Application for Fade Rift

[ombranera]

PLAYER

Name: Belle
Age: 28
Contact: thesouthernbelle
Other Characters: Adelaide (Adele) LeBlanc
Interests: Sass, stabbings, political assassinations, the creation of an IC little black book, swashbuckling adventures, facing down his personal demons, reuniting with old friends and making plenty of new ones. Or enemies. Whichever comes first, really.

CHARACTER

Name: Zevran Arainai
Canon: Dragon Age
Journal: ombranera
Race: Elf
Nationality: Antivan
Occupation: Assassin
Age: 36

History

Zev on the wiki.

After the end of the Fifth Blight Zevran returned to Antiva for a few preemptive assassinations, targeting first the Grandmaster of House Arainai. Over the next three years four other Masters and Grandmasters were killed with all the techniques of a Crow but no formal contract, as Zevran was doing this for himself rather than for coin. After having cut down the House Arainai into relative obscurity other suspicious Grandmasters took steps against him in the Free Marches, attempting to have Hawke capture him for them as they've failed to manage it on their own.

A conversation (and threesome with Isabella) later and Zevran went about his business, operating independently with the occasional assassination of a Crow Master or Grandmaster. He has built a business for himself and has kept to Antiva in his quest to dismantle the Crows little by little; the unrest caused by the Mage-Templar war and the Orlesian Civil war offers him many contracts that he takes now and again. Until the events of Inquisition he passes his days with these jobs and various other adventures that may or may not include: Orgies, dwarves drowned in wine, exploding vases, oiled nude wrestling, repaying gambling debt with silk stockings, riding a dragon (it may be a lie, he won't tell), ordering more armor from Wade and Herren, and a pie eating contest.

Personality

Zevran is a pragmatic optimist. Life is short when one is in the business of murder; and it is better to plan enough to survive but improvise as needed. Especially if that finds him a lovely woman or a handsome man. His salacious and blunt nature is partly due to his childhood spent in a whorehouse, and partly due to his seduction training. Also: it's plenty of fun, so why not?

While he doesn't discuss his emotions freely or honestly, he makes no attempts to hide what he is. He kills for a living, he enjoys the work, and he sees no reason to lie about it. Suspicion is met with wit and flirtation, sometimes sincere but predominantly in the interest of making the other party uncomfortable. Questions are met with the same and sometimes as an exaggeration. If he plays the sultry fool no one thinks to ask more or dig deeper. If a question cannot be laughed off, mocked, or sidestepped, usually it is ignored.

Zevran doesn't judge people based on their less savory choices. Everyone makes them and odds are he has done worse himself and gotten paid for his trouble- they are not a measure of a man. Strength is the measure of a man, and it is not always a physical thing. Zevran admires strength and humor. It is fairly difficult to become someone he doesn't like; senseless violence or a pointless double-cross bother him. If someone stabs him in the back? He will not mind it- he'd rather remain alive but he can appreciate an artful betrayal. If they stab him in the back without a good reason, it irritates him. He believes that every choice should have a purpose. Death serves a purpose, pain and cruelty do not. Actions having a point mean a great deal to him as he was always considered to be expendable.

It plays a large part in why he left the Crows. And they keep trying to kill him for failing to kill the Warden, but. Ideological differences must count for something, yes? He'd come to have a stronger sense of duty and honor during the course of his travels with the Warden,they gave him a greater sense of compassion on a grander scale. He would always be an assassin but now he considers the long term implications of what this death or action might mean rather than buttoning it down to working one job at a time. As an independent operative he has mellowed some in the years, focusing on an almost surgical dismantling of the House Arainai and in part the Crows themselves. At first done for self defense or spite, it has become more of a point of pride. If the Crows were worth anything at all, they would have been able to stop him.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Antivan Crow - While no longer a Crow Zevran retains their techniques and training as well as picking up on a few new tricks in his decade away from the organization. A master of stealth, dual wielding, poisons, a high resistance to pain or other manners of torture, contortion and the Antivan equivalent of parkour (naked or dressed). He's become an even more skilled assassin in the past decade, enough to take out several of the Crows highest ranking members. He can get in and out without being noticed in most places because, frankly, elves can be considered interchangeable and invisible at times. It makes getting into some places more difficult (because elf) however.

Rogue - Being an assassin means being a sneaky bastard first. Zev can pick locks, pick pockets, detect & dismantle or build traps of various designs, create and resist a wide variety of poisons and venomous oils to be used on arrows or blades, detect or arrange an ambush with great skill, and fight dirty in every which way. He's also quite cunning and a skilled liar, able to coerce his allies into seeing things his way or bluff his enemies out of a fight, he's not as able to handle large groups of attackers on his lonesome easily. Having the mental clarity and patience to do so has come easier to him as he's gotten older but it's not his first choice.

Academic - Part of reading the political landscape of Antiva to make the most of assassinations is knowing how the cards will fall after a mark is dead. Either by the Crows or his own curiosity Zevran is knowledgeable in a great deal of the lore of Thedas's countries and it's people, including the Dalish from what little he remembers of his mother and outside observation. Of course he's not above bluffing to supplement what he already knows or taking a wild stab at what might be so. Being genre savvy offers him a bit of credibility even then.

Lothario - Getting a mark to bed you is an easy way to kill them afterward; a tactic Zev preferred in his youth and one he's not at all above using even now. He was trained and employed as the great seducer of his trio while they worked together, playing the honeypot with great abandon. Between his contortion and his increased stamina due to Crow training, as well as his bluffing and coercion abilities and the touch of an actor's soul, he could make himself whatever the mark most desired before murdering them. While his conquests usually no longer end in murder, the skills are useful when moving about in such dangerous times.

Marked for Death - The Crows are wise to him enough to have named him their 'Black Shadow' and are still hunting him lest he lead to their downfall. It makes working in Antiva problematic and traveling alone unwise.

Inventory

• Armor


• At least 7 daggers


• Dual short swords


• Antivan Leather Boots


• A few healing poultices


• Misc poison vials, powders, etc


• Lockpicks


• Trap making kit.

Motivation

Where there is a group of potential political power, there will be a need for assassins. Either as an actual assassin or as a consultant, Zev means to lend his services because he quite likes Thedas intact. He lives there and keeps his stuff there so not having it overrun by demons would be lovely, thank you.

SAMPLES

A bastard and an elf walk into a bar...
Compelled by deadly beauty.