The Confessor
08-19-07, 10:16 PM
Name: Ranulf
Title: Confessor
Race: Direling. http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?p=2711&highlight=direling#post2711
Age: 46
Gender: Male
Hair Color: Blonde, long beard to match
Eye Colour: Blue
Height: 7'9
Weight: 285 lbs.
Alignment: Lawful good. Mostly.
Description: Ranulf is like any other cleric: he wears encumbering vestments, carries only his shields and faith to fend off the world's many evils, and enjoys a strong drink from time to time. Just like any other cleric, unless of course you considered that his skin was an alabaster white, with a set of large elephant-like tusks protruding from the sides of his mouth. He's big enough, and "don't screw with me" enough, that he can inspire sobriety in even the most plastered of tavern clientele, yet he guiltily appreciates a good halfling-joke any time of the day. Of course, compared to any direling, halflings would be closer to quarterlings. Hey, don't smack your forehead and groan at me, I'm just the narrator. His joke - not mine.
If you had to describe the priestly northman in one word, it would be "landmass." He never had to exercise much, endowed with a natural strength; his race was said to be born of the god Hromagh himself. A hardy breed, the direlings could thrive in the coldest of climates. He was one of a remarkable few who dared to venture South.
Cult: The Mark of Björmund - A collection of priests, paladins, metaphysicists, and hunters of the undead who specialize in tracking down the dead and returned beings that slip past Björmund's (See Planes of Existence) guard. Highly elusive and somewhat detached from society, preferring to focus on their sacred duties, they wear no defining uniform of any sort.
Personality: "Priest" doesn't sum it all up. History has shown that as far to a moral extreme as someone strives to go, the darker tendencies can be equal in degree and damnable severity. There are two sides to Ranulf, as few would expect. He can be infinite in his humility and capacity for do-goodish fuzzy-wuzzies. At the end of the day, though, he tends to slip into the habits of his darker past. Think a Jekyll-Hyde Complex, with a clerical collar instead of fun things like drugs and psychosis. He swings between the two extremes of being morally constipating to venomously wicked, and does it more often than most realize. In public, he is a benefactor. In secret, he has the tendency for necrophagia (look it up - it's tasty).
History: You seem a bit new to this, so allow me to give you a few trifling words of advice: don't pry too much into a direling's past, and don't mention Kynarök or the Mouth of Björ. In fact, do your best to avoid the subject of Björ altogether. If you're curious, I would recommend you research the topic with a Thayne priest. Direlings have a reputation for being rather nasty about the whole ordeal, and it's a reputation they tend to uphold when provoked. By 'provoked,' I mean to say, when they are angry, threatened, or just whimsically bored.
Now, of course you can't just let anyone into your lands without an understanding of who, what, and where they came from. Of what you need to know, he grew up in a tribe of those like him. There came a day that he felt a calling, joined a cult by the name of the Mark, and ventured from Berevar with his meager supplies. When he arrived in civilization, he was faced with a culture entirely alien to him. His tribe didn't understand the concept of money, nor did it respect coin or promissory note as just compensation for a day's work. He was soon to realize that the rest of the world did, and found his place as a mid-level Confessor in the Mark of Björmund; an exorcist to a layperson, but trained in the arts of Thaumaturgy and Abjuration. He learned how to bind and hold back all manner of minor aberrations and even the revenant dead that escaped the Great Nether. So he lived for many years. As of late, he has devoted his studies to the dissection of aberrations and the study of monstrous physiology.
Skills
Shield-weapon proficiency: He has been trained in both the defensive and offensive use of twin spiked bucklers. He has a moral obligation to stay away from strictly offensive weapons, and chose to learn how to fight with two small shields.
Word of Binding: His most powerful skill, he is able to bind animate forms to inanimate objects, given that he has enough time and concentration to perform the incantation. He manipulates the world around him to produce the desired effect on his target. Targets may be bound only to parallel foci, which is to say, the specific thing in nature more in tune with the target's soul. The more specific the object, the stronger the bond. For a quick and dirty incantation, an alchemical metal or element can be used with a weak effect. Alternatively, years of study may yield a more specific focus, or even the soul's harmonic equivalent in an object; in this case, the bond would be incredibly strong. When an enemy is bound to a focus, manipulation of the focus itself may manifest the same effect on the target until the bond is neutralized by the target touching the focus. An easy example would be putting needles into a voodoo doll, whereby the doll would lose its power if the target touched it. Think more universal, though: we're working with the fabric of reality here! At his experience with the ability, he can use only the very obvious foci without time spent in research, like binding a fire-elemental to a lit matchstick, or a fairy to a dewdrop. These bonds tend to be very weak, producing mild effects.
Increases in the ability involve reducing the time it takes to find a good binding focus.
Chemical powders: He has very basic understanding of chemicals, whereby he can produce endothermic, exothermic, and even oxidizing reactions in objects. At present, he is familiar with a family of powders that produces varying effects when they come in contact with a metal. Of course, the more chemically stable the metal, the lesser the effect. He is able to produce powders that cause metal to heat, to cool, and to oxidize.
Heating and cooling a hunk of iron to the point that it would be unbearable to hold would be the primary goal, but it would require a great deal of contact with the powder. When the reaction is over, the item would quickly return to a natural temperature. To make something uncomfortable to the touch would be much easier, perhaps chilling a sword to numb the wielder's hand. More advanced metals would prove to be a difficulty.
Oxidation would be the weakest powder of his. The powder is practically useless on anything besides iron and steel, but the powder would rust a metal object ever so slightly, as to dull its edge.
Equipment
Twin steel bucklers, spiked. Simple shields that strap to either forearm. He has no offensive weapon.
Een Booke od Aberratu para Focae. Ranulf's life's work, a research into the anatomy of creatures, bindings, and powders of his trade. By no means is it complete - containing only the knowledge he possesses to perform his abilities.
Powders of Metal-affinity: One small vial of each - heating, cooling, oxidizing.
Title: Confessor
Race: Direling. http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?p=2711&highlight=direling#post2711
Age: 46
Gender: Male
Hair Color: Blonde, long beard to match
Eye Colour: Blue
Height: 7'9
Weight: 285 lbs.
Alignment: Lawful good. Mostly.
Description: Ranulf is like any other cleric: he wears encumbering vestments, carries only his shields and faith to fend off the world's many evils, and enjoys a strong drink from time to time. Just like any other cleric, unless of course you considered that his skin was an alabaster white, with a set of large elephant-like tusks protruding from the sides of his mouth. He's big enough, and "don't screw with me" enough, that he can inspire sobriety in even the most plastered of tavern clientele, yet he guiltily appreciates a good halfling-joke any time of the day. Of course, compared to any direling, halflings would be closer to quarterlings. Hey, don't smack your forehead and groan at me, I'm just the narrator. His joke - not mine.
If you had to describe the priestly northman in one word, it would be "landmass." He never had to exercise much, endowed with a natural strength; his race was said to be born of the god Hromagh himself. A hardy breed, the direlings could thrive in the coldest of climates. He was one of a remarkable few who dared to venture South.
Cult: The Mark of Björmund - A collection of priests, paladins, metaphysicists, and hunters of the undead who specialize in tracking down the dead and returned beings that slip past Björmund's (See Planes of Existence) guard. Highly elusive and somewhat detached from society, preferring to focus on their sacred duties, they wear no defining uniform of any sort.
Personality: "Priest" doesn't sum it all up. History has shown that as far to a moral extreme as someone strives to go, the darker tendencies can be equal in degree and damnable severity. There are two sides to Ranulf, as few would expect. He can be infinite in his humility and capacity for do-goodish fuzzy-wuzzies. At the end of the day, though, he tends to slip into the habits of his darker past. Think a Jekyll-Hyde Complex, with a clerical collar instead of fun things like drugs and psychosis. He swings between the two extremes of being morally constipating to venomously wicked, and does it more often than most realize. In public, he is a benefactor. In secret, he has the tendency for necrophagia (look it up - it's tasty).
History: You seem a bit new to this, so allow me to give you a few trifling words of advice: don't pry too much into a direling's past, and don't mention Kynarök or the Mouth of Björ. In fact, do your best to avoid the subject of Björ altogether. If you're curious, I would recommend you research the topic with a Thayne priest. Direlings have a reputation for being rather nasty about the whole ordeal, and it's a reputation they tend to uphold when provoked. By 'provoked,' I mean to say, when they are angry, threatened, or just whimsically bored.
Now, of course you can't just let anyone into your lands without an understanding of who, what, and where they came from. Of what you need to know, he grew up in a tribe of those like him. There came a day that he felt a calling, joined a cult by the name of the Mark, and ventured from Berevar with his meager supplies. When he arrived in civilization, he was faced with a culture entirely alien to him. His tribe didn't understand the concept of money, nor did it respect coin or promissory note as just compensation for a day's work. He was soon to realize that the rest of the world did, and found his place as a mid-level Confessor in the Mark of Björmund; an exorcist to a layperson, but trained in the arts of Thaumaturgy and Abjuration. He learned how to bind and hold back all manner of minor aberrations and even the revenant dead that escaped the Great Nether. So he lived for many years. As of late, he has devoted his studies to the dissection of aberrations and the study of monstrous physiology.
Skills
Shield-weapon proficiency: He has been trained in both the defensive and offensive use of twin spiked bucklers. He has a moral obligation to stay away from strictly offensive weapons, and chose to learn how to fight with two small shields.
Word of Binding: His most powerful skill, he is able to bind animate forms to inanimate objects, given that he has enough time and concentration to perform the incantation. He manipulates the world around him to produce the desired effect on his target. Targets may be bound only to parallel foci, which is to say, the specific thing in nature more in tune with the target's soul. The more specific the object, the stronger the bond. For a quick and dirty incantation, an alchemical metal or element can be used with a weak effect. Alternatively, years of study may yield a more specific focus, or even the soul's harmonic equivalent in an object; in this case, the bond would be incredibly strong. When an enemy is bound to a focus, manipulation of the focus itself may manifest the same effect on the target until the bond is neutralized by the target touching the focus. An easy example would be putting needles into a voodoo doll, whereby the doll would lose its power if the target touched it. Think more universal, though: we're working with the fabric of reality here! At his experience with the ability, he can use only the very obvious foci without time spent in research, like binding a fire-elemental to a lit matchstick, or a fairy to a dewdrop. These bonds tend to be very weak, producing mild effects.
Increases in the ability involve reducing the time it takes to find a good binding focus.
Chemical powders: He has very basic understanding of chemicals, whereby he can produce endothermic, exothermic, and even oxidizing reactions in objects. At present, he is familiar with a family of powders that produces varying effects when they come in contact with a metal. Of course, the more chemically stable the metal, the lesser the effect. He is able to produce powders that cause metal to heat, to cool, and to oxidize.
Heating and cooling a hunk of iron to the point that it would be unbearable to hold would be the primary goal, but it would require a great deal of contact with the powder. When the reaction is over, the item would quickly return to a natural temperature. To make something uncomfortable to the touch would be much easier, perhaps chilling a sword to numb the wielder's hand. More advanced metals would prove to be a difficulty.
Oxidation would be the weakest powder of his. The powder is practically useless on anything besides iron and steel, but the powder would rust a metal object ever so slightly, as to dull its edge.
Equipment
Twin steel bucklers, spiked. Simple shields that strap to either forearm. He has no offensive weapon.
Een Booke od Aberratu para Focae. Ranulf's life's work, a research into the anatomy of creatures, bindings, and powders of his trade. By no means is it complete - containing only the knowledge he possesses to perform his abilities.
Powders of Metal-affinity: One small vial of each - heating, cooling, oxidizing.