Colin

Name: Tori
Age: 32
Contact: toriangeli @ Plurk, toriangeli#6424 @ Discord
Other Characters: Nathaniel Howe, Pel
Interests: I'm hoping to be able to play a regular Circle mage with a fairly unsurprising Circle mage background. I want to play how it has shaped his life, how he is dealing with it, and whether or not he will fully embrace being a mage now that he is free. I really want a non-combatant mage who struggles with his gift. And I really, really want to have a character who can get involved in the diplomacy/connections side of things.


Name: Colin
Canon/OC: OC
Journal: keenly
Race: Human
Nationality: Fereldan
Occupation: Merchant
Division: Diplomacy
Mage or Not: Mage
Age: 24

History

Colin was born in Denerim to lower-class parents. His mother was Antivan and ran a food stall in the market district. His father was a docks worker. Colin was the second-youngest of five children. His magic manifested when he was eleven and he blasted several customers across the distance of fifteen feet when one was threatening his mother. Injuries were sustained, and one of the customers broke their neck and died. A Templar was there to witness. Without so much as a word, the Templar grabbed the boy and dragged him to his superior officer to tell him what happened. Colin was taken immediately to Kinloch Hold, not even permitted to see his family before leaving.

Soon the Blight came. Colin survived Uldred's massacre by hiding inside a damaged wall. He spent days and nights there, unable to lie down, sitting on the crumbling clay interior with no food and only whatever water he could conjure for himself with ice spells or collect from condensation. When the slaughter ended and the Templars found him, he was too weak to stand up and desperately feverish. He had severe agoraphobia for years after, and it never fully went away.

As a student, he was talented in spirit and entropy magics, though by no means a potential spirit medium. He was an excellent cook, and he started to work in the kitchen during his free time. His talent for math and cooking served him well in potion-making.

He was seventeen when one of the Templars began stopping and harassing him. He endured months of sexual abuse before the local contraband lyrium dealer was ratted out. The man desperately needed someone to buy his supply before the Templars could search his quarters and find it, and sold it to Colin before being transferred to another Circle.

Having the contraband lyrium business was right up Colin's alley, and he found that dealing lyrium protected him from further abuse. It wasn't a perfect setup--some threatened to turn him in if he did not give them better prices or a better quality, but his operation managed never to be discovered before the Circles fell.

When the Circles were dissolved, Colin sold his remaining lyrium and traveled to Denerim in hopes of reuniting with his family. He learned upon his arrival that the darkspawn had killed the entire family many years before. He got work aboard a merchantman as a purser and found that life at sea was not so bad. Once his contract was up, he invested in quality fabrics to trade. Tried trading in Denerim, but found his agoraphobia gave him issues adjusting. He was able to send some lyrium shipments to the rebel mages, still having his contact in Orzammar.

He seeks the Inquisition now that the war is over, hoping for a community of other mages and a sense of purpose he can cling to even on days when he can't set foot outdoors.

Personality

Colin is mild-mannered and more prone to listening than talking. He is, however, a very active listener with a light hand at engaging people. It works well for him in business, but often abandons him whenever conversation turns to his personal life. He loves to be around friends, he longs to be more social than he is, but social anxiety gets in the way. Large, open spaces and crowds feel unsafe to him, and while small spaces don't feel totally safe, they are safer. Complex childhood post-traumatic stress leaves him at a loss when trying to regulate his own emotions, which sometimes overwhelm him, compounding the shame if it is witnessed by anyone else.

His relationship with his own magic is on the rocks. He never wanted it. It has only brought him trouble and pain. If he can help it, he won't use it, and he certainly doesn't tell anyone about it. Nonetheless, he has difficulty relating to non-mages. His life experience is not like that of "mundanes," and he longs for friends who understand him.

He loves nature and beautiful or flavorful things. His life in Denerim was brown, in the Circle it was grey, and in nature there are millions of colors. He loves to cook, especially because so much Fereldan food is terrible. He carries his own personal vial of dried garlic and chili spice everywhere he goes, sprinkling it (or piling it) on food he finds too bland.

His anxiety can manifest as anger, if triggered by a person, albeit anger he has difficulty following through on. If threatened or insulted, he will often simply seethe back at them. Survival instinct developed in the Tower shuts him down, his gaze falls away, and he petrifies. He is angrier at himself than anyone. But not angry enough to move.

His sense of humor is dry, often quietly spoken as an aside rather than a performance. He is deeply empathetic. He listens actively. He is polite, although occasionally slips backward into a lower-class way of speaking. He treasures his friendships dearly. He is pansexual but has never been in a romantic relationship, nor had consensual sex, being extremely gun-shy and anxious of both. This is not to say he is not curious, only that his molestation in his teenage years has taken its toll. Any romantic interest will have to be patient with him.

Despite his mild manner and easy, gentle smile, he is quick-witted and determined. Those who underestimate him based on his apparent fragility are bound to be surprised by his ability to adapt and endure. He survived a near-annulment of his Circle, on his own, when he was twelve years old. He has spent half his lifetime living with his terror of the world and learning how to cope. He clawed his way out from under the abuses of Templars with his cunning, not with force. It would be easy for people to see him as some sort of amateur in over his head.

He is no amateur.

Opinions & Affiliations

The Chantry: He's having a long and turbulent crisis of faith and has lost all trust in the Chantry.
The Qun: Fucked up.
Mage/Templar War: Pro-freedom, very anti-Templar and anti-Circle.
Elves: Some of his good friends in the Circle were elves. He related to them better than upper- and middle-class humans.
Dwarves: Intriguing.
Qunari: Tal-Vashoth are okay in theory but he's never seen one and would probably keep his distance if he did.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Colin is a harrowed Circle mage with a talent for spirit/telekinesis and creation magic. He is quick-witted, cunning, and adaptable. He is good at making connections, good at determining who is advantageous to connect with, and has a light but effective touch in matters of negotiation and empathy. He speaks Antivan, his mother's tongue. He is very talented at mathematics, which lent itself well to potion-making in the Circle, and bookkeeping. He's a great cook and still has a source in Orzammar for small shipments of lyrium (which is like coming to a giant pharmacy with a heroin dealer as a contact, really, but it's there).

He has social anxiety and a degree of agoraphobia, though he has days when he can function nearly as normal. For the most part, he has difficulty leaving his house or room and he rarely initiates contact with strangers. Professional interactions are easier because it feels more like a recitation than an interaction. He wields denial like a pro and shuts off certain advantages, such as being a mage, locking it away and pretending it's not there. He is prone to self-sabotage, longing for happiness and yet terrified of it. Under few circumstances will he speak of his own achievements, disliking the attention that comes with acclaim.

Inventory

-Several changes of ordinary commoner clothing.
-Books, pens, and a portable writing desk.
-Various salable goods.
-A small shipment of refined lyrium.

Motivation

Colin wants a purpose, and wants to help save the world. He wants to be around people while still being able to retreat safely into a tower on bad days. He's willing to offer himself as a negotiator and as an interpreter of the Antivan language, and to set up as the local Inquisition merchant, selling goods to Inquisition members at a discount.


Sample One

Sample Two (the toplevel is the sample I am linking but the threads work too)