Tadrin

Name: Tadrin

Homeland: Bastaine

Age: 17 Hgt: 5'10" Wgt: 140 lbs.

Appearance:

Tad is a bit over average height, slender, and atheletic. He his tanned skin and light green eyes, with wild, neck-length sandy hair held back by a blue headband. He's good-looking in a boyish way, with a slightly angular face, and dresses in a dark blue doublet over a white shirt, with dark leather boots and blue trousers. Tad also wears a dark blue half-cloak, trimmed in silver. He wears his rapier and gauntlet at the left side of his waist, and a poinard in a sheath at his left ankle.

Equipment:

Apart from his weapons, Tad carries only a map of Narada, about two weeks' worth of travel rations, a small utility knife, a small lute, and a bedroll and blanket, all in a small shoulder pack. He also carries a a money pouch under his doublet, with about 170 gold crowns (the largest coinage of Bastaine) and change.

Abilities:

Tadrin is extremely agile and quite good with his rapier, and wears an armored gauntlet, which he uses to parry blows and occasionally punch people.

He's strong for his size, though not remarkably so. Tad is decent with most melee weapons, and knows a bit of martial arts but wouldn't last against anyone halfway competent. Tad is no use at all with a normal bow but handy with a crossbow, though he doesn't actually carry one.

Tadrin has a natural affinity for Illusion, though his magical skills are undeveloped, and he has little ability to cast spells apart from Illusions.

Currently, the limits of his abilities with Illusion are bright lights, simple images (one at a time) and noises. He's practiced his light spell enough that he can maintain it indefinitely, but after casting any other Illusion, he must wait two hours for every hour he maintained the first before throwing another.

Tad wants to be an adventurer and isn't looking to be a leader of men or even much of a commander. He will pursue his swordsmanship and agility training. Eventually, he may become as good as he thinks he is. He'd like to increase his Illusionary powers, and learn a few simple offensive and defensive spells. He'd also like to get rich - but he'd rather have fun.

Everything About Illusion That I Can Think Of:

The ONLY spell Tad can maintain for any decent length of time is Light (as in small, floating ball of bright light). Everything else is currently max ten minutes.

After casting any Illusion other than Light, Tad must recover two hours for every minute spent maintiaining an Illusion. Maximum time maintaining any Illusion is 15 minutes. Maintaining any Illusion longer than 10 minutes lowers Tad's energy level and general abilities - it wears him out, and he won't be able to run as fast or fight well. A good night's sleep or the equivalent will recover Tad's abilities after any length of maintenance.

Tad must be stationary, or walking slowly, to cast an Illusion, which takes about five seconds. However, once initiated, an Illusion can be maintained while active.

Tad cannot concentrate on fighting, especially his kind of fighting, while casting an Illusion, including the Light spell. He can run, walk, talk, and even dodge (a bit), etc. but if he is hit, tripped, dropped, shaken, stirred, etc. he will immediately lose the spell.

Illusion is a completely different 'type' of magic than Elementalism, Sorcery, Magery, etc. Tad has about zero magical aptitude for anything other than Illusion.

Currently, Tad's maximum size for any Illuion is 6x6x6. He can create noise up to about the level of a roaring lion - pretty loud, but not enough to deafen. His illusions can be bright, but not bright enough to blind (though perhaps enough to distract).

Tad's potential Illusions include: Inanimate objects (anything he can picture clearly), animate objects (which are standing perfectly still), growls, rumbling, birdcalls, other noise, etc. He cannot create intelligible voices, though he can create something that sounds like muffled or far-off voices. He can currently create sound or sight Illusion, but not both at once.

General Personality:

Tadrin is polite, intelligent and friendly. He also has a selfish side - he'll help others, but he'd like to get paid for risking his neck.

However, he'll die before he'll let anything hurt a friend, or anyone he's accepted responsibility for. He tends to unconsciously divide the world into three parts - Enemies, Friends, and Not Too Concerned. Tad is courteous and generally good-humored, and has a somewhat overblown sense of the dramatic.

Tad has a high opinion of himself but isn't often arrogant.

Tadrin does have an absolute, ironclad sense of honor. He will never kill an innocent, or even hurt one unnecessarily. He will honor any vow he makes so long as he wasn't coerced. He is also unvaryingly honest, even when he probably shouldn't be - again, unless he's coerced, in which case he'll lie his head off in as many interesting and farfetched ways as possible.

Quirks:

Dislikes the smell of roses, but likes the flowers themselves.

Is a bit squeamish - doesn't like nasty little bugs, muck, dirt, etc.

Has absolutely NO alcohol tolerance, and doesn't like drinking.

Hates gold jewelry and ornamentation. Even he's not sure why.

Plays the lute - nowhere near Bardic proficiency, but not bad.

Good cook, since he had to for seven years for both he and his master.

Flaws:

Tadrin's greatest flaw is his total disregard of common sense in battle. In normal situations, he's just a bit overblown. In combat, though, Tadrin tends to let his sense of drama overwhelm him, especially if there's attractive women around. Tadrin is a real swashbuckler, swinging from chandeliers, leaping from balconies, etc. This often leads him to dive headlong into situations where he'd be better off using more brains and less finesse.

Tadrin and armor have a mutual dislike for each other. In anything heavier than clothes, Tad has trouble fighting, and anything more than a suit of light leather armor almost completely negates his fighting skills. In fact, he has a great deal of trouble fighting when carrying anything heavier than about 25 pounds.

Tad dislikes authority, and is contemptuous of anyone who lets others make decisions for them. He also refuses to order anyone around. Unless he sees no other way out, he will NOT take responsibility or command of men in combat.

Motivating Circumstances:

Armsmaster Adrullis was a good tutor and kept Tadrin occupied, anxious to try his skills, but with his death, Tad is bored and looking for adventure.

If he discovers evidence of the people who killed his parents, he'll probably devote everything he can to avenging them, but he's made his peace with their deaths. In addition to 'see the world', Tadrin's motivations include:

- Tracking down an old associate of Adrullis's, Gonji Sabatake. On his deathbed, Adrullin asked Tad to find him and return a very old, very expensive-looking wakizashi (Japanese shortsword). All Tadrin knows is that Gonji lived in Tomo about ten years ago and may have been part of his parents' adventuring party.

- Tadrin is interested in history, particularly pre-Rending history, and would cheerfully trek all over creation to find relics, etc.

- He's intrigued at the thought of investigating more about his family, and retracing their adventures (as best he can) seems a good way of finding more about them.

Past History:

Tadrin's parents were adventurers in the Band of the Silver Spear. His mother, Sellai, was a fighter who used the magical Silver Spear (from which the Band took its name), and his father Durik was a powerful mage. Both Durik and Adrullis were Freylians. Sellai was from another country, possibly Alari or Bastaine. When Sellai became pregnant, she and Durik both gave up adventuring. The Band split up, and Durik and Sellai lived comfortably off the profits from their adventures in the capitol of Bastaine, Darasoune.

At nine and a half, Adrullis, who had been visiting Tadrin's parents, woke to find the house being attacked by dark-cloaked reptillian creatures.

Both of Tad's parents were killed. Adrullis rescued Tadrin, but his mother's Silver Spear was gone. Adrullis brought Tad to Latrouen, his home town, and raised Tadrin himself.

Adrullis raised Tadrin half as a son and half as a student. Tadrin was a bright if impatient pupil, and Adrullis kept training him, despite his failing health. A few days after Tadrin's seventeenth birthday, Adrullis fell ill, and died two days later. The illness was very sudden, and none of the healers of the town could aid him. Tadrin found himself with no real home and no desire to remain in Latrouen. He sold Adrullis's home, packed up his weapons and supplies, and set off towards Toru to find his master's old friend.

Quote:

"Oh, you're serious and focused and I'll admit you're probably better than I am. I'll even admit you'll probably beat me. But I'll have more fun losing this fight than you ever will winning!"