Dante

From Reydala

Revision as of 01:35, 29 December 2006

Name: Dante ab Llew

Race: Human

Class: Fighter/Rogue

Gender: Male

Age: 24 years

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Deity: Triana

Physical Appearance:

Height: 6’1

Body Type: Dante has a martial artist’s body; he’s whipish, with compact muscles

Hair: White

Eyes: He lost one, but his good eye is brown

Clothing: Dante prefers the color red, so he even has red accents on his black "stealth suit."

Other features: Dante carries his katanas one on each hip, down low enough that his fingertips brush the hilts when he walks with his arms to the sides. While certainly unconventional, putting his blades at this height makes a more natural drawing height, and allows him to draw a katana in each hand extremely quickly. In addition to the pouches on his belts, Dante has bundled to his back a Naginata, Ichi'Ban's Katana, and Desteral's Sword.

Background:

Hometown: Dante was raised in a small village on the southern tip of the Kaltian Empire, the notoriously cosmopolitan collection of regions on the eastern continent. His village, Joven, is composed almost entirely of warriors who spurn magic, relying purely on their martial prowess with the sword and spear. While Joven itself is located in the mountains, her people routinely walk to a nearby rocky beach to practice swimming and fishing. The people are generally good, with a few exceptions, but aren't really the type to be a part of, or organize themselves into a really large, complex government. They're still regular contenders in the Councilmaster Competition, though they compete more for the chance to test their skills than out of any real desire to rule.

While the men of Joven spend all day practicing the arts of war, it's up to the women to keep the village from collapsing in itself. The women of Joven are well-versed in trade, diplomacy, agriculture, architecture, medicine, and have the faintest grasp of politics (forming a Women's Circle that decides village policy as a whole). Both men and women are happy with this arrangement, as either side believes they wield the true power of Joven.

It should be noted that while married Joven women act as sheathes to their husbands' sword, those who decide not to marry often practice war right alongside the men, and in many instances surpass their testosterone equivalents.

Family background: Dante is actually an orphan, and was born in one of the far northern countries of the Kaltian continent. Whether by luck or by fortune, a warrior named Virgil came across an infant in the snow (while he himself was looking for a dwarf to craft him a sword), and took him back to Joven. He introduced the infant as Shutat, his adopted son and heir.

Family Statistics: Dante knows he was adopted by Virgil, but can't really remember anything about his life before. The only things he can recall are the color red, and flashes of purple.

Education: Dante learned the sword and the spear primarily from Virgil, though he learned various nuances that culminate into his style from all the swordsmen of Joven, including his trademark two-handed style. He also learned a basic grasp of philosophy, and ruminated on the nature of good and evil (as is popular to do in a village that focuses almost primarily on martial strength). Though intelligent, he never learned much more than small-group tactics for combat, simply because six Joven men is more than enough to defeat almost any enemy.

Character details:

Personality: It's extraordinarily difficult to pin down Dante's true personality (as anyone who's known him for about a week can attest), simply because he's so mercurial (though as he describes it, "he's a complicated man").

Characteristics about Dante that never seem to change, though, are:

1. He'll never back down from a challenge, from anyone or anything.

2. He'll steal anything that he can get away with. Whether it's for the actual value of what's being stolen, or if it's just because he can isn't known.

3. If someone's an enemy, Dante will not stop fighting until either they're dead, or he is. However, if he decides that someone's his friend (which is understandably rarely, as many people can't stand him long enough to become his friend), he'd go to Hell itself for them.

4. He hates being told what to do, and will often do the exact opposite out of spite. He's not stupid, though; if he suspects someone's trying to use reverse psychology, he won't do anything at all.

Religious Ideals: Dante, like most people from Joven, worship the goddess Triana. However, they only see her as a war goddess, and aren't anything like devout, only paying her lip service (if anything). While there is a statue that's supposed to depict Triana in Joven, it doesn't look a thing like the goddess it's modeled after.

Relationships:

Virgil is well respected as a swordsman in Joven, and his opinion in various matters is often sought out, though he can't really be said to be close to anybody (except "Shutat"). Though he can be seen as distant, Virgil holds the tenant of helping the helpless dear to his heart, and passed that basic philosophy towards life onto Dante.

Enna: Next to nothing is known about this woman, aside from the fact that she's an elf, that she's responsible for Dante's missing eye, and that she's Dante's wife. It's not known where she and Dante's homestead is, how they met, or why Dante isn't with her right now.

Other Player Characters

• Aelis: Though Dante doesn't know a lot about this Elven girl, he's formed a fast attachment with her since lying to Father Orison that the group had not in fact just met her and Wren. Since he considers her a friend, he actually calls her by name.

• Aknier: Dante doesn't have strong feelings one way or another about the Mulinel devotee, though he's leaning towards dislike. At the onset of the quest to rescue him, Dante had believed that the two were budding friends; however, upon certain revelations regarding Aknier's true opinion of him, Dante's started distancing himself from the mage. In time, he'll probably pick a fight with the younger man.

• Arciel: It's hard to tell Dante's feelings about this extraordinarily reserved woman. One minute they'll be getting along, and the next they'll be fighting. He usually refers to her as "Ice Queen," due to her introspective, distant nature.

• Dagnir: When they first met, Dante didn't get along with Dagnir at all (though considering the circumstances, it's far from surprising). Over time, though, Dante seems to have developed a gruding respect for the Druid (though he'd die before admitting it). Dante's favorite nicknames for Dagnir are "Lord of the Fleas" and "Druid."

• Kaer: Dante doesn't dislike Kaer, but he's not overly fond of him, either. Dante's impression of the man is that he's a rigid, devout disciple of "justice;" which just doesn't jive with Dante's own life outlook. Inevitably, Dante will pick a fight with him; it's just a matter of when.

• Mentat: Dante met the Emperor's right-hand man while he was exploring Krasvae with Wren, and extremely drunk. Thus, he can't remember the specifics of what they said to one another, but suddenly found himself with yet another traveling companion who hates him. The Emperor gave Mentat explicit instructions NOT to harm Dante, so of course he's going to take advantage of it every step of the way. Dante's current nickname for Mentat is "Lapdog," until he can come up with something more insulting.

• Mikhal: Dante respects the short barbarian as a fellow warrior, and an extremely strong one. He also likes the fact that he has a sense of humor, albeit a strange one. This fondness, for lack of a better word, leads Dante to call Mikhal by his proper name.

• Seremela: Dante had felt guilty about nearly killing her during their first meeting, but months of her tongue had cured him of any remorse he might have felt. Now, he likes making her mad, purely and simply out of spite. Her nickname, "Princess," comes from a misunderstanding of the dynamics of Dagnir and Seremela's relationship when he first met them; he thought that Seremela was in charge between the two of them, and meant it as an ironic nickname. After all this time, the nickname just stuck, though it would seem to be more apt than he could have imagined.

• Wren: As little as Dante knows about Aelis, he knows even less about the second member of his named-off-the-top-of-his-head "Brain Trust." Though he knows nothing of her past, he's amused by her tenuous grasp of her surroundings, as well as the fact that she insists on calling him "Boss." Most recently, the two shared a meal in a tavern and explored Krasvae, and despite his best efforts couldn't find out anything more about the woman than he all ready knew. He calls her "Wren," due to his friendship with her.

Present Situation:

Dante leaves Aknier's bar in ruins, after provoking a bar fight out of boredom