6th iteration | app
Nov. 21st, 2016 11:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
warriorbornYour name or nickname: Feebs
Your year of birth: 1989
A reliable DW account the mods can PM to reach you: warriorborn or igotacrossbow
Link to your hold comment: http://sixthiteration.
Referral: n/a
Character name: Benedict Sorellin-Lancaster
Character type: Fandom
Fandom/Canon: The Cinder Spires (specifically book 1: The Aeronaut’s Windlass)
Character DW journal: warriorborn
Does this character have previous CR?: N/A
HISTORY
http://cinder-spires.wikia.
PERSONALITY OVERVIEW
Laconic and easygoing by nature, Benedict is not a difficult person to get along with. While he comes from what is essentially the most powerful family in all of Spire Albion -- thanks to their monopoly on the crystal vatteries -- Benedict is only a lesser cousin, and therefore not all that important. Add that to the fact that he is warriorborn, and the lack of importance placed on his own ego becomes a little more understandable.
While his family has always loved him unconditionally, Benedict has been aware of the fact that he has been different ever since he was a small child. Hating this fact, and the way people have treated him for it, he’s always tried very hard to appear as normal as possible: moving more slowly so as not to outpace his human cousins, eating only the exact amount doled out to any guardsman (especially in public) despite the fact that he requires more calories to survive so that he doesn’t draw any excess attention to himself, and carrying lumin crystals with him at all times, even though he doesn’t really need them to see, even in the dark.
Benedict has no grand aspirations. He just wants to be normal. He wants to do the best he can in whatever he decides to do, and he wants people to value his contributions and view him with the same respect they view anyone else. Unfortunately, being warriorborn, his career opportunities were always going to be limited. There had been a period of time he considered becoming a monk at the Temple of the Way, and had even studied there under the tutelage of Brother Vincent for a few years, but ultimately he decided against a life of seclusion and reported to the Spirearch’s Guard for the one year of service that is required of at least one child of every High House. As the warriorborn are viewed as being good for little more than being bodyguards at best by most of society, Benedict decided to stay on in the Spirearch’s Guard after his mandatory one-year term simply so he did not have to attempt to apprentice himself to anyone who might look down on him. His enhanced physical attributes were a gift, in the service, and he was happy to put them to good use.
Knowing how it feels to be treated differently for things outside of his control, Benedict believes very much in letting someone’s actions speak for themselves. He doesn’t like to make snap decisions about anyone, based on their gender or their appearance; however, once his opinion has been set, he can be a little stubborn about changing his mind. He tends to hold on to grudges, and while he’s capable of working with people even if he doesn’t like them, he’s slow to forgive and forget.
His sense of humor is wry and understated. Growing up in his cousin’s shadow, for all that he is her elder by a few years, he’s learned how to make the shrewdest of observations sound like a mild off-hand remark, and takes great pleasure if managing to slide little barbs and jabs under people’s radars without their noticing.
PERSONALITY QUESTIONS
What skills does your character bring to the situation?:
Aside from the general abilities of the warriorborn, Benedict is an excellent fighter. He has lived and trained in the Spirearch’s Guard for years now and is considered one of their best guardsmen. He is especially talented in swordsmanship, although his hand-to-hand isn’t shabby either. This might not be the most useful skill as things stand, but should the need arise to protect the village, he wouldn’t hesitate to throw himself headfirst into the fray.
Having studied at the Wayist Temple, Benedict is remarkably patient. There comes a time when all the fussing and fretting in the world will accomplish nothing, and he is capable of recognizing that point and accepting it when it comes, taking a metaphorical step back and waiting to see what will come.
As the eldest son in his family, even if he is an unimportant lesser cousin to the “throne” of House Lancaster, Benedict is also very diplomatic. He’s had to learn how to be, especially since his younger cousin Gwen, the heiress, is anything but. For all that Benedict likes to steer clear of politics, preferring to remain an impartial observer as opposed to anything else, he’s capable of stepping in and acting as mediator if he has to. Despite his best efforts to the contrary, he’s been raised to lubricate relationships between House Lancaster and the other High Houses, which means he’s been trained in many of the refined arts one would expect of the aristocracy. He’s able to play a handful of different instruments, he can dance, he can sing, he can even draw with passing skill. While these skills may not seem all that useful, and as far as bare survival is concerned, aren’t that useful, as far as morale is concerned, they certainly can be.
Explain how your character would react to the following:
- Discovering that their memories may have been tampered with:
Honestly, he wouldn’t react that well. Being down on the Surface would already have him rattled to begin with, and while he’s comfortable with magic in a sense, to have someone mucking about in his head when he’s already feeling wrong-footed will just make him feel worse. He doesn’t like feeling paranoid. It’s not a good look for him.
- Having to do physical labor to survive:
This is honestly not a problem. Benedict is strong, and he’s always happy to lend a hand where needed. He’ll do the best he can to be helpful, but he’s lived his whole life in a stone city miles above the ground, where all their food (meat and vegetables included) are grown in giant vatteries. He has no practical knowledge of farming, and even no peripheral knowledge of farming, or of how seasons might affect it. There are no seasons inside a vat. Similarly, he doesn’t have much in the way of experience with building things from wood. Once he gets over his instinctual “there’s so much wood!” and has someone to tell him what to do, he’ll be fine. He takes instruction well.
- Having to share resources with others:
This shouldn’t be a problem. Benedict is the eldest of his siblings, he’s used to having to share with them. Add that to his time in the service of the Spirearch’s Guard, and he’s used to things like the division of labor and everyone getting their equal share. He also has a firm sense of fairness and an urge to do the right thing, which will mean he’ll be one of the first to divide up what he has to share it among the others, especially those he views as less capable of taking care of themselves.
- Being unable to leave the area:
Habbels (cities) within each Spire are only about two miles wide, and many people don’t ever leave the habbel they grew up in. Benedict has, through his time in the Spirearch’s Guard and his schooling at the Temple of the Way, but he doesn’t seem to have much interest in actually leaving Spire Albion, or visiting the other Habbels further down. He will be unhappy being stuck on the Surface, and will want to go back to the world he’s familiar with, but being confined to a single place isn’t unfamiliar to him.
- Doing without modern conveniences and technology and/or being around tech more advanced than they're used to:
The Cinder Spires is a steampunk series, so most of the technology in the village will be things Benedict is at least tangentially familiar with. The only problem is that most of the technology Benedict is familiar with are powered by crystals. Nearly everything, from lights to weapons, are reliant on crystals of various forms. He is unfamiliar with actual steam energy, and considering how wildly expensive wood is and how difficult it is to get in his world, the idea of burning it for fuel would never cross his mind. It’s going to be a little difficult for him to adjust, but it will help that he will be surrounded by people who seem to have a better idea of what they’re doing than he does, and he’ll figure out pretty quickly to follow their lead.
- Being separated, possibly permanently, from loved ones and their previous life, including loss of powers, if applicable:
Being separated from his family will be difficult for him. It’s not that Benedict is so much a family man, really, but the realities of life in a Spire mean that you’re never that far from your family. The possibility to nip home for a visit is always there, even if you never take it. As for the loss of his “powers,” that might be a little easier to handle. For one thing, he doesn’t have very many. Benny’s enhancements are mainly things like his increased strength and better vision, which will be difficult to do without, but it won’t be impossible. Losing the more obvious physical characteristics that mark him as different won’t be a hardship either. His cat eyes and long teeth have always attracted stares, and usually not very polite ones. It will take him a little while to realize that those physical characteristics are missing, and then he’ll be torn between relief and a little bit of disappointment. He hates the things that mark him as different, but they’re part of who he is, and having them just be gone will be strange.
WRITING SAMPLES
Sample #1: TDM
http://sixthiterationooc.
Sample #2: TDM
http://sixthiterationooc.
