Ornn Ithrid
Physical DescriptionOrnn Ithrid is a 26 year old wizard. His moderate build at 5'3" speaks of his constant work with his hands, calloused and worn. His ever-shifting hazel eyes are typically focused somewhere in the distance as he envisions his projects and imagines their solutions. His dark hair is always unkempt and shaggy, miscut in several places and burned in several others. His ragged goatee wisps down past his neck, something he vows to shave tomorrow. His dark vest, ever-present cigarette, jeans, and average frame don't speak too much of professionalism, but his well muscled arms, tinted goggles, and near-constant studying speaks volumes of the work he puts in daily. He constantly has a scarf around his neck that he uses as a filter in case something... bad... happens. The smell of smoke never leaves his body, a mixture of campfire smoke and tobacco.
Some Backstory!
Be warned, this is a little long, and it reveals a good deal of his history. If you're the kind of person who can't separate your in character knowledge and your out of character knowledge, please don't read this. Thanks.
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Ornn grew up greatly influenced by the Dwarves of the north, to parents of good strength and sound mind. His father hails from a long line of expert craftsmen, all honing their skills in their own fields of expertise. His mother is a simple woman, but never fails to reign in the antics of his father, for she was, and remains, the true ruler of the home.
Keeping a home of 17 children made life a little difficult for Ornn's parents in his youth, and many days his father had to sell his craft as an ironwright for less than he would've desired. Day after day was spent in intense labor, and often Ornn and his siblings would either watch their father work in the refinery or simply read in his presence. Ornn moreso than others. When his siblings would go and learn from their uncles about shoemaking and leatherwork, Ornn would be gazing into the never-ending furnace that blazed in his father's workplace or into the deepest confines of literature.
As he watched the fire in the furnace, he felt it burn within him. As he thought about its heat, he could feel its warmth. As he pondered over its power, he knew he could not be without it. And before he knew it, it was an obsession.
Ornn began to carry around leaves and a candle, lighting the candle and watching the leaves wither and become ashes in his hands. Everywhere he went he brought fire, and sparks followed.
One day those sparks burned him, and they burned him bad. While playing out in his carpenter uncles workshop with various sizes of chunks, one of his sisters found him and attempted to take his candle from him. In the struggle that ensued the candle fell to the floor and lit the sawdust and wood chips with explosive fury. Ornn and his sister were thrown forcefully from the building and knocked unconscious. He managed to survive the experience, but lost his left leg and three fingers on his right hand in the process. His sister wasn't as lucky. Once revered for her beauty, she looked like a grotesque monster from a Lovecraftian tale, having burned the majority of her face and neck in the blast.
Pieces of debris littered everywhere, the fire raged on even after Ornn awake from consciousness. And the first thing Ornn thought when he awoke was how beautiful it was. Then he looked at his sister and blacked out again.
His family removed him from the area, deciding instead to send him further into Imperial lands to live with a close friend of Ornn's mother on her estate while he recovered. While Ornn burned and built himself replacement limbs, this friend tried to teach him social graces, but he was disinterested. She tried to teach him politics, but he was unhearing. She tried to teach him the ways of the world, but he ignored her at every turn. In an effort to keep him away from burning her furniture any more than he already did, she thought to distract him. So, she taught him magic.
Magic proved to be just the thing. Even though she only knew a few minor magics, it took his mind away from the flame. For a moment. Until he got carried away in the flames and was taken over by madness. It consumed the house and very nearly killed the staff who were present. That was when he was taken somewhere a bit more... Private.
As time went on, Ornn proved himself a very capable craftsman. Learning from all the craftsmen in the area to the best of his abilities, he managed to fashion workable replacements for his limbs out of metal, wood, and leather. His skills grew at a remarkable rate, drawing the ire of several of the other local craftsman. When a local lord held a small contest to create a wedding ring and gown for his daughters wedding, Ornn jumped at the chance. However, winning the competition proved to be the last push for the other craftsmen.
Leaving quickly to avoid death by the furious lower class, Ornn found himself alone once again. However, as luck would have it, that moment was when a certain adventuring party found him. Delirious from traveling and starving to death, Ornn was at the end of his rope. But a group of kind travelers picked him up and put him in their wagon for the ride.
Later in his late-teens, after having been schooled a bit more in the ways of magic, Ornn took up combining his magical skills with the crafting of his youth, creating immensely useful tools (and less-than useful ones too, but we don't talk about them), selling them as he went throughout the country. He joined small bands of adventurers, mostly for the collection of books the rich ones carried with them, until either they died or the constant stench of smoke that hung on him got the better of them. He picked up smoking tobacco and an addiction to the blackest coffees, as well as an odd addiction to yogurt, when he could get it. But one person almost got him to give it all up.
In his early twenties, having just split up with a particularly rowdy bunch of adventurers, he met Ellie. She was everything he could have wanted and more. Her understanding of theory was astounding, and her ability to pick up on new concepts related to magic was beyond Ornn. She was perfect. But nothing perfect lasts forever.
Before a particularly dangerous mission that some locals had requested they undertake, the slaying of a recently created lich, Ornn and Ellie got into an argument over the proper application of a particular spell to an item Ellie had purchased to keep herself from harm. Going into the lich's lair proved the death of Ellie and the loss of several other party members, for the lich used Ornn's love of fire against him. In the confusion the lich escaped intact. After identifying the spell placed on the item, Ornn discovered that Ellie had indeed followed Ornns advice and applied the spell he suggested... To her own detriment. Ornn disappeared from the adventuring scene for almost a year, forgoing any requests as much as possible and devoting all his time to his studies, even joining a small college.
Ornn became absorbed completely in magic items and theory, determined to never make such a mistake again. Several "Apprentices" he took on, a requirement for higher learning in the institution, said later that they only ever interacted by watching him or carefully listening to what he muttered in his workshop to himself, as well as the occasional quick note on how they could improve the casting of their spells or items.
Finally, two years after the incident, Ornn came out of his bubble and graduated. Enormously socially inept but desirous to teach others how to survive, he took on apprentice after apprentice, many much more powerful magically than he. He devoted himself to doing everything in his power to keep people out of harms way... Even if he needed to be a little abrasive to do so. However, that way of thinking did tend to bring out the lazy in him, or at least it taught him to use the simplest methods. It also gave him the excuse to burn a few things...
Having heard recently about an academy for adventurers, he anxiously desires to apply, hoping to save those who would come into harms way from their own stupidity, and maybe find the answers he's been seeking.