noleechesneeded

PLAYER

Name: Syrup
Age: 31
Contact:

PurpleSyrup
Other Characters: None
Interests: Silly rpg elements even if they’re only in the background, dragons, exploring Thedas both geographically and politically, mages vs templars, tricky moral choices, dragons, romance, developing fun and interesting CR.

CHARACTER

Name: Simon Tam
Canon/OC: Firefly (AU)
Journal:

noleechesneeded
Race: Human
Nationality: Nevarran
Occupation: Circle Mage turned Apostate, specializes in the Creation School
Age: 26

History Here is Simon’s canon history. His life in Thedas is very close to this, with the main differences being the settings.

Simon was born in Cumberland to a comfortable family, not noble but wealthy merchants who were a little too concerned with appearances. Some years later his parents had a second child, River, and the two were very close. Both Tam siblings showed a great deal of promise, but as Simon grew he began to display magical talent and was sent to Cumberland's Circle. Still, his parents were quietly distraught at ‘losing’ their first born son and put all their hopes on River for the future of the family.

Life in the Circle went very well for Simon, he appreciated the academic structure and the opportunity to learn how to use his magic to serve man. He turned out to be very gifted with healing over the years and was on his way to becoming highly respected for a mage, but that all changed when Simon received a peculiar letter from his sister.

Simon had been in written correspondence with his family, particularly with River, as they grew up but they slowed down and eventually petered off shortly after she turned 14. The last letter he received was full of errors that added up to a code, telling Simon that she was being hurt in Tevinter and asking for help. At first Simon tried to contact his parents, from whom he learned that his sister was in Tevinter but that there was nothing to worry about and to not talk about it to anyone, lest he cause a scandal.

Then Kirkwall exploded. Simon was already deciding that he needed to find a way to escape the Circle and find River himself, and the political upheaval of the mage rebellions made it possible. The templars who tried to use his phylactery to follow him gave up when they realized he was heading for Tevinter and assumed the worst of Simon's intentions. His poor parents were, sadly, very scandalized.

It took Simon about two years to learn what was happening to River and then to find and rescue her, accepting help from a group of Magisters who knew what was happening to River and wanted to see it stopped, though Simon was never sure if their motivations were altruistic or political. That help included actually teaching him a little blood magic, though Simon only learned the basics of how to tap blood in lieu of mana as well as one offensive spell, it was enough to catch River’s captors off guard after infiltrating the academy that held and experimented on her. They had changed her from the girl Simon had though he'd known, but it wasn’t safe to stay in Tevinter any longer. The siblings returned South, avoiding as much attention as they possibly could, and as soon as Simon heard of the Inquisition he started taking River towards their stronghold, hoping to find sanctuary.

Personality

Between his parent’s influence on his younger years and his time in the Circle, Simon comes off as a bit too proper for his own good. He’s intelligent and polite but not very socially savvy, tending to speak before he thinks and it often gets him in trouble even with people he’s trying to be friendly with. The fact that he tends to be pragmatic doesn’t help, believing that the ends can in fact justify the means, which can make him seem unempathic at first.

The truth is that Simon is deeply compassionate, he wouldn’t have wanted to focus his studies on creation magic and healing otherwise, as he believes fully in the Maker’s edict that magic exists to serve man. The best and most direct way for him to do that is by doing as much good as he can with the gifts he’s been given by healing the sick and wounded rather than learning how to strike down foes. It’s just that his bedside manner can be pretty terrible, which is only made worse by how stubborn he can be.

Normally Simon tends towards the compassionate rather than the practical, except when it comes to River. When it comes to protecting her all bets are off and Simon suddenly becomes capable of terrible things that he wouldn’t normally consider, such as become a blood mage and then lying about it. River brings out a lot in Simon that he doesn’t normally seem capable of, and he is willing to lie, steal, even hurt people to keep her safe. His stubbornness becomes dangerous determination, and he feels very little regret over what he’s had to do. He understands it wasn’t entirely ‘right’, but he showed almost no hesitation to do any of it and wouldn’t if he had to make another hard choice for River’s sake in the future.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Healing
Simon is a mage with a gift for healing and has specialized in the creation school of magic accordingly. Though he is technically capable of going into combat he does his best work after the battle, mending wounds more thoroughly than he would be able to in the heat of battle. Simon is also a capable alchemist/herbalist, knowing how to diagnose and treat illness with natural medicine, though mending wounds is where he truly excels.

Magic
Though Simon has focused on healing he hasn’t shirked his capacity for other kinds of magic. Simon is competent with frost spells, preferring to stymie enemies rather than try to kill outright. He’s also been initiated into blood magic, though he only knows one spell that he’d have to be direly pressed to try using, it’s a violent knock back like what we see Jowan use in Dragon Age Origins. He could also choose to use his blood or the blood of others to fuel his normal spells rather than mana.

Gifted
Simon isn’t a world-changing genius, but he’s smarter than most and capable of picking up new skills fairly quickly if he has a mind to learn them. He’s already a very good mage and he could easily be a great one with time.

Diplomacy
Simon tends to put his foot in his mouth and offends when he doesn’t mean to, to say nothing of when he’s trying to be a sarcastic dick. Josephine should to keep him away from the visiting nobility and other possible allies.

Drive
What he lacks in physical strength he makes up for in pure stubborn determination. Almost. He’s stubborn enough that I feel it’s worth mentioning at least.

Inventory

Modest alchemical set, including a few vials and a small mortar and pestle.
Plain tunic, trousers, and boots that he wears most of the time.
Mage robes and staff, that he keeps hidden as best as he can while travelling.
River, his sister. She practically belongs in his backpack as close as he tries to keep her.

Motivation

Primarily Simon needs sanctuary from the templars convinced he’s a dangerous blood mage apostate and the Magisters still trying to find River. Simon also wants the time and resources to study what happened to his sister to find a way to cure her if that’s at all possible, and if he can help the Inquisition in return for those things Simon is more than happy to oblige. The fact that he agrees with what the Inquisition is trying to do in restoring order is just a bonus.

SAMPLES

Test Drive Sample 1
Test Drive Sample 2