[hider=Dorian Vadderung]


[center][img]https://orig00.deviantart.net/84dc/f/2008/310/2/4/dwarf_by_jcjacobsson.jpg[/img]

[color=003471][b][h3][u]Dorian Vadderung[/u][/h3]
{{  Male || 34  }}[/b][/color][/center]

[color=003471][u][b]APPEARANCE[/b][/u][/color]
[indent]A Northman of average height for his kind, which is to say, shorter than compared to normal men, with brown eyes and a sizeable brown beard and hair that reaches to his shoulders. Like his kind he is stocky, but well-toned in his muscles from years of hard labour in the mines. These days, he wears a common linen shirt, cloak and pantaloons, the shirt to better cover the scars from lashings across his back. [/indent]

[color=003471][u][b]BIOGRAPHY[/b][/u][/color]
[indent]Dorian Vadderung was born the son of a poor Northmen household, a family of miners who'd served the Engineer Households for generations as effectively laborers, toiling away in the mines harvesting ore to smelted and crafted into fine works of martial engineering. It was a vital task to hold to feed the vast appetites of the orders Braldurheim was expected to fill, but not so for one with dreams of ambition for it was often a thankless and far less prestigious role.

For from a young age, Dorian had always dreamed of becoming an Engineer, even though his family could not afford to send him through the Academy to get the necessary education and apprenticeship, before he could swing a swing a pickaxe he was watching the work at the immense forges and the great skill with which the artisans honed their craft, and the subsequent respect they were held in. Envy grew in his heart from a young age.

Envy which only grew as he left his household and traveled throughout the realm following the mining jobs, as his father before him had. For what began as only mild and perfectly reasonable disgruntlement eventually manifested into outright disdain for the state of affairs, which to many of the more traditional among the Northmen was grounds for reprimanding. Dorian found himself several times beneath the Bailiff's lash for disrupting the work shifts and incitement of conflict among the workers. Not that the lashings did anything but temper his resolve like steel.

As the years went on, Fate extended Dorian a very odd circumstance that would change his life forever.

At the age of 33, Dorian was on his way to a new mining operation that took his path through Braldurheim's heart, the bustling core of the Northmen's Kingdom under the mountains, and seat of many of the more Engineering Academies. The Academies were hosting a public event, a rare thing and usually one that was reserved for showing off new inventions. In this case, it was a contest of sorts. A stone pedestal had been brought out, and upon it stood a roughly carved iron ring with runes carved upon it. The contest was simple, they claimed, whoever could lift the ring up and onto one of their fingers without it breaking their hand would win it along with having their name publicly declared as the strongest Northman in Braldurheim. The trick being that despite its appearance, the ring was apparently of enormous weight and while not strictly being magically, the Engineers had become dumbfounded as to its properties, and was useless to them for any practical purpose, so they were using it as a means to create a friendly competition to raise money for some renovation of their Academy buildings.

Paying the small fee to try after witnessing numerous individuals struggle to either lift the innocuous looking ring, or breaking the finger that the even fewer managed to lift it onto, Dorian gave it a shot. He had resolved that this was a simple way to set himself apart from the crowd, finally, something that didn't require money or social standing, merely overcoming a challenge through one's strength and will. The ring may as well have weighed as much as a grindstone, but Dorian's strength was prevailing to at least lift the thing up, but before he could attempt to slip the ring onto one of his fingers, a voice as deep and resounding as if the mountains themselves had spoken to him entered his mind.

Had Dorian not been so focused on exerting his strength into lifting the ring, he'd have jumped, none of the others had indicated anything like this, nor the Engineers, and nobody else seemed to have heard it besides him. The voice stated that it had waited a long time for one such as Dorian to find its ring, and that he had scoured Dorian's mind as it had all the others for a worthy pupil. It had seen Dorian's desires to become a great master engineer and to obtain the power and respect he so envied and craved from those in superior positions to him, and expressed a kindred spirit in him, something which the voice said was lacking in so many others in conjunction with the strength to match what its own had once been. The voice made the Northman an offer, pledge itself to be its pupil, and it would grant Dorian what he desired, refusal would result in a broken hand and the loss of any such chance ever coming again, the voice assured in a calm by overwhelmingly absolute manner. Partially delirious from the exertion of strength, but fully realizing the gravity of the situation if the voice was telling the truth, Dorian seized the moment, and gave his mental assent to the voice's conditions.

The ring's weight suddenly shifted in Dorian's grasp, and came to weigh no more than a natural iron one of its kind, and slipping it onto one of his fingers, the voice intoned" [i]I am Vardun, Titan of the Deep, known also as the World-Breaker, and former Siege-Master of the Shadow Legionnaires. And you, Dorian Vadderung, have proven yourself worthy to become my heir.[/i] The ring tightened onto his finger as if it physically shrunk, and Dorian would later find that it was impossible to remove. Regardless, there was great commotion at his success, and Dorian was publicly hailed as the strongest Northman in Braldurheim . . . not that this really amounted to much of anything besides the assurance that he'd never be wanting for manual labor jobs, but his name was spread about with both incredulity and praise in equal measure.

But there was little time for Dorian to focus on the matter, no sooner had he been handed the prize money then Vardun began giving him directions, always in his calm but firm demeanor. He commanded the Northman to pay to have a more fitting weapon than a pickaxe forged with the money, and to spend the rest on provisions, they'd be making for the road as soon as the work was done. Dorian, still unsure if Vardun was actually who he claimed to be, was struck by two things, first being a sudden shift in the weight of the ring upon his finger, and second having his head bombarded with knowledge on a blueprint of a pick hammer of precise specifications and directions to the point where he felt confident he could have made it himself, had he merely a forge, tools, and materials and despite never having made anything before. The weight relented, and with it more of Dorian's skepticism.

It took a day for everything to be prepared, and it concluded with Dorian retrieving his newly forged pick hammer. The Titan remarked how while it did not hold a candle to the raw might of the one he once wielded, it would serve for now. Once this was done, the former miner set out on the road, making his way at Vardun's direction and all the while the Titan subjected him to tests and lessons as was their bargain. And while he is at times resentful the harshness of his teacher and questions the Titan's motives, Dorian was pleased with the situation, nowhere else might he have obtained such a chance to wield such power and learn such things from any Academy, and while he didn't at the time know where the path would lead, he knew he'd never go back to slaving away his life in order to eke out his existence. He had tasted power and the chance to make his life the way he would choose to, not by the circumstances of his birth. He wanted to stand as resolute in purpose and powerful in mind and body as the Titan once did, and while the irony was not lost on either of them of the situation of a Northman attempting to emulate a giant of a man, such things did not matter so long as Dorian had the will to seek it.[/indent]

[color=003471][u][b]SKILLS[/b][/u][/color]
[indent][b]Worker's Body[/b]
[indent]Half of lifetime spent working heavy labour in mines has given Dorian a substantial tolerance to physical exertion and strength. The fact that he is a full-blooded Northman also helps in this regard. [/indent][/indent]
[indent][b]Heat-Forged[/b]
[indent]Another apsect of his Northman physiology, Dorian has a higher resistance to extreme temperatures.[/indent][/indent]
[indent][b]Street-Smarts[/b]
[indent]While not having much formal education, Dorian has developed more a sense for how to deal with the more down-trodden or less-well-off in society, having lived as one for pretty much all of his life. He knows their desires and wants, and how they think.[/indent][/indent]

[color=003471][u][b]WEAPONS[/b][/u][/color]
[indent][b]-- [url]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/75/bd/88/75bd88ac6119887ec6e94b7d1921007e.jpg[/url][/b]
[indent]A newly forged Braldurheim Pick Hammer. While Dorian is unskilled in combat, this would be one of the few weapons he'd be more familiar with after having used similarly heavy mining tools for much of his life.[/indent][/indent]

[color=003471][u][b]OTHER[/b][/u][/color]
[indent][b]Tool Kit[/b]
[indent]An assortment of various tools designed for various jobs. A woodcutting axe, small saw, hammer, and flint.[/indent][/indent]

[color=003471][center][b][h3][u]Vardun, The Titan of the Deep[/u][/h3]
{{  Male  }}[/b][/center][/color]

[color=003471][u][b]TOTEM[/b][/u][/color]
[indent]A ring of what appears to be solid iron, craved with runes upon its surface. Its actual weight far exceeds its appearance, with the Engineers of Braldurheim suspecting that it must have been made of far heavier metal than iron.[/indent]

[hider=Vardun's Ring]
[img]http://cdn2.bigcommerce.com/server1100/2patiget/products/6321/images/13931/R173__69323.1411073050.1280.1280.jpg?c=2[/img]
[/hider]
[color=003471][u][b]PERSONALITY[/b][/u][/color]
[indent]Calm and calculating, cold and implacable as a mountain when he sets his mind to a task, Vardun casts a shadow in his un-death as tall as the one he walked in life. Far less prone to anger than some of his fellow Legionnaires, the giant of a man rarely needed to draw upon his rage for strength when his colossal power only grew upon his dark ascension. Instead he's a far more grim and absolute presence then as he is now, bringing to mind images of ironclad will and resolve, and the dark but ever-present calm of the void, saving his thunderous battle-cries to the last as he knew his presence alone inspired fear and trepidation. As the former Siege-Master of the Shadow Legion, he carried this mindset with him there, bearing the calm and terrible assurance that no defense, no matter how mighty, would stand against him forever.

He views that only one worthy of being his equal in all respects should be the heir to his power and knowledge, seeing little room for kindness or mercy in a world which had granted him little unless rightly earned through one's own will and might. Thus is his philosophy, and one which governs his relationship with Dorian as more his drill sergeant as much as his teacher.[/indent]

[color=003471][u][b]SKILLS[/b][/u][/color]
[indent]
[b]Titan's Strength[/b]
[indent]Simply by wearing Vardun's Ring and being found worthy by the Titan, enormous physical strength far exceeding his appearance is conferred upon Dorian. Giving him superhuman abilities in this regard. Punches can shatter bones and render armour, trees and boulders can become his weapons, and enable him to carry enormous weapons and armor that most would struggle to lift, let alone use. This is controlled at Vardun's discretion, however, and can be removed if the Titan wants to make a point to his pupil.[/indent][/indent]
[indent][b]Siegecraft[/b]
[indent]The Titan can pass on his extensive knowledge of war engineering to his heir, including but not limited to detailed plans and designs for various war machines, various siege tactics, advanced architectural knowledge, master engineering knowledge, and more esoteric machines, inventions, and weapons that were bestowed upon Vardun by the Gods Below. It was reputed that given enough time, the Titan could devise a way to crack even the more impregnable of material defenses.[/indent][/indent]
[/hider]