Appearance
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Age: 24
Birthday: 18th, Fall, 493 A.V.
Birthplace: Syliras
Current Location: Sunberth
Occupation: Mercenary
Face Claim: David Oakes as William Hamleigh
Appearance: Rowan can be best described as devilishly handsome. His chiseled chin and angular facial features make him quite the attractive man. His eyes are a deep brown and his gaze is often distant. It's as if they are holding back all the pain and strife he's felt and caused over the years. The slight bags under his eyes are a byproduct of this pain and strife as well. Rowan's smile is one of his more alluring traits. His signature smirk is mischievous yet inviting. One can tell from a single look that Rowan is probably no good, but his charming features draw people in anyhow. A lifetime of hard work has honed his body into a well muscled and well toned machine. He is strong and athletic, as one has to be in his line of work. Rowan stands at 6' (184 cm) and weighs 170 lbs (77.11kg). This makes him quite tall for a Mizaharian human. His body is marked with various scars that he's acquired over the years. The most prominent of these scars being a diagonal scar across his back. Rowan's most striking feature is his ginger hair. It's fiery orange hue stands out in a crowd. When it comes to facial hair, he doesn't sport much of it. He keeps his mustache and beard trimmed down and he rarely grows them out. Overall, Rowan's visage is one that catches the eye and he is not someone who can easily go unnoticed.
Character Concept
Rowan Brightmoor is by no means a good person but that doesn't make him inherently a bad one. Well, maybe he is a bad person but he's not an evil one. Rowan is a remorseless killer for hire who, for the most part, only looks out for himself but he's not a villain. He's no evil mastermind out to rule the world or some psychopath out to cause as much damage as possible. He's just a man who's had a rough life and he's trying to make the best of it. Rowan is looking to carve out a stable lifestyle for himself while also improving his skills and learning more about magic. Who knows, maybe he can also make a name for himself along the way.
Adventurous: Rowan has had a strong sense of wanderlust ever since he was a young boy. He enjoys exploring unknown places and seeing new things.
Selfish: For the most part, Rowan only looks out for himself. He's always trying to find ways to benefit from any situation he finds himself in. The question, "what's in it for me?" is a constant part of his decision making process.
Loyal: Loyalty is a rare trait for a sell-sword, but it makes Rowan all the better at his job. By definition, Rowan sells his loyalty for a living but he would never turn his back on an employer. He makes sure to give anybody willing to purchase his services their money's worth. Once he takes a contract, he upholds it till the end. He'd only break a contract for two reasons; a substantial amount of money, or for the sake of someone he truly cares about.
Pugnacious: Rowan doesn't necessarily enjoy starting fights, but he sure does enjoy being in them. The rush of adrenaline one gets from battle is like a drug to him. Any time Rowan gets to use his fists or his sword is a good time. He's not one to pass up a fight, which can get him into trouble at times.
Lustful: A lecherous womanizer, Rowan enjoys partaking in the pleasures of the flesh. He finds fun in the challenge of seducing women. Luckily for his past and future romantic partners, Rowan's selfish nature does not make an appearance in the bedroom. His love for women can also be a weakness. Often times, He finds himself a sucker for a pretty face.
Sympathetic to the Unfortunate: Rowan's sympathies go out to all manner of people who have fallen on hard times. He tries his best to look out for the little people whenever he can. Rowan has an especially soft spot in his heart for orphans as he himself was an orphan in his youth.
Cunning: Rowan is clever, both on and off the battlefield. He's always looking for advantages or easier methods in anything that he does. There's a degree of strategy that he employs in everything that he does, as Rowan's always trying to turn the odds in his favor.
Remorseless: Killing comes easy to Rowan and he rarely feels bad for doing so. This makes his job as a mercenary so much easier and it helps with his appearance as a tough guy. However, it can hinder his ability to forge relationships. It can be hard to make friends when you're known for how good you are at killing people.
Confident: The negative opinions of others are lost on Rowan. He is quite sure of himself and his abilities. Due to his confidence, Rowan has no qualms about taking up more challenging contracts. He is more likely to put his trust in his own abilities than in the ability of others.
Outspoken: For better or worse, Rowan makes his opinion known. He's not one to sugarcoat things or hold his tongue. This can be a good or a bad thing as often he offers a viewpoint that is refreshingly direct or unrefined. However, his opinion can also be considered controversial or overtly harsh.
Character History
Rowan was born in Syliras to Ser Percyval Brightmoor and his wife Lianna. His life has been full of tragedy and hardship since the first day, as his mother died during childbirth. By some form of miracle, Rowan managed to survive. His early life was pretty normal. His father's status as a knight had afforded the two a decent home and a happy life. Some of his fondest memories occurred during this period of his life. Unfortunately, the good times didn't last long. Rowan's father became gravely ill and his condition quickly deteriorated over time. At the age of six, his father died and Rowan was orphaned.
Rowan went from some of the happiest days of his life to some of the darkest. The Welcome Home Orphanage was not by any means a bad place. He had a place to live, food to eat, and a decent education. The problem was, it just didn't feel like home to Rowan. Before his father died, their family was respected. They were pretty well off and held in relatively high regard. But now that he was on his own, he was just another charity case. No one seemed to care that he was a young boy who had just lost his father. Or that he'd never met his mother. Society only saw him as another mouth to feed. Another burden for everyone else to carry. Rowan's overwhelming grief and drastic change of lifestyle led him to resent the orphanage. He became a rowdy and hate-filled individual, often being at odds with his fellow orphans. His days were spent enduring the various punishments he'd incurred from fighting his house mates or trying to escape from the orphanage. Rowan even went as far as stealing the orphanage's pony in one escape attempt. Luckily for Rowan, (and his sanity), his stint at the Welcome Home Orphanage only lasted two years.
At the age of eight, Rowan was adopted by a woman named Anise Mallon. Mallon was a very mysterious woman. Her age was hard to pinpoint, as she had a young looking face but grey hair and slight wrinkles. She bore a friendly smile but her eyes seemed to betray this facade. The black orbs held a more sinister gaze. What vexed Rowan the most was Mallon's motives. There were rumors amongst the orphans about the woman. Apparently, this was not her first adoption. In fact, the woman adopted quite frequently. Every couple of years she would take in a new orphan. What was her reason for adopting so often? Could she really afford to do so? And why had she picked him over any of the other children? Many of the orphans speculated that she was secretly rich and wished to adopt as many children as possible. Most of them were ecstatic when she visited, hoping that they would be selected. Rowan had different suspicions and he intended to find out the truth.
Anise owned and operated a general store in the Evantide Outpost, north of Syliras. This is where Rowan would make his new home. He spent their first few months together trying to uncover her secrets. At every opportunity, he would spy on her and snoop through her things when he could. After copious amounts of investigating, Rowan found nothing. This did not deter him however. He finally had a breakthrough when he caught her sneaking out in the middle of the night. Being the curious child that he was, Rowan did the only logical thing and followed her. Anise unintentionally led him out of town and deep into the outlying forest, where the two came upon a small shack in the woods. Rowan spent the following couple of weeks exploring the shack during any free time he could procure. The shack was home to all manner of strange items; weird books, jars full of odd liquids, and devices he'd never seen before. Exploring the shack brought about many revelations. The building was the site of many sinister rituals and goings on that were foreign to him. Anise had journals detailing many of her magical procedures and doctrines. He even found documents alluding to the fact that Anise had killed the previous children she had adopted. Rowan had heard stories of magic and sorcery in the past, and he had now found himself in the lair of a witch.
A part of him wanted to reveal the woman's secrets to the world but he couldn't bring himself to do it. The prospect of magic and the occult intrigued him. Rowan's curiosity got the best of him and he began to intrude more and more into the shack. His prying did not go unnoticed, and soon Anise caught him snooping. The kind and gentle persona she had put on was immediately shed. Surely, Rowan that his fate would be the same as the previous children but to his surprise she spared him. She revealed herself to be a witch as he'd suspected and claimed that she had a better use for him. Anise was versed in a handful of disciplines of magic, including alchemy, reimancy, and hypnotism, but Spiritism was her main focus. She had been adopting children and using their blood to create Soulmist so that she could bind powerful spirits to her will. Rowan had not been the pure and innocent child that the others had been so he would not serve their same purpose. Instead, Anise decided to take him under her wing as an apprentice. She introduced him into the world of the arcane, teaching him about Djed and the fundamentals of personal magic. She even went as far as teaching him the very basics of Reimancy but this idea was quickly scrapped after Rowan nearly burned the shack down.
Rowan despised the woman at first, but grew to respect her over time. She had been the closest thing to a maternal figure he'd ever experienced in his life. The partnership lasted four years before it was cut short. The two had attracted some unwanted attention to themselves after Anise's dealings with a nefarious spirit went awry. The ghost made several appearances around the general store before it began to terrorize the Evantide Outpost. Anise managed to reign the spirit in but the damage was done. Many of the town folk began to believe that she was the cause of the ghost. A witch-hunt was started and the Syliran Knights put Anise to the sword at the request of an angry mob. Rowan had to watch as she was beheaded and her corpse was burned.
Once more on his own, Rowan decided to take control of his own life. He was now in the custody of the knights and they planned on taking him back to Syliras. If he was lucky, they would send him back to the orphanage. However, Rowan knew there was nothing but punishment in his future. The knights didn't take too kindly to magic and he was now publicly associated with a witch. He knew a fate worse than death awaited him so he wouldn't let them take him back to the city.
During the chaos of the execution, Rowan managed to slip away from his captors. He could no longer call the outpost his home and he had to get as far away as possible. A traveling band of mercenaries had been passing through and Rowan thought it best to fall in with them. The group did not immediately accept the boy as a member but he was determined to prove himself. His opportunity came late one night as the mercenary company made camp on the side of the road. Most of the men had dozed off to sleep but something kept Rowan up. A shadow cascading over his tent alerted him to the presence of an intruder. The intruder was a scout for a group of bandits planning on raiding their camp.
Rowan seized the moment and attacked the man. The sudden weight of a teenage boy on his back brought the man to the ground. The two began to tussle on the ground, both trying to gain the upper hand. The commotion managed to rouse other members of the group and soon there were a couple on-lookers. During the scuffle, the man managed to slice Rowan across the back with a knife before Rowan could gain control of the weapon and plunge it into the belly of it's owner. His quick thinking gained him the attention of the mercenary leader, a man named Rolf Von Croy. The fight had earned Rowan a place amongst mercenaries and Rolf began to mentor him. Like many of the group's members, Rolf was an ex-knight. He taught Rowan how to wield a sword and how to ride a horse.
Over time, Rowan grew to be one of the most valuable members of the group. They accepted him into the fold and he felt a true kinship with them. Rowan traveled as a part of the mercenary company for many years. Up until recently in fact, only striking out on his own when the group was disbanded.
Rolf Von Croy was a mentor and father figure to Rowan so his death struck him particularly hardly. Rolf's untimely death was brought about by his own hands. A heavy partyer and even heavier drinker, Rolf ended up dying of alcohol poisoning. The mercenary company was now without a leader and it's members drifted apart. Before long, the group no longer existed. Rowan attempted to stay in contact with some of the people he was closer to, but they faded out of his life over time. The various stories Rolf used to tell him about the "City of Lawlessness" led him to head to Sunberth to make a life for himself.
![[Verified by Regime]](./images/checkmark.png "[Verified by Regime]")
Rowan Brightmoor 
by Rowan Brightmoor on December 12th, 2017, 5:29 pm 