Hank — Roleplayer Guild

Whew! Okay, here's my sheet. Name: Constantine “Rook” Heldane. Description: Rook is a lean, wiry, young man with a tangible rogueish air about him. His black hair is windswept and wavy, his blue eyes are angular and dreamy and his goatee is trimmed and well-maintained. There is very little fat on his body, so his skin pulls taut around his whipcord muscles. Neither particularly tall nor particularly short, he does not appear very threatening at first glance, though the twin ketra blades and assorted daggers strapped to his person tell a different story. Rook is generally dressed in form-fitting clothes augmented with leather armor, providing a modicum of protection to his vital areas. He wears a red sash around his waist at all times. Backstory: Constantine hails from a southern archipelago city-state known as Montgarde. Fishing is its main industry and the Montgardians are widely regarded as some of the finest sailors and whalers of the known world. Our young hero never cared much for fishing, however. Neither did his parents, who were both tailors running a little shop in a poor part of town. Constantine grew up mostly on the street, playing and wisecracking with the other boys of the neighbourhood while his parents were working. They engaged in all sorts of petty crime, as boys are wont to do, and Rook learned the importance of being quick and agile at a young age as they fled from the city guard time and time again. But boys don't stay boys forever and petty crime turned into more serious lawbreaking. Young street rats turned into thugs, and Rook (nicknamed after the bird, not the chesspiece) changed with them. His parents completely lost control of their son, who sometimes didn't come home for weeks on end. Eventually, Rook found himself biting off more than he could chew, and the young lad escaped Montgarde on a whaling ship. He stopped using his real name entirely, fearing discovery, and remained with the whalers for a few years, becoming a capable sailor after all. Rook longed for solid land underneath his feet, however, and desired more riches than being a sailor could bring him. Crime had caused him all sorts of trouble, but it had also made him rich at times, and he had gotten used to the finer things in life. He left the whaling trade, did not return to Montgarde, and eventually turned to the one other reputable profession that his skills made him suitable for: soldiering. Soldiering-for-hire, specifically. Rook was a self-taught Montgardian swordsman, who make use of specialised ketra blades that make them very dangerous dualists. He signed up with a mercenary company that, at the time, was not affiliated with the White Guard yet. The red sash he wears dates from this period. All members of the company wore them. They were known as the Scarlet Ravens and proved to be rather unscrupulous. Rook, anxious not to get mixed up with the wrong sort of people again, hesitated to partake in the racketeering and extortion that the more shady Ravens engaged in. This was perceived as a lack of loyalty by some. When the confrontation came, Rook gambled his life and challenged the leader of the Scarlet Ravens to a duel; the victor (and survivor; the Ravens did not play around) would become the new leader of the mercenary group. Arrogant, the company leader, a man known as Kathras, laughed and accepted. By the skin of his teeth, Rook won the duel, decapitating Kathras with his ketra blades. Beforehand, Rook had, in secret, gathered the good souls among the company ranks to his side. In one night, the Scarlet Ravens were purged of their criminal elements and Rook signed the Scarlet Ravens up to become a White Guard chapter. The rest is history. The Scarlet Ravens had always been a mixed bunch, so they became one of the mobile chapters, not dedicated to any particular region, who travel Verloren as need dictates. In this capacity, Rook ended up in Belencrest. Goals/Fears: Rook aims to make some money and keep himself on the right side of the law doing so. He has experienced how easy it is to be tempted to into lawbreaking, and fears relapsing into such behavior again. He is also, like most people, afraid of death, but relishes the feeling of being more alive than ever that only combat can bring. Mastery: With all his skills combined, Rook essentially makes for an excellent rogue. He prizes himself on his swordplay and dueling skills, but has a pragmatic and ambivalent view on his abilities to melt with the shadows and take things unseen. He also hasn't forgotten how to be a sailor and knows much more about the great whales of the seas of Verloren than one would ever guess to hear from a mercenary. Equipment: Twin ketra blades, specialised curved swords that, instead of a crossguard, have a curved hook above the grip that allows a skilled wielder to disarm his foes with ease. It is Rook's expert use of these weapons that makes him a very fearsome opponent in one-on-one melee combat. He also carries a variety of short daggers for emergency work. Protection is provided only by leather armor, as Rook believes in avoiding strikes moreso than mitigating them with armor. Personality: Rook has a well-developed sense of sarcastic wit that colours all his interactions with other people. He's not unfriendly, but difficult to have a serious conversation with as he tends to deflect questions and disarm others with jokes and sarcasm. Beneath all that he does sport a firm sense of right and wrong, though it may not necessarily match everyone else's morality. He takes his job seriously and enjoys it; the days he hates most are the ones during which nothing happens. Rook thoroughly enjoys money and a decadent lifestyle, and tends to spend it on luxuries whenever he's flush. As such, he may seem shallow and materially-minded, and one might be right. As a former poor street urchin, Rook has no real lofty ambitions. Being well-off is already a great end goal in life for him. Totem: A wrought silver hanger on a necklace that Rook wears beneath his shirt. He stole it from a high-ranking official in the Montgardian city guard, way back in the day. It functions as a warning system; whenever Rook is in danger, the hanger twitches. It enhances his reflexes, making him seem almost preternaturally fast, ducking to avoid strikes he couldn't possibly have seen coming and facing every ambush with weapons already drawn.

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Dionysian Mystery

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