cold like some magnificent skyline

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OOC Information


Name: Anna
Age: 32
Pref. Pronouns: she/her
Contact: Annalizabeth#7549 on Discord, layonmacduff @ plurk
Current characters: Simon Ashlock

IC Information


Name/Alias: Valentin Bell
Age: 28
Occupation: Scribe
Born with The Vice?: No, but don't tell him that
If yes, do they use it?: HE'S TRYING REALLY HARD TO

Appearance: Valentin's most noticeable feature, displayed all the better between the contrast of his very pale skin and very dark hair, is a pair of enormous, doll-like eyes the color of green olives. He's unusually short, with a slight frame, but his arms and shoulders have a bit of wiry muscle to them. His hair is almost-curly and he usually has the beginnings of a rough beard.

History:

--Born in Riverthwaite-by-Turn, the middle child and only son of the town bell-ringer, who came by that position by being the son of the local parson.

--Said bell-ringer was a notorious holy roller and sermonizer about the evils of the Vice, to the point where everyone else in town, parson included, was like "dude, chill" about it.

--Undeterred, Walden Bell continued on his quest to harangue the Vice out of all his offspring whether they displayed any signs of having or using it or not. (None of them did.)

--Valentin, from a young age, came to associate the Path with pain and misery, and the Vice with the power to escape that pain and revenge himself upon his father. Fueled by the (not actually true) tales of his wicked aunt and her spell-slinging ways, he longed for nothing so much as to follow in her footsteps and claim the Vice's powers for himself.

--Once grown, he took up residence in the woods outside the town, where he foraged for herbs and mushrooms and used the profits from their sale to seek out whatever books he could find that promised to teach arcane rituals and unlock the secrets of magic. They did not work. He kept trying.

--In the midst of his attempts to call forth the powers of the Vice, his beloved cousin Vervain was driven to blind himself gruesomely by an evil out of Turn, or so the story went. Horrified, and fearing that his studies had been the catalyst for his cousin's attack, Valentin abandoned his books and resolved to give up his attempts at magic.

--Eventually, feeling that there was nothing left for him in Thwaite, he opted to follow his cousin to Northcliff Pass and begin a new life there.

Personality: Until such time as Napoleon exists in the world of this game, Valentin can be the namesake of the Napoleon Complex. He's a born control freak who is accustomed to feeling small and powerless, and nearly everything he does is an attempt to mitigate that. Every interaction is a small, secret power struggle, and half his memory is occupied by a long list of grudges in need of some manner of payback.

He is not a very happy person. Deep down, he longs to be able to let all of that exhausting calculation go--but to admit that, of course, would be weakness, and weakness is unforgivable.

Abilities:

--As well-versed in church ritual as any lay brother, though he is adamantly not one.
--Handy in the kitchen.
--Good at finding tasty edible things in the woods.
--Literate and well-spoken.
--Excellent at climbing tall things and fitting into small spaces.
--Capable swimmer.

Reputation: He just drifted into town one day from a shack in the boonies and started offering to scribe things for people as if he'd been there his entire life. He's blandly genial, finds excuses not to talk much about himself, and is somehow kin to Vervain Gardener.