Interests

► Sailing
► Traveling to uncharted islands
► Mapmaking
► Photography
► Making travel diaries / Scrapbooking
► Mermaids
► Dogs (Particularly scottydogs)

Personality

Somerl generally acts quite nervous and flighty around other trolls. When he was younger he was far kinder and liked trying to cheer up anyone who was feeling down, but that youthful naivety is long gone. Nowadays, while he’ll still attempt to hold a conversation with anyone who approaches him and prefers to remain on good terms with each acquaintance he meets, he tries to avoid others as much as possible. He can be distrustful of other’s motivations, especially if they seem to be overly-friendly to begin with.

He enjoys chatting about his adventures and is more than happy to indulge anyone who wants to hear a sailing story, and as a result he tends to get along best with other sailors and adventurers. However, he’s disinterested in hearing about things that he can’t relate to his own interests, and does not enjoy small talk. He thinks that his stories are far more interesting than someone else’s personal issues, and often tries to steer conversations towards himself if he’s not enjoying the current conversation. He also hates talking about personal matters, whether it be his own or having to deal with someone else’s issues.

Somerl is incredibly free-spirited and independent, but inversely has extreme issues with both responsibility and authority. He hates being told what to do and following someone else’s rules, so he constantly clashes with people who demand anything from him. This also extends to hating being given advice, because he always feels like he’s being talked down to. He cannot stand being tied down in any way, whether that be having relationship obligations or owing someone a favour, or simply being unable to travel for an extended period of time. He believes his wanderlust is simply uncontrollable. He also tends to flee at the sight of any responsibility, and chooses to avoid his problems by pretending they don’t exist.

Somerl is also very superstitious, and is deeply afraid of attracting bad luck as well as anything to do with the supernatural. He follows sailing superstitions to the letter, and will lecture people on how to properly conduct themselves while at sea if they are accompanying him on a trip. He also tends to obsessively collect good luck charms, and falls for all sorts of scams promising to make him luckier. His obsession with superstitions tends to manifest in various compulsions, such as always stepping with his right foot first, and touching the collar of his shirt.

While braving storms and other dangers at sea is no problem to Somerl, in regards to confrontations with trolls he’s very cowardly. He has no issue fleeing at the first sight of trouble, and is not above playing dead or begging them to spare his life. Yet, strangely enough, when he’s backed into a corner and can’t think of any other solution, he’s far more likely to fight than flight. It seems he becomes more courageous the more dangerous a situation may be, or if he has less time to think about the consequences.

Backstory

Ever since he was young, Somerl had always dreamed of traveling the world. Living right by the sea in the Northwestern Highlands definitely inspired his love for sailing, as he would occasionally spy ships passing by on their way to distant towns. He spent the majority of his childhood reading all that he could on boats, and was able to purchase his first boat at six sweeps old. The beginning stages of sailing were rough, and he almost crashed into piers and sandbanks more often than not, but after a sweep and a half he could finally call himself a professional.

While Somerl was perfectly content with adventuring solo, there’d be times where he’d offer to take on passengers for a small fee. Often they’d only be for small trips, such as ferrying people to nearby islands or to take someone on a tour around the harbour, but he would get the occasional customer wanting a multi-day trip. One such customer was a seadweller named Loreli, who Somerl found moping about on a beach. He naively thought it would be a good idea to try and cheer the sad girl up, so he offered to take her out on a trip. He didn’t anticipate that she would believe he was asking her out, and was caught completely off-guard when she proposed to him in the middle of the ocean. Feeling intimidated by her sudden enthusiasm, and having literally nowhere to go, he accepted her as his matesprit.

And so began Somerl’s nightmare of a relationship. To put it simply, they were not compatible at all. Loreli desired closeness and wanted him to be with her at all times, and Somerl wanted nothing but to be alone. As expected, their relationship was rough, thanks to Somerl taking extended trips to avoid being around her. After a good couple of perigees of ghosting her, he finally got the courage to attempt to break up with her. However, she was able to convince him to try a moirallegiance with her, claiming it would be less intensive than a matespritship. As expected, it didn’t work, and no amount of Loreli showering Somerl in gifts and affection could convince him to stay. Thus, she tried the most drastic measure she could: Rigging his boat with explosives and staging an assassination attempt so she could ‘save’ Somerl’s life.

The destruction of Somerl’s boat also brought upon the destruction of their relationship. He found out that Loreli was responsible and immediately broke up with her, for good this time. He was able to purchase a new boat by scraping together the last of his savings (and also a hefty insurance claim), but she was unable to move on. Feeling enraged by how much effort she put into their relationship only to receive nothing back, Loreli became dedicated to tormenting Somerl over the next sweep. She would stalk him, and every time they happened to run into each other she would harass him non-stop. Somerl grew even more fearful of her, to the point where his constant paranoia would affect his sleep. After one attempt when she located him in the middle of the ocean and broke into his boat’s cabin, he developed severe insomnia out of fear she’d return again when he was asleep.

Eventually, Loreli seemingly got bored and began pursuing other trolls, but the damage had already been done. Due to her, Somerl has become even more closed-off and distrusting of other trolls than before, and developed an intense fear of seadwellers and women. Seadweller women are his worst nightmare. While he hasn’t seen Loreli in a long time, he still finds himself no longer staying in one place for more than a couple nights in case she manages to track him down again. But despite everything, his love of sailing and adventure has never diminished.

Trivia

Appearance

► His voiceclaim is Yuri Lowenthal / Ricken from Fire Emblem Awakening.
► He has a Scottish accent.
► He looks younger than he actually is. He keeps his youthful looks even after reaching adulthood.
► His hair has a rough texture, feeling similar to a frayed mooring rope.
► He has a naturally crooked smile due to his overbite.
► He has a tattoo of a Nautical Star under his right collarbone.
► He smells of sea salt and citrus.

Habits

► He gets antsy having other people on his ship in case they bring bad luck. If he does allow someone to board his ship, he'll lecture them on superstitions for hours on end.
► He can stay awake for days at a time, sometimes a full week before crashing. However, he is prone to microsleeps or just blanking out for hours on end.
► He suffers from vivid hallucinations due to a lack of sleep.
► He used to drink a lot of coffee until Zmalar managed to get him banned from almost every coffee shop. He now drinks either canned instant coffee or energy drinks.
► He makes boat and ocean-related puns when he's nervous.
► He'll fetch sticks and tennis balls without thinking.
► Alongside all of his other many fears, he's also afraid of heights and flying.

Hobbies and Favourite Things

► His boat is named The Seafarer Eastwind, named after the author of a journal he found (which unknowingly belongs to his ancestor). He loves her more than life itself.
► His diet consists of mostly citrus fruits as he's terrified of scurvy. He loves sour food, and can eat entire lemons without flinching.
► He drinks occasionally, mostly just having a pot of beer with lunch every so often. He doesn't normally get drunk, but if he does he'll start swearing like a stereotypical sailor.
► He makes and sells maps of islands and other places he's visited. He also tries to sell his photography, but it's too amateur to gain any interest.
► He dresses up his lusus in outfits. He likes putting him in matching sailor outfits or tartan jackets.
► He can play the flute. He's not particularly great at it, but he enjoys it nonetheless.
► He has a mermaid beanie kid that was a gift from Kisert. It sits on his steering wheel.

Residency

► His hive is a small two-storey cabin located in the Northwestern Highlands. Because he is always traveling, it is essentially abandoned.
► His hive functions as more of a storage shed for spare parts for his boat.
► He used to live within the same vicinity of Charon's hive, at the bottom of the cliff and hidden out of sight. They've never met.
► He makes pit stops at port towns all around Alternia, but never stays for longer than a couple nights at a time. He also very rarely sleeps in accomodation within the towns, preferring to stay in his boat.

... And Everything Else

► He possesses freakish strength for his caste, and can easily lift things twice his size.
► His revolver was destroyed in a fight with Zmalar. She literally punched it into a wall.