Name: Jenni Age: Older than jesus 4ever Contact: jennibeans on plurk, jennibeanss on disco Other Characters: None atm. Interests: Magic nerdery, weird Fade shit, and ends-justify-the-means political intrigue.
CHARACTER
Name: Caius Porthmeus Canon/OC: OC Journal:sumptus Race: Human (adding an elven grandparent he doesn't know about, if that's cool) Nationality: Tevene Occupation: Academic Division: Research Mage or Not: Mage Age: 24
History
Born in Tevinter to an Ander couple who had immigrated looking for work and only found enough to get trapped in a debt pit.
Sent to work in a local mage's household as soon as he was old enough to be worth the cost of feeding.
Had A Bad Time. Remarkably intelligent from a young age, but in a way that earned him a reputation for acting above his station and more than a few beatings.
Became said mage's assistant nonetheless.
Hid the emergence of his own magic until said mage lost control of a summoning spell and was messily killed by a demon. Preteen Caius probably didn't have anything to do with that, don't worry about it.
Ran away to the farthest-away Circle he could find, hello it's me definitely an orphan.
Turns out Circles that take in orphans aren't great!
Worked his ass off both in school and outside it. He earned his place in increasingly prestigious Circles, at first out of an overabundance of survivalist paranoia, but that gradually blossomed into ambition.
Realized his dreams were not like other mages’, suspected he might be a somniari but that would be crazy right? Ha ha anyway.
Decided to keep that revelation on the inside where it belongs.
But one of the senior enchanters noticed he was attracting demons all the damn time and started working with him on that, oh my god Caius.
She kept his secret as a temporary gesture, for her own future gain, but was killed by a rival before she could share it. How that rival finally got to her, exactly, is also not something anyone should worry about!
Made some rich friends but had a chip on his shoulder the size of Orlais about being anyone's charity case.
When he next transfered Circles, he switched to straight-up lying to everyone about his perfectly normal happy family and status.
Got recruited to help the Venatori with research re: power sources, which has been half academically fascinating, half terrifying in its practical applications. [ unease intensifies over the next few years ]
When Corypheus formally took over the Magisterium, Cauis finally broke from the herd and made for Riftwatch.
Got exposed to some corrupted lyrium that turned one arm dragon-y, and he asked to be reassigned to an isolated post in a Free Marches to sulk figure that shit out.
Personality
At first pass, Caius comes off as a sharp but cautious young man who keeps things close to the vest. Old habits die hard, and his are to watch and learn until he knows the lay of the land. Anyone who spends more time with him will find a lack of confidence or social ability isn't his problem; he's more likely to be considering whether other people are worth his time than vice versa. A baseline sarcasm and tendency to be a jerk first, friendly later, hasn't made him the easiest to befriend, but his quips are more reflex than pointed.
For people who get over that initial hurdle, he can be personable in a salt-of-the-earth way that he's careful to spin as "authentic" and not "poor" in polite company. He's even-tempered, with a dry, stealthy sort of humor that sneaks up on you and pushes you into the pool when you least expect. Caius doesn't want to be class clown, but he's ready to enable whoever is. Left alone with his thoughts, he can get kind of intense and bitter, so he's learned to surround himself with people who don't take him (or anything else) quite so seriously.
But even amongst friends, Caius is stubbornly independent. He's been an army of one as long as he can remember; apart from said friends, no one has ever looked out for him, and he doesn't expect that to change. Caius believes most people's actions are motivated by cost-benefit analysis and self-interest -- and that's not a bad thing, he's just not interested in pretending otherwise. Altruism isn't real, kindness is essentially transactional, and he doesn't want to owe anybody anything when he finally claws his way to the top of the shit mountain that is Tevinter.
And he's going to claw his way to the top. In the absence of parental validation or support, Caius has become tremendously ambitious, with a driving need to prove himself to the whole damn world. That has fueled an obsessive work ethic and unhealthy commitment to pulling himself up by his own bootstraps, which, while effective so far, is probably not sustainable. His friendships in the Circle have helped him learn to chill out and occasionally accept help, but he is still pointed due north at "accomplishing everything I can without stopping to examine why."
It helps that he's smart and good at things that are rewarded in Tevinter. Caius is a fixer, a problem-solver, the sort of person who asks whether he can without sparing a thought for whether he should -- and he usually finds a way to make that first answer "yes." In his work and life, he prefers to base his judgments on hard evidence, but is unafraid of making bold moves once he has that. However, his belief in the pure and unbiased nature of logic means he often ignores everyone's feelings and overlooks human consequences until he's already done things he regrets.
Opinions & Affiliations
Venatori: Know a lot of interesting magic Caius wants to learn, have a lot of social power he envies, but as a die-hard skeptic he doesn't vibe with their blind devotion to Corypheus -- or all the resulting human suffering!
Chantry: Speaking of blind devotion, he doesn't love the Southern or Northern iterations, but he sees the Imperial Chantry as less of a threat since it doesn't want to lock him in a tower.
Old Gods: More academically interesting, powerful in ways he can more easily observe and test. He doesn't trust or worship them either but he's more likely to believe they can do something for him. Now that Ghilan'nain has done something to him, he's interested in her specifically.
Qun: He likes his tongue attached, thanks. Hasn't thought about the war very hard.
Slavery: Is happening, but for most of his life he's been more concerned about making sure it doesn't happen to him. As he's gained social status, he's had a harder time existing in proximity to it without feeling like he's becoming the thing he hates most. Cool!
Tevene class structure: Shitty, but shitty in ways he understands and wants to conquer. He's vaguely aware that systemic change would supposedly make that unnecessary, but the problem is too personal for him; he doesn't really believe there's a solution beyond bootstrapping his way up like he's already doing.
Race relations: Seem fine in the Circles, seem like something he'll put his foot in his mouth over if he tries to have an opinion otherwise.
The South: You know those nightmares where you show up for a final exam and realize you've studied for the wrong test? That, but it's now his whole life.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Academic: Focused on magical energy -- mana from the Fade, lyrium, blood, whatever, he's good at figuring out how to get the most out of power sources and amplify the energy they produce, usually through mechanical means like glyphs or more involved physical rituals. See custom spec here for the specifics I apped in with last time. (Approval thread here.)
He understands a little Ander, knows enough Ancient Tevene to make complicated nerd jokes, studied whatever scraps of old languages he's needed for research, and is otherwise well-read in the way of obsessively diligent Tevene Circle students.
Combat: Never been, Would Prefer Not To. He's highly uncomfortable with being physically threatened (by people/demons at least, animals are fine), so there's a 50/50 chance he'll either freeze up or produce So Much Lightning if cornered. From a safe distance, he could make a good mana recycling machine for other mages, but only if he's not busy having a panic attack.
Dreamer: His training was cut short not long after How Not to Become An Abomination lessons. At this point, Caius can "see the stitches" in the Fade the way Feynriel can at the end of DA2's Night Terrors quest; he lucid-dreams well enough to have self-aware conversations with spirits and manipulate the Fade in small ways. He's practiced on his own enough to be able to wander the Fade and visit people's dreams, but he's inexperienced; there's always a risk he won't find his way back to his body again. Similarly, while he can make changes to other people's dreams, he doesn't always have the coordination to keep those changes from spiraling out of control. Things like impacting the waking world or killing people in their sleep are beyond him, and he'd need a teacher to get to that point. The presence of demons outside the Fade also causes him physical pain.
I'd like to use this for random dreamscape threads and occasionally have him scout the Fade for information, the way Solas dreams in ruins and watches ancient battles or consults with spirits, etc. But ICly it's dangerous enough he wouldn't use it often, and OOCly I'd submit a plot request if I wanted him to learn anything plot-relevant.
Misc: Has done a lot of random manual labor to get by, so he can build a fence and mind a horse and do minor handyman tasks, along with regular rural household chores and generally looking after himself. Not as great at rubbing elbows, though he's trying hard to catch up. Can't hear in his right ear and has a dodgy sense of smell/taste as a side effect of a childhood head injury. Also one of his arms is weird and scaly, which makes it hard for him to do missions where he needs to be undercover, if constantly wearing gloves and a bulky cape would draw suspicion.
In Riftwatch: Scary Vint Mage, actual former Venatori ally, could be a liability in a lot of situations even though he is generally polite. Abomination risk. Practical in a way that sometimes fails to account for other people's morals. On the plus side, he's got some nice Venatori intel to sell.
Inventory
Travel clothes Research notes Terrible bowl cut ig he can have better hair this time Staff Scepter and MAGE KNIFE thanks veilguard
Motivation
The explanation Caius gave Riftwatch for defection is twofold: 1) he's been increasingly uncomfortable with the Venatori's methods, and 2) he believes strongly in an independent Magisterium.
The first of those things is true, even if he would only admit such a soft feeling as a means of manipulation. His commitment to political independence is not actually as strong as advertised, but he does believe he has a better chance of getting the kind of power (and vis-a-vis stability and security) he wants if Tevinter has an archon other than Corypheus.
Since he was last here, I'd like to say he's been goat herding on a hillside in the Free Marches, as a cover to pick up messages from a dead drop for a Starkhaven contact, and he's been doing research on his corrupted lyrium sample during his downtime.
cauis porthmeus | native oc
Name: Jenni
Age: Older than jesus 4ever
Contact: jennibeans on plurk, jennibeanss on disco
Other Characters: None atm.
Interests: Magic nerdery, weird Fade shit, and ends-justify-the-means political intrigue.
Name: Caius Porthmeus
Canon/OC: OC
Journal:
Race: Human (adding an elven grandparent he doesn't know about, if that's cool)
Nationality: Tevene
Occupation: Academic
Division: Research
Mage or Not: Mage
Age: 24
History
- Born in Tevinter to an Ander couple who had immigrated looking for work and only found enough to get trapped in a debt pit.
- Sent to work in a local mage's household as soon as he was old enough to be worth the cost of feeding.
- Had A Bad Time. Remarkably intelligent from a young age, but in a way that earned him a reputation for acting above his station and more than a few beatings.
- Became said mage's assistant nonetheless.
- Hid the emergence of his own magic until said mage lost control of a summoning spell and was messily killed by a demon. Preteen Caius probably didn't have anything to do with that, don't worry about it.
- Ran away to the farthest-away Circle he could find, hello it's me definitely an orphan.
- Turns out Circles that take in orphans aren't great!
- Worked his ass off both in school and outside it. He earned his place in increasingly prestigious Circles, at first out of an overabundance of survivalist paranoia, but that gradually blossomed into ambition.
- Realized his dreams were not like other mages’, suspected he might be a somniari but that would be crazy right? Ha ha anyway.
- Decided to keep that revelation on the inside where it belongs.
- But one of the senior enchanters noticed he was attracting demons all the damn time and started working with him on that, oh my god Caius.
- She kept his secret as a temporary gesture, for her own future gain, but was killed by a rival before she could share it. How that rival finally got to her, exactly, is also not something anyone should worry about!
- Made some rich friends but had a chip on his shoulder the size of Orlais about being anyone's charity case.
- When he next transfered Circles, he switched to straight-up lying to everyone about his perfectly normal happy family and status.
- Got recruited to help the Venatori with research re: power sources, which has been half academically fascinating, half terrifying in its practical applications.
- When Corypheus formally took over the Magisterium, Cauis finally broke from the herd and made for Riftwatch.
- Got exposed to some corrupted lyrium that turned one arm dragon-y, and he asked to be reassigned to an isolated post in a Free Marches to
Personality[ unease intensifies over the next few years ]
sulkfigure that shit out.At first pass, Caius comes off as a sharp but cautious young man who keeps things close to the vest. Old habits die hard, and his are to watch and learn until he knows the lay of the land. Anyone who spends more time with him will find a lack of confidence or social ability isn't his problem; he's more likely to be considering whether other people are worth his time than vice versa. A baseline sarcasm and tendency to be a jerk first, friendly later, hasn't made him the easiest to befriend, but his quips are more reflex than pointed.
For people who get over that initial hurdle, he can be personable in a salt-of-the-earth way that he's careful to spin as "authentic" and not "poor" in polite company. He's even-tempered, with a dry, stealthy sort of humor that sneaks up on you and pushes you into the pool when you least expect. Caius doesn't want to be class clown, but he's ready to enable whoever is. Left alone with his thoughts, he can get kind of intense and bitter, so he's learned to surround himself with people who don't take him (or anything else) quite so seriously.
But even amongst friends, Caius is stubbornly independent. He's been an army of one as long as he can remember; apart from said friends, no one has ever looked out for him, and he doesn't expect that to change. Caius believes most people's actions are motivated by cost-benefit analysis and self-interest -- and that's not a bad thing, he's just not interested in pretending otherwise. Altruism isn't real, kindness is essentially transactional, and he doesn't want to owe anybody anything when he finally claws his way to the top of the shit mountain that is Tevinter.
And he's going to claw his way to the top. In the absence of parental validation or support, Caius has become tremendously ambitious, with a driving need to prove himself to the whole damn world. That has fueled an obsessive work ethic and unhealthy commitment to pulling himself up by his own bootstraps, which, while effective so far, is probably not sustainable. His friendships in the Circle have helped him learn to chill out and occasionally accept help, but he is still pointed due north at "accomplishing everything I can without stopping to examine why."
It helps that he's smart and good at things that are rewarded in Tevinter. Caius is a fixer, a problem-solver, the sort of person who asks whether he can without sparing a thought for whether he should -- and he usually finds a way to make that first answer "yes." In his work and life, he prefers to base his judgments on hard evidence, but is unafraid of making bold moves once he has that. However, his belief in the pure and unbiased nature of logic means he often ignores everyone's feelings and overlooks human consequences until he's already done things he regrets.
Opinions & Affiliations
Venatori: Know a lot of interesting magic Caius wants to learn, have a lot of social power he envies, but as a die-hard skeptic he doesn't vibe with their blind devotion to Corypheus -- or all the resulting human suffering!
Chantry: Speaking of blind devotion, he doesn't love the Southern or Northern iterations, but he sees the Imperial Chantry as less of a threat since it doesn't want to lock him in a tower.
Old Gods: More academically interesting, powerful in ways he can more easily observe and test. He doesn't trust or worship them either but he's more likely to believe they can do something for him. Now that Ghilan'nain has done something to him, he's interested in her specifically.
Qun: He likes his tongue attached, thanks. Hasn't thought about the war very hard.
Slavery: Is happening, but for most of his life he's been more concerned about making sure it doesn't happen to him. As he's gained social status, he's had a harder time existing in proximity to it without feeling like he's becoming the thing he hates most. Cool!
Tevene class structure: Shitty, but shitty in ways he understands and wants to conquer. He's vaguely aware that systemic change would supposedly make that unnecessary, but the problem is too personal for him; he doesn't really believe there's a solution beyond bootstrapping his way up like he's already doing.
Race relations: Seem fine in the Circles, seem like something he'll put his foot in his mouth over if he tries to have an opinion otherwise.
The South: You know those nightmares where you show up for a final exam and realize you've studied for the wrong test? That, but it's now his whole life.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Academic: Focused on magical energy -- mana from the Fade, lyrium, blood, whatever, he's good at figuring out how to get the most out of power sources and amplify the energy they produce, usually through mechanical means like glyphs or more involved physical rituals. See custom spec here for the specifics I apped in with last time. (Approval thread here.)
He understands a little Ander, knows enough Ancient Tevene to make complicated nerd jokes, studied whatever scraps of old languages he's needed for research, and is otherwise well-read in the way of obsessively diligent Tevene Circle students.
Combat: Never been, Would Prefer Not To. He's highly uncomfortable with being physically threatened (by people/demons at least, animals are fine), so there's a 50/50 chance he'll either freeze up or produce So Much Lightning if cornered. From a safe distance, he could make a good mana recycling machine for other mages, but only if he's not busy having a panic attack.
Dreamer: His training was cut short not long after How Not to Become An Abomination lessons. At this point, Caius can "see the stitches" in the Fade the way Feynriel can at the end of DA2's Night Terrors quest; he lucid-dreams well enough to have self-aware conversations with spirits and manipulate the Fade in small ways. He's practiced on his own enough to be able to wander the Fade and visit people's dreams, but he's inexperienced; there's always a risk he won't find his way back to his body again. Similarly, while he can make changes to other people's dreams, he doesn't always have the coordination to keep those changes from spiraling out of control. Things like impacting the waking world or killing people in their sleep are beyond him, and he'd need a teacher to get to that point. The presence of demons outside the Fade also causes him physical pain.
I'd like to use this for random dreamscape threads and occasionally have him scout the Fade for information, the way Solas dreams in ruins and watches ancient battles or consults with spirits, etc. But ICly it's dangerous enough he wouldn't use it often, and OOCly I'd submit a plot request if I wanted him to learn anything plot-relevant.
Misc: Has done a lot of random manual labor to get by, so he can build a fence and mind a horse and do minor handyman tasks, along with regular rural household chores and generally looking after himself. Not as great at rubbing elbows, though he's trying hard to catch up. Can't hear in his right ear and has a dodgy sense of smell/taste as a side effect of a childhood head injury. Also one of his arms is weird and scaly, which makes it hard for him to do missions where he needs to be undercover, if constantly wearing gloves and a bulky cape would draw suspicion.
In Riftwatch: Scary Vint Mage, actual former Venatori ally, could be a liability in a lot of situations even though he is generally polite. Abomination risk. Practical in a way that sometimes fails to account for other people's morals. On the plus side, he's got some nice Venatori intel to sell.
Inventory
Travel clothes
Research notes
Terrible bowl cutig he can have better hair this timeStaffScepter and MAGE KNIFE thanks veilguardMotivation
The explanation Caius gave Riftwatch for defection is twofold: 1) he's been increasingly uncomfortable with the Venatori's methods, and 2) he believes strongly in an independent Magisterium.
The first of those things is true, even if he would only admit such a soft feeling as a means of manipulation. His commitment to political independence is not actually as strong as advertised, but he does believe he has a better chance of getting the kind of power (and vis-a-vis stability and security) he wants if Tevinter has an archon other than Corypheus.
Since he was last here, I'd like to say he's been goat herding on a hillside in the Free Marches, as a cover to pick up messages from a dead drop for a Starkhaven contact, and he's been doing research on his corrupted lyrium sample during his downtime.
Sample 1
Sample 2