Valerius Morlenoth - Character Sheet

.:Basic Info
Name: Valerius Morlenoth
Age: 134 years
Gender: Male

.:Appearance
Height: 190 cm
Weight: 80 kg
Build: Slim, almost frail looking.
Hair Colour: Black
Eye Colour: Black
PICTURE


.:Background and Personality
Personality:
Outwardly, a calm, collected and cultured individual, Valerius is rarely violent and never raises his voice unless speaking out to address a set audience. Inwardly, like all of his kind, he is a sinister schemer whose only goal is the attainment of more power. Everything and anyone is considered either beneath his station and thus pawns or above his station and a target to bring down. Also, like his kind, he considers all those not Elves to be inferior. He considers it a manifest destiny of all races of the world to bow before the Elves, of whom the Dark Elves are the most superior of them all. Nonetheless, he appears polite to all and courteous. He is as patient as he is sadistic, taking perverse pleasure in the psychological and mental torment of his victims, leaving their physical shell intact so long as he can manage.

History:
Of the nine houses of Morr-Gannakh, the House of Morr-Lenoth stood as the bastion of learning and arcane science. The greatest vassals of the Dread King, Morr-Lenoth were the undisputed masters of what the lesser races called magic. Their fortress of Dhunkarrak was citadel, vault and library all at once. The other houses could only dream of such wealth of knowledge, such wealth of power.

A prodigal son to the house of Morr-Lenoth was born and christened Valerius. Like any great noble houses of Morr-Gannakh, there were nine children, three sons, three daughters and three alternatives. Unfortunately for the young Valerius, he was the tenth. The Dread King was adamant that his Nine Houses shall have Nine Heirs. While strife and schemes may lessen the number temporarily, it was deemed treasonous to have more at any given time. The only time a tenth child was allowed, was when the great house would be divided in an effort to eliminate any one of the children.

Such schemes take years to accomplish at times and especially if the parents themselves intervene on the new-born’s behalf and seek to eliminate someone else amongst their offspring instead. The House of Morr-Lenoth was a house of Warlocks. Mages. Wizards. Sages. Their eldest son had displeased the entire clan for forsaking the dark arts and pursuing a life of martial prowess. Kaelathos was his name and he had made a name for himself as an expert raider, bringing spoils in both slaves and treasure.

To have an heir such as he was unforgivable in the eyes of Lord Hakazhar and his wife Lady Ilvar. From the moment their new-born son, Valerius opened his eyes, they knew that their tenth son was destined to replace their first, for he was blessed with the eyes of the Void. Void black hair with void black eyes, the mark of those blessed and touched by the Moon God Lenoth, the Lord of Knowledge and Fortune. The patron deity of the House Morr-Lenoth. They reported the birth of their tenth son to their Dread King and received approval to commence the Draggannakh, the ritualistic war to determine who would die amongst the ten children of Morr-Lenoth.

It was then that the enemies of Morr-Lenoth revealed their hands. Kaelathos was adopted by their chief rival, Morr-Dukhal, the House of Warriors. Lord Hakazhar was assassinated by the murderous agents of Morr-Savli. Before the Dread King could intervene, the seven other houses of Morr-Gannakh had torn down the walls of Dhunkarrak and had turned the ancient libraries into a battlefield.

The House of Morr-Lenoth, in one bloody night, disappeared from the face of history. Kaelathos was executed by his saviours of Morr-Dukhal and none of the heirs of Morr-Lenoth survived.

Except one.

Lady Ilvar was the niece of the Dread King’s father. When Hakazhar was assassinated, she fled with Valerius in her arms with only a handful of vassals and slaves to the Dread King’s citadel. Her retinue was sacrificed to distract the would be assassins and alone, she crawled before the Dread King’s throne and offered Valerius into his care in exchange for her life.

The Dread King himself, did not care much for his cousin, nor for the boy. But he was infuriated with the Great Houses of Morr-Gannakh for this blatant disregard to his laws. To strike out at them now would have been easy, but would have bought the ire of the remaining seven Houses, potentially uniting them against the Iron Dynasty. It was such that he decided then and there, as Lady Ilvar Morr-Naheron lay dying at his feet, begging him to continue the bloodline of Morr-Lenoth and Morr-Naheron, that the young Valerius will be the instrument of his vengeance against the noble houses.

Thus it came to pass, that Valerius was welcomed as the adopted son of the House of Morr-Naheron, the Iron Dynasty that had for generations ruled as the Dread King of the Elves. He was treated like any other prince of the Royal House. The innocence and naiveté were beaten out of him. He was educated to lead and to rule. Everything his fellow siblings were taught were forced upon him, from the martial skills to simple etiquette. Unlike his adopted siblings, however, the Dread King personally tutored Valerius with the history of his origins and the knowledge of the Arcane Sciences. Where the Dread King could not cover with his own personal knowledge alone, he brought in sages and alchemists, scientists and clerics, anyone and everyone in the Iron Kingdom that could teach the child to be the heir of Morr-Lenoth, so that vengeance and retribution would be theirs.

Thirteen decades later, the Dread King’s weapon of revenge was forged and completed. Valerius Morr-Naheron had come of age. The time was ripe and the Dread King prepared to sate his thirst for vengeance against his rebellious nobles. But all for naught. The other houses had not been idle. They knew what their King had planned. The day the coming of age ceremony was set for Valerius, assassins struck and the Great Houses of Morr-Gannakh rallied their armies in open revolt. The Dread King died without his dreams coming to fruition and his children rallied their personal guard to take the throne by force. Valerius, with no army of his own, barely escaped with his life.

For the second time in his life, Valerius was driven from his destiny and this time, he escaped the very lands of the Iron Kingdom. Across the straits he sailed. With the chaos of civil war in the cities and citadels, none dared stop his passing. With barely his personal possessions in hand, Valerius, heir to the houses of Morr-Naheron and Morr-Lenoth, entered the lands of the lesser races. Vowing vengeance and revenge, but above all else, vowing to return to unite the lands of Morr-Gannakh under his very own Iron Crown.

Affiliation:
The Race of Morr-Vollak, the Lordly Elves aka Dark Elves
The Cult of Lenoth, the Moon God of the Dark Elves, Lord of Knowledge and Fortune
Heir to the Dread Kingdom of the Dark Elves, the Iron Kingdom of Morr-Gannakh, the Lordly Realm.
Heir to the Lordship of Morr-Lenoth, the Lords of Arcane Science

Home:
None, driven from the citadel that was destined to be his, he now heads to the mainland to carve out a powerbase from which he shall return to exact vengeance.

Family:
Father: Lord Hakazhar Morr-Lenoth (Deceased)
Mother: Lady Ilvar Morr-Naheron (Deceased)
Siblings: Kaelathos Morr-Lenoth + 8 (Deceased)
Adopted Father: The Drakherra, the Dread King Morr-Naheron (Deceased)
Adopted Siblings: The eight heirs of Morr-Naheron

.:Miscellaneous
Sample Post:
Waived

Likes:
Wine
Power
Knowledge
Intellect
Efficiency
Obedience
Tea.

Dislikes:
All other races
Superstition based on ignorance
Thoughtless acts and decisions
Failure
Inefficiency brought about from impatience or incompetence
Upstarts.

Strengths:
Swordsmanship, Art of War and Statecraft: As the Heir to the Dread King, Valerius was raised to rule the Morr-Vollak.
The Arcane Sciences: As the Heir to Morr-Lenoth marked with the favour of Lenoth himself, he is a natural student of the Arcane Sciences.

Weaknesses:
Physically weak: As a Morr-Vollak, Valerius is below average in physical strength and constitution. While mundane and magical disease or plagues appear to affect him less than other races, as an average of his kind, he is physically uninspiring to the lesser races.
Unable to truly comprehend lesser races’ way of thinking: He thinks and believes as most Morr-Vollak do, which makes him unable to comprehend such notions of familial love or camaraderie more often seen amongst the inferior peoples, their courage and recklessness confuse him and he is never able to truly understand how these people think.
Overconfidence and Pride: Pride and confidence in his inherent superiority as a Morr-Vollak towards the other races means that he never overestimates his abilities but always underestimates the others’.

Biggest Fear:
Death. Death is the end of ambition. The end of power. Death is something all Morr-Vollak fear and abnormally so, even for the lesser races’ standards.

.:Training
Mentor(s):
The Dread King Morr-Naheron

Powers:
Arcane Sciences: Basic Magic circles and words of power memorised, the advanced powers Valerius often uses are stored in a single tome bound in enchanted human flesh he carries on his person at all times.
Swordsmanship: Morr-Vollak swordsmanship makes uses of the Dark Elves’ superior reflexes and dexterity to wield sharp, elegant, curved blades. Combining a form of martial arts with the blade, they make use of the enemy momentum and energy to divert the full force of enemy assaults. Morr-Vollak duels are thus more akin to a deadly dance than a show of force.

Skills:
Arcane Sciences: Any and all forms of magic, miracles, alchemy and such fall under the broad discipline of the Arcane Sciences of the Morr-Vollak. The Primitive upstart races of the world and the lesser Elves of the world refer to this science as Magic or Miracles. While the House of Morr-Lenoth was the premier lore masters of this science, they have for over one hundred years lay in ruin. Their knowledge burned, divided and fought over by the remaining Noble Houses of Morr-Gannakh. Second to the House of Morr-Lenoth in the Arcane Sciences was the House of Morr-Naheron, the Dread King himself, and while his knowledge and collection of lore may have been second to Morr-Lenoth, the Dread King was just as capable a master of the Arcane Sciences. Valerius, as the greatest acolyte of the King before the downfall of the late Morr-Naheron, has inherited much of the talent and skills of his two houses. He is a learned practitioner of what the Primitive races call “Dark Magic”, a school of the arcane that commands the shadows to the conjurer’s will and commands the corruption of this world. Like most of Morr-Vollak, “Fire Magic” is a required necessity for survival in the cold, relentless lands of Morr-Gannakh, he has mastered the basics of this school, such that no cold places of the world will ever hinder his path. On top of this, he has mastered the forbidden arts of “Necromancy”, though most of the knowledge of this most dangerous school was lost with the fall of the Citadel of Dhunkarrak. He can summon the spirits of the dead to learn of their knowledge but that is all. He thus now learns from his most powerful ancestors the Arcane Sciences. Valerius thus has a great potential, if left unchecked, to reclaim the lost glory of his Father’s House, and to claim the throne of his adopted father’s Iron Crown.

All practices of the Arcane Sciences require certain conditions to be met. Magic circles are one of the chief and most common components to a spell. While carving out or drawing the circle around the practitioner is the best and most stable means of using this skill, to mark the air with hand gestures, to literally draw in thin air is the most obvious and easiest use in times of battle. The simpler the task, the easier the circle, the more powerful the conjuration, the more complex the circle, if even a part of the inscription is wrong, disaster can strike the practitioner or his victim. The spell may not work at all, or it may consume the caster. The most learned masters are as steady of hand as they are quick. The younger practitioners take their time to completely draw their circle.

The second major component is the words of power, or the words of command. This stabilises the spell even further on top of the circle. The mightiest Warlocks of Morr-Lenoth were said to conjure their spells with but an utterance of words. In reality, however, most prefer the logical sequence of concentration brought about by the combined sequences of drawing the magic circle and uttering the words of power simultaneously.

The third and last major component is the sacrifice. The Arcane Sciences offer great power at disproportionate costs. Naught but a spark is required for the school of fire to bend to the will of the Warlock. Only a handful of dirt is needed to construct a basic brick wall. But life, the life force bound in blood and the mortal shell are the most powerful and universal currencies of material needs for the Morr-Lenoth clan. Thus they have described it as a Sacrifice, the third component. In return for someone else’s life, great magic could be worked into the world. As even the Morr-Vollak have a sense of morality, they consider the use of their own kind’s life force to be anathema. But as the lesser upstart primitive races, even animals exist solely to serve their Lordly Masters, the Dark Elves of Morr-Lenoth have for generations made use of slaves to fuel their experiments.

Depending on the spell, there are other components specific only to that ceremony. While on paper, the above mentioned abilities and requirements may appear too cheap, and cheap they may be compared to the costs the primitives suffer under to achieve such high peaks of power, but each and every spell has their own costs that are not inherently apparent to the idle observer. These are the fourth component that varies from spell to spell. It is the pursuit of knowledge to lessen this fourth cost that the Morr-Vollak call the Arcane Sciences.

Avg. Mastery:
Dark Magic and Necromancy is by far his greatest asset. Though no one, not even Valerius himself appears to know exactly what he can do, the Arcane Sciences are limited only by the inherent talent of the practitioner and his imagination. This makes him a dangerous adversary at distance. Up close, his trusted blade protects him, nonetheless, he is no master of the sword unlike his Arcane Sciences, and thus he is still no match in the long term against those who live by the sword. Fire magic is only used in Morr-Gannakh as a tool to stave off the deadly cold and to survive in the frigid wilderness. It is rarely ever used in the art of war but it can be assumed that given Valerius’ talent, he is capable of great feats, if he so wishes.

.:Inventory
Avg. Money:
Upon leaving Morr-Gannakh, he left with a small chest about two feet long, a feet wide and three feet high. He also left with seven attendants, four of them slaves, two guards and one manservant. The four slaves were dressed as decoys and thus killed. The guards held off the enemy forces as the ship left port. Within the chest was filled with 90 Hirag. As the currency of the Morr-Vollak is considered slavers’ money for those who know of the Dark Elves, this amounts to nothing for who would trade such currencies?

Weapons:
1 Staff: An enchanted, ceremonial focal staff wrought from dark iron.
1 Longsword: An enchanted ceremonial curved Dark Elf Longsword.
1 Knife: An enchanted ceremonial knife.

All ceremonial equipment of the Morr-Vollak is forged with practical use in mind and it is not unheard of for the Great Nobles to ride to wars armed and dressed in their ceremonial garb. As a Magus of the Morr-Lenoth, the Dread King had forged in Valerius' name a staff that would serve as a focus of his spells, enchanted by the greatest Warlocks in the Dread King’s service and blessed by the High Priests of Lenoth. To commemorate his coming of age, the Dread King also presented his adopted son a new enchanted blade. A curved, single edged blade forged by the master weapon smiths of Morr-Gannakh. All weapons of the Morr-Vollak are enchanted as a ward from wear and tear as well as resistance to mundane damage. Thus these weapons do not rust, do not age and are etched with wards of protection.

Armour:
1 Enchanted Hauberk
1 Enchanted Coat of Plates
1 Robes of the Magus

Under his outer robe, Valerius wears his inner robe, a hauberk and a coat of plates. Hidden beneath his outer robe, he appears unarmoured and unprotected. Like his weapons of ceremony he escaped the Dread King’s citadel with, the armour and robes that he wore on that fateful day were crafted by the Royal armourers and the Royal Alchemists, enchanted by the Royal Warlocks and blessed by the Priests of Lenoth. Forever wary of the assassins’ blades, the Morr-Vollak are accustomed to sleeping with the bare minimal protection on their person at most times. Due to the restless nights such accommodations wearing armour provides and the light sleeping nature of any Morr-Vollak who has lived for over a century, the Dark Elves often sport gaunt features and sleep depraved look to their faces. Nonetheless, appearances can be deceptive.

Usual Equipment:
Valerius values his weapons, armour and robes as much as he does his life. It is these objects of station that remind him where he is destined to tread. What he is destined to grasp. He has chained to his belt his tome bound in enchanted human flesh. It is this tome that houses the arcane secrets he has accumulated and is written in a code only he understands. All Warlocks have their own unique methods of recording their findings, rarely making them legible for anyone but themselves. He dresses in robes of black and red with silvery grey, silver or white to add colour to his otherwise morbid tastes. His manservant often carries the rest of the items that they may need for their journey, including rations and other objects of value.