[hider=Corin Talmor][center][color=#733635][h1]Corin, the Gem Knight[/h1][/color] [img]https://i.imgur.com/aQgEYQM.gif[/img] [h2][b][color=#2554C7]Corin Talmor ⋆ 44 ⋆ Male ⋆ Human[/color][/b][/h2] [img]https://i.imgur.com/LxsxasM.png[/img] [h2][color=#66CDAA][u]Appearance[/u][/color][/h2] [color=#50C878][b]Height:[/b] 6’0” [b]Weight:[/b]~180 lbs (175 on a good day) [b]Hair Color:[/b] Dark brown with streaks of grey [b]Eye Color:[/b] Cloudy Blue - like quartz [b]Skin Tone:[/b] Honey-colored skin (not in the cartoony way) [b]Distinguishing Features:[/b] His armor, if he is wearing it, is much “louder” than the rest of his attire. His cloudy eyes often catch the attention of some due to its atypical appearance. In his plain clothes, passersby will notice shrapnel scars along his neck, jaw, and shoulders from his time working with metals and gems (and perhaps an odd cannonball/explosive here and there). [b]Clothing Style:[/b] Think rough-n-tough artisan. Cotton shirt rolled up to the forearms, with a wool artisan coat to cover his torso when he does his craftwork. Brown leather pants with reinforced knee-support, and a practical belt full of pouches and clasps for his various tools. The color scheme of his working and plain clothes are much more muted than his armor variants. He prefers muted colors for travelling and casual encounters, but brings his shiniest and most radiant attire to bear for more serious endeavors.[/color] [img]https://i.imgur.com/LxsxasM.png[/img] [color=#733635][h2][u]Psychology[/u][/h2][/color] [color=#F62217][b]Likes[/b]: ⋆ “Quiet” Workshops - ie just the sounds of tools against hot metal etc. ⋆ Rainy Weather ⋆ Small Acts of Kindness [b]Dislikes[/b]: ⋆ Disrespecting the Dead ⋆ Magical Arrogance (ie cocky wizards) ⋆ Bullying the Weak (maliciously - fun bullying is still fun) [b]Habits/Quirks:[/b] ⋆ He treats his vowstones (or any gem really) like prayer beads, fidgeting and holding them during silent prayers ⋆ “Solider-like” Mannerisms - checks the room’s corners, always has to face the door, sleeps upright, etc. ⋆ Portions his food into even “quadrants” ⋆ Flinches at sudden bright lights [b]Dreams/Motivations:[/b] ⋆ Understand the cause of the Mourning ⋆ Forge a legacy worthy of the Talmor name ⋆ To protect what hope remains in the world [b]Sexuality:[/b] Heteroromantc - Corin doesn’t open his heart easily - nor does his romantic side stem from sexual attraction. He favors the bond more than the physical attachments. [b]Willingness to make friends(1-5):[/b] Three. He is cautiously open to friendships, but rarely initiates it. If you share common likes with him, it will net you his respect/adoration quickly. [b]Willingness toward romance(1-5):[/b] Two. He is guarded against romance due to the loss of his betrothed, but it has been many years since. Connection for him rises from camaraderie, if at all. Shared grief, philosophical dialogue, and meaningful conversation are ways to win him over. [h3][b]Personality:[/b][/h3] [u]Engaging With Others[/u] [b]Extroversion(1-5)[/b]: 2, is more of a “be approached” type [b]Kindness(1-5)[/b]: 5 – Deeply compassionate even if he may not show with words [b]Chattiness(1-5)[/b]: 2, speaks with a purpose and is normally silent. [b]Trustfulness (1-5):[/b] 3, He wants to believe in people, but his past makes it hard. [b]Sense of Humor (1-5):[/b] 3, despite appearances he actually has a funny bone. His humor is more dry/subtle. [b]Loyalty (1-5): [/b] 5, complete devotion to his friends/loved ones. [b]Selflessness (1-5): [/b] 4, commonly puts others before himself, but not to his detriment. [b]Flirtatiousness(1-5): [/b] 1. Comically bad at recognizing or returning flirting. [b]Arrogance(1-5):[/b]: 2. He takes pride in his craft, but more in the form of confidence from mastery over many years of practice. [u]Handling Conflict and Decisions[/u] [b]Patience (1-5):[/b] 5. His formative years taught him endurance and restraint. [b]Temperance (1-5): [/b] 4–rarely loses control, but when he breaks…it’s frightening. [b]Forgiveness (1-5): [/b] 3. He forgives individuals more easily than himself. [b]Courage (1-5): [/b] 5 - Resolute courage keeps him standing when others flee. [b]Stubbornness (1-5): [/b] 4. Once he’s on a path, he rarely diverts. [b]Pacifism(1-5):[/b] 3, while not eager to fight–he accepts it as necessary. Violence should serve purpose, not pride. [b]Impulsiveness (1-5):[/b] 2, he is careful and calculating. Every move has its intention. [b]Creativity (1-5):[/b] 5 - his craftsmanship is his soul, and he bares it with each strike of his tools. [b]Mercy (1-5):[/b] 4–He believes in second chances, so long as they’re earned. Mercy breaks the cycle of vengeance. [b]Charisma(1-5)[/b] 3, and not for the reason you think. He isn’t a front-facing person, but his honest demeanor and quiet conviction draw respect from others.[/color] [img]https://i.imgur.com/LxsxasM.png[/img] [color=#F7CAC9][h2][u]Background[/u][/h2][/color] [color=#6C2DC7][b]Place of Origin:[/b] Valmorra, Cyre — a once-prosperous river city famed for its jewelcraft and artificer guilds before the Mourning. [b]Current Occupation:[/b] Wandering Paladin and Jewelsmith-for-hire. [b]Living Family Members:[/b] None that he is aware of. [b]Companions on the Airship:[/b] Bastion, an old war buddy of Corin’s, bumped into shortly before the attack. They had planned to reunite and catch up over old war stories. [b]Why are you traveling to Khorvaire?[/b] Many reasons. With his Vowstones completed, Corin feels ready to face the homeland destroyed by an unknown cause, and perhaps find the purpose/reason behind it. A man can only stay away from home for so long before the soul yearns to return. [b]Non-Combative Skills:[/b] Master Jewelsmith & Gemwright: Capable of crafting enchanted jewelry, repairing crystalline armor, and identifying the spiritual or magical properties of gemstones. Battlefield Medic: Trained in battlefield triage and basic anatomical healing. Tactical Mind: Experienced in small-unit warfare, fortification defense, and logistics planning. Colorful Knowledge: Well versed in gems, their meanings/symbolisms, their colors, and the way light behaves in relation to lenses, prisms, and reflective surfaces. [b]History[/b] Short Version: Born in Cyre, Corin Talmor grew up in the glow of his family’s forge, learning the language of gems and light from his mother and father. The Last War stole that glow — his father fell in battle, and Corin, driven by duty, followed in his footsteps. His skill with metal and faith led him from the artificer’s tents to the front lines, where he earned knighthood for his bravery and selflessness. He was away on assignment when the Mourning consumed his homeland, leaving him one of few Cyrans to survive. Since then, he’s carried his reforged blade Oathlight and the shield Luminar — both born from the mysterious gemstone now called Talmorite. In a show of self-exile, Corin went on a quest to find purpose behind his grief. Something he would find soon in the form of gemstones given oath. His vowstones, carried close to his heart, represent those he lost — and the promise that their light will not fade while he still draws breath. With his relic completed, and journey elsewhere ending, he decides to return home and face the past that once haunted him. [hider=Longer Detailed Version] Corin Talmor was born in the river city of Valmorra, in the nation of Cyre, decades before the Mourning. His father, Darrin Talmor, was a decorated soldier of Galifar turned royal knight captain, known for his disciplined swordsmanship and unyielding sense of duty. His mother, Elayne, was a renowned jewelsmith and enchanter whose workshop glittered with creations that captured light like captured rainbows. Together, they raised their two children, Corin and his younger sister Seris, amid a harmony of steel and gemdust. Corin’s childhood was a bright one. He learned the precision of his father’s forge and the patience of his mother’s polishing wheel. Seris, ever curious, followed them both like a shadow, laughing as her brother shaped bits of metal into crude trinkets to amuse her. Their family’s trade dealt not only in ornamentation but in reverence. For the Talmors, light itself was an artform, and the Talmors understood that beauty and faith often shared a heartbeat. When the Last War erupted, Corin was barely sixteen. His father rejoined the military effort to defend Cyre’s borders, while Corin apprenticed as an artificer’s assistant, maintaining gear and repairing armor for the front lines. Years of conflict hardened him, but not all at once — the death of Darrin Talmor in the line of duty changed something fundamental in him. Grief tempered into resolve, and he enlisted as a full soldier, taking up his father’s then-shattered sword, Oathlight. In the aftermath, Corin spent months painstakingly reforging the weapon, fusing its fragments together with gemdust supplied by his mother. The experiment was dangerous, untested — but it worked. The metal bonded with the crystalline powder, forming an alloy that shimmered faintly between colors, much like the refractions of light through a prism. That material would later be known as Talmorite. During those same years, Corin served alongside a warforged named Bastion, a towering soldier of steel and stone. Bastion was built for endurance and defense, and over the years, the two became an inseparable unit -– man and construct bound by loyalty and mutual respect. Bastion’s unshakable pragmatism often balanced Corin’s compassion, while Corin’s humanity gave Bastion a sense of self beyond orders and programming. Together, they survived campaigns that should have killed them a dozen times over. It was Bastion who first called Corin “the Gem Knight,” after watching him channel divine energy through the reforged Oathlight during a night siege. Corin’s skill at merging craft and conviction earned him notice among Cyran commands. He rose through the ranks as a Paladin of the Crown, serving as both knight and medic, embodying a kind of quiet nobility that inspired others even amid ruin. His life briefly brightened again when he met Elyra Voss, a fellow Cyran officer and war mage whose courage and wit drew him out of solitude. The two became betrothed in a brief window of peace; though peace was never meant to last. Four years before the war’s end, Corin was sent away from Cyre on a diplomatic escort mission, ferrying envoys and supplies to allied lines near Breland. Bastion remained behind to guard Valmorra’s civilians as the situation worsened. When the Mourning struck, it consumed everything—Valmorra, his family, Elyra, and the heart of his nation–all in a single gray dawn. He returned to find a world in ruin and his homeland gone, reduced to glassy soil and endless mist. From the wreckage, he recovered what little he could: fragments of his mother’s gems, the broken crest of his family forge, and whatever leftover gemstones he could scavenge from the wreckage. Since then, Corin has lived as a wanderer — a knight without a banner, a smith without a forge. He traveled elsewhere in Eberron offering protection, craftsmanship, and the blessings of light to those in need. He bears Oathlight, now reforged, and the shield Luminar, a masterpiece forged entirely from Talmorite — resilient, radiant, and unyielding. In the ashes of peace, Corin set himself upon a personal crusade. Using the fragments of Oathlight and his mastery of gemcraft, he sought to forge something eternal from grief: the Vowstones. Each was created in memory of a lost loved one—a fusion of artifice, mourning, and prayer. His journey to craft them led him across continents and years, his faith and purpose rekindling with each stone completed. He wears them in clawed sockets adorning a silver chain that rests along his neck— a citrine to symbolize the healing his mother gave him in his darkest times, an amethyst to symbolize how he must protect those like his sister, who he cared for, and a diamond, showing his willingness to sacrifice his own self for the ones he loves. Now, decades later, Corin’s path brings him home. The vowstones are complete, but their weight remains. With Bastion and a particularly interesting new ally at his side, he returns to Khorvaire to face what remains of his past—and perhaps to uncover what truly befell the world he once swore to protect. Though his faith is quiet, his purpose burns bright: to understand the Mourning, to guard others from the same fate, and to ensure that even in the shadow of ruin, the light of Cyre endures through him. [/hider] [/color] [img]https://i.imgur.com/LxsxasM.png[/img] [color=#4EE2EC][h2][u]Combat & Magic Potential[/u][/h2][/color] [color=#348781][b]Class Concept / Role:[/b] [i]Paladin - Gem Knight[/i] [b]Signature Abilities (3):[/b] Lay on Hands - Channeled through Citrine Sacred Ward - Assistance through Amethyst Martyr’s Grace - Defense through Diamond [b]Major Weaknesses (3):[/b] Plagued by night terrors His age leads to slower recovery time/higher strain from battle Obsessed with Legacy/Greater meaning - struggles to focus on the now [b]Racial Trait(s) (If Applicable):[/b] Additional Boon (see below) [b]Boons & Banes:[/b] [h3] Boons [/h3] Jewelsmith - proficiency in crafting gem/jewel related trinkets, jewelry, armor, weapons Veteran Soldier - Disciplined combatant trained in most melee weaponry but heavily favoring his sword and shield Iron Will - Despite the tragedies he has faced, Corrin’s will remains as strong as ever. His spirit refuses to wane in the presence of insurmountable odds. [h3]Banes[/h3] Haunted Past - His major losses before the War and the Mourning leave him feeling lost and full of guilt. He often feels caught up in the past, wishing things could be different - and is unsure of where his life may go now that everything is gone. [b]Combat Equipment and Gear:[/b] [h2] Primary Arms [/h2] Oathlight — Reforged Longsword of the Talmor Line Luminar — Shield of Light and Memory [h2] Armor + Clothes [/h2] Scale-mail infused with gem-stones, offering an iridescent kaleidoscope of color Travelling Clothes — simply garb meant to wear out of combat Artisan’s Clothes — good for working in the forges or workshops Travelling Cloak — Cloudy blue cloak used to mask his figure [h2] Accessories [/h2] Vowstones — powerful gemstones infused with divine power born from Corin’s oath of devotion. Necklace of the Vowstones - silver chain with filigree and claw like sockets holding each of the gemstones in place Maintenance Toolbelt — belt filled with various artisan tools, oils, sharpening stones, gemstone dust, etc. for his crafts [/color] [/center] [/hider]