Thread:Specmarine/@comment-30655593-20190623055915/@comment-30655593-20191231015212

This is from when I finished writing everything below and holy hell, its a lot. Sorry for the long read but I had a lot to say! Obviously, I put a lot of thought into the character.

To start off Markus' backstory we go back 21 (I forgot his age and this will now be his official age) in the land of... Let's call it Delmer, to the South of the land where our current civilians, villains, and heroes reside. Delmer was a place of corruption and crime.

One day in a run-downed brothel in the poor town of Ashmill a baby boy was born. The mother, Maria Henrika, would keep the baby for only a few before selling the child off to slavers for a measly bag of silver. Whether she did it to buy alcohol, necessities to live, or simply because she thought she could never take care of a child in the conditions she was living in never left her lips. As for the father, he was never found. Though the biggest guess for who the father was a man going by the name Ox whose looks matched the most to the baby from all the possible clients that could have gotten Maria pregnant.

The baby would then be taken from Ashmill and be raised on a farm where he'd be put to work as soon as possible. He'd work for hours from morning to nightfall in the blistering heat and finally before getting some rest for the night be fed bread which was often stale and soup that was usually unappetizingly cold. Though there were occasions, very rare occasions where either work was done early or there wasn't any work to do at all. On these days the child would go out exploring with another boy, a boy that was his closes friend and brought at least a little joy in his tiresome life. One day the two of them were exploring the edge of the farm when suddenly the two of them went too far out, their ankle chains going off which alarmed the owners to what they thought was an escape attempt.

Soon the two were dragged back by the collars of their shirts all the while being bombarded with curses and insults by the owners. Still believing that they planned to escape, they decided a punishment was in order. Not only that, an example of what would happen if one were to attempt an escape and so one of the two boys were chosen for a severe, bloody beating. The boy's close friend ended up being chosen and was promptly punished heavily. By nightfall, the boy's best friend was bruised, blackened, and coughing up blood. The boy tried his best to comfort his friend through the night, giving him his own blanket for extra warmth but by morning the boy wouldn't wake up... Life went on silently after that for the boy. He went through the motions of daily life on the farm like a zombie until 3 months after his friends passing. He was ordered to shovel cow manure and was being watched by the owners' son who repeatedly mocked the boy. Everything came to a boiling point once the son shoved the boy into the manure while mocking his deceased friend. At that very moment, the boy's anger hit its peak and he picked up the shovel that he was using to shovel manure, not caring for the possible consequences, and swung as hard as he could at the sons head. The son was knocked out cold with one swing and with blood dripping out of his head wound the boy quickly snatched the spare keys to his ankle chains and freed himself which was then immediately followed up with a mad dash away from the farm, not looking back once the entire time.

Once away from the farm and in the forest, the first thing the boy did was search for water which was quickly found at a river where he cleaned himself off and risked sickness by drinking the water. He'd then wandered the forest aimlessly, hunting small animals and fish with sticks and stones and occasionally eating berries when he found them unknowingly risking himself getting poisoned. This would go on for a few weeks, the boy moving up to bigger animals like lone wolves after finding that throwing sand into the eyes could blind an animal and therefore make them easier prey. He would then happen upon the outskirts of Balmoar, a kingdom with farms surrounding it. Now with more options for food the boy would consistently steal food from the farms along with other things he would find and for once live a little more comfortable but that wouldn't last long. Soon Goblins (Monsters, not Mamono) started moving into the area and also steal from the farms he was leaching off of. This also arrived with getting into fights with the Goblins themselves, the boy only being able to kill 2 or 3 before being forced to retreat due to the sheer numbers of them. This caused the farms to start getting security like guard dogs and wired fences and with the Goblins now controlling the surrounding forests the boy had to relocate.

This led the boy to try to get into the kingdom itself. The walls were far too high to climb over and each gate to the inside was heavily guarded yet the boy was undeterred. Soon he found a sewage pipe leading from the outside in and came across bars to keep out anyone who would want to sneak in. Thanks to the boy's slim physique, though, he managed to slip through the bars and infiltrate the kingdom. Once inside he immediately sought after food which, to his disappointment, was far tougher than what he hoped for. For water, he drank rainwater but for food, he would attempt to steal from vendors and for the first few times he actually escaped the angry vendors that gave chase. But one day as the boy was wandering down an alley he was jumped by 2 familiar vendor owners who, while they did receive some scratches and bruises, beat the boy into submission and took everything off of his person. Hurt, hungry, and now frightened to steal from any more vendors the boy resorted to picking from trash can to trash can until one day he silently sat down in an alley and accepted that at this point he was just going to die. Instead of struggling to fight against the world, he decided to let the world consume him and finish him. Just then a figure was walking down the same alley and stopped upon seeing the boy and after giving it some thought offered a hand to the boy. The boy would look up, confused and scared before finally deciding to take his hand. After that, the boy was taken away under the kingdom and into the criminal underbelly...

There the boy was then introduced to a group of professional assassins, the group named The Crimson Dagger. Them, looking for new recruits, welcomed the boy with opened arms. Finally, the boy felt like he found a place where he belonged, a place where he didn't need to constantly fight to stay alive. For the next years of his life, he would be given a proper education along with being trained to kill. During his time of training in The Crimson Dagger, his peers would note his habit of trying to blind the eyes during sparring which led up to the boy finally getting a name, Oculus He would attempt to find his real parents, heading back to Ashmill and to the same brothel where he was born. The trip was for nothing, though, as he found out his mother left the brothel a couple of years ago and never gave away where she was headed. The only thing he was able to find was shabby documents that the brothel had that included his birth... Along with another. A girl. Born a few years after Oculus. Sadly she suffered the same fate, being sold off to be some maid and from there the trail went cold. He headed back to Balmoar with nothing but the new knowledge that somewhere in the world he had a half-sister which he hoped that she has had a better life than what he has had. When he was finally ready to start taking on missions, he'd be sent after farmers and factory workers that happened to cross the wrong people. Oculus, wanting desperately to keep his place in his new home obediently went after the targets. Though, he convinced himself that if people wanted them dead then they must have done something horrible, that there just had to a good reason... But deep down he knew he was lying to himself. In all honesty, he was too much too scared to lose what he finally had. A home; a family; a place where he felt loved and so he lied to himself for years until one event that broke him.

In the kingdom of Balmoar, the king used the group of assassins often to carry out deeds he wouldn't aks his guard or royal guard. It had to be kept a secret of course. But in doing so the king racked up quite the debt, one which he refused to pay. Angered, The Crimson Dagger planned to send the king a message, a bloody one to add. One night, the king's most loyal and wealthy families gathered for a party to celebrate the birth of the king. Finally, the plan was a go. The assassins invaded from the roof of the ballroom and took everyone by surprise and when the innocent families looked towards the guards for saving they simply turned their heads, already been bribed to keep quiet. And so the families were tied up with rope and forced to kneel on their knees. Oculus watched and listened as their pleas fell on silent ears and the executions began. Elderly, young, man, woman... They were all to be killed. Oculus only could witness 3/4 of the horrors being committed before the voice which he buried deep inside him screamed out to the surface of his mind.

"STOP LYING TO YOURSELF! YOU WERE NEVER SOME HERO, YOUR JUST A SELFISH KILLER THAT'S TOO MUCH OF A COWARD TO FACE THE TRUTH! IF ANYTHING, YOU'RE THE VILLAIN HERE!"

Overcome with confusion, grief, anger, sadness Oculus left the massacre where the message 'We want our money' written out in blood on the floor. He wandered alleys and streets like he once did when he was younger, refusing to go back to the one place he once called home. He had no home again, back to square one. For days he spent his days wandering, hiding out on rooftops to avoid being seen since at this point The Crimson Dagger started looking for him. One day while moping on one of the rooftops near the cathedral Oculus saw the high priest through one of the upper windows. The sight curdled his insides as he watched a woman's body being dragged by out by guards all the while the high priest looking smug as the devil. The high priest had power, enough power that he could kidnap any poor sap disappear and do whatever he desired to them. Oculus watched silently as he once again hit his boiling point.

"Why... Why do we hurt innocent people while monsters like him live a luxurious life? What kind of backward, hellish world is this!?"

Enraged, he started to plan. One of the biggest rules The Crimson Dagger was to never go after powerful figures but like when he escaped the farm, he didn't have a care in the world for the consequences. He had to do something, whether to rid the world of scum or in a selfish attempt to make himself feel like he could do good even himself didn't know. So on the next night, Oculus sneaked into the cathedral and stalked the halls, looking for his target. After finding and following the high priest into an empty he attacked, stabbing him in the chest. The priest would grab at Oculus's neck in an attempt to strangle him. After getting a strong grip on Oculus, the two would struggle for a bit before Oculus rolled onto his back and kicked the high priest through the window. With the priest dead and the guards on high alert, they charged the room where Oculus fought for his life. As they attacked, a guard would rip Oculus's mask off and reveal his identity while the guards outside that knew about the high priests' evil deeds started a fire as per instruction from the priest that if anything happens to him to burn the cathedral down and with it the evidence. Once the fire had spread far enough, the guards would evacuate and locked the door to the room Oculus was in. While he thought about going out the window, he saw guards ready with crossbows and so he instead chose to break down the door to the room and into the blazing hallway. He'd run for it, looking for any way out when suddenly a flaming support beam came crashing down on him, pinning him. While horribly burning and scarring his back, he used his adrenaline flowing through his veins to lift the beam off his back and stumble through the hall, disoriented when he finally found an unguarded window and forced it open which he climbed out of and escaped.

Now a wanted criminal in Delmer, he would wander the land for a few months avoiding the law before finding his way onto a boat and to the land of (Insert name of the continent where our character are currently) to start a new life...

And that's his story all the way up to now. I wanted a character with a more gritty backstory and hardened attitude as opposed to my usual happy and positive characters that I RP. Obviously, lots of trauma hidden under his exterior.

All characters talked about are up for you to use and color with any type of personality you like. Some notes, the mother I planned to have died from a stabbing from a customer but I thought to make her disappear in case you think you'd like to do something with her. If not, then I'll be going with what I previously said. There's also another character I didn't mention named Grimm which was the rival to Oculus during his time in The Crimson Dagger. He was less physically talented and more magically and used his magic for trickery and killing. Personality would be cruel, cold, selfish, you get the idea. You can use this character if you're up for it. Finally, Ox is where he inherited his magic resistance. I planned for Ox to be a greatly loved hero that retired early and started a family. Personality-wise I was going to go for kind yet a bit irresponsible but if you would like to control this character and change some things go ahead just the one thing that must remain is the magic resistance.

Now whether you choose to control a few characters or none of them is fine, I got to tell you his backstory which I was wanting to do for a while. To be honest, I panicked a bit when Lin learned everything Oculus has ever done in his life so I sorta came up with something on spot as I was sorting out his backstory. Also, feel free to add characters to the backstory that Oculus encountered over the years that arrive back into his life. You and me will just need to discuss exactly how their encounter went beforehand.

Finally, I'd like your opinion on Oculus's backstory and how he's been doing so far. In my opinion, I think he's my best character yet. Oh, and what is the name of the current continent and Helena's kingdom?