[OOC] The Wolven Storm

[Hexaflexagon]

@Lexicon
Everything looks good on my end! I like the character and the concept! Accepted.

[Lexicon]

Awesome. Thank you.

[Rockette]

@Rockette
We've already talk about my appreciation for strong, gruff lady dwarfs and so it is proabably no surprise that I like Thdris. But besides that I appreciate how you expanded on the dwarven life beyond the small paragraph I give you all to work with. And how she seems to be very much a realized person inside of the world. All in all another quite interesting character to add to the bunch. Accepted!

@Hexaflexagon

Thank you much! When I'm home and relaxed I'll place her into the character tab.

[FantasyChic]

Basic Information

Name: Colette Viville
Race: Elf
Age: 30
Magic potency: Yes. Detailed in Skills

Physical Description:
Colette stands at 5'10'' and has a slender frame, but training has kept her muscles toned, but not to the extent of the other soldiers who've been with the company longer. Colete has lone, blonde hair usually tied back in a ponytail or held back to keep from getting into her eyes and effect her shooting skills. She has pale skin and blue eyes. Her cheeks remain a slight pink tint. She has scars along her back from years of punishment from her human master and a scar run along her left shoulder from her first week of training. When not in her armor, she typically wears light colors in red, blue, or white.

Military Background

Years Spent in Service: One Month
Equipment:

Colette's Armor

• Her trusty longbow, made from a dark wood with a silk string.
• Her accompaniment of arrows.
• A silver Anelace
• Light, leather armor
• A silver locket given to her by her mother

Skills:

• Expert Archer: Colette has a knack for all things archery. Though she prefers the use of her longbow. She is precise, calculated, and coordinated.
• Elementalist: Having mastered no specific element, Colette can summon the four basic elements: fire, water, earth, and air. She uses these in combination with her arrows especially.
• Stealthy: Colette prefers to remain unseen from her foes. She likes to blend into her surroundings and only been seen if she chooses.
• No Two Left Feet: Although she won't admit it (and will kill you before she does), Colette loves to dance and is very good at it. It was one of the few pleasures she had growing up.

The Mind

Psych Profile: Colette is quiet to those she doesn't know or like, and a little bit less to those she considers to be her friends. Having grown up under the harsh hand of a human master, she has a strong dislike of humans (not unlike most of her elven brethren). Despite her silence, Colette does have a heart and prefers to see justice done to those who go against it.

Colette has her morals and it drives her in everything she does. Even though she dislikes humans, she is willing to do the job given to her and work alongside them provided she isn't asked to do anything she's against.

Colette also believes she could grow into someone better if she stays in the regiment. Worried that she would turn into what Cartwright wanted, a cold-blooded, ruthless killer, she joined to hopefully get trained and show not only her companions and leaders, but also herself, just what she is capable of.

History:

Background

Colette was born in a small home to two very loving parents. Valeria didn't know if she would ever be able to conceive a child, but years of trying with her husband finally ended when the little bundle came into the world.

Shortly after, Valeria's husband, Colette's father, passed away. Unsure how to make ends meet and what she would do to care for her new child, Valeria had no choice but to work as a maid/healer to the Alberts family: a wealthy, connected human family known for going through servants with little reluctance.

Valeria cared for Colette as she tended to the Alberts family, which included the old crone Beatrice and her constant need to humiliate Valeria any chance she got. Beatrice made the mistake of saying Colette was an unfortunate accident and Valeria lashed out, striking the woman. Cartwirght, Beatrice's son, took matters into his own hands and punished Valeria with an hour long beating, leaving the elf woman in a crumpled mass. Even with her own healing magics, it took weeks before Valeria could return to work. However, due to her transgressions, a new stipulation arose in her contract with them. Colette had to be put to work too.

Colette started work at the age of 5, doing basic household chores. With her mother's temper, Colette tried, unsuccessfully, to go against her masters, but Valeria warned her about the troubles that would cause. Keeping silent, Colette worked to the bone for many years.

At the age of 13, Colette grew into a young, beautiful elf girl and Cartwright, at age 16, wanted Colette for himself. Valeria begged him not to, promising a vast amount of favors, making excuses, and even working without any pay in order to be sure her daughter wouldn't be sullied that way. Cartwright, eventually, grew tired of it and decided to take Colette anyway. Valeria fought back, lashing out again against her masters. Cartwirght, finally sick of the woman's audacity to fight against her bosses, took his dagger and plunged it into her heart. Colette watched her mother's life edge out of her.

Colette had no choice but to stay with the Alberts family, having nowhere else to go and no one to turn to. Cartwright wanted little to do with her anymore, but kept her as a message to his other servants what would happen if you crossed him or his family. Years went by until Colette had the courage to fight back. At 18, she palmed a knife and went into Cartwright's bedroom to end him. Cartwright didn't go down without a fight and the two fought. Cartwright ended up losing the fight and before Colette could plunge the knife into his heart, he uttered the words "Go on. End me. You elves are all alike. You and your pathetic mother. Cold-hearted. Blood-thirsty. Demons, all of you. You are no better than common criminals. Filth! Go on, do what you've dreamed of doing for years."

The realization set in. Colette knew she wanted to get back at the man who killed her mother, but not in this way. Instead, Colette fled into the night.

She stayed many nights on the street with no roof, until she met Daniel, who gave her a bed. Daniel, an elf like her, ran the streets as a thief, but only targeted people who deserved it and he never killed. Cartwright's message echoed in her head as she decided to run with Daniel. It was then she learned how to remain unseen and how to use a bow.

Years went by as she worked with Daniel. Daniel, knowing what had happened to Colette, sought a way for her to become better than him. Better than she was. It was then he heard about recruiting for the army and urged her to sign on.

Colette took some persuading, but eventually she came around and signed up. Having only been in the military a month, she aims to show what she can do.

She still seeks Cartwright's blood. That goal will never change, but she wants to prove she can become a better person. Punish him for his crimes against her and everyone else, and see that he is treated like the monster he is.

Denouement

Character Motivation: Colette is motivated to bring redemption to her mother who was killed by her master, who is still out there and alive. She would love nothing more than to pierce his skull with an arrow, but she has to find him first. Being part of this regiment is a good way to accomplish that, and do something worthwhile. Her mother would have wanted her here than out on the streets.

Significant Relations: Valeria Viville - Colette's mother. She lost her when Colette was 13 and had to suffer under the hands of her killer for years after that. Her mother was devoted to her and despite the harsh conditions they dealt with, showed kindness to everyone, be they human, elf, or dwarf. Despite this, Valeria could and did get angry when those she loved were treated harshly. Veleria also had magical potency and was skilled in healing magic, making her a prized asset for Cartwright.

Cartwright Alberts - Colette's master and the reason she joined the army and the token of her vengeance. He's a cruel human being who went through slaves like they were loincloths. Despite his harsh treatment, he kept Valeria and Colette around because of Valeria's healing abilities and his fondness for Colette. When Colette was 13, he wanted her for himself, but her mother protested. Keeping him at bay only lasted so long until she wouldn't have it. In the heat of the moment, Cartwright killed Valeria and paid off anyone who investigated (which was pretty much no one as it was a dead elf). Having nowhere else to go, Colette had to stay on and suffer under his hand until she was 20. He has gone with the wind, but Colette feels he is still around somewhere. He has powerful connections.

Daniel Tyr - A friend of Colette and who she ran and stayed with as she lived on the street. A thief with a good heart and the other part of the reason (besides her mother) that Colette joined the army. Daniel still runs on the streets, but only targets those who deserve it and never kills. He has feelings for Colette he'll never admit to.

Opinions on Others: Reserved

[Hexaflexagon]

@FantasyChic
I have no real qualms with her. Accepted!

Anyway, after hashing it out for most the day the introductory post is up!

[FantasyChic]

Not sure if anyone else is making a sheet, but since we got a good amount of people we could probably hash out the Opinions of Others sections soon.

[Lucky Knight]

Ack! At least one more hopeful, actually! So here's my hat in the ring – I'm new to this forum (I think this may be my first post?) but not new to forum RPs; hoping there won't be much culture shock. If I am approaching this wrong please let me know and I'll be happy to adjust or re-write. I erred on the side of vagueness in the history section figuring much of it could be filled in as we go along, but if it needs to be reworked I can do so.

Also, I love the Black Company aesthetic you have going on here! Haha.

****

Basic Information

It is as it is said to be: The past is prologue. All else is wind, and that which is borne on it. Fleeting and impossible to capture once it's fled our grasp. Did we not feel righteous, once? We who were scorned? We who felt the world was owed us, and that those who stood in our way did so only to meet our swords with their flesh? What seems so bright and clear in the heat of morning is but a puzzling ember in the twilight hours, a distant dying light at the edge of a day bleeding swiftly into night.

Name: Kaerun Eschala.
Race: Elf.
Age: 706.
Magic Potency: Yes.

Physical Description
In defiance of the common ideal of elven grace and beauty, Kaerun is a beast of sinew and corded muscle with all the grace of a rock tumbling down a mountain. His long brown hair is ragged and self-cut, threaded through with streaks of mottled grey that belie the strength of his bearing. At some point he might have been handsome but the years have stripped away the fineness of his features, burying whatever glimmer of allure he once possessed beneath a veil of scars and broken bones.

The only real element he has that still marks him as a member of his race – beyond the pointed ears – are the piercing eyes of his bloodline. A pair of emeralds set beyond a flat, broken nose and scarred cheeks … a strange paradox that tries unsuccessfully to redeem him in the eyes of women anywhere. He is tall but scarcely taller than the average human. Should he wish it he might even pass for one of them (though only in darkness, or with a hood drawn up).

Tattoos cover most of his upper body (from mid-neck down to his waist), a myriad of colors and intensity. Curved lines and strange sigils that bear no clear meaning, patterns of vines and leaves and serpents. Some are ancient and others have yet to begin fading; they flow out from the first that he bears upon his back. It is as if he means to hide it, or to bury it in the centuries of ink and hours that followed. As he usually eschews clothes that would cover his arms these tattoos may be his most notable feature.

The gods only know that the rest is forgettable.

He usually wears whatever clothes are at hand, and his armor is basically just a thickly padded shirt and occasionally a studded leather vest thrown atop it, all of these designed to keep his muscular arms free and his body mobile. Old boots and weathered leggings accompany his usual attire, along with a thick belt and a number of trinkets and fetishes he's accumulated over the years. Five small strips of leather decked with red and topaz beads always adorn him in some fashion, often attached to his belt or to a leather cord around his neck. He bears his blade upon his back.

Military Background

Years Spent in Service: Kaerun has served the Company for about ten years now.

Equipment: (What are they carrying on their person?)

• A long, thin sword of sturdy steel. Akin to a bastard sword in versatility, though of clear elven origin.
• A canteen older than the Vorstag Empire, a gift from an old employer.
• Various fetishes from all corners of the continent; feathers, metal leaves, beads, etc.
• Five leather strips adorned with blood-red and topaz-colored stones, usually affixed to his belt.
• Small book of elven wisdom literature, the ink nearly faded away.

Skills: (List from most potent to least)

• Sword Dancer: Little else defines Kaerun the way his skill with the sword does; when he does not bear his blade he moves as a man without purpose, plodding and clumsy. But with his blade in hand he becomes a man possessed. The style of swordsmanship he carries was taught to him in his early days and has been refined and altered by his centuries of life. It is doubtful that his original master would even recognize it … but none could deny that he is more deadly now than he was in his youth.
• Cheater: Kaerun is quite skilled at the sleight of hand required to cheat at cards and dice. The only saving grace in this is his openness about the skill, and how easy it is to bribe him into playing fair. A bottle of rum usually suffices.
• Amateur Herbalist: Most plants and their properties are familiar to Kaerun. He knows a number of great concoctions for remedying a hangover … or worse. Practice makes perfect.
• Hedge Mage: Though he has never been properly instructed, Kaerun has developed some skill in the use of magic to keep himself alive over the years. Alas, he will never be recognized as a master of the craft.

The Mind

Psych Profile
Easygoing, friendly, often uninterested but rarely cruel about it, and extremely reticent when it comes to his personal history. More likely to bow out of a fight than to join in, though no stranger to adversity or conflict. He is not shy on the battlefield and fights as bravely as most … but it feels as if that bravery is a mask, and what it covers is something far less zealous if no less powerful. Much has happened in his life and it has dulled him to many of the experiences he now weathers. Most of his days are eaten up by the rituals he's accumulated – including his dedication to the blade and his meditations on the scant arcane arts he possesses.

History
Kaerun was born in 466 IC. He took his first life moments later and found himself left in the care of an uncle who had no time for him, save to preach and to shape him into something he never wanted to be. Hate took root early and didn't let go of Kaerun until he'd lost everyone he'd ever cared about and burned everything else down around him. The world and Kaerun warred for nearly two centuries, but the world eventually won.

In some ways he considered that the first day of his second life. A clear line between the past and the present – though he would never lie to himself to say that the present held anything for him but memories of the past. Free of what bound him he wandered for a long time, avoiding as much of civilization as he could. Without the burden of duty (self-imposed or otherwise) he grew to disdain attachment. Even the name he wears now is not the one he was born to; he abandoned all he could of what once was. As time rolled on past him he shrugged off the tides of history and played no part in them.

Until he was compelled at last to return to the cities and their people nearly a century later. It took the death of a stranger on the road to impart upon him some last echoing call to rejoin the world, one more mission to take a dying man's final words back to those who cared for him and loved him. Kaerun did as he was asked, and found himself unable to leave. He remained with the family until the last of them died away, working in and around the city to stay close to them until their bloodline ceased to be. A patron from the shadows … and a curse upon their house, for bad luck haunted them until their final day.

Cast adrift again, Kaerun attempted to turn his hand to a number of trades. But with each failed venture he grew less interested in remaining above the surface of society. When at last he lost hope of becoming that which he was not, he fell into the work of mercenaries, haunting battlefield after battlefield for the coin he needed to drink away the world. When he could bear it no longer he would retreat for decades into the wilds before returning, but even those were stripped away as the industry of man claimed what they'd long desired despite the objections of those who would resist them.

It was a fight Kaerun had no intention of rejoining, so he did nothing to stop it. And so the trap closed around him and he found himself locked into a life of war for lack of alternatives. Gradually the tales of his centuries of drifting blurred and lost cohesion, replaced by new memories little different from the old. Who he was and who he'd been were constant; all else was smoke and ashes. Where other elves of long life clung to their history and the ways of their dying culture, Kaerun had no part of it nor care for the preservation of his memories, and so even his own kind turned away from him.

Ten years ago he found himself on the field of battle against the Company of the Wolf during the Wars in the North, a group of warriors long feared by those with any sense about them. He found himself engaged in a brutal fight against overwhelming odds, and despite his skill he was overcome. But rather than take his life, an officer of the Company extended a hand and an offer of employment.

Without anything holding him to his slaughtered companions and defeated employer, he accepted the deal and hasn't found any cause to leave yet.

Denouement

Character Motivation
Much the same as the title of this section, Kaerun seeks little in life beyond passing the last stretch of his life's denouement without causing too much trouble for others. He's lived long and seen much, made mistakes and counts few victories to his name, and the weight of it bears down as the twilight of his life approaches.

He fights because he has failed at all else; no art has ever left his pen nor come to life beneath the stroke of his brush. He cannot sing, cannot play an instrument, cannot tell tales, and offers no comfort to others. He lives on because the only thing that seems darker than a few more centuries of life is the abyss that waits beyond it.

Significant Relations
Kaerun has a lifetime of associates and acquaintances but none he would call upon in times of need. Some days it feels as if the only companions who've stuck by him over the centuries of his life are those who mean him harm or harbor festering wounds he's inflicted upon them. In wilder days he could not count his children on two hands and could never remember all the names of their mothers … but if any yet live he's long since lost track of them.

Opinions on Others: (this space intentionally left blank)

[Lexicon]

@FantasyChic I agree. I think the party is largely set. Seems like a good time to talk about relationships between our characters. Maybe via PM?

[FantasyChic]

@Lexicon We got one more added, but yeah, sounds good. I'm sure it won't take up too much time.

[Hexaflexagon]

@Lucky Knight
Hello! Everything seems to be in Order and I also like the Character Concept. Having an older Elf will be interesting especially at his age in the 700 to death age range he's in the twilight years of his life and you don't see many elves of his age still kicking ass and taking names. haha. But yeah what can I say? Glen Cook is basically my standard go to source of inspiration when I'm looking to do a more mature and grounded fantasy experience.

Anyway he is accepted!

And it's with that I can say we are currently closed to new interest unless you've already spoken to me in the interest check or PM.

[Rockette]

Came home to an IC post, wonderful!
I placed Thdris in the character tab, I'll get to hashing out character opinions later on and such; having tomorrow off will give me loads of free time to do so.

[Terminal]

Working on first IC post.

[FantasyChic]

Hey I'm off of work tomorrow too!@Rockette Feels so good.

[Lucky Knight]

@Hexaflexagon
Hah. What was that Steven Erikson quote? Something about Cook's stuff being "like reading Vietnam fiction on peyote." Damn. Now I need to get back and finish the Books of the South. Kinda trailed off after the first one and feel suddenly very guilty!

[Lucky Knight]

@Terminal
Are those D'ni numerals in your avatar?

[Terminal]

@Terminal
Are those D'ni numerals in your avatar?

@Lucky Knight

Well spotted. I felt it was appropriate, with the D'ni and their literal worldbuilding theme.

[Lexicon]

I'm hoping to have Triala's intro post up by Sunday. Just a head's up, I do tend to post at a fairly slower rate than most. My work schedule is just all over the place. Still, I'm looking forward to this.

[Littlefinger]

I posted just now and attempted to start maybe a foundation of others' opinion on Connor and some more knowledge of Connor's abilities. If there is anything in my post that you find wrong, please let me know and I will immediately edit. Thanks.

EDIT: Oh and if I've missed someone in that mind wandering, let me know as well so I can add them in!

[Lexicon]

Added Triala's opinion of Connor into her CS. If anyone has any ideas or thoughts about their relationship with Ala just shoot me a PM.

[Littlefinger]

I've added Connor's opinion on Triala. Anyone else, judging by my post, adding opinion on Connor could PM me or simply put it up on their CS and I will go by what you've written as a guideline to what Connor's opinion of them would be. Any remarks you might have please let me know!

Thanks!