Name: Eustace Wyndham
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Rank: Iron
Appearance: Standing at 5’9, Eustace is slender, his frame only beginning to gain muscle of an active life. His hands are fine-boned, palms more used to a pen than a weapon. A gentle expression and faraway look soften his features, and he is quick to a quiet smile. Whatever scars he once bore had all been healed by his mentor. However, he has several tattoos – stylized stars arranged in constellations: the Weaver of Fates across his back, the Guide of the Lost over his chest, the Seven Fortunes along his left bicep.
Personality:Eustace is thoughtful, quiet, curious, and creative. His interests are diverse but particular, and he might focus on what seems like odd details. Often, he’s felt out of sync with other people and the world at large, yet he eagerly seeks connection and understanding. He finds appreciation in the little, everyday things, and experiences a particular contemplative contentment in nature. He enjoys listening to others, especially if stories or music are involved, and has a habit of people-watching. Eustace can be a lively conversationalist, but experience tells him it is best if he speaks less rather than more. Get him drunk, however, and he will philosophize at length, pester you with questions or trivia, and launch into purple prose of dubious quality.
Despite all oddities, his is an undeniably kind soul. Too kind, perhaps, for he dislikes violence, even though he recognizes its necessity. A strange distaste for an adventurer, yet he has overcome it by viewing combat as a puzzle to solve; a challenge for the body and mind. That, and he finds questing a worthwhile pursuit which sates his wanderlust as well as fulfills his romantic notions of helping the weak or troubled. An idealist at heart, Eustace will strive for peaceful solutions whenever possible. While empathetic and attentive to others, he has little to no awareness of danger to his own being.
Biography:Eustace was born to the baron and baroness of Venton, a town in northern Velt. Situated at the very foot of Cahladren, it was a hilly area rich with vineyards, farmsteads spanning the plains below. With a forest and a mine nearby, it had resources aplenty, and thrived as a crossroads for several key trade routes. The intricacies of its geopolitical positioning, alliances, and rivalries were matters Eustace’s parents and tutors worked hard to instill. He was not the heir, no, but as the delegated spare it behooved him to know the barony’s affairs – or so everyone insisted.
He was named in the hope that he would be steadfast, a dependable lord who assisted his older brother. Eustace disappointed every expectation. While he liked to learn, he did not have a practical bone in his body. When taught about Venton’s rivalries, he’d ask, “Why can’t we get along?” When instructed on their barony’s wines, their seasonal yields, and profits, he concluded that adults simply liked numbers. So, he would question, “How many swallows flew past yesterday? How many beats of their wings did it take?” Then he would set off to find out.
Adults, as it turned out, did not enjoy many questions. Still, curiosity drew him to explore wherever he could. “Fey child,” the townspeople whispered. Naturally, he sought to learn all about fey, from legend to story to fact. Of course, his parents did not approve, having heard the same rumours. When his interest transitioned to elves, then deities, then the stars, and so on, the relief was overshadowed by despair as they struggled to figure out what to do with a boy such as him.
Eustace was talented at music and painting, but for a noble, that was a hobby at most. Besides, his utter lack of dedication to perfection was yet another failing. When he showed a knack for languages, a faint hope burgeoned that he could be a diplomat. But his poor social sense doomed that idea. He forgot nobles’ titles, was plainly bored by their habits, and skipped polite small talk for academic debate or overly personal inquiries.
By late childhood, his parents quietly chose his younger sister as secondary heir, yet they still sought a role for Eustace. As a last-ditch attempt, they tested him for magic capability, then promptly hired a tutor upon the promising result. Showing an interest and aptitude for light magic, his teacher tried easing him into the venerated art of Astramancy. Even after two years, however, Eustace refused to learn anything remotely offensive. He remained fixated on the play of light – tricks better suited to an entertainer or a rogue.
Recognizing his inclinations and his family’s hopes, his mentor proposed an alternative: healing magic. At last something clicked. Eustace remained ill-suited to rigid lessons, but the desire to help others bolstered him. Guided by his teacher, he focused and improved. Upon reaching majority, he became an assistant healer, capable of basic spells, learning advanced techniques under supervision.
There were still incidents: he sometimes wandered off to offer his services to the poor for little to no pay. His parents grumbled, but he argued in an inspired bout of articulation that goodwill was a form of currency, and they reached a compromise. Overall, things looked promising.
So promising that his parents chose him as a delegate to a reclusive wood elven settlement, as he was the most fluent noble in elvish. First contact went well, and it seemed an agreement might follow in the near future. But on the journey home, things went wrong.
Buoyed by his success, Eustace celebrated late into the night at a local tavern. Drunk on wine and victory, he ventured out onto the moonlit path, intending to swim in the nearby lake. What happened next is hazy: he may have lost his way, or met a stranger too eager to share his joy. Whatever the cause, he awoke the next morning hungover and bound in a cart.
A bandit group had captured him. He overheard their talk of a ransom or selling him for a pretty copper. Drawing on his noble upbringing, Eustace told them which family to contact, and demonstrated his healing skills, hoping to make himself too valuable to harm.
That worked. Mostly. Months passed as the bandits evaded pursuit. Eustace learned firsthand the cruelty of men, and had long, lonely hours to ponder violence, isolation, and human nature.
In the end, a party of Estival adventurers found the camp, for the outlaws had crossed the border to evade Velt’s guards. Eustace was enraptured by the adventurers: there was a strange, almost ethereal beauty to their contest. The song of life and death, the interplay of good and evil, the clash of steel as lives and livelihoods hung in the balance. He had been to hunts, tournaments, and duels, had seen the bandit inflict violence on hapless souls, but he had never witnessed anything like this. It was pure, almost, undeniably if unexpectedly enchanting.
Or maybe he was delirious.
Even so, Eustace had tasted the unknown, and longed to understand. What was different about that encounter? Why did it move him so? Could he ever recreate it?
He returned home to prove he was hale, then announced his decision to become an adventurer. There was no stopping him once he made up his mind. Harsh as it seemed, his family recognized that his ordeal had changed him, and believed that seeing the wider world might grant him wisdom.
Living away from his family, away from expectations was a novel freedom. He even turned to combat, poring over neglected magical theory to incorporate battle spells, sparring, and polishing his healing craft. Over the next two years, Eustace came into his own as an adventurer, seeking new knowledge as he pursued that mystical, ever elusive song.
Equipment:- Rapier – A melee weapon with a quartz gem inset in its pommel, his rapier doubles as a magic catalyst.
- Buckler – A defensive off-hand.
- Talisman – A necklace with a paired moonstone and sunstone jewel. A backup magic catalyst.
- Enchanted attire – Fancy clothing enchanted with protective spells.
- Hooded brown cloak – A cloak he always wears over the more distinctive garments. Don’t let it be said that one past kidnapping incident was not a lesson well learned.
- Bag with supplies – A satchel with travelling essentials; a bedroll, blanket, water canteen, compass, map, a selection of nonperishables et cetera. Alongside the necessities, he carries a leatherbound journal, implements for writing and sketching, a flute, and a monocular. Any coins on his person are hidden in pouch sewn to the inner side of his shirt.
Skills:Eustace is primarily a healer. He has a good sense for gauging how severe a given injury is, and can get a more accurate read with a diagnostic spell.
He can mend scrapes, bruises, and shallow cuts with ease. Stabs, gashes, punctures, and deeper slices will be dealt with the staunching of blood and an uncomfortable sealing of flesh mid-combat, while finesse is reserved for its proper time and place. He can temporarily reinforce broken bones to prevent further injury and enable semi-normal functioning. He can speed up the healing of breaks and fractures, but it is a mana-intensive effort. Internal injuries are tricky – a quick fix mid-fight might keep a combatant going for a bit longer, but can and often does complicate matters later on. Generally, it is best for severe wounds to be treated out of combat, as they require great focus as well as measured and calculated doses of spellcasting over a longer period of time.
Eustace cannot reattach severed flesh nor can he grow it or create blood. He
can gather and purify a person’s lost blood, and channel it back into their body, but this procedure is too lengthy to be done in combat.
He can cast a spell to detect poisons and toxins; with it, he can uncover harmful substances in general, but so far, he can recognize only a few commonly used ones (such as nightshade, hemlock, aconite). With a general purifying spell, he can attempt to nullify a poison or slow its effects, however this is less likely to work on complex or unusual toxins.
Eustace dabbles in light magic, which he uses in a supportive role. He can generate light or manipulate existent light. It costs barely any mana for him to create a swarm of light motes to dazzle, distract or blind enemies. Thankfully, he has prudence enough not to confound his allies alongside his opponents. He can illuminate dark areas, conjure faux campfires or torches, and ‘stick’ a light to an opponent to mark them. He can trick enemies with very simple visual illusions: the glint of a thrown knife, a blurred shape in their periphery, the disguising of uneven terrain.
However, the latter is very much a beginner’s skill, one he is not yet confident at. He is far more at ease when creating light shows and mirages for entertainment, but that is a very different matter.
Adding two combat spells to his repertoire has assisted him greatly in missions of the Iron rank:
- Barrier: Solidifying light, Eustace forms a protective layer formed of interlocking hexagons. He cannot cover a large area, and a single layer of the barrier lasts a few hits at most.
- Light ray: Gathering light in the palm of his hand, Eustace fires off one to three super-heated rays of light. They are fast, and can curve, but the moment of charging up the spell is a noticeable tell.
Technically, he was taught to duel as part of his upbringing, but though he’s been practicing since becoming an adventurer, he is a novice fighter. Usually, he will stand on the backline, trusting others to protect him while he keeps an eye on the general flow of the battle. Eustace does have a decent sense for strategy, and basic theoretical knowledge of it, but it is still developing in practice.
As far as any other marketable skills, he can sketch passable maps, speaks a fair few languages, and could earn at least a meal with a song.
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