Count Cuddles — Roleplayer Guild

The fire before Cam flickered to and fro as the fatty pork's belly in the pan she held above it popped and boiled, sending bits of hot grease arching into the air, the small sting of it on her skin no longer bothered her, it was something you go use to.  Her eyes stared unfocused at the meal she was preparing, while her true focus was upon the peripheries of her vision.  Where danger was most likely to hide.

She didn't trust the people here at Palmyre, mainly because she found it a wise policy to not trust people in general. But those hear were desperate, foolish or crazy enough to search after some lost legend of peace and paradise, a right load if you asked her. But here she was as well, working of course, the Old Man Nocello paid well, and had been fair and kind thus far.  She would label him under 'Foolish', abandoning the safety and security of his tower and studies to what? Adventure the world at his age?  No she was sure he was simply guilty of never doing more to help others, or scared his life would end without seeing more of the world.  He wasn't so benevolent.

The sound of the canvas tent being moved aside alerted her to his approach, the tiger ears atop her head perking up for a moment at the stimulus before relaxing again.  He took fair and measure steps for someone his age, though he was always slow to wake in the morning, Old man had a habit of staying up late, probably picked up from watching the stars all his life.

As he sat upon a pillow beside where she crouched he sighed rubbing the sleep from his eyes.  

"I swear, there's no reason for the young to be up so early, you lot are always bustling about far to much for my taste." his hands moved from his eyes, fingers trailing down his face to grasp and comb through his beard.  "I suppose that it's excusable today, best to get moving through the desert before the sun reaches its apex."

The Fallen woman could only muster a grunt in response, at least for now.  She hadn't been sleeping well either, not because of the activity in camp, but because they had arrived earlier and stayed in the presence of others to long for her own liking.  And the old man preferred to stay in towns rather than the out doors.  Cam truly wished she never lived so long that she could not live out under the sky and among the wilds.

Name: Nocello Vyst
Age: 71
Race: Beorc
Gender: Male
Affiliated Nation: ‘Born of Begnion the only home I have known is Crimea, but alas I cannot devote myself to a single power for we all rest under the same stars, the same shared fate.’

Class: Mage
Inventory: Always carries with him a fire and Elwind tome with him for self defense. 
As well he makes sure to always have a telescope and tripod for star gazing and his star charts, both complete and one’s he is currently mapping.  As well as the tools need to do so. 
Incomplete Magic Tome: Nocello himself is still unsure what the final form of this spell will be, but it is a spell he has been working on for the majority of his life time, the tome is still unfinished and has no power as of yet.

Personality:  Nocello is a man of earnest and devoted study.  In this can be found his strongest character, and greatest faults. He has struggled his entire life to create meaningful connections with other people, largely due to a lack of trying, there was always something more important, more pressing. Thus he struggles empathizing with the common plights of others though he has a wealth of knowledge and experience. He also scoffs at the concept of your nation defining you or your beliefs, and believes all conflicts rise out of a foolish nationalistic pride that should not exist, as we all share presence under the same Divinity of the Stars. However if there is anything his long years of study have taught him, it is patience, and stubborn devotion.  There is no problem without a proper solution in his mind, and no question without an answer if one simply wishes to apply themselves, he believes self-worth lies not in contribution to a larger group, nor the acceptance of others but in knowing that you have pursued your own personal passion, whatever it may be. Loyalty to oneself and your goals should come before all else.
Despite all of his tendencies however, in his old age (though he does not wish to admit it himself) he has begun to question his solitude, and will not hesitate to share his knowledge with others, to help others if he has the tools to do so. What would have been the point of his pursuit all his life if that information just sat on the pages of a tome so few would read? This often comes off as a strict, almost lecture like dispensing of information that may seem harsh, but comes from a good place.

Background:  
Nocello was born in Begnion, to a religious sect that believed in ‘A Divinity hidden in the Stars.’ This group stuck largely to itself, observing the stars and studying ancient tomes, however eventually the ‘heretical view’ was eventually forced out of the Theocratic country, it fled to Crimea, when he was only 17, and reestablished itself there.  This experience led him to have a great distrust and even disdain for others outside his sect for many years, viewing them as ignorant and savage, scared of new ideas and hateful of those that pursued newer and greater knowledge.  

This view only caused him to retreat further into his own research, devoting every night to observing the stars, every morning studying his people’s archives and sleeping only when he had to.   

In the stars he searched for the answers to the countless questions of the world, he searched for the very face of the Divine Being among them, the keys to solving the strife and suffering of the world.

In his many years he has even began writing his own magical tome, the nature of the magic even still a mystery to himself, he simply feels he is being ‘guided by the stars’ in this endeavor.  

As he has grown older however he has realized that he has very few memories outside the library or his observatory, and several months ago he noted something in the night sky, a star seemed to call from the horizon, drawing him there.  Towards the deserts of Hatari, he has gathered his research materials and struck out on a pilgrimage now.  To unravel the mysteries in the stars, experience the world he has so long ignored and perhaps find what he has lacked in his long life.

Already on his journey he has witnessed many things that only assured him that the world was in terrible shape, villages with hungry children, cities cramped and filthy, farmers turned to banditry and it has only steeled him in his drive to take his knowledge and do true good with it, has resolved him to finally affect the world he has ignored for so long.

The pictures size is big but this is the one i found i liked.

Name: Cam Yasha

Age: 34

Race: Laguz (Fallen)

Gender: Female

Affiliated nation: “I don’t care, I was born in a dark Daein dungeon full of others who had all their rights taken away to be sold off and held in a different dark dungeon somewhere.  No one came, I owe no one my allegiance aside from myself and those that have put coin in my purse.”

Class: Myrmidon

Inventory: Iron Sword, a number of small throwing knives and a short dagger.  Cam’s life is carried in the pack on her back. A bedroll for winter, other wise she lays out under the stars on a thin blanket. Her coin purse, a length of rope and small pouches of spices and basic herbal medicines.

Personality: Cam is as abrasive as sand paper, and about as trusting as she is abrasive.  To her the world is not black and white, but it is not gray, it is simply black.

A pessimist in all things, do not count on her to ever offer up the pleasant suggestion to get out of a situation, only the most direct way. And sadly if you aren’t the one paying her, or if that amount isn’t worth sticking around, don’t expect her to have your back all that well.
She does not enjoy cities, or towns, or villages, essentially she doesn’t enjoy being around people, and tries to avoid it where she can, preferring being alone and out doors.   The stars in the sky are more comforting to her than the presence of another person.

She has an intense distrust of everyone, Beorc and Laguez, the Beorc because Beorc used her as a toy for their amusement, Laguez because none ever came to help her.   Both are equally pathetic and self-serving.

‘Species doesn’t matter, the strong will exert themselves to live comfortably, and the weak will bend at the knee and kiss the ground the strong walk upon in order to survive, that is the order of things. Don’t let anyone try to high road you into thinking it’s any different. We’re all equally depraved.’

It’s very possible to say that she no longer wishes to be close to others but the truth is she is often alone, craving others but as she has never known companionship she herself does not understand this want. However no matter what she always ends up walking into a town somewhere, telling herself she needs work… and always taking her sweet time to find it.

Background: Cam was born in a dark and moldy dungeon in the fort of a Daein noble who was in the business of catering to other nobles rather exotic tastes.  

She never knew her mother, she never knew a people, she never knew a country.  

The first half of her life was spent being bought, used in unspeakable ways, sold when they were bored, bought again, used again, sold again, bought again, used again, sold again, bought, used, sold, bought used sold.

She wasn’t sure how many times.

She has had two children, and never held either. 

The day fire claimed the forest, the town and the fort where she ‘lived’ was the first time she felt ‘fortune’ in her life.  The first day she stepped fully into the light without shackles. And though she was lost with no where to go, those first breaths, with smoke in the air, burning ash under her toes, she was free and in control. 

It was terrifying, it was paralyzing but after she took the first step, then another, she was running, and she didn’t stop, she was worried, her face felt strange, the muscles moved in a way she had never felt, and when she collapsed tired at the side of a river to drink, she saw something new upon her face.

A smile, and for the first time in life she understood.  With as terrible as the world was, there was still joy. The joy of choosing which direction she would walk, the joy of knowing there was no she needed to be, nothing and no one she needed to please.  Accept herself.

It took time, but slowly she learned to survive, slowly through many fights she lost and paid for behind bars and back alleys she learned how to defend herself, then fight and win.   

She has never lingered anywhere to long, met many people, but made no friends.  Though you are sure to find a few people with fond memories of one kind or another with her, she has never bothered committing others to memory.  

Recently an old man wished to employ her services as a body guard in his travels to Hatari, though at first she refused that night her thoughts and dreams were saturated with the image of a sprawling desert, with something in or beyond those sands calling her. She accepted the job the next day and has traveled the continent with him. 

She has seen this old man try to dispense help to others with knowledge and good nature, sparing coin where he could, to her it is both alien and in her mind a farce.  If he really wanted to help others he would have done it decades ago.

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