Nether Landis

[Nether]

Nether Landis Basic Information Race: Human Birthday & Age: 17th of Autumn, 489 AV (20 years old) Gender: Male Physical Description Light of build and tall, he's obviously someone who could use the help of some physical exercise to put a bit of muscle on his bones; his features are sharp, and his black hair pulled behind him in a tight tail. On a good day, dress him in silk and he'll look coldly handsome, prouder than many nobles. On average, though, you'll meet him in the wilds, where a change of clothes, a bath and a proper shave are luxuries instead of assured things, dressed in practical, many-pocketed clothes full of weird stuff and strange stains that smell of acid and brimstone. As you can guess, that leaves a quite different first impression. He almost always wears gloves: many of his skills require fine manipulation, and a serious injury to a hand would ruin him. Naturally extremely pale-skinned, he sunburns ridiculously easily and never tans, a serious problem for someone who plans extended travelling. He tries to avoid the problem with several herbal balms and the plain old "staying under a shadow", with the latter currently offering a much higher degree of success than the former. Character Concept A young jack-of-all-trades, mostly defined by his curiosity: a curiosity that's not always healthy for him and for those who surround him, but with potential for greatness; he is soft spoken, and rarely the first to initiate social contact, although this might be overridden by creatures that spark his interest. Having met few non-human creatures in his life, he finds most of them extremely fascinating, and seems almost oblivious to the evident danger posed by some of them. He knows his limits, and will work for little money if it at least gives him the chance of learning something new. The sheer, absolute social inexperience that characterized his first interactions with people other than his master is now gone, revealing a somewhat natural charm.. or some would say a natural talent at manipulating people. He's still far from worldly, though, and will still easily blush and stutter at the attentions of a beautiful woman. Landis is not his family name: he choose to inherit the last name of his master instead. Character History Son of two servants of a mage who lived a self-imposed exile in the wilderness not far from Silyras, he lives his infancy surrounded by weird wonders and small miracles. On the downside, work starts early: as soon as he's able to help, the kitchen becomes his place, assisting his mother. He proves himself to be a bright kid, learning to read quickly and easily; the mage, amused by his talent, allows him access to a small part of his library (the inexpensive part, obviously) to read in his free time. Life proceeds monotonously until his twelfth year of life, when he discovers a book on Glyphing misplaced among the ones he was allowed to read. Instead of returning it immediately, he, with the curiosity typical of kids, opens it and tries to read it. Imagine his delusion when he discovers that he couldn't even understand the language the book was written in. Discouraged, he takes it back to his master, explaining the situation. In another timeline, things might have ended there, the book returning to its proper shelf and the kid to his in the kitchen. Here, Nether managed to work up enough courage to look at the old man in the eyes, and ask with a scared yet firm voice "Will you teach me how to read this book?" Perhaps seeing talent, perhaps on a whim, the mage accepted. And apprenticeship began, grueling and at times cruel, eating away at the free time of the boy, for his actual duties hadn't dimished in the slightest. He takes it all in stride. And the years pass. The master proves to be a decent, if harsh, teacher, with a decent proficiency level in several arcane arts but real mastery over none. Generalism can be an useful skill by itself as well, though, as it allows you to see the links between apparently unrelated abilities. "Don't do it with magic if you can do it with your hands, and don't do it with your own Djed if you can borrow from the world. Don't do it with a flashy display if you can do it with subtlety, and master the basics before building upon them" The four laws of his master, pounded in his brain from the first day of apprenticeship. Definitely not laws to follow if you want a quick surge in power, especially considering that his master considers Auristics and Glyphing to be the aforementioned basics, with Alchemy a close third, and refuses to teach even those unless his pupil shows sufficient ability in several related, mundane skills. By seventeen, he has reached a level in the three basics that his master considers "sufficient", and looks forward to learning some of the more advanced talents, by then almost addicted to new knowledge. Of course, that new knowledge never arrives: tossing him a coin purse and a backpack with several basic supplies, his master boots him on the closest street and points him towards the city of Silyras. "Master this world before trying to command others" Thus, his apprenticeship ends.. and begins anew. Since then, he advertises himself as a "freelance cook", travelling with a small cart and offering mundane skills and lesser alchemical procedures to caravans and travelers, in an effort to see and understand as much of the world as he can.

[Nether]

Training Skills Skill Starting Awarded Total Notes Cooking 15 -- 15 Racial Philtering 5 -- 5 -- Herbalism 5 -- 5 -- Poison* 5 -- 5 -- Plant Identification 5 -- 5 -- Negotiation 5 -- 5 -- Drawing 5 -- 5 -- Meditation 5 -- 5 -- *Families known: Arboreal, Roots and Moss. Magic Discipline Starting Awarded Total Notes Auristics 5 -- 5 -- Glyphing 5 -- 5 -- Alchemy 5 -- 5 -- Lores "Creative" cooking -His master more often than not forgot to resupply with merchants, replacing the game and fish he should have bought with weird critters called with Summoning. Sometimes, Nether couldn't even tell if what he was working with was an animal, a fish or a plant, and developed a talent for cooking with weird stuff. Glyphing History and Practices -The first discipline of magic that caught his attention, and the one that still fascinates him the most; he spent long nights of sleepless study trying to understand the theories and history between what he was being taught. [color=lightblue]Languages* Language Fluency Common Fluent Ancient Language Basic Symenos Poor *As far as I can tell, the code is -exactly the same- as the rest. It just hates my guts x3

[Nether]

Equipment and Possessions Item Price (gm) Notes Set of sturdy travel clothes -- Starting Package Waterskin -- Starting Package Backpack -- Starting Package Set of Toiletries -- Starting Package Food for a Week -- Starting Package Eating Knife -- Starting Package Flint and Steel -- Starting Package Book on Glyphing (Avg) -- Family Heirloom Fire Gloves 10 -- Broad Brimmed Hat 8 -- Zavian Horse 100 -- Cart Harness 2 -- Cart (3 person) 15 -- Riding Saddle 10 -- Four Persons Tent 10 -- Bedroll 0,1 -- Winter Blanket 0,5 -- Hooded Lantern 7 -- Dagger, 2x 4 -- Light Crossbow 35 -- Bolt, x50 5 -- Book, common 5 Silyran Recipes Book, blank 3 -- Quills, x10 0,5 -- Ink, 1 Oz. Vial 2 Black Ink Ink, 1 Oz. Vial 4 Red Ink Ink, 1 Oz. Vial 4 Green Ink Appraisal Kit 50 -- Identification Kit 50 -- Philtering Kit 150 -- Preserving Kit 5 -- Greater Alembic 100 -- Ledger Value Source +600 Starting Amount -580,1 Starting Equipment 19,9 Total

[Nether]

Thread List One step forward, three steps back. (Open and gladly accepting people) What do you do when you find yourself alone on a road with the survival skills of a dead rock? Tune in to find out.