Earthwalker
11-12-07, 05:58 AM
Name: Leander Danson
Age: 15, give or take a few months
Race: Human, though there may be a hint of High Elf ancestry from his mother's side.
Hair Color: A middling brown, almost unremarkable in hue.
Eye Color: Green, though not startlingly so.
Height: 5' 9"
Weight: 145 lbs., give or take a few.
Occupation: Courier
Appearance: Very little appears exceptional in nature about Leander - he is of a rather average hight, with brown hair, green eyes, and an unremarkable face. He tends towards a lanky build, with long, powerful legs that aid in his constant deliveries from town to town. Although he is nowhere so strong as a man who walks about in full plate mail armor all the time, he maintains a relatively high level of physical fitness due to his ceaseless traveling for his job, as well as his brief apprenticeship in his father's forge. His clothing tends towards serviceable, tough clothes, with only minimal armor - designed for speed and mobility, not protection. Colors tend to stay in the browns - anything else quickly becomes faded from road dust. The only truly ornamental item in his outfit is a once-bright sash of colored cloth, proclaiming his profession of messenger (and the implicit plea not to shoot him) to the world. Aside from his clothes, Leander's worldly possessions consist of a backpack with some food and a change of clothes, a quiver of arrows and a hunting bow (usually unstrung), a well-made, though unadorned, shortsword (courtesy of his father), and finally (and perhaps most importantly) a very nice, very worn pair of waterproof leather boots.
History: Leander was born to Delilah Bowersdotter and Daniel the Smith. Daniel is the single smith of a small village in the southeast corner of Salvar near the Raiaerian border. He had met Delilah while she had been wandering the world up in that remote section of the mountains, and the two of them had hit it off. Two years and three visits later, the two of them married, and Delilah settled down, giving up her wandering and establishing herself as a hunter and trapper in the area. They bore two children - Alander, their first, eventually grew up to follow his father to the forge, while Leander, their second, inherited his mother's wanderlust. In his childhood he would occasionally be called to help his father and older brother in the forge, but, for the most part, he ran errands about the town, bringing news or small items from once place to another. When he was about twelve or so - what his mother declared "of age", she began to train him in the woodsman's arts: how to track, and to make and set traps, how to hunt, and the like. She also showed him the swordsmanship that she had picked up in her travels around the world, though she was somewhat rusty, it having been years since her skills were last needed in any real sense. As he neared the age of fourteen, his mother informed him of something: it was her will that he leave and see the world. Upon his fourteenth birthday (give or take a few days - the calender never was too precise that far out from the big cities) Leander's father bestowed upon him a sword, and his mother, a bow, of the best quality they could give (The sword was of good material and make, a solid iron affair. The bow was a nice hardwood piece, made on commission from the local Bower). Then, with a pack of food and wishes of luck, Leander left to make his way in the world.
The first few months especially were difficult - not so much in terms of survival, but more, in terms of large cities, and marketplaces, and coin - something that Leander found he lacked. He was self-sufficient, yes, but he also needed coin for things like clothes, or arrows, or other such necessities. It was at that point that the option of couriering was presented to him, by a merchant in need of a letter to be moved cheaply from once place to another. It was almost the perfect thing for Leander - he got to travel, he made money, and he was a fast enough runner that he could demand a fairly good amount, even though other messengers might use horses, while he still ran on his own feet.
And that is where Leander finds his home now, running down the roads of the world, delivering his next parcel, hopefully ahead of schedule.
Personality: Leander is a solid, well-intentioned youth - he doesn't especially seek out trouble - in fact, he generally tries to avoid it. Despite his wanderlust, he does not quite possess the flare for troublemaking his mother had in her adventuring days - he is far more content to simply wander about. He holds a fairly concrete set of morals, and believes strongly in right and wrong - when he can, he'll help out those he meets along the road, assuming his schedule isn't horribly pressing. Leander dislikes excess, having been raised to make the most effective use of what few tools he had on hand. Similarly, he frowns on those who get exorbitantly drunk - drinking in moderation is alright, but there is no need, in his opinion, to deaden your mind to the point of unconsciousness or memory loss. His purpose is fluid, so long as he gets to keep doing something - if a job as a mercenary guard were to come up, he'd be as likely as not to take it, especially if he like whomever he was guarding. Likewise, simple adventuring is quite fine with him, assuming he's got some method of keeping himself fed, clothed, and maintained in the meantime. His views of magic are fluid as well - a mage passing out healing gets a much better reaction than one throwing fireballs about willy-nilly, but on the whole, he is fairly neutral about the whole thing. Though learning healing spells would be nice at some point, as it's much easier to take care of those scratches and cuts on the run if you've got a little arcane aid...
Skills:
Brawling: (Above Average) Before leaving his family for the road, Leander's mother taught him how to handle himself in a fight. This mainly comprised of informal boxing, wrestling, and a little knife fighting. Though he's not had an excess of opportunities to use it (there have been a few times, but not a whole lot), he does have a fairly good idea of how to hold his own - and more than once, he's been forced to prove it. Drunkards aren't always the most reasonable of individuals, if you catch my meaning.
Marksmanship: (Average) Thanks to his mother's training, Leander is a passable marksman. He probably wouldn't win any contests in the big city, but he knows enough to hit what he shoots at most of the time.
Swordsmanship: (Below Average) While he doesn't know much in the way of fancy moves, he does know more than which end to hit the enemy with - he can manage a block, and a parry, and a swing, and so on, though he's not great at it. He'd meet his match against anyone with more than a basic military training, though honestly, he'd rather not meet his match if he could help it (fleeing is a nice alternate option).
Hunting and Tracking: (Passable to Fair) Leander knows how to live off the land, given a couple of basic tools and a bow with some arrows. He can definitely provide for himself - and with some effort, he might even be able to cover another person, if the land was bountiful enough.
Endurance: (Pretty Damn Good At It) Leander's strength is not quite the kind that allows for the wielding of mighty blades and the wearing of the greatest of armors - rather, he excels at sustained action. His legs can keep him moving at a nice jog for hours at a time, allowing him to eat up the land between him and his destination. He can also run quickly for short distances if he needs to - though this tires him much more rapidly. He's an endurance runner, not a sprinter. This does mean that a lot of his fighting style involves keeping the opponent on the move - the more they have to chase him, the better off he is, especially if the opponent is in heavy armor.
Equipment:
Dan's Shortsword: The shortsword that Leander received around his fourteenth birthday. It's tough, durable, and sharp - at least, right after it's been sharpened. Fortunately for Leander, the blade holds an edge well, and he hasn't really used it all that much, so he shouldn't have to worry about sharpening it for a while yet.
Hunting Knife A nice, general, all-purpose knife for carving, cutting, skinning, and the like. Sharp, and well kept, as it is a large part of the way that Leander maintains his own livelihood. Leander can fight with it in a pinch - and actually, he's probably a little better using it than his sword.
Hunting Bow A well made bow, usually carried unstrung on Leander's back. Along with the bow, Leander also usually carries around a collection of twenty-odd arrows. Both the bow and the arrows are only of average make, as the Bower in Leander's hometown didn't really qualify as world-class.
Courier's Outfit: Mainly comprised of rough but durable cloth, with hardened leather covering the more vital areas, this outfit doesn't quite provide the protection of a full suit of leather, or even better, a full suit of metal, but it's much better than a sharp stick in the vitals. With a bit of luck, and some fast moves, it can turn what otherwise might be a deep cut into a shallow wound, or a grazing blow into nothing at all. No way it stops a sword to the stomach, though. Comes with cloak and belt, helmet not included.
Nice Leather Boots: When you walk for a living, having a nice pair of boots is practically a necessity. Well, Leander made a wise investment here. These boots are waterproof, weather resistant, warm, fuzzy on the inside, dusty on the outside, and generally tougher than they have any right to be. I mean, a boot-stabbing is still a boot-stabbing, but at least with this caliber bootwear on, you have to be enthusiastic about the foot-shanking to get anywhere.
Age: 15, give or take a few months
Race: Human, though there may be a hint of High Elf ancestry from his mother's side.
Hair Color: A middling brown, almost unremarkable in hue.
Eye Color: Green, though not startlingly so.
Height: 5' 9"
Weight: 145 lbs., give or take a few.
Occupation: Courier
Appearance: Very little appears exceptional in nature about Leander - he is of a rather average hight, with brown hair, green eyes, and an unremarkable face. He tends towards a lanky build, with long, powerful legs that aid in his constant deliveries from town to town. Although he is nowhere so strong as a man who walks about in full plate mail armor all the time, he maintains a relatively high level of physical fitness due to his ceaseless traveling for his job, as well as his brief apprenticeship in his father's forge. His clothing tends towards serviceable, tough clothes, with only minimal armor - designed for speed and mobility, not protection. Colors tend to stay in the browns - anything else quickly becomes faded from road dust. The only truly ornamental item in his outfit is a once-bright sash of colored cloth, proclaiming his profession of messenger (and the implicit plea not to shoot him) to the world. Aside from his clothes, Leander's worldly possessions consist of a backpack with some food and a change of clothes, a quiver of arrows and a hunting bow (usually unstrung), a well-made, though unadorned, shortsword (courtesy of his father), and finally (and perhaps most importantly) a very nice, very worn pair of waterproof leather boots.
History: Leander was born to Delilah Bowersdotter and Daniel the Smith. Daniel is the single smith of a small village in the southeast corner of Salvar near the Raiaerian border. He had met Delilah while she had been wandering the world up in that remote section of the mountains, and the two of them had hit it off. Two years and three visits later, the two of them married, and Delilah settled down, giving up her wandering and establishing herself as a hunter and trapper in the area. They bore two children - Alander, their first, eventually grew up to follow his father to the forge, while Leander, their second, inherited his mother's wanderlust. In his childhood he would occasionally be called to help his father and older brother in the forge, but, for the most part, he ran errands about the town, bringing news or small items from once place to another. When he was about twelve or so - what his mother declared "of age", she began to train him in the woodsman's arts: how to track, and to make and set traps, how to hunt, and the like. She also showed him the swordsmanship that she had picked up in her travels around the world, though she was somewhat rusty, it having been years since her skills were last needed in any real sense. As he neared the age of fourteen, his mother informed him of something: it was her will that he leave and see the world. Upon his fourteenth birthday (give or take a few days - the calender never was too precise that far out from the big cities) Leander's father bestowed upon him a sword, and his mother, a bow, of the best quality they could give (The sword was of good material and make, a solid iron affair. The bow was a nice hardwood piece, made on commission from the local Bower). Then, with a pack of food and wishes of luck, Leander left to make his way in the world.
The first few months especially were difficult - not so much in terms of survival, but more, in terms of large cities, and marketplaces, and coin - something that Leander found he lacked. He was self-sufficient, yes, but he also needed coin for things like clothes, or arrows, or other such necessities. It was at that point that the option of couriering was presented to him, by a merchant in need of a letter to be moved cheaply from once place to another. It was almost the perfect thing for Leander - he got to travel, he made money, and he was a fast enough runner that he could demand a fairly good amount, even though other messengers might use horses, while he still ran on his own feet.
And that is where Leander finds his home now, running down the roads of the world, delivering his next parcel, hopefully ahead of schedule.
Personality: Leander is a solid, well-intentioned youth - he doesn't especially seek out trouble - in fact, he generally tries to avoid it. Despite his wanderlust, he does not quite possess the flare for troublemaking his mother had in her adventuring days - he is far more content to simply wander about. He holds a fairly concrete set of morals, and believes strongly in right and wrong - when he can, he'll help out those he meets along the road, assuming his schedule isn't horribly pressing. Leander dislikes excess, having been raised to make the most effective use of what few tools he had on hand. Similarly, he frowns on those who get exorbitantly drunk - drinking in moderation is alright, but there is no need, in his opinion, to deaden your mind to the point of unconsciousness or memory loss. His purpose is fluid, so long as he gets to keep doing something - if a job as a mercenary guard were to come up, he'd be as likely as not to take it, especially if he like whomever he was guarding. Likewise, simple adventuring is quite fine with him, assuming he's got some method of keeping himself fed, clothed, and maintained in the meantime. His views of magic are fluid as well - a mage passing out healing gets a much better reaction than one throwing fireballs about willy-nilly, but on the whole, he is fairly neutral about the whole thing. Though learning healing spells would be nice at some point, as it's much easier to take care of those scratches and cuts on the run if you've got a little arcane aid...
Skills:
Brawling: (Above Average) Before leaving his family for the road, Leander's mother taught him how to handle himself in a fight. This mainly comprised of informal boxing, wrestling, and a little knife fighting. Though he's not had an excess of opportunities to use it (there have been a few times, but not a whole lot), he does have a fairly good idea of how to hold his own - and more than once, he's been forced to prove it. Drunkards aren't always the most reasonable of individuals, if you catch my meaning.
Marksmanship: (Average) Thanks to his mother's training, Leander is a passable marksman. He probably wouldn't win any contests in the big city, but he knows enough to hit what he shoots at most of the time.
Swordsmanship: (Below Average) While he doesn't know much in the way of fancy moves, he does know more than which end to hit the enemy with - he can manage a block, and a parry, and a swing, and so on, though he's not great at it. He'd meet his match against anyone with more than a basic military training, though honestly, he'd rather not meet his match if he could help it (fleeing is a nice alternate option).
Hunting and Tracking: (Passable to Fair) Leander knows how to live off the land, given a couple of basic tools and a bow with some arrows. He can definitely provide for himself - and with some effort, he might even be able to cover another person, if the land was bountiful enough.
Endurance: (Pretty Damn Good At It) Leander's strength is not quite the kind that allows for the wielding of mighty blades and the wearing of the greatest of armors - rather, he excels at sustained action. His legs can keep him moving at a nice jog for hours at a time, allowing him to eat up the land between him and his destination. He can also run quickly for short distances if he needs to - though this tires him much more rapidly. He's an endurance runner, not a sprinter. This does mean that a lot of his fighting style involves keeping the opponent on the move - the more they have to chase him, the better off he is, especially if the opponent is in heavy armor.
Equipment:
Dan's Shortsword: The shortsword that Leander received around his fourteenth birthday. It's tough, durable, and sharp - at least, right after it's been sharpened. Fortunately for Leander, the blade holds an edge well, and he hasn't really used it all that much, so he shouldn't have to worry about sharpening it for a while yet.
Hunting Knife A nice, general, all-purpose knife for carving, cutting, skinning, and the like. Sharp, and well kept, as it is a large part of the way that Leander maintains his own livelihood. Leander can fight with it in a pinch - and actually, he's probably a little better using it than his sword.
Hunting Bow A well made bow, usually carried unstrung on Leander's back. Along with the bow, Leander also usually carries around a collection of twenty-odd arrows. Both the bow and the arrows are only of average make, as the Bower in Leander's hometown didn't really qualify as world-class.
Courier's Outfit: Mainly comprised of rough but durable cloth, with hardened leather covering the more vital areas, this outfit doesn't quite provide the protection of a full suit of leather, or even better, a full suit of metal, but it's much better than a sharp stick in the vitals. With a bit of luck, and some fast moves, it can turn what otherwise might be a deep cut into a shallow wound, or a grazing blow into nothing at all. No way it stops a sword to the stomach, though. Comes with cloak and belt, helmet not included.
Nice Leather Boots: When you walk for a living, having a nice pair of boots is practically a necessity. Well, Leander made a wise investment here. These boots are waterproof, weather resistant, warm, fuzzy on the inside, dusty on the outside, and generally tougher than they have any right to be. I mean, a boot-stabbing is still a boot-stabbing, but at least with this caliber bootwear on, you have to be enthusiastic about the foot-shanking to get anywhere.