Staven Rynn

[kenty191]

Staven Rynn



Age: 21
Class: Sorcerer
Race: Human
Alignment: TN
Deity: Aragen

Stats:
STR 8
DEX 14
CON 13
INT 14
WIS 8
CHA 17

Description

This young man stands tall at around six feet and has broad shoulders. His handsome face wears an almost constant grin and his brown eyes reflect an inner mischievousness. His crimson-brown hair is tousled and blows gently in the breeze about his face.

He often wears intricately cut clothes with fine details adding to the general quality of his attire. At his waist he carries various pouches and a small, though elaborately fashioned dagger, and he often carries a stave tipped with some form of crystal. A small leather-bound tome can also be seen upon his person.

As he notices you he gives a polite nod; obviously he is well versed in social etiquette, though at times it seems excitement can get the better of him. Indeed, his raucous laugh gives some insight into a truer personality aside from the charming veneer he presents.

Still, his charm is undeniable, a fact which he appears to be well aware of given the confident stride with which he walks.

Speaking with him, you notice his well spoken manner and his eloquence, a trait others may mistake for arrogance.

Personality

Staven can be a somewhat unstable sort. Often impulsive and competitive yet Staven has a commitment to learning through a systematic method of research. He strives to master his sorcery through a process of understanding, much like a wizard might conduct research, yet Staven uses less precise methods, even at times using trial and error to help expand his magical power.

Staven learned from a young age that allowing his power to remain unchecked and unpredictable could be dangerous not only for others but for himself.

His fluent use of the common tongue and his quick wit also serve to remind others of his educated background. Staven is quick to point out what he perceives to be his superiority over what he terms wild mages, and although he enjoys the company of wizards and a lively debate, his grasp of their arcane terms is limited. Instead Staven claims he understands his magic more than any wizard, with their vast magical vocabulary could, for in his words, he is magic.

Aside from his magical ability Staven is a charming, if somewhat arrogant young man. His early experiences have left him very independent; though he enjoys the company of others he is just as likely to wander off alone into the wilderness to practise his talents in isolation.

His sense of humour can be somewhat sarcastic, and although harmless, his words can cut those not used to such a barbed tongue. Indeed, his way with words has landed him in several tight spots in his short life, particularly with 'dumb brutes’ who he is most fond of confusing. Of course Staven is incredibly confident given his magic, perhaps too confident having lived a relatively sheltered life up until recently.

Background

In the moonlit streets of Spellgard, a hooded man moves quickly towards the gate, almost at a sprint. He is breathing heavily and appears to be very frightened as he slips out of the gates and into the wilderness outside.

What had I done? He pushed me to it. He shouldn’t have said what he said. Calling me trouble?! I had been nothing but the model son. I had worked for him in the library, I attended the school HE chose and I was well ahead of my peers while others dragged themselves about the streets, consorting with thieves and other undesirables. And yet, was he proud of me for my talents? His voice echoes in my head even now “your...kind are savages, consumed by their irrational magic!” He for bayed me to use my power any longer, he presumed I could control it!? I was younger then and I had not mastered even a single cantrip. My magic in my adolescence was at best unstable and more commonly dangerous.

It was dangerous that night, and so I left. Left Spellgard. Left my life as a merchant’s son. It was by no means a privileged life, however, my father acted as such, commanding great things of his only son. In fact he was no wealthier than any other merchant in Spellgard, indeed his stall dealt in minor trinkets and nothing more. Still, it was home, and my mother cared for me as well as any mother should.

Even so, I had wanted to leave for years but I never had a reason, just that last push. Now if I stayed father would have made my life miserable. At least this way he was not a factor. I am my own man now.

Staven makes his way to the town of Hlint where he spends several months. Here he learns that the world outside of his family home is far harsher, yet vastly more exciting.

I had read what little I could on the art of sorcery while in Spellguard. There, at least in the Lucindite temple, they respected my ability and gave me guidance. I heard tales of dragons and of their return. Even more interesting some spoke of sorcerers themselves having dragon blood, however faint, which gave them their unique abilities. In Hlint there were no such libraries. The townsfolk spoke in fearful tones of dragons when asked, though they seemed to care little for my then feeble magical abilities, evidently they had witnessed far greater than I.

Still the town was quiet, too quiet for one such as myself to find any excitement for long. And so, I moved on. I heard of a port town, Leringard and headed in its direction. There I spent two years of my life. It is not a place one can tire of quickly, and although there are few intellectual challenges to be faced, I did learn to look after myself there. Amid the cold streets I found work as a wizards assistant, Mezlan Swift if I recall, and, although he did not at first consider me 'worthy’ of his intellect, much like my father, he soon changed his tone when he and I debated the nature of magical energy. He came with his diagrams, his theories, and although I saw his work as worthwhile, he was flawed in a fundamental manner. He did not account for the magician’s own energy and its influence on the subsequent magical manifestation. I told him of my own experiences, however limited, and of how I felt when I cast my magic. It seems Swift had not considered this as important to the resulting spell.

Under Swift however I learned how to fully train my skills. I adopted his research and started to record my efforts. It was almost a year later when I first learned what Swift called “Ray of Frost”. I preferred Ice Beam but still, for ease of recognition with other users of the arcane, I picked up the common names for the most widely used spells.

I also undertook the learning of a second language, elven. I had not considered such a process as being worth my time previously, however, given Swift’s own heritage and his predisposition to writing only in his native hand I had to learn the intricacies of the language to be able to critique the wizard’s theories and offer him my own, considered opinion.

Swift himself spoke the tongue with great fluency, unsurprising given his heritage, but what most amazed me was the ease with which he mixed the two. After I showed some interest in his native tongue he began to use the two interchangeably in conversation. It became somewhat of a game to him, though he made sure I knew that he would not teach just anyone his language. He said human learners, in his experience, should first learn to speak their own tongue fluently, an accomplishment he said I had achieved well before we met.

And so my tutorage continued. Swift would send me to my bed with a hefty sum of his own research journals and tell me to translate volumes at a time. The process was time consuming to say the least, but it was necessary if I wanted to study all of Swift's work independently, which I did.

In just over a year in Leringard I came to slowly learn the composition of elven words and could write them almost without any mistakes. Yet a bigger challenge awaited me in the pronunciation of such delicate words. Here was where I struggled, though I am loath to admit my short comings. I found the positioning of the mouth the most difficult. It took another six months to speak even the most basic words, and practise new vowel sounds I had not been accustomed to. Still, I feel I have succeeded, and I speak the elven tongue now, like that of an illiterate no doubt, but still I am able to communicate. My written elven of course is far more advanced, given the vast numbers of tomes I deciphered.

Still, my ability is not insignificant and I wish to learn other languages in the future. I hear the dragons themselves speak their own, ancient language...perhaps one day, but I digress.

After the passing of four years, I again became bored. And boredom is a dangerous state for one such as myself. Things tend to explode. Anyhow, I left in the direction of Port Hempstead, having heard of an enclave of mage craft there. Though having arrived here it seems Swift’s information was somewhat outdated. Still, this place will suffice as a new home for the moment, and I hear of several avenues for work here.

Staven arrives in Hempstead via the docks and sets about exploring...

Additions

Dragon Blood: I am aware that sorcerers here have no dragon blood in their veins; however, as the bio is autobiographical it merely represents Staven's beliefs and what hearsay he has picked up along the way. Although not stated, I envision Staven following a path of investigating dragons and their history in the hopes of understanding himself, though I as a player know this will be a fruitless task.

Family: I've added more on his father's status. I can understand how it reads especially given the way Staven speaks but I tried to show this was less down to his background, and more down to his own intellect, which I wanted to set higher than the traditional 'dumb but pretty' sorcerer.

Elven: I've added more to support this.

[minerva]

A well written story, but a few points.

Layonarian Lore : Sorcerors and bards DO NOT have dragon blood - not a dilute drop. There may be legends to that effect and it may be what some say to explain their talents but as long as it is understood that is not the case.

Expand the learning of elven. Over and over we have pointed out it is a complex language to learn, so I want to see a bit more effort in the bio explaining the learning process.

Add a bit about the commonness of his family just for the record please.

Edit as above and it will be looked at again

[kenty191]

I've edited the original post in line with the suggestions.

Thanks
Dan

[minerva]

Your character has been approved.

Server address is west.layonara.com
Password is layoplayer

Some final notes on character creation:

• Please note that racial adjustments for players with subraces are skin based and thus get applied after getting in game.
• Only two ability scores can be less than 10 and only one can be less than 8 after racial adjustments
• Brownies, when selecting a head, the head you choose on the halfling selection will correspond to that numbered head for elves (for example, clicking right 6 times on the head selection during character creation will take the 6th head when clicking right on the elf creation)
• Half-giants and ogres, please ask for a GM (type /dm Anyone here?) if you would like to change to a custom skin.

Have Fun , Approved with elven ear

[kenty191]

Thanks, just a question (its been a while since I played a new character!) but do I have to request the ear from a GM in game?

[minerva]

yes you do