Duffy
10-08-09, 04:15 PM
An interrim update. I intend to finish all current activity detailed under 'Chapter 1' before continuing with Duffy's timeline. Any ability here has been alluded to or improved upon in one of those threads, and if not, they will be agreed upon in current threads. The discovery with Lysander, the true extent of Method Acting anyway, comes in Paradox and Cut and the Thrust, whereas his agility and combat improves in most threads and Corone Ranger Vault. Appearance is sketchy, as is personality, Duffy is changing so much as he ascends to being an avatar of the Thayne Tantalus I hope to re-write it all with a full background on the theatre troupe and the saga with Lucian about level 2.
As soon as I sort out my shoddy writing...:p Anyway, any questions/edits I'm around sporadically. I can link up the relevant whenever. I've had this ready since two weeks ago, hehe!
(Updates in orange.)
Name: Duffy Bracken
Alias: ‘Tantalum.’
Age: 23
Race: Human/Avatar
Hair Colour: Brown
Eye Colour: Green
Height: 6’
Weight: 133llbs
Occupation: Street Performer/Rogue
Real Accent: English, slightly cockney/Norfolk.
Languages: Tradespeak, Elven, Common
Literacy: Excellent
History:
The Beginning (Level 0 History) (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=19485)
Chapter 1: Origin Of The Species
Lucian’s Call
I Want To Cage Your Canary
Vignette
My Sword Hand Is Singing
Corone Ranger’s Vault
The Cut And The Thrust
Paradox
A Cut Of The Chord
How The Orb Came To Pass
Scourge Of The Red Ship
How Oddly We Meet
With A Little Help From My Friends
---Level 1. (Paradox, The Cut and the Thrust and How Oddly We Meet are ongoing, these are considered in the past, so level 0 will be used with awakening abilities as detailed below. I intend to fill in the blanks, i.e, finish of all current threads before continuing with Duffy's time line.)
Chapter 2: Lux Aeterna
How The Fire Dies
Appearance: Duffy is neither remarkably attractive nor incredibly ugly, he is of an ordinary, but perhaps curios demeanour, with normal features, graced with a nice smile and an immaculately kept measure of stubble and wetted hair. He is commonly found wearing simple loose brown trousers, tucked into the straps of his heavy boots, a triple banded belt, with an assortment of pockets and pouches, and a simple sleeveless top, beneath a vest and shoulder sling arrangement, underling his attire and holding the performance pieces in their place. There are long tubes down the back of his arms, strapped to the arms above the elbow, and beneath the reinforced leather braces at the wrist. His hair is a light brown, which is of medium length, and tends to flick in the slightest of breeze. There are three scars on his body, which are visible; a small cut on the palm of his right hand (, a dagger puncture wound) one on the back of the hand, and a burn scar on the back of his right shoulder, surrounding the shoulder blade. The latter is diminished but visible with close enough attention.
His hair is usually brown, but is often a different colour for whatever play they’re performing at the time, and his ‘general’ clothing are similar to the picture provided. His boots are always very sturdy and heavy, as parkour requires sturdy footwear to take impact and to give good leverage during a climb. He often wears bandanas with a long tail end, or ribbons and neck scarf to allow him some form of hiding his identity, the more he is known in general the better, as if he’s caught it could jeopardise the Theatre and the troupe.
---
Skills/Abilities: As a jack of all trades, an urchin of the streets, Duffy has a wide repertoire of skills, not necessarily a master of them all, but certainly he is likely to know something to point him in the right direction in most normal, and some unusual circumstances, represented as follows:
Rogue's Gambit; As the Tantalus, Duffy hears and sees allot that he shouldn't, and he has the rapport to talk his way into a location where most would resort to a large axe, to represent this, Duffy is considered to have persuasion, knowledge (, local, and arts/culture,) he has minor knowledge of Radasanth and surrounding countryside, and is awakening to the struggles there, troubles beyond his own little world. His encounter with Lorenor brought to light that Tantalus is not the only ’Thayne’ and he is aware of N’Jal, although only faintly. Duffy can apply these skills wherever applicable, although care and consideration should be applied both to his age, and to wherever or not a human would otherwise know the knowledge/facts being used.
Perform; Duffy is adept at the performance of most common dances, tango, waltz etc, as well as some of the Scara Fae variations/court dances etc. In addition to the dance, Duffy can sing and play the flute, common harp, harpsichord (, or similar) at an above average level. Duffy can spontaneously play common styles, utilising the arts/culture knowledge skill, and can perform acrobatics as a performer/athlete, to within the normal confines of human physiology. He is a parkour/freerunner user, and capable of backflips/gymanstics/vaulting and wall leaping, this is considered well above average. This is his best skill, and he’s often called Monkey Man as a result.
Combat Skills; Duffy is dagger wielder and above average with dagger-length blade weapons. He carries several about his person at once, be they tucked into his belt or down the length of his boots. He uses several styles, although he presumes it is a style developed through sheer trial and error, and several painful nights, which are typical of the weapon (, dual, reverse, thrust/parry etc.)
Thievery With Honour; Duffy is a pickpocket and an adequate thief, using his sneakiness, speed and agility to get into the pokiest of wholes (and often he can’t dig himself out!) However, despite his skill, he will never steal from the poor, and will only steal if it is absolutely required (money for food if performances are poor, and even then will feed the younger kids in the Tantalum first).
The Aria; The sound of all things accompanies Duffy’s every move, an ocean of sound and knowledge locked in his mind. It is a connection to Tantalus himself, the Thayne of Art and Drama and the gambit king of the stage. When the going gets tough, the ocean churns great waves and sings songs of battle and war, and when it is quite, and romance is in the air, or sorrow, it sings requiems and arias to still the soul. Only those who are chosen by Tantalus or those who show great dedication to the Tantalum Troupe can hear this wondrous affirmation of faith. Each person can draw upon this vast resource, each in an individual and peculiar way. Ruby La Roux can drain the waters and channel magic into her songs as a Spellsinger, Lilith can channel the skills and lives of the servants of the stage, learning how to cook, knit, sew, paint great murals for backdrops and rig rope for divides almost sub-consciously. Blank is a swordsman, a silent guardian of legend, and they say Pete is the embodiment of a character called ‘Oliver,’ a scamp of fables told the world over. Duffy, however, draws on The Aria in two ways, that of the Narrator, the omniscient man of the stage who voices concerns and surprises with ominous precision, and that of the Channelled, the Method Actor, drawing on the vast repertoire of roles from time itself and taking on those mantles as if he were possessed. Sometimes, when he summons the Aria, his eyes glow with inner fire and he takes on a mantle of an aura, visible like flames surrounding his body. The music and song that he hears during these times can be heard by others but much faintly.
The Narrator: The Narrator might be a man, or perhaps it is just a burly woman with buxom breasts and a moustache, it’s impossible to tell. There is no control over this, he or she simply adds commentary or manifests audible music from The Aria to accompany Duffy’s actions at utterly inconvenient moments. In technical terms, it means there’s a very slight chance of detection of something sneaks up on Duffy, but at the same time, a slight chance his own hiding will be given away. It adds commentary to epic battles, and adds social deviancy in polite society. Can be used four times per thread, such uses will be written in red, instead of normal different text, to represent they’re ‘uses’ as opposed to creative flair. In a battle, it can be used twice per thread, with similar method to above. This is a free ability, anyone involved in rp’ing with Duffy can use it to their advantage or to lighten the mood as they see fit.
Method Acting: Such is Duffy’s belief in some of his creations and roles, that he can draw on that belief in moments of passion or dire need to channel their abilities. In order to do this, a special connection must be formed between Duffy and the role, be it through acting it countless times with conviction, or through meeting someone similar in real life. At the minute, he only has the manifest ability to channel one personality, that of the Blade Singer Lysander, but he can develop new ones of all walks of life in time. Duffy can draw on an aspect of a personality three posts per thread, be it to channel a character’s voice, his speech or mannerisms, or his abilities. Each sub-personality will be requested as a spoil as it develops, and added below. If ever Duffy’s ability is weakened, or The Aria deserts him, so will his ability to ‘become’ the people he admires.
(Caveat, each persona or 'job' or identity he channels or calls upon has both a strength and weakness. Strengths increase with persistent believe and with the level of adoration Duffy has, but so do the weakness. Essentially, as more of the character comes through, so do their flaws.)
Lysander Brandybuck, The Hero of the Western Welds - A proud and enigmatic hero, a force and avatar of the Light that holds all the forces of good together. Such a role springs forth from Duffy’s first full play he wrote and performed himself, Lysander’s Flock, and his fervent belief and love for the character actually created a new life in the world. Duffy began to develop this ability through meeting Lysander himself, en-route to Corone, and at the minute, when he draws on The Aria, he can channel one of two aspects of Lysander’s power. (At the moment.) He can wield his Katarhna with average skill for one post, which can extend to one attack/parry/block of an equally skilled opponent. He can channel some small resemblance of the Bladesinger’s power. This may be to increase the strength of a single weapon up one grade for a post, or to solidify flames from his Tinder Gear to last twice as long. To increase this persona, Lysander’s Flock must be performed, or further conversation, meeting and discussion on the nature of Lysander’s appearance in Althanas will certainly help.
Strength - Bladesinger, valiant, good, loyal, loving and incredibly Thespian-clique.
Weaknesses - Upper class, too moral, abhors theft or dishonourable deeds.
Equipment:
Tinder Gear; The Tinder Gear is both an artisan's tool and weapon system, depicting the balance between the everyday and the darker side of the street. It comprises of small, almost invisible packs of a fuel known as*agelethien, which are pumped along the pipes visible on the backs of Duffy's arms, and a bracer/jettison system coupled with a pair of flint strip covered gloves. All the materials are available readily, leather/oil/simple metals and flint etc. The gloves, when brought together with force make a loud clap, like a firecracker, and when moved past each other sparks are spread, to 2 feet (, no combat use, but good as a fire lighting tool). With a punching movement, the packs under the arms and along the back are squeezed, forcing the material to spray outwards, and the sparks from the gloves ignite the fuel which can produce flame up to nine feet long in short bursts of 1-2 seconds, (which is a random time, as the fuel ejection cannot be controlled to any reasonable degree). This will cause burns or set clothes alight at best, and will never kill, although it can be used in a combat situation the fuel is too rare to be spraying every low-life thug Duffy is run into. Using a display of sparks, flames and zymology (, drawing images/circles on the floor then igniting them) Duffy conjures the core of his performance/entertaining ability - at the same time having a nasty surprise for any violent members of the audience. Events in A Cut of the Chord have hinted at another use, that of spraying the liquid on a target first, then igniting, to cause contact burns. Although this is risky, and dangerous to both, it can be done. It will not be fatal but will certainly leave it’s mark. (PC Permission required.) Using the Tinder Gear fully, for 3-4 strong sprays, costs 25% of gold earned in that thread, such is the expense of the liquid required to fulfil it.
Daggers; He carries several iron daggers, usually one slipped into each boot and one in a sheathe on his belt.
The Tantalus Menagerie: A thousand and one costumes and theatre props of all descriptions, musical instruments and writing implements, books on playwrights and records of plays.
Metallic Chain: A chain taken from Visla Eraclaire during their encounter behind the scenes of Lucian’s Call.
The Katarhna: A simple steel katana with a black handle and gold hilt. Purchased In Old Man Jacob’s Shoppe in Scara Brae, it is a non-magical blade that is held in a simple black Akashiman sheath, usually strapped to his back, tilted to the right. It can be drawn with either hand, but requires adjustment to do so with the left, making any such movement risky and more time consuming.
The Red Cutlass: A red cutlass captured from the captain of the Red Scourge. As of yet, Duffy does not use it, asides from a handy prop. In the future however, there might just be room for Duffy to take on the mantle of a pirate...who knows, maybe the Red Scourge will terrorise Scara Brae again some day...
As soon as I sort out my shoddy writing...:p Anyway, any questions/edits I'm around sporadically. I can link up the relevant whenever. I've had this ready since two weeks ago, hehe!
(Updates in orange.)
Name: Duffy Bracken
Alias: ‘Tantalum.’
Age: 23
Race: Human/Avatar
Hair Colour: Brown
Eye Colour: Green
Height: 6’
Weight: 133llbs
Occupation: Street Performer/Rogue
Real Accent: English, slightly cockney/Norfolk.
Languages: Tradespeak, Elven, Common
Literacy: Excellent
History:
The Beginning (Level 0 History) (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=19485)
Chapter 1: Origin Of The Species
Lucian’s Call
I Want To Cage Your Canary
Vignette
My Sword Hand Is Singing
Corone Ranger’s Vault
The Cut And The Thrust
Paradox
A Cut Of The Chord
How The Orb Came To Pass
Scourge Of The Red Ship
How Oddly We Meet
With A Little Help From My Friends
---Level 1. (Paradox, The Cut and the Thrust and How Oddly We Meet are ongoing, these are considered in the past, so level 0 will be used with awakening abilities as detailed below. I intend to fill in the blanks, i.e, finish of all current threads before continuing with Duffy's time line.)
Chapter 2: Lux Aeterna
How The Fire Dies
Appearance: Duffy is neither remarkably attractive nor incredibly ugly, he is of an ordinary, but perhaps curios demeanour, with normal features, graced with a nice smile and an immaculately kept measure of stubble and wetted hair. He is commonly found wearing simple loose brown trousers, tucked into the straps of his heavy boots, a triple banded belt, with an assortment of pockets and pouches, and a simple sleeveless top, beneath a vest and shoulder sling arrangement, underling his attire and holding the performance pieces in their place. There are long tubes down the back of his arms, strapped to the arms above the elbow, and beneath the reinforced leather braces at the wrist. His hair is a light brown, which is of medium length, and tends to flick in the slightest of breeze. There are three scars on his body, which are visible; a small cut on the palm of his right hand (, a dagger puncture wound) one on the back of the hand, and a burn scar on the back of his right shoulder, surrounding the shoulder blade. The latter is diminished but visible with close enough attention.
His hair is usually brown, but is often a different colour for whatever play they’re performing at the time, and his ‘general’ clothing are similar to the picture provided. His boots are always very sturdy and heavy, as parkour requires sturdy footwear to take impact and to give good leverage during a climb. He often wears bandanas with a long tail end, or ribbons and neck scarf to allow him some form of hiding his identity, the more he is known in general the better, as if he’s caught it could jeopardise the Theatre and the troupe.
---
Skills/Abilities: As a jack of all trades, an urchin of the streets, Duffy has a wide repertoire of skills, not necessarily a master of them all, but certainly he is likely to know something to point him in the right direction in most normal, and some unusual circumstances, represented as follows:
Rogue's Gambit; As the Tantalus, Duffy hears and sees allot that he shouldn't, and he has the rapport to talk his way into a location where most would resort to a large axe, to represent this, Duffy is considered to have persuasion, knowledge (, local, and arts/culture,) he has minor knowledge of Radasanth and surrounding countryside, and is awakening to the struggles there, troubles beyond his own little world. His encounter with Lorenor brought to light that Tantalus is not the only ’Thayne’ and he is aware of N’Jal, although only faintly. Duffy can apply these skills wherever applicable, although care and consideration should be applied both to his age, and to wherever or not a human would otherwise know the knowledge/facts being used.
Perform; Duffy is adept at the performance of most common dances, tango, waltz etc, as well as some of the Scara Fae variations/court dances etc. In addition to the dance, Duffy can sing and play the flute, common harp, harpsichord (, or similar) at an above average level. Duffy can spontaneously play common styles, utilising the arts/culture knowledge skill, and can perform acrobatics as a performer/athlete, to within the normal confines of human physiology. He is a parkour/freerunner user, and capable of backflips/gymanstics/vaulting and wall leaping, this is considered well above average. This is his best skill, and he’s often called Monkey Man as a result.
Combat Skills; Duffy is dagger wielder and above average with dagger-length blade weapons. He carries several about his person at once, be they tucked into his belt or down the length of his boots. He uses several styles, although he presumes it is a style developed through sheer trial and error, and several painful nights, which are typical of the weapon (, dual, reverse, thrust/parry etc.)
Thievery With Honour; Duffy is a pickpocket and an adequate thief, using his sneakiness, speed and agility to get into the pokiest of wholes (and often he can’t dig himself out!) However, despite his skill, he will never steal from the poor, and will only steal if it is absolutely required (money for food if performances are poor, and even then will feed the younger kids in the Tantalum first).
The Aria; The sound of all things accompanies Duffy’s every move, an ocean of sound and knowledge locked in his mind. It is a connection to Tantalus himself, the Thayne of Art and Drama and the gambit king of the stage. When the going gets tough, the ocean churns great waves and sings songs of battle and war, and when it is quite, and romance is in the air, or sorrow, it sings requiems and arias to still the soul. Only those who are chosen by Tantalus or those who show great dedication to the Tantalum Troupe can hear this wondrous affirmation of faith. Each person can draw upon this vast resource, each in an individual and peculiar way. Ruby La Roux can drain the waters and channel magic into her songs as a Spellsinger, Lilith can channel the skills and lives of the servants of the stage, learning how to cook, knit, sew, paint great murals for backdrops and rig rope for divides almost sub-consciously. Blank is a swordsman, a silent guardian of legend, and they say Pete is the embodiment of a character called ‘Oliver,’ a scamp of fables told the world over. Duffy, however, draws on The Aria in two ways, that of the Narrator, the omniscient man of the stage who voices concerns and surprises with ominous precision, and that of the Channelled, the Method Actor, drawing on the vast repertoire of roles from time itself and taking on those mantles as if he were possessed. Sometimes, when he summons the Aria, his eyes glow with inner fire and he takes on a mantle of an aura, visible like flames surrounding his body. The music and song that he hears during these times can be heard by others but much faintly.
The Narrator: The Narrator might be a man, or perhaps it is just a burly woman with buxom breasts and a moustache, it’s impossible to tell. There is no control over this, he or she simply adds commentary or manifests audible music from The Aria to accompany Duffy’s actions at utterly inconvenient moments. In technical terms, it means there’s a very slight chance of detection of something sneaks up on Duffy, but at the same time, a slight chance his own hiding will be given away. It adds commentary to epic battles, and adds social deviancy in polite society. Can be used four times per thread, such uses will be written in red, instead of normal different text, to represent they’re ‘uses’ as opposed to creative flair. In a battle, it can be used twice per thread, with similar method to above. This is a free ability, anyone involved in rp’ing with Duffy can use it to their advantage or to lighten the mood as they see fit.
Method Acting: Such is Duffy’s belief in some of his creations and roles, that he can draw on that belief in moments of passion or dire need to channel their abilities. In order to do this, a special connection must be formed between Duffy and the role, be it through acting it countless times with conviction, or through meeting someone similar in real life. At the minute, he only has the manifest ability to channel one personality, that of the Blade Singer Lysander, but he can develop new ones of all walks of life in time. Duffy can draw on an aspect of a personality three posts per thread, be it to channel a character’s voice, his speech or mannerisms, or his abilities. Each sub-personality will be requested as a spoil as it develops, and added below. If ever Duffy’s ability is weakened, or The Aria deserts him, so will his ability to ‘become’ the people he admires.
(Caveat, each persona or 'job' or identity he channels or calls upon has both a strength and weakness. Strengths increase with persistent believe and with the level of adoration Duffy has, but so do the weakness. Essentially, as more of the character comes through, so do their flaws.)
Lysander Brandybuck, The Hero of the Western Welds - A proud and enigmatic hero, a force and avatar of the Light that holds all the forces of good together. Such a role springs forth from Duffy’s first full play he wrote and performed himself, Lysander’s Flock, and his fervent belief and love for the character actually created a new life in the world. Duffy began to develop this ability through meeting Lysander himself, en-route to Corone, and at the minute, when he draws on The Aria, he can channel one of two aspects of Lysander’s power. (At the moment.) He can wield his Katarhna with average skill for one post, which can extend to one attack/parry/block of an equally skilled opponent. He can channel some small resemblance of the Bladesinger’s power. This may be to increase the strength of a single weapon up one grade for a post, or to solidify flames from his Tinder Gear to last twice as long. To increase this persona, Lysander’s Flock must be performed, or further conversation, meeting and discussion on the nature of Lysander’s appearance in Althanas will certainly help.
Strength - Bladesinger, valiant, good, loyal, loving and incredibly Thespian-clique.
Weaknesses - Upper class, too moral, abhors theft or dishonourable deeds.
Equipment:
Tinder Gear; The Tinder Gear is both an artisan's tool and weapon system, depicting the balance between the everyday and the darker side of the street. It comprises of small, almost invisible packs of a fuel known as*agelethien, which are pumped along the pipes visible on the backs of Duffy's arms, and a bracer/jettison system coupled with a pair of flint strip covered gloves. All the materials are available readily, leather/oil/simple metals and flint etc. The gloves, when brought together with force make a loud clap, like a firecracker, and when moved past each other sparks are spread, to 2 feet (, no combat use, but good as a fire lighting tool). With a punching movement, the packs under the arms and along the back are squeezed, forcing the material to spray outwards, and the sparks from the gloves ignite the fuel which can produce flame up to nine feet long in short bursts of 1-2 seconds, (which is a random time, as the fuel ejection cannot be controlled to any reasonable degree). This will cause burns or set clothes alight at best, and will never kill, although it can be used in a combat situation the fuel is too rare to be spraying every low-life thug Duffy is run into. Using a display of sparks, flames and zymology (, drawing images/circles on the floor then igniting them) Duffy conjures the core of his performance/entertaining ability - at the same time having a nasty surprise for any violent members of the audience. Events in A Cut of the Chord have hinted at another use, that of spraying the liquid on a target first, then igniting, to cause contact burns. Although this is risky, and dangerous to both, it can be done. It will not be fatal but will certainly leave it’s mark. (PC Permission required.) Using the Tinder Gear fully, for 3-4 strong sprays, costs 25% of gold earned in that thread, such is the expense of the liquid required to fulfil it.
Daggers; He carries several iron daggers, usually one slipped into each boot and one in a sheathe on his belt.
The Tantalus Menagerie: A thousand and one costumes and theatre props of all descriptions, musical instruments and writing implements, books on playwrights and records of plays.
Metallic Chain: A chain taken from Visla Eraclaire during their encounter behind the scenes of Lucian’s Call.
The Katarhna: A simple steel katana with a black handle and gold hilt. Purchased In Old Man Jacob’s Shoppe in Scara Brae, it is a non-magical blade that is held in a simple black Akashiman sheath, usually strapped to his back, tilted to the right. It can be drawn with either hand, but requires adjustment to do so with the left, making any such movement risky and more time consuming.
The Red Cutlass: A red cutlass captured from the captain of the Red Scourge. As of yet, Duffy does not use it, asides from a handy prop. In the future however, there might just be room for Duffy to take on the mantle of a pirate...who knows, maybe the Red Scourge will terrorise Scara Brae again some day...