(no subject)
Sep. 18th, 2015 04:51 pm✖ PLAYER INFORMATION
From the Network that brought you "Selfies" and "Oddly Specific Advertising."
Handle: lyn
Age: old
Contact: plurk at thornmallow
Current Characters: n/a
✖ CHARACTER INFORMATION
From the Network that brought you "It's Not Really Emotional Over-Investment" and "Crying About Fictional People."
Name: Fenris
Canon: Dragon Age II
Canon Point: Post-game
Age: Probably early 30s
Initial Housing: WHATEVER U FEEL LIKE
History: Link!
Personality: Like anyone, Fenris's personality is heavily informed by experience and memory. Unfortunately, his memories--and lack thereof--have left him troubled, vengeful, and afraid. His early life is a mystery to him; he has pieces of it only in fits and starts, and in what little scraps he gathers from the (altogether terrible) people who knew them then.
His solid memories start from the moment he acquired a series of magical markings all over his body, the lyrium tattoos, a process he describes as sheer agony. The absolute trauma of the process may have interfered with his memory up to that point--or he may have endured another experiment specifically designed to force him to forget. In any case, Fenris's life after this point built the foundation of his identity.
It was not a pleasant foundation.
Danarius, a powerful Tevinter magister, owned Fenris until his eventual escape. The length of their time together is not specified, but it was significant. Fenris acted as Danarius's bodyguard, sommelier, bed partner, foot rest ... in essence, whatever Danarius wanted, at the moment he wanted it. Fenris was also tormented by Hadriana, Danarius's apprentice; she would deprive him of food and disrupt his sleep, simply out of sheer cruelty, knowing that a mere slave had no power to stop her.
Eventually, Fenris flees and makes his way to Kirkwall. Throughout his flight, he's pursued by slavers and mercenaries hired by Danarius to recapture him. It's during one of these times that he meets Marian Hawke and the rest of her friends. Hawke et al had walked into a trap set for him, and then agreed to assault Danarius's Hightown mansion afterwards. This meeting proves fateful, because it sets the course for nearly the next decade of Fenris's life -- though Marian is, unfortunately, a mage.
Even after his successful escape and his new group of (sort of kind of) friends, Fenris has a difficult time breaking free of the scars slavery has left on him. To the average person, Fenris comes off as quietly intense, brooding; direct in his thoughts and unswerving in his opinions. He distrusts magic on principle and has no love lost for mages as a whole. To his mind, every mage is a ticking time bomb, a person with power who will--if not now, then eventually--do anything to amass more and more of it. Like many in Thedas, he views blood magic as an order of evil above the rest. He witnessed its depravity regularly in Tevinter, where the practice might be publicly frowned upon but is privately widespread.
He has seen slaves sacrificed for something as trivial as a party trick; he has seen the innocent and the downtrodden crushed, physically and spiritually, by the magisters that bind them. Nothing good can come of magic, and very little good comes of the people who use it (with a few admitted exceptions).
But Fenris's hatred of magic and mages is also a focus for the much deeper, darker sea of rage, fear, and hatred that burns poisonous in his blood. As a slave, he was forced to keep the truth of his feelings, of his pain and despair, suppressed and locked down. He hates the awful emotions that dominate his thinking, wants to be free of them as badly as he wanted to break his actual chains. But the former process is long and arduous, and--unfortunately--not solved by simply killing the people who harmed him.
In fact, the more Fenris learns of his past, and the more he directly confronts it, the more confused and upset he becomes. When he hunts down Hadriana, she tries to use information about his sister as leverage. Enraged, Fenris promises he won't kill her, hears what she has to say, and then kills her regardless.
He receives no true satisfaction from this, and angrily shrugs off any attempts to comfort him or talk about the situation. Fenris had expected that striking down Hadriana and, ultimately, Danarius, would give him the true peace of mind he's seeking. But it hasn't, and it leaves him just as frustrated and distant as before. He expected relief, at least, but he doesn't feel even that. Instead, he's frustrated, confused, aimless. He's free, but he doesn't know what to do with his freedom. He's never truly had to make his own decisions, and he's paralyzed at the thought of doing so. He stays in the decrepit mansion where he sought Danarius until the end of the game, despite repeated attempts by various friends to get him to move. He refuses, not wholly out of obstinacy. The mansion, while a little bit disgusting, is familiar. It's easy. He doesn't have to think about it. So he stays.
Learning of his sister, Varania, doesn't help matters. She's his only remaining family, and he finds out that she betrayed him to Danarius for the chance at an apprenticeship. Hawke prevented Fenris from killing her, and he learned something even more upsetting: after repeatedly insisting that the lyrium markings were forced on him, Varania tells him that he actually competed for them as a way to earn a boon. He used the boon to free her and his mother from slavery, but she tells him that the gift was not so great as he might imagine.
Fenris thought meeting his sister would lead to a new beginning, but Varania only brought him more pain and confusion. How can he forge an identity from such a messy past, from memories either half-forgotten or unimaginably painful? How can he make choices when he has no sense of autonomy? These are issues he's just beginning to confront by the game's conclusion. He does know that he isn't alone: he counts Hawke as a true friend, and he's warmly disposed to several of Hawke's companions, as well.
It's important to note that despite his bitterness and general gloomy disposition, Fenris is not without humor, nor is he incapable of socialization. He'll laugh at a good joke, sometimes even if it's at his expense. He plays cards regularly with Varric and with Aveline's husband, Donnic; he enjoys Isabela's lively company. When he forms a friendship with someone, his loyalty is absolute, regardless of ideological differences. When Hawke fought to protect the mages from the templars, Fenris followed her. It didn't mean that he's revised his opinion on magic--he hasn't. But Hawke mattered more than his beliefs, and, being a mage, she also convinced him that some mages were strong enough to carry their burden.
Fenris likes to be understood, not mollified through platitudes. He isn't great at the comfort game himself (when Hawke's mother died, he just admitted that he didn't know what to say, and that he was sorry), and he doesn't like it when someone responds to his troubles as though he's a child in need of a hug. Rather, he prefers to have his problems acknowledged as real. He doesn't deny that he tends to dwell, but he can't help it. People are constructs of their memories, and his are mostly godawful.
His past infects him right down to his movements. Where others might stand and be idle, Fenris fidgets. He shifts his weight. Looks behind him, from side to side, as though he's expecting an ambush at any moment. It's not an unfounded mindset: until Danarius's death, he was under constant and very real threat. And afterward -- well, old habits are hard to break.
Finally, it's important to note that his positive relationships were all years in the making. He can and will warm up to new people; it just takes time. Fortunately, he doesn't require perfect love and perfect trust to fight at someone's side. He's able to look past his personal prejudices when there's a task to accomplish, particularly if someone he respects ( ... Hawke) assigned him the job.
Fenris is particularly concerned with the plight of the innocents and the disenfranchised. Or, more accurately, the groups he sees as innocent and disenfranchised (mages are always excluded). He favors help for the poor, kindness to the enslaved, and merciless justice to the slavers.
The burden of his past is a heavy weight, and he still hasn't cast it off yet. He wants to, though. He's trying.
In terms of specific playthrough decisions that may give him a slightly altered reality with respect to other Dragon Age characters:
Fenris knew and befriended a diplomatic/helpful Marian Hawke. They were excellent friends, and she gave him both the book about Shartan and the Blade of Mercy. However, he was not romanced in any way, and as such he does not arrive with the ability to read. Hawke helped him through all of his companion quests, with the following results:
-let Fenris kill Hadriana; hired Orana as a paid servant
-killed Danarius rather than give up Fenris
-prevented Fenris from killing Varania
Hawke chose to defend the mages against the templars, and she allowed Anders to live and join them in the fight. Fenris didn't exactly agree with either decision, but he followed Hawke's lead nevertheless.
After the events of DA II, he separated from the group and went on to hunt Tevinter slavers in various parts of Thedas.
Abilities: LYRIUM GHOST: Fenris has been inked up with a set of lyrium tattoos that run over most of his body. They grant him a number of special abilities; in particular, he is able to phase through solid matter and control the degree to which he's phased. Most often, he uses this power to jam his fist inside someone's chest and either grab their heart (useful for interrogation) or rip it out entirely. Aside from his phasing abilities, he's also an extremely competent warrior (using a 2h sword).
Tevinter Fugitive
Two-Handed
Inventory:
Leather armor
Some elfroot potions
AND HIS SWORD THAT WILL BE CRUELLY TAKEN
✖ SAMPLES
From the Network that brought you "Words: Some Sentences" and "Accidentally Posting a Video is Pretty Hard, Honestly."
Network: WELL THE GRAMMAR IS BAD BUT THE SENTENCES ARE MOSTLY COMPLETE.
Log:
Fenris is not happy. It could be accurately said that he is rarely ever happy, but right now, in this moment, his distaste for just about everything has reached new heights. He's been dragged away from work, important work, and now he's--well, he's not sure. An object of entertainment, if he understands what he's been told correctly. Fenris paces the strange, empty streets of this artificial town, glaring at anyone who so much as makes prolonged eye contact. He doesn't want to talk. He doesn't want to perform. There's work to be done, but not here. Not among these foreigners, these fellow prisoners.
Fenris was a slave for a long time. He understands timing, strategy. An outright assault on these people wouldn't be productive; it was certainly never an option in Tevinter. Escaping this place would require knowledge and subtlety. He'll have to play along, at least for now.
But he doesn't have to be happy about it.
From the Network that brought you "Selfies" and "Oddly Specific Advertising."
Handle: lyn
Age: old
Contact: plurk at thornmallow
Current Characters: n/a
✖ CHARACTER INFORMATION
From the Network that brought you "It's Not Really Emotional Over-Investment" and "Crying About Fictional People."
Name: Fenris
Canon: Dragon Age II
Canon Point: Post-game
Age: Probably early 30s
Initial Housing: WHATEVER U FEEL LIKE
History: Link!
Personality: Like anyone, Fenris's personality is heavily informed by experience and memory. Unfortunately, his memories--and lack thereof--have left him troubled, vengeful, and afraid. His early life is a mystery to him; he has pieces of it only in fits and starts, and in what little scraps he gathers from the (altogether terrible) people who knew them then.
His solid memories start from the moment he acquired a series of magical markings all over his body, the lyrium tattoos, a process he describes as sheer agony. The absolute trauma of the process may have interfered with his memory up to that point--or he may have endured another experiment specifically designed to force him to forget. In any case, Fenris's life after this point built the foundation of his identity.
It was not a pleasant foundation.
Danarius, a powerful Tevinter magister, owned Fenris until his eventual escape. The length of their time together is not specified, but it was significant. Fenris acted as Danarius's bodyguard, sommelier, bed partner, foot rest ... in essence, whatever Danarius wanted, at the moment he wanted it. Fenris was also tormented by Hadriana, Danarius's apprentice; she would deprive him of food and disrupt his sleep, simply out of sheer cruelty, knowing that a mere slave had no power to stop her.
Eventually, Fenris flees and makes his way to Kirkwall. Throughout his flight, he's pursued by slavers and mercenaries hired by Danarius to recapture him. It's during one of these times that he meets Marian Hawke and the rest of her friends. Hawke et al had walked into a trap set for him, and then agreed to assault Danarius's Hightown mansion afterwards. This meeting proves fateful, because it sets the course for nearly the next decade of Fenris's life -- though Marian is, unfortunately, a mage.
Even after his successful escape and his new group of (sort of kind of) friends, Fenris has a difficult time breaking free of the scars slavery has left on him. To the average person, Fenris comes off as quietly intense, brooding; direct in his thoughts and unswerving in his opinions. He distrusts magic on principle and has no love lost for mages as a whole. To his mind, every mage is a ticking time bomb, a person with power who will--if not now, then eventually--do anything to amass more and more of it. Like many in Thedas, he views blood magic as an order of evil above the rest. He witnessed its depravity regularly in Tevinter, where the practice might be publicly frowned upon but is privately widespread.
He has seen slaves sacrificed for something as trivial as a party trick; he has seen the innocent and the downtrodden crushed, physically and spiritually, by the magisters that bind them. Nothing good can come of magic, and very little good comes of the people who use it (with a few admitted exceptions).
But Fenris's hatred of magic and mages is also a focus for the much deeper, darker sea of rage, fear, and hatred that burns poisonous in his blood. As a slave, he was forced to keep the truth of his feelings, of his pain and despair, suppressed and locked down. He hates the awful emotions that dominate his thinking, wants to be free of them as badly as he wanted to break his actual chains. But the former process is long and arduous, and--unfortunately--not solved by simply killing the people who harmed him.
In fact, the more Fenris learns of his past, and the more he directly confronts it, the more confused and upset he becomes. When he hunts down Hadriana, she tries to use information about his sister as leverage. Enraged, Fenris promises he won't kill her, hears what she has to say, and then kills her regardless.
He receives no true satisfaction from this, and angrily shrugs off any attempts to comfort him or talk about the situation. Fenris had expected that striking down Hadriana and, ultimately, Danarius, would give him the true peace of mind he's seeking. But it hasn't, and it leaves him just as frustrated and distant as before. He expected relief, at least, but he doesn't feel even that. Instead, he's frustrated, confused, aimless. He's free, but he doesn't know what to do with his freedom. He's never truly had to make his own decisions, and he's paralyzed at the thought of doing so. He stays in the decrepit mansion where he sought Danarius until the end of the game, despite repeated attempts by various friends to get him to move. He refuses, not wholly out of obstinacy. The mansion, while a little bit disgusting, is familiar. It's easy. He doesn't have to think about it. So he stays.
Learning of his sister, Varania, doesn't help matters. She's his only remaining family, and he finds out that she betrayed him to Danarius for the chance at an apprenticeship. Hawke prevented Fenris from killing her, and he learned something even more upsetting: after repeatedly insisting that the lyrium markings were forced on him, Varania tells him that he actually competed for them as a way to earn a boon. He used the boon to free her and his mother from slavery, but she tells him that the gift was not so great as he might imagine.
Fenris thought meeting his sister would lead to a new beginning, but Varania only brought him more pain and confusion. How can he forge an identity from such a messy past, from memories either half-forgotten or unimaginably painful? How can he make choices when he has no sense of autonomy? These are issues he's just beginning to confront by the game's conclusion. He does know that he isn't alone: he counts Hawke as a true friend, and he's warmly disposed to several of Hawke's companions, as well.
It's important to note that despite his bitterness and general gloomy disposition, Fenris is not without humor, nor is he incapable of socialization. He'll laugh at a good joke, sometimes even if it's at his expense. He plays cards regularly with Varric and with Aveline's husband, Donnic; he enjoys Isabela's lively company. When he forms a friendship with someone, his loyalty is absolute, regardless of ideological differences. When Hawke fought to protect the mages from the templars, Fenris followed her. It didn't mean that he's revised his opinion on magic--he hasn't. But Hawke mattered more than his beliefs, and, being a mage, she also convinced him that some mages were strong enough to carry their burden.
Fenris likes to be understood, not mollified through platitudes. He isn't great at the comfort game himself (when Hawke's mother died, he just admitted that he didn't know what to say, and that he was sorry), and he doesn't like it when someone responds to his troubles as though he's a child in need of a hug. Rather, he prefers to have his problems acknowledged as real. He doesn't deny that he tends to dwell, but he can't help it. People are constructs of their memories, and his are mostly godawful.
His past infects him right down to his movements. Where others might stand and be idle, Fenris fidgets. He shifts his weight. Looks behind him, from side to side, as though he's expecting an ambush at any moment. It's not an unfounded mindset: until Danarius's death, he was under constant and very real threat. And afterward -- well, old habits are hard to break.
Finally, it's important to note that his positive relationships were all years in the making. He can and will warm up to new people; it just takes time. Fortunately, he doesn't require perfect love and perfect trust to fight at someone's side. He's able to look past his personal prejudices when there's a task to accomplish, particularly if someone he respects ( ... Hawke) assigned him the job.
Fenris is particularly concerned with the plight of the innocents and the disenfranchised. Or, more accurately, the groups he sees as innocent and disenfranchised (mages are always excluded). He favors help for the poor, kindness to the enslaved, and merciless justice to the slavers.
The burden of his past is a heavy weight, and he still hasn't cast it off yet. He wants to, though. He's trying.
In terms of specific playthrough decisions that may give him a slightly altered reality with respect to other Dragon Age characters:
Fenris knew and befriended a diplomatic/helpful Marian Hawke. They were excellent friends, and she gave him both the book about Shartan and the Blade of Mercy. However, he was not romanced in any way, and as such he does not arrive with the ability to read. Hawke helped him through all of his companion quests, with the following results:
-let Fenris kill Hadriana; hired Orana as a paid servant
-killed Danarius rather than give up Fenris
-prevented Fenris from killing Varania
Hawke chose to defend the mages against the templars, and she allowed Anders to live and join them in the fight. Fenris didn't exactly agree with either decision, but he followed Hawke's lead nevertheless.
After the events of DA II, he separated from the group and went on to hunt Tevinter slavers in various parts of Thedas.
Abilities: LYRIUM GHOST: Fenris has been inked up with a set of lyrium tattoos that run over most of his body. They grant him a number of special abilities; in particular, he is able to phase through solid matter and control the degree to which he's phased. Most often, he uses this power to jam his fist inside someone's chest and either grab their heart (useful for interrogation) or rip it out entirely. Aside from his phasing abilities, he's also an extremely competent warrior (using a 2h sword).
Tevinter Fugitive
Two-Handed
Inventory:
Leather armor
Some elfroot potions
AND HIS SWORD THAT WILL BE CRUELLY TAKEN
✖ SAMPLES
From the Network that brought you "Words: Some Sentences" and "Accidentally Posting a Video is Pretty Hard, Honestly."
Network: WELL THE GRAMMAR IS BAD BUT THE SENTENCES ARE MOSTLY COMPLETE.
Log:
Fenris is not happy. It could be accurately said that he is rarely ever happy, but right now, in this moment, his distaste for just about everything has reached new heights. He's been dragged away from work, important work, and now he's--well, he's not sure. An object of entertainment, if he understands what he's been told correctly. Fenris paces the strange, empty streets of this artificial town, glaring at anyone who so much as makes prolonged eye contact. He doesn't want to talk. He doesn't want to perform. There's work to be done, but not here. Not among these foreigners, these fellow prisoners.
Fenris was a slave for a long time. He understands timing, strategy. An outright assault on these people wouldn't be productive; it was certainly never an option in Tevinter. Escaping this place would require knowledge and subtlety. He'll have to play along, at least for now.
But he doesn't have to be happy about it.
