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[Janus Tekiel]

JANUS TEKIEL
High Prelan

Name/Handle: Comatose
Contact: [email protected]

Name: Janus Tekiel
Type: Obligator
Age: 40
Gender: Male
Place of Origin: Luthadel
Occupation: High Prelan of the Canton of Doctrine
Relationship Status: Celibate

Type of Powers: Mistborn
Metals Used: All
Degree of Skill: Pewter: Novice, Tin: Advanced, Steel: Advanced, Iron: Advanced, Brass: Beginner, Zinc: Beginner, Bronze: Advanced, Copper: Novice, Gold: Intermediate, Atium: Intermediate
Status: Open

Janus's sister got all the best his parent's genetics had to offer, and he got what was left over. She got the flowing blonde tresses, the delicate features, and a winning smile. While he shared his sister's colouring, Janus's hair, when he had it, was always lank and greasy. His most distinctive feature are the piercing gray eyes he shares with her. They are now framed by extensive obligator tattoos. His sister is petite and graceful. Janus is also thin, but that thinness is very unbecoming on a man of his height (6'). It makes him look lanky and sickly. His sister barely shows her age, but Janus has looked like an old man nearly all of his adult life. His face is all hard angles, and all his features are harsh and too prominent. His voice is high and pitched for a man, and quite nasal, unpleasant to listen to, so he often speaks softly in an attempt to compensate for this.

Janus is not a people person. He has a charisma score of zero. He is a man of many hates, and few loves. The only things he looks fondly on are the Lord Ruler, and the truth, which is how he found his place in the Canton of Doctrine. He is always brutally honest, follows every law to the letter, and has no tolerance for lying. Because of his very black and white attitude, he hates the intrigues of the nobility, and especially mistrusts noblewomen. They way his sister used to manipulate him has him severely jaded against all women, and hates when any woman holds an office with his Canton. If he could, he would shut everyone else away, and be by himself to read his books, complete his research and practice his allomancy. His black and white attitude has also led him to have prejudices against certain metals. Pewter he disdains as a tool for a brute, which he certainly is not. He never uses copper, as it is used to hide people's true nature. He's tried to have it outlawed several times, but always failed. The metals he hates most however, are brass and zinc. These are the tools of the manipulative nobles he hates the most. He cares little either way for atium, gold, or the secret metal electrum. He found them fascinating at first (especially electrum, as it was never seen outside the ministry), but soon lost interest. He burns bronze nearly constantly to try and makes careful notes of who among the nobility are allomancers, but his true passion is for Iron and Steel. When he has time, he will spend hours making coins spin in mid air with subtle pushes and pulls, making notations on the physics of it. His research with allomancy, and his search for new metals is what got him promoted in the first place.

Special Skills: Research, Experimentation, Reading and Writing.
Strengths: He is very skilled with four of the allomantic metals, and he is a talented researcher, though nothing special. He received his position after years of hard work, rather than incredible talent. He is very persistent
Weaknesses: Janus has no people skills. If he could shut himself away and ignore the rest of the world he would. The only people he trusts, besides the Lord Ruler, are others in the ministry, and most no farther than he can throw them. He is brutally honest with little tact, and a low tolerance for any foolishness, intrigue, or battles of wits.

Janus grew up with all the wealth and decadence of House Tekiel around him. His sister was a few years his senior, but as oldest male, he was heir to the household. He snapped early in life, and was discovered to be a Mistborn, which overjoyed his parents. His dual status as both heir and mistborn meant Janus began his life already steeped in learning the many intrigues of Luthadel. He grew up with the best of everything: the best trainers, teachers, clothing, toys, and food. He also grew up with a monster.

Her name, of course was Janelle, or Lady Janelle of House Tekiel, as she had him call her. Janus never understood why everyone liked Janelle more than him. She was normal and quite stupid in Janus's opinion, while all his tutors said Janus was quite intelligent and a Mistborn to boot! But no one else seemed to see things that way. Every one he met said Janelle was delightful, or Janelle was hilarious, or Janelle was so beautiful. Janelle could sing, and dance, and make the funniest faces. Janus thought all those things were stupid, but beside his outgoing sister, no one seemed to care that Janus could push and pull metals better than most his age, or that he could read faster than anyone else he knew. But those things weren't what made Janus hate his sister. The Lord Ruler made everyone different, so he shouldn't hate his sister for where her talents lay. He hated her because she tormented him. And because she did it without breaking a single rule.

Janus's father instilled a good sense of law and order in both of his children early on. Both learned his teachings well, and neither ever committed the barest infraction. The difference was Janus followed the rules right to their intent. Janelle could make them spin like flakes of ash in the wind. She never insulted him outright, just made offhand comments: ?Janus, you look so pale, are you feeling ill?? or, ?Janus, you look so haggard, you simply must rest more,? or, ?Janus, you must eat more, someone might think you are sickly.? How he hated it! She was always telling her many girlfriends about all his most embarrassing secrets, but when confronted about it, she'd say they were her closest friends, and that she trusted them, and Janus should trust them too. Or that they had asked about him, and it would be rude to ignore their question, especially when it wasn't even a very big deal. Sometimes he asked her outright to promise not to say such things, but no matter how exact he made the wording, she always seemed to find some loop hole. By the time he matured enough to attend balls, he was certain Janelle was the most horrible person on the face of the earth.

But he was the only one who knew.

Everywhere he went, people would tell Lord Tekiel what pictures of virtue his children were, both Janus and Janelle of course, but Janelle especially was such a delight! She was her generation's golden girl, and the belle of every ball. When it came time for her to be married off, the offers flew in. Lord Tekiel, of course, could deny his daughter nothing, and so, trusting her to make a wise decision. When she chose Lord Andrew of house Elariel, everyone was overjoyed. True, Lord Andrew's brother was the one who inherited the house title, but everyone thought them the perfect match. Lord Andrew was handsome, talented, and intelligent, and though he was not Janus's father's first choice, he was confident Lord Andrew would make and excellent husband for his daughter. Everyone in the house loved him actually, except of course, for Janus. Lord Andrew Elariel was everything Janus despised. He was not intelligent, but cunning, and incredibly manipulative. Janus had also sensed him soothing on a number of occasions, but his touch was so subtle, even some other seekers did not believe it of him. The man lied, cheated, and manipulated his way through life, and the people of Luthadel rewarded him for it. It was then that Janus realized he did not want to rule House Tekiel one day.

The process had been a building one. Though Janus was praised for his strict adherence to regulation, and general virtue, he failed at even the simplest of intrigues, refused to lie, and only used his emotional allomancy when directly ordered to. As a mistborn, Janus was a constant disappointment to his family. Even when flaring pewter, he lacked the grace most mistborn seemed to pick up naturally, and he was at best mediocre in battle. And that was being generous. He took to spying with tin all right, and usually managed to use his iron and steel to get away when an inevitable clumsy mistake revealed his presence, but on the whole, he was not made to be a spy or assassin. His father's pressure on him to become both competent mistborn and ingenious heir only served to make him realize that House Tekiel was not where he belonged.

He left in the middle of the night, packing his the few belongings he cared about, and caught a ride on a barge out of Luthadel. By the next morning, he arrived at a training facility for new acolytes. His father was angry of course, furious actually. He lost not only his heir, but the only mistborn of the new generation at the time. He pleaded with Janus to come back, but Janus firmly refused. He felt for his father's situation, but he could not go back. He was finally free. He quickly realized that the Canton of Doctrine was the place where he belonged, and as he trained with the other acolytes, he found a form of peace. Each day was one of careful study, and quiet meditation. His knack for rules helped him pick up the discipline many obligators had trouble learning easily, and he went through his training without receiving a single punishment or demerit. But the best was his allomancy! He was no longer forced to train to kill people with pewter, or manipulate them with hateful brass or zinc. He didn't even have to hide what he was with copper! He was free to study his favorite metals, especially steel and iron, all he wanted, as long as it didn't interfere with his studies.

Soon before he returned to Luthadel, Janus received news that his father had passed away, and had been rather controversially succeeded by his cousin, Justine. Janus spent his trip home mourning for his father, but did not attend any funeral or memorial. He was beginning a new life, and he wanted to cut all ties he had to his family.

His progress through the ministry was slow and steady. He was not as talented or brilliant as some of the other researchers, but he was determined, and never made any major mistakes. After years of hard work, and the prestige his abilities granted him, he became High Prelan of the Canton of Doctrine, and was in a position to finally influence the world, with a crew of trustworthy human beings dedicated to his goal. Or so he thought. He soon realized, and the haze from his years of furious study evaporated, that most obligators were just as manipulative and prone to treachery as the nobility. Many more-so. He spent much of the time he thought he should have been pushing reforms to his Canton or doing vital research, guarding his back against the many knives of his subordinates. He prided himself on dealing with each with honour, and without breaking the spirit of the regulations he viewed himself the sole protector of. There was the case of Davinna Casuana of course. He regretted going behind the young woman's back and having the inquisitors take her. He did personal penance for weeks afterwards. It had been necessary though. Her gender alone made her untrustworthy in Janus's eyes, and her gold habit certainly wasn't encouraging. The woman was obviously unstable, and rising far to quickly. If he hadn't done something she would have ripped his Canton down around him. No, she was far better with the inquisitors. He'd seen her several times since, and she seemed happier to, if the things ever were happy.

As the Inquisition gained momentum, Janus fought to do his part. The attacks, in his mind, were as much the result of the nobility's corruption as the skaa's impertinence. He among the other Canton head that copper should be banned, and all allomancers exposed so that the ministry could keep track of them. That way, the illegal skaa allomancers and their sinful parents would be easy to find. His requests were denied, as copper was far too common to try banning, and the ministry had their own secrets to hide. How Janus hated them! These, the most powerful men in the Lord Ruler's church, and every one as corrupt, at least in Janus's view, as the noblemen he had joined the ministry to escape. His allomantic research continued to reach dead ends as well. Despite something feeling of to him in the pairing of the higher metals and the two secret ones, he was still unable to reason out the puzzle, and all his attempts at alloys had failed. He'd even tried sending atium to a geologist to have it studied, and it had been stolen!

And so, we have Janus, tired, bitter, hateful of everyone around him, and entirely alone.

The coins flew away from him in every direction. Ten at once, each equidistant apart. Each perfectly weighted for allomancy, fresh from the mint, and free of dents. Then, suddenly they stopped and hung motionless, frozen in mid air. At least, they seemed to be.

In truth, they were not frozen, but held in place by two inescapable forces. Janus pushed and pulled deftly, his eyes closed, focusing not on the coins, but the lines they created. The coins seemed to freeze effortlessly in mid air, but in truth keeping them there was like balancing them side on side on the palm of his hand. Janus would never be able to do that. He was cursed with wretched clumsiness. But steel and iron did not require a steady hand, just firm focus. And Janus had plenty of that.

Ever so carefully, his shifted his pushes and pulls, pushing on one side of each coin, while pulling on the other, gently so as not to move them from their position. The coins began to spin, at first rapidly, but as he established more control, they slowed down. It was a challenge to keep each coin rotating to the same tempo, but Janus did it. At first he had kept his eyes open, and used tin and electrum to predict which coins would wobble so he could correct them before he did. Today all he needed was steel and iron, reliable as no being of flesh could ever be. The exercise served no purpose; it would be completely useless in combat. But it required his complete attention, any laspe of focus would send the coins spraying everywhere. With his entire mind bent to the task, he did not have to think of other things, like the wretchedness present in the hearts of every other living thing. The people of the world brought Janus only pain, and filled him with hate.

The coins brought him peace.

A knock at the door was all it took. Five coins shot outward and buried themselves in the wall, two fell straight to the ground, and three shot towards him. He barely deflected them before they bit into his flesh. Sighing, he extinguished his steel and iron, and began to burn bronze and tin.

"Enter."

It was his secretary. "Pardon me, your grace, but your carriage is ready. The ball will start soon."

Janus sighed tiredly. How many balls had he attended since becoming high prelan? "How I hate them."

"If your grace hates them so, why attend," asked the secretary. Janus frowned. He hadn't realized he had spoke out loud.

"I attend, because I am a public official. I must go. If I did not attend these wretched wastes of time regularly, I would be shirking my duty." The secretary merely nodded, no doubt kicking himself for asking.

Janus sighed again. He mouthed a quick prayer to the Lord Ruler for patience. There was no telling what wickedness he would witness tonight. The only thing that was certain was that he would be able to do nothing about it.

[KChan]

Accepted! Sorry it took so long! I'm really looking forward to seeing Janus in the RP. And yay for more Ministry characters!