0
This topic is locked
Halfbreed Skaa Misting
Player Information
Name: James
Contact Information: Skype: Lyrebon
Character Information
Age: 22
Gender: Male
Place of Origin: Farmost Dominance
Occupation: Strategist / Noble / Valoren heir
Relationship Status: Single
Powers: Coinshot
-Type: Misting
-Metal(s) Used: Steel
-Degree of Skill: Moderate
-Status: Known
Appearance:
Standing 6ft tall, with rusty red hair extending to the nape of his neck, he normally stands out in regular skaa crowds. His hair is normally tied into a ponytail with a length of leather cord. Though toned in muscle he is seen as skinny by others. With blue eyes some would refer to as piercing. Though his sharp reserve unsettles most, he is a fine conversationalist but easily embarrassed. He is handsome, with a strong chin and broad nose.
Special Skills:
Educated in the ways of nobles he is able to think as one but always understands the importance of separating himself from that culture.
Capable of immaculate literacy skills as any noble he takes a personal interest in Oltin's writing and aphorisms.
He is excellent with quarterstaff, spear and sword, and confident in the assessment of people. Sometimes overly so as this to become a weakness.
Strengths: Reserved, Kaled is wary of others and often holds back his true self to encourage others to reveal themselves. He uses this to gauge the person he is talking to with good accuracy.
His attitude towards friends is rather accepting and he drops the suspicion, but he always remains on his toes with people he's unsure about.
He is also good with persuasion, which initiated his participation in the Belinsk rebellion before moving to Luthadel.
Weaknesses: Has problems when interacting with people, being distant and suspicious of every new person he meets, especially women that take an interest in him. Only finding comfort in being alone after Tophian's demise.
Personality:
Cool and reserved; Kaled observes and uses conversation as a medium for revealing a person. Aware of his skaa blood, he is suspicious of most people he meets, instantly wanting to play games to figure out their motives.
Despite his education, Kaled is fairly cynical and increasingly distant after the Belinsk rebellion. Yet, he's fairly comfortable conversing with people, even women, when he can gauge their personality. His step-sister, Aurele, annoys him and he has no trouble rebutting her... except when she teases him sexually (knowing his ineptitude with women).
He is far from a doormat; always with an opinion even if that opinion isn't exactly orthodox. He has no problem offending people he feels needs to be.
Kaled has increasing experience with his Allomancy, something he can practice with abandon being under the guise of a noble.
Though he subconsciously seeks someone who he can let out his feelings to after losing Tophian. Sometimes it seems he uses Allomancy to suppress the pain he feels, often burning on full until he's run out.
History:
House Valoren rose to power in the city of Belinsk, feeding on the substantial trade of that city. In its youth, House Valoren invested some very lucrative deals, becoming wealthy in a matter of months from their formation. And even when it was only Garren and his daughter left, the trend continued for years until, eventually, the Valorens stopped receiving offers of negotiation after several of its supply lines were sabotaged.
His trade routes became barren - nobody wanted to use the Valoren transport for fear of losing their merchandise. No male children to succeed him, his wife dead almost five years, House Valoren were in serious decline. He did, however, have a daughter, Aurele, in the Steel Ministry keeping his financial crisis afloat.
Eleanna, a young skaa rebel living in the city of Belinsk, approached Garren under the pretence of a lord’s sister, seeking to open trade routes in Belinsk at the behest of her contact, a lady she met rarely for the sake of safety. The business would pay well but Garren was to ask no questions about the merchandise. Garren was offered the ultimatum that he could either take the offer or let his House perish. Seeing this as his last chance, but with no heir to succeed the Valoren chair he agreed in the oddest mix of reluctance and resignation.
The subsequent business deals were very lucrative for Garren but as instructed, he asked no questions - Garren wasn’t a glutton, but neither could he face failure, and he was particularly confused about his lack of business deals in the past year. His daughter caught their name in several documents, overly worried that it was the Ministry trying to ruin them, for whatever reason.
He suspected but never fully understood it was Eleanna’s comrades that organised the drought in Valoren business. It opened up avenues to spearhead a reputation between Eleanna and House Valoren.
The deals with Eleanna were very prosperous for both parties and the nobility of Belinsk were made to see this, building on the reformed groundwork of Garren’s shattered reputation. Eleanna had set the first stone in residing confidence with House Valoren. There were several backdoor negotiations between Eleanna’s group and other clients, “persuading” them to contract with Valoren.
Eleanna’s deal revitalised the waning influence over Belinsk’s economy, giving Garren substantial footing in the market.
But she was not free of scrutiny. Aurele, Garren’s daughter in the Canton of Orthodoxy, had a penchant for deliberation and wanted to investigate her father’s new business partner.
Eleanna’s superiors needed to put a skaa in power, to do something risqué was the only conceivable way. And at this point it was when Garren invited Eleanna to attend a ball with him. Although hesitant at first, Garren had a natural charm about him that seemed genuine to her.
Meanwhile, Aurele had found several discrepancies - very hard to notice – in Eleanna’s documents. Aurele sought the truth at the sacrifice of her potential promotion. But Aurele saw the threat to her family as a more pressing concern than even the Lord Ruler’s own wishes. For her investigation, she had to travel far to Luthadel itself to find what she wanted - a journey lasting months.
From that night and over several months, Eleanna’s feelings for Garren developed into love that stammered her into adoration and trepidation. She couldn’t have feelings for a noble! It would jeopardize the entire operation that had taken years to build and execute. Yet, she found herself in his bed many nights.
When she voiced her opinions, her contact directed her to maintain the level of intimacy she had with Garren. Eleanna felt terrible for manipulating a man she regarded as humble and compassionate, despite knowing with the vigour and tenacity he played at House politics.
When Eleanna became noticeably pregnant, Aurele had returned to her father’s household bearing dangerous news. Garren was the first to hear of it, fearing the Ministry would use the opportunity to destroy the remnants of the Valorens. In emulating her concern, Garren ordered his daughter to remain quiet with the information and he himself observed Eleanna to discern her motives.
It wasn’t long after she gave birth to Kaled. Though initially detached, Garren grew to like Kaled, but the threat he and his mother imposed upon the House was persistent in his worry. Garren listened to his daughter, but had allowed his love for Eleanna to blind his judgement. With the threat from the Steel Ministry, Aurele tried to dissuade prying eyes from reading too much into Eleanna’s past.
For years, Kaled was confined to the Valoren household, mentored in the ways of the nobility, but always kept at a distance from the same mentality. Garren recognised the requirements for Valoren to vie for Great House status, but despite the concurrent deals, the nobility still hadn’t forgotten the dark patch in Garren’s recent career.
Kaled presented the opportunity for House Valoren to climb the ladder but at considerable risk.
He started attending balls and politic affairs at a young age. It had come under suspicion at times but none of the nobility had ever conceived the notion that Kaled and his mother were skaa. The idea that a noble would willingly continue such an affair robbed them of their rationality. And perhaps the Ministry too had other matters to concern them with.
Throughout it all, Kaled understood what he was and what it would mean if he was ever discovered. He played the noble persona as his father instructed but still sympathised with his native origins.
His sympathy led him down the same path death walked. Always taunting and remaining out of reach, Kaled saw first hand the suffering pushed onto the skaa. It was then that Tophian eyed him in the streets, recognising him from several years’ observation. Tophian was a little older than Kaled and had inherited the responsibility of a small faction of skaa rebels, previously lead by Eleanna’s recent contact.
Tophian met secretly with Kaled, introducing herself and extending to him the same opportunity in the rebellion as his mother. Kaled accepted, wary of the woman, but only on the condition he be treated as a valued member of the rebellion. He shared the same ideals but had realised his mother’s ploy to put a skaa in a House seat; how valuable he was at their chances of success. Without his co-operation, the entire game was forfeit.
Introduced to the crew, Kaled found companions in Oltin, a Keeper of Terris who said he was there to record the events, and Matthias, a large bearded man married to his axe. Though tension remained between the two factions – Valoren and the rebellion – Kaled proved himself a reliable ally.
At the age of 19, Belinsk became a sea of fire from an unseen enemy. Kaled found Tophian involved, offering to help if they got Eleanna, Garren and Aurele out of the city. When asked, Tophian said they’d abandoned the idea of grabbing a House seat when another rebellion faction began tearing away at the city.
The carnage lasted for a month. By when Kaled had already served as a valuable tactician for the rebellion for several months prior. proven to be a valuable tactician and fighter, arousing affection from Tophian of which he tried to reciprocate - much to his own embarrassment and Matthias' humour.
When Belinsk began to burn, Kaled donned his skaa nature and directed strikes at Belinsk to cause maximum damage Tophian's small band of skaa could rouse.
A month of carnage, a beacon of fire across the Final Empire, had not gone unnoticed. By then, an Inquisitor and an Obligator had arrived, posing great threat to the rebels. Kaled was unfortunate to be the one to welcome the Inquisitor to Belinsk. He signalled the retreat, understanding the danger; but too late. His squad destroyed, himself beaten, he couldn't give himself to despair. Instead he found the fighting spirit within him, a bright power only now just breaking the confines of its seal: Kaled had Snapped. But it was too late, too immature, and he was quickly overwhelmed.
Tophian arrived to find him wounded only to be presumably killed by the Inquisitor. He had no recollection of being saved; only that Tophian was nowhere to be found. At Garren’s behest, Kaled journeyed to Luthadel, where Garren had acquired a small abode in previous years. Still under renovation, but nobody would question the lord from Belinsk moving into a half-furnished house. Nobody questioned the hunger of man; the desire for power.
Nobody questioned what had happened in Belinsk.
Roleplay:
Kaled stood watching with impassive eyes at the burning city below. At once what was home to a half-breed like him. Everyone put too much stock in the Lord Ruler; many nobles screaming his name to the skies, deifying him as they did. If Tophian’s crew hadn’t spirited his family away from the blaze he’d be roasting along with the rest of the nobility and their tragic ideals of god-hood.
The sky flickered a brilliant aura. The darkness of the night seemed even darker than usual, vacant of its usual pearlescent swirl of misty froth. Kaled turned from the chaos, feeling the heat warm his steps into the cavernous mountain side. After a few turns down the snaking, natural corridors of rock, he arrived in the immense hollowed formation resembling - in size - the hall of his father’s place; Matthias greeting him with his fatherly grin.
“’lo, my lord, exciting night isn’t it?” He referred to Kaled as “my lord” or “Sire" at times but never intended malice, unlike those amongst the skaa rebels who misjudged Kaled with their shadeless spectrum of prejudgement. To them, Kaled was just another noble tainted by arrogance and self-important goals.
“Matthias, I express my aversion to that title almost every time.” Kaled sighed and thought about the possibility of getting through to Matthias one day. If that day ever came, Kaled imagined the Lord Ruler himself would have a sudden heart-attack.
From the widening of his already generous face, Matthias was about to make a sass comment when Tophian walked in. Kaled immediately absorbed every detail about her as he did almost unconciously; long chestnut hair flowed into the loose hangings of her emerald robes. And just the way she wore those robes - wrapped tightly around herself and left to flutter freely at shoulders, waist and elbows - and the swagger in her walk that suggested a well practiced step, were enough to catch Kaled's breath.
Matthias was already welling up with comments, so Kaled forced his gaze to the unflattering rock to discourage further teasing from the bearded brute.
Presently, it was Tophian that took the lead, “"From the ashes sprouting wings of flame comes the world of tomorrow." I find it a fitting passage for this night.”
Kaled scowled at the passage. Oltin was infecting everyone with his damnable poetry, taking readings from ancient sources. Lately, it seemed most of the underground were leaning on Oltin’s purported prophecy, but he wouldn’t take the sticks they all used as support away from them. Skaa needed every encouragement they could get and if Oltin’s baroque poetry relieved their fear and anxiety for a short while, Kaled could permit it.
Besides, Kaled had a fancy for the eloquence of Oltin's poetry too - Oltin was a great orator, captivating you merely by the sound of his voice. But to Kaled, the words were more than flamboyant prose.
Besides, Tophian would not let it romanticise her thoughts; she could keep her head below the ash mounts. For her, should she ever need bringing back down to ground level, there wouldn’t be far to fall. That was perhaps the most influential notion regarding Kaled's attraction to her; he found Tophian's strength intoxicating, like an aphrodisiac designed to paralyse his senses and leave him vulnerable.
Bringing himself to meet Tophian’s gaze he spoke with a slight stutter, “I’ve had Matthias run the plan by the men. They seemed quite eager for the discipline they follow. They’re taking this pretty seriously.”
Kaled caught a brief smile touch Tophian’s curving lips - they were so beautiful - and even now he felt adoration at the way she looked at him.
Finding himself in that impasse of identity, where the mask he wore was not visible to him, he let passion rule the thought-conscious of his desire. Yet, he kept himself on the precipice knowing abandonment of his formal self would befall more than himself. Would it surprise him to know he could plunge from that cliff and sacrifice everything but the most important?
“We move immediately, this needs to be done as quickly as possible.” And, in the manner she only revealed around Kaled - the flirtatious side of her he found enjoyable - , she added - after Matthias went to rouse the men: “And if we move fast enough there'll be another fire to stoke tonight.” She winked, suggestively. Still staring into those hard green eyes Kaled felt a sense of euphoria and he allowed it to poison him for a moment, blurring other sensations the world around them disolved.
He had realised the anxiety hardening his words earlier, realised it in his dry response to Matthias and his uneasiness speaking to Tophian. Easing the tension in his body, lowering his defences for Tophian to glide in on the toes of her feet and steal the affection of his lips. In that motioned instant came the sense of shifting; some natural order aligning itself correctly with that unknown constant only known to the world itself.
Breaking from the kiss, they remained for a moment, conveying their mutual acceptance through accelerated breathing. Tophian broke the embrace to walk away to the cave hall’s exit, but glanced back once she reached it, smiling.
Out of sight, Kaled then had an omnious vision; a fatalistic realising of events in a broken world ruled by a tyrant. Like the paint of a picture soaked and running off the canvas. Each river of paint forming the colour of bile with the accompanying, nauseating tightness within him.
Kaled became overwhelmed in the second of real-time that it occurred, the lingering vividity of it constricted his throat when he tried to swallow. What he would call omen had been related to something close to him, something he feared losing to the chaos of the world and something that would drive him insane when revealed by his prophetic waking-dream.
And for once, Kaled let fear take him.
Edited by Lyrebon, 13 November 2011 - 09:28 PM.
). I'll be active more now I've organised myself in my Uni timetable.
