merchantprince | driftfleet biosheet

OOC

Saffy • jerkbender@gmail.com • heroic BSOD (aim)
riku (dw) • PST (GMT-8) • fonfabre (plurk)

ATTRIBUTES

NAME.	Varric Tethras
TITLE/CODE.	The Storyteller
NICKNAMES.	Dwarf, Doc
CLASS/RANK.	Rogue (Security augment)
AGE.	39
DATE OF BIRTH.	9:1 Dragon
ORIENTATION.	Bianca
DATING STATUS.	Bianca
DATING HISTORY.	Bianca
FAMILY.	Lady Ilsa (mother, deceased) Andvar Tethras (father, deceased) Bartrand Tethras (brother, legally insane and regrettably alive)
HEIGHT.	4'8"
BUILD.	Dwarfish
HAIR.	Light brown
EYES.	Brown
WEAPONS.	Bianca, but he's got a laser rifle now.
ARMOR.	Tailored Leather Duster

OOC

Saffy • jerkbender@gmail.com • heroic BSOD (aim)
riku (dw) • PST (GMT-8) • fonfabre (plurk)

PERSONALITY

Varric is a 'funny' dwarf. Not just because of his sense of humor, but because he doesn't fit any of the dwarven stereotypes usually present in fantasy literature. He's never seen drunk off his ass, he doesn't have a glorious beard, and he has no real love of dark underground places. This makes him a bit more approachable than many of his peers, who spend their time on literal cutthroat business ventures. Which isn't to say that he doesn't have experience with these things-- he is a merchant prince, after all-- but he has spent many years cultivating a certain image of himself.

While Bartrand runs the family business, Varric spends his time in taverns, talking and drinking and having fun and being absolutely of no use. He appears affluent to a fault, confident and sometimes self-absorbed, and completely under the radar. That's exactly how he likes it. In the armpits of society, Varric earned a lot of real-world experience. He learned how people work, how to entertain, how to make connections. He's a sweet-talker of some skill, charming and persuasive with words and actions too if need be. His personality gels with a lot of people in a positive way. He tells jokes, deflects with sarcasm, and gives nicknames to just about all of his companions. Basically, he's the perfect sidekick.

His down-to-earth point of view contrasts sharply with his tall tales. He's a firm believer in the importance of legends and stories. There's nothing he'd rather do on a Friday night than sit around spinning yarns. He likes to hear himself talk, but there's a certain validation he feels from sharing experiences. He's rather proud of his many serials and how popular they are, and he takes it fairly seriously. For Varric, anyway. He'd rather sit around and write stories than argue the price of Orlesian silk imports. This also might be because of laziness, though-- he makes up different cousins and such who correspond with the Guild rather than dealing with business personally.

Varric says he's just a businessman and a storyteller. These things are not mutually exclusive, and this statement is not inaccurate. Still, he has a lot of complexity beneath the sarcasm and humor he uses as a shield, and he's far more concerned with his surroundings than he'd like people to believe. He watches over Hawke and company despite having no obligation to, acting as a second-in-command and a sort of moral compass when necessary. In the end, even though he disagrees with some of Hawke's decisions, he's still standing beside his friend no matter the years.

[ This is an abbreviated version of his personality. Let me know if you want the full version. ]

OOC

Saffy • jerkbender@gmail.com • heroic BSOD (aim)
riku (dw) • PST (GMT-8) • fonfabre (plurk)

ABILITIES & SKILLS

He's an extremely talented sniper, and he could persuade you to give him all your money and clothes if you didn't pass the mental check. In RPG terms he's a rogue with the specializations of Marksman (DA2) and Artificer (DAI). He shoots things good and makes traps, basically. He's very quick with a dagger (or two), but he prefers his repeating crossbow, lovingly named Bianca.

As a rogue, he's adept with poisons, stealth, lockpicking, and traps. He can summon a rain of arrows, kick people in the face, disappear while people are distracted, and lay down multiple traps at once. Though he's a dwarf, he's pretty agile; he's seen doing plenty of jumps and rolls in the wild.

The transition from a machine crossbow to a gun will probably be hard on him. Rest in peace, Bianca.

OOC

Saffy • jerkbender@gmail.com • heroic BSOD (aim)
riku (dw) • PST (GMT-8) • fonfabre (plurk)

HISTORY

"I know everyone in this city worth knowing."

Varric was born three years after his father's exile from Orzammar, into the world of the Merchants Guild: the Ancestors never spoke and Paragons were the heroes in tall tales; the number of dances a kalna lady gave to a lowborn ascendant boy were more pivotal than the reign of kings.

While Bartrand ran the businesses and drove House Tethras ever higher up the social ladder, Varric looked after the family and their retainers. His mother, Lady Ilsa, suffered terribly from the trauma of her disgrace and exile, finding solace in liquor and smoke. It fell to her younger son to try to curb the worst of her drunken rages, to keep her from becoming a matter of public scandal, and to care for her when she fell ill from her excesses.

Though he is famous throughout the Merchants Guild for his stories, Varric speaks rarely of himself or his family. Most of Kirkwall knows him; everyone has bought him a drink at least once--for the sake of his fictions rather than his family connections.
-- Codex

Determinant Points:
• Hawke is a mage, and female. Bethany died during the flight to Kirkwall.
• Isabela returned to Hawke with the relic, her approval being high enough.
• Hawke convinced Varric to spare Bartrand and had Anders heal him.
• Hawke took the shard of red lyrium and gave it to Sandal instead of Varric.
• Hawke chose mages.
• Hawke spared Anders.
(Everything else follows Bioware's 'official' canon where Alistair is king, Sten became Arishok, etc.)

About a year after the Kirkwall rebellion, Varric lent a hand to King Alistair of all people. He needed to go undercover, basically, and he also needed to infiltrate the Antivan Crows. In Antiva. Nothing's better than a rogue when you're fighting rogues. Or two rogues: Isabela came too. There was some really weird stuff going on with Alistair's blood, some kind of importance to his bloodline, but the mystery wouldn't become clear for a while. Varric and Isabela rescued the derpy Fereldan king, and they continued on their journey.

While looking for the Crows' master, a Tevinter magister named Titus, they sneaked into a Tevinter ball. Titus was there, and a huge fight broke out. Tilani, Varric's cousin by marriage, bought them some time to escape. However, they were captured by Qunari dreadnoughts and taken into custody. Isabela was tortured and nearly brainwashed, Alistair punched the new Arishok in the face. And Varric-- Varric was generally useless. He tried, though. Eventually they came to an understanding and the Qunari were their allies again.

Now with Qunari support, they chased Titus to Seheron. Varric went solo into Titus' hideout, rescued Tilani, and then found the former King Maric attached to some kind of device that used his blood to power magic. Varric tried to fix it by destroying it, but that was a bad bad bad call and it ended up taking everyone into the Fade. Varric and his companions fought the illusions and found Maric, and used their combined awesomeness to kill the magister. They were released from the Fade. Alistair had a couple moments of man-pain over his father, then shattered the thing and released him, granting Maric a merciful death after all that time.

Cassandra Pentaghast, sent by the Divine herself, marched into Kirkwall a little after that looking for Hawke. She found Varric and interrogated him, taking him prisoner. The mage/templar rebellion had spread all across Thedas and she wanted to know where it began. The truth was pretty ugly, and she didn't like what she heard; she even put a damn dagger through Varric's book. He was not very happy about that. But he told the truth, uh, with some elaborations...

Cassandra would eventually basically kidnap him and take him to see the Divine, but that story has yet to be told.

Varric Tethras

Level 30 Rogue