Silas
05-17-06, 03:31 PM
Name: Silas Anselm
Age: 36
Race: Human
Hair Color: Dark brown
Eye Color: Green
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 140
Occupation: Alchemist/traveling salesman
Personality: Bitter, sarcastic, secretive, and at times snide and cowardly. He tends to rely on his wits much more than strength of arms. He cares about his appearance.
Appearance: He's not a tall man, but not short. His dark brown hair is slightly long, coming down just past his neck. His beard is cut into a shape similar to an anchor style and is well-groomed. His skin is pale and seems to be well-cared for. His dark green eyes are deep-set. His clothes were once very fine, but now are beginning to show their age. He wears a black frock coat and pants, a crimson double-breasted vest, and knee-high, rugged, black leather boots. He sometimes wears a black felt hat and a dark gray cloak. His right hand is always covered in a black leather glove, hiding the bandages that wrap his hand and arm.
History: He was born into a wealthy family. His father was an alchemist in the service of the local nobility, trying to find some way to help them extend their lifespan. When Silas was young, his father began to have dealings with a local sorcerer, who would eventually become a business partner.
They provided potions and amulets to the rich and noble across the kingdom, but after a few years of profitable work, they began to recieve complaints from their customers. These complaints continued to grow in number, complaining that their purchases did not work as advertised. The company began to quickly lose business and the expenses began to suck the Anselm fortune dry. Finally, the local nobility ordered them to put an end to the business. With no money left, and his good name tarnished, the man hung himself in the office of their mansion. Her life shattered and happiness destroyed, his mother drank poison from the father's lab and joined him in death. Silas was seventeen at the time.
With no one else to turn to, Silas was taken into the care of the sorcerer his father had worked with. With the old mage's help, he completed the training in the elements of alchemy that he began with his father, and at the age of twenty-two, he made the same mistake his father made. He went into business with the man.
They began to make good money with a traveling show, but after a year or two of their partnership, Silas grew suspicious of the man. They began to get similar complaints about their products that had driven his father's fortune into the dirt.
He began a secret investigation of his business partner and soon found out the reason why their products didn't work. The old man had thought up a business model that he decided never to tell his partner about. The sorcerer would sabotage the products they sold, so that when the customer complained of the item not working correctly, the old wizard would sell them a working replacement, pocketing the profits for himself.
Enraged by his discovery, Silas began to plot his revenge. He couldn't find a fitting punishment in his books of alchemical recipies, so he began to look through one of the sorcerer's books on curses.
One night while they counted the day's profits in their tent, Silas confronted the old man on the subject of his betrayal of the Anselm family. He backed the wizard into a corner as he brought up every unkindness and injustice that the man had ever done to him and his family. He then pulled the small book of curses from his coat and attempted to cast the spell on the man. He spoke the words and drew the proper sigils into the air with his hand, but the spell didn't seem to take hold immediately. He tried again, but mid-way through the spell, a strange burning sensation came over his right arm. Seeing that the spell wasn't working, and worried that his revenge wouldn't come to pass, he drew a knife from his side and cut the old man's throat, slaying the man in his rage.
The next day, he split off from the traveling show and for a short time settled in a nearby town, working as an alchemist and medicine man to the local people. The work was good and so was the money, but the pain in his arm wouldn't go away. It lasted for a few years and no amount of medicine or magic would allieviate the pain. As the strange ailment progressed, boils developed on the skin. Then those boils turned into sores. The only thing that the wizards and alchemists that he went to for help could say was that it must be from some sort of strange curse.
So, Silas dug up that old book of curses and began to search for some way to cure himself. There was no spell to break the curse listed, so he turned to his own profession for help. He created a list of items that he needed to find to make a cure, and set off on a journey to find them.
He is now in the second year of his journey, and only two of the ingredients have been found. To finance his quest, he performs a traveling medicine show.
Skills: Though he is trained in alchemy, his proficency in the craft does not offer much past a means to pay for his needs and allieviate some of the pain of his affliction. Though intellegent, he is no master at the craft in any regard. He can make some helpful potions, however.
What he lacks in alchemical knowledge and skill he makes up for in other areas. His true skills lie in subterfuge. He is an excellent liar, cheat, and showman, and has the power to part a sucker from his hard earned money. Part of his medicine show requires slight-of-hand, and in recent years he's begun to work those tricks into his regular life.
Though he is not strong, abnormally fast, or otherwise much of a fighter, he is adequate with a knife. He does not know it, nor would anyone else, that the curse that backfired on him is causing a transformation in his body. A dark power is growing in him, though he cannot tap into it yet.
Though the potions he can currently create aren't very strong, They do offer some advantage. His satchel has room for four bottles at once. Out of his repetoire of recipies, only several offer much help in dangerous situations. Most of these are also products that he sells, sometimes in a less powerful form, in his medicine show.
-Potions/medicines:
+Healing salve- an ointment that, when applied to minor wounds, has the ability to heal completely in a little over a minute. When applied to deeper wounds, it only offers an impartial healing.
+Shadow Water- A dark, oily liquid that hides the drinker from view. The effect of the potion only lasts two minutes at the most when drank, but when an inanimate object is soaked in the "water", it is hidden until the liquid is washed off. Using the potion more than once a day can cause a very painful, crippling cramping in the stomach and at times internal bleeding.
+Smoke Bomb- When the liquid makes contact with the air, a reaction occurs that emits a cloud of foul-smelling black smoke.
+Liquid gills- When consumed, the potion allows the drinker to breathe water for a total of three minutes. However, once the effect takes hold, the user cannot breathe air until the effect has faded.
+Elixir of the Lion- This thick, pale colored potion causes a minor rise in muscular strength. The effect lasts for a total five minutes. Once consumed, the rise in strength begins. Its peak is at two and a half minutes, and begins its gradual decline at minute three. It has a side effect of draining the user's energy and placing him in a very bad temper, keeping him angry for the whole duration and a few minutes after the effect fades.
+Green Thumb Tonic- Causes explosive growth and health in plants. It can make normal grass rise above a grown man's head, weak vines to grow thick and strong, sick and dying plants to rise to a peak of health, and other such effects. If drunk by an animal, including sentient creatures such as humans and elves, it can make that creature grow atleast a foot in height or length, but the effect only lasts a few minutes and has the chance of killing, crippling, or otherwise mutating the user.
+Eagle Eye Oil- Sharpens sight and allows a user to see clearly far beyond his regular limitations. The effect lasts half of a minute. Overuse can cause temporary or permanent blindness.
+Devil's Venom- a slow acting poison that takes hold of the afflicted an hour after consumption or application by other means (Sword, arrow, knife, etc...). It causes a gradually growing pain in the limbs, then bleeding in the second hour, from the eyes, nose, and ears, and finally it causes major arteries to rupture at the end of hour three. It is a very dangerous potion to make and use, and must be handled with extreme care. However, it is easily cured if an antidote is consumed within the first hour or the first half of the second. It is a thick, black liquid and easily recognized if spread over a blade or arrow head. It significantly darkens any drink it is mixed into, and the effects are not fatal and will only cause up to minor bleeding from the orifices if mixed or cooked into food.
Equipment: He travels in a horse-drawn wagon. The wagon holds all he needs for his show. A stage that is easy to set up and disassemble lies in the bed of the wagon, along with a pair of chests that hold the tools of his trade. One chest holds the ingredients and equipment he needs to create his potions and medicines, while the other holds a small library. A third, smaller chest holds his personal items, such as clothing and grooming items. A small metal box, locked with two padlocks, holds his money. On his person he tends to carry an old, brown leather satchel that holds his precious list, a few bottles containing various potions and medicines, and a pair of notebooks. He wears a long, curved, deer-horn handled knife on his belt, and another, longer, double edged dagger is hidden in the cane he carries. Both weapons are fashioned from steel. A pocket watch with a gold chain is tucked into the pocket of his vest, the gold chain hanging out. The watch was his father's, and displays more than just the time. It also shows the phase of the moon, the constellations in the sky, the date, and the relevant zodiac sign. In the inside pocket of his frock coat he carries a glass flask filled with a medicine to ease the pain of his arm.
Age: 36
Race: Human
Hair Color: Dark brown
Eye Color: Green
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 140
Occupation: Alchemist/traveling salesman
Personality: Bitter, sarcastic, secretive, and at times snide and cowardly. He tends to rely on his wits much more than strength of arms. He cares about his appearance.
Appearance: He's not a tall man, but not short. His dark brown hair is slightly long, coming down just past his neck. His beard is cut into a shape similar to an anchor style and is well-groomed. His skin is pale and seems to be well-cared for. His dark green eyes are deep-set. His clothes were once very fine, but now are beginning to show their age. He wears a black frock coat and pants, a crimson double-breasted vest, and knee-high, rugged, black leather boots. He sometimes wears a black felt hat and a dark gray cloak. His right hand is always covered in a black leather glove, hiding the bandages that wrap his hand and arm.
History: He was born into a wealthy family. His father was an alchemist in the service of the local nobility, trying to find some way to help them extend their lifespan. When Silas was young, his father began to have dealings with a local sorcerer, who would eventually become a business partner.
They provided potions and amulets to the rich and noble across the kingdom, but after a few years of profitable work, they began to recieve complaints from their customers. These complaints continued to grow in number, complaining that their purchases did not work as advertised. The company began to quickly lose business and the expenses began to suck the Anselm fortune dry. Finally, the local nobility ordered them to put an end to the business. With no money left, and his good name tarnished, the man hung himself in the office of their mansion. Her life shattered and happiness destroyed, his mother drank poison from the father's lab and joined him in death. Silas was seventeen at the time.
With no one else to turn to, Silas was taken into the care of the sorcerer his father had worked with. With the old mage's help, he completed the training in the elements of alchemy that he began with his father, and at the age of twenty-two, he made the same mistake his father made. He went into business with the man.
They began to make good money with a traveling show, but after a year or two of their partnership, Silas grew suspicious of the man. They began to get similar complaints about their products that had driven his father's fortune into the dirt.
He began a secret investigation of his business partner and soon found out the reason why their products didn't work. The old man had thought up a business model that he decided never to tell his partner about. The sorcerer would sabotage the products they sold, so that when the customer complained of the item not working correctly, the old wizard would sell them a working replacement, pocketing the profits for himself.
Enraged by his discovery, Silas began to plot his revenge. He couldn't find a fitting punishment in his books of alchemical recipies, so he began to look through one of the sorcerer's books on curses.
One night while they counted the day's profits in their tent, Silas confronted the old man on the subject of his betrayal of the Anselm family. He backed the wizard into a corner as he brought up every unkindness and injustice that the man had ever done to him and his family. He then pulled the small book of curses from his coat and attempted to cast the spell on the man. He spoke the words and drew the proper sigils into the air with his hand, but the spell didn't seem to take hold immediately. He tried again, but mid-way through the spell, a strange burning sensation came over his right arm. Seeing that the spell wasn't working, and worried that his revenge wouldn't come to pass, he drew a knife from his side and cut the old man's throat, slaying the man in his rage.
The next day, he split off from the traveling show and for a short time settled in a nearby town, working as an alchemist and medicine man to the local people. The work was good and so was the money, but the pain in his arm wouldn't go away. It lasted for a few years and no amount of medicine or magic would allieviate the pain. As the strange ailment progressed, boils developed on the skin. Then those boils turned into sores. The only thing that the wizards and alchemists that he went to for help could say was that it must be from some sort of strange curse.
So, Silas dug up that old book of curses and began to search for some way to cure himself. There was no spell to break the curse listed, so he turned to his own profession for help. He created a list of items that he needed to find to make a cure, and set off on a journey to find them.
He is now in the second year of his journey, and only two of the ingredients have been found. To finance his quest, he performs a traveling medicine show.
Skills: Though he is trained in alchemy, his proficency in the craft does not offer much past a means to pay for his needs and allieviate some of the pain of his affliction. Though intellegent, he is no master at the craft in any regard. He can make some helpful potions, however.
What he lacks in alchemical knowledge and skill he makes up for in other areas. His true skills lie in subterfuge. He is an excellent liar, cheat, and showman, and has the power to part a sucker from his hard earned money. Part of his medicine show requires slight-of-hand, and in recent years he's begun to work those tricks into his regular life.
Though he is not strong, abnormally fast, or otherwise much of a fighter, he is adequate with a knife. He does not know it, nor would anyone else, that the curse that backfired on him is causing a transformation in his body. A dark power is growing in him, though he cannot tap into it yet.
Though the potions he can currently create aren't very strong, They do offer some advantage. His satchel has room for four bottles at once. Out of his repetoire of recipies, only several offer much help in dangerous situations. Most of these are also products that he sells, sometimes in a less powerful form, in his medicine show.
-Potions/medicines:
+Healing salve- an ointment that, when applied to minor wounds, has the ability to heal completely in a little over a minute. When applied to deeper wounds, it only offers an impartial healing.
+Shadow Water- A dark, oily liquid that hides the drinker from view. The effect of the potion only lasts two minutes at the most when drank, but when an inanimate object is soaked in the "water", it is hidden until the liquid is washed off. Using the potion more than once a day can cause a very painful, crippling cramping in the stomach and at times internal bleeding.
+Smoke Bomb- When the liquid makes contact with the air, a reaction occurs that emits a cloud of foul-smelling black smoke.
+Liquid gills- When consumed, the potion allows the drinker to breathe water for a total of three minutes. However, once the effect takes hold, the user cannot breathe air until the effect has faded.
+Elixir of the Lion- This thick, pale colored potion causes a minor rise in muscular strength. The effect lasts for a total five minutes. Once consumed, the rise in strength begins. Its peak is at two and a half minutes, and begins its gradual decline at minute three. It has a side effect of draining the user's energy and placing him in a very bad temper, keeping him angry for the whole duration and a few minutes after the effect fades.
+Green Thumb Tonic- Causes explosive growth and health in plants. It can make normal grass rise above a grown man's head, weak vines to grow thick and strong, sick and dying plants to rise to a peak of health, and other such effects. If drunk by an animal, including sentient creatures such as humans and elves, it can make that creature grow atleast a foot in height or length, but the effect only lasts a few minutes and has the chance of killing, crippling, or otherwise mutating the user.
+Eagle Eye Oil- Sharpens sight and allows a user to see clearly far beyond his regular limitations. The effect lasts half of a minute. Overuse can cause temporary or permanent blindness.
+Devil's Venom- a slow acting poison that takes hold of the afflicted an hour after consumption or application by other means (Sword, arrow, knife, etc...). It causes a gradually growing pain in the limbs, then bleeding in the second hour, from the eyes, nose, and ears, and finally it causes major arteries to rupture at the end of hour three. It is a very dangerous potion to make and use, and must be handled with extreme care. However, it is easily cured if an antidote is consumed within the first hour or the first half of the second. It is a thick, black liquid and easily recognized if spread over a blade or arrow head. It significantly darkens any drink it is mixed into, and the effects are not fatal and will only cause up to minor bleeding from the orifices if mixed or cooked into food.
Equipment: He travels in a horse-drawn wagon. The wagon holds all he needs for his show. A stage that is easy to set up and disassemble lies in the bed of the wagon, along with a pair of chests that hold the tools of his trade. One chest holds the ingredients and equipment he needs to create his potions and medicines, while the other holds a small library. A third, smaller chest holds his personal items, such as clothing and grooming items. A small metal box, locked with two padlocks, holds his money. On his person he tends to carry an old, brown leather satchel that holds his precious list, a few bottles containing various potions and medicines, and a pair of notebooks. He wears a long, curved, deer-horn handled knife on his belt, and another, longer, double edged dagger is hidden in the cane he carries. Both weapons are fashioned from steel. A pocket watch with a gold chain is tucked into the pocket of his vest, the gold chain hanging out. The watch was his father's, and displays more than just the time. It also shows the phase of the moon, the constellations in the sky, the date, and the relevant zodiac sign. In the inside pocket of his frock coat he carries a glass flask filled with a medicine to ease the pain of his arm.