[B]Name:[/B] Merrill
[B]Race:[/B] Human
[B]Profession:[/B] Ranger
[B]Age:[/B] 18

[CENTER][URL=http://imgur.com/xw2xpI5][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/xw2xpI5.jpg[/IMG][/URL][/CENTER]

[b]Personality:[/b]

Merrill is a grave young man that carries the world on his shoulders.  He rarely speaks, and when he does so, it is with the barest minimum words that he can use to convey his meaning.  He is a thoughtful young man, who takes the time to think about every situation from every possible angle.  He is very hesitant to take action, and will only do so when he has considered the action and its possible consequences as far as he can.

One thing that he takes great pains to conceal from others are his abilities as a seer.  He is very, very painfully aware that such abilities of divination and foresight, if discovered would lead to his instant execution with no questions asked because of the fears of magic.  Because of this, Merrill is well aware of the fact that he is not just in danger himself, but he is also potentially a danger to everyone else around him, if his talent was to ever be discovered.  Only a select few trusted souls know of Merrill’s secret.

Merrill’s goal and driving obsession is to learn more of his abilities as a seer.  Primarily, he needs and wants to learn to control the talent, so he can tap into it and use it at will rather than have the ability take him at the most inopportune moments.  On the odd occasion, he will go into a trance and seemingly lose control of his body - at these times he will speak in riddles and rhymes, often telling of an event still to happen, predict the weather, or divine some other obscure bit of information about another person that nobody else would know.  When this passes he has no memory of the event afterwards.  Merrill’s biggest fear is that this will happen when he is around the others as something like that would cause his own imminent doom.  

That is why above all else, he needs to learn to control his ability.

In addition to this, there is a certain amount of bitterness inside of Merrill in regards to his ability.  Whereas most people would see an ability to tell the future as a blessing, to Merrill it is a curse.  There is no worse fate in all the world than to know what is about to happen and know that you can do nothing at all to change it.  To speak to a man and know he will die in the week, to know that two lovers are fated to split and be apart.  To know your own destiny and have no control over it - there is nothing worse than that.

However, it is not all secrecy and gloom for Merrill.  He is very loyal to his friends, and although he can count the number of his true friends on the fingers of one hand and still have fingers left over those friends he does have he will die for.  But because of his secret, he will not learn to trust easily, and will not trust anyone unless he has absolutely no reservations of their intentions and believes that they will not betray him.  In that way, he is perhaps overly cautious and maybe, just maybe, a tiny bit paranoid.

[b]Background[/b]:

Merrill was born in a small village near to Edsel, off the coast.  Merrill was born the son of a travelling band of gypsies, and until his teenage years he was reasonably content with his life.

Until his latent "talent" manifested itself.

Over the next couple of years, Merrill’s abilities became more and more prominent, and it became difficult to hide them.  Eventually, it was Merrill’s elder brother, Onlaron, who discovered the truth first.  Onlaron did not share Merrill’s fascination with it, and was in fact horrified.  Although he did not tell anyone, he tried to swear the young Merrill to an oath of secrecy, impressing upon the impressionable youth how important it was to keep his ability secret.  Merrill, not really understanding his brother's urgency, nevertheless agreed anyway, wanting to keep the peace.

However, some things would not be kept a secret, no matter how hard one tried.  Merrill’s family discovered the truth.  His father turned the boy out, with nary enough food to last a week.  Such was the fear and prejudice that one was met with in these times.  And so it was that young Merrill left his home, friendless and alone, with no place in the world.

Fate would bring young Merrill to the village of Edhel, chased by dark shadows that he did not understand, but that he suspected wanted him for his strange power, and it was there he met Callie.......

[b]Strengths:[/b][LIST]
[*]Expert Hunter and Tracker
[*]Physically Strong
[*]Swordsman
[*]Stealthy[/LIST]

[b]Weaknesses:[/b][LIST]
[*]Cold and distant - having been turned out by his kin has changed Merrill.  He does not trust and he keeps himself distant from others.
[*]Paranoia - In that it’s not paranoid to think everyone is out to get you when, in fact, everyone [I]is[/I] out to get you
[*]Fear of magic
[*]Out of his depth.  Merrill is, to be polite, out of his depth.  Despite his outward demeanour suggesting otherwise, he is not ready for the world to be thrust upon him.
[/LIST]

[b]Powers:[/b][LIST]
[*]Mental Alarm (upcoming danger - limited by range)
[*]Animal Handling
[*]Animal Friendship
[*]Animal Companion
[*]Augury
[*]Seer Sight (divining an objects past by touching it)
[*]Foraging (inhospitable terrain)
[*]Endure harsh conditions
[*]Endure deadly conditions
[*]Limited Foresight (1/day)
[/LIST]