A Forgotten Man

Character Application

Character Name: Hastiin (The nickname given to him by the Eastern researchers. Means man/elder.)

Race: Human

Gender: Male

Age: Appears to be in his mid 20s, but he can’t confirm it.

Character Description:

      6 feet tall, 190 lbs, short(ish) curly black hair and striking green eyes. He currently has his beard trimmed to only stubble, but that’ll change soon enough without maintenance. His hands are calloused and his skin is a dark, sun-kissed tan. He has a handsome face with a square jaw, and looks to be in his mid 20s. He doesn’t have a single scar on his body.

      He has to relearn how to speak (he currently can’t even understand any languages), go through physical therapy to allow himself to walk (and do everything else) on his own again, and start from the ground up as far as his knowledge about the world goes. He truly remembers nothing outside of staring at the inside of a stone container with glowing runes for what could potentially have been centuries, unable to move his eyes, to breath, or do literally anything outside of think. After all that time of complete helplessness and utter isolation, his mind has basically gone blank. All he’ll ever know about his past outside of certain things that feel familiar to him is what’s told to him ic.

Character Occupation:

      None!

Character Personality/Traits: 

      As his personality comes forward, he will unerringly become a caring man who’s fiercely protective of others and feels a deep urge to take the fight to that which may threaten the lives of those around him. He will retain an extreme case of claustrophobia for some time. Outside of that, much will depend on how he’s rehabilitated, but it’s very likely that more aspects of his past personality will also come forth.

Character Biography: 

      In the deserts of the East, an excavation team worked on clearing a buried ruin that’s easily over a thousand years old. The entirety of weeks of excavation seemed fruitless as the ruin proved to be in terrible shape and possibly looted in the distant past. That is, until one of the workers noticed that there were carvings on the floor of a mostly collapsed chamber. Eager to get proper sketches and rubbings of whatever these ancient carvings depict, the team worked painstakingly to clear the immense amount of rubble from the room. After a few days of a whole team’s work, they realized that there was a subchamber beneath the rubble, likely still sealed after all this time. 

      While the laborers on the team worked to clear the remaining rubble in order to access the subchamber, the researchers worked hard to record and decipher the damaged carvings on the main chamber’s floor. Said carvings seemed to convey the history of a great evil that ate away at the land, leaving only growing desert in its wake before being sealed away. The researchers came to the conclusion that this was an account of the history of the Forbidden One known today as Rura Kul Tal when it ravaged the land thousands of years ago. As the carvings got more and more damaged from the fallen rubble as they got closer to the entrance of the previously buried subchamber, the end of the history was impossible to determine. But the carvings that were still visible appeared to depict a warrior that was present for the sealing of the great evil, but then was sealed away themself for reasons unknown.

      With the rubble cleared and the subchamber entrance finally ready to be opened, the excavation team was excited to see what lay hidden away for all this time. And when they opened the severely cracked stone doors that sealed it, they all got a glimpse of countless arcane glyphs on the inside of the doors and all throughout the surprisingly small interior container vanishing in a flash of light. There was no subchamber to be explored. Instead, what lay in front of them was a naked man in a stone box. The man took in a sudden breath, like it was the first time he’d been able to breathe in ages, then just… laid there. His facial expressions seemed random, and as he tried to move about his container, it immediately became clear that he was unable to accurately control his limbs. Some of the excavation team ran, some of them stood in shock, and some of the researchers immediately began to call out to the man with many various questions. But the man seemed unresponsive, only really able to focus his eyes on movement in front of him and occasionally let out a soft grunt. He didn’t seem to comprehend any language they spoke and was unable to move of his own accord, so the team very cautiously removed him from the container he was laid inside of. There was a final carving of where he lay, and its meaning was perfectly clear: A warrior was raised from his slumber to defeat Rura Kul Tal.

      The researchers drew the conclusion that this man had been sealed away after the containment of Rura Kul Tal to be later released to do battle with the Forbidden One, but had likely been forgotten after millenia had passed. The spell that kept him alive seemed to either have been flawed in some way or perhaps disrupted by the damage to his stone container, which resulted in his current mental state. With no way to question the man and not being equipped to care for someone who needs constant care to stay alive, the excavation team was left with little choice but to send this man to be a long term hospital resident for rehabilitation. It wasn’t long before he was sent to the Falkvard hospital for care.

Notes:

-I’d like for this character to already be aspected into Holy magic! (I understand that won’t give him any kind of benefits coming in and will only serve as a remnant of his past.)

-I’d like for this character to start off with absolutely no starting equipment or money!

Images:

      I will try to post them in the comments since they’re not working here!

Magic Application

Magic Biography:

      Having used magic in the far flung past but since forgotten, he still retains residual positive feelings for when he’s affected by Holy magic, in which he is already aspected. More than that, simply seeing magic cast and hearing about its effects (especially Holy magic) gives him a slight sense of deja vu. So after one of the researchers on the excavation used Holy magic on him, that sight and feeling became a strong memory for him.

      What he remembers about that moment is seeing that man’s eyes begin to give off a soft glow, and then immediately feeling like out of all of the people watching him and talking at him, that man specifically was seeing something deeper inside of his core being. He felt completely exposed to that man’s magic, and it somehow felt naggingly familiar to him. Besides familiarity, the man’s gaze also gave him a feeling of reassuring warmth, and strangely enough, a sense of pride. It will take some time for him to learn the words to explain this situation to others and seek out answers for what exactly that effect was, but it’s absolutely something that he’ll want to get to the bottom of. And should he ever look over a magical item or a trinket, his gift will become apparent, explaining at least part of the feelings that came with that memory.

      He’ll mainly come to think of magic as a blessing to mortals that is intended to inspire and protect, as well as destroy that which is unnatural. To him, magic will be a source of pride and something that is not to be taken for granted or misused. This comes doubly so for Holy magic, which is only accessible to those of faith. As such, he will strive to put his gift to good use in the ways he believes are best.

Please describe the magic system, including its limitations in your own words: (Updated!)

      There are three different categories of magic; Soul Magic, Outlier Magic, and Elemental magic. Each of these categories have their own subcategories, or “Aspects.” Characters are limited on how many aspects they can choose by their race, but these chosen aspects do not have to come from any specific category (unless otherwise stated in the racial key features), so it’s possible for some characters to have aspects in multiple different categories. A character with the ability to cast magic may have as many trinkets for different aspects as they want and use each of them (with the exception of Holy magic and Dark magic, which are mutually exclusive), but only up to Medium level. To cast at a Strong level, a character must become “Aspected” in that specific aspect, which is normally done simply by practicing up to Strong spells and then casting a Strong spell for the first time, which locks in that aspect.

      To channel any kind of magic, one must first possess a trinket (unless otherwise stated in the racial key features). Trinkets are aligned to specific aspects, so characters will need separate trinkets that align with different aspects in order to cast each of them. Trinkets also have predetermined levels of strength that dictates the maximum amount of magical power that can be channeled through them. From least magically potent to most magically potent, these levels are; weak, feeble, moderate, medium, strong, powerful, wondrous, and divine. Mages must practice an aspect’s magic in order to grow in magical power, and each level of magical potency not only dictates how effective a mage’s spells are, but also unlocks new abilities for that aspect and determines how many spells the mage can cast and at what tier of power those spells will be.

      Mages are also limited in casting magic based on their sight. If the target of their magic is not something they can see and isn’t in physical contact with them (like the mage themself, an item they’re holding, or a person they’re grabbing onto), then they can’t use spells on that target. For example, a mage cannot cast a spell on a person or space completely obscured by a wall even if they know a person is there, and a blind mage will only be able to cast spells on themselves and whatever they come into physical contact with.

      If for any reason a mage goes a long period of time without casting spells from a certain aspect, their progression towards the next tier of spells will begin to roll back, which is called “Decay.” Having multiple aspects at and beyond Strong level will begin to grant mages “Mastery,” which allows those mages to cast even more spells of their highest level.

      Outside of what I’ve already said, the spell effects in Saphriel are very open-ended and up to interpretation. While each aspect has example spells that are appropriate for each tier, those are not the only things that mages can accomplish. Those spells also serve as guidelines for roughly how effective spells of those tiers should be. It’s up to the player’s creativity and the GMs rulings to determine the endless possibilities!

Please describe how you would use a weak trinket with your characters first/only aspect:

      Should my character get his hands on a weak Holy trinket, he’d begin by making a simple holy light. He’d practice how bright or dim he could make the light, how far away he could send it, and how long he could make it last with a single spell before it fades away. Of course, it has other applications that he’d practice as well, like healing itty bitty scratches and making Holy Water. And very importantly, with each spell he casts, he’d give a silent prayer of praise to Aderoth for granting him the power of Her healing light. Weak Holy magic may not be able to yet make Holy shields or grant restorative blessings, but one cannot hope to eventually cast those spells without first starting off by practicing the basics.