Mortimer Vandaal
Character Summary
Name: Mortimer Vandaal
Aliases: None
Titles: Roaming Death, The Tillerman, The Reaper, Lich.
Age: Stopped counting after the last few millennia. Looks like he's in his 40's
Place of Origin: Marelle
Kingdom: Igros
Gender: Male
Time of Death: 2,000 years ago
Physical Attributes
Eyes:Amber
Hair: Straight black hair that frames a long gaunt face.
Day To Day Attire: Dark grey's to black clothes of an undertaker.
Strengths:Strong magical capabilities. Knowledgable
Weaknesses: Frail, Taciturn, Bad social skills, Poor memory
Psychological Attributes
Aloof* Bitter* Stubborn* Kindhearted*
Sexuality: Asexual
Relationship Status: Single
Personality: Mortimer has seen many many many years, as such it has made him cynical and seemingly cold to those around him, but after a time spent with the paladins, he has developed a strong distaste for killing. Spend enough time with him and you’ll learn that deep deep down, he cares truly for the lives of others.
Skills
- Grand Master Necromancer: Mortimer has a way with the dead. Whether it be putting the raised dead to rest, or ensuring that the souls of those recently deceased move on peacefully. It was through Necromancy that Mortimer learned to extend his life. A secret that he has ensured that no one else learn.
- Master Mortician: Before he learned the art of Necromancy, Mortimer was a mortician. He determined the cause of death and prepared the dead for burial, cremation, whatever the next of kin wished done with the bodies.
- Master Healer: One doesn't learn how one dies without learning what can be done to prevent death. At least that's how Mortimer believes it to be. Give him sutures and medicine and he'll have you patched up quickly.
- Expert Cartographer: Mortimer has traveled almost all the World. As a way to pass the time, he mapped out his journeys and all the places he'd been to.
- Expert Lorekeeper: Mortimer's many years of life has taken a toll on his memory. Now he needs to take notes to remember what happened in the past few hundred years.
Magic
- Raise Dead: If need be, Mortimer can animate corpses to do his bidding. Souls need to be present for the bodies to rise. If no bodies are present, Mortimer can give a present soul an incorporeal form that can affect the world around it. The soul will dissipate after some time.
- Rest: Mortimer can remove the souls from the animated dead, regardless if it was raised by an angered spirit or a Necromancer.
- Speak with Dead: Mortimer can communicate with the souls of the dead who haven't moved on. They tend to linger around places of battle or slaughter, or if they died naturally, where their bodies rest.
- Life from Death: Mortimer has taken the energy of many souls to put towards extending his life for as long as he can. After his second chance, he only uses the energy that the dying give off or willing souls to extend his life, this energy could be given to other people, but it is unclear what would happen if he did.
Artifacts
A listing of acquired artifacts. Maximum of three.
- Soul Jar: A small black jar that Necromancers can put souls into. After reclaiming the artifact from a lich lesser than himself, Mortimer fills the jar with souls willing to help him in his journeys. Currently, he has three souls.
- Infinite Journal: A small leather-bound book the size of a regular journal. Open it and focus on what's needed and if there have been notes made about it, they will appear. Otherwise it will remain blank and allow for more notes to be put in.
History
Myth / Legend: There is much to be said about the Roaming Death. The calamity that would devastate battlefields, send armies of the dead to overthrow kingdoms, and destroy villages. Some may call it a great evil, but those who take a closer look would notice that the loss of one battle united the kingdoms against the threat of the Roaming Death, the unrest of the kingdoms before they were overthrown, the signs of cult activities in the villages. The Roaming Death was commuting necessary evils.
Before he was given the name of Roaming Death, Mortimer was a Lich in service to the Darkness, causing chaos and sorrow to the people around him. Of course, being a Lich brings unwanted attention. A party of adventurers lead by a paladin accosted his keep. Having defeated all but one, Mortimer was defeated by the paladin, who sacrificed himself to give Mortimer a second chance.
Parents: Long forgotten morticians
Siblings: None
Childhood: Mortimer had always been fascinated by the dead. The macabre nature of his parents' job took away the horror that seeing the dead would bring to normal people. He was destined to be a mortician. As he learned under his mother and father, he began to notice that he could see the spirits of the dead. They wouldn't always be there, but for some of them, the spirits would linger with the bodies. They'd come, they'd go, and that was it. Sometimes they would stay. He tried to talk to the ones who stayed, but their answers barely reached his ears, whispers caught in the wind. Soon, he became bored and decided to figure out what he could do with these spirits, finding out with glee that he could force them to do his bidding.
Adulthood: Once his parents had died, he helped their souls move on, a useless trick he learned at some point, out of respect and put his focus into evading death. The souls he took unwillingly began to have an effect on him. Soon, his skin started to rot and slough off. He had gained his version of immortality, but at the cost of looking human. He had become a Lich. Once he had escaped to an old abandoned keep devastated by some ancient battle with plenty of spirits that hadn't moved on, he began to put more research into his art gifted to him by what he now knew as the Darkness. He began to hear whispers in his head directing him to sow discord and strife if he wanted to keep from dying.
For years, that was his life. He'd raise the dead and send them to ransack villages so he had bodies for workers and souls to extend his life. Soon he was set upon by a party led by paladins of the Light. Mortimer dealt with most of the party easily, but his life as a Lich was ended by the surviving paladin. From the start the paladin had pleaded with Mortimer to give up his Lichdom and face his crimes. Even after Mortimer had killed the rest of the paladin's party and the paladin was the only one left standing. It gave Mortimer pause, but it was already far too late for him, he couldn't give up his Lichdom without dying. He dealt a fatal wound to the paladin and left him to die. The paladin had one last trick up his sleeve. As Mortimer turned his back on the dying man, he was knocked unconscious by a blast of blinding white light.
When he came to, he was weakened beyond measure, his body had been restored, and he was in his fortress, alone save for the souls that have all died there before he had arrived, and the souls of the party that had tried to kill him. The paladin's spirit was gone. He learned from the other spirits that the paladin had sacrificed his soul to revert the effects of being a Lich on Mortimer.
He had been given a second chance, and he was not going to let it go to waste. His Necromancy had been untouched, but he hesitated to force the souls to do what they were unwilling to do. Instead, he asked them for help. Those willing to help him became undead far stronger than any he had raised before and capable of thought. He set out undoing the damage he had done as a Lich. The first thing he did was, with the help of the spirits of the party, go to all of the party's family members and friends and told them that they had died as heroes and defeated the Lich. Some of the party were at peace enough to move on without Mortimer's help, but a few of the others stuck around, haunting him and making sure he didn't put their friend's soul to waste. Eventually, they trusted that he would to the correct thing.
Over time, Mortimer learned that souls that give themselves willingly to extend his life did not rot his body. He was able to live as a human for many years as many a towns mortician. roaming from place to place to remain unseen.
Throughout the many, many, many years of his life, Mortimer aided in stopping the rise of Liches by notifying adventurers to their locations, or by taking them out himself. Things slowly became routine. Lich rises, they get taken out. Kingdoms grow too greedy, a revolution happens. A war that could cause hundreds of thousands of deaths begins to rise, and an all-powerful "Lich" rises to unify the kingdoms together before disappearing without a trace.
Thousands of years later, something started to worry Mortimer. Slowly, too slow for those who lived normal lives to notices, signs that there was something wrong with The World started to appear. As he began to look into it, the more worried he got. Before he could research much more, someone slipped through all of his wards and safeties and stabbed him fatally while he was sleeping. As his blood drained from him, all that he hoped was that the escaping energy he had built up in his body would kill his attacker when he died, and in a flash of fire and heat, Mortimer died.
Special Moments:Learning to control the spirits of the dead. Creating his first undead from the bones of a crow, which had followed him around throughout his years. Having his body restored by a dying paladin of the Pale Lady and given a second chance.
Relations
* ☠ Enemy * ⚜ Unfriendly * ☯ Neutral * ☮ Friends * ღ Ally * ♥ Crush/Significant Other *
- TBD