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Character Name: Faolan
Series: The Bridei Chronicles
Age: 25
From When?: Book 3, "The Well of Shades"; Chapter 6 - Faolan has been held captive for 50 days in The Widow's prison by this point, when she reveals her identity to him (she is his sister) and he loses all hope and constructs himself a noose out of his shirt. He has it around his throat when Eile arrives back to rescue him. What if Eile did not make it back in time...
Inmate Justification: One Fateful Night Echen Ui Neill, an enemy of Faolan's father, held the family hostage and offered Faolan a choice: kill his older brother Dubhan and the rest of the people in the room would live. Faolan had little choice but to follow the orders, especially when Dubhan himself was telling him to do it. He slit his brother's throat and then watched in horror as Echen kidnapped his little sister from her bed, as she was not in the room and not part of the bargain. His parents then turned him out of the house and forbade him from rescuing her. He convinced himself at that point that the only thing he was good for was "taking orders and slitting throats", and so Faolan took up a different trade. Mercenary for hire, and then, as time went on, finding himself as chief assassin and spy to none other than the King of the Priteni.
Faolan believes himself to be tainted by his past, and he tells himself that he cannot afford to let anyone get close to him for fear that his darkness will rub off on them as well. He tells himself that he is suited to this life of blood and death, because anything else weakens him and he can't afford that.
To top this all off, Faolan has fallen in love with a woman who ends up falling in love with another man and has some HUGE issues with jealousy there.
Arrival: Against his will! :)
Abilities/Powers: Faolan is just a regular old human and does not have any special powers to have to nerf!
Inmate Information:
CRIMES: Faolan is not a criminal in the traditional sense of the word. He is a man who has been through some very terrible circumstances and is also, in some ways, a product of the era that he lives in. He does not go out of his way to "do bad things" but he also has no qualms doing them. After being forced to kill his brother, Faolan lost any sense of remorse for the act of killing another person (or so he tells himself). That one event broke him to such an extent that he changed the course of his life based upon it, selling his harp and taking up the life he has now.
Faolan is a spy and assassin for the Priteni, therefore technically a wanted man by the Gaels. He kills people for a living and gets paid for it, and he is good at his job. He tortures information out of people not because he enjoys doing so but because it is a means to an end. Most of the crimes he does commit are in fact a part of some strategy, political or perhaps even just a means of survival. Faolan tells himself and everyone around him that he's a terrible person who does terrible things, but if you actually look at the actions he takes they are (other than the one selfish thought that he could kill Drustan and then have Ana to himself, which he does not actually act upon) all strategic moves.
He just has very little boundaries and will not draw the line at killing or torture if that's what it takes as a means to an end. Which is probably frowned upon in some circles. But he's a bad man who does bad things so why shouldn't he? That being said, he does not blindly accept any job that his king assigns him. As he explains to Bridei when questioned about it,"I am my own man, for all the silver pieces. A fellow has to eat; that need not render him mindlessly obedient."
MAJOR LIFE EVENTS:
PERSONALITY: As a man, Faolan is a complicated person. He has been hurt in the past, both by outsiders as well as the people he loves. Because of those experiences, he does not allow himself to grow close to others. He believes himself to be unworthy of friendship or affection. This is largely due to the fact that at his most vulnerable moment, his family turned him out. His family’s rejection sends him into a downward spiral, giving up everything he has ever known, the future he was building for himself (his musical talent and life as a bard) and turns him to the life of a spy and assassin.
Faolan believes his job is dark and dirty work, but he also takes pride in the fact that he is good at it. As Bridei describes it, "Misinformation, deception, sudden death, those are the essence of Faolan's work. He is of great value principally because he does those things so expertly, and without qualms." Faolan will not hesitate to torture, kill, lie, or betray a person to accomplish what he has set out to do. That is not to say that he feels no guilt or remorse, but he does not stop to allow himself to feel it. He keeps everyone around him at arms length away, even those who he might consider friends, because he believes he cannot allow himself any hint of positive emotion. If he does, the rest of his emotions will follow and he cannot do his job properly.
Faolan is also more than a little stubborn and reckless. Because he was turned out of his home at such a young age, he was forced to learn how to make his own way in the world. When Ana thinks of a young Faolan, she describes, "Faolan would not have let anyone hold his hands. He would have learned to walk all by himself." He is highly adaptive in most situations because as he describes it, "he had learned early that alongside the stunning blows fate could deliver, the practical matters of day-to-day life were trivial." And Bridei's friendship has given him a more personal purpose again, even if he is reluctant to call it that himself.
Faolan is often guilty of pushing himself too hard and must be reminded that he is only human. He does not like to demonstrate weakness, claiming it is something he cannot afford in his profession. All the same, he has a tendency to run away from emotional pressure when things get to be too much for him. Underneath the gruff assassin's exterior, he is still a bard with a bard's sensibilities and a bard's heart. Faolan has lived bottling his emotions for so long that when he does allow them out they are at times too overwhelming for him and he does not handle them well. For example, when he fell in love with Ana, he held on to those emotions for as long as he could because they were inappropriate for his position. Because they made him weak. Because he could not allow them to show in order to carry out his position as her bodyguard and protector. And when Ana in turn falls in love with another man, Faolan is filled with dark emotions and contemplates simply murdering the man to remove him from the equation. He does realize this would make Ana's life even more miserable than it is in that moment, but it's for her sake that he decides not to kill Drustan, and not because of any further motivations for good.
Faolan is pretty good at holding himself together despite all the pain and suffering he has faced in his life, OR that he has inflicted on others, but his family is his number one sore point. His whole history is built on that one night when everything changed, everything ended. He can't sit in a room with music playing for too long without starting to reflect on his life as a bard or the actions of that night. He definitely cannot play or sing without thinking on them. After his mission with Ana, he is left heartbroken and aimless so she and Bridei both instruct him to head back to Ulaid to try to make peace with his family. On his way there he is taken prisoner by the Widow, who turns out to be none other than his younger sister, Aine, who was kidnapped that night long ago, and who blames Faolan for all the wrongs that were done to her. And because Faolan blames himself as well, it does not take much effort on her part to convince him that he ruined the lives of all in the family. Faolan nearly takes his own life (or in TLV, he WILL do so), believing that it really is his fault that everything fell apart. That his is a cursed touch, a darkness, and for all this is a waste of all of the efforts he has made to that point, for all that it will be a disappointment to those he is failing even then, it is in truth the only way he can save them from further harm.
Path to Redemption: The biggest issue that Faolan will need to work on, especially upon arrival on the Barge, is his concept of self. For years now, he has told himself that the only thing he is good for is killing people, essentially. This candidly not true, considering that he is the king's right hand man as well as his spy and assassin, and the king has offered him a position of advisor on several occasions, even if Faolan has turned it down, not believing himself worthy of it. Now that his sister has also convinced him that he his actions ruined the lives of his family, it's going to take a lot of work for Faolan to crawl out of the hole of depression he has buried himself in.
The best way for Faolan to start on that path is by forging connections with people who are good for him. Good to him. People who can coax him out of the shadows he has built for himself. People to care for who care for him in return. People who give him a purpose to live for, because I think it's as much for them that he will put in the work on himself as anything.
Once Faolan has a reason to work toward bettering himself, his motivation will come. Back at home, it was making peace with his family, which he did do. Since he cannot do so here (and in fact he will probably be left with the lies that Aine has told him...) he has to learn how to make peace with the past in other ways. Learning to accept that there are things he cannot change about himself, about the things that happened to him, but that it was not his fault. That there were things that were done TO him and they were terrible but he was not the cause and it is alright to let go of the responsibility he has been shouldering for years now. This isn't a lesson he can teach himself though, and it's going to take a lot of hand-holding to get there.
As far as Faolan having a Warden -- who his warden is and how they treat him will really determine how he handles the whole concept. He has prison PTSD in general from his time in Breakstone Hollow, so the more they treat him like a prisoner than a person, the more he will likely rebel and act out against this. He also will not like the concept that the warden has any insider knowledge about his history. This will be a very sore point, and the Warden will need to tread very carefully with how they handle this personal information. He doesn't share anything about himself with anyone except people he trusts and even then sometimes only under duress. The best warden for Faolan will have a firm but gentle hand in their approach. Conversely, it would NOT be good if a warden were to press him TOO hard or, on the other hand, were too nice to him. He is going to need a balance and also, frankly, a lot of patience.
A lot of Faolan's motivation toward change will really come from his relationship with his warden, and their emotional connection with him. As I said before, Faolan rarely takes any actions for his own benefit. His warden will need to be able to recognize that and understand how to motivate him in different ways. (His warden will also need to be able to handle frankly some pretty EXTREME emotions from Faolan, especially as Faolan crawls his way up from rock bottom... And in general. Faolan is, in fact, a very emotional person underneath it all.)
As for what he thinks of the Barge, Faolan's going to need some time to adjust. It's frankly a lot for a man who comes from the time period he does to be thrust into this sort of environment. Also adjusting to all of the people around and the fact that there is no real escape from them all. He's used to running off on some mission or another and being on his own for quite a lot of his time, EVERYTHING about this setting is new and frankly overstimulating. It will probably be good for him in the long run but at least to start it's going to be A Lot.
History: As stated previously, because there is no decent wiki for this series (there is a Wikipedia page but it’s not very detailed) I have gone through and written up a history for Faolan for myself.
Sample Network Entry:
[Faolan is not a talker. Certainly not one for public speaking, anyway. Ironic, considering his former life training as a bard, but that was long ago and far away, and anyway, music is very much a performance whereas this...
This, he hardly sees the point of, but he supposes it does get a communication out faster than word of mouth or written letter. (Especially given the fact that not everyone can read from when Faolan is from, but that is neither here nor there...)
Still. Given what he has been told about this place, he does feel compelled to turn to further sources of truth. Namely: he is not certain he can quite believe any of it. Why him? Why now? It seems too little too late, as far as Faolan is concerned.]
I have been told that the being who controls this vessel is known as the Admiral. That he brings those such as myself aboard because he believes we might earn ourselves a second chance at life.
[A frown creases across Faolan's already frankly unhappy face.]
Redemption.
[Clearly he's not so keen on the term, nor all of its implications.]
Who is this Admiral? How does he decide who and where he gives out these second chances?
[Faolan has watched countless better men than himself die -- has been the cause of their deaths on numerous occasions, and they were not offered the second chance he seems to find given himself.]
How does he know they are deserved?
Sample RP:
Faolan sits cross-legged before the pond in the greenhouse, gazing out across the water before him. He supposes it is peaceful here, as peaceful a place as one can find on a ship like this. The Barge, they call it. He still cannot wrap his mind around the fact of it, and he finds it's best if he does not try. Faolan is no stranger to foreign travel, but this? Sailing among the stars on a ship beyond death itself?
Impossible. Beyond impossible, it does not make sense. Not only the ship itself, but the fact that it has chosen him. That this mysterious Admiral should have wanted to give him a second chance.
A second chance. Faolan cannot help the bitter breath of a laugh that escapes him at the thought of it. If this Admiral is so omnipotent, then surely he should know that Faolan has already had his second chance. And third. Surely Faolan has been given more chances than a man should have done, by now. From Bridei, his king, gentle and understanding despite Faolan's inability to serve him in his current capacity as he should. From Ana, his princess, her hands soft on his and her blue eyes kind as she met his own and gently turned him down. And then Aine...
Faolan takes in a deep breath, closing his eyes, pressing his lips tight together. No, he will not think of Aine. Not here, not now. He cannot allow himself that weakness. Not when there are still eyes about, even in such a secluded place as this.
Besides, he must pull himself together. He hears footsteps coming through the grass. It is difficult to sneak up on a spy, after all. Or perhaps that is not their intent -- his warden knows his past, after all. Perhaps they are simply offering him the time and space to prepare before his illusion of privacy is shattered once more.
Faolan is too tired, too weary, to continue to pick this thought process apart. With another breath and the cocking of one of his eyebrows, he turns to the side slightly and says, "This is beginning to be a habit of yours."
Special Notes: I wrote a unique sample for him above but also here is his thread from the TDM!
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E-mail/Plurk/Discord/PM to a character journal/alternate method of contact:
Other Characters Currently In-Game: n/a
Character Name: Faolan
Series: The Bridei Chronicles
Age: 25
From When?: Book 3, "The Well of Shades"; Chapter 6 - Faolan has been held captive for 50 days in The Widow's prison by this point, when she reveals her identity to him (she is his sister) and he loses all hope and constructs himself a noose out of his shirt. He has it around his throat when Eile arrives back to rescue him. What if Eile did not make it back in time...
Inmate Justification: One Fateful Night Echen Ui Neill, an enemy of Faolan's father, held the family hostage and offered Faolan a choice: kill his older brother Dubhan and the rest of the people in the room would live. Faolan had little choice but to follow the orders, especially when Dubhan himself was telling him to do it. He slit his brother's throat and then watched in horror as Echen kidnapped his little sister from her bed, as she was not in the room and not part of the bargain. His parents then turned him out of the house and forbade him from rescuing her. He convinced himself at that point that the only thing he was good for was "taking orders and slitting throats", and so Faolan took up a different trade. Mercenary for hire, and then, as time went on, finding himself as chief assassin and spy to none other than the King of the Priteni.
Faolan believes himself to be tainted by his past, and he tells himself that he cannot afford to let anyone get close to him for fear that his darkness will rub off on them as well. He tells himself that he is suited to this life of blood and death, because anything else weakens him and he can't afford that.
To top this all off, Faolan has fallen in love with a woman who ends up falling in love with another man and has some HUGE issues with jealousy there.
Arrival: Against his will! :)
Abilities/Powers: Faolan is just a regular old human and does not have any special powers to have to nerf!
Inmate Information:
CRIMES: Faolan is not a criminal in the traditional sense of the word. He is a man who has been through some very terrible circumstances and is also, in some ways, a product of the era that he lives in. He does not go out of his way to "do bad things" but he also has no qualms doing them. After being forced to kill his brother, Faolan lost any sense of remorse for the act of killing another person (or so he tells himself). That one event broke him to such an extent that he changed the course of his life based upon it, selling his harp and taking up the life he has now.
Faolan is a spy and assassin for the Priteni, therefore technically a wanted man by the Gaels. He kills people for a living and gets paid for it, and he is good at his job. He tortures information out of people not because he enjoys doing so but because it is a means to an end. Most of the crimes he does commit are in fact a part of some strategy, political or perhaps even just a means of survival. Faolan tells himself and everyone around him that he's a terrible person who does terrible things, but if you actually look at the actions he takes they are (other than the one selfish thought that he could kill Drustan and then have Ana to himself, which he does not actually act upon) all strategic moves.
He just has very little boundaries and will not draw the line at killing or torture if that's what it takes as a means to an end. Which is probably frowned upon in some circles. But he's a bad man who does bad things so why shouldn't he? That being said, he does not blindly accept any job that his king assigns him. As he explains to Bridei when questioned about it,"I am my own man, for all the silver pieces. A fellow has to eat; that need not render him mindlessly obedient."
MAJOR LIFE EVENTS:
- DUBHAN'S DEATH: At a young age, Faolan's father crossed an influential man in the area, which began a rift between their families. This culminates one evening with the invasion of their family home, and Faolan's grandparents, parents, sisters, brother and himself being held hostage by Echen and his men. Echen singles Faolan out as the softest link, having been out of the village most of the time training as a bard. He offers Faolan a choice to kill his brother (his hero) or watch his family die before him. Faced with this impossible decision, Faolan's brother instructs him to do it, to save them, and so he does. He saves his family this way, but the next day Faolan's father packs Faolan's bag and turns him out of the house. He saved them all but his mother cannot bear to live in the same house with him, after the scene she witnessed the night before. He forbids Faolan from going after Echen to rescue his sister and thus potentially turning Echen against the family again. So Faolan went, trading his belongings from home for passage to Fortriu, making a living for himself not with the harp but, as Faolan says, "taking orders and slitting throats" as he proved that night it was all he was good for.
- BREAKSTONE HOLLOW: After becoming a spy and assassin, Faolan returns to Ulaid and catches the attention of Echen, now for a different reason: his talents for killing. Faolan refuses to work for the man who forced him to kill his brother, so Echen throws him in prison for it -- to a place called Breakstone Hollow. Faolan describes it as a place that makes a man either turn away from the existence of gods or obsess over their existence. It is a place where one's own survival and escape become the only important thing, above the concerns of anyone or anything else in there. Men die of despair in Breakstone, Faolan says, but he lived because he was already beyond despair. It made him a poor bard but a very good killer.
- BRIDEI: Faolan traveled across the sea to work as a spy for the Priteni king, Drust the Bull. Working on a mission for the king, Faolan runs into the future king Bridei while under cover. Bridei shoots him with an arrow and takes him prisoner. This starts their relationship on a relatively negative turn, Bridei distrusting Faolan for his job as a spy, for the fact he is a Gael, for how easily and without qualms he murders and tortures their prisoners. Bridei finds himself in need of Faolan's help, however, and quickly finds out how useful Faolan's skills are. How loyal Faolan can be, finding him rescued from death by none other than the spy himself. Bridei offers Faolan a job as advisor, telling Faolan his talents are wasted where he is, but Faolan turns him down, telling him that this is all he is good for.
- ANA: Faolan is sent on assignment with a princess of the realm, Ana, to serve as her bodyguard. During their travels, for better or worse, Faolan finds himself falling in love with her. The man that Ana is sent to court winds up being a terrible person and Faolan must rescue her from that place. While he does so, he finds that Ana has fallen in love with another man... And Faolan then finds himself tasked with the rescue of not one, but two people: Ana and her new beloved. Faolan actually contemplates murdering the man to get him out of the way, but realizing that would hurt Ana, thinks better of it. Needless to say, Faolan would rather not have suffered through any of this.
- THE WIDOW: Faolan is severely depressed after his assignment with Ana, and accepts a new "assignment" to go home to Ulaid and make peace with his family, as he had promised Ana he would. Once he is there, he is captured by "the Widow's" men: Echen's widow. Held in prison for fifty days, Faolan finally learns that the Widow is none other than the sister he had failed to save from Echen, those many moons ago. She feeds him a tale about how, following the deeds of that night, his mother dies of heartbreak, his older sister sells herself to the nunnery, his father wastes away, etc. etc. All because Faolan failed to save them. Faolan failed to save her. Faolan spirals into despair and once he is returned to his cell, he starts to construct a noose for himself...
PERSONALITY: As a man, Faolan is a complicated person. He has been hurt in the past, both by outsiders as well as the people he loves. Because of those experiences, he does not allow himself to grow close to others. He believes himself to be unworthy of friendship or affection. This is largely due to the fact that at his most vulnerable moment, his family turned him out. His family’s rejection sends him into a downward spiral, giving up everything he has ever known, the future he was building for himself (his musical talent and life as a bard) and turns him to the life of a spy and assassin.
Faolan believes his job is dark and dirty work, but he also takes pride in the fact that he is good at it. As Bridei describes it, "Misinformation, deception, sudden death, those are the essence of Faolan's work. He is of great value principally because he does those things so expertly, and without qualms." Faolan will not hesitate to torture, kill, lie, or betray a person to accomplish what he has set out to do. That is not to say that he feels no guilt or remorse, but he does not stop to allow himself to feel it. He keeps everyone around him at arms length away, even those who he might consider friends, because he believes he cannot allow himself any hint of positive emotion. If he does, the rest of his emotions will follow and he cannot do his job properly.
Faolan is also more than a little stubborn and reckless. Because he was turned out of his home at such a young age, he was forced to learn how to make his own way in the world. When Ana thinks of a young Faolan, she describes, "Faolan would not have let anyone hold his hands. He would have learned to walk all by himself." He is highly adaptive in most situations because as he describes it, "he had learned early that alongside the stunning blows fate could deliver, the practical matters of day-to-day life were trivial." And Bridei's friendship has given him a more personal purpose again, even if he is reluctant to call it that himself.
Faolan is often guilty of pushing himself too hard and must be reminded that he is only human. He does not like to demonstrate weakness, claiming it is something he cannot afford in his profession. All the same, he has a tendency to run away from emotional pressure when things get to be too much for him. Underneath the gruff assassin's exterior, he is still a bard with a bard's sensibilities and a bard's heart. Faolan has lived bottling his emotions for so long that when he does allow them out they are at times too overwhelming for him and he does not handle them well. For example, when he fell in love with Ana, he held on to those emotions for as long as he could because they were inappropriate for his position. Because they made him weak. Because he could not allow them to show in order to carry out his position as her bodyguard and protector. And when Ana in turn falls in love with another man, Faolan is filled with dark emotions and contemplates simply murdering the man to remove him from the equation. He does realize this would make Ana's life even more miserable than it is in that moment, but it's for her sake that he decides not to kill Drustan, and not because of any further motivations for good.
Faolan is pretty good at holding himself together despite all the pain and suffering he has faced in his life, OR that he has inflicted on others, but his family is his number one sore point. His whole history is built on that one night when everything changed, everything ended. He can't sit in a room with music playing for too long without starting to reflect on his life as a bard or the actions of that night. He definitely cannot play or sing without thinking on them. After his mission with Ana, he is left heartbroken and aimless so she and Bridei both instruct him to head back to Ulaid to try to make peace with his family. On his way there he is taken prisoner by the Widow, who turns out to be none other than his younger sister, Aine, who was kidnapped that night long ago, and who blames Faolan for all the wrongs that were done to her. And because Faolan blames himself as well, it does not take much effort on her part to convince him that he ruined the lives of all in the family. Faolan nearly takes his own life (or in TLV, he WILL do so), believing that it really is his fault that everything fell apart. That his is a cursed touch, a darkness, and for all this is a waste of all of the efforts he has made to that point, for all that it will be a disappointment to those he is failing even then, it is in truth the only way he can save them from further harm.
Path to Redemption: The biggest issue that Faolan will need to work on, especially upon arrival on the Barge, is his concept of self. For years now, he has told himself that the only thing he is good for is killing people, essentially. This candidly not true, considering that he is the king's right hand man as well as his spy and assassin, and the king has offered him a position of advisor on several occasions, even if Faolan has turned it down, not believing himself worthy of it. Now that his sister has also convinced him that he his actions ruined the lives of his family, it's going to take a lot of work for Faolan to crawl out of the hole of depression he has buried himself in.
The best way for Faolan to start on that path is by forging connections with people who are good for him. Good to him. People who can coax him out of the shadows he has built for himself. People to care for who care for him in return. People who give him a purpose to live for, because I think it's as much for them that he will put in the work on himself as anything.
Once Faolan has a reason to work toward bettering himself, his motivation will come. Back at home, it was making peace with his family, which he did do. Since he cannot do so here (and in fact he will probably be left with the lies that Aine has told him...) he has to learn how to make peace with the past in other ways. Learning to accept that there are things he cannot change about himself, about the things that happened to him, but that it was not his fault. That there were things that were done TO him and they were terrible but he was not the cause and it is alright to let go of the responsibility he has been shouldering for years now. This isn't a lesson he can teach himself though, and it's going to take a lot of hand-holding to get there.
As far as Faolan having a Warden -- who his warden is and how they treat him will really determine how he handles the whole concept. He has prison PTSD in general from his time in Breakstone Hollow, so the more they treat him like a prisoner than a person, the more he will likely rebel and act out against this. He also will not like the concept that the warden has any insider knowledge about his history. This will be a very sore point, and the Warden will need to tread very carefully with how they handle this personal information. He doesn't share anything about himself with anyone except people he trusts and even then sometimes only under duress. The best warden for Faolan will have a firm but gentle hand in their approach. Conversely, it would NOT be good if a warden were to press him TOO hard or, on the other hand, were too nice to him. He is going to need a balance and also, frankly, a lot of patience.
A lot of Faolan's motivation toward change will really come from his relationship with his warden, and their emotional connection with him. As I said before, Faolan rarely takes any actions for his own benefit. His warden will need to be able to recognize that and understand how to motivate him in different ways. (His warden will also need to be able to handle frankly some pretty EXTREME emotions from Faolan, especially as Faolan crawls his way up from rock bottom... And in general. Faolan is, in fact, a very emotional person underneath it all.)
As for what he thinks of the Barge, Faolan's going to need some time to adjust. It's frankly a lot for a man who comes from the time period he does to be thrust into this sort of environment. Also adjusting to all of the people around and the fact that there is no real escape from them all. He's used to running off on some mission or another and being on his own for quite a lot of his time, EVERYTHING about this setting is new and frankly overstimulating. It will probably be good for him in the long run but at least to start it's going to be A Lot.
History: As stated previously, because there is no decent wiki for this series (there is a Wikipedia page but it’s not very detailed) I have gone through and written up a history for Faolan for myself.
Sample Network Entry:
[Faolan is not a talker. Certainly not one for public speaking, anyway. Ironic, considering his former life training as a bard, but that was long ago and far away, and anyway, music is very much a performance whereas this...
This, he hardly sees the point of, but he supposes it does get a communication out faster than word of mouth or written letter. (Especially given the fact that not everyone can read from when Faolan is from, but that is neither here nor there...)
Still. Given what he has been told about this place, he does feel compelled to turn to further sources of truth. Namely: he is not certain he can quite believe any of it. Why him? Why now? It seems too little too late, as far as Faolan is concerned.]
I have been told that the being who controls this vessel is known as the Admiral. That he brings those such as myself aboard because he believes we might earn ourselves a second chance at life.
[A frown creases across Faolan's already frankly unhappy face.]
Redemption.
[Clearly he's not so keen on the term, nor all of its implications.]
Who is this Admiral? How does he decide who and where he gives out these second chances?
[Faolan has watched countless better men than himself die -- has been the cause of their deaths on numerous occasions, and they were not offered the second chance he seems to find given himself.]
How does he know they are deserved?
Sample RP:
Faolan sits cross-legged before the pond in the greenhouse, gazing out across the water before him. He supposes it is peaceful here, as peaceful a place as one can find on a ship like this. The Barge, they call it. He still cannot wrap his mind around the fact of it, and he finds it's best if he does not try. Faolan is no stranger to foreign travel, but this? Sailing among the stars on a ship beyond death itself?
Impossible. Beyond impossible, it does not make sense. Not only the ship itself, but the fact that it has chosen him. That this mysterious Admiral should have wanted to give him a second chance.
A second chance. Faolan cannot help the bitter breath of a laugh that escapes him at the thought of it. If this Admiral is so omnipotent, then surely he should know that Faolan has already had his second chance. And third. Surely Faolan has been given more chances than a man should have done, by now. From Bridei, his king, gentle and understanding despite Faolan's inability to serve him in his current capacity as he should. From Ana, his princess, her hands soft on his and her blue eyes kind as she met his own and gently turned him down. And then Aine...
Faolan takes in a deep breath, closing his eyes, pressing his lips tight together. No, he will not think of Aine. Not here, not now. He cannot allow himself that weakness. Not when there are still eyes about, even in such a secluded place as this.
Besides, he must pull himself together. He hears footsteps coming through the grass. It is difficult to sneak up on a spy, after all. Or perhaps that is not their intent -- his warden knows his past, after all. Perhaps they are simply offering him the time and space to prepare before his illusion of privacy is shattered once more.
Faolan is too tired, too weary, to continue to pick this thought process apart. With another breath and the cocking of one of his eyebrows, he turns to the side slightly and says, "This is beginning to be a habit of yours."
Special Notes: I wrote a unique sample for him above but also here is his thread from the TDM!
Revisions:
CRIMES:
Faolan has worked most of his adult life as a professional spy and assassin. He chose this job, and he is good at it. Good enough to work directly for a king, carrying out some of the darkest tasks imaginable. Jobs that no one else would do, but Faolan does not (allegedly) turn so much as a blind eye to them.
There is a threat made against Faolan’s employer, Bridei, and Faolan uses him as bait without telling him and nearly gets Bridei killed in the process. Faolan is overwhelmed by three men, rather than one, and he cannot overtake them all. Risking Bridei's life in such a way is reckless, even if it is the quickest means to an end. He kills two and captures one of the men. Keeping him captive for days, Faolan tortures him for answers on who he works for, until he finally learns that it is in fact Bridei's rival for the throne. Meanwhile Bridei is knocked unconscious for almost two weeks, and has to be nursed back to health. When he comes to, Faolan hints that he had known the attack was coming, that Bridei would sneak out and he had let Bridei’s location slip to the enemy to draw them out. The findings he has gotten from his prisoner have all but sealed Bridei’s way to the throne. Faolan does not have any regrets on how he has achieved this end, even at the cost of Bridei’s well-being.
Faolan has a reputation around court. When he is first introduced to Bridei, Broichan tells him, "Faolan is his own man. One hires him on the understanding that he will carry out the required work according to his own rules." King Drust later tells Bridei not to ponder his motives too deeply, that "the man is a weapon, a tool, efficient and deadly." The druids and men of the court later praise Faolan’s work with capturing Bridei’s attacker, saying things like "sour-faced and taciturn as that man Faolan is, I salute him for his abilities”, "Faolan will make his prisoner talk", "Thank the gods for Faolan" to which one of the men counters: "Somehow, that seems most inappropriate. Whatever it is we must thank for the presence of that Gael, gods are most certainly not a part of it."
Faolan has no qualms killing people for information. One other time we see him do so, he meets a man to gather information for Bridei. The two seem to pass important information back and forth for their courts. The other man's body is then found in the stream a few days later, not drowned but "expertly strangled by something strong and thin, such as a harp string". He has a tendency to suggest "eliminating the threat" as a means to an end -- certainly the shortest, quickest way out of a problem.
Being a spy, Faolan is also quite talented at lying, whether they are little white lies that do not mean much in the grand scheme of things or grand lies -- like going undercover to fulfill a mission. Once you lie as often as Faolan, it becomes second-nature. So much so that he is lying to himself now, about himself, and believing it.
Path to Redemption:
The ultimate thing that Faolan is going to need to come to terms with in his Path To Redemption is the fact that no one, in fact, made him become an assassin. Ever since his brother’s death (at his own hand) he chose to continue killing over any other path. He is the only one who is painting himself into this box, and he has been the only one since the start. No matter the fact that his parents did throw him out of the house, he was not in fact irredeemable, cursed, or tainted. There were other choices he could have made with his life, he could have gone on with his career as a bard! But Faolan himself is the one who chose to go on to become a spy and a man who kills people for money instead.
His recent interaction with his sister is not going to help matters with this, because she essentially threw salt in the wound, emphasizing what a terrible person he is. The truth of that interaction is, however, that she was making up whatever lies she could to get him to feel awful about himself because that was the reaction she wanted.
Faolan will definitely need to grasp that in order to graduate, which is not going to be easy for him. He's going to need to learn how to approach scenarios not as Faolan the spy/assassin, but as Faolan the man, which is someone he has never been before. He's always hidden behind that mask and told himself he doesn't have room for feelings or emotions because they get in the way of doing his job, being good at his job. But those are also excuses that he's built for himself. He needs to learn how to be just Faolan, living with the consequences of the actions he takes every day rather than hiding behind the mask of some mission he is on, before he is ready to be fully redeemed.
Once Faolan graduates, he will no longer be Faolan the spy or Faolan the assassin. Faolan will have to learn how to be himself without the criminal he has been hiding behind. He will learn to feel guilty for putting anyone, even a stranger, in a position of danger or fear, even if it is necessary. His motivations will grow to be less self-centered than they are now. He is a bard, there is empathy for others still buried down deep inside of him. Upon graduating, Faolan will gain the chance to revisit this chapter of his life, if he so desires.