A Mostly Harmless Application
OOC:
Name: Aki
Are you over 16?: One can only hope.
Personal LJ: jaki_ryuujin
Email: akkiko_tenshi[at]hotmail.com
Timezone: Mountain (-0700)
Other contact:
IC:
Character name: Merrill
Fandom: Dragon Age
Timeline: Act two of DA2, after her companion quest.
Age: Never stated. Estimated to be in her twenties since she was "of age" by the beginning of Dragon Age: Origins and it's been four years since.
~*Magical*~ abilities and strengths: While in this fandom it's hard to say what abilities a character has and doesn't have, it can be assured that Merrill is dangerous regardless of how many different spells she has in her pocket.
An apostate mage who specializes in mixing blood and earth magic, Merrill is capable of turning the land itself against her opponents as well as their own blood. Able to control unwilling parties and force them to do unspeakable things, as well as rend them from the inside out, it's little wonder that so many fear her unique combination of spells. The only upside to this is that blood magic is a double edged sword. The more Merrill uses it, the weaker she becomes as it takes her own blood to cast the spells.
On top of that, Merrill is capable of dabbling in a variety of other magics, such as elemental, arcane and spirit. While these aren't her specialties and are therefore less powerful than her blood magic, in the long run it won't really make much of a difference. Dead is dead, after all.
How would they use their abilities?: It's a safe bet to say that Merrill won't be making use of her powers often. As an apostate, she's more used to hiding her skills for fear of being hunted and regarded as a danger to herself and everyone around her. Thus, she runs strictly on a "if attacked, attack back," policy and will never use her powers to hurt others unless she thinks her life is threatened.
Appearance: Image. Merrill is tall and slender, almost unnaturally so, with ornate markings on her face (the vallaslin,) and shortly cropped, dark hair. Because she has wide, green eyes, pale skin and pointed ears, she holds a very exotic appearance that could almost be described as "pixie-like." Willowy and small, it would not be uncommon for someone to think she seems fragile.
Background/Personality: Originally born in the Nevarra Hills to the Alerion clan, when it became apparent that Merrill was gifted with magic she was given to the Sabrae clan in order to train under Keeper Marethari as her first. Her duties there would be to learn the history of the Dalish, hone her magical talents and eventually replace Marethari and guide the clan. Because of the uniqueness of her situation, however, she grew up secluded, and was often alone in her lessons leaving her socially awkward and nervous around outsiders.
None of this really affected her destiny, however, until the events of the fifth Blight. When Ferelden came under attack from the Darkspawn, a Grey Warden visited their clan seeking potential candidates. While he was there, one of their hunters, Tamlen, disappeared during his exploration of some recently discovered ruins. When he didn’t return, Marethari dispatched Merrill and another hunter to see what had happened. In the end, all they found was an eluvian, a seeing mirror created by the elves of Arlathan. Though the Grey Warden warned them that the mirror was tainted, Merrill kept a shard of it anyway. She was fascinated by the possibilities it held and hoped it would give her and her people some insight into the lives of the elves before the fall of Arlathan.
While that should have been the end of it, especially with their move to the Free Marches, Merrill persisted in her study of the mirror shard. She became almost obsessed with it and the knowledge it could give her people, a drive that served only to separate her from her clan even further.
Eventually, things came to a head when she enlisted the aid of a demon to reconstruct the mirror. In order to purge the mirror’s taint, Merrill turned to blood magic and opened herself to the possibility of becoming an abomination, something her clan feared. Though Merrill remained resolute in her belief that she was helping her people rediscover their past, her clan began to treat her like a pariah. Even Marethari attempted to dissuade her from her current path out of fear for her apprentice’s life, something that caused a great deal of arguments and tension between the two.
Because of this and the growing realization that she would never be able to fix the mirror as she was, Merrill decided it was time for her to leave the clan and expand her knowledge. So when a human by the name of Hawke visited the clan in order to pay back a debt to a witch, Merrill left with them, certain she was doing what was best for her people.
When Merrill arrived in Kirkwall, she immediately settled into the city’s alienage which was the only place she could afford to live. As an upside, it also served to hide her from the city’s Templars. Thus she began her new life as a city elf while occasionally helping Hawke on any quests the champion might have had for her. Resultingly, her powers as a mage grew exponentially despite her constant inability to repair the mirror.
Eventually, she came to the conclusion that she required an artifact from her clan in order to complete the eluvian and asked Hawke to assist her in getting it from Marethari. She explained that she would never be able to confront the Keeper on her own as they would bicker endlessly and Marethari intimidated her when upset. Thus, Hawke would have to be the mediator between the two of them. It’s also possible that Merrill had already begun to feel that Hawke could accomplish anything they set their mind to and that taking them along would ensure her success.
When they arrived at the camp, however, Marethari agreed to give them the artifact under one condition. They had to kill the Vatarrel that had been harassing the Dalish, killing three of their hunters. When they went to the cave to do so, however, one hunter had actually survived, an elf by the name Pol. When he saw Merrill, however, he reacted as if she were a worse fate than the Vatarrel and ultimately fled at the sight of her right, into the creature who subsequently killed him. The incident filled Merrill with grief, as she could not understand why he had reacted this way. When she confronted the Keeper for an explanation, Marethari told her that she had warned the clan of the dangers Merrill posed to them.
Heartbroken and feeling betrayed, Merrill decided that even if her own clan did not believe in her she would continue on her chosen path. That in the end, she was doing what was best for all of them. As a result, she withdrew into herself and obsessed over the mirror even more, even going so far as to forgo many of her relationships. It got to the point that some of her friends began to mutely take care of her, covering her shortcomings without even informing her. Such as Varric who began to have groceries delivered to her house when it became apparent that she could not remember to get them herself.
Of course, that might also have been a byproduct of her absent-minded personality. Because Merrill grew up as she did, she tends to act slightly detached from reality and has difficulty connecting with others. While always having good intentions, because of her honest personality, she tends to bulldoze through others’ feelings while trying to do what she thinks is right and ultimately ends up making more enemies for it. It is this combination of determination and naivety that often lands her in trouble.
Have you read up on how the game works?:
1. Flaming Ferret
2. A) Lightning Post/Mission
B) Selling your skills. ... such as if you're a mechanic. :|
C) Mooch off other PCs.
1st person:
I started my new job today, it was quite interesting. I've never had a proper occupation before... Well, not a paying one. People usually don't offer me work. They just sort of stare at me crossly like they've all stubbed their toes or stepped in something unpleasant. It's very strange...
It was different from what I'm used to. No angry people drawing their swords to attack or hungry monsters ready to bite me in half and crunch my bones together. I suppose this is what most people do everyday, isn't it? Make food and serve others instead of fighting for their lives.
... Perhaps tomorrow will be more exciting.
3rd person sample:
Trailing slender, calloused fingers over the cracked surface, Merrill was careful not to catch her skin on the sharp grooves. She had enough scars on her palms as it was, so much so that she didn’t want to needlessly add anymore.
As her gaze lingered on the mirror, a sense of frustration welled up within her. There was so much knowledge contained within the eluvian, residing just at the edge of her fingertips and yet continuously out of reach. If only she could awaken the power within the artifact. Surely it would have so much to tell her, so many stories to pass on that she could give to her people to enrich their culture.
Yet, as always, it remained silent. Nothing more than intricately designed junk, sitting in a corner of her room. With a sigh, she withdrew her hand and stepped back, giving the mirror one last look before exiting her room. Her house had grown cold in these last few hours, probably because she had let the fire die down to mere embers. She stroked them back to life now and added a piece of wood to it, even as her thoughts continued to linger on the mirror. What was she doing wrong? Why would it not respond to her touches, despite everything she had done?
Was she missing something? Perhaps it required a further step… one more addition before it could be completed. A special touch, so to speak.
“… maybe… an arulin’holm?” She murmured, mostly to herself as she straightened, watching the fire slowly come to life. For several moments she watched the flames, thinking quietly. The more she thought about it, the more it made sense. The arulin’holm her clan carried was ancient, much older than anyone could remember, even the Keeper. It stood to reason that an ancient mirror would require an equally ancient tool to repair it.
Except, in order to get it, she would have to ask Marethari for it. The thought alone of the Keeper’s disapproving gaze made her stomach flip. She would never be able to convince her alone…
But then, there was no need for her to be alone. She had companions who could help her. She had Hawke. Giving a quiet nod, if only to reassure herself, Merrill smiled gingerly at the fire and took comfort from thinking that name alone. With Hawke, anything was possible.
Name: Aki
Are you over 16?: One can only hope.
Personal LJ: jaki_ryuujin
Email: akkiko_tenshi[at]hotmail.com
Timezone: Mountain (-0700)
Other contact:
- AIM :: GinryuKnight ☆
- MSN :: see email
- Skype :: Please ask over one of the others for this.
- GinUingu | wingsofsilver
- Shiba Kaien | surgingwave
IC:
Character name: Merrill
Fandom: Dragon Age
Timeline: Act two of DA2, after her companion quest.
Age: Never stated. Estimated to be in her twenties since she was "of age" by the beginning of Dragon Age: Origins and it's been four years since.
~*Magical*~ abilities and strengths: While in this fandom it's hard to say what abilities a character has and doesn't have, it can be assured that Merrill is dangerous regardless of how many different spells she has in her pocket.
An apostate mage who specializes in mixing blood and earth magic, Merrill is capable of turning the land itself against her opponents as well as their own blood. Able to control unwilling parties and force them to do unspeakable things, as well as rend them from the inside out, it's little wonder that so many fear her unique combination of spells. The only upside to this is that blood magic is a double edged sword. The more Merrill uses it, the weaker she becomes as it takes her own blood to cast the spells.
On top of that, Merrill is capable of dabbling in a variety of other magics, such as elemental, arcane and spirit. While these aren't her specialties and are therefore less powerful than her blood magic, in the long run it won't really make much of a difference. Dead is dead, after all.
How would they use their abilities?: It's a safe bet to say that Merrill won't be making use of her powers often. As an apostate, she's more used to hiding her skills for fear of being hunted and regarded as a danger to herself and everyone around her. Thus, she runs strictly on a "if attacked, attack back," policy and will never use her powers to hurt others unless she thinks her life is threatened.
Appearance: Image. Merrill is tall and slender, almost unnaturally so, with ornate markings on her face (the vallaslin,) and shortly cropped, dark hair. Because she has wide, green eyes, pale skin and pointed ears, she holds a very exotic appearance that could almost be described as "pixie-like." Willowy and small, it would not be uncommon for someone to think she seems fragile.
Background/Personality: Originally born in the Nevarra Hills to the Alerion clan, when it became apparent that Merrill was gifted with magic she was given to the Sabrae clan in order to train under Keeper Marethari as her first. Her duties there would be to learn the history of the Dalish, hone her magical talents and eventually replace Marethari and guide the clan. Because of the uniqueness of her situation, however, she grew up secluded, and was often alone in her lessons leaving her socially awkward and nervous around outsiders.
None of this really affected her destiny, however, until the events of the fifth Blight. When Ferelden came under attack from the Darkspawn, a Grey Warden visited their clan seeking potential candidates. While he was there, one of their hunters, Tamlen, disappeared during his exploration of some recently discovered ruins. When he didn’t return, Marethari dispatched Merrill and another hunter to see what had happened. In the end, all they found was an eluvian, a seeing mirror created by the elves of Arlathan. Though the Grey Warden warned them that the mirror was tainted, Merrill kept a shard of it anyway. She was fascinated by the possibilities it held and hoped it would give her and her people some insight into the lives of the elves before the fall of Arlathan.
While that should have been the end of it, especially with their move to the Free Marches, Merrill persisted in her study of the mirror shard. She became almost obsessed with it and the knowledge it could give her people, a drive that served only to separate her from her clan even further.
Eventually, things came to a head when she enlisted the aid of a demon to reconstruct the mirror. In order to purge the mirror’s taint, Merrill turned to blood magic and opened herself to the possibility of becoming an abomination, something her clan feared. Though Merrill remained resolute in her belief that she was helping her people rediscover their past, her clan began to treat her like a pariah. Even Marethari attempted to dissuade her from her current path out of fear for her apprentice’s life, something that caused a great deal of arguments and tension between the two.
Because of this and the growing realization that she would never be able to fix the mirror as she was, Merrill decided it was time for her to leave the clan and expand her knowledge. So when a human by the name of Hawke visited the clan in order to pay back a debt to a witch, Merrill left with them, certain she was doing what was best for her people.
When Merrill arrived in Kirkwall, she immediately settled into the city’s alienage which was the only place she could afford to live. As an upside, it also served to hide her from the city’s Templars. Thus she began her new life as a city elf while occasionally helping Hawke on any quests the champion might have had for her. Resultingly, her powers as a mage grew exponentially despite her constant inability to repair the mirror.
Eventually, she came to the conclusion that she required an artifact from her clan in order to complete the eluvian and asked Hawke to assist her in getting it from Marethari. She explained that she would never be able to confront the Keeper on her own as they would bicker endlessly and Marethari intimidated her when upset. Thus, Hawke would have to be the mediator between the two of them. It’s also possible that Merrill had already begun to feel that Hawke could accomplish anything they set their mind to and that taking them along would ensure her success.
When they arrived at the camp, however, Marethari agreed to give them the artifact under one condition. They had to kill the Vatarrel that had been harassing the Dalish, killing three of their hunters. When they went to the cave to do so, however, one hunter had actually survived, an elf by the name Pol. When he saw Merrill, however, he reacted as if she were a worse fate than the Vatarrel and ultimately fled at the sight of her right, into the creature who subsequently killed him. The incident filled Merrill with grief, as she could not understand why he had reacted this way. When she confronted the Keeper for an explanation, Marethari told her that she had warned the clan of the dangers Merrill posed to them.
Heartbroken and feeling betrayed, Merrill decided that even if her own clan did not believe in her she would continue on her chosen path. That in the end, she was doing what was best for all of them. As a result, she withdrew into herself and obsessed over the mirror even more, even going so far as to forgo many of her relationships. It got to the point that some of her friends began to mutely take care of her, covering her shortcomings without even informing her. Such as Varric who began to have groceries delivered to her house when it became apparent that she could not remember to get them herself.
Of course, that might also have been a byproduct of her absent-minded personality. Because Merrill grew up as she did, she tends to act slightly detached from reality and has difficulty connecting with others. While always having good intentions, because of her honest personality, she tends to bulldoze through others’ feelings while trying to do what she thinks is right and ultimately ends up making more enemies for it. It is this combination of determination and naivety that often lands her in trouble.
Have you read up on how the game works?:
1. Flaming Ferret
2. A) Lightning Post/Mission
B) Selling your skills. ... such as if you're a mechanic. :|
C) Mooch off other PCs.
1st person:
I started my new job today, it was quite interesting. I've never had a proper occupation before... Well, not a paying one. People usually don't offer me work. They just sort of stare at me crossly like they've all stubbed their toes or stepped in something unpleasant. It's very strange...
It was different from what I'm used to. No angry people drawing their swords to attack or hungry monsters ready to bite me in half and crunch my bones together. I suppose this is what most people do everyday, isn't it? Make food and serve others instead of fighting for their lives.
... Perhaps tomorrow will be more exciting.
3rd person sample:
Trailing slender, calloused fingers over the cracked surface, Merrill was careful not to catch her skin on the sharp grooves. She had enough scars on her palms as it was, so much so that she didn’t want to needlessly add anymore.
As her gaze lingered on the mirror, a sense of frustration welled up within her. There was so much knowledge contained within the eluvian, residing just at the edge of her fingertips and yet continuously out of reach. If only she could awaken the power within the artifact. Surely it would have so much to tell her, so many stories to pass on that she could give to her people to enrich their culture.
Yet, as always, it remained silent. Nothing more than intricately designed junk, sitting in a corner of her room. With a sigh, she withdrew her hand and stepped back, giving the mirror one last look before exiting her room. Her house had grown cold in these last few hours, probably because she had let the fire die down to mere embers. She stroked them back to life now and added a piece of wood to it, even as her thoughts continued to linger on the mirror. What was she doing wrong? Why would it not respond to her touches, despite everything she had done?
Was she missing something? Perhaps it required a further step… one more addition before it could be completed. A special touch, so to speak.
“… maybe… an arulin’holm?” She murmured, mostly to herself as she straightened, watching the fire slowly come to life. For several moments she watched the flames, thinking quietly. The more she thought about it, the more it made sense. The arulin’holm her clan carried was ancient, much older than anyone could remember, even the Keeper. It stood to reason that an ancient mirror would require an equally ancient tool to repair it.
Except, in order to get it, she would have to ask Marethari for it. The thought alone of the Keeper’s disapproving gaze made her stomach flip. She would never be able to convince her alone…
But then, there was no need for her to be alone. She had companions who could help her. She had Hawke. Giving a quiet nod, if only to reassure herself, Merrill smiled gingerly at the fire and took comfort from thinking that name alone. With Hawke, anything was possible.