James Lanvarok

James Lanvarok

Biographical information

Birthplace Alliria Born Died Age 21 Home Sexuality Pronouns

Physical description

Race Human Sub-Race Gender Male Height 5'9" Mass 190 lbs Hair color Dark Brown Eye color Blue Skin color Fair

Political information

Affiliation(s) Independent Occupation Fugitive Clan(s) Caste Domain Masters Apprentices Alias(es)

Out-of-character information

Writer Marzi Created on Avatar LianneC

James Thomas Lanvarok is an empath who can only siphon rage.

Armed with a crossbow he made himself and a gem containing part of an old mage’s soul, he travels across the land in search of a mentor who can teach him how to properly control his powers. He hunts demons and necromancers for coin, but it doesn’t fulfill the need he has for a place to belong. He avoids large crowds, refuses help when offered and will angrily tell somebody to leave him alone if they try to talk to him.

Even if he might really want to be their friend.

James is five foot nine and overweight. He has a wide frame and looks chunky even when he loses weight. He has chubby cheeks and light, crystalline blue eyes. They are very wide and look unsettling when he stares, so he tries not to look people in the eye when speaking to them. He has dark brown, curly hair.

He wears a long, dusty trench coat over a scarf and britches tucked into long, brown boots. He wears fingerless gloves to allow him to load his crossbow more quickly.

Despite his temper, James is, at his core, a kind-hearted and lonely young man grappling the with latent, natural abilities he does not understand. He is naturally forward, but the anger he siphons involuntarily makes him seem far more aggressive than what he really is. He is ashamed of his empathy and desperately wants to control it, but stubbornly refuses help, insisting to himself that he can figure out how to use it properly on his own, which is not the case.

James hates asking for help. He likes to be independent and feels uncomfortable relying on others, not just because he wants to be self-sufficient, but because he doesn’t trust people.

When his powers are at bay, he is gentle, but this isn’t a side of him that he often lets others see, as he usually has his guard up. He is mistrusting, not just because of the stigma associated with empathy, but because he is gullible. He can’t read social cues or take hints, and will interpret a person’s words literally. He is aware of this difficulty, so he is extra vigilant when interacting with others.

Because of this, he hates sarcasm. He understands it, and can tell to a certain degree when a person is being sarcastic, but not entirely, so he finds it incensing.

James is direct and lacks manners. He is short of words and says exactly what he thinks. Manipulation at even the lowest level is impossible for him. He cannot stand lying, dishonesty and false flattery because he takes it as the truth. He would rather be flat out insulted, rather than politely lied to, because at least then he can defend himself with his own barrage of insults.

Courtesy, at best, confuses him.

His appearance is nonthreatening, but he is tougher than he looks. He is more likely to stand up for somebody weaker than himself, than let himself be pushed around. He feels an affinity towards young people who are misplaced or nervous, and will put them before himself in a dangerous situation. When asked to complete a task, even a mundane one, he will go out of his way to do it to the best of his ability.

Due to the stigma associated with empathy, James is very ashamed of his abilities. When travelling through crowed areas, he will often siphon anger without meaning to and will lose his temper, which is embarrassing. He is aware of this, and is shy because of it. He doesn’t avoid others because he wants to, or because he doesn't want company, but because he fears he will hurt them.

Ultimately, he is lonely, and longs for friends who see past his powers.

It doesn’t help that he is less than approachable when other people reach out to him. Most of the time he is grumpy, but because he is repressing torrents of rage. In the event that somebody gives him a genuine compliment, he is bashful and doesn’t know how to react. He doesn’t look people directly in the eye and never smiles. He usually pouts, grumbles or turns away.

James is handy and can fix just about anything. He is interested in military strategy, and can be found playing with his model soldiers when he has time to himself. He is childlike at heart and curious about the way things work. He is confident in his intelligence and abilities, but recoils the moment he has to engage in any form of social interaction, mostly because he fears that his powers will flare up.

James’ mother died giving birth to him, and he hasn’t had any other women present in his life. Because of this, he is more comfortable around young men, not because he dislikes women, but because he doesn’t know anything about them.

If James makes a friend, he is unflinchingly loyal to them and supports them at all times. He is happy when talking about his interests and will warm to somebody who likes the same things, unless their opinion on that thing is different to his. Then he will tell them all about how they're wrong, in a friendly way, of course. When relaxed, he is chilled out and down-to-earth, in a lightly jabbing, blunt way.

The rage James siphons can make him aggressive and causes him to lash out. He fears that one day he will hurt somebody close to him, and wishes to learn to control his powers so that never happens.

James is intelligent and can solve complicated problems quickly. With a passion for science, he can create explosive and flammable substances to coat arrows with, as well as other kinds of bombs. He is great at fixing things.

While not a good fighter by any means, he is strong, and being punched by him is going to hurt.

He wields a crossbow, which he is skilled with.

James is a natural empath and can siphon only rage. These abilities are involuntary and happen without his control. They cause him to lose his temper for no reason, lash out and shout. In extreme cases, they make him violent. Repressing the anger he siphons causes him horrible migraines. He doesn’t know anything about empathy beyond what he has learned from his own latent powers. He needs a mentor who can teach how to use it effectively.

He can sense the rage of enemies from far away, which allows him to track them down. He can also siphon an enemy’s rage to subdue them or dissuade them from fighting. However, this will transmit the rage to him and make him violent.

He is overweight, and can’t run fast. He likes his food and eats until his heart’s content when he can. He tends to lose weight while travelling.

James is forward and insults people without thinking. He cannot manipulate at even the lowest level, and takes things literally. He is rude, short of words and slurs slightly when talking. Lying or deceit is impossible for him.

James was born in Alliria to a low-ranking military officer and his wife. James’ mother died giving birth to him, so he never felt her absence. Although there were many times when he was growing up that he wished she was there, even if he never knew her personally.

James’ militarily minded father saw to it that he would be raised like the rest of his soldiers. From a young age, he displayed more of an interest in building weapons rather than using them, and strategy, as opposed to fighting, much to the disappointment of his father. He learned how to fight, but was never any good at it, and when he refused, his father would scold him, often cruelly.

James excelled in scientific subjects at school, but not in sports. He would also frequently skip religious studies, and would then earn the rage of his pious father.

As James grew older, he noticed something changing about him. He became hypersensitive to people’s anger, and felt as though it was imprinting on him in some way. He would suck up the anger of his classmates, leaving them in euphoric dazes, then would proceed to lose his temper.

James became withdrawn due to his abilities and was bullied by his classmates. He finished school with high enough grades to study science at university, and was accepted into Alliria’s most prestigious academic institute. His father was disappointed and gave James his congratulations begrudgingly. They never spoke again.

James did well in his subjects, but earned a reputation as a black sheep. He would yell out in class, throw things and shout, and nobody knew why. In his spare time, he built models of forts, and would often play out battles with toy soldiers. When he went to a market place to buy parts, he stumbled across an old mage who was selling things he called “soul gems,” rocks that mages had implanted part of their soul in as a means of communicating across long distances.

They were rare, the old mage informed him, and could not be bought from many places. James bought one that had been made by an empath, then took it back to his dorm to test out. When he tried to use his powers on the gem, it projected an image of an old mage, claiming to be empath. He was very surprised when it spoke back to him, and hadn’t really believed that the gems could be used to communicate.

The old empath introduced him to a few of the tenants of empathy and it’s rules. He also helped him practice a few of his powers, but they proved difficult to learn due to James’ attitude.

During one of his lectures, James decided to try out one of the techniques he had been taught. He lost control of the power, and accidentally sucked every ounce of anger from the class. His classmates were left dazed, euphoric, and overly happy. Unable to control the torrent of anger he had siphoned, James attacked a student against his will.

He was arrested and charged with using magic to harm a citizens. Authorities later found out he was an empath and informed his father.

Fearing imprisonment, James took the soul gem and a crossbow he had made himself, then fled the city.

Using the techniques he learned from the empath in the gem, James hunts necromancers, demons, and other beings of dark magic for coin, but he barely knows how to control his powers and has a long way to go before he can call himself a skilled empath.