Valaryon
53
Gender: Male
Race: Elf of the dark elven variety
Appearance: Valaryon's probably most notable feature is his long, white hair that makes him look like an elderly person if one doesn't know better about its cause. Once turning one's eyes away from that and onto his face one will inevitably notice that his skin is far away from the pale kind of his ordinary elven brothers, but clearly exhibits the gray-ish taint that comes with his magic practice. It does not show any imperfections such as scars yet though. Valaryon's eyes look normal just like his pointy ears, but he can turn the former into striking spots of dimly glowing orbs if he wants to.
Valaryon's exceptionally tall with just being shy of seven feet and six inches. He does not look extremely broad at all, but once he takes off his gear a well developed layer of muscle will reveal itself still. He comes in at a staggering weight, but that might also be the reason why he doesn't like to talk about it.
Valaryon's gear makes a rather improvised impression: The shield is slightly buckled, the chainmail appears to have been assembled by merging several smaller pieces into a larger one and the thick leather underneath it has obviously been in need of patching more than once.
Personality:Valaryon has been living a rather secluded life for most of his time so far and that has clearly left his traces. He's a rather obvious introvert that prefers remaining calm and silent more often than he dares to raise his voice. It would be unfair to consider him to be an evil person per se, but it's safe to say that he can be a bit reckless when it's about achieving goals. Speaking of friendship... that is rather hard to obtain in his case, but whoever does can count on him as a very loyal companion in the end. He's intelligent, but prefers staying away from arrogance and too much egoism. One can have a personal plan without bragging about it.
Strengths:- Dangerous: Valaryon's offensive and defensive capabilities can be considered significant. He's no master with the sword, but has a lot of self-taught experience with it. What makes him probably more troublesome than that for his foes is the fact that he can hurl a broad variety of spells at them that can nag at their very soul, make armor corrode and rations rot at visible speed or cause rapid illness. Given his rather heavy armor, he is by far not entirely defenseless against physical attacks either.
- Healer: Dark magic is not only a source of death, decay and curses, but also holds some keys to counteracting those. The big issue is however that the methods are less than usual, like, for example, instead of applying a bandage and administering a complicated potion, you can also just 'borrow' some life of a more healthy volunteer in order to save someone else's life, subsequently allowing both to recover.
- Beast: You thought elves are fragile and can't win a bar fight ? In Valaryon's case you might have to think twice...
Weaknesses:- Reviled: At least in the presence of any elves, Valaryon is pretty much unable to use his magic without triggering quite a lot of negative attention. Elves and those sharing at least some of their ideals might at least frown upon recognizing his unusually dark skin, suspecting he might be a practitioner of the dark arts.
- Hulking: It is said that most elves are lithe and fast, but he is quite the opposite. Stealth, agility and speed are clearly not his forte and you don't want him standing on that rickety bridge for too long, probably.
- Poor: An unsteady income has been a problem for many years. Cheap or stolen has to be good enough more often than not.
- Slow magic: The kind of magic Valaryon does is rather one of preparation and patience. While it is certainly powerful, it's not suited for fast offensive moves and therefore much less useful against small, fast enemies than it is against larger, more sturdy targets.
Brief bio:For the first two decades or so it seemed pretty much as if Valaryon's life would turn out to have been set in stone from the very beginning. His parents were caring, but they were also demanding. From him, they demanded that he would keep up the family's pride and heritage of being scholars well reknown throughout elven lands. He was to become a mage, but not for actually doing things out in the field as most others or for entertaining people as some others, but for the sake of bookshelves and theoretical development.
That was not what Valaryon was in the mood for, however. He could see the importance that someone just had to do the job he was pushed to go for, but he could not see why it had to be him. Still he agreed to join the academy and begin studies -- not because he liked the prospects, but because he was afraid of the consequences that were bound to confront him if he didn't. That was only as long as he had not met
them yet though. 'Them' as they indeed called themselves as sort of a code name was a an organization within the academy, a student's association that preferred working in the secret. The academy was perfect the perfect place for them as any other institution that focused more on practical applications would not keep around so many dirty secrets in locked away libraries elven society would frown upon if put to any actual use.
The talk was about necromancy and what elves call 'dark magic' in general. Nobody of 'them' actually was eager to use it solely for hurting people, but any discovery of their practitioning, no matter the purpose, would have put them on the priority list for being expelled. Upon seeing what they could do during a clandestine rendezvous though, he joined them anyway. It was an escape route for his otherwise pretty dreary situation.
Things went well both with his official studies and with is inofficial ones, but only as long as the latter remained undiscovered. A schoolboy mistake, a brief moment of not covering his altered skin properly with a firm layer of make-up ended both careers all at once. 'Them' of course couldn't do anything to help him officially, nor could they prevent his family or other friends from breaking bonds with him. He received some support during his transition -- or rather descent -- into dark elven society, but after that he was to help himself and somehow make a living again.
Valaryon did. As of now he has become sort of a mercenary and self-made adventurer suffering from an unstable income, but enjoying how his horizons widen as he gets to know more and more parts of the world.
Other:Nothing so far.
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