Deer Country Application

[reticence]

Character Base

• Character Name: Faolan
• Age: 25
• Canon (Date/Year Released)/Canon Point: The Bridei Chronicles (Book 1 Published April 1, 2007)/Between Book 1 (The Dark Mirror) and Book 2 (Blade of Fortriu)
• Items Coming Along:
• his best dagger
• saddlebag (waterskin, packet of dried meats, extra change of clothes, flint, dry kindling, medicinal herbs)
• a nice, warm, practical blanket
• riding leathers
• everyday outfit: shirt, tunic, trousers, heavy cloak, boots, belt.
• fancy outfit
• Horse (this is in fact the name of his horse from Deerington)
• Content Warnings for Character: murder, kidnapping, PTSD, torture, depression/issues with mental health, attempted suicide, (later in canon but mentioned in the history if other book summaries are read: child abuse, sexual abuse)

Original Deerington Application

• Link to Accepted Deerington Application: Here.
• Additional Adjustments to include:
• Core Relationships:
Bridei -- Bridei is the most important person in Faolan’s life at this particular point in his canon. When they first meet, Faolan is posing as a Gaelic prisoner in order to maintain his anonymity as a spy. Bridei takes offense to this, that any man would spy against their own country, though he soon gets to know Faolan -- as best he can at any rate. Faolan keeps watch over Bridei because he is paid to do so, but also because he grows attached to the young king. As Bridei teases him, he is not paying him to be his friend, and yet friends they become. Bridei would like for Faolan to become an advisor to him, and he values the other man’s opinion both personally as well as professionally. Faolan is not comfortable letting go of the pretenses of why he is there in Bridei’s household just yet. For all that Bridei is his closest friend, even he does not know the story of Faolan’s past.
Dubhan -- Faolan’s older brother. When he was growing up, Faolan hero-worshipped Dubhan. Though Faolan chose to pursue his talents as a bard, the pair of them remained very close throughout Foalan’s studies. Echen sees this close bond between the brothers and pinpoints Faolan as the weaker of the two, ordering Faolan to slit Dubhan’s throat to save the rest of the family as he thinks that Faolan will not do it. Faolan remembers that Dubhan would not grovel, he would not apologize, and that when it came time to die Dubhan calmly instructed Faolan on what to do to get the job done. Faolan thinks of Dubhan as the better man that he will never be.
Echen -- The man who essentially ruined Faolan’s life. Though Faolan was not involved in the dispute that brought Echen to their door, Echen identified Faolan as the weakest link in their family tree and thought he might be able to use him as an excuse to slaughter the lot of them. When Faolan stepped up and did as he was told, killing his brother in front of his family, Echen is impressed by him. This action casts Faolan out of his house -- his own mother can no longer stand to be in the same room as him -- and sets him on the path to eventually becoming mercenary for hire. Echen hears this and decides he will try and hire Faolan himself, though when Faolan refuses he tosses him in a terrible prison, known as Breakstone Hollow. Faolan is one of only a handful of men to escape from the likes of such a place, and between the mark of Breakstone (literally and figuratively) and the earlier invasion of his home life, he will certainly not be forgetting Echen any time soon. He keeps tabs on the man through his contacts, but he has not returned to that area of Ireland since breaking out.
King Drust -- Though we see very little of the relationship between these two in the books before Drust’s death, Drust trusted Faolan enough to hire him (a young Gael) to be his chief assassin and spy, and to recommend him for the next king of the Priteni. This was a very important post for Faolan and Drust always spoke very highly of him to all the men in the inner court. It’s clear that whatever duties Faolan had for him, he proved himself admirably. As Drust tells Bridei when he is questioning Faolan’s presence in court early on in their acquaintance: “You should not undervalue his services; they are worth twice fifty silver brooches.”

• Summary of CRAU Influence/Impact: Faolan joined Deerington shortly before it all started to fall apart, and so he only had a short time to get his feet wet before the world was quite literally ending and he was tossed back into his own homeworld for a time. He struggled with the modern elements of the game for his first few weeks and basically holed up in the house he found for himself before gaining his bearings -- just in time for everything to go quite literally to hell in a handbasket.
While in-game for that short time, Faolan struggled to find a purpose, though this was largely in part down to the fact that everything WAS going to shit. Early on he met Anduin Wrynn and wound up attaching himself to him as someone who is from a similar time period and seemed to make poor judgments in the face of danger, despite being otherwise capable of defending himself with magic. He also clashed with Catra, who was his first introduction to more non-human-like characters (literally cat and dog dynamics between the pair of them). He encountered other characters, Arthur and Eames, who latched on to Faolan himself, having known a different version of him in another world. Faolan tried to make sense of the whole multiversal theory and the idea of there having been a different version of him out there, but it’s a lot for a guy from the 5th century to wrap his head around, along with trying to survive what was essentially the Deerington apocalypse.

• (2+) Positive Experiences:
• The Job Offer: When Bridei wins himself the position of King, there is some ambiguity as to whether Faolan will continue for him in the same capacity as he has previously. He was hired to protect him as Bridei prepared for the election, but they had not discussed what came afterwards. Faolan excuses himself from the celebrations -- for although Bridei does not know it at that point, he cannot stand to be in the same room as music being played without old memories he does not want to face coming to the forefront of his thoughts -- and so Bridei comes to seek him out for the discussion instead.

Bridei asks him if he has given any thought as to what he wants to do in the future, and Faolan clearly has not though he does his best to pretend otherwise. Bridei tells him that he had a different role for him in mind --one of advisor, councillor, and companion. If he would consider it. Faolan obviously struggles with this. He says that he doesn't think that he's the man for the job. Bridei is clearly looking for a friend, and he doesn't think that he can do that. "A simple task that tests my skills, with an appropriate payment at the end of it, that I'll undertake. I don't have it in me to offer more." Bridei of course is disappointed that Faolan turns him down in this and tells him he will miss him, and Faolan hesitates at this. Does Bridei not intend to keep him on as a protector for him and Tuala? Bridei questions whether he would consider that as an agreeable alternative. Guard duty, long days, sleepless nights, constant anxiety. Faolan counters that "it's what I do. It suits me."

• Not Paid Be Friend: After King Drust the Boar assigns Faolan to be Bridei's bodyguard, his main plan is to lure an attack on Bridei so that he might draw the real mastermind behind the attacks out into the open. He reveals to the young potential king that Tuala has been sent of to Banmerren, a place where wise women are trained and no men are allowed to enter, and sets a secret meeting up with the pair of them. But Bridei wants more and Faolan is too busy to schedule anything further, so Bridei gets it in his head to sneak off on his own, and is attacked when he does. Unfortunately for Faolan this was not how he had intended for this to happen -- he manages to stop the attacker from killing Bridei but he is too late to stop the attack entirely and Bridei is almost killed. Bridei's mentors question Faolan's motives, but they all still commend Faolan for apprehending the attacker -- they think that it was an ill-conceived idea, too risky, but they recognize that Faolan is not a man to adhere to the accepted rules, "nor does he run risks unless he's sure of success [...] Faolan has achieved what the most powerful men in Fortriu couldn't do; he's virtually assured your victory."

Bridei is knocked unconscious and needs to be nursed back to health for many days. As he slowly regains himself he comes to find that as well as spending his days interrogating the prisoner, Faolan has also been spending his nights watching over the younger man's bed. Bridei recognizes that their relationship has changed as he finds Faolan fussing over his blankets and fluffing his pillows, remarking that it is funny to see him as nursemaid. When Faolan counters that he is only doing his job, that it's what they pay him for, "keeping fools like you alive long enough to achieve what's set out for them", Bridei replies that he's not paid to be his friend. This makes Faolan go quiet, and Bridei observes on Faolan's face "a remarkable sequence of emotions passed with rapidity: surprise, sadness, something remarkably like humility, then the blank, hard expression with which it was Faolan's habit to mask any evidence of what he felt."

• Visiting Tuala: Faolan can tell that there is something on Bridei's mind that is keeping him from focusing entirely on his path towards the kingdom and so he plans an "outing" for the pair of them. He takes Bridei on a ride out into the country, away from court, to try and clear his mind. What he does not tell the younger man is that where they set themselves up to picnic is near the spot where Faolan has heard that the young girls from Banmerren -- the school for wise women -- would be going on an outing of their own to pick herbs. Bridei is naturally furious with Faolan for this trickery, but Faolan is quick to point out that he is merely attempting to discover the source of Bridei's maladies. Bridei had assured him that he does not need a woman but what Faolan comes to realize in this outing is that what Bridei truly needs is one woman in particular.

So he asks Bridei what he wants to do about this dilemma of his. Bridei needs to see Tuala, but he cannot do so unless he breaks the rules. He cannot break the rules for fear of offending someone -- it is indeed a dilemma. But what does Bridei want to do about it? Bridei is confused by the fact that he is actually being offered a choice in the matter, worried that Faolan will bring it back to the men who pay his bill. Faolan reassures him that it is not so. "I am my own man, for all the silver pieces. A fellow has to eat; that need not render him mindlessly obedient." He has seen the way that Bridei looked at Tuala, and he now has an understanding of what it is that he needs.

• (2+) Negative Experiences:
• The Murder: When Faolan was a young man, he left home to travel the country to learn music. Unfortunately for him, while he was away and training to be a bard, his family started to fall into trouble with a distant relation of theirs by the name of Echen Ui Neill. Faolan's father -- a brithem aka judge at that time -- had made a judgment against one of Echen's henchmen, finding him guilty of several crimes and resulting in Echen believing he had lost status in the region. This sparks a back and forth between Echen and Faolan's family, starting first with livestock going missing, burning houses, then eventually culminating in Faolan's brother-in-law being murdered. Faolan's brother Dubhan took it upon himself to stand up against Echen's cruelty.

Faolan comes back to visit in the culmination of this, when Echen breaks into their home in the middle of their family night and holds the lot of them hostage. Faolan looks up to his brother as something of a hero and so he is proud to see that he doesn't grovel or give him the apology he is seeking. But this causes for Echen to threaten the others instead. When he recounts this tale later Faolan claims that perhaps he saw in himself the weak link which is why he singles him out, but suddenly Echen ordered knives held at the throats of all the family, handing another to Faolan himself and offering him a choice. Dubhan is marked for death already he says, an example needs to be made. Slit his brother's throat and he will order his men to release every person in the room and do them no harm, provided they will never meddle in his affairs again. His family is all terrified, and Echen even murders his grandmother to prove that it is serious. So Dubhan instructs him that he is a man, to do it now. And so he does.

Echen is good on his word and leaves the family after this, although not without taking Faolan's youngest sister with him as a hostage. He tells Faolan in that moment that he sees a future for him, and that it is not as a musician. Faolan recalls the night as though it were a nightmare, desperate to save his sister at least. Someone knocks him out at that point and when he comes to they are gone. His father forbids him to go after them though, lest it cause more trouble on the family. They pack him a bag with food for the road and his harp, and tell him he must go away and not return. After what he had done, his mother did not want him in her house. No one came to see him out. When he left, he gave his things to a beggar on the road, remarking that "from that dark night on I would trust neither gods nor men. [...] When I play the harp I see my little sister in the hands of those men. I see my mother's scream. When I go to sleep at night, I feel Dubhan's blood on my hands, and I hear my father speaking to me as if I were a stranger." Since then he has given up music and instead turned his trade to "the two things I proved I could do that day: following orders and slitting throats."

• Breakstone Hollow: Faolan has not returned to his home since he left, but he has returned to the are of Laigin. Echen's henchmen tried to recruit him while he was there, having heard that he had acquired useful skills as a mercenary since their previous meeting. Because of Faolan's refusal, Echen throws Faolan in a torture prison known as Breakstone Hollow. Faolan remarks that men die of despair in the hollow, but he lives because he was already beyond despair. It made him a worse bard but an even better killer. Faolan explains that he spent a few months incarcerated there, and though we do not know whether he escaped or whether he was released, it is explained that very few people who are put into Breakstone ever see the other side of it. It is said "among those few who have the knowledge that a man who survives incarceration at Breakstone Hollow lost his capacity for fear: the nature of the place was such that terrors faced later in life paled into insignificance. A Breakstone survivor was tough in body in mind; he had to be, or he'd be dead or mad before he could bear his mark of brotherhood out into the sunlight again."

Deer Country Attributes

• Canon Powers: Faolan does not have any canon powers, all the powers he has would be gained through Blood Powers in game
• Blood Type: Vileblood
• Omen: a black dog, reminiscent of Cú Sidhe/cù-sìth/the Black Shuck
• Blessed Day: Midwinter. This is the day that Faolan proves his greatest loyalty to Bridei, rescuing him from The Dark Mirror and then Tuala from stepping through beyond the Veil.
• Patron Pthumerian: Dorothea -- Faolan does not necessarily believe in gods so he is somewhat skeptical about the idea of a Patron. But he doesn't disagree with Dorothea's motives on the whole, in fact of all the Patrons she is the one he feels the most drawn to.
• Blood Power Manifestation: Since Faolan does not have any canon powers, his blood powers are the only powers he has. It will take him some time to get adjusted to these, since he doesn’t come from a world where people have magical abilities either. To start, he will notice he has a significantly higher pain tolerance than before, eventually determining that he can push this tolerance back and forth on a scale, dialing the numbness up in situations of discomfort and then bringing it back down to baseline again when that numbness is unnecessary. He will discover that he is able to do this for others as well -- both numbing or enhancing pain as so desired.

Faolan will also go on to discover the potentials of consuming blood (from vials to start) to gain extra energy/stamina/speed/strength/etc. He is 100% regular human and has been his whole life but he is skilled as an assassin and in hand-to-hand combat, so any way that he can give himself a leg-up, especially against all of these other magic users, is a bonus for him. His preferred weapon of choice being daggers, he will coat them with his own blood for a more toxic effect on his enemies. Of course, the more blood he ingests to keep his stamina up, the more he will dance the fine line on that edge towards corruption. I also imagine the further he slides, the further he will toe towards straight-up drinking blood from the source for power, unless someone stops him. Even before becoming a Vileblood he is of the belief that everything he touches becomes cursed, this all but seals the deal.

The Player

• Player Name: Teresa
• Player Age: Well over 18
• Player Contact: lycanthropy ; hiraeth#3602
• Permissions: Here

Link to your reserve for this character: Here