âââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââViktor Tharkk
âââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââââ What is your name?
Viktor Thark
How old are you?
Nineteen
What is your gender?
Male
What do you wish to be?
A Mage
What are your skills?
I possess the ability to weave the winds of magic to my command and shape them to my will. As a wizard the laws of nature themselves bend to my will. If that is not sufficiently impressive to you than there is nothing else I can say that would be of interest.
I can craft poulitces, potions, salves and dabble in alchemy as do many in my profession. Though these are admittedly not my forte.
But you are probably asking about my 'other' set of skills. Wondering like the rest of the gawking fools if the rumours are true.... Well let me just say, yes, Yes they are true. I was quite the knave once. I picked pockets, cut purses, begged, borrowed and stole. I'm not ashamed of it but rest assured I left that part of my life behind me.
What is in your inventory?
Only the essentials for travel. Warm, thick robes, a sturdy cloak some leather for protections, A roughly hewn staff carved from my own hand, My spellbook and an adventuring pack and other mundane essentials. And a dagger to protect myself if all else fails. Though I pray it never comes to that.
What are you like? What do people think of you?
In truth most people I have met think little of me. Especially once they learn of my origins... let them. Their arrogance will only blind them to my own progresses and allow me to surpass them all the easier. I feel no shame for my past and have no regrets for the actions and choices I took during my youth. It is a fool and a coward who passes judgement on another whose personal challenges 'they' themselves have never experienced. A few admittedly have the good manners
I will make my mark on this world not because my father was a great officer or my mother a lady. No, I will leave my mark because 'I' made a difference, Because 'I' earned it. My destiny will be decided by me alone and my ability, which will make it all the sweeter when I suceed.
What are your life experiences? How did you grow up?
My life story? It's hardly the stuff of legends, Not that there is much to say, and what I do have to tell will likely just depress you. Suffice to say that My life before attending Candlekeep was less than ideal. I was an urchin, born not in the country but in Dearoth, A city to the north of these lands. I have no family that I know of, and I spent my days squeezing out an existence on the streets, always on the verge of suffering death by starvation or exposure. Of course the years I spent on the street can't be considered living, not really anyway, just surviving day to day. One day that changed for me, I couldn't tell you why i was fortunate enough, Maybe fate was kind, or maybe the goddess of luck took pity for abusing me for so many years, in either case my life truly began one morning when I nicked a messenger bag belonging to a man in long rich white robes. I assumed at the time he was a noble you see, I knew stealing his bag was a risk but honestly I was at a point where getting caught was starting to have an appeal of sorts, after all in prison you get a roof over your head and at least one garunteed meal a day. It was more than I had at the time. Getting back to my story... that man was not a noble, he was in fact a wizard, and that bag I stole didn't have any gold or jewels but it did have a very special book.
It was a hard decision not to sell that book, I admit that I'm not sure what led me to keep it. I could have gotten a few gold pieces for it to the right fence. I guess I thought that if I cracked its secrets I could conjure some gold of my own, or maybe some food. Enough to buy a house of my own perhaps.... it's silly now when I say it aloud. But I wasn't completely off, I spent weeks trying to read that book, tracing sigils in the dirt, sprinkling twigs and bat dung in the air desperately trying to conjure the simplest incantations. Eventually it worked, I started with small illusions, tricks to confuse and swindle passers with fixed games by or earn a few coins with a minor show. I was pretty good if I do say so, and eventually I realized that I could do more than petty displays in the streets when I was a fifteen or so I took a chance and went to Candlekeep Hall. The city's college of the arcane if your curious. I showed the teachers who had come to shoo me away the book and they were less than pleased when I explained how I came to aquire it, as it was likely belonged to one of their own. But that was to be expected.
Then I showed them what I managed to learn from it. What I accomplished on my own with no teachers or instructors, with only the sewer rats as test subjects. I was hardly a prodigy casting fireballs left and right, but every scrap of progress I made was with my own initiative and my own intuition. They were not nearly as dismissive of me then. I had no money for tuition but they took me in all the same, They gave me a home, a bed and a new life, a new name.... They even let me keep my book! I spent three good years at that school. Absorbing every scrap of knowledge I could devour. Weeks worth of time spent in the libraries! You can't imagine what resources these schools have at their fingertips.
Yes, most of the other students looked down on me, I was after all just a raggamuffin who literally strolled into their lives reeking of the gutter, and I was already as capable as a novice no less! No family connections or 'donations' needed to give me a bed. That certainly didn't earn me many friends. But as I said... they were and are fools, and their arrogance will only make my surpassing their meagre abilities all the more satisfying.
As for what compels me to the adventurers road today? I don't know.... The libraries of Candlekeep are exquisite as I said. With more knowledge than anyone could consume in a hundred years of study. But there is only so far one can progress in any field while stuck in a library. To hone my talents I must find regular excuses to practice them.