Lazo
Member
|
If you're still taking applications, I've had this character sitting in my folder for a while, and I figure this would be a good place for her. The magic might be a problem, though. Tell me if I should tone it down further. Name: Faint Gender: Female Age: 30 Race: Human Appearance: Faint stands at about 5’7’’, with a lithe frame, clear skin and delicate features to go with her rather attractive figure. Her long, slightly curly hair is a dark auburn, picked up in a pony-tail for convenience, and has a healthy gloss to it that speaks of ample care. That said, the way her jade colored eyes only seem to carry a permanent frown or intense gleam, one would find it difficult to believe she would give as much time to such things as it appears. Her clothing is not overly complicated, consisting of a brown, pocketed leather vest over a loose burgundy tunic, form fitting brown pants held in place by a sturdy black belt, and black boots reaching just under her knees. The vest cuts open triangularly above her breast, allowing the tunic’s collar to fold outwards, giving her an air of authority. On each of her hips, attached to the belt are two sheathed daggers, along with a small leather satchel. Belongings: Beyond the slender daggers sheathed to her belt, Faint carries a few other knives on her person. If one pays enough attention they may see a handle peeking from under her boot, or small bumps under her sleeves. Additionally, she always makes sure to keep some lock picking tools on her person, typically in her satchel or one of her vest’s pockets. Personality: While making certain allowances for dry wit and humor, Faint has an overall serious and sensible demeanor, often adopting the role of the voice of reason, a no nonsense attitude displayed in the expectant, almost bored look in her eyes. This look tends to be replaced by a calculating, clinical glare whenever she catches wind of something that might benefit her, particularly if it stands to add to the weight of her purse. While she has lines she will not cross – even thieves have standards – one could not be faulted for thinking she would be willing to trade her mother to get her way. Then again, depending on how attached she is to a particular person, others might be fair game. Faint is not the kind to visibly lash out when angered, but she has been known to bear grudges. A good way to put yourself on her bad side is to comment on her age or criticize her appearance. History: Faint was born to a poor family living in a large city’s slums along with one older brother. According to her parents, they had once been an affluent merchant family, but had been driven out of business by competition and new policies set in place after the former king’s passing. One way or another, she never once saw any of that coin, as her parents seemed content to live off charitable souls and prayer to random deities who may somehow reverse their fortunes. Faint took it upon herself to help her family however she could, and from a very early age began taking food off stalls and gathering dung from the stables near the city’s edge to light up the hearth. Her brother did not take kindly to this, jealous of the way their parents seemed to have become dependent of her. Beatings started, and combining it with her budding talent in magic, other young kids who wanted to give the freak a peace of their mind joined in. She never told her parents how she got new bruises every day, or why she spent more and more time away from home as days passed. The threat in her brother’s eyes was ever present, ‘tell them, and it will be the last thing you do.’ She suspected that, in some level, her parents knew, but couldn’t bring themselves to believe their elder son would do such a thing to his baby sister. One particular day, when she was looking for food and stray coins, she misjudged her mark and pickpocketed a very particular stranger. He caught her in the act, and by some twist of fate ended up meeting the man who would become her mentor. An old hand at the thieving business, and perhaps at some point a bloodier kind of enterprise, as his skill with knives and some of his connections attested to, for some reason decided that the little girl who had tried to cut his purse would make for a good pupil. Suffice to say, he taught her everything she knows, and she might have developed a small crush for the old man in the time she knew him. She suspected the thief would give her a place to stay if she asked, but she kept going back home to help her family, skillfully avoiding her brother, and at times managing to fend him off when he came for her. In her brother’s mind, it was clear that this would not stand. One night, he ambushed her in the streets. She had been careless and didn’t notice him following her in her usual foray into the city. By the time she became aware of him, he had pounced on her. He cursed her, beat her, told her that she was weak, and told her how he planned to sell her off to the city’s mines. She became desperate and managed to conjure up an illusion to distract him. While he was distracted, she picked up a rock and bashed him on the back of the head. He did not wake up from the impact. Panicking, she went to her family and told them what had happened. They would not take her after that debacle. Much as it had been accidental, in killing their son, she had not revealed a darkness in her brother’s heart, but the one in hers. Instead she moved in with the thief, who offered a surprisingly warm shoulder to cry on. This went on for some years, Faint learning under the thief and eventually being taken into the folds of the city’s Thieves’ Guild. Eventually, the thief was captured in one particular heist. He was meant to be brought to a prison to wait for his trial, but he never made it. The official statement claims that it was a clerical error that had him sent to the gallows rather than a cell, but all involved caught a glimpse of the strings moving behind the accident. It was… regrettable, but it was something the thief had prepared her for. Theirs was a dangerous profession, and as such, she marched on until she made a mistake of her own. Faint was hired to take over a small caravan meant for a powerful noble before the caravan entered the city proper, past the slums beyond the wall. She succeeded, but soon learned that the noble had ties to the city’s Assassins’ guild, and part of the shipment was in fact a very rare artifact meant for its head. The Thieves’ Guild had a standing arrangement with the Assassins’ Guild, but, due to a recent internal upheaval against the latter’s leadership and its supporting elements, the Assassins were in a state of disarray. Fearing the possible repercussions, a cull being among the possibilities, the Thieves’ Guild disavowed Faint, leaving her on her own. Eventually, she was forced to fake her own murder in order to flee the city, leaving the stolen object behind. She is not sure if they ever realized that they were tricked, but putting more distance between her and them could not be a bad idea. She could always ply her trade in another city. Preferably one with a sizeable amount of distance and few connections to her old home. Skills, spells and abilities: Faint prides herself in her prowess as a thief, and as such it should not come as a surprise that she knows her way around pockets, locks and areas certain powerful people would rather she did not know her way around. While skillful with her chosen weapons and very accurate with her throwing knives, daggers are not the most effective weapons in direct confrontations against well-armed foes, or even animals and monsters with particularly thick hides. Faint knows this, and as such prefers to either avoid fights altogether or, should that not be possible, ambush and cheat her way through. This is aided by her talent in illusion magic. Since she never had actual instruction in the use of her magical abilities, the more complicated illusions such as invisibility spells and the creation of illusory bodies that don’t look out of place in a real environment remain outside her area of competence. However, through practice and experimentation, she has managed to repurpose certain cantrips to her needs. The first one is akin to a perception filter, rendering her the most bland and uninteresting thing in the room. The effects of this illusion can be easily broken under duress and scrutiny, or through the use of senses other than sight, so it tends to be most effective while in a crowd. While it lasts, eyes simply skip over her without really seeing. The second is a form of aural manipulation, allowing her to change a noise’s volume, pitch, and to apparent origin. Particularly, this allows her to muffle footsteps, create diversions, and disguise her voice. The third one is an illusion that overlays an object’s appearance with small aesthetic changes. Should the changes be small enough, they can be maintained indefinitely. It certainly cuts off time from her morning rituals.
< Message edited by andres_950 -- 5/25/2014 3:53:54 >
|