APPLICATION.

[esquive]

PLAYER

Name: Abby
Age: 18+
Contact: prosodi @ plurk; PM
Other Characters: n/a
Interests: Action! Adventure! Class conflict shennanigans! I'm mostly just interested in contributing to some action-y plots and running errands for the well to do. Everyone needs a reliable gofor.

CHARACTER

Name: Marcoulf de Ricart
Canon/OC: OC
Journal: esquive
Race: Human
Nationality: Orlesian
Occupation: Sellsword/Professional Yes Man
Division: Forces
Mage or Not: Nope
Age: 34-ish. Accurate ages are for people who know their birthdays.

History

The child of Orlesian peasants, Marcoulf was sold apprenticed to a country farrier by the age of six. He managed not to get trampled long enough to learn a thing or two about putting shoes on horses feet, and was evidently bright enough that by eleven he'd been snatched up by a chevalier by the name of Ser Andrion Côté-Boissaeu. Côté-Boissaeu - something of an eccentric even by chevalier standards - suffered from an eventually terminal combination of boredom, over-education, and an inflated sense of self-importance which had him keen on keeping around the sort of boy who could be trained into a jack of all fetch and carry trades and talked at like a peer without the imposition of formal education (which might make debate unavoidable).

Marcoulf followed Côté-Boissaeu's back and forth across Orlais for the better part of twenty years, during which he saw to his horse, mending his things, was taut how to use a sword and told both how to make conversation and how fortunate he was to have been given such a good opportunity. For better or worse, Côté-Boissaeu was even handed enough and preferred the comparative social isolation of running around the countryside, that Marcoulf bought into the majority of it and curated a kind of filial affection for the man. Had Côté-Boissaeu avoided being killed in a duel, Marcoulf would have thoughtlessly followed him into whatever retirement awaits aging chevaliers.

As it was, Marcoulf found himself abruptly at loose ends. Côté-Boissaeu's surviving family refused him work (having never been huge fans of Uncle Adrion's weird experiment), so Marcoulf promptly stole Côté-Boissaeu's fancy horse and family sword then fled into the Free Marches to avoid hanging. There he picked up work as a sellsword. Though good enough with the tasks themselves, he found himself unhappy with the lack of clear direction. So the moment news of the Orelsian civil war reached his ear Marcoulf returned to Orlais to join Gaspard's forces in the hopes of winning back some legitimately in his homeland and find some meaningful goal to attend to.

Which went poorly.

Personality

Marcoulf is the product of being spoken at (not to) like a peer of nobility from one side of the mouth and being staunchly reminded that he isn't that from the other. He simultaneously both puts very little stock in common folk and distrusts the long-term stability of anyone with rank and privilege until proven otherwise. Otherwise, Marcoulf does his best to think in terms of boxes. Mages live in Circles. The division of nobility and laypeople Just Is. Elves are either slaves, refugees, or likely to murder a lone man on the road. Life, he believes, is simpler when it can be sorted that way.

That said, Marcoulf is uneasy about his own relationship those containers. He was a loyal servant who wasn't fulfilled by the work, but was vindicitive when it was taken from him. Lowborn people are meant to live in some form of discomfort, but he'd personally prefer not to. He belives nobility has a right to their rank, but a considerable number of them do their duty very poorly. He has a firm belief in a rigid class structure and an irregular relationship with his own independence, yet the inflexibility of the Qun creeps him out. Desitute children are a soft spot, but the way to help them it to surrender them to an overly beauracratic Chantry or find them a nice profession to toil away at.

So rather than busy himself with complex ethics questions, Marcoulf's primary concern in life is seeing to it that he can exist in a state of security. As he understands it, the route to that is being agreeable to certain people. As such, if he's of the impression that he should stay on someone's good side, he'll do whatever he can to do so (including contradicting things he's said or done in the past). In the best circumstances, he can be wry and willing to laugh. In instances where he thinks he's the person in the room with the most to offer, he can be a real bore. In all, Marcoulf is consistently over calculating.

Left to his own devices, he's quiet and systematic: there's pleasure in work well done and that desire for things to make sense inspires more curiosity than might be expected out of a professional yes man. He's happiest when he has a task to accomplish assigned by a person far more in charge than he is so long as he can be left to his own devices regarding the methods and is armed with the knowledge that he can live freely while not under orders. He's at his most miserable when situations he feels he otherwise understands change abruptly. When comfortable, he'll unquestionably follow orders to the best of his ability. Wheb stressed and alone, he's prone to erratic and rash decision making.

Opinions & Affiliations

The Chantry: Marcoulf is nominally religious because obviously, but he has no particular investment in the Chantry itself. He's of the opinion that it's often a poor excuse for philanthropy and mired in as much politics as the Winter Palace court. But it's also not his place to criticize.
Race Relations: While not purposefully denigrating (who has the time), Marcoulf is absolutely prejudiced and prone to stereotyping. He's not going to get in the way of anyone else going about their business, but he will absolitely make assumptions about their motives and habits.
Mage/Templar War: Mages are dangerous when left to their own devices and should be in Circles. That's just good sense. If mages are as trustworthy as they say they are, they'd be happy to see to it they stayed safe for the greater good.
Class Warfare: Though firmly a member of Gaspard's forces during the Orlesian civil war, Marcoulf's motivations had nothing to do with upending the social structure of Orlais and everything with reordering the existing system to be more functional. The Freemen of the Dales are traitors that make it harder for reasonable people to live as well as they might.

Strengths & Weaknesses

STRENGTHS

A reasonably talented swordsman. When he can't catch reliable mercenary work, he's been known to duel a few people for money. He loses infrequently. Excels at ignoring the finer rules of engagement.

Horsemanship. Marcoulf's a fan of horses. He finds them agreeable and reliably stupid. Not a pretty rider, but an effective one.

Reliable. If he can't do it, he'll find someone who can.

Orlesian Army Knife. Need a sock darned or a piece of equipment fixed for long enough to get it to a proper smith? Marcoulf's your McGuyver.

WEAKNESSES

Illiterate. Not writing or reading any reports, sorry team.

Sellsword, not a survivalist. Marcoulf's travels well on the road and poorly overland. Tracking and discerning which mushrooms are safe to eat aren't his wheelhouse.

Wishy washy - lives by the law of self-preservation, which for a person who's made his living off making sure other people want to keep him around and keep putting food in his mouth or money in his pocket means he has a habit of saying whatever the person in charge finds inoffensive.

Sketchy History. Desn't make a habit of theft, but he's in possession of a fancy stolen sword. Also fought on the losing side of the War of The Lions. Don't send him on diplomatic missions etc.

Blunt Instrument. While clever when it comes to problems that focus on physicality, he's not very good at thinking outside of the box when it comes to dealing with people/situations/morality puzzles with which he's not familiar.

Inventory

Fancy Orlesian rapier with a distinctive floral pattern etched into the pommel. Stolen.

Long dagger (in belt), short knife (in boot)

Silver ring with a black disk. Some fourth rate prize in a sword competition. To be pawned in emergencies.

Freckle the Horse. A sturdy roan who is emphatically not the fancy horse he fled oit of Orlais on.

A bad haircut.

Motivation

The Inquisition deleted his last job and he's here for the pettiest kind of revenge. Keep him fed and watered; its the least you can do.

SAMPLES

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