sparknotes

[esquive]

what up, its the world's laziest character writeup

NAME: Marcoulf de Ricart AGE: 44ish RACE: Human NATIONALITY: Orlesian OCCUPATION: Sellsword HISTORY: Peasant, """"apprenticed""""" (aka sold) to a farrier/livery service. Ended up being good at horse. Apprenticeship bought out by some chevalier thanks to being good at horse, so basically spent some time running around playing at squire for a Don Quixote type Learned sword Daddy Don Quixote ate dirt, Marcoulf cut loose by the estate. Stole horse and Daddy Don's sword (revenge on the estate or grief? YOU DECIDE), made $$$ for a while in the Free Marches competing in swordsmanship competitions (not great but good enough to make cash money), guarding transports, the usual 'I need a guy with a sword' shit Joined some mercs headed back to Orlais to kick it with some rebellious lords during the War of the Lions thinking he'd get himself some legitimacy in Franceland again when Gaspard took the throne. Didn't die, but war's over (losing side: awkward) and now he needs income again so might as well get it out of the people who deleted his old job. PERSONALITY: Criminally under-educated yes man with a deeply uneasy relationship regarding his own individuality/being more or less totally at liberty. Happy to talk, but is infuriatingly non-committal in conversation. It's clear Marcoulf has opinions that he acts on when left to his own devices, but he's wobbly in debate and generally will just say whatever is most agreeable at the time regardless of whether it makes him look like a big huge hypocrite down the line. ...which can mean he's unpredictable af in practice. Capable of great pettiness in the moment (he'll nickle and dime you into eternity if you're being needlessly cheap etc), but rarely long-term spiteful (who has the time or energy to hold grudges) Streetwise af, not at all book smart. Has a very particular set of skills and very little interest in bettering himself unless it's in pursuit of more disposable income/comfortable living Number one motivator in life is be comfortable, don't starve. If it comes with a side order of Not Having to Make Hard Decisions, all the better. He's happy to be told what to do and thrives in an environment where he isn't the person in charge. If someone will keep giving him work to do, he'll chug along at it for as long as he's able to regardless of whether there's better paying or easier work to be had. He's slow to question the means and motives of people as long as they're keeping him in reasonable money. Marcoulf would be happiest if he were a spoiled lapdog of a personal bodyguard, but he'll make do with reasonably clear orders and getting his boots muddy. Aokay with what he views as short-term discomfort (potentially dangerous work) for long-term self preservation (being dedicated in service to someone who's willing to keep him up; thrives in a reliable environment and gets antsy and self-sabotaging when his day to day changes). Generally speaking, Marcoulf's tries very hard to believe in nice boxes of how people and places work - mages lives in circles, the division of nobility and laypeople just Is, elves are often refugees or slaves - because it makes life simpler when in actuality he's rather uneasy about his own relation to those boxes: he's dissatisfied with how the Chantry works because it seems like a half-assed way to tend to peasants by the nobility in Orlais; he's a loyal servant who wasn't in love with his work and vindictive when it was taken from him. Destitute peasants are meant to be in some form of discomfort, he knows, but also he'd really prefer not to be. This uneasy relationship with the lines of How Things Should Be and his general avoidance when it comes to thinking about them means he's prone to erratic decision making when it comes to dealing with disenfranchised people. He tends to be sympathetic to children in bad positions, but his solution to that is 'Lets get you a nice job, infant' and his sympathies rarely extend past slotting people into boxes where they sensibly belong (mages go to circles; elves go to alienages, orphans go to the Chantry. The end). OPINIONS/POLITICS: The Chantry - Whatever, but not really sure the Maker or Andraste has much to do with it. He believes in those things, but thinks nobility spends too much time throwing their money at Andraste and calling it a day when they could be doing things for common people beyond the bounds of religious organizations (though also: he'd find an overly philanthropic noble strange and potentially untrustworthy - what's their motive??). The Qun - Doesn't mind it conceptually. Everyone learns to be good at something and just does it until they die. There are worse things probably. In practice, it creeps him out. Mage/Templar War - Mages belong in Circles and apostates are hella dangerous. Go...back to them... Race Relations - Whatever, but also he's not going to cry about slavery. If it ain't one thing it's another, etc. Trends toward popular Orlesian opinion as his worldview is largely informed by being a)penniless and landless, but b) more or less taken care of by Daddy Don Quixote and being subject to his conversation so like. Nnnnnot great on the whole arguing for equality scale. STRENGTHS/WEAKNESSES + Reasonably good at stab, but very good at playing a little fast and loose with The Rules Of Stabbing + Good with horses, generally finds them agreeable. Isn't necessarily a pretty rider, but a very effective one. Generally a good estimate of horseflesh + Following the spirit of direction if not always the letter + Equipment repair - sewing, patching, refitting. He prefers not to darn socks, but is perfectly capable of the work. + Reliable worker - give him a task and he will do that task, regardless of scope or personal ability. Perfectly comfortable with using all the tools in his metaphorical toolbox, including outsourcing if something is beyond his own skill set. A good middle man, surprisingly good at identifying others' strengths/weaknesses and delegating appropriately despite a surface appearance of making snap judgments/assumptions about people. - Definitely illiterate (daddy wasn't that nice; can't have your sword boy getting ideas in his head) - Marcoulf is a sellsword, not - if we're talking DnD types - a ranger. He can survive ok on the road, but he's not great with tracking or building traps or any of that wilderness survival nonsense. He knows what he needs to do, knows what to pack when travelling, etc but he's not boy scouting his way through the underbrush and wouldn't make a great scout. He's good at staying on the road and defending himself if someone bothers him. - 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. The world's most evasive yes man. - Thief/bad politics - doesn't make a habit of it, but he's in possession of a Olesian lord's fancy stolen sword. He also fought on the losing side of the War of The Lions, so generally all his connections to Orlais are a little sketchy and not super positive. Don't send him on diplomatic missions etc. - Uninspired - Marcoulf is something of a blunt instrument. While he's 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 - stolen from Daddy Don Quixote long dagger - secondary stabbing equipment; perfectly average in every way boot knife - it's a knife that lives in a boot Freckle the Horse - a leggy red roan. Emphatically not the horse he stole when he ollied out of Orlais the first time.