DOUR , BRUTAL , SUPERIOR , FATALISTIC
---
LOYAL , INTELLIGENT , SKILLED

PERSONALITY

• Sull is a bad man whose ambitions are amoral. He believes in nothing but survival, which comes from proximity to power. As far as he's concerned, power is the only important force in all the world, and is to be navigated successfully, not questioned or challenged.
• Sull does have a sadistic streak and enjoys inflicting pain. That said, he's not exactly aggressive. In fact, his personal affect is somewhat listless and stony. His expression is always annoyed or bored rather than angry.
• Sull very much likes being a henchman. Any leadership position he's held has been a step toward working for someone else -- the caveat is that that someone has to be even bigger and badder than he is.
• Sull is a big gay leather dom who does freak shit in his spare time lol
• Sull only acknowledges the things he chooses to acknowledge. You can't make this man pay attention if he doesn't have a reason to care.
• Sull doesn't put much stock in his environment. He's traveled a lot and his living quarters don't really matter. His personal space is his body and the two inches surrounding it at all times, which is *extremely* important and not to be violated.
• Sull knows how to act in high-class social situations, which he learned from his master Lord Grail. However, if you look past the intimidating first impression, he's actually kind of awkward in person, in a "doesn't know what to do with his hands" sort of way.

[248 words]

HISTORY

cw: physical abuse, cruelty, dark themes

• As an Outlander, Sull was born outside of Ivras, in a country to the near West of Nymene. His birth was the product of a transactional encounter, and his mother was eager to be rid of him, handing him quickly over to his father's people in order to move forward with her own life. Her identity is unknown to Sull, and neither he nor she have ever had any desire to find one another.
• Sull's father, Tulgan Tilrath, was the leader of one of the brutal clans that had settled for generations in a harsh-terrain valley, forging a tough life in the space between unforgiving rock formations. Though they were not mages, they were all massive with heavy tusks, and their culture was warlike to the extreme. The world Sull grew up in was a death cult where life's victories were counted in kills, only the strongest would see adulthood, and no one expected to live long. There was no love here -- only violence, punishment, and survival.
• Sull, whose lineage was owed only half to the clans, was huge in his own right, but somewhat small compared to his peers of full clan blood. Naturally, he was punished for being smaller, both by others his age and by his father when he lost to them. Focused on staying alive, he soon learned to compensate: he would never be their equal in brute strength no matter how hard he trained, but he was (he decided) smarter than all of them, and could develop techniques to fight and kill that the others (he decided) wouldn't know the first thing about learning. Whether or not he truly was more intelligent than the rest is unclear, but whether through skill or will, it's certain that he managed to crawl his way to the top of the food chain, earning a reputation not to be trifled with by the time he was an adult.
• Sull's people were raiders, and his early military career was focused on leading these raids, pillaging towns, taking plunder, and generally being an arbiter of fear and destruction across the countryside. Soon, however, this grew tedious to Sull -- same old same old -- and he saw the clear limitations of becoming a clan warrior for life. Different, more interesting opportunities presented themselves in the life of a sellsword, and Sull abandoned his clan to join a skilled band of mercenaries who traveled across Ritha for work. It was a parting of mutual ambivalence -- he wouldn't miss his clan, and they wouldn't miss him either.
• In a world outside the clans, Sull no longer had the problem of being smaller than the rest. His size and demeanor made him an immediately fearsome silhouette, and for good reason. His skill only grew as he faced more challenging opponents and learned skills from new masters. He signed on with a number of bands over the years, eventually joining the ranks of one of the most elite in the West. This was at a time when Ivratian military forces were present in Nymene, enforcing the treaty that deported thousands of Nymenian mages to Ivras for detention and training in Namarast. It was only a matter of time before these mercenaries were hired to bulk up the Ivratian effort, and Sull found himself in the service of a noble general: Lord Bartolemy Grail XIII. 
• Sull and Grail were both difficult men to impress, but both saw something important in the other: to Sull, Grail was undeniably exceptional. To serve someone with optimal strength and intelligence such as Grail would be more than an honor: it was the path to self-betterment, and the path to greater power. To Grail, Sull was a tremendous fighter with a brain, someone who valued survival on the battlefield who was also something of a puzzle in person. Although he was a paid sellsword, Sull worked closely together with Grail rounding up Nymenian mages to be shipped from their homes to a strange, hostile land.
• Sull was a fairly young man when he met Lord Grail -- around thirty -- and Grail was at least a decade his senior. When Grail returned to Ivras from Nymene, he had Sull in tow, and Sull continued to serve as Grail's personal sword hand both during wartime and in peace. He enjoyed serving on the battlefield with a master, but once his feet were firmly grounded on Ivratian soil, he observed that House Grail didn't carry the sort of prestige he expected. When he learned of the sins of the father, his opinion on the matter was similar to Grail's own: if you're going to perform blood rites, you best not get yourself caught.
• Sull had watched in the halls of empty, fallen Castle Grail as his master made his plans. It did not surprise him that Grail would do something drastic when he tired of trying to repair his father's distorted legacy -- in fact, he was fairly certain that whatever came of Grail's malevolent studies, he was likely in just as much danger of being utilized as any other warm body. Having no illusions, he began to contemplate action -- but fleeing from Grail was not an option. Upon further thought, he realized it wasn't even one he was particularly interested in entertaining. 
• When the time came for Grail's great and terrible ritual, Sull was in the castle with other lifelong servants and loyal soldiers who had been brought to do their master one last service, whether they liked it or not. Though Sull was uneducated on these matters beyond what Grail himself had shared, he had a feeling what was about to occur based on conversations they'd had during the nights prior. Looking back, the clues embedded in these late-night chats may have been purposeful on Grail's part, though it's impossible to say for sure. Before the ritual was performed, Sull approached Grail directly, challenging him on his reason for opening Castle Grail and proposing a different purpose for himself. Grail answered that he should wait until dinner was over, then decide what he truly wanted.
• Sull watched as Grail absorbed the lives of dozens, transforming himself into a gruesome figure, then a smooth and young one. The Sacrament was then held to Sull -- the chance to consume his master's blood, both gaining its power and bonding himself to Grail's service forever. He took the cup, and gave thanks.
• Now, Sull serves Bartolemy Grail XIV, who the public believes to be the son of his former master. He remains at Grail's side as he makes his grand reentry into public life.
  
  Sull can now be found just about anywhere Bart is -- usually in Faline, these days.
  
  [1,112 words]
  
  

BLOOD THRALL