Former Germania
Admin
Posts : 77
Join date : 2011-06-10
Location : Our choicest plans / Have fallen though / Our airiest castles / Tumbled over / Because of lines / We neatly drew / And later neatly / Stumbled over
 | Subject: Germania - Adrich Beilschmidt application  Fri Jun 10, 2011 7:43 pm | |
| THE CHARACTER : GERMANIA  Character's name: Aldrich BeilschmidtTyger Tyger, burning bright,Country of origin: Germany, HanoverIn the forests of the night:Age: 37What immortal hand or eyeWhat they teach: Defence Against the Dark ArtsCould frame thy fearful symmetry?How long they've taught:Just started this yearPersonality:In what distant deeps or skies?Aldrich is a very strict man. With a habit of pressing his lips together when he disapproves of something, he uses very Spartan methods of teaching, not being a trained teacher. A lot of his old job bleeds through in to his teaching now, meaning he’s slightly violent and reckless with the kids. Burnt the fire of thine eyes?He’s got a very skewed sense of morality and has a tendency to be too reckless in certain situations and too conservative in others. He’s something of an adrenaline junkie and is always ready to join in on an adventure.On what wings dare he aspire?When his leg hurts and he needs to use his cane, he’ll be in a bad mood and is likely to hit people with it as he walks in the corridors. This is because it reminds him that he can’t get back to questing soon and that his leg isn’t even getting better.
He’s ambitious, and doesn’t worry about getting hurt or hurting other people to get what he wants, but he’s used to being around people who share this sentiment and he’s not adjusted yet to a slower life. After all, he doubts he’ll be promoted as a teacher.What the hand, dare sieze the fire?However, this all gives a rather poor picture of him; he is a kind man just with a short temper and a tendency to enjoy danger. He tries his best to keep his temper at all times and is usually a very calm individual – he does not look for trouble, just enjoys it when he finds it. He’s a little nervous and shy; he doesn’t deal with people well and has a tendency to blush and splutter if he’s asked the wrong questions.
He’s very shy about the fact that he’s good looking annd his extremely long hair and the fact that he looks like a girl is one of the few things that can get him annoyed very quickly. The three things he hates most in the world is being called “Legolas” or “Spock”/”Vulcan” (due to his pointy ears) or being mistaken for a girl.Appearance: And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?Aldrich is half-elf. There are two types of elves – the sub-species that was domesticated by wizards and evolved in to the house elf one can see today and the type that are much more like humans (related more closely to Veela than humans however), characterised by their pointed ears, shorter than average height, long hair and pointed faces. Elves are beautiful, so naturally – being half elf – so is Aldrich. But being part human he’s fairly tall, 6ft, to be exact. He doesn’t put on weight easily and always looks nearly unhealthily skinny, gaining neither fat nor muscle. However, this is deceptive; Aldrich is very strong, despite his appearance.
His eyes are an icy blue, rimmed by long dark eyelashes. He has a thin, pointed face with high cheekbones and pale skin. Overall this gives him a rather feminine look; many people have mistaken him for a girl upon first glance. He usually has a very apathetic face and doesn’t tend to smile very often. This makes him look stuck up and unapproachable, but really it’s just the way his face falls. He can often be seen flicking his hair back, as it’s so long that it gets in his face a lot. He, like an elf, has pointed ears, but he tends to hide them with magic. They can only be seen if he's unconscious, asleep, or if he lets them be seen.
For elves, their hair is very important and often it can stretch past their feet and need to be tied up in order to keep from dragging on the ground. To cut an elf’s hair without their permission is to incur their wrath. Aldrich has hair in a light blond colour and wears it just below his shoulders, normally straight with a braid down the side. If he plaits it, which he does occasionally, it means he wants to keep it out the way. This means that he’s probably going to go in to combat. He also plaits his hair for Elfish ceremonies.
He wears green robes with gold braid most of the time. Some of his robes have hoods which he wears up during the night to hide his face. He always wears clothes that completely cover himself, to hide the scars. He wears tight black trousers to hide the half-healed wound on his leg. He keeps his wand on a holster around his waist and carries a carved wooden stick with Elfish lettering and runes carved in to it. Technically, this could perform some spells but he never bothers as his wand is much more effective.
He usually carries a knife in his right leather boot – a habit left over from his previous job.Blood statusWhat the hammer? what the chain?Half blood, due to the fact that only one of his parents is a wizard and the other is an elf, but he’s all magic.Strengths:In what furnace was thy brain?- He has a venomous pet that’s loyal only to him
- He can read runes fairly fluently and speaks and reads Elfish
- He’s fast, light footed and has good balance
- Good looks help to manipulate people if needs be
- Deceptively strong
- Not easily frightened
- Puzzle solving skills
- Adept at all forms of combat, not just magic spells.Weaknesses:What the anvil? what dread grasp,- Injured leg means he can’t use a lot of his physical skills
- Too shy to really use his ability to manipulate people
- Doesn’t control his temper as much as he should
- Paranoid
- Gets flustered easily
- Too vulnerable to teasing
- Sensitive about being half-humanQuirks/Fears:Dare its deadly terrors clasp!- Carries a knife in his boot and a bow and arrows in his pocket ( magically made small of course )
- He’s bisexual with a slight preference for men
- He’s afraid of being an outcast; caught how he is between the elfish and human societies.
- When he gets angry he insults people in German or Elfish to try and calm down.
- Allergic to strawberries.Your Character's back story:Aldrich is dramatically younger than his half-siblings; the result of an affair between his father and a female elf that his father met during his travels. When the starsIt all happened one innocuous summers day, the day he was conceived; Aldrich’s father(-to be) had been lucky enough to be allowed in to the Elfish society, he had been allowed to see their culture and had eaten at their table. However...he betrayed this trust they had given him. The chieftain’s daughter was a very beautiful female elf, enough to tempt his father in to bed with her, despite the fact that he had a wife and children back in Hanover.
He left not many days after thinking nothing of it. It wasn't until sixteen months later that he was reminded of his digression. There was a knock at the door one night and his 15 year old son opened it.
"...Dad.”
“Yeah?”
“There's a woman at the door... An Elfish woman.”
She didn't do anything, just stared, a haut, cold statue. Even when his father came to the door, trembling with recognition. There was a soft breathing noise and a small squeak from the bundle.threw down their spearsShe held out the bundle and a beautiful sleeping baby was revealed in the folds of the cloth.
"His name is Aldrich."
“What? No, I can't, I-”
“...Please.”
Aldrich was not told as a child that he was only half related to his siblings. He knew he was half Elfish, and that no one in his family was, but it never seemed to matter. Unconsciously as a child he started to hide the points of his ears using Elfish band of glamour. Coming from a pureblood family, there was never a time he didn’t know he was a wizard, just as he always knew he was part elf, it was simply a matter of waiting for his fist magic bout ( Which happened to be the glamour on his ears ).And water'd heaven with their tears:On his fifth birthday the elves came for him. It was lucky he hadn't had anything planned, being shy already at such a young age. This was when he learnt about his past, they tied his hair in a plait and painted his body, put him in ceremonial robes. It was the day they made him an elf.
Every summer after that, he left his home in Hanover to learn Elfish traditions. He was taught their language, how to hunt, fight and how to shoot arrows. He felt as at home there as he did in the human world. However... when he was eleven, he was rejected from the Berlin Academy of Magical Arts for being only half human; there was a lot of prejudice against half breeds, still is. His father travelled all the way to Great Britain to beg the headmaster of Hogwarts to let his son study there. Hogwarts had always been a bastion of tolerance and agreed immediately to take him on.
He had found out while at school that his looks could entice anyone, men and women, which had gotten him in a lot more awkward situations than it had given him an advantage. He was too shy to take advantage it and only took a few lovers, mostly men but some women. In fact he sometimes cursed it as occasionally got him obsessive attention, once he had nearly been raped by a persistent admirer who hadn't taken no for an answer. He was not ungrateful for having good looks, mostly awkward and occasionally frustrated but he refused to be ungrateful for something he couldn't change and most people would give anything for.
Despite a few very few problems, he had been happy at Hogwarts. But there had one downside - he spent most of his year out of Germany and his summers in the Elfish community so he became distanced from his family.
Before he had even left school his brother had moved to Berlin and he had two nephews that he'd never met. He moved back to Germany after graduating school but didn't have the same closeness to his family as he did before he started at Hogwarts. He drifted for about a year, unsure of what to do.Did he smile his work to see?When he was 19, he met a group of questers in his Elfish community and after acting as their guide through the ancient Elfish woods he realised that he had found his calling.
Questing, I must explain, is something like curse breaking or things seen in an Indiana Jones movie. There are mythical, magical, rare or dangerous artefacts which have been hidden in dungeons or guarded by dragons. It is a quester's job to retrieve these artefacts, whether it be for the government or a private collector. His group consisted of him, an ex-assassin muggle who had once been married to a wizard, a 30 year old curse breaker, a dwarf and a goblin, who mostly verified that the artefacts were authentic.
Whenever he could, he would visit his two nephews in Germany. He would bring them presents when he could and taught his youngest nephew, Ludwig, archery. He couldn’t see them as often as he wanted to though, unfortunately.
Two years later, at 21, he was on a mission to find the Chalice of Life, when he heard a small whining noise, like that an animal in distress. Drawn to it, he allowed the others to go ahead and slipped down a dark side passage, light enough not to make any noise on the stone floor. There he saw it, a baby Jhereg, a pygmy dragon-like reptile that grows not much larger than a cat, with sharp, venomous teeth, the ability to breath fire and the power of telepathy.
It was with its mother but she badly wounded; he could tell she wouldn’t live much longer. She looked over at him when he approached, careful to stand back.
'Take him'
She had pleaded in to his ear using the telepathy given to their race. Her voice sounded so distant and he nearly cried with the tragedy of the situation, as she weakly nudged her child towards him. Slowly he stepped forward and took the baby dragon in his arms.
'Thank you...'
And the words disappeared. The baby was tiny, only the size of a kitten, he could fit in one hand. Aldrich turned his back on the dead dragon and ran back to the group. Then, continuing on their quest, the group intended to take the baby to a dragon specialist after they completed the quest. But when they came to the end they were attacked by a violent chimera. Chimeras are nearly impossible to kill – they weren’t managing particularly well. Aldrich was tired and bleeding; the chimera saw its opening and pounced onto his chest. He closed his eyes and swallowed, regretting it had to end this way. But suddenly... the chimera whimpered and fell down dead.
Aldrich was shocked and shaking. Had someone in his company killed it? No... there, on the shoulder of the dead creature was the baby jhereg, teeth sunk deep in to the flesh. Its venomous bite had saved them all. He named it Emery, the name meaning bravery and power, in that moment knowing it was the right name for such a beautiful creature. After that, Emery went everywhere with him. Emery conversed with him telepathically, preferring to talk only to Aldrich and spurning anyone else. Even when they went out of the country, he would go. The jhereg’s telepathic nature meant that it could disguise itself as a cat, simply by making those around him believe he was a cat. The mind can be a powerful thing.
He enjoyed this life for 13 years with only minor injuries on his escapades. But then disaster struck. Did he who made the Lamb make thee?He only just felt it, the dull throb in his legs as it scraped past the spike in the wall. It was barely bleeding and he already had cuts over his body, what was one more. Then the flesh began to burn, corroded away by the poison that was on the blade. He didn’t have much recollection of what happened after that, his back hitting the ground as he couldn’t hold up his weight any more, screaming. The skin peeling back and the muscle burning, blood, so much blood.
He nearly lost his leg, only the efficiency of his team saved him, stopped it from reaching the rest of his body. They stopped the poison from destroying his leg any more, and most of the bone was saved. He owed them his life, not for the first time, either.
But it was a magical poison, designed to kill or seriously damage the person unlucky enough to come in contact with it. No magic, human or Elfish could reverse the damage that had been done. It would take years before his leg was completely. He was forced to stop questing, though he contested this angrily. He loved it, he didn’t want to stop, how was this different to any of the other times it had nearly killed him? But this time it was different – he could barely walk. It took a month of painful physiotherapy before he could even walk again and months after that before he could run. He wasn't rehabilitated for close to a year.
This was how he ended up at his old school, applying, reluctantly, for the place of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. There was only one good point, now he could be close to his two nephews who had started Hogwarts that year as part of the exchange programme.How they were hired/transferred: Upon leaving hospital Aldrich was forced to go back home to his parents as he was too weak to live on his own. He stayed there for days, too depressed to even get out of bed, feeling crippled and useless. Eventually, his father came to speak to him, trying to get him up on his feet again.
After a while of talking, it was suggested that he become a teacher. He could be around the things he loved, namely fighting and defence, do some good by teaching. He wasn’t exactly happy but he agreed. And where did they know which needed a Defence against the Dark Arts teacher and would hire a half-elf? Well, Hogwarts, of course.RP Sample: Aldrich pulled himself up using the stick, wincing when the muscle in his leg burned, being stretched. Sometimes he wondered why it was him who had to be inflicted with this, it wasn’t fair. But... then he remembered. It was his own fault, he’d known what he was getting in to by taking up questing and since he had made his bed he would have to lie in it. Except... he was getting up now. He took a deep breath and clutched his leg, shakily standing straight. He had to be brave.
He picked up his suitcase and began rolling it down the holiday of the inn. He didn’t care about trunks, particularly since he couldn’t carry it and hold up his own weight. Of course the day the wound swelled up from the bad day it would be the day he was travelling to his new job in Scotland — It was just sod's law. He didn’t want to seem weak in front of his new students; he knew what the students were like, he’d been one.
He reached the end of the hall and stared down the stairs that were, for the moment, his mortal enemy. Emery flew around the hall as if mocking him and down the stairs. Aldrich just glowered at him, in something of a bad mood.
’You need to calm down, Master. You’ll give yourself an ulcer.’ Emery thought to him. Aldrich gave a dry look back, not in the right mood to play games with the young Jhereg. Later, when his leg was feeling better or he’d taken a strong pain relief potion, but not now. ’Oh fine, give me that look’
“For someone who calls me master, you’re very insolent.” He said, gritting his teeth together and pulling up the suitcase, dragging it down the stairs. Half way down he paused, wondering if anything would break if he simply rolled if down, but... it probably would.
’You wouldn’t love me as much if I wasn’t so insolent, master.’
He sighed, “Just get in the carry cage. And remember from n-now on,” He lifted the case again, “You’re a cat.”
’I hate the cages’ Emery said sourly, but sloped in anyway, folding his wings back and curling his tail about himself.
“I don’t think anyone likes them.” Aldrich replied, pulling the case down the last stair. He gave a look back at his enemy, proud that he was triumphant over the evil staircase. There was no enemy he couldn’t defeat, even now, half crippled.
The train ride was just as he remembered it, as boring and as quaint. He stared out the window, Emery sitting on his leg, and stroked his back. He hoped that Hogwarts would be interesting, he wouldn’t be able to stand it if this was a boring year. Still, if it was, he could always take a walk in to the forest, that would provide some entertainment.
The train ride ended after a few hours. He wasn’t a teacher yet, or at least he didn’t feel like one, so he stayed in the carriage and ate cauldron cakes, his one weakness when he had been at Hogwarts. It was very nostalgic actually, he remembered being on the train and eating them, sitting alone. Usually out of choice, sometimes he was throwing people out of his compartment, he’d never understood why it sometimes seem to be that whenever he was, was the place everyone had to be.
The castle was just the same as it was – not that he’d expected to have changed. He stroked his hand over the thestral, knowing that the students must think him mad, stroking an invisible horse. Of course most students were innocent and had never seen anyone die, which was a good thing. They were beautiful creatures in their own way, morbidly so.
Aldrich patted the thestral’s flank and walked in to the carriage, sitting with three students who just stared at him as if he was an alien. He turned away awkwardly to look out the window, hating having people stare at him like that and needing to distract himself. How on earth was he supposed to be a teacher again? When the carriages stopped he stepped out, pulling his hair out of his face. After the sorting ceremony he should go to the kitchens and find Emery something to eat.
He took his place on the teacher’s table, noticing how different everything looked from here, how small the students looked. He glanced over at the group of exchanged students and picked out Gilbert, who was clearly visible with his shock of white hair, then found Ludwig, sending a small smile their way. He remembered being there as an 11 year old and how frightening it had seemed. He had been a very proud Slytherin when he had been here and he couldn’t help but feel a little happy that both his nephews were Slytherins as well.
When the sorting and feast was over he was glad, his leg had been aching all day and he needed to relax now. He got in to his new quarters and opened Emery’s cage, handing him the beef steak he’d taken from the kitchens and lay on the bed as the jhereg tore apart the raw meat. It would be a good year. Well… here’s to hoping.Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?ABOUT MEName: LaurenTell us a little about yourself. Erm...I already play Germany here, as you all well know. So you already know what I'm like. Anything else? I took so many liberties with my application, I hope the whole Elf thing is okay... They don't not say they have them in Harry Potter :'D If you need me to argue my case more I shall. The jhereg is inspired by the creature in a fantasy book of the same name; by Steven Brust. The poem used is 'Tyger Tyger' by William Blake. Oh, and... "Wingardium Leviosa!"
Last edited by Aldrich Beilschmidt on Mon Sep 19, 2011 6:48 am; edited 2 times in total | |
|
