Fade Rift Application

[loversinverted]

PLAYER

Name: Vin
Age: 33
Contact: LadyVincira#8472 on Discord, LadyVincira on Plurk
Other Characters: Cole
Interests: I would really like to get Diabhall involved in some world-building matters - he's an architect and I look forward to getting to use that! He will also serve different CR niches than Cole, and having variety is nice. Confronting him with his long lost emotions is also going to be a ton of fun (for me, not so much for him).

CHARACTER

Name: Diabhall Minett
Canon/OC: Dungeons and Dragons OC
Canon Point: After taking the main adventuring party (including Allumin Etsija) into his estate for safety and resolving to help them, he goes to get a night of rest before talking everything over...and then winds up in Thedas.
Journal: loversinverted
Age: Around 250 years old (appears mid to late 30s)

Canon World

NOTE: Diabhall is from the same DnD Campaign (I'm the DM) as Allumin Etsija and, as such, the world of Eidekey is the same one. I will be touching on things that affect Diabhall more, but everything Allumin has in his history does stand for Diabhall as well.

- Kezdet, a continent in the world of Eidekey, was a relatively prosperous nation. Rich in magical resources, ore, and fertile farmland, there was a pretty even distribution of different races, flora and fauna. Diabhall was born on the west side of Kezdet, where there tended to be a higher concentration of magically inclined people. To the North, there was the White City, a great bastion of knowledge sporting Celestial nobility and a vast magical library. To the South, a vast, sealed black tower, a relic of the Fell, a distorted, corrupted Faewild Court.

- The Arcana were a group of fated people who were, at one time, a council from all walks of life who were destined at some point in history to prevent the world from greater menace. The Crowned Prince of the White City, Prince Mordecai, served as the Death Card at this time, and was a mentor and de facto leader to the group. Another group, The Path, opposed them in all things, believing they THEY were the ones destined to save the world instead.

- Among the scholars and nobles in Western Kezdet, the Minett family was among the newest promising clan in the fields of arcane research. Over the years, they helped shape the nature of magic over the whole continent - and even when the elder Minetts disappeared, the young heir to the estate, Diabhall, did a lot of work to refine magical materials and theories based on ancient findings.

- After a particularly strange span of time frought with strange beasts and disappearances, the Fell Tower spat out a singular rider, with an army of beasts who descended upon the White City. The Prince, in a panic, cast a very old spell that he could not handle, causing an explosion that tore a massive chasm straight down the continent - the Scar.

- In the recovery and years that followed, misinformation spread about the nature of the Scarring, and the two halves diverged in opinion and industry. The West slid more into magic and those who studied it - the East in to industry and technology. The one thing they had in common was academia, and knowledge became just as important as bloodline.

- The untimely death of a long-lived elvish noble family at their son's societal debut party has recently caused an uproar in society, and many are turning their questions to the Architect of their home, Glassgrounds Tower, a massive Eastern arcane power conduit. Diabhall Minett was present for this accident, and while there, both cleared his name and reconnected with the New Arcana. Rumblings of something big about to happen has both the Arcana and the Path trying to gather their numbers and make their plans....

History

CW: Death, severe depression, magical self-harm

Diabhall Minett was born into a noble High Elf bloodline, renowned for magical talent. Alongside his brother Fiachra, he was well-educated from an early age. Both parents disappeared when the boys were both in early adolescence, leaving them to grow up very quickly.

The more anxious child, Diabhall also found himself inheriting the position of the Lovers in the Major Arcana. He had extra pressure from both the burden of living up to the title, and the jealousy of his brother. Diabhall was studious and clever, a natural architect, but not magically gifted...and so, as a scared teenager, he made a pact with an Androsphinx, swearing himself to knowledge in return for magic. He made the best of it, researching the nature of arcane energy itself and ways to use it as a power source for the buildings he designed.

During a social event at the estate he hosted as a young adult, he was approached by a Tiefling named Orion and was swept off his feet; they spend the whole party together, the rogue introducing him to both intimacy and romance. After this, they become inseparable, deeply in love, and engaged.

One night, Diabhall worked late. Orion came to find him, and Diabhall's focus didn't break in time to catch an energy containment issue with one of his generators. Orion saved him from a bolt of pure magical energy and died in Diabhall's arms, crystalizing from the inside out.

Orion's death threw him into extreme depression. In a desperate bid to try and cope, he devised a magical process to tear out most of his emotions, leaving only enough to survive, and create a living simulacrum to house them. His brother begged him not to go through with it, but he did anyway - and it worked. Fiachra becomes estranged, leaves the estate, and was killed doing Cleric work in the field.

The secondary self housing his emotions, Eros, was locked in the Estate as a secret. Not mistreated, but it's little more than a gilded cage. It's years before Eros, volatile and depressed, got fed up and escaped, leaving Diabhall truly alone with a hollow heart. Diabhall built a very successful career up as an architect and researcher, telling the public that he has discovered emotion is the enemy of spellcasting but never telling them what he actually did.

Over a hundred years later, after Kezdet's Scarring, he encounters the new Arcana, and wants nothing to do with them...except that he recognizes one of them as a former research intern (and intimate partner) who had disappeared. Curious, he decides to keep a distant eye on their affairs.

Then one night, he is given visions, making him realize that if he does not rejoin the Arcana, the world is going to be destroyed. He makes the decision to help them...and then they land on his doorstep, fleeing an assassin. He lets them in and, after some explanation, he offers them a night of rest -

But when he wakes next, he's in Thedas.


Personality

-Emotionless...or is he? - Probably the most important thing to know to understand Diabhall fully - he has literally performed a spell to remove all but the roots of his emotions (just enough for self-preservation to remain intact), and has not felt more than the most tepid of feelings for well over a hundred years. Unfortunately for him, this spell will not remain active when he enters Thedas and becomes a Thedas elf, as the spell is tied to his world an the conditions of his high elf body. At the outset he will not realize anything is wrong and will be near unflappable, stoic, and calm, but this will be PURELY IN HIS HEAD. Over time, he will regain more and more of his feelings and have to confront them. (See strengths and weaknesses)

-Educated - Diabhall has had a fantastic education, and boasts a great deal of functional intelligence. He is good at seeing how things work and knowing how to make them work for him, and is more than happy to put that ability to use for the good of others. He may not feel much, but he knows when he can affect the greater good.

-Practical - The best choice may not always be the most pleasant - but he will take it without question. Despite growing up in a lavish environment, he cares little for fineries, and has little issue sleeping on the ground in a campsite. When given materials to work with, he will not be picky unless it would actively endanger the integrity of the project.

-Devoted - Once he decides that something or someone is worth his time or attention, he doesn't tend to falter from that decision. He's not much for giving up on projects, and even less for failure. If you are a person who he decides he likes and respects, you get the same sort of steadfast support - if you are being foolish he may well tell you so, but he certainly won't abandon you.

-Intense - Diabhall is sharp as a tack with attention to detail to match...so, unfortunately, paired with his stoic demeanor, even in conversations of a more relaxed nature he tends to appear terse or cross. He doesn't always realize when he is coming on too strongly, or when he is making people nervous.


Strengths & Weaknesses


Strengths:

-Architect - By trade, Diabhall is a professional architect - and a very good one, at that. He has designed his fair share of workable infrastructure, but his specialties lie in buildings, machines, and structures made to either conduct or contain magic, as well as buildings intended for accessibility.

-Researcher - Having to trade knowledge for magical power for most of his life, he's become a voracious reader, and if set to a project, he will apply the full force of his intellect to it. He's a fast learner and a skilled problem solver, and even without having to take in new knowledge for his patron while in Thedas, learning new things and tinkering with them has just become a favorite pastime of his.

-Nobility - Diabhall has spent the better part of 200 years being on the receiving end of people schmoozing at high society functions. While he is not the most adept at being personable, he knows how to pay attention around important people. He can dance and drink and make dreary small talk with the best of them.

-Fencing - He is also a trained fencer - while he's not going to win any contests of brute strength, he is agile, graceful, and absolutely ruthless in a duel.

-Masochist - While more fragile than a soldier might be, Diabhall's pain tolerance is absolutely through the roof when he sets his mind to it. He can bear a lot of discomfort for a longer period than most. (At least it means he feels something.)


Weaknesses:

-Emotional intelligence/instability - Being without the full force of his emotions for years, it's going to be Very Difficult as they come back. It's bad enough that he tends to come across as frigid to people, with a reputation in his homeworld for being an arrogant asshole - but when you start to mix feelings back into all of it, he's going to be right back in the sort of social anxiety that he felt as a young man clinging to the wall of fancy parties. Especially during this long acclimation period, he is going to have uncontrollable swings, and he is going to have to learn to handle them. He is Going To Need Help.

-Facade - All that isn't to say he isn't going to pretend he isn't feeling anything in many situations. Unfortunately, putting on stoicism like a mask isn't going to be as believable as it was when he genuinely couldn't feel anything, and if he gets upset, he's going to have a hard time hiding it behind a poker face.

-Interpersonal relationships - Also, being detached from people personally for as long as he has been, concepts like real friendship, love, and even hatred are going to be overwhelming. Before taking out his emotions, he was quiet for fear of making wrong choices with his words...but now he doesn't have the luxury of being quiet, and he's bound to make a few people angry or upset with words he has no idea are too harsh.

-Myopic Focus - The devotion he shows to his work tends to be to a damaging degree. Once he gets going on something, sometimes he can't see the forest for the trees - or, at least, he forgets to care for himself when he has a project. He will shut everyone out until a thing is done, something that at one time got someone very important to him killed...so not only can he not help it, but it's going to needle him every time he does it.


Suggested Nerfs

Diabhall will be completely de-powered from his magic, since he is a Warlock in his canon and will be cut off from his patron. I am fine with this, as I want to play around more with his non-magic skills.

The biggest real nerf I am giving him (besides reducing his lifespan to being Thedas appropriate) is the return of his emotions, which is detailed in the personality section.


Arrival Inventory

A set of lavish white robes with gold stitching and findings (covered in shattered bits of pink crystal all down the front), a finely tooled black leather collar with a brass ring in the front, and a fine punch glass full of blood.


Humanization

Diabhall is an elf in his world and an elf he shall remain - maybe a little tall at 6'1", but not over the top. His ears are tapered down to an appropriate length for an elf of Thedas, and his hair is very long and white.

In his world, he naturally has vibrant pink eyes. I was unable to find details about acceptable eye colors for elves in Thedas, beyond them being more unnatural than most races - if the pink is not allowed, I am fine with the kind of red-pink present in a person with albinism, since otherwise he has white hair and very pale skin.


Fit

Being an architect is an interesting thing to do in a game like this, I think, and I feel like given an opportunity he can leave a really interesting fingerprint on the world.

Beyond that, his emotions gradually returning to him after hundreds of years without them is going to make for some really interesting CR - especially with Red Lyrium, a corrupt crystal substance that grows inside people and that is Just Close Enough to what happened to his lost love to bother him? (Never mind the Tranquil being also Very Close to what he did to himself)

Once he gets over the shell-shock, he will more than likely want to throw himself into helping Riftwatch, and making a name for himself that didn't just exist from birth.

(Also, as Allumin Etsija's former mentor and long-term crush, there's bound to be some fun CR antics.)

SAMPLES

Test drive threads here!