drakendottir
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Age : 34
Join date : 2012-02-03
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 |  Subject: Telaron Lleodred  Fri Apr 27, 2012 9:41 am | |
| |BASICS|
Name: Telaron Lleodred
Age: 52
Birthplace: Omashu
Current Residence: Ba Sing Se
Rank: Non-Bender, Earth Kingdom high noble, personal advisor of the Earth King
Element: would be Earth, but he is a non-bender
Pets: none
Weapons:
Telaron owns half an arsenal of weapons, most of them antics. He himself seldom to never wears a weapon that has no other purpose than fighting, but if he does, it is a small dagger, not even the size of his own hand, stashed away at his back, disguised underneath a long cloak. This weapon is completely un-ornamented, a swift, little thing solely for protection.
However, Telaron is often seen with a long, elegant staff of ebony that he uses as a walking cane whenever his limping gets worse. Only few know that the top part of it, the head of a snake with emerald eyes - the crest animal of his house - can be extracted when turned for ninety degrees to the left, and is in fact the hilt to a long, sharp blade that is hidden away in the cane.
Although he obviously has a blade on him at most times, Telaron is no fighter, not at all. He once was a rebel against a mad king, but that does not make him a soldier. There are more ways to fight than with arms, and Telaron will always chose the feather over the sword. He has a small, but elite personal guard for his own protection, the blades are just to reassure his wife, since he, like most great men, has a lot of political enemies.
Family:
Wife and Children:
- married to Goralia Lleodred, born Shang, now 31 years of age ((see the character's list for her picture)), his wife is currently pregnant
- firstborn child: Lucilia Lleodred, now 6 years of age
- second child, firstborn son: Jorric Lleodred, 4 years of age
- third child, born dead: Naima Lleodred, would now be 2 years of age
Siblings:
- his elder sister, Nonya Thessiel, married to an Earth Kingdom high nobleman, now 53 years of age
- his younger brother, Jorric Lleodred, deceased three years past, would now be 48 years of age
Parents (deceased):
- father: Telor Lleodred, heir to the throne of Omashu (see history)
- mother: Lucilia Lleodred, born Zorrliak (earth kingdom nobility)
|OPTIONAL|
Birthday: 23rd September
Blood type: 0+
Hobbies:
Spending time with his family; going for long walks; enjoying a cup of tea, nice music and a pai sho game, especially when his company is as intelligent as himself and offers a nice opportunity for a long discussion of anything from cultural phenomena through to politics; visiting the theatre whenever he gets the time; reading and writing a lot - anything within the range of poetry and the daily military report
Quirks:
Not many know of Telaron's quirks, as he does not show them openly. His one weak point are the people he loves, which not only include his young family, but also the Earth King, Onao, who is more of a son in Telaron's eyes than a monarch. He would do anything to keep them all from harm, safe.
Towards most of the world, Telaron keeps up appearances, and behaves as emotionally invulnerable as only a true politician can. Only the people closest to him know of his true nature.
He hates tea that has gone cold, or has been allowed to draw for too long. He loves blueberries, and enjoys spending time with his children, who are far younger than one would imagine. He is also extremely fond of his wife, and although they have a grand age difference, they share a deep emotional link that comes very close to romantic love, at times maybe even is love.
Character Theme: WIP
|APPEARANCE|
Hair:
Teloren wears his dark hair very short, keeping it almost military orderly. The silver strands in his well trimmed chinn beard and at his temples give him a sophisticated, cultivated look. He takes special pride in his chinn beard and moustache, which push the elegant, slim look of his face even further and give him the appearance of an intelligent, refined man.
Eyes:
This man's eyes are sharp, almost like the ones of a hawk, and small, of a glasslike, clear brown. Almost no warmth seems to be in those eyes most of the time, and only to the ones who know him personally - his family and the very few close friends that he's got - Telaron's eyes can mirror his kindness and patience. Most others can only read the strong determination, sharp mind and iron strength that the nobleman possesses.
Height: At 1.85m, he is of average height for a man, not too small, but also not astonishingly large.
Clothes:
Telaron knows how to dress himself. He has a deep sense of style, and although he is an ardent patriot, he prefers dark, brown and reddish colours over the earth kingdom yellow, but often combines them with at least a little bit of green in order to pledge his allegiance visibly. Most of his clothes have the insignia of his house woven into them, stitched somewhere, or bear it in the form of a silver brooch.
Skin:
Telaron has the average skin of a man who spends most of his time indoors. His hands are slim and fair, showing more skill with a feather than with a sword, but they do not lack strength. What he lacks in physical appearance, he seemingly compensates by sheer strength of will.
The first wrinkles are showing on his face, mainly vertically above the base of his nose, and at the corners of his eyes. One can see that he is old, but he still seems to have quite a bunch of years left to live.
Body Type: Telaron is a rather slim, not very strong person. He clearly has not been a fighter in years, and at most days shows a slight limp to the right side when he walks. He often feels pain in his right thigh, which is almost stiff from an old wound (see history). His reflexes are normal for his age, as are his eyesight and hearing. If he were to fight for his life, he would have a bad stance probably, especially against a skilled fighter or bender. His strong point clearly not is his physique, but rather his mind.
Telaron keeps his body able by long walks whenever he gets the time, giving him a good stamina, although he clearly lacks the strength of a trained fighter.
Image:
|CHARACTERISTICS|
Personality:
To the outsider, Telaron is a rather dark, brooding person. He is very intelligent, ambitious, cold and calculating, the born politician. If he is not busy giving his opponent nice words, he might be tricking them into a deal they most likely will regret. But reducing him to just that man, the politician, would not give him enough credit. He has another side to him, and it is that side that got him into his current position, although it is thanks to the other side that he managed to stay alive for so long and has kept his high rank for quite some time.
This other side is the one of a warm, passionate, considerate family man, husband, and father. He married at quite an old age, and chose a woman whom he felt he could fall in love with, but who mostly attracted him because of her family's high connections, her inner strength, and the exceedingly high dowry she brought to the household.
Goralia Shang, just like him, knew of the political advantages of their connection, and she did not marry him for love either. Despite their marriage being coldly arranged, they had a deep sense of respect for each other from the first moment they met. Goralia saw behind Telaron's cold, calculating facade, and she chose to take him for the man she knew he could still be, and give her family the politician with all the connections they desired in her next match.
She has born him three children since and is currently bearing the fourth. Their respect and mutual understanding has grown into a deep, common affection for each other, a most of the time impassionate, yet truely felt romance.
Personal Strengths:
tactical understanding and politically cunning,
ability to put his personal feelings aside when he makes a decision,
very loyal, trustworthy, dutiful and reliable suspect to his king,
high intelligence,
great cultural and educational level
Personal Weaknesses:
Sometimes his family life gets meddled up with his work, at those rare times he feels a lack of concentration that can affect him. The love for his family would be the one weakness through that a political enemy would gain control over him.
Sometimes he lacks understanding or compassion due to shuting himself off too much rather than letting things get to him.
His duty to the king, whom he sees more as a son than as a king, could become dangerous if the king is threatened or he has to chose between king and family.
He is no strong fighter or athlete. If he gets in a dangerous situation and needs to rely on physical strength to get out of it, he might be doomed.
A stiff thigh slows him down considerably.
Personal Hero: Onao, his father
Dreams and Ambitions: Bringing peace and prosperity to the Earth Kingdom, helping Onao be the best king the land has ever seen, seeing his children grow up to be happy and prosperous people
Likes:
His family,
his king,
his country,
strawberries and anything made out of them,
music, pai sho, paintings, artifacts - anything of cultural or historical interest
reading and writing
Dislikes:
His political enemies and rivals,
strangely enough, twisted intrigues in dark corners - he is a man of a deep code of honour,
His brother in law, Kensei (Katena Shang's husband) and his mother in law,
social bigottery,
strong alcohol
Brief History:
Telaron Lleodred was born as the second child of Telor and Lucilla Lleodred in the town of Omashu. But he was not born anywhere in Omashu, he drew his first breath in the Royal Palace of Omashu. A grand first moment for such a small child, and yet it should not be the last one.
Telaron's father, Telor, was in fact the younger brother of the King of Omashu, King Terrian. Since King Terrian had neither wife nor children, Telor was the first heir to the throne, and his newborn son Telaron, despite being but a baby, the second heir to the throne of Omashu.
Telaron grew up in a time of peace, with every luxury and education a young man can possibly hope for. Soon it was determined that he lacked the skills of a warrior and had no talent for bending, but he was trained in tactics and basic fighting skills nevertheless. As a future king, it was his responsibility to be able to defend his hometown as well as he possibly could.
The young prince was a very inquisitive child, sucking in knowledge like a sponge absorbs mere water. He often quarreled with his elder sister, princess Nonya, who was almost his age and felt she was treated unfair - despite being the elder one, Telaron was always given the precedence by their parents. It was then that Telaron realized that, as long as you are the more powerful one, or the one who is assumed to be more powerful one day, you will always get your will over someone less advantaged.
But then something happened that should change his growing arrogance and haughtiness into shame and despair. When he was twelve, Telaron led his younger brother Jorric (he was eight) away from their bodyguards, and they started to explore the forbidden parts of town. Any part of town was forbidden to them without their parents accompagnying them, in fact, but they did not care for this. Telaron raced his younger brother Jorric down one of the hills of Omashu, rejoicing in the fact that they could one time do as they pleased, far away from the palace.
Despite Jorric begging him to stop and wait, he rushed on, feeling all mighty and superior because of his longer legs and his better stamina. When he suddenly realized that his nagging little brother had vanished, it was already too late.
He looked for Jorric for quite some time, but he was found by the guards before he could find his brother, and returned home. The worst thing about his return home was not the anger or frustration of his parents or the hate in the eyes of his sister, it was the disappointment when he told them, reluctant, how he had been parted from his younger brother. At first, he even tried to escape his responsibility, but his father managed with very few, cold words, to put it right back on his twelve year old shoulders. It was his fault, and his alone. Jorric had run after him, like he always did, full of admiration for his elder brother, and he had not even bothered to wait for the smaller one.
Jorric, fortunatelly, was found three days later, wandering the labyrinth of the streets of Omashu in ragged, dirty clothes, too weak to cry.
From this day onward Telaron developed a new sense of duty. His father chose to train him personally in the future, not leave his education to some private teacher, and this way, Telaron learned everything he needed to know about honour and a strong sense of duty towards family, king and country.
He grew up to be a determined young man, and a pretty handsome one at that. His parents soon found him a suitable match, and when he saw the beauty that was to become his wife, Telaron forgot all romantic ideas that youth can get when confronted with an arranged marriage. The girl also liked him well enough, and although they felt no deep love for each other, they started to see each other daily and gained a deeply flowling respect for each other. Telaron gave his fiancee Rowena a beautiful locket, bearing his family crest, a silver snake with emerald eyes on red ground.
Then, one day, the awful thing happened. King Lu II, whom King Terrian and his brother Telor had been the most loyal subjects to, died and was replaced by King Li, who wanted to start a new dynasty, erradicating all who stood against him and wanted to preserve the old dynasty, but especially the members of said dynasty - anyone who was related to the Peng family.
King Terrian had died some years before, and his now elderly brother, King Telor, had taken the throne. Telaron, at 24 years of age, was now first in the line of heritage, and being prepared to one day take on the duties of a king of Omashu, when the new, the mad king came and questioned his father's loyalty to the new dynasty. But Telor had shortly before learned about the crimes the mad king was comitting, the families, even little children, he was slaughtering in the attempt to wipe out the Peng Dynasty.
He confronted the king and his men, and told him frankly that he did not support him, and never would. This, however, proved to be his last, deadly mistake. The mad king's vengeance was furious. He not only had the King Telor, but also his wife executed and was considering the same fate for their children, just to be sure.
It was Telaron's brilliant thinking that saved their lives. He performed the act of the treacherous son who always hated his father and only went along his ideas to please the old man. He played the act of the young man who can't wait to sit on his father's throne, if only he can get rid off the old geezer.
It took some time and something grave, a deed that Telaron would never be able to forgive himself for and that still haunts him at nights, to convince the mad king of his loyalty. For his family, his household - since all their servants had been sentenced to share their fate with them, should they be judged as traitors, just like the half city of Omashu, Telaron betrayed the one person he had almost learned to love.
The mad king had Rowena dragged before Telaron, accompagnied by all her family. They were vastly related to the Peng Dynasty, a threat, and would have been killed off anyway. Still, when Telaron was asked to give the order for their execution, and watch, he hesitated shortly. This was the woman he wanted to marry. This was his future. She was innocent, just a young girl of seventeen. He realized in those seconds, that he, in fact, loved her, and her frightened, pale face burnt into his soul while he spoke the words, felt them bite on his tongue as he formed them. "In the name of our righteous King, Li, first of his name, I find you guilty of treachery and sentence you to death."
The sentence still haunts him in his sleep from time to time.
He succeeded, though, staying alive, and vowed to himself, by Rowena's blood on his hands, that he would avenge her and his parents, that he would one day see the righteous king on the throne of Ba Sing Se, and if he had to die for this mission. The mad king did not give him his rightful place, the throne of Omashu, but put him into his own council, probably in order to watch over what he was doing.
It took Telaron almost two decades to find that king he had vouched to find. Two decades of pretence, of political intrigues, of playing along, grinning and bearing it. Those two decades almost destroyed him, but the mad king had made a mistake. When he forced Telaron to turn against one of his own to save all the others, he had ignited a flame inside of him that burnt slow, and cold, but that never went out. It did not require much, just a little bit of hatred to feed it, and hatred was the one thing Telaron could find easily.
He became the head of a secret rebellious movement, not only known by some of his closest members, in order to protect his identity if they were captured. He saw many a friend die in that time, some of whose death sentences he had to sign himself, adding to the hurt he felt because of Rowena. He never married again, not even looking at females. That need had died with the one woman he had sworn to protect, to hold and to keep, in richer and in poorer, in sickness, health, in dark times and in light. That one woman he had so gravely betrayed.
Fifteen years after he had watched Rowena's beheading, almost to the day, he finally found his trace. The trace of the one person who could sit on the throne of Ba Sing Se. Still it took Telaron two more years to find the young prince - a boy, who was a librarian, not a prince, in fact, neither educated nor trained to run a kingdom.
The moment Telaron held the proof in his hands, the clue he had been looking for, the last trace he needed to find Prince Onao, he was being arrested. He managed, with the help of some of his friends in the guards, to get away, but he was severly wounded at the leg when he ran away. He ran, despite the pain, more limping than rushing, but the fire burnt on. It burnt on and on, fed no longer by his hatred, but by something new. It was now fed by the hope that all the perril, all the anguish, maybe had been worth it.
While his friends stood up and openly fought against the mad king, finally succeeding in their rebellion and killing the ursurper alongside most of his men, Telaron travelled to the hidden library of Dara, and there he found the boy he was looking for. Young Onao was overwhelmed by the sudden pressure on his shoulders, and with sudded empathy Telaron realized, that vowing to put someone on a throne isn't enough. He had to help the boy, as best he could. Telaron was 41 years old at this point, whilst young Onao was but seventeen years old, not much older than an actual son of Rowena and Telaron would have been, had they had the chance to marry and get children right away.
Telaron became Onao's teacher, his fatherly friend if you will. Five years, Onao was educated, while Telaron and some other former rebells sat in a council and ruled the Earth Kingdom in Onao's place. Then the young prince was finally deemed ready, and Telaron saw the third crowning in his life, proud like a real father would have been. He stayed at Onao's side, helping him to make his own decisions, but he tried not to impose too much.
The bond to Onao is very strong, therefore, and at one point Telaron was even offered the throne of Omashu. He declined the offer, however, staying on his seat in the Royal Council rather than leaving Ba Sing Se and Onao. He has been rewarded for his services with a huge estate and the heirloom of his father, as far as it was possible to restore the old treasury.
While Onao grew fully up to become the man Telaron had always hoped him to be, the old man realized he was lacking something. He felt sad and lonely in his huge estate, his footsteps vibrating on the wooden floors. The vast, paradisaic gardens did not soothe him, and not even the most cunning play in the theatre could take his mind off of what he really wanted. He wished for a family, actual children, a companion for his old age.
He needed a whole year to find the perfect match, both politically and emotionally. Goralia Shang had already been married and was widowed at a very young age. Her husband had been in the Fire Nation Military, and had left her a huge estate to the already high dowry she possessed from her own family, that belonged to the Fire Nation high nobility. To put it in a nutshell, she was still young, but no longer a child, she came with great connections and a good amount of money.
All of this was great in Telaron's eyes, but none of this finally was causing his decision. He met Goralia at a reception in the Fire Nation Royal Palace. She was not a dashing beauty, not at all, but pretty. What baffled him most was her blunt, yet cunning wit. He looked into her sharp, black eyes and realized they were as piercing as needles and still warm, glittering with humour and intelligence. She was 24 years of age, he 43, and yet they felt a strong connection from the start. It was not love, but it was deeply sensed mutual respect. He asked her calmly if she might consider to remarry, after he had heard of her loss, and she told him that if she ever did, it had to be a man who managed to make her feel something again despite the numbness in her heart. Telaron thought for a long time, but then he figured out a way to achieve this. He took her to his estate in Ba Sing Se and showed her only one thing. He told her the story of how he had survived and tricked the mad king, shocking her deeply, but then he opened his shirt and showed her what he wore around his neck, always hidden away form curious eyes, and yet always close to his heart. It was the locket he had given Rowena on the day of their betrothal. Goralia is said to have started to cry, not because of the locket, but because she could see all his pain in his eyes, and the great strength it took him to be this honest to her. She asked him if he would ever do something like this again, murder a woman he loved, and he told her that he would sooner take his own life than ever be put before such a test again.
Only a month after this she became his wife, moved to Ba Sing Se and has been smiling almost ever since, making it her purpose to make him happy again. So far, she has succeeded.
They have two beautiful children, although Goralia was not young when they married, losing only one child that was born dead, and a fourth baby is on its way.
Telaron still does not forgive himself for what he did. Yet Goralia, the love he feels for his family, has managed to give him a good reason to carry on, now that the flame in his chest has burnt out.
Last edited by drakendottir on Thu May 24, 2012 5:40 pm; edited 1 time in total | |
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