Member
Brother Aurelion
Character Summary
Name: Aurelion Fenyir
Titles: Abbot of Wadi el Natrun (formerly) Abbot of Alma Alswhari (Currently)
Aliases: the Brown Abbot, the Black Brother, the Renegade Monk, Seneschal of the Desert, the Infidel of Penault
Age:121 y/o
Race/Ethnicty: Human
Continent of Origin: Penault
Gender: Male
Class/Subclass: Black Monk, Abbot
Stats
Strength:14
Dexterity:9
Constitution:10
Intelligence:19
Wisdom:20
Charisma:3
Physical Attributes
Height: 6'6 feet
Weight:235 lbs
Appearance Description: Brother Aurelion is a tall, regal man with white hair and a balding head. He dons a whisky, long, white beard and puffy whiskers. He limps to the right side of his body and is blind on the left eye. He has a constant, catatonic frown on his face, though his expression rarely speaks of his true emotions. He is often seen with spectacles and has trouble talking for long periods, often going completely hoarse after an hour of speaking.
Day To Day Attire: Brother Aurelion is very conservative in his way of dressing and likes taking a simple brown robe and corded belt. He ties prayer beads to his belt and sometimes wears a hooded cloak when it's hot. He is never seen without his crosier and only lets go of it when he sits down. He always carries blueprints, books and manuscripts under his skirt.
Strengths:
- skilled architect
- talented engineer
- natural healer and miracle caster
- iron willed
- holy perseverance
- deceptively sneaky strategist
Weaknesses:
- he's old
- very slow
- blind on one eye
- bad hearing
- has a limp
- terrible diplomat
Psychological Attributes
Sardonic * Miserly * Strict * Cunning
Sexuality: Heterosexual
Relationship: Celibate
Personality: Brother Aurelion is very miserly and economic man. Having grown up and currently living in modesty, he is very frugal when it comes to resources, but often gives more than he wants. He is quick to react though and poises to strike using cheap, but effective tactics when he feels his flock is threatened.
Brother Aurelion loves drinking tea and discussing matters of food and religion with his men. He takes them on countless patroling missions around his camp and his faithfulness and strong will had earned him the loyalty of his Desert Men-at-arms. Despite his physical weaknesses, when cornered, the old monk tends to fight back with the nastiest of tactics. Bashing you senseless then pushing you off a balcony (there's a story on this)
Brother Aurelion is a very studious and austere man. Despite his age, he entertains himself with books and manuscripts in an almost child-like excitement. He is rarely seen without a tea-gourd and congregates with his brothers and congregation daily to say mass in the morning, continue camp fortifications at noon and supper at evening.
He is often seen drifting on the outskirts of camp looking at plants and rocks in his spare time. He occasionally brings samples of rock and plant to study and plans to introduce new materials and resources to produce, rarely to any fruition. He is obsessed with protecting his congregation and often spends countless hours overnight revising fortification blueprints and gaurd schedules and often patrols the outskirts himself.
Habits:
- Heavy tea drinker
- wanders around aimlessly
- fidgety
- bookish
Hobbies: architecture and design, strategy and tactics, economics, philosophy and religion, statecraft and politics, and tea
Fears:
- the slaughter of his flock
- the fall of his abbey and religion
- visions of a dark empire (his prophecy turned phobia)
Likes:
- tea
- reading
- studying
- lecturing
- tinkering
- preaching
Dislikes:
- infidels
- diplomacy
- coffee
- the sound of iron chinking
- gramatical errors
- know-it-alls
Skills
A learned and curious soul, he craves for knowledge. In his plans to siege one Penualtish county, he said the first resource he is to raid are the books and ink.
- Architecture and Design: He built the Desert Abbey of Alma Alshwari as a permanent camp and fortification for his flock. He employed masons, carpenters, and builders to construct castle-like ramparts and lookout towers that encircles his camp.
- Engineering: As a young monk, Aurelion Fenyir was tasked with a crossbow design that can have bolts capable of penetrating armor. He did just that, and from then on, has been designing and perfecting his weaponry.
- Military Strategy and Tactics: When he was forced out to exile, he had to shake some bad men off his tail. He mustered up brave men armed with nothing but staves and candlestick holders and applied guerrilla tactics to fight the men back. The day after, the people who sent the men never heard from them again.
- Demagoguery: Though anything but charismatic, the old monk speaks the truth and knows how to apply it to a mass effect. He captivated his flock by reading a few verses off his scripture.
- Master Economist: Having run his former abbey to riches, the old monk knows a to weave gold out sand and stone. He places up markets and outposts outside his camp walls and sells his trades to passing merchants. Having positioned his camp in the middle a bustling trade route, business is always good.
- Healer and Miraclist: Being a monk, he knows the eldritch forces that run this world. He is able to purify these dark forces into something beneficial. The center of his faith is based on this ability to weave good-forces out of bad ones.
He can also do the opposite, by channeling the faith of his congregation into a catalyst and releasing it as a flaming bolt or molten lake.
Magic
First and foremost, Brother Aurelion is human. His is not a magical entity. He, like many other humans, is not born magical. Humans can only learn magic, or it's manipulation, via years of practice and knowledge. As an intern, Aurelion had to complete his doctorate in Divine Arts. Prior to his exile, he graduated with flying colors and his education is now the base of his spellcraft and miracles.
- Desert Wind: It is a spell he learned from the desert nomads and calls upon a desert zephyr to cast strong, soothing winds that can relieve plagues and afflictions. This desert wind does, however, carry sand all over the place, limiting vision.
Casting time: 3 seconds
Cast duration: 10-25 seconds
Components: Verbal exhortation with offering for zephyr (i.e chickens, goats, crops)
Increased heal bonus 20%-35%
Felxible: Can be cast anywhere so as long there is earth and sediment. Heal varies on area:
Plains and Grassland: 20% heal bonus
Snow and Tundra: 25% heal bonus
Desert and Barrens: 30%-35% heal bonus
"After befriending a few zephyrs, Brother Aurelion has earned their favor." - Sandstorm: Uses the same techniques and conjuration as Desert Wind although the summoned zephyr is offered nothing. This more often enrages the zephyr and causes a sandstorm that blinds those going against the wind's direction.
Casting time: 3 seconds
Cast duration: 10-25 seconds
Components: Verbal exhortation with no offering to zephyr.
Blinds for the whole duration.
Felxible: Can be cast anywhere so long there is earth and sediment. Duration varies on area:
Plains and Grassland: 10 second blind
Snow and Tundra: 15 second blind
Desert and Barrens: 20 to 25 second blind
"...Though he hasn't befriended them all..." - Dimitic Chant: An ancient song of the Dimitic monks. Sung to increase vision over the desert and increase hastiness.
Casting time: indefinite (for as long as the brothers chant)
Components: verbal exhortation
Increases vision and speed by 45% and 30%, respectively.
"After singing this chant repetitively for decades, it is one of the many reasons he is hoarse." - Miracle of Taa Cali: In grave situations, the monk reads from his scriptures the miracle of Saint Taa Cali. Once read aloud, the reader and anyone around him is turned temporarily into blocks stone, making the spell a perfect camouflage. These stones have one caveat though: they can be broken, often killing the camouflaged individual.
Casting Time: 5-9 seconds (depending on no. of people)
Components: Verbal
"A devotee to the Saint of the Dunes, he has earned the right to her protection..." - Arms, Forward!: The monk's men are so loyal to him, that they have developed a psychic link to him. Under the monk's orders, his men will come rushing, as if pulled by a force, towards a target location with their weapons on arms. The only drawback is if not timed properly, his men can end up hurting each other.
Casting Time: 2 seconds for each soldier
Components: Non-verbal, point to direction
Damage: 15 per soldier
Telepathic: Applies to allies, creatures and men-at-arms
"We live to serve you, Brother! -Men at arms" - Pillars of Stone: Having learned eldritch spells over his time in the desert, he has found ancient carvings on which he can manipulate the stones under the sand. He can raise up multiple pillars in front of him but makes the ground beneath the pillars give way, causing deep and treacherous chasms.
Casting Time: 7 seconds
Components: Verbal with hand motion
Damage: 30 (Stone pillar) 90 (chasm pit)
Limited:Only available in Penault or desert areas
The Saint of the Dunes is very protective of her followers... - Excorcise: Every monk knows how to exorcise a demon. Aurelion, however, can exercise so efficiently, he can actually rip one of his or her soul. This can be used to cast out demons but has a high risk of casting out the individual's souls along with it.
Casting Time: Ritualistic, 2 minutes
Components:Hand movement, scripture, and verbal exhortations
Damage: Heals for 40 Damages for 15, dispells and purifies
"Oh, dear... well, let's just shove him back in somehow... -Brother Aurelion, after his first trial excorcism" - Miracle of Brother Aurelion: The old monk relies on the faith of his flock to maintain his powers. In times of need, his flock can fall on their knees to pray as Brother Aurelion channels their faith to cast an impenetrable barrier that disguises and protects the area around them. There is one caveat; should the flock lose their faith, the barrier will die.
Casting Time: 30 mins - 1 hour (depending on size of believers)
Cast duration: indefinite (depending on faith)
Components: believers, catalyst, verbal exhortations, and location
Limited: Only available if faithful flock is nearby
"Faith is the people. Faith is you, my faithful!"
Possessions
- Writing Material: He owns a few measures of parchment, a quill and a vial of ink. He uses his letter opener to score lines and split large peices of parchment.
- Drinks: He also carries around a canteen of water which he heats by burying in the sand and a gourd and tea grounds.
- Scriptures: He is often seen studying his books and manuscripts while writing down his own. They are rolled into his knapsack.
- Knapsack: Contains bread, cheese and sometimes sausage for consumption. He also brings along milk and dates.
- Glasses: He carries around spectacles that can be adjusted by pumping water into it's clear membrane.
- Crioser Thick, blunt staff used for walking. It's engraved with the words "ahbra alaahaziz" and is a symbol of his authority as Abbot and Dymovogue
- Cane SUsed for walking within the absence of his crioser.
- Iron Canteen A drinking vessel that can be flailed around
- letter opener Used to cut parchment, but good enough as a small dagger.
- Leather sling His only real weapon, and he is quite profficient with it.
- Cloak Black linen cloak, good for nighttime camouflage and very comfortable.
- Leather tunic Worn under the robe for protection against sharp attacks and acts as a cassock.
Pack Contents:
- Samovar For heating up water and tea at night and carrying extra water.
- small adze For digging trenches and and collecting samples when out on the desert.
Magical Items:
- Holy Scriptures Contains the spells and miracles he has learned. Has no power in itself and the spell do not work unless recited aloud in particular tones.
- Heart of the Desert The skull of the former Abbot he succeeded, it is now a catalyst for influx of faith into magical power. It is bound with leather cords and bites down on prayer beads.
Potions:
- Black Tea A good kick in the back every morning. Gives stamina and speed.
- Milk Tea Mellow and sweet. Makes healing more effective.
- Desert Sidewinder Tea Increases vision over the desert, but makes you a little tipsy.
Creation Materials:
- Charred snake skin for sidewinder tea
- Black tea grounds tea base and alertness factor ingredient for black tea
- Camel Milk base for milk tea and anti-flatulant
- Cactus Alkaine healing factor ingredient of milk tea
- Sidewinder venom vision component for side winder tea
- Samovar To heat up ingredients
History
Not much is known about the third Desert Father. Aurelion Fenyir was only known as an abbot, then later one of the four Desert Fathers of the Dimitic Faith. He studied engineering and was poised to become an architect before he devoted himself to the cloister. Now he leads the second largest Dimitic Basilica housed in an abbey he built in exile. He called this abbey Alma Alswhari which meant "Desert Monastery" and it soon grew to be a bustling town within a fortress in itself.
Before becoming a Desert Father though, he was Abbot of Wadi el Natrun of the Penualtish Peninsula. He cultivated Dimitism in Penualt up until it's Golden age in 102 Age of Owl. It came to become so large that it contested the Elven Faith in Penault.
This, later on, was the reason he was exiled. An excerpt from an old record explains as follows:
The Dimitic monks once lived in peace in the Eyalet of a Penaultish Empire. They where the devotees to the Desert Saint, Taa Kali. Around this time, a monk of considerable influence rose to power. He gained favor from the then Emperor to build a Cathedral for Dimitic Faithful in the central pyre.
The Cathedral flourished over the years and even rivaled the nearby Temple, both in the number of believers and grandeur. This was the golden age of Dimitism in the Penaultish Empire, and soon enough, the monk responsible was made abbot of his monastery. He oversaw the production of candles, prayer beads and books, and fortifications throughout the abbey.
The high priests, however, did not look upon this kindly. They criticised the Emperor and his decision to disgrace their home religion. The Emperor just brushed them aside, far too preoccupied with trade and economics. The high priests, filled up to their heads with anger, conspired with the officials and military men of the east to assassinate the Emperor and rid the Penaultish Empire of the infidels once and for all.
On a bleak, dreary night; one of the high priest's rogues climbed up the emperor's study. Hidden in the black of his silk and the black of the night, the assassin plunged a saber into the emperor's throat, thus ending him.
After a decisive forced abdication, the high priests took over and hunted down the Dimits like dogs. As the monks, brothers and the faithful who survived retreated and took sanctuary in the Cathedral, the abbot planned their escape. They armed themselves with whatever they had: staves, stick, dirks, and candleholders. They fought bravely and barely escaped with their lives. The high priests' men then razed the cathedral, tore down the minarets and cloisters and cracked the bells and grails.
Outcast into the night, the brothers sought solace and meditated in the desert. They were wise men and took comfort in the fact that a faith is not a structure, nor a name. Faith was the people who remained faithful, even in the most trying times. The high priests may think they have eradicated the Dimits, but as long as the men and women who carry the cross and spirit within them live, the Faith lives on with them...
~~~
After establishing his abbey, Brother Aurelion launched a feat none like any other monk his rank has attempted. With the permission of the Paprusogue and his papal bull addressed to his project, he began his experiments. They circled around the hypothesis of incorruptibility. They wanted to find a method of immortality, but first, they had to find out what could preserve flesh and bone indefinitely.
Aurelion started his studies and after a while hypothesized that a constant influx of flesh, blood, minerals and other forces was needed to preserve a body even after post-mortem without the use of flesh softening acids. This experiment failed and the desert geko corpse they used only lasted a week before it started to rot again.
Brother Aurelion then hypothesized that the flesh needed a central force of perpetual motion to keep blood, air, and minerals flowing. Although beyond the papal bull assigned to him, Brother Aurelion decided to use faith or eldrichicity. He extended his papal bull to the Paprusogue to do experiments on human corpses, but he did not include the use of magic in the request...
After approval was sent, Aurelion began his trial. He pumped the dead man's body with all the essentials and attempted to recreate the perpetual motion within all living things to preserve the body. After grueling work and hours of arcane incantation, the monk finally succeeded. The corpse stayed fresh and flexible even after a month.
Aurelion considered this a success, until one night, he found something odd. The corpse breathes. It groaned on the first day and took gasps of air on the third. By the end of the first month, the corpse had opened his eyes and began emoting. One night in the laboratory, as Brother Aurelion cleaned out his vials and tubes, he felt the presence of a person behind him. To his horror, it was the corpse fully animated. It stood there and the old monk couldn't muster even the faintest of gasps. Before him stood a homonculi em ter condiscendi, a false homunculus. Fearing the worse, he grabbed his crosier and bludgeoned the homunculus till kingdom come. This only enraged it as it came for the abbot. To defend himself, the monk had to kill what he created. He forced it back to the edge of the balcony and pushed it off. It fell to the hard sandstone below, but even with it's spine split and its skull cracked open, it stood up.
The abbot then ordered his men to capture the homunculus and subdue it in a large bell jar filled with acid. It was to stay there until the monks found a way to kill it for sure. But before the hot arrid sun climbed up the sky, the jar was found broken in the morning. Reports came that the homunculus escaped and was last seen heading for the outskirts of Vicelles.
Extras
Quote: As long as you have warm beverage by your lip and faith by your hip, everything will fall in place.
The Black Monks' Chant: youtube.com/watch?v=eP52SxhgikE
Anything Else: Peace to Penault and prayers skyward for our common ground.
NOTE: The Desert Fathers are the leader of the Dimitic Faith. The Paprusogue is the high leader followed by the two Dymovogues who are his auxiliaries and the Strygovogue is the evangelical arm of the Faith. Brother Aurelion is one of the current Dymovogues.
Alma Alswhari:
Map of Alma Alswhari:
