Kiern Valdeimir

[Heartborne]

Name: Kiern Valdeimir

Nickname or Title: Stoneheart. Though some friends call him the Heartborne, because he often listens more to his heart than his head when making large decisions.

Gender: Male

Age: 21

Race: Human, mortal. Blood-gifted (inherent abilities by blood) with arcane powers

Class: Deathbringer/Necromancer. Blood-gifted with arcane powers, trained from childhood as a Deathbringer (a Deathbringer is a particular kind of warrior, but the character also is a Necromancer, though still learning his arcane powers)–

Side: Neutral. Does good things and bad things, usually for his own reasons.

Weakness: (add some) Dislikes heat, Hates social gatherings, and can barely swim. Also, though gifted with the inborn ability to wield magic, he is especially sensitive to magic used against himself. For this--and especially for what happened to his mother (see background)--he has a wariness of magic users in general, though he craves their knowledge and teaching

Powers: 1.) Deathbringer Assault: massively powerful melee attack, one-hit-kill type thing. “Cuts armor, flesh, and bone; iron, wood, and stone. On man and beast shall blade feast, until the warrior stands alone.” Draining and difficult to use, but the Deathbringer‘s most renowned power. 2.) Telekinesis: the ability to move distant objects. His strength with this is moderate, being able to move a couple hundred pounds. Most commonly uses this power to strike or throw someone. 3.) Elemental Energies: The ability to make/manipulate fire, lightning, water, and wind. His powers in these are mild, but he is learning. 4.) Soul Shred/Soul Mend: His most powerful arcane power, the necromantic ability to manipulate life itself. Shredding is ripping the life force out of some living creature, Mending is putting life force into some creature. Cannot just heal himself or another, has to Shred life force from something to have life force to put into a creature. Can Soul Shred at range or by touch, Mending only by touch. Can use his own life force to do some Mending, but to heal this way requires giving of his own health. Difficult to Shred “high level” opponents. For example, it would be very easy for the character to Shred the life from a chicken, (which wouldn‘t yield much life force however) whereas to Shred the life from a great warrior or powerful mage would be extremely difficult if not impossible.

Default Abilities: Emptyness: a stance/technique in which cold stillness is used. No excess movement, often no movement at all, breathing and heart rate are controlled and kept at minimum. Can be intimidating to the more easily daunted of opponents, as it tends to seem very cold and inhuman. This is the character‘s default stance, and he uses it in combat often.–


Abilities: Skilled in many forms of weaponry and armory, specializes in melee combat. Some skill in unarmed combat, but more of a brawler type style. Acute senses: has sharp eyes & ears and deft motions. Mage Eyes: when he sees magic used by another he can often mimic it himself. “watch and learn” type thing –

Weapons: Favors a two-handed weapon of some kind, whether it‘s a staff, a scythe, claymore, battle axe, or bow. Usually carries a pair of large knives, one on each thigh, not to mention a few smaller ones hidden away on his person. Always happy to learn new styles, skills, and weapons to make use of. Uses a lot of variety, sometimes out of necessity. Usually travels unarmored or lightly at best, unless heavy combat is expected.

Animal Companion: None. Most animals keep away from him

Relationship Status: Loner

Family: Only living family member is his father, Ekron Valdeimir. His father is a legendary warrior in the north, one of the most feared, one of the most hated, and one of the most demanded of for employment. It was his father--himself also a Deathbringer--who trained the character in combat. His father used to be a Warder, but left that path and became a Deathbringer for reasons that will follow in the background.

Quote: “……….”

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Physical Descriptions – May appear short because of a compact build, he is a couple inches shy of 6 feet in height, broad shouldered, and muscular. Weighs somewhere around 200 lbs., has long blonde hair cut in a mohawk and put into thick braids, and he has yellow eyes. His voice is deep, but soft unless he raises it. Already has numerous battle scars, and steadily gains more as would be expected of someone in his profession. He has black-inked runes of death, mortality, strength, and necromancy tattooed on the underside of both arms, and a fist sized skull tattoo (customary for a Deathbringer) in the middle of his chest. Has special tattoos that only show when he feels sad or angry. When sad, it’s light blue wavy patterns like wind or water all over his face, arms, torso, and legs. When angry, the pattern is different but runs basically over the same areas, it being black and jagged, like spider webs of thorns. (add more)

Personality: – Tends to avoid people unless it’s in a fight, a quiet man who keeps his thoughts and his words to himself. But he enjoys a good sense of humor, occasionally making a joke or two himself. Though laconic, stoic, and anti-social in general, he has a good heart and shows it at times. Has tended to avoid relationships, since he doesn’t like opening up to people. Character tends to fight in a cold systematic way, removing himself from the fight, but on occasion he becomes very emotionally into it; Tattoos flare and he works himself up into a fury of death and destruction and cuts down anything in his path.

Background: – His background starts with his father and mother, who came from very different lives. His father was a military young military commander and his mother the daughter and heiress to a mighty sorcerer when they met. This does not detail how they came to love each other and eventually wed, it is but a brief glimpse of what their lives were after they were married. His mother had a gift in her blood, one that had been in her family for generations. She had a special aptitude for magic, as had all in her bloodline. She continued to grow in power and skill until she came into her inheritence after her parents had died. Now, her family lived in a city that was basically run entirely by Wizards and the like, so when she came into her inheiritence she became a leading member of society, for her parents had been deep into the politics and government of the city. Shady politics, greed, and a vile poison were what ultimately led to his mother’s death, and his father‘s fall. In short, his mother was a good woman who got on the wrong side of bad people. She had only one child, her son, Kiern. He was but a year old when she died. Her husband, Ekron (Kiern‘s father) was her Warder, which is basically a personal body guard that she was bound to by magic. Such binding gives insight into the other‘s thoughts, shares each other‘s strength, and gives a great sense of awareness about the other. When she was murdered Ekron was devastated, even more so than just the devastation of a husband losing a wife, the bonds of magic they shared made this an agony beyond explaining. At this Ekron forsook the Warder‘s path…and took bloody vengeance upon those responsible for his wife‘s death. He killed the wizard responsible, the wizard‘s bodyguard, family, and any other he found in that wizard’s tower. Then, he burned the tower down and left that city forever traveling north with his child--the only thing in the world he any longer cared about. He was dogged by bounty hunters for months, but eventually came to a lonely castle in the snow laden mountains of the north. Here he began his new profession: that of the Deathbringer. The Deathbringers were a society of fighters: Dark-minded, merciless, and self-serving mercenaries, instruments of vengeance, and adventurers. He joined their guild of them living in the castle and before long became one of their leading members. It was in this castle of the north where Kiern Valdeimir grew up and learned how to fight under his father‘s skilled hand. He learned to use weapons and armor of many sorts from his father, but it was not until he was about 15 that it came to be known by himself or his father that he had magic in his blood. In this he did not have much for teachers, as few in the castle had any skill with magic. He learned some by reading every book on magic he could get his hands on, and the rest by chance. He made it a personal quest to learn more of the arcane powers, and that was his primary reason for venturing south and away from the snow laden mountains that were all the world he really knew from personal experience. He‘s been traveling abroad in the lands now for about a year and half now, making his way as a mercenary soldier, bounty hunter, grave robber, or whatever else that has kept money in his pocket and food in his stomache.

Sample RP: – They’re coming in, Kiern thought to himself, I wondered how long it‘d take. Kiern Valdeimir was slouching against the trunk of a tree by the campfire he had built not an hour ago. With his chin on his chest he appeared to be dozing, but he was wide awake and listening to the three men approaching his camp in the dark, one of them rather quietly and from the opposite direction of the other two. Old trick, he smiled slightly to himself, two to distract from the front, one to kill from behind, my goods split three ways when the dirty work is done. The smile became a cold grin. Sorry boys, this ain’ t your game. He lifted his head just then and looked straight at the two men just coming into the firelight. One of the men was shorter and thinner than the other, but somehow appeared the more important of the two. Each had a sword visible, though the thin man looked less at ease with the thin curved blade at his side than the larger man looked with the broadsword at his. The two men halted their approach, and stood there awkwardly for a moment when he said not a word of greeting. “Forgive us sir, but we seem to have lost our way in these woods,” said the shorter and thinner of the two men. “We cannot hope to find the road again in this dark,” he continued when he got no response, “would you accept a couple of strangers into your camp just for tonight?” Kiern still said nothing, but simply nodded to the opposite side of the fire from which he sat. “Bless you sir,” said the thin man as he and his companion stepped forward as if to take their seats by the fire. But the moment he said “bless you sir” there was a rustle of the brush behind the tree Kiern was slouching against and in a blink all three men sprung into action. Or rather, all four men. Kiern leapt up and whirled to face the fourth man who had disturbed the bushes behind him in the last second. The man’s broadsword was already in motion, a vicious swing that would have decapitated him had he remained seated, but Kiern had been ready. As he leapt up from the tree trunk he bent his upper body down and spun going just under the man’s swing and caught his wrist. As he straightened up he twisted and jerked the man’s arm, dislocating the shoulder and ramming the body into his solid back, cracking the man’s ribs and loosening his grip on the sword. As that man’s limp body fell behind him, Kiern had just enough time to rip the sword from his hand and roll out of the way of the other two men who were upon him by this time, though the whole thing happened in but a matter of seconds. The two men rushed him as he rolled up into a crouch, but they were caught off guard when he sprang up from the crouch at them like a wildcat. As he leapt up and forward he spun in the air, blade swinging for both of his opponents. As he corkscrewed up he uncorked both bottles, and as the bodies and the heads of the would-be robbers thumped onto the ground separate from each other they bled their red wine upon the forest floor. Kiern stood still for but an instant, crouched as he landed, bloodied blade outstretched behind him in one arm, his other arm held out in front of him. Then he straightened, lowered his arms to his sides, and looked down into the terrified eyes of the man he’d left on the ground with a cracked ribcage and a ruined arm. The broken man stared back up at him in a mixture of shock, fear, and hate. Kiern’s right arm remained at his side holding the sword, but he slowly lifted his left hand up until his palm--held as if to catch a ball--faced the man on the ground. He snapped his hand closed and man on the ground convulsed once and was still, and a light glow surrounded Kiern’s hand. The last of his attackers was dead, his life resting in Kiern’s closed fist. Slowly he opened his hand and let the light dissolve into nothing. Turning to the fire, he waved his hand downward and the flames dwindled into nothing. He stood alone and silent in the darkness for a moment. “I’ll keep walking tonight,” he said to himself quietly. With that he strode off through the woods towards the main road, but with the bloody broad-bladed sword still in his hand.