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Aefenglom App
Player Information
Name: Anna
Age: 33
Contact: Annalizabeth#7549 @ Discord, layonmacduff @ Plurk
Other Characters: None
Character Information
Name: Vandelin Emith
Canon: Dragon Age (OC)
Canon Point: Roughly two years after the fall of the Circles.
Age: 31
History:
* Born in the city of Hasmal, to stern and conservative parents who could not possibly have disapproved more of the constant influx of elven refugees from Tevinter taking up space and resources in the already cramped and destitute alienage. The second of three children and the only boy among them, his mother's labor in the late-summer heat was so long and difficult that when he finally emerged, she named him a dialect form of fen da'len, "wolf child."
* When his magic manifested at age eight, with a snap of frost that killed all the plants in the family vegetable garden, his parents shed few tears at the templars' arrival. Their anti-Tevinter sentiment had come to extend to all mages, and they were mortified at the thought of having produced one. Vandelin, on the other hand, refused to go quietly, and fought, flailed, kicked and bit until one templar stuffed him into a burlap sack to carry him out of the city.
* Despite his antipathy toward the tower he now found himself living in, Vandelin thrived as a student of magic--partly through intelligence and good study habits, partly because properly-harnessed resentment is a great motivator, but mostly because of a clerical error that had resulted in his beloved younger cousin Myrobalan being placed in the same Circle, when ordinarily blood relations were forcibly separated. The powers that be had not realized they were cousins, and by the time this came to light, the First Enchanter and Knight-Commander realized that it would be more useful to have the constant threat of separation available to dangle over their heads to ensure good behavior.
* He passed his Harrowing at the age of nineteen, though it got dicey toward the end. Convinced that he could outwit any demon who tried to manipulate him, he breezed past the spirits trying to play on his sense of compassion, the ones promising him power, even the ones trying to exploit his anger at his imprisonment--but the pride demon with whom he got drawn into a long chat near the exit almost did him in. He'd felt far too at home in the Fade to respect the danger as he should have.
* Somewhat humbled by the experience, he focused on more physical areas of study like the elemental disciplines--for a time. Entropy and chaos fascinated him, and remained too alluring to resist.
* His mentors encouraged him to join the Aequitarians upon his confirmation as a full enchanter, as they thought his way with words and skill at moderating conflict would be a good fit for the fraternity. Wary of going down a path that might leave him vulnerable to a pride or rage demon again, he agreed that joining the most moderate of the colleges might be a good idea.
* Vandelin gradually began to find the Aequitarians contemptible and ineffectual. No code of conduct, he argued, would earn mages fair treatment from those with absolute power over them. Unable to sway his colleagues from their founding principles, he quit the fraternity in disgust and joined the Libertarians instead.
* The Libertarians were no more successful than the Aequitarians, but just as Vandelin had begun to lose faith in the Fraternity of Enchanters altogether, word spread that the tensions in Kirkwall had exploded--literally--and that mages across the Free Marches were in open rebellion.
* Hasmal's templars were not inclined to let their charges go quietly, and the conflict there was compounded by the significant influence of the Loyalists--his cousin and best friend Myr prominent among them. The small contingent of Libertarians led the uprising, joined shortly thereafter by the Aequitarians and some unaffiliated, and Vandelin found himself on the front lines.
* His study of entropic magic paid off, rendering the defending forces unconscious en masse, and helping to allow those who wanted to escape just enough time to do so. Unbeknownst to him, though, the sleep spell that he had cast in the hopes of averting bloodshed reacted disastrously with a fear spell cast by his young apprentice, and Myr was caught in the crossfire and gruesomely blinded. Vandelin, however, was already gone.
*After he fled, Vandelin eventually came to rest in the Hinterlands of Ferelden with the bulk of the rebel forces. Rather than join up with the officially-sanctioned mage army, though, of whose intentions he was suspicious, he fell in with a rogue group of guerrilla apostates in a war zone known as the Witchwood. Over the next year, the group eked out a wretched and miserable existence through looting and hiding, dying off one by one from templar raids, frostbite and infection. It is at this point, catching his reflection in a frozen pond, that Vandelin arrives in the game.
Personality:
Vandelin is really good at compartmentalizing. He's not a sadist, or even a really callous sort of guy, but if there are people standing between him and something he wants, it's very easy for him to label them as the expendable 'other' and justify getting them out of the way by whatever means are most expedient. (To a point, anyway. He has only ever killed in self-defense, at the height of the Mage-Templar War, and not frequently.)
He's a born control freak who is accustomed to feeling small and powerless, and nearly everything he does is an attempt to mitigate that. Every interaction is a small, secret power struggle, and half his memory is occupied by a long list of grudges in need of some manner of payback. He is not a very happy person. Deep down, he longs to be able to let all of that exhausting calculation go--but to admit that, of course, would be weakness, and weakness is unforgivable.
He knows it can be useful to be underestimated, but the strategic benefits of that chafe at his ego too much--and it is a rather prodigious ego. As far as he's concerned, demonic possession is a thing that happens to other people. He certainly knows better than to let it happen to him. This isn't to say he wants to get involved in blood magic, or any such thing--mostly because he doesn't think it's anything but a crutch for talentless hacks too lazy to learn how to get the same results with magic that's actually legal--but he's not really one to take precautions in his interactions with the Fade. He's fiercely independent, and recklessly insistent on rejecting help of any kind from any source.
He's very fond of teaching and mentoring (and giving unsolicited advice), and was a bit younger than most when he was given permission to start taking on apprentices. Part of it is that he likes being looked-up to and seeming to have all the answers, but his care and concern for his students are very much genuine. He's an idealist about education, if nothing else.
Despite his determination to accomplish things alone, and his willingness to mow people down (mostly figuratively) if they get in his way, Vandelin isn't an antisocial person and doesn't think of himself as one. He means well, in a roundabout way. He just has a lot fewer compunctions about fighting dirty than some others do.
Abilities & Skills:
--Basic grounding in all forms of Thedosian magic except for blood magic--minor skill with creation and spirit magic, moderate experience with primal/elemental magic, and a strong specialization in entropy/death magic.
----His particular entropic specialty is hexes, which can weaken/confuse/paralyze opponents, but he's also good with spells that affect the mind and cause waking nightmares.
--Good with stealth and concealment; can fit into unusually small spaces when necessary.
--Calm and collected in a crisis.
--Moderate skill with herb lore and potion-making.
--Excellent cook.
Inventory/Companions:
--Delicate orb-topped staff, which used to shoot blasts of frost and is now a nice decoration.
--Tattered, muddy robes that might have at one point been purple.
--One sad homemade healing potion in a grubby jar.
Choice: Monster (Fae); second choice Monster (Naga)
Reason: He basically already is a fae. Entirely beyond the whole "already being 5'2" with giant doll eyes and pointy ears" thing, Van is all about exacting petty magical revenge for minor slights, and his favored combat tactic has always been making his enemies hallucinate their worst fears until they regret ever touching him. I love the idea of being able to use his fae form and its psychological quirks to enhance all of his darker aspects. Having all of his vindictive and vengeful impulses enhanced would really force him to confront, once and for all, whether he's truly happy being like that. (The answer is no.)
As a naga, it would be fun to explore how he deals with being vulnerable from the cold-bloodedness (as well as how that interacts with his existing trauma from his time spent freezing in the woods on the run.) Also, I adore snakes and would love to play one.
Sample: Here and here.
Name: Anna
Age: 33
Contact: Annalizabeth#7549 @ Discord, layonmacduff @ Plurk
Other Characters: None
Character Information
Name: Vandelin Emith
Canon: Dragon Age (OC)
Canon Point: Roughly two years after the fall of the Circles.
Age: 31
History:
* Born in the city of Hasmal, to stern and conservative parents who could not possibly have disapproved more of the constant influx of elven refugees from Tevinter taking up space and resources in the already cramped and destitute alienage. The second of three children and the only boy among them, his mother's labor in the late-summer heat was so long and difficult that when he finally emerged, she named him a dialect form of fen da'len, "wolf child."
* When his magic manifested at age eight, with a snap of frost that killed all the plants in the family vegetable garden, his parents shed few tears at the templars' arrival. Their anti-Tevinter sentiment had come to extend to all mages, and they were mortified at the thought of having produced one. Vandelin, on the other hand, refused to go quietly, and fought, flailed, kicked and bit until one templar stuffed him into a burlap sack to carry him out of the city.
* Despite his antipathy toward the tower he now found himself living in, Vandelin thrived as a student of magic--partly through intelligence and good study habits, partly because properly-harnessed resentment is a great motivator, but mostly because of a clerical error that had resulted in his beloved younger cousin Myrobalan being placed in the same Circle, when ordinarily blood relations were forcibly separated. The powers that be had not realized they were cousins, and by the time this came to light, the First Enchanter and Knight-Commander realized that it would be more useful to have the constant threat of separation available to dangle over their heads to ensure good behavior.
* He passed his Harrowing at the age of nineteen, though it got dicey toward the end. Convinced that he could outwit any demon who tried to manipulate him, he breezed past the spirits trying to play on his sense of compassion, the ones promising him power, even the ones trying to exploit his anger at his imprisonment--but the pride demon with whom he got drawn into a long chat near the exit almost did him in. He'd felt far too at home in the Fade to respect the danger as he should have.
* Somewhat humbled by the experience, he focused on more physical areas of study like the elemental disciplines--for a time. Entropy and chaos fascinated him, and remained too alluring to resist.
* His mentors encouraged him to join the Aequitarians upon his confirmation as a full enchanter, as they thought his way with words and skill at moderating conflict would be a good fit for the fraternity. Wary of going down a path that might leave him vulnerable to a pride or rage demon again, he agreed that joining the most moderate of the colleges might be a good idea.
* Vandelin gradually began to find the Aequitarians contemptible and ineffectual. No code of conduct, he argued, would earn mages fair treatment from those with absolute power over them. Unable to sway his colleagues from their founding principles, he quit the fraternity in disgust and joined the Libertarians instead.
* The Libertarians were no more successful than the Aequitarians, but just as Vandelin had begun to lose faith in the Fraternity of Enchanters altogether, word spread that the tensions in Kirkwall had exploded--literally--and that mages across the Free Marches were in open rebellion.
* Hasmal's templars were not inclined to let their charges go quietly, and the conflict there was compounded by the significant influence of the Loyalists--his cousin and best friend Myr prominent among them. The small contingent of Libertarians led the uprising, joined shortly thereafter by the Aequitarians and some unaffiliated, and Vandelin found himself on the front lines.
* His study of entropic magic paid off, rendering the defending forces unconscious en masse, and helping to allow those who wanted to escape just enough time to do so. Unbeknownst to him, though, the sleep spell that he had cast in the hopes of averting bloodshed reacted disastrously with a fear spell cast by his young apprentice, and Myr was caught in the crossfire and gruesomely blinded. Vandelin, however, was already gone.
*After he fled, Vandelin eventually came to rest in the Hinterlands of Ferelden with the bulk of the rebel forces. Rather than join up with the officially-sanctioned mage army, though, of whose intentions he was suspicious, he fell in with a rogue group of guerrilla apostates in a war zone known as the Witchwood. Over the next year, the group eked out a wretched and miserable existence through looting and hiding, dying off one by one from templar raids, frostbite and infection. It is at this point, catching his reflection in a frozen pond, that Vandelin arrives in the game.
Personality:
Vandelin is really good at compartmentalizing. He's not a sadist, or even a really callous sort of guy, but if there are people standing between him and something he wants, it's very easy for him to label them as the expendable 'other' and justify getting them out of the way by whatever means are most expedient. (To a point, anyway. He has only ever killed in self-defense, at the height of the Mage-Templar War, and not frequently.)
He's a born control freak who is accustomed to feeling small and powerless, and nearly everything he does is an attempt to mitigate that. Every interaction is a small, secret power struggle, and half his memory is occupied by a long list of grudges in need of some manner of payback. He is not a very happy person. Deep down, he longs to be able to let all of that exhausting calculation go--but to admit that, of course, would be weakness, and weakness is unforgivable.
He knows it can be useful to be underestimated, but the strategic benefits of that chafe at his ego too much--and it is a rather prodigious ego. As far as he's concerned, demonic possession is a thing that happens to other people. He certainly knows better than to let it happen to him. This isn't to say he wants to get involved in blood magic, or any such thing--mostly because he doesn't think it's anything but a crutch for talentless hacks too lazy to learn how to get the same results with magic that's actually legal--but he's not really one to take precautions in his interactions with the Fade. He's fiercely independent, and recklessly insistent on rejecting help of any kind from any source.
He's very fond of teaching and mentoring (and giving unsolicited advice), and was a bit younger than most when he was given permission to start taking on apprentices. Part of it is that he likes being looked-up to and seeming to have all the answers, but his care and concern for his students are very much genuine. He's an idealist about education, if nothing else.
Despite his determination to accomplish things alone, and his willingness to mow people down (mostly figuratively) if they get in his way, Vandelin isn't an antisocial person and doesn't think of himself as one. He means well, in a roundabout way. He just has a lot fewer compunctions about fighting dirty than some others do.
Abilities & Skills:
--Basic grounding in all forms of Thedosian magic except for blood magic--minor skill with creation and spirit magic, moderate experience with primal/elemental magic, and a strong specialization in entropy/death magic.
----His particular entropic specialty is hexes, which can weaken/confuse/paralyze opponents, but he's also good with spells that affect the mind and cause waking nightmares.
--Good with stealth and concealment; can fit into unusually small spaces when necessary.
--Calm and collected in a crisis.
--Moderate skill with herb lore and potion-making.
--Excellent cook.
Inventory/Companions:
--Delicate orb-topped staff, which used to shoot blasts of frost and is now a nice decoration.
--Tattered, muddy robes that might have at one point been purple.
--One sad homemade healing potion in a grubby jar.
Choice: Monster (Fae); second choice Monster (Naga)
Reason: He basically already is a fae. Entirely beyond the whole "already being 5'2" with giant doll eyes and pointy ears" thing, Van is all about exacting petty magical revenge for minor slights, and his favored combat tactic has always been making his enemies hallucinate their worst fears until they regret ever touching him. I love the idea of being able to use his fae form and its psychological quirks to enhance all of his darker aspects. Having all of his vindictive and vengeful impulses enhanced would really force him to confront, once and for all, whether he's truly happy being like that. (The answer is no.)
As a naga, it would be fun to explore how he deals with being vulnerable from the cold-bloodedness (as well as how that interacts with his existing trauma from his time spent freezing in the woods on the run.) Also, I adore snakes and would love to play one.
Sample: Here and here.