Character Profiles: Angtamin Sildraug, Traveling Merchant.

[Note: Profiles are an introduction to fictional characters I use in my writing. I'm not entirely sure this feature is a good idea, or if I will leave them up. Since it's a holiday weekend, I am inspired to give it a try. I reserve the right for details to change during revisions.]

Name: Angtamin Sildraug
Race: Anrovian Elf
Sex: Male
Age: Young adult. At first introduction, he is ~185 years of age.
Physical Description: Shoulder length silver hair, tanned skin, brown eyes. Broad-shouldered and muscular (for an Elf) with a slightly stooped posture. Ordinarily handsome (as Elves go), no striking physical features or scars (at this time).

Family (as of Catalyst): Angalamor (Father), Iluvianne (Mother), Turgen (Uncle, missing), Valmiros (brother, elder), Fuitirin (brother, younger), Kortirion (nephew), Lirilwe Cantralone (wife, deceased).

Hobbies: Collecting feathers, music, travel, trading.

Origin: The idea of (adult) Angtamin began early last decade while playing GemStone IV, though I have used him in other RPGs. Originally, he served as a secondary merchant persona who would be more neutral in character - my other primary characters were too strongly opinionated to play the role of merchant. He was first conceived as a soft spoken stoic, someone who could be relied upon to refocus the family energies, to provide calm and logic to heated situations. He added an austerity to certain rituals and relationships. Logistically, he enabled the transfer of loot between characters and enabled transactions with characters that my primaries would not interact with. When there were times that a situation required tact and diplomacy, those were the situations that Angtamin was brought in.

Inspiration: I come from a rather large, extended family, and I see that as more of a common occurrence in (early/primitive) Zherlios. My own uncles had great influence on me as a child/young adult, serving in many ways as big brothers throughout important parts of my life. Angtamin is a tribute to the love I still have for my uncles and the role they play/ed in my life.

Evolution: In Catalyst, I had to be honest about the lifespan of Elves, so it didn't make sense for a (relatively) young Angtamin to be overly mature and patient, as he was in his origins. I wanted, instead, to write from earlier in his life, to show more of his history, and to provide the reader an opportunity to see his development. In Catalyst, he is regarded as a powerful warrior, politically notable as the son of the tribal warlord, who has forgone the ways of war to take up a life of trade and travel. He is under pressure from his elder brother (heir apparent) to rejoin his tribe. However, none of those pressures outweigh the reason that drove him from his forest home, the reason that he truly partakes of the journey in Catalyst. In this, Angtamin is at a crossroads in his life, one that he may not survive.

Quote: (subject to edit)

To his nephew, on the subject of sparring with blunted spears.

There is nothing infinitely more profound towards learning than loss. The greater the loss, the greater the lesson. You will never gain as much skill from sparring your friends as you will fighting for your life. You will never appreciate love moreso than when your heart is broken into countless pieces.

It is through Chaos that the greatest growths take place, nephew. Chaos tears apart the earth beneath your feet and teaches us how to stand more sure-footed. There is no better lesson than pain.

And that is why I will beat you every night...