Post by Mael Leblanc on Feb 5, 2010 15:06:13 GMT -5
Name: Mael Leblanc
Age: 18
Race (Lineage Origin): D’Angeline (Eisandine/Namarrese)
Gender: Male
Height: 5’, 9”
Home Province/Country: L’Agnace, Terre d’Ange
Appearance and Personality:
At first glance, Mael seems to be the most non-threatening person you will ever meet. His hair is the color of corn silk, his skin the color of flawless alabaster, and smooth to the touch. His pouty lips are the color of ripe apples. And his eyes? Well, they used to be blue, as blue as the summer sky. Now there’s just a scar where his eyes used to be. He wears a blindfold at all times so no one has to bear looking at it for long. He may project an aura of innocence and delicacy, but his words and his actions communicate a tough-as-nails, survivalist demeanor with few glimpses of his vulnerability. The only place in the City where he allows himself to be weak is Elua's Temple, as he sees the young god as a fellow outcast who was scorned by most of the world before coming to Terre d'Ange.
Although he is blind, he has learned to familiarize himself with his surroundings in other ways. He is often seen without shoes, not because he is too poor to afford them, but to keep in contact with the earth so that he can feel the vibrations produced by other living things. If he knows a person well enough, he can usually recognize who they are by their footsteps. He has trained himself to listen for the slightest inflection in the voice which may indicate that someone is lying to him. His sense of touch is particularly sensitive, and it’s not uncommon to witness him running his hands over an object two or three times before he decides what to do with it. Even people are not immune to being subjected to such an examination (with their consent, of course). The ultimate irony is that he dislikes it when other people touch him, and becomes particularly irritated at the slightest suggestion that he remove his blindfold. He feels that his body is a shameful thing, so he cheerfully subjects himself to all sorts of painful ordeals.
History:
Mael’s mother was a chiurgeon of some renown who managed to buy her way into the peerage through a combination of hard work and personal charisma. Mael was the product of her union with a priest of Naamah, who briefly stayed at Lady Leblanc’s estate during his year of service. His mother doted on her son, and for most of his childhood he wanted for nothing. He might have lived a life comfort, and relative obscurity, if it had not been for what happened soon after he turned ten.
Mael’s mother was not the type of woman who made many enemies, but some of their neighbours resented the fact that a simple chiurgeon should be able to buy her way into the peerage. Soon after Lady Leblanc was accused of poisoning an expectant mother, a group of soldiers descended upon the estate, driving out their livestock, and setting fire to their manse. Mael was forced to watch as his mother was violated and killed, before the soldiers put out his eyes and left him for dead.
Somehow, he managed to make it to safety, whether it was the desire for vengeance or simply the will to live, Mael survived that night. He learned how to rely on his other senses to paint an accurate picture of his surroundings. In time, he found his way to the City of Elua, where he began a short-lived career doing what amounted to wagering on street fights with himself as a contender. During his time on the streets, he learned to use his mother's teachings to his advantage, pinpointing the spots on the body which would cause the most pain and quickly disable an opponent. If his opponents thought he was an easy conquest because of his age and his blindness, they were swiftly proven wrong. He spent six years doing this until his mother’s factor caught up with him in the City, and he suddenly found himself with enough money to buy a dwelling there. A friend from the streets offered to move in with him to be his eyes in the City, an offer that Mael accepted. Now, at eighteen, he has renewed his efforts to find the soldiers who deprived him of a normal life.