Name: Ae'Ven Verbes (VEHR-bess)
Born: 12 Ae-Ven, 803 S. A.
Age: 28
Race: Human
Appearance: Very nondescript: medium height, medium build, close cropped brown hair and beard, gray eyes, fit but not muscular, tends to wear simple but tasteful attire.
Personality: Cold and quiet in general but deeply devoted to those he cares about. Quietly ironic. Despises mediocrity, at least in those who are capable of better. Indulges in few pleasures, apart from his beloved flute. Almost never angry but scary when he is. A passionate, fierce man, but he keeps it very hidden. Not always very self-aware.
Relations with other players: Verbes gets along well with Roland, for whom he has great respect as a craftsman. Their friendship is understated but deep. (Verbes and Gertie are friendly but have never been close.) He loves Nars and Lore as though they were his own, and he gives them free music lessons. He also teaches Lore how to fence and sometimes takes her to the library with him. He is awkward with children but they can tell he loves them. He seems to be exasperated by their quirks sometimes but has never tried to discourage them. He and Dog have a love/hate relationship. He treats Gantt with great respect and Lome like a sister. He is fiercely protective of all of them, particularly Nars, Lore, and Lome.
Verbes claims to want nothing more than to live a normal, quiet life. He lives in the middle-class district of Doerstadt, where he was born and bred, and makes musical instruments. He was married for three childless years to Analia before she ran off with a half-elf named Cor. "Ran off" is a relative term, as it is not certain that they were romantically involved. Technically all Verbes knows is that she left willingly and has not returned. Verbes journeyed with Roland the better part of a year to try to find her, but eventually lost the trail and came back to Doerstadt, where he has lived again for the past five years. He wishes she would come back to him but has largely abandoned that hope. Within a few months of his return, he purchased a sword and began learning how to use it.
Ae'Ven was one of two sons of a middle-class human couple (Orron and Lendra, both now deceased). His parents were Lystra-worshippers and liked the idea of naming their children after their birth-months. He hates the name and in informal communication will only answer to his surname. His older brother was named Oroh, and he died while young. Ae'Ven finds this fairly ironic.1 But the death itself wreaked havoc on his family. Oroh was apprenticed to Orron and set to take over the family business when Orron died, and Ae'Ven, being the freer second son, had planned to go to University to be a scholar. With Oroh's death, Ae'Ven had to take over the apprenticeship and bear burdens of work and finance sooner than he had wanted to do. He has come to enjoy his crafting - and he does love to play music, though not to perform it - but he wishes he could devote more time to his studies. Also, the tragedy had a spirit-breaking effect on both parents, and they led short and sad lives after that, dying fairly young and leaving him in charge.
Verbes is a quiet man, melancholy in his way, though known to show a spark of humor from time to time. For the most part, though, he keeps his emotions to himself and trundles along. Your best bet of knowing what he is feeling is to listen to the music he plays, but good luck getting him to play for you. His birth family are all dead, so his primary human contacts are his in-laws, to whom he is very devoted. He spends little time in other society since his return from his journey, choosing rather, when he has leisure, to study at the library. He finds the architecture amusing and is very interested in music theory and the history of Thrynn. A few years ago he spent a few weeks at the Great Library in Silasuir and returned in uncharacteristically jovial spirits.
Verbes is a perfectionist and has little respect for mediocrity; if he tells you "good job" it is a serious compliment. This can make him come across as rather aloof and scornful. In actuality, as those who know him well have come to realize, his disdain usually springs from a desire to see people to do their best work and not settle. This attitude makes him an excellent craftsman but rather unapproachable. If you are his friend, you will find him a strong and loyal supporter with a fierce protective streak; if you are not his friend, chances are you will not want to be.
Verbes loves few and hates fewer. Most people whom he does not know well he refrains from judging, though if they prove dishonest or foolish he may quietly despise them; those he bothers to know well he tends to love deeply. He is a very forgiving person and has stated on record that there is only one person in the world whom he genuinely hates. Most of those who know him suspect it is Cor, and a few suggest it might be Analia. He has neither confirmed nor denied either hypothesis.
His beliefs are hard to discern. He has not followed his parents in devotion to Lystra and does not publicly worship any god, though privately it is hard to say. He is generally respectful of religious people, in any case. Politically he is very nuanced, being a student of history. He recognizes both the importance and the corruption of the Magosi and generally supports the system, though he would like to see reform; he does not fit nicely into any one party. He is law-abiding by default, but he cares far more about morality and justice than the letter of the law. He is willing to distinguish between crimes of desperation and crimes of choice; and he would sooner break the law than do anything outright barbarous. He is not an activist and has no delusions about personally effecting change in the world, though in theory he would like to see relations between the races improve. He is highly curious about the origin of the halflings but doesn't actually like halflings all that well - not as any kind of overarching prejudice, but just as a matter of practice. Lore, to the degree that she qualifies as a halfling, is an exception. Verbes pretends to dislike gnomes but he is secretly amused by them.
He is devoted to charity, especially since his wife left him, and despite his modest income he gives regularly. He is particularly sympathetic to orphans. He is more of a financial supporter than an actual minister, however. He also makes a point to support his family financially when they need it.
Edited by Nars 6/2/07: Stuck in the children's names so it reads happily :)
