Ravenloft: Prisoners of the Mist
Within the swirling Mist (IC) => Biographies => Topic started by: Maccabeus on January 06, 2009, 07:17:35 PM
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((I've tried sending this biography to a DM, but I don't think I managed the message-sending properly; I might as well put it here, just to make sure. :D))
Oliver was born in Paridon to a middle-class family; his father was a watchmaker, his mother the daughter of an expatriate merchant established in Sri Raji. From a young age, Oliver began showing an extraordinary intelligence. His parents, extremely delighted to have such a seemingly bright and fast-learning son, treated him to all the education that they could afford. After early schooling, he was sent to study in the Temple of Divine Form; there, he was instilled with a strong belief in the Divinity of Mankind, and began showing a strong inclination for the path of the alchemist, the Apex of Intelligence. He was thus quickly sent to Port-au-Lucine in order to study the arcane Art, where he specialized in transmutation.
While studying this, he also became acquainted with the languages of the Core, mastering several of them. When he returned home of his own volition at the age of 19, he stated that he was now ready, not for a life as an alchemist of the Apex of Intelligence, but that of a trader; during his stay in Dementlieu, he became greatly interested in the wider world. With connections in Sri Raji, he quickly became a part of the Colonial Merchant Company of Zherisia; for the next six years, he used his education and personality to further expand Zherisian trade. Helping the small trading colonies in Sri Raji and Rokushima Taiyoo, he started to make huge profits from the spice and tea trade, and thus rose up in the hierarchy of the Company.
An increasingly successful merchant, Oliver Darwin began to draw the sinister attentions of the doppelganger community of Paridon. Unknown to all, Oliver’s younger brother Edward was replaced by a doppelganger by the name of Zajj when he was 16; watching his “brother’s” progress, Zajj reported to his clan’s elders, and they, taking great interest in this rising star, formulated a plan to replace Oliver. At first, they planned to simply murder him; luckily, Zajj fumbled the attempt. Discovering his brother’s true identity and aware that he is in grave danger, Oliver decided to immediately flee Paridon, believing that the doppelgangers would not follow him through a Mistway. Taking a merchant ship captained by a half-Vistani Captain of the Mists that he knew quite well, he sailed off. Zajj, desperate to do his job and thus gain great influence in his clan, took a different form and followed Oliver’s route on a different ship. Oliver’s ship, the Fortune’s Divinity, was bound to go through Sri Raji, Rokushima Taiyoo, and then make a final stop in Lamordia, where Oliver would get off. Zajj, in the last moment, caught up with the Fortune’s Divinity at Rokushima Taiyoo. He boarded the ship, and while Oliver was eating dinner with his half-Vistani friend, he attacked furiously. Again Zajj was unlucky; he ignorantly killed the Captain of the Mists before attacking Oliver. Thus, Zajj caused a disruption to the ship’s travel through a Mistway, and the Fortune’s Divinity was immediately pushed off-route, crashing unto hard ground. In the chaos of the ship’s horrible halt, Oliver remained unharmed and managed to escape Zajj. Jumping off the ship’s ruins, Oliver ran through the mists; when he looked back, the ship, with its cargo and crew, was not to be seen.
Finding himself in Barovia, Oliver Darwin decided not to try and make his way back to Zherisia just yet; he believes that a doppelganger has already taken the opportunity to replace him. Unsure whether Zajj survived the crash, Oliver is careful to not make his knowledge of the doppelganger known, so as to not spread rumours and thus make Zajj’s job easier. Adventurous by nature and monster-hating from education and experience, Oliver Darwin now seeks the path of a Monster-Hunter; in this he sees a way to make the money he loves so much, but more importantly he believes that by becoming such a professional, he will be able to one day go back to Paridon and destroy the doppelganger menace.
((Specific information regarding Paridon and the Colonial Merchant Company of Zherisia are from the FoS Zherisian Gazzeter))