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Jan. 13th, 2015 11:54 amBackground:
Damian loves nothing more than a good mystery to unravel, and the biggest mystery he knows of is himself.
For as long as he can remember, he can't remember. His earliest memories are of playing in the enormous libraries of the sage guild in Juno, and of generally being raised by the members of the guild themselves. This might be a pretty normal state for a memory to be in, except that Damian knows there's more. He's been told he was presented to the sage guild by an unknown entity, showing up in the center of one of the libraries seemingly overnight. This is usually a result of someone having been reborn into their second life by the Valkyries, so Damian's pretty sure that was the case with him... except, in every other case he's heard of, the reborn party has people who remember them from their previous life. There are people to remind them of who they were, and usually people to encourage them to grow back up into that person. Not so with Damian. No one recognizes him, no one remembers the undoubtedly powerful sage he must have been, and there was certainly no one to claim him. He's not even sure his name is Damian, that's just what the guild has been calling him.
Not that he's let this bother him.
Despite the large unknowns of his past, Damian grew as children do. He had an insatiable curiosity, which probably would have gotten him killed several times over if not for his powerful elders. He was constantly poking his nose into everything, safe or otherwise, and seemed to be on constant quest to learn all there was to know about everything around him. This habit only worsened as he grew and took up study as a young mage. He developed a reputation for getting all peers around him in trouble with his reckless curiosity, and more than once he and a group of friends have barely escaped some crisis or another with their lives. But if Damian has learned from the venture, it's never regarded as a loss. (To him, at least. Better not ask his friends.)
In fact, that's how he met one of his good friends — although Kain might not define the relationship that way. Kain Griffin pulled Damian out from the jaws of certain death (Damian would insist it wasn't that dire) when the two of them were just a mage and a thief, and has kept a grudging eye on him since then. Damian doesn't at all mind this arrangement, since it means he can be even more recklessly curious. It's a wonder he ever graduated from a mage into a full-fledged scholar, it really is.
But despite Damian's almost eternal optimism, good cheer, and general thirst for knowledge, he's growing frustrated. A good portion of his heedless lunges into danger are in the hopes that he might learn something, anything about himself. Oh, not himself now, but whoever he was. Whoever he'd been, he must have had a very good reason for so thoroughly covering his tracks. And Damian knows that he's quite clever now, so he must have been impressively sharp when he'd had a whole lifetime behind him. He must have left clues for himself somewhere. Somewhere out there is evidence and information about him, and Damian grows more and more certain with the passing years and no leads that he must have been very, very important to be so secretive. Maybe he had some kind of plan, and his younger self would learn about it and then continue his previous life's work. There are infinite possibilities, really. The one thing Damian is sure of is that he wasn't nothing. He came from somewhere, and he knows there's a story to it. He just has to find it.
He keeps searching, keeps throwing himself into danger, keeps learning and gaining skills and knowledge, and keeps going unfulfilled.
For now.
Personality
Damian, who has no last name (that he can remember), is a charming young man, and gives every impression of being responsible, well-meaning, and with nothing but the best intentions for everyone he meets. That isn't exactly untrue, but he's a very good actor, and excels and smiling through any emotion. The truth of it is that Damian is generally well-meaning and caring… about himself and those he considers his friends. The rest of the world, well, it can probably look after itself, can't it? He's bright, enthusiastic, always willing to do something new or meet someone new. He's kind sometimes, thoughtful sometimes, and considerate sometimes, and curious always. And anyone who knows him better knows that most of this is really just the vehicle his thirst for knowledge takes. And Damian is very thirsty for knowledge.
He wants to know about the local flora and fauna, and he has never balked from firsthand research. He wants to know every spell and skill he can lay hands on, and has spent countless hours practicing and perfecting them. And he definitely wants to know about people. When someone interests him, he'll go to impressive lengths to keep them around, befriend them, whatever it takes to know more. (That doesn't necessarily mean he wants to keep them happy — some people are most interesting when you annoy them immensely and they want you to go away.)
But Damian is more than just a sponge. He's good at putting all of his observation and lessons to use, and getting better at it by the day. True, his capability is sometimes overshadowed by the sheer apparent stupidity of throwing himself headfirst into the situations that he does, but he does always manage to survive them, one way or another. He's known for now and then being surprisingly cunning, but it never surprises himself. Damian is quietly confident in his own abilities, and doesn't particularly care if other people know about them. He's serving his own purposes, his motives are being fulfilled — what more does he need? The understanding of other people is really pretty low on the list.
But more than just curious, Damian leans from everything and takes those lessons to heart, and is nothing if not aware of all of the resources and tools around him. He learns as much as he can about people in particular, the better to see not only who would be useful to him, but how best to convince them to lend that usefulness to him. He has a plan for every situation and a backup plan besides that, and views it all as an exciting challenge. Not only will it be incredibly convenient if he can get that patrolling city guard to round the corner at exactly the moment Damian has gotten an irritating enemy to throw a punch at him, but it will be a little thrill of excitement and pleasure to see said enemy dragged off in cuffs. Every plan gone right does tend to stroke his ego a little bit, even if he takes it all in cheerful stride.
And finally, Damian is increasingly desperate. This is even better hidden than the cleverness (which, really, is incidental more than hidden), and stays well under the surface. But the longer that Damian goes without finding any sign of himself, the more he fervently wants to believe there's a reason for it. He was clever, he was amazing, he was so important that ordinary people weren't allowed to know about him. But one day when he's smart enough, he'll find out about himself. He'll be proven right all along, he'll discover his purpose and continue his life's work from a lifetime ago, whatever it was. ...Right? Damian doesn't want to even contemplate the possibility of anything else. He's too smart, ambitious, and driven to be anything but destined for greatness. His greatest fear, that he's wrong, is one that he's determined never to face.
Abilities:
Damian's entire class is one dedicated to learning a huge multitude of different spells and skills, so he has a pretty vast array of them. Most of them focus on either doing elemental damage, making the lives of people who do magic around him miserable, or helping other people do elemental damage -- he's meant to be a fast-casting, magic-juggling guy who heard you like spells, so he put some spells in your spells so you can spells better. This guy seriously just lives and breathes magic, it's crazy. Here is a full list of everything he knows how to do or WILL know how to do by the time he's done learning everything.
His magic, varied and crazy as it may be, is still limited by his own energy. If he runs low or runs out, unless he steals some more from someone else, it will take him a while to regain enough to be useful again. And because he's spent SO much time learning magic, he's also pretty physically weak. Throwing punches is really not his thing. At all. He's at the point that without his magic, he'd be laughably frail and non-threatening. Sad.
He also needs ingredients for a few of his spells, which he'll probably have to beg from NPCs after running out of his own supply.
Third person:
Here.
Damian loves nothing more than a good mystery to unravel, and the biggest mystery he knows of is himself.
For as long as he can remember, he can't remember. His earliest memories are of playing in the enormous libraries of the sage guild in Juno, and of generally being raised by the members of the guild themselves. This might be a pretty normal state for a memory to be in, except that Damian knows there's more. He's been told he was presented to the sage guild by an unknown entity, showing up in the center of one of the libraries seemingly overnight. This is usually a result of someone having been reborn into their second life by the Valkyries, so Damian's pretty sure that was the case with him... except, in every other case he's heard of, the reborn party has people who remember them from their previous life. There are people to remind them of who they were, and usually people to encourage them to grow back up into that person. Not so with Damian. No one recognizes him, no one remembers the undoubtedly powerful sage he must have been, and there was certainly no one to claim him. He's not even sure his name is Damian, that's just what the guild has been calling him.
Not that he's let this bother him.
Despite the large unknowns of his past, Damian grew as children do. He had an insatiable curiosity, which probably would have gotten him killed several times over if not for his powerful elders. He was constantly poking his nose into everything, safe or otherwise, and seemed to be on constant quest to learn all there was to know about everything around him. This habit only worsened as he grew and took up study as a young mage. He developed a reputation for getting all peers around him in trouble with his reckless curiosity, and more than once he and a group of friends have barely escaped some crisis or another with their lives. But if Damian has learned from the venture, it's never regarded as a loss. (To him, at least. Better not ask his friends.)
In fact, that's how he met one of his good friends — although Kain might not define the relationship that way. Kain Griffin pulled Damian out from the jaws of certain death (Damian would insist it wasn't that dire) when the two of them were just a mage and a thief, and has kept a grudging eye on him since then. Damian doesn't at all mind this arrangement, since it means he can be even more recklessly curious. It's a wonder he ever graduated from a mage into a full-fledged scholar, it really is.
But despite Damian's almost eternal optimism, good cheer, and general thirst for knowledge, he's growing frustrated. A good portion of his heedless lunges into danger are in the hopes that he might learn something, anything about himself. Oh, not himself now, but whoever he was. Whoever he'd been, he must have had a very good reason for so thoroughly covering his tracks. And Damian knows that he's quite clever now, so he must have been impressively sharp when he'd had a whole lifetime behind him. He must have left clues for himself somewhere. Somewhere out there is evidence and information about him, and Damian grows more and more certain with the passing years and no leads that he must have been very, very important to be so secretive. Maybe he had some kind of plan, and his younger self would learn about it and then continue his previous life's work. There are infinite possibilities, really. The one thing Damian is sure of is that he wasn't nothing. He came from somewhere, and he knows there's a story to it. He just has to find it.
He keeps searching, keeps throwing himself into danger, keeps learning and gaining skills and knowledge, and keeps going unfulfilled.
For now.
Personality
Damian, who has no last name (that he can remember), is a charming young man, and gives every impression of being responsible, well-meaning, and with nothing but the best intentions for everyone he meets. That isn't exactly untrue, but he's a very good actor, and excels and smiling through any emotion. The truth of it is that Damian is generally well-meaning and caring… about himself and those he considers his friends. The rest of the world, well, it can probably look after itself, can't it? He's bright, enthusiastic, always willing to do something new or meet someone new. He's kind sometimes, thoughtful sometimes, and considerate sometimes, and curious always. And anyone who knows him better knows that most of this is really just the vehicle his thirst for knowledge takes. And Damian is very thirsty for knowledge.
He wants to know about the local flora and fauna, and he has never balked from firsthand research. He wants to know every spell and skill he can lay hands on, and has spent countless hours practicing and perfecting them. And he definitely wants to know about people. When someone interests him, he'll go to impressive lengths to keep them around, befriend them, whatever it takes to know more. (That doesn't necessarily mean he wants to keep them happy — some people are most interesting when you annoy them immensely and they want you to go away.)
But Damian is more than just a sponge. He's good at putting all of his observation and lessons to use, and getting better at it by the day. True, his capability is sometimes overshadowed by the sheer apparent stupidity of throwing himself headfirst into the situations that he does, but he does always manage to survive them, one way or another. He's known for now and then being surprisingly cunning, but it never surprises himself. Damian is quietly confident in his own abilities, and doesn't particularly care if other people know about them. He's serving his own purposes, his motives are being fulfilled — what more does he need? The understanding of other people is really pretty low on the list.
But more than just curious, Damian leans from everything and takes those lessons to heart, and is nothing if not aware of all of the resources and tools around him. He learns as much as he can about people in particular, the better to see not only who would be useful to him, but how best to convince them to lend that usefulness to him. He has a plan for every situation and a backup plan besides that, and views it all as an exciting challenge. Not only will it be incredibly convenient if he can get that patrolling city guard to round the corner at exactly the moment Damian has gotten an irritating enemy to throw a punch at him, but it will be a little thrill of excitement and pleasure to see said enemy dragged off in cuffs. Every plan gone right does tend to stroke his ego a little bit, even if he takes it all in cheerful stride.
And finally, Damian is increasingly desperate. This is even better hidden than the cleverness (which, really, is incidental more than hidden), and stays well under the surface. But the longer that Damian goes without finding any sign of himself, the more he fervently wants to believe there's a reason for it. He was clever, he was amazing, he was so important that ordinary people weren't allowed to know about him. But one day when he's smart enough, he'll find out about himself. He'll be proven right all along, he'll discover his purpose and continue his life's work from a lifetime ago, whatever it was. ...Right? Damian doesn't want to even contemplate the possibility of anything else. He's too smart, ambitious, and driven to be anything but destined for greatness. His greatest fear, that he's wrong, is one that he's determined never to face.
Abilities:
Damian's entire class is one dedicated to learning a huge multitude of different spells and skills, so he has a pretty vast array of them. Most of them focus on either doing elemental damage, making the lives of people who do magic around him miserable, or helping other people do elemental damage -- he's meant to be a fast-casting, magic-juggling guy who heard you like spells, so he put some spells in your spells so you can spells better. This guy seriously just lives and breathes magic, it's crazy. Here is a full list of everything he knows how to do or WILL know how to do by the time he's done learning everything.
His magic, varied and crazy as it may be, is still limited by his own energy. If he runs low or runs out, unless he steals some more from someone else, it will take him a while to regain enough to be useful again. And because he's spent SO much time learning magic, he's also pretty physically weak. Throwing punches is really not his thing. At all. He's at the point that without his magic, he'd be laughably frail and non-threatening. Sad.
He also needs ingredients for a few of his spells, which he'll probably have to beg from NPCs after running out of his own supply.
Third person:
Here.
