- Created
- 9 months, 13 days ago
- Creator
- whitewingedcrow
- Favorites
- 7
Profile
-
The Wanderer
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- pronouns he/him
- species cervine
- background Wild Mage
- age 42
- height 13 hh
before all else came hunger, and with hunger came fear
A strange, solitary mage from the edge of the Sunless Jungle, Wanderer is gifted with a strange power that leaves him more at home in the wilderness than among others. As the Witchfinders’ noose tightens, however, the wild mage finds himself driven out of the shadows and into a world he’s had little reason to be a part of.
THE STORY THUS FAR:
- Leaving the only home he's ever known in the wilds of Southern Ivras due to the encroaching presence of Archon Miriam's rule, Wanderer heads north into more populated lands.
- Hearing rumors of a Grand Tourney of mages, Wanderer makes his way to the event despite wild mages not being strictly welcome. He is nearly framed for a murder, foils another, and kills the wild mage responsible when a fight between them forces him to give in to the uncontrollable side of his magic.
- As a powerful mage gives into corruption during the last days of the tourney, Wanderer is trapped between the Order forces outside the magical miasma and the corrupted monstrosity within it. He spends weeks in a tenuous alliance with those who find themselves in the same situation, and plays an instrumental role in helping his fellow wild mages strike it down.
- Managing to escape the aftermath of the Miasma event without being waylaid by Order forces, Wanderer learns a thoroughly weird lesson about mixing alcohol and old folklore. He feels the first faint hint of Corruption, though he isn't quite sure whether it's a consequence of half-hallucinated choices or the fact that Cirrus has been eating monster eyeballs.
- Though he's too distant and still too worn out to engage it himself, Wanderer catches a distant glimpse as yet another corruption-born monster terrorizes the Sunless Jungle.
- Shortly after coming across the tracks of a swampwyrm, a harsh fall storm drives Wanderer to take shelter in a shrine to Destiny. As thanks to the patron, he successfully challenges himself to hunt the swampwyrm in Destiny's name.
- As Wanderer heads north to avoid the worst of the Ivratian Winter, he briefly strays through the path of a great beast setting the land ablaze. He doesn't try to engage it directly, and settles for helping others flee.
- Having travelled the edge of the Whispering Sea for days, Wanderer eventually comes to the remote town of Highweave and finds that they're being stalked by a pard. Taking up the contract--and the challenge--the wild mage relishes the chance to hunt something on his own terms... and makes a startling discovery when he's ambushed by the pard's lioness mate.
Personality
Wanderer spends little time in the company of others, and it shows. It’s not that he’s hostile or unfriendly–quite the opposite–but mostly just that so much time alone has made him strange; he’s charming and sociable enough but always seems like he’s enjoying a joke nobody else is aware of and jumping through conversation with little regard for whether anyone else is able to fill in the blanks of what he’s talking about.
A lifetime in the wilds has made him a clever hunter and given him an exhaustive knowledge of the land, but he can be sly and secretive with this knowledge. When under the influence of his own magic Wanderer can quickly turn dangerous, the line between ally and enemy blurring beyond a predator’s recognition.
History
Nobody, not even the Wanderer himself, is quite sure where he came from. The solitary deer has haunted the wilds at the border between the Sunless Jungle and the swamplands for years, visiting the scattered villages infrequently enough that he's made few relationships there; he seems to do well enough on his own, with none but his everpresent crow familiar for company.
Despite being largely separated from the comforts of civilization, Wanderer has always survived comfortably enough. He has little in the way of material possessions but has never felt much need for them; he hunts the wilds for his own sustenance, and requires little else. For him, the creatures around him have always been his companions and his unsettling magic all he needs to survive.
In the year since Archon Miriam rose to power, though, this way of life has come under threat. Wanderer is a mage, and he’s put his talents to use more than once in hunting enemies that posed a threat to the villages he passes through; there’s enough evidence of his existence that a dedicated Witchfinder could certainly track him down, given enough time and motivation. Maybe, he thinks, the time has come to seek out the only kind of allies who could ever understand him: other mages.
Predator's Hunger
Something about the unknown circumstances of his birth and early life changed Wanderer, and like many mages he’s not quite typical of his species; it’s readily apparent in his appearance, from his sharp teeth to his golden raptor’s eyes. For Wanderer, though, that change is more than skin-deep. Something in his essential makeup is predatory, and this manifests in his magic.
Wanderer’s magic is a rolling wave of fear that radiates outward from him when his emotions are roused; paralytic, mind-numbing, the overwhelming sense of something dangerous in the room. While he can’t direct yet direct its effects to a single target, at lower levels he can use this strategically to heighten the adrenaline and reactions of those around him or drive wild creatures into a frenzy directed at his foes. While prey animals are naturally vulnerable to Wanderer's magic, it takes more effort and power for it to affect large predators or other mages dependent on their respective level of power.
When exerting himself more, Wanderer has learned that he’s powerful enough to apply the more detrimental effects of his magic against other mages to slow their reactions and muddy their minds with hesitation and fear. Under the right environmental circumstances–such as fog, shadows, rain, full darkness–his magic can bring his targets to near-hallucination; their fears flit around them as something half-perceived, only seen out of the corner of the eye, adding to their panic. Wanderer himself cannot see what they see, and as such can’t take advantage of this insight into a target’s specific phobias unless they somehow give it away.
As he puts forth more and more effort in bringing his magic to bear, Wanderer becomes stronger and more dangerous to both his enemies and anyone else who might draw his attention. He can voluntarily choose to lose himself in the hunt, which gives him some protection against magical suggestion at the expense of a degree of self-control. When lost deep in his magic, Wanderer has also recently started to physically change into something larger, heavier-bodied, and more predatory. His teeth become more prominent, and his head more wolfish. It's not a very exaggerated change... yet... but it's enough to be noticeable.
Costs
- Magic use has a short-term adverse effect on the caster's mood/frame of mind.
As his power continues to grow, Wanderer continues to struggle with his predatory nature; the more heavily he uses it, the more tenuous his control over it became while it is in effect. Though it takes far more exertion to reach the point where it affects him, when pushing himself to the breaking point he begins to lose more and more mental clarity and begins to change physically.
Purchase history & STAT CHANGES
- Handmade Idol. 8/3/23.
A great deal of time, and boredom, and practice building little constructions out of sticks (that were definitely not competitions with his smug familiar) has left Wanderer quite adept at the finer points of a mage's inherent telekinesis. He's also needed to build up his strength in order to attend to the basic needs of butchering and preservation after a successful hunt. - Scroll of Darksight. 8/3/23.
Wanderer's golden eyes have always been able to pierce the darkness uncannily well, though they leave him squinting uncomfortably in bright sunlight or in the face of sudden radiance. - Scroll of Animal Communication. 8/3/23.
Living his whole life in the wilds has left Wanderer well-acquainted with the behaviors of the creatures that live alongside him, but his ability to understand their 'speech' and make himself known seems to stray closer to true communication that can be interpreted much like speech... not that all animals have much of note to say. - Scroll of Familiar. 8/3/23.
As long as Wanderer can remember, a crow named Cirrus has been his ever-present companion. Whether he started out as a regular crow or was always a manifestation of the deer's inherent magic, Cirrus now functions as a familiar; his physical form seeming dependent on his proximity to Wanderer, intelligent and capable of speech (thankfully only where those who can communicate with animals are concerned, because he has a LOT to say at times). Unfortunately, he still retains all of a regular crow's capacity for getting into trouble. Their relationship is much more of a partnership between equals than a master-familiar dynamic, though Cirrus will usually listen when it's truly important. - Amulet of Enhanced Familiar. 8/3/23.
Cirrus shares Wanderer's capacity for seeing in the dark, speaking to (sadly, usually antagonizing) other animals, and can radiate a more range-limited version of Wanderer's predator-fear-aura. The two have made good use of the latter power when working in tandem to hunt. To this day, Wanderer still isn't sure how Cirrus picked up this particular trick. - Stat Token x4: +3 power, +1 discipline. 8/27/23.
+3 power: Wanderer has pushed the depths of his magic, and found that it's stronger than he'd known; certainly strong enough to affect other mages.
+1 discipline: Faced with a desperate situation, Wanderer has learned that his magic's distortion of instinct and thought can offer him some limited protection against magical suggestion. - Grand Tourney Event Rewards: +2 power. 8/27/23.
The situation he faced at the tourney seems to have left Wanderer with more power than before. It takes more exertion before his control starts to wane. - Stat Token x4: +4 discipline. 10/1/23.
Far too much practice in the mists of the Corruption has refined Wanderer's use of his fear. While targets of his power still feel the same sense of instinctual dread, the right surroundings (shadows, darkness, fog, rain, etc) can give rise to almost hallucinatory effects at the edge of their vision; the feeling that they're being stalked not only by a predator, but also by their specific dreads made manifest. Wanderer cannot see these manifestations, and accordingly cannot take advantage of the insight they might give him. - Monthly Prompt Reward: September, +1 discipline. 10/6/23.
- Great Hunt Reward: Wasting Miasma, +2 power. 10/14/23.
- Amulet of Enhanced Shapeshifting. 10/17/23.
When lost deep in his magic, Wanderer begins to physically change into something larger, heavier-bodied, and more predatory. His teeth become more prominent, and his head more wolfish. It's not a very exaggerated change... yet... but it's enough to be noticeable. - Monthly Prompt Reward: October, -1 cost. 11/12/23.
- Thief and the Blind Event Rewards: +1 corruption, Scroll of Mending. 11/23/23.
The consequences of Cirrus accepting a suspicious gift from a suspicious stranger seem to linger, even if the physical changes have been reversed. Though they're still too faint to be consciously felt, the first tinges of corruptions add a hint of their power to Wanderer's own... though on a less ominous note, something about the healing process seems to have left him with the ability to mend small objects. - Scroll of Minor Healing. 11/23/23.
Wanderer's wounds seem to heal a little quicker than they used to, perhaps related to his newfound knack for mending. Minor grazes and cuts heal within hours. - Great Hunt Reward: Night-Cursed Crone, +2 discipline. 12/2/23.
- Monthly Prompt Reward: November, +1 power. 11/12/23.
- Great Hunt Reward: Pyre of the North, +2 discipline. 2/7/24.
- Monthly Prompt Reward: March, +1 discipline. 4/7/24.
- Great Hunt Reward: Anuran Bane and Opal Serpent, +1 power +1 discipline. 4/13/24.
- Shrine Quest: Destiny, +1 power +1 cost. 4/26/24.
As Wanderer's power continues to grow, his ability to exert his fear over those not naturally predisposed to it grows as well. He can now affect large predators, and can strongly affect mages less powerful than he is.
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