Oleander Soleran

[Oleander Soleran]

Oleander

EVERYTHING HAS A PLACE IN NATURE.
IT IS THE BOND THAT CONNECTS ALL.

FULL NAME: Oleander Soleran.
RACE: Human.
GENDER: Male.
AGE: 18 years.
BIRTHDAY: Season of Summer, Day 2, 499 AV.
BIRTHPLACE: Syliras.
LANGUAGES: Common (fluent).
CURRENT RESIDENCE: Zeltiva.

Face Claim: Parker Gregory.
Disclaimer Oleander image at the top by Denis Bourez (Creative Commons license).

[Oleander Soleran]

Oleander is a young man who stands at medium height, perhaps about six feet tall. He is not exactly the most striking figure, his brown curls usually quite the untamed bird nest and his clothes a little dirty from the earth he works with. While he does maintain regular hygiene and tries to tame his hair each morning, he is subject to the wind, dust and tangling plants and his efforts are rendered futile over the course of the day.

His face is slim, the jaw defined and the eyes match his hair-colour – brown, with the most subtle hazel touch that only becomes visible in direct sunlight. Unlike his sister, he did not inherit his mother’s, but his father’s looks.

Hopelessly in love with the outside, Oleander is a young man prone to forgetting time as he works in the garden. He takes an interest with almost anything green, alive or flowering and tries to increase his knowledge about roots and shrubs at every given opportunity. His family is fine with it – at least he is fixated on something potentially useful. While farmland is rare around Zeltiva, Oleander is more interested in what dwells in the deciduous forests that surround the city, be it herb, tree or mushroom. While his primary interest is herbalism, he tries to pick up skills that have to do with it, such as botany and gardening. Naturally, most of his knowledge centers around herbs that have a positive effect on the body, giving his name, which he shares with one of Mizahar's most poisonous plants, an ironic touch.

While the devotion with which he pursues this specific interest may make him seem a person who prefers solitude, this is not the case. He cares for his friends and family, and has a way with children and animals. Still, he walks around with his head in the clouds more often than not, and that alone makes it harder for him to get close to people who are not already part of his family.

Befitting of his nature-centered lifestyle, the goddess he prays to most often is Caiyha. Her wonders are the ones he feels closest to and her blessing is the one he cares about.

Oleander knows that nature can do harm as much as it can do good and he acepts it. It is his firm believe that each effect is meant to be, and will not put much thought into the consequences.

[Oleander Soleran]

Oleander

WE ALL SEE A DIFFERENT WORLD.

P R E - C R E A T I O N

Oleander spent his earliest childhood in the clustered city of Syliras, where few things living make it through the cobblestones. Worse yet, their apartment in Stormhold Castle allowed little light in and smelled of little more than human sweat and dust. His love for nature was inborn, the one thing inherited from his mother, or perhaps it was what little memories he had of her that had shaped him so. His mother, a petite, blonde woman from the north, perhaps Nyka or Ravok, who had always carried around a pouch of dried herbs, and who he remembered mostly by the characteristic scent of chamomile and tolm.

She had left the lives of her husband and children when Oleander was only three years old. The family that remained consisted of Oleander’s father, Rendan Soleran, a merchant and now single parent, and his twin children, Oleander and Hortense. He chose to remain silent on the matter, indicating that some bad event had driven them apart.

With nobody else to watch over the children, the family left Stormhold Castle and moved instead to Mithryn Outpost, where Rendan started a new life as a farmer. Despite a rocky start, he succeeded in making a decent living and providing for himself and his son and daughter there. Oleander, formerly sickly and pale, flourished in this new environment. The fresh air did him well and he grew up with the wind in his hair and dirty hands, playing in the mud and the fields. Hortense, in the meantime, preferred to stay at home and occasionally accompany her father to the Bazaar in Syliras.

As he grew older and his attention span increased, Oleander took to visiting the city herbalist often, not just for bruised knees, but also out of interest. The old man, though reasonably grumpy, was happy to show the boy a few things, teaching him to distinguish the most common plants in the area, tell apart edible and poisonous berries and recognize the scents of several useful herbs. Oleander learnt which ones were chewed and which ones swallowed, and also about those that should be used as a poultice and never ingested. With this rudimentary knowledge and obvious green fingers, he planted his first small garden. Not everything he tried instantly worked, of course. Many sprouts withered before Oleander figured out a basic arrangement that survived.

In the summer of 516, the family’s fields burned. Nobody knew whether it had been a malicious scamp who purposefully set the wheat on fire, though it was commonly assumed that somebody had smoked a pipe in the corn and fallen asleep. Maybe some dry plant had simply caught on fire from direct sunlight. Left with the choice of rebuilding their life at the Outpost or try their luck elsewhere, the family sold their home and moved to Zeltiva, a city that suited both Oleander and his sister. When they arrived, summer had faded into fall. Rendan worked at the docks for half a season, then used the money he had made to buy a modest business, returning to his original occupation. Hortense stayed at home, cooked, cleaned, went to the market and occasionally did some sewing for neighbours.

Oleander took his time to settle into his new environment. He liked the port and the sea, but not as much as he loved the forests. Of course, he could not stray too far from the city, but he ventured out in long walks and was always home in time for dinner. He took a great interest in the University of Zeltiva, eager to attend courses in one of the following seasons should his purse allow for it.

- - -

P O S T - C R E A T I O N

Oleander didn't live in Zeltiva for long. Hortense uncovered a letter that had been sent from their mother to their father, revealing hints to Estrella's whereabouts. Hortense immediately settled on finding their mother, and Oleander reluctantly agreed with her. They said their goodbyes to their unhappy father, then set off with a caravan to Syliras under the leadership of Karyk, a Zeltivan shipwright that Oleander had previously met and become friends with. But even Karyk could not guess what was going to happen to them, otherwise he might never have left Zeltiva in the first place.

They arrived at Syliras with only small troubles, but the castle's gates were closed. The missing winter had left people desperate, and many were seeking refuge. So many, in fact, that no more immigrants were admitted. The caravan split to continue to different locations, and Oleander and Hortense joined their friend on his way to Ravok. Shortly before they reached their destination, disaster struck in the form of a kriital, a mighty winged monster that tore a bloody hole into the ranks of the caravan, killing many, among them Karyk's sister and two of her children. The other three were left with the shipwright. Oleander and Hortense both survived the onslaught, and while it is unclear how his sister deals with it, it left the boy scarred. The general blame was put on Morwen, whose neglect of her duties had ultimately led to this chain of events.

Oleander lived in Ravok for several seasons before he started to finally settle in. After an initial struggle to keep his head up, he found a job at the Floating Botanicals, working in his favourite environment: A large garden.

 

H O R T E N S E

Full Name: Hortense Soleran
Race: Human
Status: Personal traveling NPC
Year of Birth: 499 AV
Place of Birth: Syliras
Skills: Sewing (10), Persuasion (10), Cooking (10)
Short Information: Oleander's sister.

Hortense is Oleander's fraternal twin, although she takes more after her mother, resulting in the two of them looking quite different. She was not necessarily the "favourite child", but certainly the one with the better technique at getting her will, developed over the years. Less nature-oriented than her brother, she preferred the city over the farmlands and it was she who mainly ushered the family's move to Zeltiva along. In the port city, she flourishes, socializing and leaving the house more often than she did at Mithryn.
Unlike her brother, Hortense is haunted by the way her mother left her when she was young. She has few memories of those early years, but she feels like she is lacking something, and the topic is her sore spot.

 

R E N D A N

Full Name: Rendan Soleran
Race: Human
Status: Personal stationary NPC
Year of Birth: 471 AV
Place of Birth: Syliras
Skills: Leadership (30), Agriculture (20)
Short Information: Oleander's father.

Rendan Soleran was born and raised in Syliras, the city his family had inhabited for generations. From his own father, he learned the trade of a merchant, which he continued to practise after his parents' deaths. As a young man, he met a woman who went by the name of Estrella, petite, fair, and from the city of Ravok, who soon became his wife. Together, they had twins, Oleander and Hortense. In 502 AV, Estrella left him because she "remembered where she belonged". She vanished overnight, leaving Rendan a heartbroken man with two small children. Since staying in the apartment the complete family had lived in hurt too much and he had nobody to watch over the twins, he moved out to Mithryn Outpost and started picking up skills as a farmer. In Mithryn, he rebuilt his life from scratch and watched his children grow up, but he never took another wife. When the family's fields burned down in 516 AV, the time had come to change the setting once again. At the request of his children, they joined a caravan and tried their luck in Zeltiva.
While Oleander supports himself with his knowledge of plants, Rendan provides for himself and his daughter, Hortense. Returning to his original craft, he started a small general goods store close to the port.

 

E S T R E L L A

Full Name: Estrella Soleran
Race: Human
Status: Personal stationary NPC
Year of Birth: 474 AV
Place of Birth: Syliras
Skills: Weapon: Dagger (5), Disguise (10), Herbalism (15), Poison (10), Socialization (5), Negotiation (5)
Short Information: Oleander's mother.

Estrella Soleran grew up in Ravok, child to an unremarkable couple, the middle sibling in between two brothers. It was no unhappy childhood, but to Estrella, it was a boring one. She was curious, resourceful, a little mischievous, with a delicate smile hiding whenever she was up to no good. Her talents drowned in a repetitive routine of monotonous everyday life, and upon 17, she left, never to look back.
Originally headed towards Nyka, bonds she forged on the caravan ultimately led her to Sunberth, where her energy found rather unlawful channels. She was a restless one, and when she travelled from Sunberth to explore different cities, she aided the gang her ties bound her to, keeping eyes and ears open, stealing secrets that would benefit them.
It was during one of those journeys that she met Rendan Soleran, fell in love and married him, eventually. Pregnant with twins, a certain desire for calm and quiet settled into her life that she had never felt before, and she was ready to end her wild years.
The illusion lasted for almost four years, then her past caught up to her. She had broken her loyalties, and had to pay a price. In an attempt to keep her family safe, she left the family overnight when Hortense and Oleander were three years old, and has been missing from their lives since then.

[Oleander Soleran]

Oleander

GO WHERE THE WIND CARRIES YOU.

 

Clothing

1 set of pants.
1 linen shirt.
1 sets of undergarments.
1 pair of socks.
1 pair of brown leather boots.
1 sturdy brown woolen cloak.

 

Equipment

2 waterskins.
1 set of toiletries (comb, razor, soap).
1 eating knife.
Flint & Steel.
1 empty flask (no cork).

 

Weaponry

2 daggers.

 

Food

-

 

Heirloom

The herb pouch that belonged to his mother, left behind forgotten. Kept by his father, it was later handed down to Oleander when his affinity for herbs became obvious. He keeps herbs in it that remind him of his mother's smell.

 

Tools

-

 

Housing

-

 

Travelling

2 tents (for one person each).
100ft of rope (hemp).
1 hooded lantern.
2 torches.
2 bedrolls.
2 blankets.
1 compass.
1 mule (with saddle and saddlebags).

 

Starting

Date	Purchase	Income/Expense	Total
Starting	Starting Package	+ 100 GM	100 GM
Starting	5 small flowerpots	- 1 GM 5 SM	98 GM 5 SM
Starting	5 common starter plants	- 3 GM 5 SM	95 GM
Starting	1 bed; poor	- 1 GM	94 GM
Starting	2 chairs; average	- 1 GM 4 SM	92 GM 6 SM

 

Flashback

Date	Purchase	Income/Expense	Total
76. Wint. 513 AV	1 large flowerpot	- 1 GM	91 GM 6 SM

 

Winter 516 AV

Date	Purchase	Income/Expense	Total
Note!	As there weren't any threads this season, I didn't pay any expenses.	-	91 GM 6 SM

 

Spring 517 AV

Date	Purchase	Income/Expense	Total
1. Spri. 517 AV	1 flask of peppermint oil (no thread)	- 2 SM	91 GM 4 SM
12. Spri. 517 AV	1 full-grown orchid plant (Orchids on the Windowsill) (uncommon)	- 5 GM	86 GM 4 SM
19. Spri. 517 AV	plant seeds (common) and peony starter plant (common) (The Smell of Memories)	- 2 GM 2 SM	84 GM 2 SM
40. Spri. 517 AV	sold house in Zeltiva (Stirring News)	+ 500 GM	584 GM 2 SM
40. Spri. 517 AV	2lb salted pork	- 6 GM	578 GM 2 SM
40. Spri. 517 AV	4lb hard cheese	- 8 SM	577 GM 4 SM
40. Spri. 517 AV	1lb jerked beef	- 7 GM	571 GM 4 SM
40. Spri. 517 AV	3 loaves of bread	- 6 CM	571 GM 1 SM 4 CM
40. Spri. 517 AV	10oz salt	- 1 SM	578 GM 4 CM
40. Spri. 517 AV	2 daggers	- 4 GM	574 GM 4 CM
40. Spri. 517 AV	1 waterskins	- 1 GM	572 GM 4 CM
40. Spri. 517 AV	2 tents (1 person)	- 4 GM	569 GM 4 CM
40. Spri. 517 AV	100ft rope (hemp)	- 2 GM	565 GM 4 CM
40. Spri. 517 AV	1 lantern (hooded)	- 7 GM	558 GM 4 CM
40. Spri. 517 AV	2 torches	- 4 CM	558 GM
40. Spri. 517 AV	2 bedrolls	- 2 SM	557 GM 8 SM
40. Spri. 517 AV	2 blankets	- 2 GM	555 GM 8 SM
40. Spri. 517 AV	1 compass	- 75 GM	480 GM 8 SM
41. Spri. 517 AV	1 mule	- 8 GM	472 GM 8 SM
41. Spri. 517 AV	1 riding saddle	- 10 GM	462 GM 8 SM
41. Spri. 517 AV	1 set of saddelbags (large)	- 8 GM	454 GM 8 SM
91. Spri. 517 AV	Living expenses (common)	- 135 GM	319 GM 8 SM
91. Spri. 517 AV	Wages (gardener)	+ 364 GM	683 GM 8 SM

 

Summer 517 AV

Date	Purchase	Income/Expense	Total
1. Sum. 517 AV	Living expenses (common)	- 135 GM	548 GM 8 SM GM

 

Autumn-Winter 517 AV

Date	Purchase	Income/Expense	Total
Note!	As there weren't any threads these seasons, I didn't pay any expenses.	-	548 GM 8 SM GM

 

Spring 518 AV

Date	Purchase	Income/Expense	Total
1. Spr. 518 AV	Living expenses (common)	- 135 GM	413 GM 8 SM GM

 

Summer-Autumn 518 AV

Date	Purchase	Income/Expense	Total
Note!	As there weren't any threads these seasons, I didn't pay any expenses.	-	413 GM 8 SM

[Oleander Soleran]

Oleander

EVERY STEP FURTHER
IS A STEP CLOSER TO THE ROOTS.

Skill	Value	Total	Level
Herbalism	25 (SP) + 2 + 1	28	Competent
Bodybuilding	1	1	Novice
Botany	10 (SP) + 2 + 2 + 1	15	Novice
Carpentry	2	2	Novice
Cooking	2 + 1	3	Novice
Endurance	2	2	Novice
Fishing	4	4	Novice
Gardening	15 (RB) + 4 + 1 + 4	24	Novice
Leadership	1 + 1	2	Novice
Medicine	5 (SP)	5	Novice
Negotiation	1 + 1	2	Novice
Nodeology	1	1	Novice
Observation	2 + 5 + 1 + 3 + 1 + 4	16	Novice
Organization	1	1	Novice
Philtering	5 (SP)	5	Novice
Planning	1 + 1 + 3	5	Novice
Prayer	1	1	Novice
Rhetoric	1 + 2	3	Novice
Salvage	1	1	Novice
Socialization	2 + 2 + 1 + 2 + 2	9	Novice
Teaching	1 + 1	2	Novice
Wilderness Survival (forest)	5 (SP) + 2	7	Novice
Woodcutting	1	1	Novice
Writing	1	1	Novice

 

Lores on Skills

• Cooking: Cleaning a fish
• Cooking: Parsley & thyme tea
• Cooking: Use nettle & basil leaves to flavour food
• Cooking: Rosebud & bee-balm tea
• Fishing: Cover a hook with bait
• Fishing: Wriggling bait is good bait
• Fishing: Using a cork as a float
• Fishing: How to remove a hook from a fish
• Fishing: How to cast for fish that can see and hear you
• Fishing Bait: Bitey Worms
• Gardening: Pebbles make for good flower bed borders
• Gardening: Give plants space when you don't know how much they take up
• Gardening: How to prune an overgrown thyme
• Gardening: How to peen a scythe
• Negotiation: Giving more when offered more
• Nodeology: Fisherman's Knot
• The Fisherman's Knot Poem
• Wilderness Survival: Stick to traveled paths when able
• Wilderness Survival: Clearing debris to prevent wild fire
• Wilderness Survival: Building a campfire
• Woodworking: Holding near the axe head allows for better control
• Woodworking: Dead branches make weak fishing rods
• The task of rearranging a garden

 

Lores on Locations

• Mithryn Outpost: Childhood Home
• Zeltiva: Even children steal in daylight during the worst famines
• Summer 1st, 517: The day Syliras closed its gates to outsiders

 

Lores on People

• Karyk Southwind, shipwright and woodworker
• Karyk: Does not tolerate disrespect toward tools
• Karyk: Believes ships represent community and family
• Rendan: Protecive & caring of his children
• Rendan & Hortense: Family
• Estrella’s hidden letter to Rendan
• The Tale of Estrella & Rendan's Love
• Saying goodbye to Rendan
• Estrella: Criminal spy
• Hortense: Perceptive, wilful & direct
• Hortense: Likes honey in tea
• Tollivant: Cartographer from the University
• Zeltiva Contact: Anna the widow
• Anna: Has a standing offer for job reference in Zeltiva
• Anna: Remembers her wedding when she smells lavender

 

Lores on Plants

• Horsemint: Eases the breathing
• Mint: Moles don't like the smell
• Starflowers: White blossoms, bloom in summer, no practical use
• Tarragon: Smells like anise
• Botany: Tulips and crocuses like sandy soil
• Botany: Daffodils like wetter soil
• Botany: Lavender likes to spread
• Herbalism: Nettle & basil leaves thin the blood
• Herbalism: Catnip & ginger soothes cramps

 

Lores on Animals

• Bitey worms are attracted to blood
• Bitey worm bites don't cause pain
• Eloise: Moves faster if she thinks there's food to be had soon

 

General Lores

• Respect all of your tools
• Middle class people don't want to hire poor people
• Any job will do when you have no mizas
• Furniture infested with timberworms should be burned, not used
• Nursery rhymes do not make good marketing tools

 

Lores on Oleander

• Regret: Never being admitted into the Zeltivan University
• Oleander: Memories of his mother

[Oleander Soleran]

Oleander

LIKE SEASONS, WE COME AND GO.

 

Flashbacks

Date	Title	Description	Status	Outcome
76.-77. Win. 513 AV	A Garden Reassembled	Tidbits of gardening. [solo]	completed	Observation +2, Gardening +4, Botany +2, Socialisation +2, Herbalism +2, Planning +1, Writing +1, Negotiation +1, Endurance +2, Prayer +1, 3 lores

 

Spring 517 AV

Date	Title	Description	Status	Outcome
12./13. Spr. 517 AV	Orchids on the Windowsill	Oleander's 1st job thread for Spring 517 AV. [solo]	completed	Observation +3, Rhetoric +1, Planning +1, Bodybuilding +1, Salvage +1, Negotiation +1, Gardening +1, 6 lores
19. Spr. 517 AV	The Smell of Memories	Oleander's 2nd job thread for Spring 517 AV. [solo]	completed	Planning +3, Botany +1, Teaching +1, Gardening +4, Observation +1, Leadership +1, Socialization +1, 8 lores
36. Spr. 517 AV	A Stomach More Empty Than A Coin Pouch	Oleander meets his favourite shipwright. [Karyk]	completed	Wilderness Survival +2, Botany +2, Observation +5, Socialization +2, Carving +2, Fishing +4, Cooking +2, Woodcutting +1, Herbalism +1, Teaching +1, Nodeology +1, 22 lores
40. Spr. 517 AV	Stirring News	In which the Soleran family decides to leave...despite having just arrived. [solo]	completed	Observation +4, Socialization +2, Rhetoric +2, Leadership +1, Cooking +1, Organization +1, 14 lores
41. Spr. 517 AV	Goodbye, Sweet Port	In which the merry party leaves Zeltiva. [Karyk, Salara, Tollivant]	completed	Observation +1, Socialization +1, 3 lores
43.-44. Spr. 517 AV	Missing Memories and Crying Statues	Karyk's wing of the journey. [Karyk, Salara, Tollivant, Kesh]	completed	-
50. Spr. 517 AV	Bandits of the Wilds	Oleander's wing of the journey. [Karyk, Salara, Tollivant, Kesh]	discontinued	-
81. Spr. 517 AV	Syliras or Bust	Salara's wing of the journey. [Karyk, Salara]	ongoing	-

 

Summer 517 AV

Date	Title	Description	Status	Outcome
1. Sum. 517 AV	Syliras, The Jewel of Sylira, Symbol of Hope	No entrance into the city. [moderated: Karyk, Balian, Samuel, Salara, Baelin, Tollivant]	completed	2 lores
60. Sum. 517 AV	A Soul Shattering Screech	Almost in Ravok... Almost. [moderated: Karyk]	ongoing	-
65. Sum. 517 AV	Almost at Home	Take a step back from the world and sit down with a tea. [solo]	ongoing	-

 

Spring 518 AV

Date	Title	Description	Status	Outcome
1. Spr. 518 AV	Just a Place to Work	In which Oleander finds his spot. [solo]	ongoing	-
25. Spr. 518 AV	Not Your Door	Early morning acquaintances are the best kind. [Rusty]	ongoing	-