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══════ C H A R A C T E R P O R T R A I T ══════ _______________________________________________  _______________________________________________ ═══════ C H A R A C T E R S U M M A R Y ══════ Dies Irae _______________________________________________ 34 | ♂ | Human _______________________________________________ Father Irae ▼ P H Y S I C A L T R A I T S ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ ► Build - Lithe and lean. ► Skin Color - Olive. ► Hair Color - Black. ► Eye Color - Brown. ► Other - Calloused hands and scraped knees. Clean shaven. ▼ D O S S I E R ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ ► Birthplace - Talbor ► Career - Priest of Iroh ► Bonds - The Clergy of Iroh and the duties he must fulfill as a priest. ► Goals - Toppling corrupt regimes. Deliberately ambiguous. ▼ M A G I C ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ ► N/A - Irae chooses not to practice magic per his beliefs and condemns the harvest and consumption of Tears. ▼ S K I L L S ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ ► Medicine & Alchemy - As a priest who eschews the use of magic, he has turned to the more conventional means of healing. Alchemy allows him to tap into the energies imbued into the earth for quasi-magical means of healing, albeit slower and with greater side-effects. He's well versed in venom and poisons and can create antidotes fairly easily given the proper ingredients. Furthermore, he has in-depth anatomical knowledge of multiple difference races and can perform first-aid and even emergency surgeries. ► Diplomacy - It should be no surprise that someone as calm and level-headed as Father Irae is fit for defusing volatile situations. He has a way of reading people that helps him find the right word for most situations and bringing about momentary peace until the party can figure out the next best course of action. He is also capable of giving the members of his company spiritual guidance. ► Intelligent - Well-learned, knowing a great deal of both history and religious denominations. He has traveled a great deal which has given him a globalist perspective of the world, at least a little bit of knowledge of most places in the world, as well as a decent sense of direction. He has a cunning and strategic mind with a good grasp of tactics. Another huge boon is his unwavering faith bringing him such existential comfort that he maintains clarity of mind even in the midst of chaos. ► Performance - As a priest, he gives sermons and spiritual guidance. As part of his training, he knows some antiquated chants in a dead language - a practice which has granted him a decent singing voice. Irae, for reasons undisclosed, also happens to be a good actor and is uncomfortably proficient in deception. He claims that the trick is to treat it as nothing more than a performance. Do that, and your body will never reveal its tells. ► Combat - It is clear when you speak to Irae that he has a bit of a colored past, and one way or another, he learned how to use weaponry. Supposedly he had left that life behind him and is with the company now to give other souls the guidance he never received as a young man, but if a discerning eye watched him use or play with a knife, they could tell that his skills are as sharp as ever. ▼ E Q U I P M E N T ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ ► Weapons - A black ceremonial dagger with gold trimming. ► Armor - N/A ► Containers - A satchel containing medical supplies, with separate bag sections containing his rations and hygiene supplies. ► Food, Drink, Potions - One Near-Death potion. Salves and balms. Rations consisting of cured meat, dried fruits, nuts, roots, and bread. Also has soap made with whale fat, coconut oil, lavender, and lemon. Also a vial of perfume with an olive oil base infused with sandalwood and charcoal. ► Miscellaneous - A gold reliquary shaped like a cross with a sun in the center. | ══════ A P P E A R A N C E ══════ Nary ever was there a soul to see a man dressed so humbly or plain, and certainly not e'er such a soul as a mercenary. His actual person is oft obscured by his clergyman cassock made of black linen and cotton, complete with the clerical collar. It is topped off with a black shawl that is fashioned into a hood and drapes over his shoulders. To wear boots is to break tradition out of necessity, for his old moccasins have worn out long ago. However, underneath is neither a man too weak to fend for himself nor a warrior's physique, but perhaps one who is accustomed to travel and toiling over the land. Standing at an inch shy of six feet, his height is not particularly intimidating, but regardless a fair deal higher than most other humans. He carries with him a gait not unlike a bride walking down the aisle, as if he was savoring every moment on the way to his destination, and also reflects his own slow and steady, methodical nature. There's no need to rush if you know with absolute certainty you will be where you need to go. The pacing might infuriate his camaraderie, but he is considerate enough to pick up the pace a little bit if he's dragging everyone down, though he's more inclined to sit on the wagon or ride a horse than jog down the countryside. He weighs as much as twelve stones, speaking to his fitness if nothing else and is at least stronger than he appears. His face and his hands is the likely the most you'll ever see of him. His Veneran descent is apparent in his face, starkly contrasting him from the people of Talbor, through cut features like a sharp jawline and squared chin, high cheek bones, and olive skin. Thick black eyebrows rest over his deep brown eyes, and though his nose looks more Jikarian in its bridge, the tip of his nose curls down into a more hawkish shape to reclaim his Southern Isles bloodline. His hair, should you ever catch him with his hood down, is black and long and usually tied up in a low ponytail. His hygiene is very well maintained despite his willingness to perform painstaking labor, and regardless of how tired he may feel or how few hours in the day there is left, he makes a point of making sure he and his vestments are cleaned. His presence most often carries the smell of sandalwood and charcoal, and occasionally other aromatics such as sage, rose, jasmine, or dragon's blood. Father Irae is poised and put-together, usually keeping his hands where others can see them whether his fingers are steeple, holding them in front of his person, or held together in prayer. His posture is always straight, and has well-developed habits such as bowing his head to every newcomer or in acknowledgement of a person within a conversation. He tends to gesticulate when he speaks, and one of his more common gestures is a sweeping open palm as if he were giving someone a gift. His voice, though a low and fruity baritone timbre, speaks smoothly and softly. It's calming, a voice one might imagine as reading a story to them as they drift asleep. There's almost a musicality to it, like low rolling ocean waves on a quiet moonlit night in how it rises and falls, as if he were constantly musing in trochaic tetrameter. ═══════ P E R S O N A L I T Y ══════ Calm. Collected. He always seems certain and unafraid, but not to the point of arrogance or being brash. It's more like the certainty that no matter what happens, things will be okay in the end. However, being a man with layers of complexity, neither is he complacent. He sees it is better to be an agent of action in the world than it is to be its subject. There is something comforting about a person who seems so sure without being cocky, a feeling of safety and sincerity which is only complimented by Irae's voice and almost-paternal demeanor. What you might expect from any other honest priest, you can expect from him: charity, forgiveness, guidance -- nothing is off limits with him, and he doesn't seem to pass any sort of judgement on whoever speaks to him. It is as he claims, it is not his role to judge, but to hear your pleas and guide you thereafter. The only ones worthy of judging are the Gods. To say nothing of his own judgement, of course. He doesn't actually trust anybody as a rule of thumb, and has a tendency to withhold truths from others under the pretense that it wouldn't service them - and he is if nothing else a man of service. Aside from the secrets he himself holds that he withholds from others, the role he plays is that of the benevolent Priest of Iroh, Prophet of Man. There is an underlying sense of pity for the other races of Tithe, but he does not hate or dislike them, as the Ironian faith remains as a denomination of the dominant Maelan religion. Rather, it is an unfortunate case that not all of Tithe's creatures can be guaranteed the same fate as humanity. In fact, he even yields some respect for the faeries, as they are naturally able to wield magic and therefore must be descendants of divine blood. In all other cases, he finds the use and wielding of magic to be profane and that the consumption of a Tear is the equivalent to attempting godhood. It is for this reason he does not attempt to practice magic himself, though he'll keep those beliefs to himself in the company of those who practice (even if he can't hide his overall disdain for magic in general). Though there is nothing preventing Irae from starting a family, he has a few obligations that he believes prevents him from doing so. For one, he takes his oaths to leave behind earthly attachments quite seriously, and thus he'll likely never be able to love someone or devote himself to them in the way that they deserve. He is smitten most by his religion, and his devotion has gone so far as to leave his given name behind and adopt a new one to reflect his devotion. Secondly, he understands the life he leads is dangerous and that it would be irresponsible of him to bring a child into the world under his absence. Race is another important factor; of course he holds no prejudice toward any of the races and could feasibly be attracted to those close enough to appearing human, though he would forbid himself of any interracial relationship due to Iroh's promise of humanity inheriting the earth. It'd be similarly irresponsible and immoral to bring a child that was anything other than human into the world, knowing what fate awaited them. This is of course assuming Irae ever chose to break his abstinent and aromantic lifestyle. A remarkably intelligent individual, he is well-read and studied in-depth the workings of medicine and anatomy, history, and theology (though he couldn't be less interested in political sciences). He has the wisdom to back up his intelligence as well, which can be seen in his aptitude with tactics. Despite his aforementioned biases, he still comes across as a kind and understanding individual who is willing to lend spiritual guidance to anyone who asks for it. However, the calmness he displays in every situation is in fact displayed in every situation. Even in the presence of death, he appears unshaken, which would make him seem unmoving or callous. Whether this is truly the case or he's so fervently faithful that death doesn't scare him remains to be seen, but he is not so callous that he would ignore or forget those in mourning or trauma. At his best, Irae can be level-headed, decisive, and generous. At his worst, he can be dogmatic, deceitful, and cold. His favorite foods are cherries, pomegranates, roses, and red wines. ═══════ B A C K G R O U N D ══════ Irae is a very private individual who doesn't speak much of his past, and what he does speak of, he speaks of blood and regret. The tale he tells isn't so different from other Talbor men: he worked the land, and he bled for the land; a land ruled by corruption, a corruption that was succeeded by further corruption, and he fought and killed in three separate wars defending that corruption. The broken illusion of justice led to disillusionment, and the smell of iron in those God-forsaken mountains was indistinguishable from the blood that soaked into its infertile soil. Irae's most haunting moment, he says, was when he was about to slay his enemy, only to see the horror and remorse in his enemy's eyes and realized they were also human and from the same land. The moment lasted long enough for an ally to come in and kill the man in front of Irae for him, only to move on to the next one. |
In truth, Irae's tale is a white lie. He harbors no malicious intent in his deceit, but in knowing that the greater public would rest easier in the shadows of lies. Though it is true he is a priest of Iroh, prophet of mankind, he has been one far longer than he lets on and he makes no mention of the secretive faction lurking beneath the institution's foundation. The indoctrination into this order occurred when he was a young man. Lost and without direction, having known love and having love lost, he turned to the faith of his late partner, Isna Ashken. It was originally as a way to heal, but in time, it became all he had. By the time he was a young adult, he was introduced to a secretive splinter group within the institution as a reward and an acknowledgment for his faith and devotion. There is no name or written doctrine, known only by its members as the Day of Wrath. Its cult-like practices were to remain secret from the rest of Tithe, and especially from the Maelan institution.
Death is as sacred as life, the only promised fate, and a necessity of the natural order; all life must die. In this respect, its members are as much a guardian of the grave as they are perpetrators of it, smiting the undead as often as condemning the living. This is not to say that Irae and his ilk are serial killers, but have unique views on death and don't deal with the same qualms as Maelan worshipers. However, as self-appointed defenders of the natural order, this unique priesthood also targets enemies of their faith. This aspect of their practices is treated with utmost severity and is typically reserved for those who violate the natural order, mass murderers, and high-ranking theological figures of corrupt bent -- that is to say the dominant Maelan theocracy. Where they sought to keep the other faiths in line, the Day of Wrath sought to keep them in line. Irae, among a few others, is in the unique position of being both an anointed priest as well as an anointed assassin.
He was active during the war, but he was not a soldier. He was an independent agent doling out justice where appropriate. Talbor has no shortage of corrupt lords and ladies seeking to take advantage of the chaotic environment, but was never caught out in the open and didn't lift a finger to help either side during the hob invasion. He had no political loyalty to whoever would inherit the throne and didn't seek to seat any one person upon it. He was also unique in his order that he chose not to inherit the magic of Mael for personal beliefs, but neither is he lesser in his accomplishments or efficiency for it. It is perhaps because he had less to lose than the other members, but it as though he sees death as an old friend and a ferryman to his way home. If man were truly meant to inherit the earth, then he would find home whether he lived or died.
With a duty to uphold to his order, he cannot simply stay put in his temple to Iroh. So, he began to travel under the guise of a wayward priest lending out his services. Only in recent months did he find the mercenary company. Figuring that was as good a cover as anything else for his purposes, he joined them under the pretense that they'd have someone to provide spiritual guidance, and offer diplomatic and minimal-collateral solutions should the situation call for it. In the time since then, however, at least one thing became clear if nothing else: he's a priest with a colored past and is more capable than he appears. Whether he's taking the path of redemption or is up to something else remains to be seen by his comrades.
"Have mercy on the soul I send to you, Iroh, as they meet their Day of Wrath."
