Audition: Dorian Clearwater

Writing Contest: Original Character Tournament:  Character Reference

Character Name:  Dorian Clearwater
Gender: Male
Age: 27
Profession:  Soldier, Assassin 
Where he/she lives:  Drifter, Kingdom of Dolmar

Appearance

Eye color: Ice blue, a single speck of orange in the left iris, just below the pupil.
Glasses or contacts: No
Weight: 142 lbs
Height: 5’ 11”
Type of body/build:  Lean, with strong wiry muscles
Skin Tone: Pale
Shape of face:  Square
Notable features:
         Scars:  Top of left arm from wrist to shoulder, inch long, ladder like scars (52). 18 inch 
            slash scar across his back. A circular dimpled scar in his left thigh. A two          
            inch long scar on his chest, slightly to the right of his heart. 
         Other:  Dorian always wears a finger-less black glove, that goes up to his left shoulder
            to hid the scars on that arm. 
Hair color: Black
Type of hair (straight, curly, balding, Etc.): Straight
Hairstyle: Cut short, not quite military short, but out of the way.   
Is he or she in good health?: Yes
Physical disabilities:  None

Natural Abilities

Strength: Dorian has a lean frame, but he is not weak. 

Agility: He relies on agility both when engaging an enemy, and when stalking those marked for death. Dorian has perfected the art of moving without making a sound, allowing him to get close to his enemies and targets to strike before they are ready for his attack. He relies on agility during hand to hand combat, instead of brute strength.

Intelligence: Dorian is very intelligent, but he suffers from tunnel vision. If the situation does not pertain to the mission, or to his private crusade, then he will dismiss it as unimportant. 

Charismatic: This is an area where Dorian is greatly lacking. He is a gruff man, who has spent most of his adult life actively fading into the background. As an assassin he does not want to stand out or be remembered. This was a difficult thing to learn because his aristocratic looks drew attention when he was younger. He’s mastered the ability to blend into any crowed, and if needed, he has learned to act like a noble. He is not inspiring to others. He moves through crowds with ease and is forgotten once he is out of sight. 

Magic: Firestarter. Elementals are rare in Dolmar, so rare that they’ve almost become myths. They were eliminated long ago, the few who survived did so in secret, and were lost to history.  There hasn’t been a Fire elemental in centuries, so the small orange fleck in Dorian’s left eye didn't cause concern. The secret of the spot was lost with time. When he uses his gift to the fullest extent, that fleck grows. It devours the iris in baleful orange shot through with wavering red. Elemental power usually develops at the onset of puberty, and during that volatile time the power is often out of control and destructive. This is what lead to the mass killing of those who showed the first signs of talent. Kill them before it builds and becomes a danger. 

Dorian avoided the normal fate of children showing elemental ability because he had an unusually even temper. He never got angry enough for the power to spike out of his control, and he knew from the nursery stories what would happen if he did let the fire free. 

Another sign of his gift is his pale skin, even though he started life as a farm boy, Dorian never tanned or burned. The heat of the sun didn’t touch his pale skin. Like wise the heat of fire only tickled. The flames never burning the one who could command them. 

Because there was no one to train him, Dorian doesn't have conscious control of his gift.  He usually has the talent clamped down. The rare times he's been forced to use it, he acted on instinct only. Dorian lacks the ability to control the fire once it is let loose.  His lack of control is why Dorian rarely uses the flashy gift.  The only time he uses it is if he is in a situation that is impossible to extract himself from without it.

Background & Family

Hometown: The small village of Ashborough, located in Dolmar, near the Mabetha boarder. 
Mother: Ascilia Clearwater 
Father: Herlewin Clearwater
Siblings:
         How Many?: 4
Place in the birth order:  Edwin, Dorian, Terric, Marsilia, and Hawisa

History:  The village of Ashborough was founded by six loosely related families, and has remained small. When Dorian was ten, there were fifty-three individuals living in the community. Because it was so small, many of the young men leave for a couple of years when they come of age to find a wife outside of the community. Herlewin found Ascilia on his journey and she refused to give her last name.  Her fine boned beauty, long  ash blond hair and refined manner lead him to believe she was a Noble of some sort, who had been turned out from her family. Herlewin was never able to get the truth out of her, but his love for her was unquestioned. 

Herlewin was a bear of a man, rough brown hair, full bristling beard, and built like an ox. He was able to carve a nice farm out of the wilderness, and his three sons helped tend it as soon as they were able to tell the difference between a new bean plant and a weed. Edwin was the first born and took entirely after Herlewin, save for a slightly lighter shade of hair. They were both big, at the age of twelve he towered over the girls of the family, and almost approached the height of most older youths in the community.  Dorian was the second born, affectionately called the runt of the litter. When he was 10 he was a full two feet shorter than his brother. His own frame was lean and wiry, while his brother was thick and heavily muscled like their father. Dorian’s pitch black hair was the darkest of the lot, taking after their great grandfather Alard who’s hair was so dark it had blue highlights. Terric was the third brother, born a year after Dorian and fell nicely between Edwin and Dorian body types. He wasn’t as powerfully built as the eldest, but he was already taller than Dorian and had heavier muscles. 

Marsilia was born two years after Terric. She could have been Dorian’s twin, but for her eyes. They were the warm laughing brown of their father. Hawisa was the baby of the family, and the only child of five to take after their mother. She was a tow-headed little angel. 

When Dorian was ten, his mother sent him out into the deep forest to gather black truffles while his brothers helped their father tend to sheering the sheep. Dorian had the best eye for finding the fungus, and so he was always sent to find them when the season was right. While he was gone, a battle between the two kingdom’s armies broke after days of relentless fighting.  Neither army was prepared to yield, but the troops had grown weary and needed rest.  Raiding parties of both armies, desperate for previsions, ranged over the land to either side of the battle field and groups from both armies came upon Ashborough.  The soldiers didn’t waste time fighting each other. Instead they fell upon the villagers, killing everyone in sight and stripping the small village of everything of value. 

Dorian came out of the woods just in time to see the raiders ride out. He witnessed soldiers from both armies had participated in the destruction of everything he’d ever known. Over the next three days Dorian existed in a daze. He moved mechanically though the village, gathering and burying the dead. With his grandfather’s skinning knife, which had been plunged into the harmless old man’s heart, Dorian cut a slash in his left arm. One for every member of his village that had been murdered. Every loved one he was forced to bury with his own hands. He worked relentlessly, sleeping only when he collapsed from exhaustion. But he did it. He gave each member of the community their last rights, stumbling over the half remembered words as blood caked his tunic, making his cloths stiff and tacky. 

Finally, when it was done he walked though the ghost village. Images played relentlessly through his traumatized mind. His mother, brutalized and so badly beaten he could hardly recognize her. His powerful father, who’d always seemed invincible to the small boy, with a gaping hole in his chest where a soldier had run him through. It had been difficult to drag the huge man to his grave. Finally, his little Hawisa, just four years old. She was the only one who looked like mother, and was secretly Dorian’s favorite. Sweet little Hawisa. Tears slid unnoticed down his dirty cheeks as he cradled the broken girl to his chest. Putting her in the hole between his mother and father had been the hardest thing he'd ever done.

As he walked through the blood stained village with its homes torn apart, the people dead and buried and animals gone, the mental fog that had protected his distraught mind lifted.  In its wake a wild fury rose. It was a sort of madness that consumed everything inside him before exploding outward in a wave of fire. When he walked out of the village, still soaked in the blood of his loved ones, he left nothing but ash in his wake. 

After the loss of his village, Dorian became a drifter. He moved constantly across the land and offered his skills as a farm hand when his supplies ran low. He always moved deeper into the kingdom of Dolmar, towards the crowned city.  Hate, cold after the cleansing fire that destroyed the village, grew as the years passed.  The iron clad hold on emotion that had served him so well as a child in controlling his gift was honed to a bitter edge. The softness and kindness in him was snuffed out, killed with those he'd held dear. All that was left was a diamond hard need for revenge. Revenge against Dolmar, and revenge against Mabetha. He lived to see the destruction of both kingdoms. 

When he was fifteen he entered the Dolmar army, and learned the art of killing from men who’d been bred on it. His lithe form and accurate aim brought him to the attention of the spy master. He was drafted into the assassin's guild at the age of seventeen.  Dorian learned all they had to teach him with greedy intensity. When he heard about the Chalice, he knew that revenge was finally at hand. He would acquire the Chalice, and remove it from the game. Then he would carefully sew rumors, whisper in the ears of Nobles on both sides “Mabetha has the Chalice, they’ll be attacking soon, surely. No, I saw the Chalice make its way safely into the hands of Queen Tairess, and they are just waiting until the new moon to strike.” Then, he would sit back and watch as both Kingdoms tore each other apart. They wuold be desperate to strike before the Chalice was used to enhance the armies and insure the destruction of the other. 

With his refined features, Dorian was trained to move within Noble society. He could blend in any crowd, be it walking with peasants or Kings. Dorian mastered the art of altering his mannerisms to match his setting, allowing him to take down any target the Guild demanded of him. He developed characters, minor in both Kingdoms of a young noble who enjoys his solitude and travel. This has allowed him to make appearances in both realms, but as a bit player. Someone who can whisper poisoned words into the ears of those who love to gossip. There has never been a target Dorian hasn’t slain. 

Personality

Greatest fear: Dorian’s greatest fear is dying before he exacts his revenge. 
         Why: Revenge is his only reason for existing, and should he die without fulfilling it, he
            believes that he would be letting down all those who’d been killed in his village. It isn’t just his revenge,
            but the revenge of the dead that guide his actions. Dorian can never forget the sight
            of his slain kinsmen and their memory drives him to satisfy blood with blood.
The worst thing that could happen:  The worst thing that could happen is an injury that will leave him lame. If he were injured and no longer able to pursue his quest for revenge, Dorian is certain that the overwhelming need would destroy him from the inside out.

Most at ease when:  He’s stalking a target.

Most uncomfortable when: When he’s forced into a social situation that isn’t based on recon for a job. He despises meaningless activity, and social events such as balls disgust him if he isn’t actively hunting. 

Most embarrassing past failure: His most embarrassing failure was the first woman he tried to kill. The roof had been tile, and slick with night dew. He’d fallen off, and sprained his ankle so badly that he couldn’t get back to the roof, and had to crawl though an arched dog door that had been carved into the wall.  The fit had been rather tight, and he’d nearly gotten stuck. 

Darkest secret:  Dorian is attracted to those of the same sex. Such attraction was considered a grave sin in his village, so he’s never acted on his desires, remaining celibate. He realized his sexuality when he hit puberty, first noticing his fellow trainees, and later his targets. It doesn't happen often, but there were times when a male target would stir his blood. The attraction has never been enough to save a target from death.
         Does anyone know?: No

Greatest strength:  Dorian’s greatest strength is his ability to be innovative. He is able to shift his plan in an instant if the parameters of the job have changed. While working, he is able to take any set back in stride. He has a knack for seeing the best alternative when things go wrong and the original plan has to be scrapped.

Greatest weakness: Dorian’s greatest weakness is his one track mind. If something doesn’t pertain to the job, or to his ultimate revenge, it is ignored as insignificant.
 
Biggest vulnerability:  His fire starting gift, it is untrained, and if he loses his temper he loses control of the gift. Because of that, he has trained himself to never lose his temper. Fire starting is just too flashy for a man who works from the shadows. 

Biggest accomplishment: Dorian’s biggest accomplishment was achieving the title of Master Assassin at the unheard of age of nineteen, the youngest member to reach such a rank in the history of the Guild. 

Biggest regret: That he hadn’t been able to save his village. 

Interpersonal Skills

How does character relate to others?: Dorian sees people only as objects, targets, those who can be used to acquire information about targets, superiors, and those who are ignored.  Those who are not directly involved with his objective are non-existent to him. 

How is he or she perceived by others?: Much like a human hawk. He has a superb sense of self preservation, and a cold aloofness that makes him seem untouchable.

What do others like most about character?: His ability to complete a job, no mater how dirty or dangerous. Dorian is the man the guild goes to when they have a job no one else will take. 

What do others like least about character?: That everyone is disposable in his eyes. There is not a person alive that Dorian will not kill, and his superiors know that, and fear him for it.