fade rift | information
Jan. 11th, 2018 10:20 pm
Basics
| NAME: Théo AGE: Late 20s NATIONALITY: Orlesian RACE: Human OCCUPATION: Soldier TITLE/RANK: n/a |
HEIGHT: 5'9" BUILD: Lean & lanky HAIR: Dark brown, curly EYES: Brown SKIN: Tanned white BEARING: Friendly |
| DISTINGUISHING FEATURES: Some old war scars, farmer's hands, usually smiling. | |
Status
He just got here!
Reputation
People who make it their business to know things might know that he arrived with an Orlesian elf who's joined the serving staff and that the two of them traded intelligence on the Freemen of the Dales' involvement with red lyrium smuggling to the Inquisition to avoid being taken into custody by the Orlesian military. Otherwise, he's just a new cheerful curly Orlesian foot soldier.
Hooks
He's a proto-anarchist who loves commoners and does not love nobility, so bring me your peasants... but also bring me your nobility, he won't actually bite. He might even be polite.
fade rift | application
Nov. 18th, 2017 12:11 pmsexual assault cw
Name: Théo
Canon/OC: OC
Journal:![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
deserteur
Race: Human
Nationality: Orlesian
Occupation: Ex-farmhand, ex-soldier, ex-separatist
Division: Forces
Mage or Not: Not
Age: 20s
History
Théo spent most of his life in the Dales, not far from the Exalted Plains. His mother, Léone, was fifteen when she had him, and he was raised by her and her widowed mother, Agnes. He was told little about his father and spent his earliest years convinced it was somehow Remi Vascal, but eventually he was old enough to make sense of the whispers about his mother being attacked as a girl.
As far as impoverished childhoods go, however, Théo's was fairly idyllic. The family had worked for decades for a freeholder family, now helmed by Hermine Clérico, who was decent if never familial. They worked the land and herded livestock, and they had their own pair of goats. Théo learned to work the same way he learned to walk and talk, and he was a cheerful kid who only occasionally skived off or caused trouble.
When he was fourteen, everything went hideously wrong: his mother's rapist passed back through town, and Théo was called in from the fields to be told that his grandmother was dead—struck too hard when she wouldn't stop railing the Chevalier in public—and his mother was bound for the gallows for the knife she'd gotten into his arm. Hermine pulled every string she had, and Théo wasn't the only one who had to be physically restrained at the hanging, but ultimately it was carried out.
Afterwards, Clérico kept him employed and soon hired an elf, Évariste, to do Léone's share of the work. Évariste had been sent away from Halamshiral by his family to prevent him from getting into trouble, and after a rough start, he became one of Théo's favorite people, filling his head with rhetoric and attempting to teach him to read. But when Halamshiral burned, Évariste left in the middle of the night. Théo never heard a word from him again; if he isn't dead, he's one of Briala's people.
Not long afterwards, Théo was conscripted, along with some men from neighboring farms, into Celene's army. He lost old friends to the fighting and saw places he'd known since childhood in ruins. He would have been ripe for desertion no matter what, but the process was hastened by the fact that one of the Chevaliers leading Celene's army was Théo's father. (Technically. He never thought of it that way.) Théo kept quiet until everything was in place for the Freemen to desert en masse, then stabbed the man in the back—no ceremony, no speeches, several bewildered witnesses—and took a literal bow on his way out.
Théo believed very much in the Freemen cause, and still does in principle. But he observed some things—like red lyrium smuggling and taking bystanders prisoner—that left him disillusioned in practice. So when he noticed an elven worker sneaking out the back door, he was quick to ask if he could go with her. For her safety, you know.
Personality
Théo is a ball of sunshine: he's bright-eyed, usually smiling, and as friendly as anyone gets without being oblivious to the signs someone wants to be left alone. Generally speaking, he likes people. He can be vicious with some—he's ready to hang the Orlesian noble class as soon as someone gives the signal—but he gets along easily with most individuals. His sunny disposition comes matched with boundless but relatively practical optimism. He volunteers for whatever no one else wants to do, appreciates small victories, and sometimes literally whistles while he works. No one will dismantle the state by sulking at it!
Unfortunately, like a child praised for being pretty until they believe that's the only thing they have, Théo has been commended so often for being delightful that he feels obligated to remain so regardless of how he's actually feeling. And he's fairly good at it. Smiling at someone you'd prefer to kill is a national pastime in Orlais, and he's a gifted amateur. But sometimes he gets tired, which usually means he gets sharp-teethed—behind the smile, still—until he notices his own sarcasm and tries to extricate himself or backpedal. Other times it means he outright snaps, seemingly out of nowhere, having given no outward sign of long-building frustration. Underneath the bright demeanor he isn't secretly seething with constant fury, but he is angrier than he lets on.
He's also cleverer than your average peasant, though a good deal of his potential has already been irrevocably wasted and a good deal more is hampered by pride and the perception of books as indulgences of the oppressors. There's no future for him in political scholarship, but he is a decent orator, as long as the audience won't turn their nose up at a peasant. During the war he kept his friends' chins up to their deaths, he personally convinced a dozen soldiers to desert, and if you hand him an idea he can believe in, and he can probably get a decent percentage of people in a dirty tavern to believe in it, too.
Fortunately or unfortunately depending on your perspective, Théo's tireless belief in causes and the inevitable rising of the sun doesn't equate to tireless belief in specific people or organizations. He doesn't have any default respect for leaders, especially if they have titles propping up their ranks, and will unrepentantly pause his "we can do it!" ramparts pep talks to instead discuss whether it might be done better under someone else. He felt less than zero loyalty to the Orlesian army, nearly zero to the Freemen once they failed to live up to his expectations, and presently has exactly zero to the Inquisition. But he won't go around pointing that out or anything.
Opinions & Affiliations
Orlais: He loves the land and the people he knew, but the concept and rulers can rot.
Other Countries: New, exciting, probably have the same problems.
Chantry: The Chant is cool, the entangling of Chantry and state authority (not that he'd use those words) is not.
Mages & Templars: For such small groups of people that no one else cares about, they're terribly loud.
Elves: Deserve a break. The woodsy ones are sort of weird but that's their right.
Dwarves: He's seen like four, and they were all merchants.
Qunari: He's seen like two, and they were both mercenaries.
Grey Wardens: The Blight is scary, but anyone able to take whatever or whoever they want is going to leave a bad taste in his mouth.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Physical: Théo is primarily an archer—he's been scaring black wolves away from the goats that way since childhood, and he's pretty handy, albeit with room to improve. He got a crash course in swordsmanship when he was conscripted. He’s also quick, nimble, and instinctively good with a dagger, but nothing to write tales about. If I start buying specializations for him later they'll likely be roguey, but at the moment he's overall very versatile but not more than "competent enough not to die on a battlefield (yet)" at any one thing.
Intellectual: Clever, but poorly educated. He learned how to read as a teenager but continues to struggle with it, and until Thedas learns to diagnose dyslexia he’ll believe it’s because he learned too late and isn’t very smart. Also not currently interested in being more educated. Libraries are for people without anything more important to do. However, he does know a decent amount about farming, livestock, and the various and sundry skills needed to keep a farm and its workers in good condition.
Social: He's good with people, but not in the sense that he's especially manipulative or a good candidate for negotiating treaties—to the people on the other end of those, he might be likable the way a good servant is likable, assuming they don't make him angry, but he's far from someone they'd respect and not a good candidate for spywork that doesn't play on his natural strengths and habitat. Those natural strengths are: making friends among commoners, convincing those commoners to help outright rather than tricking them into it, staying upbeat for other people in bad situations, etc.
Inventory
• Clothes.
• A knife he begged his way into keeping.
• That’s all.
• Please help him.
Motivation
After deserting from the Freemen and inadvertently walking straight into a joint camp staffed by Orlesian and Inquisition soldiers, Théo will initially be with the Inquisition because sharing what he knows about the Freemen’s dealings with red lyrium is his only option other than hanging in Val Royeaux for desertion (of Celene’s army) (not the Freemen) (try to keep up). He's starting with zero allegiance to the Inquisition itself, save agreeing that Corypheus is the biggest asshole of all the assholes he could name at the moment, but that will probably change.
CHARACTER
Name: Théo
Canon/OC: OC
Journal:
deserteurRace: Human
Nationality: Orlesian
Occupation: Ex-farmhand, ex-soldier, ex-separatist
Division: Forces
Mage or Not: Not
Age: 20s
History
Théo spent most of his life in the Dales, not far from the Exalted Plains. His mother, Léone, was fifteen when she had him, and he was raised by her and her widowed mother, Agnes. He was told little about his father and spent his earliest years convinced it was somehow Remi Vascal, but eventually he was old enough to make sense of the whispers about his mother being attacked as a girl.
As far as impoverished childhoods go, however, Théo's was fairly idyllic. The family had worked for decades for a freeholder family, now helmed by Hermine Clérico, who was decent if never familial. They worked the land and herded livestock, and they had their own pair of goats. Théo learned to work the same way he learned to walk and talk, and he was a cheerful kid who only occasionally skived off or caused trouble.
When he was fourteen, everything went hideously wrong: his mother's rapist passed back through town, and Théo was called in from the fields to be told that his grandmother was dead—struck too hard when she wouldn't stop railing the Chevalier in public—and his mother was bound for the gallows for the knife she'd gotten into his arm. Hermine pulled every string she had, and Théo wasn't the only one who had to be physically restrained at the hanging, but ultimately it was carried out.
Afterwards, Clérico kept him employed and soon hired an elf, Évariste, to do Léone's share of the work. Évariste had been sent away from Halamshiral by his family to prevent him from getting into trouble, and after a rough start, he became one of Théo's favorite people, filling his head with rhetoric and attempting to teach him to read. But when Halamshiral burned, Évariste left in the middle of the night. Théo never heard a word from him again; if he isn't dead, he's one of Briala's people.
Not long afterwards, Théo was conscripted, along with some men from neighboring farms, into Celene's army. He lost old friends to the fighting and saw places he'd known since childhood in ruins. He would have been ripe for desertion no matter what, but the process was hastened by the fact that one of the Chevaliers leading Celene's army was Théo's father. (Technically. He never thought of it that way.) Théo kept quiet until everything was in place for the Freemen to desert en masse, then stabbed the man in the back—no ceremony, no speeches, several bewildered witnesses—and took a literal bow on his way out.
Théo believed very much in the Freemen cause, and still does in principle. But he observed some things—like red lyrium smuggling and taking bystanders prisoner—that left him disillusioned in practice. So when he noticed an elven worker sneaking out the back door, he was quick to ask if he could go with her. For her safety, you know.
Personality
Théo is a ball of sunshine: he's bright-eyed, usually smiling, and as friendly as anyone gets without being oblivious to the signs someone wants to be left alone. Generally speaking, he likes people. He can be vicious with some—he's ready to hang the Orlesian noble class as soon as someone gives the signal—but he gets along easily with most individuals. His sunny disposition comes matched with boundless but relatively practical optimism. He volunteers for whatever no one else wants to do, appreciates small victories, and sometimes literally whistles while he works. No one will dismantle the state by sulking at it! Unfortunately, like a child praised for being pretty until they believe that's the only thing they have, Théo has been commended so often for being delightful that he feels obligated to remain so regardless of how he's actually feeling. And he's fairly good at it. Smiling at someone you'd prefer to kill is a national pastime in Orlais, and he's a gifted amateur. But sometimes he gets tired, which usually means he gets sharp-teethed—behind the smile, still—until he notices his own sarcasm and tries to extricate himself or backpedal. Other times it means he outright snaps, seemingly out of nowhere, having given no outward sign of long-building frustration. Underneath the bright demeanor he isn't secretly seething with constant fury, but he is angrier than he lets on.
He's also cleverer than your average peasant, though a good deal of his potential has already been irrevocably wasted and a good deal more is hampered by pride and the perception of books as indulgences of the oppressors. There's no future for him in political scholarship, but he is a decent orator, as long as the audience won't turn their nose up at a peasant. During the war he kept his friends' chins up to their deaths, he personally convinced a dozen soldiers to desert, and if you hand him an idea he can believe in, and he can probably get a decent percentage of people in a dirty tavern to believe in it, too.
Fortunately or unfortunately depending on your perspective, Théo's tireless belief in causes and the inevitable rising of the sun doesn't equate to tireless belief in specific people or organizations. He doesn't have any default respect for leaders, especially if they have titles propping up their ranks, and will unrepentantly pause his "we can do it!" ramparts pep talks to instead discuss whether it might be done better under someone else. He felt less than zero loyalty to the Orlesian army, nearly zero to the Freemen once they failed to live up to his expectations, and presently has exactly zero to the Inquisition. But he won't go around pointing that out or anything.
Opinions & Affiliations
Orlais: He loves the land and the people he knew, but the concept and rulers can rot.
Other Countries: New, exciting, probably have the same problems.
Chantry: The Chant is cool, the entangling of Chantry and state authority (not that he'd use those words) is not.
Mages & Templars: For such small groups of people that no one else cares about, they're terribly loud.
Elves: Deserve a break. The woodsy ones are sort of weird but that's their right.
Dwarves: He's seen like four, and they were all merchants.
Qunari: He's seen like two, and they were both mercenaries.
Grey Wardens: The Blight is scary, but anyone able to take whatever or whoever they want is going to leave a bad taste in his mouth.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Physical: Théo is primarily an archer—he's been scaring black wolves away from the goats that way since childhood, and he's pretty handy, albeit with room to improve. He got a crash course in swordsmanship when he was conscripted. He’s also quick, nimble, and instinctively good with a dagger, but nothing to write tales about. If I start buying specializations for him later they'll likely be roguey, but at the moment he's overall very versatile but not more than "competent enough not to die on a battlefield (yet)" at any one thing.
Intellectual: Clever, but poorly educated. He learned how to read as a teenager but continues to struggle with it, and until Thedas learns to diagnose dyslexia he’ll believe it’s because he learned too late and isn’t very smart. Also not currently interested in being more educated. Libraries are for people without anything more important to do. However, he does know a decent amount about farming, livestock, and the various and sundry skills needed to keep a farm and its workers in good condition.
Social: He's good with people, but not in the sense that he's especially manipulative or a good candidate for negotiating treaties—to the people on the other end of those, he might be likable the way a good servant is likable, assuming they don't make him angry, but he's far from someone they'd respect and not a good candidate for spywork that doesn't play on his natural strengths and habitat. Those natural strengths are: making friends among commoners, convincing those commoners to help outright rather than tricking them into it, staying upbeat for other people in bad situations, etc.
Inventory
• Clothes.
• A knife he begged his way into keeping.
• That’s all.
• Please help him.
Motivation
After deserting from the Freemen and inadvertently walking straight into a joint camp staffed by Orlesian and Inquisition soldiers, Théo will initially be with the Inquisition because sharing what he knows about the Freemen’s dealings with red lyrium is his only option other than hanging in Val Royeaux for desertion (of Celene’s army) (not the Freemen) (try to keep up). He's starting with zero allegiance to the Inquisition itself, save agreeing that Corypheus is the biggest asshole of all the assholes he could name at the moment, but that will probably change.
