Vendawan

Special Equipment:



Appearance:

Vendawan is an older man, appearing to be in his late 60's or early 70's. He has a long unkempt beard, and often has assorted food crumbs in it. He is average in stature, but stoops over somewhat from age, and he is of slight build.

Vendawan is of generally rumpled appearance. His clothing is dishevelled, stained and worn, like that of a merchant who's been on the road for too long. Frankly, the only reason for this is because he often forgets to change his clothes, he's got too much else going on to remember something like that. Strangely, though, he doesn't stink, he just looks messy.

Vendawan appears as though he has always just fallen out of bed. He's got crusties in his eyes, his nose needs blowing, his hair needs combing, and so on. He tends to scratch himself more than normal, in any of the places one might expect from someone who has just rolled out of bed(rubbing eyes, scratching head, under neck near beard, rubbing face, etc). He is decent and proper, of course, and doesn't spend his time 'adjusting stuff' and such(I think you know what I mean).

Background:

Vendawan is a man that was once a great and powerful wizard on the Ethian Council. His particular area of expertise was in providing economic support to the region, advising on trade routes and other boons to economy in the area. He is solely responsible for the prosperous trade route between the once isolated region of western Ceriloth and the City-State of Ethe, which provides a massive influx of prosperity into the local economy.

He's always been one who was interested in experimentation, and his home is FILLED with strange and wondrous experiments. If you have a plum crazy idea, and you want someone to run with it, Vendawan is your man. He has spent his time LITERALLY attempting to get pigs to fly, for instance, and if you're looking for something strange, odds are good that Vendawan knows exactly what you're looking for, or by gosh, he can make it for you.

Quite frankly, when viewed from the outside looking in, his home is little more than organized chaos, with the magical experiments bubbling away, sometimes failing rather catastrophically, sometimes ending in decidedly strange results, sometimes coming up with truly useful, if bizarre, end results. There are all sorts of strange contraptions and half finished inventions lying around. Any visitor to his home is likely to be subjected to any of a manner of strange happenings and wierd things, that tend to be innocuous rather than actually harmful.

As a younger man, before he joined the Ethian Council, he was a typical adventurer, and he joined many an intrepid band of adventurers on many wild missions. Most of the time he was adventuring, however, he had so many ideas that were 'outside the box' that he tended to get on the nerves of his adventuring comrades, who had more serious goals in mind. His adventuring partners all liked him, though, and saw through his quirkiness to realize that his power was one they needed to get through the day. He has many powerful friends whom he NEVER forgets.

He does tend to ignore the more mundane details of life. He'll often go for days without eating, and when he does eat, it will often be simply what his caring staff essentially force feeds him('You've simply GOT to eat, master Vendawan!'). His staff is, of course, attentive but cautious, some of his experiments are time critical, and you need to pick the right moment to approach him with such a mundane thing as eating.

Likewise, it is possible for him to really need to use the restroom, but be unwilling to break away from his task at hand. He is proper, of course, and won't simply 'let loose wherever', but he often reaches the point of crossing his legs and jumping around(like a child), to avoid having to deal with it. He simply has too many other things going on.

He's always liked one thing, however. He collects personal trinkets. He's always liked the stories that strange and different objects carry with them. What he most values in his home is a curio cabinet containing literally hundreds upon hundreds of odd little things, specific rocks, a toothpick, a set of 3 dice, a small unhatched egg, a hand mirror, a quill pen and ink, just to name a few of the objects in the cabinet. He collects things ONLY when they have a story that they will remind him of, and he meticulously cares for these objects, and NEVER forgets the details of those stories. He so very much likes to share those stories with his friends, acquaintances and visitors.

If you want to get on the good side of Vendawan, offer him a personal object of some strange lineage, and relate an amazing story about that object. The more amazing, wonderful and entertaining the story, the more Vendawan will like the person telling the tale. It should be noted that many people try to have their objects put on display in Vendawan's Curio Cabinet, but only the best objects, with the best stories, make it into the display. Furthermore, it should be noted that none of the objects have much intrinsic value, the value to Vendawan is in the story, not the object. The object is in the curio cabinet as a reminder, nothing more.

The stories he prefers are not for pure historical accuracy, of course, he actually enjoys the suspension of disbelief that comes from a 'tall tale' or 'fish story'. As long as the story makes for entertaining conversation, he will accept anything as said on face value. The less entertaining the story gets, the more likely he is to refuse to suspend his disbelief and question the story itself. His most entertaining stories are told by him from the perspective of first person and are WILDLY unbelievable but enormously entertaining. It's not uncommon for his best stories to begin with a premise as unbelievable as 'So, this one day, I was inside a dragon's stomach...'

Roleplaying Notes:

Fortunately for his appearance, Vendawan is a man of very pleasant and disarming personality. He is warm and friendly, even towards total strangers, who quickly forget about his appearance due to his friendly and inviting demeanor.

He does tend to seemingly ignore or forget the minor details about life. It should be remembered that the minor details about life tend to be a LOT more than minor when you're talking about a powerful wizard like Vendawan. In his home town, he is known for simply staying at other people's houses after he magically forces the lock on the door after assuming he's simply lost the key to his door. The surprised family in the dwelling will often simply allow the entertaining and interesting old wizard to stay as long as he pleases, telling stories and spinning yarns, because he often will realize, later on, that he's not actually in his home, and be most thankful that the person didn't become incensed.

He will often make gestures to compensate the family for their troubles, never with money, of course, but often will grand displays of his wizardry that often help the people in rather immense ways. It would be nothing for Vendawan to conjure up a grand feast's worth of food, to magically spruce up the interiors of the commoner's houses with fancy quality furniture, to teach a young child in the course of an evening to totally comprehend a foreign but useful language for later in life.

Of course, while he means nothing by it, this seeming forgetfulness is merely a ruse. He doesn't forget a thing, but it provides him with a conveniently strange excuse to assist those that he feels need assisting. The commoners rarely notice that he actually targets people who seem needy at the time. He will absent mindedly show up at someone's house who have an ill person in the next room. He will then put on his show for effect, and then suddenly remember he's not in his own home, giving him the perfect opportunity to assist the commoners in some token way, such as using his knowledge to heal the sick, providing them food and clean water, maybe magically doing their chores to allow them time to visit with a loved one on a special day, and so on.

Now, while his forgetfulness is a ruse, he IS a very busy man, and he often simply ignores the minor things to get done his tasks. As such, he often simply ignores bathing, eating and going to the restroom as being less worthy of his time.

Make no mistake about it, however, Vendawan is a wizard of awe inspiring power. He has not used the full extent of his powers in quite some time, but he is fully capable of literally levelling an army with a pass of his hand if the situation calls for it. He has made it clear to the ruling nobility and politicians of the land that he is not interested in that life any longer, and he will not offer his services up for mercenary use to the highest bidder. He is retired, now, and does not wish to return to that life, for any reason. He simply wants to experiment and putter away, tinkering in his workshop and living his life. He truly has embraced the life of the retiree, seeking only to provide his 'children' with all that he wasn't able to have as a younger man.