Taren Solther
10-17-08, 02:03 PM
General Information:
Name: Taren Solther
Age: 20
Race: Human
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Amber
Height: 6'1
Weight: 163
Personality:
The best escription of Taren would be a cold, withdrawn tpe of man, one who holds every emotion and feeling within himself and refuses to let others look upon them. This can be attested to his history, the dark and dank place that he grew up in, both Dheathain and constant exposure to the Shadow Plane, likely causing any kind of mortal to retreat within themselves. That is the general appearance at first glance, and what appears for most people. Simply looking at him will provide the viewer with a shell of a man, a seemingly emotionless person who walks around like a dead husk. A joke that would turn a crowd into a bundle of laughter will not even lift the corners of his lips, while something that would anger even the calmest of monks doesn't even cause him to flick an eyebrow. When he speaks, he speaks quietly, quickly, and to the point, often looking at the ground while he does. He tries his best to keep out of social situations, and seems to completely shy away from phsyical touch, getting nervous if even a handshake is offered to him. In short, he is a complete introvert, to the most extreme sense of the world.
If you can get to be good friends with him and break the outer shell, they will find a darker man underneath, still as quiet and contained as ever, but sarcastic, his sarcasm and bluntness an somewhat dominating feature. He can be seen as quite the jerk when you get him out of his shield, which has been done very few times before. Problem is, even though he is a jerk about it, he is usually spot on with whatever he has to say. He can carry on quite the intelligent conversation in these times, being able to debate with the smartest of scholars. That intellect is a traits that is hardly seen, if ever at all.
Appearance:
Taren Solther looks like about any other normal young adult, with a few minor exceptions. He is tall and slim with an athletic form, slim muscle being built up with exercise. Rough height and weight measurements put him at about 6'1, and 163 pounds in weight. He can be considered lanky, most certianly, with long arms and legs, with spindly fingers. He has long black hair, falling down on the back of his neck almost to his shoulders, while it is cut a bit high going towards the front, hanging a bit over his ears and eyes. He has very unique eyes, a very, very light and bright amber that shines when caught in the light. A very pale face and skin tone is the result of a lifetime within shadows. He can usually be found wearing black clothes, along with a dark cloak and hood that shrouds him in darkness. He has the weird ability to affect shadows around him, so oddly enough, shadows in his surrounding area will flicker when he arrives, or briefly stretch out as if to touch at him.
History:
Taren Solther was born in the most unique of circumstances, although only to the eye of someone who is knowledgable about such circumstances. A great wizard would marvel at the happenings surrounding his birth, or perhaps a brilliant scholar that is aware of ways outside our own, although a normal human would see it simply as a normal birth. His parents were found in Underwood, a small logging community made mostly of humans, found in the woods of Concordia. The events of his birth were surrounded by magical circumstances though, as was his very initial conception. The very beginning moment of his existance was surrounded by magical circumstances. Have you ever heard of the Plane of Shadow (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plane_of_Shadow)? Most have not, unless like mentioned before, you are something of a great scholar, or perhaps a powerful wizard. Such areas, planes of seperate worlds, existances, they are very rare to hear of. Not many books at all, indeed, only a few are written of such things, and you don't really travel along such tales by word of mouth. The Shadow Plane is quite an odd place, but this story is not about such a place. If you want to know about the higher Planes, then by all means, go find one of the books. The only thing you need to know, is that sometimes, for mere moments, for a split second... These planes sometimes overlap our own. The Plane of Shadow, one of the most common ones to overlap, as shadows in our world directly connect to this Plane. It is one of the closest Planes to our very own. But whatever the case, the magical happenstance happened to be an overlapping... at the very moment Taren Solther came to exist within his mother's womb. Perhaps just a feat of luck, yes? Not that odd, correct? It happened again soon after, right at the moment of birth. Exactly at the moment of birth. Some would call it luck... But Planar overlapping, even when considered "common", only happens every few dozen, even hundreds of years. No, this was not luck.
One man in particular sensed this, this overlapping of the Shadow Plane. His curiousity was obviously roused by such a thing, because like I said, two overlappings in such a short time were quite a strange thing. This man himself was something we call a Shadow Walker. Now, never be as daring as to get Shadow Dancers, and Shadow Walkers confused. Walkers would be considered the more dominant of the two, powerful and strange men who know a little too much about the Plane of Shadow and the powers it grants, while believing that the Dancers are but trifle fools who know not the power they toy with. That in itself is quite a long story though, and we are not to talk of it. We must keep focus, mustn't we? This man, his name was Raphiel. And he came for Taren, soon after his birth.
He stole him away.
You may wonder how this would happen, but really, it is not that big of a deal when it comes to Shadow Walkers, or even Shadow Dancers, really. All he would have to do would be to touch the baby, and step into the Plane of Shadow. After that, a mortal man with no knowledge of such a place, or no magical talents to get there, cannot dare follow. To this day, you can still go to Underwood, and hear of the kidnapped babe. The story differs from house to house in that area, and it is hard to get a believable story from really anyone there, but the rumors still exist, still make reference to the existance of this Taren. He did exist, but where did he go?
Dheathain.
Even he cannot tell you exactly where he was whisked away to in that place, for Shadow Walking is not a very reliable means of travel. Anyway, if you have ever been to Dheathain, it isn't a very good place, and certianly hard to walk around in and keep a good sense of your direction. There, Taren was raised as a Shadow Walker, for whatever reasons. He himself does not actually know the reason for such an existance, does not know what Raphiel wants of him, but does know that Raphiel (or so he thinks) is his father. The man who raised him, protected him, has saved his life, and is someone he could not have lived without. He is in debt to this man, and in such, is completely loyal to him. He has recently been sent out of Dheathain out into the world, to test his newfound powers, to see what he can accomplish with them and to bring reports back to Dheathain, to Raphiel. The Shadow Walker has trained him in the Shadowed Arts, and know wants to see the extent of his work. From there, his story will continue on.
Skills:
Above-Average Shadow Manipulation- Taren is highly skilled in arcane-based magical manipulation of shadows, although his skill is limited to shadows he is directly touching at the moment, including the shadow he himself casts. He manipulates it much like an artist would manipulate a block of clay, being able to stretch, compress, widen, shrink, and perform a variety of other manipulations to his own personal little length of shadow. This skill truly shines in the power to make this manipulated stretch of shadow into solid matter, which can act as both a defense and an attack. He can sharpen tips into spears, or sharpen edges into swords. This is his major skill, the one he has practiced since being a small child. No motions or words are required to manipulate his shadow, merely simple thought. Some boundries are apparent. He cannot manipulate that shadow any further then the surface area that it would normally be, so therefor, he can never actually increase the amount of "clay" that he has. He can only control 3 shadows at any given time, including his own.
Shadow Walk- With his inner connection to the Shadow Plane, Taren has found it easy to walk from Shadow Plane to Material Plane (Althanas) with relative skill. He must be in an area of shadowy illumination, and the length of shadow he uses for the spell must be wide enough to accompany him, along with anyone he happens to be touching at that moment. Reaching out with magical fingers, almost, a simple step is all that is required to transist from the Material Plane to the Shadow Plane. In the region of shadow, he moves at a rate of 20 miles per hour, moving normally on the borders of the Plane of Shadow but much more rapidly relative to the Material Plane. Thus, he can use this spell to travel rapidly by stepping onto the Plane of Shadow, moving the desired distance, and then stepping back onto the Material Plane. Because of the blurring of reality between the Plane of Shadow and the Material Plane, he can’t make out details of the terrain or areas you pass over during transit, nor can he predict perfectly where his travel will end. It’s near impossible to judge distances accurately, making the spell virtually useless for scouting or spying.
Equipment:
Shadestalk- (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Goujian_s_sword.jpg) His sword is a bit odd, shaped differently from the normal katana, close to a longsword, but with enough small adjustments to be told apart from such a blade. The metal edge of the blade is much like a longsword, a 22 inch long blade of pure steel. It is of a good thickness, 2 inches, holding up quite strong against blows, and being used both as piercing and slashing, but mostly smashing. The hilt is about 4 inches long, yet a guard does not exist. For all means, it is a rather plain sword, with no other fancy decorations.
Name: Taren Solther
Age: 20
Race: Human
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Amber
Height: 6'1
Weight: 163
Personality:
The best escription of Taren would be a cold, withdrawn tpe of man, one who holds every emotion and feeling within himself and refuses to let others look upon them. This can be attested to his history, the dark and dank place that he grew up in, both Dheathain and constant exposure to the Shadow Plane, likely causing any kind of mortal to retreat within themselves. That is the general appearance at first glance, and what appears for most people. Simply looking at him will provide the viewer with a shell of a man, a seemingly emotionless person who walks around like a dead husk. A joke that would turn a crowd into a bundle of laughter will not even lift the corners of his lips, while something that would anger even the calmest of monks doesn't even cause him to flick an eyebrow. When he speaks, he speaks quietly, quickly, and to the point, often looking at the ground while he does. He tries his best to keep out of social situations, and seems to completely shy away from phsyical touch, getting nervous if even a handshake is offered to him. In short, he is a complete introvert, to the most extreme sense of the world.
If you can get to be good friends with him and break the outer shell, they will find a darker man underneath, still as quiet and contained as ever, but sarcastic, his sarcasm and bluntness an somewhat dominating feature. He can be seen as quite the jerk when you get him out of his shield, which has been done very few times before. Problem is, even though he is a jerk about it, he is usually spot on with whatever he has to say. He can carry on quite the intelligent conversation in these times, being able to debate with the smartest of scholars. That intellect is a traits that is hardly seen, if ever at all.
Appearance:
Taren Solther looks like about any other normal young adult, with a few minor exceptions. He is tall and slim with an athletic form, slim muscle being built up with exercise. Rough height and weight measurements put him at about 6'1, and 163 pounds in weight. He can be considered lanky, most certianly, with long arms and legs, with spindly fingers. He has long black hair, falling down on the back of his neck almost to his shoulders, while it is cut a bit high going towards the front, hanging a bit over his ears and eyes. He has very unique eyes, a very, very light and bright amber that shines when caught in the light. A very pale face and skin tone is the result of a lifetime within shadows. He can usually be found wearing black clothes, along with a dark cloak and hood that shrouds him in darkness. He has the weird ability to affect shadows around him, so oddly enough, shadows in his surrounding area will flicker when he arrives, or briefly stretch out as if to touch at him.
History:
Taren Solther was born in the most unique of circumstances, although only to the eye of someone who is knowledgable about such circumstances. A great wizard would marvel at the happenings surrounding his birth, or perhaps a brilliant scholar that is aware of ways outside our own, although a normal human would see it simply as a normal birth. His parents were found in Underwood, a small logging community made mostly of humans, found in the woods of Concordia. The events of his birth were surrounded by magical circumstances though, as was his very initial conception. The very beginning moment of his existance was surrounded by magical circumstances. Have you ever heard of the Plane of Shadow (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plane_of_Shadow)? Most have not, unless like mentioned before, you are something of a great scholar, or perhaps a powerful wizard. Such areas, planes of seperate worlds, existances, they are very rare to hear of. Not many books at all, indeed, only a few are written of such things, and you don't really travel along such tales by word of mouth. The Shadow Plane is quite an odd place, but this story is not about such a place. If you want to know about the higher Planes, then by all means, go find one of the books. The only thing you need to know, is that sometimes, for mere moments, for a split second... These planes sometimes overlap our own. The Plane of Shadow, one of the most common ones to overlap, as shadows in our world directly connect to this Plane. It is one of the closest Planes to our very own. But whatever the case, the magical happenstance happened to be an overlapping... at the very moment Taren Solther came to exist within his mother's womb. Perhaps just a feat of luck, yes? Not that odd, correct? It happened again soon after, right at the moment of birth. Exactly at the moment of birth. Some would call it luck... But Planar overlapping, even when considered "common", only happens every few dozen, even hundreds of years. No, this was not luck.
One man in particular sensed this, this overlapping of the Shadow Plane. His curiousity was obviously roused by such a thing, because like I said, two overlappings in such a short time were quite a strange thing. This man himself was something we call a Shadow Walker. Now, never be as daring as to get Shadow Dancers, and Shadow Walkers confused. Walkers would be considered the more dominant of the two, powerful and strange men who know a little too much about the Plane of Shadow and the powers it grants, while believing that the Dancers are but trifle fools who know not the power they toy with. That in itself is quite a long story though, and we are not to talk of it. We must keep focus, mustn't we? This man, his name was Raphiel. And he came for Taren, soon after his birth.
He stole him away.
You may wonder how this would happen, but really, it is not that big of a deal when it comes to Shadow Walkers, or even Shadow Dancers, really. All he would have to do would be to touch the baby, and step into the Plane of Shadow. After that, a mortal man with no knowledge of such a place, or no magical talents to get there, cannot dare follow. To this day, you can still go to Underwood, and hear of the kidnapped babe. The story differs from house to house in that area, and it is hard to get a believable story from really anyone there, but the rumors still exist, still make reference to the existance of this Taren. He did exist, but where did he go?
Dheathain.
Even he cannot tell you exactly where he was whisked away to in that place, for Shadow Walking is not a very reliable means of travel. Anyway, if you have ever been to Dheathain, it isn't a very good place, and certianly hard to walk around in and keep a good sense of your direction. There, Taren was raised as a Shadow Walker, for whatever reasons. He himself does not actually know the reason for such an existance, does not know what Raphiel wants of him, but does know that Raphiel (or so he thinks) is his father. The man who raised him, protected him, has saved his life, and is someone he could not have lived without. He is in debt to this man, and in such, is completely loyal to him. He has recently been sent out of Dheathain out into the world, to test his newfound powers, to see what he can accomplish with them and to bring reports back to Dheathain, to Raphiel. The Shadow Walker has trained him in the Shadowed Arts, and know wants to see the extent of his work. From there, his story will continue on.
Skills:
Above-Average Shadow Manipulation- Taren is highly skilled in arcane-based magical manipulation of shadows, although his skill is limited to shadows he is directly touching at the moment, including the shadow he himself casts. He manipulates it much like an artist would manipulate a block of clay, being able to stretch, compress, widen, shrink, and perform a variety of other manipulations to his own personal little length of shadow. This skill truly shines in the power to make this manipulated stretch of shadow into solid matter, which can act as both a defense and an attack. He can sharpen tips into spears, or sharpen edges into swords. This is his major skill, the one he has practiced since being a small child. No motions or words are required to manipulate his shadow, merely simple thought. Some boundries are apparent. He cannot manipulate that shadow any further then the surface area that it would normally be, so therefor, he can never actually increase the amount of "clay" that he has. He can only control 3 shadows at any given time, including his own.
Shadow Walk- With his inner connection to the Shadow Plane, Taren has found it easy to walk from Shadow Plane to Material Plane (Althanas) with relative skill. He must be in an area of shadowy illumination, and the length of shadow he uses for the spell must be wide enough to accompany him, along with anyone he happens to be touching at that moment. Reaching out with magical fingers, almost, a simple step is all that is required to transist from the Material Plane to the Shadow Plane. In the region of shadow, he moves at a rate of 20 miles per hour, moving normally on the borders of the Plane of Shadow but much more rapidly relative to the Material Plane. Thus, he can use this spell to travel rapidly by stepping onto the Plane of Shadow, moving the desired distance, and then stepping back onto the Material Plane. Because of the blurring of reality between the Plane of Shadow and the Material Plane, he can’t make out details of the terrain or areas you pass over during transit, nor can he predict perfectly where his travel will end. It’s near impossible to judge distances accurately, making the spell virtually useless for scouting or spying.
Equipment:
Shadestalk- (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Goujian_s_sword.jpg) His sword is a bit odd, shaped differently from the normal katana, close to a longsword, but with enough small adjustments to be told apart from such a blade. The metal edge of the blade is much like a longsword, a 22 inch long blade of pure steel. It is of a good thickness, 2 inches, holding up quite strong against blows, and being used both as piercing and slashing, but mostly smashing. The hilt is about 4 inches long, yet a guard does not exist. For all means, it is a rather plain sword, with no other fancy decorations.