Name: Sergeant Rokanos “Ro” Seaborn
Appearance:
The picture above, plus descriptions in gear and backpack. Hair is a dark blue/black with very dark brown eyes. This is an action shot of Rokanos checking his wards, hence the observed paranoia and suspicion. (Full credit to WotC obviously).
Race: Human
Age: 32
Gender: Male
Side: Imperial Troops (FRAMPT!)
Title: Tactical Warmage
Abilities: though typically used in large scale engagements as a variety of specialist spellcasters, the role of “tactical warmage” in the Imperial army is actually much more flexible. When an expedition is not large or important enough to merit a the full coterie of an archmage, clerics, communications specialists, defensive spellcasters, and so on, the tactical magician is called upon to fill all of these roles. Thus, though Ro’s magical training was far more specific than the standardized training that Imperial warmages typically receive, it was further diversified and made very eclectic by his five years of small-unit operations.
- Spellcasting: Like all warmages trained at the Imperial College, Ro casts spells through use of the standardized IPGREL (Imperial Phoenix Geometrical and Runic Evocation Language). This style means that the raw magical ability of the individual is concentrated through precise drawings, gestures, and intonations which are clearly recognizable to allied spellcasters on the battlefield to avoid magical catastrophes. However, out of necessity (read: boredom) Ro began to experiment (read: improve) upon the IPGREL to the point where some of his spells are unrecognizable to his fellow warmages. His natural talent for maths and languages has helped him further utilize his raw magical talent and made him a great asset to whatever unit to which he is attached. It is important to note that though Ro is an apprentice in many traditional magical disciplines, he is a master in few to none. The one area in which he truly excels is in defensive spellcasting, particularly with regard to defensive abjurations, shields, and counterspells. Thus, despite his weakness in traditional offensive blasting and evocation, Ro has found his niche in small-unit tactical operations.
- Military Skills: Though he is certainly not an expert soldier by any means, Ro is not incapable of holding his own in a brawl. His swordsmanship is average by Imperial standards, his horsemanship is better than normal, and his physique leaves little to be desired. Despite his experience, however, Ro’s left arm was shattered in seven places during a battle four years ago and it was nigh impossible to heal correctly; the elbow alone was little more than pulp. This has meant that he is incapable of holding a shield in battle and rarely straws near the very front lines of an engagement if he can help it. Instead, he prefers to utilize his semi-autonomous position and extensive memories of enemy tactics to assist more capable soldiers in carrying out his commanding officer’s orders.
- Literacy: Finally, Ro speaks and writes a number of languages to varying degrees. Usually, if it is a language spoken somewhere in the Empire or by a major trade partner, Ro can be counted upon to at least know a formal greeting and a few basic sentences or have recorded them somewhere. As per Imperial warmage protocol, Ro makes detailed after action reports on all engagements deemed ‘noteworthy’ and submits them for review along with the observations of the commanding officer. Thus, he is a capable historian and adept at noticing details that might prove important later.
Skills: Ro is also knowledgeable in a number of fields seemingly unrelated to his work, as well as a few directly resulting from his hours spent poring over dusty tomes and carefully recreating runes. First of all, he is an adept sketcher and adorns his observatory notes with a number of sketches and diagrams of anything that he thinks is interesting or might even prove useful to his spellcasting; Ro gets many of his best ideas from nature. Secondly, he has an intensely (read: regrettably) deep knowledge of proper court protocol and fashion, drawn primarily from his aristocratic upbringing. Finally, he also enjoys carving, though it has become harder since the loss of his left hand, and he will regularly spend hours at a time working at creating runes or simply anything that catches his attention.
Gear: Ro does not carry much on him, by choice. As protocol dictates, he retains his family’s traditional high-collared black coat, but the family crest has long since worn off and Ro has seen no real pressing need to replace it. Thus, the coat is quite scuffed and worn, though in incredible condition for a near decade worth of service; the amount of magic spent keeping this coat together over Ro’s military career would likely save a dying man from death if released all at once. The only real ornamentation to be found on it are the quadruple silver crosses on his collar which signify his rank and the medal he received after having his arm obliterated by a mace while distracted by the task of driving an upstart bandit hedge-mage insane. Below the coat he wears practical and simple military fare: a half-body light scaled mail, studded greaves, and open-ended plate gauntlets designed by the Imperial College to keep a warmage’s hands or wrists from being easily crushed by a smart opponent. They cover only the lower arm and not the elbow or above, an oversight that Ro was sure to point out bitterly to the Imperial College medical mage who “fixed” his arm. Finally, though he doesn’t always need the use of it, his left arm is often in a tastefully designed sling that holds his arm in place; otherwise the sometimes terrible twitching from the irreparable nerve damage in his arm would drive him to distraction.
Spellcasting Gear: Ro has three implements that he uses for casting his spells. The first is the “book”, really a dictionary of the IPGREL that Ro has heavily edited and adapted to suit his own needs. This he keeps hanging off of his belt in a special carrying case – it is enchanted to be unusually light and flip to whatever page number Ro wishes when it is opened, which allows him to carry it in the crook of his mostly useless left arm when he is in combat. The second instrument that he uses is his sword: functionally a light steel thrusting sword which he keeps slung over his back, it is flexible enough to be Ro’s tool of choice when he starts to trace his geometric patterns in the air or the ground in order to release his magic. Though it is not necessary that he uses an instrument to do so, Ro enjoys the comforting feel of a sword in his hand and therefore regularly channels his magic through it when spellcasting. This has made the sword itself unnaturally resistant and strong, but also very reactive to foreign magic. Therefore, if caught in a battle with an enemy spellcaster, Ro will typically sheathe his sword and use his final tool, the “rune-weaver”. Actually an amulet kept tucked under his shirt, the rune-weaver allows Ro to store carefully pre-written patterns and runes that can be released individually, sequentially, or all at once. Typically, to avoid exhausting himself utterly each day when storing his magic, Ro keeps five or six key runes that might be needed almost instantaneously or when in battle with another spellcaster – this is already two more than the recommended maximum limit set by the Imperial College.
Backpack: Ro’s “backpack” contains standard travel fare: bedrolls, tent, rations, knives, a hatchet, and waterskins. If not mounted and carrying them in a saddlebag, Ro keeps these bare minimums for rough survival in a grey satchel on his back with an extra knife tied to the side of his right greave. Typically, he can also be expected to have multiple rolls of paper, ink, and other writing utensils as required. A small pouch of assorted round pebbles is also kept at his side at all times, mainly for the odd time that Ro is the only one in a group equipped engage in long-distance combat; these pebbles tend to find themselves embedded in the skulls of those poor souls not lucky enough to duck.
Personality: Despite the obscurity and complete illegibility of what he is doing to most of those who serve beside him, Ro is fundamentally an outgoing individual. He enjoys the regular companionship of others, and especially enjoys sharing stories with people who actually want to listen. Despite this, however, he has not escaped the hardening influences of constant travel, injury, and combat, and therefore can be quite dour and dark at times. Though he is not prone to breakdowns, he can get paranoid about doing his job correctly, sacrificing sleep to double or triple check the wards he has placed on the encampment. He relies on the familiar bustle of an army campsite to calm him during these periods, even if he is taking a moment to sit silently on the sidelines. When most distressed, Ro will simply delve into his work even harder, ultimately only succeeding in feeding his neuroses.
In combat or when facing a crisis, Ro is mathematical and systematic in his problem-solving. He is not overly brave but holds his own magical skill in enough esteem that he can often appear to be abnormally brave to those who serve alongside him. He also rigorously follows the chain of command when as it relates to overall objectives; when it comes to style and the manner of achieving those objectives Ro demands some flexibility. This reflects his desire to constantly prove himself and his skill at innovation and execution to some higher authority, whether that be his captain, his emperor, or his father. It would not be incorrect to label Ro a perfectionist, but that is more a side-effect born out of his constant drive for self-improvement rather than a quality inherent to him. In most other aspects of his surface personality, however, Ro displays qualities typical of a career Imperial soldier, and rarely if ever stops to ponder any pangs of regret he might feel for having chosen this life.
History: Ro was born into a wealthy aristocratic line in a major provincial city, but as the fourth son of his father’s second wife (ninth overall) he was almost completely invisible in his father’s eyes despite his exceptional academic aptitude manifested in early schooling. He was to be assigned to apprentice to a steward position in another noble house his father intended to make friends with, but found the silence of the balance books to be unbearable, even if the math came easy. After but a single year of that apprenticeship, Ro happened upon an Imperial captain who was being put up at the mansion in which he worked. After a few drinks, the captain opened up about his next assignment: he was to be deployed hundreds of miles away on the eastern front in the early stages of yet another border dispute. The tales he spun of gold and glory were undoubtedly exaggerated, but to a boy raised in a library for a sedentary and political lifestyle, they sounded romantic. To escape the bureaucratic heart of the empire that in the sergeant’s words had “lost its martial spirit” became Ro’s primary goal from that point on. The easiest way to do that and disappear was to join the army.
Ro did just that, shortening his name to the moniker by which he is now popularly known, and using a generic surname commonly used by those who wished to disappear. It was obvious to most around him that he came from wealth, but those signs were quickly washed away by the day to day life of the seventeenth Imperial legion. Ro was recruited as a legionnaire initially, learning to fight with sword and shield until his limbs could take no more abuse. However, he spent barely a single campaign in that role before his entire world shifted around him. It was during the infamous Battle of Norrington Hill (where half of the twelfth and a quarter of the seventeenth legions were wiped out) that his magic manifested. Ro’s battalion had been tasked with holding the rear of hill from the enemy assault when one of the warmages holding the magical shields around the soldiers failed to properly form one of his defensive runes and took an arrow in the neck because of it. With his shield broken, the enemy mages exploited the gap and proceeded to systematically eliminate almost all of the battalion’s Imperial warmages. With fire raining down on their heads, Ro’s flank collapsed almost immediately and left him almost alone and face to face with a tattooed and scarred barbarian druid. Ro doesn’t remember how, but from the stories that he was told after the event the druid tried to incinerate Ro and found his magic turned back not only upon himself but upon the advancing warriors behind him. This was hardly enough to win the battle, but it provided the nearby legionnaires with some courage and the rearguard held long enough for reinforcements to arrive.
Though not the most auspicious display of magic, the story got out and Ro found himself suddenly removed from his military lifestyle and shunted off to the Imperial College for aptitude testing. With the elimination of so many of the limited number of trained warmages at Norrington Hill, the College was desperate to restore their numbers, and so Ro joined the first class of ‘tactical warmages’ drawn from all walks of life with the only requirement being a certain degree of raw magical talent. Previous to this, the College had been an elite institution for aristocrats and a few particularly skilled savants discovered by College recruiters. Thus, Ro joined a class of hedge-mages, witches, fortune-tellers, prisoners, circus-performers and a whole range of riff-raff that showed magical aptitude but had never been good enough to meet the standards of the College before. Learning from their mistakes, however, the College decided that they would sort these various ‘tactical’ spellcasters into divisions according to their strengths rather than rely on generalist warmages in large-scale pitched battles. It was no surprise that Ro showed particular aptitude in his testing for defensive magic, and so his three years of expedited training focused mainly on that before he was sent off to the Western Front to “learn practical lessons” and fight yet another border conflict as the Empire continued to try and secure its boundaries.
Throughout this period, Ro’s family continued to pretend that he didn’t exist. The military was not an inauspicious role for son ninth in the line for the head of the family, but with his enlistment as a private and not an officer, and with the recent changes to the College to make it less exclusive, he was regarded as having tarnished the family name. Thus, though Ro was required to wear his family’s colours (black and light blue) as part of ancient College tradition for aristocratic warmages, he did so with little joy and no further support. He certainly received little special treatment for his background – in fact, he was regarded as a second-class mage by most of the existing warmages. This is because the training for full offensive mages traditionally began in childhood and one would spend almost ten or twelve years honing their talent before being allowed to go out in the field. Though Ro had been trained heavily in one aspect of standard Imperial magic, it was still only one facet and not the multitude of options that full warmages had available to them.
Therefore, Ro ended up being used as a frontline ‘shield’ for years in wars of conquest. In this time however, he became part of a trend amongst the other tactical warmages of slowly expanding their pool of knowledge through practice rather than study. The haphazard and often impromptu ways that they innovated disturbed the College but was undoubtedly effective, so many were allowed to continue. For Ro, he began to develop a set of refined runes that deflected blasts of magical energy back upon their casters. Thus, after two more campaigns Ro became fairly well-known in his unit for his talent for assassinating enemy mages. He was moved to smaller-scale unit tactics as a result, typically operating in tandem with an offensive mage as part of commando raids. In this role he was effective though not extraordinary, and over time he managed to finally move up the ranks and gain some degree of autonomy. However, his rise was cut short after his arm was shattered in a raid on a bandit encampment (they had a tame bear honestly who has a tame bear).
Ro was forced to continue innovating after that point in order to accommodate his injury, and became a popular ‘jack of all trades’ for commando units... though he was nowhere near the best. Frustrated and feeling somewhat limited, Ro found himself serving escort duty more often than not, taking risks in hopes of finding an opportunity to prove himself worthy of the frontlines again. With the medal he received for his injury and his respectable rank, his family did finally take notice of him once more, and an offer was extended to return to the family fold. After all, a twice decorated warmage was a handy tool in the pocket of his father as he sought a senatorial seat in the capital. As feelings of uselessness continue to grow, Ro is ever tempted to finally return home and take on a mission that might actually make his father think of him as something more than just tool. On the other hand, he wants nothing to do with the manipulation and the politics of the city – he has internalized life in the legion and could not live without it. As such, when he was directed to serve as the tactical support for Capt. Markos Helmshear on another routine escort mission, Ro simply packed his bags and showed up on time for departure.