Hiding behind what we cannot see, gathering and walking down endless halls;
Dreams we once believed to be nothing but sleep's mystery come and stand before us.
And if we were to shout at them, whisper them away, find them only figments of another life,
We would be no better off
Than if we had never dared to imagine the future.
But to stand among whispers of a fading dream's light is an honour,
All of its own, and one that carries with it
The hopes of all who wished they could find a way to mold what is real
To the fragile thoughts inside their head
That disappear with time, or are crowded out by the simple thoughts of life.
And one who can see clearly, who can tell apart what is dream from what is real,
Who can wait silently and touch, slide through the flow of imaginations and wishes
Will be he who brings to those around him
A small taste of what all could be like
If what happened would never have been
Or if what is coming, will never be.Gaia Name: Lord Andarel
Name: Vel Ronde
Status: New Student
Age: 19
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Appearance: Vel has a distinct edge to him, caused more by over-focusing than any sort of past issues. His eyes are a pale grey and have a very analytical gaze, something grown from a faint caution around others. He values his appearance but not to a priority, and keeps his black hair in a forest of spikes back and not below his shoulders. He stands a little under six feet, with a medium figure - not thin, but definitely not stocky. He has a tendency to let his fingernails grow too far, and from this has developed a bit of a bad habit in gnawing at them when nervous. He has a faint scar on the top of his right hand, caused by a "misadventure" (sharp edge of a book in his library at home, though he pretends it was adventuring) and a tattoo of a diamond on his left and right index fingers.
Clothing: Vel commonly wears a cloth shirt, often with a dyed design within it. He has a tendency to wear cargo pants, or any other pants which are easy to move around in and have lots of pockets. Footwear-wise, he uses light boots which are extremely durable and have lasted him several years - he keeps two or three pairs so no one gets overly worn down. Fighting, he wears similar garb, but uses a plated sweater of hardened fiber similar to his brush and has metal plates sewn into his pants for protection. He has a necklace with the letter V on a thin silver chain, something he picked up on a random travel.
Height: As mentioned, about 5'11"
Strengths: Vel has a quick and analytical mind as well as a fast body, and specializes in strategy. He has four years of experience with his brushes, and so knows about the first two levels of basic runes with them, and is on the edge of trying to create his own. Because of this, he can often innovate and has a large variety of options when needed - his magic is extremely versatile. He has the ability to condense magic in the air into the ink he uses for his brushes, and change its color freely for painting purposes. Alternately, he can use the ink from his index fingertips, with less effectiveness.
Weaknesses: Though his magic is versatile, it is not particularly destructive. Strong spells require a lot of precise writing, which is hard to do. While he can set traps and has high stamina and decent endurance, his actual physical strength is not high and outside of magicks and some dagger-work he has little fighting skill. His abilities are often close-range, and both his magic and dagger-work is far less effective with distance. He has a strong aversion to water, and while it is not a crippling fear his abilities are weakened in the rain as it is harder to seal his writing. Both brushes have diamonds where his index finger would normally touch them, matching with the tattoos. If these are covered for whatever reason it is harder for him to use his magic as well.
Weapon(s): Over the last four years, Vel has changed his actual weapon several times, but these current ones have lasted him the longest. All types are about eight-inch long brushes with a spiked back tip and jet-black bristles, with the body being blue. The brushes themselves are made out of strands of metal and are very hard to cut, but he is drastically weakened without them - he can use his magic through his fingertips but it is far less effective. These weapons are daggers at their roughest, but are meant as conduits for his writing, as he uses his magic through tracing symbols on the target or area, then activating them.
Personality: Though not antisocial, Vel takes first impressions seriously and is reluctant to associate with those he first finds as distasteful to him. A valuer of tradition and rules as well as a laid-back artist, he tends to associate with either the more relaxed, creative type or people he finds energetic and interesting. He hates being dragged into public or disturbed while reading or painting, and will sometimes lash out unfairly against people who do so. He keeps a tight rein on his temper and is difficult to make angry, with few repercussions when he does get to that point. This is mainly because he was raised to be respectful of authority, and as such is very reluctant to look for unnecessary trouble. Still, when intensely interested in something he will disregard rules to follow his curiosity. He prefers to avoid violence, but has a solid determination to finish whatever he starts.
History: Vel was born in the lower-income areas of Magdia City, to a pair of upper-middle class parents. While his father was a thoroughly unspectacular bureaucrat in the government, his mother was a researcher for an arts institution and it was her who introduced him to the runic languages. He graduated high school and went to an institute for higher education for one year to get basic credentials, and then at seventeen began traveling, using some money from his family to cover expenses. He quickly finished his basic learning of runic languages, having learned the very basics from his mother. About two months after he started traveling he got into a skirmish with bandits briefly, and from then on was interested in the combative purposes of the runic magic, trying several attempts at making a channel for them. After several tries and two years, he eventually made the brushes he uses now. He enrolled in the school as a way to further this interest.
Four years ago Vel found in one of the various libraries in Magdia a strange book containing texts that neither he nor the librarians could read. About seven months back he began finally puzzling it out, and was shocked by its contents - it was simply a history book of legal documentation, but in it was someone extremely unusual. The majority of the volume was taken up by the account, in fact the transcription of the diary, of a man who was exiled from much of Konalter two decades ago. The reason for the exile was only listed as "direct violation of a government interdict," but digging through the book revealed much clearer details - twenty-four years before then, some grand thought experiment had led to the redevelopment of much of the runic languages, and rapidly. While it was hard to explain what occurred, Vel figured that what happened was simply a wide-scale collapse, as the research facility imploded and around thirty lives were lost. The last notes of the transcription mention an extremely complex spell referred to only as "
Dreamland" and detail some of the methods used in attempting to refine it, none of which were to any avail. Since then, Vel has spent several weeks worth of time looking into this and has found a few choice but incredibly significant details - Sarandel Yolmin, a dagger-wielding and supposedly not-quite-sane archmage was the one tried, after being one of the last to join the project as a founder as well as one of only two survivors. His final known whereabouts showed him heading towards the barren lands between Ninden and Konalter, perhaps to make a living there.
Vel has long intended to attempt to find the answer to what happened to the first true Runic power in modern times, but has made little progress. Sarandel clearly does not wish to be found by anyone, as there has been no news from anyone he has been in contact with about the mage's whereabouts. It remains highly likely that the spell "
Dreamland" will never be completed, at least not in Vel's lifetime, as long as the mage does not wish to put his knowledge towards finishing it once and for all, if that is even possible.
Extra: See unique attributes.
---
Type of Fighter: Tactician, hit-and-away
Kills: None
Wins/Losses/Ties: N/A
Unique Attributes: Specialty in speaking olden languages as part of his upbringing, able to write Runic languages. Runes are pictographic, magically steeped languages that harness imagery for power - making an effect happen requires representation of it. As this is fighting reality, a stronger effect requires more or stronger runes, and a more complex effect requires more runes. Runic magic has extreme variety but takes time, strategy, and knowledge to use well.
Notable Info: Due to his parents' jobs, he can get free travel to almost anywhere of historical importance with diplomatic relations to the country. Less notably, he has an immense supply of art materials.
---
Day ---:
05 - First day. Met Akakage, Diente, Dimitri, rest of class. Was given a pair of training daggers.
06 - Second day. Joined trip, brief confrontation with Cainas.
---
Relationship Status: (Not updated for a while >_>)
Akakage -------------- Just met.
Diente ---------------- Seems friendly
Dimitri----------------- Teacher.
---
More about Runic Magic: see Post 6 (Not yet done).
Reply
