04-02-2021, 01:34 PM
Figured I'd finally actually put on together so I can keep track of things better.
Name: Kane Stengar
Age: 30, born AV 20
Gender: Male
Race: Mesalian
Appearance:
Standing at 5'8, Kane is not an imposing man. He has black hair somewhere between short and medium length which when combined with a patchy and scratchy beard leaves him looking permanently scruffy. The hair does serve to hide the many small scars that litter his face, with all that can easily be seen being his sharp nose and dull, calculating hazel eyes.
Despite being a warrior, it's not immediately clear from his build that he is one. First and foremost, he's missing his left arm from the elbow down but he also he is built like a climber, with a more wiry build that hides a surprising strength. One he hides further by covering his frame in loose or baggy clothing, typically a shirt and leather-lined jacket. He tends to cut all his left sleeves short to prevent them flapping about at all.
The one clear giveaway as to what he really is, is the sabre that always hangs at his hip, though it looks as tired and worn out as the rest of his clothing which is always in need of a least a few stitches on the best of days.
His outfit is rounded out by the ever practical boots, ones that look to have walked hundreds of miles by this point but are still clinging to life.
Capabilities:
Fighting Style:
Trivia:
Goals:
Name: Kane Stengar
Age: 30, born AV 20
Gender: Male
Race: Mesalian
Appearance:
Standing at 5'8, Kane is not an imposing man. He has black hair somewhere between short and medium length which when combined with a patchy and scratchy beard leaves him looking permanently scruffy. The hair does serve to hide the many small scars that litter his face, with all that can easily be seen being his sharp nose and dull, calculating hazel eyes.
Despite being a warrior, it's not immediately clear from his build that he is one. First and foremost, he's missing his left arm from the elbow down but he also he is built like a climber, with a more wiry build that hides a surprising strength. One he hides further by covering his frame in loose or baggy clothing, typically a shirt and leather-lined jacket. He tends to cut all his left sleeves short to prevent them flapping about at all.
The one clear giveaway as to what he really is, is the sabre that always hangs at his hip, though it looks as tired and worn out as the rest of his clothing which is always in need of a least a few stitches on the best of days.
His outfit is rounded out by the ever practical boots, ones that look to have walked hundreds of miles by this point but are still clinging to life.
Capabilities:
![[+]](/images/collapse_collapsed.png "[+]")
Spoiler
Swords (?Uncertain?):
Kane has swung swords practically from birth. It's been one of the few constants of his life and the many plateus and setbacks he has faced, he is extremely good at it, having managed to find a way to balance his rage and battle junkie nature with his skill and more innately calculating mind has allowed him to become something very dangerous in a fight even with the permanent disadvantage of losing an arm.
Shields (Competent):
Once, Kane routinely used shields to pair with his one handed weapons. That isn't really possible anymore, however he does still have a wealth of knowledge about the proper way to use one, should he need to impart it to someone else.
Leadership (Novice):
Kane has spent a surprising amount of time in positions of leadership and has despite his best efforts picked up a few things about how to do it, but it was never something he really felt was his calling. He's loath to even try and make use of his meager skills here.
Climbing (Novice):
Kane is a habitual climber, or was at least. It's far more difficult now and despite having plenty of years of experience he simply isn't able to do what most would be able to in terms of scaling. Still, he can get up some walls though stubborn determination alone.
Carving (Novice):
Another hobby Kane used to have some skill with before losing his arm. He can make do with holding using his feet and carving with his remaining arm if he really felt the need to, but a few other things have happened to have him leave this skill unused for quite some time now.
Kane has swung swords practically from birth. It's been one of the few constants of his life and the many plateus and setbacks he has faced, he is extremely good at it, having managed to find a way to balance his rage and battle junkie nature with his skill and more innately calculating mind has allowed him to become something very dangerous in a fight even with the permanent disadvantage of losing an arm.
Shields (Competent):
Once, Kane routinely used shields to pair with his one handed weapons. That isn't really possible anymore, however he does still have a wealth of knowledge about the proper way to use one, should he need to impart it to someone else.
Leadership (Novice):
Kane has spent a surprising amount of time in positions of leadership and has despite his best efforts picked up a few things about how to do it, but it was never something he really felt was his calling. He's loath to even try and make use of his meager skills here.
Climbing (Novice):
Kane is a habitual climber, or was at least. It's far more difficult now and despite having plenty of years of experience he simply isn't able to do what most would be able to in terms of scaling. Still, he can get up some walls though stubborn determination alone.
Carving (Novice):
Another hobby Kane used to have some skill with before losing his arm. He can make do with holding using his feet and carving with his remaining arm if he really felt the need to, but a few other things have happened to have him leave this skill unused for quite some time now.
General Strengths: Deception, ingenuity, willingness to take injury, controlling medium range.
General Weaknesses: Missing an arm, willingness to take injury, extreme ranges, extended close range engagements.
Strangely enough it has been the loss of his arm that has really pushed Kane to form and develope an actual style, rather than simply being a throughly average fighter with a good mastery of the basics. This is because he now fights with a permanent disadvantage compared to almost anyone. So he's started to come up with ways to compensate.
To this end, Kane has begun to build a style all about deception, trickery and, for lack of a better word, cheating. After all, it's not like he can ever really have a fair fight naturally so he might as well do what he can to level the field.
For Kane, a fight is only about achieving your goals. Generally that means you live and the other guy dies. Results are the only thing that matter and everything is on the table to get them. Intimidation, lies, surprise attacks, traps and anything else he can think of. The notions of pride and honour cannot be found in how he approaches combat, or anything else.
Now Kane has always been the sort of person to look for the upper hand in a fight, no matter how he can get it, but it used to be an unconcious thing. His mind was always occupied by the joy of battle and his body working on instinct and memory alone. He was talented then and he knew it. Now however he has felt the need to evolve beyond that and the taming of his bloodlust has allowed him to start to bring his mind into the fights with him properly.
This has led to his new-found penchant for deception. He will leave holes in his defence, fake mistakes, act as if he if far less skillful, anything he can do to try and bait out mistakes from his opponent, he will. Feints of all kinds are a constant as he fights. Further, he looks to try and condition the opponents reactions and thinking. He will attack with the same rythmn and combination several times, until the enemy is used to it, only to change the speed and motions part way through to attempt to catch them off guard. Even his expressions while fighting are often attempts to try and control what his opponent thinks he thinks of the position.
All of this is best served when Kane can control the tempo and flow of the fight. However if he is on the backfoot, his more creative side comes out. Anything and everything he can think it make use of, he will. Spit? Teeth? Dirt? Anything in the area is fair game. Kane has had it drilled into him that to fight with honour is a stupid notion. If he can surrender only to stab them in the back, he will without hesitation.
At the same time, Kane is more than willing to take a blow or three if it means he can end the fight decisively or put himself in a position to at least. While it's not his first resort he is, perhaps worryingly, willing to make insane moves and risk bleeding out or worse if he sees the opportunity for it.
In terms of ranges, he is most comfortable at medium range which is where most one handed blades work best. It gives him the space and time needed to set up and execute all his lies and tricks as well as more easily letting him watch for and then exploit mistakes. Further, medium range allows for a greater amount of movement and manuvering which he need in order to be able to prevent he weak side from being targetted.
He does however like to mix up the distances with quick step-ins and attacks inside the opponents range which he typically attempts as a counter to the opponent making a mistake, be that being too slow, overextending or breaking proper footwork. He does not like to stay there too long unless he mantains momentum and the upper hand the entire time however, as close range is where his lack of a free-hand can be best exploited. For example if grappling becomes a threat Kane has little counterplay.
Long range is what he dislikes dealing with most, as there's generally too much distance to properly punish mistakes or even to make most subtler feints and tricks work. Faced with trying to break past someone with a strong long range guard, Kane is more likely to break off from the fight entirely and try to reengage them on better terms.
Personality:
[spoiler]
Kane can be a difficult person to get a good read on, a long history of stifling and respressing thoughts and emotions coupled with a fair amount of intention deceit and misdirection on his part have done a good job clouding who he really is, even from himself for much of his life.
Strip away all excess and get down to the core of who he is and you find someone who is loyal but slow to trust. Clever but by no means smart. He can easily come off as cold and unfeeling, he is more than capable of genuine warmth and kindness more commonly than people might first suspect. That isn't to say he isn't cold though, he is. Outside of battle he has a particularly careful and calculating nature. He has a tendancy to weigh things up without heeding any clear moral code. To put how he views morality in brief; Life doesn't matter to him, specific lives do. However that only comes out in more dire times, generally he is willing to help people out and act in ways most would call 'good'. This is mostly because he sees it as a net positive with no significant downsides.
His natures bears out in how he speaks too. He tries to be curt and to the point, tending to say what he thinks and challenge what he thinks is wrong if he thinks there is a chance of correcting it. He makes attempts at empathy and tact but does struggle with really understanding how other people feel. His rather simple way with words doesn't help matters either. He's mellowed out a lot over the years though, actually able to let himself relax and lower his guard around a small number of close friends.
Kane claims to be a warrior, but his interpretation of it is different to most others. He rejects the ideas of honour, pride and honesty. Life has shown him all three get in the way of actually achieving your goals. Namely, making sure you don't die and the other guy does. To that end he's unlikely to see eye to eye with anyone with a more strict code. He can't really understand why you'd throw away advantages and take risks over something so intangible.
Part of this is Kane didn't really choose to be a warrior, it's more like he has no other option. He has for much of his life been defined by combat and gambling his life, it was the only place he could truly find and outlet and be himself. He has it more under control now, but he still only feels truly at peace when death is hanging around him. He's learnt to live with it, finding some calm in motion and labour but still never truly at peace. It's a large part of why he feels he can never truly stop and settle down, paradoxically a peaceful life will grant him none.
However it came to be, Kane is about as dishonourable as they come. Much of everything he does is some sort trick. For example, he purposely keeps himself discheveled and ragged to, in combination with his missing arm and simple vocab, try and make people underestimate him and write him off. Any lie that he thinks might give him an advantage in the long run is one he'll consider using. He draws the line at lying and cheating his friends however, most of the time at least.
When it comes to other people and relationships Kane can act quite oddly indeed. Owing to some unfortunate events, he doesn't feel capable of forging strong relationships or total trust in anyone. He's someone who carries a lot of pain with him in that respect and finds it more sensible to prevent the chance of betrayal entirely by always expecting it and in doing so never leave his back open to it. This doesn't really lend itself to making regular friends, never mind anything more intimate. The very notion is something that seems to be something he either despises or fears. There are a few exceptions to this rule, people who he's known for yonks but now he keeps even them at arms length if he can.
General Weaknesses: Missing an arm, willingness to take injury, extreme ranges, extended close range engagements.
Strangely enough it has been the loss of his arm that has really pushed Kane to form and develope an actual style, rather than simply being a throughly average fighter with a good mastery of the basics. This is because he now fights with a permanent disadvantage compared to almost anyone. So he's started to come up with ways to compensate.
To this end, Kane has begun to build a style all about deception, trickery and, for lack of a better word, cheating. After all, it's not like he can ever really have a fair fight naturally so he might as well do what he can to level the field.
For Kane, a fight is only about achieving your goals. Generally that means you live and the other guy dies. Results are the only thing that matter and everything is on the table to get them. Intimidation, lies, surprise attacks, traps and anything else he can think of. The notions of pride and honour cannot be found in how he approaches combat, or anything else.
Now Kane has always been the sort of person to look for the upper hand in a fight, no matter how he can get it, but it used to be an unconcious thing. His mind was always occupied by the joy of battle and his body working on instinct and memory alone. He was talented then and he knew it. Now however he has felt the need to evolve beyond that and the taming of his bloodlust has allowed him to start to bring his mind into the fights with him properly.
This has led to his new-found penchant for deception. He will leave holes in his defence, fake mistakes, act as if he if far less skillful, anything he can do to try and bait out mistakes from his opponent, he will. Feints of all kinds are a constant as he fights. Further, he looks to try and condition the opponents reactions and thinking. He will attack with the same rythmn and combination several times, until the enemy is used to it, only to change the speed and motions part way through to attempt to catch them off guard. Even his expressions while fighting are often attempts to try and control what his opponent thinks he thinks of the position.
All of this is best served when Kane can control the tempo and flow of the fight. However if he is on the backfoot, his more creative side comes out. Anything and everything he can think it make use of, he will. Spit? Teeth? Dirt? Anything in the area is fair game. Kane has had it drilled into him that to fight with honour is a stupid notion. If he can surrender only to stab them in the back, he will without hesitation.
At the same time, Kane is more than willing to take a blow or three if it means he can end the fight decisively or put himself in a position to at least. While it's not his first resort he is, perhaps worryingly, willing to make insane moves and risk bleeding out or worse if he sees the opportunity for it.
In terms of ranges, he is most comfortable at medium range which is where most one handed blades work best. It gives him the space and time needed to set up and execute all his lies and tricks as well as more easily letting him watch for and then exploit mistakes. Further, medium range allows for a greater amount of movement and manuvering which he need in order to be able to prevent he weak side from being targetted.
He does however like to mix up the distances with quick step-ins and attacks inside the opponents range which he typically attempts as a counter to the opponent making a mistake, be that being too slow, overextending or breaking proper footwork. He does not like to stay there too long unless he mantains momentum and the upper hand the entire time however, as close range is where his lack of a free-hand can be best exploited. For example if grappling becomes a threat Kane has little counterplay.
Long range is what he dislikes dealing with most, as there's generally too much distance to properly punish mistakes or even to make most subtler feints and tricks work. Faced with trying to break past someone with a strong long range guard, Kane is more likely to break off from the fight entirely and try to reengage them on better terms.
Personality:
[spoiler]
Kane can be a difficult person to get a good read on, a long history of stifling and respressing thoughts and emotions coupled with a fair amount of intention deceit and misdirection on his part have done a good job clouding who he really is, even from himself for much of his life.
Strip away all excess and get down to the core of who he is and you find someone who is loyal but slow to trust. Clever but by no means smart. He can easily come off as cold and unfeeling, he is more than capable of genuine warmth and kindness more commonly than people might first suspect. That isn't to say he isn't cold though, he is. Outside of battle he has a particularly careful and calculating nature. He has a tendancy to weigh things up without heeding any clear moral code. To put how he views morality in brief; Life doesn't matter to him, specific lives do. However that only comes out in more dire times, generally he is willing to help people out and act in ways most would call 'good'. This is mostly because he sees it as a net positive with no significant downsides.
His natures bears out in how he speaks too. He tries to be curt and to the point, tending to say what he thinks and challenge what he thinks is wrong if he thinks there is a chance of correcting it. He makes attempts at empathy and tact but does struggle with really understanding how other people feel. His rather simple way with words doesn't help matters either. He's mellowed out a lot over the years though, actually able to let himself relax and lower his guard around a small number of close friends.
Kane claims to be a warrior, but his interpretation of it is different to most others. He rejects the ideas of honour, pride and honesty. Life has shown him all three get in the way of actually achieving your goals. Namely, making sure you don't die and the other guy does. To that end he's unlikely to see eye to eye with anyone with a more strict code. He can't really understand why you'd throw away advantages and take risks over something so intangible.
Part of this is Kane didn't really choose to be a warrior, it's more like he has no other option. He has for much of his life been defined by combat and gambling his life, it was the only place he could truly find and outlet and be himself. He has it more under control now, but he still only feels truly at peace when death is hanging around him. He's learnt to live with it, finding some calm in motion and labour but still never truly at peace. It's a large part of why he feels he can never truly stop and settle down, paradoxically a peaceful life will grant him none.
However it came to be, Kane is about as dishonourable as they come. Much of everything he does is some sort trick. For example, he purposely keeps himself discheveled and ragged to, in combination with his missing arm and simple vocab, try and make people underestimate him and write him off. Any lie that he thinks might give him an advantage in the long run is one he'll consider using. He draws the line at lying and cheating his friends however, most of the time at least.
When it comes to other people and relationships Kane can act quite oddly indeed. Owing to some unfortunate events, he doesn't feel capable of forging strong relationships or total trust in anyone. He's someone who carries a lot of pain with him in that respect and finds it more sensible to prevent the chance of betrayal entirely by always expecting it and in doing so never leave his back open to it. This doesn't really lend itself to making regular friends, never mind anything more intimate. The very notion is something that seems to be something he either despises or fears. There are a few exceptions to this rule, people who he's known for yonks but now he keeps even them at arms length if he can.
Has a strong dislike of birds.
Enjoys high places, the greater the height and the nearer the edge the better.
Enjoys high places, the greater the height and the nearer the edge the better.
Figure out exactly what he wants
Find a path forward in life and profession
Refine and expand on combat style
Get Zai to forgive him & see who Zarrath is growing into
Have a drink with Ezri and Zark
Find a path forward in life and profession
Refine and expand on combat style
Get Zai to forgive him & see who Zarrath is growing into
Have a drink with Ezri and Zark