thael. He passively regenerates health and is more receptive to healing of all forms. Enhanced Endurance: Full plate armour is HEAVY. Thael is slower to tire and can take more damage than other characters. Enhanced Strength: You try swinging two-handed swords around for that long without developing some additional muscle. This translates to higher than expected damage from Thael’s physical attacks. Sundering Strikes: Countless hours hacking and slashing at large, armoured foes mean Thael knows how to hit where it hurts. He can make his attacks damage/compromise armour. Cleaving Strikes: For every over-armoured boss in a dungeon, there’s scores of trash monsters which have to be cleared first, something Thael has gotten pretty proficient at. He can make his attacks deal area damage.
Intercede: .A big part of tanking is positioning. Thael always knows where to be to intercept damage meant for his allies. Larger than Life: Physically and mentally, Thael has a big presence on the battlefield. Countless hours of trashtalking bosses have paid off: Thael can easily cause enemies to target him instead of more vulnerable allies. Intimidating presence: Full plate armour, a massive broadsword, screaming obscenities the whole time; even the toughest enemies are taken aback, leaving them vulnerable. Spellcasting - Holy: Thael has invested time in learning a number of useful spells from the holy discipline. Lore Knowledge - Divine: The gods and godesses of the land are Thael’s favourite part of Pariah’s lore, and he has done a lot of reading on them.
R O U G H V I R T U A L H I S T O R Y
While far from a household name, Thael is vaguely known as a competent raider and dependable tank. Dungeons and raids are why he joined the game in the first place. Grand battles, jolly cooperation, pitting himself against an unforgiving environment, that’s what it’s all about. While competent, Thael has a tendency to think of Pariah like a conventional MMO, which can be problematic at times, so he leaves raid strategy to better minds and satisfies himself with carrying out their instructions promptly and effectively.
Thael began focusing on tanking from the beginning. One day he happened to join a random group of fellow Tyhriens for a dungeon crawl. The group got along very well, and began to play together more often. Thael emerged as leader of the small group, but it was the member who would become their strategist that got them into raiding. At first, they joined random groups, but began to grow and grow until the group of friends could field their own raid team, a group which would come to be called BroForce. The name started as a disparaging comment from someone who didn’t much like them, but Thael and the others decided to own it, and BroForce was born.
Things were happy for a while. Raids were successful, crafting was profitable, the game was fun. But while Pariah was a cutting edge new virtual reality experience, it was not immune to the enemy of all MMO raid teams: drama. Thael won’t disclose any of the details, but BroForce abruptly blew apart at the seams. Thael has spent the time since acting more or less as a sword for hire; a good tank available for a fair share of the loot. He hopes to one day reform or at least replace the sense of companionship he has lost.
