Lachlan
Caelic | 27 | Male
Lachlan's more than shoulder-long mane with its brilliant red color and his pointed goatee would probably distract onlookers from almost any kind of physique, but apart from his 6'4 maybe his one is not particular enough to actually need that. He is not perfectly lean, but has some muscle to compensate. Apart from some minor freckles and a mild scar running across his cheek (that looks more like an accident than the result of a weapon), his pale skin does not exhibit much in terms of irregularities as is appropriate for his young age. His facial expression is said to look a little annoyed by default, but that's just the natural arrangement as long as he doesn't actively control anything.
Anyone daring to take a closer look however would notice a few more subtle things: His ears, usually hidden beneath his hair, are just more pointed than would be normal for a human, and his eyes look a little weird even apart from their green color.
PersonalityLachlan's approach to strangers bears semblance to that of a snail with regard to a plant: Move forwards slowly, retract one's antennae quickly until the worst of insecurity is over and then either crawl around or turn into sort of a predator and exploiter. Somewhere between these two is the very real possibility of becoming friends though, but so far in his life not many have hit that keyhole yet.
Lachlan prefers spontaneity over long planning ahead -- plans are boring and just tend to fall apart way too quickly. Normally it is rather difficult to invoke his rage, but that very much excludes Norgardians as he hates those by heart and for obvious reasons if one considers his past and origin. People of Andred fare a bit better though, depending on their background.
Background
- Profession: Adventurer
- Class: Rogue
- Heritage: Lowborn
Lachlan is the bastard child of Eilidh, a female native to the Caelic Isles working for a not so reknown but still noble Andredian family whose country estate clings to the northern coastline of the Caelic Isles. His genesis was not a voluntary one as it happened during a Norgardian raid onto said coastline and Lachlan's father was one of the raiders. A stout and no less proud warrior of the North who believed that he could take more than just material riches. His body was left behind on the beaches as his party retreated, tribute to Andred guards who had finally shown up to protect the estate and less so the rest.
Eilidh did not dare to send the new life growing inside her to its premature death, but she was not exactly happy with it either. Only working as a servant for a noble and not being such herself, she was not bound by any of their standards about 'proper' childs and 'improper' childs, but Lachlan still had the enemy's blood rushing inside his veins speaking against him. It made sure that there were great worries about Eilidh's reputation from the very beginning and the solution was just not to tell anybody about the truth, including Lachlan. One can't tell even accidentally what one doesn't know after all.
The sudden and unplanned nature of Lachlan's creation, along with the fact that working under Andredian rule is not a very profitable job to begin with, caused him to begin his journey under a rather subpar living standard compared to much of his environment. Other than that though, Lachlan could grow up in peace and harmony as long as the net of lies spun around him held together. That only started to change as he became older and certain signs started to show. His appearance deviated from that of the region's typical inhabitant and his remaining family enough to make him somewhat suspicious of himself. The Norgardian heritage had messed with him, exposing things that would otherwise have remained buried deep inside. Also another raid occurred which allowed him to see and hear first-hand what those people were truly capable of, presenting him with some possibilities about his own origin he had not yet considered. Were all those stories about his own father still true ? Had the man really just gone missing right after his birth ?
That raid turned out to only be the prelude to a whole offensive which cost many Caelic' lives and made the survivors more attentive and a lot more aggressive towards anything that even remotely looked like it might have something to do with Norgardian culture. It was at this point that the system of lies Lachlan had been contained in started to buckle under both his and outside pressure. He did not know the truth still and only had comparatively remote hints at it, but his mother knew that it would be better to drop the veil. She knew the current political climate would have meant certain death for her half-son should somebody, anybody who might have witnessed something of Lachlan's real past or also just have a decent enough suspicion, release any rumor. Eidith gave him the advice to leave the isles for his own sake and he did so, but not without taking a lot of hatred about certain things with him. It only grew larger once he got to see how differently things can be run in other parts of the world.
One of the major stops showing this was Andred itself, which was pretty much on the route once having left the Isles, but which Lachlan had chosen to go to at some point out of sheer curiosity anyhow because he wanted to see for himself how people lived there. It was shocking in both the positive and the negative sense. Positive because there he could also see that many are not nobles, but normal, hard working people just like many of his own origin. Negative because, really... That militarism, along with the overall concept of 'few people in a fancy castle ruling over many outside of it' probably are the main reasons why Andred seems so adept at ruling over others.
Instead of daring to enter Norgardian territory as the sworn enemy he effectively was, Lachlan originally wanted to visit the Dwemorlocks. That changed however once he learned about how special they were in some ways. Overall, the descriptions given to him felt just a bit too unwelcoming and sinister, so he refrained from pulling through with that plan. Not that he wouldn't be able to understand them if the stories about their distant past are true. So instead, Lachlan ended up in Dre Costa where he joined a small band of men claiming themselves to be 'freelancing mercenaries', but honestly it felt more like the regular protective arm of a quite official group of explorers whose seemingly neverending task was to find new places to go. There is a difference between 'colonization' and 'conquest' and had the Dre Costa not stuck to it, Lachlan would have bailed out again for sure. The way things were however this probably was the best time outside of the Caelic Isles so far, and with dramatically increased mobility effectively given for free along with the regular payment in his job, it was only due to the latter that he was actually able to pick up about the myth of the dagger and its presumed location.
That was when he decided to abandon Dre Costa again, at least for the time being. The Caelic people are either raided by Norgardians or ruled and exploited by Andred nobility, in cases like his own even both coming together. The idea of all the clans finally collaborating to give those two Northern players a bloody request to piss off and not come back has never left him since, but Lachlan lives in the realization that the Caelic Isles are too much of an unsafe place for him right now. The waves might calm down enough for a safe return in the future, but even then it would be more of a dream than any real scenario. Or would it ?
Reason for TravelTaking the Skirmisher is a case of killing two birds with one stone for him. He needs to get South in order to start his search and just in case all of what he's heard should turn out as utter nonsense -- which might very well be the case --, at least the ship's course is correct for a trip back to the Caelic Isles should he dare. The land route would have been an alternative, but he has deemed it to be the inferior one for being slower and more dangerous. He only has to stay on board the ship, not actually
sail it after all...
Motivation/GoalThere are many rumors and legends among legendary artifacts, lost graves and events of the distant path among the Caelic clans. Lachlan has picked up on one of the more credible ones, an enchanted dagger that is said to only reveal its true power to those of the right blood. It's just a fragile hunch of course, but from what he has learned the thing, should it exist, has not worked for any of its previous owners so far and has last been seen somewhere in the South. He knows his blood is rare and no less strange, so maybe it would work for him ? If so, and even if the actual powers are far below what's commonly believed, it could still serve as a token of faith to rally the clans.
Andred rule has failed to stop him from learning at least some of his people's methods and the Norgardians have made sure that he had some opportunity to hone these skills for real. He might fail in an open, expected fight against a well armed and armored adversary, but improvisation, a keen eye for the element of surprise and the death of a thousand needles can remedy that. The wilderness probably is the most favorable area for maintaining stealth, but the occasional theft and intrusion in an urban environment is also something he's not unfamiliar with.
Equipment None at this point.
Money 0
Languages Caelic
