The Botanist
ElithianFox
- Created
- 8 years, 9 months ago
- Creator
- Melancholyghost
- Favorites
- 16
Profile
The Botanist
Nordic - Basic
Draconic - Intermediate
The College - Member
The Botanist is one of the four scientists positioned at the south western mountain range in Kestane to research plant life, animal life, and geology of the country. He's a nervous and easily annoyed man who sounds like he'd rather not be there, but does his job well and with interest.
Due to his hostile personality and his agitation inducing attitude, he has the least amount of power in the group despite doing most of the actual exploration and research work. It's annoying but he's aware that things can hardly be changed about that, especially with the bad relationship between The Doctor and him that has been growing since the beginning of the expedition. That won't change that he won't try.
He joined the expedition after quitting his job in agriculture, looking for something more varied, adventurous, and fresh. It combined danger with survival and plant research, three things he was looking for, plus it gave him a chance to prove to himself and others that he was capable of great things at his young age. Most of all, he wants to learn about the world and is willing to take the annoyance of living in a group of people he doesn't know or like with it.
- Art status: can be drawn!
- The Botanist is incredibly small, standing only 151cm or 4'11 tall
- He's an absolute spoiled brat but works hard on his passion too and acts persistently fearless
- Before he joined the Expedition, he quit his job because he was bored and wanted more adventure
- His parents always wanted him to be involved in academia but disapprove of his choice to leave Mavomare
- So far he has verbally fought with every single member of the Expedition
- While a smile is rare, usually when handling plants he's satisfied
The Botanist stands 151cm or 4'11 tall and has a weight of 47kg or 104lbs. He's got some very stereotypical Northerner pureblood features, like being small of height, being slightly pudgy, having a very vibrant and rather dark skin, and dark hair. He isn't exactly in shape and is on the chubby side, but you can't call him overweight or unhealthy. He has a tail that ends in a point with three small fleshy spikes sticking out of it.
He has a short face with a medium length thin nose and rather thick lips that are usually curled into a dissatisfied frown. His cheeks are round and his chin is thin. He's got green coloured eyes and eyebrows of medium thickness that are taken care of well. His face is covered in golden piercings, meaning he has two golden bullet earrings in every ear, one through his left OR right nostril which he seems to switch between nostrils but never wears at the same time, and one above his lip on his right side. He's got two pointy ears of average length.
His hair is black in colour and worn short at all times. It is very fluffy and thick in texture, making it stick around his head and cheeks a little. He's got two yellow-brown horns that bend backwards and back up near the back.
Due to his wealth he tends to wear more fancy clothing. His main attire consists of pieces that are thick and well adjusted for the cold weather the expedition has to face up in the north. On his chest he wears a long sleeved dark green shirt with above it a short sleeved light green vest and above that a khaki coloured tunic that's tied closed in the middle by several laces. Around his waist he wears two rather thick dark brown belts with grey metal buckles. Around his wrists he wears dark brown leather guards that don't cover the hands and he wears black cloth fingerless gloves on both hands. For the bottom, he wears dark brown trousers and two brown leather hip guards that are fastened to his body with two straps each. His boots are a dark brown bordering black in colour and they have a belt to fasten them at the top and green lines running over them. To top it all, he wears a cloak over his shoulders with a fancy clasp and with a lot of white fur attached to the top border, covering his neck in fluff.
Often causing trouble and dispute, The Botanist is usually very tense and unpleasant to be around on a bad day. It's not that he wants conflict, it's that he knows he's right and others act like that ain't true. He's a bottomless well of energy and uses most of it to be verbal, to go on explorative walks, and to be hostile back to The Alchemist. Looking at him, he doesn't really show signs of being energetic, he more expresses it in anxious and reckless behaviour than he does in movement. On his better days he's friendlier but far less upbeat.
He finds peace in working with the flowers and plants found in and around the mountain range and can usually be calmed by a nice fragrance or a good taste. He enjoys most of The Alchemist's brews and dishes and is usually much calmer and quieter around dinner time. He often takes long walks on his own to go gather some plants and explore places he hasn't been.
he's been shown to be fearless towards both the dangers of the enemy inhabiting these lands and his own team mates, to the point where he'd insult and spit in the face of a man twice his height towering above him without any remorse or fear in his eyes. He's unlikely to back down from any situation he fears and won't easily show he's afraid. To the contrary, he enjoys when people give him that worried look when he's up to something unsafe.
As far as his agitation and his anger are concerned, he usually walks around frowning or scowling when his expression isn't neutral. He's picked up many verbal fights before and he's made a couple of enemies in the group to the point where he can barely even talk to The Doctor anymore without starting some sort of conflict. He's proud of his control over the Mavo language and tends to reach for clever use of words. The Alchemist being the exact same in this aspect is what causes many of their fights. The Botanist doesn't react well to his skills being challenged by someone who may be better.
- Wild type plants, especially Solanaceae and Fabaceae
- Botanical taxonomy and general structure
- Researching morphology
- Well spiced meaty dishes
- Silence and solitude
- Lone walks in diverse areas
- Showing off his knowledge in the field of botany
- Risk, previously unseen terrain
- Loud alchemists
- Authority, being undermined
- An overwhelming amount of conflict
- Chaos, lack of structure, bad classification systems
- Agriculture and crops kept in demon fields
- Bland or badly seasoned food
- Routine, following the same pattern every day
- Studying, repeating info that's no longer new
Ellen is primarily a skilled botanist, a versatile chemist, and a knowledgeable explorer. The Expedition could have easily booted him out and sent him home, but his professional skills are one of the main reasons he can stay on board.
His botanical strengths are taxonomy and morphology. He can see links between various species and families of plants based on their appearance, making for a good basis to see how closely related plants are to the plants back at home. It also helps to speculate their physical properties. He knows how to test for various of their properties and understand them better. He also knows how to test plants for edible qualities, adding to his survival capabilities.
When it comes to his social skills, he is both strong and weak. He is particularly articulate in Mavo and understands language, showing creativity in the way he uses words. He's good at finding convincing arguments, but sometimes falls into emotional argument and the inability to see the other's point. He also has a tendency to argue with others, which attests of a low self awareness and an inability to adapt himself to others' needs.
When it comes to his athletic capabilities, he's a great runner and has a decent amount of stamina. He's agile and his body can take quite the amount of damage before his performance starts to suffer from it. He has a decent condition, especially fit for longer uninterrupted bouts of walking when travelling.
- Knowledgeable in the botanical field
- Naturally curious and undertaking
- Won't back down from exploration out of fear
- Small hands are ideal for working with plants
- Profound understanding of the Mavo language, articulates himself well
- Facial and body language radiate confidence and courage in any situation
- Good at lying about his feelings and masking his expressions
- Better than average knowledge of chemistry
- Agile, fast runner, high stamina
- Body is quite resilient
- Lacks experience in life due to age and sheltered upbringing
- Can't make allies or friends due to his personality
- Won't back down from exploration out of fear
- Too arrogant to admit mistakes, leading to even worse mistakes when he can't admit doubt
- Fairly lazy when he's uninterested, usually puts in last minute efforts only
- Doesn't have a drop of combat prowess inside of him
- Not good at hiding his annoyance or agreeing to disagree
- Ego too large to run away from genuinely dangerous situations
- Possesses a face and a mouth that invite being punched
It's rare to see him actually smile; at most his resting face looks uninterested and he only looks relaxed when really into his botany. A bitter expression is far more common
His favourite colour is green, to his greatest annoyance. He's aware of how badly the intense greens he likes go together with the intense reds of his skin, but he wears them anyway because people gotta learn to adapt to him
Despite his tendency to find trouble or start conflict, he claims that he doesn't like verbal fights but engages in them because someone has to stand up for what's true. Being in too many fights in too short a timespan clearly wears him out, and usually the next day he has no energy and barely talks to anyone should it happen, not even to defend himself. He'll at most grumble at remarks and mumble the answer to questions
The name Ellen comes from his grandfather, who shares that same name. Ellen never understood why people think he has a girl's name, especially since he feels pride in inheriting this great name from a powerful man, and because the alternate spelling Alan is considered a male name
He never really enjoyed studying, but he did power through it to get his botany degree. To him, the most exciting part of his field is new information, not regurgitating old information over and over. It's also why he quit his old job
The Doctor ✦ Employer, tensions
The Botanist absolutely does not get along with The Doctor, to the point where it's driven a rift into the group. The Botanist fundamentally disagrees with the way The Doctor runs things and feels like the group could be more efficient, and The Doctor being at the top of the hierarchy in the group also adds extra tensions for The Botanist, who wants some say in it himself.
Most conversations between these two end in a conflict not even The Doctor's excellent diplomatic skills can fix. Were it not for The Alchemist, they would have probably thrown hands several times already.
The Alchemist ✦ Colleague, strong dislike
The fights with The Alchemists usually end up with more devastating consequences than any other - mostly because the level of snark between these two reaches a whole new level, and because The Alchemist isn't scared to clock people in the face if he's tired of arguing. Always being on The Doctor's side, The Botanist naturally dislikes him and takes enjoyment out of verbal fights with him, but his physical strength and height difference makes it easy for The Alchemist to win anyway by force.
The Botanist is frustrated he doesn't know a way to win over that physical strength, and in turn is more reactive towards him. The fact that The Alchemist plays along with the conflicts and challenges The Botanist feeds his need for conflict, and as a result he's less inclined to hate him compared to The Doctor.
The Geologist ✦ Colleague, neutral
The Geologist is the only person The Botanist gets along with decently, and fights rarely happen between the two. The Geologist's calm and mature nature has a hand in this, as he cares less about making his point than he cares about keeping the peace.
He's usually a neutral party in group conflicts, so to The Botanist the fact that he's not against him is strongly appreciated. He looks out mostly for himself and rarely involves him into any conflicts.
Ellen comes from a wealthy family of fellow intellectuals who pushed him into joining academia himself. Though his fathers are more involved in analytical sciences and mathematics, Ellen always found plants and biology to be far more interesting. Throughout his childhood, he got spoiled rotten and often received the things he asked for from his parents and grandparents.
He was free to choose what he wanted to do, so he chose to join the Botany course when he was of age to join the College. He was a rather examplary student, though he was at the same time pretty lazy and always seemed to finish his reports and studying just in time for the deadline.
He finished school with decent grades and after a brief break to celebrate getting through schooling went on to work for the College's research infrastructures. He wasn't at all satisfied with the more argiculture focused atmosphere that reigned at his new job, feeling that he didn't get the chance to work with wild specimens and plants he actually cared about. He realised he wanted to break away from this all and find adventure, not to mention to find a way to distinguish himself from all the other plebian botanists in his field.
His age and his family's insistence to stay in the area meant he couldn't organise anything himself. He quit his job in anticipation for something new, to his family's great disapproval, and spent most of his free time checking around for a more adventurous job and contacting other botanists to see if they had any interesting specimens in their garden. None of the convincing his family tried worked to get him back into the job, so eventually they let him have it his way.
The opportunity came when he found a scientific expedition looking for members. He signed up along with the doctor who organised it, an alchemist, a geologist, and a zoologist. They would be going to Kestane and the Demonic Mainlands in the west, the former of which was hostile to the College, to catalogue all resources found there. It sounded like an excellent opportunity for adventure and a chance to prove himself.
The only two Ellen got along with the best were The Geologist and The Zoologist. He found The Alchemist to be arrogant and The Doctor to be overzealous in his task and too inexperienced to realise how badly he was messing things up. Eventually, their fights grew into all-out conflicts and The Zoologist left the Expedition to head back home and find a serious bunch.
The Alchemist rightfully blamed him for losing their zoologist and forced him to take the job upon him as well, since out of all of them he and The Doctor were the ones who had the best knowledge of that field. Conflicts in various times led to a knee in the stomach or a punch in the face from The Alchemist, actions that did anything but deter him from trying to prove how right he was.
Now that the Expedition stands at the border of Kestane, things couldn't get tenser. Even this hostile zone is enough to scare The Botanist a little. For the sake of laying low, The Botanist is keeping quieter than usual, but he has far from lost this war.
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