Post by counterklock on Mar 31, 2011 22:27:17 GMT -5
Face: Zachary Quinto
Name:
Jaden Blackwell
Age:
23
Race:
Human
Occupation:
Slave, at the moment.
Allegiance:
To Be Decided
Physical Description:
Tall, dark and brooding, Jaden appears to be the very epitome of ‘mysterious’. His dark brown hair, thick brows, and stubble contribute to this, with unusually warm chocolate brown eyes betraying this illusion. Though Jaden may look mysterious, he rarely stays a stranger for long. His frame appears lean, but is well-muscled and strong, reflecting years of hard work, with tanned skin and rough, calloused hands. With long legs and a slim body, Jaden tends to tower over most men at 6’3”. He can easily handle his own in a fight, and has done so numerous times in various brawls and scuffles in the street or pub. Due to his propensity to get into fights, he has a myriad of scars and battle wounds, all of which he can tell the story of.
Generally, due to his constant habit of being on the move, Jaden dons warm travelling clothes, with a thick black cloak and solid leather boots. Around his neck is a jade pendant that had belonged to his mother, and at his hip is a sturdy longsword. As well as being able to brawl with the best of men, he is also rather proficient with a sword. Jaden prefers to stand tall and proud, looking every man in the eye like an equal, whether they are or not. He tends to move swiftly and silently, with a sort of unrefined grace one can only acquire from a hard life.
Personality:
Fierce and proud, Jaden is often painfully honest about his opinions of others – whether they are wanted or not – and this tends to land him into hot water rather quickly. Hot-blooded by nature, he has a knack for pushing the wrong buttons and bringing out the worst in people as he often lets his mouth run without thinking first, especially when he’s angered or excited about something. When push comes to shove, he’ll happily throw a punch if it’s necessary, or sometimes even if he feels like it. Due to his sharp intelligence, cleverly disguised under a mask of arrogance and self-confidence, he usually finds himself the victor.
When meetings strangers, Jaden’s ‘default’ is to joke, snark, and sometimes even flirt, cementing his appearance as an over-confident young man who seems to know no bounds. Jaden knows his boundaries when it comes down to fighting, keeping in mind his strengths and weaknesses, and lets those who are too foolish to realize this assume he is just another inexperienced rascal out to pick a fight, when in reality he is a rather formidable opponent. Underneath the brash exterior, predictably, is a rather soft, affable, and loving side of him that Jaden only shows to those he trusts, preferring to keep his ‘squishy underbelly’ hidden away behind the guise of the brazen rogue.
In the company of family or friends, he is playful, always willing to crack a joke. Jaden rarely ever gives out his trust, but when he does, he is fiercely loyal to his friends and would gladly fight to the death beside them. If he has a debt to be repaid, he makes it a point to repay it with gratitude. Often, his pride gets in the way of him actually accepting any aid, however, but most good friends know just how to force him to get over his pride and take it.
History:
The day Jaden was born was the day he lost his mother.
Nicholas Blackwell was considered a very well off farmer. His estate was large and well-managed, with many farm hands to help out. Nicholas had loved his wife with all his heart, but the day his heart shattered was the day his heart also was healed by the darling little dark-eyed boy that so resembled his deceased love. As Jaden grew, he never went without, but he was never spoiled. Nicholas raised his son with a strong sense of pride and dignity, cherishing him whilst teaching him right from wrong.
Jaden was six years old when Nicholas married T’Pri, his second wife, a cold, seeming unfeeling woman of an elf-like race known to their people as the Sylvans. The day T’Pri joined the household was the day Jaden began to notice that he was slowly losing his father. He could see the Lady T’Pri was the only thing Nicholas ever thought about. The woman was the subject of his attentions, the receiver of many loving trinkets. T’Pri dominated the household, and kept her new husband firmly ensnared.
At first, Jaden was threatened by this. How dare this woman come into his house, and disrupt his family? As a child was won’t to do, he noticed things that his father never seemed to see, like how T’Pri was really selfish and self-centered, vain and superficial. Though he had seen his father declare his love for the Sylvan woman, Jaden had not once witnessed T’Pri even return these sentiments. She was a being that, he felt, did not deserve his father’s attentions. As he was a child, there was simply nothing he could do about this.
And then his half-brother, Devon, was born.
With dark hair and delicately-pointed ears, Devon looked every bit like T’Pri. He thought he would be jealous of his new little half-brother too, at first, but something in those bright, wide azure eyes made him fall deeply in love with his newborn baby brother, as siblings were won’t to do. T’Pri’s detachment and disgust for the child cemented this love – while T’Pri did not deserve his and his father’s love, little Devon needed all the love that he could get.
After Devon’s birth, T’Pri began taking trips back to her home city. Each time she returned, she treated them all with an increasing level of disdain, and Jaden knew it was because she had grown bored with her ‘quaint little human family’. She did not love Nicholas, nor did she love her adopted son, or even her own flesh-and-blood. Nicholas, ever blind, focussed all his attentions on his wife, and slowly his two sons watched as their father became a love-crazed stranger.
Jaden took on the role of the protective big brother as Devon grew. He was there to fight off the bullies that pushed his brother down. He was there to kiss the scraped knees and brush away the tears. He was there to cling to, late at night, after terrifying nightmares brought the tiny boy over into his cot and under his blankets, seeking the comfort and protection they both knew their parents could not give them.
He had only known it would be a matter of time before T’Pri left for good, and on the day that she did, Nicholas collapsed in grief. Everything only spiralled down from there – their crops began to fail, they could not afford to pay their farmhands, they began owing money to other wealthy families in the area. It wasn’t long before the family lost their farm. That winter, Nicholas died, and Jaden, at aged fifteen, became the sole provider for his family consisting of himself and his baby brother.
For months Jaden and Devon scrounged for food, taking every job they could get to earn the coin needed to feed themselves. They travelling on foot from town to town, but jobs were difficult to come by for two orphaned children. In that time, Jaden’s fury bubbled up and made itself known like a snake rearing its ugly head. He began to pick fights with older, stronger opponents, almost always being beaten to a pulp as a result. He resented his father for abandoning them, and he loathing T’Pri for ripping their family apart.
That rage was swept away when he lost Devon, replaced by guilt and self-loathing. His little brother was stolen away by slavers from a far away land, said to have come from across the sea seeking new prey. How could he have lost his baby brother, so delicate and weak? Had he not made an oath to protect him forever? As a young man on the cusp of adulthood, Jaden suddenly knew what he had to do.
He had to find his baby brother.
Jaden spent years searching for ways to get himself to Alagaesia, for this was what the land the slavers had come from was called. He became much more adept at brawling. He learned to fight with a sword from a group of soldiers, and taught himself how to throw a dagger. Finally, he found a trading ship destined to the land across the sea, and made sure he was on it.
He swore to himself that he would find Devon, and free him from whatever being that enslaved him. He would take him far away, to a place where he would no longer be threatened, and he would ensure his baby brother was safe forever, to make up for his failure in the past.
Days after they had set out from port, they were overtaken by a much larger ship crewed by pirates. After looting the cargo hold of all the valuable goods, the crew was captured and taken aboard, and their trading ship was set ablaze. It wasn't long before the able-bodied men were transferred to a ship belonging to slavers, perhaps even the same slavers that had taken his brother nearly eight years before. Jaden stayed quiet for the remainder of the voyage, keeping his head low, knowing that these slavers just might be the first step in finding Devon. As soon as they put into port, he would find a way to escape, and start his search.
Roleplaying Sample:
See Devon Blackwell
