[hider=Mid-Life Crisis but pretending she DGAF][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/7t72e0t.png[/img][h2]Csenge[/h2][sub]32 y/o | Female | Human | Steel[/sub]
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[b]Appearance[/b][indent]There is a scholastic quality to Csenge, a stuffy academic air to how she presents herself to the world. She rarely emotes in a meaningful manner, and when she does, it's often just a gradation from her natural neutrality to a pedantic sternness. While she's been eating better as of late, her cheeks remain hollow and the bags underneath her eyes are heavy, a testament to an occupational habit she had not managed to shake even after changing professions. Spare string is used to tie back her coarse, dark brown hair, and her equally dark eyes are half-lidded, which serves well to hide how bloodshot they normally are.

She owns a pair of reading glasses, but prefers to squint because the weight of her spectacles on the bridge of her nose is distracting. She wears finer clothes than most other adventurers do, but only because she doesn't think a wizard has much need for a wardrobe change. She keeps an ornate pin on her at all times, but it doesn't really have any meaning to anyone but herself.

Csenge stands at 5'5, and weighs 127 lbs. She's not a particularly athletic individual.
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[b]Personality[/b][indent]A bit of a perfectionist, a bit of a pedant, and entirely a teacher, Csenge moves with a slowness that belies the curiosity she beholds the world and its secrets. She is, above all else, a knowledge-seeker, one who isn't satisfied with just 'learning' but rather wishes to 'experience'. What was the point of it, if she could not see it with her own eyes? How could she be certain, if she could not hold it in her own hands? It is for that reason that she can seem frustratingly careful compared to other adventurers. In search of understanding all, Csenge exhausts all options before applying brute force. She's an adventurer, after all, not a soldier. Her value was not found in what she could break or kill, but rather in what she could discover.

Of course, this more investigative take on adventuring philosophy sees Csenge being requested more to take a look at jobs in cities rather than out in the wilds. Cases of suspected infidelity, of doctored wills, of criminal organizations, of devil-worshipping cults, of discovering a paramour's favorite flower before the couple's anniversary in two weeks. Certainly, the mortal psyche is interesting to behold, and there is some part of her that is happy to be trusted with such sensitive matters, but on the other hand, it sparked no joy in her. She left the College because she was tired of politics and mortal vice.

So why is it that she still finds herself in the libraries of Estival, head buried in old tomes in order to find information to assist other adventuring parties in their journeys inside untouched ruins?

Ah, right.

Because she was a wizard whose specialty laid solely on long-winded rituals.
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[b]Brief Backstory[/b][indent]The second daughter of a prominent merchant family in Cirvess, Csenge's life was without want or need in part due to how sickly of a child she was in her developing years. Her family coddled her constantly, showering her with affection and attention in the way that the youngest daughter could, and after ten years of being confined in the family estate with nothing but sweets and games, Csenge resolved to leave her home and never come back.

Which she managed to do, five years later, by putting on the greatest display of petulant begging she could in order to get her father to sign off on her attending the Mage's College in Venne. Something about how the city would have better medicinal resources if her illness flared up again (it had been seven years since she caught a cold) and about how she needed the more intense academic environment if she was to become a great wizard (she didn't really care, she was just making things up in order to get out). Of course, she still had to verbally fight her father off from sending her little brother (seriously? he was 12!) with her to watch over and help her, but once that kerfuffle was cleared out, Csenge was finally ready to make a life for herself, off a tuition paid for by her family!

All life possessed a natural internal source of mana, but there was a grand difference between those who could learn magic, and those who could become an employable mage.

As for Csenge? Well, after graduation, she was employed as a teaching assistant, then promoted to a full-blown professor who taught classes in...magic theory and ritual casting. Her professors had promised that with mastery and technique, even she could become efficient enough with her mana to cast magic freely, but that only meant that on graduation, her final exams were completed largely with the most basic, foundational spells, the sort of magic even an average mage would be able to utilize without concern after a year or two of tutelage. She was still satisfied with her lot in life, of course. Csenge could cast greater magics with greater accuracy and flexibility if she was given the time to set up ritual components and magical circles. It was even interesting to be able to delve ever further into the theories of the great mages of old, who sought to uncover the secrets of the world! And perhaps there was just a bit of something that she felt when she saw the kids that she taught grow up to become splendid spellcasters in their own right. Just a bit of emotion, to make up for all the times she had to sit them down and lecture them about how 'Fireball' wasn't the end-all-be-all of combat magic.

But the years rolled on and the claustrophobia settled in once more.

And when she looked herself in the mirror one winter morning and saw definitive proof that she wasn't getting any younger? Well, shit, she had to go the fuck outside.

Csenge became an adventurer, in hopes of seeing the world. More years passed, and she found herself mostly spying on other grown-ass adults who dealt with their mid-life crisis by having affairs. Funny how things went.
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[b]Equipment[/b][indent]Her clothes are sturdy and comfortable, fur-lined to keep the chill of winter out. She carries a wand with her as a spellcasting focus, but it's her bulging bag of ritual components that's the main source of her magical capabilities. If things get dicey, Csenge relies more on a hand crossbow and a few alchemical potions to keep herself safe, but honestly, she has no interest in violent conflict. It ought to be the last resort, when all civilized solutions have been exhausted.

If only the villains that lurked in the corners of Estival shared the same thoughts as her.
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[b]Skills[/b][indent]In matters of investigation and interrogation, inquiry and insight, Csenge is an expert. Her eyes are keen when observing things up-close, and her knowledge in magic, history, and science is befitting for one who had held a tenured position at Estival's Mage's College. Ritual Magic is her specialty, granting her a wide array of non-combat spells that she could cast upon herself and her allies either to uncover hidden secrets, make exploration and adventure less dangerous, or enable any number of creative approaches to a physical problem. All it takes is time...which conversely means that when it comes to the heat of battle, Csenge can only cast maybe a few poorly-aimed Magic Missiles before she needs to resource to shooting crossbow bolts with the same efficacy and accuracy of a Copper-ranked adventurer.
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