Character Information
14 points + 4 commutable (Cahal) - 2 points uninvested
Common (Free)
Calem (Native)
Empire Linguist Pack (Linguistics)
Appearance Information
- Full Name: Conrad Meckler
- Race: Ailor (Wirtem culture)
- Age: 135 (28 excluding dormancy)
- Gender: Male
- Eye Color: Grey
- Conrad is an Alice-in-wonderland-like character inspired by fairy myths, whose demeanour is all smiles and good faith, but whose true nature is complex, alien, and 'innocently evil'; he does not understand common moral quandaries anymore, and as such will tend to commit evil acts more or less by accident, without any understanding of the issue with his actions (like a fairy stealing a child or taking a name when given permission). He is often unshakeable in his beliefs, and prone to drama and performance. You'd be forgiven for assuming that he'd stepped right out of the pages of a Victorian novel.
- He lacks the means to hunt down prey by magic or by pure strength (though he's young, and has the means to learn to do either if it comes down to it) so instead, he 'collects' people which he finds romantic or otherwise dramatic in a literary sense (knights, rebels, or other romanticised figures) with a hope of eventually converting them to his cause, and those who he finds less interesting, he may feed on covertly. As such, his minimal magic is based primarily around trickery and intrigue, and his martial prowess is pretty much limited to knives and sneakery.
- Writing is still his craft, and he is still something of a revolutionary or radical progressivist, but his tales have grown darker, and teach different lessons than they used to, especially now that he is no longer so afraid of being labelled a jacobin or heretic. And writing seems to have bled into his worldview, too - at his most manic, he might believe himself invincible or consider it somebody's 'destiny' to complete some insurmountable task or other, because "that's how it would happen!" (in a book or a fairytale). This interacts with his faith in Estellon, to which he was converted at the same time as his conversion to Cahalism, influencing his ideas of destiny and ambition particularly. This means he isn't quite a puritan Estellon zealot, but he does follow the tenets of the faith and believe in the gods - simply, he expresses all of the ideals and concepts through the language of storytelling. For instance - he often likens Cemaan to a writer, and Aseia to a poet. These are the gods which he feels greatest kinship with, alongside Savellon, which he reckons to be the worthiest muse.
14 points + 4 commutable (Cahal) - 2 points uninvested
- Strength: 1
- Duelist Pack
- Constitution: 1
- Counterplay Pack
- Wisdom: 0
- Dexterity: 4
- Outlaw Pack
- Escapist Pack
- Parkour Pack
- Balance Pack
- Magic: 0 - Exist
- Betrayer pack (commutable)
- Regeneration pack (commutable)
- Lair Summoning
- Lair Illusion
- Cursewalking
- Possession
- Berserk Curse
- Shadow Element
- Materialism (commutable)
- Mimicry (commutable)
- Dressage cleanse
- Evil Tongues
- Dream Element
- Emote Infuse
- Chain Break
- Time Cleanse
- Charisma: 6
- Empire Linguist Pack
- Agitator Pack
- Saboteur Pack
- Pet Husbandry Pack
- Cahal
Common (Free)
Calem (Native)
Empire Linguist Pack (Linguistics)
Appearance Information
- In his human form, Conrad has no mutations.
- He's a 5 ft 10, lithe and spritely fellow with fair skin and well-tended snow-white hair. There's something very faintly elven about him, but otherwise he is neither particularly handsome nor ugly. He wears very old-fashioned and generally formal clothing, often with floral additions.
- Conrad's Cahalic form resembles a tall, perfectly beautiful and well-proportioned elven man in revealing elven finery, sculpted of pristine marble laced through with gold, and wearing on his head a laurel crown of ivy. His legs are caprine, and bear cloven hooves, and he has small horns to match. His eyes are holes out from which a searing blue light pours, and there is a thin seam down the middle of his face which also emanates light, leading down to a similar glowing core at the centre of his chest. This seam allows his face to split and open when feeding.
- Born in rural Osteiermark to a human father and half-Xieloth mother in 174. His father was a veteran of the Skagger War, and a manual labourer in his later years. His mother stayed at home and was generally distrusted by the puritan workfolk, but his father's good reputation shielded them from criticism.
- Conrad's mother insisted that he learn to read and write, and his father begrudgingly agreed. Conrad was so enamoured with the written word that it occupied much of his time into his teens. He received some military education as well, but frequently skipped classes to read and write.
- In his young adulthood, Conrad became convinced that he should make writing his business. By the time of his twentieth birthday he made a home for himself in the capital, where he hoped to become a published author, with lofty ambitions of fame and fortune.
- Conrad was never a successful poet, and in fact he was criticised for elven-sympathy and radical progressivism (some even called him Jacobin). To the backdrop of poverty, shame and persecution, Conrad was converted to Cahalism by contract. Problematically, he was not much suited to fighting and found little success as an aberrant. To preserve his life, he entered hibernation near his 28th birthday, 203. Unfortunately, he slept far longer than he intended due to an infection he had sustained prior to his slumber, and awoke in the Regalian sewers on December 29th, 310.
- Conrad Meckler was born on the rural outskirts of Osteiermark (near the Baldmark - Hinter Calem border) to a human father and half-Xieloth mother in the summer of 174. His family was of modest means - his father a war veteran and manual labourer, and his mother a lady of the house and garden. She was out-of-place in Osteiermark and not entirely welcomed by the puritan, conservative workfolk, but his father had done war with the Skagger Horde not so many years ago, and was hard-working in his veterancy, so nobody ever spoke ill of her nor his son.
- Though his family was by no means a wealthy one, Conrad's mother insisted that he learn to read and write, and his father begrudgingly agreed to have it done. It cost them dearly, but they conspired to have him enrolled under a tutor (neither of them knew how to read themselves). Conrad was so taken with the written word that it occupied much of his time into his teens. He wrote stories and poetry which his mother adored to listen to, and which his father eventually came to tolerate. He received some military education as well, but frequently skipped classes to read, and write, much to his father's ire. His father cited literature as his greatest vexation in raising Conrad, and later, when Conrad was gone, he would claim that to have Conrad taught to read and write was the greatest mistake he ever had made, and one which he bitterly regretted.
- In his young adulthood, despite his father's best efforts to dissuade him, Conrad continued to write, and in time, he became convinced that he should make his business in it. By the time of his twentieth birthday it was decided, and then there was no dissuading him, though God knows his father did try. No - he would make a home for himself in the capital, where he would become a published author, and when he made his fortune, he would send for his parents and they would live together, there.
- Unfortunately, it was not to be. Conrad was never a successful poet, nor indeed a successful writer of any sort, and his work was only ever recognised as a prime example of the sort of elven-sympathetic and un-Regalian nonsense that young men seemed prone to spew in the aftermath of great wars. Indeed, elves and yanar numbered most among his readers, as he wrote primarily of the countryside and of Wirtem folklore, which contained within it many dark woods and ancient, mysterious places that those people felt connections with. He made acquaintances of some, and began to talk with them, but it was not enough to stave off the overwhelming loneliness that the young man was now confronted with. It seemed to him then that he had thoroughly proven his father right.
- At the peak of his suffering, when Conrad suffered not only shame but also poverty and, worse, dysentery, which almost took his life, he was entreated by Estellon faithful. They saw promise in him and adored his writing, which was more than Conrad could have said of any other sapient being he had met since childhood. They saw the flaws in the system that had brought him so low, and they claimed that it was their mission to fix them. They stood in defiance of poverty, of oppression, of sickness and of slavery, and they asked that he stand with them. They were Cahal. He considered their offer carefully.
- In the early autumn of 310, Conrad caught word that the Violet Order had received a copy of his most recent manuscript, The Watch-Stopper of Fall-Over Lane, and had found hidden within it subtle, tell-tale signs of Jacobin conversion. This news terrified Conrad, rightly. If he were to be found guilty of Jacobinism, he should be flayed until dead, and if he had published a work which the Violet Order deemed to be anti-state, his sentencing would be swift and harsh. It was made no better by the fact that he was not aware of having hidden any secret Jacobin messages in his writing -- and in any event it made little difference to the Order, as it didn't seem particularly likely that anybody else should have done it on his behalf. So, Conrad turned to his friends in Crookback. Within the day, his fate was sealed by contract, and he became Cahal.
- Unfortunately, Conrad was not much cut-out for the rather involved work of hunting down good Unionists and consuming their souls. He rather had hoped to read of that sort of adventure between the pages of a book, and thereby spare himself the need to experience it first-hand. And indeed, he was every bit as shabby a hunter as he first anticipated he might be. He was a weakling, and had forgotten much of his training from youth. The only few meals which he managed to obtain were from beggars or the infirm. But this was not sustainable, and he began to starve, and with that starvation once again came disease and infection. So he was left with only one option: to preserve his life, he entered hibernation near his 28th birthday, 203. Unfortunately, he slept far longer than he intended, perhaps due to the very infections that had pushed him to dormancy. He awoke in the Regalian sewers on December 29th, 310.
Last edited:
I've beefed out the section now.