Solace

Solace (Vantis Nerreta)

About My Character

Background

'Solace' was born of an affair between a Charnese nobleman and a Mul'niessa woman. Dropped on the surprised man's doorstep shortly after birth, he was accepted as House Heir and for the first ten years of his life was raised to all the skills a nobleman should know: deception, intrigue, callous disregard of your lessors, and an absolute understanding of whose boots were on your neck, and what necks you could safely step on. Then, he was tested for arcane abilities and offered the "honor" of being inducted as a Shadow Council apprentice. Over the next fifteen years or so, he was raised to all the skills an artificer should know: deception, intrigue, callous disregard of your lessors (especially when their souls can be used to power technology), and an absolute understand....you get the picture.

While he always had a slow growing distaste for the constant waste and cruelty of Charnese life, even at the top of the heap, it's likely that he would have continued to support his homeland, but something happened. When the events finally resolved themselves, the artificer was on the run, fleeing from Charn with a full-blown disgust for Charn's twisted morality and abuse of its people. Unfortunately, without much to replace it with, he ended up spending the next five years with various Desolation mercenary bands, some of whom were barely better than bandits, themselves.

Just recently, a job had an unexpected windfall, and Solace realized he had a choice: fritter away the money and never progress beyond what he had always been, or go west into the 'civilized' lands, and see if there was something more than himself worth fighting for. He hooked up with a band that was heading to the city of Alexandria, and parted when they reached it.

So far, the city has not been what Solace expected.

Goals

• Currently, Solace would like to find decent employment. Or slightly indecent employment: he's more flexible than some adventurers in the work he will take, as long as it pays well.

• Also, Solace wants to meet people. He's dealing with a lot of culture shock, and some serious contemplation of what kind of person he wants to be. He has an intense interest in the people of Alexandria: how they get along, what they think about things such as good and evil, what actions are considered acceptable in public and private. Sometimes, he can be downright nosy.

Relationships

Solace is closed mouth about any affections he might hold, and tends towards a grumpy, often sardonic demeanor. Nonetheless, he's often seen to appreciate the company of Azog, a Dran oruch, and Svarshan, a sith Sunblade. He and Sandiel have been arrested together at least once, but getting tossed into the cells by the City Guard isn't out of character for either of them, so that might have just been bad luck.

He's a Card-Carrying Member of the Alexandrian Artificer's Hall, and known to much of the local artificer community...if for no other reason than that he sticks out, with his half-Mul coloring and Charn accent. He's been known to get saddled with investigating client complaints at the Hall, and can occasionally be found in Sage Orum's Plaza, threatening artificer fraudsters with various dire fates.

Roleplay Hooks

• Artifice: Solace is an Artificer, and he genuinely loves the craft and theory of artifice. Show any interest in this area, and he will happily ramble on forever.
• Charn: Solace's feelings about his homeland are complicated, and mostly negative. Are you from Charn? If you were there between 30 and 5 years ago, and acquainted with the nobility and/or the Shadow Council, you MIGHT just recognize him under a different name. Are you a slave? Want to take out your anger about the Charn abuses, or perhaps suspect him of being a spy or saboteur? Or maybe you just want to know if Charn is really as bad as they say it is? I am always up for RP in that area.
• Mul'niessa: While Solace is, in general, perfectly happy to work with most of the races of Ea, he has a dislike for and suspicion of the Shadow Elves. Want to take him to task for it? If you're a Mul, there's plenty of opportunities.
• Adventure!: Solace has a death ray, and a small but hopefully growing bag of tricks to take on adventures, and he's too poor to be picky about what adventures those are.
• Mercenaries: Solace used to be a mercenary in the Desolation. He wasn't there long enough to develop a real reputation, especially as he was mostly trying to keep his head down, but if you were there in the last five years or so, you and he might have met! Possibly on the same side...or maybe not.
• Shadow Council: Yeah, Solace was a full-fledged member, under a different name. Although he never rose high enough to have significant personal infamy, if you ran into Black Technologists in Charn, you may very well have had contact with him before he grew a conscience.