Name: Valandil Shadowdeath {Note the similarity to Valleran. His first name means some thing along the lines of "Death Giver"}
Age: Older than you
Sex: Male
Occupation: Mercenary/Assassin
Status: Wandering Exiled Human Knight
Origin: Pre-Calendae era
Appearance:
A gangly man, Valandil is youthful looking despite his age. Long blonde hair and blue eyes make him seem like a classic nobility poster-boy. If you ignore his body. At six three, he is tall, but his body is rippled with muscle. Arcane tattoos are burned into his arms, and some are rumored to have magical blessings. Scars crisscross his body, twisting and maiming his appearance. Long arms, and longer legs give him a lanky appearance, but his coordination makes him look almost graceful.
He generally wears all black leathers, with metal discs sewn into it, for added protection. The sleeveless jerkin leaves his tattoos exposed. He also has matte-black bracers and greaves, which protect his wrists and shins.
Having lost his magical blade, and his Knight's-Armor, he bears identical black-steel blades; both are three feet long, and only half as wide as a man's palm. Double edged steel, no matter which way they are wielded them they had a place for him to stab with. Blood grooves run almost to the tip, as do the tang. The swords also have no cross-guard, which while leaving his hands vulnerable, prevented stronger foes from catching and ripping his blade free. They are one crossed belts with the hilts coming over each shoulder. He has a knife of black steel in each boot, and two longknives on his waist belt.
Strengths:
Experience of Age
Knowledge of Elvish Culture & Language
Swordsmanship
Speed
Weaknesses:
Exiled from Man Culture
Arrogance
Suffers from a fatal, incurable disease
High Resistance to Curative Magics
Wanted by many powerful people for his part as an assassin of a relative
Had his magical sword stolen
Magic:
Valandil has two magical tattoos burned on his flesh, one on each arm. They are an ancient elven spells that were put on his flesh before his land was overrun. The first, allows him passage through the elves former homeland's wards, and marks him as an Elf Friend.
The second, allows him to set fire to items that he holds, or is somehow connected to. The duration and strength of the fire is limited to his own energy.
The third tattoo shows allegiance to the death god Valleran. The fourth, is mearley decorative
Valandil also once had in his possession a magical sword. The blade was capable of cutting through any steel, and had secrets of fire and air within it. However, shortly after the Fall, it was stolen. Valandil has sought it wherever he has gone since.
Personality:
Valandil, unlike most children never had a sense of innocence. He has no lost inner self that once wrote poetry, and recoils at death and destruction. He is a hard person, with little love for anything living but himself. As such he speaks and deals harshly with anyone he meets. Often this gets him into trouble. His one redeeming grace is perhaps the fact that he is known for loyalty. Any employer knows that once hired, only death or lack of their funds will keep Valandil from doing as he promised. He cannot be bought by a rival. This reputation often gives him work over more talented men and women, because they are known for being untrustworthy.
He also feels a sense of duty to the elven kind. Even though there are none left. If he can, he will purge the Cold creatures from the land of the elves, to avenge his father, and his elven friends. The tattoo he bears on his arm is a constant reminder of this to him.
Valandil has a gruff demeanor, that is both harsh and critcal. He makes friends slowly, and even being his froend, or companion will not overly spare you from his foul temper. But hey, if you slept for several centuries, and woke up to find your family, and friends gone wouldn't you be grumpy too?
His desire to see the elves homeland set free, is oddly mirrored in his benevolence towards children. While still gruff to them, he sees their innocence on the same level as that of most elves, and therefore is fond of the wee ones.
History:
Valandil Honorbound was born into the Knight class of men. His father was a knight of great renown, and when Valandil came of age, his father hired the best weapon masters money could buy to train his son. Valadil progressed swiftly, showing a natural aptitude for all manner of blades. In this he was like his father. A weakness for bowman-ship, but a great talent for close combat was a trademark of their family.
His mother was a noble. She was an emissary to the lands of elvesm often receiving into her own home those the elves sent to the lands of men. His father commanded her house troops. Valandil was almost eighteen when he was first allowed to travel over the Serpent Strait, and visit the strange land of the immortals. His mother, was a gifted negotiator, and kept the elven traders and nobles happy.
Then, the elves were attacked by a vicious foe. Creature of ice, who sent its power along the darkness, creating armies of fear and terror. Their unspeakable might appeared in the elven lands, and the elves scrambled to defend themselves. It was here, that young Valandil, only twenty-years old, proved himself as much a warrior as his father. His mother sent her house troops under the command of her husband to aid the elves. Valandil's prowess earned him the tatoo of an Elf-Friend, which marked him as almost one of their kin.
The elven Emperor, led the creating of powerful wards around the elven Isle of Paradise. This ward repelled those who were not of elvish blood, or marked with an arcane tattoo of passage. It also kept their island eternally sunny and peaceful. In short, he created heaven on earth. Mankind reacted poorly to having themselves barred by such a powerful ward, and they retracted their support and trade from the elvish lands. Valandil's mother was prevented from receiving elven visitors, and all elves retreated to their isle.
The ward also attracted the attention of a strange power. Cold itself, having been completely banned from the isle sent its full ire to punish the elves. Ice Drakes and Ice Wurms along with Snow Devils, and Yetis, and other foul creachers appeared amongst the isle. A group of disillusioned elves temporarily cut the magic flow into the Seal of Peace, which held the ward, and eternal winter slipped onto the island. The creatures stormed through the villages, slaying most. And while some men would have come to our aid, they were repelled by the wards reactivation. The elves own borders damned them. When Cold's minions conquered the isle, the wards fell permanently, leaving the borders open to the incurrence of man and cold one again.
Valandil led a company of the House Guards across the sea, in order to save friends, and elves if he could. They were to late. They fought their way to the capital, in time to see it ravaged by the Ice Beasts. There he and his father's companies met up, seeking to save at least some of the fair people. They laoded their boat with refugess, and brought them back to Olencia. The elves settled in modern day Calendae, where Valandil's family ruled. The elves immediatley began plotting the reclaiming of their island.
Valandil and his father pledged their troops in support of the elven cause. Other influential houses did also, The survivng elven troops, and their human counterparts swarmed across the strait. Like a swarm of locusts they swept across the eastern portion of the isle, but then they were ambushed.
Valandil smashed his lance into the chest of one of the Yetis. The giant beast screamed in pain, as the lance's metal tip sought his heart. Valandil felt it lodge in a rib, before the force shattered the wooden haft of the weapon, and sent splinters flying like leaves on an autumn breeze. The force boosted the human knight out of his saddle, and left him lying flat on the ground. The armor encased warrior struggled to his feet, and drew his golden blade. The longsword pulsed with an arcane glow, and a circle of snow melted around him. The magical blade had been given to him by the Emperor for service in the Frozen Campaign. As Valandil drew his blade, the Yeti he had struck turned its baleful gaze on him. The blood had already frozen to its thick white fur, and made it stand out against the white terrain.
A large portion of the lance stood out of its side, and it wheezed as it came at the elven warrior. Valandil looked down, and grasped a large splinter that lay near his boot. Holding it in his right hand, he griped it firmly, and closed his eyes for a moment, turning his attention inside, and into the sword which was an extension of him. After a heartbeat, the splinter in his hand burned with a bright golden fire. After a moment, the broken portion in the Yeti burned merrily as well. The Yeti screamed, and collapsed the fire consuming it slowly.
Valandil stalked into the fray, his magical blade slicing through the ice constructs flesh as if they were nothing but warm butter. He found himself fighting back-to-back with his father, their strokes taking massive tolls on the enemy's forces. An Ice Drake came upon his father, and it bore him to the ground. Valandil spun, his magic blade spinning through a slice to sever the creature's neck. But to was to late, his father lay dead at his feet, and the creature's fangs ripped into Valandil's neck, their poison washing through his body. Valandil crumpled and knew no more.
He awoke, centuries later. His body had been stored in a cellar deep below the House of Calendae, completley forgotten until he awoke. The trance-like state he had been in had kept him alive and unaged over the age he had slept. His family had died out, and his lands had changed. The elves it seemed, having been forced to retreat, had returned and lived in lands given to them by Valandil's father and mother. They had intermingled, and died off leaving no pure race to be had there. And although Valandil was by rights ruler of those lands, he and the nobles in charge refused to put him in power, and Valandil left for a life on the edge.
Only there was a catch. He must gather and prepare a healing potion, known as the Amorigrikpa once every six months, or he would die from the Ice Drake's posion. As it was, the potion would only delay his death. The poison, generally, was simply cured. Unfortunately, Valandil's family also had a history of being resistant to healing magics. The simple spell that would save him had no effect upon his body.
So, missing his armor, his family, his horse, and most importantly his sword, he went into a rage and slew some of his benefactors. This act resulted in his being banned from Calendae, the land of people who-were-almost-elves.
Having no home, and no people, he became a soldier of fortune, traveling the world abroad, killing, stealing adventuring into dangerous territory, in return for money, or ingredients of this life-giving potion. His disease gives him a fearlessness that no other rational mortal can possess. In battle he is uncaring, unfearing for his own body. After all, death is already coming for him. Valleran has marked him. He will claim his due soon enough. In time, because of his skill he began to be more sought after, by more powerful people. He changed his name, so as not to spoil his family honor, and to reflect his new profession.
Men now call him Shadowdeath.
I'm confused. Is he a human, or is he an elf? You could probably elaborate or clarify on that in the Origins part. Actually, you could elaborate on several things - me being picky.
You need at least two paragraphs on his personality, though more might be better. You might add some detail on the strengths and weaknesses, like 'Experience of Age' - what experience? In body, or mind, or soul....
And since I'm confused on the human/elf part, I'll leave your bio alone, though it looks fine to me. And don't forget to put the link to this in your sig. :)
Couple things... :)
Only 1 tattoo, please. And he cannot be described as eternally young -- although the freezing might have left him in the same condition he was when he was frozen, he needs to age now, especially since he is poisoned.
My other concern would be the thing of Shadow... Could we start by saying the ice beasties began to attack, and originally they were able to fight them off (i.e. Valandil's attack, etc.) but then the later the ward created attracted more?
Where was his body all this time? And I don't think that Calandae would offer him inheritance when he woke up. Nobles are stingy, and they like their power, even if technically it was his.
Okay, I think that's all the changes for now... Sorry for being so picky. I know I'm being a clamp on creativity. :(