Felthuen Snowsong

[Felthuen Snowsong]

Felthuen Snowsong Appearance Race: Vantha Gender: Male Age: 27 Birthday: 42nd of Winter, 486AV Birthplace: Snowsong Hold, Avanthal Appearance: Felthuen is of average height for a male Vantha, roughly 5’9”, with olive-colored skin. Black hair rests atop his head which he likes to keep cut short and manageable, though if it was let to grow out it would likely be curly like his father’s. Felthuen’s hair shimmers with highlights of violet colors, the same as his mother’s does. Like many Vantha, Felthuen has long and slender fingers which give him a bit of an edge when it comes to using instruments like the flute or the harp; plucking the strings or covering the holes with practiced and dexterous ease. His hands aren’t as calloused as one might expect to find on one of his people; he was always more interested in holding a music book than a spear when living in Avanthal. Felthuen is slim but firm; he might not win any wrestling competitions or be able to throw a good punch, but he is wiry and agile and has wiggled and wormed his way out of more than one escalating situation in the past. Character Concept Calm and collected would be the words to describe Felthuen. He doesn’t talk unless he has something to say or feels like sharing one of his many witty (at least in his mind) comments on the odd subject. He thinks in rather simple terms; there’s right, there’s wrong, and there’s room in between to wiggle a bit. He is, in the simplest terms, a storyteller. His life revolved around stories and the act of collecting them. His worldview narrows down to the idea that nothing matters more than an interesting story and he will do anything to find or invent one he finds intriguing. He doesn’t care if it’s forbidden for him to know it or speak of it; Felthuen believes that all stories are meant to be told, all information shared through lute and song and he couldn’t give a rat’s ass about others opinions’ on him for his methods in acquiring and spreading those stories. Felthuen fancies himself something of a vagabond or a rake; charming and suave with a flair for the dramatic. In reality he’s neither suave or ostensibly charming, but he makes up for it with a strong gift in oration and an endearing nature. He’s honest if nothing else and, at heart, a romantic. His favorite tales and songs were always about love and loss and those are his favorite to perform in front of a crowd. His reserved nature disappears and his voice gains in volume and strength whenever he is performing or storytelling. He is a true bard in the fact that he uses his music to his every advantage; to stir up emotion in others and play upon their metaphorical heartstrings – sometimes for amusement, other times to test his abilities, and sometimes to make his audience feel a connection to what he tells them. Though not malicious by nature, Felthuen is a creature motivated by lore and knowledge and is willing to get his hands a touch dirty in order to gain more of either commodity. He often jokes that somewhere in his family tree there must have been a Svefra influence, explaining his feelings of wanderlust and inability to sit still for too long. This feeling of wanderlust set in during his teenage years and Felthuen yearns to travel and see more of the world that he has heard tales of in Snowsong hold. He wants nothing more than to travel and obtain more stories and myths to tell himself, to create new music and songs through his experiences – maybe one day write a song that will become a part of the very lore he loves, sung by future bards. Felthuen is not a dream-filled fool, though; his first duty is to his god, Rhaus, his second to his family, and his third to his own wishes and desires. It’s only after he is sure that the first two duties are taken care of that he will take care of his personal dreams. The bard has something of a contradictory character. He wants nothing more than to travel and to learn all there is to learn, but he would give up all of his knowledge and musical ability for his mother or father. He has a glib, sarcastic tongue coupled with a quick wit, but instead of being loud and boisterous like most bards would, he keeps his humor quiet and retained unless in front of an audience. Felthuen has recently found a love of fencing, yet rarely will pull his rapier from its scabbard unless absolutely necessary. He enjoys music for its ability to make him and those around him feel careless, but he uses it just the same to make them care and feel wrapped up in the stories he tells, manipulating them as it were. Paradoxical is a term that could describe the young bard for such reasons as these. At his most basic levels, Felthuen is a bard, through and through. He loves his music and the effect it has on others and he takes untold pleasure in gathering stories and sharing them with others. He likes learning how people tick and how to use that to his advantage when performing. He is simply trying to survive in a harsh, strange world outside of Avanthal using his wit and his music as best he can. Character History Felthuen’s mother, Aeyani, was of the Skyglow hold before she was betrothed to Fidelien of Snowsong hold. Aeyani was an artist, a painter, while Fidelien was a poet, the two meeting and finding a kindred spirit in the other. Both loved art, even if their mediums differed, and both had a passion for the region in which they lived. Fidelien would write beautiful songs and poems about the night sky and the white landscape while Aeyani would paint the images that he put words to. They were married within a year of meeting in 485AV, both families pleased with the arrangement, and Felthuen was born in the winter of 486AV in Snowsong Hold. The first sound he heard was that of the howling wind across the plains outside; the natural music of his peoples’ beautiful land. Growing up in Avanthal was an enjoyable time for Felthuen. He learned of the Vantha culture from his father and his side of the family, learning the songs and stories, and he received a religious education and appreciation of artistic expression from his mother. Both of his parents were devout followers of Morwen and Rhaus, and that was what they encouraged their son to follow as well. Though he grew to have a strong appreciation of Morwen and did pray to her often, he was much more invested and fervent in his prayers to the God of music. During the winter seasons, the Snowsong hold was filled with people, all bunching together in rooms to hear tales and be entertained by music during the long days. This was when Felthuen began to really find his love of music and stories, hearing the friends and family around him play instruments and sing. They spun tales of their ancestry and of lore that only the Vantha could know and could ever hope to remember. It’s often said that a Vantha can turn the telling of the days’ events into an epic tale over the dinner table, and Felthuen is one such Vantha. He was notorious for telling wild tales amongst the other children in the Hold, usually in the form of a song accompanied by a flute that his father had had made for him. This was the time when Felthuen completely took up worship of Rhaus, the deity that spoke to him more closely than even Morwen could. He still gave Morwen respect and prayers from time to time, but his prayers to Rhaus were spoken every night and every morning without failure. When Felthuen was around the age of fifteen he was given a book by his mother that marked the beginning of the end for the musical child. The book was a collection of stories from around the world; it had come into the hold when a tradesman had stayed with them during a particularly nasty storm. It was through this book that a sense of wanderlust and a dreamy notion of becoming a travelling bard instilled themselves into Felthuen. As he grew older, the feeling only increased in intensity and a determination began to creep into the young bard’s mind. When he was able and ready, he would travel to the places he had read of in his favorite book. When Felthuen turned twenty, he was finally able to act upon his desire to travel. A few older members of the Snowsong hold were planning to leave on a trip away from Avanthal and to Syliras, simply to travel for a time and to sell some of their beautiful carvings. Felthuen decided to accompany the group, bidding his mother and father farewell and promising to return soon. The young man travelled with the group all the way to Syliras by boat, acting the part of entertainer with a fellow bard aboard the ship. Between the two of them, they kept the group on the vessel distracted and amused with their tales and songs during the long journey. It was through this fellow bard, Dhariel, which Felthuen learned more of playing the flute and how to better perform with his skills. Dhariel even taught him how to use his music to influence the actions and emotions of those around him through a kind of hypnotism. Dhariel was, by no means, an adept wizard, but he did impart to the young Felthuen the basic principles behind the abilities of a bard and how to manipulate through their stories and songs. Felthuen spent three years away from Avanthal, plying his trade as a bard to entertain and sustain himself by working taverns. He even made his way to the Suvan Sea at one point when he met a group of Svefra who agreed to teach him their stories in exchange for his own. He spent some time on their Palivar sailing vessel and learned of the Svefra culture firsthand, even learning how to handle a rapier with the younger members of the pod. He even gained an appreciation of Laviku, whom he began to include in his prayers at night while he was aboard their ship. To this day he will still offer her the occasional prayer to keep his Svefra friends safe in their journeys. When he was twenty-three, in the spring of 509AV, Felthuen departed the Svefra pod and, with fond farewells, returned on a different ship from Sylira to Avanthal, coming home to a relieved and happy family. Felthuen spent the next five years reacquainting himself with the Vantha lore and mythos, practicing his skills until he felt confident to take them to other cities once more. The sense of wanderlust he had kept bottled up inside over the years was finally bubbling up again and he didn’t want to fight it any longer. He wished to travel once more and gain in knowledge, find new stories and write new songs to perform and bring back to his people. After viewing a little bit of the world outside of Avanthal, Felthuen wanted more out of life than to simply stay in Snowsong hold and retell the same stories again and again. Packing his sparse belongings, Felthuen bid his family goodbye once more and left with another trading caravan leaving for Syliras. From there he was free to choose where he wished to go and the first stop on his list of places to visit was Zeltiva; home to a University filled with knowledge and stories, not to mention the city itself contained pre-Valterrian lore the bard would have killed for! Having heard stories of the eastern coast city from the Svefra, Felthuen could think of no better place to start his travels and begin his assembling his body of work. He only recently arrived in Zeltiva in the Summer of 514AV. Language Fluent Language: Vani Basic Language: Common Poor Language: Fratava Skills Skill EXP Total Proficiency Storytelling 10 RB, 16 SP 26 T Competent Hypnotism 10 SP 10 T Novice Singing 9 SP 9 T Novice Weapon: Rapier 5 SP 5 T Novice Play Musical Instrument (Flute) 10 SP 10 T Novice Lores Lore of Vantha Culture Lore of Svefra Culture Possessions 1 Set of Clothing -Simple Black Shirt -Simple Black Pants -Simple Undergarments -Simple Black Coat -Simple Black Boots 1 Waterskin 1 Backpack which contains: -Comb (Wood) -Brush (Wood) -Soap -Razor -Balanced Rations (1 Week's worth) -1 eating knife -Flint & Steel 100 Gold Mizas Heirloom: Mizahar Stories and Myths (Book) Housing Location: Zeltiva House: Flat, roughly 20x20, includes a hearth, bunk, chest, chair, and table. Ledger Purchase Cost Total Starting +100 GM 100 GM Music Book -4GM 96GM Metal Flute -15GM 81GM Rapier -20GM 61GM Scabbard -4GM 57GM Holy Symbol (Wooden) -1GM 56GM Broad-Brim Hat -4GM 52GM Half Cape -1GM 51GM Speaking Horn -4GM 47GM Flute Instrument Case (Good) -7GM 5SM 39GM 5 SM Blank Book -3GM 36GM 5 SM Thread List Link your current & past threads here!