Name: Quirin (Rin) Althorne
Age: 21
Sex: Male
Appearance: Skinny, pale and fidgety, it's fairly apparent upon first glancing at Rin that he doesn't spend much time outside. His long, floppy black hair falls in such a way that it often covers one (or both) of his eyes, and his face is set into an almost permanent subdued frown. Though of fairly average height, he tends to give the impression of being smaller than he is by his meek body language and demeanour, often hunching over a little and generally keeping his hazel eyes downcast. Although attractive enough in an effeminate way, his gloomy expression and withdrawn mannerisms tend to detract a shade from what appeal he otherwise would have.
Biography: Rin grew up surrounded by books and knowledge, the son of a librarian of one of Lutetia's great libraries. His mother, Estalpha, kept knowledge of his father (who had left her shortly after his birth) from him when he was young, and though she took pains to educate him well, her attitude towards him was frosty - she reminded him of a man she'd rather not have remembered in quite such a permanent way. The Rin that grew from this treatment and isolation - for he saw little of other children - was meek, timid and lonely. He sought solace in books, and read many a tale of legends both real and imagined, as well as expanding his knowledge in new and unexpected directions.
One such direction was that of magic. Though his mother - a devoute Evequan - had taught him that magic was not to be trusted, he found himself lured by the potential of the mystic arts - especially as he read more tales of the past wherein spellcasters were lauded as opposed to feared - and began to study them in earnest, and in secret. It was his lonely heart that led him towards the path of conjuration: the idea of calling forth companionship too tempting to resist.
Whilst in the daytime he played the part of a good Evequan son, in the midnight hours, he sat in the secluded, lesser visited corners of the library and practised his arts alone, knowing full well how thoroughly his mother would disapprove should they be discovered. He started small, with minor familiars taking the shapes of animals, but soon his confidence grew enough to call on greater and more sapient entities - including those that were most definitely illegal to summon. Some he hastily returned to whence they came, when it became apparent that they were as malicious as the warnings would have had him believe, but others were far more companionable.
In his conjured creatures, he found companionship that humanity had yet to offer him. And so when his mother discovered his dealings, and her shriekings of discipline threatened to have him arrested and forced to dispel his new friends, he chose instead to flee into the night. He was alone for many weeks after that, until his flight brought him to Tiranoth, where he has found a home with ..... [tba]
Strengths:
- Scholarly: Rin has a wealth of knowledge from his many years spent reading in Lutetia's libraries, ranging from history, to magical lore, to political, religious and cultural customs.
- Conjuration: Rin's foremost magical talent lies in the arts of conjuration. He has forged contracts with a number of entities, detailed in the magic section below, who he can call upon should he have need. He is also capable of conjuring other beings, but with less reliable results than those that he already has a rapport with.
- General Arcana: General, multi-purpose magecraft; Rin's wide knowledge of the magical arts allow him to utilise a similarly wide range of magics at a basic level. This largely encompasses relatively minor cantrips, such as animating pens to write for him, unlocking doors, creating magical sensors for scouting purposes, generic magic missiles and other common tricks.
- Innocuous: If there's one thing Rin's good at, it's at going unnoticed. Whilst not quite the same as being stealthy, Rin finds it very easy to blend into crowds and shrink into the background - usually without even really trying.
Weaknesses:
- Weedy: Rin has the physique and constitution of a sheltered bookworm.
- Self-Confidence: Rin is nothing if not a defeatist, and whilst he finds it easy to place faith in others, he finds it more difficult to place faith in himself. This can lead to him underachieving - or even just not trying if he thinks it won't do any good.
- Cowardice: Rin isn't the most valorous of individuals, and is easily cowed. He'd love to say that he'd stick by his friends until the bitter end, but he hasn't really had any friends to test that on so far, and isn't really sure if he'd be telling the truth. Of all his flaws, this is the most likely to change once he has people worth being brave for.
- Social Clumsiness: When you've largely only had spirits and familiars to talk to for most of your life, you tend not to blossom into a social butterfly. Rin puts his foot in his mouth on a regular basis.
- Personal Inexperience: Rin's battle experience consists of running away from people and hoping that his conjured allies can do all the work for him.
Domains of Magic:
- Conjuration: Rin has an established rapport with the following entities, and is also capable of conjuring other, none-specific entities with sufficient preparation:
- Null: A shadow elemental, Null is the oldest of Rin's companions, and accompanies him at almost all times. Null can take on a wide variety of shapes, but is commonly seen as a rat, a cat or a raven - all jet black, of course. Whilst affectionate towards his master, Null has little patience for other mortals, and in many ways behaves a lot like an actual cat, albeit one capable of actually vocalising its disdain. Also capable of taking on a form of pure shadow, Null is an excellent scout and spy, but is less potent in combat. When he does do battle, Null utilises dexterity, his malleable form and sharp talons of solid-shadow to outmanoeuvre his foes and strike at their weak spots. Null is resilient against mundane weaponry, but vulnerable to magical attacks, and particularly suffers when subjected to magical light.
- Cinder: Likely the companion that Rin has the closest to a solid friendship with, Rin has spent many a long night whiling away the hours in Cinder's company. A flighty and fun-loving androgynous fire elemental, Cinder is very fond of their meek little master (although which of them is really in charge is debatable), and is one of Rin's go-to conjurations in a fight. They have a masterful level of control over the generation and manipulation of fire, and a fighting style full of acrobatic movements and unnecessary somersaults.
- Lumos: A minor conjuration, Lumos is a little celestial light spirit that takes on the form of a tiny, translucent cat-sized dragon with a glowing core of light. Largely utilised by Rin as a friendly reading lamp, Lumos' mannerisms are somewhat reminiscent of a flying puppy. The most that Lumos can achieve in a fight is to produce irritating bursts of superhot light, with potency comparable to an insect sting, and to claw and bite.
- General, cantrip level arcana.
