Rurik the Necromancer
Rurik was a powerful Necromancer, but he didn't want to be evil. Just because he knew the Dark Arts, he did not think that he should be harming others all the time. Mostly, he wished only to be left alone...
Special Equipment:
A silver spider amulet that grows cold if there is danger-the bigger the danger, the colder the amulet.So a dragon would make the amulet too cold to wear for very long, whilst someone secretly looking at him would just lower the amulet's tempreture by a couple of degrees.
Appearance:
Rurik is five feet eight inches tall,with brown hair and brown eyes, and dresses in clothes that are a lot like those of an ordinary forester. He has more pockets then normal to carry potions,wands and other magical items and to keep them out of sight.Around his neck is a silver amulet in the shape of a spider,which is normally kept out of sight against his skin unless serious danger threatens.
He is nervous and slightly scared of other people, fearing that they might attack him. He likes to keep his magical abilties a secret, unless he considers that he has to use them publicly.He is normally polite and softly-spoken to people and non-human races alike,and is slow to get angry, but when he really does get aroused or is seriously threatened by someone, he will let loose one of the darker spells upon them.If said person then begs for mercy, he will ease up on them. He dislikes killing people but will do so in self-defense of himself.
Background:
In the city of Pier Point lived a Necromancer, his wife, and their daughter and two sons. Rurik was the eldest. He was a good pupil, and quickly learned all the dark and forbidden magics. But unlike the rest of his family, he wanted to learn more. Secretly he self taught himself other magics. Some were *white* spells such as healing ones, others were *neutral* spells that neither helped nor harmed.
It was traditional that skilled Necromancers would steal parts of the life force of others to cast their spells. And the weaker the person, the better. If the person died as a result, he or she could be raised from the dead as a zombie slave and used to commit crime or to do legal but boring tasks. Only the eyes of the zombie showed any sign of the spirit helplessly trapped within.
Rurik came to reject the darkest spells and wonder why his kind were always supposed to be evil.He was pleased that he had learned the dark magics, for there could come a time that he really needed to use them.He did not consider himself to be *good* in the same way that an honest City Guard or a White Mage was good. He had no interest in hunting down evildoers.
But he had a keen sense of right and wrong and did not see why he should add to the evils of the world just because he knew dark magic. Also, if somebody was being totally evil right in front of him, he didn't like it.
He began setting free the souls of those zombies that his family made, and lying to his family, saying he had no idea why their new zombie had *broken* and died on them.
He would heal dying people instead of letting them die and stealing their bodies for zombification. When he was asked to curse someone, he would mess up the spell on purpose so that it failed.
One day his mother found a spell for freeing zombies in his bedroom. His family were all furious with him. 'If you can't be like the rest of us,' said his father 'get out. You are a disgrace to the family. Good magic...what do you think our friends would say if they found out? Your grandmother would be heartbroken. Leave, and never lighten my door again until you are a proper Dark Mage.'
Shunned by his family for being *good* and society which thought of him as *bad* he left the city of Pier Point to escape the attention of white mages and the Pier Point Police. He walked deep into the woods where he built a tower through magic and concentrated on making new spells that could be used by most people, rather then by a few magic-users.
Roleplaying Notes:
Rurik considers himself to be neutral as far as other people are concerned, unless something nasty is happening to somebody right in front of him, when he will intervene.
He knows many spells although he is best at dark magic, but he uses spells only when he feels that he really needs to do so.
Plot Hooks....the PC's are hired to slay an *evil* Necromancer which turns out to be Rurik. Or Rurik has the 'McGuffin' that the PC's need for their quest.
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? Responses (7)
Solid
4/5
I like it, a very interesting creature. Brings to head the concept of predetermined morals and ethics. Just because the orc was raised by other orcs, it isn't neccessarily bloodthirsty and warlike. Nice job.
4/5
A solid character, the black ... uh, white, sheep of the family.
I did not know that necromancers objected to learning 'good' spells though - why, when they can be useful? They too have living minions, and if one of them gets hurt, it is best to heal him. Actually, the necromancer might feel a need to heal ihimself/i
Heh, white sheep of the family, eh? That reminds me of a friend whose family are all painters and artists. Then one of his brothers decided to become an engineer... Woe to him, for he became the outcast white sheep of the family, the very representative of corporate greed in their midst =o
Oh, this is a place for character feedback ye say? Oh, well. A nice description Cheka Man, although you said some things that were really good when we chatted, some details that would have raised the overall quality. Why did you omit these details?
Good point Echo, I'll modify this one of these days.
I modifyied it, Echo. :)
A conscious objector for the necromancers. I guess I would to see a more nuanced 'evil' society - as Echo has mentioned, healing is - in itself - a utilitarian magic effect. What makes it 'good' is how its used. Used on the lesser people, the unworthy, the useless - that is what makes healing good.
On the other side, it somewhat trivializes how evil real necromancy would be - imagine having your spirit having hurdled the gates of St. Peters suddenly clawed back into your old, damaged, rotted shell? Or deliberately pulling power from the realms of hell filled with beings that make serial killers quake in fear?
I could imagine someone with 'weakness' of spirit would have a hard time hiding that from the beings of the netherworld that this magic forces them to deal with. You would a spine of steel to somehow do that without falling into madness.