Tell Vokun

[Tell]

Tell is played by an experienced player and is not indicative of a typical character.

Player Name: Valyr

Name: Tell Vokun

Age: Unknown

Race: Human

Height: 5’11”

Weight: 165 lbs

Physical Description: The first thing a person will notice about Tell, aside from his ridiculous outfits, is that something seems off about him. His movements appear subtly different from those of other mortal creatures, simultaneously animalistic and alien. As to his actual, physical appearance, he is a tall, slim man with the barest trace of stubble across his chin and ratty, unkempt black-grey hair. He appears young, only about twenty five years of age, and would be very handsome if his appearance were at all kept. As it stands, he appears as if he crawled through a swamp for a few days.

Tell is usually found wearing a ragged, dull purple outfit. It is a curious mishmash of cultures. The patterns are very reminiscent of ancient Tiang Xia art and symbols, including a tiger across his legs and a dragon on his back. Both animals are colored very dull shades of green and are very detailed works of art. The loose smattering of armor is clearly Eyropan, midnight-colored leather, help on by numerous belts and buckles which spread outwards at random angles. A multitude of silver bells adorn the sleeves and pant legs, both of which are very baggy, thick, and torn.

He wears a large scarf or cape like piece of apparel which drapes over both his shoulders. It is the cleanest piece of his apparel, but that isn’t saying much. Even it has torn and tattered patches, here and there.

On his head he wears a turban-like object. It is purple and looks to be made of the exact same slightly shiny material as the scarf. His most curious accessory is the wizard/witch hat which he wears over the top of that.

He speaks with an odd, ancient accent. Close inspection will reveal that his tongue is constructed out of living, flowing wood.

Possessions:

All possessions listed here have been marked with his summoning rune.

Tell has multiple outfits, all of which are somewhat strange.
- A set of purple, multi-cultural styled clothing, with a slight splattering of thin, functionally useless black leather torso and shoulder armor. This outfit has very baggy pants, and, oddly enough, a purple and highly stereotypical witch/wizard hat, which he wears over a turban. Multiple bells adorn the sleeves and pant legs. It has a purple scarf which goes to all the way down to his heel. He usually has the green crystal ball with this outfit. This is his primary outfit.
- A white formal getup which has a white top hat. He usually has a short, wooden, arcane looking cross between a wand and a staff when he wears this outfit. He usually has the red crystal ball with this outfit.
- A shirtless outfit with a grey, heavy robe covering his lower body. It also has heavy, silver gauntlets and a silver helmet. The helmet has antlers and is enchanted to make the wearer’s eyes appear to glow yellow-green through the visor. He also has a belt slung over his shoulder, and a long grey cape. He usually has the blue crystal ball with this outfit.

- He owns three crystal balls, one red, one blue, and one green. They seem to have writhing tendrils, clouds, and a fire inside them respectively. They are functionally identical. They are all marked with his rune. If he lets go of these crystal balls, they are unaffected by gravity and hover in place.

- A doorway. Yes, a doorway.

-Scrolls depicting his rune circles and summoning rune.

-A huge silver lance. This is too heavy for Tell to use, in addition to requiring a horse to use properly. It is magically enchanted, and has a nearly imperceptible spot of green light which floats just off the point.

Powers or Strengths:

Flesh Puppetry- If a humanoid shape is made of flesh, or a humanoid body (living or dead), and placed in a circle of chalk or carved runes made by Tell or someone acting under his guidance, Tell can mold the skin and bone into a remote (and naked) copy of himself. The original Tell must remain meditating in a separate circle to control the puppet. Whenever he leaves the circle, the puppet reverts back to its base components. Since Tell does need to eat, he must leave the circle at least once every 24 hours. If he wants to maintain a reasonable distance, he’ll have to find someone to maintain the circle for him.

If the skin of the puppet is damaged such that a human would bleed, the puppet reverts back to its original components. Because his consciousness is elsewhere, these puppets are immune to mind control effects. His puppets can be distinguished by the fact that they have normal tongues rather than wooden ones.

Arcane Knowledge- As long as he intends to meet someone, Tell demonstrates full knowledge of their magical abilities, effects, or curses. He also knows how to teach others magic, and could serve as a tutor to a young mage whom is willing to overlook Tell’s oddities.

Astral Mark- Inherently magical creatures, such as fairies, kitsune, and demons, will find that lethal intent directed at Tell tends to slip away. Through a series of murky events, Tell has been branded by a very powerful creature of the astral plane. The mark symbolizes the being’s claim over Tell, in addition to providing a direct charm effect which prevents the vast majority of these fey creatures from entertaining the thought of attacking Tell outright. Beings which are powerful enough to overcome the charm still must weigh the advantages of attacking Tell against the possibility of angering the one who marked him.

Animal minded creatures are immune. Creatures that used to be an ordinary mortal are immune after overcoming blurry thoughts on the subject. If Tell attacks or is about to attack something under this effect, the direct spell effect is broken. Summoned creatures ordered to attack Tell are still affected, and will tend to act as if the order makes no sense to them.

Crystal Balls- Tell can cause his crystal balls to fly around at will. They can only move with about the force and speed of a good punch, but they can instantly reverse their momentum. A good punch is about the strength of an average, untrained punch. Tell can adapt this power to cause the orb to lift light nearby objects, but this is more akin to a constant and weak force to or from the crystal ball than true telekinesis.

Dream Walker- Tell has the ability to find and enter the dreams of mortal creatures. He has exhibited a disturbing amount of control over the dreams a person has, as well as the ability to find the dreams of specific people. He is intelligent enough to make inferences from the dreams about a person’s psyche, but this can only be done before he starts modifying them for obvious reasons.

Summoning- Tell can summon any object marked with his rune. He cannot displace solid matter with the objects he summons. These objects must appear within half a yard of his person, so he cannot summon anything which is larger than that criterion would entail.

Side Stepping- Tell can convert any doorway into a gateway to the astral plane. The door must be closed in order for him to turn it into a portal; similarly, he cannot close the portal unless the door is shut once again. The portals destabilize unpredictably if multiple doors have portals.

Uncaring- Though he rarely kills others personally, Tell would think nothing of hurting or causing the death of another person. People aren’t people to Tell, they are only sacks of meat which make dreams to live in and puppets out of. It is nearly impossible to make the mage feel sympathy.

Mysterious- Who knows what else Tell could be hiding?

Weaknesses:

Unsubtle- Tell’s various outfits all stick out like a sore thumb. Whether walking shirtless, in pure white, or a wizard hat, Tell’s appearance screams magic louder than dragon’s roar. Were it not for his puppets and mental incomprehensibility, he would have been killed on multiple occasions by Marn’s battlemages. As it stands, the battlemages already have orders to kill him on sight, even though they know he’s probably a puppet. Guards are usually advised to back off and contact the battlemages unless they have one or two people for backup, despite the fact that Tell hasn't yet demonstrated the ability to overcome even one guard.

Egotistical- Tell firmly believes that everything should go the way he wants it to. He gets frustrated when they don’t, and will continue to persist in actions which obviously fail to work out for him. This is likely the reason he continues to wear obvious clothing, despite having been killed because of it multiple times, and just about certainly the reason he hasn’t bothered looking up modern culture.

Slow Reflexes- Either as a result of dying many times in puppets or other, more shadowy reasons, Tell doesn’t always react to danger as swiftly as he does in his fables, and the moments he spends staring as peril approaches can put him at risk.

From Another Time- Tell acts as if he is from three hundred years ago. He has no idea about modern culture, events, or politics, and speaks with an obvious, though unidentifiable accent from the past. As far as he’s aware Marn is still under the control of the Eyropan Empire.

Malevolent Tongue- Tell’s wooden tongue is highly magical, and it is not a benevolent enchantment. If Tell ever violates the rules below, it will react in various ways. No matter what happens, however, Tell will suffer for it. Those with resistance to magic or exceptional skills at observation will notice something a little off about the ensuing chaos.

Running Water- Tell will not cross rivers or any other constantly running water. He can pass over a river only if something solid is between him and the water.

Cold Iron- Tell will not voluntarily touch anything made of iron. Similar to running water, nothing would happen if he did so, but he will never touch iron. He can work around this weakness by using the power of his crystal balls.

Home and Hearth- Tell will not enter a home without permission. The one who invites him does not need to be the owner. A home is defined as any place both a person and Tell identify as a home.

If a flesh puppet is summoned into a home, he appears to consider that an invitation. This is perhaps because a third party must build the circle for this potential conflict to apply.

Binding Oath- If Tell gives his word he will always keep his end of the bargain. If someone breaks the deal, he will without exception attempt to torturously murder them. Additionally, he cannot speak mistruth, but keep in mind that his definition of “truth” tends to differ significantly from the main body of mankind, often to the point of incomprehensibility.

True Name- If Tell’s true name is ever spoken (it is not Tell Vokun) then he will obey their every command. Seeing as he is over 300 years old, this is not likely to occur. If it does occur, he will resent the control and seek to indirectly cause the death of whoever knows his name.

History:

Tell appears in a few small folk tales and rumors. So small is his story that few ever notice his presence in multiple tales.

Regardless, Tell Vokun is an enigmatic figure shrouded by folklore and myth. The studious will note that roughly two hundred years ago, tales began speaking of travelers who had met an odd purple mage.

In Darleone, his stories portray him as a guardian of sorts, protecting young mages from the forces of the astral plane with cunning and guile. Most of these are derived from a retelling of a very real quest of a young man looking to cure his father of a fatal disease— the only known cure was on Ayana, which at the time was even less well understood than it is today.

The young elf was on a sailing ship, provided to him by a high mage friend of the family. Its wards were said to be able to stop even dragonfire from entering the ship unbidden.

So it could be said that the elf was somewhat confused by the presence of a human mage on the ship. At least, he was fairly certain it was a human wizard— as far as he was aware, only they were supposed to wear those silly hats. After a short interrogation involving live steel and confusing, muddled answers, the elf was finally given a straight answer.

The wizard, tied to a chair as he was, informed the elf that his father’s sickness was so unusual because there was an astral being that had poisoned him. The being was going to attempt to kill him that night as he slept.

Tell explained that even if the elf left him tied up, so long as he drew a circle of runes around him Tell would be able to protect him. When the elf asked him how he would know what to draw, the charts materialized before his very eyes.

When the elf asked the mage why he was determined to help him, the wizard explained that his services would not come free. The elf would owe him a debt, one which might not even be called upon while he was alive; for only in death might he one day serve.

The elf eventually accepted, but not before threatening to kill the human should he go back on his deal. The human mage only smiled and said the elf might try, but it wouldn’t stick.

Later that night, the elf’s spirit wandered the astral plane, as his species was occasionally destined to do while asleep. But wandering the astral plane has risks, and Tell’s prophecy came true. A great demonic presence flooded into the elf’s dream. Tendrils of shadow fell down through the cracks in his personal reality.

At the pinnacle of his horror, they formed together into the shape of a man, a black mass of writhing shadows. “Your father must not live.” The demon spoke to him. “And so you must die.”

But upon the first step the creature took forward, he stopped and hesitated. “What farce is this?” The demon asked.

Tell walked out from the very cracks the demon had entered through. “You know what it is, creature. He is marked, as am I, for he owes a debt.”

The demon stood and looked at Tell. He stared with eyes of coal for what felt like an eternity. “You and yours will regret this mistake, in time.”

Tell only smiled softly as the creature unwound itself and fled.

The demon gone, the elf completed his quest and saved his father. Just over a century later, he disappeared without a trace but for a door left in his bedchamber.

In Eyropa, his eccentricities feature more heavily; like many fabled tricksters, he may be benevolent in one story and malicious the next, but one can never tell which until the very end.

There was once a young magister in the courts of Eyropa. Though he learned very quickly, he was weak. It was his weakness that prevented him from rising above the station of a small court wizard for a minor nobleman far out in the wilderness.

He resented this weakness, and his pride demanded that he be raised higher through the ranks of Eyropan mages. Still, he had duties to the nobleman which he was obligated to fulfill, and so he went on, toiling in eternal anonymity.

Until his dreams began. In them, a strange man with a top hat and white outfit would appear to teach him something. Every night, the mage would learn a new spell. His sudden rise in power was unprecedented for one of his station.

Needless to say, those he might supplant did not take kindly to his sudden gains. An investigation soon began, and team of mages was sent to investigate the suspicious, wild mage. Many accused him of abusing copiax, the deadly magical enhancing drug. The mage himself refused to admit that he had learned from another out of pride.

Instead, they learned that livestock had been going missing lately. They swiftly drew the conclusion that the mage had fallen in with some dark power and was using blood sacrifice to compensate for his weakness.

What they found was quite different. In a basement room of the nobleman’s estate were mounds of rotten meat, all arranged in freakishly glowing rune circles. The wizard stood at the center of it all, a knife held in his hand.

He swung it about like a madman, chopping up meat with fanatical frenzy. They mages saw a human shape appearing and immediately moved to intercept the ritual. When one reached out a hand to touch the skin, his finger was pulled off of his hand as the flesh formed into the tutor from the mage’s dreams.

Tell waved a hand and the door appeared. One of the investigators made the decision to use force and fired a beam of magic at the new arrival, but a crystal ball summoned in the path of the beam stopped it. Tell sprinted through the door and threw out a hand to his apprentice, who took it eagerly. Both the first mage and the investigator were pulled through the door, which shut.

When opened by the remaining investigators, the door led to nowhere. By the time they found someone who could trace it, the door had vanished.

Many weeks later, two mad mages were found in the woods. One was missing a finger, the other was aglow with magic. After weeks of interrogation, they were identified as the two who had fallen through the door.

Neither would ever speak of their experiences on the other side of the door, though neither could say that their experiences were horrifying. Try as they might, they failed to explain what had occurred; only that a strange white clothed mage had guided them through their ordeals.

Because neither had committed any significant crimes, both went on to achieve innovations in arcane theory. It was said they no longer thought like mortals; eventually, the first mage committed suicide in his old age, leaping from a tower. His death was written off as typical of ageing mages, but those who knew him knew that his magic had been showing him visions from his time beyond the door.

At his funeral, the investigator, now a Eyropan archmage, cried. He would later die of old age, with a smile on his face.

These tales are notably different in Marn, of course. Tell is a boogeyman, unambiguously evil, used to scare children at night with tales of forbidden magic and meetings with ancient beings from the astral plane. Like many children’s stories, some have heard of him and some haven’t. However, Tell’s most major impact on Marn is primarily historical.

It is likely these stories propagate from a meeting many years ago. Before the Marn battlemages were created and the anti-magic laws put into place, Tell appeared in the city. He had entered the dreams of a child, and convinced the boy of his good intentions. The child led his sickly grandfather into a rune circle, whereupon Tell turned the aging man into a puppet.

The child disappeared. An investigation began—in the room near the rune circle was a large doorway, which when opened, led to nowhere. When it was quickly concluded the child had not been capable of creating a rune circle or summoning a doorway that magically advanced, the wizard responsible was tracked down by the elven hunters, the early precursors to the Justice Hall’s modern day seers. The guardsmen responsible for apprehending the Hunter’s targets heroically followed after him, chasing him down until he had nowhere left to run.

They caught up to the mage when he attempted to climb to the roof of a guard barrack. Cornered off the edge, he began infamously ranting about the hounds of “the hunt,” presumably in reference to the hunters who had tracked him down. The mage’s last stand was viewed as the last protest of the anti-magic laws by some, and indeed it marked a turning point in Marn societies’ attitudes towards magic.

This case ended poorly. The guards, unaware that Tell was using an old man as a puppet, threw him from the rooftop. He screamed out “The hunt shall come for all!” as he fell, eventually landing messily in front of the very hunters who had tracked him down. One was no more than a child, who watched with horror as the puppet Tell was using reverted back to its base components.

The dying puppet crawled over to her, his legs smashed and bleeding, as his features decayed from those of a handsome young man to those of the grandfather. He put a hand on her shoulder, moved his face to her ears, and whispered. “You and I are both dogs. Hounds of those greater than us.” He cackled and smiled a bloody grin, "Serve well."

He collapsed to the cobblestone street and died, never to be seen in Marn again.

Until now.

[Saruna]

Approved.