Rhiven Knight

The Hanged Man [A Darkest Dungeon Inspired RP]

Ok I will look over the edits when I am feeling a little more ambitious later, and see about grammar. The lack of names and specifics has a lot to do with being unsure of how much creative license I should take with the setting, while the gaps in details are indicative of crunching years of time into a few paragraphs and not wanting to overload the profile. So when I revisit it I will do so from the position that you have invited me to provide some of those details.

The Faraway Land: Knights vs Dragons (CLOSED)

Sir Rhayven A. DarkMorne

Rhayven smiled at the librarian and shook his head at the misplaced comment. Glancing back over his shoulder he found rose peering at the sheaf of papers loosely bound. As he turned to offer it to her he caught sight of Prince Darvus. "As hello Prince Darvus, we werent expecting anyone to join us in our research. As to your question Rose, that is a treatise I wrote, and recently, on a ruin I explored, and the nature of the magical secrets I discovered within and its relation to our known history. That is what I do, I explore, mostly as a way to study magic,to deepen my understanding, our understanding of the magic we use. It also helps further my research into the development of new forms of magic." As he handed her the sheaf of papers he tapped his chin thoughtfully, turning to include the prince in the discussion they were having. Tilting his head slightly he lined up what they had reviewed so he could share since he had no idea how long the prince had been in the library for.

"Still it is a pleasure to have you join our research inquiry your highness, what Rose and I have been researching is a confluence of historical detail and fictional writing. Which is to say, some of the presented fairy tales bare a striking resemblance to places of historical fact, and that appear to connect to the artifacts of legend. It is far from a settled matter but our current theory is that the truth of the weapons lies somewhere between the truth of established history, and the supposition of folk lore, and it should mean we have deciphered candidates for probably places to look for specific weapons. Further I think, though Rose will need to look over that treatise I wrote, that I have been to a sight linked to one of these sights and might be in possession of an artifact to facilitate gaining entry into the dungeon in which it is stored one of the so called keys." As he finished the explanation he look to Rose to see if she had anything to add, or if she had already started skimming through the work he had written on the subject matter.

The Hanged Man [A Darkest Dungeon Inspired RP]

Well then, I will look forward to my review.

The Hanged Man [A Darkest Dungeon Inspired RP]

Auric Sturmbled

Auric Sturmsbled

Gender:Male
Age:25
Race:Human
Profession: Auric is a blacksmith by way of trade,a mercenary by way of necessity, and a wanderer by preference.

DETAILS

Detailed Appearance: Auric is a sturdy young man just under six feet tall, he gets plenty of comments to the effect of being built like a buildings door. What he has taken people to mean is that he is broad of shoulder and square of frame, meaning he has little in the way of what on a woman might be called an hour glass figure. With arms and legs proportional to his torso he is well built for physical combat, and his prowess has marked his body with both lithe and rigid muscle.

Despite his shape and size, Auric carries himself with a degree of natural grace not often seen in untrained fighters, he is therefore often mistaken for a professional soldier. The fact that he is often found with fresh from the road grime, and stubble upon his face does not deter people from that impression of him. Scars mar his face, his arms and his torso, though most are not from teaching himself blade work, rather they are memories of his life as a blacksmith of his apprenticeship.

Deep blue eyes tinted with gradients of emerald green hide beneath his oft furrowed brow,the scars crossing his face and his perpetual fight with his emotion etching deep scowl lines into his otherwise young face. Medium length often scraggly hair sometimes hides the war within his eyes, when it is not tucked behind his ears or tied back. That hair long ago was bled of color a consequence of the seeds of magic, which haven't tainted his life for all these long years, when not stained black by road grime, he actively dies his hair a dark blue green a mix of dyes he has long since mastered the recipe for.

The most telling mark on Auric’s body, what you might call an identifying mark, is a criminals brand on his right shoulder twice struck through by scars and ink.The mark is both a telling sign of a magical crime, and a reminder to the young man of the life he lost to the curse of his emotions. The mark for all its stigma is worn openly, the right arm of his leather armored coat since removed, his forearm wrapped in thick strips of leather with small metal plates to defend his blade arm below the elbow. His hand covered in finger-less leather gloves, reveal the scars of trade and war.The armored leather coat has been bleached and re-bleached until it is snow white, the strips of leather and his pants a matching jet black, and his boots white leather calf boots padded for protection and comfort.

Detailed Backstory: Auric was born in a small town, the town was impoverished by comparison to a city, but it was capable of providing all its residents with what they might need should they only work for it. His father was a carpenter, and his mother tended the family plot of vegetables and herbs and traded her knowledge of herbs and remedies for small luxuries. As soon as he was old enough he was taken among the tradesmen, and when one finally sparked the boys interests and apprenticeship was arranged, the fees paid through a combination of his fathers trade and his mothers talent.

For many years the boy, had an uneventful apprenticeship he found joy in the forges, working the billows and even during the early days when he first was allowed to begin working with metals. Things slowly begin to shift when he starts puberty, frustration and anger at being teased and in competition with the other apprentices at their slights and petty cruelty, began to manifest, fires he works burning to bright, ingots he is hammering shattering unexpectedly, and injuries he cant explain to pair with each strange occurrence.

As is often the way with such things, the other apprentices noticed, and took it up as ammunition to use against him. This slowly simmered building for years, and as he worked through his apprenticeship he accumulated scars and injuries never fully able to explain them or the occurrences leading to them. In the year of his eighteenth birthday he completed his apprenticeship, ten years of working the forge and continuing despite the set backs and still he completed his graduation project, he created for his father and part of his final test a set of exquisite wood workers tools, a sign of what he had learned despite his inconsistency.

For all the joy that day started with, it ended in tragedy, when another journeyman disdainful of his progress and that he had succeeded despite the taunting and the sabotage of the other apprentices tasked with returning the tools from the master to Auric, decided that he would return them destroyed. This action stoked a fury within Auric unlike anything he had ever felt before, a rage like the burning heat of the bellows, and from that anger the seed of his magic once again bloomed into life. Fire and heat whipped around the freshly graduated blacksmith,burning at his arms even as shards of metal caught in the spell storm cut at him searing closed as quickly as they sliced the flesh. Unfocused rage burnt around the boy as his anger and an innate talent for magic unrealized tried to consume him, and then the other young man, the one who had set this in motion acted, a sound of disgust and distress and turning to flee.

In that moment Auric’s anger crystallized in focus and all the rage snapped, and with that shift of focus and fury, the pain the young man had put Auric through, emotional and physical was manifested upon him by magic all at once, even as Auric relived every moment of it revisited upon him by the magic as it burnt itself out. Both young men would survive, one by a miracle, the other Auric in this case, by what he felt had been a curse. The truth was much simpler, Auric simply had run out of fuel for his magic, it had consumed his rage and died down, leaving both boys forever scarred by the incident, and Auric’s life forever changed.

With that incident came the brand, and exile from his village, though he was allowed a single mercy, three days in the forge to shape himself a chance at new life. He had not killed with magic, and so he would not be put to death. Especially since it came out what had been being done to him for his whole apprenticeship. For those three days he worked the forges alone, responsible for keeping the fires stoked as he worked upon the tools which would hopefully be his salvation.

He crafted for himself two implements each rough wrought, but each of a single ingot of steel, one a medium length sword with a single bladed edge and a thick heavy spine, no guard to speak of but a hilt of double the length and a pommel left empty but with room for a stone. With this blade he would defend himself, and with the other implement he would feed himself and eek out a living. His second tool then would be a spear unlike many such tools which blended the boons of wood and metal he chose to make his of solid steel, a heavy tool which would force him to become stronger and faster to survive and make use of it. It was near identical in design to any similar wooden tool, except he made of its blade a wedge like triangular blade brutally sharp along both edges, and at the other end a ball like protrusion of concentrated weight.

His mercy ended, Auric’s exile began, and with it his new life. At first he subsisted hunting and eating what he hunted, making new clothing where he could from the skins without the time to turn it into real leather or fur, and using the bones as tools to supplement, but in time he found himself with two things, a desire for more and a desire to wander. These eventually resulted in him trading with villages, he hid his brand during these days, and traded furs, skins and kills for things he wanted, eventually obtaining the armored coat he still wears dyed white as snow, the sheathe to his sword custom made as such things should be. Quality boots to make such things as travel easier. Day by day month by month his life got better, but his fear of his emotions prevented him from settling so he moved ever onward till one day he came across a battlefield, years of hunting by blade and spear had honed his instincts and his body, and when he was inevitably confused for a combatant he found he had a natural talent for physical combat, he struck down his attacker with the cold efficiency of a hunter, and offered him the same mercy he would offer a beast.

From that day onward though, he offered his services not only as a hunter of beasts, but as a slayer of men, and from that one incident his road had erred not one step but lead him true unto a truth, that with the same training he had employed upon his body, he might also tame his emotions and in doing so kill his fear of himself. Since then his path has lead him forward, but also into ever more dangerous situations and this new venture to help quell the curse was no exception.

Equipment

Weapons: A single edged broad sword wrought of a single piece of steel forged by his own hand,its hilt of unusual length and wrapped in the strips of leather and fur gathered from his hunting conquests, the pommel stone eventually filled with a blue lapis.

A spear wrought blade and shaft of one piece of worked steel rolled and twisted despite its added weight,the weapon resembles a common hunting spear but for its singular construction and material. The wedge like blade is slightly broader and longer and its blades are kept wickedly sharp.The weight at the far end is polished to a high shine and it is often employed as a skull cracker as readily as a counter weight. The haft has several punched holes to facilitate the wrapping of two sections in soft leather and hide to ensure his grip should not slip.

Armor:A snow white coat of armored leather, the right sleeve is missing, the metal plates which reinforce the other wise flimsy protection of the leather designed for easy replacement should they be sundered, and for maintained flexibility at the cost of some possible protection. Additionally padded leather pants gloves and armored leather boots make up the ensemble.He lacks the protection of heavy infantry such as plate, or light infantry such as chain, and opts for a scouts or vanguards armor choices fitting his style of movement and combat.

General Provisions: In terms of food the hunter is well off, having pouches of freshly roasted meats, the morning of, or the night before, as well as some of smoked trail rations. He carries little coinage, spending what he gets and bartering for what he needs when he doesn't have it.He carries a sack with a hammock and fire starting tools, as well as a hammer a blacksmiths tool well worn by the years a memento of his past but also a tool as he often barters for time with the forges to repair his gear.

Magical Items: (leave this blank at the start)

Magic

Magical Affinity: Auric has a strong affinity for or gift of magic, though he has no control and no particular desire to learn. He considers the gift an actual curse upon his emotions. His talent produces effects derived from his emotion and proportional to what he feels, with the normal repercussions. Additionally outbursts of magic result in emotional exhaustion as the gift consumes the emotion which triggered it in addition to whatever damage it does to Auric and the person his emotions were directed at.

Spells: Minor Outburst - This corresponds to an outburst of Auric’s emotions, such as a bout of frustration, or an angry response to a snide comment, as the emotional response if not particularly severe the effect of the magic is fairly minor, such as if he is angry something on his person or the other person catching fire,or if he is frustrated something breaking normally something of his since frustration is normally internalized, but it has been known to be aimed at other people.For whatever effect his magic causes, it is revisited upon him proportionally if something catches fire he is burnt regardless of who it belonged to, if something breaks he suffers minor fractures or dislocations.

Major Outburst - These are rare and correspond to the types of emotions you experience during life altering situations, the pain of traumatic injury, the fear of death, the anger at witnessing true horror, frustration born of true impotence, and grief born of the loss of a loved one or companion. Auric has only ever experienced a small number of these events, the first of which saw him cast out of his village on the eve of his ascent into adulthood and into success as a blacksmith, and result was a storm of fire and steel wrought of years of repressed anger and frustration, and for the one moment his emotion crystallized around another it nearly killed them both. These effects are unpredictable and severe, correspond to the emotion he is feeling and each has a good chance of killing him depending on how his emotions are spent and whether the spell wrought of those emotions comes to fruition.

Whelp, this is my character proposal, hopefully here is okay?

The Hanged Man [A Darkest Dungeon Inspired RP]

I am interested if you are still recruiting? It looks like you have a solid healer, and are trying to discourage a magical party in terms of heavy magic use.

If it it isnt a stretch I had an idea, for a character, a young man, maybe mid twenties, a swordsman or spear-man, not necessarily formally trained, but with skills forged from constant use. He is a physical adept, fast and strong and always working to be better. But he was born with a touch of the gift, and no real head for spells or magic, instead its linked to his emotions, it isnt something he can use, but rather something he has to fight against, he doesnt necessarily know why it happens or how but when his emotions spike in intensity things happen around him, to him, or to the things his emotions are focused on, and like all magic there is feed back into him. His lack of understanding, and guidance on it means its like an affliction, if he cant control his emotions he will end up hurting himself, and quite possibly others.

The idea being to portray his journey towards mastery over himself, and eventually to either overcome or succumb to the emotions and the indulgences of magic depending on his experiences on this journey, he is choosing to undertake as a way to forge out of his current self a better self at the risk of being shattered and the pieces ruined.

The Faraway Land: Knights vs Dragons (CLOSED)

Sir Rhayven A. DarkMorne

Rhayven drummed his fingers on the edge of the table thinking, it was possible he had found a dungeon, but he suspected he had found a key, though it was also possible he had simply found the first step in a series of steps leading to one of the kings and keys. In his head he worked over what had been in the treatise, he knew he had included a map and its location relative to all nearby known habitations of the current era to make it easier to cross reference. He had he believed also included an esoteric discussion on the ancient name and what it might mean in translation and how that might influence or reveal the sites original purpose. As Rose read the book he strolled through the shelves looking for what had been bothering him, to see if a copy of the treatise had been sent to the castle, he knew he had one at home, another at his manse in the north country, and the college had a copy, but he wasnt sure the material was suitable to the generic subject matter of this library. Still listening to Rose he moved to the counter and penned a note to the librarian asking if a copy of the treatise had been submitted to the castle library.

There wasnt much for Rhayven to do as he waited for Rose to continue her reading. He went over the details in his head. As she finished her assessment of the first book he made a few mental notes. "That so far as we know corresponds with the legends concerning the weapons of the ancient war. It follows that more than a kernal of that story should ring true." His comments came in response to her final assessment as he wandered back towards the librarian to see if she had found the treatise he had written, or if it was even in the library. He was hoping not against hope but against probability that a copy was conveniently in hand.

The Faraway Land: Knights vs Dragons (CLOSED)

Sir Rhayven A. DarkMorne

Rhayven had been looking over the titles of the books as soon as they were set down seeing where Rose had started where she had begun stacking up titles, and where she had indicated he should start he had begun to feel a tickle like something just on the edge of memory. As he mulled the feeling over he looked over at her watching, luckily too because left unattended she might have caused a calamitous sound in the other wise silent library. With a deft move he leaned over and righted her stack his hand coming to rest on one of the titles. As his eyes darted along the title it clicked. Not from his reading and research but from his practical delving.

“Rose, I have just had a stunning realization, and there is something I need to retrieve as a result. Would you be a dear, and synthesize the information from these three books, on a ruin they reference, try to ascertain all pertinent details on its location. It occurs to me, that when I was working in one of the ruins of the ancients recently, that I came across something I believe refers to a location described in these three books, only, the descriptions are wildly different, and only the connection to the item I found made me wonder if without the key, different people experienced the ruins differently.”

Rhayven deftly plucked out three titles from the two piles of books, The Knight and the Fairy, Records from MidHaven, and The Lost War: a Retrospective. He wasn’t sure about the last as it had been years since he had read a copy of that particular volume but it wouldnt surprise him to find that all three sites were connected to one of the sites of the lost war, in fact if he was right, and the item was connected it would guarantee that the site was a lost war ruin. “When you are finished we need to find the others, but we will have to do so separately, we can try to find the prince, or go looking for the two foreigners, I am inclined to say we go after the foreigners in town, as if my suspicion is correct the site described will be tied to their once illustrious homeland. I’ll meet up with you after I find the treatise I wrote on the object and the ruin I found it in.”

With that Rhayven stood up, by his mannerism it was clear the connection in his head rated as urgent. However Rhayven’s Lord Father had drilled the boy with proper mannerisms, so as he stood fixing his seat at the reading table while waiting for her response. He was not so rude as to pile up the rest of the books as that would dismiss any of the young doctor’s insights, and he was loathe to ever do that. So he watched her head slighly tilted to see what her response would be, the sparkle of knowing something now he hadnt known before glinting from his blue eyes, while a slight smile of discovery played across his lips.

The Faraway Land: Knights vs Dragons (CLOSED)

Sir Rhayven A. DarkMorne

Rhayven let a slight smile lift the corner of his lips as the king granted his request, before it shifted to a lifted eye brow as the doctor volunteered her services to convey the kings wishes. As she turned to him he glanced to the king with a respectful nod, before giving her a full grin and gesturing for the door. For all intents and purposes the king had condoned his course of action, and rather than waste time it suited him to be on with his task. Palming the ring he gestured for Rose to head to the door. He would follow shortly behind her, discreetly leaving the meeting. Once outside he would make his way out to the courtyard hopefully with Rose in pursuit where he would send the raven on his shoulder skyward to stretch her wings, she would mind her business until she chose to rejoin him. With that a priority for him out of the way he would turn to the good doctor. "Would you lead the way then?" His tone was cheerful and his manner polite as he let his mind turn to the enormity of their task.

Once the doctor started off in the direction of the library, the mage knight would follow his hand dipping to a pouch at his belt, from the pouch which he found by muscle memory he drew a strand of leather, and quickly strong the ring through a loop and tied it off, pulling it over his head and tucking it into his shirt under his leather coat. A slight scowl crossed his otherwise fair features as he contemplated the thing he was starting, this was going to be a long and dangerous road, and he hoped that the number of people who got stepped on in the process of traveling it would not be too great.

The Faraway Land: Knights vs Dragons (CLOSED)

Sir Rhayven A. DarkMorne

Rhayven stood silent once his part was spoken, he listened as one after another the others in the room spoke, culminating in a statement by the king, all but giving them their marching orders. As the king spoke or rather just after the first of the Isparians left the room with their own thoughts. Rhayven stifled the desire to shake his head in distaste at the mans behavior, instead he listened briefly to the kings second bit of speech, with the rings placed on the table Rhayven nodded. "As you command my king. Since we do not know, yet where we should look the rings are useful but not in an immediate sense. If it pleases you my lord I would ask for access to the royal library. Perhaps there are clues within, that might point us at one or more of the artifacts." He spoke the words as he took one of the rings turning to the king with a respectful bow of his head.

As he waited for the kings response he looked among those who remained, the young countess, the count, the prince, the doctor, he himself. They all had different backgrounds, perhaps they could with their disparate experiences and knowledge sets puzzle out the locations of the artifacts. For now, that tract would have to be suggested by one of the others in accord with their specialties, perhaps the Isparian guest knew a legend or could recall one. Perhaps the Count had heard rumors in his business dealings. Event he medic through her patients might have heard such stories, or from comrades and field medics. Each of them had different connections, perhaps if they were lucky those connections would become the short cut to an age of research and searching. Rhayven would use his research ability but he would also send a message to his former colleagues at the college, they might have rumors legends and lore to draw from which might suit his needs as well. One way or another Rhayven could see the first foot steps he would take along this path forward.

The Faraway Land: Knights vs Dragons (CLOSED)

I feel like the meeting should happen in course, we are worrying about speed before the thread has managed to develop a natural rhythm. The council is mostly in agreement already, take that agreement parlay it into a course of action and trigger the first arc of the story. Things will move quickly enough now that we have settled on a path, and once we settle on a way to pursue that. Then you can directed story at events or introduce a character to participate with which you can use to help guide us and interject relevant information.

In any case I think too much focus is on getting this going, and not enough on developing the story and getting a natural rhythm for posting for the thread going.