APPLICATION: Knights of Legend

[lichslap]

Player Name: Christine
Player E-mail: myyahelle@gmail.com
Instant message contact: circusofthedamned @ AIM
Plurk: necrofancy
Is the player at least 18 years of age? Above and beyond!

Character's Full Name: Zaihne Ignatius Velios. Currently going by Zaihne Cale, previously known as Zaihne or Zachary Saul, Zachary Zulby and a number of other aliases. There's a Z theme.
PB: Grey Damon.
Character's Starting Level: 6?
Character Age: 29.
Physical Description:

Zaihne stands at 6'0" with a lean build, just this side of slender. He has changed his appearance in a number of ways over the years, but at present he keeps his hair cut short and dyed an unassuming and very human-hued brown, where he once kept it long and a natural shocking red. His eyes are bright green, and has allowed himself to go scruffy, often seen unshaven without being unkempt. He dresses simply and comfortably and has taken to modern fashion reasonably well, preferring dark colors. His hands are noticeably well-manicured if anyone looks closely enough, and he perpetually looks as though he's in need of some sun, pale without quite managing to be on the sickly end of the spectrum. He has no distinguishing marks or tattoos at the moment.

Character's Species/Race: Half-elf.

Character History (Pre-Veil):

Born to an elvish father and a human mother, Zaihne was raised in the Silver Marches (not far from their capital of Silverymoon) alongside his younger sister, Aureliah. His mother passed away shortly after Aureliah was born, and he played a large part in helping to raise his sister, being ten years her senior, though he himself grew somewhat more distant as she approached adolescence and he found himself lost in his studies, having been born with a talent for arcane magic and dedicating himself to the study and practice of it from an early age.

He found himself bored with the arcane, becoming steadily more and more interested in the occult, and his research of other forms of magic lead him to take an interest in necromancy, something it turned out he had a great talent for. Reanimating the undead came to him easily once he found himself brave enough to try, and one thing quickly lead to another-- each success lead him to try something bigger and bolder, and while arcane magic certainly remained within his talents, he allowed further study of it to fall by the wayside as he became consumed with further developing his skill with death magic.

He doesn’t remember much more than this, a fact that frustrates him to no end. He recalls his own name as well as his family members, and his abilities and interests remain unchanged-- but there’s nothing available to tell him who he was before coming through the Veil or what sort of life he might have lived, though he is aware of the fact that his relationship with his family had become estranged over the course of years. Beyond that, he has nothing, the journals he’d arrived with on his person full of magic theory and information concerning spells and reagents rather than life events, something he remains quietly bitter about to this day.

Post Veil History (if applicable):

Zaihne came through the Veil in London six years ago with nothing to call his own, like so many Shadowkind. Bright and resourceful, he quickly set himself to learning all he could about the world around him, though there was certainly a learning curve-- culture shock was an obstacle all on its own, though occasionally he would come across those who offered aid in helping Shadowkind like himself find their way.

He supported himself with odd jobs for a short time, then spent two years working in an occult shop in the city-- something that had initially attracted him because of his interests, but that quickly grew into a career all its own, and he went from managing a storefront full of vaguely arcane knick-knacks meant to lure in passersby to seeking out and procuring very real and quite often illegal magic artifacts and other items of interest to be sold to to the shop’s elite clientele. It was during this time that he met Taradiddle, with whom his working friendship soon became actual friendship, one that persisted even when their professions took them in opposite directions.

In addition, he found a way to monetize his talent with necromancy, raising the dead for whatever sordid reasons his potential clients could think of-- provided they paid him enough. The result was that he was able to live quite comfortably, even if some of the work he did was questionable. While one client might request to have a zombie raised to settle a matter of a contested will or provide a witness testimony that the corpse in question’s untimely death might have otherwise prevented, there were always people with intentions that weren’t quite so harmless-- clients with whom Zaihne generally adopted a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy with. His side business began to draw attention from all the wrong sorts of people, both in the form of law enforcement and would-be clients intent on asking him to do work that he felt would undoubtedly do him and his reputation more harm than good, prompting the first of several name changes and his willingness to let those jobs become fewer and farther between for a time.

Once he had acclimated to this world, he became fascinated by modern science and medicine, and spent much of his time studying when not trafficking magic goods. He has a keen interest in combining science with magic and seeing what the two together may produce, some of the results of which can be found in the workspace in his basement. I’ll be real, he probably has at least two flesh-golems down there.

He has stayed in touch with Taradiddle over the years, despite her having gone straight and turned her attention to other pursuits. Their regular conversations, in fact, are one of a handful of reasons that he has decided to consider a new career path-- or if not new, at least slightly divergent in that he could put his talents to use for people serving a far more worthy cause than most of his previous clients. Tara herself is responsible for recruiting him to the Knights, convincing him to follow in her footsteps and do something better than what he has been.

Personality and Psychology:

Anyone who has known Zaihne for even a brief period of time is likely to describe him as a pain in the ass. He tends to be overbearing from the start: he talks too much, smiles too much in a way that isn’t entirely cheerful, unsubtly compliments himself on the regular and seems to prefer the sound of his own voice to anyone else’s. He’s prone to playful insults and, in general, tends to be too much-- intense without being unfriendly, but too dismissive and casual to be called warm. The vanity and bluster tends to last as long as he can get away with it; the more he grates on people, the more likely they are to keep him at arm’s length and do anything other than pry into his business, which is exactly the way he likes things. He is often both stubborn and difficult, even childish when pressed, dramatic and prone to quickly switching gears between argumentative and laughingly dismissive.

Those who hold his interest or who stick around long enough to force their way into getting to know him better will find that while not everything he allows others to see is a fabrication, he is not as self-serving and impersonal as he would have people believe. He is intelligent and well-read, and he picks things up rather quickly, though his tendency to excel at most pursuits he puts his mind to often leaves him bored and in search of something more challenging-- an inclination that has brought him more trouble than not in the past, particularly concerning his interest in necromancy. His curiosity and drive to push himself to overcome greater challenges often leads him to overlook whether or not something is ethical, a concern that he went a number of years without letting himself consider, though he has recently begun to give it more thought.

While he inherited his sharp mind and talent for magic from his mother’s side of the family, the traits he inherited from his father’s side are far less desirable-- both his father and grandfather were assassins by trade, driven by a deep-rooted lust for pain and blood that his grandfather claimed made them titans among men, better than those who surrounded them and therefore not to be held to the same standards as their fellows. Though Zaihne’s own father, Alderic, disagreed, he had been raised in his father’s own image: a living weapon instead of a man, something Alderic refused to let his own son suffer, retiring and living as a weaponsmith as he raised his children far from his father’s influence. While he maintained his own natural inclinations for violence with discipline and an impressive amount of self-control, Alderic’s inability to admit that he saw those same inclinations in Zaihne even as a young child meant that Zaihne himself grew up unaware of how, exactly, to temper himself or exercise that same amount of control. Though the predisposition for violence was never nursed or shaped into an instrument of destruction as his father’s was, Zaihne’s temper is still a force to be reckoned with, and he has lost control of himself when pushed on more than one occasion, often amplifying his magic without meaning to as he acts on impulse and bringing forth regrettable results.

Zaihne’s stubborn refusal to allow himself to become close to people is rooted in past experiences, many of which he can no longer remember-- though while the memories themselves may be gone, the instinct to keep himself walled off in order to protect himself is still there. Rejection had been a way of life for him growing up, and a great deal of that is for reasons that he never fully understood, even before coming through the Veil. His father was often cold to him for reasons he never shared, a strange disconnect that Zaihne was never able comprehend despite how bright he was, and even other children his own age gave him a wide berth, warned away from his family due to the reputation his father and grandfather had given their name long before he was born. Aside from his close relationship with his younger sister, most other relationships in his life have ended poorly-- friendships, partnerships and romantic relationships alike have often left him alone for one reason or another, and while the memory of what happened is gone, the distinct feeling that the fault was explicitly his remains, strong and indisputable. His temper, no doubt, was the cause more than once, and he does remember that more than one person has come to physical harm because of his inability to keep himself under control, though more concrete details now elude him.

At his core, Zaihne is not necessarily a bad person, but one who has often lacked the necessary direction. He has been his own worst enemy more often than not, a creature of vice whose fascination with something can easily turn to obsession. His goal has never been to actively do harm, but a long history of letting his curiosity and impulses rule him has lead him to make a number of poor decisions, a way of life he now feels stirred to rectify. He considers himself to be damaged, afraid of his own inability to master his temper and the pull towards violence, though he has difficulty admitting it even to himself. Coming through the Veil has offered him a second chance, an opportunity to start fresh, and it’s only recently occurred to him that it’s an opportunity he’s been wasting up until now. He’s short on friends and even shorter on good influences, but the friends he does have are enough to keep him from letting himself drift too far in the wrong direction. Whatever else he may be, he is loyal, and won’t forget any kindness that’s been done or favors he might owe.

Powers and Abilities:

Zaihne was born with a predisposition for arcane magic, as many of his family members were before him. He took to this gift early on and was a dedicated student when he was younger, pushing himself to develop his abilities and make the most of his magical aptitude, his already sizeable ego growing each time he met with success. Over time, he grew bored with arcane magic and wrote it off as being trivial or too common, and began to seek something more challenging. As he crossed over into adulthood, he found himself called to necromancy, something that had piqued his interest years earlier as he found himself fascinated by the study of the occult, and it has held his attention ever since, even as his crossing through the Veil has robbed him of most of his memories.

Roleplay Samples

Link to a sample of your character in action:

Zaihne @ the TDM

Zaihne & Taradiddle behind closed doors (locked but Wynn should be able to access)

Link to a sample of your prose writing style:

boop I think I've used this one before

Any other important information (including special inventory items in their possession):

His possessions are all pretty mundane, considering the kind of stuff he tends to stick his nose into. He can get his hands on all kinds of things, but he's smart enough not to carry anything that's a combination of shifty and arcane on him in his day-to-day life. Just in case it were to draw the wrong sort of attention. He'll come equipped with some journals full of magic theory and notes, but nothing else significant.

Why do you think this character would join/work with the Knights?

He's finally been forced to admit that Taradiddle had a good point when she told him that going straight in this world was probably a better option. For all his involvement with shady activity, he's not inherently a bad person, and he would rather see his skills get put to use somewhere they might actually do some good rather than continue to dig himself in deeper with the wrong crowds. Backpedaling at its finest. Tara can vouch for him, he's great at getting his hands on all sorts of interesting and useful items and artifacts, among other things. Privately, he thinks the Knights and the cause they serve might offer him the kind of direction he feels he needs to become a better version of himself, though he's not likely to admit it if asked.

Do you have a preference for which member of the Knights your character is squired to? Taradiddle just really wants him to clean her armor.