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CHARACTER

Name: Aurelien Calistine
Race: Human (Nidalese)
Class: Fighter (Aldori Defender)/Aldori Swordlord/Duelist
Age: Early 20s (exact age varies by canonpoint)
Appearance: Black hair, slate gray eyes, and the kind of youthful handsomeness that screams aristocratic pretty-boy. Unremarkable height. Small-waisted, broad-chested, and muscular without being particularly bulky, with a bias toward his arms. Has multiple ear piercings, as well as a number of scars across his face and body.

Background:

➣ Born to a poor family in southern Nisroch, Aurelien's earliest memories are of hocking trinkets in the bay markets.

➣ From an early age, Aurelien displayed a precocious talent for military theory, strategy, etc. With so many amusements outlawed by Nisroch's draconian laws, he began to entertain himself through self-taught knifeplay. This is what would ultimately draw attention to the boy—through his killing of a grown, armed man. Aurelien would claim the man had forced him to act in self-defense, but the reality of the incident was hard to verify—and, regardless, the state of the man's body revealed a mercilessness unexpected of a child.

➣ In light of this event, the lesser lords of the Umbral Court overseeing Nisroch's port took notice of him. A handful began to court Aurelien's parents with offers of not only clemency, but patronage and tutelage for such a promising young lad—with the expectation that he would become an agent loyal to them and their interests in exchange, of course.

➣ Word of this made its way to Florentus Calistine, a powerful and well-established lord of the Umbral Court based in Pangolais. He, too, made overtures toward Aurelien's parents. Rather than merely offering their son a place as a valued underling, however, Calistine proposed a far more drastic arrangement: he would grant Aurelien's parents a hefty sum of money, in addition to personally securing the couple a comfortable position in Nisroch's wealthy northern district, in exchange for parental custody of their son.

➣ Under the constraints of poverty in Nisroch's highly stratified society, it was a deal too good to refuse. Aurelien first laid eyes on Pangolais as Calistine's son; he has not set foot in Nisroch since.

➣ A vampire with a lifespan measured in centuries, this was not the first time Calistine had claimed a promising youth as his adopted child. Rather than a mere agent, Calistine sought an investment in the longer term. After all, there are many institutions in Nidal not under the direct control of the Umbral Court; by grooming a child into an ideal candidate for such an organization, Calistine could place a loyal advocate for his own interests within its ranks.

➣ For Aurelien, the clear choice was the Adamant Company. The education he received under Calistine's instruction biased heavily toward martial talents, naturally—something that suited Aurelien himself just fine. He was also trained in oration and rhetoric, as well as given all the education in philosophy and poetry necessary for him to seem adequately erudite and persuasive.

➣ Later, Calistine would send Aurelien to Brevoy. Officially, he acted as an emissary of the Umbral Court to Restov; however, in reality, this was largely an excuse for Aurelien to receive a fancy foreign education at the Aldori Academy.

➣ Aurelien excelled at the art of Aldori swordplay, a mixture of talent and enthusiasm propelling him to the top of his class. However, his cruelty, sadism, and impulsivity made him deeply unpopular with both his peers and teachers. It was only his status as an emissary that saved him from expulsion; ejecting an official diplomat would have been a political faux pas no one particularly wanted to deal with, given Nidal's reputation.

➣ Luckily, Aurelien saved them the trouble. He eventually grew bored and frustrated with the regulations in place at the Aldori Academy, finding the bloodless nature of his education stifling and unfulfilling. He turned his attention toward Mendev and the Worldwound in the northwest; demons would provide a far greater test of skill than his mortal peers, and no one there would demand he stop at first blood.

Personality:

➣ Cheerful, arrogant, and sadistic, Aurelien is a cruel man with a playful and easygoing demeanor. His larger-than-life mannerisms provide him some superficial charm, and even those with strong moral principles can find themselves swept up by this debonair shell for a time.

➣ Impulsive and easily bored, Aurelien seeks thrills wherever he can find them. Rarely does he consider the consequences of his actions before taking them; put that together with his poor control over his emotions, and Aurelien tends toward erratic behavior and mood swings.

➣ Aurelien is a Kuthonite... Albeit a somewhat unorthodox one. He places very little value on stable hierarchy, instead believing that power belongs to whoever is strong and bold to claim it. He takes pleasure in the act of both inflicting and receiving pain, but passion for the experience motivates him before any religious devotion. In many ways, Zon-Kuthon serves as a justification for his proclivities toward carnage, rather than the source of them.

➣ Despite his freewheeling nature, Aurelien nevertheless expects complete obedience from those subordinate to him. Beneath his breezy exterior, he has an obsession with dominance and control over his surroundings, including the people within them. If he feels his authority has been disrespected, he will lash out to reassert his superiority through violence.

➣ Highly competitive, Aurelien has a taste for challenging battles and glorious feats. He can, at times, become abruptly fixated on individuals he finds entertainment in; that fixation will often fade just as swiftly, as the shine wears from the apple.

➣ Self-centered and highly independent. Tends to act as though reality will simply bend itself around his superior will. Likes the praise and admiration that come with leadership, but prefers to act alone and becomes irritated with demands for his attention. Takes rejection poorly.

Game History:

NOTE: By default, the version of Aurelien played on Dreamwidth has his basis in Owlcat's Wrath of the Righteous cRPG. However, he may also be played from a version of Mendev's Fith Crusade more similar the original adventure path, or with a completely divergent history where he was uninvolved in the closing of the Worldwound entirely. I'm flexible!

➣ Beginning on the Trickster Mythic Path, Aurelien would reject his mythic power in Act 5 and switch to Legend.

Click for a more detailed list of in-game choices! (WIP)

➣ (PROLOGUE) Showed the Light of Heaven to Chief Sull.

➣ (PROLOGUE) Succumbed to demonic rage at the end of the Shield Maze.

➣ (PROLOGUE) Recruited Wenduag.

➣ (ACT 1) Showed Hulrun the Light of Heaven, initially avoiding a fight, and secured Ramien's assistance by agreeing to help his acolytes.

➣ (ACT 1) Later, disposed of Hulrun by attacking him in defense of Ramien's final acolyte. With all three Desnan acolytes assembled in one place, Aurelien did his duty to Nidal and slaughtered them all. :)

➣ (ACT 1) Listened to the "strange instinct" at the Blackwing Library.

➣ (ACT 1) Fought the cultists at the Tower of Estrod.

➣ (ACT 1) Protected the Defender's Heart.

➣ (ACT 1) Destroyed the Kenebras Wardstone.

➣ (ACT 2) Agreed with neither Seelah nor Elan, on the grounds that it's pointless to argue about "the right thing to do" when the choice has already been made and can't be undone.

➣ (ACT 2) Assisted the Hellknights; allowed the remains of the Sunrise Order to decide their own fate.

➣ (ACT 2) Allowed Sosiel to lead the diversion against the vescavor swarm; saved the injured halfling in the hopes that this painful event would lead him to convert to the Kuthite faith.

➣ (ACT 2) Uncovered Nurah's treachery; convinced her to act against the demons by declaring his own disdain for the self-righteousness of the crusaders, and allowed her to go free so that she could act as a saboteur within the demonic army amassed at Drezen.

➣ (ACT 2) Succumbed to demonic rage and struck Irabeth to bring her back to her senses.

➣ (ACT 2) Chose the Trickster mythic path.

➣ (ACT 3) Displayed Staunton's corpse in Drezen's central square.

➣ (ACT 3) Allowed Jannah Aldori to go free.

➣ (ACT 3) Goaded Wenduag into killing Lann.

➣ (ACT 3) Allowed Jerribeth to maintain the illusion over Wintersun and take Marhevok to her realm; Gesmerha serves as the new chief for a mixed human-demon village.

➣ (ACT 3) Helped Jerribeth imprison Xanthir Vang; killed Jerribeth afterward.

➣ (ACT 3) Encouraged Kerenai to accept Ysenna as Gundrun's chief.

➣ (ACT 3) Refused the Lexicon of Paradox's power.

➣ (ACT 3) Gave Queen Galfrey the Lexicon of Paradox.

PREFERENCES

Backtagging: Always!
Threadjacking: Ask first.
Fourthwalling: Ask first.
Cross-Canon, Cross-Medium, AUs, etc: Absolutely.

Physical Contact: Yes.
Injury & Death: Yes. :)
Romance & Smut:

OTA! Aurelien has few morals and a sexual preoccupation with violence, so please be aware of that before tagging. With that in mind, I tend to lean toward darker tropes when writing him: corruption arcs, stockholm syndrome, dub- and noncon, hatesex, two people torturing a guy to death together and then fucking within six feet of the corpse, etc. If it needs a content warning, he's probably game.

Desired Canonmates: Camellia, Daeran, Sosiel, Wenduag, ...Greybor, ......Socothbenoth, .........Nurah
Desired Crosscanon: Aurelien's preferred types include other sadists and murderers, upstanding heroes with the potential to be worse, and anyone who would make for a challenging 1v1 fight. With that said, I'll give anything a shot once, so this list is certainly non-exhaustive!
Kinklist: Here