Name: Shane Gabriel
Gender: Male
Race: Nord/Imperial
Age: 16 years old
Appearance: Shane could be called a handsome kid. His face wouldn’t exactly stand out in your mind, but it does have a unique quality about it. His nose is slightly bigger than he would like but he doesn’t care much, in fact he makes fun of it often. He has high cheekbones with fairly full cheeks which sink into large dimples when he smiles. His teeth are by no means perfect but his smile has a charming factor to it. He has a strong, cleft chin which seems vaguely heroic.
His hair is dirty blond and falls just above his eyes, barely showing his brow. It also covers his ears and the back of his neck, falling to just above his shoulders. It sticks out slightly at each side of his head but not comically, it just makes his hair style more unique. He leaves it as it looks when he rolls out of bed, but it most resembles the loose hairstyle. His eyes are by far his most striking feature, a piercing gray-blue color that make it seem that he’s looking into you. There is a lot of color mottling, all different shades of blue. However they have a warm feeling to them as if a smile is always just below the surface.
Shane stands at 5’11, just shy of 6 ft and has a very average build, weighing 180 lbs with not an abundance of ripped muscle but not an abundance of fat either. He has broad shoulders that make him seem bigger than he actually is, although he is still a fairly big young man, filling out his frame nicely.
Class: Commoner Knight
Class Description: By all accounts these warriors have no noble birth or line, nor do they live in lavish luxury apart from the occasional duel. These knights are common everyday folk who have trained and learned the ways of the knight, living by the codes of chivalry and knighthood despite their heritage. They could be warriors or barbarians, however they choose to follow moral guidelines and fight for causes, not just fame or for the sake of fighting. While not formal knights, for all intents and purposes they are knights of the people.
Armorer: Shane typically “borrowed” his old man’s sword for training and such, so he learned to repair it to the point that he was none the wiser. When he worked up to using armor, he was given old iron armor that was thrown away by the guard. He did a great job repairing and restoring the old armor, and with all the training sessions and repairing his equipment, he’s become a pretty good armorer.
Alchemy: Shane doesn’t have much knowledge to the subject, but he does know which plants will kill you and which ones will make you better. He’s used a mortar and pestle before and he knows how to mash plants and add water together to make potions and poisons. He figured this would be good to learn, and had to learn a good amount on the subject in order to pursue natural curatives.
Athletics: Shane has always been an active kid. Growing up he played all sorts of games that required a lot of running around. He was never the fastest but he never needed to stop and catch his breath much. He could keep running from dawn ‘till dusk without needing much of a breather. After all his training in heavy armor Shane has become even more fit. He’s gotten faster as well. Also an avid swimmer, Shane has been lovingly called a fish all his life and it’s not without reason.
Blade: Shane is quite skilled with a blade. All his life he’s seen people wielding swords and using them. And ever since he was 12 he’s known how to use one. His skill has increased very quickly as he got older, and he’s quite a natural at it. The blade seems like an extension of his arm when he moves it, cleanly moving it through the air in deadly arcs and thrusts with uncanny precision. He’s fond of redirecting strikes at the last moment to confuse his opponents. Shane is equally fluid with and without a shield, enabling him to fight in a variety of styles. He can use claymores with a high degree of skill, but he prefers smaller, lighter blades. He is a skilled swordsman, but there are many with a higher degree of skill. Talent and practice can’t beat experience.
Block: With or without a shield, Shane can block. No matter what the weapon. Although he does have an easier time while using a shield, he can block most blows by watching his opponent closely and waiting for the right moment to block that will knock them off balance. He’s had as much experience with a shield as he had with a sword, and although he is skilled in theory, his limited experience shows.
Heavy Armor: After training in heavy armor for a few years, Shane has learned how to move like he isn’t wearing anything. Although he is still hindered by the heavy armor as much as anyone, he knows how to move in it and has an easy time with it. He knows his limits but he likes the feel of heavy armor. It gives him a confidence he probably wouldn’t have with light armor. He tried chainmail and it made him a little too shy of the blade so he prefers the heavy armor.
Speechcraft: Shane has always been good at talking. In fact it’s hard to shut him up a lot of the time. But he is known to make very persuasive arguments. He is likable and has a very magnetic personality. He is one of the most charismatic guys you could happen upon, and most people have nothing but good things to say about him. He is also quite funny, and leaves people in stitches a lot of the time. Shane has a clever wit about him, and his sarcasm goes along with his body language to ensure he doesn’t offend.
Lifestyle: Shane travels around alot, looking for ways to earn money, as well as researching alchemical ingredients that possess healing powers. He stays in a place as long as he has work to do, or as long as he is learning something about alchemy. However he also steps in to lend a hand to those that need it, regardless of his pay. Once in a while he stops by the Imperial City and leaves large amounts of septims and a letter with the post, usually taking a letter out as well, so he stays in Cyrodiil if he can help it.
Equipment: Shane’s favorite weapon is a fine steel longsword. He keeps it in the scabbard hanging off his left hip. He enjoys the fluidity and the weighting of the sword, while it still has enough behind it to still do some damage. He has the hilt and scabbard adorned with memories of his family, friends, and his girlfriend. In his paranoia, he keeps a steel dagger hidden on the inside of his left boot just in case he loses his sword.
Shane wears a steel cuirass and steel grieves, nothing particularly special about that. He wears iron gauntlets in place of steel ones (he thinks of them as “glorified mittens”). He enjoys having his fingers free to feel anything he might need to. He also wears iron boots because he once tripped over the point on the toe of a pair of steel boots, and if he did that in battle he would be dead. He doesn’t like wearing a helmet, but again he’s paranoid so he wears a steel one just in case a stray arrow might fly his way. Shane also prefers an iron shield to the steel one, preferring the large round metal to the smaller square of the steel shield.
He keeps a mortar and pestle on him, as well as random alchemical ingredients with healing properties. Shane has several home-brewed potions to heal and invigorate himself or others he may find along his path.
Starting location: Bruma Gates
Background: Shane was born in Chorrol under the Lady constellation. Growing up he guarded this information closely, for the mocking he would receive would be too much for him. Growing up he never had many close friends, and found companionship in his older cousin Nicolas. They were as close as brothers and grew up with each other. However Nicolas was always one step ahead of him in more than age. His father was a renowned knight of Chorrol and as such Nicolas started training at age 13 to become a knight. Shane’s father was a farmer, and as such he would be as well. Nicolas received superior schooling and also went through combat practice, much to Shane’s chagrin. But Nicolas began teaching Shane what he had been learning from his father and other knights. Shane also took to watching the training sessions of other knights as well as Nicolas’ in order to see all he could.
Nicolas was a good teacher. As they grew older, he taught Shane all he learned from his father. Shane and his cousin were nearly equal in skill. It was hard to keep this training secret for long. One day Nicolas’ father, Shane’s uncle heard the clanking of iron and followed the sound to Shane and Nicolas, both in iron armor and sparring with iron shields and swords. He watched in silence and saw that Shane was a promising combatant. After this moment he started inviting Shane to the same training sessions as his cousin. They trained together, no longer in secret, and became the most promising young warriors in all of Tamriel. Shane told his father about his training and was surprised to learn his father used to be a soldier in the Imperial Legion in Skyrim. At this point their training became a family affair, both Shane’s father and uncle teaching he and Nicolas both the knightly ways of combat and the more rugged, proven methods of a military force. In this way, they received the best training possible.
Shane balanced his household farming chores, secondary school at the Chapel of Stendarr, and his combat training for 6 years. He was happy with the way his life was, however one day he realized something was missing. That was the day he met Isabella Taylor. He was taking a break from training, and when a group of kids not much younger than himself. Shane and Nicolas decided to throw pebbles at them. It was all great fun until a young lady saw them doing that. She proceeded to march towards them, and slap Shane across the back of the head. Her name was Isabella. Little did he know it, that was the beginning of the most important relationship he would ever have. After a few weeks of courting, the two began a relationship. They did everything together, and Shane had fun as long as she was around. He started slacking off in school and work, although he always had time for training. It took him two months to fall in love with her, and her even less time. Shane proclaimed his love for her, and she for him, and they became closer than ever. Isabella was Shane’s closest friend and he told her everything without fear. After they were together for nearly a year, Isabella’s grandmother fell ill. Healers across the province couldn’t cure her no matter what they tried. The affliction weighed heavily on Isabella, and in turn weighed on Shane as well. He promised Isabella he would do everything he could to help.
One day a healer from Morrowind came to see Isabella’s grandmother. The healer said it was a rare disease, and she needed many alchemical ingredients in order to concoct a potion to cure her. All together, these ingredients cost a small fortune, much more than they could afford. Shane started working in the fighter’s guild, trying to raise the money needed to get Isabella’s grandmother her treatment. He even began writing stories for the Black Horse Courier, using his writing talent and large vocabulary to bring in another form of income. However it was never enough. So one day Shane decided he would go out into the world and do as much as he could to obtain the gold. He told everyone he thought should know to varying degrees of approval. Isabella was the most vehemently against it, however Shane needed to keep his promise to her and do all he could to do so. And so Shane left his home and his love, venturing out to find enough money, or the materials themselves, in order to keep his promise to his future wife and save her grandmother.
Hearing of the ebony mines in Skyrim, Shane hoped to go find work, as well as steady lodging. In his mind, Isabella would feel more comfortable with him not out in danger, and he would be able to send and recieve messages more often. So he returned to Chorrol briefly before heading up to Skyrim, stopping off in Bruma first...
Personality: Shane thinks of himself as crazy. He has many eccentricities and peculiarities, but he hides them well and seems sane enough. He’s always been a happy kid, and has a cheerful personality. He is quick to smile and laugh, and is quite the optimist about everything. Shane finds comfort in making people laugh and enjoys telling stories and making merry. He jokes that he would’ve been a bard if they weren’t reputed dandies. Shane is slow to anger, and he only has a few things that really set him off. Most things roll right off his back but when something hits close to home he has more trouble shrugging it off. He possesses a great sensitivity and empathy to those around him. Shane is naturally gifted at reading body language, and that enables him to tell how a person is feeling without even talking to them. He is very sarcastic, and although sometimes he finds the wrong moments for it, it always has good-natured intentions. Shane also possesses a great curiosity about most things. He is eager to learn new and interesting things about people or random topics. This curiosity resulted in Shane learning a little about a lot, knowing something about a broad range of topics. He’s a bright kid, and has a very good memory.
Shane is overly paranoid, and although he hides it, when he gets a bad thought in his head it’s hard to shake it. He also has a sort of contradictory confidence. His self-image is poor enough to the point that the only people whose opinion he holds to any value are those he cares about. This allows him to have full confidence around anyone else, and although he does wonder what people think about him he often doesn’t care. This confidence enables him to mask his real age easily, often coming off as someone much older and experienced. However he is not overconfident, Shane knows when he’s completely clueless and will often admit it. Shane has a refreshing honesty about him. He doesn’t boast or misrepresent anything, and often what he says is a varying degree of what he actually feels. He doesn’t see the point in lying about most things, but when he needs to he is quite the convincing liar. Shane believes in doing good for the sake of doing good. He does believe in the Nine, but not to the point of active worship. He feels that living a good life and trying to do right by others is more redeeming than any prayer. Shane also displays a furious loyalty to those he cares about, and would gladly fight for them. Shane has been known to show a great lack of motivation in pursuits he doesn’t really believe in, however when he believes in what he is doing, or if its for a purpose important to him, his determination to accomplish the task knows no equal. He has never killed another person, and killing creatures took a while as well. So although he is able to slay creatures with ease, he would need quite the necessity to take the life of another. Basically, he’s chivalrous.
It should be mentioned that Shane is head over heels in love. He knows that many young people fall in love, or at least they think they do, and often times its just infatuation. However he believes he has found the one in Isabella. Shane feels they are perfect for each other in every way, and he loves her with a passion bordering on zealotry. He strives to be the perfect man for her, and he would do anything for her. He believes his purpose in life is to make her happy, and he lives for her. Shane has had doubts about his feelings, and hers for him, but with each day he grows more assured. Ever the romantic, Shane has dreamed of wedding her and starting a family and living out the rest of their days together. He has told Isabella all of this, and its public knowledge that he is in love with her, but he keeps the degree of that love closely guarded from all but her.
Other: Shane wears a silver chain around his neck, given to him by Isabella before he left Chorrol. It’s very plain and common, however the medal attached to it has some words of special meaning to Shane since they were written by Isabella. It’s his most precious possession and he guards it with his life. He also wears an orange ribbon she used to wear in her hair tied close to his left wrist.