Jared // Thael LOCALE // The City of Thorinn TIME // Morning
Thael stepped off the Gate platform with practiced ease, ignoring by the vertigo that generally accompanied fast travelling in Pariah. Despite the game’s advanced technology, instantaneously moving from one place to another still caused the human body some discomfort. It was something most players got used to, eventually, and Thael barely noticed anymore. Shrugging the greatsword across his back into a more comfortable position, he set off towards the LFG lawn. The greatsword was massive, shiny, with a distinct silvery blue sheen to it. The hilt and crossguard were elaborately wrought in gold, and a blue gemstone was set in the pommel. It went well with Thael’s plate armour, which was resplendent in silver with gold accents and elaborate engravings. A gold cape completed the set. It wasn’t Thael’s best equipment, but it was his most versatile and thus the best suited to venturing into a dungeon he knew little about. He did not wear a helmet; instead, Thael had a very lore unfriendly baseball cap. It was a purely cosmetic item he’d gotten a crafter friend to make ages ago.
The lawn was two steps from absolute chaos, which was a vast improvement over the anarchy that had been pickup groups (PUGS) in the earlier days of the game. In Pariah, it was hard to tell who was playing what role. Still, long experience told Thael that the majority of players on the lawn would be DPS, with the usual shortage of tanks an healers. Still, Pariah ignored the old holy trinity of MMOs. That tall obnoxious bloke in the revealing coat could be a tank just as easily as he could be a healer. A staff could mean a firestorm inducing damage mage just as easily as it could mean a mage-shield-tank. Thael tended to stick with the classics though. Call him a traditionalist. His build reflected that: plain, reliable HP tank. Everyone was so caught up in mitigation tanking or dodge tanking or fancy variations thereof these days, but Thael preferred having scads and scads of health. To each his own.
He summoned a messenger feyling and sent it off to find Elian with a single word “Here”. It was through her he’d learned of the new dungeon, and he was looking forward to running with her again. A healer you knew at your back made any dungeon run way easier, and Elian was a good one. He wasn’t sure who else she might have asked to come along, but knowing her they’d be competent, which was always pleasant. Thael’s last raid had gone smoothly, but he wouldn’t have wanted to take that group into an unfamiliar dungeon. Fighting through known enemies with known strategies was one thing; a new dungeon was quite another.
A surly looking but familiar NPC was standing off to one side of the lawn; Thael knew him to be Underf, the dungeoneer quest giver. “Morning bud,” Thael said as he approached. “I’m not your bud, pal,” the NPC replied grumpily. “Au contraire mon frere, all peoples are my bud.” “Well not me. Do you want your quest or not?” Thael gave the NPC a long look, weighing the benefits of prodding him further. “Fine. Same as usual?” “Gold and a random rare item for clearing the dungeon.” “Alright then, I’ll see you after I’ve cleared the dungeon...bud.” The NPC scowled but didn’t say anything, and Thael went to find some food. A vendor was selling some kind of meat on a stick that smelled delicious. Thael handed over a few coins and happily munched on the snack as he double checked his gear and inventory. Satisfied with his setup, he set off to find Elian.
Jared is around 6’2 and a shade under 200 lbs. Lots of time spent at the gym have left him well built and extremely fit. He has dirty blond hair, generally kept short and lightly styled, light blue eyes, and a slightly crooked nose from when he broke it playing hockey in his teens. High, prominent cheekbones and a well defined jaw are what Jared considers his best features. “Handsome” his mother calls him. “Pretty boy” his friends tease him. “Dreamy” says the barista whose name he can’t remember despite seeing her every day.
In Pariah, Thael is more or less identical to Jared, though his nose is perfectly centered. Thael also has a few scars that Jared does not; these were acquired in Pariah, a testament to battles won and lost.
Five words that come to mind when describing Jared. He tends to call it like he sees it, a quality that endears him to some and irritates others. He is easygoing, social, and generally likeable from the minute you meet him. However, getting to know him better might make one revise their initial assessment. Likely due to his upbringing, Jared has very little appreciation for the difficulties other people may have faced in life. He’s also the kind of person who never backs down, who refuses to admit he’s wrong unless someone can look it up and prove it. Together, these traits are an absolute dealbreaker for some people. The upside of Jared’s conviction is that he’s extremely dedicated to his friends and anyone who has earned his trust.
Jared’s gaming persona doesn’t much differ from his real identity. He is self confident and honest, easy to like and always loyal. Still has those flaws too. One difference is Thael’s commitment to honour, as evidenced by his membership in Tyhrien. Questioning Thael’s honour is a good way to get your ass beat. It is also worth noting that Thael tends to treat Pariah much more like a game than other people, meaning he is sometimes isn’t very serious when he really should be.
Thael also has a tendency to trashtalk when fighting, even (or especially) against NPCs and monsters, causing him to slip into a dialect of slang and semi-nonsense in battle. Thael of course insists - with some justification - that telling a dungeon boss to “GET REKT” helps generate aggro, and that his trashtalk is essential to his tanking.
B A C K G R O U N D
Jared grew up in a wealthy and happy family in Toronto. His childhood was filled with best private schools, expensive family vacations, the latest toys, generally anything he wanted. Jared’s father, the sterner of his parents, always resisted spoiling his sons, but his wife delighted in giving her two boys everything, and in a standoff between the his two parents, Jared’s mother almost always won.
A sizeable donation ensured Jared was granted admittance to a top tier university - despite his decidedly average marks - where he majored in business, completing his degree in five years due to a little too much partying and not enough studying. After college, Jared’s parents had a huge fight over the question of whether or not Jared would be brought in to work at his father’s company. Eventually, his father gave in, and Jared was hired “but only temporarily, just to get some experience on his resume” his father insisted.
After a year working there, Jared is conflicted. He is well paid to do very little work, but he can’t avoid feeling guilty about his blatant case of nepotism. He also finds himself extremely bored, unchallenged, and dissatisfied. Enter Pariah. Always an avid gamer and experienced MMO player, Jared was immediately pulled in by Pariah’s advertising campaign. He bought the system on launch day, and has been playing ever since.
A T T R I B U T E S
R O L E
Tank
A F F I L A T I O N
Tyhrien
P R O F E S S I O N
Dungeoneer: Dungeons, raids, and dungeon related activities are Thael’s preferred pastime.
W E A P O N O F C H O I C E
Two handed swords. The exact sword changes fairly often as Thael acquires better gear or switches weapons for different combat situations.
B E N C H M A R K S
Regenerative: Constantly being subjected to healing spells, potions, poultices, incantations, chants and prayers has left its mark on Thael. He passively regenerates health and is more receptive to healing of all forms. Enhanced Endurance: Full plate armour is HEAVY. Thael is slower to tire and can take more damage than other characters. Enhanced Strength: You try swinging two-handed swords around for that long without developing some additional muscle. This translates to higher than expected damage from Thael’s physical attacks. Sundering Strikes: Countless hours hacking and slashing at large, armoured foes mean Thael knows how to hit where it hurts. He can make his attacks damage/compromise armour. Cleaving Strikes: For every over-armoured boss in a dungeon, there’s scores of trash monsters which have to be cleared first, something Thael has gotten pretty proficient at. He can make his attacks deal area damage.
Intercede: .A big part of tanking is positioning. Thael always knows where to be to intercept damage meant for his allies. Larger than Life: Physically and mentally, Thael has a big presence on the battlefield. Countless hours of trashtalking bosses have paid off: Thael can easily cause enemies to target him instead of more vulnerable allies. Intimidating presence: Full plate armour, a massive broadsword, screaming obscenities the whole time; even the toughest enemies are taken aback, leaving them vulnerable. Spellcasting - Holy: Thael has invested time in learning a number of useful spells from the holy discipline. Lore Knowledge - Divine: The gods and godesses of the land are Thael’s favourite part of Pariah’s lore, and he has done a lot of reading on them.
R O U G H V I R T U A L H I S T O R Y
While far from a household name, Thael is vaguely known as a competent raider and dependable tank. Dungeons and raids are why he joined the game in the first place. Grand battles, jolly cooperation, pitting himself against an unforgiving environment, that’s what it’s all about. While competent, Thael has a tendency to think of Pariah like a conventional MMO, which can be problematic at times, so he leaves raid strategy to better minds and satisfies himself with carrying out their instructions promptly and effectively.
Thael began focusing on tanking from the beginning. One day he happened to join a random group of fellow Tyhriens for a dungeon crawl. The group got along very well, and began to play together more often. Thael emerged as leader of the small group, but it was the member who would become their strategist that got them into raiding. At first, they joined random groups, but began to grow and grow until the group of friends could field their own raid team, a group which would come to be called BroForce. The name started as a disparaging comment from someone who didn’t much like them, but Thael and the others decided to own it, and BroForce was born.
Things were happy for a while. Raids were successful, crafting was profitable, the game was fun. But while Pariah was a cutting edge new virtual reality experience, it was not immune to the enemy of all MMO raid teams: drama. Thael won’t disclose any of the details, but BroForce abruptly blew apart at the seams. Thael has spent the time since acting more or less as a sword for hire; a good tank available for a fair share of the loot. He hopes to one day reform or at least replace the sense of companionship he has lost.
As for paladin, I figured it would sort of be like being in a covenant in Dark Souls? Follow the tenants of your patron deity and be rewarded. I didn't want to get into it too much without knowing the lore of Pariah, but I thought Thael might be in an order of Paladins dedicated to helping random groups clear dungeons or something like that.
If you don't like the sound of that he'll be a bounty hunter who exclusively goes after Monster/NPC targets.
Possibly a few days after when I have all current applications in and reviewed. The OOC revisions might have to take a backseat so I can get said reviews over with though.
@Ozerath I love your tone as a writer here. *sits on* I may be grinning like an idiot right now. I think personality and backstory are solid. Benchmarks are...iffy, in my opinion. Not that they're not great skills, but a lot of the mental ones seem more physical to me, and some of them seem more like "oh he can do this" and not "he's trained so he's better at this". But I'm not exactly clear on benchmarks entirely to start with, so I'm going to shoot that over to @Gowi.
Elian and Thael are in the same fraternity, and I daresay they'd know each other. I feel like their hollering battlestyles would be either great or at least fun together, and I request that they end up in the same group, in terms of which characters are grouped where. Elian also sees Pariah as a game more than anything else, and I think the dynamic between them would be a /lot/ of fun. To this end, I suggest that Elian was in BroForce, though only an occasional/tertiary member -- healers never lack for willing partymates, after all, and she's on the independent side, not to mention her love of exploration. This would allow the drama in question to have blown right by her, so she knows something happened but doesn't really know what. I suggest that she and Thael have stayed in touch and still party up when the opportunity presents itself. What say you, Oz?
To the first point, yeah I admit I wasn't 100% clear on benchmarks. I tried to stick to the experience-yields-capability model, but there were some things I felt were super important to a tank that I couldn't really fit in that way. I also wasn't sure if abilities were to be listed in benchmarks, or if they were derived from benchmarks (eg knowledge of a school of magic granting access to multiple spells in that school). I will probably retool, but I'll wait for Gowi's input before I get too far into it.
To the second point, I like it. Healers and tanks are natural companions. It helps to flesh out our backstories, and I do like to go into RP's with some character relationships established. They'd also be a great if somewhat exasperating duo in battle, and god help any RP intensive people they might end up with.
@Vec It may or may not be part of a drawing of John Cena poorly photoshopped onto a picture that comes up when you google "paladin".
@Gowi Got my CS done, open to suggestions/required changes.
Jared /// Thael
“Git gud scrub.”
O V E R V I E W
N A M E
Jared Conrad
A V A T A R
Thael Cena
A G E
24
G E N D E R
Male
V I S A G E
Jared is around 6’2 and a shade under 200 lbs. Lots of time spent at the gym have left him well built and extremely fit. He has dirty blond hair, generally kept short and lightly styled, light blue eyes, and a slightly crooked nose from when he broke it playing hockey in his teens. High, prominent cheekbones and a well defined jaw are what Jared considers his best features. “Handsome” his mother calls him. “Pretty boy” his friends tease him. “Dreamy” says the barista whose name he can’t remember despite seeing her every day.
In Pariah, Thael is more or less identical to Jared, though his nose is perfectly centered. Thael also has a few scars that Jared does not; these were acquired in Pariah, a testament to battles won and lost.
Five words that come to mind when describing Jared. He tends to call it like he sees it, a quality that endears him to some and irritates others. He is easygoing, social, and generally likeable from the minute you meet him. However, getting to know him better might make one revise their initial assessment. Likely due to his upbringing, Jared has very little appreciation for the difficulties other people may have faced in life. He’s also the kind of person who never backs down, who refuses to admit he’s wrong unless someone can look it up and prove it. Together, these traits are an absolute dealbreaker for some people. The upside of Jared’s conviction is that he’s extremely dedicated to his friends and anyone who has earned his trust.
Jared’s gaming persona doesn’t much differ from his real identity. He is self confident and honest, easy to like and always loyal. Still has those flaws too. One difference is Thael’s commitment to honour, as evidenced by his membership in Tyhrien. Questioning Thael’s honour is a good way to get your ass beat. It is also worth noting that Thael tends to treat Pariah much more like a game than other people, meaning he is sometimes isn’t very serious when he really should be.
Thael also has a tendency to trashtalk when fighting, even (or especially) against NPCs and monsters, causing him to slip into a dialect of slang and semi-nonsense in battle. Thael of course insists - with some justification - that telling a dungeon boss to “GET REKT” helps generate aggro, and that his trashtalk is essential to his tanking.
B A C K G R O U N D
Jared grew up in a wealthy and happy family in Toronto. His childhood was filled with best private schools, expensive family vacations, the latest toys, generally anything he wanted. Jared’s father, the sterner of his parents, always resisted spoiling his sons, but his wife delighted in giving her two boys everything, and in a standoff between the his two parents, Jared’s mother almost always won.
A sizeable donation ensured Jared was granted admittance to a top tier university - despite his decidedly average marks - where he majored in business, completing his degree in five years due to a little too much partying and not enough studying. After college, Jared’s parents had a huge fight over the question of whether or not Jared would be brought in to work at his father’s company. Eventually, his father gave in, and Jared was hired “but only temporarily, just to get some experience on his resume” his father insisted.
After a year working there, Jared is conflicted. He is well paid to do very little work, but he can’t avoid feeling guilty about his blatant case of nepotism. He also finds himself extremely bored, unchallenged, and dissatisfied. Enter Pariah. Always an avid gamer and experienced MMO player, Jared was immediately pulled in by Pariah’s advertising campaign. He bought the system on launch day, and has been playing ever since.
A T T R I B U T E S
R O L E
Tank
A F F I L A T I O N
Tyhrien
P R O F E S S I O N
Paladin
W E A P O N O F C H O I C E
Two handed swords. The exact sword changes fairly often as Thael acquires better gear or switches weapons for different combat situations.
B E N C H M A R K S
Regenerative: Constantly being subjected to healing spells, potions, poultices, incantations, chants and prayers has left its mark on Thael. He passively regenerates health and is more receptive to healing of all forms. Enhanced Endurance: Full plate armour is HEAVY. Thael is slower to tire and can take more damage than other characters. Enhanced Strength: You try swinging two-handed swords around for that long without developing some additional muscle. This translates to higher than expected damage from Thael’s physical attacks. Sunder: Thael delivers a crushing blow with his greatsword to a single target for massive damage. This move also draws a lot of attention. Cleave: For when there are too many opponents and just not enough time. Thael swings his greatsword in large sweeps, dealing damage to multiple enemies near him.
Intercede: .Thael can perform a warding ritual on a friendly target. From then on, Thael takes a portion of the damage meant for the friendly, and also reduces the threat they generate in battle. This ritual does take some time, so recasting it during a fight is not advisable. Larger than Life: Physically and mentally, Thael has a big presence on the battlefield. Countless hours of trashtalking bosses have paid off: Thael can easily cause enemies to target him instead of more vulnerable allies. Intimidate: Full plate armour, a massive broadsword, screaming obscenities the whole time; even the toughest enemies are taken aback. Thael projects an aura that causes nearby enemies to take slightly more damage from all sources. Spellcasting - Holy: The gift of patron deities to their loyal paladins. Thael can cast a few useful spells from the holy discipline of magic. Lore Knowledge - Divine: The gods and godesses of the land are Thael’s favourite part of Pariah’s lore, and he has done a lot of reading on them.
R O U G H V I R T U A L H I S T O R Y
While far from a household name, Thael is vaguely known as a competent raider and dependable tank. Dungeons and raids are why he joined the game in the first place. Grand battles, jolly cooperation, pitting himself against an unforgiving environment, that’s what it’s all about. While competent, Thael has a tendency to think of Pariah like a conventional MMO, which can be problematic at times, so he leaves raid strategy to better minds and satisfies himself with carrying out their instructions promptly and effectively.
Thael began focusing on tanking from the beginning. One day he happened to join a random group of fellow Tyhriens for a dungeon crawl. The group got along very well, and began to play together more often. Thael emerged as leader of the small group, but it was the member who would become their strategist that got them into raiding. At first, they joined random groups, but began to grow and grow until the group of friends could field their own raid team, a group which would come to be called BroForce. The name started as a disparaging comment from someone who didn’t much like them, but Thael and the others decided to own it, and BroForce was born.
Things were happy for a while. Raids were successful, crafting was profitable, the game was fun. But while Pariah was a cutting edge new virtual reality experience, it was not immune to the enemy of all MMO raid teams: drama. Thael won’t disclose any of the details, but BroForce abruptly blew apart at the seams. Thael has spent the time since acting more or less as a sword for hire; a good tank available for a fair share of the loot. He hopes to one day reform or at least replace the sense of companionship he has lost.
Liotrent
