Samoa
06-07-07, 04:54 PM
Alright.. I'm following the guideline pretty closely, please do go ahead and let me know what I can improve on..
*****
Name: Wrae Launcey
Age: 27
Race: Human
Hair Color: Cherry brown
Eye Color: Brown
Height: 6’1”
Weight:170
Occupation: Sailor, Courier
Alignment: Lawful/Chaotic
Personality: Launcey is a somewhat reserved fellow most of the time. He loves listening to others’ perspectives, whether insightful, mundane or offensive. He tends to see the world as a series of opportunities to learn and absorb knowledge. Wrae is proud of his strong work ethic and maintains his physical fitness to face any task or challenge. He forgives easily but makes friends carefully. What friends he does have, he cares deeply for. At the same time he can be quite introspective and distant.
Appearance: Launcey comes across as slim and wispy. Despite initial appearances, however, his body is firm and athletic. He is careworn and tough. His craggy nose and narrow cheeks contrast his full brown eyes. His gaze is full of the ocean and unyieldingly certain. He walks tall and with confidence, but seems to disappear when caught in an unfavorable situation. Launcey's clothing is worn out but tough, and he wears a small collection of various charms as bracelets and hung from a rope necklace. His left palm and areas on both upper arms are scarred and discolored.
History: Wrae Launcey was born into a successful family tradition of mercantile endeavor. His mother bore three other children over the next few years, a brother and two sisters. His father, a well known merchant, was a familiar sight at the head of any table, animatedly telling stories or conducting business. Wrae was brought up to one day be able to manage his father’s trade.
It happened that when Wrae was fourteen years old, however, that a certain artefact came into his father’s possession which was said to be an astral key of some sort. A flat black aether-stone with a diameter of an inch or so was said to hold its secret as it lay encased in an elliptical case constructed of bone and coral. Proud of the acquisition, the elder Launcey demonstrated the various aspects of its simple beauty to his family that same day. The precious object had been wrapped in parchment, and this parchment was thrown into the fire. Wrae’s brother Troy, a curious thirteen year old, noticed markings on what was left in the hearth and took the remaining scraps to his bed. There he studied the markings all the next day, and having obtained oil and matches from a cupboard, approached his older brother with an idea. Troy proposed to borrow the artefact that night and perform an experiment he had thought up based on the burnt manuscript. Against his better judgment, always intrigued by his brother’s wilder sense of adventure, Wrae agreed to steal the item.
When the appropriate hour had arrived, Wrae, who had secured a key earlier that day, removed the artefact from a valuables chest belonging to his father. In their breezy second-level room the brothers opened the case and set the stone in its shallow central recess. With the fascination and anticipation of his age, Troy poured cooking oil over the stone and lit a match. At that moment the two sisters, Lisa, twelve, and Margaret, nine, having heard the clumsy preparations, entered the room. Troy impulsively handed the match to his brother and hurried over to plead for conspiracy. Pushing past him, Lisa approached Wrae in horror at his crime. The match suddenly burned his hovering fingers, and he dropped it onto the wet stone. A white flame shot up with unexpected violence, washing away the ink of nighttime darkness. Instinctively terrified of discovery or accident, Wrae put his hand down directly onto the stone. His howl filled the house, and a distraught mother stumbled into the chamber. The bizarre situation that met her eyes consisted of all four children prone and paralyzed in unconsciousness.
Weeks passed and his father’s deep anger subsided. He sold the stone for much less than he had obtained it, and by doing so suffered considerable losses. Worry creased his mother’s face daily as all four children fell sick and she was forced to care for them in their beds for days at a time. Lisa in particular was ill, and within a month was at death’s door. Vomiting, aching and convulsing, the children fought to live. On the thirty-fourth night after the fatal but mysterious incident, Lisa passed away. The others, meanwhile, recovered over the course of the next year.
Life changed after all this. Wrae and his remaining two siblings were disconnected from their early social circles, and their father was losing ground in both business and psychologically. Expensive medicines and doctors had drained rainy day funds, and the incredible disruption in family life tortured him daily. He took to the drink and his wife had to take up mending and cleaning for neighbors to support the weakened family. Troy had kept the papers even after the misery they had caused him, and studied them by night. A hunted, selfish personality gradually grew into his already impulsive and commanding nature, and he began to recruit local children into a sort of pecking-order of personal slaves. Wrae took up reading of his own to escape his trouble, tearing through volumes and charts in his father’s extensive library. He gave his most tender affection to thin little Margaret, and became apprehensive of his brother’s growing infamy.
One afternoon Wrae witnessed his brother’s fallen state firsthand. Troy had led several peers into petty theft, and one boy had been caught in his mother’s jewelry box and had denounced Troy to his parents, who had then confronted Troy’s parents. The ringleader had managed to escape significant discipline by his disheartened mother, but the shame remained. With the help of several other boys he had brought the frightened boy to an alcove under a rocky overhang near the shore. The boy was made to stand in the alcove while the others gathered in a semicircle around him and picked up small rocks. Launcey had been wading not far away with fragile Margaret, and noticed the scene at a distance. The boys began what was intended as a non-lethal imitation of a heathen stoning. Troy, in a surge of resentful aggression, lifted and threw an especially large rock. Fortunately, the rock failed to hit the cringing victim; unfortunately, it did hit the underside of the jutting ledge, and the greater part of the mass emptied itself onto the child below. Wrae gaped in horrified unbelief; Troy hesitated in fear before running headlong down the shore toward his siblings. As he approached, Wrae realized his younger brother was unaware of his presence. Troy came closer, and Wrae shouted his name.
Troy fell to a stop several feet away. His body heaved with greedy shuddering breaths. Sand and tears were on his distorted face as he rose from his hands and knees. Wrae had no idea what to say at this point, but clenched his fists until they stung in the salty creases that had worn thin with overwork under his father’s instruction at the docks. Troy snarled and moved to continue running, but Wrae stepped in front of him and took his sleeve in a rough grab. At that moment an event took place which was to further shape their destinies in ways they could never have dreamt, not even in the strangest fantasies that had plagued them since the inexplicable advent of their illness. Troy took both his brother’s arms in his hands to throw him away, and a searing pain ripped through Wrae’s body. He felt a terrible heat melting the core of himself, and a concentrated burning on his upper arms. Wrae tore away from the burning grasp and fell back screaming. Margaret wailed quietly from a few paces behind him, a shivering blade in the wind. Troy stood incredulous, gazing at his brother’s seared arms. A slow howl erupted from his throat as he threw himself at Wrae repeatedly in a blind act of unwarranted hatred. The older brother scrambled to avoid the onslaught, all the jealousy and frustration of his childhood rising in his stomach. A sudden wind sang across the beach. Fierce gusts became still fiercer, and the brothers found themselves swept off their feet. Troy struggled as he was thrown back against a scraggly tree; Wrae pressed himself snugly against the cool sand and felt agitated waves slashing over his body. A thrill of fear broke his heart as it had so many times these past months; braving the weather, he turned to protect his sister. But Margaret was not there. Hatred filled his soul and he turned again toward Troy. But neither was his sister there. Troy’s gaze directed his toward the suddenly grey sky. And just as he looked into the think black clouds, his eyes met Margaret’s in the air as she ascended, enveloped in harsh winds that seemed to barely stir the fine folds of her dress. The winds subsided but the stormy carpet above continued to boil. A final glance remained to see the quickly diminishing figure of his younger brother. Wrae lay back in the unsettled waves, overcome.
Shortly thereafter, Wrae Launcey left his home on a courier vessel, unable to remain, plagued with suspicions and turbulence. His mother would not speak to him; his father never came home. Children were wary of this troubled neighbor. With little more than what he was wearing and a sailor’s knife belonging to his father, Launcey chose the seas at fifteen. The wind on his face made him feel strong and hopeful; the warm glow of a firepit on some deserted shore chased him into the shadows. He always ached for the golden openness of freedom and the ocean. This was to be his life for the next twelve years: delivering news and supplies for private employers, arriving and departing; watching for marauders and engaging them as necessary. Launcey lived in flight, but also in search of what he did not know.
His most recent endeavor involved the delivery of certain papers and items to an eastern island. In the process of delivery, Launcey found himself in the palace of a renowned Mystic, Ethio. In Ethio’s convening chamber were four orbs of an opaque obsidian that affected him quite deeply. The Mystic, in his spiritual superperception, took him aside and spoke at length with him about the laws of nature and elemental properties. Launcey, revealing details about his past experiences, threw Ethio into brooding thought. After some deliberation, Launcey was taken into his confidence, and Ethio revealed to him the nature of the elemental aether-stone that had so disrupted his childhood. Ethio explained that with incautious handling of the artefact, it could absorb living elemental matter into itself. Four children were present; had it been Wrae or Troy alone, or perhaps even the two of them, they would have disappeared into the depths of the obsidian relic, leaving their souls to haunt the stone perpetually. Instead, there were the four of them: each one had lost an elemental quarter of themselves. The shock had killed one, and almost killed the others. It was a wonder, explained the Mystic gravely, that they had survived at all. What must then have taken place is an elemental compensation of some kind; the remaining three elements became stronger, and a lethal weakness developed toward the missing matter – an invisible scar much more troublesome than the ones left on Launcey’s arms and hand.
Ethio gave Launcey a small collection of protective charms to wear on his neck and on his wrists, saying it was the least he could do for a man who had lived through such strange times. He then provided him with an ancient owl that glowed with the reflected eminence of the court in which it had been raised. The bird, Ethio claimed, was in fact a descendant of the Muses of ancient legend. With his blessings and an invitation to return, the Mystic saw Launcey off again to the next destination.
Wrae Launcey has arrived at port in Scara Brae. The crew has been given partial leave of a week while repairs are made after a wicked storm and supplies are purchased and deliveries secured.
Skills: Launcey is adept at all types of seamanship. His proficiency at ship maintenance and navigation are rarely rivaled after spending the greater part of his life involved in the trade. He is also fairly effective in mercantile transactions as a result of his upbringing. He can find his way just about anywhere, and is reliable and fast in getting to a destination whether on foot or in water. His trade has of course brought him into occasional combat situations, so he is good in basic hand to hand and knife engagement. He knows how to use small arms to some extent as well but does not own any.
His elemental disruption promises some kind of emerging power, but at this time he has neither identified it nor is he able to make it useful. It does, however, give him a definite and severe weakness to fire.
Ethio’s charms don’t seem to have a direct effect on Launcey. They are intended to protect him in some way, and may also bring good luck.
Equipment: Launcey carries his father’s all-purpose knife at all times. He wears a leather belt and leather boots. He also carries a compass and wears the assortment of necklace and bracelet charms.
Familiars: Ethio’s owl – Athi – is Launcey’s constant traveling companion. It is gold and brown with a black beak and large golden eyes. It reminds him of his sister who he lost to the sky, and of his journey in search of understanding and freedom. If in fact its previous owner was correct, it may have unknown properties somehow related to the Muses.
*****
Name: Wrae Launcey
Age: 27
Race: Human
Hair Color: Cherry brown
Eye Color: Brown
Height: 6’1”
Weight:170
Occupation: Sailor, Courier
Alignment: Lawful/Chaotic
Personality: Launcey is a somewhat reserved fellow most of the time. He loves listening to others’ perspectives, whether insightful, mundane or offensive. He tends to see the world as a series of opportunities to learn and absorb knowledge. Wrae is proud of his strong work ethic and maintains his physical fitness to face any task or challenge. He forgives easily but makes friends carefully. What friends he does have, he cares deeply for. At the same time he can be quite introspective and distant.
Appearance: Launcey comes across as slim and wispy. Despite initial appearances, however, his body is firm and athletic. He is careworn and tough. His craggy nose and narrow cheeks contrast his full brown eyes. His gaze is full of the ocean and unyieldingly certain. He walks tall and with confidence, but seems to disappear when caught in an unfavorable situation. Launcey's clothing is worn out but tough, and he wears a small collection of various charms as bracelets and hung from a rope necklace. His left palm and areas on both upper arms are scarred and discolored.
History: Wrae Launcey was born into a successful family tradition of mercantile endeavor. His mother bore three other children over the next few years, a brother and two sisters. His father, a well known merchant, was a familiar sight at the head of any table, animatedly telling stories or conducting business. Wrae was brought up to one day be able to manage his father’s trade.
It happened that when Wrae was fourteen years old, however, that a certain artefact came into his father’s possession which was said to be an astral key of some sort. A flat black aether-stone with a diameter of an inch or so was said to hold its secret as it lay encased in an elliptical case constructed of bone and coral. Proud of the acquisition, the elder Launcey demonstrated the various aspects of its simple beauty to his family that same day. The precious object had been wrapped in parchment, and this parchment was thrown into the fire. Wrae’s brother Troy, a curious thirteen year old, noticed markings on what was left in the hearth and took the remaining scraps to his bed. There he studied the markings all the next day, and having obtained oil and matches from a cupboard, approached his older brother with an idea. Troy proposed to borrow the artefact that night and perform an experiment he had thought up based on the burnt manuscript. Against his better judgment, always intrigued by his brother’s wilder sense of adventure, Wrae agreed to steal the item.
When the appropriate hour had arrived, Wrae, who had secured a key earlier that day, removed the artefact from a valuables chest belonging to his father. In their breezy second-level room the brothers opened the case and set the stone in its shallow central recess. With the fascination and anticipation of his age, Troy poured cooking oil over the stone and lit a match. At that moment the two sisters, Lisa, twelve, and Margaret, nine, having heard the clumsy preparations, entered the room. Troy impulsively handed the match to his brother and hurried over to plead for conspiracy. Pushing past him, Lisa approached Wrae in horror at his crime. The match suddenly burned his hovering fingers, and he dropped it onto the wet stone. A white flame shot up with unexpected violence, washing away the ink of nighttime darkness. Instinctively terrified of discovery or accident, Wrae put his hand down directly onto the stone. His howl filled the house, and a distraught mother stumbled into the chamber. The bizarre situation that met her eyes consisted of all four children prone and paralyzed in unconsciousness.
Weeks passed and his father’s deep anger subsided. He sold the stone for much less than he had obtained it, and by doing so suffered considerable losses. Worry creased his mother’s face daily as all four children fell sick and she was forced to care for them in their beds for days at a time. Lisa in particular was ill, and within a month was at death’s door. Vomiting, aching and convulsing, the children fought to live. On the thirty-fourth night after the fatal but mysterious incident, Lisa passed away. The others, meanwhile, recovered over the course of the next year.
Life changed after all this. Wrae and his remaining two siblings were disconnected from their early social circles, and their father was losing ground in both business and psychologically. Expensive medicines and doctors had drained rainy day funds, and the incredible disruption in family life tortured him daily. He took to the drink and his wife had to take up mending and cleaning for neighbors to support the weakened family. Troy had kept the papers even after the misery they had caused him, and studied them by night. A hunted, selfish personality gradually grew into his already impulsive and commanding nature, and he began to recruit local children into a sort of pecking-order of personal slaves. Wrae took up reading of his own to escape his trouble, tearing through volumes and charts in his father’s extensive library. He gave his most tender affection to thin little Margaret, and became apprehensive of his brother’s growing infamy.
One afternoon Wrae witnessed his brother’s fallen state firsthand. Troy had led several peers into petty theft, and one boy had been caught in his mother’s jewelry box and had denounced Troy to his parents, who had then confronted Troy’s parents. The ringleader had managed to escape significant discipline by his disheartened mother, but the shame remained. With the help of several other boys he had brought the frightened boy to an alcove under a rocky overhang near the shore. The boy was made to stand in the alcove while the others gathered in a semicircle around him and picked up small rocks. Launcey had been wading not far away with fragile Margaret, and noticed the scene at a distance. The boys began what was intended as a non-lethal imitation of a heathen stoning. Troy, in a surge of resentful aggression, lifted and threw an especially large rock. Fortunately, the rock failed to hit the cringing victim; unfortunately, it did hit the underside of the jutting ledge, and the greater part of the mass emptied itself onto the child below. Wrae gaped in horrified unbelief; Troy hesitated in fear before running headlong down the shore toward his siblings. As he approached, Wrae realized his younger brother was unaware of his presence. Troy came closer, and Wrae shouted his name.
Troy fell to a stop several feet away. His body heaved with greedy shuddering breaths. Sand and tears were on his distorted face as he rose from his hands and knees. Wrae had no idea what to say at this point, but clenched his fists until they stung in the salty creases that had worn thin with overwork under his father’s instruction at the docks. Troy snarled and moved to continue running, but Wrae stepped in front of him and took his sleeve in a rough grab. At that moment an event took place which was to further shape their destinies in ways they could never have dreamt, not even in the strangest fantasies that had plagued them since the inexplicable advent of their illness. Troy took both his brother’s arms in his hands to throw him away, and a searing pain ripped through Wrae’s body. He felt a terrible heat melting the core of himself, and a concentrated burning on his upper arms. Wrae tore away from the burning grasp and fell back screaming. Margaret wailed quietly from a few paces behind him, a shivering blade in the wind. Troy stood incredulous, gazing at his brother’s seared arms. A slow howl erupted from his throat as he threw himself at Wrae repeatedly in a blind act of unwarranted hatred. The older brother scrambled to avoid the onslaught, all the jealousy and frustration of his childhood rising in his stomach. A sudden wind sang across the beach. Fierce gusts became still fiercer, and the brothers found themselves swept off their feet. Troy struggled as he was thrown back against a scraggly tree; Wrae pressed himself snugly against the cool sand and felt agitated waves slashing over his body. A thrill of fear broke his heart as it had so many times these past months; braving the weather, he turned to protect his sister. But Margaret was not there. Hatred filled his soul and he turned again toward Troy. But neither was his sister there. Troy’s gaze directed his toward the suddenly grey sky. And just as he looked into the think black clouds, his eyes met Margaret’s in the air as she ascended, enveloped in harsh winds that seemed to barely stir the fine folds of her dress. The winds subsided but the stormy carpet above continued to boil. A final glance remained to see the quickly diminishing figure of his younger brother. Wrae lay back in the unsettled waves, overcome.
Shortly thereafter, Wrae Launcey left his home on a courier vessel, unable to remain, plagued with suspicions and turbulence. His mother would not speak to him; his father never came home. Children were wary of this troubled neighbor. With little more than what he was wearing and a sailor’s knife belonging to his father, Launcey chose the seas at fifteen. The wind on his face made him feel strong and hopeful; the warm glow of a firepit on some deserted shore chased him into the shadows. He always ached for the golden openness of freedom and the ocean. This was to be his life for the next twelve years: delivering news and supplies for private employers, arriving and departing; watching for marauders and engaging them as necessary. Launcey lived in flight, but also in search of what he did not know.
His most recent endeavor involved the delivery of certain papers and items to an eastern island. In the process of delivery, Launcey found himself in the palace of a renowned Mystic, Ethio. In Ethio’s convening chamber were four orbs of an opaque obsidian that affected him quite deeply. The Mystic, in his spiritual superperception, took him aside and spoke at length with him about the laws of nature and elemental properties. Launcey, revealing details about his past experiences, threw Ethio into brooding thought. After some deliberation, Launcey was taken into his confidence, and Ethio revealed to him the nature of the elemental aether-stone that had so disrupted his childhood. Ethio explained that with incautious handling of the artefact, it could absorb living elemental matter into itself. Four children were present; had it been Wrae or Troy alone, or perhaps even the two of them, they would have disappeared into the depths of the obsidian relic, leaving their souls to haunt the stone perpetually. Instead, there were the four of them: each one had lost an elemental quarter of themselves. The shock had killed one, and almost killed the others. It was a wonder, explained the Mystic gravely, that they had survived at all. What must then have taken place is an elemental compensation of some kind; the remaining three elements became stronger, and a lethal weakness developed toward the missing matter – an invisible scar much more troublesome than the ones left on Launcey’s arms and hand.
Ethio gave Launcey a small collection of protective charms to wear on his neck and on his wrists, saying it was the least he could do for a man who had lived through such strange times. He then provided him with an ancient owl that glowed with the reflected eminence of the court in which it had been raised. The bird, Ethio claimed, was in fact a descendant of the Muses of ancient legend. With his blessings and an invitation to return, the Mystic saw Launcey off again to the next destination.
Wrae Launcey has arrived at port in Scara Brae. The crew has been given partial leave of a week while repairs are made after a wicked storm and supplies are purchased and deliveries secured.
Skills: Launcey is adept at all types of seamanship. His proficiency at ship maintenance and navigation are rarely rivaled after spending the greater part of his life involved in the trade. He is also fairly effective in mercantile transactions as a result of his upbringing. He can find his way just about anywhere, and is reliable and fast in getting to a destination whether on foot or in water. His trade has of course brought him into occasional combat situations, so he is good in basic hand to hand and knife engagement. He knows how to use small arms to some extent as well but does not own any.
His elemental disruption promises some kind of emerging power, but at this time he has neither identified it nor is he able to make it useful. It does, however, give him a definite and severe weakness to fire.
Ethio’s charms don’t seem to have a direct effect on Launcey. They are intended to protect him in some way, and may also bring good luck.
Equipment: Launcey carries his father’s all-purpose knife at all times. He wears a leather belt and leather boots. He also carries a compass and wears the assortment of necklace and bracelet charms.
Familiars: Ethio’s owl – Athi – is Launcey’s constant traveling companion. It is gold and brown with a black beak and large golden eyes. It reminds him of his sister who he lost to the sky, and of his journey in search of understanding and freedom. If in fact its previous owner was correct, it may have unknown properties somehow related to the Muses.