Kvasir the Rook
The picture above was downloaded from some nameless Filter fansite,
and is taken from a publicity photo, therefore considered public domain.
Alterations were made in PhotoDraw by the Rook. No copyright infringement
is intended or implied. Filter is a hella-cool band.
The Rook is Five Years Old!
I've been playing the Rook for five straight years as of the end of this
May. Starting with WBS, on to Go, then IMC, with the drunken rogue making
two appearances in two separate irl games as an NPC during that time, as
well. I'm using this anniversary
as the impetus to resolve some of his longer-standing storylines regarding his
faith, the origin of his powers, and his "place" in the world(s).
Hopefully, if all goes well, after all the current craziness is over the Rook
will have moved on a bit as a character, and a whole new chapter can begin...
*maniacal laughter* The question remains whether to retire the
character? Please click on the "Retire the Rook" button at left
to read more, and cast your vote!
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: A rather scruffy-looking man in his mid-thirties,
with dark hair and goatee (and stubble) to match. He is usually wearing
black or grey clothes, cloaked in a long black woolen trench-style coat, and has
a long black scarf wound tightly around his neck. A blade, something
halfway between a sabre and a rapier, can often be
seen hanging from his belt. Recently he has been seen carrying a rather
fancy-looking blade custom-made for him by Shinju Mae.
POWERS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT: Kvasir, more commonly known as "the
Rook", is in most ways a normal man. He was born with the ability to
literally "smell" magic and some forms of the supernatural, but he
usually masks this power by smoking a nasty pipe when he's at Toctik's - the
competing smells of all the sorcerors, vampires, angels, etc surrounding him
have demonstrated themselves to be too much to handle at once without dulling
the sense. Kvasir was later gifted with the ability to, as he calls it,
"walk between worlds", which allows him to travel between his own
world (Earth) and that of Toctik's (and several others in the past).
Despite past events, the Rook seems convinced of his own mortality, although the
past few years he seems to be aging rather slowly, if at all. Kvasir is a
skilled fencer, and a competent unarmed combatant and tumbler (as befits a good
swashbuckler). He also seems to have a remarkable tolerance for alcohol
(particularly mead), although this can be chalked up to his being a 14th-Century
Dane rather than some kind of supernatural ability.
CHARACTER HISTORY (the Short Version): Born in the fens of Denmark in the
late 14th Century, Kvasir Hrafnkell grew up amongst one of the few pagan
communities to hold out against the conversions of St. Anskar years
earlier. As he grew into manhood, it became increasingly more difficult
for his family to stave off the approach of Christianity, and in time, Kvasir
was sent to seminary, first in France, and later assigned to Rome. When he
joined the Roman Catholic Church he was re-christened Sebastian Gabriel, and his
old family names, which smacked of pagan influences, thrown aside. It
wasn't long before his natural talent for sniffing out witches and the like
became known to his mentors, and he was, in time, transferred and trained as a
witch-hunter. Sebastian climbed through the ranks to become one of the
premier servants of the Church in this respect while still in his late
twenties. It was his exploits as a witch-hunter which garnered him the
nickname "Rook", both as a play on the chess term, and going along
with the folkloric role of the rook (raven) as a creature who knows when someone
is about to die. He has never been assigned as a regular parish priest,
and in fact, at times, seems to have made a rather poor Catholic priest indeed,
unsure of scripture and dogmatic procedures, and given to moral meanderings of a
libidinous nature.
During a supposedly routine investigation, Sebastian was thoroughly beaten
and left for dead alongside a road in Poland. Throughout the ordeal (Kvasir
claims to have died), he had visions of the "old ways", the pagan
religions of his forefathers. Waking in the mud, miraculously alive and
healed, Sebastian was torn as to which was the proper devotion - to Christ and
the Pope, or the ways of his ancestors? Perhaps he still is not
sure. After this ordeal, Sebastian realized he had gained the ability to
travel to another world, one that felt more like a time of legend than a real
place. Surrounded by wizards in this new land, he hid his association with
the Church for over a year, in that time making friends and eventually swearing
fealty to Queen Junon of Tristan. For a time, he was content, spending
days in his own Europe and nights in this new world, associating with all manner
of strange beings, the only difficulties coming from trouble with a certain
necromancer who attempted to control the Rook's mind to make him betray his new
Queen.
Unfortunately, back in Europe, he had left too many witnesses to his
worldwalking power, and a few trusted friends who knew about his otherworldly
exploits turned out to be quite untrustworthy indeed. Sebastian Gabriel,
prized witch-hunter for the Vatican, was brought up on charges of heresy (among
other things). He was found guilty and hanged in Lyons. Once again,
the Rook, thinking his situation grave, was miraculously saved; he awoke in the
early morning the day after his execution, the gallows-rope seemingly
snapped. The Rook is no fool - he knows he could not have survived a
hanging, and the incredible bruise across his throat (which to this day refuses
to heal, even with magick) seems to prove this assertion correct. Coupled with this
disaster, to make things even worse, the Rook found he could no longer travel to
the same "other world" he had known before, and was completely cut off
from his friends, his Queen, and the woman he thought he was falling for -- his
traveling power instead resetting itself to a new location every few days.
Details from this period are sketchy, and the Rook does not speak much about it,
but he has implied that he jumped worlds quite a bit for the better part of a
year, searching for his Queen, and even spent time amongst the Faerie in their
own land (how he managed to escape the usual fate of mortals amongst the fey is
unknown at this time). During all this, thanks to the mindwarping
influence of the necromancer, Kvasir retained almost no memory of the woman he
had been in love with - fleeting glimpses of her face, the knowledge that she
had existed - but not her name or anything about her.
About a year ago (by his reckoning, anyway), the Rook's traveling power
stabilized, and he found himself in a world similar to the old magickal realm,
but subtly different. He began the process of making friends and allies
anew, all the time hoping he could one day find his Queen and his love
again. Recently (within the past few months), it seems that the other end
of his traveling power has changed targets - instead of returning to Europe
1393, he has stabilized in Europe 997. Always the pragmatic, the Rook took
up a position as advisor-errant to Vladimir the Great of Kiev, who had
recently converted to Orthodox Christianity. After a few months of
journeying back and forth between Kiev and Fryja, Kvasir decided to give up on
his homeworld, at least for the moment: he staged a serious heist, making off
with a substantial portion of Vladimir's treasury. Rook used these funds
to set up his "investigations business", the Saint Jude Agency, on
Fryja. Kvasir became fond of the companionship of Briana-Leon, and
struggled with that relationship for a few weeks before finding that the ties
that bind can be deadly. On a supposedly routine investigation, Kvasir
ended up having to run from the drow witch Azirna, in order to protect Briana.
Burnt, pummelled, and nearly caught by the blue-skinned sorceress and her
associate Valin, Rook invoked his worldwalking power and "went home"
to earth, back to Kiev. Unfortunately, he was in no condition to defend
himself from Vladimir's men, and was subsequently
punished for his misdeeds... Upon his return to Fryja, days later, Rook cut
a devil's deal with Azirna to prevent further hostilities between the drow and
"me an' mine" - Azirna magically plucked out Kvasir's left eye, to
hold in trust for two weeks as a symbol of Rook's word. Unfortunately, the
deal went sour, the eye was destroyed, and Azirna bit the dust at Phyllida's
hands...
WHAT THE HELL IS
GOING ON HERE? I MEAN, LATELY?: Oh. Well. Thanks for
asking, I guess. Here's what's been revealed so far: The Rook's been
hearing voices (and I don't mean Donovan's 'tests', although those might have
something to do with all this mess...), and acting a little strangely,
especially since the incident in Kiev. And, scrolling up to check the
history, this isn't the first time something like this has occurred. So
what's the deal? Is Kvasir just crazy, spouting both the Old Testament and
the Eddas in his delirium? Did something "happen" to him?
I can only say this: Rook's been around for five years as a character, and the
storyline that's occurring in the background now ties together his whole
history, from the early days of inner conflict to now. All will be
revealed in the next few months, I promise (sure, as if anyone cares...well,
maybe Tomo's curious, but...)
LATEST UPDATE:
Wow. A lot's
happened recently. Kvasir has discovered that he was, in his youth,
selected by divine patrons to be the "Bodkin" - the person who
illustrates and maintains the link between an old paradigm and a new. In
Rook's case, he was the bridge between the Old Ways and the New Ways on Earth,
existing only as long as the overlap (called the Interjacence) continued.
During a hallucinatory reverie, an old man (who Rook takes to be Odhinn) told
Kvasir that the Interjacence will soon end, and with it, Rook's life.
Odhinn placed all kinds of knowledge about the situation in Rook's mind (by
quite graphically forcing him to swallow the ravens, Huginn and Muninn)...but
Rook's not too sure what to make of this. Right now, he knows he's got
less than ten days to live, unless he does something about it, or figures out
something he's missed. He's been a little fatalistic lately, even going so
far as to make out a will...
PLAYER BACKGROUND: The Rook started out on WBS and then moved
to Go after WBS went under...now he's living on IMC, but
it's been fun playing the same character for so long and watching the twists and
turns of his life. Way back in the day I spent a lot of time at LambdaMOO
and various other text-chats at the dawn of time ('92-'94?), under a different
handle, of course, even spending some time helping to set up JanusMOO as a
wizard for a bit. Anyone from back in the day at LambdaMOO should email me
if they have the vaguest recollection of Shrapnel. These days, I'm
working, taking classes, and piddling about with gaming stuff more than I
ought. If you're into tabletop roleplaying or especially wargames, check
out my main site. You can IM me using MSIM and
the address below, or on AIM (LikeAChimney).
IN-CHARACTER
QUOTES OF INTEREST
The quotes below are all things that Kvasir's said in
the course of roleplaying, and I think they help define his personality.
The
Rook On Life and Philosophy:
"Tha's the beauty of failure - there's an
endless supply out there."
"Jus' 'cause we ignore th' shackles
'round our ankles doesn't mean we aren't draggin' a ball an' chain behind."
"Tryin'?
Th' only thing I been tryin' is to get drunk an' forget. Shamefully, I only been
succeedin' at th' first part."
The Rook On Alcohol:
"I've
th' very important task of makin' sure these stools stay warm, an' th' casks
empty."
"Alcohol is th' poor man's castle. Protects him from all th'
ill of the world, an' makes him feel like he's important."
"There's
a subtle distinction 'tween peaceful drunken sleep an' passin' out, th' sorta
thing only an expert can understand."
"Sunlight an' drunks get along
'bout as well as housecats an' baths."
The Rook On Religion:
"We're all th' religious type in th' right circumstances."
The Rook On the
Investigations Business:
"Seems most folks either take care of
their own problems, or ignore 'em. Bein' quite experienced in both avenues, I
can kinda understand."
"I've found tha' 'perceptive' is a
prerequisite for 'breathin'', most times."
