PÓLEMOS - A Medieval War/ Intrigues Game (Sandbox, Extreme, Recruiting)

[TheBlackThrone]

Radomir Fairwood

Title(s): Radomir "The Beast Master" Fairwood
Age: 28
Political Position: Infantry in the Iron Oak Company
Sexuality: Whatever I feel for him to be, no definite sexuality cried out to me making this character.


Physical Appearance
Radomir inherited some of his father’s height, but would not exceed him if they stood side-by-side. His hair is dark-brown and long with natural highlights bleached into his locks by countless hours in the sun, and he sports a full beard. Unlike his faceclaim, his inked tattoos run down the spine of his back, appearing as a spear with orbs skewered on it. Within each of those orbs are strange swirls. He has had the tattoo for as long as he can remember. His body is hard and sturdy, scarred and rough with callouses from battle. His most distinct ones are a cut beneath his right eyelid and a vertical blade scar in the center of his right palm and on the back of his right hand. In battle, he wears plate mail and leathers and wields a short sword and ax. Most importantly, Radomir is rarely ever seen without his two Molosser hounds (basically giant mastiffs): Dioman (male) and Asta (female). Yes; Dioman was purposefully named after Radomir’s father.

Personality
Radomir doesn’t talk much. Around the other mercenaries, he doesn’t have to for the rowdy bunch often do all the talking for him. Having grown up being an only child to a whore mother, he was used to being alone and bearing great responsibility as he grew older. He had to work some sort of job to keep them both fed. He and his mother, Rosalina Beaucort, struggled their whole lives until disease took her. Still a young teenager, Radomir was forced to mature quickly. When his mother had told him on her deathbed who his father was, he developed a hatred for the man. He hated him for bringing him into this shitty world and forgetting about him like a discarded, soiled rag. Out of spite, and so that he could forever remember his father’s name, he named one of his dogs after him.

Radomir fell in love with his dogs at a young age. He found a sack of abandoned puppies and only two had been still alive, clinging to life. He took the hounds in and as they grew older sold their litters for money. Only the ones he kept personally were trained to be the deadly hounds that accompany him in skirmishes. It was his training and battle tactics with his dogs that attracted the Iron Oak to him.

The Beast Master drinks, but he isn’t a dancer or one to go crazy at parties. He does his time with his squad, and then spends the rest of it with his dogs. He loves animals and his dogs are like members of his family. Any harm to any of his dogs would be the equivalent as though someone harmed a brother or sister. On the battlefield, he is fierce and accompanied by his dogs, he takes down several men alone.

Backstory
While Radomir doesn’t know the full details how he and his mother met, he knew that his mother was a very beautiful courtesan who could have gotten any man. It was no surprise that she could lure even a king beneath her covers. He was born and raised in the brothel, The Lady’s Tulip also known as The Tulip [in a town to be created, or in one of the existing towns]. All the whores took care of Radomir. They loved braiding and combing his long hair as it grew out. When he came of age, he had to take on big boy jobs. He worked multiple from delivery to helping with construction. When his mother became sick with disease, he felt the burden increase on his shoulders. Now he had to work to feed them both and buy her medicine. Radomir worked himself to tears until his mother passed. He took her passing as a personal failure as he berated internally, if only he had been stronger and worked harder. He grew up loathing his father who he had learned from his mother was the Fairwood king and that he technically was an illegitimate prince. It angered him and he developed a distaste for the wealthy because of it.

Radomir continued to work until he discovered a sack of abandoned Molosser pups. He had a soft spot for the two surviving pups, finding their struggle to be comparable to his own. He raised them into loyal companions and sold their young to wealthy lords, which got him off his feet. Radomir earned enough money to buy weapons an armor. He added to his list of jobs hunting and sell sword work until his training with his dogs drew the attention of the Iron Oak Company. He fell under their service. As long as they could feed and home, him and his dogs, then they would have his sword. Radomir has been under the leadership of Captain Roisin Magorian ever since.

Intentions
-Serves under the mercenary company
-Open for relations either in the North or South
-Trained, war dog companions available as gifts or for sale if plotted
-Currently, no intention to see the Fairwood family. This would have to be plotted against his wishes.
-Does desire to punch his father in the face if he ever sees him.

Possible connections/scenes
-This character has a witchery in his background. The tattoo on his back is actually a rune of protection against magic.
-His half-sister is Elanore Fairwood, while he knows of her existence, he is not interested in seeing her. He lumps her in with his father, having him dislike the Fairwood family as a whole.
-His boss is Captain Roisin Magorian.
-Anyone interested in his dogs is a scene.
-Mercenary battle stuff.
-Open to relationships.

Ons/ offs
Nothing is calling out to me as far as Character O/Os. If you obey my personal O/Os, then you can't go wrong. I like natural chemistry and nothing forced.
O/O

Faceclaim
Kevin The Creekman

[Esmeralgirl]

Radomir Fairwood

Title(s): Radomir "The Beast Master" Fairwood
Age: 28
Political Position: Infantry in the Iron Oak Company
Sexuality: Whatever I feel for him to be, no definite sexuality cried out to me making this character.


Physical Appearance
Radomir inherited some of his father’s height, but would not exceed him if they stood side-by-side. His hair is dark-brown and long with natural highlights bleached into his locks by countless hours in the sun, and he sports a full beard. Unlike his faceclaim, his inked tattoos run down the spine of his back, appearing as a spear with orbs skewered on it. Within each of those orbs are strange swirls. He has had the tattoo for as long as he can remember. His body is hard and sturdy, scarred and rough with callouses from battle. His most distinct ones are a cut beneath his right eyelid and a vertical blade scar in the center of his right palm and on the back of his right hand. In battle, he wears plate mail and leathers and wields a short sword and ax. Most importantly, Radomir is rarely ever seen without his two Molosser hounds (basically giant mastiffs): Dioman (male) and Asta (female). Yes; Dioman was purposefully named after Radomir’s father.

Personality
Radomir doesn’t talk much. Around the other mercenaries, he doesn’t have to for the rowdy bunch often do all the talking for him. Having grown up being an only child to a whore mother, he was used to being alone and bearing great responsibility as he grew older. He had to work some sort of job to keep them both fed. He and his mother, Rosalina Beaucort, struggled their whole lives until disease took her. Still a young teenager, Radomir was forced to mature quickly. When his mother had told him on her deathbed who his father was, he developed a hatred for the man. He hated him for bringing him into this shitty world and forgetting about him like a discarded, soiled rag. Out of spite, and so that he could forever remember his father’s name, he named one of his dogs after him.

Radomir fell in love with his dogs at a young age. He found a sack of abandoned puppies and only two had been still alive, clinging to life. He took the hounds in and as they grew older sold their litters for money. Only the ones he kept personally were trained to be the deadly hounds that accompany him in skirmishes. It was his training and battle tactics with his dogs that attracted the Iron Oak to him.

The Beast Master drinks, but he isn’t a dancer or one to go crazy at parties. He does his time with his squad, and then spends the rest of it with his dogs. He loves animals and his dogs are like members of his family. Any harm to any of his dogs would be the equivalent as though someone harmed a brother or sister. On the battlefield, he is fierce and accompanied by his dogs, he takes down several men alone.

Backstory
While Radomir doesn’t know the full details how he and his mother met, he knew that his mother was a very beautiful courtesan who could have gotten any man. It was no surprise that she could lure even a king beneath her covers. He was born and raised in the brothel, The Lady’s Tulip also known as The Tulip [in a town to be created, or in one of the existing towns]. All the whores took care of Radomir. They loved braiding and combing his long hair as it grew out. When he came of age, he had to take on big boy jobs. He worked multiple from delivery to helping with construction. When his mother became sick with disease, he felt the burden increase on his shoulders. Now he had to work to feed them both and buy her medicine. Radomir worked himself to tears until his mother passed. He took her passing as a personal failure as he berated internally, if only he had been stronger and worked harder. He grew up loathing his father who he had learned from his mother was the Fairwood king and that he technically was an illegitimate prince. It angered him and he developed a distaste for the wealthy because of it.

Radomir continued to work until he discovered a sack of abandoned Molosser pups. He had a soft spot for the two surviving pups, finding their struggle to be comparable to his own. He raised them into loyal companions and sold their young to wealthy lords, which got him off his feet. Radomir earned enough money to buy weapons an armor. He added to his list of jobs hunting and sell sword work until his training with his dogs drew the attention of the Iron Oak Company. He fell under their service. As long as they could feed and home, him and his dogs, then they would have his sword. Radomir has been under the leadership of Captain Roisin Magorian ever since.

Intentions
-Serves under the mercenary company
-Open for relations either in the North or South
-Trained, war dog companions available as gifts or for sale if plotted
-Currently, no intention to see the Fairwood family. This would have to be plotted against his wishes.
-Does desire to punch his father in the face if he ever sees him.

Possible connections/scenes
-This character has a witchery in his background. The tattoo on his back is actually a rune of protection against magic.
-His half-sister is Elanore Fairwood, while he knows of her existence, he is not interested in seeing her. He lumps her in with his father, having him dislike the Fairwood family as a whole.
-His boss is Captain Roisin Magorian.
-Anyone interested in his dogs is a scene.
-Mercenary battle stuff.
-Open to relationships.

Ons/ offs
Nothing is calling out to me as far as Character O/Os. If you obey my personal O/Os, then you can't go wrong. I like natural chemistry and nothing forced.
O/O

Faceclaim
Kevin The Creekman

Nicee! And finally someone Thyia can plot with against the king

[FlowerMagnolia]

Radomir Fairwood

Title(s): Radomir "The Beast Master" Fairwood
Age: 28
Political Position: Infantry in the Iron Oak Company
Sexuality: Whatever I feel for him to be, no definite sexuality cried out to me making this character.


Physical Appearance
Radomir inherited some of his father’s height, but would not exceed him if they stood side-by-side. His hair is dark-brown and long with natural highlights bleached into his locks by countless hours in the sun, and he sports a full beard. Unlike his faceclaim, his inked tattoos run down the spine of his back, appearing as a spear with orbs skewered on it. Within each of those orbs are strange swirls. He has had the tattoo for as long as he can remember. His body is hard and sturdy, scarred and rough with callouses from battle. His most distinct ones are a cut beneath his right eyelid and a vertical blade scar in the center of his right palm and on the back of his right hand. In battle, he wears plate mail and leathers and wields a short sword and ax. Most importantly, Radomir is rarely ever seen without his two Molosser hounds (basically giant mastiffs): Dioman (male) and Asta (female). Yes; Dioman was purposefully named after Radomir’s father.

Personality
Radomir doesn’t talk much. Around the other mercenaries, he doesn’t have to for the rowdy bunch often do all the talking for him. Having grown up being an only child to a whore mother, he was used to being alone and bearing great responsibility as he grew older. He had to work some sort of job to keep them both fed. He and his mother, Rosalina Beaucort, struggled their whole lives until disease took her. Still a young teenager, Radomir was forced to mature quickly. When his mother had told him on her deathbed who his father was, he developed a hatred for the man. He hated him for bringing him into this shitty world and forgetting about him like a discarded, soiled rag. Out of spite, and so that he could forever remember his father’s name, he named one of his dogs after him.

Radomir fell in love with his dogs at a young age. He found a sack of abandoned puppies and only two had been still alive, clinging to life. He took the hounds in and as they grew older sold their litters for money. Only the ones he kept personally were trained to be the deadly hounds that accompany him in skirmishes. It was his training and battle tactics with his dogs that attracted the Iron Oak to him.

The Beast Master drinks, but he isn’t a dancer or one to go crazy at parties. He does his time with his squad, and then spends the rest of it with his dogs. He loves animals and his dogs are like members of his family. Any harm to any of his dogs would be the equivalent as though someone harmed a brother or sister. On the battlefield, he is fierce and accompanied by his dogs, he takes down several men alone.

Backstory
While Radomir doesn’t know the full details how he and his mother met, he knew that his mother was a very beautiful courtesan who could have gotten any man. It was no surprise that she could lure even a king beneath her covers. He was born and raised in the brothel, The Lady’s Tulip also known as The Tulip [in a town to be created, or in one of the existing towns]. All the whores took care of Radomir. They loved braiding and combing his long hair as it grew out. When he came of age, he had to take on big boy jobs. He worked multiple from delivery to helping with construction. When his mother became sick with disease, he felt the burden increase on his shoulders. Now he had to work to feed them both and buy her medicine. Radomir worked himself to tears until his mother passed. He took her passing as a personal failure as he berated internally, if only he had been stronger and worked harder. He grew up loathing his father who he had learned from his mother was the Fairwood king and that he technically was an illegitimate prince. It angered him and he developed a distaste for the wealthy because of it.

Radomir continued to work until he discovered a sack of abandoned Molosser pups. He had a soft spot for the two surviving pups, finding their struggle to be comparable to his own. He raised them into loyal companions and sold their young to wealthy lords, which got him off his feet. Radomir earned enough money to buy weapons an armor. He added to his list of jobs hunting and sell sword work until his training with his dogs drew the attention of the Iron Oak Company. He fell under their service. As long as they could feed and home, him and his dogs, then they would have his sword. Radomir has been under the leadership of Captain Roisin Magorian ever since.

Intentions
-Serves under the mercenary company
-Open for relations either in the North or South
-Trained, war dog companions available as gifts or for sale if plotted
-Currently, no intention to see the Fairwood family. This would have to be plotted against his wishes.
-Does desire to punch his father in the face if he ever sees him.

Possible connections/scenes
-This character has a witchery in his background. The tattoo on his back is actually a rune of protection against magic.
-His half-sister is Elanore Fairwood, while he knows of her existence, he is not interested in seeing her. He lumps her in with his father, having him dislike the Fairwood family as a whole.
-His boss is Captain Roisin Magorian.
-Anyone interested in his dogs is a scene.
-Mercenary battle stuff.
-Open to relationships.

Ons/ offs
Nothing is calling out to me as far as Character O/Os. If you obey my personal O/Os, then you can't go wrong. I like natural chemistry and nothing forced.
O/O

Faceclaim
Kevin The Creekman

Radomir is approved! Please post him in the approved characters thread :)

[himawari]

Yayy another illegitimate child to the gang!

[Ontan]

It took way, way too long... but at long last, here is my character sheet! Let me know what you think.

JALEN NOVARI

Title(s): Sir; Fox of Valrath (informal)
Age: 32
Political Position: Famed saboteur and engineer of Valruth
Sexuality: Heterosexual


Physical Appearance
Standing at 185cm (6’0”), Jalen’s certainly not short, but his gangling build is something that the many tales and songs neglect to mention. Seen undressed, a few faded scars along his pale skin attest to some familiarity with rough work and danger. A smirk comes easily to his lips, and there’s a sharp gleam in his blue eyes, but they don’t quite amount to cruelty – the impression is, perhaps, that the man merely sees humour in dark places. Suave, swaggering, and vain, he’s usually impeccably presented, and even his tools and weapons boast intricate works of art engraved along their length. There is a more thoughtful side beneath the ostentatious displays, as evinced by the books and exotic religious charms he carries about his person, but these aspects are often eclipsed.

Personality
Arrogant and inquisitive, Jalen revels in his fame with no apologies, as if the world itself has been bequeathed as his plaything. An incurable hedonist to boot, he readily couples a fine taste for refinement with grotesque excess. However, his hedonistic habits are also intertwined with a deep-rooted sense of spirituality, and he worships his heathen insect-gods with languid, unassailable certainty... a consequence, perhaps, of thinking the sporadic hallucinations he suffers truly are divine visions. Jalen possesses a sharp intellect and natural low cunning, allowing him to put his creativity to vicious use as a military engineer. He is, in theory, equally talented at civil building projects - windmills, dams, shipyards - but without proper motivation, his attention invariably wanes for such duller undertakings. In matters of combat, Jalen is a formidable duellist and an utterly peerless marksman, though he's also notoriously 'shy' when it comes to pitched battle.

Backstory

The Valrathi Fox

Early years
Everyone's heard the stories of the Valruthi Fox: the Siege of Sundvik, the slaying of the Twilight Beast, and the scandal at Fironda Manor to name a few. Be it in song or print, the tales are told with various degrees of embellishment and exaggeration, but - to the surprise of some - there is a real, albeit disappointingly mortal man at the heart of them all. 

First and foremost, the tales of Jalen's bizarre upbringing are entirely true. His father is indeed Jurien Novari – the brilliant if dangerously unhinged War Master of Valruth. The mad monk believed that he could develop a ‘protocol’ for raising a bloodline of perfected warriors by obsessively controlling and adjusting every aspect of a human’s formative years... and to facilitate his troubled obsession, the warrior monk has spent decades amassing consorts and offspring to fuel his endless need for flesh, and data, and results. Jalen was one of many, many children to be sired as part of his father’s lifelong experiment, and at the time of his birth, Jalen already had over twenty siblings. The number has only grown since. His mother died early - not an uncommon fate for his father’s consorts - but Jalen maintains that, on balance, he had a good childhood. If his father’s madness cast a shadow, so too did his lofty station: Jalen was afforded extensive training, education, and a small holding when he came of age.

Around his twentieth birthday, Jalen entered a term of spiritual caste-slavery for several years, as was tradition for any of Valruthi’s adults. He was dispatched to the colossal, half-built shell of an ambitious temple construction, and while there his initial misgivings to hard work would slowly give way to a genuine fascination in the complex machines that populated the construction site and its adjoining quarry. The volcanic winters were spent in monastic study, learning the laws of architecture and engineering. For the hospitable seasons, the humble hammer and pickaxe saw increasingly less use as he took charge blueprints and machines.

The Rise to Fame
In the year 790, rising tensions between the Northern Sphere and Deomis culminated in a proxy war: unwilling to risk a continent-spanning conflict, the two superpowers instead had their respective vassals represent them via a miniature, self-contained war. The warrior monks and zealots of Valrath were arrayed on one side, the iconic longships of Clan Sigvat on the other.

Still in the final year of religious slavery, Jalen was drafted into the throngs of levy soldiers, and experienced several catastrophic defeats up-close. He was grievously wounded during one such rout, though the trauma was to prove strangely fortuitous: firstly, it imparted his “holy visions” - bouts of vivid, often terrifying hallucinations; secondly, it gave him the opportunity to meet his ongoing partner, a captain charged with commanding levy troops. When Jalen’s term of slavery ended as he was reinstated to nobility, Jalen opted to put his experiences to use as a military engineer.

With his newfound aversion to open battle, Jalen instead opted to slip far beyond the war front, where his small warband infested the enemy’s supply lines like plague-bearing lice. Supply stores burned, bridges collapsed, and ships were shattered in the supposed safety of their harbours. With their footholds rotting beneath them, even the enemy’s iron-hard armies began to stagger and slip. For its part, the Northern Sphere seized upon Jalen’s exploits for propaganda purposes, and highly exaggerated retellings of his raids began to spread over the continent. Cut off from resupply, and simultaneously hounded by fresh waves of relentless Valrathi zealots, the Sigvat campaign slowly soured. The superpower of Deimos quietly ceased its support for the failed catspaw; recriminations splintered what was left of Clan Sigvat, even as a Valrathi counter-offensive rolled over the fragments one by one. In a series of grinding sieges, Jalen and Valrath moreover exacted their vengeance by gutting the enemy nation down to its barest bones.

The war is now over, but scars remain even for the victors. Embittered by the conflict, Valrathi ideology has turned against the use of magic, which played a defining role in their enemy’s strategy. There are also grumbles that their affiliation with the Northern Sphere has become onerous, and that their future lies in the South. For his part, Jalen continues to experience his “holy visions”. His unintended fame, foisted upon him by outside powers, has also left him enthralled with the vibrant culture of Pólemos, contrasted so heavily against the cold, utilitarian philosophy of his homeland.

Intentions
- Jalen is loyal to his homeland of Valrath, but he finds himself caught up in a growing schism within his nation: loyalists want to stay with the Northern Sphere, while anti-magic reformists want to change allegiance to the South. As it stands, he’s uncertain which decision offers the best future for his nation… but even Jalen realises that a dilemma is looming, as Valrath relies on the mainland for its sole trading route.
- Jalen believes that you must love yourself in order to love others. Personal advancement and hedonistic indulgence are never far from his mind.

Possible connections/scenes
- WIP!

Ons/ offs
Comfortably established in an open relationship, Jalen readily indulges his appetite for earthly pleasures, and is prone to evenings of outrageous hedonism. It should come as no surprise that various forms of deviancy are familiar to him, with various bondage games being a perennial favourite. He prefers women, but his tastes are otherwise unconstrained: genteel or wicked, slender or curvy, dark or fair. The only real requirement is “willing”, or at the very least “acquiescing”.
(See also: Player Ons / Offs )

Faceclaim
Lorenzo Richelmy

Accompanying NPCs

Minor NPCs for Jalen

Kisya of Agate: Jalen’s partner & Valrathi Military Captain

Steely, pragmatic, and cold, Kisya is an officer in Valrath’s war machine. Charged with overseeing a sizable regiment of (semi-voluntary) slave soldiers, her duties keep her bound to the Valrath isles, and are mainly focussed on logistical support. However, she rose to notoriety during the war against Clan Sigvat: at the time, her stolid strategy of entrenchment earned the mocking epithet of “Badger”, but her line of ditches and earthworks later proved pivotal in stalling the enemy advance.
Her sole dalliance in life seems to be the surprisingly successful relationship with Jalen: the open, long-distance relationship might be filled with potential pitfalls, but thus far it’s proven as hardy and reliable as everything else she’s overseen.

Ysberin: Jalen’s trusty hound

Valrath give rise to many strange offshoots of creatures, and the hounds that inhabit the volcanic isles are no less sinister than the people. Feyhounds are a strange mutant breed prized for their eerie intelligence, and the stunningly painful (if technically harmless) venom of their bite. The latter is an ongoing puzzle for scholars everywhere: with no identifiable glands, current theory centre around a magical or theological origin. Some even claim that unperceivably tiny creatures inhabit the teeth and produce the venom, but these claims are obviously met with polite embarrassment.
Measuring 80cm (31 inches) at the shoulder, Ysberin cuts an imposing figure with his athletic frame and piercing gaze, though the effects are softened by a luscious coat, and talkative bouts of grumbles and yowls. Like most Feyhounds, Ysberin also has some unsettlingly human-like habits: setting up object in neat grids, meditative faux-trances, and trophy-taking from kills.

[FlowerMagnolia]

It took way, way too long... but at long last, here is my character sheet! Let me know what you think.

JALEN NOVARI

Title(s): Sir; Fox of Valrath (informal)
Age: 32
Political Position: Famed saboteur and engineer of Valruth
Sexuality: Heterosexual


Physical Appearance
Standing at 185cm (6’0”), Jalen’s certainly not short, but his gangling build is something that the many tales and songs neglect to mention. Seen undressed, a few faded scars along his pale skin attest to some familiarity with rough work and danger. A smirk comes easily to his lips, and there’s a sharp gleam in his blue eyes, but they don’t quite amount to cruelty – the impression is, perhaps, that the man merely sees humour in dark places. Suave, swaggering, and vain, he’s usually impeccably presented, and even his tools and weapons boast intricate works of art engraved along their length. There is a more thoughtful side beneath the ostentatious displays, as evinced by the books and exotic religious charms he carries about his person, but these aspects are often eclipsed.

Personality
Arrogant and inquisitive, Jalen revels in his fame with no apologies, as if the world itself has been bequeathed as his plaything. An incurable hedonist to boot, he readily couples a fine taste for refinement with grotesque excess. However, his hedonistic habits are also intertwined with a deep-rooted sense of spirituality, and he worships his heathen insect-gods with languid, unassailable certainty... a consequence, perhaps, of thinking the sporadic hallucinations he suffers truly are divine visions. Jalen possesses a sharp intellect and natural low cunning, allowing him to put his creativity to vicious use as a military engineer. He is, in theory, equally talented at civil building projects - windmills, dams, shipyards - but without proper motivation, his attention invariably wanes for such duller undertakings. In matters of combat, Jalen is a formidable duellist and an utterly peerless marksman, though he's also notoriously 'shy' when it comes to pitched battle.

Backstory

The Valrathi Fox

Early years
Everyone's heard the stories of the Valruthi Fox: the Siege of Sundvik, the slaying of the Twilight Beast, and the scandal at Fironda Manor to name a few. Be it in song or print, the tales are told with various degrees of embellishment and exaggeration, but - to the surprise of some - there is a real, albeit disappointingly mortal man at the heart of them all. 

First and foremost, the tales of Jalen's bizarre upbringing are entirely true. His father is indeed Jurien Novari – the brilliant if dangerously unhinged War Master of Valruth. The mad monk believed that he could develop a ‘protocol’ for raising a bloodline of perfected warriors by obsessively controlling and adjusting every aspect of a human’s formative years... and to facilitate his troubled obsession, the warrior monk has spent decades amassing consorts and offspring to fuel his endless need for flesh, and data, and results. Jalen was one of many, many children to be sired as part of his father’s lifelong experiment, and at the time of his birth, Jalen already had over twenty siblings. The number has only grown since. His mother died early - not an uncommon fate for his father’s consorts - but Jalen maintains that, on balance, he had a good childhood. If his father’s madness cast a shadow, so too did his lofty station: Jalen was afforded extensive training, education, and a small holding when he came of age.

Around his twentieth birthday, Jalen entered a term of spiritual caste-slavery for several years, as was tradition for any of Valruthi’s adults. He was dispatched to the colossal, half-built shell of an ambitious temple construction, and while there his initial misgivings to hard work would slowly give way to a genuine fascination in the complex machines that populated the construction site and its adjoining quarry. The volcanic winters were spent in monastic study, learning the laws of architecture and engineering. For the hospitable seasons, the humble hammer and pickaxe saw increasingly less use as he took charge blueprints and machines.

The Rise to Fame
In the year 790, rising tensions between the Northern Sphere and Deomis culminated in a proxy war: unwilling to risk a continent-spanning conflict, the two superpowers instead had their respective vassals represent them via a miniature, self-contained war. The warrior monks and zealots of Valrath were arrayed on one side, the iconic longships of Clan Sigvat on the other.

Still in the final year of religious slavery, Jalen was drafted into the throngs of levy soldiers, and experienced several catastrophic defeats up-close. He was grievously wounded during one such rout, though the trauma was to prove strangely fortuitous: firstly, it imparted his “holy visions” - bouts of vivid, often terrifying hallucinations; secondly, it gave him the opportunity to meet his ongoing partner, a captain charged with commanding levy troops. When Jalen’s term of slavery ended as he was reinstated to nobility, Jalen opted to put his experiences to use as a military engineer.

With his newfound aversion to open battle, Jalen instead opted to slip far beyond the war front, where his small warband infested the enemy’s supply lines like plague-bearing lice. Supply stores burned, bridges collapsed, and ships were shattered in the supposed safety of their harbours. With their footholds rotting beneath them, even the enemy’s iron-hard armies began to stagger and slip. For its part, the Northern Sphere seized upon Jalen’s exploits for propaganda purposes, and highly exaggerated retellings of his raids began to spread over the continent. Cut off from resupply, and simultaneously hounded by fresh waves of relentless Valrathi zealots, the Sigvat campaign slowly soured. The superpower of Deimos quietly ceased its support for the failed catspaw; recriminations splintered what was left of Clan Sigvat, even as a Valrathi counter-offensive rolled over the fragments one by one. In a series of grinding sieges, Jalen and Valrath moreover exacted their vengeance by gutting the enemy nation down to its barest bones.

The war is now over, but scars remain even for the victors. Embittered by the conflict, Valrathi ideology has turned against the use of magic, which played a defining role in their enemy’s strategy. There are also grumbles that their affiliation with the Northern Sphere has become onerous, and that their future lies in the South. For his part, Jalen continues to experience his “holy visions”. His unintended fame, foisted upon him by outside powers, has also left him enthralled with the vibrant culture of Pólemos, contrasted so heavily against the cold, utilitarian philosophy of his homeland.

Intentions
- Jalen is loyal to his homeland of Valrath, but he finds himself caught up in a growing schism within his nation: loyalists want to stay with the Northern Sphere, while anti-magic reformists want to change allegiance to the South. As it stands, he’s uncertain which decision offers the best future for his nation… but even Jalen realises that a dilemma is looming, as Valrath relies on the mainland for its sole trading route.
- Jalen believes that you must love yourself in order to love others. Personal advancement and hedonistic indulgence are never far from his mind.

Possible connections/scenes
- WIP!

Ons/ offs
Comfortably established in an open relationship, Jalen readily indulges his appetite for earthly pleasures, and is prone to evenings of outrageous hedonism. It should come as no surprise that various forms of deviancy are familiar to him, with various bondage games being a perennial favourite. He prefers women, but his tastes are otherwise unconstrained: genteel or wicked, slender or curvy, dark or fair. The only real requirement is “willing”, or at the very least “acquiescing”.
(See also: Player Ons / Offs )

Faceclaim
Lorenzo Richelmy

Accompanying NPCs

Minor NPCs for Jalen

Kisya of Agate: Jalen’s partner & Valrathi Military Captain

Steely, pragmatic, and cold, Kisya is an officer in Valrath’s war machine. Charged with overseeing a sizable regiment of (semi-voluntary) slave soldiers, her duties keep her bound to the Valrath isles, and are mainly focussed on logistical support. However, she rose to notoriety during the war against Clan Sigvat: at the time, her stolid strategy of entrenchment earned the mocking epithet of “Badger”, but her line of ditches and earthworks later proved pivotal in stalling the enemy advance.
Her sole dalliance in life seems to be the surprisingly successful relationship with Jalen: the open, long-distance relationship might be filled with potential pitfalls, but thus far it’s proven as hardy and reliable as everything else she’s overseen.

Ysberin: Jalen’s trusty hound

Valrath give rise to many strange offshoots of creatures, and the hounds that inhabit the volcanic isles are no less sinister than the people. Feyhounds are a strange mutant breed prized for their eerie intelligence, and the stunningly painful (if technically harmless) venom of their bite. The latter is an ongoing puzzle for scholars everywhere: with no identifiable glands, current theory centre around a magical or theological origin. Some even claim that unperceivably tiny creatures inhabit the teeth and produce the venom, but these claims are obviously met with polite embarrassment.
Measuring 80cm (31 inches) at the shoulder, Ysberin cuts an imposing figure with his athletic frame and piercing gaze, though the effects are softened by a luscious coat, and talkative bouts of grumbles and yowls. Like most Feyhounds, Ysberin also has some unsettlingly human-like habits: setting up object in neat grids, meditative faux-trances, and trophy-taking from kills.

Wohoo! Nice! Just two things, really:

- You named the Isles Valruth, so you might want to check your CS and correct the place 
- Also, religion is not a big part of Pólemos... yet at least. I am not sure if it plays a big role in Valruth, but the description does not say so. It could be currently developing, but it is not a crucial part of the politics yet.

[FlowerMagnolia]

Bump!

We're still looking for players :) (esp characters in the North!)