Name: Arlen Franeo
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Country of Origin: Vanaheim
Appearance: Arlen is an imposing figure, which is something that is seen quite often in Vanaheim. Arlen is of a mostly normal appearance for a man in Vanaheim, being about six feet three inches tall and full of muscle. He has dark black hair that reaches down to about his eyes in front, and to about his neck in the back. He has bright blue eyes that are always sharp and in focus, darting from one thing to the next.
Because of his life first working on the docks, then later training for the military, he has multiple scars and almost constantly has bruises. Hauling barrels on the docks, then swinging swords in the military academy has left a mark on Arlen, but it has also left him strong and healthy, and ready to fight for his kingdom.
Being a Highman, Arlen wears only minimal armor, usually only wearing a helmet, greaves, and bracers. His greaves and bracers are made from leather with studs in them to protect further from injury, and his helmet is iron with horns (what else) protruding from the side.
Personality: Arlen is a loyal man, although will put loyalty aside if he thinks that it will benefit his people. One good example is that he was thinking about leaving the King's royal army because he believed that he would do more good for his people as a rogue that he was doing. Another fault of his is his narrow-mindedness. Once he gets his mind set on a goal, he doesn't give up and will go through nearly anything to achieve his goal, even if it means smashing his way through an army to attain that goal. Despite being very good at what he does, he doesn't enjoy killing in the same way that some warriors do. Although he isn't about to talk a problem out with his enemies, he prefers not to resort to violence unless completely necessary, and wants to help the needy rather than protect some filthy ***** living in a manor. To sum up his personality in a quote would be : "I fight gangs for local charities, that kind of stuff." – Fezzik, Princess Bride
History: Arlen grew up in the port city of Dergen as an orphan. His mother had died shortly after his birth, so his father took care of him for five years until he died on a pirate raid in which he fell in the water and drowned. Turns out, you can't swim well when holding onto your favorite broadsword. This unexpected turn of events left poor Arlen without any family, fending for himself on the streets of Dergen. Of course, being on the streets lasted all of about a week until an orphanage found him and brought him back, where he stayed for the next nine years in what he would later describe as "living hielheim". After this terrible period in the life of poor Arlen, he was sold as what was in practice an indentured servant, carrying cargo to and from ships at the docks and occasionally having the privilege of being out at sea.
Now, being the adventurous soul that he was, when the option came to take part in a raid of a band of rogue ships located several nautical miles North West of the tip of the island of Drakin, Arlen jumped at the chance. Literally, he jumped straight onto the ship just moments after picking out a large sturdy axe. After being at sea for several days, something that Arlen enjoyed thoroughly, as do most Highmen, the rogue ships were spotted. The men prepared for battle, strapping on various pieces of light armor, Arlen choosing only horned helmet to fit upon his seventeen year old head. Although being as close as brother was important to the men of Vanaheim, a seventeen year old with no battle experience was considered little more than fodder, even though Arlen could probably beat a good number of them at arm wrestling. So of course, Arlen was order to leap the gap between the two ships first once the ships where in jumping distance of each other. To put it very simply, Arlen jumped the gap, then slew four of the men on the other deck, who were still fumbling with their weapons when Arlen's axe rent them in two. Arlen's comrades stayed silent for a moment, then charged onto the enemy ship with a loud war cry, not wanting to let their younger brother to have all of the glory. During the battle, Arlen's axe broke when facing a man with a heavy morning star, leaving Arlen with only a shattered shaft of wood. Unable to think of doing anything else, Arlen shoved the shaft into the enemy warrior's eye, causing him to cry out and drop the morning star on the ground, which Arlen then picked up and used to smash his opponent's head in.
After the battle, Arlen was congratulated, along with the rest of the fighters who took part in the raid, by the general who had led the mission. Finding a life in the military so much more interesting than hauling cargo on the docks for the rest of his days, he immediately petitioned to be put in the military, a wish that was granted at his eighteenth birthday. For two years he was trained in the art of war, learning the art of multiple weapons. However, his primary weapon that he used was of course the morning star that he had won in combat during his first raid. He excelled in the military academy Dergen, and was quickly transferred to the academy located at Greyfor, which is usually reserved for those with a large amount of money or a large amount of skill. Fortunately, while Arlen lacked in one are, he excelled in the other.
After graduating from the academy in Grefor, he joined the royal army, participating in battles of both large and small scale, excelling in each, and quickly gaining prestige. However, in the last couple of years, Arlen has been wondering exactly how much good he was doing in such a large army, and started to consider going rogue, thinking that he could do more good that way for his people than he could in the royal army. He was considering this topic when he received a letter from the Monks of Ekilore, summoning him to their tower along with others to receive some sort of "message". Intrigued, he immediately told his superiors, who agreed that it would not be good to ignore a summons of the Monks of Ekilore, which there was much superstition about among the ranks of the army. So, being the resourceful man that he was, he bribed his way onto a trader ship heading for Gallen, from where he planned to catch a transport ship to Ekilore.
Weapon Preference: Arlen loves his morning star. Because of his large strength, he is able to swing it quite fast, usually fast enough to knock an enemy clean off their feet unless they are prepared for it. For those who unaware of what a morning star is, it is a large spiky ball, usually made of a heavy metal material on the end of a chain, the other end of the chain attached to a short wooden handle. The user swings the weapon around building up enough momentum to destroy shields, bend swords, explode heads, that sort of thing. Arlen also uses two short axes that he can swing around for more close range combat, but they are also quite balanced and can be used for throwing, something Arlen can do quite accurately.
RP Sample: "Alright Nikolai," Wade said, gesturing to the hub of computers linked together in the room, "This is your training. On each of these
computers, there is a specific line of code, a key, if you will. This "key" will be heavily guarded by multiple layers of
programs determined to keep you away. Each time, you will need to retrieve the code, then move on to the next computer to find the next key. Once you have found one from all twelve computers, enter the thirteenth computer here," gesturing again to another computer, "and enter all twelve codes to end the training. Using my ability of reading minds and such, I'll enter yours, and will monitor your progress. Are you ready?"
Nikolai grinned, hoping now for a real challenge. "Lets do it." Nikolai sat on a chair in the middle of the room, and cleared his mind of all thoughts. Extending his mind outward, he felt around, more stumbling blindly than searching, until he encountered the first computer he was to enter. Allowing himself to be sucked into the computer, his mind went blank, then the information brought light to his eyes in streaks of light. The
colors solidified forming concrete images. Nikolai looked with confusion on the world he had discovered inside the computer, looking strangely similar to the movie Tron. After a moment, Nikolai heard a voice inside his head, first vague mumbling, then solidifying into words. "Nikolai, can you hear me?"
Nikolai winced for a moment at the contact, then replied, "Yeah. I can hear you. Why does everything look like this?"
Wade grunted, "Give me a moment. Ah! Hmm, interesting. Well, how I see it, when you enter something with your mind, your brain wants to process it into something familiar, something you can relate the information being processed to. In your case, being in the computer terminals reminded your mind of the Tron movie, so your brain processed the information into that kind of understandable form. Make sense?"
"Yeah, I think so." He started walking along what appeared to be a highway, with a large city in the background. "I suppose that's where I will find what I am looking for. If only there was a way to get there faster..." As he said this, a jet black motorcycle appeared, with streaks of yellow light on the side. "Now this is more like it." He quickly hopped on the bike an took off towards the city zooming along the digital highway. "Aren't you going to be constantly nagging away at me Wade? Seeing as how you are a voice in my head, that is."
Wade laughed, echoing inside Nikolai's mind. "Well Nikolai, this is training, but also an evaluation of how good you exactly are. So while I would love to be picking away at your sanity being the voice in your head, I'll remain silent and watch for the most part. And I don't think that there is much I can help you with here, most of it will be up to you."
"Fine." The bike accelerated along the highway, and Nikolai arrived at the city quickly, decelerating as he entered the city. It was strangely desolate, as if the large city with digital skyscrapers had been abandoned, and was now only a ghost town. He continued through the city, moving slowly towards the center where he hoped to find the key he was looking for. Nikolai kept a vigilant eye, and accelerated into an alleyway and braking immediately. He poked his head out to confirm what he though he had seen, a lone man walking down the center of the road. He checked the functions available to him on his bike, and selecting "Identify" he targeted the man, who still hadn't seen him yet. The bike ran a diagnostic for a moment, then came up with a name flashing on a digital readout on the dashboard of the bike saying "Norton Security". Nikolai grinned, this was going to be a breeze. He accelerated quickly out of the alley and drove straight for the program, who now finally noticed him and started to sound an alarm. The program was just a moment too late however, as Nikolai rammed the bike into the program, smashing it to the digital concrete and exploding into hundreds of tiny pixels.
Wade spoke up, "Well that was....one way of doing it. I hope you realize that you cant just run over everything you see and win, right?"
"Yeah, I know." There was a large thud that shook the ground, and a large mech lumbered around the corner, its footsteps beating the earth. "Doesn't look like I will be running over that any time
Later...
Seven computers and many battles later, Nikolai exited from the computers, his head pounding, drenched in sweat. His heart pounded and he felt weak, which was strange seeing as all the work he had done had been mental. Wade got up from a chair on the other side of the room, and walked over. "Good job. You made some excellent progress today, I for one am very pleased at your progress. With some work...well, the things you could do! Getting there wont be easy though."
Nikolai got up from his chair, his legs weak, still strangely tired from the training. "So what happens now?"
"Now, we sleep! Even we Atlanteans cant go without sleep! And besides, it sure looks like you need it. Don't worry, this stuff wont be going anywhere. We can get back to it tomorrow. If you're still up for it that is."
The tall Russian grinned. "Up for it? That was some of the most fun I've had in my life! Difficult and exhausting, but fun." Nikolai yawned, "Sleep sounds pretty good right now though." The man only vaguely remembered Wade leading him to where he would be sleeping at AUP, and collapsing on the sheets, allowing himself to fall into the oblivion of his dreams. – Atlantis Arising, Nikolai Afon
Other: When not rampaging or such, Arlen is fond of reading books and listening to what would be the equivalent of smooth jazz. But mostly just bashing heads.
Side: Knights of Ekilore
Alright, much work to be done, things to edit, plans to...plot. Point is, I'm not satisfied with this. As far as I am concerned, consider this as a rough draft.