Callius Vox Mauricus
Appearance
Rugged and unkept, Mauricus resembles how many would imagine a hedge-knight might look. From dirty greying mousey hair to his ragged haphazardly shaved beard, he appears to be a man of the roads, sleeping under trees and washing in barrels of water.Conversely, despite the lightly dented and worn appearance, the bronze-hued half-plate he often travels in is kept clean and well maintained, chainmail oiled and the leather straps replaced frequently when they begin to stretch and fray, the same can not be said for the deep orange of his furred cloak which may be the most ragged part of the man, years of travel having torn the edges and stripped areas of once bountiful fur, scorched and sliced way beyond its original apparent grandeur.
Skills and Abilities
Swordsmanship: Talented in the use of hand-and-a-half sword and larger Callius has the training one might expect from someone raised as noble blood, physically and mentally capable of engaging most opponents. However, nothing about his footwork or particular style screams exceptional or groundbreaking.Noble Etiquette: Raised as nobility, Callius is more than capable of mingling with those of higher blood -appearance allowing- but not so much that he carries it at all times. A man of the common folk as well as a man of the court.
Survivalist: Being on the road holds many dangers, often living from day to day, water source to water source, and because of this Callius is something of a well-learned hunter and vagabond and even perhaps a bit of a scoundrel, with thievery not being below his self-serve moral compass.
Ward-Keeper: The lost art of Warding is a type of Rune Magic and is the act of creating spells without the need for a traditional focus or wordage instead; forming spells with the drawing of a temporary arcane glyph and powering them with Mage Paint, powerful but slow and lacking the versatility of a spell-casting Sorcerer or Mage.
- Material Warding - A type of Ward focused around the physical realm: Wards of Deflection are capable of deflecting objects such as an arrow or blade and redirecting solid matter around the Ward-Keeper itself. Wards of Obstruction create the arcane semblance of solid matter, such as a wall or shield blocking anything existing in the physical realm.
- Elemental Warding - A type of Ward focused around the arcane and elements: Reactive Wards are the act of countering an element with an opposing force, nullifying both before the Ward-Keeper, hybridised Reactive Wards can be created to counter a combination of spells around the Ward-Keeper. Wards of Absorption are the act of dispelling or dispersing arcane forces that may not focus around an element, typically in the form of an arcane Ward of Deflection or Obstruction.
- Glyph Inflection - A Ward that has been scribed into a physical object or person or the reversal of a Material or Elemental Ward, this allows the Ward-Keeper some degree of offensive capability, such as the temporary elemental enchanting of a weapon or object, the ability to reflect spells back towards their source or the Warding of an ally instead of the Ward-Keeper.
Personality
Brash and steadfast in his opinions, but aloof to the troubles of the world, Callius is largely self-centered and focuses on what he can gain from an expedition or person, though despite his questionable moral standing, he is capable of selfless acts when the pressure is on or if the coin is worth the risk.Biography & Lore
Born to a long since fallen noble house of Vel Anir, Callius was raised to be educated and well prepared in the ways of the world, with a largely uneventful childhood and no real worries, Callius could never claim to have had it hard or to have struggled, however as he grew and his personality shifted to more of a rebellious nature he conflicted with his father's insistence on his serving in the military; Callius had an innate magical ability, but could never manifest it into anything more than a spark, making him illegible among the ranks of the Vel Anir Dreadlords. Eventually, this conflict lead to his banishment from House Mauricus something that sat well with the outward explorative nature Callius had begun to experience.Using his training to his advantage, he joined several mercenary companies over the years, some upstart and some larger and more experienced, allowing him to travel with a great many different races and cultures, always eager to learn what they had to give. However his success came to a slow decline as drink and gambling took their hold, his discipline wavered and he turned to banditry and any who would take on a drunken fighter. After meeting and losing what he held to be the love of his life to his self-destructive actions, his downward spiral hit rock bottom, and no longer did he travel by horse or sleep in inns, instead he began resting beneath carts, in doorways, and beneath trees on the open roads, selling his sword for what little coinage he could gather from villages with creature problems or bandits.
After years of troubled alcohol abuse, he came across a wayward Sorcerer by the name of Xaerynar, a wise man albeit a little eccentric with a wagon of contraptions Callius has never seen and a knowledge of the world he had not dreamed of. The pair traveled for years together, with the Sorcerer helping to fight his drinking problem and training him to take advantage of his innate magical ability via the use of Warding, taught from old scrolls found by the Sorcerer. In return Callius watched over the man and his wagon, lending his sword when needed and helping to explore lost ruins and aiding with quests when found.
As all things do, another age of success ended when the Sorcerer and Callius parted ways, never seeing Xaerynar again after the fact, but Callius was now a changed man and he knew with his newfound abilities and his kicked drinking habit, he could etch out a future for himself once again as a Knight-Errant.
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