Application for Warforged

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APPLICATION

NAME:Liz

CONTACT: silkenaracna@gmail.com

PERSONAL JOURNAL: thebutt

OTHER CHARACTERS:N/A.


CHARACTER NAME: Vanadi of Vadarta

CHARACTER SERIES: Original

SPECIES: Kitrite; scifi elf, basically. Super similar to humans, though generally smaller and shorter-lived.

AGE: 22

CANON POINT: From about a month before anything interesting happens to him; pre-canon, basically. (NOTE this app is written for a mid-canon canon point, but should contain enough information about how he was to work for pre-canon. Let me know if you’d like more, though!)

CLASS/ABILITIES: No natural special abilities, beyond a mastery of a kitrian form of martial arts, and an extreme willingness to show it off on all occasions.

I’d pick rogue for him, because he’s much more agile and quick than he is strong. He’s actually pretty physically fragile (all them racially thin bones), so he’d love to rely on shadow tricks and poisoning and such.


HISTORY:

Vanadi's story was always a relatively simple one. He was a nobleman in the high courts Aluthsa, and, having come from a family of old money, didn't have many expectations of him. He was trained in the usual things kitrite nobility is trained in: arts, musics, ritualistic fighting. He was moderately successful at most of them, awful at some of them, and really quite good at the graceful form of hand-to-hand combat that the kitrites were best known for. The biggest concerns in his life were the latest dramas around him, who was willing to join in on his amorous lifestyle, and where he could get the juiciest gossip. In short: he had it good.
 
That was, of course, until Venus. Recently having landed on the planet of Wayland, humans weren't having a very good time of their new arrival. Their passage through the planet's magnetic field had rendered the entire transport ship of arrivals infertile, and inflicted a lethal disease on 10% of them. They've since settled into their lives on Wayland, and have raised a town from the remains of their ship, named August. Venus is one of the many scientists seeking a cure for the infertility inflicted on them, although she's going about it differently; while others seek to study cloning and other routes, Venus has chosen to perfect the human body with mechanical additions, reach the pinnacle of human perfection, and ensure that no one ever needs the replacement of a new generation. 

Finding kitrites and humans remarkably similar, Venus turned to the kitrite kingdom of Aluthsa when her study exited the purely theoretical phase. She was ready to begin experimentation — but not on humans. Human life was limited and therefore precious. Kitrites, on the other hand, could be bought for a sufficient payment of human technology that the rest of the world had never seen before. Having been impressed by Vanadi's display of his skill and fine physical condition at a martial arts competition, Venus chose her subject, paid the price, and had him secreted away to her lab in August.
 
His life was changed abruptly and thoroughly. Friends and family were told that he'd been called away by one of his many lovers for an adventure around the world, and none of them had any reason to doubt the authenticity of it. Vanadi had been known to be distracted for months on end by any particularly interesting lover. In truth, he was stolen away in the night, handed over to Venus's laboratory in August, and operated on before he was roused. He'd gone to sleep one night, fully kitrite, and woke up several months later filled with cybernetics and covered in healing scars. Venus had also taken the liberty of installing an obedience program, and Vanadi found himself physically unable to resist preforming whatever tests she required to see how her various installations and upgrades were doing. Fortunately for him, possibly the only fortunate aspect of the situation, Venus was properly brilliant, and all new functions worked as they should. He was faster, stronger, more durable, very deadly, and decidedly miserable.

His life from there was one of constriction and servitude. Although Venus's interest was entirely in development for the sake of her race's future, she had just created a very capable weapon, and she wasn't above selling his services. And due to the obedience program, there wasn't a lot Vanadi could say in protest if he didn't feel like killing someone. But when he wasn't being tested, upgraded, or loaned out, Vanadi's time was his own, and he was free to do as he liked—provided he spoke with no one from his old life, and never messed with any of his new hardware. It was a bit of an empty gift, seeing as Vanadi didn't have much of a life to speak of outside of the people he'd known. But at this point, he'll take what he can get. 

PERSONALITY:

Vanadi has always been a charmer. He knows his way very well around court and high-society life, and he knows just how much to butter a person up to get what he wants. And he's very good at getting what he wants. Whether it's through hard work and lots of time put into friendliness, compliments, and favors promised, or sheer persistence, there aren't too many people that can say no to Vanadi. Not very many people want to say no to Vanadi. He's well known for leading a luxurious, pleasure-filled life, and if he wants something from you, the chances are you won't mind whatever form repayment takes. And Vanadi is very generous when paying back his debts; he likes to keep his relationships with useful people around him good, after all. This ability to read and play people isn't entirely manipulative, though— in fact, Vanadi really enjoys people. He likes talking with them, being around them, getting to know them— and most of all, seducing them. Attractive people are his favorite ones to know, just for that reason. 

At home, before his changes, Vanadi would come across as terribly shallow, sometimes even seeming empty-headed, at first glance. As preoccupied by court life as he had been, he flitted from social group to social group, giving very little thought to the actual people around him. Life was one long soap opera, with tiny incidents blown far out of proportion, just by value of having nothing bigger to keep them in perspective. Vanadi went along very willingly with this take on things, happy to make friends to hear some new piece of gossip, and forget them the next day. He had very few deeper, meaningful relationships — although he wasn’t completely devoid of those. Some of these blithe habits remain even in his new life; Vanadi can talk to so many people and put so much energy into them all, that very little of it will be genuine. He's happy just to pass time with people, never mind actually caring about them. That's a step further than court life had ever required, and so he'd never made a habit of it. There are exceptions, of course, but generally speaking, Vanadi doesn’t keep many genuine friends.

The man is an extrovert, through and through. Being around others gives him energy, and the more positive his relationship with them, the brighter he shines. Deprive him of that, though, and the result is something pitiable. Like a flower taken from sunlight, in the absence of company, Vanadi becomes dispirited and withdrawn, even sullen. Having had good company whenever he wanted it for nearly all of his life has left him with no resistance to loneliness, and he suffers it acutely. More recent years have him seeking out company where ever he can find it, and it's not unusual to find him befriending some janitor in one of Venus's labs. He's willing to overlook as many ugly qualities as he has to, to find someone to talk to.

Don't mistake his acceptance of any company he can get for anything but an act of desperation, though. Vanadi is an incredibly vain creature. He's used to being admired and complimented for his looks, and he's very proud of them. He puts tremendous care into his appearance, and the cosmetic changes he's undergone at Venus's hands have impacted him more deeply than any other upheaval she'd brought to his life. The loss of his home and all his friends? That's upsetting, but he's capable of enjoying where he is now and of making new friends. The sudden obligatory obedience to a woman he doesn't even know? Well, alright, maybe he could come to like her. But waking up to find himself suddenly with shaved and grayed hair, hideously scarred, and half metallic? Well, that's not going to fly. 

Since the changes, Vanadi keeps every inch of his body covered, employing high necks, long sleeves, and gloves at all times. He's even taken up using a mask to hide the facial scar, so ashamed is he of it. Not, of course, that he'd ever say so out loud. Complaining about being suddenly ugly will only draw attention to it, and that's the last thing Vanadi wants. Although he's reluctant to ever show himself off nowadays, you'd be hard-pressed to drag out anything resembling the self-loathing he's newly experiencing. Vanadi will hide that even more religiously than he hides the changes themselves, and he'd go so far as to attempt to play the changes and additions up as something wanted and valued than admit to being ugly. After all, after a life of beauty and appreciation, admitting you've fallen from your pedestal is no easy task. Saying it out loud is the first step to making it true. This form of stoicism doesn't extend only to his appearance, though. He applies it to any negative facet of his life that he can manage. If he's unhappy or sad, it's better to act otherwise for as long as he can. Feeling depressed is one thing, but acting depressed means that he actually will be, and that's just no fun at all. It's all a very delicate balancing act of denial, when it comes to negative emotions. 

FIRST PERSON SAMPLE: Canon point relevant from Exsilium!


THIRD PERSON SAMPLE:

B. The Orphan You're out on a scouting mission for your flight and come across an odd sight. Slain on the ground is a lone dragonkin from one of your opposing flights. You notice that it appears to be carrying something and, upon further inspection, it appears to be an egg. The egg does not match the dragonkin's scale color, nor does it appear to be from the den of your flights. It appears to be rattling -- it will hatch soon and send out the alarm to nearby flights with its cries for food and shelter. You cannot be certain that bringing it back to your sanctum will gain you favor. There are other dragons nearby, and you cannot be sure that one of them didn't see you approach the egg and it is possible that you will be blamed for its birth.

He’s been bored for some time. Really, even with these interesting new abilities he’s learning to work out, there’s only so many times one can leap suddenly into existence and startle the living hell out of a deer. Who knew scouting could be so dismally dull? But Vanadi walks on, primarily for sheer lack of anything better to do, tossing his dagger lightly from one hand to the other with a few showy spins.

He almost misses it. But — there, through the foliage, a flash of bronze. Vanadi pauses, backtracks, and peers through the leaves with a curious frown. As soon as he spots the corpse, he slides cautiously into his stealth mode. Corpses mean battles, and battles means taking care not to get stabbed in the back whilst you investigate. He pushes carefully through the trees for a better look, and pauses again when he spots the egg. His frown deepens. It looks stolen… and from what he knows about dragons so far, no one is going to want a green egg anywhere near their little base of operations.

Curiosity drives him closer, though. He drops to a crouch next to the body and the egg, attention focused keenly on the latter. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say it were… rocking. As if it were about to hatch. He’s alarmed enough by the prospect to drop his stealth cover, and rocks back on his heels. A new little green dragon means an influx of greens, doesn’t it? All of them angry for the stolen child. He glances quickly around, gaze especially pointed up for fear of green wings — and he spots a more familiarly-colored silhouette. His heart sinks. Has he been spotted here, with the egg?

Oh, gods, but this is all looking a little grim. His eyes fall back onto the egg again, and he watches with mounting panic as a crack forms in the shell.

They’d have him kill it, he knows, before any greens happen along for it — but it’s a baby. Faction nonsense aside, he’s not terribly sure he can bring himself to it. Somewhere in his withered conscience, he knows the few he cares most for would tell him to take it somewhere safe, the war be damned. But… those people aren’t here, are they? They’re not here to tell him just where that somewhere safe is, and they certainly wouldn’t be here if he got caught along the way with it in his possession. His eyes drop briefly to the dagger in his hands — but it’s hardly a second before he jams it resolutely into its sheath.

The shadows fall about him, and Vanadi steps backwards and silently through the bushes again. Let someone else deal with it all. He’s wiggled out of worse situations, if it turns out that someone has seen him near it, and he’ll have nothing to do with either end of a dilemma like this one, thank you.