Vance Olsen

[Vance]

Vance Olsen Basic Information Race: Ghost (previously human) Birthday & Age : born 91 winter 486 AV, died 42 spring 509 AV; 23 years old Gender: Male Physical Description During his living days, he sported a flexible 5'8" body that was well accustomed to everyday life tendencies and occasional brawls. His curly blond hair would be kept at a manageable medium length and his skin was rather light but seemed very healthy. He'd usually settle with wearing some shorts, a pair of sandals and a light shirt on warmer days. Along with his blue eyes and boyish looks, he could lighten up anyone's day. Unfortunately, as a ghost he seems to render quite the opposite effect on the things around him. The color in his eyes, skin and hair have been reduced to melancholy shades of gray, a sad image of what he once was. Although he chooses to seem as human as possible (not showing off the wounds that caused his death or other gruesome sights), the eerie soulmist that gathers untamed around his transparent body constantly reminds him of what he's lost. Character Concept Vance's once upbeat, somewhat naive attitude is now overshadowed by the guilt and loneliness he harbors as a dead man. He is easily and quickly attached to various things, hence why he cannot move on to the afterlife. Despite his melancholy attitude and extremely unstable behavior, he means only good to come to the living. He tries to befriend humans to calm his loneliness, but his temperamental ghost tendencies can still bring unintentional harm to people. Especially since he wasn't a very rational thinker even alive, he can be very naive about most things, leaving him gullible and very emotionally fragile.

[Vance]

History [too long, must fix] Being the youngest child in a family of seven left little time for Vance's parents to care for him, who instead had his siblings supervise him as a child. They were farmers in the outskirts of Syliras, which meant Vance would spent most of his time out in the open, a feature of the countryside he could not get enough of. His childhood was very carefree, not needing to help too much around the farm as long as his hands were too small. When he was about ten, his father figured he had enough children to continue the family business and decided to send Vance out to pursue a different career. He sent him to live with his widow aunt in the city, who had inherited enough money to take care of herself and Vance with relative ease. Even though he had been looking forward to living in the city, it was at this point that he discovered he had a pretty bad case of claustrophobia. In narrow streets and smaller rooms, he had trouble adjusting to his new life there. He spent most of his time outside, learning to befriend the locals. His aunt never demanded much from him, and he lived his pre-adolescent life pretty carefree (apart from the nausea from being in closed spaces). In his teenage years, Vance had learned to deal with his claustrophobia by learning to climb buildings proficiently to find open spaces. Along with his best friend Eames, they enjoyed the rebellious stage of their teenage years tremendously. Pulling pranks and breaking into homes, they loved to sneak around and mess with people's minds. Vance particularly enjoyed bar fights, and although he made sure never to start one, having brawls with drunk people (occasionally drunk himself) was one of his favorite pass-times. His aunt, who usually let him decide what was best for him on his own, started to urge him to get a job once he reached Eighteen years old. He didn't want to cross her especially since she had been so kind to him growing up, but he found it hard to resist the thrill of trespassing stealthily around Syliras or just getting into random fights. Seeking a way to distract him from his bad habits, his aunt decided to introduce him to a family friend's daughter, Liddy. Although he was reluctant to the idea, Liddy was the first to break the ice by asking the locals where he'd go during the day and meeting up with him herself. She was as impulsive as he was, but her spontaneity was driven by rationality while he was fueled by his emotions. Once they started spending time together, their relationship evolved quickly as though they were destined to be together. They soon fell in love, and by the time he was nineteen, Vance married Liddy. His claustrophobia still had him leaving the house as much possible, having fun with either Eames, Liddy, or both. He did manage to find a job as a bartender, and succeeded in calming down his urges to get into fights, since it was the one thing Liddy would not approve of. Four years passed rather smoothly, Vance still madly in love with Liddy and best friends with Eames. On this particular day, the 42nd of spring to be exact, he was working his usual job at the bar; nothing appeared to be out of order. There were the locals, having their routine fun as always, a couple of newcomers, and Eames to keep Vance company. One man in particular was wearing a coat too large for him and ordering up more drinks the second he finished chugging down the previous ones. A little further into the night, one of the locals came up to the bar to order more drinks, bumping into the man, who was pretty drunk, but seemed to hold his liquor well enough. Although it was only a small bump, it was enough to rustle the feathers of two drunk men, who started insulting each other with no apparent logic. When push started coming to shove, the people around were getting interested and Vance's manager asked him to kick the man out before a brawl started. He walked over between the two men and asked the man in the coat to step outside, telling him he's had enough to drink. Obviously he didn't much agree with him, trying to push Vance aside, who held fast and started dragging him towards the door. After a moment of useless struggling, the drunken man's eyes lit up as he thought of a solution, reached into his abnormally large coat and pulled out a knife, burying it into Vance's belly before he could have time to react. He could barely remember anything after this except for the fact that over the pain he felt coursing through his body, his thoughts were begging not to die, to be separated from his life with Liddy and all the people he held dear. He wanted to build a family, grow old with his wife and die together. Clearly, he got what he wanted, but not in the way he'd expect it. --AD (After Death)-- Vance would have still believed he was alive if he didn't see his own body right in front of him, with most of the people he knew surrounding it, dressed in black and mourning his loss. At first he was too confused and preferred not to advertise the fact that he was still here, or something along those lines. He didn't know much about ghosts. He seeked out his killer (like most ghosts would) only to find that the man was already dead, murdered by Eames, who had witnessed the unpredictable scene. He wanted to take advantage of his "reincarnation", and reunite with Liddy, who obviously didn't share his expectations. Reacting at first with fright, she eventually got used to his presence but that didn't mean she enjoyed it. She cried more than when she didn't see him and begged him to move on. Unfortunately, his ability to comprehend her grief was limited by his race, and he failed to understand feelings that were not his own. He tried to materialize for her, promising he would soon learn how to do it well enough so that she couldn't even tell the difference. He tried possessing bodies too, but all these attempts only worsened her anguish. He wouldn't leave her except to go find a suitable body to possess, and one day after returning without having found anyone weak enough, he found Eames there, urging him not to come inside. Vance would go visit his friend while he was a ghost too, and he seemed to deal with it better than Liddy did, but this time he seemed borderline scared of Vance. He paid no attention to his clearly disturbed friend and walked inside and found the silhouette of his wife, hanging by the neck from one of the rafters. Filled with inexplicable emotions of despair, his uncontrollable soulmist turbulently lost its smooth texture and smashed all the objects in the room in its telekinetic rage. Eames, in the midst of all this, first begged Vance to calm down; he quickly realized the ghost would not listen and fled the scene before the angry soul could direct its fury upon him. After a couple weeks, Eames found that Vance still refused to leave this world, feeling too guilty to stop mourning over the loss of Liddy. He tried to reason with Vance, telling him that if he stayed he could only bring harm to himself and others. In a moment of lucidity, he asked his friend what he could do to free himself of his guilt. Eames, at first surprised that the ghost would listen, simply told him: You have to leave.

[Vance]

Training (Skills, Arcana, Gnosis, Lore) Skills points Materialization 20 (SP, +10 racial bonus) Possession 15 (SP) Soulmist Projection 10 (SP) Brawling 10 (SP) Stealth 5 (SP) Lore Various cocktails of alcoholic beverages Geography of Syliras Equipment and Possessions None(Ghost) Ledger None(Ghost) Language Fluent: Common Thread List Date Thread Notes 55th [The Stone Garden] Dancing for the Dead (Vance, Open) - 69th [Ethereal Notions] Do Not Go Gently (Vance) -