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Below you may find two sample characters: Old Man Tom and Ruk. Both consider the questions posed in the Creating a Character page, but go about answering them using slightly different formats and styles. Feel free to use any of these examples to guide your own character submissions, and don't be afraid to get creative!
IC name(s) and pronouns: Thomas Dunn or Old Man Tom (he/him)
Tome: An old and well-worn leather-bound journal, coming apart through years of use. Its colour has faded to a light grey, and the embroidery that once adorned it has all but come away.
Personal Library:
Aesthetic: A single-storey, room-sized library that is surprisingly well-stocked for its reduced size. It is on a small island off the coast of Scotland, set in the present day. It is cut-off from the rest of the island except at low tide. The outside of the library looks squat, grey, weather-beaten, and generally dull, with a rain collector for drinking water and a small shed for firewood hugging the exterior. The library's interior, however, is warm, homely, and lovingly decorated with traditional Scottish regalia. It is lit by candles since there is no electricity this far out.
Favourite part: Tom's favourite part of the library is the place where his armchair beside the window, where he can watch storms lash against the building and hear the drumming of raindrops on the rooftop while he is warm and safe within his library.
What Tom would take: If his library was burning, Tom would grab Maretta's journal (the old librarian, see private bio), since it reminds him of the wonderful woman who filled so much of his life with joy.
Connection: Tom is now the sole keeper (and sole user, most days) of the library.
Quality: Antique: To Tom, knowledge is a gift, and it is an honour to be able to seek it out and uncover more of it.
World view: Although Tom has lived a relatively simple life, he has read enough historical literature to know that the world is complicated and messy. Generally, Tom doesn't concern himself with subjective questions such as morality, only on finding objective truths.
Emotional anchor: Tom sees Maretta (see private bio) as a second mother, and he will forever cherish everything she taught him. Next to her memory is Tom's library itself, to whom he has devoted so much of his life.
Motivation: To protect libraries. His own library has been his companion for most of his life, and has filled much of it with wonder and awe. He still hopes someone young will come along and experience the same joy in his library that Tom did all those years ago. In an effort to preserve that joy for generations to come, Tom is determined to save the Libraries from burning.
Core values: Tom believes in the importance of knowledge, and believes the pursuit of knowledge just for knowledge's sake is a worthwhile one. Nonetheless, he is beginning to question whether his life's work has meant anything if all his knowledge (along with his library) will die with him.
Skills:
NB: Extra skill points have come from the Quirk 'Skilled' (see below).
Quirks:
Private Bio: Thomas Dunn, or Old Man Tom as the local children call him, is getting on in life. Ever since he was a young lad, he would make the long journey to the isolated library right on the edge of the island where he was raised, and would spend hours wandering its halls. When he was a little older, he began to engross himself in its rich collection, consuming knowledge at an extraordinary rate, yet never fast enough for his own liking. And when he was even older, he became the personal assistant of the librarian who worked there, an aging woman named Maretta. He did this in part to spend more time in the place he loved, but also to help the elderly librarian, who had always had a soft spot for him. Initially, he just provided aid wherever Maretta needed. Then, when her back became crooked, he took over stacking the shelves. When her strength began to fail, he also took on transportation duties. When her eyes began to go cloudy, he also started to deal with the paperwork and the customers and books. And finally, when Maretta passed away in her sleep, he took on the rest of the library.
Now, Tom's back is becoming crooked too, and his strength is leaving him, and his eyes aren't as good as they used to be. Except this time there isn't any library assistant to take over from Tom. All the youngsters are leaving for the mainland, and those who stay have no interest in a dingy old library, remote and isolated from the rest of the world. Tom is afraid of what will happen to his library and the knowledge within it once he's gone, and thus has a personal investment in protecting and preserving libraries.
Tom fell into the Library one stormy night when he was sitting besides his favourite window watching the rain lash the panes. Suddenly, the darkness outside shimmered, warping into a fire-lit Foyer of an unknown building. Surprised, Tom reached forward and was pulled into the mirror.
Public Bio: Old Man Tom, or just Tom if you're feeling sympathetic, is a hunched, wizened old librarian. His gait may be slow and shuffling, and his hands shake regularly, but his mind is as sharp as a razor. He's here for two things: to uncover knowledge, and to protect that knowledge - and God help the rascal who's starting all these fires once he gets his hands on them.
Appearance: Tom is 81 years old, and looks it. His back is hunched, his face is creased, his hair is white and permanently knotty from the sea spray, and his fastest movement is an agitated shuffle. Still, he really rocks that mad hermit look. Anyone able to peer through the mass of seaweed-like hair that adorns his hair, however, will see sky-blue eyes that shine with intelligence.
IC name(s) and pronouns: Ruk (she/her).
Tome: A series of stone tablets tied together with thick plant stems in a way that seems to defy physics.
Personal Library: Ruk's personal library is a clay-coloured cave lit up by simple torches. On its walls, stories are told through expansive cave paintings in ochre tones. Many different topics are covered in these primitive drawings: how to properly kill large beasts, the intricacies of a burial, entire family histories. But Ruk's favourite bits depict the hunts. She loves to follow the figures on the walls - her ancestors - on wild adventures, trapping boars in the mountains, chasing buffaloes in vast plains, stabbing through fish the size of her arm in lakes she doesn't even have a name for. If anything happened to her cave, she hopes she'd at least be able to save these images in her memory, if nowhere else. She longs to explore the wild world that surrounds her too. Until then, however, she is happy to return to this library of sorts as many times as she can. After all, this is where she learned to dream of greater things, and where she has heard many a great story.
Quality: Pandemonium. For Ruk, knowledge is something practical, palpable, and nature-oriented.
World view: Life and the world in general are a source of excitement for Ruk, adventures to be discovered and appreciated and felt. Is this naive? Maybe. But is Ruk willing to work her ass off to participate in said adventures? Abso-freaking-lutely. She may have stars in her eyes, but Ruk also knows (and hopes) that hard work and passion will get you far.
Emotional anchor: Ruk finds emotional comfort in the stories of her ancestors, particularly her parents. She was told these tales by her grandmother Biba, who she feels quite close to.
Motivation: Smart strategies, quick attacks, ancient rituals of the earth - Ruk is motivated by the intelligence and skill of all the hunters who came before her. After all, if they could go out and travel the world in search of all-things new, who is to say that she won't be able to do it too?
Core values: You can take most material things from Ruk; she is austere, and does not need much to survive on. However, she will not compromise her freedom, for to be human is to search, to be wild. To be permanently locked in, trapped, or limited in any way is akin to a spiritual death in Ruk's eyes.
Skills:
Quirks:
Private Bio: Ruk is the daughter of two experienced hunters who tragically died soon after she was born. For this reason, she was raised by her grandmother, Biba, who would tell her grand stories about hunters and their adventures. These stories inspired and excited Ruk, prompting her to dedicate most of her life to training to become a hunter herself. So far, she has been invited to go on some short, local expeditions, but has never really managed to make it into the big hunting groups that go off on grand adventures. This is due to her over-excitable nature, and the fact she still has a lot to learn about the world she lives in.
In her spare time, when Ruk isn't training to become the hunter she was born to be, she spends her days studying the cave paintings left behind by her ancestors, and collecting useful plants and herbs like Biba taught her to do. Recently, however, even these activities have started to seem dull to her. She is 20, for goodness sake! Is this really all she will be able to accomplish in life? Will she never be called upon to actually hunt? Ruk is tired. She is tired of waiting, tired of taking no for an answer, tired of everything. “I will hunt!” She declares to the birds who mill around the entrance of the cave but, really, she's asserting this mostly to herself. She will hunt! Just you wait, just you wait…
Then one day, she fell into a lake, and woke up in a burning library.
Public Bio: Ruk is a young, overly-excitable cavewoman with great aspirations for her future. She is usually seen running in the halls, or pressing her ear to the ground to discern who (or what) else might be running. If she isn't moving, that's probably because she has stopped to study one of the plants peppered around any given Library Incarnation. She will probably press her ear against it too.
Appearance: Ruk is a young cavewoman of no more than 20 years old. She is quite short in stature and moves in quick yet inelegant motions, a ball of excitement and forward motion. Her clothes consist of simple furs that cover from her shoulders to just below her knees, and she doesn't wear shoes.
