Difference between revisions of "Isaac Abriani"

Revision as of 12:40, 17 March 2007

Isaac
name (rp world)	Isaac Abriani (Gaera Main)
birthdate (birthplace)	11 Reshtara 1193 Kalshana.
current residence	Wherever
occupation	Travelling musician
family	Holly (daughter)
race	Wood Elf
physical description	Isaac is a wood elf, and somewhat tall for his kind at 5'7". Often ends up with a bit of a tan in the summer from wandering around outside.
typical clothing	He prefers to wear dark, narrowly-tailored grey slacks with a patterned button-down shirt over it. These are generally pretty colorful, but he has enough taste not to wear Argovian tourist-shirts everywhere he goes. He enjoys colorful striped things. Over this he nearly always wears a long blue overcoat that reaches almost to his ankles. It's warm in the winter and provides dramatic cape-flaring action year-round. What could be better?
personality	"All stories are good, all roads are long, and all general statements are false." He makes his living as a wandering musician, playing the flute and violin. As a hobby he also had a friend teach him to juggle, and takes great pride in tossing around random objects like beer steins and fruit for the amusement of his audience. He loves to tell stories, and occasionally wanders off with strangers until he's certain he's heard everything they have to tell him. He then passes these stories on, not wishing for the daring deeds and amusing anecdotes of his friends to go to waste. It takes a lot to get under Isaac's skin, as he much prefers to laugh, buy rounds of drinks, and in general make sure his audience, whoever they may be, is enjoying themselves.
religious beliefs	The current favorite is Farlanghn, a peripheral deity that Isaac always thought was pretty groovy. Much of Isaac's life philosophy is based on rules for navigating one's path through life as a result of this particular influence.He also has a general fondness for Ashura, Kazeros, Ishtar (for taking care of the humans), Tunare (for taking care of his people), Shelby for being a good dude, Gottkrieg (for seeming like such a nice sort of lady), Dammara (for fun), Stacey (for cute things), and basically every other deity for some reason or another. He thinks Nikumu needs to have a beer, get laid, and chill the heck out, but otherwise doesn't have a problem with him, either.
drunk type	Chatty and affectionate.
other	Other names include Jack, Horatio, Aramis, Robin Goodfellow, Lucignolo, and whatever else comes to mind. His friends may call him any of the above, though his daughter calls him Isaac, the only truly Elvish name in the lot, or just Dad. Isaac is also bisexual, although this has never come up because most people he meets have already met his daughter and would be weirded out by the idea of sleeping with Holly's father.

Background

Isaac comes from a large and, he would say, rather uninteresting family in Kalshana. Encouraged to study and accumulate as much knowledge about their history as possible, Isaac managed to grind through his mathematics courses and got to the good stuff: literature, theology, and history. He wanted to learn all of the important stories. Only one relative really understood Isaac's lust for narratives, and it was the same man who encouraged his passion for music. As a well-bred young fellow, Isaac was expected to pursue some token musical cultivation, but his enthusiasm for it wasn't viewed as entirely appropriate. His flute and violin were family heirlooms, a gift from his old mad uncle to the nephew who'd never questioned the veracity of his outrageous claims and stories.

When Isaac finally left home to see what knowledge and excitement could be found outside Kalshana's borders, his family wrote it off as a lark. All young men get it into their heads to do some strange things, but eventually he'd realize that all of the real culture and achievement was back home and he would return, possibly taking up some sort of pedagogic position. This never happened. Isaac was not fated to return home for many years, and eventually his family wrote him off as a lost cause. When he finally came home, he had brought someone unexpected with him.

Sixteen years ago he was travelling along Inustan's northern coast, near Barius. He was shopping for a friend in a preposterously upscale clothing boutique. Most of his fellow patrons didn't bother him. However, one couple irritated him a bit. Surprised by his own reaction, he watched them picking out tiny white leather shoes for a little girl with the brightest blue eyes he'd ever seen on a human child. He watched as they yelled at her for not sitting still, and watched as they pulled her away from everything her curious hands reached for in the store. He watched and his annoyance grew. He watched as they set her down to haggle over prices, walking further and further away from the child.

Isaac picked her up and walked away. They were in Kalshana before two weeks had passed. Isaac, by obtaining the services of a seer, found out the girl's birthday and named her Holly. His relatives were curious about this new development, and a little doubtful as to Isaac's ability to raise a normal living creature. They were particularly troubled by the girl's race. Didn't he know that she wouldn't live nearly as long as he would? Didn't it bother him that he might even outlive his grandchildren?

Isaac answered that of course he wasn't bothered, that these are just the risks we must all take in order to be happy in the present. No use sticking at home and never meeting anyone just because they won't be around forever. He brought the child to meet his uncle and the aging elf was quite pleased with his nephew's eccentric behavior. Finally! Someone else in the family who was interesting! And now there might be two!

Isaac and Holly stayed in the Elven nation for another couple of months until he was certain no one was looking for them. After that, he simply set out from a border town and kept going, wherever he wanted, wherever seemed interesting. He showed his daughter secret ruins he'd discovered in his travels and heard about from friends. They visited temples both beautiful and terrifying, with the lesson that each was no less important than any other. Isaac himself has a fancy for Farlanghn, a mostly-forgotten god of roads.

He raised Holly to speak Elvish in addition to Common, and taught her that despite being human, she shouldn't live a life of perpetual vexation as humans tend to do. Whether her lifespan will be the same as an elf is irrelevant. Elves don't want to spend centuries in misery, worrying about everything. For a human like her it's even more important. Be happy, and make sure your loved ones are happy. Help strangers if you want, or let them take care of themselves. Take care of your loved ones before you tackle the big problems.

When Holly was fifteen, it occurred to Isaac that she might be needing to take her own path out into the world. She had picked up his wanderlust, and how could he be anything but proud? After some discussion of where she might be interested in going, Isaac bought her anything she might need and sent her on her way with promises to keep in touch.

Isaac and Holly leave each other notes everywhere they go, each with a story from their current travels and a guess as to where they're headed next. They met briefly in Doma a few months ago, and Holly introduced him to a few of her friends. He couldn't stay long enough to meet his daughter's guardian, Xevan Lunelestros, but made a point to do so eventually.

RPs

Fiction

Philsys Necessaries

Spells

• [Benediction=1]Sharpen (8 MP) - Boosts the damage of a weapon by +rank for rank rounds.
• [Benediction=2]Fortify (8 MP) - Boosts the AC of an armor by +rank for rank rounds.
• [Illusion=1]Distraction (5 MP) - The simplest of all illusion spells, this creates a very basic, single dimension illusion (which can be any dimension the caster has access to). This may be used to fool observers or targets as desired, and the actual effects should be left up to common sense.
• [Illusion=2]Glitterdust (6 MP) - A cloud of golden particles covers everyone and everything in a ten foot by ten foot target area, visibly outlining invisible things for the duration of the spell and in general being quite glittery. This spell can also be cast with any small floaty swarms of things, such as feathers or fish scales or postage stamps.
• [Illusion=3]Disguise (8 MP) - This illusion allows Isaac or a target to take the appearance of any object which Isaac is familiar with and can imagine clearly. However, the target is NOT transformed into the object in actuality, and a physical inspection (touching the target) will make this obvious.
• [Illusion=4]Invisibility (10 MP) - This spell makes the target invisible by bending light around him or her. Invisible targets still project themselves astrally, so this ability will not fool mages scanning the astral plane or reading auras. Invisible targets recieve a +10 bonus to attack any foe who is unaware of their presence. Casting a spell or attacking breaks the effect; otherwise, the effect lasts for rank minutes.
• [Illusion=4]Smother Sound (8 MP) - This spell creates the "illusion" of silence, preventing all sound.
• [Conjuration=1]Summon Food (4 MP) - Creates a loaf of brownish bread. It is entirely possible to live off nothing but summoned bread for indefinite periods of time, but the bread is usually of less than superior quality and does tend to get old quickly.
• [Conjuration=2]Summon Stick (4 MP) - Creates a stick of "wood" up to 6 feet long. Can be used as a staff for combat or a walking aid. Shorter sticks can be used to splint wounds or for any other purpose one might be able to use a wooden dowel or equivalent. Summoned sticks are flammable and can be used as firewood or to create a makeshift torch.
• [Conjuration=3]Summon Dagger (8 MP) - Conjures up the equivalent of a heavy dagger, which lasts for 3d6 hours.
• [Conjuration=3]Summon Snack (5 MP) - Summons better food! It must be small enough to fit in one hand, which means this spell is best suited for things like apples, grapes, or hard-boiled eggs.
• [Conjuration=4]Summon Rapier (10 MP) - Conjures up the equivalent of a longsword, which lasts for 3d6 hours.
• [Conjuration=4]Summon Clothing (8 MP) - Conjures one article of clothing such as a coat or hat, which lasts for 3d6 hours.
• [Conjuration=4]Hail of Arrows (14 MP) - Deals 14+rank*4+2d6 points of physical damage, which is reduced by AC. This ability is blocked as though it were a physical attack instead of a spell.

Techs

• [Bardic Lore=2]Recall Trivia (0 TP) Isaac can attempt to recall bits of information from stories or rumours that he's heard previously. This may be a myth about an obscure artifact or deity, or a more mundane anecdote about how a local artisan met his wife. Effects vary based on the information he is seeking and GM discretion. If this meshes with one of his other knowledge skills, he gets to make a check against both skills should he so desire.
• [Bardic Lore=4]Charismatic Casting (2 TP) The use of this tech allows Isaac to substitute her CHA for one of her casting stats (either INT or WIS).
• [Perform(any)=4]Performance Casting (3 TP) - Isaac can spend TP to cut the MP cost of a spell in half, provided the spell's rank does not exceed his perform skill. This tech can only be used while he is performing in some way.
• [Rapier=2]Precise Striking (2 TP) - Uses DEX to determine weapon damage bonuses instead of STR and eliminates all penalties to hit other than those caused by magical debuffs for one round. Heavy attacks are impossible when using Precise Striking.
• [Rapier=2]Defender's Stance (1 TP) - Adds weapon skill rank to all PA rolls made this round. Even if no parry roll is allowed, half of the users's weapon skill rank is added to his PA for the remainder of the round. This tech cannot be combined with any other offensive tech, and the user forfeits any bonus attacks (but may use them, instead, as bonus parries).