[OOC] The Hanged Man [A Darkest Dungeon Inspired RP]

[Lauder]

@Rhiven Knight

There is no such thing as overdoing details :P

[Lauder]

@Blitzy@TrueHarmony@Famotill@Enzayne@Rtron@Rhiven Knight@BIg Hans

Alright everyone, we are nearing Sunday. I’d recommend for those who have yet to post to do so if you want a review! I’ll give everyone until like 5 PM EST to make sure they are satisfied with their character sheets!

[Rhiven Knight]

Hopefully, my edit left my character in a more positive place by your estimation.

[Lauder]

@Blitzy@Famotill@Enzayne@Rhiven Knight

The good news is that everyone who has posted has been accepted! I did not need to make any decisions on denying anyone and I do want to say how receptive everyone has been to my words! Feel free to move them over to the Character Section and start writing an intro post, after reading the one I have posted of course. I am very excited to get started with you all and I am just happy that this getting off the ground!

@Rtron Has offered as a reasonable explanation of his tardiness to me and thus he has been allocated extra time to get his CS going along!

[Enzayne]

@Lauder It's very late where I am, will get cracking tomorrow! Love the intro.

[Famotill]

Working on my intro post now!

[Blitzy]

Half past midnight here but will do my best to get an intro post up tomorrow. Very excited to get this started!

@Lauder apologies that I didn't get to edit the history on Thadurim's sheet, we had a few visits over the weekend and I didn't manage to find the time. I'll get it sorted when I can.

[Lauder]

Wow, everyone working on posts and stuff already. Brings a tear to my eye sockets ;P

[Rhiven Knight]

Well now everyone is typing away, but I might be want to see how those posts unfurl, and from them do my own post, after all, we are being corralled together.

[Rtron]

Hugon

Hugon Goscelnius

appearance

Gender Male
Age: 32
Race: Human
Profession: Paladin of the Holy Order: The Maker's Fist.

DETAILS

Detailed Appearance: Hugon has a powerful build, sculpted by a life of war. Standing at six feet exactly, he holds himself tall and proud with his intense dark brown eyes almost constantly on the move, a habit he has picked up from his days of hunting rogue magic users. He keeps his beard neatly trimmed and his shoulder length hair typically tied back, ready for combat. He has relatively few scars, a few on his body, but the most notable are the burn scars on the palms of his hands. Hugon will absent mindedly rub them from time to time. A serious man, it is rare to see his expression shift from its usual focused and stern look. The only time it can be reliably predicted is when he is dealing with magic. When speaking against it he is passionate and driven his iron look replaced with one of fervent belief and conviction. When viewing it there is, at best, disdain on his face and at worst outright hate. When battling against it his face is twisted in rage, hatred, and a deep-set desire to kill and destroy the abomination he his facing.

When not in his armor, Hugon prefers practical, utilitarian, clothing. Leathers for warm weather, furs for cold, and always a pair of sturdy boots. He is always armed with his dagger.

Detailed Backstory:

Hugon was born to a family of farmers along the southern border of Baldock, next to the badlands. His family were serfs, having exchanged most of their freedom for the safety of that the local lord and his men provided. Hugon, his elder brother Leon, and his father worked the lord's fields, while his mother cleaned his castle. Hugon adored his older brother. They were thick as thieves, always together, always looking to cause mischief. Where there was trouble, there was the Goscelnius brothers. Truth be told it was always Leon leading the charge, and Hugon following. Leon had his brother wrapped around his finger, and they shared practically everything.

It wasn't a good life, but it was the life that they had and his parents were content with that. They were safe from the raids that plagued so many of the other border villages, and they had a roof over their heads. That was all they required.

Hugon and Leon felt differently. They hated being forced to work for the lord. Hated how he took so much of their own crops. Hated how his men would walk about, puffed up like roosters even though all they ever did was get drunk at the local tavern and jeer at the serfs. Hated how violent and cruel the lord was when he got into his drinks, and how on those nights their mother would come home hiding new bruises. They dreamed of a time when they would have the power to change all of that, to change the circumstances they lived in and make the lord and his men pay.

That time came when Leon turned 15, and discovered he had magic. It was completely by accident. Hugon, only thirteen at the time, and Leon were trying to fix the family plow, having accidentally broken it while sword-fighting with their wooden swords, and Leon shouted a curse and threw his hands in the air in frustration. Fire shot from his palms into the sky. Both Leon and Hugon froze and looked at each other. Then slowly to Leon's palms, then back at each other. Cautiously, Leon held a palm out and focused. More flames shot out. He jumped back in alarm, then did again and again, the smile on his face growing wider each time. "Careful Leon," Hugon begged, worry battling with excitement, "you don't want to burn the field, and besides remember what we know about magic? It always hurts you too!"

Leon laughed, waving a dismissive hand. "It doesn't hurt, Hugh! Those are just old wives tales, told by people afraid of what they don't know. If it was supposed to hurt me too, I'd already be burned. Like in the stories!" He crouched in front of Hugon and held out his palms. "Do I look burned to you?" When Hugon shook his head, Leon grinned. "This is our chance Hugh! We can finally make them pay for how they treat us, make him pay for how he treats mother! We finally have the power to do something about it!" Hugon, caught up in his brother's excitement and giddy about the idea of finally getting payback against the lord and his guards, didn't notice way Leon was a little too happy about his powers.

For the next year Leon, with the help of Hugon, trained his powers. He grew stronger and capable of more with each passing week, and also more aggressive and erratic. Their father and mother wrote it off as Leon simply being, 'that age' or perhaps they were too afraid to say anything. Leon was taller and broader than their father now, and much less of a passive man. Whenever Hugon would express his concerns at how Leon changed as he grew stronger, he would be soothed by his older brother. "It's just stress from what I have to do," Leon would reassure him, "there's a lot that they have to answer for little brother, and I want to make sure I make them pay for it all. When I'm done it'll be just like the old times, our family will be happy for once."

Hugon regrets those moments most of all, when he saw his brother slipping away but was always stopped from doing something by honeyed words, because when Leon finally 'made them pay' it wasn't at all like he promised.

The day Leon enacted his plans, Hugon would wake to the smell of burning flesh, wood, and fields, and the sounds of screams. He ran out of his families home, skidding to a stop and vomiting in horror at the sight in front of him. His mother and father, burned almost to being unrecognizable, lay on the ground in front of him. The village around was on fire, with burned bodies everywhere. People were running to and fro, either on fire, attempting to put out the fires, or simply trying to run away. In the center of it all was Leon, ranting and raving about payments and what he was owed and how they all deserved to burn as he unleashed blasts of flames at anything and everything.

That was when the old warnings were finally hammered home for Hugon. Magic always had a cost, and the cost for Leon was his mind and his humanity.

Hugon needed to do something. He had done this. He had helped create the monster that was now his brother, and now it was his responsibility to stop Leon before he hurt anyone else. Looking down Hugon saw the burned corpse of one of the lord's men. He had managed to draw his sword before being blasted with fire, and the burning hot weapon itself was on the ground.

The hilt burned Hugon's palms as he tightly grasped it, but he ignored the pain. He had to end this, no matter the cost. He sprinted at his brother and ran Leon through the back with the sword, yanking it out. Leon turned in surprise, blood beginning to pour from the wound. "Hughy? Why-" Hugon's next swing caught him the neck, catching on the bone and Leon gave a gurgled scream, falling to his knees. Hugon swung again. And again. And again. He didn't know how many times or how long he swung, stopping only when his strength failed him. He pulled his hands from the hilt of the sword, skin being ripped off where it had stuck to the heated blade, and then began walking, leaving the bloody mess of his brother's corpse and the devastation of his home far behind.

Hugon didn't know where he was going, didn't care, and truth be told doesn't remember all too clearly most of that time. Flashes of crying and grief, stumbling through woods and along roads, the aching burn in his hands, and the need to atone, to find purpose. The next clear memory Hugon has is waking up in a tent, bandages on his hands and a kind face over his. It was a healer, and Hugon had somehow stumbled his way into a Baldock military encampment. After explaining where Hugon was and how they had found him (nearly dead and incoherently weeping), the healer asked Hugon why he had walked all this way.

Hugon stared at him, dumbly, for a long moment before slowly responding, "To find purpose...I suppose." The healer nodded understandingly. "Well, there's plenty of purpose in the Kingdom's army and a need for men who desire purpose." Thus marked Hugon's start in the Kingdom of Baldock's military, and the path that would lead him to the Paladins of the Maker's Fist.

He was shipped off to a kingdom training camp, and threw himself into the training there with a single minded determination. It gave him something to focus on, other than the grief and the pain. He took well to the military life, the structure, camaraderie, and focus helping him forget what he had helped his brother do. He was convinced that his purpose was in serving the kingdom of Baldock.

Eventually he and the rest of his unit were shipped off to the Orcish Badlands in an attempt to push the barbaric orcs farther back. They were met with vicious resistance almost immediately, and every day became a fight against the fearless and ruthless Orcs. Hugon discovered two things during those times of nearly constant battle: 1) He was very good at killing things and surviving battle, and 2) His purpose wasn't in the army. He didn't feel anything while cutting down the orcs in the name of the Kingdom. It was just rote memory, reflex, and a desire not to die. There wasn't anything more too it. No passion or reason.

That all changed when he and a few others from his unit were assigned to aid the Maker's church in hunting down a magic user who had gone mad along the border with the badlands. The situation was disturbingly similar to Hugon's own experience six years ago. A young woman from a small village gone mad with power, destroying all those she thought had wronged her. Hugon finally had chance to redeem himself, to atone. He planned to be the one leading the mission, and slaying the girl, orders from his superiors be damned.

The paladins intimidated Hugon immediately upon their arrival, with only their presence.

He fell to the back of the group, bravado gone and speech about how he was in charge forgotten. Hugon followed the paladins in quiet awe, watching how they interacted with everyone and went about the business of hunting down the mage. Hugon realized he wanted what they had. The confidence and peace they had on their faces, the good will they exuded, and the iron behind their eyes. They knew that what they had to do would not be pretty, but had to be done and did not balk from their duty. These men had purpose, where Hugon had none.

It didn't take very long to find the mage. She had left a trail of destruction and chaos in her wake, and they came upon her as she was attacking another town. The paladins directed Hugon and his comrades to save what villagers they could, while they dealt with the mad mage. Hugon's fellow soldiers agreed and took off, while Hugon himself ignored the order and charged the mage himself. Rage pulsed through his entire being as he focused on the mage, her image being replaced by that of Leon all those years ago. He was going to redeem himself, before anymore lives were lost due to his inaction.

The woman whirled around at the sound of Hugon's heavy plate running at her. Lightning shot from her hands as she screamed something unintelligible, and Hugon barely dodged out of the way in time as the hair on his body stood on ends. He had to end this quick because he wouldn't be able to dodge everything, and then he would fail. He couldn't fail. He wouldn't.

Hugon put on a burst of speed and power, barely reaching the mage as she brought her hands up for another spell. His axe caught her in the side, nearly severing her in two. She screamed in agony, lightning crackling along her body. His vicious grin lasted only a moment, as she let loose a bolt of lightning square in his chest and he knew only blackness.

Hugon awoke in a bed with one of the paladins sitting vigil across from him. They were in one of the few standing buildings in the village, after the mage had been slain. "Don't worry," the paladin said as he saw the panic in Hugon's face, "the mage was slain. You dealt her a terrible blow, and we were able to cut her down because of it. That was very brave." His next words were curt, cutting Hugon's inflating sense of pride down. "And very stupid. Had we not been right behind you, you could've caused more unnecessary destruction with her death throes. The fact that your plan worked does not change the fact that it was stupidly risky and foolish."

The paladin paused as Hugon seemed to shrink in on himself at the words. "That being said, we can temper that foolishness and rage of yours, and the order could use someone like you to help curb those cursed with magic who are drawn away from the Maker's Light. If you want to leave the army, that is."

It took Hugon a moment to realize what was being offered, and then he stumbled over his words agreeing. The chance to have a purpose, and prevent what happened to his village from happening to others was right in front of him, and he wasn't going to let it slip by.

For the next ten years Hugon would train to be, and eventually become, a Paladin of The Maker's Fist, a holy order dedicated to destroying those who used magic for evil and discouraging all others from using magic. Hugon would go all across Baldock, hunting down magic users who harmed others with their unnatural powers, and marking others who needed to be watched. The Maker had decreed that magic was not meant for mortal hands, and those who dared use it despite those warnings needed to be watched and, occasionally, eliminated. Hugon was content and happy during those years. He had finally found his purpose, and he was helping the kingdom. Not by murdering barbaric orcs in the Badlands, but by purging those who would use their unnatural gifts for cruelty and evil.

During this time, tensions between Yolocto and Baldock rose. Yolocto had discovered gold in a series of heavily forested hills on the border with Baldock, and Baldock claimed those hills were actually on their land. A claim decried as false by Yolocto, for obvious reasons. There were a few border skirmishes when it was first discovered, but nothing major. Baldock didn't have the military resources to pursue a true war against Yolocto, and the mages of Yolocto were encouraged and actively recruited into the military for war.

The Maker's church was often denied access to Yolocto for this very reason, their doctrine clashing with the government's recruiting plan and cultural acceptance of magic as a necessary evil. Hugon and his order mostly ignored the tensions, aside from the occasional disdainful comment about the 'heretics to the east.'

The straw that broke the camel's back came two years ago when the Maker's church sent a delegation with Baldock to those hills to see about setting up a church in the area. The Yolocto military killed all but two, and when those survivors brought back word of what had occurred, fury was sparked across all of Baldock and the Church. It was one thing to kill soldiers who you believed were trespassing on your territory. It was quite another to murder churchmen who were on a mission of peace. The Church of the Maker called for a crusade against Yolocto, and Baldock was the first nation to rally to the call. More followed, and soon the crusade was on its way. The Maker's Fist was to be on the front lines of the crusade, cutting down the Yolocto mages before they could do damage to the crusaders and themselves.

Hugon and his brothers were in high spirits as they marched. They believed they would cut down the unholy heretics in the name of the Maker and drive them before the armies of the crusaders with righteous fury. They were convinced that the Maker was behind their cause and that no foe could stand before them. They were convinced it would be a route.

What actually happened was hell on earth.

Instead of rabbles of heretics fleeing before divine justice, they were met with legions of soldiers with iron discipline and cold resolve. Well trained men who defended their most powerful assets, the mages, with unflinching courage. Hugon and his brothers often had to kill dozens of men just to see the mage, and often times were driven back. No matter how many times Hugon cut down one of the Yolocto soldiers with his axe, another would appear to take his place and he would make no progress. Magic would crash into the battle all around him, and his brothers would be cut down as they struggled to stop the heretics from abusing powers they did not understand, and should not have had.

Hugon had thought the constant fighting on the border with the orcish badlands had been brutal. He had thought that he had seen all the evil humanity could achieve when hunting down rogue mages. He was wrong. The crusading armies pushed forward despite horrific losses, pushing the armies of Yolocto back through sheer numbers. Every time they took a city, they enacted a terrible vengeance upon the civilians and the city itself. Hugon's only light in those dark times was his faith, and he clung to the idea that what they were doing was right and just with all his might as his brothers were cut down and he witnessed monstrosity after monstrosity.

A year would pass before the crusade was called off, and peace was made with Yolocto. Yolocto agreed to give up their claim on the hills disputed with Baldock, and too allow the Maker's Church to set up missions in the nation itself. By this time, Hugon was the only survivor of the initial Paladins sent to Yolocto, and he was a changed man. The crusade had shown him what happened when you let magic infest a culture, allow them to be fooled into thinking that it was a gift rather than a curse and left him stern and cold. Joy, once a frequent guest on his face, was now rarely seen. All that was left was his conviction, his faith, and his hatred of magic.

It has been a year since the end of the crusade. Hugon had been patrolling the lands of Baldock for rogue mages once more, when the call from Lord Lochborne came. Hugon left immediately. He had not been planning on dealing with the curse, as Lord Lochborne had not sought help from the order with his problems, but he owed Lochborne an old debt that he plans to pay in full. Hugon also fears that if the Hanged Man is not cut down soon, what happened in Yolocto will happen in Baldock and he cannot let that happen. Hugon has decided that he is going to end the curse on the Lochborne lands, and prevent a catastrophe.

No matter the cost.

Crusade tidbit

The Crusade was nothing more than a deal between Baldock and the church to get what they both wanted. The Kingdom wanted the hills with gold and the church wanted to convert the heretics, and the best way to do that was to convince all the other nations to attack Yolocto in a holy war. So they intentionally sent a group of Baldock soldiers and Priests of the Maker into Yolocto territory, provoking the desired response to call a crusade so they could steal land from Yolocto and force the nation to let priests of the Maker in.

Most people assume that the reasons the church gave (an unprovoked attack on men of the cloth) was the real reason, though a few who aren't close to the church of Baldock might have guesses as to the real motives.

Equipment

Weapons: Heavy two handed axe and two daggers, one at his side and one in his boot.
Armor: Plate, mail, and leather usually worn together to maximize his protection.
General Provisions: Flint and tinder, food for a week (grains, nuts, and dried meats), a book of the word of the Maker, supplies to maintain his weapons and armor, and a bedroll.
Magical Items: TBD

Magic

Magical Affinity: Hugon has zero magic affinity and greatly prefers it that way. The mere idea of mortals possessing magic is revolting to him.
Spells: N/A

OKAY. That took entirely too long and it isn't my best work, but I've got the CS up and ready for review @Lauder

[Lauder]

@Rtron

I won't lie, I saw this and this alone when reading about his take on the crusade

I, sadly, do not have time to do a proper review, but you have made a very good character! Send him on over!

[Blitzy]

Does anyone have anything specific they wanted to do during their opening post? I was just gonna write an awkward, tense silent coach ride up to the manor and start all the chatter once we reach the point where everyone is waiting for Hedlef, but I don't wanna control or micro manage anyone else's character if there are things people were planning to specifically write.

[Famotill]

In my post the carriage ride was silent as well with Aemma too distracted by the sick and ravished townsfolk. I’ll have mine up a bit later. Gonna workout, and had a dentist appointment earlier.

[Lauder]

@Famotill

Dentistry? Who needs to go to the dentist when you got choppers like these?

[Famotill]

@Lauder Unfortunately (or, fortunately for my dentist) I can't say I have teeth as amazing as those. I probably would have bit her hand off when she dug that scalpel thing into my gums for the cleaning lol.

[Blitzy]

I'll post my intro in a hider in here first so people can check it over. Will @Rtron's character be in the carriage with us?

[Lauder]

@Blitzy

No. Mr. Crusader man is already there, he’ll likely be introduced coming through a dining room door.

[Rtron]

https://youtu.be/sAn7baRbhx4

Hugon meeting the rest of the group be like

[Famotill]

I guess Aemma will have to bite the bullet! Gonna post my quick intro in the IC! I'll edit for any inconsistencies after reading everyone else's!

[Enzayne]

Sorry for the delay, had some issues crop up IRL.

Also hope the quality is alright, I'm a little frazzled right now. x)