ButtsnBalls
AlteredTundraCharacter Theme – Rise of Valor
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Roven is a tall individual with wide, broad shoulders, with a barreled chest, and large, thick arms from years of strenuous training and surviving almost in solitary for a large portion of his life. He has a messy blond main that goes to the mid-point of his back, with a small unkempt beard growing on his face. His eyes are stark blue that look like pits of ice, and just as cold. He wears a tattered hauberk under leather armor, wolf-fur cloak, and a worn red scarf around his neck, which he sometimes lifts up to cover the lower half of his face when the northern chill goes below freezing.
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【Full Name】
Roven Vasili
【Alias】
The Wanderer
【Gender】
Male
【Age】
27
【Sexuality】
Heterosexual
【Birth Place】
Sovereign
【Nation/Allegiance】
Kingdom of Vasili
【Profession】
Nomad hunter
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【Personality】
Roven is as cold as the freezing north that he lives in. He never talks, mostly because he can't, and he is always glowering down at strangers. Having lived a harsh life has caused Roven to go nearly bereft of all his emotions, however his adopted daughter is the only one that can bring the lights of joy into his eyes. This doesn't mean that he's a rude person, he's actually quite hospitable to strangers who come by him, but he is reserved and aloof.
Along with being cold, Roven is as stubborn as a rock. If he sets his mind on something, it would take a lot to make him change his mind, and again only his daughter seems to have the capability of doing this. Some of the times. He sees that there is strength in being stubborn, he rationalizes with himself that one that changes their mind like a lone leaf at the mercy of the shifting wind, is weak of mind and heart, able to be taken over by others physically and mentally.
Above all, Roven is patient. If there's one word to describe him, it would be patience. Often people who come across him compare him to a mountain, not because of his size, but because he's stubborn, cold, and patient like a mountain wearing human flesh. This also makes him a great hunter, he can sit in one position waiting for the perfect kill for hours with barely a shift of unease if need be, having been taught the strict lesson of discipline from a young age. His patience also keeps him as a calm and collected individual, allowing him to rationalize and be a sort of pragmatic person. He believes emotions that play a role in making decisions is a sign of weakness, and keeps it out as much as possible.
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【History】
Roven was born to House Vasili, and is the nephew to King Barius. As a child, he was pampered for the first few years of his life, until his mother - King Barius's sister - decided that a pampered young man would do no good for the kingdom, and since she wanted him to be a major player in court, she began hiring the best tutors and trainers to teach him both discipline and responsibility. Those years were harsh on the young Roven. Having gone from a life of being pampered to being scolded on a nearly minute-by-minute basis was something that was hard for him to swallow at first. It wasn't until his father had a heart to heart with him, and told him that he needed to become a man, that he became more staunch and more receptive of his education and training.
Giving learning a try for once, Roven learned that he was fond of war tactics and strategy, and although at first he was weak in the subject, he had with him a tutor who was just as fond of it as he was teaching it, and he explained tactics and strategy to Roven in ways that would open his young mind, and in turn making him more clever. In the training grounds, Roven was strong and quite good with the sword, but he found he preferred the bow and arrow a lot more, even though he was horrible with it. Again Roven hit a stroke of luck as his archery master was a patient man, and often took Roven out hunting with a large party of guards close by in order to teach Roven a more authentic method of using the bow. However this only lasted for half a year until they came upon a rather large group of the infected. Although, unharmed, Roven was shaken by the experience, and half of the guards were either killed by the plague-infected men or killed before they could turn. Afterwards, he was confined from leaving beyond High Town, which he agreed with fully.
At the age of seventeen, Roven's mother became gravely ill, and his father had been killed by his guards several years before after accidentally drinking contaminated water. He stayed by his mother's side most of that time, foregoing his responsibilities in court and his lessons. It was also a time that he had gotten very close with his mother. He would spend the whole day sitting on a stool by her side, and they would talk throughout that day, and she would share stories of her younger days when she was more adventurous. It was during this time that he learned his mother used to be a high ranking officer in the army until she found out she was pregnant with him. Several months later, as she approached the gates of death, she gave him the longbow that she used in her youth as a gift. A few days later, while he was attending the funeral of his mother, King Barius offered to take him in out of respect for his sister, but Roven humbly refused, saying that he was going to go find his calling outside of the city. Although he could see the King didn't quite agree with his decision, he was glad that he didn't bring it up again.
He took a few days to say his goodbyes to his tutors, trainers, and his close friends at court. Once it was all done, he took the bow his mother had given him, a quiver of arrows and set off on his own towards other parts of the kingdom. He traveled to several cities and smaller villages, never staying in one place for more than two years, making a living off of hunting, which earned him a good amount of coin since the plague caused a decrease of food stores. Things changed for him, when at the age of twenty one, Roven met his would-be wife, Liralta, a woman belonging to the northern tribes. He had been hunting in a dense thicket when he was ambushed by a group of recently infected individuals and one of them managed to bite his tongue after lunging at him randomly, tearing a small piece off from it. Confused and dazed, he tried to escape, but found himself surrounded, until a woman came seemingly from out of nowhere and took down the infected with ease, lopping their heads off and dancing through them like a stage actress with her axe and dagger.
Once she was done killing the infected, she went over to him, pulled his tongue from his mouth and cut it out of his mouth before he could do anything. When he woke up, he found himself in a strange tent, with his mouth strangely empty. He then realized that his tongue was missing, and stood up enraged at what the tribesmen did to him. Looking around and found a spear at the side of the tent, grabbed it and went out, rampaging through the tribe's encampement and managed to injure several of the tribesmen before he was pinned down by Liralta. She explained to him, in a broken accent that had she left the tongue inside his mouth, he would have become infected and he would have lost all hope of a cure. He didn't like what he heard, but he accepted it nonetheless. Then after something that sounded like snarling and snapping, the tribesmen turned away from Roven and went about their business, but they made sure to go out of their way to glower at him or insult him in their strange language whenever they came across him.
He spent several years among them and although he could no longer speak, he learned to understand their strange language and lived amongst them, hunting in the woods with Liralta for game to feed the tribe. Eventually, the tribesmen came to accept Roven, some even befriending him, and he married Liralta. Roven recalls those years as the years that shaped him into the man he was. The tribesmen were harsh, rough, and nothing like civilized people. Living in the open at the mercy of nature made them tough and hardy, and it rubbed off on him. Once while in a cave with Liralta during a particular nasty blizzard, he heard a cry coming from the snowstorm, but he passed it off as only the wind. Then it came again, closer, and it sounded like a child. Liralta stood and went into the blizzard, despite his protests, and he followed her. There they found an injured young girl no more than nine years old. They brought her in with them to the cave, and Liralta tried her best to nurse the young girl back to health.
It took several days for the blizzard to pass, and when it did, they took the girl back to the tribe where they gave her to the shaman to be healed properly. While the girl was being healed, Liralta brought up the topic of adopting her since she was barren and incapable of conceiving. Roven, although liking the idea, was on the fence because the girl might have had parents of her own. When they found out her parents were killed by those infected from the plague, they adopted her.
Then the plague hit the tribe, and it hit hard. Roven was in his tent with his family when four infected attacked them, two going for, Evelyn, their daughter. Both stood, their parental instincts overtaking them, and he watched as Liralta jumped on an infected with nothing but a small dagger, and he watched horrified as two more came through the tent flap and bit into her back, causing her to fall from the infected she was on. He made to protect his wife and child but he realized two were on his flank, and while he was fighting them with a small axe, he watched horrified as the infected overtook his wife, eating her flesh right off her bones. Wrought with grief and anger, Roven went for his greatsword and killed most of the infected, leaving one which was on top of his daughter, trying to bite her neck. Then he watched as Evelyn turned into an eagle and flew off in a flurry of feathers. Both he and the infected creature were stunned for a moment, until Roven shook himself and killed the thing while it looked dumbly at its empty hands.
Immediately after killing the creature, he ran out of the tent and found his daughter in the snow a few yards away, her face white and fearful. He brought her back in and after a few silent hours, they buried Liralta where she died, leaving a small rock to mark her grave, burned what was left of the infected, and left, Roven taking the red scarf his late wife wore around his neck. The following morning, he found that most of the tribe had been infected and had ran off, only the shaman and a few other warriors remaining. They told him they would be heading to a sister tribe and that he should go with them, but he refused, saying he was going back to Sovereign to fight the plague. Then the shaman offered to travel with them after explaining that she saw Evelyn turn into a bird. He agreed, and as they traveled back to his home, the shaman taught his daughter how to master her shape shifting and take control of it. Once she was adept enough the shaman turned into a giant white bear and left them, opting to live a solitary life until the plague had ended.
During their travels into the outlying cities of the kingdom, Roven heard that his uncle was gathering a team to fight the plague at the Cross Roads, and seeing his opportunity to rid the world of the blight, he headed for the major town.
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【Skills and Abilities】
Roven is a master with the long bow. He can draw and release, then draw again within the span of a couple of seconds. Years of training and hunting have been his master, and living in the wilds have honed his muscles to the peak of his physical abilities, allowing him feats that would raise eyebrows. He is also well trained in how to use the greatsword, although he admits to himself that he isn't as good as he should be, but he knows in a fight, he can hold himself and if not attack, then at least defend himself well enough from getting killed. Along with these two is his brute strength. Roven is a large man, hard to miss, and his muscles are as solid as rock with strength to match his size, and rigorous self discipline have given him feats of strength that would be considered by some impossible.
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【Weapons/Tools and Magic】
Weapons/Tools
- Ornate Long Bow.
- Greatsword.
- Quiver of arrows.
- A small pack stuffed with gauze and alcohol.
Magical Spells
Roven personally doesn't possess any magical abilities, but his adopted daughter, Evelyn does, and she's able to shape-shift into an eagle for a short time. Although taught by the shaman of her tribe, she isn't as adept as she would like to be and hopes to find a tome or book detailing more about the magic.
Awesome character, and you have a really decent standard of writing. However there are unfortunately a couple of issues regarding the timeline; the infection is a very recent thing, and was only spotted seven weeks ago. This isn't your fault, its mine, as I forgot to include that piece of information in the details. So massive apologies!
Also, the investigation team (The Consano) will be restricted number wise simply because of resources. There would have to be a good reason for Sir Chester and Lady Buxton to allow your character's daughter to come along. If you can think of a decent reason that would convince me, then let me know and get working on a short CS for her. I wouldn't expect a big CS for her because her history is mostly included in Roven's, but just let us know a bit more about her appearance, personality, abilities, etc.
I hope this doesn't put you off! I've also added a bit more detail about the plague, as well as some info about hierarchy in the Kingdom.