Talosinas
From Valwiki
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| Player: | Phantos. | |
| Title(s): | Manydaggers. | |
| Age: | 30. Born in 26 PF. | |
| Race: | Elf. | |
| Eye Color: | Green. | |
| Hair: | Black. | |
| Skin Tone: | Light. | |
| Height: | 5'8. | |
| Weight: | 150 lbs. | |
| Alignment: | Chaotic Neutral. | |
Contents |
Personality
Accustomed to staying out of the spotlight, Talosinas has developed a problem with acknowledging that he is indeed a person. After a long time of blending in with the crowds, working undercover, or dressing up in various disguises with make-ups and costumes, he occasionally catches himself in a mirror and wonders idly who that person is; a few moments of staring is startling, an unwanted reminder that he is his own person. To further impede his identity, he often takes drugs to slip into an eased state of mind, where decisions can be made quicker and with less forethought. He is addicted to a particularly potent form of Bloodworm Root, which he takes by distilling an extract purchased from the drug dealer Daniel Cramm.
Because of this disconnection from himself, Talosinas is primarily motivated by two factors: the personality that he is currently masquerading as or, barring that, his deepest, natural feelings. He can therefore be considered the most dangerous when not on a job, as he'd be more likely to start a fire, make rude remarks, murder, pillage, and so on without a conscious to restrain him, than that of whoever he is pretending to be. He does not do these things without finesse, however, as he still retains a manner of skill despite a lack of super-ego. What little real personality he has of his own only comes to the top when he is doing something important as it relates to himself as a person, and it can be a very fragile thing.
In more modern times, Talosinas finds himself doing what he needs to do to make money, and so far the most profitable job has been working as a contracted killer, hunting down targets and laying them to rest. He doesn't much mind the moral implications of this job, as long as he's got the gold to feed and clothe himself, and to feed his addictions.
Abilities
Working as a thief and scrapper for a criminal organization during his youth, Talosinas excels at all of the wrong things. He found his natural elvish heritage lent to stealth and subterfuge work, disguising himself to get into the upper echelons of Valikorlian society before dealing with his targets or their valuables. He is known to conceal weapons in unscrupulous places, and they always seem to turn up even when he's apparently used his last one. For this reason, he earned the nickname "Many Daggers" during his time in the field.
Background
Misspent Youth
Growing up in Greendale, Talosinas was fourteen at the time of the siege on Valikorlia by Dalmarite forces (40 PF), and was just finishing his basic education before moving on to other venues (he was slated to train to become an engineer, first in his family to do so). When the gates fell, his family living in the city sustained massive losses in terms of property and life, yet he and a few others managed to survive. In the aftermath, he discovered his extended family in the forests had more or less avoided death as well, and the experience bolstered his father's mistrust in the Valikorlian Empire; many elves had felt that the government did not do enough when Dalmar razed the Seanchanni forests at Fort Lheao, and Talosinas' father was no exception. When the call came for new recruits to join the new Valikorlian forces to help rebuild and expand following the catastrophic events of the Divide, the young elf's father fought against the new government and was killed in a violent protest (42 PF). When his extended family called him to return to the forest, Talosinas refused in a bout of adolescent angst, and was subsequently disowned from his family, left to wander the streets of Greendale with his belongings. It worked, for a time.
Eventually his earnings would run out, and Talosinas was forced to live on the streets in complete destitution (44 PF). He did minor chores, working for an eatery in exchange for left-overs for awhile, but the strain put on by the recovering city was too much for that establishment so he had to move on or starve. And starve he did. Eventually, a less savory solution came in the form of a crime-lord that agreed to take Talos under his wing for obvious returns. This was his life for a few years, servicing various people in a desolate and reconstruction-minded Greendale.
In time, with the government establishing trade routes in previously uncharted territories, the city was finally beginning to flourish. Many new job opportunities came, but Talosinas was kept tightly where he was by contract, and indeed much of the aspiring young elf had died by then, to be replaced with the individual that he resembles today; the trauma of post-war city life had done its damage, and Talosinas remains a broken individual tied loosely to underground organizations. A change came to his bonded service little less than a year after the city of Greendale had reestablished itself (45 PF). Underworld politics and standards came with the revitalization, and the figure leading Talosinas' "group" was murdered one night by a rival organization known as the Unseen, leaving the young boy and several other individuals without income, food and shelter. He wandered again, this time disconnected from reality and addicted to a cavalcade of drugs, until another unsavory solution came his way in the form of bounty hunting. The crime rate of the time lent itself to angry (but wealthy) patrons taking out lucrative bounties on all manner of thieves, brigands and murderers. Talosinas couldn't read, but he knew faces well and soon enough the elf was making a steady income on mercenary work. A few years later (49 PF), he had built a somewhat positive reputation for himself, and remained working alone despite offers to join the recovering crime ring of Mainland Kharlia.
The Slayer
One of his most difficult bounties to collect on had been an elf spellcaster named Aleksi, primarily wanted for the brutal murder of several people and, among other things, grand theft. His methods of killing a victim were on such a level that he'd earn the nickname, "the Slayer." After accepting the job from the Valikorlian Empire, Talosinas tracked down the wanted man and initially confronted him in front of a cave dwelling in the Laboo; they fought, and though Talosinas was able to bind Aleksi, the spellcaster fled. Adopting a more casual personality in order to deal with the slightly neurotic bounty, the thief eventually found himself somewhat obsessed with Aleksi and so began their storied relationship. Eventually, Aleksi's crimes caught the attention of the Grakush and Talosinas was enlisted by an officer by the name of Jaska to apprehend the increasingly dangerous elf. Though he is loathe to admit it still, Talosinas found himself comfortable around his quarry and enjoyed the person he became while performing the bounty; the focus on a singular target gave Talosinas enough of a reoccurring personality that he began formulating an ego once more (50 PF).
Jaska, on behalf of the Grakush, stepped up the pressure on tracking down Aleksi after the criminal committed another unspeakable crime against one of their assets. Talosinas was brought in to apprehend the Slayer, and thus he did (51 PF); in the middle of the night, a heavily disguised Talosinas laid a bound Aleksi at the foot of the Grakushian embassy in Esthras and won a long-term employment with the organization in relation to their other problem figures.
Quotes
On Politics
- "At one point, I felt bad for not paying taxes. Then I broke into the tax collector's house; it had seven rooms."
- "One bounty had me tracking a law-maker in Esthras. Guess what his stated crime was? Rape. Imagine my surprise when I brought the man in, only to have my client claim it was a metaphorical crime. Oh what people won't do."
On Revolution
- "Human culture practically has revolution built in. My people? Well, look where being passive got them."
On Love/Sexuality
- "I was young, I needed the gold pieces..."
- "`Love?` Love comes three silver an hour down by old Red's"
On Country
- "The kingdoms of man are dirty and corrupt, but at least they rebuild."
On Race
- "How can you respect your heritage when the history books read nothing but: `And the Elves were forced from their lands once more.`"
On War/Military
- "People can do crazy things in a crowd. They get careless; stupid. I can only imagine the horrors they commit whilst in an army."
On Religion
- "Well, the church bells sound nice."
- "Oh, I met the God of Sex once. He was alright, I guess."
On Literature
- "Umm, what does this say?" (Talosinas cannot read).
- "Why don't they make books out of pictures?"
On Economics
- "There's an invisible margin after a profit is made, that extra greedy little amount that people take for themselves. I like taking it, too."
